Before the conference, here’s your chance to take a deeper dive into the content that will be covered at REAL HR 2019.

Speaker: Brent Hines, CFWE, CFWC | Founder & Chairman, Foundation for Financial Wellness
Session: The Case for Financial Wellness

Financial Wellbeing: No one is coming!

No one is coming. No white knight, no bail out. This is up to each of us to get right and our lives and legacies depend upon it.

Financial wellness and financial education are two very different things. Financial wellness is based in behavioral science, adult learning theory and even in the neuro-science of improving our odds of higher performance in the financial component of this game called life.

We all want to have the tools, tactics and techniques to obtain financial well-being. But first, we need to take a step back and acknowledge that it is the doing, or better known as the behavior, that is the engine that drives our success. And, if we want to understand what fuels those behaviors, we must take one more step back and unpack our thoughts, beliefs and assumptions around money. In other words, how we are being.

This is partially why financial wellness is different than just financial education. The formula for success is more than only having the knowledge–facts and figures. It must include healthy behaviors along with empowering beliefs. And, it’s this powerful concept of how we are being that makes the financial wellness so special–and rarely understood much less harnessed. Behavioral scientists refer to these beliefs as “scripts, tapes, or records” and the crazy part, is that the vast majority were given to us by authoritative figures–like mom and dad–from the earliest years in our lives.

So, let’s make a deal. For the rest of this month leave behind the self-limiting beliefs from the authoritative figures from our youth and approach these financial wellness moves with under a new light.

  1. Could our most powerful strength also be our biggest barrier? // Let’s take a look at how we think each and every day. Scientists estimate that the average person has 50,000 to 60,000 thoughts a day. The brain essentially wants to be as efficient as possible, so it repeats many of the same thinking processes again and again, rather than taking the effort and energy to carve out new types of thought pathways. About 90% of the thought pathways we have built, we use again. These are very efficient and repetitive. What science has learned is that unfortunately 70% to 85% of these repetitive thoughts are negative. If we’re repeating the same thoughts multiple times a day and many of those thoughts are negative, you can see how our thinking may in fact be tripping us up.
  2. Who exactly are you trying to convince? // Larry Burkett famously said, “We buy things we don’t need, with money we don’t have, to impress people we don’t like.” Fear and pride are real things and play into our behavioral decision making each and every day. What are some ideas that you might implement to counter some of your most common financial behaviors?
  3. Take the helm; this is your ship // You’re worried about some things, and we get it…you’re not alone. We have all faced financial distress…no matter how much money we have, our career choice or what stage of life we happen to be in. To give just a few examples which reflect American workers: The American Psychological Association’s survey on stress determined that 72% of American adults are stressed about money, at least some of the time and 26% are stressed about money most or all of the time. And factors like being female or being a parent increases the likelihood that you feel stress around money.

In a separate report, it was found that 60% of American workers’ distress over financial issues impacts their ability to focus at work and has caused 1 in 3 employees to miss or be late for work because of their financial situation. Money impacts every single area of our lives, from work to our families, and stress certainly isn’t doing our health any favors. So, how do we fix it? Well it starts with our thinking. By spending much of our lives pre-occupied with negative thoughts about money, we allow no space for creating solutions.

By no means is financial wellness is an over-the-counter, positive self-talk solution…instead it’s about real life, practical application that you can implement right away. Remember, financial wellness isn’t just about education, it’s about taking action…and sometimes that action is simply making a decision. Oftentimes, the first decision is what we chose to think or believe about money, which will then create healthier financial behaviors.

About Brent Hines // Brent Hines, CFWE, CFWC is the Founder and Chairman of the educational non-profit, Foundation for Financial Wellness. The Foundation’s mission is to improve people’s lives by empowering them with the knowledge and the motivation to take control of their financial lives. The Foundation’s curriculum is rooted in the principles of Behavioral Finance and Behavior Change Modeling, which makes every class topic taught by the Foundation unique, innovative and extremely valuable. Brent regularly delivers keynote addresses on behalf of The Foundation for Financial Wellness, bringing motivational presentations to corporations, workforce boards, churches, groups and associations offering real-world financial solutions to thousands of people every year. Most importantly, Brent is husband to Amy, father to Grayson and Lily, and an active member and financial counselor volunteer at his local church. Learn more about Brent at foundationforfinancialwellness.org or brenthines.com.