If there is one thing I have learned from my time in hospice, it is that existential boundary experiences—those terrifying moments that force you to confront your own mortality—completely rewrite your relationship with money.
My guest this week on this rewind episode of Earn & Invest, Dr. Daniel Crosby, knows this firsthand. Daniel is a psychologist, a behavioral finance expert, and the author of The Soul of Wealth. You would expect him to be deeply focused on asset allocation and portfolio growth. But during our conversation, he shared a deeply personal medical crisis that upended his financial worldview.
For six months, Daniel suffered from debilitating pain, migraines, and intense light sensitivity. It mystified neurologists. It brought him to tears in the car on his way to the emergency room. And in the depths of that pain, he had an epiphany: despite dedicating his career to understanding finance, he would gladly have given away every dollar he owned just to find a cure.
Money is an incredible tool. But we make a massive mistake when we treat it as liquid happiness or a way to keep score. The reality is that your wealth and your health are inextricably linked. We call this the wallet-body connection.
During the episode, we dig into the fascinating data behind this connection. For example, did you know that people under severe financial strain are 51% more likely to be diagnosed with major depressive disorder? Did you know that men who attend therapy earn on average 12% more than their peers, simply because emotional intelligence is a better predictor of career advancement than raw IQ?
It turns out that investing in your self-care is actually the best financial investment you can make.
We also explore the most difficult part of behavioral change: bridging the knowing-doing gap. Daniel recently lost 63 pounds. He did not do it by learning new biological facts. He did it by changing his environment. He shares a brilliant, four-step framework for making good financial and health choices effortless, and why relying on sheer willpower is a guaranteed path to failure.
You will also hear why Daniel pays his own father to manage his money so he cannot emotionally tamper with it during market dips, and why picturing the smell of your morning coffee in retirement is far more effective than aiming for an arbitrary net-worth number.
If you want to stop letting financial stress damage your physical health, you do not want to miss this conversation.