After achieving my financial independence goals at age 44—goals that I had worked on for 20 years, triggered by a layoff from my first ever job—I found myself asking, "Now what?"
When the initial thrill of reaching my early retirement dream faded, I realized my financial journey didn't just end with this milestone and there were still many other aspects of my finances to uncover and navigate. That's when my perspective started shifting from pursuing financial milestones to experiencing true financial wellness.
Financial wellness is portrayed as something to be "achieved" and is often associated with how much money or assets you have accumulated, but as I reflected on my own journey and experiences before and after early retirement I realized there's a need to redefine what financial wellness truly is.
To begin with, I'm discovering that true financial wellness is something you can experience at any stage of your financial journey, even if you don't have a high income or haven't accumulated a lot of assets. True financial wellness is about financial decisions that bring peace, balance, and fulfillment. The intentionality behind your financial decisions—choosing to spend on what matters to you and aligns with your values, finding purpose in how you earn money, and maintaining a balanced approach to your finances—define your financial wellness more than your income level or financial stage.
I also discovered a more balanced and holistic approach that connects mindfulness, purpose, and personal finance.
Here are the four essential steps and actions that I recommend for starting to experience true financial wellness:
Step 1: Feel empowered to define your financial wellness
It's liberating and empowering to realize that you can define what financial wellness is to you and align your financial decisions to reflect it. Societal expectations and following the Joneses don't have to define your financial wellness, you do!
Action: Create financial goals that align with what is important to you and not what you think you should do or are expected to do (check out this blog post that guides you to create goals that align with what is important to you).
Step 2: Let your values and purpose play a role in guiding your finances
I realized that prior to achieving my financial independence goal, I had allowed my finances to dictate almost every aspect of my life! It influenced all of my choices, and now I realize that I could have allowed more of my purpose, values, and what I enjoy to lead the way instead. I'm not advocating throwing caution to the wind and living a YOLO life, but do give room for your purpose and values to dictate some of your financial decisions.
Action: Begin to view your finances from a financial wellness perspective and structure your finances in a way that financial decisions more automatically align with what you care about (use the Financial Wellness Buckets template to start managing your finances differently).
Step 3: Aim for balance and harmony instead of focusing only on milestones
Although I celebrate my financial independence achievement, I sometimes regret my single-minded approach, and I am grateful to now have the opportunity to thrive with a more balanced, holistic financial wellness approach.
In the past, I didn't often make financial decisions that supported growth, fun, or even self-care. I operated more from a "sacrifice" mindset instead of finding balance and harmony between financial decisions and living a full and fulfilling life. Now, I'm learning to be more balanced in my mindset and approach. It is amazing that I am more generous, and I experience and spend more on the things that matter to me on a $40K retirement income than I ever did when I earned close to $200K. That's experiencing true financial wellness!
Action: Create balance between your life and finances by connecting mindfulness, purpose, and personal finance. (Learn more about the 9 simple strategies to help you get started)
Step 4: Embrace the journey and accept that it's a (re)learning process!
Financial wellness is an experience and not a milestone to achieve. It is a process that evolves as you evolve, but there are simple strategies and mindsets that you can embrace and practice on the journey.
Action: Explore the strategies and mindsets for cultivating financial wellness and discover which ones resonate with you at this stage of your financial journey.
Conclusion
Financial wellness can be defined by each of us on our unique financial journey. True financial wellness is an experience that is attainable at any financial stage and can be cultivated by practicing simple strategies and mindsets that incorporate financial wellness into everyday living.
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