Speaker 1: Money management using psychology. In January of 2020, meaning before the pandemic, CNBC published a study that reported that 41% of families in the U.S. would go into a debt if they incurred a $1,000 emergency, like a medical bill or auto repair. The same survey showed that the average cost of an unexpected emergency is $3,500, and roughly 28% of people experienced a financial emergency within the last year. Coming up, we'll talk about how financial issues affect our mental health, and three psychology tips we can use to save money and be better prepared for whatever life has in store for us. This is Real Life Psych. ♪ Yeah, yeah ♪ ♪ Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, hey ♪ Happy Sunday, you guys. I'm Alexa Simos, your typical, almost 30-year-old with student debt, as well as a licensed therapist, and you're watching Not-So-Scary Sundays. I'm sorry if I'm being a buzzkill today, but we're gonna talk about money management and how this affects your mental health. At the end, we'll talk about three psychological tips you can use to save money so that you always have a decent emergency fund in case something happens. What a time to be a millennial. Go to college, they said. Take out student loans, they said. You can't get a decent job without college. And while we should be getting our life together, we're so influenced by social media and traveling all over the world for the gram. That, between paying bills, paying debt, and splitting a four-bedroom house with eight people for Coachella, it's hard to always have discipline to not spend money because no one wants to just work, pay bills, and retire. Now, let's talk about how all of this affects our mental health. Anxiety and depression. Studies have shown that individuals who struggle with debt are more likely to suffer from depression and anxiety. Some symptoms might include a decrease in sleep quality, inability to focus, or low energy. There's even a connection between suicide and debt. This study showed that 16% of suicides are related to financial stress, and other studies show that people who commit suicide are eight times more likely to be in debt. Next is resentment and irritation. One thing to remember is that debt not only affects us directly, but it can strain our personal relationships as well. According to a poll by Insider.com, 36.1% of couples that divorce did so due to financial issues. These issues varied, but almost all contributed to the buildup of debt and overspending. In fact, recent studies show that 45% of Americans aged 18 to 53 who were married in the last two years went into debt just to throw their wedding, and were three times more likely to have arguments about those finances than those who didn't. Research shows that arguments about money is one of the top predictors of divorce, because it creates a dark cloud and typically results in a variety of challenges for your close relationships. Last but not least is regret. Unfortunately, one of the first things that happens when you pulled your head above the water is self-blame. Of course, this is only exacerbated when you get online to see that Bitcoin's gone up about 50K and people are making money off shorting GameStop. And even though your debt isn't necessarily based on bad decisions, they can lead us to regret our life choices, like our career, relationships, or the city that we choose to live in, the life that we build is so closely attached to who we are as people. So regretting our life decisions is in some way rejecting who we are to our core. It's hard to see this when you're young, but being financially responsible may seem boring, but it is usually associated with more happiness in the end. Here's the good news. In terms of debt, it's not necessarily about how much money you make, but how much money you keep. We can all benefit from these three psychology tips to save money, no matter how much income we receive. Number one, re-evaluate happiness. Have you guys ever heard of the hedonic treadmill? It simply means that no matter what, your life typically is at a baseline of happiness. And so even if you buy a new house or a new car, this euphoria will only last temporarily, and eventually you'll just get used to having those things and it won't make you any happier. Life naturally has its ups and downs, and things that increase your baseline level of happiness is the joy that comes from within and the relationships we have with the people around us, not material items or temporary experiences. Number two, avoid comparisons. Hear me out. I know I rag on social media a lot, and it doesn't have to be the enemy. There are plenty of people to learn from, like Graham Stephan or Dave Ramsey, but on the flip side, according to a Schwab's Modern Wealth Survey of 2019, 49% of millennials say social media influenced them to spend money on experiences, and 48% say they spent overspent when sharing experiences with friends, whether it's dining out or going on a group vacation. Now, I know I always say to delete social media, but social media can lead you to being that yes man all the time. Make sure that you know your limits and that you're surrounding yourself with people who respect that. Number three, journal your spending. Journaling is a tactic therapists use with clients that helps keep track of stressors, anxiety-provoking situations, and just temptations, so that we can recall these events and explore what might have caused them. In this situation, journaling what you spend can also be used just to track where your money's going, like walking into a Starbucks like a celebrity and everyone knowing what you may get is cool and all, but writing it down in your journal may be exactly what you need in order to limit mindless spending. I understand how touchy this subject is. Let's face it, debt is a conversation we don't always have with our friends or loved ones because it typically doesn't make us feel good. When debt starts to feel like the determining factor in how we should live, it feels like we're being robbed of the people we truly are. I'm here to tell you that debt doesn't make you a bad person. You are not your debt. What I can say is that it's never too late to change how you manage your money because your physical health, mental health, and relationships will all benefit from this. Talk about a kinda scary, not so scary Sunday, but I hope these tools were effective for you to kind of give you a psychological insight of how you use your money. Kudos to everyone brave enough to make it through this episode, and thank you to everyone that's been along for the ride. We're so close to 1000 subscribers. Please help us get into that YouTube algorithm by hitting the like button, leaving a comment, and sharing with your friends. You guys have been so awesome. And I'm thankful to everyone who's been here along the way. See you guys next week. Bye. You