Episode 1265: Mental Health and Money

[00:00:00] Scott Maderer: Thanks for joining me on episode 1,265 of the Inspired Stewardship Podcast.

[00:00:07] Matt Ham: Hey guys,

[00:00:07] this is Matt Ham from YouPrint. I wanna encourage you to find your own journey to living your life's calling, and one way to be inspired to do that is to listen to the Inspired Stewardship Podcast with my friend Scott.

[00:00:20] Scott Maderer: What I'm saying is the two are definitely connected to each other in a negative feedback loop whenever it's not going well, which means that if you can begin to tackle either end, the financial end or the mental health issue end and you can begin to break that negative feedback loop, it can begin to feedback on.

[00:00:42] In a positive way as well. Welcome and thank you for joining us on the Inspired Stewardship Podcast. If you truly desire to become the person who God wants you to be, then you must learn to use your time, your talent, and your treasures for your true calling. [00:01:00] In the Inspired Stewardship Podcast, you will learn to invest in yourself, invest in others, and develop your influence so that.

[00:01:09] Can impact the work

[00:01:11] in today's episode about investing in others through stewarding your treasures. I talk with you about how the statistics show that your money and your mental health are connected. I share how even without a formal diagnosis, mental health can be connected to your money and your money connected to your mental.

[00:01:28] As we talk about stewarding your treasures, wouldn't it be great if you could support this podcast and do it without costing yourself an extra dime? Turns out you can. All you have to do is use inspired stewardship.com/amazon. When you're ready to make a purchase via Amazon, and a small commission will come back to support the show.

[00:01:51] If you enjoy the show, when you're ready to buy from Amazon, just use inspired stewardship.com/. One area when it comes to [00:02:00] our success with our money that's often overlooked is our mental health, our mental wellbeing. And yet there are tons of statistics out there that show that mental health actually affects our ability to deal with money and mental, Our money affects our ability to deal with our mental.

[00:02:25] Again, some of the stats here almost one in five people, has mental health issues and almost one in every five of those has a serious problem or what they describe as a serious problem with debt. That means that people with mental health problems are three and a half times more likely to have what is described as a problem.

[00:02:51] Level of debt, something that they can't easily deal with. 72% of those [00:03:00] folks said that mental health has made their financial situation worse because see, mental health problems make it harder to earn, make it harder to manage money, make it harder to manage spending, and they make it harder to ask for help, which then causes financial problems, which cause stress and anxiety.

[00:03:21] And now you end up with more mental health problems. Oftentimes, one of the most commonly reported causes of stress and anxiety is financial difficulty debt, and the stigma and the pain and the image and the problems around that affect our mental health and cause people to become isolated, which makes the situation worse.

[00:03:47] Financial difficulty also, of course affects people's ability to get treatment and help and medication and all of the other things that are needed, and it affects debt is one of the [00:04:00] biggest causes or one of the drivers of suicide, especially in men. Although there's usually not just one issue that drives people to consider or commit suicide.

[00:04:11] Financial and debt is considered one of the largest. And then of course, mental health affects your income as well. The income gap for those with mental health problems, they tend to be underemployed or make less money than people without those conditions. And in part, you think about it, that is because it probably affects their ability to deal with work stress and to show up and do the other things that other people can do, which then of course leads to more problems.

[00:04:42] Statistics show that having a mental health problem can actually affect the way you spend and the way you save as well. Because people often will describe impulsivity and memory issues. It causes difficulty with financial. [00:05:00] Management and often causes poor financial decision making in response to mental health concerns that are going on in their life and that can cause further problems.

[00:05:12] And then of course, having mental health issues causes your ability to not just deal with the mental health. Issues, but other health issues. And even providing simple things like food and shelter can sometimes be affected. So without a doubt, there's an interconnection between our mental health and our finances, and it's a feedback loop.

[00:05:36] And again, it's a negative feedback loop as well because it causes the anxiety to build. And again, this can be whether you have a formal Dion of mental health or whether you're dealing with just stress, anxiety, burnout, and things that maybe aren't formally diagnosed as a problem, but they're still [00:06:00] going on in your life as well.

[00:06:04] They cause things like difficulty in your sleep or your diet or even physical health issues as well. And what you can do is the same thing that we always talk about. It's about inviting help, getting accountability. Taking action, refocus, gain control, and set a plan, creating a budget, and then working to live on that.

[00:06:28] And this is where often having an accountability partner or a coach can be so helpful because that's an area that oftentimes if you have mental health concerns, you're going to struggle. Not necessarily with making a budget, but with actually living. Looking at things like, how much debt do I have? How can I begin to pay that down and gain control?

[00:06:51] So instead of being stressed out and worried all the time, I can begin to have a sense of control around the issue. And of course, [00:07:00] practicing and prioritizing self care, getting enough sleep, eating well, taking care of yourself, those sorts of things. Doing mindfulness and meditation and exercise, journaling, all of these can be helpful as well, because the truth is financial issues, whether that's.

[00:07:22] Or whether that's under employment can actually create more mental health concerns than we're. In the first place. And that would imply that improving your financial health can actually help with your mental wellbeing as well. And don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that a financial problem is The only thing that can cause a mental health issue and fixing it is the only thing that can fix it.

[00:07:49] What I'm saying is the two are definitely connected to each other. In a negative feedback loop whenever it's not going well, which means that if you can begin to [00:08:00] tackle either end, the financial end or the mental health issue end and you can begin to break that negative feedback loop, it can begin to feedback on itself in a positive way as well.

[00:08:13] Thanks for listening.

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