To live a fully rounded, healthy life we need to look after our well-being. Aside from our mental and physical health, we also need to look after our financial health. Just as mental wellness means different things for different people, so financial wellness means addressing your particular situation and feeling financially secure.

Financial wellness is not about how much money we make – certainly, you don’t have to be rich to be financially healthy. Rather, it means making sure you are in control of your current and future financial well-being. This means being financially secure – in other words, being able to pay all your bills, as well as having money put aside for those unexpected costs.

Financial wellness also means ensuring your financial decisions don’t stress you out. Money is stressful and often we find ourselves in situations where money – or the lack of it – has a negative impact on our family life and our relationships at work. Financial wellness means creating a situation where we have less stress, and more choice.

What is the state of your financial wellness?

To find out, ask yourself these questions:

• Do you have a budget that you stick to?
• Are you often in debt, because of loans, accounts and credit cards?
• Do you have a financial plan for the future? Are you actively following these plans?
• Do you have money put away in case of emergency?

Taking care of your financial wellness

Here are some important points to consider if you want to look after your financial well-being:

• Stick to a budget: Take the time to sit down and decide where your money will be going every month instead of wondering where it went. Decide how much of your money will go to daily expenses, and how much you will put away for emergencies, insurances and retirement. Sticking to a budget will give you a feeling of control and lessen your mental stress.
• Decrease your debt: Many of us get caught in a web of debt. For example, we take a loan to pay for a family emergency, we buy a car and can’t keep up with the monthly repayments, or we are paying huge interest rates on our credit card. Debt prevents us from saving, budgeting and looking after our old age. Make a plan to pay off a part of your debt on a monthly basis and stick to it.
• Get financial cover: Financial peace of mind comes when you know you are insured against emergencies, such as fire, flood or theft, car accidents and medical emergencies, or even death. The right insurance will protect you and your family from the type of financial expenses that you could never hope to cover. Added to this, the experts say we should have at least three months’ worth of salary put away which we can depend on in case of a sudden emergency – losing a job, for example.