Episode 49: How Investing in Your Health makes you Rich

Want to be a millionaire? It might start in the gym. As we head into the New Year, everyone is looking at their goals and their bank accounts—but did you know they are directly connected?

In this episode, Mike and Mikey (fresh off his first week of fatherhood!) dive into the economics of health. We break down the hard data showing how physical activity directly impacts your salary, your future healthcare costs, and your ability to retire wealthy.

We discuss:

• The "Fitness Tax" on Your Salary: Research shows that for every fitness level lost, household income drops by over $3,400.
• Investing in the "Bank of Tomorrow": How being active in early adulthood saves you nearly $2,000/year in future medical costs.
• Insurance vs. Results: Why using your health insurance for rehab ($50 copays x 12 weeks) might actually be a worse investment than paying cash for personalized care.
• The Home Gym Hack: How to build a full home gym to have long term savings
• The Million Dollar Math: We run the numbers on compounding interest to show how staying healthy enough to work just 5 extra years can turn $1.1 million into $1.8 million.

The best time to start investing in your health was yesterday. The second best time is today.

Disclaimer: Although we are healthcare providers, we are not your healthcare providers. This content is for educational purposes only. Please consult your physician before making lifestyle changes.

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Transcript

Speaker: 0:06

Welcome to the podcast. A podcast by healthcare on how to navigate your health The podcast is hosted by Mike Bruno, a chiropractor and athletic trainer, and me, Michael Stanton, an athletic trainer and certified strength conditioning specialist. Although we are healthcare providers, we are not your healthcare provider. We will discuss general health interventions in this podcast, but you should not take that as health advice that works in every situation. Before doing anything on your changes, please consult with This podcast and this podcast jobs and our own opinions. If you're enjoying the podcast, please leave us a review on your listening platform and or like subscribe to our podcast at YouTube. Thanks to our show can be found in the show notes on any platform that you are listening to. So real quick. I've been a dad for one year JK That's how long it feels though. Um, was that on purpose? No. Oh my goodness. Um, complete side note, but married what, two months? Three months. Mhm. And Erica was at the gym. My office is in working out and like, oh, this like I was this is my fiance, Erica. And I pointed to her and his face like he went white as a ghost. And I was like, what are you What could that face possibly And I turned to her and she's She's like, I'm your wife, not And I was like, my bad. The transition's tough. Yeah, because, like, fiance have been saying, what, two years or so, like. Yeah. You know, but hey. Yeah. We're happy. Yeah, exactly. And one weekend, uh, I can tell You know, you wake up middle of go back to sleep, you wake up, You know, he he peed on our bed them on our bed. And then as you're changing, as you're changing, he pees everywhere. He's a boy, so it's just there's Um, so my morning started with Hey, at least you're not peeing No comment. Um. Oh, man. So a couple housekeeping things, everything going on. So as as I, as we talked about unquote episode where I just, where I just kind of review, Um, so they'll actually already be by the time this podcast gets posted, there'll already be an episode out. Um, comes out this upcoming Brothers, like, they're still But like Nick Jonas, also has Exactly. That's what's happening. I'm in full support. There's no drama here. Yeah. And so it's always it's going to There are ten to fifteen It's really me just deep diving the news that's like, oh that's going on right now. Let's let's see if there's any Love it. Um, so yeah, there's that. They are part of it with being a Um, we'll, we'll start having a blog post that comes out about kind of our me and my wife, um, how our journey is going, being parents. So I can tell you one weekend Um, maybe some people learn from Maybe some people are already Reflect on it and go and go, oh yeah, I remember when we dealt with XYZ. So not that we're perfect We're we're along for the Yeah. We're trying to. Yeah. Figure it out along the way for Um, and I'll probably look at I'll probably fact check Um. Only you. Only the mother who definitely Actually, according to the. Yeah. The mother who works with kids. Yeah. She works as a therapist. