Die with Zero

[anonymous-user]

I don’t want to detract from the “Enjoying retirement” thread (mainly because I’m not retired at 47 and still grafting) although it’s a fascinating read that thread, but the book Die with Zero popped up there and piqued my interest, so I read it, and it’s blown my mind, I thought I’d ask, who has put Bill’s concepts into practice and how is it going for you?

I’m in the process of digesting everything and going to be looking at my time buckets, expectancy and so on, what’s been your experience with it if you have already done it?

[Timer]

I read it quite recently too. There are a lot of things in there that people will likely have thought about but not implemented.

At a personal level I’ve had a strange 10 years in some respects and feel now that I am getting close to figuring out a path to take going forward. Material possessions no longer hold much value to me and investments/savings are less of a priority. In fact I am going to be using my savings to supplement my income over the foreseeable future to make memories with my young family. Before I was just trying to figure out how to earn more money (longer hours!) which would be stupid in the circumstances.

I’ve also been enjoying the “feel better live more” podcast amongst others to get my mind and body into a nicer spot for the long term

Id certainly recommend the book to anyone who hasn’t read it.

[mids]

I bought this book as I kept seeing it mentioned everywhere and I just finished reading it this weekend. It's one of the most disappointing books I've read in ages. I guess I was hoping for more financial content rather than so much 'motivational' type life advice (a lot of which is very obvious and nothing new) and he also talked about himself too much IMO.

Some of the financial advice I found hard to agree with, such as don't save when you're young because you will soon be earning so much more that you're better off enjoying yourself during the early years of your career. That goes against just about every basic blog post I've ever read about compounding which always has a chart to explain how important it is to start early.

I dunno, maybe I need to read it again because I certainly intend to 'die with zero'. I guess when a book is this hyped it's easy to be disappointed :/

[monkfish1]

1781cc said:

I don’t want to detract from the “Enjoying retirement” thread (mainly because I’m not retired at 47 and still grafting) although it’s a fascinating read that thread, but the book Die with Zero popped up there and piqued my interest, so I read it, and it’s blown my mind, I thought I’d ask, who has put Bill’s concepts into practice and how is it going for you?

I’m in the process of digesting everything and going to be looking at my time buckets, expectancy and so on, what’s been your experience with it if you have already done it?

Just finished it.

Im not sure its blown my mind though. I think i was halfway there already in my thinking. It just bought some clarity and some practical suggestions to the fore. And some reassurance im not completely bonkers. At 52 ive obviously arrived at these concliusions a bit late, but better late than never.

The bit about inheritance and not waiting until you are dead was thought provoking though

[monkfish1]

mids said:

I bought this book as I kept seeing it mentioned everywhere and I just finished reading it this weekend. It's one of the most disappointing books I've read in ages. I guess I was hoping for more financial content rather than so much 'motivational' type life advice (a lot of which is very obvious and nothing new) and he also talked about himself too much IMO.

Some of the financial advice I found hard to agree with, such as don't save when you're young because you will soon be earning so much more that you're better off enjoying yourself during the early years of your career. That goes against just about every basic blog post I've ever read about compounding which always has a chart to explain how important it is to start early.

I dunno, maybe I need to read it again because I certainly intend to 'die with zero'. I guess when a book is this hyped it's easy to be disappointed :/

I think you maybe missed the point? His point was that the typical thinking to which you refer isnt necessarily the best or only way. Then spends a whole book explaining why. So you disagree with it. Im sure many do. In which stick to doing it your way.

I wasnt aware it was "hyped", so had no preconceptions.

[Timer]

“Some of the financial advice I found hard to agree with, such as don't save when you're young because you will soon be earning so much more that you're better off enjoying yourself during the early years of your career. That goes against just about every basic blog post I've ever read about compounding which always has a chart to explain how important it is to start early.”

I understand what you’re saying but the whole point of the book is that the aim of life isn’t really to accumulate as much money as possible (which compounding does) but to gain experiences that pay “memory dividends” until you lose your marbles/drop dead.

It’s easy for him to say of course given that he’s richer than god but I do think much of what he says is worth thinking more deeply about.

(As said above… you missed the point )

[mids]

monkfish1 said:

I think you maybe missed the point? His point was that the typical thinking to which you refer isnt necessarily the best or only way.

I don't think so. He mentions it early on in the book in that respect but then he comes back to the point later on in the book and explains why he regrets not doing so.

It's too late for me now anyway ;-)

monkfish1 said:

I wasnt aware it was "hyped", so had no preconceptions.

