We may not see the connection between our mental health and our wallets, but a new study suggests that sad people make poorer financial decisions compared to their happier counterparts.

The reason, according to Jennifer Lerner of the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and colleagues Ye Li and Elke Weber of Columbia University who published their study in the Psychological Science journal last year, is that sad people exhibit what’s known as “present bias,” meaning they tend to value the present over the future, choosing immediate gratification and ignoring the greater gains associated with waiting.

What do you think my answer is to the above question? Does the screenshot below give you an indication? It better!

I cringe anytime someone asks me this question. Don’t do it. If you need a couple of other options, watch the video or read below.

Whatever you do, don’t use your 401k money to pay off your credit cards.

Can you imagine carrying a credit card balance for 35 years? As crazy as that may sound, that’s exactly what I did. I was 19 years old when I was introduced to credit card applications.

I was looking for a special gift for a special someone. After filling out an in-store application at Sears, I was instantly approved. Imagine that. I charged a sewing machine that cost $169.

That was the beginning of a lifetime of credit card payments.

I’ve got a question for you. When you hear the word “budget” do you cringe? I can’t say that I’ve ever heard this word and thought happy thoughts. Why am I telling you this? To let you know that if a hatred for budgeting is your mental barrier to paying off debt, you’re not alone! [...]

Via Credit.com. By Benjamin Feldman Spring has traditionally been a time for cleaning our homes and clearing away the clutter that has accumulated throughout the winter. It’s a satisfying approach to the season because it gives us the feeling of starting fresh. There’s no better way to put a spring in your step (no pun intended) [...]

Do you ever think to yourself, “I don’t think debt is a big deal; after all, everyone has it”? If the answer is yes, then you’re encountering the mental barrier of not thinking debt is a real problem. There could be many reasons for this: perhaps it’s because everyone you know has debt, or because [...]

Laying on the floor in a puddle of sweat, gasping for air, with my heart rate racing is the typical scene of me after completing one of my infamous Crossfit workouts. Every workout challenges me to the brink of exhaustion, physically and mentally. It’s so easy to quit. To convince myself that I have nothing [...]

Whether you are already on a plan to pay everything off or you have never even looked at your debts, you are already on a path to becoming debt free someday. Even if you don’t pay extra on your debts, you will be debt free “some day”. If you stop borrowing money — for cars [...]

Have you ever wondered if paying off debt has intangible benefits? When I was on my journey towards becoming debt free, I wondered the same thing. Some of the normal benefits of course are; not living paycheck to paycheck, the freedom to travel and actually have some “fun money”. But in addition to the main ones, [...]