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Um, man. Alright, so we're gonna get. Go ahead, get started. So we're talking money, money, Um, I can't believe you spoiled I was going to say, if anyone impersonate, please let us know. Damn it. Sorry you blew it. So as we approach New Year's, it's where you know your New Year's. You got new goals. Where should your money go? And so I, I, I'm going to bring up some research first for Bruno and kind of, kind of and get his input on it and some of its recent. So there's actually a study twenty twenty one where it looked at healthcare costs later in life, depending on how physically active you were earlier on. Okay. So and the general gist is that are earlier in life, you're annually on health care costs. It was the the the people that being active in early adulthood, seventy four dollars average as as they continue to age. Now there's also the people that didn't get in till later in life. They say they went middle age They actually they kind of saved closer around to somewhere between eight hundred to thirteen hundred dollars annually. Still nothing to sniff at. You know, that's to me, that's. Yeah, that's less than a gym Um, and so some stuff to really And then for adults that actually decreased activity through adulthood. So think about people that are super active early on thirty forties. And then they kind of just fell Um, they still had some Not as much. They those that decreased dollars through adulthood. So. So all right, there's there's two like, isms I like in this situation where, um, investing in the Bank of tomorrow. Um, I'm sure you've heard that So it's you like, when you invest in your own health or sorry, you're you are going to invest in your health at some point. The question is just going to be Yeah. So a small gym membership today is inconsequential compared to later on down the road, let's say ignoring your health for twenty years and then needing hip replacements or knee surgery or whatever. Mhm. So it's do you want to solve a willing to take the risk that need to solve a bigger problem So the common investing advice, switching to the finance side of it, it's not about timing the market. It's about time in the market, So yeah very common. Like saying yeah. So like right it's hey the longer you're doing it for the more likely you're going to be better off. And one. Really. Yeah. It's literally cost saving Yeah. It is compounding interest. So like I have clients who like starting their like health their forties and 50s. And they might have like been activist kids taking a lot of time off and getting back into it. When we get into things that agility and jumping and stuff, nervous because they're like, I but the people who, let's say, college athletes, they're much their nervous system. And like now where it's like, for so long. And now we're like creating an do it again. Gotta like, knock the rust off a more, uh, adaptive in that never done it before. It's just the ramp up period, So the person who's never done different path, can still get those prior investments will Yeah. And I also. Right. And I kind of like the fact All right, there's also the, the even if you get started later there's still cost savings like right. There's also a never too late It is never too late to invest Yeah. For sure. Yep. Um, kind of going off that too. So like, right, if you're physically inactive, you're going to end up, um, you know, probably more long term health consequences. Um, right. That's going to be court that's going to cost you a lot of money. And, you know, there's a there's Uh, there's actually a twenty Um, our neighbors to the north, Well, I don't know. Uh, we we have a big German following, uh, those number one health podcast in all of German speaking countries except for Germany. Except what movie is that from? You don't know. I don't know if you can name I will be so impressed. Uh, so. But. Right. Those who are physically with increased hospitalizations Right. That is like directly going to Cost you more money. Mhm. Mhm. Yeah. There's honestly like I won't give any context as to who this person is. But I had a conversation where their sixties, they were like I going and walking around the like actual exercise, my heart And I was like, what a crazy way So individual has had prior knee very sedentary right now. And like we said on last week's Walking is a no brainer. We should all be getting our Right? Like that is. That aside, could you imagine looking at the world where like, bringing your heart rate up in any capacity is like, no, no, no. Yeah. Like especially not like we're young, healthy people in general. Like I don't think I can I can Like I don't think I ever will that causes me to have to start But yeah, I can't. Yeah. I can't think about it. That's not how. Yeah, that's just some back. Like unfortunately that's just Like I even actually experienced where they're like, you gotta be Like you could like have a I'm like, first of all, I don't is like that has like because I've done so much eight hundred pounds like that's But sorry, enlarged heart. What are you talking about? Um, but yeah, to your point, is, like, health, pain, there's So in your point, it's like, increasing your risk at injury. It's like if you're doing it Um, but if you do, if you work out smartly, I would argue it's decreasing your risk over increasing because you're doing stuff that's like safe, efficient, enjoyable. All that stuff that we always And what you're actually doing is decreasing your injury risk