From our archive. This article was published on 13 December 2018. Rules and amounts may have changed since.
We all want to feel good about our financial situation, today and in the future, don’t we? The certainty of being able to live and do as we please, albeit within a normal framework, gives us a sense of security and freedom. So how do you achieve that state of security and freedom, a state of Financial well-being? The Road to Financial Wellness takes you from Financial Well-Being to Financial Wellness, but only if you are willing to follow a few basic steps.
What steps does a person need to take to complete their journey to financial well-being successfully?
- Balance: Live within your means
- Ask: Gather information and evaluate
- Plan: Focus on the future
- Do: Guidance towards success
Balance - Live within your means
To increase your level of Financial Well-Being and reach a state of financial wellness, you must first learn that you need to be able to live happily within your means.
Financial Well-Being coaches can help people develop healthy financial habits and make conscious changes to their day-to-day money management:
- Practise being content with less, and stop spending money without thinking about it.
- Stay out of debt and handle credit responsibly, if it turns out to be necessary after all.
- Act as if you were an entrepreneur when earning your income and avoid interruptions in paid work.
Ask - Gather information and evaluate
Gathering information, asking questions and daring to ask them, in order to make well-considered decisions that contribute to your level of Financial Well-Being.
Well-Being coaches can help people ask the right questions, seek out facts and apply them effectively:
- Recognise situations in which they need financial information
- Discover where to find reliable information
- Determine which choice makes the most sense for them
Plan - Focus on the future
To move forward, it is important to keep an eye on the future. Thinking about what is still to come and working out a plan are things that contribute to the level of Financial Well-Being you experience.
Well-Being coaches can help people connect their ambitions for the future with concrete plans:
- Identify specific, realistic goals
- Make step-by-step plans to achieve these goals
- Feel confident that they can make a difference in their own life
Do - Guidance towards success
Fortunately, you do not have to go it alone. With a team of coaches and an employer who wants to offer support without being involved in the content of your personal story, you will become mentally more resilient and wealthier. We provide the support and guide you from A to Z towards success in Financial Well-Being, Financial Health and Financial management. Well-Being coaches can help people apply their decisions consistently:
- Work out how to take the steps needed to turn their decisions into actions
- Determine how they can motivate themselves to take those actions
- Take advantage of existing options, from auto-pay to peer support, to make it easier to stay on the right track
Post written by Stijn Derynck, managing director of the Financial Well-Being Academy.