Paying Off Health Debt: Treating Your Health as an Asset for a Secure Retirement

In a world where financial security often takes center stage, it's easy to overlook another critical asset - your health.

Just like financial planning, maintaining your health should be an essential part of preparing for retirement.

Let's talk about how to pay off health debt by leveraging the skills you already possess in your professional life and treating your health with the same seriousness as your finances.

The Health and Wealth Parallel

You've heard it before - "Health is Wealth" - but what does it really mean? It means your health is an asset. It has value and directly impacts the quality of your life.

Health also dictates how you will spend your money in retirement - either on hobbies or hospitals.

Both health and wealth are needed for a successful life and retirement. People do a pretty good job of accumulating wealth, but simultaneously accumulate decades of health debt (like abnormal blood work, poor body composition, or lost functional ability).

Understanding the Big Swap

I see it too often - the "big swap" - a period of the biggest increase in financial assets and the biggest decrease in health.

It often happens in the mid-40's. And it's when symptoms like high blood pressure or weight gain start to show up. 

At this point people have a choice - give up or catch up. 

Give up = continue on like you've done in the past and manage your chronic diseases with medication the best you can. 

Catch up = start paying off your health debt and design a better future. 

Assessing Your Health: Asset or Liability?

Do you know how your health is tracking? Are you accumulating health debt or protecting your health?

The only way to know is to assess whether your health is an asset or a liability. You can do that by starting with the "High 5." How many of the top five metabolic markers do you have? 

1. Waist circumference under 40 inches for men, 35 inches for women
2. HDL-cholesterol over 40 for men, 50 for women
3. Blood pressure under 135/85
4. Fasting glucose under 100
5. Triglycerides under 150

If you are missing any of these, you have Metabolic Health Debt™️ that needs to be paid off.

Addressing Health Debt

Paying off health debt involves proactive strategies that you've likely already familiar with in your career - risk management and planning.

Start by assessing body composition, stress levels, and other health metrics, much like you would financial metrics.

Then create a plan that addresses the gaps you find. I've created a program that helps you do this called the WellthPLAN™️. It's a 6-week process teaching you how to pay off your health debt and grow "wellthy."

But here are some simple action you can take today to get started: 

• Water (80 ounces of water in the first 10 hours of your day)
• Walking (8,000 average steps per day) 
• Weights (8 strength training workouts per month)

By recognizing health as an essential asset, just like financial assets, you can create a better future for yourself. Start today by paying off your health debt.

Remember, the best time to start was yesterday, but the next best time is today.