Stress vs. Anxiety: Money Edition

Stress vs. Anxiety: What’s the Difference?

Stay patient with me here on this blog, as hopefully my rambling makes sense as I go on. 

So the other day we are having our usual Friday night traditional family dinner (perhaps my favorite Rosen family tradition).  We were having a blast.  Opened a nice bottle of wine, singing karaoke (which I clearly slayed), and enjoying the best people on the planet.  Then my oldest daughter Aviva, age 9, asked me a very thought-provoking question. 

“Daddy, what is the difference between stress and anxiety?”

I know, heavy stuff for a Friday night with a 9-year-old and a couple of glasses of Nicholson Jones Cuvee (good juice FYI).  My response was as follows.

“Well, Aviva here is the difference.  Stress is a normal thing we all go through.  There is good stress and normal stress.  Simply put, it is a part of life.  That said when you focus on stress too much, it starts to manifest itself into what we call anxiety.  This happens when you put too much weight on stress and don’t live in the moment rather focus too much on the future.”

Brilliant stuff right?  Thank you to the Headspace meditation app!  This led to a lovely 15-minute conversation centered around how to live in the moment and not let stress weigh you down.

Financial Stress

Now let me pivot here for a moment before I lose all 23 of you reading this right now.  You see this started my thinking down a rabbit hole on the correlation this has with people and their finances.  Every day I meet with people of different ages and stages of life.  Also, every day I sit across from someone that is stressed about their finances, and many who literally have anxiety about their finances.  Sound familiar?  Well if so read on.

The question is how can we reduce this stress with money, and avoid it becoming anxiety.  I can hear you all screaming at the screen, LIVE IN THE MOMENT DUMMY, you said that 2 minutes ago.  Although, I agree with that let me take it a step further.

You see I believe one of the great benefits of partnering with a lifelong financial planner, like what we try to deliver at Diversified, is by in large the cure.  Let me explain.  Now, a moment ago I said we all have stress in life both good and bad.  This holds very much true when it comes to our money and finances.  From my wealthiest clients to my most modest they all have money stressors.   Do they have enough?  What if they get laid off?  What if markets go down?  Can they retire?  And the list goes on.

Financial Anxiety

The question at hand is how do we prevent these endless stress moments from turning into anxiety on the matter?  I firmly believe when you have someone in your corner that can help understand these ever-mounting concerns, model these concerns out, and partner with you to constantly give you guidance along with ease is a massive advantage.  In a way, we provide financial therapy to our clients. 

We get to use our industry expertise, financial technology, and the immense perspective of living through what you are going through tons of times with others in similar shoes. 

Financial Peace of Mind

In essence, this is probably the biggest benefit, and unquantifiable benefit we offer.  The peace of mind that is afforded our clients in accomplishing their financial dreams is quite frankly priceless.  Peace of mind is also the number one feedback we get from our clients on a daily basis.  They thank us for the ability to put their mind at ease when it comes to some of their most intimate concerns. 

I, for one, absolutely love this part of my job.  Seeing the transformation from when a new client comes in our office to when they leave is moving.  It is like a personal trainer who starts with an out-of-shape client and then gets to witness them living the healthy life they so desperately yearn for. 

My little angel got me thinking about this and I couldn’t shake the thought for days.  I kept thinking about the relevance of my advice to my 9-year-old daughter, had to all those clients we are lucky to work with.  I hope if we have the pleasure to work together, that you have this same benefit afforded to you as well.  It is hard to put a value on this type of benefit, but from my experience, it is enormous, to say the least.

Next time you or a loved one starts to worry about the stresses of your financial situation, simply don’t.  Instead, pick up the phone and give us a call so we can help prevent financial stress from becoming financial anxiety.

Stay wealthy, healthy, and happy. 

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