The 4 Groundbreaking Phases of Financial Wellness
You’ll agree with me that money can be a tricky topic to tackle.
It can be REALLY hard making the first steps to activating a new life for the future.
Well, while it’s not easy, you can still start saving and investing in your financial future. Thus mapping your money through phases will save you time and money and CLARITY! Here are the four phases of financial wellness that will help you create more ease in your life.
The Four Phases of Financial Wellness
Phase 1: Write Your Out Your Money Stories
A money story is a conversation one tells themselves about money. Whether it be conscious or unconscious, we tell our stories about how we feel and what we should believe around cash. No JOKE. According to the Journal of Financial Therapy, we have roughly 72 money beliefs that can boil down to a few money dominant patterns.
It’s hard to know where you stand with your beliefs with your money story, but it doesn’t have to be. All you need is T.I.M.E. And maybe some sage.
Steps Write out Your Money Story
Time to grab a piece of paper. There is no one right or wrong answer. Set a timer. And start writing your beliefs around money.
Need more inspiration? Here is some journal prompts below. LET’s get digging
What is your first experience with money? Describe in Detail? Did you have any positive or negative feelings towards it?
What are some positive aspects of learning about your money?
How do your parents interact with money?
How do your friends interact with money?
Phase 2: Uncover your Financial Wellness
What is financial wellness?
Financial Wellness is the act of learning about how your personality, environment, and experiences affect your money habits, leading to financial stability. Financial Wellness is the act of understanding your economic cycle.
If we were to look through the fitness eight pillars’ lens, we could figure out how financial health can help us with our Money Story. The eight wellness pillars are:
Physical
Nutritional
Emotional
Social
Spiritual
Intellectual
Financial
Environmental.
If we want to be well, we ALL have to unpeel layers of our financial well-being by looking at the eight pillars of wellness. Every person's money story is different and unique, which is why we need to have a genuinely holistic approach to money. As we begin to look at each of these eight pillars we will ask ourselves how each pillar affects my financial wellness?
Think of your Financial Wellness as a CYCLICAL
I don't know about you, but I thought I had to have everything "planned" out when I first started budgeting. I would read a budgeting book. Download an app. I would map on my calendar; this is the first day to rest in my new life. I would attend money seminars only to find myself BORED OUT OF MY MIND. I knew I wanted to understand my money, but it got overwhelming because I was trying to be a perfectionist.
But what I realized is financial wellness is NOT linear. It’s cyclical like the stock market. HUZZAH!
So the big question is, why are we drawing our financial ladder like a line instead of a wheel?
Like you, I tried to fix myself and create challenging rigid timelines, which made me sick mentally and physically. Until I started to see my life as a whole person, life had a new meaning.
Steps to look at your financial wellness life in a WHOListic fashion
Draw out a circle and ask yourself what the Glows and Grows of each Financial wellness category are.
Glows: What’s one positive thing going on in this pillar?
Grow: What’s one area of growth?
Let’s look at an Example (Physical Category)
Your physical pillar includes sleep, hygiene, and physical activity. If we were to look at your physical wellness, ask ourselves the following questions:
Glows: What’s one positive thing going on in this pillar?
I’m sleeping in more :)
Grow: What’s one area of growth?
It’s dentist time!
Look at the following.
Physical
Nutritional How am I taking care of my nutrition
Emotional: mental health, relationships, etc.)
Social: Relationships, job, etc
Spiritual: The feeling of AWE, Company Culture, practice of worship
Intellectual: Learning, going to school, etc.
Financial: Budget, Money, etc
Environmental: ( Where you live, hangout, spaces)
Phase 3: Writing Your Financial Wellness Plan
I’ll be honest with you. It might be the HARDEST step. After getting clear on the positive aspects of your growth, you have to leap of faith. You must find out what is the most critical area in your money that you need to tackle.
Action step for Activating your Wellness Plan
Look at either your Money Story or Financial Wellness Wholistic chart.
Pick the ONE THING that is causing you the most stress.
Ask yourself why is it causing me stress?
Take action!
Phase 4: Finding your Financial BFF
A Financial BFF is an accountability group, friend, or financial support group that will help you with your money story without shame or guilt. They can help you uncover blind spots with your money. Some BFFs come and go, but some become lifelong partners. It’s all a process.
Action step to finding a Financial BFF
Look at your pain points and find someone to help you.
Let’s look at an example:
Julissa is a classy new age, a first-generation college graduate in her family enjoying her best life. But she finds herself spending a lot of her money in the Spiritual Category. Between essential oils and candles, she’s manifest more than she can chew.
Julissa decides to find other women like her and signs up for Bari Tessler Art of Money class because she knows she wants to continue buying her candles, but she might need to create a conscious budget, and the program matches her budget.
But she will have to give up her monthly candle purchases for a while.