How the Mr. Fino score is calculated

Every Mr. Fino report starts with one number: a score out of 100. It looks simple — that's the point — but underneath it is a specific, opinionated methodology built for how Indian households actually earn, save and spend. This essay explains exactly how the number is put together, so you can trust what it's telling you and know which lever to pull first.

Four scored pillars, 100 points

The score is the sum of four pillars. Each one measures a ratio, not a rupee amount — so a household earning ₹40,000 a month is scored just as fairly as one earning ₹4 lakh.

Savings — up to 25 points

We take your monthly savings as a percentage of income and score it in bands: save 20% or more of what you earn and you take the full 25 points; 15–20% earns 20; 10–15% earns 15; 5–10% earns 10; and below 5% scores zero. The 20% benchmark isn't arbitrary — it's the rate at which most households can fund both an emergency buffer and long-term goals without feeling squeezed.

Debt — up to 20 points

Debt is scored on your debt-to-income ratio (DTI): total monthly EMIs divided by monthly income. Keep EMIs at or below 20% of income and you earn the full 20 points; up to 30% earns 15; up to 40% earns 10; up to 50% earns 5; beyond that, zero. Lenders start getting nervous above 40% — and so should you, because every rupee committed to an EMI is a rupee that can't absorb a shock.

Investment — up to 30 points

The single biggest pillar isn't stock-picking skill — it's your emergency cushion, measured in months of expenses you could cover if income stopped today. Six months or more takes the full 30 points; three to six months earns 20; one to three months earns 10; less than a month scores zero. We weight this heaviest deliberately: without a cushion, every other financial plan is one bad month away from unravelling.

Insurance — up to 25 points

We compare your actual cover against an ideal: roughly 20× your annual income in term life cover, and health cover of about 2× annual income (with a ₹5 lakh floor). Adequate term cover — at least 80% of the ideal — earns 10 points; adequate health cover earns another 10; and having both earns a 5-point bonus, for a maximum of 25.

Two gauges that don't move the score

Alongside the four pillars, your report shows two 0–100 gauges: Income (the strength of what you earn) and Habits (whether you save monthly, keep a 3-month buffer, diversify across at least two instruments, have a defined goal, and keep DTI below 40%). They're informational on purpose — your score shouldn't be lower just because you earn less, and habits are better tracked as behaviour than punished as points.

What your status band means

• 80–100 · Excellent — your foundations are strong; optimise and protect.
• 60–79 · Good — solid, with one or two clear gaps worth closing.
• 40–59 · Average — fixable, and usually fast to improve.
• Below 40 · Poor — start with the emergency cushion and EMI pressure first.

Why a banded score beats a formula

Bands make the score honest and actionable. You always know the next threshold: if your savings rate is 12%, the report doesn't say "try harder" — it says getting to 15% is worth 5 more points, and it shows the exact monthly amount that gets you there. Every action item in your plan is generated from the same bands, priority-ranked by how much score (and safety) it buys you.