The relationship between money and behaviors is undeniable. I like to summarize some of the intersections with the Five Truths of Financial Health. This article is a slightly condensed breakdown from the related subchapter within my book, Healthy Dough. Remember these five principles when you think about how you want to conduct your daily life.
The Five Truths of Financial Health
1. It’s easier to prevent health problems than it is to fix them
2. Healthy people get more value from their money
3. Discipline is an exhaustible resource, and healthy financial habits take discipline
4. Healthy people pay attention
5. Health is better than wealth
This guidance, in addition to the Four Circles of Health, help people visualize what quality, sustainable financial health looks like. Let's dig into each one.
Breaking down each truth
Truth 1: It’s easier to prevent health problems than it is to fix them
In all components of health, prevention is better than cure. This truth is easy to see in physical, social, and mental health. For example, it’s much harder to lose 60 pounds of fat than it is to practice portion control (trust me). It’s much easier to set clear expectations for respect and kindness than it is to repair, or end, a toxic relationship. It’s easier to say no to tobacco than it is to kick an addiction. It’s much easier to address small things one-by-one than it is to resolve a pent-up mental breakdown.
The same principles are true in financial health. It’s easier to live within your means than it is to get out of debt. For most, it’s easier to invest in career development early in life, rather than later, when life tends to get busier and more complicated. If you start saving for retirement at age 40, you’ll have 18 fewer years to save compared to having started at 22. Don’t trash your finances with excessive debt, unhealthy spending, inadequate earnings, and compressed savings timelines. Whether young, middle-aged, or older, taking care of your financial health right now is always going to be easier than fixing unhealthy finances later.
Truth 2: Healthy people get more value from their money
Healthy people get more value out of their hard-earned money. Their wages go on to support things that benefit to their lives, which leaves them much more satisfied with how their money is spent. Being able to save, invest, and occasionally treat yourself are some of the many signs of balanced health. Conversely, health challenges can lead to increased in-the-moment spending and well beyond.
Physical, mental, and social health difficulties can result in higher expenses, poor spending habits, and even hinder the ability to earn money through employment. The state of being unhealthy is expensive, and so are the habits that lead to it. Some health problems are completely unpreventable, but that’s not what I’m referring to. The issue at hand is spending valuable resources on habits that cause preventable health problems. Excessive nonessential spending on things such as junk food, drugs, alcohol, tobacco, and unnecessary luxuries can be highly correlated with physical, mental, and social health problems down the road. Trying to solve such problems by spending money is very expensive, both in the near term and long term, and usually works out as well as a trashy dating show relationship.
No one wakes up in the morning, puts their work pants on, takes a sip of their coffee, makes that obnoxious “Ahhh” sound that seems required in every beverage commercial, and smiles while thinking, “I sure hope I have to use part of today’s paycheck to pay for blood pressure medication next month.” People want their money to add value and security to their lives. They don’t want to be forced to use their wages to fix preventable problems or buy things that don’t actually mean anything to them. It’s much more satisfying to save, give, and fund their fulfillment buckets.
Truth 3: Discipline is an exhaustible resource, and healthy financial habits take discipline
Studies on endurance training have shown that when an individual is strained from non-physical activities, their physical endurance decreases and their rate of perceived exertion increases[i]. In a “time to exhaustion” cycling test, researchers found that comparable individuals had much less physical endurance after they played a repetitive computer game that was not physically demanding, but required a high degree of focus. Picture it as a monotonous task in which you’re afraid to blink in case you miss something; edge-of-your-seat excitement, but not in a fun way. One can assume that these activities relate to strain on the central nervous system, caused by stress of the computer task. The nervous system strain decreases energy, motivation, and discipline.
Anecdotes from my own life came into focus when I read about the study referenced above, since I’ve personally experienced similar results. In the past, when a disproportionate amount of my discipline went to a specific aspect of my life — like during times of severe stress, anxiety, or depression — the discipline in other areas of my life suffered. I experienced significant decreases in self-control, motivation, and abilities; I was more likely to eat too much, exercise less, communicate poorly with my loved ones, and ignore mental health. In addition to harming my physical, mental, and social health, I tended to spend way more money if my energy felt totally tapped.
