Money is at the top for creating stress in your life.
I have a question for you: Do you often think about money and your financial situation?
Does this topic stress you out? Here is another question that I would like for you to ask yourself:
How does this stress affect your work? Do you have difficulty concentrating on your day to day work?
Is making a career change on your mind?
Don’t worry, you are not alone, I have walked in these same shoes myself. Research has shown that over 70% of people worry about their finances, and 76% worry about their retirement and then there are those that have no savings, or retirement plan. 26% of the population lives from paycheck to paycheck.
Financial Stress
We all make financial mistakes in life, we spend money on foolish items, we rack up credit card debt, we increase our school loan debts and we don’t plan for the future. All this stress sets off physical and psychological issues in our life from anxiety to depression.
Psychology Today calls this “Money Disorder” 3 out of 4 Americans identified money as the no. 1 source of stress in their lives. Financial strain has been found to reduce relationship satisfaction, worsen depression, and lead to emotional problems, health difficulties, and poor work performance. Link
It is not uncommon for people to say that they never worry about money issues. Things happen in life that we have no control over. From companies go out of business, individuals get sick, kids get injured, marriages fall apart, the housing market goes down, we find ourselves having more money going out than what is coming in. None of us are immune to this. I personally can check off most of these money issues in my past. But these money disorders is what is causing all the stress in our lives.
How Do We Respond To This Money Disorder?
First, we need to recognize that financial issues can lead to mental illness. Research has shown that there is a clear link between debt and mental health.
According to the Royal College of Psychiatrists “Debt can cause — and be caused by — mental health problems. It’s tempting to just not think about it — it can be uncomfortable and can make you feel guilty, depressed — or even hopeless. But sorting money problems out can help you to feel better — and to stay well.
Many times we bring these financial issues and stress to work with us. We receive phone calls from creditors, bill collectors, and banking institutions, bugging us for money. We get embarrassed when these calls happen in front of our co-workers. Other financial issues may arise — that could affect your work life, it would be best before this happens that you have a discussion with your supervisor about what may happen.
We all want to be a good employee, we don’t want to be stressed out at work about our finances, and we don’t want to be embarrassed about financial issues at home that follow us too work.
Here are some suggestions that may help you recover from money disorders.
Know where you sit financially.
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Just knowing these couple pieces of information will help you get on your road to recovery. Having some basic knowledge will give you some self-confidence in overcoming money disorders.
Setup a budget.
Having a budget is one of the first steps you need to take in order to get your financial picture back into shape. Each one of us needs to know where we are spending our hard earned money. Do you ever question at the end of the week, where did my money go? If this is you, you need to set up a simple budget in order to keep track where you spend your money.
Become financially literate.
Financial literacy is more than just knowing and understanding the basic principles of personal finance. Financial literacy is both knowing and putting what you know into action. For a person to be 100% totally financially literate the person need to have a complete understanding of how to manage debt, prepare financial plans to understand how budgets work and practice profitable ways to save money. By not only understanding but also practicing these principles is what is needed to be financially confident and financially independent.
Using resources that are free.
There are many tools and apps on the internet that can help with budgeting you’re finances. These tools make it easier to create a budget and track where your money is going.
Tools like:
By using one of these apps you can understand how your money is being used and when you need to you can make adjustments in your spending. These tools are here to help you, but if you don’t use them they will not be able to help you get out of your money problems.
Conclusion
Not all money issues are small and can be eliminated overnight. Some financial burdens are huge and it will take some serious effort and careful planning to wipe out these burdens. Creating detailed budgets, maybe start a side hustle, eliminating small debt to free up more money, consolidate your debt, these are some options for helping with the larger debts you may have.
Just remember, it all comes down to how you are handling the stresses of debt and how you are reacting to these stresses. We are all human and we all make mistakes. Do not be hard on yourself and make yourself depressed when you make a financial mistake. When you make a mistake, and you will from time to time, be proactive and put together a plan to eliminate the mistake and march forward.
Reflect back on your past and learn from the mistakes that you have made. Once you have taken control of your financial life find someone else that you can mentor. By helping others will help you stay on the narrow road to financial freedom.