Maybe hyped is the incorrect word. It's just I read a lot of finance blogs, podcasts, etc (mainly US) and the book has been mentioned a lot recently.

[JonChalk]

Frankly, it's a pointless discussion in many ways.

Unless you're going to take matters into your own hands, dying with zero at age 65 and dying with zero aged 95 are massively and significantly different propositions, but you have no idea which applies to you.

Statistics might say average age of male death in UK is 83, but that means fk all to any given individual.

[Evoluzione]

Have never heard of it, but in the spirit of the idea, what are your thoughts on selling your house to the bank and living in it?

[monkfish1]

Evoluzione said:

Have never heard of it, but in the spirit of the idea, what are your thoughts on selling your house to the bank and living in it?

Its a back up plan in case i live longer than anticipated. So unlikely to be needed.

Lets face it, if you need care at the end of life, the government will just take it, so theres a lot to be said for having some benefit from it and putting it "out of reach" of them

[monkfish1]

JonChalk said:

Frankly, it's a pointless discussion in many ways.

Unless you're going to take matters into your own hands, dying with zero at age 65 and dying with zero aged 95 are massively and significantly different propositions, but you have no idea which applies to you.

Statistics might say average age of male death in UK is 83, but that means fk all to any given individual.

Thats simply not true. As he rightly points out, as would, no doubt, many medical professionals, you can have a resonable stab at estimating it. If you smoke 40 a day and drink 20 pints a week, its an odds on certainty your life will be shorter than someone who does niether.

[JonChalk]

monkfish1 said:

JonChalk said:

Frankly, it's a pointless discussion in many ways.

Unless you're going to take matters into your own hands, dying with zero at age 65 and dying with zero aged 95 are massively and significantly different propositions, but you have no idea which applies to you.

Statistics might say average age of male death in UK is 83, but that means fk all to any given individual.

Thats simply not true. As he rightly points out, as would, no doubt, many medical professionals, you can have a resonable stab at estimating it. If you smoke 40 a day and drink 20 pints a week, its an odds on certainty your life will be shorter than someone who does niether.

Statistics again.

Plenty of examples of individuals smoking, drinking and eating unhealthily into their 90s and non-smoking, non-drinking athletes dying in their 60s or earlier.

Granted you may be playing the odds, but that’s all it is.

Bring an actuary about it is fine for insurance companies (and Rich billionaire authors!), but it doesn’t apply to YOU specifically.

Edited by JonChalk on Sunday 22 May 21:25

[Evoluzione]

monkfish1 said:

Evoluzione said:

Have never heard of it, but in the spirit of the idea, what are your thoughts on selling your house to the bank and living in it?

Its a back up plan in case i live longer than anticipated. So unlikely to be needed.

Lets face it, if you need care at the end of life, the government will just take it, so theres a lot to be said for having some benefit from it and putting it "out of reach" of them

Your first paragraph contradicts the first?

[monkfish1]

Evoluzione said:

monkfish1 said:

Evoluzione said:

Have never heard of it, but in the spirit of the idea, what are your thoughts on selling your house to the bank and living in it?

Its a back up plan in case i live longer than anticipated. So unlikely to be needed.

Lets face it, if you need care at the end of life, the government will just take it, so theres a lot to be said for having some benefit from it and putting it "out of reach" of them

Your first paragraph contradicts the first?

Not quite. The first paragraph says what im going to do.

The second is an observation generally. Which i may do, despit the first paragraph.

[monkfish1]

JonChalk said:

monkfish1 said:

JonChalk said:

Frankly, it's a pointless discussion in many ways.

Unless you're going to take matters into your own hands, dying with zero at age 65 and dying with zero aged 95 are massively and significantly different propositions, but you have no idea which applies to you.

Statistics might say average age of male death in UK is 83, but that means fk all to any given individual.

Thats simply not true. As he rightly points out, as would, no doubt, many medical professionals, you can have a resonable stab at estimating it. If you smoke 40 a day and drink 20 pints a week, its an odds on certainty your life will be shorter than someone who does niether.

Statistics again.

Plenty of examples of individuals smoking, drinking and eating unhealthily into their 90s and non-smoking, non-drinking athletes dying in their 60s or earlier.

Granted you may be playing the odds, but that’s all it is.

Bring an actuary about it is fine for insurance companies (and Rich billionaire authors!), but it doesn’t apply to YOU specifically.

Edited by JonChalk on Sunday 22 May 21:25

Of course, there always exceptions.

