Die with Zero (by Bill Perkins)
Die With Zero: Getting All You Can from Your Money and Your Life by Bill Perkins is a must read book for everyone regardless of where you are in your career or retirement. The purpose of this book is to make the most out of your life experiences, regardless of your income, and to challenge the messages we have been taught about retirement. Perkins, a hedge fund manager, does not provide investment advice. Everyone’s situation is different and I think Perkins does a great job relating to those early in their careers to those who are already enjoying their retirement years.
My husband and I ended up doing an unplanned buddy read of this book. He started reading the physical copy and relayed key points made by Perkins. I was intrigued so I listened to the audiobook. Perkins narrates the audiobook and does a really good job. The wisdom Perkins offers gave us a lot to discuss about not only our retirement plans, but our lifestyle.
Perkins consistently emphasizes investing in life experiences. Spending money on vacations while you can physically travel is important. Even taking advantage of resources that help with laundry or house cleaning so that one has more time to enjoy life instead of doing chores. There has been this message that people are expected to work hard and save money for retirement. Once people retire, that’s when they are supposed to spend their money and enjoy themselves with hobbies and traveling. In reality, a lot of people retire around 62 or 65 which doesn’t leave as much time to enjoy life, as we may think during our working years. Perkins advocates that we enjoy our lives to the fullest now and not wait.
For those of you with children, Perkins also addresses people who think it’s their duty to leave money for their kids to inherit. He also ties in leaving money to charities when he covers this topic. He encourages people to give money to their kids and charities now, when these groups are most likely to need the money. This can also provide enjoyment for the giver to see their kids or charities put their money to good use.
Another message Perkins brings to light is that people often worry they will not have enough money to support themselves for their entire life. He points out that most people with this worry don’t run out of money before they die. In fact, the older we get, the less money we spend. Actually dying with zero is unlikely. The point of the book isn’t to literally die with zero money in your bank account as it is to reframe how we think about money, life experiences, and retirement. Perkins repeats, invest in life experiences!
This book is enlightening and has given us a lot to consider about upcoming retirement plans. It came into our awareness at the best time for us. I enjoy Perkins’ philosophy and look forward to doing our best to Die with Zero. I’m confident we will have fun trying!
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