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Coping with Financial Stress

Six takeaways:

  1. A recent World Economic Forum survey showed that 1 out of 4 people were experiencing financial struggles, and another survey showed that more and more people are adding debt to deal with their struggles.
  2. The first tip for dealing with financial stress that the article offers: Speak to someone. Talking to someone about your problems is a proven means of stress relief. Keeping them to yourself only makes them seem more impossible to overcome.
  3. Tip Two: Take Inventory of Your Finances. You must give yourself a clear picture of where you stand. Knowledge is power, and anxiety is often related to unknown and ambiguous understanding of a situation. Full understanding of your finances will allow you to identify patterns and problem areas. A great starting position would be to create a balance sheet listing all your assets and liabilities.
  4. Next, Make a Plan and Stick to It. Once you have a clear idea of your financial outlook, you can eliminate excess spending and make other life changes that help ameliorate your problems.
  5. Create a Monthly Budget. Not only will this help you keep your spending in the right range, but it will also alleviate stress by giving you a much-needed sense of control.
  6. Lastly, Manage Your Overall Stress. Steps like regular exercise, healthy sleeping and eating habits, and meditation are proven to help with overall stress levels and will help fortify you against financial anxieties.

From HelpGuide
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This site may contain links to articles or other information that may be contained on a third-party website. Advisory Services Network, LLC and MAP Strategic Wealth Advisors are not responsible for and do not control, adopt, or endorse any content contained on any third party website. The information and material contained in linked articles is of a general nature and is intended for educational purposes only. Links to articles do not constitute a recommendation or a solicitation or offer of the purchase or sale of securities.

Why We Should Embrace Boredom

Five takeaways:

  1. Many studies show that the constant tide of information and “pings” from our phones and devices tend to detract from the brain’s capacity for focused and creative thought.
  2. In a country where 87% of teenagers have smartphones, young people are particularly susceptible to habit-forming and dependency-forming relationships with their phones.
  3. A study by the Academy of Management Discoveries showed that when one group was kept bored/unstimulated and another given an intensive task to perform, when asked to perform a subsequent task of making up a hypothetical excuse for lateness, the group that had been left bored/unstimulated showed far more creativity in their answers.
  4. The Child Mind Institute notes that boredom can help children learn flexibility, problem-solving, and planning.
  5. Like many habits, embracing boredom can be tough at first. But resisting the urge to grab your phone the second you feel bored can reopen your perception to so much more in-depth, trenchant insight about the world./li>

From Erica Pandey for Axios
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This site may contain links to articles or other information that may be contained on a third-party website. Advisory Services Network, LLC and MAP Strategic Wealth Advisors are not responsible for and do not control, adopt, or endorse any content contained on any third party website. The information and material contained in linked articles is of a general nature and is intended for educational purposes only. Links to articles do not constitute a recommendation or a solicitation or offer of the purchase or sale of securities.

The Magic of a Little Danger

Five takeaways:

  1. Opening with the example of the yearly Running of the Bulls in Pamplona, Spain, Brooks argues that the decision to expose yourself to real danger (“not roller coasters or haunted houses”) will push you out of your comfort zone, and make you feel more alive.
  2. However, Brooks reminds readers that a clear distinction must be made between bravery and recklessness– and notes that the former can be key to injecting one’s life with happiness.
  3. Brooks offers three tips for the injecting your life with the right kind of danger:
    • “Find your bulls to run with” – Your idea of danger will be different from the person next to you. Think about the things you’ve been putting off or feel like you can’t do that might be possible, with a dose of bravery. Danger is not always physical– you may fear moving to a new city, or of going back to school. You need to identify where your danger lies and pursue it.
    • “Envision bravery– but not recklessness” – When facing danger, make sure you assess risk as clearly as you can. If your fear is rock climbing, Brooks notes, you should not go ahead and climb El Capitan. But in many cases, clear assessment of risk will make you realize that the chance of catastrophe is much lower than it initially seems.
    • “Make a Sensible Plan and Follow it” – Research shows that happiness and impulsivity are incompatible. When you decide on a course of action for taking a risk, make a clear plan of action that takes different eventualities into consideration.
  4. Brooks notes that while physical danger does not keep him up at night, switching careers used to. When he quit his career as a musician, he confronted feelings of incompetence, and doing so made him infinitely more comfortable making a career change later on. He knew he could do it because he’d learned a new profession before.
  5. Nelson Mandela once said, “I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it.” Look for ways in your life to triumph over fear and danger, and, Brooks says, you will find your best self waiting on the other side.

From Arthur C. Brooks at The Atlantic:
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Note: At the time of this posting The Atlantic offers five free article views per month.

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