We bring to you The Money Doctor as seen in Bath Life Magazine. Money can be a real stress, causing pressure that builds and builds so you don’t know where to start or are afraid of the future. If people want to look after their over-all wellbeing they should avoid money related stresses at all costs.
Read: 5 actionable tips to reduce money stressesWorries about money can lead to mental health issues. As pressures in our life build, one area might be stressful which can have a knock on effect on other areas. You might start to display symptoms of stress, sometimes without even realising:
– Struggling to sleep.
– Perhaps you feel de-motivated in areas of your life or distracted at work.
– Some people don’t feel present with things they are doing or people they are with.
– You might be passing stresses on to children or family members without realising.
– Lots of thoughts about the future, how much money you have and whether you are going to be financially secure in years to come.
A lot of people don’t realise that having a financial adviser helps you achieve balance in money related stresses so we are going to share with you some of our remedies and techniques to reduce money related stresses.
There are so many ways someone can get a grip on their finances:
To get started make the time to sit down and look at your financial situation by putting it in your diary, a few hours at least every month. The worry often stems from not knowing so head down to a coffee shop or spend some time infront of the fire one weekend, just dedicated to managing money. This builds confidence and it will help you sleep better at night and you might even save some pounds which you can put towards your goals.
Do you put things to the back of your mind, perhaps saving the worries for another day? The most common things our clients initially worry about when first approaching Unividual are:
1. How to look after loved ones after death
2. Will I have enough money for retirement
3. How do I exit/sell my business
Linked in with a lot of these common problems are then the tax planning in and around your finances.
Putting these kind of worries to the back of our minds is a common coping mechanism. We save the job for another day, put it on snooze essentially. This causes us to make assumptions about our financial situation without knowing any facts. Not only do these assumption make you worry more but the thoughts prevent us from taking action. Without action, we have no plan and we keep procrastinating. So it is important to share your worries and thoughts by talking to friends and family. Ask questions and find out what other people do. Talking brings your thoughts in to the present. This reduces anxiety and enables you to think about actions you can take to improve your situation. You can also turn to charities like Citizen’s advice or the Money Advice Service.
We all work hard to reach our goals and enjoy life, yet if we don’t put that work in to managing our money we don’t make the most of every pound we make. People can either advise themselves on their finances or outsource this to a professional. As humans we are not good at self care, often wanting to look after others first and that can mindset will impact on how we look after our finances. If you aren’t making the most of every pound, hold yourself accountable. Ask yourself is it better to spend my time on what I do best, knowing a financial adviser can coach me through life’s milestones? You have nothing to loose by exploring financial advice as an option, what the benefits of financial planning are and read up on some real life examples and stories of people just like you who have benefited from financial advice. The worse thing you can do though is quite simply nothing. When we do nothing, we don’t understand what financial position we are in, where we want to be or how we are going to achieve our goals. This is then how we loose sleep at night.
If you are interested in the psychology of money why not check out our latest podcast Brave Money Conversations. With Radio Bath’s Cynthia Wihardja Cherie-Anne Baxter and Greg Harris explore the interesting biases that you might not even know about that surround you every day and impact on the decisions you make. Listen to some actionable tips about how you can improve the management of your money which reduces stress and anxiety and improves your overall wellbeing.
Author & Editor: Cherie-Anne Baxter
Date: 20th October 2021
