Financial wellness impacts your mental health

Understanding the mental-financial-health connection

The numbers don’t lie: as many as 1 in 5 (or more than 57 million) U.S. adults live with a mental illness.1 42% of U.S. adults say that money negatively impacts their mental health.2 Research suggests that worrying about debt, financial instability or the inability to meet basic needs triggers stress and can increase mental health challenges.2 How you feel about your financial situation can have a profound positive or negative impact on your mental health.

A discussion with a financial professional can help you talk through your finances and long-term investing strategy and give you a better sense of ownership over your financial future.

Where financial wellness & mental health intersect

There’s a strong connection between a person’s mental health and their financial wellbeing. Struggling with mental health can negatively affect their financial decision-making. This, in turn, can negatively affect your finances. Which can then cause more stress and anxiety, leading to more mental health struggles. It can be a vicious cycle. In fact, 92% of people experiencing mental health challenges report difficulty in making financial decisions.2

Thankfully, TIAA can help you take control of your financial wellness and feel better about where you are when it comes to spending & debt, managing a budget and saving for retirement.

Steps you can take to improve your financial wellness:

  • Learn about budgeting Read our “How to make a budget” article to learn key terms and basics to help you understand the value of budgeting when it comes to reducing debt and controlling spending. 
  • Create your own budget Use our spending plan worksheet to help you lay out your monthly spending and create a budget that can help you get a hand on your finances.
  • Ask for help If you have questions or want to talk through strategies to help you improve your long-term retirement strategy and how you feel about your journey to retirement, connect with TIAA

1 nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/mental-illness

2 TIAA Institute “Connecting Mental and Financial Wellbeing: Insights for Employers” Study.


3 Forbes.com/advisor/banking/american-debt-and-the-mental-health-epidemic

4 Lendingtree.com/credit-cards/study/credit-card-debt-statistics

5 Usinflationcalculator.com/inflation/food-inflation-in-the-united-states

6 Forbes.com/advisor/mortgages/real-estate/median-home-prices-by-state

7 Apartments.com/rent-market-trends/us

8 Tiaa.org/content/dam/tiaa/institute/pdf/infographic

9 National Institute on Retirement Security



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