Charting a Course for the Future of Financial Health in the U.S.

Access to financial services in the U.S. has grown dramatically over the last two decades. Not long ago, many individuals and families remained entirely unbanked, and only with great effort across both the public and private sectors did the unbanked rate start to decrease. With this progress, the field also began to understand that simply having access to banking services didn't represent a full picture of an individual's financial health. So today, although just 4.5% of Americans remain unbanked, the Financial Health Network's annual Financial Health Plus survey indicates that only 31% of Americans are actually “financially healthy” as families continue to struggle with all aspects of managing a financially resilient household — navigating debt, paying bills on time and saving for the future.

To help enable new solutions for improving Americans’ financial well-being, the Citi Foundation supported the Financial Health Network in launching Financial Health Frontiers. This cross-sector initiative brought together leaders across industries, backgrounds and viewpoints, resulting in four issue briefs delving into some of the most pressing themes shaping the present – and future – of financial health. The briefs highlight:

• Middle-Class Pressures. High costs for essentials like housing, healthcare, childcare and education severely strain middle-class budgets. This creates an ever-wider wealth gap, with the wealthiest 10% of households today holding 67% of total household wealth in the U.S. A compounding set of challenges, rather than a single issue, impacts a household’s overall financial health, and points to the need for holistic solutions built on collaborative and cross-sector partnerships and innovations. Read more.
   

• Climate Resilience. The staggering financial costs of extreme weather and climate hazards disproportionately impact financially vulnerable households. This reality stresses the need for a multi-faceted approach encompassing mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery to build greater financial security against climate shocks. Read more.

  
  

• Well-Being in the Workplace. Poor financial health among workers leads to low employee engagement, lost productivity for businesses and increased burnout, which nearly six in ten workers today are already experiencing. This brief finds that financial health should form the foundation of overall workplace well-being programs, to help drive both worker wellness and business performance. Read more.
   

• Intergenerational Trends. Today, one in four American adults live in a household with three or more generations. All age groups experience financial pressures, which means that the picture of a family’s overall financial health must account for the shared challenges spanning generations. To build more financially healthy families an intergenerational approach is key, with solutions that break through age-defined siloes. This brief includes insights from a 2025 convening of thirty cross-sector leaders on intergenerational financial health. Read more.

Financial Health Frontiers, and its exploration of these timely themes through both research and real-life stories, reminds us that a more financially healthy future relies on innovation and cross-sector collaboration. Together, we must continue to advance solutions that open economic opportunity, and shape brighter financial futures for every household. Learn more and follow along with the initiative here.