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People with large amounts of debt often resort to suicide because they feel like it’s the only way out. But suicide is not something that they want per se, they just want the pain to stop.
Closing out Suicide Prevention Awareness Month, we spoke with Lawrence Sprung, a Certified Financial Planner and president and founder of Mitlin Financial Inc. He also serves in the National Board and Finance Committee of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.
In this episode, Lawrence shares his personal experience dealing with loss due to suicide and why having a financial planner to help a family navigate the financial aspect of life’s different phases is important.
He breaks down several steps to take when dealing with loss due to suicide. He also shares his advice to people suffering from suicidal ideation because of debt especially in this time of the pandemic.
Plus, he lists down the common mistakes people make that have a big impact on mental and financial health and how to address that.
Lastly, find out the correlation between financial and mental health and how it affects your well-being over time.
What You Will Learn From This Episode
- Steps on how to manage your financial and mental health while dealing with loss due to suicide
- What is the importance of having a financial planner in time of loss
- How AFSP (American Foundation for Suicide Prevention) helps people
- Importance of an educational system teaching financial and mental health
- Common mistakes people make that have a big impact on their financial and mental health
“We want to make it an open and honest conversation and inspire those who are suffering, having trouble. Let them know that it’s okay. It’s okay to talk about it, it’s okay to seek help, and it’s okay to make yourself better.” – Lawrence Sprung
“When you lose somebody, whether it’s to a disease or to suicide the whole idea is unless it has to be done, table it, set it aside and do what you need to do, and take care of that mental health first. And then worry about the financial health.” – Lawrence Sprung
“Pay yourself first… If we were to pay ourselves first and we were concerned about debt or when a big bill comes up that was unexpected, if we had been paying ourselves first all along and we had an emergency fund and had a plan, we’d be in such a better place because of that.” – Lawrence Sprung
“Mental health has to be focused on, it has to be addressed.” – Lawrence Sprung
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Timestamps
2:04 – When Lawrence discovered his passion for finance and how to prepare for critical financial events
5:18 – How the loss due to suicide affected his mental and financial health and how he and his wife turned it into a platform to be advocates of mental and financial health
10:48 – The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention as a community to support people with mental and financial struggles
15:22 – Steps to take when dealing with loss due to suicide and why having a financial advisor is important during those difficult times
20:24 – How can a person look normal and yet dealing with a mental illness and what to do about it
23:00 – The Keith Milano Memorial Fund and the Seize the Awkward campaign
25:52 – Lawrence’s advice to people suffering from suicidal ideation because of debt especially in this time of the pandemic
31:28 – Importance of having an educational system teaching mental and financial health for youth
33:56 – Two common mistakes people make that have a big impact on mental and financial health and how to correct them
38:05 – Correlation between financial and mental health
Resources
- American Foundation for Suicide Prevention
- Mental Health and Wealth EP 2 – Money & Mania: How Sinclair Ceasar is Fighting The Stigma
- Keith Milano Memorial Fund
- Seize the Awkward
- Dear Debt
- The Richest Man in Babylon by George S. Clason
Connect with Lawrence
Connect with Melanie
- mentalhealthandwealth.com
- melanielockert.com
- Contact: mentalhealthandwealthshow@gmail.com
