Spend It or Grow It? Wrong Question.

I recently had a comment that got me thinking…

”Die With Zero” gets it half right. 💰

The idea: don’t hoard money you’ll never spend. Enjoy your life. I’m 100% on board with that part.

But here’s what the book misses, it treats your portfolio like a fixed pile you’re drawing down. Spend it or lose it.

That’s not how compounding works.

If your growth rate is outpacing your withdrawal rate, you’re not choosing between “enjoy life” and “die with a pile of unused cash.” Your portfolio is paying you more than you need, while still growing.

I’m not withdrawing to zero. I’m living well AND watching the number go up. Both at once. 📈

The real question isn’t “spend more or die with money on the table.”

✨✨It’s: is your withdrawal rate below your sustainable growth rate?✨✨

If yes, you’re not being deprived. You’re being paid by your past decisions, and the “surplus” isn’t waste. It’s optionality. Cushion for bad years. Room to spend more later without fear. Legacy if you want it.

Boring, diversified, long-term investing did this. Not magic. Not luck. Just time + compounding + not touching it. 🐢

Enjoying the fruits of your labor and having your portfolio outgrow your needs aren’t opposites. You can have both.

Just my opinion, dyor

2,942 views

17 Comments

Catherine

@ffcatherine · 1d

💯 if you spend less than the portfolio grew one year then you’re letting the original capital grow as you skim a % off the top …
If you have children you don’t want to die with zero you want to leave enough from the right accounts that they will have enough left even after paying the capital gains ..
I’m hoping to leave the TFSA untouched that can be used to pay capital gains from the non registered assuming I live a long healthy life & have time to compound the non registered to a larger number 🙏🏻

Mitchell Muir@mitchell2025 · 9h

I’m a fan of better call Paul’s approach, investing a portion to keep it growing and use the rest for lifestyle/bills. Inflation alone won’t stop but you can get ahead of it. Also for myself. If I’m lucky enough to have a good portfolio I won’t mind my loved ones to inherit it once I leave this world (while paying as little tax as possible of course 😂)

Dividend Earner

@dividendearner · 6h

I am a big fan of the book and you are mixing the accumulation and safe withdrawal with annuities as a way to never run out.

The biggest fear everyone has is running out. So how do you get setup to not run out and spend all of it?

Annuities have a bad rep as an investment but strategically let you achieve the goals.

Nicolle

@moneymeetslegacy · 15h

Personally I thought that book was super repetitive lol. You took away the most meaningful lesson - don’t forget to enjoy your life while investing and to do it as comfortably as your portfolio allows you to. The most reassuring way to do that, as you’ve said, is by withdrawing less than the growth rate. Just have a plan in place for the remaining money so that it goes to where you’d like it to go. And maybe some of that is to pay the tax man.

@rj_fire · 23h

I second that! 👍

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