Self-care goes beyond our physical, emotional, social and spiritual needs—it includes our financial needs, too.

Financial self-care means taking the time to focus on your finances and create healthier money habits that lead to greater financial health and overall wellbeing. It’s time to make a commitment to show yourself some love and give your financial wellness the attention it deserves. Get started with these four steps for achieving greater financial health and overall well-being:

If credit card payments make up a big portion of your expenses, paying off debt might be one of the first ways you can save money. High-interest credit card debt is expensive to keep around. That’s probably why more than 30% of New Year’s resolutions are related to getting out of debt and saving money. Here are some tips on how you can make a successful resolution to get out of debt.

Developing healthy financial habits can do wonders for helping us achieve our goals, and the earlier you start, the better! Here are three habits to start today:

As we move deeper into 2018, the magic of the holiday may have worn off, and many of our New Year’s resolutions are becoming faded memories. With tax season upon us and the pace of our working lives becoming more and more accelerated, stress can start to take its toll on us emotionally.

HOW STRESS IMPACTS SPENDING

According to a joint study out of Rutgers and the University of Miami, stress causes people to use their resources to regain a sense of control. In many ways, stress is a response to a loss of control in a particular situation, and one way we cope with that is by spending.

It can be tough to stick to healthy financial habits, especially the ones that relate to long-term goals. The great news is that we can make some relatively small changes that “nudge” us along in the direction of financial wellness.

In behavioral economics, the study of how people make choices, small changes that alter our default behavior are called “default nudges.” Automation enables us to enforce our intentions and priorities, and creates a barrier for spending decisions that fall outside those priorities.

Here are three ways to automate your financial life:

Student loan debt is one of the most significant aspects of contemporary American financial life.  According to The Economist, total U.S. student loan debt surpassed $1.2 trillion in 2014, and over 7 million borrowers are in default. There are approximately 44 million people with student loans who have an average outstanding loan balance of $37,172.

Student loan debt now exceeds auto loans and credit cards as America’s largest personal debt burden.

Why the sudden increase in debt? It’s because the cost of education has gone up exponentially. According to a study by the National Center for Education Statistics, over the past three decades the cost of a college degree has increased by more than 1,000%. States have cut their education budgets for public universities, and this has shifted the cost burden onto students and borrowers. If student debt had stayed constant with inflation since 1992, graduates would not be facing the same student loan burdens today.

So if you or someone you love is struggling with student loan debt, the good news is you are not alone. Better yet, there are options to deal with it. Here are some proven strategies we’ve discovered for tackling student loan debt head on: