For many people, these are more frugal days than we have experienced over the last few decades. People are looking at varios aspects of their lifestlye and how it affects their finances. So let's take a look at exercise and fitness from an economic prespective.
Investment
Declaring that exercise is an investment in your health is rather obvious. But what about the pocket book. According to the American College of Sports Medicine, inactivity costs an indivdual an average in excess of $1500 per year. By staying fit you spend less on healthcare down the road.
Decrerasing Insurance Costs
Just as insurance companies charge lower rates for not smoking, some now will decrease your rate for maintaining a healthy body weight. Your gym fees could pay off in insurance savings.
Hobbie Entertainment costs
The last century has seen a significant decrease in hours worked and more liesure time. Exercise and sports participation is a great individual and family entertainment value.
Exercise on a budget
Of course exercise can be free. Just go out and do it. Some sports however do require some equipment, look for equipment in classified ads, garage sales or online. This is a great way to deal children who are rapidly changing size.
Enrollment fees for childrens sports can sometimes be subsidized by the organization or another third party.
In hard economic times it may be necessary to tweak some of your sporting choices, but in the long run staying fit really does pay off.