One of the things I’ve been pondering lately is the idea of maximizing fulfillment over wealth. It’s a different way of thinking about intentionality which is crafting the life you really want to be living. A focus I’ve had for many years now.
Die with Zero
Why am I pondering fulfillment over wealth? I read a great book called Die with Zero: Getting All You Can From Your Money and Your Life by Bill Perkins last year. In it, he pitches the idea that we should all be maximizing our fulfillment in life, not wealth. What does that actually mean? It means that there’s an optimal time to be doing everything you want to do in life. Traipsing around Europe, sleeping in hostels and drinking cheap beer is best done in your 20’s. Family vacations to the Grand Canyon are best done before your kids move out. Running a marathon needs to happen before your knees give out. The times in your life when you have money, aren’t necessarily the optimal times to spend that money on the things you’d like to. There are a lot of people out there that spent the best years of their lives working so they could have money to do the things they want later in life. When they get to “later” they no longer have the energy or health to do those things.
Optimizing for Fulfillment
We spend a lot of our time during our 30’s, 40’s, and 50’s working. We work so that we can retire in our 60’s and travel, sipping margaritas by the sea. But, if how my body handles alcohol in my late 30’s is any indication, drinking in my beach chair at 65 is one of the last things I’ll want to do. I had two drinks last Thursday and woke up with a raging headache in the morning. I thought I was getting COVID. Turns out it was probably just a good old fashioned hangover (pun intended – one of those two drinks was a Smokey Old Fashioned). Two. Drinks.
Anyway, the point Perkins makes is that we really should be spending some (or a lot of) that money we’re hoarding away in our 30’s, 40’s, and 50’s enjoying our families and health while we still have them. When we’re in our 60’s, 70’s, and 80’s we don’t need as much wealth. What are we going to want to do? Sit around and read, play cards, or go to a diner with our friends. When I’m 80, I’m almost certainly not going to be traveling as much. I’m going to want to take a nap. Which is free.
Optimizing Your Bucket List
I did something independently years ago that Perkins suggests everyone do to optimize their bucket list. Instead of keeping a list of everything you want to do in life, jumbled together, perhaps on paper or only in your head. Write it down, but split everything out into 5-year chucks. I split mine by decade. Mine looked something like this:
30’s
- Run a marathon
- Publish my first book
- Hike the Inca Trail
40’s
- Go to New Zealand
- See a shark in its natural habitat
- Pay off the house
- Retire
- Take the girls to Paris, the Grand Canyon, Hawaii, Yellowstone, Tanzania
50’s
- Downsize to a tiny house
- Travel!
- Hike
- Spend time with the girls and their families
This is not my entire list nor does it stop in my 50’s, but you get the idea. Since starting the list, I have run a marathon and I’m publishing my first book in June (just a few weeks after I turn 40). I had the opportunity to go to New Zealand this year, so I’m swapping that with the Inca Trail and I’ll do that in my early 40’s.
What this list gives me is the ability to prioritize and think about what I can do at each stage of my life. It made me realize that I needed to get my a** moving earlier on some things (e.g. marathon) and that I had plenty of time for others (slow travel).
Optimizing for Time
The question now becomes, how much wealth do I really need to reach my current life goals (and have a cushion for whatever life throws at me)? I’ve been thinking about that too. Once I know that, I know how much of my time I need to sink into working vs. enjoying my life and “working” on my bucket list. That answer is almost definitely not as much as I originally thought! But that’s a topic for another blog post.