Article Why health is wealth when it comes to your financial wellbeing

On our Money:Mindshift podcast, psychologist, behavioural finance expert and New York Times bestselling author Dr Daniel Crosby shared a powerful personal story.

He went through something many of us can relate to: a persistent and mysterious nagging pain.

He suffered from migraines, light sensitivity, and general discomfort. He saw specialists, had scans, and went weeks without answers. Then one day, while eating a sandwich, his tooth cracked in half.

Turned out, he had two cracked molars from clenching his jaw in his sleep. The pain disappeared once the teeth were treated.

What stuck with him wasn’t just the diagnosis. It was the realisation he had one day while in the passenger seat of his wife’s car, crying from the pain: ‘I’d give all our money away if I could just make this go away.’

That’s the kind of clarity pain can bring. And it’s why he’s titled one of the chapters in his book: ‘Health is Wealth’.¹

Money can’t fix everything

We spend a lot of time thinking about how to grow our money. But when our health breaks down, the value of money can suddenly feel less important.

Though you might be able to buy better food, a gym membership, or a private doctor to support a better way of living., you can’t buy back time, vitality, or ease of movement.

In the end this raises the question: are we managing our health as carefully as we manage our money?

Wealth has more than one dimension

In our Money:Mindshift podcast, Daniel shared a powerful statistic. People who exercise regularly tend to perform better financially.

It’s not because gym sessions directly increase income, but because the discipline, routine, and resilience you build in one area can often transfer to other areas of your life.

Basically, nurturing good habits in any aspect of your life can ripple out and positively impact your financial success. Or, in other words, health isn’t just an outcome of financial wellbeing. It’s a driver of it.

So, what does this mean for us?

Let’s break it down into practical steps you could take to make health as important as wealth:

1. Prioritise your health goals with the same importance as financial ones
   Schedule them. Budget for them. Track them. If a gym membership, yoga class, or therapy session supports your wellbeing, it’s not an indulgence. It’s an investment.
   
   
2. Factor your health into big decisions
   Whether you’re thinking about a new job, a home move, or a new financial goal, ask yourself: how will this affect my physical and emotional health? Will it bring energy or deplete it?
   
   
3. Rethink what it means to be ‘productive’
   Rest, recovery, sleep, and self-care aren’t soft options. They are foundational to clear thinking and good judgement. Don’t apologise for them.
   
   
4. Use money to buy back time and peace
   If you can afford to outsource a task that drains you: whether it’s cleaning, lawn care, or admin, do it. You’re not being lazy. You’re protecting your limited attention and energy.
   
   

The unexpected role of anxiety

Another insight from Crosby I learned while chatting to him for our podcast is this: that anxiety is a signal. It’s information.

Too often, we try to suppress anxiety, explain it away, or distract ourselves from it. But sometimes, it’s a signal. Not that something is wrong, but that something needs to change.

Anxiety might be telling you that your current lifestyle isn’t sustainable. That you’re living out of alignment with your values. Or that you’re putting up with too much stress in pursuit of a goal that no longer fits, and need to talk to someone – or to yourself.

Instead of pushing anxiety aside, ask yourself: what is this feeling trying to teach me? Is there a healthier, more sustainable way to live?

Health as the foundation of finances

Health is not a separate part of your financial life. It’s the foundation of it. As Dr. Crosby shared on our podcast, money can become meaningless when you’re in too much pain to enjoy it.

So, ask yourself: if your health was to be a financial item such as a savings account, is it growing – or are you in the overdraft? And what could you start doing to invest in it, instead?

Just as you would prioritise and nurture your savings, looking after your health could help you have the vitality to lead a life of joy and purpose, too.

Because sometimes, the richest choice is the one that protects your ability to live well.