What does the tax season and your fitness have in common?
They both require you to have a goal, a plan, and to be an action taker.
Your health and your wealth are a team that work together. Your health can impact your financial situation and your wealth or lack of, can impact your health. The correlation between the two is why it is important to create balance between them.
The reason why the tax season is a good time to work on creating or updating your existing financial plan is because the outcome of your tax return gives you information you can use to make sure you have the right tax strategy in place. The right strategy can reduce or eliminate stress related to poor planning and benefits both your health and your wealth.
Here are a few things you can do to balance both your health and your wealth:
1) Pay yourself first. This is a strategy you can use with your paycheck and your personal fitness.
The general recommendation for paying yourself first is to put aside 10% of your earnings BEFORE allocating money to bills and other expenditures. If you do not think you can do it start small with 1-2% and work your way to the 10% as you become more comfortable.
You can pay yourself first with your fitness goals by scheduling 10% of your time for self-care. This is an average of 1 ½ hours a day. Self-care is time you spend taking care of your physical health (ex- exercise), mental health (ex- meditation), spiritual health (ex- prayer), and emotional/social activities. Again, if 1 ½ hours a day seems like a lot start small with 15 minutes a day and work up to what works for your ideal lifestyle.
2) Automate your action. Setting up automatic savings and bill payments is an easy way to make sure you achieve your goals. Automating your savings keeps your pay “yourself first money” out of sight and out of mind. One of the best ways to save is to take advantage of an employer sponsored retirement account. If you are self-employed you can open one on your own through a financial advisor or broker such as Vanguard. Automating your bills can prevent you from having late payments and creates more time for other things.
You can automate your health by setting up automatic deliveries of healthy food, making your self-care activities “automatic” by scheduling them for the same day/time each week, and subscribing to a magazine or podcast for updated health information.
3) Periodically review what you are doing. Drivers make it a point to schedule a yearly checkup for their vehicle, employers schedule yearly performance reviews, and you should make it a point to review your financial health once a year. As your income, expenses, and government regulations change, it is important to make sure your financial plan is up to date to account for these changes.
Your health will benefit from a periodic review as well. In addition to seeing your doctor for a yearly checkup don’t forget to review your exercise and nutrition goals and plans.
4) Educate yourself. The right mindset and skill set are vital to your health and your wealth. Identify the areas you need to improve and then Invest in learning how to master these through reading, taking courses, and seeking the professional advice of your accountant, tax preparer, and members of your medical and fitness team.
Here’s to a healthy and wealthy life.
Your partner in living FIT,
Jannette La Sota
The Fitness Detective®