Most people think aging is expensive. But what if the real cost isn't aging—it's aging unwell? In this high-impact episode of Next Act Ninjas, Rachael Van Pelt unpacks how your healthspan directly fuels your wealthspan, and how making the right lifestyle moves in midlife can save you hundreds of thousands in retirement—and even fund your dream home. Tune in to learn how physical activity, nutrient-dense eating, and better sleep aren’t just health habits—they’re wealth strategies.
Most people think aging is expensive. But what if the real cost isn't aging—it's aging unwell? In this high-impact episode of Next Act Ninjas, Rachael Van Pelt unpacks how your healthspan directly fuels your wealthspan, and how making the right lifestyle moves in midlife can save you hundreds of thousands in retirement—and even fund your dream home.
Discover how one couple reversed chronic disease, slashed medical costs, and used their renewed health to launch a real estate investment. Packed with data, real-world examples, and expert coaching insights, this episode reveals how to turn your body into your best asset—not just for living longer, but for living richer.
Tune in to learn how physical activity, nutrient-dense eating, and better sleep aren’t just health habits—they’re wealth strategies.
Chapters
00:00 The Synergy of Healthspan and Wealthspan
03:02 Investing in Healthspan for a more Stable Future
04:15 One Couple's Health- and Wealth-span Story
09:23 The Economic Impact of Healthspan
10:50 Practical Steps to Extend Healthspan
13:42 Healthspan is Key to Your Best Next Act
Welcome to Next Act Ninjas, the number one podcast for mastering lifestyle longevity. Today, we're diving into the economic benefits of staying healthy as we age. I want to unravel how your health is not just a physical asset, but a financial one. We've all heard the saying, your health is your greatest wealth, And while it's a catchy phrase, what does that even mean? Have you ever taken the time to really think about how your healthspan impacts your wealthspan.
I've had people tell me they don't want to live longer because they don't have the money for it. They're afraid of outliving their retirement savings. Unfortunately, this becomes an excuse to not get on top of health, as if they will drop dead of a heart attack before the money runs out. But we all know that's not how it works, don't we? Not in this day and age anyway.
With today's advances in medicine, it is far more likely that we linger for years, even decades, in a chronic state of disease and disability, expending far more of our retirement savings simply surviving rather than thriving. That leaves us sending all of our hard-earned savings to major medical and big pharma. This is why I believe it's critical that we bridge the gap between our personal wellness and economic stability. Let's start having the conversation about how healthspan can improve our wealthspan and vice versa.
But the costs of aging, they're real, aren't they? We can't ignore that aging is a natural part of life. And it often comes with a massive increase in healthcare costs. Every year we spend more and more on chronic conditions like heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and of course all of the related long-term care that goes with it. So the financial impact, it depletes our savings. It shrinks our wealthspan.
Now, if you think that insurance is going to have you covered, think again. The statistics on out-of-pocket medical expenses are eye-opening. The average 65-year-old couple will spend $315,000 out-of-pocket just on health care in retirement. That's on top of what Medicare covers. That comes out to about $15,000 per year or 20% of most people's average annual income.
But it doesn't stop there, does it? As we age, these costs increase significantly. Once we reach our 70s and 80s, out-of-pocket costs can easily double. And that's due to increasing need for more prescription drugs, in-home care, more frequent medical visits, and that isn't even taking into account long-term care or assisted living. That can add another $4,000 to $5,000 per month. Add to that the rapid pace of medical inflation, and it's safe to say that the financial burden of unhealthy aging is only going to increase over our lifetime, which simply means that mastering your health longevity is more important than it's ever been before.
Now, the good news is if you invest in your healthspan right now, you can mitigate many of these future costs and secure a more stable financial future for yourself. The name of the game is Healthy Lifestyle Choices and Preventive Medicine. I had the honor of studying healthy versus unhealthy aging for nearly 25 years. And what we know for sure, based on decades of research, is that the four pillars of healthy lifestyle are absolutely non-negotiable when it comes to improving your healthspan.
