Money influences nearly every aspect of your life, including your health and well-being. By building the knowledge and skills to make informed financial decisions, financial education can improve financial stability, reduce financial stress, and support healthier outcomes. Explore the many ways financial wellness and overall health are connected.
Financial instability results in increased stress, reduced health care, and strenuous housing insecurity. The data paints a jarring picture:
Financial instability can take a significant toll on mental and physical health by creating chronic stress.
Rising health care costs, mounting debt, and difficulty paying monthly bills leave many individuals and families in a constant state of financial uncertainty. Today, finances are one of the leading sources of stress for Americans, with two-thirds of adults reporting that money is a significant source of stress. Stress related to money is at the highest level recorded since 2015.¹ In 2024, 47% of Americans said money had a negative impact on their mental health.⁸ Nearly two-thirds also worry about being able to afford health care for themselves and their families.²
Over time, chronic stress can have serious consequences for overall health. Prolonged exposure to stress hormones disrupts many of the body’s normal processes, increasing the risk of anxiety, depression, heart disease, high blood pressure, sleep problems, weakened immune function, and other chronic health conditions. Compounding on that physical and mental strain, common coping strategies like overeating, drugs, alcohol, and smoking can further worsen your health.⁷ As financial stress persists, it can make it more difficult to maintain both physical and mental well-being.
Financial stability helps protect long-term health by reducing the chronic stress that contributes to poor health outcomes.
Financial stability plays a critical role in accessing health care.
When individuals and families struggle to afford medical expenses, they are more likely to delay or forgo the care they need, allowing health conditions to worsen over time. Even with health insurance, rising out-of-pocket costs can create significant financial barriers to receiving timely care.²
The impact is widespread:
- More than one third of U.S. adults report skipping or postponing needed health care because of the cost.
- 43% say they have not taken medication as prescribed due to financial concerns.
- 37% of adults with insurance still report not getting needed health care due to cost.²
- 41% of U.S. adults currently have some type of debt due to medical or dental bills from their own or someone else’s care, and more than half of adults carrying medical or dental debt report that cost prevented them from receiving recommended tests or treatments.²
Delaying care has real consequences:
- Nearly one in five adults say their health worsened because they postponed or skipped medical treatment.
- Among adults under age 65, those without health insurance are twice as likely as those with coverage to report worsening health after delaying care.
When financial barriers limit access to health care, preventable conditions can become more serious, leading to poorer health outcomes and a lower quality of life.
Financial stability is essential to maintaining safe, secure housing. Stable housing is one of the strongest predictors of overall health.
Organizations such as the World Health Organization, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Kaiser Family Foundation recognize housing as a “social determinant of health” because where people live significantly influences physical, mental, and emotional well-being. As housing costs continue to rise, financial instability leaves more individuals and families at risk of housing insecurity.⁴
Housing insecurity has serious health consequences that can last a lifetime or even across generations. Families experiencing housing instability are more likely to report poor health, high blood pressure, depression, anxiety, and psychological distress.⁴ Financial strain also forces many households to choose between paying for housing and meeting other basic needs. In 2020, the most severely cost-burdened renters spent 38% less on food and 70% less on health care than renters without significant housing cost burdens.⁵ People experiencing housing insecurity are also more likely to live in unsafe housing conditions, further increasing their risk of poor health.³
The effects of housing insecurity are especially significant for children. Research shows that growing up in lower-income neighborhoods with limited social support is associated with measurable differences in brain development, as well as higher stress levels and poorer sleep.⁶
Without financial stability, maintaining stable housing becomes increasingly difficult. And without stable housing, achieving and maintaining good health becomes significantly more challenging.
confidence, knowledgE,
and skills
Financial education empowers people with the confidence, knowledge, and skills to make informed financial decisions and navigate financial challenges. Research suggests that these qualities can help reduce financial stress, even during times of economic hardship. People who have greater confidence in their ability to manage their finances—and who believe they can successfully overcome financial challenges—tend to experience lower levels of financial stress and anxiety than those who lack that confidence.¹ By strengthening financial capability, financial education can improve financial well-being and also mental and physical health.
Public
Health
Strategy
The benefits of financial education extend beyond individual financial well-being. Increasingly, financial education and coaching are recognized as both preventive and restorative public health strategies because they help people build long-term financial stability before crises occur and recover more effectively when they do. By strengthening financial capability, these services can reduce reliance on social support systems, improve individual and community resilience, and advance long-term health equity. Integrating financial education into health care, public programs, and community services is cost-effective and an essential investment in healthier communities.⁸
Health is shaped by financial stability, and financial education is one of the few interventions that addresses the root causes rather than just the symptoms.
“2025 was not an easy year for us. Between, three surgeries in total, plus two wrecks, a job loss, that’s within the last 14 months…The hardships would have been tenfold had we not been working with Ashlee for, at that point, 10 months. The anxiety, instead of it being a 15, it was like an 11. I feel like I’ve been less stressed.”
– Paul Hart
Financial education does more than help people manage money. It equips them with the tools to build lasting financial stability. By reducing financial stress, improving access to stable housing and health care, and strengthening confidence and decision-making, financial education addresses many of the underlying factors that influence health. Investing in financial capability is an investment in healthier individuals, stronger families, and more resilient communities.
Whether you’re ready to improve your own financial well-being, support a loved one on their financial journey, or help make these life-changing services available to others, you can make a difference. Explore our financial education and coaching services or consider making a donation to help more individuals and families build healthier, more financially secure futures.
Sources
1) “Understanding the Mental-Financial Health Connection” from Financial Health Network
2) “Americans’ Challenges with Health Care Costs” from KFF (Kaiser Family Foundation)
3) “Food Insecurity and Housing Instability Are Inextricably Linked” from FRAC (Food Research & Action Center)
4) “The Public Health Implications of Housing Instability, Eviction, and Homelessness” from The Network for Public Health Law
5) “America’s Rental Housing 2022” from Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University
6) “Socioeconomic factors are becoming ‘biologically embedded’ in children’s brains” from NPR (National Public Radio)
7) “How stress affects your health” from APA (American Psychological Association)
8) “Financial Instability: America’s Overlooked Public Health Emergency” from National Financial Educators Council
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