No matter what currency it is, “Money” is the universal exchange that we spend in our daily routine but the money in our pocket sometimes may not reach the end of each month.

           
There is a very simple way but very hard to be done which is to balance the money.
 

Most of the problems begin with the money you have is not relevant to your spending behavior which cause financial stress. Dr. Rapeepong Yangwaraswas, the financial investment counselling and consultant, psychiatry department of Chulavej hospital, advise some tips to deal with this kind of stress.

Dr. Rapeepong Yangwaraswas, the financial investment counselling and consultant, psychiatry department of Chulavej hospital, advise some tips to deal with this kind of stress.
 

1.     Why financial stress is the big problem, and what is the reason of people making themselves in debt and spending in unnecessary things?
Answer: I think that finance is divided into 3 parts which are earning, saving and spending. I have ranked this 3 at the same level. This is the money management which we called “Money balance”.

However, most people have a common problem which is “Money unbalance” whether earning a lot but have no time to spend and this cause some stress which will explode soon if they cannot figure out how to overcome this stress.
 

Or in some case, they tend to spend more than earning or saving. This is also money unbalance and will result in debt or cause load to the others whether with bank, friends, family, or relatives. As you can see most problems come from “Money unbalance”.

2.     Extravagant such as shopaholic indicates the addiction to enjoy shopping. How do they become a shopaholic?

Answer: The addict of spending whether money or time is a repeated behavior. It works the same mechanic as drinking coffee which made us habitual. We remember what we like and repeat it over and over until it becomes the addict. People who spend money will be happy, but it is not wrong for normal level. 

As a shopaholic, you will obsess about shopping and spending. For example, if you love travelling, whenever surfing the internet you will find hotel website, or travelling attraction which is the beginning of money unbalance. I think there is no fixed pattern of obsession but if you spend more than 2 hours a day, I think that is the obsession.

Moreover, shopping may become the argument topics among the family, because you may have to hide the price and lie about it. This will be resulting in self-uncontrol.

3.     Is it true that refer from the scientific, extravagant may be related to abnormal chemical substance in the brain?
 

Answer: Yes, it is true. Some people want to be rich, and it is a usual thing for brain. For example, you are addicted to coffee, if one day you do not take it, you will be bored or depressed. It is the same mechanic which linking to thinking part, emotional part, and behavior.          

Likewise, it is the same mechanic for brain function which is whenever they all activate together with emotion and it all says, “go for it”, then it is uncontrolled. Finally, you go out and buy it.

In the end, you cannot control the debt you caused anymore. 5 credit cards and they all will go explode soon and here comes the stress and creditors. So, when there is money problem and there will also be the working and family problem and depression. And they all begins with money problem.

4.     Salaryman problem in every month is it is only the first-two-weeks of the month then not enough money left to spend for the rest. What is your advice?

Answer: The thing is they have to record your earning and expense to find where we spent too much. Also, seeing your earning and spending habit will help you guess and set the financial plan.

So, the salaryman problem is caused by poor financial planning. If you plan it well, you will know a roughly expense per year and can cover it all. Especially, it is easier for salaryman that they receive a fixed income. But for freelance, they may estimate by average the 5 – 10 months’ income to guess the overall income per year.         

5.     If someone is insolvency, and there is no life-money balance. What is your advice?
 

Answer: You have to find the root cause and change your behavior. Some maybe from the simple issue such as now, we are in the materialism generation, so we pay for everything to be up-to-date.
 

However, if we look back and may find other reasons such as a big face person which always parties with friends, helps people, or spoils the kids or parents, or pay for all home loads but cannot pay for themselves living. So, it is the back to basic thing to record how we receive and spend the money.

6.      How to overcome financial stress whether owning too much or vice versa? What is your recommendation?

Answer: You have to deal with stress such as stress therapy or spend time with your favorite activity. For shopaholic, do not let them face any stimulus. It may be difficult at first, but we need to help them to stop their addict, but it will be easier if there is a compensate activity such as change from walking in the department store to walking exercise. However, if fitness is too expensive, public garden is another choice. 

As a psychologist, I am just the reflection, but you are the best healer of yourself. Psychologist is only the reflection and can recommend the proper curing activity.

7.     Sometimes it is a guilty pleasure to buy an unnecessary thing, what should we do?

Answer: If you have done something wrong, you need to record that this is the 1^st mistake because you will not remember the past mistake. It is ok if the 2^nd time happens. But it is not a mistake if it happens the 3^rd, 4^th, or 5^th. This is an abnormal behavior and they will feel bad and good at the same time which is like gambling addiction.

Whenever you meet us, as a psychologist, we record what you just bought. We show you that it is the second time and ask you the reason why you did it. However, the new reason probably the same as the old one. They will notice themselves and we will discuss about it. Sometimes it is better to be more flexible because it is not easy to deal with mental problem. It needs to be step by step.

8.     If we were not the one who create debt but someone in the family was. For example, father was extravagant and in debt and all members in the family are stressed. What should they do?

Answer: If it is possible, they need to have an internal discuss as a family due to each person has a different issue. We need to find out who is the keyman.

Each family has a different connection point such as sister is closed to father, brother is closed to mother. Today, father has a financial problem or in debt. We need to prioritize the problem and find the solution.

If the problem leads to violence, we need to find out who abuse who and who can control or negotiate the situation and how to solve it

Mostly the root cause is the communication that they do not accept the mistake. Also, they are rude to each other and blame another that it is someone else false or too extravagant. Sometimes there is “Financial Abuse” which happens after someone already paid the debt and overbear the other.

They need to adapt. For example, you did not create the debt, but you girlfriend did. Firstly, you need to adjust your mind and change your behavior. You may meet the therapist and encourage each other.