Being a 1%er is a matter of your life.
While death is a certain end to your life, the cost of your healthcare rises as you age and the associated cost impacts your financial quality of life.
Getting and staying healthy is the only choice you must make to be a 1%er for life.
You must take responsibility for yourself. Making the healthy choices that can make your RealAge half your calendar age is the goal.
The Hidden Demise to Your Wealth
The culprit of stealing your wealth is your health. Primarily chronic diseases.
Consider that 84% of all healthcare costs are due to chronic disease, and 75% of chronic diseases are driven by just six measurable factors:
- Blood pressure
- Body mass index (BMI)
- Fasting blood sugar (or hemoglobin A1C)
- LDL cholesterol
- Smoking (measured by blood cotinine levels)
- Unmanaged stress
These six predictors of chronic disease are controllable in up to 95% of people.
In addition to those six, these two additional “behaviors” help reduce chronic disease: Regularly seeing a primary care physician and keeping immunizations up to date.
The Cleveland Clinic program helped employees make good health decisions by giving them access to…
- Free smoking-cessation and weight-control programs
- Free fitness center usage
- Online programs partnering people with a buddy coach to build mutual support
They also took fryers out of the kitchens that serve employees and patients, removed sugar-loaded beverages, and began to pay employees (initially with a check, then in reduced premiums) to achieve the six health-related normals (and asthma control) and to encourage the behavior of seeing a primary care physician.
Today, over 43.6% of their employees are “1-percenters” for health.
How to be a 1%er
The key for you is to work with your doctor to get to achieve being a 1%er for yourself:
- Blood pressure <130/<85
- Body mass index (BMI) 21 to 29.9, or waist <1/2 height
- Fasting blood sugar <107, or HgbA1c level < 6.4
- LDL cholesterol <100 (<70 if you have diabetes or a disease or condition that poses cardiovascular risk)
- No cotinine in urine
- Completion of stress management program and stress management practiced regularly
(+2) See your primary care provider and stay up to date on your immunizations
This will reduce your risk of chronic disease by over 80% and make you one of the “1-percenters” (only 0.6% of all Americans at age 65 have achieved being a 1%er for health).
The choice is yours.
The benefits are a longer and healthier life.
What is my RealAge? 53 years and 9 months.
What is yours?
Working on my 1%er status!
Have a great weekend.
Michael Tannery CPA CDFA® AIF® ● CEO
Registered Principal
michael@tannerycompany.com
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