over time because you are getting better at all that stuff. So if and when you encounter something in the real world where you have to move a fridge for your friend or like do something like weird and active, it's like you are so prepared and confident based on all of your training. It's literally like, you gotta Yeah, practice how you play, And that's why I'm going tangent You see all these old people, fall, fracture their hip, don't Like, because they get sick in not able to bounce back. Usually what it is that. I mean, you can tell me the research on this, but it's not that they stepped off a curb and they fell in the fall, broke their hip. It's just the force of stepping off the curb, broke their hip, and that's what caused them to fall. So they're so osteoporotic. Yeah. Yeah. Their bones are so brittle that The impact of stepping off a makes them fall, and then all disease and all that stuff in environment where, them, like, literally don't make Yeah. And it's like, how much of that you've just been. And, you know, we're not saying go, meathead, but just like a general strength program that adapts as you age, and doing it smart and efficiently towards your goals literally can save your life. Like no exaggeration. Yeah. No, no, that's very true. Um, I think it's more of a Goldilocks approach with all physical activity. And even in some of this like the people that were super standpoint, they were actually fourteen hundred dollar range. Uh, they weren't as close to saving eighteen hundred dollars, right? So, like, you know, that the probably the people that are things like that, like that's a Like your body may not be Like they're going to get a bunch of benefit from it for sure. But like they're going to have a wear and tear of cartilage and The yes, when you're going to think of, like the crazy runner and all that. And overuse is a fear for people overusing this, but those people speak, that capacity, are so Like it's going to take a lot to Yeah. So if there the conversation I them like type A like driver your workouts look like this, like this, yours look like this. Cool, right? That means all your recovery and Yeah, because where that disconnect falls is like, if you train like that, but you recover like this. Meaning like your sleep's terrible, hydration, whatever All your recovery methods like this gap is where injury happens. So like that's the conversation people because like, you know, an Olympic athlete. Go nuts. It just has to look a certain So you're not, you know, stuff, like surgeries and pain Yeah. So moving on. I want to look at incomes for or physically inactive. So yeah, there's actually Um, so there's research they mobile, uh, people are and their And they had different levels of like what, how active people were. Um, for every fitness level three thousand four hundred and Okay. So being physically or not, the less physically active you are, the more that impacts your income, correct? The less physically active you are, the less money you make according to this research study. Wow. Okay. Um, and then it also goes about people who stopped being physically active compared to those who continued to be active. They made six thousand five And then if they were also less likely to still be working. So that means true, right? So if they're so pretty much followed people along for ten Right. So not only are they making less, they're also not working anymore. So that means let's say you're You're not seeing that eighty an annual basis anymore. Yeah. So now it becomes a compounding effect in the opposite direction. Mhm. Yeah. I mean your something I always you're faced with, like you are decision that is going to like goals or away from your goals. Like it might not feel like it That's why you have to have problem is, right? But it's like, hey, I'm not Like that's a choice either. I'm not going to work out today it's too cold outside, right? Like, maybe that's not a good choice for your overall goals, but it's like, hey, I trained really hard the past couple days. My body's really beat up. Like, I need a day to recover. Like, that's a choice towards So it all depends on the context of like how you're having the conversation, um, with yourself and the. I feel like we always keep coming back to like the minimal effective dose. So that will constant if you know if we've ever defined that It's like hey you start you Progressive overload is like you Let's just say you can do five Over time, five push ups become Then you can progress to ten, My uncle asked me this question maybe last summer and started off doing ten push ups every morning. That's that was his starting He was either late sixties or Um, he just told me a story like He was in Colorado, um, at a talking about how much push ups In his tuxedo, he dropped and Love that. And like. And how old is he? Sixty. Seventy. And he didn't start until then. Like. Yeah. So he went from like struggling And you know he's not like going Arnold Schwarzenegger in the gym. But he went from doing ten every That was his starting point to now being able to do fifty in