Financial Stress: How it Can Affect You and How to Relieve It

December 07, 2017

Financial stress: the silent enemy everybody is struggling with, but no one ever mentions. In today's difficult economic landscape, financial issues are affecting a great number of American households. Yet very few people know where to find an effective way to alleviate them or how to deal with them while they are trying to pay back a stratospheric mortgage or student loans.

What Causes Financial Stress?

The things that cause financial stress may seem banal, but they do manage to pack a punch when they pile up. Rising debt is one the most prevalent causes of financial stress. The rising cost of living, low wages, inflation, the steep price tag of higher education, as well as the wide availability of mortgages, lines of credit, and credit cards have every American pinching every last penny. It can be so extreme, that a survey made by CareerBuilder.com claimed that 78% percent of American workers are living paycheck to paycheck, and nearly three out of every four of those workers are racking up debt.

Debt can eat away at your paycheck faster than any other expense, which is why it is one of the largest financial stressors. Also, unpayable debt tends to lead to more debt, becoming a downward spiral that many people cannot escape.

How Can Financial Stress Affect Your Life?

There are many ways in which financial stress can significantly affect you, but there are three key areas of your life that could be more affected than others.

Your Health

Stress in any form can be detrimental to your health if you experience it over extended periods of time. Since financial troubles often lead to high levels of stress for long stretches of time, it is linked to higher probabilities of heart disease, weight loss or gain, digestive problems, sexual dysfunction, sleeping disorders, and it can even worsen chronic diseases like diabetes.

The toll that chronic financial stress can take on your mental health can also be devastating. Financial stress can be linked to a higher prevalence of anxiety and depression, which can cause panic attacks, insomnia, inability to focus, irritability, and many other symptoms that can alter your daily routines and diminish your quality of life.

Your Relationships

Financial stress can turn ugly when it affects your relationship with others. Whether they are loved ones, family, coworkers, or friends, conflicts are bound to arise if you don't know how to deal with your financial situation.

Irritability and being withdrawn can hurt your relationship with your spouse. Money can be a difficult issue to discuss with partners, and financial stress can become a constant source of arguments. In fact, money troubles are considered to be one of the main catalysts of a divorce. This doesn't mean that having a healthy relationship with your spouse or partner during times of financial difficulties is impossible, but it requires a great deal of work and communication.

Relationships with friends and coworkers can cool down a bit. Irritability and insomnia can lead to mood swings, which can make routine interactions challenging. Outings with friends might get postponed, alienating you and them. Again, since talking about money and debt is still a taboo among even the best of friends, you might find yourself at a loss of word when trying to explain your worries to them.

Your Future Finances

Sadly, most people have no formal education in personal finances and are not able to handle debt in the most efficient way possible. Most people are actually clueless about how to get out of debt, and given how impaired peoples' mental faculties can get under severe financial stress, they usually pick a bad solution to pay off insistent collectors: more debt.

Debt begets debt, and more debt begets stress, and more stress begets more debt.

What Can Be Done to Alleviate Financial Stress?

Many would think that ridding yourself from financial stress means paying off your debt for good. However, paying off your debt can take a very long time, and your health cannot afford years of anxiety to wait for your student loans or your mortgage to be paid.

Yes, you need to be disciplined in order to pay off your debt. Yes, you need to get help if you are not able to do so on your own. However, it is also fundamental that you change the way you think about money and how you approach your finances.

Get educated on personal finances. There are many resources online and offline that can help you get a clearer picture on money matters and how to handle them correctly. Feeling like you are in control again will help you feel more at ease and ready to face your troubles with a better attitude.
What Can Be Done If You Need a Bit of Extra Money While Getting a Handle on Your Personal Finances?

If your situation is dire and you need a bit of cashflow to sustain yourself or deal with emergencies, then maybe you should try getting car title loans. This type of loan won't require you to pawn your car, which means you'll still have your vehicle. Also, you can get a car title loan while unemployed, which makes it very convenient if you are currently in between jobs. At Quick Cash Auto Loans, we are committed to helping you weather a bad financial storm. Just call us at (786) 600-3411 or fill out our contact form to have one of our loan experts explain and guide you through one of the simplest loan processes in Florida.