‘Memory Dividends’ Explains the Hidden Benefits of Travel
If you’ve ever noticed how some memories make you light up when you think or talk about them, and how some experiences have been invaluable to your personal development, you’re not alone. Author Bill Perkins noticed it too and coined a name for it: memory dividends.
In his best-selling book Die With Zero, Perkins explains it’s the lifelong returns you get from experiences. Of course you get enjoyment during the experiences, but you also get it when you remember and share about them, and when you apply what you’ve learnt from them. When you delay these experiences, you miss out on a lifetime of payouts.
So, how do these memory dividends actually play out in people’s lives?
For John Borthwick, a Sydney-based freelance travel writer with a PhD in travel literature, early adventures — from hitch-hiking across Australia to navigating the Asian Overland Route and Latin America’s Gringo Trail — taught him essential life skills and lessons. “I learnt the basic props for travel ‘survival’ — self-reliance, frugality and patience, plus black humour,” he says. “I hope those imprints are still there, somewhere.”
On a trip to Botswana, when Borthwick came eye-to-eye with a pride of resting lions, he learnt the power of presence. The undivided ‘being-here-ness’ of the lions’ returned gaze showing no signs of uncertainty or duality — a state many of us rarely experience. “The challenge? Stay in the safari car and hold that thought,” he says.
Borthwick also learnt another lesson from early travel, taught to him by observing displaced Tibetans. Their lives were so harsh and austere, but to him, they seemed so emotionally well-balanced. He learned that our compulsion to accumulate more things doesn’t make us any happier.
Lauren Benson, founder of luxury travel concierge Benson Bespoke, notes that her clients, families travelling to Fiji, report similar benefits from their time away. “They don’t leave the resort, and that’s the point — they cherish the family time, and the chance to fully reconnect,” she says. “For some, it’s not about how much you do, it’s about being present together.”
In terms of her own travel, Benson says the trips she took as a kid with her family made her more culturally aware than she otherwise would’ve been at that age. Those trips, along with other adventures in her 20s, inspired her career choices and still fuel her conversations today. “Those experiences gave me confidence and continue to help me grow emotionally and socially, even years later,” she says.
The thoughts are echoed by Peter Hook, a public relations professional in travel. Hook says his most memorable travel experience shaped his world views today. The trip was his migration from the UK to Australia by ship, stopping in Las Palmas, Cape Town and Durban before docking in Perth.
“We talk today about how travel needs to be about experiences, but that was the case for me many decades ago,” he says. “I am always looking for authentic travel involving getting to know a city by walking everywhere and capturing the local feel.”
On another trip, travelling to Cape Town as a teenager during apartheid, Hook escaped a “stage managed” group tour to ride on a steam train on the docks with a black driver. The ride was in sharp contrast to the tour — another example of an early experience shaping his life-long preference for authentic encounters.
Breaking down memory dividends from a psychological point of view, psychologist Dr Maria-Elena Lukeides says that while novelty and adventure are great for brain health, so are positive memories for boosting our well-being.
“Novel experiences allow us to build new synapses,” she says. “We create new pathways in our brains and these new pathways link up with other pathways in the brain, creating a large network. This leads to a potential for greater understanding and intellect.”
Also worth noting is the sense of fulfilment that lasts long after the experience, the dividends. Observing that sense of fulfilment can help you reflect on what truly matters to you, aligning your choices with your values and fostering a deeper connection to your life’s narrative.
“By intentionally curating experiences that resonate personally, memory dividends not only enhance happiness, but also provide a lasting framework for understanding one’s purpose and cultivating meaning through life,” Dr Lukeides says.
While memory dividends are overwhelmingly positive, there’s a nuance to consider. Dr. Lukeides cautions that they can, in certain contexts, contribute to stress and anxiety. This can occur when individuals feel pressure to maximise experiences, or when perceived “missed opportunities” lead to regret.
“Most people can relate to this feeling — it’s like when there’s such high expectations leading up to an event then the event falls flat in your mind,” she says. “So then when you want to draw on those memory dividends, you might feel disappointed or too focused on any perceived negative parts.” The key, Dr Lukeides says, is to manage expectations and appreciate genuine moments rather than striving for an elusive “perfect” experience.
The idea of memory dividends is as a powerful reminder that the true value of experiences extends far beyond the fleeting moment. They’re lifelong assets that continually pay out in joy, wisdom and a richer understanding of ourselves and the world around us. By embracing the opportunity to create meaningful memories, we’re not just living, but we’re investing in our future.
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