The fast pace of our daily routine often forces us to develop habits that have an impact on our health in the medium and long term. There is a lot of talk about the steps that must be followed to have a healthy life, but the impact that having an unhealthy lifestyle has on our personal finances is almost never mentioned.
On many occasions, routine forces us to ignore the recommendations that our primary care physicians make us and, little by little, we develop unhealthy habits that we normalize after a certain time. Here is a summary of the most common:
- Drink a little water or replace it with carbonated or sugary drinks.
- Not getting enough sleep due to stress or excessive use of social networks.
- Not respecting mealtimes or eating in a hurry.
- Excessive consumption of alcohol, tobacco, or fast food.
And precisely to this last habit, we want to make special reference because it is one of the expenses that we almost never consider. If you are a planned person, you surely have a detailed budget of your income and fixed expenses, but perhaps you have never projected how much you spend annually on the consumption of alcohol, cigarettes, or fast food that you eat frequently.
Suppose you are a socially active person, and you get together with your friends weekly. You like to drink whiskey, and at each outing you take three to have a good time and disconnect. If you put an average price of five dollars, you would be spending $60 a month, which multiplied by 12 months means $720 less in your budget.
Now, if you add to this the monthly cost of your cigarette packs and what you invest in eating out, the costs increase. It is clear that the money can be recovered, what you could not recover is your health because the excessive use of alcoholic beverages, tobacco consumption and the intake of unhealthy food bring problems that in the long run will become:
- Diabetes
- Obesity
- Premature aging
- Heart complication
- Sleeping problems
The list could be endless, so it is important that you know that these health problems also have a significant impact on your personal finances because you will have to go to the doctor more frequently, you will have to pay money for your medicines, and in the worst case, you could require some surgery that usually has a very high cost if you do not have insurance.
Another negative factor is the lack of physical activity and sedentary lifestyle that can lead to a decrease in labor productivity and lower performance at work, which in the medium and long term can also affect your finances.
Remember that if you quit smoking, reduce alcohol consumption, or exercise, you will not only improve your health, but you will also save money in the long term that you could invest to increase your capital.
At BMI we consider it important that you dedicate time to create a budget according to your possibilities and put your finances in order. It is not about stopping living, on the contrary, you can include an amount for leisure and sharing with the family, but always maintaining a balance so that you reach the perfect pairing, physical health and financial health.
