Early Retirement Blog

 Put Your Retirement on a Diet!

According to Gregory Boyko, chairman of Hartford Life Insurance, you may be too fat to retire.  “The simple truth is, while more than half of the world’s population are crying out in hunger, 1.6 billion people are eating themselves to death.â€�  He goes on to quote the findings of Yale University’s Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity, that states that even with health insurance, obese adults in the U.S. pay 32 percent more in health care costs than people of average weight pay.

While a 32% increase in health care costs may not stop most people from retiring, in spite of the warnings from Mr. Boyko, their is no question that obesity diminishes the quality of life in retirement and  life expectancy.

Obesity is a symptom and symbol of our culture of consumption.  One of the things that obesity consumes, besides a persons health, is their retirement savings.  Mass consumption of mass produced food is not only unhealthy – it is also costly.   A properly sized nutritious diet (if you are obese), will not only help you reduce your weight, it will also enable you to retire earlier – and live longer!

If you consume $300 less per month in food costs, from eating a healthier and less expensive diet, you will be able to retire with $90,000 less in required retirement savings.   How long will it take you to save the additional retirement savings needed to stay fat?  And if you invest the savings from your healthy diet, after 20 years at a 7% annual return, you will have an additional $158,000 in retirement savings.

Obviously, being fit and eating healthy, has a positive effect on your retirement and on your retirement savings.  If you would like to reduce your weight and retire early, read “12 Steps to Over Coming Over Consumption“, it will help you escape the culture of consumption and it’s negative effect on your health and retirement.

To learn more, about how living a Green and healthy lifestyle can help you retire earlier with less savings,  visit the Green Retirement Website.