Financial wellbeing...and adopting an elephant

How we acknowledged Mental Health Awareness week - May 2021

The greatest wealth is health (Virgil)

The theme for this year’s Mental Health Awareness week was centred around nature. According to the Mental Health Foundation, during the pandemic, millions of us turned to nature as a coping mechanism, with 45% of us reporting that green spaces were vital for our mental health.*

At JJFS we strongly advocate the importance of positive mental health both in and out of work, and felt it was even more pertinent to acknowledge Mental Health Awareness Week after the year we’ve had. We decided that we wanted to support the environment through a charity initiative and our adoption of an elephant through WWF will help to fund the work the organisation does to protect elephant habitat, reduce poaching and address human-elephant conflict, as well as helping to fund other vital work around the world.

We’re looking forward to the regular updates of our adopted elephant, who’s somehow been named Elon Tusk…*Cue eye rolls*

The team was also gifted a voucher to spend on books at The School of Life, a global organisation devoted to teaching you how to lead a more fulfilled life.

Mark is looking forward to reading a book entitled ‘On Being Nice’, and commented:

“Current day populist ideology encourages tolerance, compassion, and the importance of being nice (although without always applying these virtues when doing so).

Forty years ago, the comedian George Carlin described the word as soft and flabby. We’ve probably all been put off sometime by someone who appears too pleasing or glibly wishes us to “have a nice day”. The title of the book tempts me to question whether being nice is effective in getting things done or whether it’s just an inauthentic sugar-coated mask used to manipulate others who are easily flattered or thin skinned.

Are there times when it’s important not to be nice, to hold each other accountable and make progress? Surely a degree of conflict can energise solutions and divert us away from the dangers of groupthink caused by agreeableness.

I’ll read the book to see if I can find the answers, although I might be too nice to tell you what I conclude!”

Money can’t buy happiness…but it can improve our mental health

Whilst the familiar phrase money can’t buy happiness does ring true to an extent, there is a strong link to money and our mental health.

Our financial situation is very important to our overall wellbeing, and the absence, or fear of absence of money can play a huge role in affecting our physical and mental health, often leading to a vicious cycle: poor mental health can make earning and managing money harder, and in turn, worrying about money can make your mental health worse.**

According to research by the Money and Mental Health Policy Institute, 86% of respondents to a Money and Mental Health survey of nearly 5,500 people with experience of mental health problems said that their financial situation had made their mental health problems worse and 72% of respondents said that their mental health problems had made their financial situation worse.***

There are various coping mechanisms around maintaining mental health with regards to financial wellbeing, such as organising your finances and managing any anxieties around bills and debts, as well as plenty of resources such as Mind, The Mental Health Foundation and the Money and Mental Health Policy Institute.

Whilst we are not experts in the field of mental health by any means, we do feel that a sound financial plan can contribute to financial wellbeing; we believe the value lies within the planning and preparing for the “what ifs” rather than the balance in the bank.

We feel very privileged to work alongside clients who have fulfilled their financial goals through careful planning, from those who have realised they can afford their dream house, fund their children’s education or even increase their monthly grocery bill. The happiness and relief we see from clients we have worked with to develop their financial plan, having approached us feeling anxious about their financial situation, is invaluable to us, and is the reason we love and continue to do what we do.

“It is health that is real wealth, and not pieces of gold and silver” Mahatma Gandh

SOURCES:

*https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/campaigns/mental-health-awareness-week/why-nature

** https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/tips-for-everyday-living/money-and-mental-health/money-and-mental-health/

***https://www.moneyandmentalhealth.org/money-and-mental-health-facts/

Faith LiversedgeJune 21, 2021