No matter where you are in the world, money keeps it going – from food to education but we have found out there is seven key financial stress about money that would normally be found just lurking beneath the surface of our minds, always circulating around and worrying us about.
Common Financial Stress
These are the top seven most common financial stress that people fear most:
- The high amount of debt
I think this part speaks for itself. If you were to ask anyone who has a large debt from the various loans and fees to service, I doubt that person would sleep easily every night.
These days, it is so easy to overspend on unnecessary goods too – with easy access to credit cards, mortgage loans as well as interest-free instalment plans, it would be all to simple to merely swipe that credit card and voila – $4,000 gone in a moment. This also makes it extremely easy to spend much more than what you make.
- Not enough savings in the bank
This is another large stressor for the majority of us. It is only natural that we feel very stressed out when we see our bank account draining down to a tiny figure, even if the money is spent on worthwhile things, or will be paid back.
Thankfully, being in an Asian society, we tend to save a little more than most people in the world. But with rising costs of living and inflation outpacing salary growth and interest rates, what more can we do to allay that subconscious nagging thought of our bank accounts being eroded?
- Volatile stock markets
This stressor hits especially hard to the investors reading this. When the market takes a sharp turn south, everyone would be affected. Suddenly, all that profit you saw in your trading account accumulated over several months just evaporated in a mere moment.
In fact, at this time of writing in 2016, the global stock market took a hard hit and is only slowly recovering from it, thanks to the overproduction of oil.
While we’re not suggesting that we avoid investing altogether, it would be good if the investor would be shrewder and do extensive research on the companies to invest in.
Remember Warren Buffett’s 2 golden rules!
Rule 1: Never Lose Money.
Rule 2: Don’t ever forget rule 1.
You can also check out The New Savvy’s investment section to learn more about stock markets and how you can learn to get a decent return on your investments!
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- Losing a job
This is also a very significant stressor to most, if not all of us. Losing a job would mean that we would no longer be making money to provide for ourselves or for our children in general.
Have you ever seen parents happy when they are retrenched from their job because of a poor economy? This is also a big reason why many of us should save as much as we can in the event that we get retrenched for whatever reason, to lessen the already huge negative impact on our psyches and bank accounts.
- Not being able to retire
This is a pretty terrible idea to harbour in our minds – can you imagine working for over 40-50 years, only to realise that you don’t have enough in savings or in investments to retire on?
Can you imagine that at 60 years old, you still have to work simply because you don’t have enough?
- Not being able to afford a home
Home ownership in Singapore is placed at a pretty high ranking on the list of things to own. Being uprooted from an apartment time and again would also cause a psychological strain on the children and of course, moving furniture all over would be extremely annoying and worrying.
- Fear of living pay cheque to pay cheque
The fear of living from pay cheque to pay cheque. It is almost as if you were only given barely enough to survive, yet not nearly enough. It is almost like being a zombie; almost dead, yet not early alive as well.
It is probably the most debilitating stressor of all, as it can derail all our plans for the future and for the lives of others as well.
Thankfully, while these 7 common financial stress is real and extremely daunting, there is hope! There is always a way for any of us to turn our lives around, and to start doing what is financially right for us and start accumulating wealth for our futures, and to turn our dreams into reality with that wealth.
It is not too late!
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