If you’ve found yourself awake thinking about your finances or simply feeling generally anxious about your financial future, you’re not alone. While finances can contribute to overall stress, taking steps to manage your finances can support your mental, emotional, and physical well-being.
When it comes to money, the sources of stress can look different to each person, but identifying the underlying causes and setting goals can help you feel more confident about your financial future.
Consider these strategies to help improve your financial well-being and reduce stress:
- Understanding What Causes Financial Stress: While everyone’s financial situation is unique, several common sources of stress have the potential to strain their financial well-being. These include financial and economic uncertainty, existing debt, unexpected expenses, and changes in mental or physical health. Financial stress can vary from situation to situation, but understanding the factors that contribute to yours can help you begin to develop a plan for your particular circumstances.
- Determine your financial priorities . Begin by reflecting on your financial priorities. This might include paying off school or student loans, building an emergency fund, paying off credit card debt, or buying a car. Name the goals that are most important to you and plan how to accomplish them.
- Create a plan and stick to it. While setting practical goals allows you to begin the journey toward better financial well-being, it’s essential to develop a plan to follow through. Identifying and committing to a savings plan can give you a greater sense of control over your finances, which can help reduce your stress. Creating and sticking to a budget allows you to better track where your money goes so you can spend less and save more.
- Paying off debt: If you have any form of debt and want to move toward reducing your debt obligations, one option is the debt avalanche method , which focuses on paying off your highest-interest debt first, and then moving on to the next highest-interest debt. Another is the debt snowball method , which builds momentum by paying off the smallest debt balance and then increasing the larger amount.
- Build your financial resilience. Some financial stress may be unavoidable, but developing financial resilience can allow you to overcome obstacles more easily. The more you learn about managing your money, for example, the more prepared you’ll feel if the unexpected happens. Increasing your emergency savings can also boost resilience, as you’ll be more financially prepared to cover unexpected expenses or pay your daily bills.
The final result
Financial stress can affect your health and well-being, but it doesn’t have to derail your dreams. Setting smart financial goals and developing simple plans to achieve them can help alleviate your stress. Review and adjust your plan as needed to ensure it continues to work for you.
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