FINANCIAL WELLNESS and
DECREASING the STRESS
Anjali Phukan Chatelle
Financial wellness is important for everyone. However, for those who work in corrections, it may be even more important.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics, the average correctional officer in 2020 earns approximately $52,310. The national average wage for all occupations is approximately $56,310 (www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_nat.htm). An officer’s average salary isn’t that much lower than the national average wage, but when considering personal money needed for items that only correctional workers need (such as clear bags for lunch, no-metal fastener pants, etc.) that true take-home pay gets smaller and smaller.
As a Certified Public Accountant, I have seen a lot of disasters occur from poor financial planning, but I have also talked with a lot of happy customers who made the time to make a few intentional decisions. In this article, I review a few life lessons and classic textbook finance tools. (Note: I am not a certified financial planner, thus this is not professional financial advice.)
1. Know What Is More and Less Important in Your Life.
As an addict in recovery, one of the first tools that helped me to organize was creating a list of what was more important versus what was less important—and reviewing that priority list when making decisions. First, I wrote down everything that mattered most to me. Then, on a new page, I started ranking them.
One might think “Ok, that is obvious; drugs should be at the bottom; but what about the electric bill compared to the rent? Or taking a class in philosophy compared to buying new boots?” The rankings may change over time, but carrying that go-to list in a purse or wallet can be helpful, especially for spur-of-the-moment purchases.
For example, you suddenly crave ice cream, but are saving for a car. That reminder list can help reinforce your commitment to putting the money in a savings jar instead of spending it on a snack. That is, if you decide snacks are not as important as a new car. Only you can create your own priority list.
To help with prioritizing in terms of numbers, the AARP website has a lot of nifty tools, such as rent versus mortgage, credit card payoff, and retirement calculators for traditional IRA and 401k plans (www.aarp.org/money/money_tools/). The last time I checked the website, a person did not need to be an AARP member to use their calculators.
2. Remember to Take Full Breaths and Stretch When Making Big Decisions.
Stress from decision-making can cause the body to tense up, leading to shallow breathing.
...Some days you may need to practice patience or reconfigure your priorities...
This, in turn, leads to less oxygen in the blood and can result in headaches and other health issues. It becomes a horrible cycle of stressful thoughts causing a stressed body creating a stress headache, then adding more stress to the body!
To see the effects of stress on your blood oxygen, some smartphones have blood oxygen saturation sensors. If your phone has the fingerprint spot for unlocking the phone or an infrared signal, you may have access to an app that activates the sensor. (Samsung Health app allows for that on Samsung phones.) Some smartwatches and fitness trackers also have this nifty bio-feedback tool, and pulse oximeters can be found at drugstores like Walmart and CVS.
To alleviate a lack of oxygen caused by stress, there are several great breathing exercises out there. My favorite is this: For one minute, count to three seconds breathing in, holding for one second, and then counting to three seconds breathing out (repeat 10 times). There are many other variations to be found on the internet and in books. 3. Know Your Investment Limits and Accept Them.
When investing—whether it be mutual funds, company stocks, or even rental properties—prices may go up and down, and the current price may not be the price you want. My favorite way to buy a stock is by setting a limit price.
For example, let’s say that the price on 1/1/2022 was $175 for HypotheticalCompany, but one sees a bit of variation in the stock price. There is a chance (but what percent is speculation) that it will likely again fluctuate, and placing a limit order for $174 makes it such that the broker only buys it when it gets that low. However, it could take some time for that price drop to occur, but it may never happen. Not placing a limit order, one could miss an opportunity when the desired stock is $170 a week later — but one could miss a good market price if that stock never again falls below $175. Recently, I was watching the stock for Oatly (a producer of oat-based “milk”). I decided not to purchase their stock because I had already met my limit at market price on day 2. Then, their stock skyrocketed on day 3. (Yes, it opened at a price higher than the market price at the close of the prior day.) So, some days you may need to practice patience or reconfigure your priorities when deciding whether or not to exceed your limits.
The concept of limits doesn’t need to be applied only to stocks. Brokers may also place limits on purchasing mutual funds and EFTs (an exchange-traded fund is basically a basket of securities). However, we can also manually make a note of our limits. For example, camelcamelcamel tracks prices of items sold on Amazon, so one can see how low the price was previously, such as with seasonal changes (https://camelcamelcamel.com).
...a list of what was more important versus what was less important...
4. Do the Research. A great quote from Oslo, a movie released in 2021, is: “I cannot help you. Only you, together, can do this.” Life is like that sometimes. A financial planner may help, but where is the research to find the financial planner who is the best fit for you? How does someone learn how to set a limit price and how low that limit should be? Where are the best deals and coupons? Does that bank have an overdraft fee?
I like to start with government websites for laws and company websites for their financial reports, but other resources are sometimes needed. For example, when purchasing merchandise on websites like Amazon, it may not be enough to see that a product has four stars. I recommend reading the comments in the reviews. The same could be true for finding the best broker, a bank for savings, financial planner, and tax agent to look at the “why” of the review/rank by other customers.
My current broker doesn’t charge a transaction fee, but there is a delay in clearing time that another broker may not have. A little research can help with making better decisions. Other considerations when deciding investments besides the rate of return include:
• Some mutual funds have higher minimum buy-ins, front load fees, annual fees, and selling fees, while others may not.
• Brokers and banks may also have minimums and fees.
• Some savings devices like CD, 401k, and IRA accounts may have fees for early withdrawal.
The IRS may also offer a saver’s credit for which a person may qualify (www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/about-form-8880), but the tax law can change any given year. Therefore, it is always important to do the research and double-check it if some time has passed.
5. Reflect, Forgive, and Press Forward. This is another perspective from the “improvise, adapt, and overcome.” The central part of this action plan for finding areas to improve is best done when thoughts are focused. However, if we are angry at ourselves, that anger can blind us from reality. We can be mad at someone who didn’t do what we wanted, or we can just accept it and move forward to find a better solution.
We also may be mad at ourselves. We may think we set too high or too low limit for ourselves. Or we may think we moved too slow or too fast. Staying mad or in denial doesn’t help us find a new way to move slower or faster—or perhaps just more accurately. This final life lesson, done after some internal reflection and forgiveness action, may help to bring about an improved way the next time.
Author’s Note: This article is the work of the author alone and does not reflect the views of the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services or Wor-Wic Community College.
______________________________
Anjali Phukan Chatelle, CPA, teaches yoga via Hearts on Yoga and business courses such as Finance and Business Law at Wor-Wic Community College. She also has taught in a corrections environment. Her short “yoga snack” videos that connect breath with stretches, as well as a playlist of all her exercise yoga videos, can be found on YouTube. She can be contacted at chatellea1@udayton.edu.