Coping with Financial Stress
With inflation at over 9% year-over-year—its highest level since the 1980s—middle-class families and people on fixed incomes are having to make some hard decisions when it comes to their budgets.
This can lead to financial stress—worry over your bank account, retirement portfolio, and more, which can lead to feelings of shame, anger, fear, and depression.
Centers Health Care has a look at how you can help remove the uncertainty about financial stress and make a plan to manage your concerns.
Communicate With Empathy
If you’re in charge of the household finances, calmly bring up your stress, fear, anxiety, etc. with your partner. They may have a different outlook, but be sure to understand their point of view. Remaining calm and open-minded will help best work towards a solution.
Go Through Your Budget
If you’re managing an individual budget, you will know where you can best cut from. If it’s a family budget, get the decision-makers in one room and see what agreements you can come to. Have a plan going in—saving $300 per month off the existing budget, for example.
Don’t Remove All the Fun
It’s important to maintain things in your budget that bring you joy. While it may eat at your budget, experts say you don’t want to negatively impact your mental health by depriving yourself of everything that you like.
Help Is Available
Financial counselors can help you make a budget, teach the basics of investing, and even financial therapy is available that can help when you might be feeling stuck when there’s uncertainty like we’re going through in 2022.
