Science-based approach to financial wellness

If a new report from the Financial Wellness Lab of Canada at Western University is any indication, moving from a financially stressed situation to a more comfortable level in a relatively short period of time may not be an impossible feat. While financial stress might feel inescapable, the report, " Financial Wellness Lab - State of the Nation - December 2021 ," has found that 16.1 per cent of Canadians whom the research determined were financially stressed in 2020 were able to move into the financially comfortable category in one year. While this is not an indication that moving from financially stressed to being financially comfortable is easy or obstacle-free, the report does provide some hope for those who might be feeling despair. The report is an early output from the Lab, which aims to develop a science-based, big-picture understanding of financial wellness and deliver information and tools to help Canadians improve or maintain their financial fitness. "Up until now, our understanding of financial wellness has looked at specific aspects of the topics,” said Matt Davison, dean of science at Western. "At the Financial Wellness Lab of Canada, we are combining leading analytics tools and methodology, a multi-disciplinary approach and deep data sets furnished by industry partners to draw connections between research that have already deen done, and articulate a road map towards financial wellness. This includes identification of factors that can either slow or accelerate one's journey.