How to retire well and well off |
| By Alanna Nash • Bankrate.com |
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In their new book "Fiscal Fitness," fitness guru Jack LaLanne and investment adviser Matthew J. Rettick team up to offer "8 Steps to Wealth and Health" that they believe will help readers live well into their retirement while having enough money to enjoy it.
According to a statistic in their book, 57 percent of seniors have assets below $5,000, or less than the cost of one month of nursing home care. And only 19 percent of elderly people claim assets equal to three or more years of the average cost of nursing home care.
"The problems we have in America with obesity and the fact that we're just eating up Medicare and Medicaid with medical expenses because we're not in good shape amounts to a national catastrophe," says Rettick, CEO of Nashville, Tenn.-based Covenant Reliance Producers. "The No. 1 fear used to be dying shortly after retirement. But that's been replaced by the fear of outliving one's assets."
Your health and your finances are intertwined, the book insists, and lack of physical and fiscal fitness is all about risk. Follow these 8 steps, the authors say, and you'll be ready to leverage your longevity.
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| 8 steps to fitness |
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1. Eat right: long-term insurance for your body
One of every five Americans -- approximately 72 million people -- will be 65 or older by the year 2030. What you do now determines if you are physically or fiscally flabby, the authors say. This step offers instruction on what to eat, how to prepare it, and what vitamins and mineral supplements will help insure your health.
"I just bought a new Corvette," says LaLanne. "Would I put water in the gas tank? How about your human machine? You put the wrong fuel in the human machine, and it's not going to run properly. We have more fat American people than ever before in our history. Did you ever think about 'FAT?' Fatal. Awful. Trouble."
Rettick, 54, has adopted his colleague's advice, shedding 20 pounds in the last year and a half.
"I started thinking, 'I'll just eat smaller amounts,'" says Rettick, "but that didn't work because I still loved the fries and hamburgers." When eating in restaurants, Rettick says, he now asks the waiter for suggestions for low carb, low fat foods. "If I'm going to cheat a little bit, I have two or three pieces of dark chocolate at night. Everything in moderation."
2. Exercise for life -- building your body's bank account
Being fit prevents diseases, says LaLanne, and the dividends include saving on medical expenses and ultimately, long-term care costs. In Step 2, LaLanne offers common sense, easy head-to-toe exercises and stretches for men and women.
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