While camping over Labor Day Weekend, I shared with my brother-in-law yet another supplement I was considering adding to my routine (sulforaphane, for those wondering!).
He laughed and said, “Where do you draw the line on this stuff?”
It’s a valid question that stuck with me.
Because I realized he’s right – not just about supplements, but about health spending in general.
There’s always one more device, one more test, one more supplement. And while curiosity and experimentation can be good, they can also turn into a slippery slope.
This is personal for me. I’ve caught myself pricing out cold plunges, red light therapy, hyperbaric chambers, and longevity medical clinics. I’ve wrestled with hiring a concierge functional medicine doctor, joining Lifetime Fitness, and tripling down on equipment for my home gym (among many others).
Lisa, our Director of Client Care, and I laughed about this.
She admitted she does the same thing with skincare. As a trained aesthetician, she jokes that the right number of products is also always “N+1.” There’s always one more serum, one more cream, one more treatment that promises a little extra glow.
So where do we draw the line?
Two Extremes
On one end, you have people like LeBron James and Bryan Johnson, who each reportedly spend over $1 million per year on their health. Trainers, chefs, therapies, tech – the whole kit and caboodle.
On the other end, you have the minimalist who spends almost nothing yet still reaps the lion’s share of healthspan benefits by focusing on the 20% of habits that drive 80% of outcomes:
- Sleep
- Exercise
- Whole foods
- Stress management
- Strong relationships
Those are the real pillars. There is no amount of supplements or devices that move the needle more.
A Back-of-the-Envelope Framework
My brother-in-law’s question got me thinking: what if there were a simple rubric for health spending?
Something that factored in not just someone’s interest in optimizing their health, but also tied that back to a reasonable percentage of household income.
My rough draft:
Level 1 – Minimalist (0-1%)
You invest time and discipline, but very little money. Groceries, maybe a gym membership, and that’s it.
Level 2 – Essentials (1-3%)
You add in higher-quality food, a fitness program you enjoy, maybe a few supplements or an annual lab panel.
Level 3 – Optimizer (3-5%)
You start layering on tools: regular bloodwork, wearables, coaching, and some higher-end, at-home equipment.
Level 4 – Investor (5-10%)
You make health a line item. Concierge medicine, retreats, advanced diagnostics, therapies.
Level 5 – Maximalist (10%+)
You push the limits – everything short of disrupting your broader financial goals. Think LeBron or Bryan Johnson, but scaled to your resources.
Where did I land?
If you don’t count groceries or my CSA membership, over the past twelve months (all tracked via fina.xyz), I landed squarely in Level 4.
Again, these aren’t hard rules. They’re guardrails.
The “right” number depends on your income, goals, and what you’re optimizing for.
How Much is Too Much?
The red flag is when spending on health displaces other priorities – retirement savings, education funding, even basic lifestyle needs.
If you’re commitment to physical health leaves you underfunding your financial health, you might be out of balance.
REMEMBER: 80% of your outcomes will come from the most important 20% (which cost very little).
Sleep. Movement. Whole foods. Connection. Stress management.
Nail those first, then build from there.
Final Thoughts
I’ll probably always be tempted by the next gadget, supplement, retreat, or biohacking modality.
Having gone through this exercise (which was, admittedly, somewhat self-serving), I’m now trying to check myself with one simple question:
Is this helping me live a longer, stronger, freer life – or is it just noise?
For me, that’s the line.
Invest enough to support capacity, vitality, and joy. But not overindex to the things on the fringe (a la majoring in the minors).
Because health, like wealth, compounds best when you focus on the fundamentals.
