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Financial Stress: Manage Your Finances & Improve Your Mental Health

Let’s face it, we all experience financial stress at some point in our lives. Whether it’s unemployment, debt, unexpected expenses, or a lack of financial resources, financial stress can take a significant toll on our mental and physical health, relationships, and overall quality of life. But don’t worry, there are ways to manage financial stress and develop financial resilience.

Financial psychology is a powerful tool that can help individuals understand the psychological factors that contribute to financial stress and develop strategies to manage their financial well-being. By identifying your money mindset, which is the set of beliefs and attitudes you hold about money, you can develop strategies to change your beliefs and attitudes about money and reduce financial stress.

In addition, developing healthy financial habits, such as budgeting, saving, and investing, can increase your financial resilience and reduce financial stress. Financial psychology can also help you build resilience, which is the ability to adapt to and overcome financial setbacks.

It’s important to recognize that financial stress can have negative effects on mental and physical health, leading to anxiety, depression, sleep problems, headaches, and other physical symptoms. Financial stress can also lead to self-destructive behaviors such as substance abuse, overspending, or gambling. These behaviors can further exacerbate financial stress and lead to even more significant problems in the long run.

That’s why it’s crucial to manage financial stress and develop financial resilience. Financial psychology is an effective tool that can help you develop strategies to manage financial stress and improve your overall well-being. So if you’re experiencing financial stress, don’t hesitate to seek help and start developing strategies to manage your finances and improve your mental health.

Financial stress can take a significant toll on your mental health. It’s essential to take proactive steps to manage these emotions and reduce the negative effects of financial stress. Here are some strategies that can help you:

  1. Acknowledge Your Feelings: It’s normal to experience a range of emotions when dealing with financial stress. Don’t try to suppress or ignore these feelings. Instead, acknowledge them, and give yourself permission to feel them.
  2. Identify Your Triggers: Understanding what triggers your financial stress can help you develop strategies to manage these emotions. Is it a particular bill, a particular situation, or a specific person? Once you identify these triggers, you can work on ways to manage your reactions to them.
  3. Practice Mindfulness: Mindfulness techniques such as deep breathing, meditation, or yoga can help reduce stress and anxiety associated with financial stress. These practices can also help you stay present and avoid ruminating on past or future financial decisions.
  4. Seek Professional Help: Seeking the help of a mental health professional can provide you with the necessary tools to manage your emotions and reduce the negative effects of financial stress. Therapy can help you gain perspective, identify patterns, and develop healthy coping strategies.
  5. Prioritize Self-Care: Engaging in self-care activities such as exercise, getting enough sleep, eating a healthy diet, and engaging in hobbies can help you manage stress and promote overall well-being. Self-care is essential to maintaining a positive mindset and keeping your stress levels in check.
  6. Develop a Plan: Creating a budget, developing a savings plan, and setting realistic financial goals can help you gain control over your finances and reduce stress. Breaking down larger goals into smaller, more manageable ones, and celebrating your progress along the way can provide a sense of accomplishment and boost your self-confidence.

Incorporating these strategies into your daily routine can help you manage financial stress and improve your mental health. Remember, managing financial stress takes time and effort, but with patience and persistence, you can develop a healthy mindset and build financial resilience.

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Know Your Money Culture

For millennials and Gen Z-ers, financial literacy is a germane topic as young adults grow into responsibility for their own economic decisions. Although managing personal finances is a critical aspect of independence many are, at first, daunted by the task—feeling ill-equipped for financial decisions and unsure of the best course of action. Often, people cite the lack of personal finance classes in high school as a principle source of their discomfort; but many factors beyond such external resources work together to influence financial behavior. One’s cultural narrative figures heavily, our cultural background affecting our financial decisions as much as our ideas and opinions. The cultural narrative is a primary source from which our thoughts and feelings about money originate.

As a Canadian with Japanese and Russian backgrounds, and having lived in Japan and Canada, I can proudly say that I am truly multi-cultural. Each of my diverse cultures has distinct values, passed from generation to generation, and as deeply ingrained in me as in my parents and grandparents. While some of these values share basic elements, others clash with one another— resulting in confusion and ambiguity over my decision-making. This process repeats every time a major issue arises to re-trigger conflicting mentalities, temporarily allowing my emotions to take over the decision making. On the surface, financial behaviors may seem to be detached from our cultural background but, in fact, cultural norms and beliefs affect our financial decisions in subconscious ways that cannot be explained merely quantitatively.