Those four pillars are regular physical activity, nutrient-dense foods, high-quality sleep, and of course, stress management or mental health. If you round that out with routine health checkups, you can drastically reduce your risk of nearly all age-related chronic diseases. Seriously, most age-related chronic disease is preventable. We used to think age-related decline was inevitable, but it's not inevitable, it's modifiable. But the other thing I've learned from decades of studying successful agers is that disease prevention doesn't just improve your quality of life, it extends your wealthspan.
I have a great story about a couple from Austin, Texas, who I think exemplify the synergy between healthspan and wealthspan. When they were in their early sixties, Maria was diagnosed with diabetes and her husband was already grappling with high blood pressure, high cholesterol, both of which are early signs of heart disease. And it was a pivotal moment for them. They realized that their unhealthy lifestyle was catching up with them. And it was happening right when they'd received exciting news of their first grandchild on the way. Their son, his wife, they were expecting.
They lived in Colorado. And so Maria and Tom were talking about buying a vacation home nearby. They dreamed of escaping the Texas heat in the summer and being able to watch their new grandbaby grow up. So Maria, who was determined to reverse their chronic conditions, she wanted to keep their retirement plans alive. She called me one day for coaching support and I helped her and Tom get started on a comprehensive program that focused on fitness, nutrition, sleep. Their goal, it was not just to improve their health. They wanted to cut down on looming medical expenses. They wanted to reverse age-related decline.
And the good news is in less than 12 weeks, Maria was stronger than she had been in decades. She'd shed a few pesky pounds. Her diabetes was retreating. In fact, her blood markers went from full blown diabetes to pre-diabetes range. That meant she'd effectively reversed her diabetes, which let me just say is awesome. I can't tell you enough what a game changer that is.
And at the same time, her husband, Tom, his waistline shrunk, his cholesterol normalized, and his heart health improved significantly. Again, a total game changer. And even better, all of those health improvements, it energized them. It gave them the boost they needed to start planning their next exciting stage of life. And the financial impact was just as exciting as their renewed vigor.
They knew that their improved health would mean fewer doctors visits, fewer medications. They knew it was going to free up money that they needed to invest in that Colorado property they were dreaming of. Now look, the initial out-of-pocket savings might not seem like much. They reduced their out-of-pocket medical expenses immediately by about $5,000 per year.
Now that's not going to translate to a second home in and of itself. However, that did cover a couple of months of mortgage payments for them. And that's really all they needed because they rented their property out the rest of the year when they weren't there. Better yet, their improved health gave them the energy and the confidence to take that first step of becoming those cool, sunbird grandparents that they wanted to be. Just think about the double impact here.
Not only did they massively improve their health, but the money saved on healthcare is helping them build their net worth. So instead of draining their retirement savings on medical bills, they are investing in their dream home. They're planning to enjoy cooler summers and of course, having more precious moments with their grandbaby, their son and his wife.
Now this story, it's not just about avoiding costs, is it? It's about reallocating resources to fulfill a life dream, create a better Next Act. With the right lifestyle changes, the right mindset shifts, Maria and Tom, they're not just surviving, they're thriving. They're turning what seemed like an economic burden initially into a stepping stone for their future.
And look, even if one of them eventually needs long-term care in 15 to 20 years, second property, it's going to have far more value. It's going to cover more than any long-term care insurance policy ever could. And in the meantime, their quality of life is 10x, maybe 100x what it would have been simply if they bided their time managing chronic diabetes and heart disease, hoping their son would find the time to bring their new granddaughter to Austin for a visit once or twice a year. Wouldn't you agree that's all we're looking for? We want an expanded rather than a contracted life, don't we?
Bottom line, your health is an investment. It provides a valuable return on that investment over time. Investing in your health right now can result in fewer medical bills, reduce your likelihood of needing long-term care, or at least defer it until late in life. And it can even improve your ability to work or stay active. And if you take those healthcare savings, or any extra income from working longer, if you invest those further into something like real estate, you can multiply that investment many times over. How exciting is that?
This isn't just theoretical either. Financial experts, they'll agree that savings from fewer health-related expenses can significantly impact your economic stability in later years. Relevant to Maria and Tom, according to one study by the Milliken Institute, managing type two diabetes effectively can save you as much as seven to $8,000 in medical costs every year.
