Is Planning To Die With Zero A Great Idea… Or A Risky One?

I read the book Die with Zero a few months ago. Based on what I’d heard from others who’d read it, I had a feeling that it would either change my life or I’d completely hate it.

My reaction was neither of those things. I disliked certain parts of the book, yet was inspired by others.

These mixed feelings are probably why it took me five months to gather the motivation to write this book review. Luckily, I took good notes (being the big nerd I am).

Die with Zero: A Book Review

Die with Zero is a book by Bill Perkins that talks about the perils of over-saving for retirement and missing out on too many life experiences, as a result.

In this book, the author shares his philosophy for getting the most out of your money. This includes aiming to spend it all before you die. Said another way, aiming to die with zero dollars.

Since most people will have trouble saving enough to retire at all, there is obviously a very limited audience for this book.

Additionally, the author is not suggesting that we should blow our money on frivolous things to keep up with the Jones’s. He’s suggesting that we take a look at our goals and assess how much money we really need to save.

Rather than working harder or longer to die with millions, why not spend more now on experiences that bring us joy and help us live a fuller life?

Although I had many issues with this book, it’s an important reminder that we are not promised a tomorrow. There is no glory in dying with millions if you didn’t make the most of the life you were given.

A word of warning… this book is not for everyone.

Die With Zero encourages a lifestyle of higher spending. If overspending is a trigger, this is not the right book for you.

Although the overall message is admirable, I believe that some of the behaviors idolized within the book are dangerous.

Because of this, I would NOT recommend the book if you are deeply in debt, have a negative or very low savings rate, or if you have trouble controlling spending (or other addictions).

The ideal target audience for this book appears to be anyone who is financially secure, yet is overly frugal or focused on saving more, to the point where they’re missing out on living life.

Want to give this book a read?

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Why I was so excited to read this book

Besides the number of people on social media who proclaimed that this book changed their lives, I was excited to see if it would help me overcome my scarcity mindset.

That’s right, I have a scarcity mindset. It’s one of my many flaws.

Despite having never experienced poverty (I grew up privileged) and reaching financial independence by age 40, I still haven’t been able to shake it.

For as long as I can remember, I’ve just had this irrational fear of losing it all. Why, is still a mystery to me.

In many ways, having a scarcity mindset has helped us get to where we are today. Being uber frugal, striving for career advancement, and avoiding big financial risks makes it easier to save money and stay out of debt.

However, this mindset has also held me back in many ways. It’s kept me from being as generous as I’d like and from fully enjoying life and all the experiences money can buy.

I’m still very much a work in progress. Proof that you can be a millionaire and still have messed up money issues.

Die With Zero book review… let’s start with the bad

I have to start with the bad here. Within the first two chapters of the book, I found multiple anecdotes which glorified reckless financial decisions or advice… in my opinion.

Frankly, I was skeptical about the notion of aiming to die with zero to begin with. It’s pretty risky to aim for zero, given all the uncertainties when planning for retirement. However, these stories turned me off even more, despite the fact that there were indeed some really great points made later in the book.

If you’ve been following my blog, you’ll know that I’m overly sensitive to the inclusion of nuance. While I credit the author with attempting to address nuance multiple times, I just couldn’t get past my initial reaction to these stories.

So, what got me so worked up?

Two things.

The first was in Chapter 1, where the author recounts the early days of his career. His boss effectively made fun of him for trying to live within his means… which were very low at the time. This boss told him not to spend based on his current salary, but rather, his potential to earn. Spend more than you make. The tone was that this was wise advice. I strongly disagree.

This was taken a step further in the next chapter, where the author shares a story about his coworker. This coworker, who was also making a salary under $20,000, wanted to backpack around Europe. Cool, right?

However, his means of doing so were super risky. Rather than saving up for the trip or finding ways to travel for less, this coworker took out a $10,000 loan from a loan shark to fund 3-months of gallivanting around Europe. Did he have fun and create awesome memories? Of course!

However, I found it completely irresponsible to idolize this type of behavior in a personal finance book.

Being buried under high-interest debt and FOMO is enough of a problem for people these days, without someone encouraging you to go further into debt.

Clearly it worked out okay in this example, or the author wouldn’t have included the story. However, it was much more likely to end badly.

Please, don’t spend money that you don’t have.

You don’t have to be fresh out of college to enjoy cheap travel around Europe. I know, because I did it in my early 30’s, and it was still amazing.

