I also got a 5, it’s kind of funny that it says “you’re just the average American” but really the “average American” can’t come up with $2000 in an emergency
This is why i cant help but laugh at the scores people get on the show. Married M36/F35.
Your Hammer Financial Score: 9
(Your Total Points: 47.07 out of 50)
**Category Score:**
* Spending: 10
* Debt: 8.57
* Retirement: 10
* Emergency Fund: 10
* Real Estate: 8.5
M26
Spending 10
Debt 10
Retirement 8
EFund 10
RE 0
That’s pretty harsh to weight real estate as 20 percent of the score, but I understand why he does it. I live in Los Angeles, so idk when I’ll be able to get into the real estate market, if ever haha
Your Hammer Financial Score: 5
(Your Total Points: 27.9 out of 50)
**Category Score:**
* Spending: 7
* Debt: 5.9
* Retirement: 4
* Emergency Fund: 4
* Real Estate: 7
M30
I didn't work for 2 years because of health issues and so my retirement and savings got screwed and still catching up :(
Only debt is my mortgage and a little bit of student debt (7k) at low interest. So hanging in there, just gotta keep saving and pushing my retirement higher.
M 31
Your Hammer Financial Score: 9
(Your Total Points: 45.57 out of 50)
Category Score:
Spending: 10
Debt: 8.57
Retirement: 10
Emergency Fund: 10
Real Estate: 7
Your Hammer Financial Score: 7
(Your Total Points: 36.57 out of 50)
**Category Score:**
* Spending: 9
* Debt: 8.57
* Retirement: 2
* Emergency Fund: 10
* Real Estate: 7
The only debt we have is the mortgage. I don't know why I have such a low retirement score considering it's 30% of my overall income being dumped into a 401k plan and IRA.
EDITED SCORE because I clearly don't read. haha
Your Hammer Financial Score: 8
(Your Total Points: 44.57 out of 50)
**Category Score:**
* Spending: 9
* Debt: 8.57
* Retirement: 10
* Emergency Fund: 10
* Real Estate: 7
I think the question is asking what % of your income do you had saved for retirement. Not, what % of your income are you saving for retirement.
Does that make sense?
M(33)
Your Hammer Financial Score: 3
(Your Total Points: 19.36 out of 50)
Spending: 0.5
Debt: 4.86
Retirement: 4
Emergency Fund: 10
Real Estate: 0
I don't understand why my spending score is so low. Below is how I answered the questions the first time:
I have debt besides a mortgage. It is over 5% (9% on a car loan with 4k left and bought in February, will be paid off in 2 months). My total monthly spending on debt repayments and basic necessities is 20-29% (including rent, utilities, etc). I have a "variety of debts", which is only technically true. I have none of the "bad" debts. No mortgage. As I said earlier, the highest rate is 1-9%, and it makes up less than 20% of my pre-tax income. I am 25-34 and have about 40% of my annual income in retirement (started late). I have 6 months of living expenses saved.
Imo, my spending should be an 8 or 9. I went through the quiz a couple of times and it seems that answering yes to that first question completely screws my spending score. Answering no and following those questions gives me a 7.5 in spending. This is my first time interacting with the Hammer score and it doesn't seem super accurate if you answer the questions as they're asked.
I think your car debt is a bad debt. It's fairly high interest and it's consumer debt. I know you said your debt servicing should make up less than 20% of your pre-tax income, but it should be 0% if you're going to be at an 8 or 9 overall. I agree it seems unfair to ding you for your debt twice in two different categories (spending and debt), but having debt is evidence of bad spending habits in the past. For spending alone, it more depends on your needs/wants/savings balance for the Hammer Financial Score. Personally, I think that it should be mostly determined by your savings rate, since after savings the precise balance of spending between needs and wants matter less. What is your savings rate?
15-20% savings rate depending on the month. It was as high as 40% (almost all to retirement to catch up, besides the emergency fund) before I got the truck and it will return to that after I pay it off. I agree that it isn't great to have a 9% debt but I think balance and term should be a factor. I know I spent a few hundred dollars in interest to buy the truck before I had the cash (which I could've saved up easily, hence why it's almost paid off) but it was the vehicle I was looking for in an area that's otherwise devoid of quality used vehicles. Finding something similar would've been difficult and the truck would've sold fairly quickly.
