Episode 149 | April 15, 2026 | 22:20

Most clients can’t tell if their financial work is paying off. Here’s a single number that shows them exactly how much financial progress they’re making.

Key Takeaways

 Without a concrete way to measure progress, clients go by feelings. A rough month makes the whole year feel bad. A good paycheck makes everything feel fine. Neither is the full picture.
Net worth is a snapshot. It shows where someone stands, but not how fast they’re moving or how intentionally they’re directing resources toward their future.
Two clients with the same net worth can be in completely different places in terms of momentum. Snapshots don’t show trajectory. The progress number does.
The formula is simple: total financial progress divided by total income, multiplied by 100. What counts as progress is something the client gets to define.
The number itself matters less than the direction. A client who started at 3% and is now at 8% is winning, even if 8% sounds small.
When a client can point to a number and say, “I was at 4%, now I’m at 6%,” something shifts in how they carry themselves. That’s not a pep talk. That’s identity.
Your progress number is also your coaching tool. It gives you a concrete way to revisit progress across sessions, something to celebrate when things are going well, and something to investigate when they’re not.

I’m really good at helping clients build plans. At helping them organize their money, set goals, adjust their behavior, and keep moving forward.

But there’s a conversation that comes up eventually in almost every coaching relationship. A client sits down and asks, in some version or another, whether they’re actually doing better than they were six months ago. And the honest answer is often complicated.

I can point to specifics. Debt is down. Savings is up. Systems are running. But overall? Without something concrete to point to, clients live in a fog where they’re working hard and can never quite tell if the work is paying off.

That feeling is demoralizing. And it’s one of the reasons clients disengage from their financial plans. Not because the plan isn’t working, but because they can’t clearly see that it is.

Why We Go by Vibes and Why That’s a Problem

We measure almost everything else in life with numbers. Steps, calories, screen time, performance reviews. But money? We go by vibes. A rough month makes the whole year feel bad. A good paycheck makes everything feel fine. Neither one is the full picture.

Net worth is useful, but it’s a snapshot of position. It tells you where someone stands, but not how fast they’re moving or how much of their available resources they’re intentionally directing toward their future. Two people can have the same net worth and be in completely different places in terms of momentum.

Consider this: a client who started the year with zero in savings and $22,000 in debt, and in 12 months saved $8,000 and paid off $7,000, made $15,000 of financial progress. Her net worth is still negative. Another client who started the year with $10,000 in savings and no debt, and added $2,000 to savings, has a positive net worth of $12,000. On paper, the second client looks ahead. But the first is moving more than seven times faster.

Snapshots don’t show trajectory. And that’s exactly what the progress number is designed to show.

The Progress Number Formula

The progress number is simple: total financial progress divided by total income, multiplied by 100. It gives you a percentage, and that percentage tells you how much of your client’s income is actively going toward their financial future.

Total Financial Progress ÷ Total Income x 100 = Progress Number

Three things are clearly included: savings contributions, extra debt payments above the minimum, and retirement contributions. Then there are the gray areas, minimum debt payments, employer retirement matches, and mortgage principal payments, and this is where coaching really matters.

For each gray area, the answer is simple: the client decides. They pick the approach that makes sense to them and use the same definition every time. Because the progress number isn’t designed to compare your client to anyone else. It’s designed to let them compare themselves to themselves.

What the Ranges Mean

A progress number below 5% usually means most of someone’s income is going toward keeping life running right now. That’s not a judgment. It’s a starting point. 5% to 10% means they’re building stability. Getting there from a place where money felt completely out of control is genuinely significant and worth celebrating. 11% to 20% means real, tangible momentum. Above 20% means they’re creating serious margin.

But the number itself matters less than the direction. A client who started at 3% and is now at 8% is making progress. Full stop.

How to Bring This Into a Session

Start with clarity, not a formula. Find out how your client currently thinks about progress. What tells them things are going in the right direction? Let them answer. Whatever they say tells you where to meet them.

Then introduce the idea. Not the math yet, just the concept. Something like: what if there was a single number that showed you how much of your income is actually going toward your financial future? Not your budget, not your bank balance, just a clear percentage you could check every few months and compare to where you were before.

Then calculate it together. Walk them through what counts, let them make the calls on the gray areas, and when you arrive at the number, don’t rush past it. Let them sit with it. Ask what they notice. That’s where the real coaching happens. Not in the math, but in what the client makes of the math.

Make sure the number gets written down with a date to revisit. That moment creates a stake in the ground. Everything after that becomes measurable. Not by feeling, by fact.

What Happens Over Time

When clients have a progress number and come back in six months and it’s moved even a little, something changes in how they carry themselves. They’re not guessing anymore. They can point to a number and say, “I was at 4%, now I’m at 6%. My hard work is paying off.”

That’s not a pep talk. That builds identity. Clients stop seeing themselves as someone trying to get better with money and start seeing themselves as someone who makes consistent financial progress. Those are different people with different relationships to their own financial lives.

The progress number is also a coaching tool for you, the coach. It gives you a concrete way to revisit progress across sessions. Something to celebrate when things are going well and something to investigate when they’re stalling. And proof that your coaching works, expressed not as a feeling but as a fact.

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