Die With Zero by Bill Perkins

Posted on by Patrick Sherriff

This book has really helped me reshape what I think about preparing for retirement, and my life in fact.

Here’s what I’ve taken from this book:

  1. People typically save too much for retirement out of misplaced fear or inertia (they just keep working and saving instead of valuing their time and spending what they have earlier).
  2. If you die with thousands (or millions) in the bank, you have failed to make use of the time represented by the riches you stored up.
  3. Money is all well and good, but beyond covering a basic subsistence level, what money buys you is experiences
  4. There is a time and place for experiences. Consider the 20-year-old and the 80-year-old. The 20-year-old could have a helluva time with $10,000. The 80-year-old would probably just as well stay home and read a book.
  5. What about the children? Well, if you die in your 80s your children will be in their 60s. Do they really need the funds you’ve accumulated? Wouldn’t they benefit far more from your money when they are in their 20s and 30s? Want to give your money to charity? Wouldn’t those in need benefit from your gifts now more than later when you are dead?
  6. You don’t need as much funds stored up for retirement as the usual recommended amounts. Afterall, the “4% rule” guarantees you will die with your nest egg intact (what’s the point of that?) Furthermore, since you will likely invest most of your retirement funds, this amount will earn interest too, so you typically need just 70% of your “number”, the expected amount you need before you can afford to retire.
  7. What if you need medical care in your dying days? Well, why save enourmous amounts of money to blow it all on the last three months of your life chasing diminishing returns that might buy you a few more days or weeks? Better to spend down your funds living as healthy a life as you can when you can enjoy the money and it has a chance to improve your everyday experiences for years.
  8. Therefore, use your wealth now to maximise experiences fitting for you and your beneficiaries’ ages right now.
  9. Get yourself a countdown app to remind yourself everyday how many days you have until your likely death (say at age 80)! Nothing like a countdown to remind you how valuable everyday you have now is.

Makes sense to me.

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No. 1 of 50 books I intend to read and review in 2024.

I’m Patrick Sherriff, an Englishman who survived 13 years working for newspapers in the US, UK and Japan. Between teaching English lessons at my conversation school in Abiko, Japan, I write and illustrate textbooks for non-native speakers of English, release Hana Walker mystery novels, short stories, paint, sketch and write essays and Our Man in Abiko, a monthly newsletter  highlighting good writing in English, often about about Japan, art, crime fiction and teaching.