How Your Fitness Impacts Your Finances: The 5 Pillars of Health & Wealth You Can't Ignore | Jemal King

Shawn Stevenson (0:00)

You are now listening to The Model Health Show with Shawn Stevenson.

Welcome to The Model Health Show. We are dedicated to health and fitness in all areas of our lives. And most people don't realize, myself included when I was growing up, how much our finances have an impact on our mental health, our physical health, and the quality of our relationships as well. In fact, a study cited in the Journal of Family and Economic Issues found that financial worries are a leading cause of psychological distress in our society today, while a meta-analysis published in 2022 in PLOS One determined that financial stress and depression are intimately linked. Now at first glance, research like that might have us thinking that it's a lack of finances that can cause this connection with depression. But this can happen at all income levels because it isn't just about the lack of finances. It's our association with our finances. And this is a place where we are sorely lacking in education. And so with this said, I sought out the very best person, yes, with the education, but I'm talking about person as in the quality of the individual.

To help us to unlock, to better build our financial fitness. And I'm so excited to share this with you today. While maintaining his role as a full-time police officer, Jemal King built a business empire rooted in discipline, strategy and vision, proving that financial freedom is possible without abandoning your nine to five. Today, as a key member of Eric Thomas and Associates, and a featured voice on the Secrets to Success Podcast, Jemal travels the world speaking to entrepreneurs, professionals, aspiring leaders and everyday people. His message is centered around his five pillars for a successful and fulfilled life. Faith, fitness, family, finance and freedom. A framework that guides both his personal life and business success. Let's dive in this conversation with the one and only Jemal King.

There's nobody on planet Earth that I would want to talk about financial fitness with than you. And a lot of people don't realize this, but this study, this was published in the Journal of Family and Economic Issues, found that financial worries are a leading cause of psychological distress in our society today.

Jemal King (2:39)

Wow.

Shawn Stevenson (2:40)

And so when we're talking about real health, real abundance, our finances are a big part of that. But it's something that, you know, coming from the culture that we come from, we don't necessarily even talk about these things. And so learning from you is a blessing, because it's not just the fact that you've figured some things out yourself. You've taught so many people. You've been so generous with your insights and your information. And every time I talk with you, I learn something. And so we're going to have a master class today on financial wellness, but just success overall, because the financial piece, you're going to give some insights on that.

There's more to that. You have these five pillars that you talk about. So we're going to break all this stuff down. So when you hear the term financial fitness, what do you think about?

Jemal King (3:24)

Yeah. So I mean, when you think about physical fitness, right? You think about your muscles, right? You think about how in shape you are. And you have two parts of it. You have the internal, in shape, and you have the external, right? And so you think about financial fitness.

I think about a person who's able to sustain their lifestyle, not necessarily wealth, but just your lifestyle. You know, I always have this thing where I talk about how much does it cost to be you, right? What is the cost? And it's crazy, Shawn. Most people, I can ask them, how much money do you make in a year? Or how much money do you make every two weeks? Everybody knows their paycheck amount. But then when I ask that same person, how much do you spend every two weeks?

Nobody has that number. Somebody usually have to say, oh, I need to look at my bank statements. I need to think about it. How come you don't know how much your expenses are? So, financial fitness is knowing exactly where you are. It's like when you go to the doctor, right? You get that printout and they give you exactly, this is what your blood levels are, right? This is what, and you're able to look at that. And then you're able to say, okay, cool. Man, I'm pre-diabetic. My numbers is at 5.7. I got it. What can I do to get myself below the pre-diabetic? I look at financial fitness in that same kind of way.