Lack of Financial Literacy Causes Anxiety with Millennials
Financial Situations Can Affect Your Whole Life
Throughout your elementary and high school years, you’ve undoubtedly seen hundreds of charts or maps that teachers like to use to demonstrate how everything is related. All of these charts try to connect ideas, problems, and solutions to illustrate “the bigger picture.” The same philosophy is true for your financial wellbeing.
Whether or not you’ve thought about it before, your financial wellbeing has a significant impact on your physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual health. In fact, millennials facing financial stress report lower levels of satisfaction for physical, emotional, and mental health.
In a report published by Bank of America in partnership with USA Today, author Andrew Pepler discusses how a millennial’s financial state determines his or her happiness and wellbeing in other areas of their life. A survey published in the fall of 2015 portrays the cyclical nature of financial stress. Those who worried about their finances, began to become anxious about other areas of their lives, with a startling 65% of millennials worrying about emotional wellbeing, 55% worrying about their leisure activities, and 42% worrying about their personal health.
The report conveys the rising levels of anxiety that millennials are facing when it comes to financial wellbeing. The issues they struggle with and stress over range from student debt to managing their money to the cost of living to not having enough money for a wedding.
Part of this stress stems from lack of education in terms of financial literacy. Pepler also describes how only 17% of millennials believed they had expertise in personal finance, whereas, 34% of participants admitted to having expertise with social media. The lack of knowledge regarding financial literacy serves as a detriment for millennials, clearly causing other disruptions in their life such as stress.
The lack of financial literacy, along with stress, has serious consequences for millennials. If these trends continue within the next few years, millennials will be facing a harsh reality when it comes to their health, stress levels, and emotional wellbeing.
To help alleviate stress, make sure that you create and stick to a budget. Both of these will begin to decrease your stress levels, and you can start to evaluate your health and emotional wellbeing. Make sure to make time for yourself. Set aside some time for your favorite activity or hobby, but also make time to exercise.
Allotting time for yourself amidst a hectic schedule will prevent the stress from your finances to permeate into your personal life.
My name is Megan Hammond, and I am an aspiring writer, blogger, and businesswoman. As a college freshman, I am transitioning into a new chapter of my life. Navigating this shift from high school to college is enabling me to become both financially responsible and educated.
During my free time, I am typically reading or writing. As a self-proclaimed bookworm, I enjoy all types of novels ranging from classic literature to mysteries to romance. My love for language extends beyond English, as I am fluent in Spanish. I am quite passionate about Spanish and plan to continue studying Spanish in college with the goal of studying abroad in a Spanish speaking country.
When I am not reading or writing, I am usually working on new graphic design projects in Photoshop. Designing logos and banners are my favorite types of graphic design projects. I hope that I can put all of these skills to use as I pursue a career in marketing.
Photo Credit: Mahdi Gransberry