Die with Zero: Getting All You Can from Your Money and Your Life

by Bill Perkins

If you tell your fee-only financial adviser that you are trying to get as much enjoyment out of your savings as possible without outliving your savings, they can help you create a plan for making that happen.

the reminder of death gives a much-needed urgency to one’s life.

Rule No. 5: Give money to your children or to charity when it has the most impact.

So when I say you should die with zero, I’m not saying: Die with zero and spend all your kids’ money along the way. I’m saying: Spend all your money. That is, give your children whatever you have allocated for them before you die. Why wait until you’re gone?

You always get more value out of money before your health begins to inevitably decline.

Whatever you give your heirs past their optimal age of receiving has less value to them.

the researchers were able to conclude that those adults who had memories of higher parental affection ended up with better health and lower levels of depression.

Therefore, if you are earning money but not having experiences with your kids, you are actually depriving your kids. And yourself.

If you give generously when you’re alive, then I can consider you selfless. If you’re dead, you just don’t have that choice. So by definition, you cannot be generous when you’re dead.

I disagree. Yiu chose the people on the will/trust

If you plan to give, give while you’re alive, and the earlier the better. Your charity can’t wait.

Rule No. 6: Don’t live your life on autopilot.

“Your salary will only go up, your earning power will only go up,”

strike the right balance between spending on the present (and only on what you value) and saving smartly for the future.

people under age 60 are most constrained by time and money, whereas people 75 and older are most constrained by health problems. In other words, when time and money are no longer a problem, health is.

Your ability to enjoy many experiences in life depends on your health—but money plays a part, too, because a lot of activities cost money. So you’d better spend the money when you still have the health.

movement is life, and your experiences will be greatly diminished when your movement becomes painful or limited.

People of all ages should be spending more time and money on their health.

Important!

People who spend money on time-saving purchases experience greater life satisfaction, regardless of their income. In other words, you don’t have to be rich to enjoy the benefits of spending money to free up time.

WHat would i pay for

Rule No. 7: Think of your life as distinct seasons.

Her patients’ number one regret was wishing they’d had the courage to live a life true to themselves—as opposed to the life that others expected of them.

Important!

Being aware that your time is limited can clearly motivate you to make the most of the time you do have.

when something feels abundant and endless, the truth is, we don’t always value it.

Here’s what I suggest you do. Draw a timeline of your life from now to the grave, then divide it into intervals of five or ten years. Each of those intervals—say, from age 30 to 40, or from 70 to 75—is a time bucket, which is just a random grouping of years. Then think about what key experiences—activities or events—you definitely want to have during your lifetime.

Filling Your Time Buckets As you time-bucket your life, you parcel out a single list of experiences into different and distinct time sections of your life.

Try

Time buckets are proactive and let you plan your life; a bucket list, on the other hand, is a much more reactive effort in a sudden race against time.

Rule No. 8: Know when to stop growing your wealth.

survival threshold = 0.7 × (cost to live one year) × (years left to live)

unless you are an exception, you ought to start spending your wealth down much earlier than what is traditionally recommended. If you wait until you’re 65 or even 62 to dip into your nest egg, you will almost certainly end up working longer than necessary for money you will never get to spend.

Rule No. 9: Take your biggest risks when you have little to lose.

when the upside of possible success is much greater than the downside of possible failure. When you face asymmetric risk, it makes total sense to be bold, to grab the opportunity at hand.

If you’ve given something your all, you’ll get a lot of positive memories out of the experience no matter what happens.

being bold is an investment in your future happiness—and

The idea is that it’s always good to invest in experiences—but it’s especially good to do it when you’re young. Well, a similar logic applies to being bold: When you’re older, some risks become more foolish than bold.

Don’t wait. Do the bold thing now, rather than in retirement, because the go-go years are very short. In general, this whole “I’ll wait to do this when I’m retired” is a massive blunder.

what’s easy shouldn’t determine what you do. Don’t let difficulty dissuade you from living your best life!

being brave enough to spend your hard-earned money.

People are more afraid of running out of money than wasting their life, and that’s got to switch. Your biggest fear ought to be wasting your life and time, not Am I going to have x number of dollars when I’m 80?

live your life to the fullest now: Chase memorable life experiences, give money to your kids when they can best use it, donate money to charity while you’re still alive. That’s the way to live life. Remember: In the end, the business of life is the acquisition of memories.