How your health score works

Your health score is a number from 0 to 1,000 that measures how well your household manages money. It measures behaviour, not wealth — a household earning £30k with great habits can outscore one earning £100k with poor ones.

The score is built from four pillars, each answering one plain question about the direction your finances are heading.

How it works

Why 0 to 1,000?

A 1,000-point scale makes small improvements visible — a 12-point gain matters. It also maps to the credit score mental model most people already understand. On a 0–100 scale, the same progress would be invisible.

Score ranges

Range	Label	Meaning
0–299	Critical	Significant areas need attention
300–499	Fair	Some foundations in place
500–699	Good	Solid habits forming
700–849	Strong	Well-managed finances
850–1,000	Excellent	Outstanding financial health

The four pillars

Most of the score — 750 of the 1,000 points — is the "trunk": your standing on each pillar built up over time. The remaining 250 is "rings", things you can close off in the current month, like saving something or paying more than the minimum on a debt.

Tap any pillar on the score breakdown page to see what's driving it, how it's measured, and the single action that would move it most.

Income flow (up to 330 points) — "Are you keeping more of what you earn over time?" Whether you're holding on to more of your income as the months go by. It looks at your savings-rate trend, how your spending compares to your income, the quality and realism of your budget, and how much of your income goes to fixed costs. The current-month ring closes when you save anything at all.

Debt position (up to 250 points) — "Are you carrying less debt over time?" A single read on your debt: debt-free, improving, stable, or deteriorating. Momentum (is the balance trending down?) sets the band; how much you still owe sets your position within it. Credit cards you pay off in full aren't penalised. The ring closes when you pay more than the minimum. Uploading a credit report gives this pillar the most to work with. Full "debt-free" marks only land once keel has seen a month of your spending — a brand-new household with no data isn't assumed to be debt-free, so your first score isn't inflated by a guess.

Savings (up to 220 points) — "Are you better protected over time?" How many months of cover your savings give you — and, just as importantly, whether that cover is growing or being quietly drawn down. A large buffer you're maintaining scores full; a stale one you're eroding is caught. See emergency fund.

Habits (up to 200 points) — "Are you sticking to your plan over time?" Consistency. Your review streak over the last 12 months (full credit at 10 of 12 — two missed months a year are forgiven), plus current-month rings for keeping your data up to date and closing out the previous month with a month-end review.

The confidence behind the number

Underneath the score is a confidence cue — "Still learning", "Building confidence", or "Confirmed". Some pillars need a few months of data to read accurately, so the cue tells you honestly when the number is built on enough to be firm, rather than letting a thin-data score look more certain than it is. You'll see the same cue on the dashboard, the score page, and in the coach.

The cautious state is worded to match why it's cautious. If you're new, it reads "Still learning — your score sharpens as more statements come in." If you already have months of history but this month's statements aren't all in yet, it instead reads "Your latest month isn't fully imported yet — your score firms up as those statements land," so a long-time user isn't told to wait for more time to pass when the real fix is finishing the current month's import.

Weekly cadence

Your score is recalculated through the week, with a confirmed weekly score each Monday and a "trending toward" read on the dashboard in between. At month-end, a monthly score is locked in based on a confidence-weighted rolling average of recent months.

Why it works this way

Net worth is excluded. The score rewards behaviour, not wealth. What you own appears elsewhere in keel, but it never moves your score.

Person attribution never affects it. Couples who pool everything are never penalised for not tagging who spent what.

Direction matters, not just level. A big buffer you're eroding, or a debt that isn't actually coming down, is caught even when the headline figure looks fine.

The score builds forward. Your per-pillar history and your month-end verdicts start fresh from when the four-pillar score went live. Earlier months keep the score and verdict they were given — keel doesn't rewrite history.

FAQ

Why is my score still settling? Some pillars need a few months of data to read accurately. The confidence cue tells you when the number is built on enough to be firm.

Can my score go down? Yes. If spending climbs, your savings cover shrinks, or a debt stops coming down, the relevant pillar adjusts. The score reflects what's actually happening.

What's the fastest way to improve my score? Each pillar shows the single action that would move it most, and the score breakdown page surfaces your highest-impact next move.