Are you feeling helpless due to a financial problem? Learn what financial stress is and our 5 tips to handle your financial stressors.

Financial stress occurs when you struggle to meet your financial commitments due to lack of money. Common triggers include job loss, increasing debt, unforeseen expenses, and many others.

In modern living, financial stress is an “illness” that causes other diseases. Many people worry about not having enough money at least once in their lives. As your worries build up, so do your stress levels leading to negative consequences for your mental and physical health. Stress can kill. As such, managing your stress is crucial for your continued well-being.

You might feel helpless as if you are facing a unique problem that others cannot understand. However, using a mix of finance management and stress mitigation strategies, you can better take charge of your money and your stress. With our 5 tips, you can manage your financial stress and look forward to a brighter future.

Tip #1. Talk about your financial stress with a trusted person.

When you are facing money problems, often you try to keep it to yourself and solve it on your own. Why?

  • It is possible that you are not comfortable showing your income and expenses to another person.
  • You feel embarrassed to make your financial errors known.

No matter how negative you feel, be aware that talking your problems out can help. Studies show that a support system can help you achieve your goals.

  • Talking to a trusted person is a way to release tension, organize your thoughts, and put things into perspective. This can be your spouse, parent, mentor, or friend.
  • Consult a licensed financial planner. They are professional, neutral parties who have often helped others in similar situations and are able to help you get your finances back on track.

Stay away from unsupportive and critical people. Surround yourself instead with people you trust who will support your financial goals and want to help you succeed.

 

Tip #2: Find the source of your money stress and implement measures to overcome it.

You either have an income, a spending problem, or a combination of both. Three (3) options are available to resolve your issue:

  • Make more money
  • Spend less money
  • A combination of both.

Work out a plan using our 7 Tips to Improve Your Cash Flow in order to identify where your problem areas are and how to deal with them. Make sure you stay focused and disciplined because this is not a quick-fix solution but rather requires your dedication over weeks as you monitor and adjust your strategies.

Never let yourself be bogged down by failures. Despite the robustness of your strategy, you may drift from your target or unexpected events may occur to upset you. Stop worrying about it. Rise and return to the right path.

Tip #3: Inform those who need to know.

As you are working on improving your cash flow, it is also time to involve the other parties in your life.

If you are married, talk to your spouse. At the same time, it is important to talk to your dependents as well such as your parents and your children. It may be difficult to voice out your situation but this is necessary in order for them to understand that you are all in the same financial boat together. Make sure that everyone in your family is heading in the same direction and understands the monetary goals of that direction.

If you are a business owner and your financial stress impacts your business, talk to your business partners and any other stakeholders. If necessary, you may also consider talking to your employees in order for them to understand why certain financial decisions affecting them need to be made.

If you owe anyone money that is difficult to pay up immediately, talk to them before the payment deadline and see if an alternative payment plan can be negotiated. Assure them that you understand and are committed to paying back your debt but an adjustment to the payment schedule is in everyone’s best interest.

Tip #4: Maintain your health.

Money problems can lead to unwanted habits that impact your physical and mental wellness. For example, turning to alcohol to drown out your stress, or not sleeping enough.

You have to choose to prioritize your physical and mental wellness. Our 5 steps outlined here are what you need to often and regularly do to ensure your health is maintained.

Here are 2 good reasons why you need to work on ensuring your health is tip top.

  • When you are physically and mentally well, you are better prepared to take on challenges.
  • You want to avoid an unforeseen medical crisis costing money to suddenly occur.

Start by drinking more water and giving us a big smile :)

Tip #5: Have optimism and hope.

We all know that optimistic people are better planners. It is difficult to simply change to create hope and confidence. But try and “fake” it till it works. Research suggests that smiling (even if you don’t want to) may reduce your heart rate and collective stress.

Another technique to find hope in stressful situations is to make a list of things to be grateful for or try to imagine without stress. Don’t you seem like a money man? Just keep pretending until you are one!

Conclusion

Without adversity there is no growth. Thanks to the challenges you face now, you have a chance to become a better person on so many levels. You can indeed change your financial condition for the better – you mustn’t forget that. Take a deep breath and start taking action today.

 

Signup for a MyPF membership and get connected to a licensed financial planner.

 

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Have you been under financial stress before? How do you cope with it? Please share with us your experience.