Developing An Action Plan

SSHW Goals: Participants will: Gain knowledge about health and finances. Establish goals for improving their health and finances. Select small steps to implement their goals. Take action to apply the knowledge gained to their personal situation. Be accountable to another person for the action to accomplish their goals.

Program focus: Track Your Current Behavior (Strategy #1) Compare Yourself with Recommended Benchmarks (Strategy #13) Commit to Making a Change (Strategy #4) Think Balance—Not Sacrifice (Strategy #6) Automate Good Habits (Strategy #15)

Track Your Current Behavior (Strategy #1) Be aware of your current behavior concerning health and finances. Are you in denial about it? There is a need to know where we are before we can make plans to change. “The price of doing the same old thing is far higher than the price of change.” BILL CLINTON

Awareness Participants will record what they spend through the use of a daily spending guide for a month (and/or record what they eat each day for the same time period and the time/type of exercise). Worksheet logs are provided to each participant for “tracking” spending/eating/exercise behavior.

Compare Yourself with Recommended Benchmarks (Strategy #13) Benchmarks help us know how we are doing compared to recommended standards. Provide a target to reach. Health Benchmarks: Blood Pressure Blood Sugar Cholesterol Fruit and Vegetable Consumption Physical Activity Body Mass Index (BMI)

Compare Yourself with Recommended Benchmarks (Strategy #13) Wealth and personal finance benchmarks: Debt-to-income Ratio Emergency Fund New Worth Retirement Savings Investment Returns Credit Score

BMI Calculate your own BMI Complete worksheets 20 and 21 on your own.

Commit to Making a Change (Strategy #4) Identify: One health behavior to change One financial behavior to change Complete worksheet 7 on your own

Think Balance-Not Sacrifice (Strategy #6) Participants will focus on small steps to change their behavior. Ask participants to share examples of small steps to: Eat less Exercise more Spend less money Earn more money Participants will complete a written “balance” worksheet on their own.

Automate Good Habits (Strategy #15) Repeating positive or negative behavior makes it a habit. Review health and wealth “action steps” for this strategy with participants. Participants will complete worksheet 23 after the meeting and report their choices by mail or .

Health & Human Services (HHS) Press Release, March 2004 “Consumers don’t need to go to extremes-- such as joining a gym or taking part in the latest diet plan-- to make improvements in their health. But they do need to get active and eat healthier.” “America needs to get healthier one small step at a time. Each small step does make a difference, whether it’s taking the stairs instead of an elevator or snacking on fruits and vegetables. The more small steps we can take, the further down the road we will be toward better health for ourselves and our families.” Tommy G. Thompson, HHS Department Secretary

National Campaign Booklet, May 2003 “Save For Your Future” National Campaign Booklet, May 2003 “You may not need a lot of money to accumulate meaningful savings. Thanks to compound interest, small regular savings can add up over time. Because, with compound interest, it’s not just your money that earns interest-- your interest earns interest as well-- creating a snowball effect. The longer you save, the more compound interest works for you.” Calculate Plan Act Reassess

Enjoy taking small steps to a better life. References: Barbara O’Neill, Ph.D., CFP and Karen Ensle, Ed.D., RD, FADA, Rutgers University, Rutgers, NJ, Small Steps to Health and Wealth, Barbara O’Neill, Ph.D., CFP and Karen Ensle, Ed.D., RD, FADA, Rutgers University, Rutgers, NJ, Suzanne Badenhop, PhD Suzanne Badenhop, PhD June June Educational programs of Kentucky Cooperative Extension serve all people regardless of race, color, age, sex, religion, disability, or national origin.