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Scorecard

Household Financial Health Check

The CFPB Financial Well-Being Scale benchmarks US household financial health on a 0 to 100 scale; the median sits around 51, with major gaps in emergency cushion and protection. Score your household across savings rate, emergency fund, household debt ratio, retirement contributions, and protection (insurance and estate basics) to see your overall health and the weakest category to address first.

Last updated: May 2026

A household financial health score is a consumer-side composite of how durable a household money system is. Score = Weighted Sum (Savings Rate + Emergency Cushion + Debt Ratio + Retirement Contributions + Protection). CFPB Financial Well-Being Scale median typically target Above 60.

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What is Household Financial Health Score?

A household financial health score is a consumer-side composite of how durable a household money system is. It combines savings rate, emergency cushion, household debt ratio, retirement contributions, and protection (insurance and estate basics) into a 0 to 100 view. It is distinct from business cash-flow or operator-finance scoring.

The Formula

Score = Weighted Sum (Savings Rate + Emergency Cushion + Debt Ratio + Retirement Contributions + Protection)

The five household-level categories are weighted equally by default; the lowest-scoring category is highlighted as the priority because it is usually the most fragile leg of the system.

Worked Example

A household saving 8% of income, holding 2 months of emergency savings in low-yield checking, debt-to-income 38%, contributing to a 401(k) but no employer match, health insurance only, no will.

Household Savings Rate: 6 (8% is below 10-15% benchmark)
Emergency Cushion: 4 (under 3 months, in low-yield account)
Household Debt Ratio: 4 (38% DTI above 36% threshold)
Retirement Contributions: 5 (contributing without match capture)
Protection and Insurance: 3 (health only, no will)

📌 Score around 44. Lowest leg is Protection. A common sequencing is to add term life if dependents are present, set up basic estate documents, then close the emergency-fund and debt-ratio gaps in parallel.

Why This Matters

Snapshots beat vague worry

Households who can describe their financial situation in concrete categories make different decisions than those who only have a vague feeling. The category bars surface what the headline number hides.

A consumer score is not a business score

Operator-side metrics like cash-flow health and runway answer different questions than household ones. Treating them as interchangeable misleads both audiences.

Common Mistakes

❌ Skipping protection because it feels theoretical

A single uninsured event can wipe out years of saving. Insurance and estate basics are the leg households underweight most often relative to their cost.

❌ Optimizing one strong leg while ignoring the weakest

Adding 1% more to retirement contributions when the emergency fund covers 2 weeks is the wrong sequencing. The lowest category usually delivers the largest resilience gain.

Industry Benchmarks

Category	Good	Average	Poor
CFPB Financial Well-Being Scale median	Above 60	~51	Below 40
Households with 3+ months emergency	50%+	~40%	Below 30%
Households with a will	Have one	~33% of US adults	No estate documents

Source: CFPB Financial Well-Being Scale and FINRA Investor Education Foundation National Financial Capability Study 2024

Benchmark data sourced from CFPB Financial Well-Being Scale and FINRA Investor Education Foundation National Financial Capability Study 2024.

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One of the most common mistakes we see when working with clients: skipping protection because it feels theoretical. A single uninsured event can wipe out years of saving. Insurance and estate basics are the leg households underweight most often relative to their cost.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What does household financial health actually measure?

It measures the durability of your household money system across the dimensions that planners track: are you saving consistently, can you absorb a shock, is your debt manageable, are retirement contributions on track, and is your downside protected by insurance and estate basics. This is consumer/household focused; the metric is distinct from business cash-flow or financial-health scores that operators use.

What is a healthy household financial-wellness score?

On the CFPB Financial Well-Being Scale, scores above 60 typically reflect strong overall health, 40 to 60 is a working baseline with one or two gaps to close, and below 40 signals multiple areas to address. Our 0 to 100 scorecard maps roughly to that distribution while breaking the score down by category so the next step is visible.

Why include insurance and estate basics in financial health?

A high savings rate and low debt do not protect you from a single uninsured loss or a contested estate. Most planners treat protection as a leg of household financial health because the downside of skipping it can erase years of saving in one event. Including it surfaces a category many households overlook.

Should I retake the household health check periodically?

Yes. Annually, or after any major life event (marriage, divorce, new child, job change, home purchase, inheritance), the inputs shift enough that the category bars move. Tracking the score year over year is more useful than the single snapshot.

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Is Your Emergency Fund Big Enough?

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About 80% of US adults carry some form of debt per Federal Reserve data, yet households following a structured payoff plan are dramatically more likely to be debt-free within 5 years than those who pay minimums opportunistically. Answer five questions about your debt mix, balances, rates, motivation style, and credit profile to see which payoff strategy fits you best.

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