Juggling Financial Goals and Your Lifestyle

You’ve probably heard or read the bit about juggling life, right? It goes something like this: You’re telling me that I’m supposed to work a full-time job, keep my house Instagram worthy, eat healthy, drink all my water, get 8+ hours of sleep, exercise, take care of my family, be a good friend, and text everyone back? In 24 hours a day? It’s an uphill battle at times. Throw finances in the mix with the expectation to successfully keep a budget, hit saving goals, and manage debt and a feeling of overwhelm can quickly take over. Fortunately, financial wellness is a marathon, not a sprint to the finish line. Learning how to tame your financial habits and live a life that works for your budget, your goals, and your lifestyle is possible.

What is Financial Health?

I have a theory about financial health. While the concept, in a literal sense, is all about numbers, I don’t believe it’s an accident that health which is traditionally linked to our personal, physical wellness and finances are being linked. I grew up in a single parent home where the words stress and money were virtually synonymous. Sadly, financial stress can extend beyond a mental health concern⁷ and become a physical problem as long-term stress can lead to health conditions, some of which are unfortunately chronic and potentially deadly. Financial health was not something I learned about until adulthood, and the moment I heard the phrases health and finances linked, it made perfect sense to me as someone who witnessed financial hardship manifesting into stress and in turn physical ailments.

To shape up and get financially “well” however, it’s imperative to understand what financial health looks like as well as what it looks like to live a financially unwell lifestyle. Just like diet and exercise are important to physical wellbeing, there are habits that help form financial wellness with day-to-day implementation and practice. Creating budgeting goals, learning to manage debt, and saving for the future are all key indicators of financial wellness. On the other hand, flying blind financially, increasing debt without a solid plan to repay, and spending every penny earned can contribute to unhealthy finances.

Small Steps to Financial Wellness

The beautiful thing about investing in financial wellness, step by step, is that you can create change that extends beyond your bank account. Financial wellness, as a practice, has the ability to transform the balance of your life¹ to make you happier and by extension healthier. Now, this doesn’t mean that money equals happiness. Gaining control of your finances and your financial future, however, can help you reach financial goals. In turn, this can improve your stress levels and therefore create a more peaceful, some might say happier, relationship with money.

In practice, achieving financial wellness can be a little overwhelming. Focusing on the small steps ahead can make the process a bit more approachable. A great place to start is setting financial goals, creating a budget, and assessing the best way to manage debt.

Creating Financial Goals

Hitting goals becomes more feasible when you have a clear picture⁶ of what you want to achieve. Perhaps you’re focused on a fully funded retirement plan or rainy-day fund. You might want to invest or set saving goals for a large purchase. Perhaps you’re focused on reducing your stress surrounding money by focusing on your financial wellness as a whole. No matter your financial goals, you’ll want to map them out clearly to formulate a comprehensive plan for success. The best way to stick to your plan is to have a goal that you care about, something that is important to you. When you care about your own financial success, you will be motivated to stick to the budget you create, and the savings goals you have set. Writing your goals down will help you create a plan for success. You can create a list, a vision board, or even a chart to track your progress as you move closer to your goals. Once you know where you want to go, you’ll need a plan for action.

The Importance of Budgeting

Budgeting is more than telling your money where to go, it’s a lifestyle that has to be adopted in order to reach big goals. With that said, building a budget that fits your life is important for sustainability. The beginning of the budgeting process is evaluation. Looking at your finances with a fresh perspective, one that is motivated by your freshly created financial goals can help you identify areas that could be trimmed² while also noting areas that will need to remain the same. For some people, extra spending is not much of an issue because they are living paycheck to paycheck. However, even in these situations, it’s possible that there are expenditures that can be trimmed without being completely cut from the budget. For example, a common area that can lead to overspending⁸ is eating out. When you have your spending in check, it’s much easier to reach financial goals.⁵ Not sure where to start? Check out our Budgeting Guide to learn how to set up and stick to a newly minted budget plan. Learning to budget properly can help you save, yes, but it can also help you get out of debt more quickly by allocating the funds that you’re saving in other areas to pay down debt.

Saying Goodbye to Debt

Debt can be utilized responsibly to finance things like cars, homes, and expenses, and those payments can be worked into a healthy budget. However, it’s time to say goodbye to debt that you cannot afford.³ For many people, over extended credit is a part of their life, and the stress that this inability to make the numbers work each month can lead to an unhealthy financial life. It’s ideal to consult your budget before taking on new debt to ensure you can afford the new debt repayment. If you’ve taken on a new debt before looking at your budget and realize you’re in over your head, you’ll want to act quickly to prioritize debt repayment. You can recover from debt with a budget in place, a financial goal in mind, and determination to work as hard as you can to pay off the debt quickly. That doesn’t mean it will be easy depending on how much debt you’re facing. Dig into your finances and examine each of your debts closely. Understand the interest rates and payments, and formulate your repayment plan using the method that works best for you.⁴

No matter where you’re starting, commitment to financial wellness is within reach. You can revamp your finances without sacrificing the things that make you happy. Start small, one step at a time, and commit to enhancing your understanding of your finances. Taking control of your financial health can pay off quickly, reduce your stress, and improve your relationship with money. You won’t reach your goals overnight. After all, there are only 24 hours in a day. You can, however, make progress, and progress is extremely valuable.