Solving for net fulfillment

I came across a podcast called Optimizing Life for Maximum Fulfillment, featuring Bill Perkins.

"Bill Perkins is one of the world’s most successful hedge fund managers and entrepreneurs, and the author of the bestseller, Die With Zero. In this episode, Bill unpacks the Die With Zero philosophy which challenges conventional thinking related to the balance between health, wealth, and time—the three variables important for fulfillment. Bill makes the case that we should strive for maximum net fulfillment rather than net worth (or even health). He argues that we need to optimize our life to have memorable experiences before it’s too late and that most people are over-saving and under-living."

Perkins makes the case that we have time buckets or time "seasons" that follow particular fulfillment curves. It sounds mathematical, so to simplify, you can think of a time bucket such as spending quality time with your children before they become teenagers as experiences that are higher on the fulfillment curve (because when they’re teenagers they don't want to spend time with you).

According to Perkins it might make sense to take extra time off from work or maybe even take a leave of absence in order to optimize the time with your children, and then try to make the money back when they are teenagers.

The big picture concept for older folks is to consider whether it is worthwhile to save as much money as possible during your working years and then spend it in a less than optimal fashion when you're an old geezer like myself lol. An example Perkins used was a vacation where he had to climb a huge number of steps in order to get the maximum experience. He realized that most of the people around him at the site were quite old and unable to climb the steps. So to Perkins it wasn't worth it to spend the money on the vacation if you couldn't get the maximum experience at the top of the steps.

Perkins uses terms like fulfillment curve, regret minimization algorithm, memory dividend, etc to get his point across that it's better to spend $20,000 on an African safari when you are at the peak of your fulfillment curve than to do it when you're too old. After all you're spending a lot of money and you want to make sure it's optimized.

When you're worth a few hundred million $ like Perkins the idea of lowering your memory dividend returns is more of a personal embarrassment than a financial debacle. But if you're all about optimizations then you don't want to make those mistakes.

In all seriousness Perkins brings up some issues worthy of consideration. For example, if you can afford it, giving your kids money when they are in their thirties and can most use it might be a better idea than having them wait until you're dead.

For most people the idea of dying with zero $ because you've used the money when you were at the peak of your fulfillment curve is ludicrous. Having money for medical emergencies or just having a buffer against unknown forces is both sensible and quite necessary.

On the other hand overworking or saving relentlessly until you've got "bank" in order to start enjoying life doesn't make sense either.

---

I did a trendy thing and asked an artificial intelligence bot a relevant question:

If you are young, let's say 25 years old, and you spend most of your income on having great experiences, is that better than saving money until you are 70 years old and then spending it?

The bot’s answer:

“Whether it's better to spend money on experiences when you're young or save it for later in life depends on your personal preferences and goals. Some people prefer to enjoy life to the fullest and make memories while they're young, while others prefer to save money for retirement or other long-term goals. Ultimately, the best approach is to strike a balance between enjoying life now and saving for the future. It's also worth considering a financial advisor to help you create a plan that will allow you to achieve your goals while also being prepared for any unexpected events.”

---

Advertisement:

---

Here's some very interesting news for people who aren't crazy about dying:

Scientists Have Reached a Key Milestone in Learning How to Reverse Aging

---

Well that’s about it for now. Our project in Bali building a retirement community is meandering slowly but I hope to post an update soon.

Stay optimized :)

Neill