Case studies in using the financial well-being scale

Financial coach: Facilitating conversation

At one financial coaching and education organization, certified financial coaches have been using the Financial Well-Being Scale for about ten years. Coaches use the scale in one-on-one coaching sessions to facilitate conversations and measure client well-being and progress. The scale also allows the data specialist and program director to evaluate and improve programs. 

Facilitate conversations

Discussing the client’s responses to each question on the scale helps coaches develop a more complete understanding of their clients’ circumstances.

Measure client well-being and progress

The scale helps coaches measure clients’ progress and determine whether adjustments in coaching are needed to help clients achieve their goals.

Evaluate and improve programs

The organization has used preliminary data to evaluate which action steps and client goals are associated with increases or decreases in scores.

Build trust one-on-one

Coaches administer the 10-question scale to clients in their first one-on-one coaching session and at quarterly intervals with returning clients. Coaches start by asking clients the scale questions and then ask follow-up questions about their answers to better understand their responses. The conversations help coaches better understand their clients in a comprehensive way. Through judgment-free conversations based around the scale, coaches build rapport with clients that helps them understand clients’ feelings about their financial situation and provide more detailed context to shape coaching goals.

Lesson: Probe differences 

The coaches have found that sometimes clients’ scale responses seem contradictory to one another or to their traditional financial measures. Asking probing questions to understand apparent discrepancies is a valuable strategy for learning about clients’ feelings and relationship to money. “We have other really quantifiable measures, but this [scale] talks about how they feel. Sometimes you’ll get interesting discrepancies between how they feel and the numbers. It taps into the psychological aspect of financial coaching.”- Financial coach

Nonprofit: Measuring client well-being and progress

A nonprofit organization that provides financial, employment, and resource development has been using the scale since 2015 and asks all coaching clients to complete the Financial Well-Being Scale. The organization uses the scale to facilitate conversations, measure client well-being and progress, and evaluate and improve programs.

Facilitate conversations

Coaches use the scale as a tool to prompt clients to think broadly about their financial goals, even if they initially came for help in other areas.

Measure client well-being and progress

Coaching clients complete the questionnaire every three months, allowing coaches to assess changes in individual client scores and at the aggregate level.

Evaluate and improve programs

The organization evaluates its programs on an annual basis to determine how effective they are in meeting client needs. Aggregate changes in the score are one data point they use to assess the need for changes in their overall programming or approach. 

Reflect and discuss

New coaching clients complete the scale questionnaire and review their score and responses to individual questions at their first or second meeting with a financial or housing coach. This process enables coaches to expand the conversation beyond the client’s primary reason for coming to a broader discussion of his or her financial goals and appropriate action steps.

In one-on-one sessions with repeat clients, coaches typically focus on whether and to what extent the clients’ scores have changed as well as on changes in how clients respond to specific questions. Clients may reflect on changes in their personal circumstances that prompted them to answer a particular question differently. Reviewing score data in detail provides an opportunity for clients to reflect on changes in their perspective over time and for coaches to celebrate achievements that might otherwise go unrecognized.

Lesson: Use scores to inform your mission 

Coaches and program staff encourage new users to “embed [the scale] in the flow” of regular program operations whenever possible. This means including the questionnaire in client intake packets, establishing “agreed-upon, regular frequencies of using [the scale]” with new and repeat clients, and building a data system that makes it easy to track and analyze scores over time.

Once the scale has been integrated into day-to-day processes, scores can be viewed as data points that help inform an organization’s broader programming, approach, and mission: “[Think] about it in the grander strategy of an organization…. Don’t collect data for the sake of collecting data; [collect data] to do something.”-Program manager

Funding agency: Evaluating and improving programs

A grant-making agency adopted the Financial Well-Being Scale in 2017 as a required tool for grantees. As a funder, the agency uses the scale to measure client well-being and progress, evaluate and improve programs, and compare programs in its portfolio.

Facilitate conversations

Grantees use the scale in one-on-one sessions to understand client situations and help identify client goals. One grantee administers the scale in workshops to get participants to reflect on their financial situations.

Measure client well-being and progress

Grantees track individual clients’ scores internally and report average client scores quarterly.

Evaluate and improve programs

The agency uses changes in scores together with data on clients’ progress toward specific financial goals to measure the aggregate impact of its financial coaching activities.

Compare programs

The agency examines the extent to which the clients of different organizations have different average scores and score improvements. This helps the agency gain insight into differential impacts on financial well-being for different types of client populations.

Evaluate multiple programs

By introducing a common evaluation strategy based on the scale to all of its financial coaching grantees, the granting agency is able to measure the aggregate impact of its funding and better understand trends for different populations. Grantees specialize in financial coaching to formerly homeless individuals, health promotion, employment services, and more. Grantees report on client progress toward goals they identify at the outset of coaching and changes in financial well-being scores over time.

Grantees administer the scale to each client at intake and quarterly throughout the grant cycle. Among 196 clients, the average scale score increased by eight points over the grant year.

Lesson: Practice, practice, practice

“Really pilot it internally first,” suggests a grantee program manager. In their experience, clients frequently have questions about interpreting the scale’s questions and scoring. The organization’s staff should have direct experience with answering typical questions and have practiced these conversations with their colleagues before administering the scale to clients.