What is “financial doomscrolling” and could it be affecting your wellbeing?
How often do you check the balance of your accounts?
You might have a regular appointment in your calendar when you check in on your savings and current account or pay your regular bills. While this can be a helpful way to stay up to date with your financial situation, for some people, the need to check their finances can tip over into an unhealthy obsession.
When regular check-ins become obsessive monitoring – a practice that has been dubbed “financial doomscrolling” – this can start to have a detrimental effect on your overall wellbeing.
Read on to learn more about this and how your financial planner can help you to stay on top of your financial situation while still taking care of your emotional wellbeing.
“Financial doomscrolling” is the habit of obsessively checking your banking apps and accounts
The term “financial doomscrolling” refers to the habit of logging in to check your banking apps and other financial accounts multiple times a day.
IFA magazine reports that, in a recent survey, 51% of consumers admitted to financial doomscrolling. The survey also found that:
35% of consumers were finding it difficult to put money aside in savings
58% felt they were worse off than they had been a year previously
75% felt they were unable to achieve their goals because of the rising cost of living.
When asked why they had begun to monitor their banking apps so frequently, 41% revealed that they were worried about their finances. Yet 47% replied that it was because they were pondering how they could improve their situation.
Obsessively monitoring your finances can be damaging for your mental health
The term doomscrolling was first used to describe overconsumption of bad news on social media or news websites. With so many of us now able to access news online through smartphones, more people are falling into the trap of spending hours at a time reading or watching negative news stories.
This is because your brain is wired to look for threats that could be harmful to you. For an ancient ancestor, this meant keeping watch for predators so that they could run away or protect their family. Today, seeing a news story about an earthquake or terror attack can trigger the same psychological response.
Research suggests that doomscrolling can have a detrimental effect on your mental health, including:
Affecting your sleep pattern
Worsening the symptoms of existing anxiety or depression
Increasing the level of cortisol, the stress hormone, in your body.
Given the high levels of anxiety that consumers expressed in the survey you read about above, it’s no surprise that many are turning to their banking apps to try and take back control.
It’s natural to want to keep a close eye on your accounts if you’re feeling nervous about paying the bills or being able to retire. This might be the modern equivalent of a predator sneaking up on your ancestors.
But, as you can see from the bullet points above, financial doomscrolling is unlikely to provide reassurance. On the contrary, it could create more anxiety.
Your financial planner can help reassure you if you’re concerned about your finances
Anxiety around your financial situation can be difficult to cope with by yourself. Fortunately, we’re here to provide reassurance and guidance to help you feel more confident in your financial future.
Over the past 20 years, our advisers have helped clients to make sensible financial decisions that supported them in achieving their long-term goals. One of the tools we can use to assist you in doing this is cashflow modelling.
Cashflow modelling is a piece of software that can illustrate how your net worth, income, and expenses may change throughout your life. For example, it could show you if your existing assets and pension contributions are sufficient to enable you to retire on your preferred date.
What’s more, you can also model specific scenarios to see how they might affect your finances. It could help you to answer questions like:
What if you needed to take a career break and couldn’t contribute to your pension for a few years?
What if you decided to retire earlier or later than planned?
What if your investments underperformed, or inflation rose more quickly than you anticipated?
Modelling these hypothetical scenarios can help you create a plan that keeps your finances on track, no matter what life throws at you. Moreover, you can revisit your cashflow forecast with your planner to see how things have changed over time.
All of this can provide much-needed reassurance, helping you to feel more in control of your finances. Indeed, Royal London reports that customers who have taken professional advice about their finances were more likely to feel:
Confident about the future
Financially secure and stable
Prepared to cope with life’s shocks.
With your planner on your side, you needn’t feel nervous about your financial situation again.
Read more: 3 positive ways an expert planner can help you to increase your confidence in your financial future
Get in touch
Our friendly team of financial planners is based in Towcester, and we’ll be delighted to help you create a financial plan that enables you to achieve your goals.
Email theteam@fortitudefp.co.uk or call us on 01327 354321 to find out more.
Please note
This article is for general information only and does not constitute advice. The information is aimed at retail clients only.
The Financial Conduct Authority does not regulate cashflow planning.
The value of your investments (and any income from them) can go down as well as up and you may not get back the full amount you invested. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance.
Investments should be considered over the longer term and should fit in with your overall attitude to risk and financial circumstances.