This article was reviewed by Chris Singer, CFP®.
You have your retirement plan mapped out—travel, time for hobbies, family and friends—and you’re taking all the necessary financial steps. But are you taking care of your health now to ensure you will be able to enjoy your life and retirement later?
Too often, people focus their energy on accruing wealth at the cost of their health by not making time for fitness activities; sacrificing sleep and enduring excess stress, all while ignoring the signals their bodies are sending. Know what happens? They end up spending large amounts of money trying to get their health back.
Saving for retirement is only half the equation when it comes to your golden years—you need to invest in your health as well. Though you may be surprised at the crossovers between financial and health investments. As your financial advisors, we can help ensure you are financially set for retirement, but for advice regarding physical wellbeing, we connected with Adam Sippel, registered kinesiologist and owner of Innovative Fitness Langley. We sat down with Adam to discuss how our clients can invest in their health, setting themselves up for success now and in their retirement.
Invest now, thank yourself later
Every retirement plan needs to include a wellness component. It’s no use having all of the money in the world if you don’t have the physical health that allows you to enjoy it. Unfortunately, many people wait until it’s too late to realize how important their health is.
While you can certainly improve your health in retirement, it’s significantly harder to get yourself back into shape than it is to prioritize your health now and maintain that level of wellbeing throughout your senior years.
What is your advice for people trying to incorporate more healthy habits into their daily lives?
“It doesn’t have to be complicated,” Adam reassured. “Take it down to basics: walk more often, drink more water, and get more sleep.” When asked to elaborate, Adam shared the following:
- Walk more: look for easy ways to add more walking into your day, such as walking on a treadmill or walking pad at your desk, integrating walking meetings at work, or scheduling walks with family and friends. Walking is low impact, but can have significant results regarding health markers and fitness.
- Drink more water: what gets measured, gets managed, so having a way to monitor your daily water intake is a great way to ensure you are getting enough. Much of the body’s systems require water for proper functioning, so having adequate daily hydration is crucial for overall health and vitality.
- Improve both your sleep quantity and sleep quality: busy professionals often sacrifice sleep in order to fit more into the day—that’s one sure fire way to deplete your health. Creating a healthy bedtime routine that allows you to get a minimum of seven hours of quality sleep a night—more for women—is important for cognitive function, performance and wellbeing.
It’s important for each individual to assess their own needs, goals, and barriers then find routines that work best for them. And when it comes to investing, whether financially or in your physical wellbeing, the sooner you start, the better.
Small, consistent investments are key
When discussing financial investing, we often talk about the difference between lump sum investments compared to smaller, consistent investments made over a longer period of time. Of course there are many variables to consider, but we were curious how that compared to fitness and wellbeing.
Many of our clients are busy professionals, would you say they are better off doing one or two really great, intense workouts a week, or do those twenty minutes every day really make an impact?
“Small, consistent efforts prove to create greater overall well being than occasional high-intensity efforts,” was Adam’s response. “In terms of creating habits, consistency is king.
Having an all-or-nothing mentality (in this case, either doing an hour workout or nothing at all), can be detrimental. Twenty minutes is still better than zero minutes. Creating a consistent nutritional plan you can follow daily is superior to spurts of intense dieting.”
Here’s some ideas to get started:
- Do twenty minutes of exercise a day
- Drink an extra glass of water every day
- Improve the nutrient value of one meal a day
- Put your phone away twenty minutes earlier before bed
Like compounding interest, small, consistent habits tend to build on each other. You start with an extra glass of water and when that becomes routine, you can add in another glass. One healthy meal a day, turns into two. Twenty minutes of exercise introduces you to the endorphin high and increased energy exercise provides, and naturally, you want more so you train more. Slowly, but surely, you find yourself feeling more confident, more energized, and healthier.
What gets measured, gets celebrated
We know in the finance world, the importance of keeping track of your money. It’s important to know your assets compared to your liabilities, or your income compared to your expenses. A lack of information makes planning and achieving goals impossible. Turns out, the same is true when forming healthy wellness habits.
