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What is Financial Health?

Financial health comes about when your daily systems help you build resilience and pursue opportunities. We believe that financial health is the best indicator of a person’s ability to thrive financially – from weathering shocks to achieving their goals.

What is Financial Health?

Defining Financial Health

Financial health is a composite measurement of an individual’s financial life. Unlike narrow metrics such as credit scores, financial health assesses whether people are spending, saving, borrowing, and planning in ways that will enable them to be resilient and pursue opportunities. We measure financial health using our proprietary FinHealth Score® framework, which is based on eight survey questions that align with the eight indicators of financial health.

Indicators of Financial Health

Financial health can be measured using eight indicators of financial health.

Eight indicators of financial health graphic

Calculating and Interpreting FinHealth Scores

We calculate an aggregate FinHealth Score based on an individual’s answers to the eight finhealth indicator questions. The graphic below shows how to interpret financial health scores across the spectrum of 0 to 100. 

Individuals who are Financially Healthy are able to manage their day-to-day expenses, absorb financial shocks, and progress toward meeting their long-term financial goals. Approximately two-thirds of people in America are classified as Financially Coping (struggling with some aspects of their financial lives) or Financially Vulnerable (struggling with almost all aspects of their financial lives).

Methodology-Graphics

How We Use FinHealth Scores

The Financial Health Network uses FinHealth Scores to understand how Americans are faring financially and to see where we should focus our efforts to achieve the greatest impact. We analyze FinHealth Scores across demographic factors, such as race, age, and gender identity, and review year-over-year trends to evaluate our progress and identify persistent inequities.

We also use the FinHealth Score framework to help businesses measure the financial health of their customers and employees. To start measuring, request the FinHealth Score® Toolkit.

Featured Research

FinHealth Spend Report 2023
Research Paper
FinHealth Spend

FinHealth Spend Report 2023

What are Americans paying for financial services as the country emerges from the COVID-19 pandemic? This year’s FinHealth Spend Report – our long-running national study on the costs of financial services to U.S. households – reveals that spending has soared in the past year amid a turbulent economy and persistent inflation.

Market Analysis
Jun 16, 2023
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