Additionally, going big isn’t the only way to experience life. Life is full of potential experiences, regardless of your age or bank account, many of which don’t require a $10,000 loan.

Die With Zero book review: The good stuff

Despite my qualms above, Die With Zero had many redeeming qualities.

There were several great points made within its pages. Plus, it’s a message that some people, including myself, would benefit from hearing.

Will we aim to Die with Zero after reading it? Absolutely not.

I’m too risk adverse. Just as an emergency fund provides us with cushion from unforeseen events or bad estimates, so does saving on the higher end of what you think you’ll need for retirement.

We are not aiming to die with millions. However, I don’t mind leaving some extra behind if it prevents be from losing sleep from worrying about having enough. You do know that stress will kill you, right?

The author offered interesting commentary and some potential solutions for the many reasons people tend to over-save for retirement. Yet, none of them convinced me that we should aim for zero.

That said, the book did inspire me to reconsider our spending habits and whether we are indeed missing out on some enjoyable life experiences by not loosening the purse strings.

My conclusion? We probably are.

At the rate we’re currently saving money (and still making it), we’ll probably die with much more than we need. How much more is unknown. But perhaps I’ve taken us a little to far on the “frugal” spectrum.

Maybe it’s time to let go of the spending guilt and move the goal post closer to zero than it currently lies.

As such, we’re increasing our 2022 budget and reassessing our FIRE Number. More on this next month…

Some other takeaways from the book

Although I took issue with a few of the points made within the book, there were several that resonated with me. Here are a few.

Don’t be the grasshopper… or the ant

Have you ever heard the cautionary tale about the ant who worked all the time gathering food for the winter and the grasshopper who played all day instead? Unsurprisingly, the grasshopper starves to death when winter comes.

In most cultures we celebrate the ant for his hard work and ability to delay gratification. It’s hard to idolize the dead grasshopper.

The author makes a great point that neither extreme is ideal, which is true for most things. Those of us who are frugal, super-savers might benefit from acting a little bit more like the grasshopper.

Investing in experiences will pay you back in dividends

Life is the sum of our experiences. A rich life is one that’s full of memories and adventures.

Buying a new gadget or fancy car might provide you with a momentary boost in happiness, but those happiness levels will soon return to normal.

However, when we invest in experiences, we will be able to reminisce about those experiences for the rest of our life.

My partner and I worked abroad for a couple years before starting a family. During that time we travelled all over Europe… each location, a new adventure. That was several years ago now, and although the details of those memories have faded, the joyful feelings they invoke when I think back on that time have not.

Investing in experiences when you’re young will pay you dividends for longer.

However, you don’t need to follow the bad example in the beginning of the book. There are many ways to invest in experiences that don’t cost a lot of money. Afterall, your memories of that luxury vacation you couldn’t afford, are likely to become tainted if you spend the next several years stressed out about paying off the credit card bill.

Spend on experiences, but please do it within your means.

Delaying gratification too much will leave you with regrets

Our lives are made up of multiple seasons, and if we delay gratification too much, we may be left with regrets.

We all want to do or accomplish a lot things during our lives. But the truth is, we might only be able to do many of those things during certain seasons of our lives. If we delay gratification too much, we might miss our chance entirely, and be left with only regrets. That’s why time-bucketing your life’s goals is important.

If you save all of your living for retirement, your body or mind may be too old to do some of the things you’d planned. Will you be physically able to climb that mountain or take that vacation which requires a lot of walking when the time comes?

Putting off your dreams and goals for some tomorrow down the road is always a risk.

Similarly, for people who have children, we often do so during the prime of our careers. It can be tempting to keep climbing that corporate ladder. However, kids grow up faster than you think. If we don’t spend the time with them now, we’ll miss out on creating valuable childhood memories.

This is one of the primary reasons I quit my career before we reached financial independence and why I love the “Slow FIRE” movement.

Give away your money when its most impactful

Often people who save significantly more than they need do so in order to leave behind a large inheritance for their children or to make a significant charitable donation upon their death.

However, in order to build that larger nest egg, you’ll probably need to sacrifice more of your precious time working.

Why not give when it makes the most impact? Today.

Even if the dollar amount is lower, giving money to a charity today will be worth more than giving in the future.

Similarly, while we want our daughter to be well provided for, especially if we die when she’s young, we have no desire to leave behind millions. Rather than a big inheritance (which she hopefully won’t need), it will be more impactful if we help her financially as she grows up and enters young adulthood.

Clearly, I had mixed feelings about this book.

If you’ve read “Die With Zero,” what did you think?

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