April is National Stress Awareness Month in the UK, and the purpose of Stress Awareness Month is to bring awareness to the “current causes and effects of our modern stress epidemic”. Stress is a huge facet of many of our lives and is a massive contributor to poor mental health across the world, but stress is normally a symptom of outside issues.
According to Perkbox.com, money is the biggest cause of stress in the UK today. Their research has found that over a quarter of adults experience financial stress on a daily basis, and that everything from relationships, our work and our physical health is affected by this financial stress.
According to the Perkbox study, the top 10 causes of financial stress are…
These worries are all completely legitimate, and for many across the UK they are a daily struggle. If you’re seriously struggling with your mental health, make sure to visit a health professional for official advice, and if you’re struggling with debt, organisations like Citizen’s Advice and StepChange are there to support you.
In honour of the end of National Stress Awareness Month, however, today we’re putting together some tips on how you can deal with your financial stress and make lasting changes.
Stress, like any other emotion, can have lasting mental and physical damage if left to fester for too long. Studies have shown that chronic stress can lead to depression, insomnia and further health problems if not properly dealt with. Unfortunately, because stress often comes from factors outside of our control, we feel we have to simply deal with it, but that’s not true.
One of the quickest ways to reduce some of your stress is by talking about what’s worrying you with someone you trust. This may not solve your issues immediately, but might give you a chance to see another perspective, not to mention that a problem shared is a problem halved.
Similarly, seeing a financial adviser is simply discussing what may be worrying you with someone whose job it is to see how they can help. Advisers like ours at Greenfields have a mission to provide honest and personalised financial advice, whatever your financial situation.
Currently, only around 3% of UK adults have said they tackle their financial stress by seeing an adviser, and we are aware of myths around getting financial advice that may stop you, for example that you need to be very wealthy already to seek professional financial advice. The truth is that anyone can seek financial advice, and at Greenfields we provide an initial free meeting for you to find out how we can help you that won’t cost you a thing.
Looking at your finances as a whole can be overwhelming, especially if you’re dealing with a lot of bills and debts. Identifying what it is that needs the most attention and what is a priority to sort can help relieve some of the stress, and from this you can start to create an action plan. Speaking to others around you and advisers can help you identify these high priority tasks, such as paying off high-interest debt and creating an emergency savings fund.
We touched briefly on this earlier, but there are plenty of resources out there, both online and in your local community, that could be of use in helping you reduce stress and worry about your finances. Depending on what is causing your money worries (whether it be debt, job worries, or anything else) there will be somewhere that is created specifically to help you. Here are just a few of the services and organisations we recommend…
This tip won’t work for everyone, and for many with serious financial struggles this definitely won’t solve everything. However, changing our mental relationship with money is one of the most important things we can do to help improve our finances. Many of us have grown up seeing money as something we need but can never have. Or something that only the rich and famous have and that we don’t deserve. The truth is anyone can reach their financial goals, most of us just need a little help. Many resources like books and podcasts have covered this topic, and have helped thousands of people.
As mentioned, these are just a few tips that we know of to help reduce feelings of stress because of money and finances. Our job here at Greenfields is to help our clients reach their goals and find them the best ways of getting there, but we aren’t mental health experts. So, if you’re struggling with your mental health or are feeling more stressed than usual lately, make sure to visit your GP or visit some of the resources online that we’ve mentioned to ensure you’re getting the best help possible.
For more information on what we can do for your finances, click here: https://www.greenfields.biz/expertise/
01258 857 101 