There’s a person out there—you might be one of them—living life on autopilot. Following the script. Cookie-cuttering every step, afraid to break the mold. Deep down, they yearn for more. They want to move to a new city, say “I love you” first, run the marathon, chase the dream, live the story. Yet the fear of judgment, of failure, of looking foolish, keeps them paralyzed. And so their life passes by, unlived in the ways that matter most.

Bill Perkins, the author of Die With Zero, knows that feeling intimately. He wrote his book not just to save others—but to save himself. From a young age, Bill feared wasting his life. He was working his way up in the brutal world of Wall Street commodities, trying to get rich, and he started to ask himself the hard questions: “What am I working for? What does this even mean? What’s the point of getting rich if I’m old and can’t enjoy it?”

That fear became his fuel. Bill realized he didn’t want to win life’s version of Chuck E. Cheese tickets—stacking up tokens he’d never use for prizes he’d never claim. He didn’t want to hoard wealth he was too old, too tired, or too dead to spend. He wanted life: vivid, meaningful experiences, at every stage he was alive enough to enjoy them. So he built a personal philosophy that comes down to one central idea: optimize your life for fulfillment, not wealth.

At its heart, Die With Zero is a guide to making sure you don’t waste your shot. It’s about seeing life not as a bank account to be padded indefinitely, but as a series of seasons and experiences to be lived fully, intentionally, and at the right time.

Wealth, Health, and Time: The Three Variables of a Life Well-Lived

Bill’s philosophy is built on three key resources:

Wealth (your money and assets) Health (your physical ability to do things) Time (the most finite resource you’ll ever have)

The magic of a great life is in balancing these. Most people focus only on money, ignoring health and time until it’s too late. They save and save, as if they’ll get a prize for dying with the biggest number in their bank account. But here’s the truth: no one gets a trophy for dying rich. You just leave a pile of unused Chuck E. Cheese tickets for someone else.

Bill makes the case that life is about maximizing positive experiences. And experiences have a time window. You can only backpack across Europe once as a young, carefree person. You can only wakeboard until your body says you can’t. You can only chase certain kinds of dreams in certain seasons of your life.

If you delay too much in pursuit of a “better” future, you risk missing the experiences that belong right now.

Memory Dividends and the Power of Early Experiences

One of the most brilliant ideas Bill shares is the concept of the memory dividend.

When you invest in an experience today—say, a trip with friends, a daring adventure, a romantic confession—you don’t just enjoy it once. Every time you remember it, you get a little surge of joy. A little payout.

Experiences compound over time, just like money does. So the earlier you invest in your memories, the more you’ll get back in the long run. Waiting until you’re “rich enough” might mean you miss out on decades of dividends that you could have had.

Consumption Smoothing and the Danger of Over-Saving

Another key point Bill drives home is consumption smoothing—spreading your spending more evenly across your lifetime.

Many people hoard money for “later” without realizing that their future selves won’t want to—or won’t be able to—spend it in the ways their younger selves could. Aging changes your interests, your health, your desires. An 80-year-old doesn’t spend like a 40-year-old does, and no amount of money can rewind the clock.

Bill’s brutal truth: Most old people don’t run out of money. They run out of time. Their wealth grows while their health declines. They dream smaller because their bodies demand it. And all the sacrifices they made to save up end up wasted.

Giving Money and Charity Early

The same principle applies to generosity. If you’re planning to leave money to your kids or to charity, why wait until you’re dead?

Your kids can make far better use of your help when they’re 30 than when they’re 60. They can build families, careers, and memories, while you’re still alive to see the impact.

Charity, too, does the most good now—not decades from now when you no longer get to witness the change your money could create.

Don’t Let Fear Keep You on Autopilot

A huge theme in Bill’s philosophy is getting off autopilot. Most people live according to culture—the inherited dreams and fears of dead people. They follow the paths laid out for them: go to school, get a job, buy a house, save for retirement. They rarely stop to ask, Is this what I actually want? Am I living my own dreams or someone else’s?

Fear of judgment traps people in lives they secretly resent. They don’t chase the girl, they don’t move cities, they don’t change careers because they’re terrified of what others will think if they fail.

But as Bill points out, nobody remembers the people who fail in silence. And the failures themselves—the honest attempts—are often more glorious, more human, more fulfilling than a lifetime of playing it safe.

Optimize for Fulfillment, Not Wealth

In the end, Die With Zero is about flipping the script most of us are raised with.

Instead of asking, How can I get rich? ask:

How can I live richly?

Instead of saving endlessly for a future that may never come, spend wisely—and deliberately—on the experiences that will fill your memory bank for a lifetime.

Instead of fearing death, let it sharpen your focus and make you savor the ride.

Because life is not just about surviving. It’s about thriving.

It’s about connection, risk, adventure, and joy.

It’s about using your wealth, your health, and your time while you still can.

And it’s about refusing to let the judgment of others steal even one day of the adventure you came here to have.

Credits:

Concept and insights from Bill Perkins, author of Die With Zero. Inspired by his conversation on Modern Wisdom.