Understanding financial health, one story at a time

“You are not a small business owner on a Monday, someone trying to own a home on a Tuesday, and someone with medical debt on a Wednesday. We are all of these things, all at the same time.” - SaverLife President and CEO Leigh Phillips

As we say at SaverLife, financial health is everything. Every aspect of your life is defined by choices that impact your financial health, whether they’re the types of groceries you buy, the child care you choose for your kids, or the goals you set for the future.

But here’s the most important factor to keep in mind when it comes to financial health: it looks different to everyone. We know this because we have open and ongoing conversations with our members about what financial health looks like and means to them. Their definitions, experiences, priorities and challenges guide our work and inform our research efforts.

Pairing SaverLife’s research data with our members’ stories has been incredibly powerful. The more stories we’ve shared with the SaverLife community, the more similarities members have seen between their financial health journeys and others. “When I read those stories, I feel great,” SaverLife Tiffany says. “I feel empowered. I feel seen, I feel heard. And I feel like I'm not alone. I'm not the only person who’s actually going through it.”

By bringing data and storytelling together, we’re also able to paint the larger picture of financial health. This in turn highlights critical opportunities where the financial system can better support the low-to-moderate (LMI) community to achieve lasting financial health and well-being.

Storytelling can inspire community building

Good storytelling allows us to relate to people’s lives in ways in which data alone will almost always fall short. Most importantly, storytelling can inspire authentic connection and community. This has been reinforced in the way we’ve seen our members engage with the stories we’ve shared.

Take Roshelle, for example. Roshelle is a single parent who’s working to improve her family’s financial stability. While she regularly talks to her friends about her budget and seeks out online resources to support her financial health goals, Roshelle can get discouraged by unexpected expenses or increased costs of living that disrupt her plans. Hearing from other SaverLife members provides the relief she needs to shift her mindset.

“I've been in situations where I've asked, 'how am I going to come up out of this?'” Roshelle explains. “Having access to apps like SaverLife allows you to realize that it'll get better. And that this is what I can do differently moving forward.”

By reading other people’s stories, SaverLife members gain insight into their own financial health journeys and learn that they’re not the only ones experiencing a variety of successes and challenges. They connect with others they might not have heard from otherwise, and begin to see how different financial health can look for everyone.

Most importantly, sharing stories allows SaverLife members to collectively celebrate their resiliency and see how far they’ve come on their financial health journeys.

The power to change is in stories

To build on our storytelling efforts, SaverLife will continue amplifying our members’ stories to drive impact on an even larger scale. Most recently, we teamed up with Experian to create videos (like the one above!) that explore the uniqueness and complexity of SaverLife members’ financial health and the possibilities an inclusive financial system could bring to their journeys.

As Phillips describes, SaverLife wants “people to be heard. We want our members to feel like they have a voice and that they have influence.”

We’re grateful to SaverLife members for sharing their stories with us, and we’ll continue to amplify them in the financial health field. It matters to us that everyone lives the life that’s meaningful to them, and we’re getting there one story at a time. Stay tuned to meet two SaverLife members who shared their financial health journeys with us. Thanks to support and funding from Experian, we look forward to introducing you to them over the next couple weeks.