Today i want to talk about this interesting book called “Die with Zero” from Bill Perkins.
The interesting thing is that i kind of knew who Bill was before even knowing he wrote this book.
The reason for that is that i had already seen some of his interviews on TV ( He is on the investment industry, main expertise in commodities) and his social media is also too fun to ignore.
He is either scuba diving in some exotic place in the Bahamas, betting 500K on a random poker game or whatever stuff you could think of.
Then i found out he wrote this book called “Die with Zero” when he was invited to a podcast where he also explained a lot of his motivation to write that book.
Die with Zero
The main message behind this book was to get people into the conscious mindset that the money they are all working for is just a tool. But a tool for what?
Here is where he goes to explain on how most of us get lost and forget the real reasons we want money and also how it’s actually really easy to get lost.
For example, he goes on to give the example of the “FIRE” movement which stands for:
-Financial
-Independence
–Retire
–Early
I don’t think this needs further explanation but basically is a movement that prioritizes saving, investing, delaying gratification, being frugal.
All in order to be able to achieve “FIRE”.
It’s not that he is against it, he even says he was with that whole mindset himself when he was younger in his 20`s he was totally just thinking about making more $Moolah!
Meanwhile one of his friends was selling everything, didn’t have much $ and even went to a loan shark to ask for like a 20k loan which he then proceeded to use for traveling around Europe.
Now when he looks back at that moment in time, he totally understand the other point of view and he says he would totally would rather have spent his money at that time to make the trip. Instead of thinking in saving an extra $5,000 to invest.
The number of experiences, stories, and memories vs investing it into an S&P 500 Index FAR outweighs the return.
Zifush Travel
To share a little bit more about this point that Bill makes. I have my own personal experience with a similar story.
I was in my early 20`s when my best friend and I were both also with this “FIRE”mindset.
We had in mind starting this new business which would cost us about $2,500 usd or use that money to go to Thailand. In that moment we thought it was very wise of us to “invest” in the business and delay gratification so we could enjoy more travels further down the line.
To make long story short, after a year of work and our “$2,500” investment we made a whooping return of $0.
Here is where the point of Bill comes close to my own experience, as i now understand from a different point of view how choosing the experiences at certain moments of your life will pay off hugely.
The payment comes not in financial terms but in fulfillment-
As Bill says constantly, he wrote the book for him. Meaning he did mistakes and is writing all of this as reminder to himself and in the process, he is sharing it with the world.
What is your algorithm?
Another great point that i liked a lot was thinking in terms of guiding your life on your own personal algorithm.
We start with the basic understanding that we all have this main 3 pillars:
Wealth + Health + Time
Some people will be optimizing their life towards the Wealth pillar. That means for them missing birthday parties, special family moments, vacations, etc. Because they are prioritizing Wealth.
There may be other people who spend most of their time taking care of their diet, won’t go out for a drink with friends, because they don’t drink alcohol, or want to prioritize sleeping early, all in order to stay within their healthy parameters. Thus, their algorithm is for optimization of the health Pillar.
It is not that taking care of your wealth or health is wrong by any means. These are just examples to show the point of how sometimes the life of different people are working based on what they are optimizing for in life.
Here is where Bill introduces his personal philosophy which is optimizing for life fulfillment.
That means for example if you are having an upcoming trip with your friends, it may mean spending money for all the travel related costs (sacrificing the wealth pillar) and probably means staying up late, having some drinks and great talks till 4am (sacrificing a bit the health pillar).
But because Bill is optimizing toward life fulfillment, he is totally ok sacrificing a little bit of those things to get those experiences and stay with those memories.
Here a great quote from the book:
“The business of life is the acquisition of memories. In the end that’s all there is.”
Closing thoughts
This is a book that can really serve as a wakeup call.
Remember your own mortality as stoics reminded themselves with “Memento Mori”
Stop living in autopilot and delaying everything you want to achieve or experience in this life for a later date that may NEVER arrive.
In the book he also touches some other great points like the “time” in which some experiences may be better suited. Thinking in asymmetric terms, of course as he is a finance and investment guy, he gives great metaphors that made it much more enjoyable for me.
Overall and most important is that i could totally relate to what he is talking about and not because is something new.
I have already heard many of the things he shares but his specific thought process and how he manages to solve the challenges we all face with his own algorithm for life is something unique and that I also find refreshing.
It is really a book worthwhile paying close attention but the most important thing DOING something about it.