Health  Investment  Portfolio    ©  July  2014  

A  Common  Sense  Guide  to  Health  &  Wealth  ©  By  Dr.  Nancy  Gahles,  DC,  CCH      As  a  Health  Investment  Portfolio  Advisor  with  over  30  years  experience,  I  welcome  the  opportunity  to  consult  with  you,  to  empower  you,  and  to  inspire  you  to  a  Healthy  and  Wealthy  Life!    Dr.  Nancy  Gahles  is  an  internationally  recognized  expert  in  the  field  of  integrative  healthcare.    Dr.  Gahles  is  a  Doctor  of  Chiropractic,  a  Certified  Classical  Homeopath  and  an  Ordained  Interfaith  Minister  in  family  practice  since  1979.    Dr.  Gahles  is  an  advocate  for  choice  and  access  to  integrative  healthcare  providers,  their  services  and  products.  She  is  an  ardent  advocate  for  personal  empowerment  for  consumers  through  presentations,  her  TEDXTalk(www.tedx.talks.com),  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6bZBwl636s  as  a  free-­‐lance  journalist  and  via  her  book,  The  Power  of  $elfCare:A  Common  Sense  Guide  to  YOUR  Wellness  Solution.(Amazon.com),  http://amzn.to/16G1hAB    Dr.  Gahles  is  the  creator  and  author  of  Health  Investment  Portfolios,  a  health  investment  and  health  management  enterprise.    She  is  President  Emerita  of  the  National  Center  for  Homeopathy;  member  of  the  Board  of  Directors  of  the  Integrative  Healthcare  Policy  Consortium  and  Co-­‐Chair  of  the  Federal  Policy  Committee;  CEO  and  Founder  of  Health  &  Harmony  Wellness  Education  and  Tele  Health  &  Harmony;  Co-­‐Chair  of  the  healthcare  working  group  of  the  American  Sustainable  Business  Council  and  on  the  Advisory  Board  of  the  

Integrative  Healthcare  Symposium  in  addition  to  several  ask-­‐the  expert  panels.    Dr.  Gahles  is  a  widely  published  free-­‐lance  journalist,  a  member  of  the  Association  of  Healthcare  Journalists,  a  newspaper  columnist  and  radio  host/guest.    Dr.  Gahles  is  CEO  and  Co-­‐Founder  of  the  Integrative  Telehealth  Association.  Follow  her  blogs:  www.allabouttelehealth.wordpress.com  www.askdrnancyg@blogspot.com.  Follow  her  on  Twitter  @askdrnancy.    What  is  a  Health  Investment  Portfolio?  A  portfolio  is  a  term  used  in  finances  to  describe  a  purposeful  collection  of  investments  that  reflect  your  lifestyle  goals  and  risk-­‐limiting  strategy  Creating  an  investment  portfolio  for  your  health  involves  the  same  principles.    There  are  short-­‐term  investments  and  long-­‐term  investments.  

   Health  is  your  short-­‐term  investment.  Health  is  your  daily  level  of  energy.  Health  is  the  state  of  absence  of  disease  or  symptoms  that  allows  you  to  live  your  life  unencumbered  by  physical,  psychological  or  emotional  burdens.    

   Harmony  is  your  long-­‐term  investment.  Harmony  is  the  quality  of  your  life.  Harmony  is  the  state  of  well-­‐being  that  represents  your  sense  of  inner  peace.  Harmony  is  the  state  of  being  which  allows  the  whole  organism  to  work  together  to  access  the  higher  purpose  of  our  existence.    The  term  ROI,  return  on  investment,  is  used  to  assess  the  yield  from  an  investment.  

To  calculate  your  ROI  from  health  investments,  you  need  to  measure  the  medical  costs  that  you  have  saved,  the  sick  time  from  work  that  you  have  saved,  the  presenteeism  in  your  workplace  and  family  life/relationships  that  you  have  eliminated  in  favor  of  active,  healthy  participation  and  a  viable  work-­‐life  balance.    You  can  chart  this  over  a  month  and  then  sequentially  over  a  year  and  review  quarterly  and  on  a  year-­‐to-­‐year  basis.    Example:  “Fifteen  months  after  I  began  study  with  a  study  group  of  the  National  Center  for  Homeopathy,  I  had  to  collect  my  medical  expense  records  for  income  tax  purposes.    Usually,  I  get  a  few  hundred  dollars  over  the  7.5%  of  adjusted  gross  income  to  deduct.  For  this  past  year,  I  had  a  few  hundred  dollars  total,  mostly  for  my  daughter’s  insect  bite  and  routine  checkups.  Discontinuing  some  prescription  drugs  and  enjoying  better  health  through  homeopathy  meant  no  tax  deduction  last  year,  because  my  total  spent  was  way  too  low!”    The  long-­‐term  investment  in  study  of  self-­‐care  techniques  in  this  case  yielded  an  ROI  in  the  short  term  of  “better  health”.  The  ROI  also  yielded  a  

