Financial Wellbeing Is About More Than Vulnerability

When people feel seen, heard, and valued, fear drops and confidence rises. Hope for the future doesn’t change facts, but it does improve lives.

A few weeks ago, my colleague and Callahan analyst Tony Waltrich wrote about research from the Financial Health Network that indicates a “mild decrease in household financial vulnerability” as of spring 2025. This is good news, but it’s not the whole story.

FHN’s metric, like most others, assesses whether people objectively have the resources to meet their needs. This matters, but as credit unions leaders know from working with members, numbers don’t tell the whole story.

The rest of the story is how people feel about their financial situation. Gallup’s Financial Wellbeing (FWB) metric gauges people’s emotional relationship with their money. It doesn’t ignore facts — because worries about putting food on the table matter — it addresses how people feel about their facts and how that drives their attitude and behavior.

Gallup sorts people into three groups:  Thriving, Struggling, and Suffering. A recent Gallp study of Americans using a credit union or bank as their primary financial institution shows slightly more than 50% of them are thriving. This good news is true whether they are bank customers or credit union members. The uncomfortable truth, however, is that more than 20% of Americans are suffering, and that share is higher among credit union members, reflecting who the movement serves.

There is a bright spot though. Among a consortium of credit unions that Callahan leads with Gallup, the percentage of members who are suffering is approximately half that of credit union members at large. Why? Although we can’t prove causality, credit unions in the consortium have invested in developing their ability to engage members emotionally, provide reassurance, and build deeper, more resilient relationships.

These members are more likely to say their credit union “looks out for my financial wellbeing” and “is perfect for someone like me.” When people feel seen, heard, and valued, fear drops and confidence rises.

Hope for the future doesn’t change facts, but it does improve lives. And improving members’ lives is what makes credit unions matter in today’s financial landscape.

Learn About The Member Engagement & Financial Wellbeing Consortium. Is your credit union looking to change member perceptions and behavior through mission-aligned, data-informed actions? Are you ready to drive both impact and growth? Connect with Callahan & Associates to learn more about our transformational multi-year program that combines Gallup’s specialized research in human behavior and decision-making with Callahan’s decades of credit union expertise. Learn more today.