Your health is one of the easiest assets on your balance sheet to overlook and can quickly be taken for granted. If you’re like most of us, it takes a personal health scare or the loss of a loved one or friend to really stop and take a sensible look at our own personal health regimen. Ever wonder why you drop that gym membership after the trial period is over or fail to reach that weight loss goal you set as a New Year’s resolution? The correlation between how your wealth is managed and your current health habits is too notable not to explore. Let’s take a deeper dive into 5 best practices that could benefit both your weight and wallet.
Stay the Course
- Consistency is important if you’re looking to see meaningful results on both the health and wealth frontiers. You can’t play the “skip a week” or “I’ll start next month” game and expect real results. Instead of jumping out of the market at the first sign of trouble, find a financial planner that communicates with you regularly and builds you a plan that you are comfortable sticking with for the long-term.
Work with Professionals
- Collaborating with a professional or team of professionals that know your financial situation can be one of the most powerful steps you can take. Most of us wouldn’t perform our own open-heart surgery; avoid the “go at it alone” strategy and team up with a fiduciary that builds your plan with you, not for you.
Customization over Concentration
- If you had a goal to lose weight and your fitness trainer told you to eat more calories and do less cardio, you would think they were off their rocker, right? Make sure you are working with someone who truly understands your goals and can customize your plan based on your short and long-term goals. If you feel like you’ve subscribed to a one-plan-fits-all program, it might be time for a change.
Sweat the Details
- You will not burn any calories on the drive to the gym. You will burn a few calories walking from the car to the front door. If you turned around and left immediately you “went to the gym” but got no measurable benefit from it. You must have some level of commitment. Over the long run, the important differences in your health and in your financial life come from spending time on the right things. In both areas of your life, there is a real cost in terms of both money and time – be sure you are getting enough value in exchange.
Be Realistic
- There is no magic pill or over-night fad diet that will instantly get you results. The same goes for your financial plan. Having realistic goals will go a long way in managing your expectations.
Making a consistent investment in your health and in your financial life can pay very large rewards. One excellent path to both physical health and financial health lies in having realistic goals, committing to do what it takes to reach that goal, and working with a professional who can both customize a plan for you and provide encouragement along the way.
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