COLUMN - It’s the second week of spring.

Two-thirds of 2026 is already gone. If it feels like this year has moved faster than last year, you're not imagining it.

And next year will probably feel faster still.

There is an explanation for this.

In 1877, French philosopher Paul Janet proposed that we don't experience a year on its own. We experience it as a fraction of all the time we've already lived.

When you're 10 years old, one year is a full tenth of your life. That's enormous. It's one reason a childhood December holiday could feel like it lasted forever.

At 50, that same year is just 2% of your life. At 80, it's a little over 1%.

The year hasn't changed. It's still 365 days.

It just keeps shrinking against the pile of years behind it.

Time changes the way we value a year

I came across a version of this idea recently from Josh Brown, an American wealth manager whose firm has turned Janet's ratio into a chart that they show clients.

And it got me thinking about money.

The message I take from this isn't philosophical. It's practical.

We save for years and then decades.

Discipline. Sacrifice. Don't spend. Let the money grow.

I do it myself, and I see it with clients all the time.

I'm 42 and I still struggle to spend money. Recently, I've started forcing myself to set a holiday budget each year and spend that money regardless.

Because saving can become a habit that's surprisingly difficult to break.

What are you actually saving for?

I see people later in life who want to visit their children living in Europe but feel guilty about taking the trip.

Perhaps they think the money would be better left growing in their portfolio.

But what's the point?

Isn't that what the money is for?

There is nothing wrong with saving. In fact, saving and investing for the future are essential.

But there is a point at which saving becomes an end in itself rather than a means to something else.

And that's where I think Janet's idea becomes particularly relevant.

Each year you defer something, that year represents a larger slice of the healthy, active years you have left than it did before.

The holiday you postpone today isn't necessarily the same holiday you'll be able to take in five years' time.

Your circumstances change. Your health changes. Your children get older. Your parents get older. The opportunities you have today may not be there tomorrow.

The danger of waiting for retirement

I recently read a story in the Wall Street Journal about a man who had saved his entire life while waiting to retire.

He built a portfolio worth $600,000.

He died before he retired.

His children divided the money between them. One of them spent their share on a kitchen renovation.

I still think about that man.

Not because saving was a mistake. It wasn't.

The mistake, perhaps, was assuming that there would always be a tomorrow in which to enjoy what he had saved.

The future is a set of probabilities. We don't know the outcome.

Spend some of what you've worked so hard to save

This isn't an argument for blowing your retirement savings or ignoring your financial responsibilities.

It's an argument for remembering why we save in the first place.

Go on that holiday.

Spend the time with your kids.

Visit the people you love.

Enjoy some of the money you've worked hard to accumulate while you are still able to enjoy it.

There is a balance between saving for the future and living in the present. Finding that balance is one of the harder parts of managing money.

The years aren't getting any longer.

Paul Janet says they're getting shorter.

It certainly feels that way.

Matthew Matthee has a wealth management business that specialises in retirement planning and investments. He writes about financial markets, investments, and investor psychology. He holds a Masters Degree in Economics from Stellenbosch University and a Post Graduate Diploma in Financial Planning from UFS. He is a partner at PSG Wealth. [email protected]     

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