Overview of Small Steps to Health and Wealth program.

1. Small Steps to Health and Wealth™ (SSHW):
What You Think About, You Bring About!
Dr. Barbara O’Neill, CFP®
Rutgers Cooperative Extension
oneill@aesop.rutgers.edu
www.twitter.com/moneytalk1

2. Health and Finances Top
New Year’s Resolutions
• December 2011 Allianz Life Insurance
Company survey (N =1,000)
• Ranking of areas of life to focus on
– 45% related to diet and exercise
– 43% related to money management
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3. “The Greatest Wealth is Health”
Virgil (BC)
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4. Signature Program
Cooperative Extension's
major health finance initiative is
Small Steps to Health and Wealth™ (SSHW)
This program is designed:
• to motivate consumers
• to implement behavior change strategies
• that simultaneously improve their health and
personal finances.
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5. Why SSHW?
Americans Have “Issues”
• Overweight/obesity
• Physical inactivity
• “Diabesity”
• Low savings rates
• High household debt/bankruptcy rates
• Inadequate emergency reserves 5

6. Personal Introduction
• Extension Specialist in Financial Resource
Management at Rutgers University (NJ)
• Cooperative Extension employee for 34 years
• CFP® for 28 years
• Financial educator and author
• Co-author of SSHW program
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7. “Street Cred”: I Lived SSHW
and “Walked the Talk”
• BMI of 27 (overweight) to normal weight
• Lost > 30 lbs. and 22% if body weight
• Fit physical activity into 3-hour R/T commute
• Continued wealth accumulation strategies
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8. SSHW History
• Created by Barb O’Neill/Karen Ensle in 2004
• Stresses small daily action steps
• Includes research-based recommendations
• Integrates health and personal finance topics
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9. SSHW Web Site
http://njaes.rutgers.edu/sshw/
•Monthly Messages
•Monthly Finance Message: Keep Good Records for Health and Finances
•Monthly Health Message: Shopping Smart for the New Year
•Challenges
•SSHW Online Challenge
– Fall 2010 Daily Motivational Messages
– Spring 2010 Daily Motivational Messages
– Winter 2010 Daily Motivational Messages
•Printed SSHW Challenge Forms
•SSHW Challenge FAQs (22k PDF)
•Online Registration
•Register Your Health and Wealth Goals
•Share Your Success Stories
•Posters
•Are Your Savings Going Up in Smoke? (355k PDF)
•Eating Away at Your Future? (374k PDF)
•Is Your Lunch Eating Your Lunch? (318k PDF) 9
•Nibbling Away at Your Bottom Line? (276k PDF)

10. March 2004 HHS Press Release
“Consumers don’t need to go to extremes-- such as joining
a gym or taking part in the latest diet plan-- to make
improvements in their health. But they do need to get active
and eat healthier.”
“America needs to get healthier one small step at a time.
Each small step does make a difference, whether it’s taking
the stairs instead of an elevator or snacking on fruits and
vegetables. The more small steps we can take, the further
down the road we will be toward better health for ourselves
and our families.”
HHS Department Secretary Tommy G. Thompson 10

11. May 2003 National “Save For
Your Future” Campaign Booklet
“You may not need a lot of money to accumulate
meaningful savings. Thanks to compound interest, small
regular savings can add up over time. Because, with
compound interest, it’s not just your money that earns
interest-- your interest earns interest as well-- creating a
snowball effect. The longer you save, the more compound
interest works for you.”
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12. This Presentation is About You!
• To improve your health/increase your wealth
• To identify personal health and wealth goals
• To identify small daily action steps
• To be motivated to apply SSHW strategies
• To improve your life 12

13. What Does Your Wellness
Wheel Look Like?
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14. What are Your Health and
Financial Goals?
Health Goals Financial Goals
•? •?
•? •?
•? •?
•? •?
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15. Similarities Between
Health and Personal Finances
• Problems develop gradually
• Less stigma due to increasing frequency
• Impacts job productivity, discrimination
• Lots of “jargon”
– Medical terms and directions
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– Financial terms and acronyms

16. More Health-Wealth
Similarities
• Lack of limits causes problems
• Restrictions help avoid problems
• Drastic solutions have major drawbacks
• Need for routine check ups
• People want “quick fixes” 16

17. Longevity Connections
• Unhealthy lifestyle habits increase risk of
disease and early death
– “0” return on FICA tax contributions
• Research: Healthy people often spend
MORE on health care over their lifetimes
– More years of medical expenses
– Chronic disease in oldest years
– Long-term care expenses
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Source: Do the Healthy Have Lower Lifetime Healthcare Costs? Journal of Financial Planning, July 2010, p. 14.

18. What are Other Ways That Health
and Wealth are Connected?
• ?
• ?
• ?
• ?
• ? 18

19. 5. SSHW Web Site Posters
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20. SSHW™ Framework: 25 Health & Wealth
Behavior Change Strategies
• Track Your Current Behavior
• Use Easy Frames of Reference
• Unload Your Childhood Baggage
• Automate Good Habits and Create Templates
• Put Your Mind To It
• Live “The Power of 10”
• Commit to Making a Change
• Take Calculated Risks and Conquer Fears
• Defy Someone or Defy the Odds
• Appreciate Teachable Moments and Wake-Up
• Think Balance-Not Sacrifice
Calls
• Control Your Destiny
• Weigh the Costs and Benefits of Changing
• Make Progress Every Day
• Step Down to Change
• Get Help and Be Accountable
• Kick It Up a Notch
• Meet Yourself Halfway
• Control Your Environment
• Say “No” to Supersizing
• Monitor Your Progress & Reward Success
• Convert Consumption Into Labor
• Expect Obstacles & Prepare For Relapses
• Compare Yourself With Benchmarks
20 • Set a Date & Get Started…Just Do It!

