Everyone encounters money-related stress eventually. It’s the crucial factor that determines if you’re living paycheck to paycheck or if you’re able to do the things you love. Understanding how to cope with financial stress is the best way to never let your finances control your mental well-being. Learn how to spot your anxiety symptoms and manage your life more effectively to always feel positive about your financial life.
What Is Financial Stress?
Financial stress is any amount of stress that relates to your income. It happens to people of all ages. High school students stress about saving for their first cars while college students struggle to divide their income equally between bills.
As the years pass, you’ll also accrue different forms of debt. You might be juggling credit card debt in addition to car payments, mortgage bills and medical debt. It’s normal to feel stressed when you think about your money. However, it doesn’t have to erode your quality of life forever.
Symptoms of Financial Stress
Read about the symptoms of financial stress to see which might affect your mental health. Once you know how your mind and body react to money problems, you can better take care of yourself.
Depression
Recognizing depression symptoms can be tricky. It doesn’t always manifest as an inability to get out of bed. You might have depression if you experience common symptoms like losing interest in your hobbies, disconnecting from your loved ones or feeling on edge all the time.
Research shows that financial stress directly relates to depression levels in adults. If you think you might deal with this side effect of money challenges, talk with your doctor. They’ll help you pinpoint symptoms and lead you to optional treatments.
Anxiety
People who are more prone to worrying may deal with more anxiety when their financial life becomes complicated. You might think about your bills and picture how they might cause the bank to retake your home, force you to work instead of retiring or negatively impact your relationship with your partner.
Consider if you have common anxiety symptoms like trouble breathing, heart palpitations or racing thoughts. You’re not alone if thinking about money makes you picture future scenarios that are scary or worrying.
Insomnia
If you have depression or anxiety symptoms, you might also struggle to sleep through the night. Money could be the influencing factor even if you’re not thinking about it while trying to fall asleep. Reflect on periods of your life when you couldn’t sleep as well and match them with any financial struggles you were facing to see if it’s a possible influence.
How to Cope With Financial Stress
Financial stress doesn’t have to negatively impact your life forever. Use a few strategies to manage your mental health and continue pursuing your goals.
1. Recognize Your Symptoms
Understanding how your mind and body react to stress is the first step toward feeling better. Note any adverse symptoms that reduce your quality of life, like anxiety or depression. Journal about them over a few weeks to reflect on your entries. You’ll notice what affects you most often, which will point out what you can target first.
2. Identify Your Biggest Stressors
Which parts of your financial life cause the most anxiety? Determining this can quickly reveal empowering ways to manage your money differently, which could also reduce your most significant source of anxiety.
If you have a significant amount of debt, your biggest stressor might be trying to pay off everything all at once. When this is the case, experts suggest the snowball method, in which you pay off your smallest debts first, allowing you to clear your minimum balances and feel less overwhelmed.
It’s also crucial to identify which parts of your life cause the most stress outside of your monthly bills. Your work life or relationships could be increasing your anxiety and influencing unhelpful habits like impulse spending to make you feel better. See if those moments correlate with
adverse financial habits that are making your budgeting more challenging. You could focus on fixing those alongside your finances to better improve your life.
3. Create a Financial Inventory
A standard personal budget contains a person’s income and their bills. Although that’s helpful, it also lets some spending go unnoticed. Create a comprehensive inventory that tracks things like impulse purchases or small spending habits. A budgeting app could be the most effective way to do this by connecting to your bank account and credit cards.
You could also use an additional spreadsheet to make your inventory more precise. Use it to log your financial goals and the steps you take each month to get closer to reaching them. You’ll know exactly what’s happening with your money on a daily basis and see your progress happening with two easy-to-use spreadsheets.
4. Contact a Financial Advisor
Financial advisors are always here to help. You could contact one in your town for a free consultation appointment. They’ll listen to your financial stress and figure out how they can best help you manage your money better. They might even create new opportunities to reach the same goals, like opening an investment account instead of just relying on a savings account with a low monthly interest rate.
People most often pay their financial advisors with small percentages of the investment accounts they open through each advisor’s office. However, you might find one that accepts a monthly or annual fee for their services. They’ll work with you to find the best payment options for your needs. They could also recommend a different financial advisor if they’re not the best fit.
5. Schedule Your Budgeting Sessions
Understanding your finances in a more detailed way results in more progress. When researchers studied participants with financial literacy and mental budgeting skills, they found that those participants had better financial outcomes than other participants who didn’t use those skills. You’ll develop those skills more easily if you sit down to budget often.
Schedule weekly or bi-weekly sessions by yourself or with anyone who’s involved with your finances. You’ll have recurring opportunities to reflect on what’s working and which parts of your budget need adjustments. Monitoring your progress will also make your budget seem less stressful because you’ll feel so familiar with it.
6. Look Into Refinancing Options
People sometimes forget that refinancing is a possible way to manage their money. If you’re throwing every last penny at your debts and feel overwhelmed, see if there are any lower interest rates available through your lender. Other lenders might also offer better rates.
When you refinance your mortgage, credit card debt or student loans, you’ll get a lower interest rate if one’s available. That reduced rate will shrink your monthly payments as well. If you have a good credit score, it could be the best way to make your monthly bills more manageable without letting any interest rate payments accrue.
Strategies to Manage Your Mental Health Better
As you figure out how to manage your money in more effective ways, your mental health may need some support. Try some easy tips to feel more comfortable in your body while making progress in your finances.
1. Meet With a Therapist
Therapists are always available to help. See if any are available near your home. They could schedule an in-person or remote appointment to hear what’s going on in your life and determine if they’re a good fit. People meet with therapists regularly to discuss what’s affecting their mental health, process things together and strategize coping mechanisms to improve their quality of life.
Your future therapist might even recommend doing cognitive-behavioral therapy for the average 12-16 week treatment period people utilize to manage their anxiety. You’ll target thought patterns that reinforce your anxiety to better recognize and control your stress. It’s an expert way to handle stress rather than just hoping it goes away with time.
2. Craft a Healthy Routine
Physical and mental health coexist. If you’re eating junk food and never sleeping, your mental health will deteriorate because your brain isn’t getting the support it needs. Think about the nutritional quality of your daily meals and how often you sleep through the night.
You could consider talking with a nutritionist or your doctor to strategize a healthier routine. When your brain and body get more support, you’ll feel more capable of handling anything that comes your way.
3. Talk With Your Loved Ones
Never underestimate the power of community. Talking to someone you love about what you’re feeling can relieve a significant amount of stress. It’s never good to bottle your feelings up.
Reach out to your friends or family members when your financial stress starts building. Feeling less alone makes any challenge seem more manageable.
Even if your loved ones can’t give any advice or relate to your troubles, their emotional support will go a long way. It’s good to surround yourself with people who will listen. If you need more actionable support, you can always talk with a therapist trained to assist those with anxiety,
Improve Your Mental Health Long-Term
Anyone can learn how to cope with financial stress if they pause, reflect and consider new strategies. Think about which symptoms affect your daily life. You can figure out how to revamp your financial life while reducing your stress in the long term. Expert therapists and doctors are always ready to help if you need more support than a listening ear from your family and friends.
Author Bio
Jack Shaw is a senior writer and editor at Modded, where he passionately explores the intricate connections between physical health, mental well-being, and the dynamics of interpersonal relationships. With a keen eye for detail and a knack for crafting engaging content, Jack’s articles offer valuable insights into living a balanced and fulfilling life.
