Mine made me money!
In just a few weeks, we’ll wish each other a happy New Year, and I bet someone will ask you, “so, what are your New Year’s Resolutions this year?” But have you asked yourself the question, do resolutions work? Here is how I made my New Year’s Resolution for 2022 work, and I bet you can too.
How I made my resolutions work.
But first, let me share my 2022 resolution and tell you how it worked. And yes, this will have a money twist to it. Ironically what made my 2022 New Year’s Resolution work made me about a 7% return. No kidding!
So, what is the most popular New Year’s Resolution? You guessed it, losing weight. I reached the end of 2021, and my health was suffering, and my weight was a big culprit. I had gained weight in an unusual place, my throat. Not on the outside, but on the inside! I was having trouble swallowing, and it was because of the fatty tissue in my throat. In fact, I had an endoscopy that confirmed it.
No Grey’s Anatomy!
I don’t want to go on about my health because I don’t care for health stories. That’s why I never could watch “Grey’s Anatomy.” Growing older is more than complaining about what ails you. Nonetheless, swallowing is essential to living, and I needed to do something about it. With this in mind, I worked out a plan with my doctor that included intermittent fasting.
I’ll be honest and tell you that this is the first New Year’s Resolution that I have done that worked. It worked so well because I had a significant reason. From February until now, I have lost about 60 pounds. But equally important is I can swallow better now.
I’m sure you’re going to ask the obvious question. So why did I wait until February to start my New Year’s Resolution? Because February was when I had an exam scheduled with my doctor. And I decided to talk to him about my plans rather than jumping right into them.
Show me the money!
All right, if you follow me on social media, you know I usually write about something that has to do with finances. So let me connect the dots. If you are not familiar with it, intermittent fasting is delaying when you eat. Dr. Peter Attia calls it time-restricted feeding.
On a side note, I like Dr. Attia’s information on time-restricted feeding. But FYI, I think his views have shifted about time-restricted feeding. All things considered, weight control is more about how much you eat rather than when you eat it. If that interests you, put into Google – time-restricted feeding and Peter Attia, and you’ll find a lot of references.
This may seem contrary to my point. But I did intermittent fasting anyway. It worked for me and continues to work. To make a long story short, what made intermittent fasting work for me was the effects of delaying eating. And I want you to remember that word “delaying.” In particular, delaying is central to how I am making that 7% return on my money.
Resolutions work!
I am not going to go into the details of how intermittent fasting works; that’ll take too much time. But I will refer you to one of the best books I’ve read about fasting. It’s a book by Dr. Jason Fung called “The Complete Guide To Fasting: Heal Your Body Through Intermittent, Alternate-Day, and Extended Fasting.”
Dr. Attia’s view has changed based on a recent study. The study showed that eating throughout the day compared to intermittent fasting did not matter for weight loss. On the other hand, how it affects blood glucose is a different story, and I’ll refer you to Dr. Fung for more on that subject.
With this in mind, I agree with Dr. Attia’s recent view. This is the key to how my resolutions work this year. The time of day you eat does not matter as much as the number of calories you eat. But for me, intermittent fasting helped me break bad eating habits. It helped me go from eating more than 2,400 calories a day to about 1,600 calories a day. The key was to fast for 16 hours a day and limit my consumption window to about 6 to 8 hours. I still do that daily with some modifications for eating a protein shake in the afternoon.
2,400 calories???
The whole 2,400 calories a day goal is one that many people follow because it’s a USDA recommendation. But, personally, I think that number is way overstated. I tried it for a long time, but it didn’t work.
In telling you all of this, one crucial thing that I want to emphasize is that intermittent fasting is not for everyone. If you are concerned about a reason that might hold you back, here are two things to do. First, read Chapter 10 of Dr. Fung’s book, “Who Should Not Fast.” Second, do what I did and see your doctor to be sure fasting is safe for you.
More money
All right, let’s get to the money connection of resolutions. The way that I lost so much weight was by delaying eating. The way that I am making 7% is by using a delaying strategy as well.
I’m old enough to begin taking Social Security retirement income. But I have chosen not to. I know some people think, “I should take the money now.” Well, there are two reasons I am not taking Social Security early.
First, I am still working. If you are 62 years old or older and you’re still working, your income may offset what you are eligible to receive. In other words, if you make too much money, you can only collect Social Security once you reach full retirement age. Depending on when you were born, your full retirement age will be either 66, 67, or something in between. If you want to see if your earnings will limit how much you can collect from Social Security, there is a calculator on the Social Security Administration website.
Let’s say I want to stop working and have enough savings to make up for my income so I don’t have to work. That brings me to the second reason I am not taking my Social Security retirement income.
Here’s why delaying works
Suppose I delay receiving my Social Security retirement income until I am at the full retirement age. The income increases by about 7.77% per year. That is a guaranteed increase. And I get it just by delaying taking Social Security.
That is not all. If I decide to continue delaying until age 70, my future Social Security retirement income will continue to increase. Again, that is a guaranteed increase. Once I reach 70, my Social Security retirement income will not increase any further, so there is no reason to delay further.
Here are some general numbers to keep in mind. If I take Social Security now, I’ll get about $28,000 annually. If I wait until my full retirement age (which is age 66 and 10 months), I’ll get about $40,000 per year. And If I wait until age 70, I’ll get about $50,000 per year.
Now, if you’re eligible for Social Security, what you’ll get may be more or less than what I stated. But the principle of delaying is the same. Delaying gives you the safest way to increase your future income.
Live long and prosper!
So that is it for today. I think resolutions do work, especially if you have a reason. For example, delay when you eat, lose weight and possibly live longer. If you live longer, you will need more money, so delaying taking your Social Security will give you more money when you need it the most.
And as always, remember that this information is for educational purposes only. This information is not investment, accounting, or tax advice. For those things, you need to find yourself a good fiduciary advisor.😉
Have a great week.
Van
PS, here are some other great topics from my blog that may interest you.
How do I pick the best strategy for creating income during retirement?
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