A note from Growing Bolder Founder/CEO Marc Middleton:

We have wanted to become more active in the financial services, life planning industry for some time because we understand the longevity paradox: the one thing that we most aspire to in the future (longevity) is the very thing that is the greatest threat to that future. Numerous studies have revealed that baby boomers now fear running out of money more than they fear cancer or cardiac disease.

Sadly, this is a very real fear. While healthcare will continue to get better in the decades ahead, it will also continue to get more expensive consuming an ever-increasing portion of our budgets. Longevity should be a major goal and one of life’s greatest blessings but without sufficient resources to adequately fund a longer life, it can become a heartbreaking nightmare.

While financial and life planning is more important than ever, the solution to the longevity paradox can found in the health-wealth connection because the one investment that we can all make beginning today and the one investment that will provide the greatest overall returns in the years and decades ahead is affordable to everyone. That investment is positive lifestyle modification and it’s something that financial and life planner should not only be encouraging but also be an expert on.

Thanks to remarkable, transformative and exponential advances in technology and medicine, you can increasingly expect to not die from cancer, to not die from heart disease, and maybe, in the not too far distant future, to be able to prevent neurodegenerative diseases. But don’t be deceived by the implications of these advances. Chronic illness will continue to be the single biggest driver of healthcare costs and millions of families will continue to be just one major health incident away from financial ruin.

At Growing Bolder, we have been anxious to partner with an organization that not only provides first rate financial, insurance and life planning services but also actively encourages and facilitates its clients to leverage the health-wealth connection through positive lifestyle modification because you can’t improve your overall health and wellness without also improving your overall financial health. It’s pretty much a no-brainer because the two are inextricably linked. All the money in the world can’t buy you good health but good health can save you hundreds of thousand of dollars over your lifetime.

The importance of leveraging the health-wealth connection is especially true for a woman who will pay significantly more for healthcare over her lifetime than a man. In addition, on average, she’ll make 77 cents on the dollar, losing $500,000 over a lifetime due to a gender wage gap. And that’s just the tip of the financial challenge iceberg faced by women as they age.

  • Women live 4 years longer but work 12 fewer years, on average, and contribute less to their retirement plan than men
  • Women are more likely to work part time jobs that don’t offer retirement plans
  • Women are more likely to interrupt their careers to become a caregiver
  • Women are 3 times more likely to live alone when they reach old age
  • Women live, on average 14 years after the death of their husband

Unfortunately, the financial services industry has long ignored women to a point approaching sexism. Women are often not included in financial planning discussions with their spouses and are routinely talked down to in money matters. The industry, as a whole, fails to appreciate the many differences in the way women live, spend, socialize and how they want to retire. Not surprising, 70% of all women change financial advisors within one year of their husband passing away.

Changes in the industry are occurring far too slowly, which is what drew us to Woman’s Worth®, an association of financial and life planners who specialize in serving the needs of all women: young, old, black, white, rich, and poor. We’re excited to add our expertise, insight and inspiration to their efforts which is why we’ve partnered with Woman’s Worth® on the Health-Wealth Summit. This first of its kind online summit begins April 9th. There is no cost to attend or access all of the content including interviews with a team of national thought leaders in financial and life planning, functional fitness, estate planning, extreme recovery and more. For more information: GrowingBolderInstitute.com/hwcsummit2018

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