There’s a saying, “what gets measured, gets managed,” do you think that applies to fitness?
“Absolutely! Keeping track of your exercise, your water intake, your sleep, and your nutrition sets you up for success. There are various tools and resources out there to help, and various levels of intensity, so each person can choose what works for them, but absolutely, having systems for tracking and accountability are crucial. But it’s not enough to just track. It’s important to reflect on the information, to see where you need to pivot, or improve your efforts, but most importantly, so you can celebrate your wins. Improving and maintaining optimal health can be a long process; celebrating small wins along the way helps us to stay the course.”
Accountability: Whether you hire a coach, use an app, or team up with a friend to hold each other accountable, most of us benefit from having external forms of accountability to keep us on track with our goals.
Tracking: in the finance space, you might use budgets, expense tracking sheets, and meetings with a financial advisor to stay on top of your investments and expenses. Regarding your health and fitness, you can track your workouts, your food intake, your water intake, and also things like your blood pressure, VO2 max, and various blood levels like cholesterol, iron, and cortisol to ensure your health is moving in the right direction.
Reflection: Tracking your activity and health markers are only half the battle, the other half is reviewing the data and reflecting on what is working and where you may need to pivot in order to improve your results.
Celebration: Setting yourself small, achievable goals as well as big goals, gives you the opportunity to build confidence and celebrate your efforts and accomplishments. This helps keep motivation high and keeps you committed to your own health and wellbeing.
The ROI on healthy habits
When investing, we want to know our anticipated ROI. If you are going to invest your time and energy into exercising, what benefits can you expect to get in return?
What do you see as the biggest benefits for people who invest in their health?
“Investing in your health improves your overall quality of life. I often joke that we “sell air” here at Innovative Fitness, because some of the biggest benefits to exercise take time to see (e.g. weight loss) and some (e.g. confidence) are more intangible. But clients who stick with the program feel these benefits. What’s more, the benefits of creating healthy habits extend way beyond just looking and feeling good. Better health can save you money (e.g. on health expenses) as well as make you money (e.g. a salesperson confident in themselves, closes more deals).”
If you need any more reason to invest in yourself, these are a few more of the benefits Adam shared:
- Less sick days and lower medical expenses
- Increased energy
- Increased focus and productivity
- Increased confidence
- Improved sleep (and better sleep often leads to better mental acuity and focus)
- Improved health markers, setting yourself up for not only a longer lifespan, but a life where you have the ability to enjoy yourself
For the next generation
We’ve had many clients talk to us about wanting to leave a legacy and leave the next generation with more than they had themselves. Family and legacy are a strong motivator for many of us.
What, if any, kind of legacy do you think emulating a healthy lifestyle leaves on the next generation?
“In taking care of yourself, you are leading by example for the next generation. Teaching your kids and grandkids to take care of themselves, to prioritize their wellbeing, is one of the greatest legacies you can leave. Your body is your greatest asset.”
Adam goes on to say that “it’s not just about longevity, but how exercise improves the quality of life for the years you do have.” Investing in yourself now—financially and physically—is what will not only improve your quality of life today, but through consistent effort sustained over your life, you will be able to thoroughly enjoy the time you have here, travelling the world, hitting the links with friends, dancing with your partner, and playing with your kids and grandkids.
“People will forget what you said. People will forget what you did. But people will never forget how you made them feel” – Maya Angelou
Taking care of your health now isn’t just about you, but about the time and energy you are able to give to your family and friends.
Getting started, today
If you don’t know where to start, or want support along the journey, having an experienced professional can be a great asset. Not only can we bring insights learned through our experience, and information gleaned through advanced education, practically speaking, a professional holds you accountable and helps simplify and streamline the process for you making getting yourself and your finances in shape easier and more accessible. We are happy to help you with your financial fitness, and if you are looking for assistance with your physical fitness, we encourage you to reach out to Adam and his team at Innovative Fitness Langley.