Financial Anxiety: How to Help Manage Your Worry in Times of Uncertainty

Financial Anxiety is not a niche concern among Americans. In fact, even before the COVID-19 pandemic, roughly 60% of Americans felt anxiety when talking about their financial state according to a study conducted by FINRA.

This highlights the financial difficulty that many Americans are currently experiencing and signals a troubling sign for the psychological and financial health of Americans. Andrea Hasler, Deputy Academic Director of the Global Financial Literacy Excellence Center, notes that these findings are “sobering” and that it’s important to “build financial resilience and make it part of the recovery path.” These difficulties have likely worsened since the COVID-19 pandemic as Hasler notes that focus groups have shown that COVID-19 has “exacerbated existing financial anxiety.”

Steps to Reducing Financial Anxiety and Stress

In order to help prevent against financial anxiety, the researchers behind the FINRA study suggest the following proactive actions:

• Start building emergency savings, even if you cannot contribute a lot. Any amount can be useful in dealing with surprise expenses and “financial shocks” in the future.
• Participate in workplace “financial wellness programs” that help employees manage their money and save for the future.
• Engage in workplace programs to combat general stress and anxiety as a result of employees’ financial situations.
• For financial professionals, being sensitive to the stress and anxiety clients face due to financial instability is crucial.

How SilverBills Can Help

One specific area that respondents cited as a cause for their financial anxiety was short term expenses. This may manifest in the inability to pay bills on time and is especially problematic for middle aged and older adults. As an example, 27% of respondents who were experiencing anxiety and stress related to their financial situation indicated that they have past due medical bills. These concerns may be especially troublesome for seniors who are most at risk for requiring medical attention and needing assistance paying bills.

Managing bills is not a simple process and can become burdensome especially in later life. SilverBills seeks to relieve this burden by providing a streamlined and personalized bill payment service so clients do not have to worry about managing bills alone. SilverBills is a high tech solution to household bill management, empowered by professional account managers whose activities are monitored using robust A.I. fraud detection, and audited by licensed CPAs. Computer use on the part of clients is optional. SilverBills helps individuals outsource the job of managing household bills to trusted, vetted professionals with whom they can form personal relationships.

To get started with our service, give us a call at 866-653-4427.