How To Motivate Yourself To Improve Your Finances Bankrate.com Caret RightMain Menu Mortgage Mortgages Financing a home purchase Refinancing your existing loan Finding the right lender Additional Resources Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Caret RightMain Menu Bank Banking Compare Accounts Use calculators Get advice Bank reviews Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Caret RightMain Menu Credit Card Credit cards Compare by category Compare by credit needed Compare by issuer Get advice Looking for the perfect credit card? Narrow your search with CardMatch Caret RightMain Menu Loan Loans Personal Loans Student Loans Auto Loans Loan calculators Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Caret RightMain Menu Invest Investing Best of Brokerages and robo-advisors Learn the basics Additional resources Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Caret RightMain Menu Home Equity Home equity Get the best rates Lender reviews Use calculators Knowledge base Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Caret RightMain Menu Loan Home Improvement Real estate Selling a home Buying a home Finding the right agent Additional resources Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Caret RightMain Menu Insurance Insurance Car insurance Homeowners insurance Other insurance Company reviews Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Caret RightMain Menu Retirement Retirement Retirement plans & accounts Learn the basics Retirement calculators Additional resources Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Advertiser Disclosure
Advertiser Disclosure
We are an independent, advertising-supported comparison service. Our goal is to help you make smarter financial decisions by providing you with interactive tools and financial calculators, publishing original and objective content, by enabling you to conduct research and compare information for free - so that you can make financial decisions with confidence.
Bankrate has partnerships with issuers including, but not limited to, American Express, Bank of America, Capital One, Chase, Citi and Discover. How We Make Money
The offers that appear on this site are from companies that compensate us. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site, including, for example, the order in which they may appear within the listing categories. But this compensation does not influence the information we publish, or the reviews that you see on this site. We do not include the universe of companies or financial offers that may be available to you. SHARE: Thomas Barwick/Getty Images November 06, 2018 Kelly Anne Smith Bankrate logo The Bankrate promise
At Bankrate we strive to help you make smarter financial decisions. While we adhere to strict editorial integrity, this post may contain references to products from our partners. Here's an explanation for how we make money. Bankrate logo The Bankrate promise
Founded in 1976, Bankrate has a long track record of helping people make smart financial choices. We’ve maintained this reputation for over four decades by demystifying the financial decision-making process and giving people confidence in which actions to take next. Bankrate follows a strict , so you can trust that we’re putting your interests first. All of our content is authored by and edited by , who ensure everything we publish is objective, accurate and trustworthy. Our banking reporters and editors focus on the points consumers care about most — the best banks, latest rates, different types of accounts, money-saving tips and more — so you can feel confident as you’re managing your money. Bankrate logo Editorial integrity
Bankrate follows a strict , so you can trust that we’re putting your interests first. Our award-winning editors and reporters create honest and accurate content to help you make the right financial decisions. Key Principles
We value your trust. Our mission is to provide readers with accurate and unbiased information, and we have editorial standards in place to ensure that happens. Our editors and reporters thoroughly fact-check editorial content to ensure the information you’re reading is accurate. We maintain a firewall between our advertisers and our editorial team. Our editorial team does not receive direct compensation from our advertisers. Editorial Independence
Bankrate’s editorial team writes on behalf of YOU – the reader. Our goal is to give you the best advice to help you make smart personal finance decisions. We follow strict guidelines to ensure that our editorial content is not influenced by advertisers. Our editorial team receives no direct compensation from advertisers, and our content is thoroughly fact-checked to ensure accuracy. So, whether you’re reading an article or a review, you can trust that you’re getting credible and dependable information. Bankrate logo How we make money
