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Financial Health Check

Twelve questions, three minutes, one score from 0 to 100. Retiree mode checks withdrawals, cash reserve, guaranteed income, taxes, health cover and estate documents; working-age mode checks the foundations for anyone still earning.

The Six Pillars of a Healthy Financial Life

Retiree Mode: The Six Pillars of a Retirement Plan

Once you are drawing on savings, the questions change. A savings rate and a salary multiple no longer mean much; what matters is whether withdrawals are sustainable, whether a bad market can force a sale, and whether the paperwork is ready. Retiree mode, the default, scores these six. Each question scores 0 to 10, each pillar 0 to 20, and the total out of 120 is scaled to 100.

Withdrawals: the share of the portfolio you take each year, after Social Security and pensions. (Morningstar, 2026) puts the safe starting rate for a 30-year retirement at 3.9% for 2026, so 3.5% or below earns full marks and 4% or below earns 8. A written rule for cutting spending after a bad year counts too.
Cash reserve: years of portfolio withdrawals held in cash or Treasury bills. Two years or more earns full marks, because it lets you wait out most market declines without selling.
Guaranteed income: how much of your essential spending Social Security, pensions and annuities cover, and whether you compared claiming ages for both spouses. Full coverage of essentials earns full marks.
Taxes and RMDs: a plan for withdrawal order and Roth conversions, and a projection of required minimum distributions, which start at 73, or 75 if you were born in 1960 or later.
Health and care: Medicare or pre-65 cover without gaps, and a decision on long-term care, whether insured or self-funded from assets you have set aside for it.
Estate documents: a will or trust, a durable financial power of attorney and a healthcare directive reviewed in the last five years, and beneficiary designations that match them.

Which mode to use

If a paycheck still covers your spending, use working-age mode. If you live mainly on savings, Social Security or a pension, use retiree mode. In the transition year, run both.

Working-Age Mode: Six Foundations, in Order

While a paycheck still covers your spending, the check scores the foundations instead. Use it in the last working years to see what needs to be in place before you stop. The six pillars are ordered the way a planner would triage a new client: cash first, then debt, then saving.

1. Emergency fund. Cash that keeps a surprise, or an earlier-than-planned end to work, from becoming debt or a forced sale.

2. Debt. High-interest balances are a guaranteed negative return. A card at 22% APR undoes any investment gain you are likely to earn.

3. Savings and investing rate. The share of income you keep decides your future more than any fund choice ever will.

4. Retirement. The one goal nobody will lend you money for. The benchmarks are age-based, so a 50-year-old is not judged like a 64-year-old.

5. Protection. Term life and disability coverage protect the plan from the two events that can erase it overnight.

6. Estate and credit. The paperwork that decides who gets what, and the score that still prices a mortgage, a car loan or a HELOC opened before you retire.

Key Insight:

A high score in one pillar cannot offset a zero in another. Someone with $1.5 million invested and no cash cushion can still be forced to sell after a fall if work ends early. That is why each pillar is capped at 20 points.

The Benchmarks Behind the Score

Every question scores from 0 to 10 against a published rule of thumb, not an opinion:

Emergency fund: three to six months of essential expenses, the range most planners and the CFPB recommend. Six months earns full marks.
Debt-to-income: the 28/36 rule used in mortgage underwriting. Under 20% is comfortable, under 36% is acceptable, and 43% is the practical ceiling.
Savings rate: Fidelity's 15% of pre-tax income, including any employer match. 20% or more earns full marks.
Retirement savings by age: Fidelity's multiples of salary, 1x by 30, 3x by 40, 6x by 50, 8x by 60, and 10x by 67, interpolated for the ages in between.
Life insurance: needed only if someone depends on your income. If nobody does, you get full credit for not buying a policy you do not need.
Credit score: 750 and above gets the best pricing on nearly every loan; below 650 means you are paying a premium on everything.

Pro Strategy:

Take the check once with honest numbers, then take it again with the numbers you would have if you fixed only your weakest pillar. The second score shows you exactly what one change is worth.

