If student loans hang in the balance, monthly bills seem to come faster each month, or questions about retirement keep popping in your mind, you may experience financial anxiety.
What is financial anxiety?
Anxiety is worrying about a future situation. Financial anxiety is worrying about your future financial situation, and it can take a heavy toll on your mental and physical health.
I have experienced financial anxiety throughout different phases of my life. As a young girl, my family was financially insecure. Education changed my life and allowed me to build financial security with a good paying job after graduating college. Unfortunately, later in life I went through a divorce, and once again I experienced financial insecurity and anxiety.
At the end of 2020 amid the coronavirus pandemic, 31% of women reported “barely surviving” or “keeping their head above water”, compared to 19% of men reporting similar feelings. It’s understandable why so many would feel financial anxiety. At that time, the future was so uncertain.
Turning financial anxieties to financial security
In my own life, there are a few things that help me through times of financial anxiety. Faith, tracking, upskilling, and entrepreneurship have helped me turn my financial anxieties to financial security. These tips may help you if you have lost income, don’t feel as if you are saving enough for retirement, or if you are paying off debt.
Faith is believing in yourself and your higher power that your desires will one day come true. If you have faith, or confidence, that everything will be okay, you will have a positive outlook. According to Deepak Chopra, a positive outlook will help you meet your goals and embrace opportunities. Deepak has 20 money affirmations to get you started.
Next, track your finances in one place. Gather all your money-related documents and organize them into groups of assets and liabilities. Manually doing this will allow you to get a good picture of your starting point. Consider signing up for the free tools with Personal Capital. One of the tools, the net worth tracker, gives you an up-to-date real-time picture of your net worth. Other tools help you start or continue planning for retirement and planning for emergencies. Don’t forget to recite your money affirmations in case financial anxiety starts to creep up on you!
Also consider upskilling to increase your income. Perhaps there is a certification or license you can pursue to give you an advantage in the workplace. Or can you enroll in additional training to enhance your skills for a raise or promotion? Education changed my life, and I’m a big proponent of pursuing educational dreams.
Lastly, consider what unique skills you have that you can share with the world that can provide you with additional income. Make a list of your unique gifts and talents and then brainstorm ways to monetize them.
As an example, my adolescent son was frustrated that there weren’t many books for children about divorce, especially showing children of color. He wanted to share his tips for children whose parents were going through a divorce. He wrote, “Divorced: 7 Keys to making it through your parents’ divorce” and we published it to help others impacted by divorce.
How to get started
Begin by using positive phrases, or money affirmations, to help you reduce your financial anxiety on your journey to financial wellness. Post a few affirmations in places where you can easily see them and recite them.
Document your current financial situation. Make use of the free financial planning tools from Personal Capital.
Explore ways to create more income to ease budgetary pressure and financial anxiety.
I did these things along with investing and was able to retire early at the age of 41.
Read More: 3 Building Blocks of Financial Freedom
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Featured individual is a paid spokesperson and not a client of Personal Capital Advisors Corporation (“PCAC”) and does not make any endorsements or recommendations about securities offerings or investment strategy. The content contained in this blog post is intended for general informational purposes only and is not meant to constitute legal, tax, accounting or investment advice. You should consult a qualified legal or tax professional regarding your specific situation. Keep in mind that investing involves risk. The value of your investment will fluctuate over time and you may gain or lose money.
