DAY 9 - Building Your Bounceability: What Financial Resilience Really Means

12 Days of Money, Mind and Meaning

Financial resilience is often misunderstood.

Many people imagine it means being perfect with money, always prepared, always steady, always disciplined.

But real resilience is much simpler - and much more human.

Resilience is your ability to bounce.

Not bounce back into perfection or productivity.

Bounce enough to steady yourself.

Bounce enough to move forward.

Bounce enough to keep your life intact while things shift around you.

Women, especially those in transitional seasons, often underestimate their resilience because the world rarely reflects it back to them. Yet every woman has been resilient far more often than she recognises. She has survived emotional storms, financial surprises, life transitions, career shifts, caregiving demands and the mental load of holding many lives together.

However, emotional resilience and financial resilience are deeply connected.

When your finances feel shaky, your nervous system stays in alert mode.

When your nervous system is overwhelmed, your financial decisions become reactive.

This is why building “bounceability” across both areas is so powerful.

Financial resilience is built across five pillars:

1. Stable earnings

Not perfect earnings.

Not high earnings.

Stable earnings.

Income you can plan around and depend on.

2. Sustainable spending

Spending that reflects your reality, not an idealised version of it.

Sustainable doesn’t mean strict - it means supportive.

3. Good debt

Debt that’s manageable, structured and intentional.

Debt you understand, rather than fear.

Debt that works for you, not against you.

4. Shock absorbers

This is your emergency fund or “buffer” money.

Not a punishment.

A cushion.

A source of calm.

5. Money at work

Savings and investments that grow quietly in the background.

You don’t need to do everything at once - just start with the basics.

These pillars don’t need to be perfect.

They just need to take deliberate action.

A little strengthening here, a little adjusting there.

Today’s practice

Choose one pillar to strengthen in 2026.

Maybe you want to stabilise your income

Maybe you want to reduce a source of stress, such as debt

Maybe you want to finally start a buffer fund

Maybe you want to learn about investing

Maybe you want to simplify your spending

Maybe you want to build a plan that feels like support, not pressure

You don’t need to tackle everything.

Resilience grows from one grounded step at a time.

Tomorrow, on Day 10, we’ll explore protection, peace of mind and the financial foundations that let every woman breathe easier.

🎧 We’ve just launched the HealthyHer Money Mind Podcast - now available on all major platforms. Follow for grounded financial wellbeing conversations that support confidence, clarity and calm.