People live in financial stress, but often don’t recognize it.
Though unrecognized, it contributes to:
- the physical symptoms of stress, e.g. high blood pressure, sleep disruption and weight gain
- seeking ways to get a break from the stress, like over-indulging in TV, internet, food or alcohol
- mismanaging money further—why bother holding back on spending if you think you’ll never get ahead anyway? (Sounds like a vicious cycle to me.)
Common beliefs about financial stress lead to victim-like thinking and inaction.
People commonly believe that financial stress
- has been done to them, whether it’s the economy, family of origin or bad luck
- is normal, except for rich people (a common misunderstanding)
- can’t be changed
Debt is the #1 cause of financial stress.
In movies, the stereotypical loan shark promises to break his client’s legs if the client don’t pay up. Now, that’s gotta be stressful. Today’s debt-related stress isn’t too different. The pressure of payment deadline includes the threat of:
- expensive late payment fees and penalties
- dramatically increased interest rates
- bad marks on the credit report (which people seem to think is life’s report card)
- calls from notoriously unpleasant collectors
The pressure of having debt causes people to make different life choices.
Debt holds people back from doing the things they really want to do, leading to a general sense of dissatisfaction. In order to be able to make debt payments, people often
- stay at a job they don’t like
- choose not to switch careers
- quit school to earn enough money to cover debt payments
You can get out of financial stress.
If you want to get out of financial stress, you must first get out of debt. Here are the first two steps toward geting out of debt:
Step 1: Believe it is possible to be debt-free.
Step 2: Take control of your money by using a monthly budget.
Stay tuned all this week to learn more about financial stress.
Are you interested in CREATING YOUR OWN BUDGET?
Check out our Live Online Workshop: “Break Free” at http://www.steamenginefinancialcoaching.com/events/#breakfree