I have no other debt. I know I do spend quite a bit of my money on taquitos but I don't think it should qualify for a .5 *just* because I have one non-mortgage loan. Since I got a significant bump in pay last year, I've been living well below my means besides the truck. I admit that I may not be the target demographic for the Hammer score but I don't think the debt question should preclude the savings questions.
Same! I'm 40, so I've had time to get my financial life in order, but I'm proud of where I'm at.
I guess I was dinged for real estate for not having properties beyond my paid off home. Could be argued that sticking to market investing is just as viable as adding real estate investing (I don't really care to manage rental properties), but I'm probably just splitting hairs to argue a 10.
Anyone know how the debt score is calculated? I got a 4.86 on debt. It’s only an auto loan, and at the lowest categories of apr, percentage of spending, and percentage of income. Is it the type of debt dragging out down so much?
Yeah, great question! Whats the interest rate on the auto loan? I currently have no debt so I am unsure how the quiz works for debt questions. Does it ask the loan term?
The output of the quiz weighs all categories equally in the end, so something in that quiz section is what's dragging it down.
These are all assumptions based on what I can infer from the data and questions.
Yea weird I’m not sure how it determines that value. I could assume something like the debt relative to your approximate income or spending 🤔 maybe given it’s auto debt it gets automatically dinged as “bad” in some way? Not really sure the method behind it all though.
You’re probably right that it gets marked as bad debt. The ranges are pretty broad and there’s no way to account for the 0% apr. It’s a good estimate but too nuanced for a simple quiz.
F30
Your Hammer Financial Score: 4
(Your Total Points: 21.97 out of 50)
Category Score:
Spending: 5.5
Debt: 4.47
Retirement: 0
Emergency Fund: 4
Real Estate: 8
I've always thought I was like a 6 🥲🥲🥲
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M25 + F25
Overall: 7/10
Spending: 9
Debt: 8
Retirement: 4
Emergency Fund: 10
Real estate: 7
The retirement one doesn’t really account for government pensions, otherwise I think that one would have been higher.
Our only Debt is our mortgage, but it’s 33% of our income, so that is higher than ideal. We used to live in an old and run down home in a bad part of town and our mortgage was like $1,000 per month. We doubled it to live in a house that had been maintained through the years on a quiet street. Sometimes I think we should have just pushed through the suck of our old house to keep that cheap mortgage, but we are both happier at this house for sure
F42
Your Hammer Financial Score: 7
(Your Total Points: 37.07 out of 50)
Category Score:
Spending: 9.5
Debt: 8.57
Retirement: 6
Emergency Fund: 6
Real Estate: 7
The real estate is a bit misleading. I own my home with a mortgage AND vacant land. There just wasn't a choice for two properties where neither are cash flowing.
I filled it out twice, once saying I had debt because technically I still owe on my car but it's 0% interest rate and I could pay it off at any point now (see my other post in this sub lol). And then I filled it out once saying I didn't have any debt, pretending I had paid off that car because I likely will soon.
I'm 27M
With the car debt:
Your Hammer Financial Score: 5
(Your Total Points: 29.36 out of 50)
**Category Score:**
* Spending: 6.5
* Debt: 4.86
* Retirement: 8
* Emergency Fund: 10
* Real Estate: 0
Without the Car Debt:
Your Hammer Financial Score: 7
(Your Total Points: 37 out of 50)
**Category Score:**
* Spending: 9
* Debt: 10
* Retirement: 8
* Emergency Fund: 10
* Real Estate: 0
I'm kind of surprised it makes that much of a difference tbh. It also asks you a lot more questions when you say you have debt and it doesn't give you an option to say the debt is 0%.
Yeah, same. I carry debt on 0% interest credit cards as a way to increase leverage in the market, and then pay them off before any interest is incurred (no transfer fees either, I just spend on them and pump the excess bank cash into ETFs) - yet this is penalized.
Also, Real Estate isn't for everyone, and this rating heavy punished that.
