10 Habits for Financial Wellness
Financial Wellness is subjective. This state generally refers to being secure and flexible with your finances allowing you to handle daily expenses and unexpected challenges all while maintaining the desired long-term path.
It’s important to respect money and what it’s presence provides while not falling trap to placing money above all else. Here at The Financial Cocktail, financial independence is the game. I’ll share 10 small, but mighty habits for building financial wellness on your journey to FI.
These habits are the base of your financial fortress. They create a platform to build from. These habits are what allow you to put your strong income to good use. Don’t squander your wonderful income potential.
Having to work your way to financial independence is a blessing. It’s this knowledge and experience that is truly priceless. Implement these 10 proven habits to enrich your financial life.
1. Write SMART Goals
Without direction, all is lost. Creating specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound goals provides direction. If you have a partner, ensure common goals.
Utilize a mix of short and long-term goals. The short-term goals often carry into the mid and long term. It’s satisfying to achieve the short-term goals. Accomplishing the first step provides motivation towards checking more goals off the list.
Pay an extra $4,000 on my student loans this month.
Track all of our expenses for the month of August and document them on a spreadsheet
Maybe some mid-term goals:
Pay an extra $4,000 on my student loans for the next 6 months.
Pay off $20,000 of high-interest credit card debt by December 31st.
Contribute $23,500 to my 401(k) and $7,000 to my IRA by the end of 2025.
Long(er)-term goals:
Pay off all $200,000 of student debt by January 1st, 2028.
Achieve a net worth of [$$$] by [Year] by maximizing my 401(k), IRA, and HSA contributions each year.
Visualize these goals. Write them on a sticky note and hang them on the fridge, the bathroom mirror, or your work locker. Keep these goals at the forefront of your mind.
2. Write a Budget
This can be done by hand or online. There’s an app for that. Many credit card statements will itemize you spending making this really easy.
Whatever your preference, know where you money goes each month. Understand how much comes in and how much leaves. Always be in a surplus. There are surprises on every budget. What will yours reveal?
Money is a fleeting mistress that must be watched closely. Track the day-to-day spending. Focus on the big items.
3. Have an Emergency Fund
I have thankfully not noted this to be an issue from working with SRNAs and CRNAs. While tackling debt, hold 3 months’ expenses in a Money Market Account or High Yield Savings Account. Keeping this account lean provides a sense of urgency.
After paying off high-interest debt, increase this to 6 months’ expenses.
For the 1099 crowd, work is unstable. If you are expected to support a primary residence and a family, I’d opt for 12 months’ expenses. This money won’t produce a return, but far cheaper than running up a huge credit card bill.
I know some keep their emergency fund in a broad market index fund to maximize growth potential. I don’t recommend this approach due to the possibility of a significant market drawdown. With a regular paycheck and significant assets, this could be reasonable, but I like a bit of cash on hand. Whatever helps you sleep at night.
4. The Investments Eat First
You NET $12,000 per month. Your SMART goal involves investing $3,000 per month. That’s always the first move. $3,000 towards your high-interest debt, emergency funds, retirement accounts, taxable brokerage account, or wherever your SMART goal (and financial order of operations) dictates.
Next comes minimum debt payments. This includes the mortgage, student loans, and anything else. There goes another $5,000.
This leaves you $4,000 to spend as you please. Groceries, clothes, discretionary, or whatever else. If you don’t like what you are left with, it may require earning more or spending like a student.
Point being, investments come first, minimum debt payments second, and YOU LAST. Paying your present self last is paying your future self first.
As debts disappear, the previous payments become discretionary spending. Pay off the vehicle loan to have an extra $600 per month. Pay off the student loan to free up $2,000 per month. This is healthy lifestyle inflation.
5. Employer Retirement Match
An instant 100% return on investment. It’s common to have a 1:1 match for the first 3% of earnings. I had a 6% contribution matched at 5% by a former employer.
$7,500 from you. $7,500 from the employer. That’s $15,000 seeing an annualized 6-8% return. Not bad.
EmployEEs are automatically enrolled in their employER sponsored retirement accounts. Try to avoid the default target date funds in place of something with less bond exposure, but you may not have a choice. That’s an investing discussion for another time.
6. Eliminate High-Interest Debt
I have a bit of flexibility here, but I’m talking about non-mortgage debt with an interest rate at or above 5-6%.
IRS debt is always the first to go. Then attack debt by whatever method works for you. Go by interest rate (debt avalanche) or debt size (debt snowball). Aggressive paydown negates the differences between the two methods.
Credit card debt and high-interest personal loans usually follow IRS debt. HELOCs are running 8-9% these days. Grad PLUS loans are 8%. Undergrad debt is probably 6-7%. Mortgages are falling in the 6-7% range.
