My First Million
00:13:01 · Shaan Puri, Bill Perkins
[00:13:01] S1: When you were coming up, did you have like a number in mind, a goal? And then did you hit that number? Did you just simply like most people move the goalposts and say, No, no, no, that's not enough. Like describe to me kind of what your relationship was with the number. [00:13:18] S0: Yeah. The number was I just wanted to be a millionaire before I was 30. It was kind of a thing. You know, I blew through it, but there was never like a cap number. Like, if I make x, I'm I'm going to quit. I didn't really think it through at that time about what it was. Like I was young, I wanted girls and a rock star life and all the bullshit that comes along with it, so I didn't have like a really thoughtful process about like what do I want out of life and what does that cost, right? I just knew that I wanted a lifestyle, I wanted to be rich, I wanted to be able to get the girls, that type of thing, right? And then everybody kind of parrots, like, I want be a millionaire before x date, right? It's almost like a Miss America cookie cutter answer type thing that people starting out do. They're not really thinking about it. It wasn't till later in life that I really was thinking about like, what does that mean, and what does the number mean? And is it even a number? Right? Is it really a date? [00:14:12] S1: When you're talking about later in life, is that like in the last five years or that was when you were 32?
00:14:12 · Shaan Puri, Bill Perkins, Sam Parr
[00:14:12] S1: When you're talking about later in life, is that like in the last five years or that was when you were 32? [00:14:17] S0: It was probably in thirties, started really starting cementing the ideas of like, the number doesn't matter, the age date matters. Like your net worth peak is actually a date, not not a number. Just given the fact that your body is a decaying asset and its ability to convert that money into fulfillment and useful experiences declines. That rate of decline starts approaching affinity as you get close to your deathbed. And so, more money means nothing a certain point in your life. And so that slope matters more. And so, that isn't when you're 20, that isn't when you're 30. So somewhere between 30 and 65, that slope starts to really pick up such that more money doesn't really mean anything to you. [00:15:04] S2: What was that moment that that changed that where you realized there's a different way to live? Like, did you read something? Did you experience something where you're like, where you got smacked in the face and you're like, there's a better way and this is where I'm gonna carve out this new path?
00:15:18 · Bill Perkins
[00:15:18] S0: Yeah. It wasn't like I, you know, I was on my horse on the road to Damascus and then I fell off it and got a vision. It was more like there are many things. I read a book called Your Money or Your Life, which kind of introduced the concept that the best definition of money is something you exchange hours of your life for. And then that kind of like set off a whole bunch of other thought processes about like, okay, I'm exchanging hours of my life for capital, what's that capital for? Like, what are my values? And then started thinking about that, like, okay, I'm giving up hours of my life to get hours of other people's life to do X, What are those things? Right? And and why? You know, that that that started coming along. And then, you know, really thinking about death and when do certain things happen? Like, you want to get the girls, but it's not when you're 40, you should probably marry by then. You know what I mean? Like, you want to do all the rock star stuff, but it's not, you know what I mean? It's not at 55, right? And so, like, it's kind of like what experiences belong when, and what does the arc of my life look like? How does money fit into that? How does health affect that? And so those thoughts were reinforced by different conversations, books I've read, etcetera, to come up with that comprehensive way I thought about wealth, health, and time, and how to allocate those resources throughout my life to get the maximum amount of fulfillment. And, you know, I had to answer what is the purpose of life, and the purpose of life is to be fulfilled according to your own values. And so then I was like, okay, what does that mean to me? And then how do these variables fit? You know? And so that was over a time period. It wasn't just like, oh shit, here it is, I have this formula, you know? E equals MC squared, or, you know?
00:16:58 · Sam Parr
[00:16:58] S2: Well, it kind of is like that. It's sort of funny, like the reason... Shaan and I aren't particularly investors, but we like having these investors on because it's sort of funny to see them take their Rain Man like abilities to, like, analyze numbers, but but they use it towards, like, other parts of life. And that's where it starts getting interesting because they're sort of, like, very rational, whereas most people do things just because that's how everyone else does it. You start seeing... Hearing these like fairly rational, somewhat controversial opinions on how to live life or handle risk or whatever. And that's where things start actually get really interesting because they kind of break the mold and that's what you're describing. And so it's pretty funny to hear you talk about like the balance sheet of life, just like a decaying asset. That's kind of interesting to me.
00:17:40 · Bill Perkins
[00:17:40] S0: It's funny because, you know, one of the things that had an impact on me that that was like, I was in an argument with a friend on a football team named Dwight Systronka at the University of Iowa, and we were talking about something, I don't know. And he was like, yeah, I don't want that, that's what you want. Like, I don't wanna pick a fence in a White House or whatever and go get a job and work like that. I don't want that cookie cutter, I want a different life. And I remember thinking like, well, what could he possibly want? Like, I was so inculcated with like the bullshit and the Chevy Chase movies and get married, have kids, get a nice car, climb the corporate ladder that I couldn't even see past that, right? And that conversation haunted me later on over years combined with other things to think about, okay, different people have different values, fulfillment means different things. What's a values agnostic way to look at these variables in order to have the most fulfilling life?
00:18:35 · Shaan Puri
[00:18:35] S1: I wanna read you an email I sent to my sister and my mom that's from your book, it's an excerpt from your book that resonated so much that I hand typed it back out by hand to I like that. I was like, Y'all aren't gonna read this book, but I need you to read this. And so it says, death wakes people up, and the closer it gets, the more awake we become. And when the end is near, we suddenly start thinking, What the hell am I doing? Why did I wait this long? And then you go on and you say, Most people live their life like this. They build a well and start to pump water. As the well fills, they use a cup to scoop out a tiny amount of water. They take a sip and then they go back to pumping. Higher and higher goes the water. At the end of their lives, after a lifetime of pumping, they are still thirsty. They spent their whole life pumping rather than drinking. I know you talk about a couple of the principles. One, timing matters. Some experiences can only be enjoyed at certain times. You can't water ski when you're 90. Number two, what to worry about. You can always make more money in the future, but you cannot make more time in the future. So it makes sense to not worry about squandering our money. Squandering our lives should be a much greater worry.