MBA2352 Must Read: Die with Zero by Bill Perkins

0:09Heyo! Welcome to the$100 MBA show because a better you equals a better business. That's why we deliver practical business lessons. I'm your host, your coach, your teacher, Omar Zinhome. I'm also the co-founder of Webinar Ninja, an independent software company I started back in 2014. And today's episode is a must-read episode. On our must-read episodes, I share with you a book that has influenced me as an entrepreneur. I share with you its takeaways, its insights, and why you should read it too. Today's must-read is Die With Zero by Bill Perkins. Die With Zero is a guide on how to make the most of your money while you're still alive.

0:43And its main focus is that money really has only one value. It's to create the experiences you want out of life. Otherwise, it's just numbers in the bank. Now, this book was very, very controversial when it came out, and it still is. And I could see why after reading it. But in my mind, it's worth the read because it will broaden your mind. It will allow you to see things a different way. You'll see different perspectives on the way you think about money and wealth and make you reevaluate why you're doing all this work in the first place, building this business, growing your wealth. What is it all for?

1:15In today's must read, I'm going to share with you some of my favorite takeaways, some of the things I learned from this book, the things that really stuck with me, some of the things I've really changed my mind about after this book. I'll also share with you who this book is really for, who would benefit the most from this, and how you can apply some of the things that are mentioned in this book, not only in your life, but in your business. So let's get into it. Let's get down to business. Die with zero starts off by telling you that if you don't die with zero dollars or near to it, then you didn't really optimize your life properly.

1:45At the end of the day, money buys you time and time is experiences. The value of life is really memories and experiences you have. And money in itself only has value if you use it to build these experiences and doesn't really have value in itself. Like the digits in your bank account give us a sense of security, but doesn't really have any value unless you utilize it. And there's a running concept in this book that comes up over and over. And this concept is the idea that memories compound over your lifetime. What is meant by this is that when you have a great experience, think about one of the best trips you had or weekends or whatever it might be.

2:26Once you've had that experience, the memories of that experience stay with you. You reminisce about them. You think about them. You look at your old photos and they give you joy. They give you those bittersweet feelings. When you share them with a person that you had that experience with, it's a great moment. And there was a study that was done that proved that experiencing your memories, reminiscing about a great time, gives us just as much joy, the same neurons fire in our brain, as when we had the experience in the first place. So it's really, you're reliving it, right? You're really reliving that joy.

2:58So the idea is that you should have as many great experiences as early as possible in your life because then these memories will compound over time. You can enjoy these memories over and over for the length of your life. But if you save all your memories, like a lot of people save for retirement and say, hey, I'll do that later. I'll go see Venice later. I'll go see the Great Wall of China later. Well, if they ever do it later in life, they don't have much time to enjoy the memories. Now, it's a very interesting thought, and I tend to agree with this because a lot of my favorite moments in life are just reminiscing on some of the great trips and the great memories and the great moments of life.

3:40And what is life other than great experiences? That's really what a great life is filled with. Now, I want to give a word of warning about this book. And actually, Bill Perkins, the author, talks about this at the start of the book. And he says, this book is not really for people that are barely making ends meet. that have little or no disposable income. Because these people will never have the problem of dying with zero because they're barely kind of making things happen. But he says most people in the modern world that live in a decent society are not in the situation where they're living day to day.

4:13Most people are trying to plan for the future, save for the future, have some sort of money in savings, or is planning to have some savings in the future. And the reason why he addresses this is because he talks about the idea that what are you saving for in the first place? If you are saving for buying a house or a car, is that actually going to give you more joy, more satisfaction in life than actual experiences? He also gives a word of warning of people that are just naturally big spenders that live that YOLO life. You know, you only live once that don't look at price tags and just spend money without really thinking about it.

4:49He says these people need to be a little bit mindful about how they spend their money because you don't want to end up being penniless at retirement. And he talks about these are kind of two extremes that this book is not for. And he does give some tips about people that do spend money without thinking about it. He gives the example of people that love coffee and maybe go get a Starbucks coffee every morning. And they may love their coffee, but how much do you love your coffee? Have you done the math? How much money are you spending on coffee every single day? most people would be surprised how much money they spend.

5:21They might realize, hey, I can actually go on a trip every few months with the price or the amount of money I'm spending on coffee every single day. As long as you're aware of that and you're making a conscious choice that I prefer to have coffee every morning from Starbucks than to go on a trip every few months, that's okay. Now you know you're making that choice. But spending without thinking, not a good idea. Very early on in this book, you realize that Bill Perkins is a very analytical person, somebody who loves to optimize their life, their finances in a big way. So what did I learn from this book?

5:51How did it change me? Well, it got me thinking about money in a different way, a way I probably didn't think about it before, seeing money as a tool rather than a lifeline. Money is basically a way for you to buy units of time because why do we work so that we can pay bills for the most part and to enjoy life? Well, in order to get the money, we have to work. So basically, if I have enough money, I don't have to work, then I can do other things. So really, instead of time is money, money is time. It's units of life, really. Think about it. If you were given a billion dollars right now, you probably never need to work again.