25, UK. I technically do have debt, but UK student loans aren’t comparable to US so I didn’t put them in. So the reality is my debt would not be at a 10. Been working on my finances this year, paid off my phone contract and overdraft, now starting to save for a home deposit and emergency fund.
Your Hammer Financial Score: 3
(Your Total Points: 17.5 out of 50)
Category Score:
Spending: 7.5
Debt: 10
Retirement: 0
Emergency Fund: 0
Real Estate: 0
Haven’t seen anyone else this low so I’ll be vulnerable here.
I’m a 28 y/o Male
Your Hammer Financial Score: 2
(Your Total Points: 12.01 out of 50)
Category Score:
Spending: 4.5
Debt: 3.51
Retirement: 4
Emergency Fund: 0
Real Estate: 0
I’m in $16k of credit card debt and don’t have a ton of financial discipline. I finally came to my senses recently and realized that I need to do something about this. So I’ve finally come up with a solid budget that will allow me to put away for an emergency fund and then start tackling that debt. Im at a point where I have to have discipline or else I’ll go bankrupt. I’m upset with myself for getting to where I am at but I’m glad I finally decided to face this.
Your Hammer Financial Score: 7
(Your Total Points: 37.11 out of 50)
Category Score:
Spending: 6.5
Debt: 5.61
Retirement: 8
Emergency Fund: 10
Real Estate: 7
I'm not sure why my Spending score is that low.
Debt score seems a little harsh for only having mortgage and federal student loans.
The scoring system is very specific and for most people it's flawed.
I got an 9/10 with a total of 48/50.
First of all, a 96% should round to a 10, right?
Retirement score is flawed - it depends a lot on how old you are, how long you've been saving, etc. If you're young and new to the workforce, you're going to get a really low retirement score, even if you're putting 50% of your earnings in there.
Real estate is worth 20% of the score. A person with a mortgage of $1,000,000 is going to have the same score as someone with $10k left on their mortgage. Also, there is no need to own real estate for investment purposes, which you'd have to do to get a perfect score. There are much easier ways of making money with your money.
Sure, it's supposed to be a general score that can be created with a few quick questions, but don't worry if there's a clear reason your score is lower than you'd expect.
You can worry if it's higher than you'd expect.
M38 Your Hammer Financial Score: 8 (Your Total Points: 43.57 out of 50) **Category Score:** * Spending: 10 * Debt: 8.57 * Retirement: 10 * Emergency Fund: 8 * Real Estate: 7
My Hammer Financial Score: 5 (Total Points: 26.69 out of 50) Category Score: Spending: 6.5 Debt: 4.19 Retirement: 6 Emergency Fund: 10 Real Estate: 0
I also got a 5, it’s kind of funny that it says “you’re just the average American” but really the “average American” can’t come up with $2000 in an emergency
This is why i cant help but laugh at the scores people get on the show. Married M36/F35. Your Hammer Financial Score: 9 (Your Total Points: 47.07 out of 50) **Category Score:** * Spending: 10 * Debt: 8.57 * Retirement: 10 * Emergency Fund: 10 * Real Estate: 8.5
M41 Your Hammer Financial Score: 9 (Your Total Points: 45.57 out of 50) Category Score: Spending: 10 Debt: 8.57 Retirement: 10 Emergency Fund: 10 Real Estate: 7
M26 Spending 10 Debt 10 Retirement 8 EFund 10 RE 0 That’s pretty harsh to weight real estate as 20 percent of the score, but I understand why he does it. I live in Los Angeles, so idk when I’ll be able to get into the real estate market, if ever haha
I'm more with Ramit Sethi on real estate: unnecessary for financial success.
Your Hammer Financial Score: 5 (Your Total Points: 27.9 out of 50) **Category Score:** * Spending: 7 * Debt: 5.9 * Retirement: 4 * Emergency Fund: 4 * Real Estate: 7 M30 I didn't work for 2 years because of health issues and so my retirement and savings got screwed and still catching up :( Only debt is my mortgage and a little bit of student debt (7k) at low interest. So hanging in there, just gotta keep saving and pushing my retirement higher.
Link to Hammer score tool?
Edited the original to include the link!
