Financial Management Behavior Scale

Does your financial management need some work? Take the test to find out.

By Mark Travers, Ph.D. | August 14, 2024

As we achieve financial independence, making financial decisions becomes a crucial part of our daily lives. These decisions, whether personal or professional, can sometimes feel overwhelming to many. Given that financial transactions are inevitable, they can contribute to mental tautness and may potentially trigger mental health issues, such as negative self-worth or self-doubt, which can affect other areas of life.

While it's natural for individuals to weigh the long-term impacts of their financial decisions, maintaining mental well-being during this process is equally important. When making significant life decisions, it's wise to approach them with a clear and healthy mind. Recognizing the connection between financial choices and mental health can help individuals make decisions with greater clarity and a focus on long-term security.

The Financial Management Behavior Scale, developed by Jeffery Dew and Jing Jian Xiao, covers various aspects of financial decision-making. With items related to budgeting, saving, investing and spending, the scale is an essential for discerning between healthy and concerning financial behavior—as well as for keeping financial anxiety at bay.

You can take this test here. Please follow all of the steps to receive your results.

Step 1: Please indicate how often you have engaged in the following activities in the past six months:

1. Comparison shopped when purchasing a product or service.

2. Paid all your bills on time.

3. Kept a written or electronic record of your monthly expenses.

4. Stayed within your budget or spending plan.

5. Paid off credit card balance in full each month.

6. Began or maintained an emergency savings fund.

7. Saved money from every paycheck.

8. Saved for a long term goal such as a car, education, home, etc.

9. Contributed money to a retirement account.

10. Bought bonds, stocks, or mutual funds.

11. Maintained or purchased an adequate health insurance policy.

12. Maintained or purchased adequate property insurance like auto or homeowners insurance.

13. Maintained or purchased adequate life insurance.

Step 2: Enter your age, gender, region, and first name so we can provide you with a detailed report that compares your test scores to people similar to you.

What is your age?

What is your gender?

What region of the world do you live in?

What is your first name?

Step 3: Check to make sure you've provided answers to all of the statements/questions above. Once you've done that, click the button below to send your responses to Awake Therapy's Lead Psychologist, Mark Travers, Ph.D. He will provide you with an overview of how you scored relative to others (all answers are anonymized and confidential to protect users' privacy). He can also answer any follow-up questions you may have.

References: Dew, J., & Xiao, J. J. (2013). The financial management behavior scale: Development and validation. Journal of Financial Counseling and Planning, 22(1), 43.