At the risk of sounding like the books author, using that logic says you must plan and accumalate enough money to live to what, 100? 110? I know several people that lived past 100.

And thats his whole point, if you accumalate enough money to cover all eventualities, then you must have compromised you life experiences if you die earlier than the notional 110. It is, actually, just simple logic.

One assumes you will continue working until you have all possibilities, no matter how unlikely, covered?

,

[Evoluzione]

monkfish1 said:

Evoluzione said:

monkfish1 said:

Evoluzione said:

Have never heard of it, but in the spirit of the idea, what are your thoughts on selling your house to the bank and living in it?

Its a back up plan in case i live longer than anticipated. So unlikely to be needed.

Lets face it, if you need care at the end of life, the government will just take it, so theres a lot to be said for having some benefit from it and putting it "out of reach" of them

Your first paragraph contradicts the first?

Not quite. The first paragraph says what im going to do.

The second is an observation generally. Which i may do, despit the first paragraph.

So why not do it now and use the money? Or do you have so much that you can't possibly spend it all and enjoy it?

[Panamax]

Unless you have a proven track record of successfully predicting roulette wheel spins, horse race results, election outcomes etc this is a subject to avoid like the plague!

It's no use knowing how your group of people usually get on - that's only useful to life insurance companies when calculating your premium. It remains completely impossible to predict the outcome for any one individual. Draw the different groups as graphs and you'll see the tails of the graphs all line up regardless.

[monkfish1]

Evoluzione said:

monkfish1 said:

Evoluzione said:

monkfish1 said:

Evoluzione said:

Have never heard of it, but in the spirit of the idea, what are your thoughts on selling your house to the bank and living in it?

Its a back up plan in case i live longer than anticipated. So unlikely to be needed.

Lets face it, if you need care at the end of life, the government will just take it, so theres a lot to be said for having some benefit from it and putting it "out of reach" of them

Your first paragraph contradicts the first?

Not quite. The first paragraph says what im going to do.

The second is an observation generally. Which i may do, despit the first paragraph.

So why not do it now and use the money? Or do you have so much that you can't possibly spend it all and enjoy it?

I wish!

Ive come up with a plan, thats works for us, using resource at a pace i think is sensible, with your suggestion being used if i live longer than planned. Hopefully by the time i get to my projected drop dead date, i'll be able to invoke it as i see fit.

[Evoluzione]

monkfish1 said:

Evoluzione said:

monkfish1 said:

Evoluzione said:

monkfish1 said:

Evoluzione said:

Have never heard of it, but in the spirit of the idea, what are your thoughts on selling your house to the bank and living in it?

Its a back up plan in case i live longer than anticipated. So unlikely to be needed.

Lets face it, if you need care at the end of life, the government will just take it, so theres a lot to be said for having some benefit from it and putting it "out of reach" of them

Your first paragraph contradicts the first?

Not quite. The first paragraph says what im going to do.

The second is an observation generally. Which i may do, despit the first paragraph.

So why not do it now and use the money? Or do you have so much that you can't possibly spend it all and enjoy it?

I wish!

Ive come up with a plan, that works for us, using resource at a pace i think is sensible, with your suggestion being used if i live longer than planned. Hopefully by the time i get to my projected drop dead date, i'll be able to invoke it as i see fit.

You're banking on a timed slow painless death whilst being able bodied?

[monkfish1]

Evoluzione said:

monkfish1 said:

Evoluzione said:

monkfish1 said:

Evoluzione said:

monkfish1 said:

Evoluzione said:

Have never heard of it, but in the spirit of the idea, what are your thoughts on selling your house to the bank and living in it?

Its a back up plan in case i live longer than anticipated. So unlikely to be needed.

Lets face it, if you need care at the end of life, the government will just take it, so theres a lot to be said for having some benefit from it and putting it "out of reach" of them

Your first paragraph contradicts the first?

Not quite. The first paragraph says what im going to do.

The second is an observation generally. Which i may do, despit the first paragraph.

So why not do it now and use the money? Or do you have so much that you can't possibly spend it all and enjoy it?

I wish!

Ive come up with a plan, that works for us, using resource at a pace i think is sensible, with your suggestion being used if i live longer than planned. Hopefully by the time i get to my projected drop dead date, i'll be able to invoke it as i see fit.

You're banking on a timed slow painless death whilst being able bodied?

Did i say that?

Its a best case plan. Nothing more. Knowing the way things go ill be gone before im 60!!! Which would be a bugger as ive got rather a lot to do yet.........................

You should visit the enjoying retirement thread.