Financial management is like literacy – in order to live a comfortable, reasonably successful life, we need to have some experience and skill in that practice. But the truth is that with financial planning, there can be very real consequences for difficulties incurred. After all, the entire world has been set up to be all too easy for someone to spend all of their money in an afternoon, and from there your assets may be taken from you.

Getting back on your feet after such a difficulty can be hard to bear. After all, saving money and starting from scratch can feel significantly less enjoyable when you’re trying to reclaim what was lost, or just find your sense of stability again. In that way, it’s true to say that financial stability and capability are directly tied to mental health and well-being.

Sometimes, having the financial confidence necessary to plan for the life you want is a journey in itself. Perhaps you’ve been through a bad divorce from a marriage where your partner controlled most of your money, or maybe you’re dealing with other issues, such as by using service dogs for PTSD, and you’re just trying to get back on your feet via good decision-making.

Let’s consider, how to rebuild financial confidence despite those setbacks. Remember – this approach, while hard, is possible to achieve.

Crafting A Realistic & Attainable Financial Budget

No matter where you are in life, how basic your needs are, or how humble your income is, a budget can help you. If you have money to spend and things to spend it on, a budget can help you plan for that. Using free apps like budget trackers or note-taking apps like Notion, you can set up tables and implement your monthly outgoings, and exactly when you expect to be paid, even if that’s government or disability assistance for now.

Be realistic about it. Always prioritize your essential spending needs, and see where you can cut costs. Be dependable. Learn where the shortfall might be, and try to make that up or document your expenditure if you need more of your budget requested from the support you’re using, or if you need to work more or even a second job. As long as your priority bills are paid for, you can survive, and it’s important to see that a budget doesn’t constrict you, but lifts you up and gets you back into the swing of things.

Keep It Simple

It’s easy to think that unless you’re investing, managing assets, applying for different savings accounts, and constantly searching for value, you’re not doing enough. Truly, the best thing anyone can do to relearn financial confidence is to keep things simple. In some cases, that might mean working with debt charities that help you consolidate your various payments into one monthly sum that is then divided and given to your creditors on your behalf.

Keeping it simple also means using tools that help you check eligibility for any additional monies you may be owed, be that veteran living support payments or perhaps child support for the little one’s you raising. You can absolutely benefit from financial blogs like ours, but just remember to keep it simple while you raise your financial confidence, build your standing, and make good decisions. Sometimes, that’s the best you can do, and it’s all you need to do.

Analyze Behaviors That Led To Difficulty & Guard Against Them

People can lose out on their financial standing or suffer blowbacks for any number of reasons. That’s why it’s important not to take it personally or think that you’re a unique case – odds are you were just unlucky, if by circumstance or by lifestyle.

For example, if you’ve had an issue with gambling in the past, then that could have caused real problems. Now you’re recovered or recovering from the problem, you know what to avoid. You can also understand where your red lines might be. If you’ve never been involved in the stock market, but know that this is a more professional form of gambling for the most part (if not done correctly with stable investments and mitigated risk), then you might decide to stay away from it, and at an absolute push have someone else manage those affairs for you should you be affluent enough to do so.

Some issues just have to be lived with – if a particularly nasty divorce took many of your assets, you at least know to keep careful about who you tie yourself to next time, and what agreements to put in place beforehand. If you’ve dealt with PTSD and other issues, you can forgive yourself, give yourself room to heal, and learn new coping strategies that won’t harm your financial standing.

Consolidating Your Financial Stability

This is a fancy word for “saving” and also protecting yourself where appropriate. A good savings account you pay your salary into, making those pension contributions, and using benefits you might have to save you money can help you grow your financial standing, even if it’s just a few grand in your bank, to give you that leeway you need.

Consolidating financial stability allows you to remain as secure as possible over time, and gives you a sense of comfort that can be hard to find otherwise. Other measures of building this confidence include:

• Debt consolidation.
• Loan refinancing.
• Tax planning and accounting expenses.
• Insurance for valuable items and protecting against personal loss.
• A vital emergency fund to help you in times of strife.

That’s hardly an exhaustive list, but it shows a few tips and trick as well as priorities to take. This way, you can make certain that bit by bit, your confidence and ability to protect yourself from a fiscal perspective is a growing skill you work on.

Adjusting Your Lifestyle

The truth is, finances determine the kind of life we lead. For better or worse, it’s a harsh reality that saves us from the even harsher reality of society being orderless and a constant fight over resources. That’s cold comfort when you have to downgrade your living conditions, however, doing so is very wise.

Adjusting your lifestyle means considering the priorities you might have and factoring those into every decision you make. Of course that involves food and rent, but also debt payments, child support, and more. It’s important to note the basic needs you have, like a roof over your head and food to eat, can be provided with appropriate support and through the right channels.

If you’re living with a job that earns considerably less as you try to move back to restart your life, it’s important to take steps to help you become more independent and to avoid overspending. For example, renting a room in a house can be much cheaper than renting a full apartment, and that in itself can be a good place to start.

You might also focus on those little changes, like meal planning, using promotions and deals, shopping own-brand, and simply making many small good decisions. Financial discipline is a muscle that you have to build, and some people grow it out of necessity, while others build it out of voluntary wisdom.

Free Yourself From Constant Financial Concern

If only it were that simple, right? This is the dream anyone has, to not worry about finances, but we have to keep up with our plans to make it through this expensive word. However, and this might seem like odd advice for a financial blog, try to free yourself from the constant concern you have with your money.

It’s very easy to become compulsive, obsessive, only ever acquisitive when it comes to your money. This goes double if you have the trauma of past mistakes weighing you down. You may be keen to never make a mistake, to never put a foot wrong, to never dare and make a mistake again. The truth is that this is never going to be feasible or realistic.

Moreover, life isn’t only about money. Sure, you can make the decision to read a book from the library instead of spending $20 on a movie ticket and snacks, and that’s wise, but you still need that time off to read and enjoy yourself. If you find your actions are compulsive, then you may be limiting your quality of life more than you realize. Sometimes, financial health does mean spending, because what else is money for? Hoarding everything away in a savings account for a day that might never come only harms you.

With the financial advice on this blog, the willingness to take things step by step, and the ability to make 90% of good decisions and forgive yourself for the mini-mistakes you make, you’ll be on your way to cultivating financial health again. In addition, you’ll also be able to manage the “money worries” that anyone can go through without causing a huge issue that escalates.

We wish you the best of luck in building your financial confidence, and hope this advice has helped you.