In this episode of Summed, we deliver a complete Die With Zero summary—Bill Perkins’s blueprint for maximizing life ROI: spending more on meaningful experiences while you’re healthiest, time-bucketing your life, giving earlier to loved ones, and designing a plan to avoid oversaving you’ll never use. In ~20 minutes, you’ll learn how to set a baseline safety floor (emergency fund + insurance/annuity options), convert money into memory dividends, and align your saving, spending, and giving with the right decade—so you don’t postpone living.

About the author:

Bill Perkins is an energy trader and hedge-fund manager known for applying expected-value thinking to personal decisions—arguing that the goal isn’t dying rich, but living richly.

Key takeaways:

• Life ROI > Net worth: Optimize for memorable experiences, relationships, health.
• Time buckets: Plan spending and experiences by decade (20s/30s/40s/50s+).
• Memory dividends: Experiences pay ongoing returns in joy and identity—invest early.
• Give sooner: Transfer some wealth when it has the highest utility (to kids/causes).
• Safety floor: Hedge longevity/health risks with reserves, insurance, and annuity options.
• Don’t oversave by default: Match savings rate to actual goals and timelines.
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This week’s playbook:

1. Draft five time buckets (now, 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s+) and list one experience you’ll fund in each.
2. Set a baseline safety number: emergency fund + insured risks; sanity-check against current savings.
3. Schedule one memory-dividend experience this quarter (trip, skill, reunion) and pre-fund it.
4. Plan giving-while-living: move a small, purposeful gift forward in time.

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(Education only; not financial advice.)

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