For example, the concept of investing has only recently begun to spread among the younger generation in Japan as an effective way to grow personal assets. Growing up in Japan I was never exposed to the notion of personal investment. Asked about Japanese openness to personal investment, Japan strategist at a Hong Kong-based brokerage firm, Nicholas Smith, stated, “Japan at the moment just doesn’t have the culture for it.”

The Japanese do not reject personal investing outright; but, unlike North Americans, investing simply isn’t the first line of accumulating wealth for many Japanese. It was only after I came to Canada that I heard people talking casually about investing in the course of daily conversations. This example demonstrates how differences in values between cultures affect what financial concepts and strategies dominate personal finance.

Here is another fascinating example. In 2018, Swiss researchers Brown, Henchoz, and Spycher surveyed over 700 secondary school students in the Swiss canton of Fribourg, on the border between French- and German-speaking regions, to investigate the effect of cultural background on financial literacy and attitudes. They found that German-speaking students had a higher level of financial literacy than French speakers, due to a significant disparity in their “embedded cultural differences.” They reported that “students in the German speaking region are more likely to receive pocket money at an early age and are more likely to have independent access to a bank account than students in the French speaking region.” Thus, in spite of geographical uniformity, the different German and French societal customs created major differences in the financial competency of the two populations.

As shown above, although economic education may play a role in young people’s personal financial literacy, cultural inclinations exert far more influence. We need to acknowledge that no one-size-fits-all approach will succeed in increasing financial literacy for millennials and Gen Z-ers. Both our culture and our own emotions contribute to our financial decision-making, and any instruction must be tailored to recognize and support differences among various ethno-cultural groups and individuals.

In addition to acknowledging your own cultural background, certain traits are labelled for different generations. For example, many claim—with good reason—that Gen Z-ers are tech-dependent. While growing up, using technology has been an integral part of daily routine. On the other hand, some claim that our wariness about the future may be a significant factor in our lack of financial knowledge. For millennials, the stereotypes range from a need for accommodation and flexibility to insistence on knowing the “why” of everything. Although such generalizations do not apply to everyone, nevertheless they may serve to plant certain ideas in our heads. Likewise, different perceptions and treatment of different generations play a large part in our financial conduct. Our own background might seem to be irrelevant in the topic of financial literacy, but it is important to recognize and appreciate all the elements responsible for our behavior to help us understand why we make—or resist making—certain economic decisions.

Our challenge is to respectfully acknowledge our personal and cultural heritage, embrace it, and use it to our advantage to make sound financial decisions. It begins with compassionate self-reflection. Many find the necessary internal examination easier with the help of a professional. Above all, knowledge is key and the ball is in our court.

For a free consultation about your best course to financial stability and health, call 818.600.2264

References

Brown, M., Henchoz, C., & Spycher, T. (2018). Culture and financial literacy: Evidence from a within-country language border. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 150, 62–85. doi:10.1016/j.jebo.2018.03.011.

Generation Z Stereotypes: Debunking the Myths of Generation Z. (n.d.). Retrieved August 13, 2020, from https://www.npd.com/wps/portal/npd/us/news/tips-trends-takeaways/guide-to-gen-z-debunking-the-myths-of-our-youngest-generation/

Obe, M. (2017, August 28). In Japan, the lottery is out and investing is in. Nikkei Asian Review. https://asia.nikkei.com/Economy/In-Japan-the-lottery-is-out-and-investing-is-in.

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Tips From Counselors on How to Manage Financial Stress During a Crisis

(3M) – More than 3 million Americans filed for unemployment during a single week in March as the spread of the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2, which causes the disease COVID-19) forced businesses to shutter and people to stay home. Job loss, reduced work hours and financial insecurity caused by the pandemic are exacerbating stress that already stems from money.

“Whether people have a lot of money or people have no money, money is a really stressful thing in our lives,” said Maureen Kelley, a Denver-based financial therapist and founder of MADRE (Money, Assets and Durable Relationships). “This crisis we’re working [with], dealing with and living with now, it just accentuated it. And the fear and the panic around this is exponential.”

