Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin - Are You Financial Healthy? 5 Tips To Improve Your Financial Fitness

Episode Date: January 2, 2024

Around the New Year, it's popular to make resolutions for health and wealth— but we typically put those goals into two separate categories. Today, Nicole makes the case for including money as a part of your overall health picture, and five tips to get financially fit this year.

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To get started, visit bofa.com slash newprosmedia. That's B-O-F-A dot com slash N-E-W pros, P-R-O-S, media. Bofa.com slash newprosmedia. I'm Nicole Lappin, the only financial expert you don't need a dictionary to understand. It's time for some money rehab. Around the new year, people set all sorts of goals for their mental and physical health. It's also very common to set financial resolutions, but typically health and wealth are separated into two separate sets of goals. But I'm going to challenge you today to think about your money as part of your health. And this shouldn't be too difficult because you've probably already seen by now how money and health go hand in hand. Money challenges can cause all sorts of stress that certainly have health effects. I know this

personally. Even beyond stress, there is financial trauma, and that is no joke. And it's not just nerves before a big purchase or when your bank account hits a particular low point. It's this deep-seated anxiety, the kind that triggers full-blown sweaty palm panic attacks just at the thought of anything to do with money. Part of my healing journey with my own financial trauma has been making a show, writing books, but it's also about simple, actionable changes that reshape my mindset. Having more money, of course, has improved my outlook, but I have also used little strategies that have helped me along the way build healthy habits that fortify my own financial wellness. So today,

I'm going to take you through five practices that can help keep you financially healthy in 2024. Number one, find your wealth routine. If you have a good routine for your health and wellness that you're really into, you can apply the same principles to your finances. So what's working for you there? Are you a rise and shine jogger at 6am? Awesome! It sounds like you're a morning person, so give your sneaks a little rest day and dedicate one morning to all of the items on your financial to-do list. If you're a gym person and you have an uber detailed plan of how you're going to increase your reps or whatever happens at the gym, or the weight you can bench press.

Channel that discipline into the financial world and make a timeline for incrementally increasing your savings or retirement contributions over time. Or if you're a meal prepper, you probably already combat the Sunday scaries by doing all of your grocery shopping and planning out your food for the week. And if that is you, it sounds like Sunday afternoons are probably when inspiration strikes. And that's when you can do some financial planning post meal prepping. The magic here is that if you have a good routine for your health, you've already determined which behaviors stick, which behaviors work best for you, so you can use your tried and true personalized hacks for financial wins too.

So you can use your tried and true personalized hacks for financial wins too. Number two, try a hard reset with your credit card. Now, one habit that can certainly hurt your financial health is overspending. So let's try to leave that in 2023. And this is an area where financial trauma can certainly rear its ugly head. Whether you're flexing your credit card hard to make up for past times of going without, or because you want to keep up with the Joneses or the Kardashians or the whomevers, this is a self-fulfilling prophecy of money stress. And if you didn't grow up in a money-savvy household like most of us, then curbing spending feels like walking a tightrope. For some people with a habit they're

trying to kick, like vaping or gambling, quitting cold turkey is a really effective way to shake the habit. So if you're looking for a reset for your spending, call your credit card company and ask for a fresh card with a brand new number. No need to give your reason. It is your secret money mission. This is really helpful because at this point, your credit card number is probably already stored in your internet browser and will just auto fill or auto populate when you're at an online checkout. But if you order a new card, you can stay disciplined about not using it online because the barrier to shopping is higher,

which will help you curb your impulse purchases. Plus, if you're a whiz with numbers and you have your credit card number memorized for those late night shopping sprees from bed, even you will be in the dark about the new number. Keep your cards around for emergencies, but make them harder to get. Keep them out of your wallet, put them in a hard-to-reach location, and there you go. You just put a leash on your spending. Number three, bring positive reinforcements to your bill payments. Obviously, paying your bills is an important element of your overall financial routine and one that we unfortunately have to do all the

time. Shout out to January 1st, where a whole lot of bills came due for me. But if you have a history of unhealthy money habits, even small financial routines can be triggering and just add to your emotional financial baggage. But if you have a history of unhealthy money habits, even small financial routines can be triggering and just add to your emotional financial baggage. But if you have a history of unhealthy money habits, even small financial routines can be triggering and just add to the money baggage. So let's break that down and talk about that dreaded bill paying moment. It's like this big looming cloud of stress, right? The struggle is real, but obviously avoiding it is only going to cause more stress, clouds, late charges, credit score dings, and overall, things just taking a turn for the worst.