the course of a year, because he was consistent with his minimal effective dose. He jumped when ten felt good. He moved to fifteen to twenty to And now he was able to like far So it all, it all stacks up. That idea of compounding Yeah, yeah. The compound interest I love Um. All right. So the next topic was does being more physically fit lead to being promoted. Right. So there's no actual direct So I mean like but but so does Right. But what are the benefits of Right. You know there's cognitive It makes people hire hire more productivity at work because they're able to think more clear clearer. There's improved memory. So there's a lot of the presets So yeah I mean like do you want No. But the like, are there really good at training people? Yes, absolutely. But I'm not even talking about I'm saying people with desk jobs Like, yes. Are you being physically active? Right. You do your stuff in the morning exercise, snacks before doing steps real quick. All that's been shown to let you So in theory, if you're more Hey, maybe you get this And it also speaks to the type So you can you can say like, yeah, I'm a I'm a guy who's disciplined, right? Um, but if you look like a fat Yeah. How are you? Right. Compared to the guy who's shredded, it's like he's probably like he has to go to work. Same punch in, punch out as you. But he's he's getting it in Whether it's before lunch break, Like he is clearly making that the active choice to go towards Those are his goals, right? Yeah. You're the other person, right? They could be like choosing work over their body, which is I hear that all the time where it shouldn't be like a this or that. You shouldn't be have to choose You should have it set up in a way where if you're trying to succeed at work, the physical activity is going to help you in that direction. You shouldn't create this. I'm a big. I should have my cake and eat it Right. Like why not? Yes, but cakes. Probably a bad analogy. Bad analogy. I want to cook my steak and eat Yes, yes. But I'm not a big red meat guy, tuna and eat it too. Tilapia? Um, yeah. But absolutely. Like, there's there is a world forget about physical activity. There's a world where you can crush physical activity, forget about work. But there is also a world where you can do both really, really well. Yeah. For sure. So now we're going to get nitty right there in pain. And now they gotta start going somewhere and they gotta pay for it. Right. So we're going to talk about Um, you know, a lot of people probably get their insurance through through their healthcare or, I'm sorry, through their work. Um, and so typical co-pays for You can tell what it is for I just assume physical therapy becomes a referral more times than none. Um, um, so it's about twenty for an insurance company. Okay, so let's say you have an injury and you get prescribed to go three times a week for twelve weeks. Mhm. Um, to rehab your knee you have So if you're paying fifty times a week for twelve weeks, Mhm. And if you go there and all you do are clamshells and you get no follow up care unless you show up there and you don't get better. That was eighteen hundred Right. Um. So. Right. Not to say we're better than Um, but like. Right. It's think about where your from an insurance standpoint. Like if you realize that maybe you're not getting the personalized care that you should. There's probably plenty of dollars that can help you be couple of weeks, as opposed to Oh, one hundred percent. The the two things that you can spend all your time and your money. So I have that conversation with Or honestly, clients tell me them like the mill, right? Where it's like everyone's doing It's very cookie cutter. They're like, I've done three, four or five rounds of that, and every time I go in, I'm doing the same thing as the guy next to me, even though they're sixty and I'm thirty and like, I want to play sports and they just want to be able to like, go for a walk. Our goals are so different, our we have the same three exercises It's okay if you think like that where you want to be, then it's choose the cheaper option. If you just need a car to go It's like, does it matter if I would argue no. Right. But if you're trying to be a to want the Ferrari. So the the important thing to starting and B where you want to proper vehicle to get you there. Because for the most part, like waste all that money, like with and like doing the bare minimum for time, because they have five you're not going to get the to not only get the baseline, So what, like people who come in they're like, hey, like they And even if I like baseline, Like, I want to get far beyond So we're focused on being able to make sure we identify the real problem. So it's we're not wasting And we want to know what their So like after you get out of pain is just a starting point. So we get out of pain, then it's like, okay, what happens after that? I want to run. I want to lift this. I want to do that. Great. Like, you will not leave our office until we are doing that confidently here. And that when people experience, The other thing they're