(00:04): Mental health impacts the ability to manage money. Mediocre money management impacts mental health. With mental health issues on the rise, we wanted to do our part in contributing helpful ideas to improve mental health by taking control of money. The last two years have seen an increase in the need to be very intentional about mental health. So keep listening for two ways, very practical ways anyone and I do mean anyone could use a revised definition of budgeting to improve their mental health. Hi, I'm Amanda and welcome to the Wealth Wisdom Financial podcast, episode 118 Budgeting that Improves mental health.
(00:52): Hey, and I'm Brandon, so be sure to listen to our last episode is budgeting Required for Building Wealth. Last time we talked about how millionaires likely engage differently with their money than those who are trying to get out of debt or learn to be a saver. We talked about some of the tangible ways to engage with money when you've already gotten some control of your finances. So, you know, I think it's good to learn from those and see how they do it. So today we wanna talk to those who either one are scared to try budgeting. They've never tried it cuz you know that that whole block there, or number two, have tried budgeting but found it increasing fear and stress rather than reducing it. And we have of course to go with those two people or two groups of people, two practical ways that you can engage with your money that we believe will improve your mental health at the same time.
(02:01): So are you sick and tired of hearing the same old conventional financial opinions? We feel you, we feel fed up with the same old truisms that fall flat when you get into the unique opportunities and challenges of specific situations. This show is all about bringing you historic wisdom around building wealth with practical insights on how to apply it to your journey when conventional financial thinking doesn't get you where you wanna go. You need wealth wisdom, let's master wealth building together. Now we talk with so many people who think they are the only ones dealing with this two-sided coin of poor mental health and money issues. Seriously, I feel like it's a regular occurrence for us. Uh, and what we are gonna do is we're gonna try to share some of what we've seen and heard and letting you know as a reminder that you are not alone. You'd be surprised how many people think they're the only ones dealing with it. And really what we wanna share is you're not alone. And this two-sided coin is all too common.
(03:12): And listen carefully because you'll maybe think of money issues a little differently as we go through these examples too. So for those who feel depressed, they lack motivation to budget, right? Of all the things they could do in a day, what little energy they have goes to other seemingly more important things than sitting down to budget. And others feel like everything in the world is good, right? They, they're just, uh, internal optimist. They pay little attention to their money because they assume it's all fine and they have better things to do with all their energy and motivation and then it'll all work out in the end. For some, the spending money can give this brief high that temporary relieves the sad feelings even if they didn't budget for that Spending. But for other people, veering from a budget, even to a small degree, can cause a feeling of guilt and shame.
(04:12): Credit card bills and overdraft fees definitely cause anxiety, Right? Yet seeing money build up in a savings account but lose value to inflation can cause just as much anxiety ever felt that one before. Then you've got the ups and downs of the stock market. Studies have shown that emergency room visits increase just after the stock market declines. We covered that in episode 107. Foolish financial advice, um, most Americans think is true, but it's not. Yeah, I highly recommend go check out episode 1 0 7 overall worrying about where the money is going to come from to cover this bill or that bill can cause sleep problems Or worrying about whether you're investing your money correctly causes lots of people to lose sleep. A lot of mental health is impacted by relationships. There's feelings of loneliness that can develop from not having the money to do the things with your friends or having the money to do something, but your friends can't do it with you because they don't have the money.
(05:24): And there's definitely a lot to gain from reaching out for help and for specifically for the help you need to feel well, everyone has the right to feel well in all areas of their lives, including to feel well financially. If you do not have the resources to get the support you need, there are plenty of places you can go to find those resources and to get support. Don't ever let money stop you from getting the support that you need. There are resources available Now. We aren't seeking to replace those resources. Our hope is that we give you a nudge towards taking action to feel well towards that goal. We have two thoughts for you on how budgeting can be one of those resources. Again, that crazy word budgeting, but it can help. So, which is a very important point. We have to remind you of how we redefine budgeting. If you listen to the last episode, you know that budgeting for us is not the typical definition from the dictionary of an estimate of income and expenditure for a set period of time. Used in phrases like keep within the household budget. Instead, budgeting for us is simply engaging with your money. So as we go through these two ideas, I want you to keep that idea in mind. You're simply engaging with your money that is budgeting.
(06:51): And with that idea in mind, we have two ways you could start engaging with your money in a way that we hope will improve your mental health rather than increase feelings of worry, anxiety, depression, and so forth. So the first very practical idea that anyone could do is to use engaging with your money. This idea of it starts with engagement To start to help you get to know your money and mood patterns. You know, awareness is often step one of, you know, dealing with any issue. So for some budgeting could start by simply keeping a journal to record how you feel about money and why, how much did you spend and why. How do you feel about that? How much did you earn? And why? How do you feel about that? Over time, you'll start to notice patterns of when you're more likely to spend or save or earn and how it impacts your mental health. When those things happen, Even getting the thoughts and feelings out of your head and body and into a private diary or journal might help.
