Who's a billionaire?

We're been pondering that question since a video blogger named Thomas Frank who was born a couple of generations behind mine tells anyone who will listen that those age 20 years old and younger are Time Billionaires.

That's because they have at least 20 billion seconds left to live. That's 20 billion seconds to spend on anything - working, playing video games, flying drones, learning to speak Esperanto, traveling the globe or ordering a value meal from a fast food burger joint.

It also means that they have at least 20 billion seconds to fall in love, fall out of love, get married, get single, have a family or...you get it.

According to Frank, this Time Billionaire business makes them rich. Especially if they value an abundance of time and an infinite number of ways to spend it more than they do other people, cash, social media success and well, anything else.

Personally, I stopped qualifying as a Time Billionaire decades ago, but I find the concept beyond intriguing.

Consider this: Not everyone age 20 years and younger actually has at least 20 billion seconds left to live. In fact, I've known more than one of them who has been chiseled out of their seconds by illness, accident or being fatally gunned down in gang war cross fire in some city somewhere.

I have also known those age 20 years and younger who have squandered their seconds loving nobody, learning nothing about the world, not caring about anything one way or another or waiting for something that is never, ever going to happen like falling in love with a sardine when the moon is full over the Atlantic Ocean.

On the other hand, I have known lots of folks who are not Time Billionaires because they are not 20 years old or younger and do not have 20 billion seconds left to live. Also, more than one of them has been chiseled out of what seconds they do have left by illness, accident or being fatally gunned down in gang war cross fire in some city somewhere.

In fact, I know lots of folks who don't give a rodent’s keister about having billions of anything because they've figured out how to use the seconds they do have wisely.

They've learned a lot about the world. They've carved out fabulous careers, been generous lovers and, most importantly, discovered that helping someone who cannot help themselves is the best way to spend their seconds no matter how many they have left.

The only people who do care about any of this are those who are not Time Billionaires and envy those who are.

Ultimately the real question is what kind of billionaire are you?