Joe Lucey

Researchers believe one way to eliminate a bad habit is to replace it with a good one. For example, say you’d like to get out of the habit of watching too much television. At the same time, you’d like to motivate yourself to exercise every day.

To get started, identify three factors associated with the bad habit: Reminder, routine and reward. The reminder is the trigger that initiates the behavior. For example, perhaps you turn on the television every morning while eating breakfast. Breakfast, even that first cup of coffee, may be the reminder — the act that reminds you to turn on the TV.

Next, because you do this every morning, watching TV has become your routine. The reward? While that may differ for each person, it could range from catching up on the day’s news, laughing at the jokes of a morning talk show host, or having warm, nostalgic feelings while watching reruns of an old TV show.

In order to change the old habit, identify three new factors that correlate with the habit you want to develop. In the case of exercise, maybe going outside to retrieve the newspaper is your reminder. Instead of reading the paper right away, perhaps continue walking around your neighborhood block, and pick up the paper when you return. Your reward may be reading the paper upon your return, along with the knowledge that you’ve gotten some exercise for the day.

You may even consider enhancing both your reward and motivation by inviting your spouse or a neighbor to join you on this daily walk. The greater the reward, the more likely you are to continue until it becomes a habit. If this new habit breaks or even reduces the amount of time you spent on your bad habit, all the better.

Two of the key ingredients to changing (or developing) an ingrained habit are motivation and confidence. Consider how motivated you are to make the change and how confident you feel about your ability to do so. If you rate low on either of these fronts, try reducing the scale of the habit to something more achievable. For example, reduce the number of hours you watch TV each day, or simply walk half a block before retrieving the newspaper. The more success you achieve with the truncated goal, the more likely your motivation and confidence will grow to fully changing or developing a new routine.

For some retirees, losing memory and thinking skills in old age can be just as worrisome as the loss of health. “Brain training,” which involves mental exercises like crossword puzzles and learning a foreign language, can help, but that’s just part of what it takes to maintain a sharp mind.

Scientists are researching the correlation that continuing certain healthy behaviors, practiced in combination, can help retain mental acuity. Indeed, this could mean that stopping them may promote deterioration.

A more complete approach to brain training is to pursue a disciplined regimen of a combination of the following healthy behaviors:

• Physical exercise — Promotes the growth of new brain cells and increases activity in the parts of the brain associated with the ability to plan, organize, remember details and filter speech.

• Eat healthy — Whole grains, fruits and vegetables, and healthy fats from fish, nuts and oils. Also, don’t over eat or under eat — maintain the same calorie intake day after day.

• Get enough sleep — If you suffer from sleep loss due to sleep apnea, an overactive bladder or as a side effect from a medication, address these conditions to help improve the quality and quantity of sleep.

• Computer and video games can help improve attention and the ability to react quickly as well as sharpen thinking skills.

• Meditation or exercises such as tai chi appear to increase the brain’s cognitive reserve, which is the ability to switch between different tasks and deal with stressful events.

The problem for many adults is that when they retire, they gradually stop doing some or all of these things. While no single activity on this list is guaranteed to work, regular deployment of these different factors in combination has shown demonstrated results.

Introduced in 2003, a Health Savings Account (HSA) used in combination with a high deductible health care plan provides three tax advantages:

• Income tax deduction for annual contributions
• Tax-deferred growth
• Tax-free withdrawals for qualified health care expenses

Depending on the fate of the current health care law, the HSA could become even more useful. Both the new president and Republicans in Congress have called for an increase in the contribution limit to the maximum out-of-pocket limits for high-deductible health plans. If those rules take effect in 2017, the individual HSA limit would rise from $3,400 to $6,550 for individuals and $6,750 to $13,100 for family plans. It has also been proposed that an HSA should not be subject to estate taxes when passed on to beneficiaries.

The content provided here is designed to provide general information on the subjects covered. It is not, however, intended to provide specific legal or tax advice.  Contact us at info@securedretirements.com or call us at (952) 460­-3260 to schedule a time to discuss your financial situation and the potential role of investments in your financial strategy.