Effects of Financial Stress

Financial, physical, mental and emotional health are all intertwined.

“We can’t just assume that it’s only financial stress,” said Alex Melkumian, Psy.D., LMFT, founder of the Financial Psychology Center External link  in Los Angeles. “It’s also psychological stress, emotional stress [and] the stress that compounds our concern about our physical well-being.”

Fear and panic associated with stress can trigger the fight, flight or freeze response. Melkumian explained that we react to stress because our emotional brain, or limbic system, can take over and cloud our ability to make rational decisions.

Financial, physical, mental and emotional health are all intertwined.

“And that’s when you see the really negative response to the stress, which can be overthinking, a lot of anxiety, worry, sadness and despair,” he said.

Studies have shown that financial stress can lead to a range of physical and psychological complications. Depression, anxiety and poor work performance are among the possible psychological effects of financial stress (PDF, 254 KB). The physical health complications of financial stress can include cardiovascular disease, increased mortality, inflammation, hypertension, diabetes and digestion problems.

Long-term financial stress can also negatively affect immune response.

“When we’re stressed—chronically stressed—that stress response takes away from our immune system functioning,” Melkumian said. “We’re actually reducing our ability to cope with the virus.”

Tips for Managing Financial Stress in a Crisis

Kelley has seen an uptick in fear and panic among her clients. And although she believes the economy will bounce back, the lingering question for many people is when that will happen.

“There’s a lot of uncertainty with this,” she said. “People are losing their jobs, their hours are cut, retirement portfolios have been decimated. These fears are very real for us as a country.”

Rather than becoming paralyzed by fear and making irrational decisions, Kelly says that it’s important to learn how to manage fear, stress and anxiety.

“Look at the small things that are in your control right now around spending and know that this will pass,” she said.

OnlineCounselingPrograms.com asked a number of experts in the realm of financial counseling and coaching for tips on how to manage financial stress during crises.

1. Practice mindfulness

Become more aware of how you are feeling and identify the root of those feelings in order to move away from a panicked state.

Financial coach Jenn Steliga explained that it’s important to get comfortable being uncomfortable.

“The more we push our feelings away or ignore them, research actually shows that they grow and get out of control,” she said. “Then, we’re in a position where our emotions are controlling us.”

Simple mindfulness practices can help ease anxiety. Steliga said that if you notice you are feeling anxious, stop and ask yourself something simple.

“Sounds very silly,” she said, “but if you can say, ‘Where are my feet?’ you bring focus to something.”

Melkumian also suggested making time for short, incremental meditation sessions for a few minutes throughout the day to alleviate the buildup of stress.

2. Talk about money

“Money is still the last taboo in our culture,” Kelley said. “Nobody likes to talk about it. It’s uncomfortable. People don’t know how to talk about it.”

Money can be difficult to discuss because it is often surrounded by feelings of shame, guilt and embarrassment. Those feelings can be heightened in a crisis. Kelley encouraged people to find a safe space to talk about money with a friend, family member, financial advisor or therapist.

“Often when you’re just able to verbalize it or share it with someone else, that in itself relieves a lot of stress,” Kelley said.

3. Make a financial plan

Free budgeting apps can help families create and track budgets

“A budget is not just tracking their expenses,” Steliga said. “It’s spending every dollar on paper on purpose, before they ever hand it out to anyone at all.”

For those facing true financial hardship, it’s best to prioritize spending on basic needs including housing, utilities, food and transportation. Kelley suggested cutting down on nonessential spending and “really looking at what are the things that I can control in my spending and what are the things that are not essential that I can cut out.”

When it comes to shopping, shop intentionally, Steliga added. Take stock of products you have in your house; then, make a shopping list and stick to it.

4. Don’t focus on getting out of debt during a crisis

After meeting your basic needs, including bills and legal obligations, make your minimum payments on loans and credit lines but don’t worry about paying off debt.

“A lot of people would say, ‘Hurry up and get out of debt,’ which is a really big misconception,” said Wendy Wright, LMFT, a financial therapist based in Denver. She encourages clients to build savings while paying down debt.

It can be tempting to take on more debt when money is tight during a crisis, but try to minimize new debt. Don’t let short-term panic dictate long-term financial decisions.