monetary  savings  in  cost  of  prescription  drugs  in  the  short  term.    Risk  Assessment  As  your  health  changes  with  age  and  circumstances,  so  will  your  areas  of  investment.  Effective  risk  assessment  provides  a  mechanism  for  identifying  your  health  assets  and  liabilities  so  as  to  determine  the  best  investment  products  and  services  for  you.    Example:  (  sample  health  risk  assessment  attached)  Once  you  have  identified  your  personal  risk  factors,  you  can  design  your  own  recession  proof  strategies  as  you  develop  an  ideal  individualized  health  investment  portfolio,  create  long  term  wellness  models,  maximize  dividends  in  health  and  harmony.  You  will  enjoy  the  experience  of  a  personal  sense  of  satisfaction  and  celebrate  the  sensation  of  peace  in  your  life.    

Health  Investment  Portfolio  Models  You  invest  in  order  to  reap  the  benefits  of  your  hard  work  at  the  point  when  you  are  not  able  to  work  as  hard.  When  you  are  

young,  you  invest  in  more  aggressive,  risky  allocations  to  yield  higher  dividends.    

As  you  age,  you  tend  to  conservative  strategies  that  will  preserve  your  

capital  investment  and  allow  you  to  draw  on  these  resources  to  use  in  your  daily  lives  in  your  later  years.  

 In  health  terms,  we  look  at  the  Health  Risk  Assessment  tool  to  determine  our  assets  and  liabilities.  Your  assets  are  your  strong  points  in  body,  mind,  emotion  and  spirit.  Here  you  will  use  short  term,  high  yield  strategies  to  grow  your  assets.  Investment  in  areas  such  as  meditation  to  stay  clear  and  focused;  exercise  and  proper  eating  to  create  health  and  energy;  adequate  sleep  to  promote  refreshment  and  restoration  of  function;  nurturing  relationships  to  give  meaning  to  your  life;  and  doing  work  that  stems  from  a  sense  of  purpose  in  providing  a  service  to  the  world.    Investment  in  these  asset  classes  will  increase  your  daily  dividends  and  create  long-­‐term  revenue  in  terms  of  health  and  harmony.    Your  liabilities  are  determined  by  the  health  condition(s)  you  currently  suffer  from  such  as  diabetes,  emphysema,  heart  disease,  or  obesity.  These  are  categorized  as  chronic  or  have  the  potential  to  become  chronic  especially  if  there  is  family  history/genetic  predisposition.    

The  younger  you  are,  the  more  time  you  have  to  make  short-­‐term  investments  that  will  eliminate  these  conditions  and  mitigate  the  need  for,  and  expense  of,  long  

term  chronic  disease  management.  Your  portfolio  will  reflect  the  investments  needed  to  ensure  long  term  care  such  as  fixed  medical  costs,  durable  equipment,  doctor  office  visits,  co-­‐pays,  deductibles  and  insurance  premiums.    The  key  is  to  diversify  your  portfolio.  Proper  asset  allocation  can  prevent  huge  fluctuations  in  health  returns  and  put  you  on  the  path  to  long  term  quality  of  life  and  growth.    

Each  asset  has  its  own  cycle.  It  is  important  to  have  different  asset  classes  that  are  counter  cyclical  to  each  other  so  that  your  portfolio  is  balanced  and  has  low  volatility.    A  key  concept  is  to  diversify  with  different  asset  classes  and  to  rebalance  the  portfolio  in  order  to  capture  the  opportunities  of  the  time  and  manage  the  risks.    In  the  financial  investment  world,  market  timing  is  used  to  predict  the  asset  class  for  this  cycle.  In  the  healthcare  world,  you  predict  asset  class  by  identifying  the  cycle  of  life  that  you  are  in.    Investment  Products  and  Services  Nearly  40%  of  Americans  use  healthcare  approaches  developed  outside  of  mainstream  Western,  or  conventional,  medicine  for  specific  conditions  or  overall  well-­‐being.    The  National  Center  for  Complementary  and  Alternative  Medicine  (NCCAM)  describes  Complementary  Medicine  to  refer  to  the  use  of  a  non-­‐mainstream  approach  together  with  conventional  medicine.      For  example,  guided  imagery  and  massage,  both  once  considered  complementary  and  alternative  (used  in  place  of  conventional  medicine),  are  used  regularly  in  some  hospital  and  clinical  settings  for  pain  management.    Integrative  Medicine  represents  an  array  of  non-­‐mainstream  healthcare  approaches  that  are  used  collaboratively.  For  example,  cancer  treatment  centers  with  integrative  healthcare  programs  may  offer  services  such  as  acupuncture,  meditation  and  yoga.    Integrative  healthcare  is  no  longer  a  trend.  It  is  happening  now.  The  Patient  Protection  and  Affordable  Care  Act  recognizes  this  shift  towards  inclusion  by  providing  for  a  new  national  healthcare  workforce  known  as  “licensed  CAM  providers  and  integrative  healthcare  practitioners”  (  ACA  Sec.  5101).  The  ACA  goes  further  in  providing  for  nondiscrimination  against  these  providers  within  a  healthcare  insurance  policy  in  ACA  Sec.  2706.  

