How advisors are maintaining a healthy heart

Forget the saying “Happy wife, happy life,” financial advisors! In honor of American Heart Month, the new saying is “Happy heart, happy life”!

In honor of the occasion, InvestmentNews spoke with several advisors to find out what they’re doing to promote a healthy lifestyle, not only for them but also for their clients.

When Patrick Kilbane lost his father to cardiac arrest when his father was 69, it was a wake-up call to get a coronary CT calcium scan.

“All of a sudden, I had a family history of coronary artery disease that I was really unaware of,” said Kilbane, partner and wealth advisor at Ullmann Wealth Partners. “My scores from those tests showed that I had some work that I had to do on the preventative side.”

In the past 24 months, Kilbane has lost friends and acquaintances in their 40s and 50s to cardiac arrest. In hopes of educating more people on the subject, he hosted a webinar last year titled, “No health, no wealth: How to take care of your heart.”

Kilbane recommend that advisors and clients should also get a coronary CT calcium scan at their earliest convenience.

He follows a healthy diet: no red meat, no fried foods and no egg yolks. “Foods with high saturated fat, I try to avoid,” he says. “It’s very serious to try to evangelize about heart health.”

Part of the reason Nick Nauta lives a healthy life is because it helps him stay centered and calm.

“When people have a lot of stress, or they're worried about the market or stuff like that, my goal is to not to take on their stress … so I try to have a sense of calm and help them walk through that,” the certified financial planner at Shotwell Rutter Baer says.

As part of his healthy routine, Nauta says he’s been a vegan for six years. While he started that journey to improve his long-term health, he believes in working out every weekday, with rest days on the weekend. “I drink a gallon of water every day and try to spend time meditating every day,” he says.

As for helping clients, the biggest actionable item, he says, is working with them and ultimately letting them know everybody’s different. “My five things might not be the same as your five things. It's more about what works in your life and what's going to be the best for you,” he said. “Not everybody's going to turn around tomorrow and become vegan or start doing CrossFit.”

Crystal McKeon, who’s a planner at TSA Wealth Management, says her two most unique activities to stay heart healthy are aerial fitness and dragon boating.

“I originally got into dragon boating after the conclusion of my breast cancer treatments in 2021 because there are teams across the country that serve as an unconventional support group for mostly breast cancer survivors,” she says.

While Mitchell Kraus, planner at Capital Intelligence Associates, maintains a physically active lifestyle and eats chocolate chip cookies in moderation, he recommends listening to podcasts and reading books on health and longevity. His go-to podcasts are The Peter Attia Drive Podcast and The Matt Walker Podcast and he recommends the book Lifespan: Why We Age―and Why We Don't Have To, by David Sinclair. Kraus says it's important for advisors to share that information with clients who are looking to improve their lifespan, health span and their financial wealth.

Kraus also recommends keeping a gratitude journal. Writing down a few things that you – or your clients – are grateful for each day can lead to a good night’s sleep.

As a financial planner, Nauta says he feels as if he has a predisposition not to spend money. “One of the things that I do spend money on is fitness,” he adds. “A pretty good chunk of our overall budget right now goes to fitness and gym memberships. On the outside looking in, that's an area that we could cut, but when you look at it from the standpoint of long-term healthiness and happiness, it's well worth it for us.”