Financial Wellness – Setting the new year with intentions to reduce stress and build your success

Financial Wellness is a journey that begins with you and builds as you move your journey and literacy forward.

New Year Financial Success

This month of January my focus to share with you is Financial Wellness. I want to help you set the New Year with Intentions to Reduce Financial Stress and Build Financial Success.  When I work with you on financial coaching our goal is to weed out the Financial Stress you are feeling in life and turn it into financial success. Financial Wellness can mean many different things to different people and there is no one right definition for Financial Wellness.

Financial Wellness does not have one definition and there is no one way to know that you have achieved Financial Wellness. As with anything in personal finance – your Financial Wellness is just that your OWN Wellness Journey. That means your life circumstances, past money stories, money choices, income, expenses, beliefs, values, and goals will define and shape your Wellness journey. As you grow, achieve goals, and feel more comfortable in your financial wellness journey you will continue to redefine and update the meaning of financial wellness.

When I was newly married (almost 20 years ago) Financial Wellness meant that I was learning how to pay bills and manage income for two adults one who was deployed and perhaps not the most fiscally responsible.  Over time Financial wellness meant I was not floating a check at a grocery store and checking our bank accounts multiple times a day. Today Financial wellness means to me that I don’t have to use my credit card to cover an unexpected medical bill, or that I can say YES more often than I have to say No, and that we define our spending. It is also getting to have financial conversations with my spouse and kids, not financial arguments, that we can mostly be on similar financial pages and are working together to build our financial future.

Last month I reached out to you on Social Media and asked you to respond to the question What does Financial Wellness mean to you? There were so many different responses that represented a variety of goals, life circumstances, and hopes for the future. If you haven’t had a chance to look at these responses I encourage you to hop over to my Facebook page Sip Into Savings and check it out. A few quotes that I connected with were the following that I want to explore more through this blog.

Financial Wellness is knowing that an emergency will not derange my budget. It's being able to use money for the things that make me happy because all the essentials are covered.

There are two important parts to this quote the first is security and the second is enjoyment. A lot of times we think about our money in terms of a budget being restricting but in this case, having a budget allows this individual to have both security and enjoyment. They know that they can cover an emergency which provides peace of mind and reduces stress when an emergency crops up. Emergencies could be insurance deductibles, unexpected disability, reduced wages, or other concerns that pop up and need significant funds to cover. When I started in Financial Counseling I was working with clients that were coming into a nonprofit looking for a loan to help them cover a financial emergency that had come up. During this time I began to build a lot of my financial coaching that I still live and coach by these days.

1.       Build an emergency savings account that is approachable and meaningful to you.

2.       Build space in your budget for enjoyment.

In my early days of Financial Wellness, I made sure we had enough saved to cover our car insurance deductible and the cost of a flight home in case there was a death or critical illness of a close family member. Knowing that I had the funds to cover these emergencies gave me peace of mind which reduced the stress when one of these emergencies cropped up.  

Building space for enjoyment in our budgets is essential. Life is about enjoying life and not just managing through it, so remember to build space in your budget to experience life and enjoyment. I see all too often when a budget or spending needs an adjustment we want to pull out of the nice parts of life and say we can just manage on the basics. I will admit that there are dire extremes that might call for this but that also means getting creative to find FREE FUN. However, most of us are not in dire cases and we just need some adjustments and behavior modifications. So don’t wipe out all of the enjoyment or you’re not going to feel any Wellness in your finances.

Financial wellness means paying bills on time and creating a plan to get out of debt.

This is a great financial wellness example of living in the here and now with a goal to move the needle further ahead. Starting with what you can do today such as paying your bills on time helps to build a positive outlook, reduces stress load, and creates space to mentally build for the future like creating a debt repayment plan. If this statement on wellness resonates with you then start building on what you can do today to make a positive financial impact.

Practical Tips –

Take a look at all of your bills. If you have past due bills open those envelopes and make a priority list. Try to keep the ones that are being paid on time in that status.

If you have any bills that are behind that have collateral attached to them like cars, or homes, these are ones you need to keep on the top of your priority list. Call your bill companies and see what payment plans they can offer so you can become current on the bills.

If you have too many bills due on the same pay day call and ask if you can change the payment date to balance your budget better.

Did you know that some lenders will allow you to move your missed payments to the end of your loan which extends your loan but brings you back to a current paid status?

Take time to add bill due dates to your calendar so you are tracking when they are due.

Make a date with yourself at the beginning and middle of the month to review your bills and set up payments.

As you accomplish some of these practical tips you will notice changes in your financial stress, mindset, and focus.

Cheers to Your 2025 Financial Success

Over this next year, I hope that you will set an intention to build and embrace your financial wellness journey from building a budget, paying down debt, increasing long-term savings, or feeling more confident about your journey. Choose an intention, tell me about your intention, and let's help you achieve your next level of financial wellness this year.

If your Financial Wellness Journey is about any of the following I encourage you to check out the linked resources. If you need help and a coach to encourage and push you along this year reach out and let's work on this together. I believe in you!

Getting in Tune with your Money – Join our Community Chat on Jan 22nd 8 pm Eastern / 5 pm Pacific

Debt Paydown or Pay off – www.powerpay.org

Understanding Investing - 2025 Winter Financial Wellness Webinar Series Tickets, Tue, Jan 7, 2025 at 12:00 PM | Eventbrite  Investing Part 1 Jan 16 or 17 and Investing Part 2 Jan 28 and 30.

Monthly Intentions for Financial Wellness - FREE 2025 Finance Calendar Download