Die With Zero!

I’ve seen a few articles (here and here) recently featuring the “Die With Zero” mindset.  The namesake book was published in 2020.  The Die With Zero approach emphasizes spending your money for good experiences earlier in life and not hoarding for when you’re older, especially post-retirement. 

In other words, do something with your money now, when you’re relatively young! Enjoy donating money to charity, taking those vacations, spending time on what matters, and not waiting for an uncertain future when you hopefully someday “have enough money”.  

For example, the Die With Zero website says that author Bill Perkins views his career as:

“an engine for personal growth and spends his time exploring the world, savoring his relationships, and taking in all that life has to offer.”

That maxim sounds pretty great — I can get behind it. Although I have to pause here and note that Perkins also describes himself as “one of the world’s most successful hedge fund managers and entrepreneurs.” I’d wager that exploring the world and “taking in all that life has to offer” comes a lot easier when you have a big ol’ pot of investment fund profits.

Nevertheless, many readers of this blog may have accumulated, if not a “successful hedge fund manager” level of cash, a not-insignificant pot of savings. Probably more than the average American, I would venture to say. So the Die With Zero admonition is probably still a realistic goal for many of us even if we weren’t Wall Street wizards.

Moreover, I myself am sometimes guilty of enjoying and tracking the accumulation of money instead of considering and planning what I can do with that money. I even feel some anxiety about withdrawing instead of accumulating in the very near future. Never underestimate how having a big pot of money can feel like a warm blanket of security.

Use That Money. But the Die With Zero approach asks, gently or perhaps not so gently: What is the point of having this money if you don’t use it for positive life experiences? To create great memories. To help people out now instead of later. Maybe even your own children.

To take an example of the latter, which lives part-time in my house right now: will my daughter appreciate financial assistance more in her youthful 20s and 30s when she is perhaps trying to buy a starter home and establish herself? Or will she prefer it later, maybe in her 50s and 60s, when she is already likely established and financially secure.On the other hand, one could make a case that holding off giving money now means more time for my money to grow in the future -- instead of $5K now my daughter could get $50K 25 years later. But I still say she would probably choose, and it would be better for her, to take less money now when her need is greater over the possibility of much more money later when it might not be as life changing. YMMV.?

This mindset makes even more sense as you consider that you will, sooner or later, arrive at a point in life (hopefully not too soon!) where physical limitations limit your ability to go out and make those memories. In other words, what’s the point of dying with lots of money that you worked for and saved when you were younger, but then never used?

I can definitely get on board with the Die With Zero mentality. I like doing good now. And I love good memories. I did lots of fun stuff in college even when I sometimes had a bank account balance below three figures. Road trips.  A life-changing Arabic Study Abroad program in the Middle East.  Staying out late with friends and girlfriends. I often enjoy reminiscing about those times:

Eventually all we have is memories.

Okay, nostalgic interlude over. Let’s rewind back to the present.

The truth is that I think I’ve been living the Die With Zero life to some extent since 2012. There were a series of moments that year where I reflected on the fact that our savings were in good shape, I had a secure government job, an affordable mortgage, and after trying for several years, we probably weren’t having any more kids.  

I realized that I would like to travel more and that we had the means and ability to do so. Later that year, we took 3.5 weeks to travel to Southeast Asia, including a memorable week in Malaysia with my parents who were doing volunteer work there for our church.

A few years later, on kind of a whim, I took a very long Thanksgiving weekend trip to Vietnam and Cambodia, and have been taking fun solo trips ever since. As of now, I’m still doing solo trips as well as trips with family. (Disclaimer: My family is not always as interested in some of my far-off solo destinations. That’s often why they are solo!)

I’ve been donating more to local charities in the last few years than I ever have. I also regularly contribute to the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research because I like Michael J. FoxSeeing Back to the Future on opening night might be the most fun I've ever had in a movie theater. and my Dad had Parkinson’s. In fact, taking a utilitarian view, I’d much rather that Fox’s foundation get my money and use it for research to potentially help people now than wait to give it away for decades in the future. (While I’m maybe living with my own Parkinson’s that could have been ameliorated if only I had donated money earlier? Discuss.)

 It’s been said by so many so often, including even by fruit flies, that we could die tomorrow. Obviously, frantically spending all of our money in anticipation of death tomorrow, or next month, is a poor strategy. The Die With Zero approach acknowledges death but changes the focus to gradually spending down our money on memories and good deeds sooner rather than later. I like it.