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April is Stress Awareness Month, an annual event which aims to raise awareness of the causes and effects of stress while promoting healthy coping mechanisms.
In modern life, money worries are a common trigger for stress and other mental health challenges. Research by the Mental Health Foundation reveals that almost a third of adults in the UK feel anxious about their financial situation.
Indeed, the ongoing cost of living crisis, economic uncertainty, and market volatility are putting many households under pressure.
If you’re feeling nervous and apprehensive about managing your wealth, read on to discover four meaningful ways financial advice could alleviate your concerns and improve your wellbeing.
1. Replace uncertainty with a clear plan
It’s human nature to prefer certainty and predictability over ambiguity. What’s more, according to Psychology Today, research studies show that uncertainty activates threat systems in the brain, which signal our nervous system to prepare us for danger.
That’s why not knowing what might come next financially often feels uncomfortable and worrying. You may even start imagining the worst-case scenario. “Catastrophising” in this way could ramp up your stress levels and make it harder to view your finances objectively.
Recent research by Aegon found that UK adults who have no financial plan for their retirement are four times more likely to feel stressed about their long-term finances.
In contrast, a financial planner can act as an objective sounding board, steering you away from spiralling ‘what if?’ thinking and emotional decisions. By putting a robust plan in place, they can help you turn vague, and sometimes unfounded, worries into concrete steps, timelines, and priorities that move you towards your goals. This could shift your mindset from anxious guessing to informed decision-making.
2. Boost your financial literacy and confidence
Feeling underconfident about your wealth management skills and knowledge could heighten your anxiety. It may also hold you back from making decisions that could improve your financial position and ease your money worries.
For example, research by Aviva has found that more than half of British adults don’t invest because they don’t know enough about how to do so. Nearly 23% said they lack the confidence to get started, while 16% find investing complicated. As a result, many people could be missing out on a valuable opportunity to make their money work harder for them.
If there are gaps in your financial literacy and confidence, a financial planner can help by explaining complex concepts in plain language. They can also use visual tools, such as cashflow modelling, to demonstrate how different choices could affect your finances in the short, medium, and long term.
Improving your understanding in this way could alleviate stress by helping you to feel more in control of your wealth and make informed decisions.
3. Provide a sense of control and reassurance through regular reviews
A financial planner can offer much more than technical and practical support for managing your wealth.
In a major review of the benefits of financial advice by Royal London in 2019, 68% of those who received financial advice said they feel more in control of their finances. Further, only 32% of advised clients felt anxious about money, compared to 41% of those who had not received financial advice.
The emotional benefits were even greater for those who got to know their financial planner well by speaking to them regularly, as you can see in the chart below.
This shows how ongoing reviews can act as a “financial health check”, allowing you and your financial planner to:
- Review and adjust your goals in line with changing circumstances or life events
- Keep you motivated by tracking progress and celebrating milestones
- Address concerns early to prevent stress from building up.
4. Help you safeguard against financial shocks
Life rarely moves in a straight line; there are normally peaks and troughs along the way.
If you don’t have a backup plan to cope with unexpected financial shocks, such as a job loss or illness that prevents you from working, this could lead to chronic stress and sleepless nights.
That’s where financial protection comes in. Taking out cover, such as income protection and life insurance, could provide a reassuring safety net for you and your family.
For example, imagine that you’re diagnosed with a serious illness and need to take time out of employment. If you have critical illness cover, this might pay out a tax-free lump sum that you can use to pay for everyday living costs, childcare, medical treatment, and any other expenses that arise.
As such, financial protection is a crucial step towards minimising background financial anxiety and supporting your long-term wellbeing.
However, with so many choices available, selecting the most appropriate type and level of insurance for your needs and goals might feel complicated and overwhelming. It’s also wise to review your cover periodically, or if your circumstances change, to ensure it remains relevant.
Financial advice could help you to:
- Identify and prioritise your protection needs
- Review available options and select cover that matches your circumstances and life stage
- Calculate how much cover you need
- Embed protection in your wider financial plan
- Review and update your protection.
Get in touch
If money worries are keeping you up at night, we can help you create a plan that alleviates stress and helps you feel more in control of your finances.
To find out how we can help, please email hello@sovereign-ifa.co.uk or call us on 01454 416653.
Please note
This article is for general information only and does not constitute advice. The information is aimed at retail clients only.
All information is correct at the time of writing and is subject to change in the future.
The Financial Conduct Authority does not regulate cashflow planning.
The value of your investments (and any income from them) can go down as well as up and you may not get back the full amount you invested. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance.
Investments should be considered over the longer term and should fit in with your overall attitude to risk and financial circumstances.
Note that life insurance and financial protection plans typically have no cash in value at any time and cover will cease at the end of the term. If premiums stop, then cover will lapse.
Cover is subject to terms and conditions and may have exclusions. Definitions of illnesses vary from product provider and will be explained within the policy documentation.
Approved by Best Practice IFA Group Ltd on 13/4/26