Similarly, effective management of Tom's hypertension could save them another $2,500 annually. They may also live longer. A study published in the Journal of American Heart Association, or AHA, found that middle-aged adults who adhere to at least five of the seven AHA's key health behaviors, they can live up to a decade longer free of chronic disease. That's compared to those who don't adhere to any.
What are those health factors? They include things like not smoking, maintaining a healthy body weight, being physically active, eating a healthy diet, and of course, maintaining healthy cholesterol, blood pressure, blood glucose. Those health factors not only extend lifespan, but improve your wealthspan, your quality of life.
And let's not forget that wealthspan can in turn improve your healthspan. It's a positive feed forward loop, isn't it? A report by the World Health Organization highlighted that if you have a higher socioeconomic status, you probably have a lower prevalence of chronic disease, such as heart disease, diabetes, certain types of cancer. The reason for this is probably due to better access to healthcare services, healthier living conditions, and your ability to afford a healthier lifestyle.
So where should we start? Well, the first place I always tell people to start is to prioritize physical activity. You know, I think many people want to start with nutrition, want to jump right into a restrictive diet, thinking that exercise will get easier once they've dropped a few pounds. And on the surface level, that makes perfect sense. However, the problem with this approach is that dieting doesn't simply cause fat loss. It causes muscle loss, especially in older adults. And that's the absolute worst thing that you can do for your strength, for your energy, for your metabolism. It only makes things harder, not easier.
Regular physical activity, regular exercise, irrespective of how much you weigh, is the key to your health. And it's a keystone habit. It not only improves a wide range of biomarkers of aging and disease, but it leads to healthy behaviors, other healthy behaviors like eating better, sleeping better, reducing stress, and nothing at all takes the place of exercise. Of course, there's no shortage of companies trying to put exercise in a pill. And yet, we have nothing that comes remotely close to replicating the wide array of benefits of simply moving your body every day.
The thing is our bodies were made to move. It's their natural state. They were never meant to sit for 10 hours a day in the car, in front of a computer or TV, sitting and eating, playing video games. No, you've got to move it. You've got to move it or lose it, period.
And a study by the American Journal of Preventive Medicine showed that regular physical activity can decrease the number of hospital stays. It can reduce your healthcare costs by over 30% just by eliminating hospital stays. Not to mention that if you stay out of the hospital, that can save your life in and of itself because hospital errors are one of the leading causes of death in the US. So stay out of the hospital.
Once you're moving your body every day, then worry about eating more nutrient-dense foods, getting high-quality sleep. There's no need to diet. You simply need to ditch the empty calorie snacking and boost your intake of fruits, veggies, nuts, seeds, berries, that sort of thing. And when you sleep aim for lots of REM sleep, lots of deep sleep. Think high quality, not quantity. These three simple habits, they're going to help you reduce potential healthcare costs and enjoy a more active fulfilling life.
And look, it is simple, but I know it's not easy. If it were easy, everyone would do it. Unfortunately, we were never taught about healthspan and wealthspan in school. And let's face it, if they did teach it when we were younger, we wouldn't have listened, would we? It would have felt like far too distant future to be relevant. That's why I do what I do. I absolutely love helping people reboot their healthspan midlife and reallocate resources towards improving wealthspan.
Because midlife, that's when we're finally ready for it. Our Next Act is right here. It's no longer some far off fantasy. So now we get to shift from that short-term thinking to playing the long game. We finally get it that it's now or never, especially if we don't want to send all of our hard-earned nest egg to big pharma and major medical.
So let's get on with it. Remember, it's never too late to start making changes that can lead to a healthier, more economically secure future, but life is short. The sooner you start, the better. So when you're ready to strategize next steps, let's chat. Hop on my calendar and let's schedule a call.
I'm Rachael Van Pelt. Thank you for joining us here on Next Act Ninjas. Be sure to subscribe to our podcast and share with anyone you know who also wants to master their lifestyle longevity. Until next time, live well, love more, age less, my friends.