Vestpod - Emilie Bellet, Women and Money

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What to do when you’re feeling stuck about money with Emilie Bellet (Hotline #14)

Adele Barlow

☎️ In today’s episode, I answer a question I received on Vestpod’s Instagram: What can you do when you’re feeling stuck about money?

💸 Sometimes when we feel stuck, we don’t know where to start. We don’t have the time, or we can feel that we’re losing our financial confidence. So few of us have access to a financial adviser. We’re not sure how to find financial help; if we should; if we can afford it. While I would always advise you to find some form of professional help, here are some pointers you can try to apply, simply to breathe and feel good again about money.

💥 Today on The Wallet: 

1️⃣ Find a support system, whether just one other person or an entire group. A great place to start could be to talk to a Financial Professional. But if that feels too big a step, for now, there’s lots of information online, including StepChange and Citizens Advice. It can help to get emotional support - like through the Vestpod POD groups we’ve just launched. 

2️⃣ Take control back by setting aside a specific time to know your numbers and check where is your money going. This is an exercise I find particularly useful, as simple as it is: list your total household income. Then track your monthly spending through your banking app or print your past 3 months of bank statements. Next, list all debts - including your credit cards, loans, and mortgage. Don’t judge yourself in the process, instead, treat it as an exercise.
3️⃣ Creating a budget means tracking and being more mindful about your spending. I like to create 3 categories: essentials costs, paying yourself (aka your savings) and lifestyle expenses. You can then assess where you could potentially make savings or improvements line by line. Once you’ve done this, then it’s time to look to make small changes. You don’t have to overhaul everything overnight. But you’d be surprised at how quickly the compound effect of many minor changes can come about.

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1. Find a support system 

  • This could be one other person or an entire group. A great place to start could be to talk to a Financial Professional by reaching out via email in the first instance. But if that feels too big a step, for now, there’s lots of information online to help people navigate financial well-being, including StepChange and Citizens Advice.

  • It's important to remember that there’s a broad spectrum of help available depending on the severity of the situation. If it's mental health that you need help with, a good first step could be to seek medical help by visiting your GP. There are also charities like Mind and the Samaritans. They have call centres with helplines that you can call for speaking to somebody confidentially. I also recommend going back to Hotline #11 “How to untangle money issues and mental health, with Clare Francis”. 

  • Overall, it’s beneficial to normalise money conversations. It can help to get emotional support - whether that’s through an accountability partner or a community, like the Vestpod POD groups we’ve just launched. 

  • It can help to have someone outside of the situation look at the issues and see if your goals and budget are on track. This can be reaching out to a family member, friend, or financial counsellor and asking them to take a look at things through an emotionally neutral lens.

2. Know your numbers

  • This can start with booking time in your calendar to deal with this incredibly important issue. Stop social media for a little while and grab a money book, like Mind over money by Claudia Hammond or The psychology of money by Morgan Housel. Some of the community’s favourite books are: You Are a Badass at Making Money by Jen Sincero and The Index Card: Why Personal Finance Doesn't Have to Be Complicated by Helaine Olen and Harold Pollack.

  • Besides reading those, another helpful step is to know your numbers and check where is your money going. This is an exercise I find particularly useful - as simple as it is. First, take a piece of paper or on your laptop and put down your TOTAL household income. List every single source. 

  • Then track how much you spend every month. Track all that’s left your bank account in the previous month, no matter how small. You can check your banking app or print your past three months of bank statements. List all debts - including your credit cards, loans, and mortgage. 

  • Don’t judge yourself in the process; instead, treat it as an exercise. Now you have a much clearer picture of your current financial situation. It’s much easier than trying to guess off the top of your head how much money you have at that moment in time.

3. Create a budget

  • Making a budget means tracking and being more mindful about your spending. I find it helpful to create three categories: essentials costs, paying yourself (aka your savings) and lifestyle expenses. You can then assess line by line where you could potentially make savings or improvements: maybe negotiating some bills, checking your energy costs, or cancelling a subscription or two. Leave some extra money for unexpected expenses.

  • This is an excellent time to ask yourself: are you using coping strategies or impulse buying? Are you spending from a place of necessity, or are you spending emotionally because of something else going on within you that you haven’t addressed? It doesn’t matter what you do, but awareness is critical; it’s the starting point.

  • Once you’ve done this, then it’s time to look to make small changes. You don’t have to overhaul everything overnight. But you’d be surprised at how quickly the compound effect of many minor changes can come about. With a more mindful and sustainable approach to your finances, you start altering your habits - which could result in direct monetary gains.

4. Start planning again

  • Finally, it’s essential to then start an emergency fund. This fund is the money deliberately set aside to cover the financial surprises that can affect anyone, like losing your job, leaving a relationship, a medical or dental emergency, or other unexpected hurdles. 

  • You can also start planning based on what you want your life to look like over the coming months, years, or decades. By writing your goals, you can find motivation, visualise them, and start saving for them. This is always a work in progress. 

  • Next, prepare for a raise or increase your rates. It might not always be possible to control the outcome of asking for those things, but it pays to do your research and find out what you’d need to do to increase the likelihood of those changes taking place. This is not a one-off but a constant effort and preparation.

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Recommended books: 


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