Financial Health Check Score
Answer 10 questions across the key areas of your financial life and get a score out of 100 — with your strongest areas, weakest gaps, and where to focus next.
This is a general self-assessment tool based on common financial planning benchmarks. It does not constitute financial advice.
What Does Financial Health Actually Mean?
Financial health is not the same as financial wealth. A person with a high income and a high net worth can have poor financial health if they lack emergency savings, carry expensive debt, have no insurance, and have never modelled their retirement needs. Conversely, someone on a moderate income with a clear cashflow plan, appropriate insurance, and an optimised super strategy is genuinely financially healthy — regardless of their balance sheet total.
This tool scores your financial position across ten dimensions that financial planners consistently identify as the foundations of a resilient financial life. Each dimension is scored from 0 to 10, giving a total out of 100. The score is designed to help you identify gaps, not to judge your overall situation — it's a map, not a verdict.
Why Emergency Funds Come First
The emergency fund is not just one item on a checklist — it is the structural foundation that protects every other financial decision. Without 3–6 months of accessible expenses in cash, a job loss, medical event, car repair, or broken appliance becomes a debt event. That debt, typically on a credit card or personal loan at 18–22%, can erode years of investment progress in months. Building and maintaining an emergency buffer is the single highest-leverage action most people can take before worrying about investment returns or super strategy.
Insurance Before Investing
Many Australians skip income protection insurance and underestimate their life insurance needs, reasoning that they are healthy and the premiums feel expensive. But your income is your most valuable asset — and it is entirely unprotected without insurance. If you earn $100,000 per year over a 30-year career, your future earnings represent $3 million in economic value. A total and permanent disability or serious illness without income protection can render every other financial plan irrelevant. Insurance belongs on the priority list before investment strategy for anyone with dependants or a mortgage.
How to Use Your Score
The score highlights your lowest-performing areas, not just your total. A score of 70 with a critical gap in income protection is more dangerous than a score of 60 with balanced-but-moderate performance across all areas. Focus on the lowest-scoring items first, especially if they fall in the emergency fund, debt, or insurance categories. These are the areas where a gap has the largest downside.
What a Strong Score Looks Like
A score of 80 or above means your financial foundations are solid: you have adequate emergency savings, no high-interest consumer debt, reviewed insurance cover, an intentional super strategy, an up-to-date will and POA, and at least a rough model of your retirement target. At this level, the focus shifts from building foundations to optimising — better investment allocation, tax efficiency, super drawdown sequencing, and estate structure.
How Often to Review
Financial health is not static. A major life event — new baby, divorce, job change, property purchase, inheritance — can shift your score significantly. Aim to revisit your financial health annually as a minimum, ideally at the start of each financial year. Compare your score year on year to track genuine progress, not just wishful thinking.