6:27You certainly wouldn't have to work again. Meaning that all the hours that you would normally be working, you would have free to do whatever you want. So you're actually buying life with money. So you got to see it that way instead of seeing money for money's sake. Like just, I want money so I can spend it on things. Once you see it that way, you start realizing that, well, what do I want to do with that time? How do I want to spend that? What are the activities I want to do? What are the things I always wanted to do? Whether they're trips or learning new skills or having a new season in my life.

6:56And when I started thinking this way after reading this book, I started seeing money as a tool to have these experiences. So that means every time I think about spending money, whether it's buying something from a shop or a store or a big purchase, I now compare that or ask myself, do I want to buy this thing or would I rather have an equivalent experience with that money? And this is really what is behind the whole idea of minimalism. You don't really need things to enjoy life. You need to have experiences that are enjoyable. Now, a lot of people get triggered in this book because they're like, hey, what about charity?

7:32What about inheritance? Giving it to your children, giving it to your family members. Well, he addresses that really quick. When he says die with zero, he's talking about money that is yours, right? So let's put aside the money that you put aside for your family. And he actually recommends, hey, why don't you give them the money now before you die when they need it, when they're younger instead of later? And the second thing he addresses is that when you die with zero, he's talking about money that's yours, not anybody else's or charities or anything else. The other thing that he really drills home in this book is that most of us tend to have a fear of maybe being poor when we're old and don't realize that our spending when we're older is far less besides healthcare.

8:14You might have to spend a bit more on healthcare, but outside of that, you just don't do as much when you get older. Look at your family members that are in their 70s and 80s and 90s. They just want to sit put and just enjoy their golden years. They're not spending money on expensive holidays or vacations for the most part. They're not buying new cars every five minutes. They're not spending money on skilling themselves up or learning how to fly, you just don't spend as much money. And therefore, we delay our gratification for no reason. We really can't do much when we're older physically. I mean, if you ever wanted to climb a mountain like Everest one day or kayak in the sea or whatever it might be, you want to do that when you're younger.

8:53You don't want to delay those activities or those dreams because now when you're younger, you're healthier, you're fit, and you're able to do it with more enjoyment. As you get older, it's going to get harder and harder. to do some activity. So you want to kind of look at all the things you want to do in life, all the experiences, and place them in the right timing. If you wanted to go skiing in the Alps, maybe you want to do that before you're 50 or 60. Not saying that you can't do it in your 60s, but you'll probably enjoy it more when you have more stamina. The other big takeaway I got from this book is that you have to understand a fact, and we have to really internalize this to our core, and that's we will die.

9:29This is a fact. This is guaranteed. The funny thing about death is that It's all around us. We see people die all the time. We see it in the news. We see around our family members and friends. And we're hyper aware of it. But we just don't think about it about ourselves. So knowing that, what are you going to do now so you don't have regrets later? You're going to get closer and closer to death every day. And I don't want to sound too morbid here. But the truth is that you're going to get older at some point. And you're going to be like, wow, that went by fast. Sometimes I think about that in my 40s.

9:59Wow, my life has gone so fast. how much time do I have left? The other day I realized I've lived more than I have left for the most part. I mean, I don't know when I'll pass. I could pass tomorrow. I don't know. None of us knows. But the point is that if I look at like an average lifespan, I have less left on average than I have used or have lived. So the clock's ticking. If you're waiting on something to happen or change in your life to have experiences, you may want to reevaluate. Maybe making that extra million is not worth it because it's going to take you five years in your life. Remember, time is money, but money is time.

10:33And this is the concept that he repeats in the book called money equals life energy. There's so much more I can dive into in this book, but I'm going to let you read it and enjoy it. I got to say, it made me really think because not everything he's going to say you're going to agree with, but you got to really respect the fact that he is talking about a topic and does a lot of research in an area that a lot of people don't want to talk about, that our life is finite, that we will die, and we need to make sure that we make the most of it. That wraps up today's episode, today's must read. If you love today's episode and want to hear more automatically, go ahead and hit subscribe or follow on your favorite podcast app.

11:13We're on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Overcast, every podcast app. So go ahead and hit subscribe so you get our next episode right away. Before I go, I want to leave you with this. I like books that challenge me. I like books that I pick up and read the summary. I'm like, oh, I'm not sure about that. And then I read it. And even if I don't agree with everything, that's okay. That's how you grow. You kind of push yourself outside your comfort zone and start thinking and reading about things that maybe you're not used to reading and start thinking about, hey, maybe I need to sharpen my skills here. Maybe I need to reevaluate the way I think about this.

11:46Maybe I'm wrong. You know, this is really important in life to recognize that there's probably a lot of things that you're wrong about. And if you're open to that, you can grow, you can learn, you can become better. And this book really is applicable to not only you personally as an individual in your life and how you spend your personal wealth, but your business. Some of us just want to grow and build revenue at all costs. At all costs? Why? If you're not enjoying building your business, not enjoying your team, not enjoying your meetings, enjoying the creative process, then you're kind of wasting your life.

12:21This is your time on earth. I'd rather take a hit on revenue, but enjoy it and say, I'm proud of what I built because not only did I make money, I made memories. Good ones. Thanks so much for listening and I'll check you in Wednesday's episode, Q &A Wednesday. I'll see you then. Take care.

12:53Thank you.