5. Save money when you can

Wright suggested tracking how much money is required to meet basic obligations and then putting extra funds in a savings account for a set period of time. She encouraged using a timeline of three months and revisiting the situation after that time has passed. Having a set window to focus on saving can help reduce anxiety.

“Our brains like a beginning and an end,” Wright said.

Tips for Managing Financial Stress Combined With Other Anxiety

Financial stress from the coronavirus outbreak can compound general stress surrounding the pandemic. It can also exacerbate pre-existing mental health issues, such as anxiety or depression.

The following strategies can help mitigate financial stress when paired with other mental health concerns in a crisis.

Set a specific schedule

Creating and maintaining a schedule can provide structure for people who are home-schooling or caring for their children while dealing with struggles like job loss and financial insecurity. Schedules set boundaries and can help people avoid unhealthy coping mechanisms like binge-watching television, drinking too much or online shopping.

“Within that schedule, give yourself very specific time to job search and to get yourself on a budget,” Steliga said. “Be very specific.”

Rather than committing to looking for jobs without a real plan in place, Steliga suggested telling yourself, “I will job search for 30 minutes tomorrow morning at 9 a.m. at my kitchen table with my coffee while my kids are doing homework.”

Practice basic self-care

Eat well, exercise, and try to avoid round-the-clock binge-watching. Avoid heavy social media use and excessive news consumption.

“Do the things that bring you into a good place so that you can continue to make good choices,” Steliga said.

Treat yourself with compassion and practice gratitude

People are being asked to make important decisions while dealing with fatigue. Wright said that “pacing yourself, building a routine [and] sticking to your routine as much as possible” can help create a sense of steadiness during uncertain times. That can also include maintaining previously established mental health interventions.

She also said that it’s important to remember everybody is doing the best they can.

Recognize and address grief and worry

Crises can bring a heavy sense of loss. Identifying the stage of grief that you’re experiencing (denial, anger, bargaining, depression or acceptance) can help you build connections with others. People experience grief at different rates, so naming which stage you are in can allow you relate to people in different stages.

Melkumian also encouraged “scheduled worry sessions”—actually set aside 5 to 10 minutes during the day where you allow yourself to worry. The paradoxical intervention helps contain anxiety.

“You get your worries out for 10 minutes, but then the rest of the day you’re worry-free,” he said.

Although worrisome thoughts may still arise throughout the day, it’s up to you to guard your own mental well-being and protect yourself from those automatic thoughts, Melkumian said.

Lean on support systems

Staying connected in times of crisis is vital.

Seek financial advice from people who are grounded. Look for support from friends, family members and counselors who are financially stable. And if you are unable to see your regular counselor, look into telehealth options.

Additional Resources for Managing Stress Related to COVID-19

These resources can help alleviate financial and other stress-related to the coronavirus outbreak.

Financial Resources

Mental Health Resources

This article is for informational purposes only. Reach out to a financial professional before making any important financial decisions. If you are experiencing mental health issues related to financial concerns, consult a mental health professional.

Are you interested in supporting people through mental and emotional challenges? Learn more about how to become a counselor.

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Working Through the Big Emotions of Financial Upheaval

(RallyHealth) – If your finances make you anxious, you’re not alone. Before anyone had ever heard of COVID-19, 60% of Americans were stressed out by money, according to the American Psychological Association. None of us are untouched by uncertainty about what lies ahead, and that can cause unexpected emotions.

“Entering into this crisis, most of us already had anxiety and stress around money,” says Brad Klontz, PsyD, CFP, a financial psychologist and managing principal at Your Mental Wealth Advisors and associate professor at Creighton University. “Then you throw the virus on top of it. You’re worried about your financial situation, and you’re also worried about people you love getting sick.”

It’s normal to need time to come to terms with layoffs, business closures, investment losses, or other financial upheaval due to COVID-19. And it’s OK to be upset about the situation, says Patricia Tidwell, PhD, a licensed clinical social worker. “It’s incredibly stressful,” she says. “I’d be worried about people if they weren’t upset.”

But there are many ways to move through the financial stress, anger, and sadness to a place of action. By recognizing your emotions, you can use them to drive your effort to take as much control of your financial situation as possible. Financial and mental health experts share insights on how to get started.

