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The cover of Die with Zero

Die with Zero

Bill Perkins, 2020

Bill Perkins shows how to use money, health, and time for experiences that matter, while protecting future needs and giving when gifts can help most.

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10 parts, about 21 minutes to read.

Why read it

  • Treat money as life energy, so each purchase is weighed against the hours of work it cost and the experience it buys
  • Plan with time buckets: place experiences you want on a timeline in five or ten year intervals before the window closes
  • Decide when to give to children and charity, how to guard against outliving your money, and why zero is a direction

Who it is for

  • Disciplined savers who keep postponing enjoyment to a later life
  • Financially secure workers asking when extra earning stops being worth it
  • Parents weighing an inheritance against giving to children earlier

What the summary covers

  1. Make Money Serve a Finite Life3 min
  2. Invest in Experiences and Their Memories2 min
  3. Why Aim to Leave Less Unused2 min
  4. Protect Against Outliving Your Money2 min
  5. Give When a Gift Can Help3 min
  6. Rebalance Health, Money, and Free Time2 min
  7. Put Desired Experiences in Time Buckets2 min
  8. Choose a Wealth Peak After Securing Survival2 min
  9. Take Risks While You Can Recover2 min
  10. The Goal Is Direction, Not a Literal Zero1 min

Recommended by

  • Barbara CorcoranShark on Shark Tank, Founder of The Corcoran Group
    If you're wondering what the secret sauce is to living your life to the fullest at every stage without running your resources dry, then crack open this practical, timely book.
  • Kevin HartAward winning comedian and actor
    Bill Perkins' Die with Zero opens up a completely different avenue of thinking to realize that your life can be maximized through memorable experiences. Why wait? Being present is a priority. This book provides an amazing blueprint to living your life while using your resources correctly!
  • Laurence KotlikoffBoston University economics professor, author of Get What's Yours
    Bill Perkins' Die With Zero teaches us how to trade off money for something of real value
  • James AltucherAmerican hedge fund manager, bestselling author, podcaster and entrepreneur
    I really believe in this philosophy. You should read it and see all the different methods and philosophies and ways to figure this out in your own life.
  • W. Randall JonesManaging Director at Patriarch Partners, author of The Richest Man in Town
    This book brilliantly gives one a roadmap for living life over planning for death, for making a difference while you're here to see that difference become real, and for generating priceless memory dividends with friends and family which far exceeds the value of any portfolio. Read it and reap a richer, fuller and more exciting life.
  • David BachNew York Times bestselling author of The Automatic Millionaire
    In Die with Zero, Perkins presents a life-altering argument that we really need to start focusing on living our richest lives now, rather than waiting for our so-called golden years. I wholeheartedly agree. Read this book, change your thinking, and wake up to accumulating experiences now before it's too late.

About the author

  • Bill PerkinsEnergy hedge fund manager and author of Die with Zero
    • He was born William Osborne Perkins III on February 2, 1969, and works as a hedge fund manager, entrepreneur, author, film producer and poker player.
    • He grew up in Jersey City, New Jersey, and earned a B.S. in electrical engineering at the University of Iowa, where he walked on to the football team.
    • He started in 1991 as a trainee clerk on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
    • In 2002 he joined John Arnold's hedge fund Centaurus Energy, where he made notable trading profits.
    • After Centaurus closed in 2012 he founded Skylar Capital, a fund trading U.S. gas futures, options and swaps.
    • He is the founder and principal of Skylar Capital Management, co founder of the satellite imagery platform SkyFi, and co founder and president of the energy and maritime intelligence company SynMax.
    • As a poker player he has entered events including the World Series of Poker.
    • His 2020 book Die with Zero argues against hoarding money for decades instead of turning it into memorable experiences.

Read it alongside

  • Goes deeperThinking, Fast and Slow

    Bill Perkins says an experience that becomes a valued memory can keep paying a memory dividend after it ends. Daniel Kahneman finds that, in his studies of painful episodes, memory gives the peak and the ending disproportionate weight and shows little sensitivity to duration.

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