by Ever hear the phrase Health is Wealth? Here are 4 surprising reasons why investing in your health could be the best investment you could make. Health truly is wealth.
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You Can’t Put a Price on Health
Health is wealth because you can’t really put a price it. For example, let’s just focus on a few body parts:
- How much would someone have to pay you for you to remove one of your arms?
- If you lost an eye, how much would you pay to get it back?
- If you get into a serious accident which causes brain damage, how much would you pay to go back in time?
The answer is quite obviously, an extravagant amount of money. But no amount of money is going to bring back an arm, an eye, or your brain, back in its original state.
It terrifies me to see people on bicycles, scooters, or skateboards zipping around the city without a helmet. If the problem is “It’s too expensive”, that is the absolute worst excuse. A decent helmet can be had for $50.
If you bang your head, how much is a week off from work going to cost you? If you suffer permanent damage, how much is that going to cost you in terms of medical bills, life enjoyment, and productivity?
Health is something we all take for granted. I think a comparison can be made between health and common utilities that we use everyday.
We don’t give a second thought to the water that comes through our tap, the electricity that lights our living room, or the internet that allows us to work from home.
But in a power outage or a pipe rupture, you would do anything to get your utilities back.
The same goes for your health.
You probably don’t think much about your stomach.
But when it hurts bad and has you crying on the toilet, you would do anything to feel good again.
All the money in the world means nothing if you are confined to a hospital bed.
Investing In Your Health Provides Great Returns
What good is money, when you don’t have health?
What if you sacrificed everything, worked hard everyday, no rest days, 5 hours of sleep everyday, ate like crap and were a millionaire? But your poor health caused permanent kidney failure at age 30.
Can you call that a happy life?
Wealth means nothing without health.
So it’s time to invest in your health like you invest your money.
Sometimes it may seem that fast food is cheaper and you’re doing yourself a favor by saving money.
But fast food is a temporary solution to rid yourself of hunger.
Your health could suffer over time from poor nutrition.
Imagine saving a few hundred dollars by buying fast food, only to suffer diabetes that could cost thousands in medical bills and lost productivity. In the end, you haven’t saved anything.
That’s why you need to invest in your health like you invest in your wealth.
Your health can be divided into 4 subparts: Diet, Physical, Mental, Lifestyle
- Invest in a good diet consisting of lean protein, vegetables, fruits, and whole grains. It’s ok to treat yourself to “junk” foods every now and then, but it shouldn’t take up more than 10% of your intake.
- Invest in a good fitness regime. Exercise is good for your heart, your bones, and your muscles.
If you like to weightlift, invest in some weights! If you like to run, invest in some running shoes. Like to Zumba? Sign up for Zumba classes. Obviously don’t go overboard and waste money of stuff you won’t use. But remember, wealth means nothing in the absence of health.
- Invest in your mental health. You might be able to work 16 hours a day, but sooner or later you could burn out. Try meditation. Invest in your friends, family, and relationships. Look into therapy if needed. You can’t function without your brain!
- And finally invest in a good lifestyle. That means getting enough sleep every night. It means not getting wasted off drugs or alcohol every week. It means not sitting in front of the TV 8 hours a day.
Aging and Health
Aging and health tend to go hand in hand. A somewhat fit 80 year old, in most cases, probably won’t be as fit as a somewhat unhealthy 20 year old. That’s just the reality of life. Health issues compound as we age.
Health is wealth because there is no amount of money we can do to turn back time.
An 80 year old can’t even pay all the money in the world to go back in time and become a 20 year old.
That’s why it is so important that we cherish and protect our health today. Health is our wealth. No amount of money can buy it back.
That is one of the premises of the book Die With Zero. You can check my synopsis of the book here.
You can delay gratification indefinitely, and have a ton of money when you’re 80, but you might not have the energy or the health to do much with it.
In a sense, a 25 year old with $5000 in the bank could maybe have more options than an 80 year old with millions in the bank. That’s because the 25 year old probably has the health and the energy to go backpacking in Europe, and the 80 year old might not.
So health, meaning being young and vibrant, IS wealth.
If you were 20 years old, would you take an offer to receive $10 million at the expense of instantly becoming 80 years old?
You would be crazy to take that deal.
Therefore those 60 years of health and living are worth MORE than $10 million. Case in point. Health truly is wealth.
Verdict – Health is Wealth
The phrase “Health is Wealth” is 100% absolutely true.
- You can’t put a price on health because all the money in the world means nothing if you are confined to a hospital bed.
- Since you are nothing without your health, you need to invest in it like you invest in your wealth.
- Live a healthy life by investing in 4 key categories: Diet, Physical, Mental, Lifestyle
- You can’t pay any amount of money to become younger. Therefore, your health status at a young age is a form of wealth.
I hope this is a wake up call to take your health seriously. It could be the best investment there is.
