Money Matters

So far, I have only discussed health in terms of food choices. However, there is another subject that is just as or even more important than eating the right foods and exercising. Money and getting out of debt is an extremely important subject. Financial issues are one of the top ten reasons that marriages end up in divorce (http://www.divorceguide.com/free-divorce-advice/marriage-and-separation-advice/the-top-10-reasons-for-divorce.html). Financial problems put unnecessary strains on marriages, families, friends, and roommates, and can cause severe amounts of stress. Stress, in turn, has a large quantity of negative effects on your cognitive functions and your physical health. There is a whole area of psychology that studies these effects of stress on the human mind and body. Chronic stress has been shown to be associated with severe physical health problems. In my clinical psychology class, this subject was discussed heavily and I learned that stress leads to illness through two mechanisms. First, there are direct effects of stress on your systems which impact immune function and, second, there are also indirect effects that are caused by an increase in health risk behavior or decreased health protective behavior. For example, stress causes us to eat poorly, not exercise, smoke, drink, and use other unhealthy coping behaviors. Since money is one of the top three stressors among Americans today, Americans could improve their health and relationships dramatically if only they could get their money matters under control.

Today’s economy does not help us with our money problems, but there is a way out of these situations. As of late, I have been reading an amazing book called Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey. I would highly suggest that everyone get this book, read it, and apply its principles into your lives. In this book, Dave Ramsey explains how to pay off your debt systematically and how to start preparing for you future, e.g. retirement, kids college funds, and paying mortgages off early. I have listened to his radio show and every Friday, people call in and tell their success stories. You would not even believe the amount of debt that people are paying off in short amounts of time! The trick is to get your priorities under control and sit down and make a budget. If you don’t know how to prepare a budget, Dave Ramsey’s book can teach you how. This book will totally change your view of money. In order for you to gain wealth, get out of debt and staying out of debt. Can you even imagine what life would be like without making any sort of payment? Think of all the vacations you could go on if the only payments you were making, were to yourself! If you get out of debt, your stress will go down and your overall health and cognitive abilities will improve. If your affairs are in order, and build up an emergency fund like Dave Ramsey suggests, you will feel much more secure in your job, because if you happen to get laid off, you don’t have to worry about it! Why? Because you have a backup plan and six months of income that was saved in your emergency fund.

One problem with most Americans is that we feel the need to keep up with the spending of others. Why do we feel the need to do that? If we just learned to put off our spending momentarily and buy things with cash instead of on credit, we will be able to buy more in the long-term and will be stress free financially. If you do not have money for it, do not buy it. Don’t buy your groceries, your movie tickets, your clothes, etc. on credit; it is unnecessary risk. There are very few items that are unreasonable to buy with cash. These items are a home, a car, and your education. However, buying a car with cash is easier than you would think. First off, don’t buy a new car, there are plenty of used cars that only have a few thousand miles on them and will last you just as long as a brand new car. If you want to buy a house on credit, one thing that I recently learned when my husband and I purchased our home, if you do not put down 20% as a down payment, you have to pay mortgage insurance and other fees that increase your monthly payments. We were taken by surprise when our purchase was all said and done, because we had no idea what mortgage insurance was. If you must get in debt for you education, don’t go to a fancy private school unless you have a scholarship. Going to a state school or a community college gets you the same type of degree and you’ll get paid the same amount as someone who went to that private school.

 If you are interested in getting out of debt, I would seriously suggest to everyone to check out www.daveramsey.com  and www.thegreatrecovery.com  to see what this philosophy is all about. It is best to deal with these issues now, before things get worse. Remember, when the performance has come, the time to prepare is over. Don’t put off money issues until you are about to lose your home or job. Eliminate financial issues from your stressors now, and be happier and healthier later.

-Meg