Die with Zero: Getting All You Can from Your Money and Your Life by Bill Perkins

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OPTIMIZE YOUR LIFE
Rule No. 1:
Maximize your positive life
experiences.
In October of 2008, Erin and her husband, John, were successful lawyers
with three young children when they learned that John had clear-cell
sarcoma, a rare and rapidly growing cancer of the body’s soft tissues.
“Nobody thought that a healthy 35-year-old would have a tumor the size of
a baseball,” Erin recalls. So no one suspected cancer until the tumor had
spread to John’s back and leg bones. “We didn’t understand how serious his
condition was until he had an X-ray and it was lit up like a Christmas tree,”
Erin says. The grim diagnosis terrified and overwhelmed her. And with
John too sick to work, the full burden of taking care of the family physically
and financially fell to her. It was too much for one person to bear.
I had been friends with Erin since we were kids, so I wanted to do
everything I could to make the situation less horrible. “Stop what you’re
doing,” I told her, “and spend time as a family while John still can.” I also
offered to help with the costs.
It turns out I was preaching to the choir: Erin had already been thinking
about quitting work to focus on what really mattered. And that’s what she
did. So at their home in Iowa, between John’s cancer treatments, the couple
enjoyed the simple pleasures of each other’s company: They’d go to the
park, watch movies, play video games, and pick their kids up after school
together.
In November, when local doctors had done everything they could,
without success, Erin found a clinical trial in Boston, where she and John
made several trips to undergo the experimental treatment, using their free
time to go on some of the city’s historic tours while John could still walk.
All too soon, though, their hope faded, and one day John broke down at the
thought of everything he’d miss, from watching his children grow up to
passing the years with Erin.
John died in January of 2009, just three months after his diagnosis.
Looking back at that period, Erin recalls the trauma and devastation, but she
is glad she quit her job to be home with John.
Most people would have done the same in these circumstances. Death
wakes people up, and the closer it gets, the more awake and aware we
become. When the end is near, we suddenly start thinking, What the hell am
I doing? Why did I wait this long? Until then, most of us go through life as
if we had all the time in the world.
Some of that behavior is rational. It would be foolish to live every day as
if it were your last: You wouldn’t bother to work, or study for a test, or visit
the dentist. So it makes sense to delay gratification to some extent, because
that pays off in the long run. But the sad truth is that too many people delay
gratification for too long, or indefinitely. They put off what they want to do
until it’s too late, saving money for experiences they will never enjoy.
Living as if your life were infinite is the opposite of taking the long view:
It’s terribly shortsighted.
Clearly, the story of Erin and John is an extreme case. Advanced clearcell

sarcoma is rare, and death was staring this couple in the face much
more starkly than it does for most people. Yet the challenge that their
situation presented is common to everyone: Everyone’s health generally
declines with time, and sooner or later we all die, so the question we all
must answer is how to make the most of our finite time on earth.
Put that way, it sounds like a lofty, philosophical question—but that’s not
how I see it. I’m trained as an engineer and made my fortune on the
strength of my analytical skills, so I see this question as an optimization
problem: how to maximize fulfillment while minimizing waste.
Everyone’s Problem

Die with Zero: Getting All You Can from Your Money and Your Life by Bill Perkins