4 Tips To Cope With Money Anxiety, From A Financial Planner Who Gets It

• Plenty of people experience financial anxiety — me included, and I’m a financial planner.
• I find that if I can stop myself from catastrophizing, it makes a big difference.
• Being aware of my money helps, too, as does learning from the mistakes I inevitably make.

Maybe you’re worried about how to pay your bills, save up for an emergency, or manage your debt. Money stress can quickly turn into financial anxiety, which can make you feel powerless in your situation and unable to make any changes. 

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By Hannah Horvath – You may read this article in its entirety HERE on Business Insider’s website

If you struggle with financial anxiety, you’re not alone. More than three in four Americans report feeling anxious about their financial situation, and almost 60% feel like their finances control their lives. 

Part of the reason I became a financial planner was to help people understand their financial anxiety and empower them, through education, to make smarter, more sustainable financial decisions. 

But that doesn’t mean I’m immune to money stress — in fact, I experience the same feelings of financial anxiety that many of my friends and family come to me about

What is financial anxiety?

Financial anxiety typically centers around uncertainty, instability, and fear of the unknown. In most cases, anxious thoughts are about the future and what may (and may not) happen.

Financial anxiety can range from feeling stressed about your overall financial picture to worrying about more specific issues, like savings, retirement, affording a house, or the cost of your child’s education. It can show up in many different ways, such as avoiding checking your credit card balances, obsessively saving, monitoring your accounts, or endlessly worrying about money. In short — financial anxiety is difficult to deal with. If left unchecked, it can quickly overwhelm you and affect your day-to-day life. 

For me, financial anxiety comes up in a number of ways. It could be around short-term factors, like if I feel like I’m overspending in a given month or an unexpected expense popped up and I’m worried I’ll have to dip into savings to cover it. Or it’s focused on reaching my long-term goals, like saving for retirement or buying a new home. 

Luckily, years of financial planning have helped me deal with financial anxiety and not let it derail my day (or week). Here’s how I handle it. 

4 strategies for dealing with financial anxiety 

Ignore catastrophizing and focus on the now 

In the past when I felt anxious, I used to imagine the worst possible scenario…

Read on…article continues HERE on Business Insider’s website