Classic Episode: Why It's Important to Invest in Your Health with Dr. Kenneth Alleyne

In this episode, we are joined by Dr. Kenneth Alleyne, a sports medicine orthopedic surgeon, who breaks down the importance of seeing your health as a financial investment.

Host IG: @itstanyatime

Guest IG: @ctnycsportsmd

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hey, money Movers, Welcome back to the Money Moves podcast
powered by Greenwood. We are here once again to give
you the keys to the financial Kingdom of wealth, abundance
and success. When it comes to financial well being, longevity

(00:22):
is a key part of the equation. We need our income,
whether it be active or passive, to come in as
long as it possibly can. And when it comes to
pro athletes, the longer the career, the healthier the body,
the more money they can potentially make during a player's
prime earning years. Today, more and more pro athletes are
investing in their bodies and seeing the dividends right away.

(00:45):
Russell Wilson and Lebron James are just two of the
athletes known for paying extreme attention to taking care of
their bodies and doing so by spending a lot of money.
In two thousand and eighteen, Lebron revealed that he was
spending one point five billion dollars to keep his body
in ideal shape. Seems like a lot of money, but
the investment is obviously paying off. Sounds shocking at first,

(01:07):
but financially prudent when you consider his annual return on
that investment. He has sustained a prime career second to none.
So where is that money being spent for Lebron? It's
a perfect diet, workouts, tryotherapy, hyperbolic chambers, and special leg
boots for faster recovery time. It's a cycle. Lebron's body
makes him money, he uses his money to take care

(01:29):
of his body. His body makes him more money. He
plays longer, wins more championships. But here's the thing. As
much as we may all want to, we don't all
have Lebron money, and it is an undeniable fact that
our income level and the neighborhoods that we live in
determine the level of health care we have access to.
The cycle is different for so many of us. Going

(01:51):
to work equals making money, Missing work equals missing money.
If we get sick or injured, or just don't feel
right and can't go to work, we don't money. Then
the day comes that we went to take off time
so that we could go see a healthcare provider, and
that ends up costing us more money than we would
have made at work that day. But it's crucial that
we take care of our health and that we find

(02:13):
ways to put our health first on a day to
day basis. Not just when we feel sick. Our guest
today has a very unique background in both finance and health.
Dr Ken Eileen is the founder and managing partner of
Heart Haven Partners and has over twenty years experience consulting
to investment firms in the public and private markets. He
is also a Board certified sports medicine orthopedic surgeon Money Movers.

(02:36):
Let's welcome Dr Ken Eileen to the podcast. Dr Ken,
thank you so much for joining us today. I think
very often we try to make the idea of health
seemed relative to your age, income level, and gender and
a whole host of other things. And I guess we're
here to find out from you is that really the case.
What does being healthy look like? Healthy looks like a

(02:58):
lot of things. Um, healthy looks What most of us
are familiar with is our physical health. Increasingly in the
United States, we've started to think a lot about our
mental health and our behavioral health. So being healthy it's
really a lot of things. And of course, you know
when we start talking about our economic health, yes, that's

(03:20):
a part of your health as well, because if if
you're stressed there, well, then the mental health becomes an issue.
The physical health becomes an issue and our overall health
can become compromised. I love that you brought that in,
you know, especially considering we're just coming out, if if
you will, of this global pandemic which has played a
real toll on the mental health of so many of us,

(03:42):
and now we're having these conversations, especially in the Black community,
the Latin community, about the tolls of mental health and
being able to speak openly about this. So I know
you work in orthopedic medicine. What does health look like
from that perspective? So you know, my job, which I
really really enjoy it is to keep people moving, to

(04:02):
allow people to maintain the level of activity that is
reasonable and they desire. Now, if you've never run a marathon,
you can't come to me and expect me to do
something that will allow you to run a Come on,
seven hundred surgeries a year. Are you sure you can't
give me the knees of a twelve year old? Unfortunately
we're not quite there yet. But you know, um, my

(04:25):
practice and ELOPEDICX goes from school aged children too active seniors,
to college athletes and professional athletes, and so health in
that space is about you being able to achieve a
level of activity fitness that's appropriate for you. For some
it may be just getting from the sofa to the
television if you're year old grandmother, and we don't expect

(04:48):
to walk a mile every day. So it just depends
on the individual. Well, when I think about wealth for me,
quality of life ranks like at the very top of
that spectrum. And we've had conversations about how this first
from professional athletes to like you say, the average person,
and if you don't have mobility, you know, this can
impact how you can do your job and therefore earn
a living for your families and your loved ones. Um,

(05:12):
what are your thoughts on professional athletes spending millions and
millions of dollars on their bodies and trying to really
optimize you know, these vessels that we take us through life. Absolutely.
You know, in the nineteenth century there was a French
physician who said, and I'm I don't speak French, the
movements meeting movement is less right, Um, these athletes. It's

(05:36):
amazing to me that this mindset it's only recent really
the last ten years, and it's only kind of gotten
focused mainly for two athletes in my O Tom Brady
and Lebron James each who spend seven figure, multiple seven
figure numbers each year on their bodies. And why wouldn't you?

