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

This book captures all the things you are thinking about when it comes to Life and money. I think the title does a disservice to the book because the goal is to Live life to the fullest and die with as few as regrets as possible. And if you don’t have any money left it is ok. I have read it twice and given it to my five college friends and others. It is a a must read Also it shows /approves that after a lifetime of accumulating it is time to spend some money before it is too late. Mostly on making Memories

Book arrived as described and in acceptable time

A book that challenges the logic of working too long to accumulate wealth that you may not be able to enjoy in old age due to say health issues. He recommends spending on favourite activities when you have energy and health.if you plan to give to your children or charity don't wait until you are dead do it now. Literally at end die with Zero.

I think this is a great little book. It was a short read, but was packed with a lot of great information. The overarching concept itself makes a LOT of sense, and really generated a lot of thoughts as to whether or not my priorities are in the right place. It also addresses some of the elephants in the room...what about an inheritance for the kids, what about your favorite charity, etc. All these topics and more were addressed in a very thoughtful and common sense way.I have already recommended this book to a few friends. I would recommend it to anyone thinking about making the most of their time remaining on this earth, even if you think you have a long way to go!

Die With Zero contains a controversial and thought-provoking concept, which is to plan your life so that you purposely spend all of your wealth by the time you die. To maximize a person’s life, the author (Bill Perkins - NOT a financial advisor) recommends that most people should begin spending down on their retirement savings between 45 and 60 years of age (depending on one’s estimated life expectancy) so that they will reach zero net worth by the time they pass away. In theory, this plan is a great idea. In reality, this idea is impractical and down-right dangerous given that it’s impossible to predict the timing of one’s demise.I strongly disagree with many of the points in this book, starting with the notion that any money earned during a person’s career is “wasted” to the extent that the person dies before spending it. In other words, the author is saying that money has no value unless it is spent during one’s lifetime. In my opinion, this is wrong for several reasons. As just one example, having savings in the bank gives many folks the feeling of financial peace and security. If you don’t believe such a feeling is valuable, just ask anyone who has ever lost sleep worrying over unpaid bills or a lack of retirement savings.With that said, I found other points in the book that are worthwhile, including:1) everyone should be mindful of how they spend their time and money (i.e., consider whether the daily Starbucks routine is a better choice than saving for front row concert tickets or a summer vacation and regardless how you answer that question, it’s empowering to know you have a choice),2) a fulfilling life has more to do with amassing memorable experiences than increasing the size of one’s bank account,3) plan to spend some money on experiences while you can still physically participate (don’t wait til retirement to buy a ski boat b/c most 70 year olds can't water ski),4) retirement planning should include the concept that spending varies during your golden years (most retirees are more active/spend more $$$ in early retirement and less as their health declines), and5) deferred gratification (i.e., saving for an emergency or retirement) is wise, but denied gratification is not smart (i.e., work until you die without stopping to smell the flowers along the way).Overall, I completely disagree agree with the main message in this book. Personally, I’d rather die with a pile of unspent money than take a chance of outliving my savings and end up eating dog food for my remaining days on earth. For financial planning advice, I definitely don’t recommend this book. However, it is valuable in the sense that it provides a different perspective on retirement savings and made me think more about my future.

I should have read this book at younger age! Gaining more money is not the goal but living a memorable life is.

In America, the thought is often that whoever ends up with the most assets wins. But this book turns that truism on its head—and for the better. Rather than keeping score with money, the author convincingly argues that the number of memories you create is a far better indicator of a life well-lived. So why not spend all of your hard-earned wealth to travel, explore hobbies, throw parties, or find other leisure activities that feed your soul? The author’s engineering background comes into play as he offers sound guidance on how and when to deploy your assets for maximum contentedness, as well as how to overcome reservations about "decumulating" your net worth. And while he admits that dying with zero is practically impossible, his case for attempting to do so makes it worth the try.

The ideas shared in this book has turned the status quo upside down. Thank Bill for this insightful message of dying with zero.I will tell you though how I found this book. I have been wondering for years how does someone dies leaving hundreds and also millions in their bank account to the bank and the government. I saw this as a waste. No one, no charity they could have these monies to? Crazy!So I told myself will not die leaving millions behind to the ‘atmosphere’. And I asked myself how can I die with zero? With thank question I remembered Jim Rohn saying whatever you want to become study it and so I decided to find a book on the topic.Thanks again Bill for this treasure.