How to Read Your Score

90-100, Excellent: Every pillar is solid. Your work now is optimization: tax placement, asset allocation, estate refinements.

75-89, Strong: Foundations are in place with one or two gaps. Close the lowest pillar this quarter.

60-74, Building: Usually one or two decisions are open: in retiree mode a withdrawal rate above 4%, no cash reserve or old documents; in working-age mode a thin cash cushion or a retirement balance behind the age benchmark.

Below 60, Needs attention: Several pillars are open. Start with the lowest, and with whatever could force a decision in a bad year: a high withdrawal rate, no cash reserve, or high-interest debt.

Reality Check:

The score is a snapshot, not a verdict. It does not know the details of your pension, an inheritance you expect, or a business you own. Use it to find the next move, then rerun it each quarter to see the number climb.

Avoid These Costly Mistakes

Drawing more than 5% a year from the portfolio with no rule for cutting back after a bad year
Holding no cash reserve, so a market fall forces stock sales to pay the bills
Claiming Social Security without comparing ages for both spouses and the survivor benefit
Letting required minimum distributions arrive without a tax plan for the years before them
Naming beneficiaries once and never checking them after a death, divorce or remarriage
Treating a good score as permission to stop checking

Your Action Plan

1Run the check with real numbers from your latest statements
2Pick the single lowest pillar and open the calculator or guide linked in its recommendation
3Make the one decision that moves that pillar, and write it down
4Check the beneficiary on every account; it takes an afternoon and costs nothing
5Put a reminder on the calendar to rerun the check once a year and after any large change
6Email yourself the results so the baseline is on record

Illustrative example: the people and figures below are hypothetical, not real clients. Numbers are calculated from the stated assumptions.

How Carol and Jim Went From 46 to 93 in One Year

A Comfortable Plan With Six Loose Ends

Carol, 68, a retired pharmacist, and Jim, 70, a retired engineer, have $2.8 million invested, a paid-off house, and Social Security that covers a little over half of their essential spending. They took the retiree check expecting a high score, because they have never been short of money. They scored 46.

First check: 46 / 100 (55 points)

Withdrawals: 5.2% of the portfolio, no rule for cutting back (2/20)
Cash reserve: six months, in a bank savings account (10/20)
Guaranteed income: 55% of essentials, claiming ages compared (16/20)
Taxes and RMDs: no multi-year plan, a rough idea of RMDs (5/20)
Health and care: Medicare with Medigap, long-term care undecided (13/20)
Estate documents: wills from 2009, no healthcare directives, beneficiaries not checked (9/20)

A year later: 93 / 100 (111 points)

Withdrawals: 4.1%, with a written rule to cut 10% after a down year (15/20)
Cash reserve: two years of withdrawals in Treasury bills (20/20)
Guaranteed income: unchanged (16/20)
Taxes and RMDs: a year-by-year plan and projected RMDs (20/20)
Health and care: a long-term care fund named and set aside (20/20)
Estate documents: revocable trust, powers of attorney, directives, beneficiaries checked (20/20)

What They Actually Did

1. The withdrawal rate came down without cutting spending (2 to 15 points)

They sold a lake cabin they used two weeks a year and added $750,000 to the portfolio. The same $146,000 a year of withdrawals fell from 5.2% of $2.8 million to 4.1% of $3.55 million. They also wrote down a rule: after any calendar year in which the portfolio falls, the next year's travel budget is cut in half.

2. Two years of cash, set aside once (10 to 20 points)

Part of the cabin proceeds went into a ladder of Treasury bills covering two years of withdrawals. When stocks fall, they spend from the ladder and leave the stock funds alone.

3. A tax plan and a care decision (18 to 40 points across two pillars)

Jim's first RMD is due at 73, so they projected it with the RMD calculator and started converting part of Carol's IRA each year to the top of the 22% bracket. For long-term care they chose to self-fund, and named a $400,000 account for it so the decision is written down rather than assumed.

4. The paperwork (9 to 20 points)

An estate attorney replaced the 2009 wills with a revocable trust, added durable financial powers of attorney and healthcare directives for both, and the couple checked the beneficiary on every account. One old 401(k) still named Jim's late mother.

