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

by Bill Perkins

Rule No. 1: Maximize your positive life experiences.

too many people delay gratification for too long, or indefinitely. They put off what they want to do until it’s too late, saving money for experiences they will never enjoy. Living

want you to plan for your future—but never in such a way that you forget to enjoy the present.

Rule No. 2: Start investing in experiences early.

The main idea here is that your life is the sum of your experiences. This just means that everything you do in life—all the daily, weekly, monthly, annual, and once-in-a-lifetime experiences you have—adds up to who you are.

you should put some serious thought and effort into planning the kinds of experiences that you want for yourself.

That was when I realized that you retire on your memories. When you’re too frail to do much of anything else, you can still look back on the life you’ve lived and experience immense pride, joy, and the bittersweet feeling of nostalgia.

“There is a time for work and a time for play.”

Experiences yield dividends because we humans have memory.

whereas material objects can be replaced, memories are priceless.

experiences we want are learning, skiing, watching our children grow, traveling, enjoying great meals with friends, advancing a political cause, attending live concerts,

You have to go to school, and in science class you’re told you have to dissect a frog. You might say, “I don’t want to dissect this frog.” But then your teacher says, “If you don’t dissect this frog, you’re going to get an F in this course.” So you say, “Okay, I’ll dissect the frog.” You’re not given much of a choice there. But when you become an adult, you get to choose many of your experiences: You get to think about how you want to explore life and to decide for yourself where to invest your time and your money, and when to make these investments.

Making deliberate choices about how to spend your money and your time is the essence of making the most of your life energy.

Recommendations Remember that “early” is right now. Of those experiences you thought about earlier, think about which ones would be appropriate to invest in today, this month, or this year. If you’re resisting having them now, consider the risk of not having them now. Think about the people you’d like to have experiences with—and picture the memory dividends you stand to gain from having those experiences sooner rather than later. Think about how you can actively enhance your memory dividends. Would it help you to take more photos of your experiences? To plan reunions with people you’ve shared good times with in the past? Compile a video or a photo album?

Rule No. 3: Aim to die with zero.

Bear in mind that every choice you make affects subsequent choices—and the choice to have children is the most common example of that.

causes would be better off getting your wealth sooner rather than later.

Recommendations If you’re still concerned and resisting the idea of dying with zero, try to figure out where this psychological resistance comes from. If you love your job, and you love going to work every day, identify ways that you can spend your money on activities that fit your work schedule.

Rule No. 4: Use all available tools to help you die with zero.

Make “maximize total life enjoyment” your mantra, using it to guide every decision—including

That’s money that they spent years or decades working hard for. They gave up years of their life while healthy and vibrant to buy a few extra weeks of life when they are sick and immobile. If that’s not irrational, I don’t know what

If you’re nervous about someday running out of money before you die, then spend some time looking to annuities as a possible solution.

Give money to your children or to charity when it has the most impact.

Consider at what ages you want to give money to your children, and how much you want to give. The same goes with giving money to charity. Discuss these issues with your spouse or partner. And do it today!

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

when time and money are no longer a problem, health is.

Recommendations Think about your current physical health: What life experiences can you have now that you might not be able to have later? Think of one way in which you can invest your time or your money to improve your health and thereby improve all of your future life experiences. Learn about how to improve your eating habits to improve your health. Of the many books on this subject, the one I know well and always recommend is Eat to Live, by Joel Fuhrman, M.D. Do more of the physical activities that you already enjoy (such as dancing or hiking) that will also improve your enjoyment of future experiences. If your ability to enjoy experiences is more constrained by time than by

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

But I’m sure you already have some ideas about which experiences you’d want to have at some point, some perhaps more than once. For example, you might want to have a child, run the Boston Marathon, hike the Himalayas, build a house, file a patent, start a business, volunteer for Doctors Without Borders, dine at a Michelin-star restaurant, attend the Sundance Film Festival, go skiing 50 times, go to the opera, take a cruise to Alaska, read 20 classic novels, attend the Super Bowl, compete in a Scrabble tournament, visit Yellowstone, see autumn in Vermont, take your kids to Disneyland three times, and so on. You get the idea. Be as creative as you want.

Recommendations If time-bucketing your whole life feels a bit overwhelming, just do the exercise with three time buckets covering the next 30 years. Know you can always add more to your list; just do it long before your age and health become a real factor. If you have children, think about your own version of the Heffalump movie: What one experience do you want to have more of with them in the next year or two, before that phase of their life and your life is over?

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

Invest in experiences that yield long-lasting memories, always bear in mind that everyone’s health declines with age, give your money to your children before you die instead of saving for their inheritance, and learn to balance current enjoyment with later gratification. But even though I’m a big believer in these principles,

Don’t get me wrong: I’m not telling you when you should retire—as I explain in the next section—only when you should start spending more than you earn.

Calculate your annual survival cost based on where you plan to live in retirement. Consult your doctor to get a read on your biological age and mortality; get all the objective tests you can afford that give you the status of your current health and eventual decline. Given your own health and history, think about when your enjoyment of those activities is likely to start declining in a noticeable way on an annual basis—and how the activities you love will be affected by this decline.

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

Quantify the Fear: The Case for Moving One of the biggest ways people avoid bold action is an aversion to moving and travel. Many people won’t even consider moving to a different city, and when an opportunity far from home does arise, I often hear them saying things like “I won’t know anybody there” or “I want to stay close to my mom.” It’s amazing to me that people will root themselves and not seek any new life adventure because they are fearful of moving away from two or three people; if you do that, it’s like letting those two or three people choose where you live.

that they are willing to pay

Recommendations Identify opportunities that you’re not taking that pose little to risk to you. Always remember that you’re better off taking more chances when you are younger than when you’re older. Look at the fears that are holding you back, rational or irrational. Don’t let irrational fears get in the way of your dreams. Realize that at every moment you have a choice. The choices you make reflect your priorities, so be sure you’re making those choices deliberately.

Remember: In the end, the business of life is the acquisition of memories.