Before you do anything else...

Before having baby #2, it was pretty easy to come up with a post nearly every day. But now, it seems like there just isn't the time. I'm working on some excellent posts about the nuts-and-bolts of personal finance (like how to manage lumpy expenses, how to track credit card spending so you aren't ambushed by a big bill, and how to balance a checkbook), but in the mean time, I thought I'd write about how incredibly unimportant it is to save money for retirement.

Yes, unimportant.

If you ask most old people (and I am one of those old people*) whether they'd rather have money or their health, they'd say their health. Well actually they'd say both, but if they could only have one, it would be health. The reason is simple: if you're healthy, you can make money. You only really need retirement income if you can't work. Now if you're saying, "I hate working -- I can't wait to retire" then maybe you should take a look at what you're doing for work. I mean what's the point of going to work every day if you don't enjoy it, at least a little bit?

So what can you do to make it more likely that you'll be healthy when you're old?

1. Quit smoking (This is such a no-brainer, I can't even believe that I'm mentioning it. Except that I used to smoke (before I was 30), and maybe you do too.)
2. Maintain a healthy weight.

Of these two, keeping a healthy weight is probably more important. Why? If you smoke, you increase your risk of dying prematurely, either from heart disease or cancer. Premature death is a fool-proof solution to the problem of retirement income. Being overweight, on the other hand, is associated not just with premature death, but with disability and chronic illness, particularly type-II diabetes.

If you met me in person, you'd probably think that I was one of those tall skinny guys who can eat whatever he wants. In fact, I'm one of those people who merely needs to walk by a pizza, and suddenly my pants won't button. A couple of years ago, I decided to drop some weight (to see if it would help a chronic back problem, which it did). I experimented with several different weight loss techniques, and now, as a public service, I am unveiling the

Bluebird of Happiness Weight Loss Plan

1. Decide that it's worth the effort. Your current weight is your "natural" weight, based on who you are, what you eat, and what you do. To lose weight, you're going to need to make some changes. So make sure it's worth it.
2. Buy a decent scale and weigh yourself every day. Pick a consistent time of day (like before you get in the shower), and weight yourself every day. You'll see that your weight fluctuates by several pounds a day, but after a week or so, you'll see that it stays in a consistent range. Your mission is to move both the lower and upper limit of this range downward.
3. Cut the crap out of your diet. This is easy. Observe what you eat, and eliminate the worst thing you eat every day. It might be the greasy Chinese food at lunch, the latte in the morning, or the bag of Cheetos on the couch at night. Just eliminate one thing per day.
4. Never use the drive-through. Park the car and go into the store, bank, or whatever. Even if you've got two small kids. (Especially if you've got too small kids: excellent upper body workout.)
5. Never look for a parking space. Always park in the first space you find.
6. Stop taking the elevator. You can work your way up on this one. Start by saving the elevator for trips of more than 2 floors, then 3 floors, and so on.
   
7. Stop taking the car. Walk whenever and wherever you can.
   
8. Eat a high-fiber snack between meals. Have an apple in mid-afternoon. Snack on some Cheerios in mid-morning.
9. Repeat steps 1 and 3 until your healthy weight lies within your daily weight range, as determined in step 2.
   

Beyond increasing the odds that you'll enjoy a long, healthy, active, remunerative, and productive middle- and old-age, keeping a healthy weight can help save money today as well:

• Type II diabetes treatments (big pharma loves chronic diseases) are expensive, and you need to take them every day.
• You will spend less on food.
• You may be able to eliminate your gym membership (why spend $100 a month to walk on a treadmill when you can walk outside for free?)
• You will spend less on gasoline

Now of course, there are no guarantees. You can live a healthy lifestyle and still become ill or disabled at any age. But keeping a healthy weight makes illness and disability less likely.

* I'm so old that I used a slide rule in high school science classes.