Identify Your Emotions

“We all have feelings and beliefs about money: earning money, having money, losing money,” says Tidwell. “Anger, grief, anxiety, and sadness are all feelings that are healthy, albeit uncomfortable, to have about what is happening now.”

Alex Melkumian, PsyD, a licensed marriage and family therapist and founder of the Financial Psychology Center, adds fear, worry, and avoidance to the list. He says that financial stress from the pandemic can force people into survival mode. “Being in survival mode activates the fight, flight, or freeze response,” he says. “Considering the sudden onset of the pandemic, many people are in the freeze cycle. They feel paralyzed or are overthinking what to do next.”

The first step to working through these emotions is recognizing them and understanding that they are normal, Tidwell says. By taking a moment to identify what you’re feeling, you’ll be able to more easily find ways to work toward solutions.

“The sooner you can get to acceptance, as difficult as it may seem, everything else will be easier,” says Melkumian. “It’s a mental pivot that will disengage the emotional part of your brain, which is not helpful in moments like these.”

Recognize What’s Out of Your Control

Unlike other, more personal financial upheavals, remember that many of the economic forces of COVID-19 are completely out of your control. Your state or local government may have told you that you can’t go to work or need to work altered hours. And it’s necessary for people to stay away from businesses in order to stop the spread of the virus. If these circumstances have altered your financial situation, it’s important to recognize that it’s not your fault, says Klontz.

“The good news is you don’t need to feel ashamed about it,” he says. “You’re also not alone.”

By recognizing this, you can avoid “personalizing the pandemic,” says Melkumian. Keeping an eye on the big picture can protect you from some of the negative emotions that are often associated with financial trouble, such as shame and guilt.

Find Healthy Ways to Manage Money

Once you’ve identified your emotions, it’s important to find mindful ways to manage them, says Tidwell. She suggests a physical exercise for a serotonin boost and meditation for reducing anxiety.

“Putting feelings into words also helps reduce the experience of feeling overwhelmed,” she says. “Talking to others helps you feel less alone. It can be helpful to learn that others are in similar situations with similar feelings.” Consider talking to a therapist or other mental health professional for more personalized methods for handling your emotions, she says. If you’re employed, check if your company offers free counseling through your health benefits or an employee assistance program.

If you still feel paralyzed by fear and anxiety, Klontz suggests confronting it head-on by thinking through any worst-case scenarios. What if you lose your job? Maybe that means you wouldn’t be able to pay your mortgage, and would eventually have to move in with your parents. Though it’s difficult to think about, letting this hypothetical play out can actually calm your body’s “life or death” reaction, by demonstrating that even in the very worst-case scenario, you will likely still be physically safe, Klontz says.

Fight Regret with Action

With so much uncertainty ahead, it can be easy to fall into regret about the past. Why didn’t you start that emergency fund earlier? Why did you take that vacation last year, when you could have saved that money? While it’s natural to wonder about the what-ifs, it’s important to remember that dwelling on the past will do nothing to improve your current situation, says Tidwell.

“Regret is about mourning a lost opportunity, and is often filled with shame,” she says. “It can take over, making it harder to do what will help now.”

Instead of letting your regret balloon into shame, which can keep you stuck, use any missed opportunities as lessons for the future, helping you chart a path forward, Klontz says.

“Did you have an emergency fund?” he asks. “Probably not. That makes you the average American. But now you see why you need one. This is a perfect opportunity for you to look at your spending habits.”

Take Control of What You Can

Being stuck at home may actually give you the time to start sorting out your finances in a way you haven’t been able to before. Maybe you can create a pandemic-specific budget, or place some monthly subscriptions on pause and use those savings to start a rainy day fund. This type of action might be exactly what you need to ease your financial worries, says Tidwell. “Taking stock and making plans can reduce anxiety and help you feel more in control,” she says.

“Become conscious of your spending, looking for ways to minimize expenses that are unnecessary,” Klontz suggests. “Interest rates are really low, so maybe now is the time to refinance your mortgage. There are opportunities right now for people.”

He also suggests researching some of the federal relief programs to see what type of assistance you may qualify for, especially if you’re a small business owner. And to keep yourself motivated, remember that, eventually, the COVID-19 pandemic will be in the past.

