Prioritizing Life Experiences Over Future Wealth Accumulation

Key Quotes

"I think the biggest psychological crime is people fear running out of money instead of fear of wasting their life."

Bill Perkins argues that the primary mistake people make with money is prioritizing the fear of financial scarcity over the fear of unlived life. Perkins suggests this misplaced fear leads individuals to hoard resources rather than utilize them for experiences.

"So life is like Tetris, right? Like if you were in heaven, let's assume this heaven and you're about to come down to Earth as a human being and God's like, here's the bucket of experiences. And when I say experiences, I mean choices, right? I mean it in the broadest sense. Hedonistic, charitable, whatever. And you're like, oh, the infinite bucket of experiences. I want to go hiking, I want to do tennis a thousand times. I want to have sex a zillion times. I want to do all these things. And you're throwing them into the experience bucket. I want to start a business. I want to go to school, blah, blah, blah. And it's full. And God goes, great. You can have all those. You just have to get the order right."

Perkins uses the analogy of Tetris to explain how life's experiences, or choices, must be sequenced correctly. He posits that while an abundance of potential experiences exists, their timing is crucial, implying that missed opportunities at certain life stages cannot be replicated later.

"The tool of money. Your ability to convert your money into into, uh, meaningful fulfilling experiences decays over time. So, you know, your brain reaches, uh, mental maturity around 28. Your body is physical maturity around 33. So if, by and large, if you're in the best shape of your life at 33, that is the top. Then you go into plateau and decline."

Bill Perkins explains that the purchasing power of money for meaningful experiences diminishes as one ages. Perkins points to the peak of physical and mental maturity, typically in one's early thirties, as the optimal time to leverage financial resources for experiences before physical capabilities begin to decline.

"And there were like six or eight tour buses of senior citizens, you know, coming and go see the museum and and in this church. Not a single one climbed those steps. Not a single one. So their trip to St. Petersburg was entirely different than my St. Petersburg trip. They experienced the information they got, the process, the things they got to see was totally different."

Perkins recounts an observation in St. Petersburg where senior citizens on tour buses did not climb a significant set of stairs, contrasting their experience with his own. Perkins highlights how physical limitations, often associated with age, can prevent individuals from fully engaging with certain experiences, even when they have the financial means to travel.