In the end, our lives are a collection of experiences and memories. And money is simply a means to obtaining those experiences and memories. 

Many people do an excellent job of living frugally and saving as much money as they can. Over time, this hard work and discipline allows them to consistently increase both their income and net worth. The problem is that most people forget that the point of money is to convert it into life experiences, and they delay their spending until it’s either too late or they’re dead. The result is a pile of money that was, for the most part, wasted. They simply waited too long to begin enjoying their money and didn’t get the full value out of it. 

To avoid this outcome, it’s important to spend your money earlier. Health is the greatest life satisfaction multiplier, but it declines as we get older. You need to spend your hard-earned money while you’re still healthy and fully capable of participating in life experiences that bring you joy and happiness. For example, traveling to the Swiss Alps to ski will not be possible in your 60s, 70s, and 80s. A trip like that needs to happen much earlier, but many people don’t take the time to think about the life experiences they want to have, and when. It’s easy to fall into auto-pilot, where we just work and work and work, and save and save and save. Before we know it, we’re old and can’t do many of the things we could have done when we were younger. 

At its core, the Die With Zero mindset is really about shifting your perspective on spending money. Do you literally want to die with zero money? No. But it’s the shift in mindset that’s valuable. Ultimately, money is just a means to acquiring life experiences and memories. You need to spend it and enjoy it, particularly while you’re young. This perspective runs counter to the traditional mindset of compiling as much money as possible. Yes, you want to be smart and grow your net worth, but you also need to get out of the mindset of piling up as much money as possible like it’s a video game. As the author writes: “Remember that your goal isn’t to maximize wealth but rather to maximize your life experiences. That’s a big turnabout for most people.”

Think of this as “shifting” some of your spending from your later years to the present. For example, when you organize an expensive family trip to the Caribbean when you’re in your 50s, think of it as simply shifting some of the excessive spending you would be doing in your 80s, to now. A few ways to spend your money:

• • Invest in Experiences — Again, your life is the summation of your experiences and memories. Convert your money into experiences. Determine what kind of trips, adventures, and locations you want to experience during your lifetime, then spend money to make them happen. Because declining health will limit you in old age, the earlier in life you can experience these adventures, the better. 

• • Buy Time — Buying time is essentially outsourcing. As your wealth grows, exchange your money for services and products that will give you more time to do things that you actually want to do. For example, if you hate cleaning your house, pay somebody to do that for you. Paying others to take care of tasks you don’t enjoy instantly improves your life satisfaction. Look for opportunities to outsource — there are plenty of them.

• • Giving to Children and Charities — Although I’m not sure I agree with this one, the author recommends transferring significant sums of money to your children and the charities you care about while you’re still alive. The traditional approach to giving an inheritance typically involves setting up a trust or estate and writing out instructions for how you want your wealth to be dispersed once you’re dead. The author argues that giving your kids their inheritance while you’re alive allows you to maximize the impact of those dollars because they will get to use the money during their early adulthood years — a time when they likely need a financial boost the most. In this way, you get the fulfillment of watching your dollars make a positive impact versus never seeing how your money is used when you’re dead. The same concept applies to giving money to charities you care about. 

The idea here is to spend your money earlier in life and get the most value out of those dollars by exchanging them for memorable life experiences while you’re still young and healthy. You spend so many hours of your life working for money; the last thing you want to do is waste those dollars. Now, that doesn’t mean spending recklessly. Be deliberate with how and when you spend your money and focus on maximizing its value by converting it into truly valuable experiences that add to your life. 

All of these concepts tie into your decision to retire as well. Ideally, you’ll retire the moment you have enough money to get you through the end of your life. Unless you truly love your work, any additional time spent working for money is a waste and potentially puts you at risk of missing out on valuable life experiences as you get older and your declining health limits your capabilities. This is easier said than done, as there’s a lot of guesswork and other factors involved in picking a retirement date.  

The key to everything discussed here is shifting your mindset and becoming more deliberate in how you think about spending money. As the author writes: “By aiming to die with zero, you will forever change your autopilot focus from earning and saving and maximizing your wealth to living the best life you possibly can. That’s why dying with zero is a worthy goal – with this goal in mind, you are sure get more out of your life than you otherwise would have.”