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Now THIS Is A Healthy Investment

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 9, 2007

WASHINGTON - Deborah McNaughton and Melinda Weinstein want us to face a simple truth: Many people consume too many calories, and their unhealthy eating is costing them a piece of prosperity.

'Life would be a whole lot easier if our bank accounts grew and our waistlines stayed in the lower-digit range,' they write in 'Rich and Thin: Slim Down, Shrink Debt & Turn Calories Into Cash' (McGraw Hill, $16.95).

This mother-daughter team has come up with an interesting twist on personal finance. They provide a guide to building wealth by battling the bulge.

McNaughton and Weinstein founded the Financial Victory Institute, which specializes in credit and financial education.

Really Big Numbers

Their book could easily be dismissed because of its 'let's be healthy, wealthy and wise' shtick, but the statistics are staggering.

•Sixty-six percent of U.S. adults were overweight or obese in 2003 and 2004, according to researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health's Center for Human Nutrition.

•Women age 20 to 34 had the fastest rate of increase in obesity and being overweight. Eighty percent of black women 40 and older are overweight and 50 percent are obese. Minorities and low-income folks are disproportionately affected.

•Researchers said if the rates continue at their current pace, 75 percent of adults and nearly 24 percent of U.S. children and adolescents will be overweight or obese by 2015.

•Many adults are battling preventable illnesses caused by eating habits and lack of exercise. For example, an increasing number of Americans are developing Type 2 diabetes. About 40 percent of adults ages 40 to 74 - 54 million people - have prediabetes, a condition that raises a person's risk of developing Type 2 diabetes, heart disease or stroke, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

•Blacks are twice as likely as whites of similar age to develop diabetes, the CDC says. Hispanic Americans, American Indians, Asian Americans, and Pacific Islander Americans are also at particularly high risk of Type 2 diabetes.

There's a cost to being unhealthy. You often pay more for insurance. But keep within a healthy weight range, and you save. For example, starting in 2009, Indiana-based Clarian Health Partners plans to give employees a discount off their health insurance premiums for, among other things, not being overweight.

Saving And Losing

McNaughton and Weinstein's book contains a Money Calorie Counter, which details how much you can save by investing the money not spent on unhealthy foods. For example, say you give up the expensive mocha latte you get five days a week. At about $3.35 a cup (with whip cream), you would save $871 and 104,000 calories per year.

If you put the money from the latte in an investment each month that yields a 10 percent return over five years, you would have $5,620.64; in 10 years that would grow to $14,868.33, and in 20 years, $55,117.52

'Think about the debt that could be paid off,' the women say in their book.

The book contains several pages that show the cost, pounds you pack on and money consumers spend on a variety of fast-food items, sweets and drinks. 'Our Money Calorie Counter is not meant to deprive you of ever eating a chocolate bar or having the latte you are craving,' they write. 'It is meant to make you aware of what you are spending your money on, and how you can cut back to save and build wealth.'

Along with calorie-counting tips, you get personal finance advice. The women cover budgeting, getting rid of debt and home buying. This is a slim book, but with a lot of good financial advice.

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