Discipline is an exhaustible resource, and it can be drained by disproportionate energy used to stay disciplined in a given area. That said, you can — and should — work to develop your self-discipline battery capacity. You can increase the capacity of your discipline battery through personal growth and development, but it’s still a just a battery. It gets used daily and needs to recharge.
People are less likely to maintain financial discipline if their discipline battery is getting zapped by other areas of life. Self-control and quality decision-making take energy. If all of a person’s energy is consumed by physical, mental, or social stress, they won’t have much to give to their financial health. They’ll be more likely to try to solve their other problems by spending money. They may not keep the money they earn if they use work stress as an excuse to validate unnecessary spending. Ever heard someone say that they deserve to buy what they want, since they deal with so much crap? “I deal with so much, so I deserve blank;” or, “I don’t have energy to cook tonight, let’s get pizza.” Treating yourself sometimes is actually quite healthy, but the key word is “sometimes.” And if your personal life is so exhausting that it negatively impacts your work, it may hinder your ability to grow in your career, let alone maintain employment.
4: Healthy people pay attention
It’s hard to know where your health stands if you don’t pay attention, and it’s hard to stay healthy when you don’t know where you stand. People with strong physical, mental, and social health are aware of how things are going, what’s working, and what isn’t. Simply put, they pay attention. As a result, they’re better informed. They’re educated on wellness, but willing to learn and adapt when necessary.
Financial health also requires you to pay attention. A person with financial health can recognize patterns and identify spending triggers. They can feel when their pursuit of money becomes toxic. They have well-informed goals. They monitor their finances and have an eye for opportunity.
Paying attention to your health is always a good thing, as long as you reach the proper conclusions based on what you notice. All the attention and analysis in the world won’t do any good if the result is an unrealistic, unhealthy, or incorrect assessment such as, “I’m ugly, poor, and lonely because I’m a no-good loser.” On the other hand, productive observations might include admitting a lack of control, or just as importantly, accepting areas where you do have control. Sometimes they might enable you to recognize unhealthy patterns. Sometimes a proper conclusion is that you have a weakness. And, there may also be times in which bad luck really did drive an unwanted outcome, and there’s not much to learn or adjust. Just remember: the first step on the journey to personal mastery is the implied admission that you don’t have it yet.
5: Health is better than wealth
People think they want to be wealthy, but they really just want freedom. Wealth can support freedom, but freedom and wealth aren’t the same thing. Wealth can allow you to break loose from a nine-to-five job, add a sense of security, and provide opportunities to make a difference in things you care about. But wealth is just part of the picture of modern freedom. Wealth doesn’t fix anxiety, social pressure, toxic relationships, or physical ailments. Wealth is a measure of financial assets, not quality of life. No, wealth isn’t freedom; health is freedom.
Health is freedom of mind, body, and spirit. As someone who’s wandered all over the wellness spectrum, I can say with certainty that feeling consistently healthy is liberating. Balanced health makes a difference in the potential greatness of every single day. It’s the freedom of being able to use your mind and body as a highly functioning human, which feels amazing. It comes with more choice, opportunity, and clarity. When a person is physically, mentally, socially, and financially prepared, life simply feels freer.
The reason financial health is better than wealth is because it is — by definition — a net positive in life, and works effectively with other health factors. For finances to be a net positive in someone’s life, and therefore healthy, they need to leave other aspects of life unharmed. For example, a financially healthy person is able to pay for medical visits and counseling if necessary; they pay attention to their finances, but money doesn’t control their life; they have enough financial stability that they can sometimes treat themselves to add a little extra joy. They might have the flexibility to choose a career with a work schedule that allows them to exercise and spend time with their family; or a financially healthy person can leave a bad relationship, if necessary, without fearing how they’ll pay the bills. Wealth can help with these things too, but it’s not interdependent and supportive in the same way that financial health is. The good news is that you can use the Four Circles of Health and other proven strategies to help you make decisions that are healthy and positive for every piece of your life.
Wrapping up
Which truth do you relate to most? What other truths could be included as honorable mentions? Let me know what you think in the comments or reach out via email! If you enjoyed this content, please subscribe and consider my book for yourself or for a loved one! Your best life is a healthy life. Go get it. Thank you!
[i] Hutchinson, A., & Gladwell, M. (2021). Endure: Mind, Body, and the Curiously Elastic Limits of Human Performance (Reprint,Updated). Custom House.
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