The character arc of Bill Perkins

A life drawn by Character Arc from the public record

Born William Osborne Perkins III on 2 February 1969 in Jersey City, New Jersey. Between then and now sit an electrical engineering degree at the University of Iowa, a start as a screen clerk on Wall Street, a move to Houston and a career in energy trading, the founding of Skylar Capital, a poker career, and Die With Zero in 2020, since translated into twenty five languages. The line below draws the story so far, in order.

Tap the line to pluck it. Hover or tap any mark for its card. Drawn from the public record of his life; the sources are at the foot of the page.

Who is Bill Perkins?

He made it, then argued you should spend it.

He studied electrical engineering at the University of Iowa, which is a useful thing to know about a man who later made his name reading markets. He began on Wall Street as a screen clerk, which is the bottom rung: you watch the numbers and you hand them to somebody who matters. Nobody starts a trading career further down than that.

He moved to Houston and went into energy. The Wall Street Journal called him the last cowboy of hedge funds, and he generated more than a billion dollars for a previous firm across a five year period. He founded Skylar Capital, an energy focused hedge fund, and later co-founded the Earth observation company SkyFi. He also produced films and became a serious poker player, with more than five million dollars in live tournament winnings.

Then in 2020 he published Die With Zero, which is an odd book for a man in his position to write. Its argument is that money is a tool for buying experiences and that the mistake most people make is not how much they earn but when they spend it: that saving carefully for a version of yourself who will be too old to use it is a kind of waste nobody calls waste. It has been translated into twenty five languages. His line is worth reading because the man who was best at accumulating wrote the argument against dying on a pile of it.

The moments

Bill Perkins's timeline.

The 1990s

Jun 1991

Electrical engineering at Iowa

Milestone, and it changed his direction. An engineer's training, which is a useful thing to know about a man who later read markets.

~1992

A screen clerk on Wall Street

Setback, and it changed everything. The bottom rung. You watch the numbers and hand them to somebody who matters.

~1995

Houston, and energy

Milestone, and it changed everything. From the bottom rung to one of the most successful energy traders of his era.

The 2010s

~2012

Skylar Capital

Milestone, and it changed his direction. His own firm, and then a satellite company after it.

~2015

Films, and a poker table

Milestone. Five million dollars won at poker, which for most people would be the headline.

1 Jun 2019

Keep trading quietly, or publish the argument

Crossroads, decided.

The paths laid out: publish it, taken, or keep it to himself. Die With Zero has been translated into twenty five languages.

The 2020s

28 Jul 2020

Die With Zero

Milestone, and it changed everything. The man best at accumulating, writing the argument against dying on a pile of it.

~2023

Twenty five languages

Milestone, and it changed his direction. It travelled, which for a book about personal finance is unusual.

The line reaches today still adding to itself, which is why it is drawn now rather than at the end. What it has set moving is an uncomfortable question in a lot of households: not whether you are saving enough, but whether you are ever going to spend any of it.

What he wrote

Books by Bill Perkins

2020
Die With Zero
Money is a tool for buying experiences, and the mistake most people make is not how much they earn but when they spend it.

Your turn

Every line draws a unique story.

His argues the money only counts for what you did with it. Yours is already further along than you think, and drawing it takes about five minutes.

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Bill Perkins: frequently asked questions

What people ask about his line.

What is Bill Perkins's character arc?

A man who started at the bottom of a Wall Street trading floor as a screen clerk, became one of the most successful energy traders of his era, and then wrote a book arguing that money is only worth what you actually do with it.

What is Die With Zero by Bill Perkins?

His book of 2020, arguing that money is a tool for buying experiences and that most people get the timing wrong, saving carefully for a version of themselves who will be too old to use it. It has been translated into twenty five languages.

What did Bill Perkins do for a living?

He traded energy. He started on Wall Street as a screen clerk, moved to Houston, and generated more than a billion dollars for a previous firm over five years. He later founded the hedge fund Skylar Capital.

What did Bill Perkins study?

Electrical engineering, at the University of Iowa. It is a useful thing to know about somebody who spent a career reading markets, and it is a long way from the trading floor he started on as a screen clerk.

Does Bill Perkins play poker?

Yes, seriously. He has more than five million dollars in live tournament winnings, which for most people would be the headline rather than a footnote. He has also produced several films.

Why is Bill Perkins's Die With Zero unusual?

Because of who wrote it. The argument cuts against most of what the financial industry sells, and it came from a man who had been unusually good at accumulating money rather than from somebody who never had any.

Where is Bill Perkins from?

Jersey City, New Jersey, where he was born William Osborne Perkins III on 2 February 1969. He studied in Iowa, started work in New York, and made his career in Houston.

Where does this timeline of Bill Perkins's life come from?

From the public record. Character Arc drew every moment on this line from the sources listed at the foot of the page, and the kind and weight of each moment are our editorial reading. Bill Perkins isn't a Member of Character Arc and has no connection with it, and no feeling is attributed to him.

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Sources

Bill Perkins (businessman), English Wikipedia biography.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt publication record for Die With Zero, 2020.
The Wall Street Journal profile describing him as the last cowboy of hedge funds.