Because February can be a particularly stressful time with our holiday season Visa bill in hand and tax time fast approaching, EFAP has provided experts to weigh in on stress and money.

First, we talk to EFAP’s financial expert, Alphil Guilaran for the first of a four part series.

Financial resolutions are pretty common. What are some common reasons for people not to follow through with those goals?

Well, in our experience serving and learning the stories of over 1,500 employees since 2011 through the EFAP Financial Literacy Program, we’ve found that the two common reasons for the lack of success in achieving financial resolutions centre around:

1) Not correlating the financial goal with an outcome that is personally meaningful

In order to accomplish a financial goal such as getting out of debt or developing discipline to save needs to be correlated to something personally meaningful. For example, getting out of debt will reduce stress and worry or saving on a regular basis will go towards taking a one year sabbatical to serve a vulnerable or at risk people group.  You need to ask yourself “Why is this resolution important to me?” because if the goal truly matters you will commit and sacrifice what it takes to accomplish it.

2) It’s hard to break bad habits without accountability

Bad habits around money may stem from as early as childhood and further reinforced by the “have not” mentality and the “keeping up with the Jones'” paradigm that pervades our consumer culture.  Based on our experience, you need a safe place to share your story and struggles around money because it can be an emotionally charged subject. Unfortunately, when people are stressed and emotionally charged, they become rationally challenged and therefore the financial goals they set get derailed. By blending the family and mental health expertise of the counsellors at EFAP with our team of financial literacy counsellors, we are seeing better health and financial outcomes through accountability.

What are some EFAP resources?

Start with a financial consultation by calling EFAP at 604-872-4929 and/or attend a Financial Workshop for VCH employees. You can register online here.

Stay tuned for more…

Stay tuned for the second segment of Ask the Expert’s four part series, Stress and Money, where Alphil Guilaran will address steps that should be taken prior to filing your taxes this year.

Alphil Guilaran is a co-founder of Financial Literacy Counsel. He leads and directs the company’s financial education practice and is a trusted advisor to a select group of clients. Alphil is responsible for developing and delivering financial education programs to individuals, families, corporations, and institutions with an emphasis on retirement income planning, tax reduction strategies, and inter-generational wealth management.