Your Financial RPE

FOR MORE THAN 20 years, I worked as a personal trainer. Now I’m a financial advisor. On the surface, the two professions look nothing alike. Human behavior makes them far more similar than most people realize.

Years ago, one of my fitness clients joined Weight Watchers. At her intake meeting, she asked whether she should cut back on carrots because she’d heard they're high in sugar. The specialist didn't miss a beat. She smiled and said “No one ever comes to us because they eat too many carrots."

The money version is just as true. People often fixate on a detail that barely moves the needle. I’ve watched people agonize over choosing this fund or that fund while saving just 3% of their pay. People follow the financial media frenzy for fear of missing out on the next big winner. This is akin to revamping your entire routine every time the latest weight loss trend hits the market. 

On and Off the Wagon

Over my years as a trainer, I watched the same pattern again and again. People went on an aggressive diet, then off it. They started a workout program, then quit. They joined a gym, then rarely set foot in the door.

Plenty of others showed up consistently, but they simply went through the motions. They strolled on the treadmill while reading a magazine or watching TV. They lifted weights that never challenged them. Going through the motions beats going through no motions, but it rarely gets you the result you want.

Trainers have a metric for this. It’s called RPE, short for rate of perceived exertion. RPE is a scale used to measure how hard your body works during physical activity based on how you feel. I often asked my clients, “On a scale of one to 10, how hard did that feel?” A one is sitting on the couch, and a 10 is the absolute maximum effort you can handle.

Muscles, fitness and health only improve when they’re pushed past comfortable. It’s called overload. Someone who wants to lose 30 pounds needs both better eating habits and workouts hard enough to count. Cutting back on carrots is not the problem to solve.

Your Financial RPE It didn’t take long to realize my financial planning clients were displaying similar behaviors. Some experienced a burst of energy to tackle important tasks. Then life got in the way, and the work landed on the back burner, half finished. Others enthusiastically told me all about their early retirement dreams. The minimal effort they were putting in today wasn’t going to get them there. Still others were on track but working at a perceived exertion of a 9 or 10 in their 40s and 50s. They saved so aggressively, or worked so much, that they were missing out on life. I applaud the effort, but it isn’t sustainable. I worry these clients will have regrets later in life. Are they missing out on valuable family time while the children are young? Are they working so much they’re neglecting taking care of themselves? In both fitness and finance, you need to identify what you hope to achieve and make a plan to get there. You also need to reevaluate as the decades pass. What worked in your 30s is likely not the right strategy in your 50s. Every human body gets more complex and delicate with age, and your financial life does, too. The Hard Lifts In the gym, the exercises people avoid are usually the most important and effective ones. Sometimes that’s cardio. Sometimes it’s lunges. These exercises are uncomfortable, so people find reasons to skip them. Money has its own hard lifts. The task you’re avoiding is likely the most important one on your list. You avoid it because it makes you uncomfortable and it’s hard to get started. It’s a 9 or 10 on the financial RPE scale. I see high income earners in their 30s and 40s continue to increase their spending with each raise yet not increase the savings rate along with it. I see completing an estate plan as one of the most delayed, yet extremely important financial lifts we each need to address. First time parents are eager to open their first 529 plan and begin saving for college but life insurance? That can wait. Opening a college fund for an infant feels productive and gratifying. Facing mortality or making tough family decisions is stressful and overwhelming. My training clients told me they didn’t have enough time. My financial planning clients tell me they don’t have enough time. When will you have time to address your health? When will you have time to address your wealth? Every year you put off your health is a decision you may pay for dearly later in life. Every year you put off saving is a year compounding can’t work in your favor. It raises the risk you can’t support yourself financially or can’t live your later years the way you hope. Check Your RPE Here’s my challenge. Pick a financial goal you’re chasing, or a task that’s been sitting on your list for a while. Rate your effort honestly, from one to 10. Then ask whether that number matches the goal you set for yourself. Health and wealth fuel each other. The money you accumulate is only enjoyable if you’re healthy and happy enough to use it. Ideally, it pays for more adventures than doctor bills. What’s a reasonable financial RPE to strive for? Well, that depends on how financially fit you are. And that’s a topic for a future article. In the meantime, eat your carrots. Lift the heavy thing. And check your financial RPE. Annie Garland, CFP®, is a wealth advisor at WealthClarity in Lakewood, Colorado. She spent more than 20 years as a personal trainer before becoming a CFP® professional. She’s a proud mom of two daughters, a wife, and an avid mountain biker.

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