In this episode of Retire in Texas, Darryl Lyons addresses the growing emotional and mental strain many Americans are experiencing in today’s economic climate. With 83% of individuals reporting that rising costs are affecting their mental health, Darryl unpacks the concept of “stressflation” and explains why financial pressure has become overwhelming for many households.
He breaks the discussion into five key areas using the PERMA happiness framework:
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Positive emotions, including how practicing gratitude, shifting perspective, and focusing on personal progress can help reduce negative reactions to financial stress.
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Engagement, emphasizing how finding activities that create “flow” – whether hobbies, work, or creative outlets – can help people stay grounded and mentally refreshed.
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Relationships, highlighting the importance of community, generosity, and genuine connection, especially during periods of financial strain or isolation.
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Meaning, reminding listeners to look to their personal life stories and experiences to find purpose, direction, and opportunities to support others.
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Accomplishment, offering examples of small wins and activities that restore a sense of progress, purpose, and control during uncertain economic periods.
Darryl also shares behavioral finance insights, real-life observations, and practical guidance for listeners who feel “stuck” in today’s K-shaped economy. His message encourages long-term thinking, personal responsibility, and healthier emotional habits to help individuals navigate financial challenges more clearly.
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This episode provides general educational information only and is not intended to provide specific investment, tax, or legal advice.
Transcript:
Hey, this is Darryl Lyons, CEO and Co-Founder of PAX Financial Group. And you’re listening to Retire in Texas. I’m the CEO and co-founder of Pax financial Group. And this information is general in nature. It’s not intended to provide specific investment, tax, or legal advice. Visit PAXFinancialGroup.com for more information and if you’re looking for a conversation about money that will continue to keep you grounded in your faith and your principles, then this is definitely the right place.
We try not to use a lot of numbers in the show, but it’s impossible to do. But I try my best to leave you with content that you can say that actually made sense. So here we go. I want to tell you a statistic that’s a bit sobering. 83% of Americans say that today’s economic climate is taking a toll on their mental health.
Okay, 83%, 83% of Americans, 83% of Americans say that today’s economic climate is taking a toll on their health. This is a staggering statistic. This is called stressflation. We have inflation. But there’s something called stressflation. And let me unpack this a little bit more. I’m going to tell you about the economics behind it. But then I want to make sure that I give you some takeaways.
We had when you talk about inflation, the rising prices of goods and services, there’s a lot of convincing rhetoric about how we got here. But we know that something called the CARES Act, the American Rescue Plan. You all remember that with Covid, and I mean, that had this huge authorization of government spending stimulus, the CHIPS Act and low interest rates, these are all government intervention programs that caused a great deal of money to flow through our economy.
And the reality is that some people got dollars and some people got pennies. I’m not really here to discuss fairness, because, I mean, that’s just the reality. I don’t have a business that’s going to get money from the CHIPS Act. So that’s I’m not. This is not about fairness. This is about the reality that in the last five years, some people who are frustrated with their health insurance premiums going up are simply selling stock of Nvidia to pay for the rising premiums, whereas others who are frustrated with the rising cost of health insurance are having to cut back on groceries or whatever else – braces, dining out, you name it, you know, other things.
They call this a k-shaped recovery. So the letter K, whereas one group of people who are seemingly getting economically wealthy and another group of people being left behind. This is not a fairness conversation. Frankly, the way I approach it is no one cares. Work harder. Like I really, I’m not. If you know me, I’m not insensitive. But I’m also a realist that doesn’t find much value in pouting.
And I have been completely broke and I’ve been not broke. And in the midst of broke, I need somebody to some just tell me no one cares. Get over it and just work harder. And I’m going to tell you that too. If you’re on that lower leg of the K. But I understand how you feel. You feel overworked.
You feel like you really can’t get ahead. And I understand that you get overwhelmed. And the reality is, is I even know that leads to sickness. I even know that messes with your health. I know that messes with your mind. And you may be driving too fast. And then you get a ticket and it just compounds.
83% of Americans say that today’s economic climate is taking a toll on their mental health. So, I just want you to know, Daniel Crosby did stuff some good studies on this, through the Soul of Wealth book. Great book. Behavioral finance guy. Really sharp guy. I really like him. There’s no reason for us to just say this is a genetic response to the environment.
Because maybe half, this is from Crosby’s work. Maybe half of your reaction to stress is genetic, but the other half is circumstantial. And that’s what I want you to focus on. We need to move from stress to happiness. And there’s a framework in which we can do that. And I want to share that framework. It’s called the PERMA model.
