Happy, Healthy & Wealthy
On living a good life
The Iceman
Wim Hof, AKA The Iceman.
A man capable of superhuman feats.
For those of you not yet acquainted with this particular force of nature, here’s a quick overview of some of his achievements:
Summiting Mount Kilimanjaro wearing only a pair of shorts and shoes.
Running a marathon above the artic circle (-20°C) wearing only - you guessed it - shorts and shoes.
Swimming 66 metres under ice (terrifying!) in just a pair of swimming trunks and goggles… he first attempted to do it without the goggles, but his corneas froze solid!
The list goes on.
He’s ‘The Iceman’ and an all round legend.
Why Wim?
The reason I’m writing about Wim is because he’s a beacon of human potential and an inspiration for how to live a good life.
Sadly, his origin story starts with his wife committing suicide in 1995, leaving him to raise their four children alone.
He cites his wife’s death as the driving force behind his mission to help others find strength and inner peace - especially those struggling with mental health challenges.
Wim’s mission is to help people become Happy, Strong and Healthy.
“Just be happy, strong and healthy - the rest is bullshit”.
-Wim Hof
His message resonated with me in 2019 after I left my catering business:
I wasn’t happy.
I wasn’t strong
I wasn’t healthy.
5 years later, I’m fortunate enough to say, that’s no longer the case.
When I pivoted to pursuing a career as a Financial Planner, I soon bastardised Wim’s words and created a mantra for myself: Happy, Healthy & Wealthy.
That was my goal.
To become Happy, Healthy & Wealthy.
Happy, Healthy & Wealthy
To me, these are the three components to living a good life.
Like a three-legged stool, if you take away one leg, the rest soon topples:
If you become unhappy, you’ll likely stop taking care of your health.
If you become unhealthy, you’ll probably become unhappy.
‘Unwealthy’ isn’t a word, but you get the idea!
Lets move on and dive into each ‘leg’ in more detail.
Healthy
Health is the cornerstone to a good life.
In fact, it’s the cornerstone to life itself.
Take away our health and what are we left with?
Being unhealthy is like having a blocked nose, it makes life tedious.
Becoming healthy is akin to that beautiful day when your cold goes away and you can finally fill your lungs with the sweet nectar of life - fresh, nasal-filtered, air.
In the context of this article, being ‘unhealthy’ is the self-imposed degradation of your mind/body (overconsumption of vices, lack of movement, poor diet etc.).
Many people who live with acute/chronic illnesses manage to retain a happy, (relatively) healthy, and wealthy existence… sometimes more so as it helps them realise what is important in life.
Health-span v.s. Lifespan
When planning for the future, many people focus solely on lifespan - the number of years they expect to live.
But there’s another crucial factor to consider: your health-span.
This is the period in your life when you’re not just alive, but healthy and active enough to truly enjoy it.
For many, the idea of a long life is appealing, but living longer doesn't always mean living well.
Medical advances may help us live into our 80s and 90s, but without good health, those extra years could be spent dealing with chronic illness and/or restricted mobility (‘tedious’ is putting it lightly).
Typically, we run out of health before we run out of life.
Therefore, the goal is to align your health-span as closely as possible to your lifespan - so you’re able to enjoy the activities that matter most to you throughout your life:
Your Greatest Asset
Your body is your greatest asset.
It transports you through life and plays a large role in determining your lifespan and health-span.
It’s your mortal vessel through which you exist.
No body. No life.
“You are a little soul carrying around a corpse”
-Epictetus
So, why do we often treat them so badly?
Unlike a car, there’re no trade-ins - we’re stuck with the body we’re born with.
Whilst we can always make more money, we can’t buy a new body.
We all (hopefully) invest in ISAs and pensions to help secure our financial futures; so, why don’t we invest in our health the same way to ensure we’re able to enjoy our life, both now and in the future?
To me, spending money on health and wellbeing is an investment not a cost.
What to Do About it?
We are all a combination of what we eat, think and do.
You likely know which of your habits make you healthy/unhealthy.
Deep down, you know.
I’m neither a PT or a nutritionist, so you don’t need me to tell you…
But I’ll give it a bash anyway!
We now have more people dying globally from over-consumption than starvation; so, odds on, you probably need to eat less and move more.
Simple.
If you continuously consume more calories than you burn, whilst living a sedentary lifestyle, you’ll end up looking like this:
Or in my case, back in 2022, like this:
I was a ‘skinny-fat-boy’.
A literal potato with toothpicks for limbs.
It was the worst of both worlds. Skinny and fat all at once.
My t-shirts were too tight at the bottom and too baggy at the top… not a great look.
