January is Financial Wellness Month

PINE BELT, Miss. (WDAM) - January is U.S. Financial Wellness Month and many Americans are becoming more aware of their spending.

According to a survey by Capital One, 77 percent of Americans report feeling anxious about their financial situation.

With a fluctuating economy and rising prices, a lot of Mississippians like Jamie Reyes are feeling the financial strain.

“I was always like, never had money left over, like for savings or anything like that,” she said.

There are plenty of resources in the Pine Belt to help.

Reyes is a graduate of RISE--a life skills program in Hattiesburg that is designed to teach its students the skills that they need to be successful.

“Everything that you do needs to be on that budget,” Reyes said.

She says that since taking their finance class, she feels she can now budget correctly.

“And so like they just taught me how you need to write it down,” Reyes said. “You have to have it written down somewhere and follow it to the ‘T.’ Keep it to the ‘T’ and don’t do anything that’s not on your budget.

“Leisure money needs to be on your budget. Savings needs to be on your budget.”

Reyes said using a budgeting app helps her stay organized.

“I just have what my bills are on there and then every time, it’s separated for each paycheck;” she said. “So, I use that budgeting app to make sure that like for the first check of month, I pay my electricity and my rent.”

Managing money can be difficult, however with the right tools and resources, staying within your budget can be possible, said financial advisor Jason Hudson.

“The first thing you want to do is look at a budget and make sure you’re looking at all of your expenses and see what you can identify as costs you can cut out because usually if you look closely enough there are things that you can cut out and that will free you up from having to spend so much and go so far into debt,” he said.

Hudson recommended a 5-step plan that can help alleviate some financial stress:

1. Identify where you are right now.

2. Where would you like to be, what is your long time goal?

3. Can you realistically reach your goal?

4. How do you get there?

5. Partner with a professional

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