There are two doors. Inside door one is someone with an eight-figure bank account, an exotic car collection, keys to a beach house, and no financial problems ever again. The other opens up to an individual with Marvel superhero build, with a perfectly functioning body, zero chronic pain, glowing skin, thick lustrous hair, and energy levels that even kids or beagle pups can’t keep up with.
So, which would you choose? Not so fast. Let’s weigh up the realities and possibilities of both. Spoiler alert: it’s not an easy comparison.
- The Benefits of Being Financially Wealthy
- Money doesn’t buy happiness, but it really helps you get the things you want and visit the places you’ve always dreamed of. Plus, no more travelling in the middle seat. It’s first-class lounges from now on, and no queues. From now on you only turn left when you board the plane. Only the lie-flat beds with free-flowing food and drinks plus free pyjamas from now on.
- No more checking your bank balance before going shopping.
- You can get better access to healthcare, education, therapy, massages, the latest matcha green/blue/orange/purple juice, celebrity events and own every time-saving gadget known to man or woman.
- Your time is now spent on your own terms: You get to pick when and where your presence is required. You can hire people and outsource all the boring stuff like cleaning, cooking, gardening, in fact anything that feels like hard labour.
But remember…
- Money doesn’t mean health. Money can delay the consequences of poor health choices, but it can’t erase them.
- Golden Cages Exist: Some wealthy people may be miserable, trapped in high-pressure lifestyles, defined by their careers, or fuelled by the need to be successful.
- Comparison Traps: With wealth often comes a culture of “more, more, more” and being seduced into a culture of never having enough.
Benefits of Being Physically Healthy
- Waking up refreshed, pain-free, with the desire and energy to walk, run, laugh, and dance. Priceless.
- No Medical Appointments. Fewer hospital visits. Fewer prescriptions. Fewer days off work and fewer conversations with managers about work absences.
- Mental Clarity: A healthy body feeds a healthy brain — literally. Good blood flow trumps exhaustion and combats burnout.
- More Life in Your Years: You don’t just live longer — you live better. Hiking and biking at 65? Why not throw in a few marathons as well!
However…
- Health is Fragile: Accidents, genetics, and random life events can affect even the healthiest person.
- It Requires Effort: Maintenance is work. Sleeping, stretching, cooking, flossing – being healthy is a part-time job.
- Not Always Respected: Our society still rewards overwork more than wellness. Being healthy may not help propel you up the corporate ladder regardless of how quickly you can breathlessly conquer the stairs!
A Tricky Comparison – Wealth Without Health vs. Health Without Wealth
Being rich but unhealthy may let you pay for better doctors, but you can’t pay to undo years of stress, burnout, or neglect. Money buys healthcare not health.
If you’re healthy but broke, you can enjoy your days, but financial strain can steal your peace, your choices, and even your time with loved ones. Constant stress over money is its own kind of disease.
In Summary:
- Being wealthy without health is like owning a Ferrari that you can’t drive.
- Being healthy without wealth feels like walking everywhere by choice — but saddled with a backpack full of worry over managing your household budget.
Can’t you have both? The real goal isn’t to pick a side. It’s to pursue both as complimentary goals, not as competition. To build a life where your bank account supports your well-being, and your well-being helps you actually enjoy what your bank account provides for a long time.
Here at Stewardship Wealth, we have some very fit active colleagues running marathons, and enduring tough mudders and the like. Keeping in shape is very much part of their lifestyle. We also know a thing or two about financial planning… and have the certificates to prove it! I’m not suggesting we have running meetings, or open up our meeting room for Pilates, but the secret is finding that balance point that lets us all enjoy more of what we have far into the future.
Every year we provide the equivalent of a financial health check. It’s important we have a finger on the financial pulse of your financial planning. We make sure your portfolio is fit for purpose, not running out of energy or running too hard. We need it to finish the race, cross the finish line and still have enough left in the tank for a few more laps.
Now, where did I put my headband…