You have probably heard the song made famous by Bobby McFerrin, “Don’t Worry, Be Happy”. I’m sure you’ve heard it hundreds of times since its release back in 1988. It’s a catchy tune and of course it makes you feel good and yes, happy. But in reality, we all worry about things, like the kids, our jobs, the car, and lots more depending on where you are on the “I worry about everything” scale. And one thing that I can be sure is on your list is money worries, the one thing we all have on our minds.
So the question today is, “What are your money worries and what can you do to calm your nerves and chill?”
Are your money worries really well founded, or are you typically a person who just overthinks it? I have to plead guilty that I have been that overthinking person most of my life. I’m not particularly proud of it. But I do know that I’m not alone in that club. As I have aged, I have taken a slightly different view of money worries and what can be done to stop the constant worrying. Do the money thoughts go away completely? No, never. But sometimes they can change.
What can change is really you. You can learn what you are made of and what you can do to change your reality. Instead of spinning around in circles and making no progress towards your goals, you can change the way you think. Here’s how I did it!
Big Worry #1—What will happen if I get laid off or lose my job?
We are not only dependent on our job for the money we use to live on (after all it is the reason we get up and work every day unless you name happens to be Bill Gates Jr.), but our jobs are a very big part of our ego and persona. The reality is, people do lose jobs, change jobs, get laid off and even retire. So worrying about it isn’t going to change that possibility even if you are very lucky.
What I learned is that having an emergency fund will ease the stress and worry. Experts say 3-6 months of your living expenses will get you through that “event” when you are laid off or worse terminated. But here’s the important part to understand.
It’s not 3-6 months of you living exactly like you were when the paychecks came rolling in. You don’t need to fund everything, what you will do is prioritize everything and cut your expenses so that you don’t buy everything you spent your paycheck on before. Yes, rent or mortgage, real estate taxes, food, clothing, necessities and utilities, health insurances and medicines and your credit card debt payments all need to be covered. That means that there still will be luxuries or wants that you will have to cut back or even eliminate. That’s important to understand and it may mean that you will have a frugal new habit that will become a part of your lifestyle thinking and practices after you return to work. Not too shabby to learn to live with less to ease your money stress is it?
Oh and don’t forget this: if you lose your job you may qualify for unemployment benefits. If so, that money will supplement your emergency funds and really stretch it out a lot further, as long as you stick to the cuts you have to make first.
Other things to minimize any possible unemployment include keeping your résumé up-to-date, learning new skills, growing your network, and developing a side hustle or alternate source of income.
Big Worry #2—I’m in over my head on my mortgage!
If you own a home, or you’re thinking about buying, there are some simple rules of thumb to consider. First, your mortgage payments should be no more than one third of your income. If you make $60,000 a year in gross salary, you shouldn’t spend more than $1,667 a month on mortgage, taxes, and insurance or you’re in the danger zone. Did I just cause you to start worrying about it? I hope not, because there are things you can do to make that situation better.
For one thing, if you are paying too much interest on your mortgage, refinancing is a great way to bring down your monthly payments. As of today, 30 year fixed rates are consistently under 4% and there are many options like 25, 20 and 15 year fixed rate loans which can lower your payment and term. Use a refinance calculator to help determine if this would save you money in the long run. Check your current mortgage holder for these rates first as that may save you on refinance costs.
I have refinanced 4 times in my life and each time I reduced my monthly payments dramatically. If all else fails, you can consider selling and downsizing or becoming a renter. If you must rent to relieve your stress, then you do it. Many people do and it may be that home ownership (which comes with lots of extra expenses) isn’t for you.
Oh, and would you believe I once held an 11.5% home mortgage interest rate? It was back in the 80’s, but talk about worry, yikes!!
Big Worry #3—My investment portfolio is a disaster!
Are you looking at the market and your investments every day? That’s a no-no because the market can swing wildly up and down and that’s a big, big worry you can easily avoid. I’m not saying not to pay attention to it. Experts tell us that the market changes all the time and those trends dictate serious examination but that’s over weeks and months. Over time, the market has continued to go up and gain so that if you just have a little patience, money, a little thought and a little good advice you needn’t worry 24/7.