21. “The Jersey Diner Approach”
• Adopt strategies that work for you
• Choose 3 to 4 (max) strategies
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22. SSHW in Action: The Online
SSHW Challenge
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23. Break Time!
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24. Track Your Current Behavior
(Exercise, Eating, Spending, Saving)
• Use a pedometer:
– Determine current number of steps- then build up gradually
• Track foods eaten & calories consumed:
– Use a “Calorie Counter” book for unlabeled foods
• Track monthly income, expenses, cash flow
– Is your cash flow positive or negative?
– How can you adjust your cash flow?
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25. Put Your Mind to It
• Successful performers “see” achievements before
they happen
• Visualize your health and wealth goal
• Remind yourself of previous successes
• Banish “weasel words” and replace with bold
declarations
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26. Make Progress Everyday
Any small step to improve your
health or increase your wealth is
better than doing nothing!
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27. SSHW Challenge Data Reports
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28. Annual Non-Competitive
SSHW Challenges
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29. Defy Someone or
Defy The Odds
• Make a bet and win it
• Prove someone wrong
• Stop being a statistic!
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30. Think Balance-Not Sacrifice
• Need to balance intake and outgo
• Weight: Burn more calories than consumed
• Savings: Earn more money than spent
• Changing just one habit can have big impact
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31. Meet Yourself Halfway
• Health: Decrease portion sizes by 1/3 to 1/2 and/or
increase exercise by 50%
– Eat half as much as you do now…gradually
– Take leftovers from restaurant meals home
• Finances: Reduce discretionary spending by 1/3 to
1/2 and/or increase income
– Spend less than you do now
– Look for less expensive options
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32. Automate Good Habits
• Health: Routine health screenings, “points”
programs for weight loss, short programmed
workouts (e.g., Curves®), portion-controlled foods
• Finances: Dollar-cost averaging investment
deposits, employer retirement savings plan
deposits, automatic escalation of savings with pay
raises, direct deposit
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33. Convert Consumption (Calories
and Spending) Into Labor
• Health: How many hours of exercise are needed to
burn off extra food?
– Is eating a certain food “worth the calories?”
• Finances: How many hours of work are needed in
order to buy something (use after-tax dollars)?
– Is buying something worth the time worked?
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34. Step Down to Change
• Don’t cut out something completely
• Find a better alternative
Source: Dr. Alena Johnson, Utah State University 34

35. Compare Yourself With Benchmarks
• Health:
– Body Mass Index (BMI)
– Total cholesterol < 200 mg/dl
– 30 minutes of physical activity/day (> usual activity)
• Finances:
– Consumer debt-to-income ratio < 20%
– Age x gross income divided by 10 (net worth
formula in The Millionaire Next Door)
– Emergency fund of at least 3 months expenses
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36. Live “The Power of 10”
• Lose 10% of body • Save $10 a week or
weight month
• Walk 10,000 •Invest 10% of your
steps/day gross income
• Eat 100 calories • Add $1/day ($10/day?)
less per day to credit card payments
•Invest some money in
• Exercise in 10-
stock (average 10%
minute intervals
return) 36

37. Kick It Up a Notch!
• Ramp up physical • Transfer credit card
activity balances to lower rate
• Work up to 10,000 • Automatically increase
steps/day savings at regular
intervals
• Increase fruits &
vegetables in diet • Add 1/12 of mortgage
payment (P & I) monthly
• Do more of anything
positive! • Do more of anything
positive!
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38. What Will YOU Do to Get
Healthy and Wealthy?
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39. Tangible Action Steps: Health
• Prepare more meals at home
• Tame the tube
• Right-size food portions
• Choose to move more
• Eat more fruits and vegetables
• Re-think your drinks
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40. Tangible Action Steps: Finances
• Set tangible goals and take action
• “Find” money to save/invest
• Pay yourself first
• Practice tax avoidance
• Benchmark your progress (e.g., net worth)
• Get help when needed 40

41. Major Take-Away:
Focus on What You CAN Control
CAN’T Control CAN Control
• Speed of economic recovery • Healthy lifestyle
• Financial markets • Spending and saving habits
• Labor market/unemployment rate • Human capital investments
• Housing market • How you spend your time
• Employee benefit cutbacks
• Political environment

42. For More Health Information
• www.smallstep.gov
• www.eatright.org
• www.healthypeople.gov
• http://www.choosemyplate.gov/
• http://www.letsmove.gov/
• http://www.extension.org/families_food_fitness 42

43. For More Financial Information
• http://njaes.rutgers.edu/money
• www.AmericaSaves.org
• www.cfp-board.org
• www.powerpay.org
• www.mymoney.gov
• www.smartaboutmoney.org
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• http://www.extension.org/personal_finance

44. Comments? Questions?
Experiences?
Be healthy, wealthy, and happy!
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