Die With Zero

By:  Bill Perkins

Finished: 12/26/2024

What’s it about:  How to live a life with the most fulfillment as is possible.  Centrally, how to spend your money on enjoyment in life and not to hoard cash you will never use.

Main takeaway: As I was searching around for a few of the things the book discussed, I saw there seems to be a little bit of hate around the book.  A lot of people think that “this is tone deaf.  Sure, if you’re a millionaire energy trader (bill is) this is great advice.  But for the rest of us, this is stupid!”

Fair point.  

But a book about strength training will also fall on deaf ears for a paraplegic.  There are thousands of books about making more money, FIRE, investing, trading, etc.   If that’s what you are looking for, go ahead and buy that book.  It just so happens I probably fall on the other (fortunate) side.

The book definitely had me thinking about how much money I actually need in my life. I’ve been lucky in the businesses that I have started have performed quite well. 

I have gotten to a point where a million dollars is of course a lot, but it’s no longer some unattainable pie in the sky number.  

I went into an annuity calculator, which Bill talks about in a few different places of the book and tried to calculate how much money I would need to live the rest of my life. 

If I was to buy an annuity for 1.5 million dollars on 12/31/2025 (give me about a year to get the money) I could receive $7,000 every month for life.  $84,000 is plenty to live a nice but modest life off off!  Sure, sure, I hear what you were saying about inflation.  But that’s 7,000 through thick or thin, good or bad.  Essentially, that’s a safety net that will be with you for the next 50 years.  

It definitely makes you think about how you may be able to live your life in a way that’s more conducive to your other goals such as experiences and enjoyment.

Bill also hammers home the point:  there is a season in life for everything.  Once you leave that season (say maybe age 40), there’s probably no more skiiing, boxing, marathons, downhill biking, weeklong backpack trips, and so on.  Your health fades far before your wealth.  So the main idea is to get your ass out there and live life while you can! I love it.  I don’t want to waste my best years of health in an office, even though I love building my business.  It makes your think!