Take Control of Your Financial Future: A Financial Well-Being Checklist for Women
So often, as women, we dedicate our lives to taking care of those we love—our spouses, our children, our parents, or our grandchildren—and neglect to take time to inventory our own well-being, especially regarding finances.
What is Financial Well-Being?
Contrary to what one might intuit about financial well-being, it is a highly personal state which isn’t solely determined by a dollar amount. A person of great wealth can be financially anxious or unsettled while a person with a much lower net-worth can potentially achieve financial well-being prior to accumulating large amounts of money.
Financial well-being is generally understood as being financially secure because you have successfully managed your money in such a way that you are paying for all your expenses and have money left over to invest for your future. You are on track to meet your future financial goals and are fiscally prepared to handle any unforeseen circumstances without compromising your current lifestyle. But, this is only half the story.
Why is Financial Well-Being so Important?
Financial well-being and personal well-being are two sides of the same coin and are both essential to our quality of life. Susan Bradley, a Certified Financial Planner and the founder of the Sudden Money Institute identifies six key aspects that comprise our overall well-being:
- Cash Flow: the money that flows in and out of your life everyday
- Family: the ability to create a loving and supportive family life, meet your obligations and responsibilities, and make good estate planning decisions
- Wellness: the enjoyment of the benefits of good health, ability to work and play as you wish both physically and mentally
- Net Worth: the balance of what you own and what you owe; the ability to make sure your net worth grows for your enjoyment, support, and to be shared with others
- Vision: ability to build a life that reflects your values, fulfills your dreams, and is fueled by your inspiration
- Security: feeling of safety now and when you look into the future, created by the use of insurance, saving for emergencies, investing for the future, and the support of friends and family
As this list illustrates, there are both quantifiable and intangible aspects of one’s well-being and they are not mutually exclusive. For example, your net worth isn’t just a number, but your ability to create a comfortable life to share with your loved ones. Security isn’t just about making the right investments and carrying the proper insurance policies, but also about the peace of mind those investments and policies proffer. Family is about supporting one another in the present, but also about estate planning for the future.
Both the measurable, financial aspects of this list and the immeasurable, mental ones directly affect the other. It is when your financial well-being and personal well-being work in harmony that you achieve your highest quality of life.
This alignment of our financial goals with our personal ones affords us the opportunity to consciously shape our future, step by step. We have the power to live the life we desire if we take control of our wellness before we hit any potentially life-changing bumps in the road.
Take Inventory of Your Own Financial Well-Being
Here we have compiled a checklist based on the six aspects described above. It is our hope that this list helps you begin assessing your financial fitness so that you can better prepare for the future.
If you are unsure about where you stand or would like some professional guidance along the way, sign up for a complimentary Get Acquainted meeting today. We look forward to helping you focus on enhancing your well-being one step at a time.
