Measurement Toolkit

Measures ability to save, borrow, and spend. Focuses on planning ahead and spending habits less than income and financial conditions.

United States

Considers spending habits.

Measures pathways to outcomes, not outcomes themselves.

100-point scale. Self-reported objective financial measurements. Subjective feelings of financial health.

United States and Europe

Considers confidence and feelings of financial efficacy.

Wide disparities between financial feelings and reality.

Subjective measure of financial control and objective measure of financial security. Response to 10 binary questions. Investigates correlation between control and security.

United States

Correlation between perceived low financial control and financial health.

Not globally applicable. No correlation between income level and financial control.

Questions work around big, aggregated data (ex. “percentage of target population living below the national poverty line”)

Global

Gives a local scale and context to the issue. Simple and effective measure of basic financial independence.

Big data drives accuracy. Collection can be hindered by legal/government disputes.

Generalized framework predicated on four objectives: (1) easing pressure on host countries, (2) enhancing refugee self-reliance, (3) expanding access to third country solutions, and (4) supporting conditions in countries of origin for return in safety and dignity.

Global

Excellent for demonstration of causes of financial issues rather than only results. Comparable globally.

Data-centric and invasive. At times inapplicable due to its breadth.

Two-part survey containing subjective financial health feelings and transactional data. Part one has 10 questions about status, security, wellbeing. Part two uses customer transaction data.

Australia

Subjective measures complemented with objective numbers.

Difficult to expand beyond Australia. Transactional data is hard to come by.

Uses nine indicators to judge person’s ability to manage shocks, invest in future. Uses binary scale. Deemed financially healthy if they choose positively on 6/9 indicators.

Kenya

Uses pre-established financial tools.

Binary indicator is not applicable across all contexts.

A measure of financial capability and distress that is derived from 11 survey questions. These questions are grouped into "components" of financial health using statistical methods, and a score out of 100 is calculated for each component and for the overall financial wellbeing of the respondent. This index is one example of a series of studies conducted in various countries.

/ U.K., Canada, Norway, Ireland, Australia & New Zealand

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