Fit Rich Life

Newsletter #69

Tips, Tools & Strategies for your Fitness, Money & Life
Newsletter Archive

“Work harder on yourself than you do on your job.”
— Jim Rohn, Entrepreneur & Motivational Speaker

Greetings my friends,

In this Newsletter, we will cover:

- Doubling my testosterone
- How to pick winning stocks
- Using your 5-9 to escape the 9-5 Rat Race

Quick side note: I've purposely dialed back my newsletter and podcast production as I've been working diligently to release a low-cost course on achieving financial independence with investing. The course is on Pre-Sale for Black Friday for only $49.50 (it will go up to $99 after Black Friday). If you've been wanting to learn how to invest to achieve financial independence early in life and escape the 9-5 rat race this is the course for you. Investing Mastery: Your Path to Millionaire Course will teach you everything you need to know to get started with investing & get on track to reach financial independence.

Without further ado, let's proactively build your Fit Rich Life.

This is your dose of actionable tips, tools & strategies to take your Fitness, Money, and Life to the Next Level.


FITNESS: How I doubled my testosterone

In May of 2023, I got my bloodwork done primarily to see if my testosterone levels were dialed in at age 41.

Unfortunately, the results were not great.

I was in the low 400s for total testosterone.

For reference, a healthy range of Total Testosterone for men is 300 to 1,000 ng/dL (nanograms per deciliter).

Here are the Age-Related Healthy Testosterone Levels:

• 20s: 600 to 1,200 ng/dL

• 30s: 600 to 1,100 ng/dL

• 40s: 500 to 1,000 ng/dL

• 50s: 400 to 900 ng/dL

• 60s and older: 300 to 800 ng/dL

By medical standards, I was still in the "healthy range" if I was in my 50s but I was 41 at the time of the bloodwork test so anything below 500 was too low.

Having good testosterone is KEY to so many health & fitness factors, including:

• Staying lean & reducing body fat (especially around the belly)

• Ability to build & maintain muscle mass

• Energy, motivation, confidence & drive

• Mood stability & happiness

• Libido (aka sex drive)

Realizing I was below the optimal range for my age was a wake-up call.

Fortunately, I just got my bloodwork done again at the beginning of October 2024 (at age 42) and my total testosterone was 853.

I am now at the upper end of the healthy range for my age (500-1000).

So what changed between the two bloodwork tests?

ANSWER: I started sleeping 8-10 hours a night.

Instead of only 6-7 hours on average (what I was doing before the first bloodwork test at age 41).

That's how important sleep is.

We all know that sleep is important, but at this point, it's often taken as such a cliche that we don't take it seriously.

The biggest contributor to sleeping more was that I stepped away from my 9-5 job in March of this year.

Up until that point, I was working three jobs (1: B2B corporate 9-5 sales job, 2: online fitness & money coach, 3: podcaster + writer).

And even though I was NOT working insane hours, the mental load was heavy AF.

That mental load made it so I couldn't sleep more than 6-7 hours.

Even if I went to bed early I would still wake up 6-7 hours later and would not be able to get back to sleep no matter how long I stayed in bed. So inevitably, I would get up and start my day.

The full truth is that I'd only been sleeping 6-7 hours a night for over a decade and my body was trying to tell me that it needed more sleep.

If you're reading this and haven't gotten your bloodwork done in the last couple of years I'd highly recommend getting your Total Testosterone & Free Testosterone levels checked asap (especially if you're struggling with your mood, energy, and drive).

I'd also recommend sleeping more even if you think that you're fine on 6-7 hours of sleep (what I told myself for 10+ years).

Here are some strategies that have helped me sleep better and longer over the last 8 months:

• Brain dumping everything I need or want to do the next day and/or the coming weeks (paper or digital note) at the end of the work day along with putting important tasks on my Google Calendar so my mind can rest.

• Having my last meal 2-4 hours before I go to bed (this has radically improved my quality of sleep).

• Putting on blue-blocker glasses 2-4 hours before bed (usually right after I finish dinner).

• Taking this 12-in-1 sleep supplement before bed.

• Sleeping with an eye mask & earplugs along with a fan for low-level "white noise."

I was doing most of these before I stepped away from the 9-5 job so I hypothesize that I was holding onto low-level work stress that had been accumulating over the last decade.

The ever-accumulating 9-5 work stress & pressure NEVER let me relax, therefore my mind would never let me get the amount of sleep my body wanted.

This is why I'm such a big advocate of working towards Financial Independence so that you can leave the 9-5 rate race early in life (or at least take some well-deserved mini-retirements along the way).

In a future newsletter, I will be covering "free testosterone" as that is another crucial aspect of optimizing one's hormones.

My free testosterone is still lower than it should be and according to my doctor that's like having a million dollars in the bank, but you don't have the pin code to access the bank account.

Once I solve that one I'll share the results and how I did it.
 

MONEY: How to pick winning stocks

By investing $100 into an S&P 500 index fund, you're investing:

• $7.25 in Apple
• $6.55 in Microsoft
• $6.12 in Nvidia
• $3.63 in Google
• $3.56 in Amazon
• $2.56 in Meta
• $1.73 in Berkshire Hathaway
• $1.49 in Tesla

Plus $67.11 into 492 other top US Companies.

You can lose your shirt (and money) picking single stocks but an S&P500 index fund will always pick the winning stocks for you (making wealth-building simple AF).

Stop listening to stock tips from family, friends, and co-workers.

Index & chill.

P.S. If you're unsure how to get started with index investing check out my Investing Mastery: Your Path to Millionaire Course that just went up for Black Friday Pre-Sale. I walk you step-by-step on how to set up a brokerage account and start investing with proven wealth-building strategies.
 
LIFE: Use your 5-9 to leave the 9-5 job

Don’t have energy for a side business?

Neither did I, until I learned this Life Hack:

➪ Using my 5-9 (mornings) to work on my side biz.

I never had energy at the end of the 9-5 workday.

So I decided to give my Best Energy to my side business.

My 9-5 could have sloppy-seconds.

2-years later escaped the 9-5 rat race because I had an income-generating side business and an investment portfolio that could support my wife and me.


Closing Thoughts:

What is one thing you can do this coming week to improve your Fitness, Money & Life?

Here are some ideas:

• Schedule an appointment to get your hormone levels checked.

• Set up automating investing into a simple S&P 500 Index Fund.

• Spend 1-hour each morning working on a side business or meaningful side project BEFORE you start your 9-5 workday.

Remember, making progress in important areas of your life is the most reliable way to create happiness & fulfillment.


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I am sending you all lots of growth energy!

Your Fitness, Money & Life Coach,

Justin David Carl

P.S. Below is my latest Fit Rich Life Podcast (episode 82) with the anonymous blogger behind "A Purple Life" who retired at age 30 with a $500K investment portfolio. She's been living off her investment portfolio for 4+ years.

Fit Rich Life Podcast Episode 82 with Purple from "A Purple Life" blog is available on Spotify, Apple, YouTube, and wherever you enjoy your podcast entertainment.

Whenever you're ready, here is how I can help you:

I have a low-cost course on how to start investing to build towards financial independence so you can live life on your own terms.

The Investing Mastery: Your Path to Millionaire Course just went on Pre-Sale for only $49.50.

After Black Friday it will go up to $99. Get it before prices go up.