The interrelationship between your physical health and financial wealth has long been one of much analysis and question. How much does our physical health and wellbeing really play into our financial wellness and ability to accumulate wealth?
Information on building wealth and building a strong financial base and legacy for yourself is in abundance these days. If you do not have this information, it is simply because you are not looking. Self-help shelves in your local book store are flooded with information, from ways to get out of debt, to improving your credit score, to investing in stocks and bonds, to retirement, college savings and insurance products. Its almost as if we are in information overload and you must choose which methods you’d like to subscribe to. The point is, there are many. The average person is aware of this. In todays’ culture, the idea of wealth accumulation is very chic and trendy amongst certain groups of people. People are really taking to this idea of building wealth, working hard, and saving more money.
What the average person may not consider though, is the correlation between their health and ability to attain this wealth. Not only can poor health be a deterrent to building wealth, poor health can be the cause of ones’ poverty. Studies have shown that the number 1 cause of bankruptcy in the US is a health-related event. The rising cost of healthcare combined with the increasing limitations of coverage that the insurance companies place, can be thanked for that. Many times, aside from a traumatic event, silent chronic conditions that abruptly begin to manifest themselves are a cause. This means while building this wealth, without the proper health care and preventative health exams in place, something else may also be brewing. Entrepreneurs, especially those of small businesses, are especially susceptible. In many cases there is no disability insurance, unemployment, sick time, or vacation time available to act as a cushion. Many operate in a “no work”, “no pay” mode, and so illness simply cannot be afforded. Statistics show that women are even more at risk of such loss of wealth as we become increasingly likely to control household incomes, we are also more likely to get disabled due to biology while also living longer lives than our male counterparts, further increasing the likelihood of illness and/or disability.
What this all comes down to is understanding the number one asset that you have is your health. The financial assets that you try to obtain through hard work, educations, investing etc., are subsequent to this. When this order is reversed, that is when the risk of losing it all drastically increases and often when it is realized, your health has already suffered too much to bounce back.
Written By: @drsarepta
Photo cred: Getty Images