“Picture yourself when this is all over,” Klontz says. “How do you wish you would have gone through it, including your mindset, attitude, and behavior? Try to be that person now, because eventually this will be over.”

Note to our readers: This information is being made available as a free resource to the public. It is not an endorsement of any of the Finance-Related Resources listed in this article — financial consultants, planners, services, organizations/associations, websites, tools, lenders, credit unions, or banks. None of the finance-related resources listed have solicited Rally Health to be included, and Rally Health receives no compensation from the Finance-Related Resources mentioned in this article.

KATE ROCKWOOD

Rally Health

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Using Shopping as a Coping Mechanism for Stress

And how to survive buyer’s remorse.

In times of intense uncertainty most of us experience heightened emotions and deal with them as best we can. As we are navigating the uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic, many people are inundated with feelings of panic, extreme stress and anxiety about their health, finances and emotional stability. We all cope with the distress by engaging in behaviors with the underlying hope to feel “normal.”

Despite the tumultuous circumstances, some of us find shopping for nonessential items fills the need to feel like everything is “normal.” It takes us back to a simpler time and soothes us with a familiar, comforting behavior. Unconsciously, some do it to excess, in hopes of staying in the emotional comfort zone.

Then the reality of our overspending hits.

Prudence and budget were thrown out the window as we spend unconsciously to soothe our emotions. Then comes the feeling of overwhelming shame and buyer’s remorse.

On top of that, we may feel a moral dilemma around putting other people at risk of the COVID-19 virus as they package and deliver the nonessentials that we bought. Despite the very unlikely possibility of the newly arrived nonessential package infecting someone in the home, the complications of the emotions and morality create an unnerving reality.

How to deal with the moral and emotional dilemma of overspending.

  • Understand your habits. Physical, mental, and financial health are deeply intertwined.
  • Review your numbers. Create some fun money so you can spend comfortably to satisfy that need.
  • Be realistic about the virus. Follow the CDC-directed guidelines and remember this pandemic is still growing.
  • Focus on your and your family’s safety. There will be plenty of time for shopping later in the year.
  • Don’t expect to forgo non-essential shopping completely. In times of crisis and uncertainty people cope with their concerns through comforting behaviors, this is typical behavior and if done with restraint it will support your emotional needs rather than complicate your inner peace.

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Stop assuming millennials struggling financially have a spending problem

Written by: Megan Leonhardt

Maybe you’ve heard it from your parents or seen it on social media, but a certain piece of advice seems to pervade the financial world: If you just stop spending on unnecessary luxuries — from lattes to avocado toast — you could afford the everyday essentials without the struggle.

However, that’s often not true. The problem is that simply telling people, particularly millennials (ages 24 to 39), that they have a spending problem or recommending they trim their budget if they’re struggling to afford expenses misses the point, experts say.

“In my experience, those with few resources are quite savvy with the resources they do have — they are creative and often manage their money better than people who do who have money because they have to,” says Kristy L. Archuleta, a professor in the University of Georgia’s financial planning, housing and consumer economics department.

Why do people immediately assume it’s a spending problem?

The misconception around why some people struggle to make their money stretch to cover all their expenses and savings goals is due, in part, to the fact that poverty and living in poverty is not a “one size fits all issue,” Archuleta tells CNBC Make It.

This thought process typically happens because most Americans are trying to simplify a situation that often stems from complex problems. Those who are living in poverty or even those juggling expenses paycheck to paycheck may also be grappling with issues that range from racial and ethnic inequality to addiction and mental health issues, says Farnoosh Torabi, personal finance author and host of the “So Money” podcast.

In my experience, those with few resources are quite savvy with the resources they do have — they are creative and often manage their money better than people who do who have money because they have to.
Kristy Archuleta
PROFESSOR AT THE UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA

Americans are a culture obsessed with budgeting and cutting coupons, Torabi tells CNBC Make It. “We tend to have a narrow mindset when it comes to earning our financial independence,” she says. “We are led to believe that if people just cut their Netflix subscriptions or stopped buying $9 smoothies, that they’d be able to retire wealthy.”

