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Discuss investments with other users on our Investment forum. For more advice read our tips for saving for your child's future.

How do I get over fear

10 replies

Namebunny · 22/11/2021 07:15

Hello, gone from having good salary and cautiously being financially savvy to illness, no money and anxiety over everything. How can I get over the sheer fear of looking at money? We have a small amount saved and I think it will just inflate away very soon, yet Dp and I terrified to invest or spend it.
Thank you!

OP posts:
Sunseed · 22/11/2021 07:43

Taking control of your finances will help you with the fear. It will help you to size the problem and work out a plan to tackle it; at the moment you sound overwhelmed.

Get on top of your spending. Be honest with each other about your spending habits and where the money goes. Identify the essentials, the non-essentials that are most important to helpng you feel good/live more comfortably, and the totally discretionary things that can be cut out. You should then have a better idea of the priorities for allocating your money each month.

Then see what income you have, and work out the shortfall against budget. Where are the gaps? Are you claiming all benefits you might be entitled to? How old are you.... are you near to claiming State Pension? How long is illness going to impact earnings? This should help you see both the size of any gaps and also how long you might need your savings to last if you use them to help bridge gaps.

nannynick · 22/11/2021 14:30

Track all your spending. The act of recording every thing you spend in a book or on a spreadsheet will help you to know how much you spend. At first this can make you more fearful as the amount can be quite high but after a few months you will notice a rhythm to it, many things repeat monthly. You will find that you become more in control of what you spend, and can then decide to spend some on building up an emergency fund which will help you feel more secure.

Once you are happy with what you spend and that you have a pile of money for emergencies, then start to invest - little and often. £25 per month to an investment inside an ISA starts to grow and grow and grow. It is slow progress at first but you begin to really notice the growth as it gets bigger. Each month try to invest a bit more than the previous month. Set things on automatic where ever possible and then manually add the extra - then adjust the automatic payment.

Some good books:
The Automatic Millionaire
The Meaningful Money Handbook
The Secret Path To Wealth

Namebunny · 25/11/2021 20:31

Thank you both. The small amount is a good idea, I get overwhelmed when pension companies make you feel crap for not having it all sorted when you are three. I was siphoning off £20 which would have gone on a cleaner as an emergency fund, I didn’t think to put it in an isa. That’s a good idea, thank you.

OP posts:
whataboutbob · 26/11/2021 18:56

Subscribe to the Meaningful Money podcast, there are many episodes re pensions for example including one called something like “it’s never too late!”. I have found it very useful.

Namebunny · 29/11/2021 22:04

Oh thank you! Am terrified it is too late owing to some crap life choices. Will try and get courage to listen.

OP posts:
Sunseed · 30/11/2021 07:43

@Namebunny It is never too late to try. Flowers

whataboutbob · 01/12/2021 17:45

Fear is the enemy here, just listen to the podcast, this is a good place to start meaningfulmoney.tv/2016/01/27/mmp144-playing-catch-up-retirement-savings-tips-for-late-starters/

Ninananna · 01/12/2021 17:49

I lost a large chunk of money with a poor choice investment. No more investing for me, just saving.

Sweetchocolatecandy · 01/12/2021 20:05

@Ninananna

I lost a large chunk of money with a poor choice investment. No more investing for me, just saving.
Sorry to hear that. Can I ask what you invested in and how long you invested for? I’m new to this and have put a proportion of my savings into a S&S Isa but I’m also worried about losing money.
seekingasimplelife · 03/01/2022 12:54

Make a financial plan - also known as a financial pyramid. It will help guide you through any financial circumstances and will help you feel in control.

Start with the priorities -
Basics- Make a list of monthly income and expenditure on essential bills. See if there any direct debits, subscriptions you can reduce, get rid of, or switch to a cheaper supplier.
Then work out how much left over there is (if any).
From this excess, withdraw an allocated amount of physical cash each week to use on shopping for food, petrol and so on, and stick to that. Make it realistic, but frugal and not extravagent. Try this for a few months to see how it works for you. Tweak if necessary.

After that, you can start on the next level.

Build a pot of emergency cash savings that can be accessed easily (this could be your current savings). Set up a standing order from your account to deduct it from household income on the day it is paid in - then you will not be tempted to spend it on non-emergency items.

After you've built your emergency pot, if you have enough income coming in, move on to the next level.

  • make plans to protect your household income. Income protection or mortgage protection (if you own a house), or build up a pot of savings to cover 3-6 months household salary. If you have dc - think about life insurance.

When these are in place you could start to think about investments and pensions.

Work through each level systematically. It will give you a clear plan of where you are heading in terms of financial security.
At the moment it sounds as if you need to focus on survival mode and the basics - income, expenditure calculations, setting a budget, building an emergency savings pot, and protecting the household income you have.

Until this is done I would forget about long term investments.
Come back to it later when the basic priorities of living are secure.

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