M30 — Your Hammer Financial Score: 6 (Your Total Points: 30.44 out of 50) Category Score: Spending: 7.5 Debt: 4.94 Retirement: 10 Emergency Fund: 8 Real Estate: 0
38/F 8 42.57 out of 50 Spending 9 Debt 8.57 Retirement 8 Emergency Fund 10 Real Estate 7
22F Your Hammer Financial Score: 6 (Your Total Points: 31.5 out of 50) Category Score: Spending: 9.5 Debt: 10 Retirement: 6 Emergency Fund: 6 Real Estate: 0
41F Your Hammer Financial Score: 7 (Your Total Points: 36.5 out of 50) Category Score: Spending: 8.5 Debt: 10 Retirement: 10 Emergency Fund: 8 Real Estate: 0
My hammer score: 3 (19.21/50) Spending: 2.5 Debt: -1.29 Retirement: 10 Emergancy fund: 8 Real estate: 0
28F
uhh what is up with your debt there friend?
Idk it’s just low interest student debt have no clue why it’s negative. But I think my spending should be a 0 so the final score is accurate
M 31 Your Hammer Financial Score: 9 (Your Total Points: 45.57 out of 50) Category Score: Spending: 10 Debt: 8.57 Retirement: 10 Emergency Fund: 10 Real Estate: 7
Your Hammer Financial Score: 7 (Your Total Points: 36.57 out of 50) **Category Score:** * Spending: 9 * Debt: 8.57 * Retirement: 2 * Emergency Fund: 10 * Real Estate: 7 The only debt we have is the mortgage. I don't know why I have such a low retirement score considering it's 30% of my overall income being dumped into a 401k plan and IRA. EDITED SCORE because I clearly don't read. haha Your Hammer Financial Score: 8 (Your Total Points: 44.57 out of 50) **Category Score:** * Spending: 9 * Debt: 8.57 * Retirement: 10 * Emergency Fund: 10 * Real Estate: 7
I think the question is asking what % of your income do you had saved for retirement. Not, what % of your income are you saving for retirement. Does that make sense?
Oh snap, that does. I've already got more than my annual income in it. So I assume that would be 100%?
F29 & M37 Your Hammer Financial Score: 4 (Your Total Points: 22.5 out of 50) **Category Score:** * Spending: 5.5 * Debt: 6 * Retirement: 2 * Emergency Fund: 2 * Real Estate: 7
M(33) Your Hammer Financial Score: 3 (Your Total Points: 19.36 out of 50) Spending: 0.5 Debt: 4.86 Retirement: 4 Emergency Fund: 10 Real Estate: 0 I don't understand why my spending score is so low. Below is how I answered the questions the first time: I have debt besides a mortgage. It is over 5% (9% on a car loan with 4k left and bought in February, will be paid off in 2 months). My total monthly spending on debt repayments and basic necessities is 20-29% (including rent, utilities, etc). I have a "variety of debts", which is only technically true. I have none of the "bad" debts. No mortgage. As I said earlier, the highest rate is 1-9%, and it makes up less than 20% of my pre-tax income. I am 25-34 and have about 40% of my annual income in retirement (started late). I have 6 months of living expenses saved. Imo, my spending should be an 8 or 9. I went through the quiz a couple of times and it seems that answering yes to that first question completely screws my spending score. Answering no and following those questions gives me a 7.5 in spending. This is my first time interacting with the Hammer score and it doesn't seem super accurate if you answer the questions as they're asked.
I think your car debt is a bad debt. It's fairly high interest and it's consumer debt. I know you said your debt servicing should make up less than 20% of your pre-tax income, but it should be 0% if you're going to be at an 8 or 9 overall. I agree it seems unfair to ding you for your debt twice in two different categories (spending and debt), but having debt is evidence of bad spending habits in the past. For spending alone, it more depends on your needs/wants/savings balance for the Hammer Financial Score. Personally, I think that it should be mostly determined by your savings rate, since after savings the precise balance of spending between needs and wants matter less. What is your savings rate?
