Four tips to cultivate positive financial habits

By Jennifer A. DiGiovanni | Citizens Contributor

At Citizens, we understand that money is often the cause of stress and frustration. With so many decisions to make and so much information out there about what to do, we believe financial education is key to managing financial challenges with confidence.

It’s never too early to start learning about money. In an effort to help our communities build a solid foundation, Citizens partners with organizations like Junior Achievement to deliver financial education in the classroom. Through our partnership, we conduct an annual survey to better understand common concerns about money to determine how we can help empower teens to achieve their potential.

While the survey targets a student audience, the findings highlight financial concerns and trends that affect everyone.

This article highlights the pain points revealed in this year’s survey and offers tips on how people can combat common money challenges to cultivate positive financial habits.

The sixth annual Junior Achievement Teens and Personal Finance Survey pinpointed financial concerns that are universally relatable. Here are four tips to help overcome them and position yourself for financial success.

1. Create a budget to help manage stress

The Citizens and Junior Achievement survey revealed that 78 percent of teens are stressed about money. While it's common for people of all ages to worry about their financial situation amid economic ups and downs, putting the right strategies in place can help you feel more in control.

How do you handle money stress and gain control of your finances? One common solution is to start by exploring which budgeting strategies are right for you. Tracking the amount of money coming in each month and how much you expect to spend can provide a snapshot of your finances. With a budget, you can identify changes in your finances and measure the effects on your spending targets. Depending on your goals, you may want to use a budget to determine how to pay down debt, or you may want to add a savings goal to your budget so you can divert income before you spend it on a discretionary item.

2. Have a healthy relationship with money

The goal of financial education isn’t to ensure everyone is always budgeting tightly and only making decisions that save every last penny. Instead, the idea is to learn what approaches can help you feel confident about how you choose to spend your money and how it aligns with your personal values.

In the survey, respondents were asked to gauge how money made them feel. Thirty-two percent of teens shared that they are concerned, 24 percent are scared, 18 percent are sad, and 13 percent are mad about how money impacts their lives.

Concerns like worrying about having too little money or fearing the loss of your savings due to a situation beyond your control are linked to feelings of insecurity. Managing money based on fear doesn’t make for a strong foundation.

By increasing your financial literacy, you'll understand what actions to take to build your savings and satisfy your obligations. This in turn will improve your relationship with money.

Whether you call yourself a spender or a saver, it's possible to learn how to manage money so that you're happy with your financial decisions and able to take life's ups and downs in stride. Likewise, you can use your money to support your personal values and beliefs by allocating a portion to a charitable giving plan.

3. Adopt healthy financial habits

Financial education is an ongoing journey. Eighty percent of teens agree that knowing more about how to manage money would positively impact their feelings about the role money plays in their life and 73 percent say they would likely take a course on money management if given the opportunity.

If you've never taken a personal finance class or managed money for yourself or a business, you may not feel confident in your ability to start a budget, handle debts, invest wisely or save. But when it comes to money management skills, even people with a finance or accounting background find benefits in learning new strategies.

Start taking control of your future by finding opportunities to learn how to better position yourself for success. Take advantage of self-educational opportunities and set a goal to learn something new. If you don't have access to community financial literacy programs, you can browse knowledgeable online resources.

If you're not sure what questions you should be asking about your finances or how to save when you're first starting out, the Citizens Learning Hub strives to offer simple, clear guidance for anyone who needs help with budgeting or managing all types of debt, no matter where you are on your financial journey.

4. Get financial advice you can trust

Finding a reliable, trusted expert who's looking out for you and your money can be tough. You can start by turning to your most financially savvy friends and family members and asking who they go to for guidance. Sixty-one percent of teens turn to their parents, 23 percent get advice from friends, and 28 percent get help online from social media.

Another avenue is to leverage banking relationships for recommendations on the right financial professional for you. Financial advisors offer a wide range of services, from helping you identify your financial goals and sketching out a budget to developing an advanced investment strategy. They can help you evaluate your financial situation and explore the moves that can set you up to achieve what you want to do with your money.

Everyone faces financial challenges. They can take many forms, but certain themes are common: Stress about financial uncertainty, how money matters make you feel, wanting to manage money well and where to go for financial advice you can trust.

By building your financial literacy, you're taking action to eliminate these hurdles and control your own financial fate. Once you begin to feel confident in your financial wisdom, you can pay it forward and offer to help others learn how to manage their money effectively, too.

Learn more about how Citizens supports financial literacy efforts in our communities.