Personal Finance is Part of Overall Wellness
June 7, 2016
When you think of wellness, your mind might wander to things like nutrition, mindfulness, and physical activity. But have you ever thought about personal finance as a component of your overall wellness? Think about it. If you’ve ever been stressed about finances in some way, you have seen how that can impact other areas of your life. It is all interconnected! As student affairs professionals, we know it is all too easy to invest so much in our students that our own health and happiness may fall by the wayside.
What does being financially well mean? It is more than your salary. It is more than the amount of debt you have in student loans. It is more than your net worth. Financial wellness is something to work toward at any income level. It is: understanding your current financial state, feeling secure that you have a future plan, and having that sense of control and confidence in your abilities to manage this aspect of your life.
Financial wellness is flat out empowering.
Want to start taking control? As a Student Affairs professional, here are three starting steps I recommend if you want to start focusing more intentionally on this aspect of your wellness:
1.Where does my money go? REALLY.
We’ve all heard that having a budget is important but do you actually do it? This is one of the most foundational financial concepts and if your foundation is shaky, the rest of your financial wellness could be too. Track your spending, look at it realistically, and make the necessary tweaks to ensure your spending is in line with your priorities. With free apps like Mint, Wally, and Personal Capital it is way easier to do this than you may think!
2.Pull your credit report and read it!
The credit score gets a lot of attention, but people often forget that looking at your credit report is just as important. Think of your credit report as your academic transcript. If you only look at your overall GPA, and never look at the individual grades that went into it, you are only touching the surface. Pull your credit report and walk through it in detail to make sure everything is correct. And fun fact: pulling your own credit report does NOT hurt your score. That is a myth!
3.Automate your savings.
Psychologically, we are not wired to save. It is completely against our human nature to put away for the future. So help yourself out a bit, and automate it. Every month when I get paid, I have a percentage of my paycheck go directly into my savings account. That way I don’t even see it. And when you don’t see it hit your checking account, it tricks your brain into thinking you don’t have that to spend on discretionary items!
At the end of the day, you don’t have to be a finance guru to tackle this topic. Anyone can do it! So do it today. For yourself, your future, and your overall wellness.
Mandi Cohen is currently the Financial Wellness Outreach Coordinator at The Ohio State University and also serves as the Social Media and Web Coordinator on the NASPA IV-E board. She loves brunch, pour over coffee, queso, and all things on Bravo. Find her on Twitter at @mandi_cohen.