Americans tend to also buy into the mindset that they have fewer options when it comes to their income potential, so they focus on what they buy and how they spend, Torabi says. Cutting down your budget to make ends meet might feel like something that’s more in your control.

But for some Americans, simply cutting entertainment and dining budgets — if they even had them to begin with — will not solve all their financial shortfalls. In many cases, they still can’t make child care or student loan payments. What do they do then?

For some Americans, there are systemic issues at play

“I’m all about taking financial matters into your own hands to the fullest extent. It’s important to save and be mindful of spending, but it’s not the true reason so many people are struggling financially,” Torabi says, pointing to the fact that wages have been stagnant for decades while the cost of living has escalated.

At some point, you don’t have a spending problem, Torabi says. Instead, “you might have an income problem or perhaps a living-in-the-current-United-States problem,” Torabi says.

Real wages effectively remained stalled last year, showing only a 0.2% year-over-year increase, according to the PayScale Index. But looking longer term, PayScale found median wages, when adjusted for inflation, actually declined 9% since 2006.

Meanwhile, basic costs increased year-over-year by 2.3% from December 2018 to December 2019, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’s Consumer Price Index. The cost of medical care rose 4.6% in 2019, the largest year-over-year increase since 2007, the BLS reports. Housing also jumped 3.2% last year, while education expenses rose 2.1% and food prices increased by about 1.8%.

You can skip on lattes all you want, but if you have $100,000 debt from student loans and you’re a psychologist or you’re in social sciences or the arts, you’re going to have a hard time paying for those loans.
Alex Melkumian
FINANCIAL THERAPIST AND FOUNDER OF THE FINANCIAL PSYCHOLOGY CENTER

The reason why many others are in debt is not because of buying too much coffee. Rather, it’s debt from expensive mortgages, student loans or even medical expenses, Alex Melkumian, a financial therapist and founder of the Financial Psychology Center, tells CNBC Make It.

“You can skip on lattes all you want, but if you have $100,000 debt from student loans and you’re a psychologist or you’re in social sciences or the arts, you’re going to have a hard time paying for those loans,” he says.

Overall, there are many systemic and policy issues that impact our financial lives, Torabi says. “It’s not fair or accurate to just call out somebody’s spending habits.”

What to do if you are simply spending too much

That’s not to say no one is overspending. Almost three-quarters of Americans have a budget of some kind, but 79% say they can’t stick to it, according to a December poll of 2,000 U.S. adults by shopping site Slickdeals. On average, they overshoot by about $150 a week, or about $7,400 a year.

The top three categories that cause overspending are online shopping, grocery shopping, and subscription services, the poll found, although coffee did make the top 10.

If you fall into that camp, it may be time to build a sustainable budget or take a hard look at your existing budget. Where are you overspending? What can you do to adjust to make it more reasonable?

You may want to start by eliminating distractions that can push you to spend: avoid social media, unsubscribe from marketing emails and untether your credit card from all those apps on your phone.

“We sometimes turn to spending as a way to release stress, anxiety, and other bad feelings — It’s a coping mechanism.
Farnoosh Torabi
PERSONAL FINANCE EXPERT AND AUTHOR

That doesn’t mean you can’t have any fun with your budget, Melkumian says. To stay on track and avoid any feelings of deprivation, he recommends his clients have a small amount set aside in their monthly budgets for “mandatory splurging.” This could be 1% of your monthly budget or an actual dollar amount — from $5 to even $100, whatever your budget will responsibly allow.

“When people have a hard time looking at numbers, because it means deprivation and it means the budget is going to take away my freedom, putting a line item that says something fun like mandatory splurging re-writes the narrative and helps redefine what that budget means to them,” Melkumian says.

If you are truly struggling with overspending, try to understand what’s at the root of it, Torabi says. Are you spending when you’re emotional? What’s triggering those emotions?

“We sometimes turn to spending as a way to release stress, anxiety and other bad feelings,” Torabi says. “It’s a coping mechanism and produces an actual chemical ‘high’…so we keep doing it.” Take time to solve the underlying problem: why you are spending in the first place. That may mean seeking out some counsel.

“You may want to work with a professional to sort some of your issues out and cure this once and for all,” Torabi says.

 

Originally published: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/03/stop-assuming-millennials-have-a-spending-problem.html