(07:58): And if you do have a talking partner to talk about it with, that would be great too, right? But having that awareness of getting in touch with how you feel and what's causing those feelings is number one. Number two is whatever you're doing to engage with your money, make it routine. So if all you do is keep a money journal or have talk sessions about how you feel about money, do it regularly. And perhaps all you do is look at your bank balance. Do it on a schedule rather than just, you know, All willy Nilly. Yeah, willy nilly, like you like to say, uh, put it on a schedule. Yeah. Or maybe, uh, everybody's got bills to pay. Pay your bills in the same days every month. For example, you could only pay bills on the 10th and the 25th and the 10th. You pay everything due before the first of the next month. And on the 25th you pay everything due before the 15th of the next month. You can schedule payments to go out or write checks, but not put them in the mail right away. However you handle bills, make it routine. Haphazardness is a major cause of stress and anxiety. Plus another benefit to adopting your routine is that you have a set time to engage with your money and you can pretty much forget about it the rest of the time cuz you've put that in place.
(09:12): Yeah. And you can do those all kinds of things that induce stress or help you relieve stress or anxiety. Paperwork for example, for me was a big stressor years ago. So I designated every Wednesday as paperwork day. Every other day I just put any paperwork that came my way into a pile. And then Wednesdays I would get my pile cleared all at one time. Lots of people do this with lots of different things. If checking email is causing them stress, they'll only do it during certain times of the day and they'll have it closed or snooze to the rest of the day. Or maybe one of the things that relieves stress is making sure you spend quality time with each of your children. Lots of people designate times for that. Or maybe one of the ways that you improve your mental health is to improve your physical health. So you have a set time, you go to the gym or go for a walk or what have you. The possibilities are here are infinite. The most important thing is that what you're doing in these other areas, you can do the same thing with your money. You can set a time, you can make it routine and then you don't have to think about it outside of that time and that place.
(10:16): And another benefit of routines is that you could start noticing patterns or more quickly see disruptions to those patterns because you have that routine in place. Yeah. So if you hear nothing else from today's episode, we want you to hear what's coming next. We're kind of recapping and adding something really powerful here. So if your focus is drifted away, come back to us. There are ways to budget that, increase stress, cause worry, elevate anxiety and magnify depression. Consider redefining budgeting as simply engaging with your money. Maybe you start a money journal, maybe you take what you're already doing and just make it part of a set routine of engaging with your money. If you're already engaging with your money, you feel like you're, um, starting to build a healthier financial future. We have two quick ideas of how you could level up and take that engagement to a new space. Number one is connect with a financial ally. I mean, we do talk sessions with people all the time. We just are talking. It's not about anything. It's about building a healthy relationship and helping them think through financial challenges or opportunities. You can schedule a quick chat on our website@wealthwisdomfp.com. That's wealth wisdom fp.com. We'll answer some questions and share resources for your journey, all geared towards empowering you to engage in healthy ways with your money.
(11:50): Now I wanna talk to the business owners, the entrepreneurs, the side hustlers out there because That's a lot of 'em. Now I know a lot of you I can hear cuz I felt this myself. We so much struggle to engage with our money cuz there's just way too moving many moving parts on top of all the moving parts. Uh, personally, there's also all the moving parts in our business and the interchange between those, all these moving parts can cause a lot of anxiety just in their sheer volume. This month we released an online quest called Manage Cash Flow like a millionaire. It's a 10 step process to engage with personal and business finances simply and sustainably. And for this month only, the quest is included with membership and the wealth wisdom financial community. The info is available at www.wealthwisdomfp.com/y N a b. It, even if you're catching this episode after October, 2022, the Quest is still available and you'll find it's worth every penny. If you're listening on or before October 31st, 2022. Get it today before the price goes up. Again, managed cash flow like a millionaire is available at www.wealthwisdomfp.com/y n as in Nancy, a b as in boy. And we'll put that link in the show notes too.
(13:21): Now for you business owners, entrepreneurs and side hustlers, we've got a very helpful system to engage with your money that will be digging into next episode. So hit that subscribe button so you don't miss it. And don't forget to share this episode with somebody that you feel needs to hear these words because we do not wanna see people in those high stress, high. I don't know the systems that are there. We, we don't wanna see those negative things. We wanna bring positivity. And if you, we can help that. Share this with a friend if you can help that. Yeah. So until next time, keep growing and protecting your foundational wealth so you're ready for the next adventure. Life brings your way. We hope you live long and profit. The topics presented in this podcast are for general information only and not for the purposes of providing legal, accounting or investment advice. Untouch matters. Please consult a professional who knows your specific situation.
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