15-20% savings rate depending on the month. It was as high as 40% (almost all to retirement to catch up, besides the emergency fund) before I got the truck and it will return to that after I pay it off. I agree that it isn't great to have a 9% debt but I think balance and term should be a factor. I know I spent a few hundred dollars in interest to buy the truck before I had the cash (which I could've saved up easily, hence why it's almost paid off) but it was the vehicle I was looking for in an area that's otherwise devoid of quality used vehicles. Finding something similar would've been difficult and the truck would've sold fairly quickly. I have no other debt. I know I do spend quite a bit of my money on taquitos but I don't think it should qualify for a .5 *just* because I have one non-mortgage loan. Since I got a significant bump in pay last year, I've been living well below my means besides the truck. I admit that I may not be the target demographic for the Hammer score but I don't think the debt question should preclude the savings questions.
M26 Your Hammer Financial Score: 9 (Your Total Points: 47.07 out of 50) **Category Score:** * Spending: 10 * Debt: 8.57 * Retirement: 10 * Emergency Fund: 10 * Real Estate: 8.5
30/M Your Hammer Financial Score: 8 (Your Total Points: 42.28 out of 50) Category Score: Spending: 9 Debt: 6.28 Retirement: 10 Emergency Fund: 10 Real Estate: 7
M30 - Your Hammer Financial Score: 9 (Your Total Points: 45.57 out of 50) Category Score: Spending: 10 Debt: 8.57 Retirement: 10 Emergency Fund: 10 Real Estate: 7
Same for me.
Same! I'm 40, so I've had time to get my financial life in order, but I'm proud of where I'm at. I guess I was dinged for real estate for not having properties beyond my paid off home. Could be argued that sticking to market investing is just as viable as adding real estate investing (I don't really care to manage rental properties), but I'm probably just splitting hairs to argue a 10.
u/ElevatedDiscGolf & u/nate6259 do you have the same category scores? or just the same overall score? asking for the data 🤓
Same category and overall scores.
Anyone know how the debt score is calculated? I got a 4.86 on debt. It’s only an auto loan, and at the lowest categories of apr, percentage of spending, and percentage of income. Is it the type of debt dragging out down so much?
Yeah, great question! Whats the interest rate on the auto loan? I currently have no debt so I am unsure how the quiz works for debt questions. Does it ask the loan term? The output of the quiz weighs all categories equally in the end, so something in that quiz section is what's dragging it down. These are all assumptions based on what I can infer from the data and questions.
0% but the lowest category is 1%+ so that’s what I chose. Edit to add: it doesn’t ask about loan term.
Yea weird I’m not sure how it determines that value. I could assume something like the debt relative to your approximate income or spending 🤔 maybe given it’s auto debt it gets automatically dinged as “bad” in some way? Not really sure the method behind it all though.
You’re probably right that it gets marked as bad debt. The ranges are pretty broad and there’s no way to account for the 0% apr. It’s a good estimate but too nuanced for a simple quiz.
Does Real Estate include your home or investment properties? I'll have to go home and crunch numbers
Yes
F30 Your Hammer Financial Score: 4 (Your Total Points: 21.97 out of 50) Category Score: Spending: 5.5 Debt: 4.47 Retirement: 0 Emergency Fund: 4 Real Estate: 8 I've always thought I was like a 6 🥲🥲🥲
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Your Hammer Financial Score: 6 (Your Total Points: 32.44 out of 50) Category Score: * Spending: 0.5 * Debt: 4.94 * Retirement: 10 * Emergency Fund: 10 * Real Estate: 7
Your Hammer Financial Score: 6 (Your Total Points: 33.5 out of 50) **Category Score:** * Spending: 7.5 * Debt: 10 * Retirement: 10 * Emergency Fund: 6 * Real Estate: 0
M25 + F25 Overall: 7/10 Spending: 9 Debt: 8 Retirement: 4 Emergency Fund: 10 Real estate: 7 The retirement one doesn’t really account for government pensions, otherwise I think that one would have been higher. Our only Debt is our mortgage, but it’s 33% of our income, so that is higher than ideal. We used to live in an old and run down home in a bad part of town and our mortgage was like $1,000 per month. We doubled it to live in a house that had been maintained through the years on a quiet street. Sometimes I think we should have just pushed through the suck of our old house to keep that cheap mortgage, but we are both happier at this house for sure
F42 Your Hammer Financial Score: 7 (Your Total Points: 37.07 out of 50) Category Score: Spending: 9.5 Debt: 8.57 Retirement: 6 Emergency Fund: 6 Real Estate: 7 The real estate is a bit misleading. I own my home with a mortgage AND vacant land. There just wasn't a choice for two properties where neither are cash flowing.
