Die With Zero: Getting All You Can from Your Money and Your Life

mean rich in experiences, in adventures, in memories—rich in all the reasons you acquire money. So here’s my investment advice in a nutshell: Invest in your life’s experiences—and start early, start early, start early.

That was when I realized that you retire on your memories. When you’re too frail to do much of anything else, you can still look back on the life you’ve lived and experience immense pride, joy, and the bittersweet feeling of nostalgia.

In the wise words of Carson, the butler of Downton Abbey, “The business of life is the acquisition of memories. In the end that’s all there is.”

You’ll get to your destination (death) but probably without having the kind of journey you would have actively chosen for yourself.

The main idea here is that your life is the sum of your experiences. This just means that everything you do in life—all the daily, weekly, monthly, annual, and once-in-a-lifetime experiences you have—adds up to who you are.

But unlike me, he actually took the trip, so he doesn’t have to live with second thoughts. In fact, despite the high-interest loan, he has the opposite of regret about the expense. “Whatever I paid, I feel it was a bargain because of the life experiences I gained,” he tells me.

What’s the best way to spend your life energy before you die?

Many psychological studies have shown that spending money on experiences makes us happier than spending money on things.

was like a slap across my face. He went on. “You came here to make millions,” he said. “Your earning power is going to happen! Do you think you’ll only make 18 thousand a year for the rest of your life?”