Intro
Today I’m summarizing Die With Zero, by Bill Perkins, one rule at a time. The book has nine rules, and I’ll give you the heart of each one in about thirty seconds.
A quick note before we start: I’m not a financial advisor, and the author says he is not one either. This is a summary of ideas, not advice for your situation.
Rule One
Rule one: maximize your positive life experiences. The book opens with a friend named Erin, whose husband John was diagnosed with a rare cancer in his thirties. Instead of working through it, the family stopped everything to spend time together while they still could.
The lesson is that your life is the sum of your experiences, and money is just a tool for creating them.
Rule Two
Rule two: start investing in experiences early. Perkins remembers a roommate who borrowed money to backpack across Europe for months, while Perkins stayed home to save.
The payoff is what he calls a memory dividend. A good experience keeps paying you back for the rest of your life, so the earlier you buy one, the more it returns.
Rule Three
Rule three: aim to die with zero. This does not mean spending your last dollar on your last day. It means that you stop living on autopilot, where the goal is always to earn and save more, and you plan to actually use what you have built.
Rule Four
Rule four: use all available tools to help you get there. The main example is the income annuity. Life insurance protects your family if you die too young. An annuity protects you against the opposite risk, living so long that you run out of money.
Perkins even describes an app he built to help people plan this out.
Rule Five
Rule five: give money to your children or to charity when it has the most impact. His argument is that waiting until you die is too late. In a poll of more than three thousand five hundred people, over half chose ages twenty six to thirty five as the best time to receive an inheritance.
So give when it can change a life, and enjoy watching it happen.
Rule Six
Rule six: do not live your life on autopilot. When Perkins was young, he saved almost everything, until his boss told him he was being an idiot. His salary was going to grow, so he should enjoy the present.
Many economists agree that young people should spend more and save less, because their earnings are likely to rise.
Rule Seven
Rule seven: think of your life as distinct seasons, and use time bucketing. Perkins tells a story about a movie his daughters loved, until one day his daughter was simply too old for it.
Some experiences have a window. Plan the ones that matter, by decade, before the window closes.
Rule Eight
Rule eight: know when to stop growing your wealth. For most people, he says, the best time for your net worth to peak is somewhere between forty five and sixty. After that, you should begin to spend down.
Rule Nine
Rule nine: take your biggest risks when you have little to lose. He uses Mark Cuban as an example of someone who started businesses young. If a bold move fails when you are twenty five, you have time to recover.
The Big Caveat
Now the part to keep in mind. In the conclusion, the author admits that dying with zero is an impossible task. You will not hit it exactly, and he says that is okay. The goal is to push you in the right direction.
He also says that the book is much more useful if you already have enough money, health, and free time to make real choices.
Where To Go Next
If one idea stuck with you, try the time bucket exercise this week. Write down three experiences you want in each decade of your life.
Links to the book are in the description below. Tell me in the comments which rule speaks to you most, and thanks for watching.
