11 Tips To Help With Finance Anxiety

Finances Not Helping Your Anxiety? 11 Tips to Help You Breathe Easier

By  Carson Kohler   Staff Writer Penny Hoarder

Honestly, who doesn’t have anxiety these days?

Even if you haven’t been officially diagnosed with an anxiety disorder (ahem, me), you probably still experience tinges of That Dreaded Feeling. That swelling of panic in your gut, that flush of hives across your chest, that looming paranoia you can’t quite place…

As a nation, our anxiety levels are rising. In 2018, the U.S. national anxiety score (yes, that’s a thing) was 51 out of 100 — a five-point jump since 2017 — according to the American Psychiatric Association. Among our top concerns? Health, safety and — you guessed it! — finances.

11 Simple Strategies to Help Calm Your Financial Anxieties

Sure, you might’ve broken the paycheck-to-paycheck cycle and no longer have to rely on ramen for dinner. But you still experience this sense of financial uneasiness, like you know you’re missing something.

Yes, some folks might call it irrational or unfounded. To you — and me — it’s totally real.

The good news? You can address these fears. (Much easier than addressing those fears of heights, roaches or commitment, in my humble opinion.)

Here’s how:

1. Use This Simple Trick Pay Your Bills on Time

One of my biggest financial anxieties? Forgetting to pay my bills. In my head, the world will end. The credit card company will dump my account over to collections, my power will flicker off and my apartment building will escort me out in handcuffs.

Yeah, totally irrational.

The easiest way to calm this fear? Set your accounts to auto-pay. If you’re anxious about overdrafting or don’t trust auto-pay (same), then add the due dates to your phone’s calendar, or jot them in your agenda. This help you remember when bills are due and help you plan ahead with your budget.

This is such a simple move, and you’ll no longer have to jolt up at 2 a.m. because you knew you’d been forgetting something.

2. Realize Saving Money Isn’t Difficult if You’re Realistic and Proactive

A cell phone displays the Digit app

The Digit app can link to your checking account and withdraw small amounts of money into your savings account. Aileen Perilla/ The Penny Hoarder

The key word here: Realistic.

I tend to — scratch that, always — set unrealistic expectations for myself. Oh, sure, no problem. I can save 50% of my paycheck this month! A week in, I’ve totally blown the plan to pieces. First I feel stressed out, because I have no idea how I’m going to get back on track. Then I give up.

Don’t. Do. This.

“Make sure these goals are as specific and actionable as possible,” says Leslie Tayne, financial debt resolution attorney and founder and managing director of Tayne Law Group.

She offers an example: “Simply setting a goal to save more will be difficult to stick to,” she says. “However, if you make your goal to save $100 from each paycheck, that is a much clearer and actionable step.”

If you need to, enlist some help.

Use an app like Digit. Simply link it to your checking account, set a savings goal, then its algorithms will determine small (and safe!) amounts of money to withdraw into a separate, FDIC-insured savings account.

Bonus: Penny Hoarders will get an extra $5 just for signing up! Additionally, savers will receive a 1.00% bonus every three months.

To continue reading, please go to the original article here:

https://www.thepennyhoarder.com/bank-accounts/financial-anxiety/?aff_sub2=homepage