Financial Planning, Mental Health and Retirement: Tying them all together to create the ultimate happiness
Planning for your future is one of the most important things you can do for your overall well-being, as well as your financial success. Financial security is something most of us strive for. Understanding what having a healthy financial life means to you, creating those goals, and having a plan can help you move closer to financial security in retirement.
There are many benefits to financial planning, some of those key benefits are: (1)
The financial planning process helps you set goals that are a great source of motivation and commitment
Financial plans provide a guide for action and decision-making
Financial planning has additional emotional and mental health benefits
Financial planning is shown to improve financial outcomes
Going through the process of financial planning will help in setting goals that you will be motivated and committed to upholding. Change is hard, but inevitable. Setting goals that you are motivated to achieve can help provide flexibility to handle change. As your financial plan is developed, it provides a guide on how to implement the actions that will lead you to an improved financial outcome. Having a plan in place will alleviate stressors you might otherwise have, which affect your overall mental health. “A recent survey indicated that 83 percent of people with a written financial plan feel better about their finances after just one year.” (1)
Financial Anxiety is defined as a feeling of worry, fear, or unease about your finances. It can be caused by many different things. With COVID-19 impacting our economy and markets, many people have struggled with anxiety when it comes to their finances and the “what ifs”.
According to a recent survey from NextAdvisor, 51% of Americans feel at least somewhat anxious about their financial situation following the coronavirus outbreak. The top three causes of anxiety surrounding COVID-19 were debt, lack of savings and loss of employment/income. (2)
Financial anxiety, for most, is not an isolated condition. Anxiety affects our overall mental and physical health. Money is an anxiety trigger that you can target. Having a financial plan in place is likely to ease some of those looming anxieties and keep you on a healthier mental and physical path. If needed, targeting the psychological aspect of money through therapy can also be of great assistance.
So, what leads to happiness in retirement? According to an article about retirement happiness, the three most important things are money, health, and relationships. They are called “The Three Pillars of Life Satisfaction” (3) During our working years, when we are busy accumulating wealth, we also must make sure we are developing our physical health and relationships with family and friends. Like money, health and relationships are investments. We invest our time and energy into all of them, it is rightfully so that they would be the things to bring us the most joy and happiness in our years of retirement.
The key takeaway here is that focusing on a financial plan that encompasses your goals and investments into all three pillars, will assist you in enjoying your retirement years, whatever they may hold for you personally. As your financial planners, we want to be a part of ALL your investments.
(1) https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171221005757/en/Quarters-Americans-Set-Financial-Goals-2018
(2) https://time.com/nextadvisor/banking/coronavirus-financial-anxiety/
