Zavfit founder Anna Freeman on money and mental health

BY PATRICK CROWDER

week’s notice for interviews.

So, even before a candidate submits an application, they need to think about what the interview process involves in order to ensure they have time to prepare. In my opinion, many candidates fail because they leave the preparation too late, meaning they don’t perform to their potential, even though they might have been a great candidate with sufficient preparation. The irony is that most students put in weeks of work for an exam, which, if they fail, they can usually resit. For an interview, which has a binary outcome (and no resit!), many candidates prepare for a few hours at most, often leading to under-performance and failure, which has arguably a much greater impact on the student’s future career.

So early preparation is key. When preparing for an exam, students frequently seek out previous exam papers to ensure they can answer sufficient questions to the required standard. They spend weeks revising their course material and refining their exam responses. The same approach to interviews is also likely to lead to success. Students cannot assume that they know their CV better than anyone and that they can blag their way through an interview without preparation.

So, how to prepare? Think of 10-15 questions you’re likely to be asked. Why this job/firm? How are you qualified?

What are the likely developments in our industry in the next five years? And so on.. Use websites such as Glassdoor and Wikijob, as well as classmates and university careers services to build up an understanding of the typical interview questions and other parts of the selection process. Begin by jotting down the key points you’d wish to make to respond in the interview. Ensure you read quality relevant business press – The Financial Times, The Economist, Marketing Week, any relevant trade journals, and websites.

After this, practice delivering your responses out loud. Record yourself on your phone and watch it back – you will find this excruciating at first but you will get a great impression of how you look and sound. Don’t try to memorise long responses – you will sound stilted and mechanical. Work with friends to help each other – you will gain confidence as well as tips that you can use. Most importantly, find seasoned professionals to provide mock interview practice – these can be university careers professionals, or practitioners from your target industry. Above all, make sure the first time you try to answer an interview question isn’t in the real interview – it’s almost inevitable that you’ll fail. However, if you’ve practised responding to 15-20 different questions confidently, you’re more likely to be able to produce a good response if an interviewer asks you something you haven’t specifically prepared for.

Virtuoso musicians and elite sportsmen practise daily for several hours for something at which they are already a world leader. They wouldn’t dream of walking onto the stage at the Royal Albert Hall or Centre Court at Wimbledon without hours of preparation, including some on the day. The same approach usually pays dividends for most interview candidates.

Zavfit is a new tool that is designed to help you spend your money in more productive ways. Unlike other moneysaving apps, Zavfit is designed not only to discourage excess spending, but to encourage you to reinvest that money in other more beneficial areas.

The full version of the app securely connects to your bank with viewonly permission in order to monitor spending. Then, the app will ask you to rate your happiness with each purchase on a sliding scale of satisfaction. This data is used to track your wellbeing as well as to set spending and saving targets based on areas that need improvement.

It's all the brainchild of founder and CEO Anna Freeman. Through her background in finance, tech, and sport, Freeman found strong links between financial stability and mental and physical wellbeing.

“I grew up competing in sport, so I’ve always had a passion for health, wellbeing, and fitness that has only grown over the years,” Freeman says. “What I hadn’t realised when I was in the tech and finance industry was that worrying about money is the leading cause of mental health issues.”

As mental health awareness increases, largely due to the pandemic, the finance industry has begun to take financial wellbeing into consideration. While this is an improvement, Freeman believes that it needs to go a step further.

“Most of the solutions in place are focused on the wellbeing of your finances, as opposed to actually addressing that stress and anxiety that people feel with their money,” Freeman continues. “I knew that we needed to create a health tool.”

Zavfit offers a free “MoneyFitness” quiz, which asks the user how happy they are with various aspects of their day-to-day spending. This includes questions about post-purchase regret, satisfaction in work, social spending, charity, and physical fitness. I took the quiz myself and despite my mediocre score, the questions got me thinking about how I prioritise different aspects of my spending and how to reinvest that money on better things.

“The stereotype of being good with money is ‘saving is good and spending is bad’, but ‘save, save, save’ doesn’t really recognise the present and taking care of yourself,” Freeman adds.

In my case, I found that I am probably spending a bit too much on nights out and not paying good enough attention to my physical health. Rather than simply staying in and saving cash, the philosophy behind Zavfit would suggest that I invest the money saved on a fitness class.

Freeman believes that focusing spending on healthy, fulfilling hobbies and interests can have a big impact on both financial and mental wellbeing. Freeman’s outlets are singing and sport, so she decided to put her resources into those areas.

“I remember walking down the road in the sunshine one day and thinking, ‘I have stopped spending on anything else’,” Anna said, “and that’s because I had found those things that really took me out of my head and lifted me up.”

The pandemic has given many people a chance to think about their wellbeing and break the cycle of habit. Freeman sees this as an opportunity to step back and make important changes moving forward. “There’s been a massive reset on everything, particularly on spending. There’s an opportunity here to think about things differently and to think ‘Okay, I’ve set out what’s important to me, I’m aware of my mental health and that it needs looking after’.”

As the link between health and finance continues to be explored, new ideas like ZavFit can help push the conversation forward to find fresh approaches to the age-old problems of money stress and non-beneficial spending. Breaking bad habits is never easy, but ZavFit proves that this is both achievable and essential to personal wellbeing.