The Wealth Health Connection

As a Certified Financial Planner ®, I often discuss the importance of  planning for health care expenses in retirement.  What I overlooked, until now, was how important having good health in retirement is to many and the connection between wealth and health.  New research from Transamerica indicates that a majority of investors place a high value on health in retirement and whether or not a financial professional factors health and health care expenses in a financial plan.  In research conducted by Luntz Global Partners, 81% of respondents said considering health and health care expenses would be “very valuable” in building a financial strategy.  When asked what is most essential to their financial future besides money, health was the most popular response.

It should not be a surprise that health and wealth go hand in hand.  Other research from Transamerica and its partners the Massachusetts Institute of Technology AgeLab and the Stanford Center on Longevity indicates that financial security leads to a higher quality of life and better health.  Savers are more likely to engage in healthy lifestyles. People that exercise at least twenty minutes a day experience lower health care costs.

Helping people make the connection between health and wealth should be one of the first steps financial professionals make.  Joseph Coughlin, director of the MIT AgeLab believes  “comprehensively planning around all dimensions of quality living in older age is the new retirement planning”.

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