Guides

Plain explanations of the Die With Zero method and the decisions it asks you to make.

• Do you need an annuity to die with zero? Perkins suggests an annuity to cover the years your money might not. Tested against zeroleft's own model: a modest one barely moves the odds, an oversized one can hurt them.
• When can I retire on a die-with-zero plan? The standard "when can I retire" answer sizes your pot to last forever. Die With Zero sizes it to your own horizon instead — which usually means an earlier date.
• How to calculate your die-with-zero number Your die-with-zero number is the most you can add to your spending each year and still land near zero. How it's calculated, and why one figure isn't enough.
• A Die With Zero spreadsheet, or a solver? A Die With Zero spreadsheet gets you the shape of the plan. Here's exactly where a flat-return sheet breaks down, with the numbers, and a free solver that doesn't.
• Die With Zero vs. FIRE: are they the same plan? FIRE optimises against running out of money. Die With Zero optimises against dying with too much left. Where they clash, where they agree, and how to run both.
• Retirement drawdown strategies, compared The 4% rule, guardrails, spend-to-zero and annuitising: how each turns a portfolio into income, where each one fails, and how to stress-test whichever you pick.
• Free Die With Zero spreadsheet alternatives The free Die With Zero spreadsheets and calculators people actually share, what each one does well, and where a static sheet stops being enough.
• Die With Zero gift timing: the 26–35 window The book says give money to your kids at 26–35, not when you die near 60. The reasoning, the trade-offs, and how to plan the gift well.
• Am I saving too much for retirement? Generic checklists can't tell you. Here's how to find your actual number, what the research says about spending in retirement, and where the real risk sits.
• The Die With Zero method, explained Bill Perkins' Die With Zero asks you to spend down to near zero, front-load experiences while your health can carry them, and insure against a long life.
• Is Die With Zero a bad idea? The criticisms, honestly The real criticisms of Die With Zero — spending to the edge, the survival threshold, annuities — checked against zeroleft's own model, not just argued in theory.
• The memory dividend: why an experience keeps paying you back A memory dividend is what an experience pays you back each time you recall, retell or relive it. Why doing it sooner means collecting on it for longer.
• The long-term care risk a spend-to-zero plan does not cover Die With Zero doesn't cost long-term care separately. How likely you are to need it, what it costs, and how to build a manual buffer without gutting your number.
• Best free Die With Zero calculators, compared Boldin, Retirement Scenario, Retiro, Stratos Tools and more, compared honestly — plus the one thing none of them do: weigh experiences against your health.
• ProjectionLab alternatives: what a free tool does differently ProjectionLab is the deeper, paid planner. zeroleft is free throughout and built around one question: your die-with-zero number. Here's the honest trade-off.
• Should you sell the house? Turning home equity into retirement spending Selling frees cash, but far less than the price suggests. What zeroleft's solver says downsizing is really worth, after the costs no one budgets for.
• Die With Zero if you don't have kids No children changes what a die-with-zero plan is for, not the maths behind it. What's actually different, what isn't, and where the freed-up money can go.
• When to take the trips you keep putting off The physically demanding trips on your list have a shelf life the easy ones don't. How to order a bucket list around your health curve, not your budget.