Month: February 2021

During January, an intensive care consultant was interviewed for a local news broadcast. He was asked about the mental health of his team during the current pandemic and he tellingly replied that while the situation was bad now, he thought the worst time for mental health would be when the crisis was over.

We’ve all been there, running on adrenalin to clear our desks before we go on holiday, only to relax when we get there, metaphorically letting our guard down and getting struck by a bug.

Who knows what sort of adrenalin the ICU staff and other front-line workers are running on right now. But it’s not just them, lockdown is proving difficult for millions of people. Juggling work, childcare and a relationship, finding that working from home isn’t quite the same after the novelty has worn off, not seeing loved ones or, for some people, not seeing anyone at all.

It may not be just ICU staff that will face mental health problems when the pandemic is over – it may be a great many more of us.

So what steps can we take now to look after our mental health and to make sure that we come out of the crisis with optimism?

Here are three simple ideas that might help:

Micro-lifts

Psychologists call them ‘micro-lifts’; those small moments in the day that lift our spirits. It might be popping into your favourite coffee shop or a chance meeting with someone you haven’t seen for a while.

When working from home and only allowed one period of exercise a day these ‘micro-lifts’ just don’t happen. That’s why it’s important to schedule a Zoom call with friends, connect with people through book clubs perhaps, or to learn a new skill during lockdown, all activities that will replace the ’micro-lifts’ that are missing.

Maintaining a Healthy routine

It almost goes without saying that eating healthily and exercising regularly are important. They’re vital at any time but especially so now. Keep your kitchen stocked with nutritious food from the five core groups and plan out your week. Allocate time for meal breaks based on your regular eating routine.

Connect with nature

Finally, engage with nature. Stephen Buckley, from the mental health charity Mind, says that getting out into nature is crucial, whether that is the great outdoors (insofar as we’re allowed to), your garden or – if it is all you have – your balcony.

Even looking out of the window at the birds or tending to houseplants can be good for you. And, of course, if you’re looking at the birds, you may as well open the window and let some fresh air into the room…

Determining how much you need to save for the retirement you want can be difficult enough without actually having to save the money. Your requirements and desires will change over time in the same way that your income is likely to fluctuate. You can’t be expected to know exactly what you’ll need in 5 years time, let alone 20 or 30, depending on where you are in your journey towards retirement.

As we’ve seen from the events of 2020, even the safest predictions can be subject to unexpected outcomes. It appears that this uncertainty is reflected in the minds of savers, according to Schroders 2020 Global Investor Study.

Determining how much you need to save for the retirement you want can be difficult enough without actually having to save the money. Your requirements and desires will change over time in the same way that your income is likely to fluctuate. You can’t be expected to know exactly what you’ll need in 5 years time, let alone 20 or 30, depending on where you are in your journey towards retirement.

As we’ve seen from the events of 2020, even the safest predictions can be subject to unexpected outcomes. It appears that this uncertainty is reflected in the minds of savers, according to Schroders 2020 Global Investor Study.

The study is an independent survey of over 23,000 investors from 32 different locations globally, and responses were collected between 30th April and 15th June 2020. The study suggests that 41% of investors across the world fear that they will not have enough savings to fund their retirement. The time at which the survey took place may be a factor itself as to why some respondents feared a savings shortfall. Whilst responses were being collected the Coronavirus pandemic was in full swing, subsequently upheaving previously held notions of job security and general stability. There were, however, specific answers within the survey which point to more definite reasons as to why people are worried about their retirement savings.

When asked if they believe that the state provided pension in their country was not enough to live off, 55% agreed. In fact, only 19% thought that it was sufficient.

This view can likely be attributed in no small part to constantly shifting pension rules, which leave many expectant retirees stumped as to what they should prepare for. In fact, 41% of investors agreed that the adapting of rules by governments led them to the conclusion of not seeing the point in trying to save specifically for their retirement.

Having a plan can be helpful. If you have any concerns about your own pension or retirement savings, you may benefit from seeking the advice of a professional. Feel free to get in touch with me and let us explore the options that are available to you.

Some people say money can’t buy you love. They also say it can’t buy you happiness. But what if it could? Thanks to extensive research into both human behaviour and psychology, we can come to understand the objects and experiences that contribute most to people’s happiness. We can also decipher how to get our hands on these objects and experiences, and what that might cost us.

The debate over the path to happiness is perhaps one best left to the philosophers and poets rather than those seeking a quantifiable answer. What we can do, however, is look at the research that exists and see what conclusion it points to in terms of how our spending affects our enjoyment of life.

Put simply, not all purchases are created equal. The same £100 can have a wildly different impact on our happiness, both short and long term, depending on what we choose to do with it.

There is, for example, research to suggest that intangible experiences, such as a holiday, a special meal at your favourite restaurant or a trip to the theatre can actually provide joy for longer than a physical object that would remain in your possession long after the final curtain call. Amit Kumar is an assistant professor of marketing and psychology at the University of Texas whose research focuses on the science of happiness. Kumar explains that, “experiences are fleeting, but not in a psychological sense. They live on in our memories, they live on in the stories we tell.” This statement is shown to be true in research conducted by Carter and Gilovich, published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology in 2010. The study demonstrates that while the satisfaction gained from the purchase of a material item tends to decrease over time, the opposite is true with purchases of experiences.

This doesn’t just apply to large purchases either, you don’t need to take a round-the-world trip to feel the benefits of experiential purchases. As Thomas Gilovich, who is a professor of psychology at Cornell University puts it; “these kinds of experiences don’t demand a giant bank account.” Gilovich is also keen to point out that material purchases aren’t inherently bad, they don’t necessarily make you less happy, but, “if you shift your expenditures a bit more in the experiential direction and a bit less in the material direction, you’ll be happier.”