10. Your Health-Wealth Grows Because Of Your Deposits

10. Your Health-Wealth Grows Because Of Your Deposits

You've been doing some things very well, and you deserve praise. (Reminder—rewards can be “job well done,” and they don't have to be ice cream, alcohol, or …. you understand this point!).

Use data to prioritize your changes, and keep adding data as you move toward your goals. At first you may have be a bit overwhelmed with the Value Equation, but, because you are determined, you know that you can use data—from research and from your own experience/health scores—to understand the impact of risky behaviors on your total health. You can see the value of each behavior change to your health-wealth portfolio by inserting your numbers for the impact on your health. Your objective in putting the data together and creating investment models—the formulas you created—was to determine which changes could deliver the best dividends to your health and wealth.

The idea is to convince you to care enough about your health, by linking it to your current and future wealth, to teach you a decision-making process for better investing. This process will lead you to a place where you, and only you, can decide how much you are willing to risk versus how much you want to invest in your overall quality of life, especially for the long-term. Only you can make these decisions. And, not making the decisions is just as much a response, because no change means more of exactly what you already have. High blood pressure will not resolve on its own. Arthritis will not heal by itself. Depression does not cure itself. You must make changes (visiting the doctor, taking your medicine, improving your level of exercise) in order for the risk/condition to improve. In most instances, you have the power to improve the outlook for better health.