 This  graph  is  a  representation  of  10  Most  Common  Complementary  Health  approaches  or  services  that  adults  invested  in  as  surveyed  in  2007.    

   Natural  products  that  people  invest  in  include  herbs  (botanicals),  vitamins  and  minerals  (nutraceuticals)  and  probiotics.  These  products  are  widely  marketed  as  dietary  supplements.  The  most  commonly  used  non-­‐vitamin  /  non-­‐mineral  natural  product  was  fish  oil/omega  3’s,  according  to  the  2007  National  health  Interview  Survey  (NHIS).    Health  &  Harmony  Investment  Portfolios  will  recommend  ONLY  those  products  and  services  that  meet  with  recognized  safety  standards  and/or  

have  evidence-­‐based  research  and  efficacy  in  real  world  clinical  outcomes.    Creating  Wealth  Health  IS  wealth!  Health  insurance  premiums  are  skyrocketing  despite  the  provisions  in  the  ACA  for  subsidy-­‐reduced  premiums.  Because  of  this,  the  sticker  price  appears  lower  than  in  previous  years,  however,  the  back-­‐end  costs  are  drastically  increased.  High  deductible  policies  offered  on  the  State  exchanges  range  from  $2500  -­‐  $6,000  in  deductible  costs  that  you  must  reach  before  your  insurance  coverage  begins.  Once  your  deductible  is  met,  you  may  be  liable  for  50%  of  all  costs  up  to  a  maximum  of  $10,000.    Health  Savings  Accounts  (HSA)  were  created  to  relieve  the  burden  of  expensive  medical  care  and  to  allow  people  the  freedom  to  choose  the  practitioner,  products  and  services  of  their  choice  that  best  meet  their  individual  healthcare  needs.    The  cost  of  healthcare  is  likewise  escalating.  Consumers  with  high  deductible  policies  will  be  responsible  to  pay  cash  for  all  care  up  to  the  amount  of  their  deductible.  The  onus  is  on  the  consumer  to  negotiate  fees  for  services  rendered  by  physicians  so  as  to  be  fully  informed  of  expenses  and  to  budget  for  them.    Having  developed  a  Health  Investment  Portfolio,  you  will  know  the  predictable  costs  of  your  care,  the  insurance  policy  that  you  own  and  how  to  maximize  investment  in  your  Health  Savings  Account  to  provide  for  your  daily,  monthly  and  yearly  costs  NOT  covered  by  insurance.    The  tax  free,  money  market  investment  products  Health  Savings  Accounts  (HSA)  and  Flexible  Spending  Accounts  (FSA)  are  your  way  to  create  a  body  of  dollars  to  use  for  both  short-­‐term  medical  expenses  and  for  long-­‐term  care  management.  You  may  choose  to  potentially  grow  your  savings  for  future  health  care  costs  by  investing  some  of  your  money  in  mutual  funds.  Once  you  reach  the  designated  balance  for  your  HSA,  known  as  the  investment  threshold,  you  can  invest  a  portion  of  your  savings.  Many  people  are  now  using  HSA’s  for  retirement  purposes.  An  additional  benefit  is  that  HSA’s  roll  over  year  to  year.  If  you  have  a  good  health  year,  your  

account  grows.  If  you  have  a  bad  health  year,  you  have  the  money  invested  to  offset  unforeseeable  costs.  HSA’s  are  also  inheritable.    

     

       

       

 Follow  my  blogs:  www.allabouttelehealth.wordpress.com  www.askdrnancy@blogspot.com    Contact:  Dr.  Nancy  Gahles,  DC,  CCH,  RSHom(NA)  241  Beach  137  St.  Belle  Harbor,  NY  11694    Cell:  718-­‐634-­‐4577    Email:  askdrnancy@aol.com  Twitter:  @askdrnancy  Facebook:http://www.facebook.com/askdrnancy  LinkedIn:www.linkedin.com/in/nancygahles    Link  to  my  book:  The  Power  of  $elf  Care,  A  Common  Sense  Guide  to  YOUR  Wellness  Solution  http://amzn.to/16G1hAB  Link  to  my  TEDxTalk:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6bZBwl636s