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

by Bill Perkins

This kind of blanket denial explains why so many people are willing to spend tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars to prolong life for just a few more weeks. Think about it: 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 is!

Of the more than 3,500 people who voted on this question, very few (only 6 percent) said the ideal age to inherit money is 46 or older. Another 29 percent voted for ages 36 to 45, while only 12 percent said 18 to 25. The clear winner, with more than half the votes, was the age range 26 to 35.

If you have the means to give money to your children, then you have the power to control when they receive it.

once you have enough money to take care of your family’s basic needs, then by going to work to earn more money, you might actually be depleting your kids’ inheritance because you are spending less time with them! And the richer you already are, the more likely this is to be true.

Ability to Enjoy Experiences Based on Health Everyone's health declines with age. Wealth, on the other hand, tends to grow over the years as people save up more and more. But worsening health gradually constrains your enjoyment of that wealth as more and more physical activities become impossible to enjoy, no matter how much money you can afford to spend on them.

the day I die and the day I stop being able to enjoy certain experiences are two distinctly different dates. And this is true for everyone.

for every additional day you spend working, you sacrifice an equivalent amount of free time, and

during that time your health gradually declines, too.