Instructions
To find out what your financial situation looks like, simply answer
all 8 questions below and we'll tell you.
©Copyright by InCharge Education Foundation and E. Thomas Garman,
2004, 2005, 2006. All rights reserved. For permission to use
contact E. Thomas Garman, Author, Advisor and President, Personal
Finance Employee Education Foundation, Inc.; Professor Emeritus
and Fellow, Virginia Tech University, 9402 SE 174th Loop,
Summerfield, FL 34491; Tele/Fax: 352-347-1345;
E-mail: ethomasgarman@yahoo.com; Web: www.personalfinancefoundation.org and
ethomasgarman.net. Online version of IFDFW available.
Interpreting Your Personal Financial Well-Being Score
National norms
National norms for the general population of adults in the United
States have been established to provide data for initial norms to
interpret scores. The average mean score is 5.7 for the general
population. Thirty percent of the people scored between 1 and 4
while 42% scored between 7 and 10 and 28% were at 5 and 6 on the
continuum. Descriptive terminology to interpret specific scores
on the 10-point FWB scale is suggested below.
Descriptive Terminology for Interpreting FWB Scores
| Score | Descriptive Terminology |
| 1.0 | Overwhelming financial distress/lowest financial well-being |
| 2.0 | Extremely high financial distress/extremely low financial well-being |
| 3.0 | Very high financial distress/very poor financial well-being |
| 4.0 | High financial distress/poor financial well-being |
| 5.0 | Average financial distress/average financial well-being |
| 6.0 | Moderate financial distress/moderate financial well-being |
| 7.0 | Low financial distress/good financial well-being |
| 8.0 | Very low financial distress/very good financial well-being |
| 9.0 | Extremely low financial distress/extremely high financial well-being |
| 10.0 | No financial distress/highest financial well-being |
Questions about your results
Click here to contact us if you have any questions about your
results, or would like more information about how My Secure AdvantageTM can help you.
A PFW score can alert individuals about what might have been
previously undetected financial difficulties or confirm one's
sense of average or high financial well-being. A person's
challenge may well be to find ways to improve his or her financial
literacy and practice improved personal money management behaviors.
Your employer and/or financial education provider might be good
resources. Over time individuals can track their financial
progress by retaking the PFW question and comparing scores.
I'm ready to reduce my financial stress