Die With Zero

Friday, June 30, 2023

I read the book Die With Zero by Bill Perkins last year. Basically, it said people save and save and save for retirement, and then continue to save because that is what they are used to. They continue to worry that they will not have enough money to live on before they die. His idea was to be cautious, to try to actually figure out how long do you think you will live (actuarial tables! I know an actuary!) and how much you will need. He pointed out that as you age, you will likely decrease your activities and the costs that are associated with them. His basic point was LIVE NOW. Do the things! Go the places! Since I like to do the things and go the places, I totally believed everything he said.

🙂

He had a chapter on donating money – to your kids or charities or whoever/whatever. He suggested doing it now so you could enjoy doing it. He made a point about the fact that people can most use a bit of a windfall between 28-35 years old, because that is when they are starting out (buying a house, getting kids, etc.). If your kids get money now, it’s way more likely to impact them than if they wait until you die and they are in their 50s or 60s. That’s where today’s activity comes in. We bought Alexander a car. We have been shopping via the internet on and off since I read the book last year. His old car is a 2007 blue RAV4 and his new car is a 2020 blue RAV4. He is a guy who drives a blue RAV4. He has said we didn’t have to do that a lot and has said thank you a gazillion times. He is nice that way. It was just so much fun to be able to do a nice thing for a nice guy.

We raised the boys as unfairly as possible. Oh. That’s not exactly what I meant. Fair, but unequal? Unfair and unequal? Randomly? Without a clue? Something like that. We went with the team mentality – what’s good for one is good for all. There weren’t names on Christmas presents – everything was for everyone. If someone needed something, they got it. We have an entire family full of really spoiled people. Needs and wants ebbed and flowed for everyone. So, right now, I thought Alexander needed a car and a decent option popped up. We went for it. Even though we didn’t feel that just because we did a big thing for Alexander that we had to do a big thing for Benjamin, Benjamin conveniently just had to buy a new car after his car was totaled in the accident with the young driver turning left in front of Sean. Insurance paid for half of the new car and we paid for the other half. It was fun to do a nice thing for Benjamin (poor pill swallowing, toothless man) even though he said many times that we didn’t need to and then said thank you. So much new cars! What fun!!

After we picked up Alexander’s car on the way other side of Minneapolis at the worst possible traffic time, no one wanted to go sit in traffic to get back to our St. Paul side of town. I suggested we go to Valleyfair, but no one went for it. Keith found a McDonald’s a couple blocks away, so we went there to hang out for a bit and wait for traffic to wane. There were two little girls by the door playing with their Happy Meal toys from the Pixar film Elemental. I checked them out and said I, too, wanted a Happy Meal. Mmmm. You get a hamburger, tiny fries AND apple slices. So good. Keith and Alexander had smoothies. I was working on my happy toy. It was Wade driving a water car (I saw the movie. I don’t really remember the water car. I don’t think it was a big plot point). The instructions on my package were to insert the little watery exhaust into the back of the car first. I did that. Then I looked at step 2 and laughed. I said, “It says that after I put these parts together, I am supposed to hold the exhaust between my fingers and push it along. That is some serious dumb (FORESHADOWING) if you can’t figure out you are supposed to push the car without being told.” Alexander asked if it did anything else. I said no. He said back in his day, happy toys did something. I was busy pushing it around the table. I stopped for a bite of my hamburger and Keith took the car. He put his fingers on the water exhaust and squeezed and the car shot across the table. I jumped and screamed (I am in charge of screaming) and he burst out laughing SO HARD! Alexander shrugged, “Apparently happy toys still do something.”

What a day of JOY!