Memory Dividends

I recently read a great book, "Die With Zero" by Bill Perkins. It is a great book for everyone, not just retirees. It is a reminder that while working we are trading our living hours for money and that we need to enjoy that money at some point. With the point of spending being sooner than later or "some day".

One point of the book that really has stuck in my head is his description and discussion of memory dividends. The gist of the idea is that we create memories with experiences over the years and then those memories can pop up when you think of them and create a little bit of happiness again for that past experience. The more great experiences you have the greater your memory dividends can add up as you get older. 

As I look around my study, I get memory dividends as I look at photos from our recent trip to Spain, Italy and Egypt. I smile and feel happy just looking at the photos and thinking about that awesome experience. I can also see photos of Vietnam, Philippines, Hawaii and Singapore. I see figurines and statues of a cannon, a hula dancer, the Wall Street bull and a Merlion among many other trinkets I have picked up. In my glassed in bookcase I see a Key West sign, currency bills from different countries, color sheets that granddaughters did on a Disney cruise, bottle caps from a variety of root beers I've sampled and many other things. All of these produce memories and good happy feelings thinking back on those experiences.

Since reading the book, I have a new appreciation for creating experiences right now to enjoy and provide future memory dividends. I just turned 60 and feel like the next 5-10 years will be the best time to travel and do things before my wife or I get sidelined with an age related injury or disease that will slow us down. 

The experiences don't have to be travel. They can be a new thing you tried, a family event, a personal accomplishment and many other things. A couple of years ago I was on a quest to try 100 new things. Some of those experiences still pop up as memory dividends. One of those "new things" was attending a rattlesnake festival. I dislike snakes as much as anyone and this memory popped up the other day with a discussion with my oldest granddaughter (6 years old). We have a running joke of me being afraid of snakes while she likes them. She will often put a play snake near me or on me to try to scare me. Of course Pawpaw always screams like a little girl to her great delight!

I encourage you to read the book or any other book that stresses living in the now rather than wait until "some day" to do that thing you've always wanted to do.  

How do you remember great experiences you have had in the past? Do you hang photos or collect small souvenirs like me? Or do you have another way to record those experience to remind yourself? Maybe a journal or scrapbook? Let me know of any great experiences you have had that continue to provide you with memory dividends today.

Also comment on the book if you have read it and tell me your thoughts and anything that jumped out at you.