5 Actions To Improve Your Financial Wellbeing
Having high financial wellbeing means money doesn’t cause you stress and worry, you can make choices to enjoy life from day to day and you are financially secure when you can’t or no longer wish to work for money.
Here is my 5 point checklist of actions you can take to maximise your own financial wellbeing in 2019 and beyond.
Find out your Financial Fitness Score
Salary Finance, the financial wellbeing provider where I am Head of Financial Education, has developed a quick and simple online tool to help people measure their level of financial fitness/wellness. This was based on research conducted among 10,000 UK employees across 25 different employment sectors. The financial fitness score is based on a 5-point scale, with 1 being the lowest and 5 being the highest, as shown below. The UK average score is currently 3.1, with the largest number of people having a score of 2 or 4. Take the test now to find out your score by clicking here. It takes less than a minute and there is no need to leave any personal information.
2. Work out what makes you happy and the role of money in achieving that
The key to financial wellbeing is controlling your spending and making sure that what you do spend it on is in tune with your values and priorities to maximise your happiness and fulfilment. We are all unique and different things make different people happy. Here is my own list.
- Walking my dogs
- Listening to music
- Meditating
- Yoga
- Playing my piano
- Reading to expand my knowledge and understanding
- Reading a good story/novel
- Working with interesting people
- Giving money talks (I know I get paid for this, but it gives me a lot of pleasure)
- Gym workouts, running in open air, swimming
- Talking to my brother on the phone
- Having a coffee with an old friend I’ve not seen for a while
- Talking to people I don’t know
- Skiing
- Sunday dinner with my family
- Decluttering my home or office
- Listening to podcasts while on my ride on tractor mower
- Meeting up with my three best mates for a chin wag
- Sharing my life experiences with younger people who can learn something from them
- Creating ideas for podcast, books, articles and talks
- Studying Stoic philosophy
- Swimming in the open sea somewhere nice
- Chopping logs and kindling wood and keeping my barn tidy
- Watching a good film or drama with my family
- Having a glass of wine with my wife on Friday night
3. Improve your knowledge and understanding of basic money concepts and principles
Money can be a dry, complex, overwhelming and even boring subject for many people, but unless and until you educate yourself on the basic principles, it will be hard for you to improve your financial wellbeing.
No one will ever care as much as you about your financial situation, and the impact it has on your happiness. You owe it to yourself to improve your understanding about money. This doesn’t mean becoming a geek or an expert, just appreciating the timeless money concepts that work.
There is an enormous amount of information available on personal finance but to help you get started I’ve created a small list of useful educational books, podcasts, and websites.
Books:
Money Moments: Simple steps to financial wellbeing by Jason Butler
Essential Personal Finance: A practical guide for employees by Jonquil Lowe, Jason Butler and Lien Luu
The Meaningful Money Handbook by Pete Matthew
The Financial Wellbeing Book by Chris Budd
The Money Plan: Clear your debts, Secure Your Tomorrow and Live for Today by Warren Shute
Podcasts:
The Financial Wellbeing Podcast
Websites:
https://www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/en
https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/
4. Improve your daily money habits
Even if you have a high level of money education and understanding, it has no value unless you put it into action. The simplest and most effective changes you can make are to your daily money habits and behaviours.
Leading UK money coach Simonne Gnessen has created a great list of habits that you might focus on to improve your financial wellbeing.
5. Get control of your spending
It doesn’t make how much you earn, if you don’t get control of your spending - so you both strike a balance between the present and the future and what makes you truly happy – you’ll find it difficult to improve your financial wellbeing.
There are now several useful budgeting apps from third parties and banks that make it easier to create and follow a spending budget. Youneedabudget has a great website that explains the basic principles of budgeting.
Progress Not Perfection
Remember you just need to make progress in being better with money. You don’t need to be perfect and don’t be too hard on yourself if you make mistakes or it takes time to improve your financial situation.
Your aim is to have enough money, so you live a truly rich life, not to end up the richest person in the cemetery.
Do let me know how you get on.
Best of luck.
Warm regards,
Jason