Emily Guy Birken - End Financial Stress Now

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Copyright 2017 by Emily Guy Birken.

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First Adams Media trade paperback edition MAY 2017

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ISBN 978-1-4405-9913-2

ISBN 978-1-4405-9914-9 (ebook)

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Dedication

For Jayme, who solved my whole DIY dilemma by being a combination of Bob Vila and Jay Leno. Man with tools wins!

This book could not have come to be without the help of many kind and knowledgeable friends and experts:

A particular thank you to my editor Peter Archer, who shows me the error of my grammatical ways with grace and humor. I so enjoy working with you.

Jacqueline Musser of Adams Media encouraged me to write this book. Thank you for giving me the chance to make it happen.

Philip Taylor of PTMoney.com has been an unfailing advocate of my work from day one, when he gave me a chance to write for his site back in November 2010. He was kind enough to allow me to repurpose pieces I wrote for him for this book. Thank you for all that you have done and continue to do.

Thank you to Janet Al-Saad, Amanda Bellucco, Will Chen, Joe Epstein, Chrissa Hardy, Amy Lu, Lars Peterson, William Tran, and Lynn Truong at WiseBread.com who also generously allowed me to use excerpts of articles I had written for them. I have had such fun writing for Wise Bread all these years, guys.

Jeffrey Trull and the editing team at StudentLoanHero.com, as well as David Ning of MoneyNing.com, and Gary Foreman of The Dollar Stretcher also deserve thanks for allowing me to excerpt work I wrote for those sites. I appreciate your help.

Dr. Bradley Klontz allowed me to once again use the money script quiz appearing in Chapter 7. Thank you for being so generous with your time and resources.

A big thank you to my friend Steven Lang, who was kind enough to help me with research on mortgage refinance. You are a true mensch, sir!

My friends Erika Plank Hagan and Marissa Miller kindly allowed me to use some of their personal stories as examples in this book. Yes, I know its weird that I not only remembered random stories you told me years ago, but that I also got in touch to ask for permission to tell them in a book. Thats all part of why you love me, right?

My sister Tracie Guy-Decker is the smartest person I know, and a phone call to her is my surest path through writers/idea block. Thank you for always being there to talk things through with me.

My mother, Marian Berman, has been telling me behavioral economics stories my whole lifebut neither of us knew it. Mom, thanks for teaching me the important role that story plays in demonstrating complex ideas. And for asking me to nod my head yes.

My father, Jim Guy, is no longer with us, but I am thankful for him every day. Dad taught me the importance of aiming for a modest tax refund of $500 or less, along with other arcane rules that helped me understand money better than any other ten-year-old. Thanks for never assuming I was too young to understand, Dad.

What if I told you that it was possible to stop worrying about money, forever?

Money is the number one cause of stress for Americans. According to the 2015 American Psychological Association ( APA ) study Stress in America, nearly three-quarters of Americans reported feeling stressed about money at least some of the time, and one in four reported experiencing extreme money stress in the past month.

All of this worry is affecting our health. Increased stress leads to unhealthy behaviors, such as excessive screen time, overeating, smoking, and drinking. With many Americans putting their healthcare needs on the back burner when financial worries loom, the money-stress-illness cycle becomes even more entrenched.

It would be bad enough if worrying about money just affected the worrier, but financial stress is also ruining marriages. A 2012 study of 4,500 married couples revealed that fighting about money is the biggest predictor of divorceand, of course, divorce doesnt do much to help either spouses bottom line.

Marriage is not the only relationship that money stress can hurt. According to a 2012 study of college students financial behaviors, children of parents who fight about money are reportedly more likely to struggle with credit card debt as young adults. And even if the children of money-stressed parents are not destined to fall into a debt trap, financial arguments at home can teach kids that money is a fraught and negative topic, making it more difficult for them to learn healthy financial behaviors.

All in all, just thinking about money is enough to give you an ulcer.

Butat the risk of repeating myselfsuppose you could stop worrying about money, forever?

No, Im not offering advice on how to win the lottery, make a killing on the stock market, or befriend a doddering multimillionaire. Even if you were to follow any of those paths to riches, it would not end your worries about finances. You only have to look at the scores of lottery winners who have gone bankrupt to know that having pots of money is not the answer to ending financial woes.