If you’ve found yourself worrying about money lately, you definitely have company. Money anxiety, also called financial anxiety, has become more common than ever.
In the American Psychological Association’s 2022 Stress in America Survey, 87 percent of people who responded listed inflation as a source of significant stress. The rise in prices for everything from fuel to food has people from all backgrounds worried. The researchers say, in fact, that no other issue has caused this much stress since the survey began in 2007.
When money and financial concerns cause ongoing stress in your life, you could eventually begin to experience some feelings of anxiety as a result. This anxiety can, in turn, have a negative impact on your quality of life.
You can’t always fix the state of your bank account as you might like and eliminate the stress directly. But you can take steps to manage money-related anxiety.
Read on to learn more about money anxiety, including key signs, causes, and tips to handle it.
Money anxiety, in basic terms, happens when you worry about your income or fear something bad could happen with your finances. To put it another way, it’s an emotional response to your financial situation.
But money anxiety doesn’t necessarily mean you have no money at all. You could make an income you consider perfectly decent and still fret about your mortgage, or worry about losing all your savings to an unexpected medical bill or other major expense.
Maybe you pay all your current bills easily, but you still can’t push down the uneasy feeling that you should be saving more for your retirement.
A few signs your anxiety around money is becoming a more serious concern:
- Aches and pains. Perhaps you get a headache or upset stomach when you look at your bank account.
- Avoidance. Your bills might remain on the countertop for weeks because you can’t bring yourself to go through them.
- Analysis paralysis. Even minor decisions like which sponge to buy may bring you to a halt as you review the costs of each option.
- No work-life balance. You may feel you have to dedicate every waking hour to work in order to stay afloat.
- Rigidity. You might plan your budget down to the penny and get upset whenever you have to make even minor changes.
- Rumination. Maybe you can’t stop thinking about your 401k and check the stock market multiple times a day — in bed, at work, or while running errands.
- Trouble sleeping. </…….
Source: https://www.healthline.com/health/anxiety/money-anxiety