[meric]

You can - withdraw all your money as bank notes and convert to gold bullion coins in suitcases, sail in a hired boat to the middle of an ocean, drop suitcases into the ocean. Sail back to port, yell "The lustre of a shiny coin is not what rules me!".

Or do what this CEO did and buy it using a reduction of income.

[lotsofmangos]

You could say that turning down or throwing away money is purchasing the experience of turning down or throwing away money, but I think that is stretching the definition somewhat.

Buying tends to usually involve an exchange of items of value with another entity, rather than not exchanging anything or dumping gold in the sea.

By your definition, it would seem I purchase my sleep by not working while unconscious, which is obviously ridiculous.

Just because you can look at something as a financial loss, whether it is something of value being destroyed or an opportunity to profit not taken, does not automagically mean that something was therefore purchased.

[meric]

It was meant to be a humorous post, but I'm glad you humoured me anyway. Let's do this.

By your definition, it would seem I purchase my sleep by not working while unconscious, which is obviously ridiculous.

My definition of buying means giving up tangible goods, i.e. gold, money, shares, in return for a change in the world (e.g. receiving a massage).

So, to exchange time for sleep would not fit as your time is not a tangible good. And since you require sleep to work, it would be more accurate to say you earn the ability to work by sleeping. I stipulate no buying is involved.

Opportunity cost does not necessarily mean buying. Exchanging a tangible good for something else does.

I suppose where your definition and mine differ, is in your definition you require a sentient seller, and in mine the seller could be non-sentient, or could be metaphorically represented by a collective of gold owners who would benefit from you losing your gold to the ocean.

[lotsofmangos]

To buy something I definitely think requires a sale and an implicit contact between two parties. Also, it is perfectly possible to buy something with your time, tangibility is not required for something to be purchased, definability for the purposes of the contractual arrangement is the important bit.