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By Morgen Henderson
Special to the Financial Independence Hub
Most of us have been given medical advice to eat healthier and get regular exercise, and there are certainly daily benefits to these choices, like feeling more energetic, having a better mood, and experiencing less pain. But we don’t always consider the financial benefits of a healthier lifestyle.
Although spending more money upfront on things like organic food and gym memberships or other fitness activities might seem like it doesn’t fit into a frugal financial lifestyle, the money you’ll save both in your monthly spending and in the long run makes the initial costs well worth it.
1.) Cheaper insurance later in life
When you get older, you may need life or burial insurance (if you don’t have it already), and being healthy will help you get better rates for your policy. Living in an unhealthy way may lead to health problems down the line. Although it’s still possible to get it, it can be more difficult to get funeral insurance for pre-existing conditions (also known as “final expense” and “burial” insurance). For instance, if smokers need insurance, but they now have lung cancer, it may be hard for them to find a policy, and if they do, it may cost them more.
2.) Lower health care costs
Health care companies often charge higher premiums for people with pre-existing conditions or chronic health problems such as hypertension and diabetes, and sometimes also for smokers. Beyond that, if you have a chronic health condition, you’ll need to pay more out of pocket for prescriptions, doctor visits, and medical treatments. While not all such conditions are preventable through healthy living, many common ones — diabetes, heart disease, certain types of cancers, and osteoporotic hip fractures, to name a few — are.
The World Health Organization found that “physically active individuals in the USA save an estimated $500 per year in health care costs.” That’s based on data from 20 years ago, so savings are even higher today.
3.) Less spending on filler foods
Choosing whole foods over packaged, processed foods like chips and other snacks means you’re getting more nutrition for your dollars. Changing your snacking habits can help you do this. And adjusting portion sizes to meet what your own body needs will also help shave down your spending on food.
What’s more, cutting out other indulgences many people regularly consume, such as tobacco and alcohol, will save money each year that you can redirect to retirement savings or other investments. Healthier eating habits and reduced substance use will affect your budget now, and your health care costs later.
4.) Higher income
The healthier you are, the fewer days you’ll miss at work due to illness. Consuming more produce strengthens your immune system so you can better fight off regular viruses and bacterial infections as well as helps prevent disease in the long term. That means you can save your paid time off (if you have it) for vacation, and keep your paycheck higher. What’s more, the longer you stay healthy, the more income-earning years you can have.
5.) Fewer prescription costs
Preventable chronic diseases require ongoing treatment with medication, and your out-of-pocket costs for prescriptions can quickly become expensive. Eating healthy, as mentioned, boosts your immune system so you’ll need fewer one-off prescriptions, and coupled with regular exercise it can prevent heart disease, among other chronic conditions that need regular medication for symptom management. Spending on prescriptions reached a total of CAD $33.7 billion in 2018 and has only grown since then. That number could be much lower if more people adopted healthier lifestyles.
A 2013 study on healthy eating concluded the financial benefits in the U.S. associated with reductions in five common and preventable medical conditions were “$114.5 billion per year (in 2012 dollars) in medical savings, increased productivity, and the value of prolonged life.” While switching from eating out and snacking on readily available processed foods to grocery shopping and cooking at home does require a habit change, and there’s a time tradeoff to devoting at least 3 to 5 hours a week to exercise, these changes will save you money not only in the short term but over the course of your life, as well as giving you more years to earn and keeping you in good shape for an enjoyable retirement.
Morgen Henderson is a writer from the mountains of Utah. She loves writing about business, finance, and technology. In her free time, she enjoys hiking and traveling the globe (on a budget, of course). You can find more of her work at https://hendersonmorgend.