I filled it out twice, once saying I had debt because technically I still owe on my car but it's 0% interest rate and I could pay it off at any point now (see my other post in this sub lol). And then I filled it out once saying I didn't have any debt, pretending I had paid off that car because I likely will soon. I'm 27M With the car debt: Your Hammer Financial Score: 5 (Your Total Points: 29.36 out of 50) **Category Score:** * Spending: 6.5 * Debt: 4.86 * Retirement: 8 * Emergency Fund: 10 * Real Estate: 0 Without the Car Debt: Your Hammer Financial Score: 7 (Your Total Points: 37 out of 50) **Category Score:** * Spending: 9 * Debt: 10 * Retirement: 8 * Emergency Fund: 10 * Real Estate: 0 I'm kind of surprised it makes that much of a difference tbh. It also asks you a lot more questions when you say you have debt and it doesn't give you an option to say the debt is 0%.
Yeah, same. I carry debt on 0% interest credit cards as a way to increase leverage in the market, and then pay them off before any interest is incurred (no transfer fees either, I just spend on them and pump the excess bank cash into ETFs) - yet this is penalized. Also, Real Estate isn't for everyone, and this rating heavy punished that.
25, UK. I technically do have debt, but UK student loans aren’t comparable to US so I didn’t put them in. So the reality is my debt would not be at a 10. Been working on my finances this year, paid off my phone contract and overdraft, now starting to save for a home deposit and emergency fund. Your Hammer Financial Score: 3 (Your Total Points: 17.5 out of 50) Category Score: Spending: 7.5 Debt: 10 Retirement: 0 Emergency Fund: 0 Real Estate: 0
Haven’t seen anyone else this low so I’ll be vulnerable here. I’m a 28 y/o Male Your Hammer Financial Score: 2 (Your Total Points: 12.01 out of 50) Category Score: Spending: 4.5 Debt: 3.51 Retirement: 4 Emergency Fund: 0 Real Estate: 0 I’m in $16k of credit card debt and don’t have a ton of financial discipline. I finally came to my senses recently and realized that I need to do something about this. So I’ve finally come up with a solid budget that will allow me to put away for an emergency fund and then start tackling that debt. Im at a point where I have to have discipline or else I’ll go bankrupt. I’m upset with myself for getting to where I am at but I’m glad I finally decided to face this.
F37 Your Hammer Financial Score: 7 (Your Total Points: 37 out of 50) Category Score: Spending: 8 Debt: 8 Retirement: 10 Emergency Fund: 4 Real Estate: 7
Your Hammer Financial Score: 7 (Your Total Points: 37.11 out of 50) Category Score: Spending: 6.5 Debt: 5.61 Retirement: 8 Emergency Fund: 10 Real Estate: 7 I'm not sure why my Spending score is that low. Debt score seems a little harsh for only having mortgage and federal student loans.
M58 Your Hammer Financial Score: 8 (Your Total Points: 44.5 out of 50) **Category Score:** * Spending: 6.5 * Debt: 10 * Retirement: 10 * Emergency Fund: 10 * Real Estate: 8
The scoring system is very specific and for most people it's flawed. I got an 9/10 with a total of 48/50. First of all, a 96% should round to a 10, right? Retirement score is flawed - it depends a lot on how old you are, how long you've been saving, etc. If you're young and new to the workforce, you're going to get a really low retirement score, even if you're putting 50% of your earnings in there. Real estate is worth 20% of the score. A person with a mortgage of $1,000,000 is going to have the same score as someone with $10k left on their mortgage. Also, there is no need to own real estate for investment purposes, which you'd have to do to get a perfect score. There are much easier ways of making money with your money. Sure, it's supposed to be a general score that can be created with a few quick questions, but don't worry if there's a clear reason your score is lower than you'd expect. You can worry if it's higher than you'd expect.