Are You Suffering from Financial Fatigue?

Financial Fatigue is a term I like to use to describe people who are just exhausted with their long-term financial goal or goals. It may be that you have been slowly paying down debt and aren’t seeing the progress you would have thought, saving for a home deposit or you may be on your 3rd pre-approval and still can’t get a seller to accept your offer. Whatever if may be, the struggle is real.  

One of the biggest things to watch out for are impulse decisions made from frustration. It can be easy in a moment of weakness to do something you may regret and set your goals back substantially. I’ve seen people who are almost debt free make a large purchase with a loan feeling the debt free life was out of reach, I’ve seen a few first home buyers so fatigued from their house hunt that they decide to spend their house deposit on a brand-new car or holiday’s and shopping and have to start from square one again. We often feel so frustrated with the things we can’t control that we decide to do something we can control. Whether that something is good for us or not, it still gives us that short-term ‘fix’ we were looking for.

Mini goals are so important when you are on the long stretch of any goal. Whether it be with your health, relationships, career and in this case, finances. Mini goals are what keeps us on track and gives us a sense of progress as well as something to celebrate. If you are paying down debt, pick off the small debts and pat yourself on the back when they are closed. Or set a limit goal to pay down your loan too. Just make it achievable in the not-too-distant future to keep the momentum. The same goes for savings goals, Set realistic balances you are working towards and slowly increase as you go with an ultimate number you are trying to one day reach.

Buyers fatigue is a little harder to navigate. You can’t just buy a small part of a house. The way the market has been for the last 3, going on 4 years has been very tough for buyers. Particularly if you have specific requirements and/or location that you are limited to. If you need to take a break, make clear plans. Decide to stop looking for a home for a set period of time (ie. 3 months) and have clear guidelines for yourself to safeguard your deposit. Seek wise counsel from loved ones who can help encourage you to keep moving forward with your goals when the time is right and not set yourself back.

I'll finish with a quote. "Don't make a permanent decisions based on temporary feelings." Now if you do find you have done something, for lack of a better word 'dumb' there is always a chance to learn a lesson and move on. You may not be able to reverse mistakes but there is always a path forward, however rough it may seem at the time.