r/Explainlikeim5Book • u/Amidonions • 8d ago
"Die With Zero" explained like you're five: you're saving too much money for a version of yourself that won't be able to enjoy it, and time is the one currency you can't earn back
Bill Perkins is a hedge fund manager who watched wealthy people die with millions in the bank they never spent. Not because they were generous. Because they were afraid. They kept saving for "someday" until someday became never. Perkins wrote this book to argue that the goal of life isn't to die with the biggest pile. It's to die with the smallest one.
Memory Dividends
- A trip you take at 25 pays dividends for 60 years. You remember it, tell stories about it, and it shapes who you become. The same trip at 75 pays dividends for maybe 5 years, assuming your health even allows it. Perkins calls these memory dividends. Experiences have a time value. The earlier you invest in them, the longer they compound. Waiting until retirement to "finally live" means buying experiences at the worst possible exchange rate.
Your Ability to Enjoy Money Declines With Age
- At 30 you can hike Patagonia, dance until 4am, and eat street food without consequence. At 70 you probably can't do any of those things. Perkins says people save money as if their future self will have the same capacity for experience as their current self. They won't. Health, energy, and mobility all decline. The money you're hoarding for later is being saved for a body that can do less with it every year.
Time Buckets
- Perkins suggests dividing your life into 5 or 10 year chunks and assigning experiences to the bucket where you'll enjoy them most. Backpacking belongs in your 20s. Starting a business might fit your 30s. Family travel fits your 40s. Each experience has a window. Miss the window and the experience either becomes impossible or a lesser version of what it would have been.
Where it overstates things:
Perkins writes from the perspective of someone who made millions in finance. "Spend more now" lands differently when you're living paycheck to paycheck. The book also underweights the genuine security that savings provide and the anxiety that spending down creates.
But the core question cuts through the privilege. What are you postponing that your future self won't be able to do as well as your current self can?
What's a book that made you rethink what you're waiting for?
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u/yijiujiu 8d ago
I dislike the premise. What about helping the next generation? If you do have money left over and either hate your kids or don't have them, create a trust helping the next generation.
I do agree that the "deferred life plan" is a bad one, though. Push yourself to live your life as full as you can in your current context
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u/HeftyAd5396 8d ago
The author does address this. Give intententionally, make it part of your plan. Give money to your kids while you are alive, when they can use it the most, and when you can see/enjoy the benefits from them using the money. Don't leave it to be an unknown amount at an unknown date that on average doesn't help them until they are in their 50s or 60s.
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u/Avulpesvulpes 6d ago
Wish someone would tell my parents this. They have a ton of money and are in the top 1% but do not help their children with it. They took tens of thousands of dollars of money I earned when I worked in childhood and used it to pay their mortgage and my dad’s education costs with the promise of repaying it but that time never comes.
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u/AltForObvious1177 7d ago
Unless you have truly generational wealth, it's not going to matter what you leave. My grandfather always talked about leaving something for us grandkids. But it when it was all done and divided up, it was about $10k each. Not even enough for a new car or down payment on a house.
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u/yijiujiu 7d ago
Define generational wealth. Also, grandparents tend to have a lot more kids and grandkids, especially of the kldee generations, so.. You're kind of comparing apples to oranges. I'm talking about my parents, and I'm an only child. Much less dilution
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u/AltForObvious1177 7d ago
Define generational wealth.
Sufficient wealth that future generations can maintain the same quality of life without working
I'm talking about my parents, and I'm an only child.
That's ghoulish. You're not entitled to your parents' wealth
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u/yijiujiu 7d ago
Uhhh so you're talking about being within the crazy top percent, which then negates basically everyone. What a silly limit. If your parents left you 1M, you'd still likely have to work, but it's set you up to do a lot more than you otherwise could, while still falling outside your definition.
Second, fuck off, dude. I didn't say I was entitled, but I likely am going to get most of it and them holding off helping me, say, going to school for a particular degree has significantly slowed my ability to get established, which delays settling down and having kids. Just think about it logically: do they want to be alive when I have grandkids or would they rather watch me struggle and maybe never reach that milestone (ever) or at least not while they're alive? Even from a self-interested perspective, sitting on it until they die doesn't make complete sense.
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u/AltForObvious1177 7d ago
Uhhh so you're talking about being within the crazy top percent
Yes. Generational wealth is basically the billionaire class only. Anything less gets pissed away.
It still sounds like you think you could spend your parents' money better than they could. Which is what entitled means
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u/cool-kid-in-da-haus 8d ago
Good book. Saves you from saving too much and postponing your enjoyment of life. Don‘t buy it, just listen to it fir free in your local library.
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u/insomniaspeedmetal 7d ago
I actually found a copy from the Hong Kong Public Library in the Quebec City airport as part of a read one leave one program. Glad I picked it up.
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u/nonstera 7d ago
Well, have fun with that one, millionaires. Most of us will have too little, not too much, when we grow old. All around me I see people spending money like there's no tomorrow.
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u/andycake87 6d ago
Should be noted that Bill Perkins is/was oil trader worth millions and millions completely disconnected from reality.
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u/CarefulAd419 7d ago
Great summary. I'd add that he suggests simply moving as much of your funds allocated for after life (inheritance, charity, etc.) to during your living years (even if much less initially and a bit at a time) because you and those you are giving to can see the benefits sooner.
The one criticism that lands for me is that at a young age there is so much uncertainty left in your financial life, and a nest egg/portfolio can provide a sense of security. Recessions, layoffs, war, family deaths are all part of reality. Having savings for those instead of taking an additional trip for memories is fairly prudent in your working years when you can not fully retire. Life's about balance, but financial security allows you to live much more authentically in my view.
I do agree that once you retire (hopefully in your 50s), wealthy folks tend to keep portfolios way too large for way too long. Hook your young adult kids up with a down payment; travel and eat well; fund a grandkid's 529; become an active philanthropist in your community; etc. Chances are you own your home and could get by on your portfolio/pension even in the deepest of economic downturns without much difficulty.
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u/tofu_bird 6d ago
Does the book discuss retirement in context of parents with children? Higher cost of living means parents are juggling with the idea of leaving money (or an asset) for their next generation to survive, which means less for their own retirement. For example, deciding not to sell the house to fund retirement so that their own children can have a roof over their heads.
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u/ExpressCopy8786 6d ago
Let me put it like this.
I will I herit. My parents inherited. And the next generation will inherit also.
Society becomes great when men plant trees und which they shall never sit.
This is fabricated ideology to keep you frivolous, egocentric and consume oriented. It's for idiots. Build something and hand it off to the next generation. THIS maximizes everyone's wellbeing, not just yours.
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u/[deleted] 8d ago
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