Financial Wellbeing in 2025: Expert Tips for a Healthier Relationship with Money

financial wellbeing

The relationship between our financial health and overall wellbeing has never been more evident than today, as a higher cost of living in the UK has led to more and more people experiencing stress and worry regarding their finances.

In this article, we discuss how you can feel more confident taking the first steps toward managing your finances, even if you have previously had negative situations and experiences with money.

To help guide us through this important topic, we’re joined by financial adviser Jacob Wright, who brings over a decade of experience helping individuals and families achieve financial wellness. His insights are particularly timely with the current cost of living challenges and economic uncertainties.

Common Financial Mistakes Affecting Wellbeing

“Many financial mistakes are either unconsciously created or unwittingly entered,” Jacob explains. “Nobody wants to make a financial mistake, but as you take certain risks with your money, mistakes can happen.”

The two most common pitfalls? Failing to set clear life goals and mismanaging day-to-day finances.

These mistakes can lead to increased stress, anxiety, and even physical health issues. Real-world examples include:

  • Overspending on non-essentials while neglecting savings
  • Taking on unnecessary debt
  • Avoiding financial planning due to anxiety
  • Not preparing for unexpected expenses

A big one we’d like to focus on is not building an emergency fund.

An emergency fund is money that you put aside to cushion you in the case of a financial emergency or surprise, such as losing your job, a vehicle needing expensive repairs, etc.

Having an emergency fund in place can be vital in hard times, as it can prevent you from going into debt or making other hard decisions to get by.

It is recommended that you save at least 3 months’ worth of living expenses into your emergency fund – so, if you spend £1,800 a month, you would ideally have an emergency fund of £5,400. How much you should have in your emergency fund can depend on your expenses, preferences, and what would be an emergency for someone in your particular situation.

The HSBC emergency fund calculator is a great place to get started when planning your emergency fund.

Developing a Healthy Relationship With Money

Jacob emphasises that while money isn’t emotional, humans are. Understanding our emotional relationship with money and what we use our money to achieve is crucial for making better financial decisions.

Checking your finances monthly is a brilliant way to begin building healthy financial habits and, as a result, a healthier relationship with money.

Something that can help you achieve this is the 50/30/20 model. This model splits money in a certain way:

  • 50% for needs (bills, groceries, essential expenses)
  • 30% for wants (entertainment, dining out, non-essentials)
  • 20% for savings and debt repayment

You see, the experiences we have and the stories we tell ourselves about money have a powerful effect on our relationship with money.

Did your family struggle financially when you were younger? Was money viewed as bad or evil, the cause of a lot of problems and suffering, by those closest to you? Or, is money a fun friend, encouraging you to treat yourself and spend a little more than you know you should?

It can be hard to spot, but there are a lot of different emotions, memories, and experiences that affect the way we view money. By getting used to planning and checking our finances more regularly, as well as learning more about how money works and can be utilised, it is possible to start viewing money more positively – as a tool that, with the right planning, discipline, and knowledge, can be used to help us achieve our goals.

Long-term Financial Planning

It’s no secret that long-term financial planning can be daunting. The future holds a lot of unknowns that can make looking ahead seem difficult and somewhat frightening.

However, this doesn’t have to hold you back from achieving the financial goals and future that you want. Jacob’s 3-step plan does a brilliant job of breaking down exactly how you can create an easy-to-implement plan for your financial future:

Expert Strategy: Jacob Wright’s 3-Step Plan

Life Planning (The ‘Why’)

“Think long and hard about the life that you have now and the one that you want to have,” Jacob advises. “Unless you understand your life goals and what you want to achieve, money will only ever be a number.”
A set end goal gives something to aim towards and plan for – without that, it can be hard to feel aimless and lost regarding our finances and how we would like to manage them!

Financial Planning (The ‘How’)

This stage involves analysing whether you have enough resources to achieve your life goals. It might mean making adjustments to spending, increasing income, or reallocating resources.

Essentially, this step requires you to start putting your plans into action.

Financial Advice (The ‘What’)

Implementation may require professional guidance, especially for complex matters like investments, pensions, or ISAs.

That is where financial advice comes in (and is what our collaborator Jacob specialises in: click here to learn more about Jacob’s work with Fintuity and how investing in a financial adviser may benefit you).

Essentially, the key to success is to figure out what it is you’d like to achieve, create a plan of how you will get to that point, and then break that down into smaller, bite-sized tasks that you can work on over a set period.

Have we made that sound easier than it is? Most likely: even knowing where you’d like to end up in five or ten years can be a challenge. But putting in that time and speaking to people you can trust will allow you to gradually gain an understanding of what it is you want and what you can do with the resources you have to achieve that.

Conclusion

We hope that this knowledge has inspired you to take the action you need to take in order to feel more confident and comfortable with your finances.

As Jacob reminds us, “Financial wellbeing isn’t about having the most money – it’s about having enough to live the life you want, both now and in the future.”

Ready to take control of your financial wellbeing? Start with one small step today. Whether it’s reviewing your budget or exploring available benefits, every positive financial decision brings you closer to your goals.

Need more support on your financial wellness journey?

Benefits Cloud members can access various tools and discounts to support their financial journey. From retail savings to healthcare discounts, these benefits can help stretch your budget further.

We would like to thank Jacob Wright again for allowing us to share his expertise on the topic. If you’re considering reaching out to a financial adviser we couldn’t recommend Jacob more – see how you can benefit from expert financial advice today.

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