Die With Zero: Getting All You Can from Your Money and Your Life

Die With Zero: Getting All You Can from Your Money and Your Life is a personal finance and lifestyle philosophy book written by Bill Perkins, a successful hedge fund manager, entrepreneur, and professional poker player. Published in 2020, this self-help and personal finance book challenges conventional wisdom about saving and retirement. Perkins draws on his background in risk management and decision theory to present a counterintuitive argument against excessive saving. The book gained significant attention in financial circles for its provocative premise that contradicts traditional retirement planning advice, advocating instead for a balanced approach that emphasizes spending on meaningful experiences throughout life rather than accumulating wealth for its own sake. In Die With Zero, Perkins presents a framework for maximizing life satisfaction by strategically allocating resources across one’s lifespan, arguing that the ultimate goal should be to use all of one’s money before death rather than leaving substantial inheritances.

This study guide refers to the 2020 Mariner Books edition.

Summary

In Die With Zero, Bill Perkins challenges conventional financial wisdom with a simple yet provocative philosophy: Life is better when one focuses on accumulating experiences rather than wealth. The book argues that people should aim to use all their financial resources by the end of their lives instead of dying with substantial assets.

Perkins begins by reinterpreting Aesop’s fable of the ant and grasshopper. In the traditional story, the diligent ant stores food for winter while the carefree grasshopper plays, leading to the ant’s survival and the grasshopper’s demise when winter arrives. While acknowledging the value of preparation, Perkins questions whether the ant ever truly enjoys life. This frames his central argument that surviving is not enough—people should strive to thrive through meaningful experiences.

The book presents money as stored “life energy,” which represents the hours one has spent working. This perspective shifts financial decisions from abstract monetary considerations to concrete life trade-offs—every dollar spent or saved represents a portion of one’s finite lifetime dedicated to earning that money.

Perkins distinguishes between material possessions that depreciate and experiences that appreciate in value over time through what he terms “memory dividends.” Unlike material possessions, experiences provide memory dividends that continue to deliver value through memories long after the experience ends: People can reminisce and tell stories about their past experiences, and each time they do so, they can feel just as joyful as when they first had the experience.

Perkins argues that early investment in experiences maximizes their lifetime value. Just as financial investments compound over time, experiences acquired in youth generate returns over many decades. Many experiences also have natural timing—for instance, many physical adventures are better suited to youth, when one’s health is naturally stronger. This contradicts traditional financial advice that encourages indefinite postponement of gratification.

The book’s core principle—aiming to die with $0—challenges the tendency to accumulate wealth beyond what can be meaningfully used. Perkins cites economist Franco Modigliani’s life-cycle hypothesis, which suggests rational individuals should deplete their wealth by death to maximize utility. The author also references research that shows most Americans continue accumulating wealth into their seventies, with many retirees actually increasing their assets after retirement—a pattern he considers irrational.

Retirement spending follows a predictable arc of declining consumption that Perkins categorizes into three distinct phases, highlighting how excessive saving for later years often results in unused resources. Consumption naturally declines with age through what are termed “go-go,” “slow-go,” and “no-go” periods—the successive phases that people go through after they retire and crack into their nest eggs. Perkins argues that this diminishing ability to enjoy experiences means excessive saving often results in wasted resources. The book quantifies this waste in terms of life energy—showing how dying with assets represents time spent working for no ultimate benefit.

While acknowledging that achieving exactly zero assets at death is impossible without knowing one’s precise death date, Perkins offers practical strategies for approaching this ideal. These include using life expectancy calculators and establishing a personal “survival threshold”—the minimum amount needed for basic expenses through the end of life.

Strategic inheritance planning forms another key principle. On average, most people receive inheritances around age 60, long past when financial assistance would have maximum impact. Perkins suggests the optimal time for wealth transfers falls between ages 26 and 35, when recipients have developed maturity but still face significant life opportunities and challenges. This extends to charitable giving as well, advocating for “giving while living” rather than posthumous donations. Perkins encourages parents to deliberately plan the timing of financial gifts to children, calculating when those resources would provide maximum benefit rather than defaulting to traditional inheritance after death. He argues this intentional approach transforms legacy from a passive, randomly timed windfall into a strategic investment in loved ones’ most formative and impactful years, ultimately creating more value for both the giver and recipient.

Perkins’s “time-bucketing” approach also provides a practical framework for life planning. This involves dividing life into periods (typically 5 to 10 years) and allocating desired experiences to each period. Unlike traditional bucket lists created near life’s end, time buckets represent a proactive strategy that recognizes each life phase offers unique opportunities. Perkins advises people to temporarily set aside financial concerns when initially creating these time buckets, so that they can focus instead on identifying which experiences naturally belong in specific life stages based on physical capabilities, family circumstances, and personal interests. He encourages regular review and adjustment of these time buckets as circumstances change, emphasizing that this structured approach prevents the unconscious deferral of meaningful experiences until they’re no longer possible or enjoyable.

Perkins believes that most people should reach their maximum net worth—what he calls their “net worth peak”—between ages 45 and 60, after which they should begin spending down assets deliberately. Waiting beyond this range, he says, often results in diminished fulfillment as declining health limits the ability to enjoy experiences regardless of financial resources. This runs counter to conventional financial wisdom that typically encourages continuous wealth accumulation throughout life and conservative spending in retirement. Rather than focusing primarily on avoiding the risk of outliving one’s money, Perkins argues that people should be equally concerned about the opposite risk—dying with substantial unused assets, which represents wasted life energy and missed opportunities for meaningful experiences. By identifying a deliberate net worth peak and planning for strategic spending thereafter, individuals can optimize their lifetime fulfillment rather than maximizing the size of their estate.

The book addresses how resources naturally shift throughout life’s stages. Young adults typically have health and time but lack money; middle-aged individuals often have money but limited time; elderly people may have time and money but declining health. At each stage, Perkins advises exchanging abundant resources to acquire scarce ones.

Taking calculated risks represents another core principle of the book, with greater risk-taking recommended when potential losses are minimal—typically in youth when recovery time is greater. For older individuals, Perkins argues that boldness should manifest through spending accumulated wealth on meaningful experiences rather than continuing to save.

Perkins concludes by acknowledging that while achieving exactly zero assets at death remains technically impossible, the pursuit itself creates value by shifting focus from wealth accumulation toward experience maximization. The book’s ultimate message emphasizes that life’s purpose lies in accumulating memories rather than wealth—a journey that should begin immediately rather than being perpetually postponed.