Marguerita Cheng is featured in today’s issue of Rethinking65: “How Advisors Can Combat Rising Stress Levels — One advisor took up marathon running and gave herself the ‘caring and latitude’ she offers clients.”

Rethinking65, March 23, 2022 — Marguerita Cheng, CFP® Pro, is featured in today’s article by Patricia McDaniel. Scroll down to read the article, and click here for more on Rethinking65.com. And, be sure to tune in on March 25 at 5pm EST for Rita’s podcast and video interview with Dorothy Hinchcliff, the publisher and CEO of Rethiking65.com. Click here to details. 

When Stress Affects Your Health

Financial advisors regularly give their clients the “caring and latitude” to find personal fulfillment, said Marguerita M. Cheng, CFP, the CEO and co-founder of Blue Ocean Global Wealth in Maryland.

And after coping with a particularly stressful time in her life, she urges advisors to follow their own wisdom and enjoy what makes them happy.

Cheng said she faced the worst day of her life when her father died. The oldest of three sisters, she lived the closest — within walking distance — to her parents’ home in Montgomery County, Maryland. So she was there every day, as well as taking care of her own family of three children and being attentive to her business.

“I was going and going and going,” she recalls, as her father, who was born in China and educated in Taiwan, became ill. Cheng’s mother, who is of Irish and Eastern European background, was 14 years younger than her husband.

After he died in 2015, she would visit her mother basically every day. “Mom was lonely,” she recalls.

The stress of her father’s illness and the aftermath left Cheng unusually fatigued.

“I was super, super tired,” she said. And a visit to her doctor and some tests confirmed she was severely anemic and had chronic exhaustion.

“Then the sweetheart scam hit,” she said.

Going Into Overdrive

Her mother, a still-young, sociable person, using a new iPhone Cheng had given her, met an online “sweetheart” who managed to defraud her of at least $15,000 from her before Cheng was informed of the problem.

“That was the second worst day of my life,” Cheng said, when she received a call from a social worker that her mother was a victim of this scam. An already exhausted Cheng “went into overdrive” to recover the money and recounted her efforts in her own column for Rethinking65  to warn advisors and readers about the pitfalls of such a scam.

The scam coming when it did “overwhelmed” her, she said. “I didn’t intentionally mean to neglect my health,” she recalls. But the emotional strain of resolving the scam coupled with her already weakened vigor made her realize “I had to hit the pause button.”

The Happiness of the Long-Distance Runner

For Cheng, her “pause” wasn’t about sitting on the sofa.  Far from it, she found her joy in running – and running far and wide.

So at a not-so-young age and with some asthma, she began running for the first time with her teen daughter, “to do something together,” she said. Her daughter was on a cross-country team. Then that evolved into volunteering to coach running.

“Coach Rita,” as she was dubbed, coached for five seasons and found the fulfillment she needed after a harrowing few years. “It was such a positive experience. It helped me reflect and calm down. It was my time for me,” she said.

That moved Cheng to want to “put more positive energy into the universe.” And so began her avocation of running in charity marathons.

From zero running, to 5Ks, to the 10-mile Cherry Blossom run in Washington, to half marathons, she kept pushing herself. But this was the type of pressure that helped her health and psyche flourish.

Her first marathon – 26.2 miles – was the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington, D.C. in 2018. Her team raised $1,500 for programs for disadvantaged youth. Then in quick succession there were marathons in New York City and Chicago, also for fundraising at increasing levels. Her goal is to qualify for the prize of marathons – the Boston Marathon.

“I went from sad and weak to rebuilding my strength,” she said. Running gave her joy, she adds — meeting new people and being part of charity teams that raised many thousands of dollars.

Her family gets in the act, too. Their “run-cations” usually involve landing in the city of the run a day ahead and leaving a day after. That way her family and she can explore a city and she gets time to prepare for the run.

Life’s Vulnerabilities and a Senior Inspiration

Cheng’s journey to becoming a long-distance runner has given her insight into her role as a financial advisor, too.

“I understand when clients feel vulnerable about life changes,” she said, adding that “uncertain times” add to that feeling.

And ageism can be intimidating.

She said when she started her running regimen, although many people were supportive, some were not, pointing out her late start and her asthma and her family responsibilities.

But that didn’t stop her. She also looked to one of her clients who decided to hire a personal trainer to be in her best shape, staving off osteoporosis.

“She was 76 – and an inspiration,” Cheng said.

Patricia McDaniel is a freelance writer and editor and former journalist with Gannett’s New Jersey newspapers. She can be reached at pmcd5353@gmail.com