How your Financial Wealthness Score is calculated
look at the five areas behind your number.
Your financial health score is built from five areas of your financial life, each compared against real Canadian benchmarks. The more you enter, the more accurate your score — but even three fields gives you a useful starting point.
What we measure: the percentage of your take-home pay that goes toward savings and investments each month.
We estimate your take-home pay using actual Canadian tax rates for your income bracket — not a rough flat guess. This matters because someone earning $60k takes home around 77% of their gross, while someone earning $150k takes home closer to 64%.
What's a good savings rate? The target depends on your income — higher earners are expected to save more. Here's the range we use:
| Annual income | On track if saving | Doing great at |
|---|---|---|
| Under $30k | 3–7% of take-home | 10%+ |
| $30–50k | 4–8% | 12%+ |
| $50–75k | 5–10% | 15%+ |
| $75–100k | 7–12% | 18%+ |
| $100–150k | 8–15% | 20%+ |
| $150k+ | 10–18% | 22%+ |
If your income is low for your city: we ease the targets slightly. Earning less than 75% of what peers in your sector typically earn in your city is genuinely harder — the math reflects that.
Sources: Statistics Canada (household savings rate 4–6% nationally); Fidelity Canada (15% rule of thumb for long-term goals).
What we measure: your total monthly debt payments (housing + all other debts) as a share of your gross monthly income.
This tells us how much of every dollar you earn is already spoken for. The less room debt takes up, the more flexibility you have to save, invest, and handle unexpected costs.
We need your housing cost to score this area — without it, we can't calculate a meaningful ratio, so we exclude it from your score.
| Debt payments as % of income | What it means | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Under 20% | Excellent — lots of room | 90–100 |
| 20–30% | Good — manageable | 70–90 |
| 30–40% | Caution — getting tight | 50–70 |
| 40–50% | High — limited flexibility | 30–50 |
| Over 50% | Very high — stress likely | 0–30 |
If non-housing debts (loans, credit cards) alone eat more than 10% of your income, we apply a small extra deduction — that level of consumer debt is a meaningful risk signal.
Sources: Statistics Canada (Canadian household debt service ratio ~14–15% of disposable income).
What we measure: how many months you could cover all your essential obligations — housing, debt payments, and daily living expenses — using only your emergency fund.
We use total monthly needs rather than just groceries because a real emergency means covering everything: your rent or mortgage, your loan payments, and food. A fund that covers groceries but not rent isn't a true safety net.
If you haven't entered your monthly breakdown, we estimate your obligations as half your take-home pay.
| How many months covered | Score |
|---|---|
| Under 2 weeks | 0–25 — very vulnerable |
| 2 weeks – 1 month | 25–40 — thin buffer |
| 1–3 months | 40–70 — building |
| 3–6 months ✓ target | 70–90 — on track |
| 6–12 months | 90–100 — strong |
| 12+ months | 100 — excellent |
The 3–6 month target is the standard Canadian guideline. Starting with just $1,000 is already meaningful — it prevents most small crises from becoming credit card debt.
Sources: Canada.ca financial guidance; major Canadian financial institutions (BMO, National Bank, Scotiabank).
What we measure: your total net worth — everything you own minus everything you owe — expressed as a multiple of your annual income.
For example, if you earn $80k and your net worth is $120k, that's 1.5× your income. This single number captures both what you've built and what you still owe, giving a more honest picture than looking at savings alone.
What's a realistic target? The benchmarks below are based on Statistics Canada wealth data, adjusted for age. They represent where typical Canadians land — not an aspirational ceiling.
| Age | Behind | On track | Ahead |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18–24 | Under 0.05× | ~0.20× | 0.40×+ |
| 25–34 | Under 0.50× | ~1.50× | 2.50×+ |
| 35–44 | Under 1.50× | ~4.00× | 6.00×+ |
| 45–54 | Under 4.00× | ~8.00× | 10.00×+ |
| 55–64 | Under 8.00× | ~12.00× | 15.00×+ |
| 65+ | Under 10.00× | ~15.00× | 18.00×+ |
Your city matters. Building the same net worth is objectively harder when rent is $3,000/month than when it's $1,500. We soften the targets in expensive cities so your score reflects local reality:
| City | How much we ease your target |
|---|---|
| Toronto, Vancouver | 15% easier (× 0.85) |
| Montréal, Ottawa, Victoria | 8% easier (× 0.92) |
| Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg | 3% easier (× 0.97) |
| Other cities | No adjustment |
Sources: Statistics Canada Survey of Financial Security 2019; Fidelity Canada age-based accumulation targets.
What we measure: your monthly housing cost (rent or mortgage) as a share of your gross income, adjusted for the cost of your city.
The national guideline from CMHC is that housing should cost no more than 30% of your gross income. But 30% of income means something very different in a city where a one-bedroom costs $2,500 versus one where it costs $1,000. We adjust your threshold based on where you live.
| City | Adjustment applied |
|---|---|
| Toronto, Vancouver | Threshold raised 15% |
| Montréal, Ottawa, Victoria | Threshold raised 10% |
| Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg | Threshold raised 5% |
| Other cities | Standard CMHC 30% guideline |
| Housing cost (after adjustment) | Score |
|---|---|
| Under 20% | 90–100 — very affordable |
| 20–30% | 70–90 — healthy range |
| 30–40% | 40–70 — above guideline |
| 40–50% | 20–40 — high pressure |
| Over 50% | 0–20 — severe strain |
Sources: CMHC 30% affordability guideline; Statistics Canada (22% of Canadians spend 30%+ on shelter; Toronto ~42%, Vancouver ~41%).
After you calculate your score, we show you where your income sits relative to others in your field and city — above typical, around typical, or below typical. This is context, not a judgment.
We never penalise you for earning less. The only effect: if your income is meaningfully below what peers in your sector typically earn in your city, we ease your savings targets slightly — because someone earning less genuinely has less room to manoeuvre.
Earning $65k → note shown, savings targets eased by 1%
Earning $90k → "around typical" note, no adjustment
Earning $130k → "above typical" note, no adjustment
Rather than a flat guess like "assume 70%," we use blended Canadian average tax rates by income bracket. The difference matters — it can move your savings-rate score by 8–12 points at mid-range incomes.
| Gross annual income | Approx. take-home % | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Under $30k | 88% | — |
| $30–40k | 84% | — |
| $40–55k | 80% | — |
| $55–70k | 77% | — |
| $70–85k | 75% | $75k → ~$56,250/yr |
| $85–100k | 72% | — |
| $100–120k | 69% | — |
| $120–150k | 67% | — |
| $150–200k | 64% | — |
| Over $200k | 61% | — |
Blended averages across federal and provincial taxes — a fair approximation for benchmarking, not your exact paycheque.
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