Your Money and Your Health

In my previous life as a work slave I spent some time working in Fitness and Health Promotion.
I spent 12 years training, testing, consulting and appraising the fitness levels
of thousands of people.
With my passion now blogging on investing and in particular following a dividend growth strategy to generate retirement income, I have come to understand a lot of similarities between the two.

Importantly, if you are not in good health or have no desire to take care of yourself you won't be able to enjoy your “pot of gold”, when it comes time to retire and live off your investments. All that hard work just won't be worth it if you're dragging an oxygen bottle behind you as you get helped into your hospital bed.

It's all about quality of your investments when you're young and quality of life as you age and tap into all that income you've been so diligently building up.

So what does fitness and health have to do with investing?

What are some of the parallels we can learn from?

You can apply the same plan for your health and workouts, as you can for your investments by sticking to some of these same principles;

Use the Same Mindset

You wouldn't train for a marathon without a strategic plan to get you there.
You should also make a comprehensive plan on how you are going to make it to retirement. Develop a long term plan for your race. When life changes, change your plan as you go along.
Make adjustments as you train and run. So it is with your money
if you need help hire a personal trainer to help you reach your goal.
Maybe you need to hire a financial adviser to help you develop a long term financial plan.

Workout Daily

• you have to run daily and train every day to complete that marathon
• contribute on a regular basis to your investment/retirement plan
• maximize your RRSPs, TFSAs
• work hard to stay out of debt
• make it to the gym and track, hard work is always rewarded

• you won't see the results until race day or until you retire. All that hard work will pay off if you sacrifice a little bit everyday

Lead A Life of Balance

• No junk food when you train
• you need balance in your diet and with your investments
• following someone else's plan won't work for you
• set a goal on how fast you would like to complete your marathon
• determine how much money you'd need in retirement
• use proper asset allocation based on your age to get you there
• pace yourself

• when you start training and investing go slow, be cautious
• don't buy investments you don't understand
• get used to long slow running and build up your strength
• use some fixed income to lower risk, they act as a parachute when the world around you comes crashing down like it did in 2008/09
• don't gamble with money you've set aside for retirement
• avoid all penny stocks, no exceptions

Watch What You Eat

• high fat and high sugar diets will destroy your health
• high costs and fees will kill portfolio returns without you even noticing
• sometimes the first symptom of heart disease is death
• Use broad based ETFs to invest around the globe
• use your own discount brokerage account
• you can build a diversified portfolio in some cases for less than .50%

Stay Natural

• the gym is full of people on drugs and supplements to build muscle and run faster
• don't borrow to invest no matter how enticing the results may seem
• focus your energy on saving more money
• you're a beginner, develop good habits and start slow
• use a balanced approach approach while you learn if that's more comfortable
• once you are “trained up” you can look into leverage, not before

Schedule A Regular Check-Up

• is your program working, how do you know?
• what is your portfolio rate of return?
• Don't just go by your investment statements from the bank
• get familiar with taxes and fees you pay out monthly/yearly
• compare how you are doing against what the current index/benchmark is doing
• up your financial IQ if you're training/investing on your own
• take your time to understand fully what your real return is, it's all that matters
• will you be able to complete this marathon?

• measure your performance, when you run, time yourself over a long distance to see how you measure up
• calculate, how will you get to retirement if you don't know how you are doing year over year
• always keep track of how you and your investments are doing if you are out there all by yourself with no trainer or adviser
• if your training is not getting you to your goals then it may be time to change course. The same with your investment strategy

Keep It Simple

• fully understand what foods you are putting into your body, make your own meals at home, no take out deep fried garbage
• avoid complex financial products and anything new hitting the market you don't fully comprehend, double bull/bear inverse this that etc..etc..
• it can't be good for your health if it comes in a can or box, can it? How much fuel or mileage can it provide your body?
• Invest in simple basic financial products that will get you to the finish line, invest only in companies and ETFs you understand
• if someone asked you what you're invested in you should be able to explain it simply in a sentence or two

What are you doing to stay healthy so you can enjoy a lifetime of saving and investing in retirement? Do you believe your money and your health go together?

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