On being average
I can certainly see the appeal of being average
In North America, ‘average’ is overweight and in-debt.
Eating more than you need too, and spending more than you can afford.
In the short term, fat and in-debt looks very entertaining
Eat what you want, spend what you want, and when in doubt…just remortgage the house to buy more…EVERYTHING
If you don’t care about the future it seems so simple
(Let’s ignore the fact that this hyper-consumerism is probably just a guise to cover up a lack of enjoyment of the little things in life…)
But here’s the problem – Even the very fat and are living longer now. Much longer.
Thanks to a combination of healthcare, pharma and living standards if you are under 50 right now, you need both your financial plan and your health plan need to be able to ‘protect’ you to at least the age of 100.
(I even think the people under 10 right now need to plan to 120)
So if both your finances and health fail at 70…it’s going to be a LONG next thirty years
But, if you avoid the temptation of fat and indebtness (is that a word?), then you can still have amazing fun at 70, 80, 90 and on.
So don’t think of it as neglecting fun, think of it as spreading it out, a better ‘fun’ distribution across your life if you will..
After all, fasting for 24 hours once or twice a week, weight training, moving more, stressing less…it’s not as if these are MAJOR buzz kills, but they are MAJOR parts of any health plan.
And spending less than you earn? Maybe not as fun as spending 3 times as much as you earn, but it will help ensure you have money to spend on your 100th birthday.
Climbing mount Kilimanjaro at age 100? It’s not that far off.
BP
