Financial independence can be freeing but it can also be scary, and the pressure to spend your money “correctly” is heavy. Especially if this is your first time in your life being completely responsible for all your financial decisions.

What makes things tougher is the limited conversations people have about their credit score, salary, and investments. It becomes a secretive thing. I hate it. It wasn’t until I graduated college and was forced to figure out all things financial did I realize that most people are not financially doing well.

I mean, how could we be? With the current state of the economy, inflation at an constant high, and the lack of conversations around financial wellness, we’re pretty much doomed from the start. We’re not really given solid footing to begin with, and that weak foundation is not making it easy to get ahead.

Something I realized only recently after getting a job at a Fintech company is that 1-in-4 people live paycheck-to-paycheck. Here I am thinking that I’m behind and that I should have thousands of dollars stuffed in my childhood piggybank, only to learn that the reality for most Americans, and for recent grads, is that this is their reality:

• Money is the #1 cause of stress in America (APA 2021).
• 4 in 5 Americans live paycheck to paycheck (CareerBuilder).
• Over 53% of adults say thinking about their financial situation makes them anxious (FINRA).
• Half of Americans don’t even invest, even though it’s the #1 way to build wealth (Metlife).

I like to call it the paycheck-to-paycheck epidemic.

After getting my Fintech job, I spent my onboarding doing a deep dive into unsettling statistics like these. I didn’t want to become another failed statistic myself.

But something changed for me when I realize that financial wellness is just another bucket in the wellness trifecta.

What is this wellness trifecta you might ask?

must-know money topics you weren’t taught in school.