Subject: How healthy are your finances—really?

Preview text: Before you can improve your financial life, you need to know where you’re starting.

In our last email, we introduced a simple idea: Financial success begins with financial health. But that raises an obvious question: How healthy is your current financial system?

Not how wealthy you are. Not how successful you appear to others. Not how your situation compares to your neighbor, your coworker, or someone on social media. But honestly and quietly: How are things really going?

When you think about your finances, what emotions come to mind? Peace? Pressure? Hope? Fear? Confusion? Stability? Exhaustion? Those answers may tell you more than you think.

You Can’t Improve What You Refuse To Examine.

In Japan, there is a business philosophy called Kaizen, which emphasizes small, continuous improvements. One of its foundational ideas is that improvement begins by seeing reality clearly. You cannot improve what you refuse to examine.

Many people appear financially stable on the outside while privately carrying enormous stress beneath the surface. So this isn’t about judgment. It isn’t about shame. And it isn’t about making you feel like a failure because your financial situation may not be where you hoped it would be by now. It’s simply about establishing a starting point.

If you were sitting with a doctor discussing your physical health, one of the first things they would likely do is evaluate where things currently stand. They’d check the basics, ask questions, and look for strengths, weaknesses, warning signs, and opportunities for improvement. Financial health works much the same way.

Take The Financial Health Evaluator

Give yourself a score from 1 to 5 in each area: 1 = unhealthy/struggling; 2 = weak; 3 = developing; 4 = healthy; 5 = strong and consistent.

1. Income Capacity — Do you have enough income to meet basic needs and make progress?
2. Spending Plan — Do you know where your money is going?
3. Generosity — Is generosity built into your financial life?
4. Savings — Are you preparing for the future?
5. Debt Management — Is debt helping you or controlling you?
6. Protection — Have you prepared for what could go wrong?
7. Integrity — Are your financial dealings honest and clean?
8. Clarity — Do you understand your financial picture?
9. Peace — How much stress does money create in your life?
10. Relational Unity — If married or sharing finances, are you aligned?

Now add up your score.

10–20: Financial Crisis Zone. Your system is under real pressure. Don’t panic, but don’t ignore it either. Start with clarity, basic needs, income, and a simple spending plan.
21–30: Financial Stress Zone. Some things are working, but the system is fragile.
31–40: Financial Growth Zone. You’re developing healthier habits. Keep building consistency, margin, generosity, and protection.
41–50: Financial Health Zone. You’re doing well. Keep strengthening the system and consider how what you’ve learned might help someone else.

But Your Total Score Isn’T The Most Important Number.

Go back and look at your individual scores. Where did you give yourself the lowest score? You may have a strong income but no spending plan; very little debt but almost no savings; plenty of money but very little peace. The goal isn’t a perfect score. The goal is awareness.

Think of this evaluation less like a final exam and more like a map. It’s difficult to move toward a destination if we’re unwilling to honestly identify where we’re beginning.

Hang on to your score. Over the coming emails, we’re going to work our way through the 7 Keys of Financial Success. And we’re going to start with something many financial books don’t spend nearly enough time talking about: Income. Because before you can manage money, save money, give money, or pay down debt, you have to generate it.

Tim Howington & Chris Haas