Your 529 plans, stock investments, retirement plans and the like are time events that can be evaluated and corrected before it’s too late. I went to my bank for advice which was free (although I did have to sit through a sales pitch of the banks investment “opportunities” which I didn’t bite on), but you can also go for a professional Certified Financial Planner’s review of all of that as well as your stock portfolio for about $200. CFP’s are good advisors and can tell you if your mix of investments is right for you based on your risk tolerance. I have zero risk tolerance at my age (age is a huge factor) and thus I’m invested in market index funds from a very dependable company. Riskier mutual funds or stocks aren’t for me anymore so I don’t worry about the market like I used to do even with the Brexit fluctuations. You shouldn’t have to either.
Big Worry #4—Will I ever have enough to retire?
It’s a definite worry for a whole lot of people, of which I was certainly one. The rule of thumb here is that you will need about 80% of what you earned last as the basis for your income after retirement. That’s the money you have hopefully saved and will use after you retire. So let’s say you’re that $60,000 dollar guy we talked about earlier and you retire. You will need about $45,000 to live on statistically after you leave your job. But that doesn’t all have to come from your savings and retirement plans.
If you live in the US, there’s Social Security (yes I know it’s in danger but I do have faith and a loud protesting mouth). Social Security will supplement your retirement and it can be as much as 50% of it in the above case. If you’re into Roth IRA accounts you won’t pay any taxes at all (you paid them already) so your $45,000 will go a lot further than your $60,000 salary might have gone.
You can always try some kind of side hustle or alternate income stream like rental property, for example, that can help you later if you prepare now. There may be a pension in your retirement planning and if so even better. All of that means you may be able to retire just fine and don’t have anything to worry about. As long as you have prepared for it with time and money when you are younger and working, you will have that nest egg you need. I had heard you needed $1,000,000 or more to be comfortable in retirement these days. Well, we aren’t wealthy here in NJ (the tax hell of the USA) and certainly not millionaires. But even so, we live on our nest egg and Social Security which is far less than that. We do it with our good money habits, careful budgeting, and being prepared for emergencies. You can too.
I’m not saying you shouldn’t ever worry about your finances. But some planning and preparation can help ease many of those worries that keep you up at night. So don’t worry, make a plan, and be happy!
Are you worrying constantly? What are you most worried about?
We reduced stress and worry about our money once we form a plan for it. It wasn’t overnight, but once we organized a budget and began communicating more regularly about our money the stress was lifted. It’s an ongoing commitment, but so worth the effort.
I think it’s reassuring when you make and review a budget on a regular basis. It may not always provide you with an easy answer to a financial problem, but I think it really helps to keep you aware and give you a sense of control.
Many people argue that keeping a big mortgage and investing the money is better than paying off the mortgage, but owning our home free and clear did wonders for the worry you mention. It helps with numbers 1, 2, 3, and 4 on your list!
Thanks for your comments, Julie. Eliminating a mortgage payment and owning the equity in your home, that’s a really solid basis for financial security. So many people don’t have that, so congratulations!
I agree with you on being laid off, I was laid off once and it was not fun at all. Very stressful time, emotionally and physically but landed a better job a little bit later. It was a great learning experience though
Today, Aaron, being laid off or having a period of unemployment is not the stigma it was years ago. It happens to lots of people and I’ve always believed you can make lemonade out of lemons, and obviously you did. Congrats!
I was laid off for about a year during what we’re apparently now calling the Great Recession and it was pretty nervewracking. I even had a few months of warning (in that I suspected it was going to happen and planned accordingly) so that helped ease the panic and the blow when it came but it didn’t do anything for my feelings about what I’d do if I lost my job again.
