My First Million
00:43:18 · Bill Perkins
[00:43:18] S0: No, it was just like we came up with like 10 or 20 titles. Like, what is this book gonna be? You know, Die With Nothing, Maximize Your Life, like kinda like descriptions of the book. And the ultimate concept is is that, like, you use all your resources here on this vacation on planet Earth. You leave it all on the field. Right? So you die, you know, and and people are are attached to the money aspect of it. So Die With Zero just hit. It's like, there it is. And it's also Die With Zero regrets. Right? Like, it's like, if you if you leave everything that... If you do your best and you leave everything on the field, you have zero regrets. Like, most people say, do you have regrets? I go, yeah. And all my regrets are a version of when I didn't do my best. So whether I lost my temper or I did this or I behaved this way or I was, know, I was fat and out of shape, it's like I didn't do my best and therefore I have regrets. When I do my best, that's all I can do. There's no regrets. It's unfortunate. Like, unfortunate things still happen, but I don't regret that. Like, I don't regret my ass, you know, what I'm accountable for. And then the the publishers love this. Like, there was a little bit worry about like, well, people getting on airport, riding to an airport, you know, and there's like, die. Die. You know, like, that's gonna be hard sailing in an airport. But it was like, it just hit and says, like, it was provocative, and we went with it.
00:44:43 · Sam Parr
[00:44:43] S2: I've used your book. It's changed two parts of my life. The first is now when I take vacations, the way that we roll is we get a big house, and for those who can afford it, we say, here's the dates that we are going. Everyone's welcome. Come and do vacation with us. Like to like my parents or my in laws. Right. And it's pretty awesome. It's made vacation so fun. And then the second thing is I have in laws who created a business and they're very successful. And one day they're having a conversation. They're like, look, when we die, here's what we want to leave everyone. And I was like, look, here's what I think you should do. You're not asking for advice. It's your money. Do what you want. But you should do one of these three things. The first thing that you should do, give it to us now. We don't need any money. So that's probably the least good one. But if you do want to give us money, give it to me right now. But don't do that one probably. The second thing is go and do something for yourself. Be selfish. Whatever you want to do that makes you happy, just go and spend all the money on yourself. Or the third thing, go and do something that we could all enjoy together. You guys have been talking about getting this bigger vacation home. Don't even think twice. Get it and we will all enjoy it with you. Or if you want to go on this awesome vacation, let... Pay for all of us. We'll go we'll go with you. And they're starting to do it and it's made life so much more fun. And so they actually got a new vacation house that like... It's kind of like vacation homes are like definitely a hack for like really wealthy people because if you get a place that's big enough for everyone to be really comfortable, you 100% spend more time with your family. That's what I've noticed about Yeah. About that. But it's... And it's changed everything for us.
00:46:16 · Bill Perkins, Sam Parr, Shaan Puri
[00:46:16] S0: Yeah. Like, you... They're... Now, because I had this conversation with you, they're gonna have a more fulfilling life and they're not gonna be like 85 on their deathbed going like, why didn't I do this? Or I didn't get as much time with so and so during this time period, etcetera. Like, you've completely eliminated that future regret. [00:46:31] S2: And it still exists, by the way. Like, there's still fear. Like, everyone... Particularly if you're, like, retired, you're like, will I have enough to take care of myself? That that still exists. But I do think like having a large dose of enjoy it now is good. [00:46:45] S0: Yeah. I mean, what fear should be greater? Having a little bit of money and, you know, eating beans or wasting your entire life and missing out on your own life? So I think for me, it's the latter. [00:47:01] S1: You must get stories like this all the time. Somebody reads the book and they make a change, and that's obviously gotta be fulfilling. What are some of the stories that stand out to you, or what's a pattern you've heard from a lot of people who've read the book, like kind of like what Sam's saying, a change, a decision?
00:47:17 · Bill Perkins
[00:47:17] S0: What comes to mind is a lot of the inheritance one because everybody's kinda like that just... It it makes no fucking sense. It's so obvious. And then they read it in a book, you're like, you're right. This is so fucking obvious. Like, why am I waiting to die to give somebody their inheritance? Like, an inheritance shouldn't be a bequest. They're not kids. They're 60, etcetera. So that's like most of, like, the older cohort, like, that that have discretionary income or they plan on leaving something behind. They've somehow changed their estate planning, and they're actually taking estate planning seriously other than, oh, when I die, whatever's left over is gonna go to this person, this person, this person. The second one is just like, we've completely, you know, people shifted retirement dates, they've completely rethought what they should be doing in the time bucket they're having, or they've done it for their parents. They're like, I've made my parents retire and their sole job is to hang out with their grandparents. Like, I've had that. Like, that's it. Like, your job is now to hang out with the grand... I'm sorry, with the grandchildren and and and and just spend time with them and be around. Right? Or I've done this or... You know what I mean? These things I was putting off or... You know, I just kinda woke up to what I wanted, and then they... They're now doing that.
00:48:34 · Sam Parr
[00:48:34] S2: What about people who who don't have money? Have you had... What are some interesting examples of people who you learn... Who who have read your book, who were just... Who are retired teachers or are teachers, you know, not wealthy people?
00:48:47 · Bill Perkins
[00:48:47] S0: Oh, they have money. If somebody in the military reached out and it's like, yeah, it doesn't make sense. I have a guaranteed pension until I die. Why am I saving up all this money? Like they have no risk, right? Like they're a military pension, right? They have no risk, right? Like, so they're like, what is this lump of cash doing there, right, when I know I'm gonna get x per per month? Like, they they started going to live life. The other people that want money is like they're making different decisions, right? Because really it's about how do you allocate your time, right? It's really about choices, right? Money is just one of the tools you have in your toolbox, your health and your time, right? And so like they're making different decisions on how they spend time and who they're spending it with, you know, that costs no money, right? Making a decision to go see your mother or go play cards with the boys, right? Or or play basketball with the boys or watch TV, right, neither decision requires much money or money at all, right? It's but how do I allocate my time in this time period, and where does my time belong? Right? Some of the people are like, yeah, I'm now driving my kids to school and not complaining about it, or I'm reading them books more or etcetera, right? It wasn't a money decision, it was a how do I allocate my time decision. And then I get some of them was like, the health part really hit me. The idea that I won't be able to do certain things in the future, people are like, I'm getting in better shape. So there's things like that. So people look at the three variables and they look at kind of like, which one, which tool am I not using properly? A lot of people, most of it by and large focuses on the money, either earning it, like I'm spending... There's the other side, I'm spending too much and I'm screwing over my future self, right? There are things that should be delayed, right? But somebody has something to optimize to get a more fulfilling life amongst those three tools, their wealth, their health, and their time.