The PERMA model. It’s the scientific theory to happiness. And it’s an acronym. And so, I’m going to unpack this and this, this model I really need you to get your head around because the reality is this k-shaped recovery may not end anytime soon. I have no idea. And neither do you. We hope that the segment of the economy that seemingly feels to be left behind will start to turn around, but if it doesn’t.
We have to change the way we react to this, that 83% of Americans saying that this climate is taking a toll on their mental health, that’s got to change. And so the PERMA model is a good framework for us to look at this in a little bit more detail. Let’s start with the first one.
The first one is you’re, you know, having positive emotions. It’s gosh, it sounds so fearful when I say this stuff. But that’s just the reality. We have emotions. So how do we get these emotions to turn from negative to positive? First of all, I have no desire to be a victim. It’s just not how I operate.
I know some people do positive emotions. Unpack that just for a second. It’s hope. It’s pride, it’s love, it’s amusement, it’s gratitude. I mean, sometimes we just have to just stop and realize that if you’re an American, you live in the greatest nation in the history of the world. And it is, in fact, even your economic circumstances relative to history and rather relative to our global counterparts is still pretty darn good.
And if you don’t believe me, you need to read history or go experience other cultures because we have it pretty darn good. And yes, you’re comparing yourself to the Joneses all the time. And guess what? The Joneses aren’t that happy. So, if you want to do any comparisons, any comparisons at all to generate some positive emotions, it’s time that you compare yourself today to who you were yesterday.
You’re not competing against anyone in this world. You’re only competing against yourself. And even then, it’s a bit of a challenge. But I’ll say there is hope in the fact that you can, in fact, make marginal improvements in things that you can control. And it may not be perfect, but there are things you can control. And you can look back and say, you know what?
I’m a better person today than I was yesterday, and that should give you hope. And that should lead to positive emotions and that should give you pride. If not, let’s look in the second one. In this PERMA model versus positive emotions. The second one is just engagements. What do I mean by that? I mean there’s this state of flow.
I’ve heard about this before. You may have seen it and heard about it in Sports Arena where people get in the flow. The game just slows down for them. I actually felt that recently where the state, by the way, the financial business is a business that always leaves you feeling humble, because you just can’t navigate.
You never hit a mark. But I have felt like I’m in a flow in this business. Like, I get it. I understand, it makes sense. It’s kind of slow down for me. It’s good. I mean, obviously been doing it since 99. I would hope by now. But it’s this loss of this self-consciousness and you’re completely absorbed in activities.
That’s a good thing. And if you haven’t done that in a while, that may be missing in your life. And I’m not talking about an occupation. I’m actually talking about something that you just enjoy doing. That may be an occupation, but it may be as simple as what I was doing the other day, just listening to a Frank Sinatra record and listening, actually listening to the lyrics, and you just get lost in it.
It could be Sinatra, it could be praise and worship, or could be just something you’re really good at. I know somebody who does woodworking, and they’re in a flow when they’re woodworking or collectibles, just collecting things or driving, sometimes just driving with the windows down. It’s more than just being happy. It’s just being engaged and experiencing life. So that’s the second one.
The third one is relationships, as you would imagine. And I’ve seen this over and over again. I’ve talked about it a thousand times, having we pivot in retirement to the next phase in life, if we do it independent of relationships in the community, we die. We just die. You may not talk about death, but I’m not talking about die inside.
Relationships matter. And so, we live a part of this idea of people being in their head because of their economic circumstances have a lot to do with just us isolating ourselves and scrolling and thinking that we’re engaged. Just false sense of engagement. Right. And so, it’s time to just build these relationships. So how do you build this relationship?
What about giving money to friends and family? I know you don’t have it. You’re like, I don’t have it. I’m a backwards thinking guy because that’s how Jesus was. He said, it’s better to give them receive. It’s better to turn the other cheek. He had a lot of backwards ways of doing things. And so what about giving money to people that maybe you’re like, well, I’m broke.
I mean, that’s problem. I challenge you to give money to people that need it. Notre Dame’s done plenty of studies that says people who give money to nonprofits or charitable contribution or charitable endeavors are happier. It’s been science that’s been reinforced over and over again. There was one recently I read from a guy named Ken Honda with Happy Money.
He did a study and he said, hey, it’s not just so much giving it to charities, actually giving it to people that you know or have some type of relationship with. So that means if you’re giving it to a charity, if you’re engaged with that charity, you’re going to be much happier. Or if you give to a neighbor or friend. And I’m not talking about a ton of money, but why don’t you just try it? I mean, you haven’t been happy in a while.
