Today’s policing environment is more complex than ever before as officers face a growing array of challenges, opportunities, and threats in their day-to-day operations. This stress can also be compounded by marital and family issues and one of the biggest stressors in our personal lives– financial uncertainty.

Just as your mental and physical wellness on the job is important, financial wellness is equally as important. Financial wellness isn’t equivocal to simply the amount of money one makes as a measurement of financial success. Instead, it pertains to how well one manages their finances that establishes a degree of stability that leads to a more enjoyable life.

With financial stability, it becomes easier to maintain a positive lifestyle and to work toward achieving future goals.

To achieve financial stability, it takes resilience. Resilience is the ability to adapt well in the face of adversity, trauma, tragedy, threats, or significant sources of stress—such as family and relationship problems, serious health problems, or workplace and financial stressors. While financial resiliency is the ability to withstand life events that impact your income. This might be a job loss, a reduction in income, a major household or lifestyle expense, a divorce or family extension– all have a profound influence.

There are many ways to increase your resilience. Some of those include having a good support system, maintaining positive relationships, having a good self-image, and having a positive attitude.

Increasing Your Financial Resiliency
To become financially resilient, a financial plan can help you stay focused on what matters most and help you prepare for things that might shake your financial resilience journey.

A financial plan is not just a resolution you make on a whim, but a well thought out and detailed blueprint for how you are going to make a difference. It helps you to understand where your money goes.

Having a financial plan and sticking to it is one of the keyways to build your financial resilience. To build a financial plan, ask yourself some questions…

• • What do I want to achieve?
• • Why is having a plan important to me?
• • Why have I made previous financial decisions?

Your answers are the basis of your financial plan. Once you have these answers you can then focus on getting your plan into writing and how you’re going to get to your financial resilience goal.

Reduce or Eliminate Debt
Make your best estimate of current income and expenses and consider ways to close the gap by eliminating or reducing debt. Decide which debts you want to pay off first, a good place to start is the ones with the highest interest rate then work backward.

Create a Spending Plan
By understanding where your money goes and how savings and debt affect your financial resilience you can take control over your financial position.

Some payments are fixed, like rent, food, and travel costs. Other types of consumption can be regarded as extra or luxury expenses and are costs which you have a choice over, understanding how much of your money is spent on these items is key to building financial resilience.

Build Your Knowledge
Financial resilience and personal finances can be a daunting world when you have little knowledge.

44% of Americans would rather talk about religion, death, or politics than discuss personal finance with a loved one. Fear of embarrassment and conflict are major emotional roadblocks that hamper financial progress, reports CNBC.

Challenge yourself to constantly learn about how you can improve your own personal finances through financial knowledge, it’s key to overall financial wellness.

Working in the law enforcement profession is hard enough. When coupled with concerns about buying a house, paying for college, paying down student loans, and retirement, these stressors are equally concerning. Work with your spouse and family to communicate your financial goals, to help reduce stress about money now and into the future, and see your best future realized.

Learn more at www.jfcu.org/LawEnforcement

To learn more about products that can help you achieve financial wellness, visit Justice Federal Credit Union online at www.jfcu.org, call 800.550.5328 or email jfcu@jfcu.org.