So, what did I do about it?
I put down my mother’s delicious brownies, cut out alcohol and started running:
In March 2023, I completed my first full marathon (limping the last 10km due to a buggered IT band).
Then another in September 2023 (crawling over the finish line due to 34°C heat).
And finally, finishing off my long distance ambitions by running the Yorkshire Three Peaks in March 2024 - which was fun!
The Anti-Dad Bod
Since the arrival of my daughter, I’m now focused on staying fit enough to be a good father over the coming decades and maintaining an ability to keep up with young children.
I’m acutely aware I’m not getting any younger; at the same time, I’ll never be this young again.
None of us will be.
This is the youngest we’ll ever be.
As we age, developing/maintaining our fitness and strength only gets harder - whilst at the same time becoming ever more important:
“Strength training can increase life expectancy by 10 to 17 percent and reduce the risk of premature death from cancer and heart disease.
Muscle mass, strength, and function naturally decreases three to eight percent each decade after the age of 30”.
Whatever your age or state of health, starting to take care of yourself now is the only sensible option if you wish to enjoy a long and healthy life.
It’s likely the best investment you can make in your future.
What does this mean for your retirement planning?
Retirement planning - and life in general - is about more than just numbers.
It means thinking about how you want to spend your time and ensuring you have the energy, mobility, and financial resources to do so.
Perhaps in your 60s, you’ll be out hiking or traveling the world, but by your 80s, you might want to focus on slower-paced activities that bring you joy, like spending time with family or enjoying the arts.
Good financial planning helps make this possible.
It ensures that your wealth supports not just a long life, but a high-quality life throughout your retirement, allowing you to focus on staying active and engaged for as long as possible.
Remember, spending money on your health and wellbeing is an investment not a cost.
Want to discuss your retirement planning?
Wealthy
To me, financial security is only one aspect of being wealthy.
You don’t have to be ‘rich’ to be wealthy.
If you’re reading this, then you’re likely doing alright for yourself.
On a global scale, you’re probably one of the most affluent people on earth, living a life of comparative luxury that a large proportion of your fellow humans and ancestors couldn’t even dream of!
True wealth is more than money in the bank and it’s different for everyone.
As Bob so eloquently puts it, “my richness is life”.
I’m by no means a ‘rich’ man, but I am a wealthy man.
I have:
The love of a good woman.
A beautiful daughter who brightens my day.
Family and friends.
My health.
Meaningful work that I enjoy.
Hobbies that get me outside.
Hobbies that keep me fit.
Books. Lots of them.
Clean water on tap.
The ability to travel, if I wish to do so.
The ability to buy good quality, whole foods.
The list goes on…
I have a lot less than some and much more than most.
Happy
With the above list, how could I not be happy?
Quite easily, it turns out!
In 2019, my list wasn’t that different; I still had:
The love of a good woman.
A beautiful daughter who brightens my day.Family and friends.
My health.Meaningful work that I enjoy.Hobbies that got me outside.
Hobbies that keep me fit.Books. Lots of them.
Clean water on tap.
The ability to travel, if I wished to do so.
The ability to buy good quality, whole foods.
The list went on…
But I burned myself out running a business.
I worked all hours, started smoking again and - ironically, as it was a catering company - ate very little (there’s something about working with food which leads to bad life choices!).
My health and general wellbeing became poor which had the knock on effect of diminishing my quality of life.
“If you become unhealthy, you’ll probably become unhappy”.
In an alternate universe, if I’d looked after my health - rather than sacrificing it at the altar of my business ambitions - then maybe I might still be happily running said catering company rather than writing to you about financial planning!
What is Happiness?
“Happiness comes from being satisfied with what you have”
-Naval
I agree.
I’m happy because I’m content, healthy, and - importantly - grateful.
Very grateful, in fact.
Overall, I feel least qualified to talk about the topic of happiness in detail and will instead suggest some books which have helped me:
Man’s Search for Meaning (everyone should read this book)
Any history book which highlights that the past was a tough place to live and amplifies that we have a blessed existence (hence the gratitude).
I’ve touched upon this topic previously, weaving in a bit of WWII history with Paolo Nutini lyrics (a classic combo):
Moral of the Story
Invest in your health.
Build a meaningful life for yourself (whatever that looks like).
Be grateful for it.
Before you know it, you’ll be Happy, Healthy & Wealthy.
The rest, as Wim would say, is bullshit.
Ready to secure your financial future?
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Thanks for reading,
Tom Redmayne
Chartered Financial Planner
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This is not personal advice based on your circumstances.
All views are my own.