Do these indicators show a person’s full financial picture, including savings?
What can we understand about people's full financial picture from the indicators in the Economic Wellbeing Explorer?
These indicators are built from anonymised transaction data from a large sample of GB bank accounts, giving a detailed view of spending, income, and balance activity within those accounts.
They focus on the financial patterns visible in this dataset, rather than every possible account a person might hold. This means:
- Savings, investments, or accounts outside this dataset aren’t included.
- Measures like Overdrawn Accounts or Low Emergency Resilience reflect what’s happening in the accounts we can see, providing a consistent way to compare trends across the population
Why this matters
For example:
- Someone with substantial savings elsewhere but who regularly overdraws in this dataset would still appear in the Overdrawn Accounts indicator.
- Similarly, the Low Emergency Resilience measure is based on the balance patterns visible in this dataset alone.
Tip:
These indicators are designed to highlight patterns of liquidity and short-term vulnerability in the anonymised accounts we can see. While the dataset represents a substantial portion of GB accounts, it is still a sample rather than the full banking population.
If there’s something specific you’d like to see included, please contact our team to share your suggestions.