VIEW ORIGINAL
The Financial Readiness Program manager promoted several habits for reaching financial well-being during her presentation at last week’s Wellness Summit.
Each of the habits – assessment, alignment, anchoring and adjustment – requires effort as well as maintenance to make a difference, according to Olivia Pierce, a licensed professional counselor and accredited financial counselor.
“If you want to change a habit, where do you have to start? With your cues,” she said.
For example, she suggested changing a shopping routine that might leave you tempted to buy a pricey coffee and pick up unbudgeted items like makeup, a new dress, a potted plant.
Those extra unplanned expenses “add up quickly,” leading to spending that will exceed your budget, she said. “So, if you want to change a habit, you go back and change the cue.
“I completely changed the cue. I obliterated the cue. I spend less money on groceries now because I shop online,” Pierce said.
“I want you to know that behaviors are flexible. And isn’t that great? We can change (behaviors), but once we get into a habit, they become more crystallized, more fixed and harder to change.”
The summit was presented by the Family Advocacy Program on Aug. 20 at The Overlook.
Pierce also suggested that instead of getting coffee every day or eating out frequently, “I can choose to control how much I’m paying down debt. That is a choice.
“And then of course I can also choose whether I want to decrease my savings” to contribute to a Flexible Spending Account for certain out-of-pocket health care costs or a Thrift Savings Plan, a 401(k) plan for federal employees and members of the uniformed services.
Pierce advised participants to use a financial assessment to align “who you are with what you want.”
“I think assessment is one of the things that we forget to do. But in therapy, it’s a must-do,” said.
The tools for financial assessment range from the objective – such as performing a cash-flow analysis and net-worth calculation – to the subjective, a values assessment.
Required maintenance should include an ongoing financial assessment, like an annual portfolio review, since situations can change over time and continuing education through reading financial literature or taking classes from unbiased, reliable sources.
Focusing on the alignment element, Pierce asked, “Is what I value reflected in my spending and in my saving. You can’t measure what you want based on what other folks want. Know what you want out of life.
“Then create a spend plan to go with that.”
Another speaker for the event, Valerie Francis, the health promotion program manager at Army Materiel Command, G1 Military Human Resources and Family Readiness Division, discussed how thoughts – what you say to yourself in the heat of the moment after an “activating event” – can drive consequences, that is, emotions and reactions.
She used the example of an employee who planned to leave work a little early on a Friday for dinner and a concert with friends but is given a complex last-minute task.
That “activating event” could trigger thoughts like: “My boss knows I have plans. Why can’t someone else take care of the task, maybe Bob because he doesn’t do much. He’s probably talking to somebody about what he’s going to do this weekend.”
The employee may end up lashing out at a colleague or getting angry, withdrawn or unfocused, Francis said.
“This is real-life stuff,” Francis said. “So, what do we do about it? How can we change the thought process?”
Her presentation, based on the work by Albert Ellis, called for using evidence to prove the thought is false, generating a more optimistic way of seeing the situation and putting it in perspective.
Francis closed with a quote from Wade Boggs, a former Major League Baseball third baseman: “A positive attitude causes a chain reaction of positive thoughts, events and outcomes. It is a catalyst, and it sparks extraordinary results.”
“Those are great words to live by,” she said.
Other classes at the event were presented by Ivan Tylor, the military and family life counselor for Redstone; Heather Hough, the dietitian at Fox Army Health Center; and Jeannie Johnston, the Army Community Service division chief.
Social Sharing