A few years ago, I discovered a conference by Mr Money Mustache . An engineer by training, he retired at 30. Very funny and casual, his presentation had an impact on me. I believe he is a pioneer of the FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) movement. Simply put, the goal is to put a large percentage of your annual income aside to retire as early as possible.
I was attracted to the idea, but my career as a videographer was stagnating. I tried to become a producer, but with two very young children at home, I didn't "win" that transition. I was faced with my desire to be present with them and the time required to develop this business. I chose my children. I had also reached a knowledge plateau, I was no longer stimulated and needed to learn new things.
So I became a trainer and massage therapist. This transition was not a financial choice, so the goal of retiring early was far from me. However, thanks to these trainings, I had to relearn how to learn. It was difficult at first, but my brain's ability to memorize greatly improved within a few months. And I became an athlete . The other day, I realized that, even if I didn't have dream RRSPs, I had other bank investments that would greatly increase the quality of my retirement. The last few years have been about radically changing my lifestyle habits, and my body is stronger than it has ever been.
There is no other way to maximize the quality of one's old age than to exercise now.
Pay yourself first: financial principle
In the area of personal finance, preparing for your retirement years is done by putting money aside, in an investment that will give us a return. The sooner you start, the more the magic of compound interest works. It is difficult to put money aside for our future, often being too absorbed by our needs and dissatisfaction of the moment. To help yourself psychologically put money aside, the concept promoted by the FIRE community is to “pay yourself first”.
When we receive our pay, before any unnecessary expenses, we pay ourselves to our “future self” by immediately putting our money in our RRSP. Then, with what's left, we go about our current expenses. It is a psychological aid to enhance the effort of depriving yourself of this money immediately to benefit from it later.
Going to the gym is like paying yourself first, our future selves will benefit from it. But unlike the money we put aside, the exercise we do now also brings us immediate value. We are a double winner.
The Illusion of Time and the magic of compound interest.
It's not when you retire that you start putting money aside. Likewise, you don't start training when you retire. While there are benefits to starting training at any age, the earlier you start, the better.
In finance, compound interest, i.e. interest on interest, is a powerful financial lever. To play with the concept, I really like this calculator from the Ontario Securities Commission . The other day at the gym, after a two-week break from training due to an injury, I was really surprised by my ability to return to training. I felt powerful and my body was happy to move. I was surprised and it was a flash; I was taking advantage of the compound interest of the last three years of training. It really moved me.
An observation when you start getting back into shape, at the beginning, you can feel nauseous during the effort. It's after training that you feel good and proud. The more experience you have, the sooner the joy of exercise arrives, even from the first set of exercises or the first jogging strides. It's fascinating.
Exercising: an investment in health
Dr. Peter Attia talks about our “marginal decade” , that is, the last decade of our lives. And although we cannot prevent everything, such as an accident or certain illnesses, through training we can radically change the quality of life in our last decade.
We're talking about walking on a walker versus going up the stairs with grocery bags. It's quite a contrast. From the age of 30, if we don't exercise, we lose 1% of our muscle mass per year. Simply put, the bigger the muscle, the stronger it is. We can counter, or slow down, this loss of muscle mass called sarcopenia.
In the marginal decade, there is a rapid drop in quality of life if nothing is done. Let's take a hiatus on this single image of the quadricep of a 40 year old athlete, a 74 year old sedentary person and a 70 year old athlete. To me this represents the compound interest of paying yourself first.
Image illustrating the effect of sarcopenia on a sedentary septuagenarian versus an active septuagenarian
Exercise as a Priority No Matter Where You Are on Your Timeline
As with RRSPs, it is not the first day of your retirement that you will be able to restore your health. It's not impossible, but it is much more difficult. The financial parallel for retirement is the size of the amount that must be invested, since we do not have the power of time over compound interest. And time is also important in training; we cannot reverse forty years of neglect in two years.
On these tragic notes, it's never too late for you to start training. There are always gains to be made. A 75-year-old who starts exercising can significantly improve their quality of life. The testimony of someone of that age who is amazed at being able to climb the stairs with two bags of groceries without being out of breath is more astonishing than someone of 40 years old who is doing a half marathon for the first time; it's high performance worthy of the greatest athletes!
While it may be too late for the magic of compound interest, it's never too late to pay yourself first in training, but the sooner you start, the better!
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