If you find yourself regularly stressing about money, have a fear of looking at your bank balance, and feel ashamed of your spending habits, take solace in the knowledge that you’re not alone.
48% of adults aged 18-55 admit to feeling anxious about money, with a third struggling to sleep because they’ve got finances on their minds.
That’s according to First Direct’s first Money Wellness Index, which, in collaboration with YouGov, asked 4,340 people about how they really feel about money, from their confidence in managing personal finances to how they deal with money-related stress.
That bit of research has led to calls for us all to improve our financial wellness in the year ahead.
Financial wellness doesn’t just mean earning more money, to be clear.
It’s about not letting money worries wreck your life, feeling genuinely comfortable sorting out your finances, and being able to find support when you’re struggling.
Alex Holder, wellness expert and author of Open Up: Why Talking About Money Will Change Your Life, tells Metro.co.uk: ‘Financial wellness definitely doesn’t mean being rich.
‘Feeling financially well means having a healthy relationship with the money you have and not stressing about it regularly.
‘As a nation we’re pouring money into wellness. The UK’s retail wellness industry alone is currently worth over £42 billion, yet for all the focus on #selfcare, there is one fact that the wellness industry currently overlooks: Money is a huge source of anxiety.
‘We still don’t think of looking after our financial health as #selfcare. If we felt better about our finances chances are we’d have better relationships, have more focus at work and maybe even a better sex life.’
Research shows that the daily stress about our finances can lead to dangerous effects. We know that stress is a factor in the development of physical and mental illness, but that it can also affect our ability to socialise, to focus at work, and can make us spiral further into debt.
Obviously the first step in financial wellness is to take a look at your finances and deal with any pressing issues. That might mean assessing exactly where you’re spending, prioritising which debts to pay off, and planning the big purchases you’ll need to make in the near future.
But as we’ve mentioned, financial wellness goes beyond what’s actually in your bank account – Alex argues we need to change the way we think about money, too.
One of the major patterns Alex sees is comparison, something that she says is key to tackle.
‘Social media means we can now compare our lives with a celebrity in Hollywood or a fitness blogger in Bondi,’ she explains. ‘We pit our clothes, our lunch and our holidays against the veneer of a perfect life on social media, and wonder why we feel sad about the reality of our own packed lunches!
‘And because we don’t talk about money, and any of us haven’t received a financial education, we often think everyone else is doing better with their money than us.’
To immediately improve our financial wellness, we have to stop comparing ourself to others. We also need to take anxiety around money seriously, and acknowledge the effect financial troubles can have on our everyday lives.
Alex advises: ‘Know there is no perfect financial situation, it’s about getting to a place where you feel you’re on top of your own finances.
‘Spend ten minutes going through your finances, look at your bank account, know what is coming out of your account, make sure you’re not going to be ‘surprised’ by a regular bill.’
Of course, you can’t just positive think your way out of poverty or a serious money crisis. It’s vital to tackle the reality of your situation first.
But be mindful that even if you’ve sorted the money side of things, it’s still crucial to tackle the emotional relationship you have to your finances.
‘More money isn’t always the answer,’ says Alex. ‘Like any anxiety, money anxiety doesn’t discriminate, and while feeling ‘skint’ or ‘broke’ isn’t the same as being in poverty, feeling stressed about money is still a debilitating mental health issue.
‘Our money mindset can follow us no matter how much money we have so if you’re prone to comparing yourself to others, you’ll probably stay doing that no matter how much you earn and always feel like you don’t have enough.’
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MORE: How I Save: The 25-year-old software engineer with £83,000 saved
source https://metro.co.uk/2020/01/23/strive-financial-wellness-2020-12109489/
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