Watch what you eat — it influences your wealth.

If you are overweight or obese, those extra pounds or kilos are in inverse proportion to the girth of your bank account!

It’s not just because overweight and obese people have more health problems (and more expensive ones). It’s also because you spend money rather than saving it.

Do you like fast food for breakfast? If you have a muffin-egg combo 5 days a week, in a year you’ve spent over $500 US and added as much as 22 extra pounds (nearly 10 kilos) to your girth. If you order a cafe latte with your meal, in a year you’ve spent roughly $750 in coffee and probably gained another 19 pounds (nearly 9 kilos).¹

But what if you took the money you normally spend on junk food and put it into an account that pays 10 percent compounded interest? In five years you wouldn’t be nearly 50 pounds (22.6 kilos) overweight because of bad breakfasts — and your account would have a balance of around US $10,000.

Steak is now 53% more expensive than it was 10 years ago, and the prices of bread, dairy, and other foods have risen as well.² Americans on average eat double the amount of protein that an average adult needs each day, and the extra protein can only be converted into fat. Weigh that against your bank account, along with the true cost of food.

You can choose to eat better, get thinner, and grow richer — or stay the way you are and try activating a Money Corner that doesn’t exist.

References

1. Deborah McNaughton and Melinda Weinstein. RICH AND THIN Slim Down, Shrink Debt, & Turn Calories Into Cash. (June 2007; McGraw-Hill)
2. Niall Ferguson. Malthusian Misery’s Comeback. Los Angeles Times. 30 July 2007