Physical and Financial Fitness – Who is Responsible?

We recently found a blog post by Philosophy Professor Nina Rosenstand from San Diego Mesa College where she raised the question of whether or not staying slim was a moral responsibility.  She implicitly asked who should ultimately be responsible for our own physical health, and whether or not an employer could assume this task.  While the focus of her article was on physical fitness, it got us thinking.  Who is ultimately responsible for your financial fitness? 

In the same way our weight is used as one indicator of physical health, a person’s credit score is used to portray a person’s financial fitness.  Your credit score measures your fiscal responsibility from the past up to the present.  Like your weight, this too is only one indicator of your overall financial health.   A credit score doesn’t account for factors outside of your control like a company closing leaving you without a job and therefore no income, that potentially leads to foreclosure.  Your credit score doesn’t explain a divorce that suddenly cuts your income in half. 

However, do the occurrences of life totally void us of all responsibility when it comes to our finances?  Are “we the people” to some degree responsible for this messed up economy due to our collective lack of financial accountability?  Can we be allowed to wash our hands of financial integrity just because “life” happens?  Shouldn’t we expect the unexpected to happen?   

Being financially sound (i.e.: strong credit scores, emergency savings, balanced budgets, living within our means) has many benefits such as lower health and auto insurance rates, better interest rates, and even job offers.  Should we push the blame of financial blunders onto someone else?  At what point do we say this is my life, my finances, my responsibility?  Along with teaching our children about living healthy, we need to also teach them financial responsibility.  Perhaps we might find that sound financial health can lead to better physical health.

We are not so ignorant (nor arrogant) to think that hiccups are not going to occur along the path of life.  They do.  And if you have not experienced one, odds are you will at some point.  As a company we are bound by industry and legal regulations to enforce set standards of acceptable financial health.  However, we also want to help our clients improve and maintain optimal financial health.  We cannot fix a client’s struggling credit any more than we can do sit-ups for you, but like a personal trainer we can offer guidance, suggestions and helpful ideas. 

What are your thoughts?