Have you ever thought about what it takes to achieve financial wellness? We might know what it takes to maintain a healthy lifestyle, which includes eating a balanced diet, exercising, drinking lots of water, etc. But what exactly is financial wellness and what are some of the tips to achieve or improve your financial health?
In order to measure your well-being when it comes to your finances, there are certain questions you have to ask yourself for example, do I have enough money to meet my needs? Do I have the financial freedom to make the choices I want in order to enjoy my life?
Let’s start by defining Financial Wellness. The official definition for financial well-being is “a state of being wherein you: have control over day-to-day, month-to-month finances; have the capacity to absorb a financial shock; are on track to meet your financial goals, and have the financial freedom to make the choices that allow you to enjoy life.”
Just like how maintaining good mental and physical health is important, so too is achieving financial wellness in order to enjoy life’s delicacies. Before discussing the list of financial well-being tips, let’s look at the benefits of being financially well.
Being financially well gives you the opportunity to pursue your dreams, helps lower your stress level, and it gives you the means to deal with emergencies.
Now let’s look at three financial well-being tips to start:
- Stick to a budget: Creating and sticking to a budget is one of the most important ways of achieving financial wellness. It allows you to have control over your day-to-day and month-to-month spending. Budgeting allows you to keep track of your finances, how much money you have, what you spend it on, and where you can cut back on spending.
- Have an emergency fund: Having the ability to absorb a financial shock from unexpected events can prevent you from having financial hardships. Whether it is a medical emergency or any other expense, having an emergency saving fund allows you to cater to these needs without putting yourself into a financial crisis. Ideally, an emergency fund consists of 3 to 6 months of basic living expenses.
- Invest your money: This point cannot be stressed further. You know this is my favorite tip! Knowing how to invest is something everyone should learn, especially if you want to maintain financial well-being. And the good thing is that it doesn’t require you to have a lot of money in order to get started. Investing is how to set yourself up for a secure financial future.
When you reach financial wellness, it means you have enough money to meet your daily needs. When you are financially well, you have enough money to enjoy life the way you want to. After all, its our one life, let’s make it our best life!
I want to start investing but I am sure how and where.