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Over 50? The Important Investment you NEED to Make…
Over 50? The Important Investment you NEED to Make…
What do you call an investment that has no risk, requires little — if any — money to start, is available equally to the rich and poor, is proven to improve your career prospects… can generate hundreds of thousands of dollars in savings over a lifetime?
I call it good health.
Although you might view spending on your health as a necessary expense, I’d argue it’s an investment that will pay back dividends.
Health is one of the least talked about financial topics but arguably the most important.
Without good health, it doesn’t matter how much money you have in the bank because you won’t ever be able to enjoy it if you’re always sick.
According to The Wall Street Journal, the average individual will rack up $220,000 worth of health expenses in retirement.
It should come as no surprise, but getting old is not cheap.
There are, however, proven things you can do today that will help decrease your health costs tomorrow.
For instance, one study from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health found that weight loss at any age leads to cost savings. The study found it costs people more when they’re overweight – especially as they age.
According to the study:
- A 20-year-old adult who goes from obese to overweight would save an average of $17,655 in direct medical costs and productivity losses over their lifetime. If that person went from obese to a healthy weight, the savings would jump to $28,020.
- If a 40-year-old adult goes from being obese to overweight, that person potentially can save an average of $18,262. If that person improves their health from obese to a healthy weight, an average savings of $31,447 in direct medical costs and productivity losses can follow.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
The Global Health Crisis Will Crush the Global Economy
The Global Health Crisis Will Crush the Global Economy
The scale of the global epidemic of obesity, metabolic syndrome and diabetes are truly staggering.
Though evidence of a looming global healthcare crisis is plainly visible, few seem to realize the consequences will be catastrophic to individuals, households and national economies.
Here is a list—by no means exhaustive—of major health issues threatening hundreds of millions of people globally.
Air & Water Pollution
Photos such as these provide graphic evidence that air and water pollution are serious health hazards in many developing nations around the world:
Source: Kyodo News
Source: Independent.co.uk
The statistics are equally horrendous: roughly 40% of all deaths in Pakistan result from polluted drinking water, 500 million people in China lack clean drinking water, and in India, 90% of human waste flows untreated into rivers.
Though the winter smog in Chinese cities is infamous, many other Asian nations suffer from equally poor or even worse air quality:
The health consequences of severe air pollution are many, and a rising number of deaths are attributable to air pollution:
(Sources)
Air and water pollution do not stop at borders, and so severe pollution in developing economies has become a health issue in neighboring developed economies as well.
Ageing Populations
As populations age, health costs rise while the working-age population that must support higher healthcare expenses declines, burdening the middle-aged workers who must support the elderly and the young. Caring for a rapidly expanding population of elderly retirees burdens governments and economies as well as households: as income is taxed to pay for care, there is less money available for other programs and investing in future productivity.
We all know why healthcare costs rise as the population of elderly retirees grows: chronic non-communicable diseases go hand in hand with age. The costs of treating these lifestyle/ageing diseases (metabolic syndrome, heart disease, high blood pressure, etc.) soar as the population and incidence of these diseases both rise.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Money for Nothin’ and your Chicks for Free – and your Houses too!
Money for Nothin’ and your Chicks for Free – and your Houses too!
Nothing Against the Old
We would like to preface today’s Diary with a clarification: We don’t have anything against old people. We don’t have anything against high GDP growth rates either. But the two don’t go together.
Some of this opinion comes from looking in the mirror: New products? New technology? New businesses? The older we get the less interest we have. When we learn a “new” song on the guitar, for example, it is likely to be one written half a century ago.
When we sit down to watch a movie, we’re as likely to pick out something from Leslie Nielsen’s Naked Gun series as a new Hollywood release. There are different stages in life… with different interests. One dear reader explains it:
In India there is a concept of Vrana ashram. In it, a person’s life is divided in four parts. From birth until 25, it is Brahmacharya – a person should gain knowledge by reading scriptures. From 25 to 50, it is Grihastha ashram – to live married life. From 50 to 75, it Vanaprastha – away from society in the forest seeking god. From 75 to 100, it is Sannays – complete renouncing of the world.”
We guess we are in the Vanaprastha stage. Maybe that’s what we’re really doing out on this remote ranch high in the Argentine Andes: seeking god.
Keeping the Money Spinning
Is there anything wrong with that? Not that we know of. But it is not the way to boost GDP.´One reader pointed out that the problem is not too many old people. It’s too few young people.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
