Americans Spend Nearly 4 Hours per Day Thinking About Money — 5 Ways To Ease Your Mind About It
Written by
Vance Cariaga
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Amen Oyiboke
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If you’re lucky enough to get eight hours of sleep a night, then chances are you spend about one-quarter of your waking hours thinking about money. That’s according to a new Empower survey of more than 2,200 U.S. adults that aimed to gauge some of the reasons people stress over finances.
One of its findings is that the average American spends nearly four hours a day thinking about money. If you spend 16 hours awake, then roughly 25% of that time is devoted to financial thoughts. Gen Zers and millennials spend even more time than that, at nearly five hours a day.
There’s nothing necessarily wrong with thinking about money. In fact, it’s a necessary part of building the right financial plan. But it can also go too far.
If you spend more time than you should thinking about money, here are five ways to ease your mind about it.
Use Your Time To Be Proactive
It’s probably impossible to avoid thinking about money, but that doesn’t mean your thoughts should dwell on the negative. Many Americans use the time to come up with proactive solutions to money challenges — which is a positive trend.
“We’re seeing a real shift from passive worry to proactive behavior,” said Rebecca Rickert, head of communications and consumer insights at Empower, in a news release. “People are motivated. They’re looking for tools, information, and advice to turn that energy into progress.”
Make a Plan
Having a financial plan in place gives you a roadmap and checklist to help ease your mind about money. Citizens Bank recommends outlining your financial goals and making a budget to help develop a financial game plan. Here are some steps to take:
- Calculate your monthly income — including salary, side gigs and active investments not used for retirement or other savings.
- Calculate your monthly expenses, including living expenses such as rent, mortgage, utilities and groceries, as well as recurring expenses like insurance and healthcare.
- Subtract your expenses from your income and then determine how much room you have for savings. Nothing is better at easing your mind about money than building up savings.
Maintain an Emergency Fund
Having an easily accessible emergency fund can “significantly reduce your financial stress” because it gives you a cushion in case you lose your job or get hit with unforeseen money problems, according to U.S. Bank. Ideally, the fund will have enough money to cover at least six months’ worth of living expenses.
Get Your Debt Under Control
Unmanageable debt is one of the main reasons people spend too much time stressing over money, and getting that debt under control will go a long way toward easing your mind.
Prioritizing debt repayment can not only make you feel better about yourself, but you’ll also avoid “racking up interest charges and paying more in the long run,” Citizens Bank noted.
Automate Your Payments and Savings
One surefire way to avoid thinking too much about finances is by taking a “set and forget it” approach to paying bills and saving money. The best way to do this is to automate your bill payments as well as your savings contributions. Just make sure you have enough money in your account when the auto transactions are scheduled.
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