The first score was not a verdict on their wealth, which was ample. It was a list of decisions they had put off. Most of the gain came from decisions rather than money: a spending rule, a tax plan, a named care fund and current documents. Only the cabin sale took months.

What Makes a Retirement Plan Healthy?

A healthy retirement plan can take a bad market, a large medical bill or the death of a spouse without forcing a decision you would not otherwise make. Net worth alone does not tell you that. A couple with $3 million can be fragile if they draw 6% a year, keep no cash, and have not updated their documents since their children were in school; a couple with half as much can be sound.

The retiree check looks at the six places plans most often fail: how much you draw, whether you could stop selling stocks for a year or two, how much of your spending is guaranteed, whether taxes and RMDs are planned, whether health and long-term care are decided, and whether the estate documents match your wishes. Each gets up to 20 points, so a weak pillar shows up even when the others are strong.

Why Does the Withdrawal Rate Carry So Much Weight?

Because it is the one number that decides whether the portfolio outlives you. Morningstar's 2026 research puts the highest safe starting withdrawal rate at 3.9% for a 30-year retirement, with a 90% probability of money remaining (Morningstar, 2026). The check gives full marks at 3.5% or below and 8 points up to 4%, then falls off quickly, because a rate of 5% or 6% held for a decade leaves little margin if returns disappoint early.

Flexibility counts as much as the rate. A retiree who has decided in advance to trim spending after a poor year, sometimes called a guardrail, can start somewhat higher and still be safe. One who treats every dollar of spending as fixed cannot. If your score here is low, the Retirement Withdrawal Calculator shows how the odds change with the rate and with a spending rule, and the withdrawal order guide shows which accounts to draw first.

How Do a Cash Reserve and Guaranteed Income Work Together?

Guaranteed income covers the essentials every month; the cash reserve covers the portfolio's share during a downturn. Together they mean you never have to sell stocks at a low point to pay the bills.

Social Security is the largest guaranteed source for most households, and for a married couple the claiming decision is really two decisions. The higher earner's benefit becomes the survivor's benefit, so delaying it protects whichever spouse lives longer. Our guide on when to claim Social Security works through the choice, and the Social Security Estimator compares ages 62 to 70. If you have a pension, choosing a lifetime annuity over a lump sum also raises the guaranteed share; see pension lump sum versus annuity.

What Should the Tax, Care and Estate Pillars Cover?

Each is a decision you make once and review occasionally, which is why they are so often left undone.

Taxes and RMDs. Required minimum distributions begin at 73, or 75 if you were born in 1960 or later. A plan for the years before them, often including Roth conversions before RMDs, and a projection from the RMD Calculator earn full marks.
Health and care. Medicare with drug coverage and a supplement or Advantage plan, or cover in place until 65, and a decision on long-term care. Self-funding counts as a plan if the money is set aside and named for it. See Medicare enrollment and IRMAA and long-term care planning.
Estate documents. A will or trust, a durable financial power of attorney and a healthcare directive, reviewed within five years, and beneficiary designations checked on every account. Our estate planning basics guide explains what each document does.

How this calculator works

Method and assumptions

There are two checks, retiree (the default) and working-age, each with twelve questions in six pillars of two questions. Every question scores 0 to 10 and every pillar 0 to 20. Your score is the total out of 120 divided by 1.2 and rounded, so it runs from 0 to 100: 90 or more reads Excellent, 75 Strong, 60 Building, below that Needs attention.
Retiree withdrawals: a portfolio withdrawal of 3.5% or less scores 10, up to 4% scores 8, up to 5% scores 5, up to 6% scores 2, above that 0, against Morningstar's 3.9% safe starting rate for a 30-year retirement. A written cut-after-a-bad-year rule scores 10, an informal one 6, fixed spending 0.
Retiree cash and income: two or more years of withdrawals in cash scores 10, one year 7, six months 4. Guaranteed income (Social Security, pensions, annuities) covering 100% of essential spending scores 10, 75% scores 8, 50% scores 6, 25% scores 3. The other retiree answers (where the cash is kept, the claiming decision, a tax plan, knowing your RMDs, health cover, long-term care, estate documents, beneficiaries) score 10 for the complete answer and less for partial ones; self-funding long-term care scores the same as insuring it.
Working-age check: six months of expenses saved scores 10; no high-interest debt scores 10, falling to 0 above $5,000; a debt-to-income ratio of 20% or less scores 10, 36% or less 7, 43% or less 3; a savings rate of 20% or more scores 10 and under 5% scores 0. Retirement savings are compared with Fidelity's salary multiples (1x by 30, 3x by 40, 6x by 50, 8x by 60, 10x by 67, interpolated between), and reaching the multiple for your age scores 10.
A pillar under 15 of 20 points is listed as a weak spot, with the matching next steps.