So what's the game plan here? Well, there are logistical things that you can do to make it easier, like putting your bills on autopay. But we're looking to overall the underlying emotional baggage here, and that's going to require a reframe. My favorite psychology cheat code is simple. It is positive reinforcement. Come up with a mini reward to celebrate your financial wins, like grabbing a drink at your favorite wine bar or a guilt-free binge watch session of your favorite new show. According to Psych Research, the most effective kind of positive reinforcement is called variable reinforcement, which means that you don't treat yourself literally every time you pay a bill, but you reward yourself after several consistent iterations of good behavior. I would recommend scheduling

this variable reinforcement party at the end of the month once all of your bills are paid. And these tricks, they're not just about making your life easier, they're about changing your whole financial vibe. Conquering your financial tasks with a positive mindset really is a game changer. Number four, get fit and get paid. This tip is not only for your financial health, but for your physical health as well. If you pay for a gym membership, check your health insurance to see if they cover part or all of your membership. And if your plan doesn't cover your specific gym, see if there are part or all of your membership. And if your plan doesn't cover your specific gym, see if there are other gyms that your plan does cover and switch

to them. Let's be honest, they are all the same. And if your plan doesn't cover your specific gym, see if there are other gyms that your plan does cover and just switch. There are also apps like Cash Walk that function like a pedometer where you can earn coins for all of the steps you take and then redeem those coins for gift certificates at retailers like Amazon. So you can literally get paid for getting your steps in. It's a two birds, one stone situation. My fave. Number five, think of your financial wellness as self-care. In recent years, people have been getting much more comfortable with the idea of self-care. During the lockdown in 2020, mental health across the globe was shaky, and at the same time, we were just getting the language to describe burnout. In response to that,

there's been this movement around embracing self-care, which is mostly awesome. Like other health movements, though, the hype around self-care has gotten so big that it lost a little bit of the original meaning. But I think in general, we've gotten better about practicing self-care, but financial self-care doesn't get the same hype. And it makes sense, right? Self-care by definition involves things that bring us comfort or joy or peace, like meditating, going for a walk, going to see the Barbie movie for the 50th time with your besties. Financial wellness doesn't have the same lovely associations as self-care does. When we think of financial wellness, we think about all the boring stuff, paying bills, going over credit card statements, and also for some reason we picture balancing checkbooks because

we visualize financial chores like we're in 1987 or something. Anyway, I've started to count my financial wellness as self-care. And it is because when I don't have a handle on my financial picture, I feel out of control and extremely stressed. So the opposite of self-care. What financial wellness looks like for you might be different depending on what works for you and your mental health. For example, there's a health principle called mindful eating, which some people have used to develop a healthier relationship with food. It basically involves being really focused and present while you're eating. Recently on the show, I talked to Whitney Port about applying the same principle to spending.

If you've struggled with overspending, try to stay more present and focused in moments where you are shopping or buying something. Shopping shouldn't be a mindless exercise. If this concept resonates with you and you want to learn more about it, Witt and I talk about it in depth in that episode, and I have linked it in the show notes. For today's tip, you can take straight to the bank. When it comes to financial health, just like any other kind of health question, it takes a village. So don't hesitate to seek support, be it from a savvy therapist or a financial expert. There are guides who can steer you toward a life that syncs up perfectly with your financial dreams. Don't hesitate to ask people in your inner circle as well. If you got

a friend who looks like she has her whole financial life together, ask her for her secrets. What works for her could work for you, or you could just find out that she's a bigger mess than she seems. Comparison, after all, is the thief of joy. Money Rehab is a production of Money News Network. I'm your host, Nicole Lappin. Money Rehab's executive producer is Morgan Levoy. Our researcher is Emily Holmes. Do you need some money rehab? And let's be honest, we all do. So email us your money questions,

moneyrehab at moneynewsnetwork.com to potentially have your questions answered on the show or even have a one-on-one intervention with me. And follow us on Instagram at Money News and TikTok at Money News Network for exclusive video content. And lastly, thank you. No, seriously, thank you. Thank you for listening and for investing in yourself, which is the most important investment you can make.