You have money questions. Bankrate has answers. Our experts have been helping you master your money for over four decades. We continually strive to provide consumers with the expert advice and tools needed to succeed throughout life’s financial journey. Bankrate follows a strict , so you can trust that our content is honest and accurate. Our award-winning editors and reporters create honest and accurate content to help you make the right financial decisions. The content created by our editorial staff is objective, factual, and not influenced by our advertisers. We’re transparent about how we are able to bring quality content, competitive rates, and useful tools to you by explaining how we make money. Bankrate.com is an independent, advertising-supported publisher and comparison service. We are compensated in exchange for placement of sponsored products and, services, or by you clicking on certain links posted on our site. Therefore, this compensation may impact how, where and in what order products appear within listing categories. Other factors, such as our own proprietary website rules and whether a product is offered in your area or at your self-selected credit score range can also impact how and where products appear on this site. While we strive to provide a wide range offers, Bankrate does not include information about every financial or credit product or service. Poor financial health can also affect your physical well-being. The lingering effects of debt, insufficient funds and intimidation of financial management take a toll in many ways. A 2016 report from the found that 62 percent of Americans are stressed about their finances — a higher percentage reported than stress over work. Aside from stress, found that Americans with poor financial health report decreased productivity and isolate themselves from friends and family. Americans have been struggling to pay off credit card debt and build their savings. And while many are , 40 percent of Americans still can’t afford a $400 emergency, . In an environment where the mountain of financial health seems too steep to climb, how can Americans motivate themselves to improve their finances? Why people feel helpless with their money
Jirs Meuris, assistant professor of management at the Wisconsin School of Business, studies financial precarity and its effect on people. According to Meuris, people have grave concerns over their finances because of a “lack of safety nets,” which range from insufficient medical coverage to nonexistent savings. When people are faced with situations that challenge the safety nets they don’t have, they can start to feel helpless or stressed; many are faced with not knowing where to turn. It isn’t always a lack of psychological motivation to fix financial situations, Meuris says; sometimes, overall disadvantages can play a role in feeling helpless with money. “If people have low incomes and no benefits, the issue is not psychological but structural,” Meuris says. “So the effect of any motivational or efficacy interventions are likely to be limited.” As a way to combat distraught feelings toward money, Meuris focuses on developing a sense of self-efficacy, where people feel that they are able to tackle their financial challenges. Enlisting in this psychological theory can reap long-term benefits, like breaking overspending cycles and reducing stress to increase overall well-being. 5 tips for improving your finances
Feeling empowered to improve your finances may be intimidating, but it doesn’t have to be. To turn your money situation around, consider these tips. 1 Start small with a plan
Financial debt resolution attorney Leslie H. Tayne of Tayne Law Group, P.C., says trying to tackle many large goals at once, like paying off student loans while trying to buy a house and build a savings account, won’t work. Starting with a reasonable and achievable small goal that will likely get accomplished will lead to goals gradually getting bigger — and still getting accomplished. 2 Set goals including fun ones
Kevin Gallegos, senior vice president of Freedom Debt Relief, says starting by identifying what you want to do with your money is key — and that includes any splurging goals you may have, whether it’s a vacation or new pair of shoes. Spending is important, but Gallegos says that restricting yourself entirely can make it harder for you to stick to a spending plan. 3 Draw from the success of those around you
Meuris says connecting with people who have similar challenges can be a great way to boost morale when it comes to tackling financial challenges. By learning from their successes and failures, a feeling of identity and relatedness can help stay motivated with a mindset of, “If others can do it, I can do it, too.” 4 Change the way you think about debt
If you’re working hard to pay off debt, it can be easy to beat yourself up over it. Instead, Tayne recommends using past decisions as lessons for staying out of future debt. If the debt was accumulated from overspending instead of investing in yourself, take that in stride — what can you do to prevent ending up in the same hole the next time? 5 Be willing to accept mistakes you make along the way
Tayne says that perfection with any plan is impossible. When it comes to improving your finances, you’re bound to make some mistakes along the way. Tayne recommends being flexible and patient; accumulating debt takes time, and so does paying it off. Evaluate your plan if things aren’t working and adjust it accordingly. SHARE: Kelly Anne Smith Related Articles