What are the Best Money Management Activities for Adults with Mental Illness?

When you come up against a person experiencing mental issues, it is expected to discover a bunch of daily problems they face. However, money management is one of their biggest challenges which deteriorate their relationship with friends and family.

Most frequently, these people overspend in areas that not only add no value to their living standards but also affect them adversely. Expenses towards gambling, addiction, etc., make them much more vulnerable. Thus money management for mentally ill people guided by professional coaches have a huge role to play in letting them live healthy and fruitful lives.

Money management basically sums up the strategies that an individual or institution puts into action to ensure the most effective use of their capital. When discussing money management on a personal level, it is crucial to accept that it covers all the aspects of budgeting, investing and spending.

As per financial experts, money management is a powerful tool, and when backed by proper planning, it assists in curbing unnecessary expenses. For mentally ill individuals, these strategies are essential as they ensure the concerned person never goes bankrupt and can fulfil their dreams systematically over the long term.

We have presented some promising practices to facilitate smooth money conversations between a mentally ill person and their financial advisor or healthcare professional. Eventually, flawless money management for mentally ill individuals can be achieved through exercising the below-mentioned skills:

• Maintaining a Uniform Balance Between Saving and Spending: When it comes to spending, most of us utilise the available funds for recreational activities after we are done with the utility expenses, which should be different. A better approach would be to divide your money into definite proportions where a sub-part of the monthly expenditure would add to the long-term investments.
• Establishing a Well-Defined Budget: Before you expect a mentally ill person to conduct budgeting, make sure that they have ready access to a financial planner. These professionals can easily describe complex subjects like budgeting, investing and long-term planning to people from varying backgrounds. It will also be crucial to ensure that these learning sessions are implemented.
• Arranging for Utility Expenses Via Separate Bank Account: Listing the complete set of utilities can be difficult for a mentally unstable person. Therefore as soon as they receive a chunk of money, chances are high, they will spend them on things of little to no value. Hence, instead of repeatedly advising them to prioritise goals and spend money judiciously, it will be wiser to suggest they maintain a separate bank account to support the utility expenses.
• Living Within Your Means: This skill is hard to master even for rational people, as self-restraint plays a massive role when asked to live within means. While dealing with money management for mentally ill, financial personnel commonly notice issues arising from the mismanagement of funds.
• Learning to Spot Con Artists: Cunning people tend to target individuals with mental disabilities and execute their plans to inflict monetary losses. Hence, everyone dealing with the outside world must learn certain qualities to spot con artists easily.

Health service providers collaborate with financial advisors to devise customised learning exercises that clarify concepts related to money management for mentally ill. These modules contain dedicated lessons packed with visual prompts and practical projects to replicate real-life situations. Moreover, health advisors draw specific guidelines which have to be followed by investment planners while they teach the importance of financial wellness objectives.

Some standard measures taken by financial lesson developers to teach money management to people with intellectual difficulties are given below:

• Developing awareness on how to claim insurance money with the help of story-telling and case studies.
• Building a sense of monetary control by offering action-oriented strategies which one can apply while using money management tools.
• Teaching methods on how to organise and keep budgetary records over time through constant practise.
• Conveying fundamental issues related to credit control, bill payments and protecting the wealth by issuing simplified modules.

Despite taking such careful measures family members and healthcare professionals cannot guarantee to avoid vulnerable situations completely. Hence, they prepare separately to combat common behavioural challenges faced by mentally ill people when it comes to money management.

1. Trouble in Defining Financial Standpoint

2. Minimising Liabilities

3. Saving Money for Emergency Situations

Achieving financial independence requires determination and proper implementation of money management principles. Though these things are hard to instil in a mentally ill person’s mindset, nothing is impossible when mutual cooperation is present.

So, these are a few essential tips intellectually challenged individuals can follow to attain financial freedom:

• Creating a budget
• Jotting down long-term, mid-term and short-term financial goals
• Saving money for emergency needs
• Making smart monetary choices
• Paying off EMIs on time
• Working with a financial advisor
• Establishing a generous relationship with others

Money management for mentally ill individuals can become complicated if they do not access needful resources. Additionally, delivering financial lessons to these individuals is not enough as they require practical guidance in each step. Hence, if you intend to help mentally ill individuals manage their funds, implement the measures discussed above and stay assured of their financially stress-free future.