It’s too tough to out-earn high interest debt. Sure, the stock market has returned 10% annually for the past while, but that’s not a guarantee. If we have a down decade in the market, there will be regrets. Plus, debt is a major psychological burden.
7. Financial Review
The TFC household updates our net worth monthly. We spend about 15 minutes on the first of the month tracking the fleeting mistress.
Monitor all assets and liabilities. Assets should be growing. Liabilities should be shrinking, then disappearing.
As you progress through the wealth accumulation phase, look for the assets to grow year over year. Expect market volatility, but generally, your investments will grow. You will see accounts progress from 4-figures —> 5-figures —> 6-figures. Hold the course and you will have multiple 7-figure accounts before you know it.
If you have a partner in crime, it’s important to check in with them. How do they feel about the monthly review? This is a great time to communicate and reassess SMART goals.
Don’t forget to celebrate the milestones along the way!
No Student Loans
$0 Net Worth – Yes, it’s an accomplishment
$1M Net Worth - Thirty, Flirty, and Thriving Millionaires
401(k) Millionaires
Coast FI
Financial Independence
Don’t stop at these common marks. Add others along the way.
8. Build Your Safety Net
It’s important to purchase insurance in the hope to never need it. The less money you have, the more coverage you need.
Health Insurance
Term-Life Insurance
Short-Term Disability
Long-Term Disability
Umbrella Coverage
Malpractice Insurance
There are recommendations for all of these found here, Be Responsible, Be Insured. Recommendations should be personalized. For example, with a fully funded emergency fund, there is no need for short-term disability coverage.
This is an example of having money saving you the insurance premium as you are self insured. This premium can be invested to further your wealth building.
Same goes for life insurance. I have a 20-year policy I hope to drop long before age 50. My investment portfolio will act as insurance, thus, saving me the monthly premium.
Of course there are unmentioned insurances such as home and auto, but the bulleted list are the major players.
9. Spend Mindfully
Intentional spending is the way to go. The average family of 4 lives on $80,000 annually. Anyone in the CRNA community should be able to live on far less than their income. Even with $3,000 monthly student loan payments, that’s $116,000 annually. The average earning W-2 CRNA is bringing home $180,000 per year (plus benefits). This leaves $70,000 to work with.
I expect lifestyle inflation to mirror net worth. Please spend responsibly. It’s extremely difficult to deflate lifestyle.
A single CRNA and a family of 5 have drastically different needs. As your life evolves, your expenses will change. It’s important to be flexible with spending prioritization while upholding the general guidelines of personal finance.
Handle your financial business first. Eliminate medium and high-interest debt. Invest early and allow time to maximize compound interest.
The TFC family are value people. I have recently given up black coffee from coffee shops. It’s not the $4 black coffee. It’s the raging disappointment from the lack of pleasantries on my palate.
I can afford the $4, but I’d rather have a $2 gas station coffee that tastes like a $2 gas station coffee. I have also had great luck with instant coffees these days at $0.25 per mug.
Same goes for fast food. Poor quality food that makes me feel sluggish for $15 per plate. I’d rather cook at home or eat elsewhere. Value would be a superior restaurant meal for $25 per plate or eating whole foods at home for $5 per plate.
We recently started placing online grocery orders for pick-up. That has actually saved a significant amount of money. No more impulsive buys. No more end cap walk-by purchases. The fee is well worth the time and cost savings.
10. Learn from Setbacks
Everything is accompanied by a lesson. Every anesthetic I provide gives me feedback.
How did the patient emerge?
Were they in pain or nauseated?
How did I respond to an emergent situation?
What could I have done differently?
I learn something from every contract I sign.
What did I overlook?
Where did I lack verbiage specificity?
Personal finance is a constant learning process. This spring was a major learning opportunity. Following the April 2025 market correction, the TFC investment portfolio experienced a 6-figure setback. This was our first major drawdown.
I felt confident that the equities in my portfolio would hold up as well as anything. I avoided liquidating assets during the drawdown which resulted favorably today. I continued (to a slightly lesser degree) to dollar-cost average throughout.
The lesson after another “V-shaped recovery” is to remain a buy-and-hold investor. The strategy has worked well historically and served me well in 2025.
There are lessons to be learned in every aspect of personal finance. Every job, expense, and investment. Evaluate, learn, and adapt.
Conclusion
Personal finance and FI is the long game. It’s about compounding the daily habits to create a magnificent result – freedom. The freedom to live the life you want without depending on earned income. Paychecks optional.
It’s about constructing the physical, mental, and emotional habits that allow you to stay the course through the good times and bad. Your financial plan will act as a buffer to stress when times become difficult. Your financial assets will offer some degree of protection.
I have said to Mrs. TFC more than once how much more difficult a given situation would be if money were an added stressor.
What are habits you have implemented that impacted your financial life for the better? Thanks for reading.
