Do You Have a Healthy Money Psyche?
Every adult has a money psyche, and it falls somewhere on the spectrum between debilitating and enabling. The business owner’s psyche play out in the management of workplace resources and the employee’s psyche plays out as lost or gained productivity.
More than 65% of us are stressed about money at any given time and most of us do not practice the 50/30/20 budgeting strategy which is to allocate 50% of our income to our needs, 30% to our wants and 20% to our savings. Our money psyche is different to our theoretical practical management of money in that we may be able to understand what is required of us to manage money but are we successful in following through. I know people who are afraid of the responsibility money brings and fritter it away as soon as they have it; others never seem to have enough and are constantly chasing it and others rely entirely on a 3rd party to manage their money and have no understanding of their financial position at all.
So, how do we look after our money psyche or wellbeing and mitigate any negative fallout from predetermined practices?
1. We need to explore and be honest about where our money psyche is on the spectrum and ask ourselves if it is in a state of wellbeing. We cannot treat a problem if we do not know it exists.
2. Evaluate if we are using all available resources to manage our money health.
3. Examine if we are prepared to eyeball our income and expenditure. We cannot treat a money wound if we do not know where it is.
4. Get support from a trusted friend. Money can be a difficult topic for many of us and asking for help can be painful, but I encourage you to affect change now. Once you are on the road to a healthy money psyche you will find that the change gathers momentum and what was once painful is now in your rear-view mirror.
The money psyche does not discriminate, it affects low, medium, and high-income earners including business owners. Regardless of a business owner’s personal status having one or more employees distracted with money stress translates to productivity losses so it is important they conduct a pulse check from time to time to illuminate productivity seepage.
With 1/3 of New Zealand business owners expecting to become COVID-19 casualties there will be many employees feeling insecure and distracted with money worries so how do we retain and restore productivity in the workplace? In the words of Ronald Reagan, ‘do whatever needs to be done …” and in this instance, I recommend engaging with our Financial Therapist. She can hold 1:1 consultations with you and your workers or facilitate group workshops.
Time is truly of the essence for many businesses, so I invite you to reach out to us.