One of the things I come back to again and again in my conversations with family, friends and colleagues is that there is no way to waste money on good health. Organic food can be pricey. A gym membership can be expensive compared to working out at home. Vitamins or medications can be burdensome. But if you can spend your money on one thing in this life, don’t let it be education, or your family, or your belongings. Spend it on health.

Warren Buffet is 78 and the second richest man on this blue dot. Do you think he’d be getting the accolades for wealth and investing acumen if he had died at 42? Maybe. Many rich people have died young. Many poor people have died old (and unlamented). Wealth and health have long been completely unrelated. I’m sure every one of us knows old poor people and young rich people, and the opposite, and many variations. But age has long been seen as a virtue, at least as valuable as wealth.

But the key question is: would you rather be old and moderately well to do, or die fabulously wealthy at a young age? I doubt many of us would wish to live a highroller lifestyle and die at 40 versus living a moderate middle-class lifestyle and dying at 80. Health is, in a sense, the ultimate prize.

If you consider a long life a valuable thing to pursue, it’s doubly amazing that so many people don’t bother. I pursued my career at the expense of my health for the best part of my twenties. I wasn’t thinking about life in my sixties – it was my money and I wanted it now. How many times have you told yourself that you’re just too busy at work to take some time to exercise?

I don’t exercise as much as I should. Four years ago I was running competitively, lifting weights 3-4 times per week and eating a 90% vegetarian diet – I was in the best shape of my life. But work, kids and life got in the way and I slid waaaaay back on the health scale. It’s easy to do, and if you’ve ever gotten in shape you know how simple it is to slide back. But that’s no excuse. Your health is the only thing – other than your mind – that you can control in this life.

Don’t neglect your health. I lost 100 pounds (actually a bit more) and it’s possible for anyone. Remember that your health is worth more than all the money in the world. Just ask someone who’s not healthy, and you’ll get a straight answer.

Photo by ~ggvic~

By Curmudgeon, brip blap’s favorite guest writer…

I have just had my annual physical examination (I passed, although some of the parts that have gone out of warranty are getting a little creaky).  What? You haven’t seen a doctor in ten years?  Are you, well, nuts?

My parents were children of the Great Depression (not this little blip we are currently living through).  The prevailing attitude of that generation is that you went to see a doctor only when you were about ready to die.  It’s a stark commentary, but it’s largely true.  A part of it is cultural, but a part of it is a distinctly human trait that encourages us to avoid hearing bad news, and having to act on that news.

A decade or so ago my mother took my father into the hospital emergency room, for his first time in 40 years, because he could no longer stand the pain of the cancer that infiltrated his body. He lived for a year and a half afterward, although I can’t call his quality of life anything to write home about.  For the last several months, he was delirious and bed-ridden.

While we decry the state of health care in the United States, at least in comparison with nationalized programs in other countries that the media describes (all of which have their downsides), the fact of the matter is that if you are fortunate enough to have a decent employer-sponsored health care offering, and are not taking advantage of it, you are a fool who is taking unnecessary chances with your life and livelihood.  Despite the costs, paperwork, and general confusion, it is largely the best program in the world.

I recognize that there are those of you who don’t have access to such a program, and in my older years I have been an advocate for a drastic change in how the US delivers health care. Yet even so, it is more important for you to find a way to obtain the care that is the privilege of living here, because you likely need it all the more.  Without good health, you can’t fulfill any of the goals that Steve describes as the cornerstone of his postings.

photo credit: mikemariano