Wellness Is About Both Finances and Health

How do we convince our younger workers that they have been given a great gift, but only if they do some work? Better than a new car or even winning the lotto, they have given the gift of life. In 1940 those who reached age 65 lived to receive Social Security benefits for three years. For today retirees that statistic is 15 years and growing. According to the International Monetary Fund, people worldwide are living three years longer than expected on average, but governments are ill prepared. The medical resources available to older populations will also be stressed. There is one estimate that by 2050 there will be only one worker for every retiree. The demographics are daunting. It is likely that those under 40 who live healthy, financially comfortable lives for all those years in retirement will have taken action to accumulate personal wealth and will have taken action so that they are healthy without significant intervention by the healthcare system.  

To help our younger workers, we can adopt a new philosophy that focuses on connecting the physical and financial wellness message. The link is a philosophy of self-regulation. Self-regulation, according to Professor Chatterjee in a paper scheduled for publication this year in the Applied Economics Research Bulletin, is “a process of setting standards for oneself, monitoring one’s actions and making focused interaction to stay on track with one’s personal goals – whether dieting, saving money…”

As we help prepare our older workers for retirement, we want to be able to say, “You have good health and the money to enjoy it because as you were working you lived a healthy lifestyle, and saved for retirement.” We can communicate an optimistic future to our young workers, but it needs to include the message that they have to help make it happen—and that message should address both health and saving for retirement.