Surprisingly enough money even causes stress for people who have a lot of it and, in some cases, their stress levels are even higher than those in the majority. They don't of course need to worry about their next mortgage payment, but they often have substantial sums of money invested and watch their fortunes rise and fall with the world markets.



Perhaps the strangest thing of all is that there's no real reason why money should be the cause of such stress. Certainly in the past people had a lot less money than most of us do today and they managed to lead very happy lives with next to nothing in the bank, so why is it such a problem for so many people today?

This is not all that easy a question to answer, but a sense of perspective will probably help.

The fact of the matter is that stress over money is no more or less likely that stress over anything else in our lives and, more often than not, when we talk about stress in relation to money we don't really mean stress at all. Perhaps a better word would be 'concern'.

Stress arises when a person finds themselves in the position of having a problem which they feel that they 'must' solve but for which they 'can't' find a solution. You might for example come out of a meeting with a boss that you simply don't get on with feeling stressed. In this case stress results from the fact that you're locked into working for this individual with seemingly irreconcilable differences and simply can't see a way out, other than to quit your job which isn't an option because you need the money.

In most cases of stress over money however the problem is temporary and, while the solution may not always be attractive, there is generally an answer and you can see a light at the end of the tunnel.

Millions of people find themselves in debt every year, particularly in an age of credit cards, interest free credit and a host of other 'easy money' alternatives. But, just as millions of people get into debt, so millions of people also get out of debt.

One of the most common causes of stress over money arises out of family arguments over money and when two people disagree over how to spend limited funds, conflict is the almost inevitable result. But, there is no need for this form of conflict to lead to stress. If both parties are willing to be realistic, to plan together for the long-term planning, to respect the other person's point of view and to compromise when necessary, a solution can almost always be found.