When it comes to your physical health, you know that exercise and eating right can help with your overall wellness, but what about financial health -- and what does that actually mean?
Sadly, America is pretty sick when it comes to money and the symptoms don’t just fall into the category of dollars and cents or wages and income.
Emma Garcia with Desert Schools is like a nurse: she identifies the problem before prescribing ways to make it better.
“When you're kind of stuck in your ways, it's hard to identify those opportunities to make small improvements.”
You'd think the economic pain of the great recession would've taught us a thing or two - that's not the case, though. Apparently more than six out of every ten Americans, including us here in Arizona, don't even have $1,000 saved up for the everyday emergencies we all know are going to happen.
And that’s a good first step: having a small amount of money, even as little as a few hundred dollars, to cushion the blow of the economic ups and downs.
You should also track your spending and decide exactly what you want to do with each dollar.
Lastly, try to set some goals. Short-term goals are best for bills while long-term work for the big picture items like retirement and your kids’ college education.
“It's not necessarily about your income. It's about how you're planning your spending, staying within your means and really having a process and plan for how you're going to spend your money.”
