We have always believed that financial issues were a leading cause of stress in this country and now we have had this confirmed with independent research undertaken by Sovereign.
The Sovereign ‘Health Age Generator’
The research was based on the Sovereign ‘Health Age Generator’ – a survey developed by Synergy Health Research, analyses key physical, mental and behavioral components. It was designed to give individuals more awareness and understanding of the key components of their lifestyles which can have a positive or negative impact to their health as they age.
This information is used to calculate penalty years (indicating a negative health outlook compared to the norm), or bonus years (indicating a positive health outlook compared to the norm); to generate a personalised health report with recommendations on what steps can be taken to improve overall health.
The findings revealed Kiwis are more senior in health years than actual years of life, with a national average of two penalty years being added to the biological age of Kiwis.
Financial Issues / Money Worries #1 Stress Disruptor
Money worries topped the list of ‘stress disruptors’ for Kiwis, ahead of family, health, work and even personal problems.
As mortgage brokers we know that stress in particular can drive poor behaviours in regards to health and lead to poor financial decisions too. They say someone who is eating poorly and staying up late, will invariably get tired, not want to move much, will eat more junk food to self-medicate, and then may start to make poor financial decisions or abuse drugs and alcohol to control the stress, leading to personal and family problems, poorer health, and so on.
We probably all have seen this happen to friends or family too.
Stop Fighting About Money
We recently wrote an article based on the fact that people in relationships fight about money which was inspired by experiences we have with clients going through break-ups and a blog about the confessions of a terrible husband.
In United States Financial Issues A big Problem Too
We always like to look beyond the boarders on New Zealand and Forbes acknowledges that finances are the biggest cause of stress in the USA (a 2010 APA study found that 76% of Americans see money as a source of stress in their lives) and stress is a major cause of disease, improving financial literacy also has the added benefit of improving your health.
Keeping your values in the right place and improving finances can actually bring health, wealth and happiness.
Mortgage Brokers Help Solve Financial Issues
Alone a mortgage broker cannot solve a persons financial issues … but they can help.
The first thing most people need to do is to take their head’s out of the sand and admit that they have some financial problems.
Draw a line in the sand rather than bury their heads in the sand.
Once you understand that there is a problem then the next steps are;
- Do a stock-take – understand exactly what financial commitments and bills you have.
- Find a good mortgage broker to help – that’s us!
- With your mortgage broker determine how to deal with your financial issues.
- Put steps in place to ensure that you avoid the issues in the future
Sometimes this is not easy as you need to admit to mistakes and then the changes that you may need to make can be uncomfortable.
You also need to understand that when you have financial issues getting finance may be more expensive. There are debt consolidation loans and even bad credit loans offered by various banks and non-bank lenders and as leading New Zealand mortgage brokers we have access to a good selection of options.
Make the right decisions today and kiss financial issues away…
