Dying with Zero by Bill Perkins

One sentence summary:

This books talks about the idea of spending money of life experiences so that ideally we die with zero dollars in our bank.

Some key ideas:

1. Experiences, especially positive ones are worth more than just the joy we experience as it generates 'memory dividends'. That is, the extra joy you get from the experience by chatting about it with loved ones, socialising, using it to help others etc.

2. Discovering and overcoming fears you have about not having enough money while alive and old. as some experiences can only be acquired at certain age. E.g. you would not be climbing a mountain when you are old and wheelchair bound.

3. Spend on experiences that you enjoy. Even if you enjoy your work, there would always be other areas of life that can be improved.

My thoughts:

I have heard of the idea of spending on experiences early much like what some of my friends who blew a large portion of their salary to go on an Alaska cruise. It took a lot of courage to deal with the judgements that may come from other people, but I respect her for choosing to do what she wanted to do.

While this book feels more applicable for people in the middle to upper middle class, I feel that in Singapore, a teacher’s pay, especially if you have a degree puts you at an average to slightly above average pay range. So, in a sense, this book actually applies quite well to Singapore teachers.

Sometimes I do ask myself, 'What do I want to spend my life energy on?' This is a question that is difficult for me to answer in detail now but its alright. I want to try out the 'Ideal Life' journaling prompt during my long holidays, and with that I hopefully can get a clearer picture of what I really want to get out of life.