Die with Zero Chapter 1: Optimize Your Life

Perkins used to be an engineer and, like all engineers, was trained to optimize for accomplishing a particular goal in the most efficient way. In this book, he is applying his engineering to life and wealth. In his words, this book answers the question: “What is the best way to spend your life energy before you die?” In order to answer this, Perkins must take a stance on other, prior questions such as: What is the goal/meaning of life?

One of Perkins’ acknowledged premises is that “Your life is the sum of your experiences.” For Perkins’ this means that we should maximize positive experiences, and especially those early on that pay what he calls “memory dividends.” If your family goes on a vacation, the more years you have to look back on that vacation via pictures, reminiscing with those on the trip, etc., the more valuable that trip becomes. It gives the positive experience of the trip itself, as well as the positive experience of revisiting those memories for years to come. Like a dividend coming from a stock, these memories continue to pay regularly and make the initial experience more worthwhile.

Beyond this, some experiences can only be enjoyed at certain points in life largely due to health and physical abilities. At some point, backpacking through Europe won’t be an option anymore given your age/health/physical ability. As inconvenient and costly as this may be at an early age (spending all your savings, for example), Perkins encourages us to at least push against the common financial advice to instead start saving early and often, and not to get a loan to cover a year backpacking through Europe.

As in the introduction, Perkins acknowledges that he’s writing not for everyone, but for “people who are saving too much for their own good.” He does not want to encourage financial recklessness, but rather intentionality— “deciding what makes you happy and then converting your money into the experiences you choose.”

Perkins’ ends each chapter with some recommendations. I’ll summarize them each week and give a thought or two in response.

Perkins’ recommendation

• Think about what experiences you want, and how many times you want them.

---Reflection---

As with all propositions (including those written in book form), it’s important that we distinguish the three things at play: the premise(s), the logic, and the conclusion/proposition(s). My hunch is that I won’t entirely agree with Perkins’ premises on life, though that doesn’t mean the logic or conclusions are wrong. And even if they are wrong, that doesn’t mean they’re entirely unhelpful. It’s easiest to throw the baby out with the bathwater, but we’ll aim to do the work of thinking critically through Perkins’ proposals. I anticipate we’ll have much to learn and contemplate, and am excited to read this book along with you.

Rather than reply to all the premises laid out here in chapter 1, I’ll spend some time engaging them as the rest of the book unfolds. For now, I’ll leave us with the following questions to consider.

• What experiences do you want to have?

• Do we decide or do we discover what makes us happy? Either way, how often do those things change? Do they ever lead us astray?

• Is life the sum of your experiences?

Until next time, happy reading!