Eight Dimensions of Wellness: Financial Wellness

*starts Diddy bopping with my empty pockets* If you can't guess what our next dimension of wellness is we have bigger issues! Let's get started....

Financial Wellness includes our relationship with money, financial literacy, skills to manage resources to live within our means, making informed financial decisions and investments, setting realistic goals, and learning to prepare for short-term and long-term needs or emergencies. Part of this dimension includes an awareness that everyone’s financial values, needs, and circumstances are unique.

In college with basketball, class, attempting to be social, trying to find the time to sleep and something other to eat than cafeteria food the furthest thing from my mind was planning for any future financial engagements like retirement, credit, investments, etc. And quite honestly I was ignorant to it all especially since the only business associated course I had to take as a STEM major was Macroeconomics and growing up the only time money was talked about in the house was when I wanted a toy or some food and my mother asking me if I had toy or food money then dad chiming in tryna scam me to clean the house for like $5 so that I could save up for whatever I wanted. The only thing I was banking on was that my roommate was an accounting major and that she would manage my money when I started making my projected salary. Now fast forward to early 2016, graduation is vastly approaching and I have a more realistic idea of my expected salary. Me and my roommate no longer live in the same city and I still have the slightest clue about this money stuff besides the fact that I want a lot of it without having to work to exhaustion. So with no thanks to my roommate (lol) I needed to educate myself and become financially literate so I could set myself up for this lavish future I had in my head and have the ability to spread that knowledge to elevate my family as well. Since then I have completed the Rich Dad Poor Dad series (Rich Dad Poor Dad, The Cashflow Quadrant, and Rich Dad's Guide to Investing), Think and Grow Rich, attended a real estate investment meeting and a 3 day real estate investment workshop.

Fast forward to now I am broke until my credit score goes up. Basically don't talk to me until my weight and expenses are down and my credit and income are up. Alright alright so my credit isn't bad at all nor is my weight an issue but that not the point, ya'll are focused on the wrong things! So I have multiple bank accounts, every time I moved I had to get a new bank smh but it actually works and helps me manage my money. I use the different accounts for bills, fun money, and savings. I automatically transfer different amounts to the respective accounts and everything gets paid. I'm working on building my 3 months emergency savings (and eventually 6 months) so I've started withdrawing cash for my fun allowance and groceries instead of me swiping my card to help with saving as well as paying down my credit card. My goal is to pay down my credit card so that I can use my line of credit for future investments because not all debt is bad.

Here are some R.E.A.L. tips to help increase your financial wellness:

Recognize - Be financially honest with yourself. You have to recognize where you're at, where you want to be and that there are steps that need to be taken to get there which will require sacrifices. You may have to make a lifestyle change. Recognize and acknowledge where your money is going, if you can't support or afford your habit(s) then you need to gone head and start weening yourself off of it (drinking, smoking, eating out, traveling, shopping, etc). I started by making a spreadsheet of my monthly income and expenses. Seeing everything helped me to cut back spending in different areas. Another way to see where your money is going is the The Highlighter Budgeting method. One wake up call I haven't responded to is calculating my net worth but if you need a reality check calculating your net worth can probably do the trick.

Educate - Educate yourself!!! There are plenty of books to read, courses, seminars, financial advisers, etc. Your life experiences should have taught you that you're not where you want or ought to be. There is always room for improvement. If Google can get people college degrees I'll bet money it can bless you with some financial education and literacy!

Apply - Knowledge means nothing if you don't apply it so with everything that you've learned about your finances in the Recognize and Educate stages actually do it because if you don't you're still going to be in the same situation. Tell a friend, family member, join a support group via social media, hell I'll help you if you want but having someone to help you stay on track through your financial journey will make a difference in reaching your goals.

Leap - Just to give you a little push as you peak over the cliff..go for it, take that leap! It's only risky if you're not educated! Devise a way to begin, navigate through it. It's going to be uncomfortable at first but it will all be worth it once you begin to see your hard work paying off.

Don't be afraid to stir up the tea in your own life by applying something R.E.A.L. to your financial wellness.