You are gripped with anxiety any time that you think about your finances. Any time you make a purchase with your debit card, you’re worried that you will go into overdraft. Any purchase you make with your credit card could be maxing out the account. Every check you send feels like it could bounce. You’re terrified to even open up your banking app and see the numbers on the screen.
You need to confront your financial anxiety, but you’re not sure how. These are some tips that can help you.
Practice Exposure Therapy
Exposure therapy is a strategy that asks you to expose yourself to the object of your fear in a safe environment. It should reduce your anxiety levels in the long term and break your pattern of avoidance.
How can you do this with financial anxiety? Start with a small, simple goal, like checking your bank account online. Do this every day until the action becomes more manageable.
Reduce the Chaos
Your financial anxiety might be exacerbated by the fact that your finances are chaotic and disorganized. If you organized your finances, you might have an easier time thinking about them.
But how can you organize something that you’re anxious about? Start by getting some help with the right apps. A budgeting app can guide you through the steps of building a sensible monthly budget. A bill-cutting app can find subscriptions that you can potentially cut to save money. A bill payment app can track your bill deadlines and stop you from missing payments.
Create Safety Nets
Are you constantly plagued with the worry that something will go wrong? Then, set up some safety nets for yourself. Doing this could ease your anxiety since you’re financially prepared for obstacles.
Banking Alerts:
Through your online banking, you can set up alerts to warn you if your account balances are running too low. With this simple warning set up, you don’t have to wonder if you’re going to put your account into overdraft by accident.
Emergency Fund:
An emergency fund is a collection of savings that you can turn to whenever you get hit with an urgent, unplanned expense. Instead of pushing the boundaries of your budget, you can withdraw the necessary savings from your fund and pay off the expense quickly.
An emergency fund will take time to build up and become a good safety net. When it’s still new, it might not be able to pay off an urgent expense in its entirety. In that case, there are several potential options for borrowing that you could look into as a backup plan, like a line of credit loan. With a line of credit loan, you could use borrowed funds to cover the expense in a hurry and then follow a loan repayment plan afterward.
These types of online loans are meant for emergencies only. Do not apply for one if you need to cover an everyday expense.
Insurance:
Your emergency fund can help you handle urgent expenses out of pocket. Insurance is meant to help you with expenses that are much too big to handle with your savings. What types of insurance should you consider?
• Renters insurance: If you rent your home, renters’ insurance can help you cover the costs to replace valuables after a burglary. It can also offer coverage when someone gets injured in your apartment.
• Health insurance: Health insurance can help cover the costs of medical treatments. If you aren’t insured through your workplace, you can apply for a private health insurance plan.
• Pet insurance: If you have a dog or cat, you can sign up for pet insurance to help cover veterinary costs.
• Travel insurance: If you’re traveling, you should have travel insurance to financially protect you in scenarios like flight cancelations, flight delays, rental vehicle collisions and medical emergencies. Your credit card may offer travel insurance.
Talk to a Professional
If you’re still struggling with your financial anxiety after taking these steps, you should consider talking to a mental health professional. Some professionals will specialize in helping clients with financial anxiety.
Your financial anxiety doesn’t have to be a burden forever. You have the power to confront it and conquer it!
