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

by Bill Perkins

For the ultra-healthy, the real outliers, the peak might be even higher than 60. And, obviously, if someone has an illness that portends early death, then their peak occurs before age 45.

Clearly, earnings growth also has a big effect on a person’s peak. Someone with rapid earnings growth hits their peak early.

Our culture’s focus on work is like a seductive drug. It takes all of your yearning for discovery and wonder and experiences, promising to give you the means (money) to get all those things—but the focus on the work and the money becomes so single-minded and automatic that you forget what you were yearning for in the first place.

The paper chase distracts

Isn’t it worth your while to think about what you value and put your money behind that?

Once you’ve finally determined your net worth peak, you must start spending down, or decumulating. This means you will be spending more in your real golden years, when you are in reasonably good shape in both health and wealth—between

For people used to accumulating wealth, decumulation doesn’t come naturally.

Switch to decumulating

every dollar you don’t spend at the right time will have far less value to you later, and in some cases it will bring you no enjoyment at all.

Dollar vallue declines with age

So after a while, they tend to find themselves adrift, feeling aimless and maybe even itching to go back to work, the one place they know they’ll have a built-in sense of purpose, belonging, and accomplishment. In the worst cases, this sense of aimlessness can even lead to anxiety and depression.

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

Gremlin

asymmetric risk: when the upside of possible success is much greater than the downside of possible failure.

The idea is that it’s always good to invest in experiences—but it’s especially good to do it when you’re young.

Notice that I’m not saying that being bold in situations of asymmetric risk always leads to success, the way it did for Mark Cuban. Sometimes things don’t go your way, no matter how hard you try. What I’m saying is that the “loss” is worth it—it

If you’re in your fifties, on the other hand, moving to Hollywood is not a great plan. At that point, chances are you now have people in your life who are truly depending on you, like a spouse and children. If that’s the case, your failure is no longer your own—it affects other people. It’s for the same reason that I stopped riding motorcycles and taking flying lessons once I had kids:

She was very afraid, though, that not having a job would make it hard for her to get a new job. It’s true that employers are often wary of hiring people who are unemployed—so quitting her job was a risk.

Don’t let difficulty dissuade you from living your best life!