Your Field Guide

Understanding Your Bearings Report

A short guide to what every number means — and what to do with it.

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Your Bearings report isn't a credit score and it isn't a verdict. It's a compass. It takes the handful of numbers you gave us and shows you where you're standing, which direction you're facing, and the shortest path to firmer ground. Nothing you typed left your device — every figure was worked out in your own browser. So read this as a map of your own making, not a judgement passed on you.

Everything in the report rolls up from five pillars — the five things that, between them, describe almost any financial life: how protected you are, how much room your income gives you, how much your debt weighs on you, how freely you can move, and whether you're building toward something. The radar chart is those five pillars at a glance. Here's what each one really means.

The Headline · Your Resilience Score

Before the five pillars comes the big number — your Resilience Score out of 100. It answers one blunt question: if your income stopped tomorrow, how long could you keep the lights on?

We draw your cash savings down against your spending — but not your spending as it is today. We assume that in a real crisis you'd tighten up, so your spending compresses toward essentials over three months:

Month 1

Essentials + 75% of your discretionary spending.

Month 2

Essentials + 50%. You've adjusted.

Month 3+

Essentials only — your survival floor.

The number of months your cash lasts against that declining burn is your runway. We compare it to a target — six months for employees, nine if you're self-employed or run a business, because variable income needs a deeper cushion. Your score is simply how close you are to that target.

(Investments aren't counted in this headline figure — they appear as an extended runway cushion underneath, because selling them in a crisis can mean selling at the wrong moment.)

The Five Pillars

Resilience

Can you take a hit?

What it measures: the same safety-net idea as your score above — how well your cash covers you if income disappears. Why it matters: it's the foundation everything else sits on. Without a buffer, a single bad month forces reactive decisions — debt, sold investments, missed opportunities. How to read it: a high score means you could absorb a shock and keep choosing; a low score means you're exposed to events outside your control.

Income Power

Does your income give you room, or has life swallowed it?

What it measures: how much of your take-home survives your lifestyle. Not how much you earn — how much of it isn't already spoken for. Why it matters: two people on the same salary can be worlds apart. If your lifestyle has quietly expanded to absorb every raise, your income has little power left to do anything new. How to read it: a high score means your earnings outpace your lifestyle and there's slack to deploy; a low score means most of your pay is already committed.

Debt Safety

Is debt working for you, or dragging on you?

What it measures: your non-mortgage debt — cards, loans, car finance, overdrafts — against your income. Your mortgage and student loan are deliberately excluded: a mortgage is a housing cost against an asset, not a drag. Why it matters: expensive consumer debt quietly taxes everything else — money going to interest can't go to resilience, freedom or momentum. How to read it: a high score means debt is comfortably within your means; a low score means repayments are eating into what your money could otherwise do.

Freedom

How much breathing room do you have?

What it measures: how many times over your take-home covers your essentials — the bills you genuinely couldn't skip. Why it matters: freedom is the gap between what you earn and what you're obligated to spend. The wider that gap, the more you can adapt by choice rather than necessity. How to read it: a high score means plenty of room above your commitments; a low score means most of your income is claimed before you get to choose.

Momentum

Are you building toward something?

What it measures: your savings rate — the share of your take-home you set aside each month. Why it matters: the first four pillars describe where you stand; momentum decides where you'll be. It's the engine that turns today's income into tomorrow's security, freedom or independence. How to read it: a high score means you're consistently converting income into future strength; a low score means your money is being fully consumed by the present.

How the Pillars Become Your Archetype

Your five pillar scores combine into a single picture. Their average sets your overall strength tier — from Vulnerable through Emerging, Developing, Strong, to Exceptional. Your strongest pillar sets your character. Put those together and you land on one of 25 archetypes — the Pathfinder, the Helmsman, the Cartographer, and so on. The archetype isn't a label for life; it's a snapshot of who you are right now, designed to move as you do.

How You Compare

The percentile bars show where you sit against people like you — not the whole country. Your income comparison in particular is deliberately adjusted for your age and region, so a 25-year-old in the North East isn't measured against a 50-year-old in London. It's a fair mirror — not a flattering one, and not a punishing one.

Your Path Forward

Finally, your report points to a target archetype — the next step up, chosen to align with the goal you told us mattered most — and a short, ordered action plan to get there. The plan always leads with the pillar your goal depends on, then targets your weakest links, because closing those is what moves the whole picture forward.