If I asked you what the biggest investment you’ll ever make in your life is, what would you say?
Would you say your pension?
Saving for retirement?
Your home?
I think that’s what most people would say.
But I actually think the biggest investment you’ll ever make isn’t financial.
I think it’s your health.
Because if there isn’t a healthy body to retire with, what exactly are we saving for?
There is absolutely no point having a healthy pension if you haven’t got a healthy body to enjoy it.
I knew a woman who worked incredibly hard. She wasn’t just working to save for her own retirement. She was also working hard to help her daughter buy a house.
She worked in a care home and chose permanent night shifts because the money was better.
She worked all night, slept during the day and, by the time she woke up, she rarely felt like cooking. It was a sandwich here and a sandwich there because she was exhausted.
Eventually, her body couldn’t cope anymore.
Sadly, she died before she ever had the chance to enjoy the savings she had worked so hard for, and before she could help her daughter in the way she had planned.
The sad thing is that she isn’t the only one.
I see men and women doing exactly the same thing.
I watch them every day.
They work incredibly hard.
They save for retirement.
They put money into their pension every month.
They dream about the day they can finally stop working.
But many of them are already unhealthy.
I honestly think they’re missing the point.
Please don’t misunderstand me.
I’m not saying saving for retirement isn’t important.
Of course it is.
But surely your bigger investment has to be your health.
Did you know that, on average, once people retire and start drawing their pension, they only receive it for around eight years?
Think about that for a moment.
You spend your whole adult life working and saving for retirement.
Then, when you finally get there, your health isn’t good enough to enjoy the life you’ve worked so hard to build.
To me, that doesn’t make sense.
The biggest investment we can make today is in our health.
That means moving our bodies.
Eating well.
Sleeping well.
Cooking real food.
Looking after ourselves before our body starts asking for help.
Because that’s what longevity is all about.
Living well for as long as possible.
It doesn’t have to be complicated.
I don’t have a complicated life.
I simply have a healthy one.
So let me leave you with one question.
What is the biggest investment you’re making today?
Because I know what mine is.
Prevention rather than cure.
Milvia Pili
Functional Nutritional Therapist
