What If Saving for Retirement Is Actually Costing You Your Life?

Heidi Xiao
Dec 30, 2025
4 min read

A New Year's Challenge for Ambitious Earners Who Want to Live Rich, Not Just Die Rich

At Moola Money, we're re(reading) Die With Zero this Holiday Season as we reflect and take stock of the experiences and memories we've had in 2025 and we encourage you to read on to understand why.

You've done everything right—climbing the career ladder, contributing to your pension, building savings. But, are you still holding off on the present? What if the traditional retirement playbook is causing you to waste the best years of your life?

Bill Perkins' Die With Zero flips the script. For professionals building their careers—earning steadily more but not yet comfortable with their net worth—his message lands hard: instead of maximizing net worth, you should maximize "net fulfillment"—the total sum of positive life experiences and the memories they create.

And as we head into 2026, there's a different kind of resolution worth considering—one that challenges everything you've been told about saving, spending, and when you're actually supposed to enjoy the money you work so hard to earn.

The Retirement Trap No One Talks About

The standard advice: work hard, save aggressively, delay gratification until 65 or 70. The problem?

Retirees with £500k+ spend down only 12% before death. One-third actually increase wealth during retirement.

And in some cases, it makes even less sense: people inherit at 60 on average, but need help between 26-36.

Enter the Memory Dividend

Even more importantly as it relates to time: Material possessions depreciate. Experiences appreciate. That Patagonia trek at 32? That month in Florence? They compound into who you become—what Perkins calls the memory dividend.

But these dividends are time-sensitive. The backpacking trip you can do at 28 isn't the same at 58. Windows close. The person you are at 45 can often be determined by the experience you had when you were younger.

Your ability to enjoy different experiences changes throughout life. Physical adventures are easier when you're young and healthy. Delaying experiences until retirement often means missing the optimal window to enjoy them.

Time Buckets: The Missing Piece

Perkins suggests dividing your life into 5-year buckets and assigning experiences to them:

30-35: Everest base camp, backpacking Southeast Asia
40-45: Extended family travel and career pivots
50-55: Slower travel like cultural tours and mentorship

Perkin’s perspective is that there is tragedy in spending your "go-go years" working extra hours to fund a future where you're too tired to enjoy it.

The Aspirational Earner's Paradox

You're a few years into your career watching salary climb, or mid-career realizing "good money" doesn't stretch like you imagined. You can afford holidays but agonize over taking two trips instead of one. You could reduce hours for balance but the financial hit feels risky.

You're caught between "live for today" recklessness and "grind until 65" traditionalism. Whether you earn £40k or £100k, the trap is identical: living smaller than your trajectory suggests, optimizing for distant retirement over current life stage.

The 2026 Challenge

This new year isn't about more discipline—it's about asking yourself better questions:

Am I over-saving at the expense of living?
What experiences are time-sensitive to this decade?
What would I regret not doing at 75?

This isn't recklessness or hedonism. It's recognizing money's purpose: converting life energy into meaningful experiences while you can enjoy them. The challenge? Most lack tools to make these decisions confidently.

Making Better Decisions at Time-Bound Moments

What if you could see what happens if you take a sabbatical at 35, go part-time while kids are young, or help them buy a home at 30 instead of leaving inheritance at 60? Most tools focus on retirement (65+) or monthly budgets. Neither maximizes lifetime fulfillment. Whether you earn £70k or £200k, you need confidence that choosing experiences today won't jeopardize tomorrow's security.

Your Net Worth Should Peak, Then Decline

Perkins' radical idea: peak between 45-60, then intentionally spend down. Not recklessly—ensure you have enough for health and longevity. But beyond baseline security? Convert wealth into experiences while you can. Define your survival number, life enhancement number, and optimal spending curve across decades.

The 2026 Invitation

As you think about resolutions, aim for clarity. Clarity about whether your trajectory leads to a life well-lived or a death well-funded. Clarity about which experiences matter when. Clarity about trade-offs between present and future. Maybe 2026 is when you stop defaulting to conventional wisdom and start designing a plan that maximizes experiences across all your years.

What's the point of dying rich if you didn't truly live?

Take the First Step

Applying Die With Zero principles requires tools that help you model different life choices across decades—not just plan for retirement or track this month's spending.

Moola Money uses a psychographic approach and demonstrates clear projections for you to understand your habits, preferences, and goals across time. We also allow you to see your futures your complete financial picture now and model future scenarios that balance security with living.

Join our public beta waitlist and get strategies for allocating resources across your lifespan—not just your retirement years.