Bill Perkins, energy trader turned author of “Die with Zero,” joins My First Million to discuss how he made his fortune trading natural gas derivatives, why he shifted from maximizing wealth to maximizing life fulfillment, and the practical framework he uses to allocate money, health, and time across the arc of his life.
Trading career: from clerk to nine-figure risk-taker
Perkins started as a clerk on the NYMEX floor when natural gas futures launched, became an OTC broker (which he hated — “like a real estate agent”), then moved to Houston in 1995 after deregulation to run a derivatives desk and trade proprietary capital.
He describes trading as “glorified insurance”: providing hedges to commercial players (e.g., selling winter natural gas futures to utilities locking in prices) and capturing the risk premium that typically bleeds out as winter passes.
His edge combined informational advantage (deep study of supply/demand fundamentals) with temperament — the ability to stay stoic through 50% drawdowns and not let amygdala hijack prefrontal cortex.
At peak, he managed $100–200M and swung from -50% to +250% in a year; the game is “stay in the game” long enough for edge to compound, like an insurance writer surviving hurricane years.
He admits he under-invested in his own fund early on (fearing job loss + capital loss simultaneously), and in hindsight would have chosen equities for larger fee streams and positive market drift.
The pivot: realizing money is a tool, not the scoreboard
The turning point wasn’t a single epiphany but a cascade: reading Your Money or Your Life (money = life energy exchanged), conversations with a college teammate who rejected the “cookie-cutter” path, and gradual recognition that most of his desires were cultural programming, not innate.
He realized the “number” (net worth target) is the wrong metric — the date matters more because the body is a decaying asset whose ability to convert money into fulfillment declines toward infinity near death.
Core insight: people pump water (earn money) their whole lives but never drink (spend on fulfillment); they die thirsty beside a full well.
Two principles anchor the philosophy: (1) timing matters — experiences have expiration dates (can’t water-ski at 90), and (2) worry about the right scarcity — you can make more money later, but never more time.
Die with Zero framework: time buckets, not bucket lists
Life has “many deaths” — the college you, the single you, the parent-of-young-kids you — each with optimal experiences that don’t transfer well to later periods.
Time bucketing: divide life into 3–5 year blocks and deliberately assign experiences to the buckets where they fit best (ski trips with friends in 20s, grandkid time in 70s), like Tetris — wrong order means pieces don’t fit.
He and his wife do periodic “time bucket planning” (e.g., deciding to live in Japan while their son is under five) and react to opportunities (weddings, trips) within the larger arc.
Annual planning: Perkins spends 3 days/year designing the most exciting version of the coming year, putting dates on calendar, then executing — “1% of the year planning the other 99%.”
Health as the binding constraint: the Centurion Olympics
Current biggest dissatisfaction: health adherence slipped after marriage and new baby — body fat rose from 8% to 16–18%, VO2 max from top 1% to mid-range for age.
His doctor’s “Centurion Olympics” frames it: pick 10 activities you want in your final decade (pick up grandchild, hike, vigorous sex, wake surf), then reverse-engineer the VO2 max trajectory needed — 80% of his targets are currently off-track.
Solution: hired a traveling trainer to outsource accountability; recognizes he’s “robbing future Bill” and must act now because the slope of decline steepens with age.
Family and life design: the pendulum, not the pie chart
Balance isn’t daily equilibrium but managed pendulum swings: grinding hard → vacationing hard → spiritual work hard — different decades have different dominant modes.
With kids (now 22 and 19): traveled together, arranged life so they could join adventures; now they want to hang out (“Dad, you’re cool”).
Enrolled wife in shared vision (living abroad, yachting, private travel) — “getting buy-in” matters more than perfect fairness each month.
Vacation hack: big house, invite parents/in-laws — “vacation homes are a hack for wealthy people” because they guarantee family time.
Advice to wealthy in-laws: give money now (when it buys experiences), spend on yourselves, or buy shared assets (vacation home) — don’t wait until death to bequeath.
Ego, accountability, and the “soft” trap
Most people don’t take risks because of ego risk, not financial risk — they can’t tolerate the status drop of trying and failing.
“Crush your ego constantly”: maximum accountability — rewrite victim stories as 100% ownership (learned at Choice Center seminar, same as Daniel Negreanu).
It’s a daily practice: catching himself being “right” instead of loving, or avoiding hard conversations to save face.
He gives “straight dope” feedback (telling friends they have a booger) — some perceive as asshole behavior, he sees as the only valuable mirror.
Art collecting as cultural arbitrage: the Sugar Shack story
Bought Ernie Barnes’s The Sugar Shack (1976) at Sotheby’s for $15M (estimate $200K–$1M) after a chaotic live bidding war against an art consultant who whispered “I’m not going to stop” — Perkins replied “Then I’m going to make you pay.”
Painting depicts Black joy in a segregated Southern juke joint; featured on Marvin Gaye’s I Want You and Good Times credits — uniquely American narrative from first-gen Black masters.
Saw market inefficiency: historical racism kept Black art undervalued; buying signals to future generations what’s worth preserving (collector’s role).
Painting now on museum tour (Ohio, Art Basel) — he loans it, doesn’t sell; kids initially feared $15M on wall would attract robbers.
Fame, “the guy,” and refusing the guru trap
In 30s, chased fame (poker, hedonism, Dan Bilzerian orbit) — realized fame shrinks your world: can’t walk in Capri without security, become slave to persona (nice guy, tough guy, etc.).
“I don’t want to be the guy. I want to live my life.” — wrote book to share ideas, not build a platform; declined podcast, course, handbook offers.
“I kind of wanted to be like Jesus and just go forth and build a church. I’m out of here. I don’t want to be the guy.”
Reserves right to “get naked at a party” — Z-level fame is fine; A-level makes you a performer in your own life.
Current projects and what’s next
Runs two startups: SkyFi (geospatial intelligence — “Uber for satellites”) and Simax (intelligence firm), plus a hedge fund — but only while marginal utility of money > marginal utility of time.
“If I was sitting here and go, ‘Till the day I die I’m not going to spend the money… quit it all in a heartbeat.”
Farming fantasy: not a ranch (Texans called his 20 acres a “ranchette”) — a large garden, bees, grandkids, stories — “when you’re older, you have stories looking for friends.”
Potential next book with Tim Urban: purpose/fulfillment theory — “purpose porn is bullshit; purpose comes from biological design cues, like scissors are for cutting.”
