World Health Day: keep your finances healthy

Health is wealth.

Live, laugh, love.

Another Instagram quote that makes my toes curl.

However you may feel about the kind of one-liners your Mom’s friend would post (yes Brits, I say Mom, not Mum), health is wealth and financial health is wealth. Deep.

It doesn’t mean being loaded. It means feeling in control of your finances so your mind can rest easy. And it’s the little things that make all the difference.

DISCLAIMER

More on all this shiz below…

(P.S. Before we get started, I want to make it VERY clear that this guide is not intended as financial advice, just a few tips to help you on the way to wallet wellness. For advice on investments please seek out a qualified financial adviser. Ok, serious hat off now).

👩‍⚕️Make healthy transfer choices👨‍⚕️

What is ‘World Health Day’?

Let’s take it from the top.

World Healthy Day takes place every year on April 7th. But 🎵 WHO? WHO? WHO? WHO MADE THIS DAY UP? 🎵 You guessed it, it was WHO, A.K.A the World Health Organization (if you don’t get that awful joke, leave. Just kidding, please don’t.)

The goal of World Health Day is to promote and improve public health, it’s been going for 75 years and every year has a new theme. This year’s theme? Health For All.

What is financial health?

I know what you’re asking…

“Ok, cool. We now know that World Health Day is more than just a hashtag. But what’s financial health?”

Well, you’re either asking that or:

“Why am I reading this?”

If it’s the first question, I’ll answer it. If it’s the second question, my answer to question one will blow you away and you’ll be happy you stayed 💥

Like I said, well wrote, financial health goes way beyond your credit score. A lot goes into it.

1) Financial literacy

2) Your confidence around money

3) Being savvy with things like saving and investing

4) And so on.

Now you’re asking “how do I check my financial health?” Well, well, well. I’ve only gone and answered that too.

How to check your financial health?

What we’re basically doing here is wellness. Wallet wellness. Here are a few things you can do to check your financial health:

1) What are your spending habits?

2) What are your saving habits?

3) Do you have any financial goals?

4) Do you have a pension scheme?

5) Do you have investments?

6) How comfortable do you feel with finance terminology?

Once you’ve answered these questions you’ll likely know where you sit. If, like me, you wouldn’t call yourself totally financially healthy yet, don’t worry. There are lots of little things we can do to build up confidence and security.

How to improve my financial health

1) Have a phone call with your bank or a qualified financial adviser, and don’t be scared to ask questions. There are NO stupid questions when it comes to your money.

2) Look at all of your outgoings: direct debits and day-to-day spending habits. Now set yourself a daily budget.

3) Start small with using features like Wise Jars, so you can put money aside little by little for things like travel, emergencies and treats . Learn more about Jars here.

4) Do some internet investigating. There are plenty of sources of information out there that can help you get to grips with financial lingo. It doesn’t have to be scary.

5) Don’t get ripped off. Banks, a Bureau de Change, loans or Credit cards with high interest rates are all things to keep an eye on. You may not be getting bang for your buck.

6) Check how much money you’re putting into your pensions and assess the situation.

7) Investments - Don’t really get them? Neither did I, so I wrote about it here.

8) Set goals. What do you want to have saved in 10 years? When do you want to ideally retire?

9) Check in with yourself every so often to see if you’re sticking to your goals.

Learn more on how Wise could help you out here