“Today the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is releasing a tool to measure consumer financial well-being, based on a definition that the Bureau released in January 2015. This first-of-its-kind tool provides questions that educators and others working to build financial capability can use to accurately and consistently quantify the financial well-being of consumers…In January 2015, the CFPB released a report that provided a definition of financial well-being, drawing on interviews with consumers across the country, relevant research, and consultations with leading financial education experts. The report defined financial well-being as “a state of being wherein a person can fully meet current and ongoing financial obligations, can feel secure in their financial future, and is able to make choices that allow them to enjoy life.” The new tool is comprised of 10 questions that financial educators can use when working with clients to measure their financial security and overall sense of financial well-being. The questions that make up the scale are built around the four elements of financial well-being that were published in the January 2015 report. The four elements are:

• Financial security in the present: This element focuses on whether consumers feel they have control over their day-to-day and month-to-month finances.
• Financial security in the future: This element focuses on whether consumers feel they have the capacity to absorb an unexpected financial shock.
• Present financial freedom of choice: This element focuses on whether consumers feel they have the ability to make choices that allow them to enjoy life.
• Future financial freedom of choice: This element focuses on whether consumers feel they are on track to meet their longer term financial goals…”