Money Energy Law #11:
Develop healthy habits. Make sustainable lifestyle changes to increase your money energy.
Most of us want to live longer and healthier lives. Perhaps you already incorporate healthy lifestyle changes to improve your longevity—and that’s a good thing. But there’s a potential downside. Are you more at risk of running out of money in your later years? What would happen if you did?
From the point you leave the labor force to the remaining years of your retirement, your money on average needs to last 18 years according to the U.S. Census Bureau.1 But that’s based on retiring at age 63 and living until age 81. A single man age 62 today has a 40% chance of living to at least age 85 and a single woman the same age has a 52% chance.
Do you have a significant other? If so, that’s good news in terms of longevity. There’s a 71% chance that one partner in a male/female couple will live to at least age 85. For a male/male partnership, it’s 64% and in a female/female partnership it’s 77%. These statistics were reported in 2018 and may have shifted in more recent years.
Regardless of a slight change up or down in probabilities or marital status, your financial future may depend on how investment markets perform over time, the extent you live frugally, or how close you stick to a budget and financial planning. Those are some big “ifs” in life to consider. Add to the mix your ability to manage your health and stress levels and you might begin to question the consequences of living longer on your future quality of life.
Is maintaining healthy habits worth it?
Living longer is a balance between your mental, nutritional, and physical wellness; that’s a given. An extensive body of recent research shows people who have found purpose and commitment in their lives tend to experience more happiness and less disease in the later years of life. That’s great too. But one form of wellness remains untapped and that’s financial well-being—and our ability to extend the longevity of our money.
Having Enough Money to Sustain Yourself Into Your Final Years
I’ve mentioned this before, but it bears repeating. Money Energy is not just a catchphrase; it's one of four essential energies that feed your overall life sustainability. The others are food, physical, and mental energies. There’s a co-dependency. And while Money Energy was previously unknown and unmeasured, DNA Behavior has taken a scientific, proven approach to the concept.
We know that the ability to produce this energy is driven by a person’s behavioral style, the ability to continue to learn and improve financial behaviors, and the ability to manage and channel one’s feelings toward money. In my previous blog post about Law #10, I mentioned how Money Energy is measurable. That’s truly a gamechanger because it means we can now, with greater focus, radically change the linear trajectory of expected outcomes to quantum leaps. If you can manage the energetic force of money, you also help reduce the stress and anxiety associated with it—even more, you’ll amplify that energy.
An ambitious lifestyle requires the money to live up to it.
Anna Summer is a 45-year-old executive who leads the sales team for a large international food company. To Anna, accumulating wealth, to be recognized professionally, and to be viewed as financially successful are essential to her persona. She has ambitious financial goals and a robust lifestyle she would like to maintain. When she first encountered a financial advisor years ago, Anna communicated these motivations to the advisor and asked, as part of her financial planning, to maintain her quality of life. Anna did admit that her competitive drive has become relentless now that she has found her passions in business and life.
The question is: How much money is enough for Anna’s aggressive outlook? Perhaps the answer revealed itself after a recent health wellness checkup. Her results were outstanding and her doctor in jest said she could expect to live well over 100 years! Later the same day, Anna conducted a quick financial calculation and realized if that assessment were to become a reality and she lives into her 90s, she would not have sufficient savings and investments to maintain her ambitious lifestyle.
Closing the Behavioral Performance Gap
Not long thereafter, Anna sought out her financial advisor with her concerns. She wasn’t looking for a passive listener. She wanted to act—and quickly—to reduce her longevity risk. Fortunately, her advisor utilizes the DNA Natural Behavior Discovery Process with clients to increase behavioral awareness. The advisor knew Anna’s DNA Style is an “Influencer” with a strong pioneering trait to achieve (someone who likes to stretch boundaries) but also can be a high spender. Her advisor saw this as the opportunity to introduce her to Money Energy. Anna needed to tap into its power and capacity to generate more wealth so it could become a stored force, releasable later in her life.
Anna continues to develop healthy body and mental habits, but in terms of investments, perhaps there were further opportunities to generate wealth. Referring to Anna’s financial planning performance and risk factors, they discussed ways to reduce behavioral risks and possible actions to enhance her Money Energy potential. From the assessment, there were several opportunities to reduce her behavioral performance gap that led to an improved quality of life.
Performance risks include:
Propensity to take inappropriate chances
Overly ambitious goals
Tendency to be financially disorganized
High desire to spend
Lack of attention to detail
Taking control of decision-making
Performance success factor strengths include:
Risk tolerance
Bottom line results focused
Pursues goals
The advisor explained how the potential level of Money Energy available comes from holistically:
Integrating DNA Natural Behavior and Learned Financial Behavior into all areas of one’s life
Connecting her behavioral identity with her ability to build a relationship with money
Compounding and strengthening the number of opportunities she can produce and sustain
After taking steps to address behavioral performance gaps and improving her alignment to her Money Energy Potential, Anna became more closely aligned to her financial and physical well-being. She now welcomes the thought of living well beyond age 100.
What about you? Is your Money Energy potential high enough to financially maintain your lifestyle for many years to come?
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1Maranjian, Selena. Here's the Average Length of Retirement. Will Your Money Last That Long? Motley Fool. February 24, 2018