like, So like that for the right And I'm going to also say this So I do some of this stuff at my All right. So I talk about like how much I the services I provide. But then I also talk about time And so right, like a typical doctor's appointment in the research says by the time you like call set the appointment, get there all the paperwork this, this, that, that alone is going to be two hours of your time. And then you know, each for like PT for you, you know, each follow up is at least, you know, probably an hour an hour of time. Well, that's like your time. And how much money do you value Right. What is your your hourly rate And think about it from that So like for me, because I'm in take off of work because they physical therapy, but if I can hey, I saved you this amount of and hours of you being able to So like that. That's another way to think efficient if you can find the I mean, that's why, like, food So it's like, is it cheaper to thing up and come back? It always is, right? It always is. Yeah. Is it like, what can you hour, right of, like, just like to show up. Like, you can clean your house. You can like there's a lot of So like that, whatever. Five, ten bucks for delivery is more valuable than that. Five. Ten bucks. Yeah. And so kind of even kind of So. Right. I'm a big invest in gym If you got the space buy the So right let's say it's actually So let's say an average gym membership not Planet Fitness uh, is thirty is thirty dollars a month. And to be honest, there's plenty more expensive than that. I'm just going very, very, very Right. So that's three hundred and Over five years, it's eighteen hundred dollars for eighteen hundred dollars. That's essentially what I paid have a squat rack, barbell, all So I have all the dumbbell bunch of bands and resistance So it's a heavy investment up stuff's going to last longer up by one hundred people a day, And I think the, the problem like that choice comes down to certainty, right? What if someone is new to fitness and they're like, am I really going to drop eighteen hundred bucks to like, build a gym? What if I, you know, stop it's a waste of money, right? Because they're not in it for Um, but if they're like, oh, I and like, if I, like, try before quit, it's like they didn't You know what I mean? They're they're only sixty bucks in the hole or whatever the math is. So the I mean, you can look at, like, rehab and stuff the same way, right? It's hey, I want to use my I want the ten dollars co-pay is going to work, so, like, I'd And if it doesn't work, then, Because I chose cheaper instead Okay, so if you had two options, thousand dollars either way. Right. Mhm. One of them there's a twenty One of them there's an eighty Which one are you going to pick. Yeah. Everyone's going to pick eighty So that's personalized care But the the way that people look at it is like, hey, this is ten dollars a session versus like three hundred dollars a session, right? It's like and there's no guarantee that one is going to guaranteed work. It's like, okay, most people, if they're not confident in the system, are going to choose the cheaper option because it's less risky. Yep. Right. But if you're confident that one is going to triple your chances of getting better, all of a sudden it's worth the investment. Yep. Yeah, yeah. So I want to going back to want to show like we talked things like that. So this investor.gov, uh, has a Anyone can go on and use it. And so what I'm going to what I kind of put in here is that a monthly contribution of five hundred and eighty three dollars. Why? Five eighty three. That's what allows you to max Finance tip. Um, we are not. Yeah, we are not financial Um, like length of time in years is ten percent on your money. Okay, so we calculate that in point one million. Okay. If you invested five hundred and eighty three dollars over thirty years. Now to be a millionaire. Now, let's say you continue to You do all the things and you. But because you are still physically active, you kept working. You enjoy what you do. So you work for thirty five Right. And we calculate that you're now Okay. Actually it's like one point So like right. You're getting you're getting If you work another year or two, Uh, there's a rule. Every seven years your Um, but like. Right. So that's like that is huge active so that you can do the allow you to grow financially I mean, bringing it back to Like the guy who pays me for my seventy, Probably older. Yeah, exactly. How long has he been doing that? The right way? Because he can clearly still run Yeah. Right. So he is he's been doing that He is an expert at what he does. Right. I'm sure he's hit bumps and bruises and challenges along the way, but he's still able to like, do that if he's if he picked up, if he picked up running like at fifty versus thirty, like it'd probably be a lot harder to continue to do that. Oh yeah. For sure. So. Right. Compounding interests in The best time to start is But today will work just fine. Yes. There you go. One liner. All right. Done. I think that's good. Are you taking us out? No. Fix yourself.