Reaching Zero
I recently read about this idea to die with zero dollars. As in use it up or give it away before you die. I’m sure if I read the book that it would explain how to ensure that you don’t have zero before you die. And it certainly makes sense that waiting to do things until late in life means you may have the money and time but not the health or strength.
But I kind of love the idea of passing along wealth and not knowing what people are doing with it but getting to assume they’re happy and having a great time. Giving it away while I’m living means that I end up knowing vs. getting to believe the happy ending.
Plus, I kind of like the idea of dropping a big unexpected donation on a nonprofit. Making donations while you’re alive means being asked to make more donations, year after year. Or being asked to join a board or give your opinion. I would like to give a donation and have the development person not know where or how to send the thank you because I also make it under a ridiculous fake name. That would amuse me to no end.
What do you think of this idea of dying with zero?
8 comments
Prepay your funeral expenses. Dying is not cheap.
As long as you sell off all your stuff too…
Leaving your heirs with no money but lots of stuff to deal with is a huge hassle for them with no reward. My mom died 9 years ago this month. My sister (the executor) gave us a bunch of Mom’s coins that she wasn’t sure what to do with LAST MONTH.
It is really good to think about what you’re going to leave behind, though. Especially if you have more than one heir – settling it before people can fight over anything is always a good idea.
Mel–I LOVE this idea. And it’s basically what my parents are doing. They’ve already given away everything (they live with my sister and do not have day-to-day living costs, which can be difficult to plan for).
That is a tricky one. I’m hoping to have enough money to be comfortable through the end of my life. I can see both sides. I haven’t lost my parents or inherited any money so I don’t know how it would be to manage it. I would think that getting a (smallish) chunk of money to put toward paying off a house, buying a vacation home, or donating to a non-profit would be a nice extension of their legacy. I doubt I’ll have to worry about this for my kids since I’m not wealthy nor really striving to amass a lot of wealth through my career choice or investments.
I like this idea. You can’t take it with you!
Of course, the way my personal finances and spending are going, it will be easy for me to leave zero haha. But I will have a lot of fabric. 😉 Hopefully, someone after me will enjoy what I don’t get to sewing in this lifetime…
Put all your money into an annuity and you’ll die with close to zero.
As for me, I’m not interested. With the growing inequality in the economy, my bequest motive has increased tremendously. Once the kids are grown we will have to see about setting up some kind of trust for them or for their kids if it looks like we’re going to die with a lot. The kind that functions as a safety net but doesn’t encourage them to not work or to spend it all while still young. I don’t see much point in giving them large amounts while we’re still alive because that will just increase their spending and potentially give them more financial pressure and expectations. Though who knows. We’re definitely paying their college and will probably pay for some grad school if they get MA. As for weddings, houses, etc. who knows.
People tend to spend less and save more when they’re given a large lump sum than when it’s doled out in smaller amounts over time. The hope is that by the time we die our kids will have made all their main financial decisions and the money can just travel if they have kids. I don’t know what we’ll be doing if they decide not to have kids, but hopefully we’ll know that before we die!
And of course there’s long term care costs… we may end up spending everything on LTC insurance or on making sure we’re in a nice nursing home! Hopefully that will be a long time from now.
Disclaimer: I didn’t read the linked post before commenting.
I don’t like the idea of dying with zero dollars. First, I think the logistics of making this a reality are difficult-to-impossible, as none of us knows exactly how long we will live, how much things will cost in the future, and how much the health care we receive in the months/years of our life will cost (some sources say that 10% of all health care spending in the USA goes for care delivered at the end of life).
Second, I like the idea of leaving some money behind to give to charity and to give my sons financial security that I never had in my life. My parents were of modest means, lower-middle class economically, and lived paycheck to paycheck. I never had any “cushion” that would’ve financially allowed me to pursue some of my dreams or goals, or to leave jobs I hated. I would prefer for my sons not to find themselves limited in that way because it really sucks.
And hey, if some non-profits benefit because I didn’t outlive my money, so much the better.
I have been thinking about this a lot. If we’re lucky enough to live that long, we expect to use up most of our money paying for our care, as we don’t have kids who will be there in the way that we have been there for our parents. But I wholeheartedly agree that we should live when we can – we have spent the last 20 years travelling (in between working) and truly enjoying the fruits of our labours, doing things in our 40s and 50s that would not be so possible in our 70s and certainly not in our 80s. My in-laws definitely saved their money instead of enjoying it, and I think that was very sad (for them, not sad for their less frugal offspring, lol).
The key is balance. and not to run out before we die, as you say! I do worry about that, because a) I don’t want to feel helpless, and b) I want to be able to reward whoever in my family provides a little support to us as we age. The ones who are most likely to do that do not have a lot of money. And if we die with some funds in hand, we both want to do something with it to make a bit of a mark. I’ve always wanted to leave money for scholarships, and we’re also interested in leaving money for medical research in areas that don’t get a lot of funding (eg CF research). I don’t care about leaving it in our names – that’s irrelevant. It’s what the money might do that is important.