Intellectually I know we’ll be ok because we have really healthy savings, and we have investments, and I’m diversifying our income streams slowly so that eventually we won’t just rely on ONE income per person. But I figure a touch of worry isn’t bad, it’s motivating 🙂
Very good points, Revanche. Preparing alternate income streams is really a great way to prevent you losing your job and not being able to find ways to keep yourself going. It also appears that you’ve made savings a real priority and that’s a big plus. While we can’t insure that we won’t ever have an interruption in our employment, doing what you’re doing will ease the pain. Thanks for your comments.
Agree with all of your points, especially having an emergency fund and a low mortgage. I’ve worked hard to get to that stage, but now if my husband lost his job, we could easily survive a year on our e fund, just by living frugally. The piece of mind is priceliess.
Good job, Emma, in keeping on top of your emergency fund. You’re more than prepared for an interruption in employment, which hopefully won’t happen.
Great list! I always think that if I’m worried about something then I should do something about it, if there is nothing I can do about the situation I need to stop worrying and accept it for what it is.
Sometimes it’s enough to just think about what can happen and make your plan to offset it. That doesn’t mean you have to worry about it on an everyday basis. And being prepared will make it easier for you in case of a financial disruption.
I agree with Brian that planning has been a huge stress-reliever. We started building an emergency fund (with actual focused intention) about 6 months ago, and just ended up using it – which made a very stressful situation a little bit less so.
Glad you were able to ease the situation with your good preparation. It’s always good to have a plan. Those who don’t are the ones who really feel the pain. Thanks, Pia.
Worry is kinda a good thing, but it doesn’t have to be controlling or stopping you from your goals. I worry not as much as I’d like to focus on strategies or ways in how I can get out of debt or achieve financial freedom.
As someone else as well as you have pointed out, worry can sometimes motivate you to make a good plan. When it becomes something that you do every day, it can hurt you. I’m glad that you have figured out how to deal with that.
I agree with all of these! Particularly #1 right now since I just left my job. Since I have a few months of cash saved up and I have some side hustle income, I’m not scared to be without my full-time job for the short term.
K, having yourself a good idea of what you want to do and how you’re going to do it gives you control. We sometimes face interference in reaching our goals, that’s why I use the example of a football player who gets to the goal line, but it’s not always a straight line. Good luck!
Worrying never did anyone any good. You should prepare for adversity but then let it go as much as possible. In theory.
In practice, I’m constantly worrying and calculating. What if we lose our jobs? Can we pay even less on our mortgage (we’re already paying half of our ‘limit’).
Let it go…
I’ve always believed in the power of positive thinking. I think it works with worry very well. Start thinking about what you will be able to do, and less and less about you can’t control.
The great thing about adopting good financial habits is that worry decreases as soon as you’re on the right track. You don’t have to wait to have “arrived” before the benefits of lower stress begin. For instance, as you save for an emergency fund, worry about the impact of job loss decreases well before that e-fund is full. I think that worry comes from a feeling of powerlessness. When you’re being proactive, that powerless feeling diminishes – along with worry.
Very true, Prudence. Gaining confidence in your finances, like your example of building your emergency fund, goes a long way to encourage the feelings of control and power. The minute you start taking action your worries start to disappear.
Helpful tips! I always think saving for life after retirement is very necessary, but at times, I find myself worrying a lot about it.
Be it monthly mortgages or future retirement plans, I prefer to plan first. Good article with some useful tips and tricks.
I always say that if you plan ahead, you’ll be successful. So many people operate from week to week, month to month, and don’t do that. I’m glad you are. Thanks.
Losing my job would definitely be disastrous. I can think of one other site that might want to hire me — but only if the business expanded more, I think. So I’d have to start freelancing which would be all kinds of harrowing. But at least we could mostly make ends meet while we figured something out.
It doesn’t reduce the worry, of course. But I also have excellent job security, so that sort of compensates for the rest. Including our pitiful retirement savings at present.
Abigail, you may not think so, but you’re probably ahead of a lot of other people who spend all day worrying. Your job security should take a big load off your mind. And the worrying that you’re not doing about that can be turned into motivation to build your retirement plan. Thanks for your comments.