How can I plan to die with nothing?

Hi Jane, you are up for one of the greatest retirement challenges, are you? Spending all of your money and dying penniless. It is a fantastic goal for those with just enough or more than enough money. It is a goal everyone should contemplate and one most people should pursue. After all, what is the value of money if you don’t use it?

Your comment “it is actually quite hard to do” is 100% correct for a number of reasons, and few people hit the bullseye.  

This is what I often see as a financial planner: at age 55–60, you don’t know if you can afford to retire, so you work a little longer. At age 65–70, you are retired and holding back because you want your money to last and you don’t want to see your capital decrease. Somewhere between age 75 and 80, you realize you have all the money you need, but time is running out. Sometime after age 80, you are too old to enjoy yourself and you’re thinking, shucks, if I had only known, I would have done more or given more. Then, finally, you die and your estate faces a tax bill larger than anything you ever faced, and what is left goes to your beneficiaries.

What I like about your goal is it forces you to think about your needs and wants so you can design the life you want to have, while at the same time it forces you to become very intentional with your money.  

Money vs. time

Most financial planning revolves around the fear of running out of money and the focus is on saving more, making more, paying less tax, build, build, build, and then how to efficiently transfer what you don’t use to the next generation when you die. What if, instead, planning was based on the fear of running out of life and health before spending all your money? What would that look like and how would you do it?

There is a lot of software capable of showing how much you can spend if you plan to die on a certain date. AI will even do it for you if you ask; just give it your numbers. Make it a repetitive exercise because it is repetition that builds your confidence in the numbers, and it’s confidence that you need to start spending. But this doesn’t answer your question: “How do I spend more?”  

In his book Die with Zero, Bill Perkins suggests you should be spending on experiences and giving to your children or charities while you are alive.

Spending on experiences creates what he calls memory dividends: memories that are banked and can be called upon at any time. They have a compounding effect in that, unlike the purchase of material things, when recalled you experience a sense of happiness and satisfaction. It may be that in your final stages of life your only enjoyable activity is revisiting and sharing memories of past experiences. As Perkins says, “Your life is the sum of your experiences.” Start banking more experiences. 

Perkins also makes the point that dying with zero doesn’t mean disinheriting children or charities. In fact, he turns the tables and suggests that if you are waiting until you die to leave your money to children or a charity then you are treating them as an afterthought. What do you think about that, Jane?

He may be right! When you die you are going to leave money, but you don’t know when or how much, or even if it will be needed at the time. If you know you are going to leave money to children or a charity, why not be intentional about it and do it on your terms when your children or the charity need it most? It can be a monetary gift or an enjoyable experience you share with your loved ones, so you are in their memory bank, too.   

If you are concerned about spending or gifting too much, reduce the risk with insurance. You can purchase insurance products to guarantee your income for life, take care of long-term care expenses, and leave a fixed amount to beneficiaries. Imagine knowing all your financial concerns are taken care of—wouldn’t that make it easier to spend on experiences and give money?

It’s about the journey, not the destination

Jane, dying with nothing is an admirable mindset but you can’t get it to the exact penny. There are too many variables to time it just right. However, that mindset in itself will help lead you to live an incredible life.  

My suggestion is to continue thinking the way you are now and ask yourself what you need and want to really feel fulfilled and on the top of the world. What experiences can you participate in that will satisfy those needs and wants?   

Now, plan out this year. What are you going to do to make this a really good year for you? What will it cost? Model the costs in planning software. Even though you may not know what experiences you will invest in next year, assume you will spend something similar to what you are spending this year. What does the projection look like? Can you spend more? Remember, as you get older you will likely be spending less, which frees up money for today.

Make this a good year, full of enjoyable experiences. Then do the same next year, and the next… your life is the sum of your experiences. Keep it going. Jane, you have me smiling and I’m excited for you. I’d love to see the your photos as you enjoy your memory dividends.

Read more Ask a Planner columns:

• What’s new (and gone) for your 2025 tax return, due April 2026
• How is cryptocurrency taxed in Canada?
• We’re 10 years apart. Can we retire together?
• Preparing taxes for someone who died

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