It’s not going to hurt. I’m not talking about a ton of money. And you’re like, well, I might be embarrassed. That’s part of relationships is being embarrassed. That’s part of how that works. So that’s a third, element of the PERMA model. The fourth one is, you know, I’m afraid this 80, this group of 83% here that are just in their head in this k-shaped economy have no meaning.
And again, we talked about this over and over again. Where do we get this meaning from. And it’s not that hard, by the way. It’s just whether or not we want to, we look for meaning. Like what’s my purpose in life? I was talking to a guy the other day about this. He’s like, what’s my purpose? I don’t understand.
Like, it’s not that hard. All you have to do is take inventory of your life story, your unique life story, and identify at a time that you were hurting or frustrated or life circumstances were difficult. And either you pulled yourself up by the bootstraps or somebody came along side of you, whatever it was, God doesn’t let those life stories go wasted.
And so taking inventory of your life story, you say, you know what I want to give back, and I want to be a part of the solution for people who are in those circumstances. And it’s not about you, by the way. This is not about you. This is about you recognizing that your unique life story was not made for you, but made for others.
And don’t waste it so you don’t have to look for meaning, you just have to find it. Now, this scientist that came up with this PERMA model, I’m just using the acronym. All of the color is mine, so no science behind it. Just the PERMA model, which I think is a pretty good framework. The last piece of the PERMA model, the A is accomplishment.
Do something that you enjoy. I know a ton of people who love mowing the yard. It’s not my gig. It’s okay, I don’t mind it, but people just love just looking at the yard, cracking open up a beer or whatever and looking at the accomplishment of mowing yard and the smell of fresh cut grass.
I can appreciate that, because frankly, I work in a market that is never satisfied. Not like you ever finish the job. I mean, we’re very rarely do you get that accomplishment. Maybe sending kids to college, but really it’s, and a lot of jobs. Maybe it’s not just mine, but a lot of jobs. You just don’t have this sense of accomplishment like you do mowing a yard.
What about teaching people other stuff? I was talking to somebody the other day. He’s an engineer and he’s stuck in this cycle. It’s in his head and he’s like, man, I really want to get back to teaching financial Peace University. First of all, it’s very clear and concise model where you finish it, right? You, I don’t know, 7 or 8 sessions, but you see a lot of wins.
That’s pretty cool. Teaching other people stuff. Just what you know. In fact, I tell you what, the idea of accomplishment is a big deal because there may be an investment of time or money involved in this. But if you look at people who are happy, most of them are happy when they use their money on experiences, not time.
So, investing whatever money that you have to do something that you want to accomplish, it’s worth it. It’s worth it. This PERMA model is a pretty decent framework, even as I’ve prepared for this podcast, and I’m even talking to you about it today. If you are part of that, 83% of Americans who just feel stuck because this k-shaped economy and it’s taking their toll, the stressflation if you feel stuck, I’m not here to give you the five things to do to get unstuck financially.
That’s a different podcast. This one is to get unstuck out of your head. And when you get unstuck out of your head, maybe, just maybe, then you can start making better financial decisions. But this PERMA model is the framework that you might want to start leaning into. It’s figuring out a way to create positive emotions in your life. Having an engagement so that you’re in this flow, digging into relationships, maybe even being the one that helps other people out financially.
Finding meaning in life rooted in your unique life stories and finding accomplishment and just various things. Checking the boxes. That’s the PERMA model. You know, I do believe that if you personally take financial responsibility for your financial life, I mean, I’m stating the obvious. You’ll have a dramatically better outcome economically long term, but it is about long term.
So, if I didn’t have a scientific model, you know what I would tell you? I would tell you think long term, long term says there is hope. And I am thankful for where I’m at. And you take out all the noise and you’re left with happiness. By the way, that’s another different scientific model. Doctor Ben Hardy said, hope plus gratitude minus noise equals happiness.
Hope plus gratitude minus noise equals happiness. But Doctor Darryl Lyons, I’m not a doctor, says if you think long term and put things in that perspective, it changes the way you think about raising kids, thinking long term changes the way you think about your health and thinking long term changes the way you think about your money. Remember, you think different when you think long term.
Have a great day.
Resources:
https://positivepsychology.com/perma-model/
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3037397/
https://lifestance.com/insight/financial-stress-impact-mental-health-statistics-2025/
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