228 National Financial Literacy Month - Day 21 - The Impact Your Finances Have On Your Mental Health

<p>Learn about Paul Lawrence Vann's digital Financial Fitness course, it is being offered at a 50% discount throughout the month of April, National Financial Literacy Month, here is the link:  <a href="https://bit.ly/3dbperG">https://bit.ly/3dbperG</a></p><p>Make no mistake about it, money problems and mental health issues are intrinsically linked. Research from the 2008 great recession and COVID-19 reflect the link between finances and mental health.</p><p>According to the Money and Mental Health Policy Institute¹, poor finances often lead to stress and anxiety that can further impact finances.</p><p>Facts: </p><ul><li>46 percent of people with debt also have a mental health diagnosis</li><li>86 percent of people with mental health issues and debt say that their debt makes their mental health issues worse</li><li>People with depression and debt are 4.2 more likely to still have debt at 18-months compared to their counterparts without debt</li><li>Those with debt are three times more likely to contemplate suicide due to that debt</li></ul><p>The Cycle:</p><ol><li>Mental health problems make it harder to earn, manage money and spending, and to ask for help.</li><li>Financial difficulty</li><li>Financial difficulty causes stress and anxiety, made worst by collections activity or going without essentials</li><li>Mental health  problems</li><li>This cycle repeats itself over and over again</li></ol><p>Americans suffer from financial stress. A Harris Poll conducted in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic showed that 90 percent of Americans felt financial stress.  Note that financial stress is not limited to hard economic times, such as the fallout from a pandemic.</p><p>a Northwestern Mutual study found that 44 percent of Americans stated that financial concerns were their number one stressor, with more than one in four feeling depressed about finances at least monthly and two out of ten feeling depressed weekly, daily, or hourly.</p><p>Continuous financial stress wreaks havoc with <a href="https://www.enrich.org