What it leaves out

A number question left blank is treated as unanswered and scores 0. An entered 0 is scored on its merits: a 0% withdrawal rate, a 0% debt-to-income ratio or no high-interest debt scores full marks, while zero months of cash scores nothing. Leaving your age blank scores the retirement-savings question 0.
The score cannot see the size of your portfolio, your pension terms, your tax bracket or your family. Two people with very different finances can get the same score.
Every question and pillar counts equally, so the total does not weight a missing emergency fund more heavily than a missing tax plan. Strong pillars can lift the total even when one pillar is at zero; check the pillar bars as well as the score.
The benchmarks are rules of thumb from planners and researchers, not regulatory standards, and the check is not a financial plan or individual advice.

Sources

Methodology reviewed October 21, 2026 · For education, not individual advice

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a good financial health score?

On this check, 75 or above means your foundations are strong; 90 or above means every pillar is in good shape. In retiree mode, a score between 60 and 74 usually means one or two open decisions, most often a withdrawal rate above 4%, no cash reserve, or estate documents that are out of date. Below 60 means several of the six pillars need attention; start with the lowest, because each pillar is capped at 20 points and a strong one cannot make up for a weak one.

What withdrawal rate is healthy in retirement?

Around 4% or less of the portfolio in the first year, adjusted for inflation after that, is the usual benchmark for a 30-year retirement. Morningstar’s 2026 research puts the highest safe starting rate at 3.9%, with a 90% chance of money remaining after 30 years. Count only what you take from savings, after Social Security and pensions. A higher rate for a few years before Social Security starts is normal if the plan accounts for it.

How much cash should a retiree keep?

One to two years of portfolio withdrawals, in Treasury bills, a money market fund or short CDs, is a common target. The point is not the interest but the time it buys: when stocks fall, you spend from the reserve and leave the stock funds to recover. Refill it from gains in good years. More than about three years usually costs more in lost growth than it saves in peace of mind.

How much of my spending should guaranteed income cover?

Ideally all of your essential spending: housing, food, insurance, utilities and taxes. Social Security, pensions and lifetime annuities keep paying whatever markets do, so if they cover the essentials, the portfolio only has to fund the discretionary part. Few retirees reach 100% from Social Security alone; delaying the higher earner’s claim, or taking a pension as an annuity, are the usual ways to raise the share.

Which estate documents should every retiree have?

A will or revocable trust, a durable financial power of attorney, and a healthcare directive naming someone to make medical decisions. Review them every five years and after any death, marriage, divorce or move to another state. Beneficiary designations on IRAs, 401(k)s and life insurance override the will, so check each one directly with the account custodian.

How often should I check my financial health?

Once a year is enough in retirement, and after any large change. Good moments are the start of Medicare, the year Social Security begins, the year before RMDs, the sale of a house, or the death of a spouse. Track the score over time and aim to settle one open pillar at a time rather than everything at once.

I am still working. Which mode should I use?

Use working-age mode while a paycheck still covers your spending, and run retiree mode as well in the last few years before you stop. Working-age mode scores the emergency fund, debt, savings rate, retirement savings against Fidelity’s age benchmarks (8x salary by 60, 10x by 67), insurance and estate basics. Retiree mode shows what the plan will need to look like on the day you stop.

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