In finance, HENRY ‘s for High Earners, Not Rich Yet. In Life , Richness doesn’t come from money

I have two people keen on reminding me why I may be less wealthy than I ought to be!

I hadn’t meant to complain about my current state but clearly I have opened the door to those advocating self-improvement.

Stay out of debt- Henry!

My good commentator Byron McKeeby, has made this excellent comment

One part of the Investopedia article you didn’t highlight as much, Henry, concerns debt.

“One roadblock preventing HENRYs from reaching their full rich potential is the accumulation of debt.

“Most of the burden comes from educational costs [student loans in the UK], mortgages, auto loans [limited compensation for alleged misselling of car loans in the UK] and credit card debt.

“Large debt can erode earnings, limiting what can be invested and saved.”

At a countrywide level we also witness governments, national and local (eg PFI), using larger and larger parts of annual budgets simply to pay interest on previous borrowing.

I admit that a roadblock to me becoming absurdly wealthy is my taking on and living with debt, a feature of my life that is not shared by my more solvent peers.

Be profitable and push back ill-health

My longstanding business colleague John Mather is typically acerbic

There are simpler ways to describe the solution to lifetime income provision.

However for the HENRY it is not the income but the “profit” on being Henry each month. Being broke at a higher spending flow is a recipe for disaster.

If you target earnings 5 times national average and spending 3 times, as long as the income can be deferred efficiently – probably starting at age 70 – you will be wealthy.

More important is the quality of health in retirement

Here are a few quotes on the subject from a recent issue of New Scientist . Based on the New Scientist excerpt about intrinsic capacity and longevity, here are the key action points for a long and healthy life:

**Assessment and Monitoring**
Use the WHO’s ICOPE (Integrated Care for Older People) screening tool to evaluate your current intrinsic capacity across five key domains. This downloadable tool provides a baseline assessment and helps identify areas needing attention.

**Physical Activity – The Top Priority**
Engage in both aerobic exercise to maintain cardiovascular fitness and strength training to build and preserve muscle mass, especially as you age. Physical strength and fitness provide multiple benefits including better balance (reducing fall risk), decreased inflammation, and lower chronic disease risk.

**Nutrition and Weight Management**
Maintain a healthy diet and keep your weight within a healthy range. These fundamentals support overall health and help prevent age-related diseases from accumulating over time.

**Lifestyle Factors**
Avoid smoking entirely, as it accelerates aging and increases disease risk across multiple organ systems.

**Stress Management**
Actively address and manage stress through appropriate techniques, as chronic stress contributes to accelerated aging and disease development.

The excerpt highlights an encouraging concept called “compression of morbidity” – the idea that health problems can be compressed into just the final year or two of life rather than accumulating slowly over a decade or more.

This suggests that following these evidence-based practices may not only extend lifespan but also preserve quality of life well into advanced age.

The emphasis on physical activity as having “the most evidence” makes it particularly important to prioritize both cardiovascular exercise and strength training as foundational elements of healthy aging.

Thanks guys, it’s good to know that by staying out of depth and in live a healthy lifestyle, I will be Henry.