(05:58):
That's their investment in their business. Their business is their bodies.
You invest in your business, why would you not invest
in you being at the top of your day? Literally
and figured? And I'm so fascinated by this conversation, um,
just because you know, my background is actually in nursing.
I used to be a bow marrow transplant nurse for

(06:18):
over a decade. I worked in hematology oncology. Um, and
you know, I've now transitioned into the technology side, and
I just see how these two worlds of healthcare and
technology have intersected just in such phenomenal ways. Can you
talk about some of the you know, high tech applications
that people like Lebron James, Russell Wilson, and Tom Brady
are using to really optimize their bodies? Sure, um, and

(06:43):
some of them. Interestingly, I've had an opportunity to to participate,
so we have abilities now to monitor athletes remotely. I
have a panel of about twenty athletes that I have
a readout that occurs on a daily basis where I'm
able to see their activity, fast they're running, how far
are they're running. Many of these individuals are people that

(07:03):
were rehabbing. In addition, Lebron James, you know, Tom Brady,
Russell Wilson and others have also invested in a lot
of this cutting edge technology like stem cells and regenerative medicine.
You know, there's a procedure that even ten years ago
it was very rare to see in the United States
called platelet rich plasma, where we take blood from you,

(07:26):
spin it down, take out your body's healing factors, and
put it back in. I mean, we used to use
those therapies in Bowmerarow transplants and stuff that was so
isolated to oncology and stuff that now that we're seeing
all these applicable uses, it's it's incredible. Are you seeing
this trickle down to all level of athletics, Like are
there high schoolers that are participants? Absolutely? I have a

(07:47):
high schooler, you know. So PRP is not covered. Just
the cost of the device is still several hundred hundred dollars,
and both he and his mom um went ahead and
worked extra he got a job especially he could afford
the PRP. So yes, it is trickling down to to

(08:07):
the community level. What are some everyday tips and tools
that the average person can use to incorporate into their
lives to maintain their health regardless of income level. First
of all, our food choices. So so so let's talk
about that now. Unfortunately in the United States, often healthy
food is expensive. Right, everyone can't go to whole paycheck,

(08:30):
I mean whole foods, right and afford what's there. But
we still can make healthy choices, right, We still can
endeavor to try to find the foods that we know
how to support health, fresh fruits and vegetables, right, fresh
juices as opposed to you know, processed foods and the
source of carbonated and sugary types of drink. So that's

(08:52):
that's number one. One of the challenges in America, particularly
many urban communities, their food deserts. You can walk twenty
minutes in many direct actions and not have the ability
to obtain fresh food and vegetables. So we can't you know,
some of us can take that for granted, but we
can't assume that everyone and maybe even everyone watching today
has access. But that is one thing that we can do,

(09:14):
you know, I tell um, a lot of my friends
that my practice is in Connecticut as well as Manhattan.
Right now, I'm in Manhattan, UM and my patients in
New York City, on average, are much healthier than my
patients in Connecticut. Why Connecticut, everyone's no more than ten
feet from their car driver everywhere, you know, But in

(09:36):
New York City everyone's wanting. I rarely see um obesity
being a significant problem in regards to their or copedic health,
unlike I do in Connecticut. So the ability just to
get out and walk, generally it's free, assuming you have
a safe place to do that. Get some shoes, get

(09:57):
some sneakers, and just go out and off one. You're
gonna burn cowards too. If you do it at a
reasonable clip, you're gonna increase your heart rate, which is great. Three,
some of that mental health concern that we have, you're
going to kind of help have an opportunity to clear
your mind or think through those things that are stressing you.
So those are kind of the easy things to do.
And and and of course we can go up from there

(10:19):
when we start talking about hitting the gym or or
running and jogging and getting involved with weightlifting and that
sort of thing. But the beautiful thing is that there's
so much that we can do without paying a monthly
gym toe that can help keep us healthy and fit.
That is one of the silver linings of the pandemic.
We saw more and more people just stepping out of
their house, going for a walk and being more conscious

(10:40):
of eating out. You know, they were stuck at home
and they're like, man, I'm gonna have to fend for
myself and cook. I think a lot of people from
the un the economic standpoint, found that it was less
expensive figuring out how to get to the grocery store,
and it was going out to eat. I was up
to up to dinner recently with someone and she was
saying she couldn't believe eaves the changes in her bank

(11:01):
account that the pandemic led to. She wasn't traveling, she
wasn't eating out, she wasn't going out to the lounges
and the bars in the clubs. Start talking about different ways.
Once I cut it that daily twice a day five
to six dollar Starbucks that I just got out of habit,
I mean the difference that that made um And you know,

(11:23):
I mean, I think I'm healthier for it, and my
bank account is certainly healthier for it. Absolutely So think
about that twelve dollars a day right in the course
of a year, max is max is out in IRA contribution. Right,
that's in a year. I don't want to think about it.
I don't want to think about it. And then you

(11:43):
add sugar in there, So you're absolutely right. So when
you think about people, I can't figure out how to
get that into the IRA, We'll look to your Starbucks
app because a portion of it's right there. You'd be
a way to stay significant money and be able to
invest in your economic health at a time when we're
concerned also about our mental physical health. Oh my gosh,

(12:03):
Dr Ken, it is so great speaking with you. Thank
you so much for tuning in Money Moves audience. If
you want more or a recap of this episode, please
go to the Bank Greenwood dot com and check out
the Money Moves podcast blogs. Stay tuned tomorrow and every
day this week from a very special Money Versus Moves. So,
we have a friendship turned business partnership that seems to

(12:25):
be souring. I hear this kind of stuff all the time,
more from our experts. So, Dr Ken, you just made
everyone's mouth drop because you mentioned you just received a
hundred and sixty million dollar investment. Two or three serry
days for black founders, and a celebrity guest. You won't
want to miss the one, the only, the indomitable Terrell

(12:47):
Owens of the Asian House Sports. They screwped me over Gosh,
the depths of this are like overwhelming. Money Moves is
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(13:10):
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