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strong>If the incomes do not meet the expenses, we perceive this situation as a threat and we get stressed for fear of suffering a loss of life. But there are ways to reduce “financial stress”.
Our body has a balance. We breathe once and breathe out once so that his cells can communicate and keep him alive. We feed it to provide the energy it needs, we empty our intestines to throw away the parts of the food we eat that are not useful to it. We sleep at night and wake up when it is day.
If we do the opposite, we simply cannot provide him with enough vitamin D. If we just inhale or exhale, the cells inside cannot communicate. If we prevent the need to eat, for example, the neurons surrounding it cannot communicate with each other because they cannot receive the energy they are programmed to spend, and the nervous system built by the neurons cannot do its job. If we insist on keeping the undesirable part of the food in the intestines for a long time, the excretory system loses its auto-control.
Like our body, our budget also has a balance, and both need us to stay in balance. Both of them are surprised when we do not manage well what “should take” and “should give”. Confusion turns into a crisis when it is repeated frequently and for a long time. The results of the crises experienced by two entities, one biological and the other economic, are close to each other. The crisis of the body is called “disease” in medicine. The name given to the budget crisis in the economy is “financial stress”. If timely measures are taken, stress does not progress to depression.
How does financial stress occur?
In economics (in fact, at the level of major economies), financial stress is defined as “being unable to manage assets”. By wealth is meant all income and other possessions of material value. It describes increasing the asset by managing it correctly, or at least maintaining its value. When we descend from the level of large economies to the level of the individual, we can redefine “financial stress” as follows: The deterioration of the balance between incomes and expenditures negatively. This definition makes it inevitable to talk about “expenses outweighing revenues” with assets. Being able to manage expenses is a condition of being able to manage the material values one has. The reverse is also true.
People perceive the inability of their income to meet their expenses as a threat and they get stressed out of fear of suffering a loss of life. The brain, as in all moments of threat and danger, gives the body a “fight or flight” command. However, financial danger is different from physical threats and dangers that the body recognizes and is naturally prepared for.
There is no question of a speeding truck while crossing the road. No matter how much the psoas prepares the body to defend itself or flee, it cannot help protect itself from the threat posed by the budget crisis. Of course, the muscle exercises he will do to dissipate the tension that accumulates in the psoas and feels as “stress” due to his inability to move, of course, has a benefit. It helps him calm his fears so that he can think clearly in order to take financial precautions. However, this is not a problem solving, but a temporary pacification to get into the mood needed to solve the problem.
Psychological and physical consequences of financial stress?
Not being able to cover their expenses with the material values they have, negatively affects people psychologically and physically. The sense of inadequacy felt in the short term evolves into a loss of self-confidence in the medium and long term. Financial stress increases the risk of tension in social relationships.
Psychological consequences also become the cause of physical problems. Here are a few examples from the study published by the Financial Services Innovation Center (CFSI) in the United States: People under financial stress suffer from insomnia and headaches four times more often than others. People in this group are also at higher risk of developing heart disease, high blood pressure, depression and anxiety.
Exercises to reduce financial stress
1. Preparing Income – Expense Statement
“How will I balance my expenses with my income?” uncertainty. In order to eliminate this uncertainty, the first thing to do is to prepare an “Income-Expense Statement”. This table, which includes all income and (mandatory, arbitrary expenses) on a monthly basis, is the first step in taking control of one’s budget.
2. Closing the debts that bring interest burden in the first place
To pay off debts that increase with interest, such as credit card debt, at once. When interest disappears, debts will automatically decrease.
3. Not creating new debts
To set a period and not to spend that will create new debt during this period. The lack of a deadline creates a feeling of deprivation «I will no longer get anything». Setting a deadline signals an end to the arduous process and is comforting: «I just won’t take it for … a month.»
4. Identifying and simulating expense items to be reduced
Identifying automatic expenses after separating other expenses:
What expenses can be deducted immediately?
Which ones can be suspended for a while?
Is it possible to reduce automatic expenses such as rent, bills, kitchen expenses? For example, the possibility of changing neighborhoods, moving with the family for a while, sharing a part of the house in order to reduce the rental expense.
Making an imaginary picture for the coming months has a motivating effect to see how much of a surplus will be achieved when expenses are reduced: «It is possible!»
5. Saving liberates – Continuity matters, not quantity
We can also apply these two words to savings:
“Drop by drop, it becomes a lake.”
“It is not the force of the water that pierces the rock, but the duration of the drops.”
No matter how small the income is, there is always some amount to set aside.
Simple is beautiful: If we had started setting aside $1 per day ten years ago, we would have had $3,650 today. If we were to convert our accumulated money into foreign currency and gold at regular intervals, this amount would reach an average of $500. This is called “asset management”.
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