Why Your Retirement Plan Is Wasting Your Life | Bill Perkins
6/5/20261 hr 9 min
The real mistake isn't spending too much. It's dying with money you never used.
Bill Perkins built a career generating over $2.2 billion in trading profits as a hedge fund manager. His book Die With Zero reframes what money is actually for.
Money is a tool, not a goal. Every dollar you hold at death represents life energy you spent earning it and never converted into something real. The question isn't how much you save. It's whether you're using your wealth, your health, and your time together, in the right order, to get the most out of your one shot.
That's where memory dividends come in. When you invest in an experience, you don't just get the moment. You get a return every time you recall it, tell the story, or relive it in conversation. The joy compounds long after the trip ends.
But timing matters more than most people realize. Your ability to convert money into meaningful experience decays as you age. The adventures your body wants now won't be available at 72. Life is like Tetris. Get the pieces in the right order, and you get everything. Delay too long, and the window quietly closes.
Die With Zero: Getting All You Can from Your Money and Your Life
In this episode you will:
- Understand the Die With Zero philosophy and why every dollar you die holding is proof you worked for no reward
- Discover the memory dividend concept and why investing in experiences now pays compounding joy long after the moment passes
- Learn the time bucket framework for getting your biggest experiences in the right order before your body, not your bank account, makes the decision for you
- Identify the biggest psychological crime around money: fearing you'll run out instead of fearing you'll waste your one life
- Build the belief, mindset, and consistency that Bill Perkins says are the three keys to earning more and actually feeling fulfilled by what you have
For more information go to https://lewishowes.com/1937
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TOPICS
Bill Perkins, Die With Zero, memory dividends, time buckets, life is Tetris, scarcity mindset, net fulfillment, legacy and inheritance, Your Money or Your Life, financial fulfillment
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Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsLewis Howes· Host0:00
[upbeat music] Welcome back everyone to School of Greatness. Very excited about our guest. We have the inspiring Bill Perkins in the house. My man.
Bill Perkins· Guest0:08
Oh.
Lewis Howes· Host0:09
Good to see you, brother.
Bill Perkins· Guest0:10
Great to see you.
Lewis Howes· Host0:10
Great to see you, man. For those that don't know you, you have done amazing things in business and financially over your life. You have, as a hedge fund manager, trading mostly natural gas, you've brought in over 2.2 billion in profits for your businesses. You've personally brought in over $600 million to you individually over the years. And you've had an incredible experience unlocking financial freedom for yourself, and showing others how to do that as well. And a lot of people struggle around the idea of money.
Bill Perkins· Guest0:49
Right.
Lewis Howes· Host0:50
Around the idea of, how do I make money? Am I deserving of more money? Is money good? Is it bad? Um, what do I do with my money? Do I save it for a rainy day? Do I keep it all until I retire when I'm old and, and can't move? Do I give my money to my kids? Do I give it to charity? What do people do with their money? You've had a, an inside look around some of the richest people in the world, some of the biggest celebrities in the world, massive personalities, and you've seen the good, the bad, and the ugly, and you've also experienced the good, the bad, and the ugly- Correct ... around what money can do for people.
Bill Perkins· Guest1:27
Right.
Lewis Howes· Host1:27
Now I'm curious, where