In a sentence, your financial wellbeing – or financial wellness – means having a sense of financial security and enough money to meet all your needs and the demands in your life. It is different to financial wealth, which primarily relates to your bank balances and net worth. Not everyone can be financially wealthy, but everyone can be financially healthy.
What is financial wellbeing?
Financial wellbeing is all about understanding the way you manage money and how it affects your life, and this will vary for everyone depending on their age, personal situation, and life stage. You may be just a few short years away from retirement, or you may have just started your very first job. You could be purchasing your first home, or paying for school-fees and supporting children.
Everyone is different, and financial wellness will look different for every individual but there is a common thread here: everyone deserves to feel financially secure. Your financial wellbeing greatly impacts your mental wellbeing, so it’s important to take it seriously.
Why is my financial wellbeing important?
As mentioned, not being financially well can impact your mental health, along with other important areas of your life such as your relationships. By achieving financial wellness, you’ll have a sense of security and freedom, have the ability to break free from debt and feel equipped to handle the unexpected. It means you may not feel as anxious about the ‘what ifs’ that life can throw at us, like an unforeseen job loss or medical emergency.
Having enough money to meet your day-to-day needs and allow for treats every now and again, as well as having savings in the bank for the future is what financial wellbeing is all about.
What does poor financial wellbeing look like?
Here are some key signs that your financial wellbeing may not be as good as it could be:
- Unmanageable debt, or debt that is growing instead of shrinking.
- Living paycheck to paycheck and having to forego necessities or adding funds into savings.
- Sporadic saving or regularly dipping into savings and not replacing the money used.
- Overspending or ‘splurging’ when you have more money than normal.
Ignoring bills or delaying payments until the due date. - Avoiding conversations about money with people including close family members.
They may not all apply to you, but if you can change the things that do apply then your financial wellness will improve.
What does good financial wellbeing look like?
As you can probably guess from reading the above six points, in a nutshell good financial wellbeing revolves around budgeting, saving, paying off debts and facing your finances. We know that’s often easier said than done, but that’s why we have tools and resources to help you achieve and retain financial wellbeing.
How can I improve my financial wellbeing?
P&N Bank prides itself on being different to other banks. We want all our customers to succeed with their finances and feel empowered to secure the financial future they want to achieve for themselves and their families. That’s why we’re always here to chat through your goals, and why we have a range of services, tools and resources available to our customers. We want everyone in WA to achieve financial wellness.
Let’s look at these tools and resources in more detail – you never know, there may be something that will help you.
Your Financial Wellness
We have partnered with Your Financial Wellness (YFW) which is an online tool that all P&N Bank customers have access to – free of charge. Get your personal financial wellbeing score by answering a few simple questions, and then deep-dive into your financial situation to identify the areas that you should focus on.
The detailed personalised report will give you valuable insights and show you how you compare to other Australians. You’ll get access to supporting tutorials, videos and learning paths so you can increase your financial literacy as well as your wellbeing.
Learn more about YFW and register
mymo by P&N Bank
You may have heard us talk about the mymo app before, but you need to use it to really experience its benefits! mymo by P&N Bank is a personal financial assistant that fits in your pocket.
Using Open Banking technology, you can link up all your bank accounts, loans, credit cards, Buy Now Pay Later services and investments in the one place – even if they’re not with P&N Bank. By doing this, you’ll be able to get a thorough overview of your financial situation and see where your money goes.
You can use the app to create a budget and highlight the areas where you can make potential savings. mymo also helps you be better prepared for bills and you can set reminders for regular transactions or schedule payments. Maybe you have a savings goal that you’d like to reach – simply set it in mymo and you’ll be able to track your progress.
Learn more about mymo and download the app
Calculators
We have a range of calculators available to help you with your finances or give you an idea of what you can afford when looking for different banking products. They’re easy to understand and free to use.
Our budget planner calculator can help you get on the right track with your money, while our savings and term deposit calculator can show how much money you can earn from interest, and how it will help your money grow. We have an income tax calculator, a personal loan repayment calculator and several calculators relating to home loans and ownership.
Blog and social media
The P&N Bank blog is regularly updated, and we have articles covering a variety of subjects. From banking basics to simplifying more complex financial topics, there is a lot of information available to you.
Read about consolidating debts to save money, or the differences between Buy Now Pay Later and credit cards. Alternatively, you can learn about reaching your financial goals, teaching kids about money, or your credit rating.
Our social media pages are also a good place to visit to learn about banking. Check out our Facebook page or give us a follow on Instagram.
The new year may be a great time to take a good look at your finances and embark on the journey of improving your financial wellbeing, but it’s not the only time. Remember, it’s never too late to focus on it, and any changes (even small ones) that you start to make now will pay off in the future.
Banking and Credit products issued by Police & Nurses Limited (P&N Bank) ABN 69 087 651 876 AFSL/Australian Credit Licence 240701. Any advice does not take into account your objectives, financial situation or needs. Read the relevant product T&Cs, before acquiring any product in considering and deciding whether it is right for you. The Target Market Determinations (TMDs) are available on our website or upon request.