3 Things You Need To Do To Avoid The Elephant Of Retirement Regret
I recently read the book, Die With Zero, by Bill Perkins. This book is a game changer that upends our traditional ideas of retirement, later years in life, and even the choices we make right now. He argues that while it’s necessary to accumulate some level of wealth or save for retirement, we should focus more on creating a life of meaning and purpose. One filled with as many experiences a possible. The big idea in the book is that we need to die with as close to zero monies as possible at the end of our life.
Two reasons given for this approach include:
If we die before retiring, all the hard-earned money that we have accumulated won’t be used. This means that all the sacrifices and hard work put into saving up will have been for nothing.
Even if we don’t die before retirement, the money might be too much for us to realistically use. It can be easy to forget that our savings are meant to give us more freedom and experiences in life, not tie us down with unnecessary material possessions. We all have different goals and visions of what our retirement should look like, so it’s important to make sure that our money is used wisely and doesn’t become a burden on our lives.
There were 3 ideas in the book that really resonated with me.
Memories, like money, have dividends.
Every time you have an experience, it creates a memory that you’ll recall when you see a picture or when you talk to someone else about it. That memory grows and grows. For example, every time you smell the salt air at the beach, it will remind you of all the experiences you may have had over the years at the beach. Perkins’ concept is simple yet powerful; everything we do is creating memories to look back on in later years. It’s up to us to make sure those memories are positive ones! It’s important to experience as much as possible and create meaningful relationships while we still have the chance.
We need to balance earning money with experiences.
Perkins believes that money can’t buy happiness and it’s important to balance saving money for retirement with creating experiences now. We may have a long life ahead of us, but there are certain experiences we can only have at certain ages or stages in life. If we spend all our time working hard to make money, those opportunities might be missed and cannot be recovered later down the road. To truly live life to its fullest, he suggests striking a balance between earning money for retirement and making memories now that will last a lifetime. It’s important to take into account how today’s decisions will affect our future lives — if we prioritize experience over earnings now, we’ll still be able to save enough for retirement and be able to look back on our life with no regrets.
We retire on our memories.
This idea emphasizes living with intention and making sure that when you retire, no matter what monetary assets you have or don’t have, you still will have made the most of your life experiences. As Perkins says: “You don’t need money to make meaningful memories; sometimes those are more valuable! Make sure that when retirement comes around, you’ve taken full advantage of all the opportunities out there and filled up on amazing experiences so that you can look back on your life with no regrets.” Living a life of intention and making memories that will last a lifetime is invaluable in retirement, and allows for more joy than simply focusing solely on money. Taking this approach to life can make a huge difference when it comes time to retire.
Die With Zero offers valuable insights into long-term financial planning that are essential for those wishing to achieve their financial dreams. If you want to ensure you have a successful retirement, this book will radically alter the way you look at the choices you’re making today, for tomorrow.
