While exercise and meditation are good for your health, have you ever thought about your financial wellbeing? The stress finances can put on you could be decreasing your overall wellbeing. The concept of financial wellness and wellbeing has recently been booming over the last 12 months and can be practised by everyone regardless of financial position.
What does financial wellness mean?
Your financial well-being depends on how healthy your relationship with your finances is. Managing your financial routine by delegating daily expenses and making time for budgeting is how you prepare yourself for any situation. Your financial wellbeing is the state where a person can meet their current and ongoing financial needs, feel secure in their financial future and be able to make the decisions to buy whatever they want when they want it.
But measuring your financial health is not as easy as a simple test. It’s about having open conversations about money, having confidence in your decisions and having the freedom to do the things you love. Practising financial fitness can be a way to uphold your financial health. Financial fitness is about setting goals, managing debt, saving and still having money left over to treat yourself to things you love.
Which factors determine your financial wellness?
The amount of income you receive can play a role in your ability to create plans for the future and your wellness, but it is not the only factor you need to tackle. Learning how to manage your money is another way to determine your wellness, to ensure you aren’t overspending or in an excessive amount of debt.
How do you manage financial wellness?
If you are having trouble managing your financial wellness, then looking for tools and education to help you develop a healthier relationship with money is the way to go. This could include going to financial seminars, using different budgeting apps or contacting us to get a professional outlook on your financial situation.
Here are some tips to getting started on your financial wellness journey:
- Create a budget – start with what you earn and your recurring expenses, making sure to be completely honest with the numbers.
- Once you are aware of the income and outcome of your money and look for where you can begin to start saving.
- Set a financial goal, whether that be saving for a target or having the expenses for a large purchase (e.g. a new car).
- This all comes full circle again because now you can test if the budget you created works in the real world. Be sure to change whatever doesn’t work for you and play around with some techniques.
Why is financial wellness important?
Financial wellness is essential to lower stress levels when it comes to money. Professional and personal productivity can suffer if you are riddled with financial stress, and it is one of the key reasons that many employers offer financial wellness courses for their employees.
Once you have achieved financial wellness you should be able to fall into the following behaviours:
- Having an income that covers their expenses and allows them to be ahead of their repayments.
- Having the savings for emergencies or unexpected accidents.
- Saving and working towards long-term goals.
- Having the freedom and confidence to make the choices that allow them to enjoy their lives.
Financial wellbeing helps you prepare for your future by being confident with your money and the decisions you make with your money. If you’re focused on financial fitness and wellbeing, you’re also working towards your long-term financial goals and as a result, can live in the present instead of stressing about the future.
Contact us today to see how your financial fitness and wellbeing can be improved through money management and planning.
