How does your credit union define living Paycheck to paycheck, and why does that matter?
- Anne Legg
- Jul 2
- 3 min read
If credit unions could measure anything to demonstrate their mission, why start with members who may be living paycheck to paycheck?
After all, there are dozens of possibilities.
Housing stability.
Emergency savings.
Transportation.
Retirement readiness.
Credit health.
So why this one?
Because I believe living paycheck to paycheck sits at the intersection of member need and credit union opportunity.
Every day, credit unions help members navigate financial challenges. They refinance high-interest debt, provide affordable auto loans, offer financial counseling, encourage savings, create payment flexibility, and help members recover from unexpected setbacks.
Those stories happen every single day.
But very few credit unions can answer one fundamental question:
How many of our members may be living paycheck to paycheck today?
Without understanding the size of that opportunity, it's difficult to demonstrate the collective impact credit unions have on improving members' financial lives.
That's why living paycheck to paycheck became the first CU Power Proof Point.
Not because it's the only measure that matters.
Because it's one of the clearest places to begin.
As we've started building this first proof point, I assumed the biggest challenge would be analyzing transaction data.
I was wrong.
The biggest challenge turned out to be something much simpler.
What exactly does "living paycheck to paycheck" mean?
At first, the answer seems obvious.
Until you begin writing the definition.
Is it someone who receives a traditional payroll deposit every two weeks?
What about military pay?
Retirement income?
Social Security?
Seasonal workers?
Gig economy income?
Multiple part-time jobs?
Should someone with fluctuating income be measured differently than someone with a consistent paycheck?
Should we only analyze a member's primary checking account?
Then an even bigger question emerges.
Is living paycheck to paycheck really about income?
Or is it about cash flow?
Someone earning $150,000 a year can still live paycheck to paycheck if every dollar is committed before the next deposit arrives.
Someone earning far less may consistently build savings month after month.
Income tells part of the story.
Cash flow may tell a much bigger one.
That's when I realized something important.
You can't measure what you haven't defined.
Before we write SQL.
Before we build dashboards.
Before we calculate a single metric.
We have to create a definition that credit unions can consistently apply.
One that is practical.
One that is defensible.
One that creates results that can be trusted across the industry.
Because the goal isn't to prove how many members are struggling.
The goal is to prove how credit unions are helping.
That distinction changes everything.
The paycheck-to-paycheck estimate isn't the destination.
It's the starting point.
It's the first proof point that helps a credit union understand where its mission has the greatest opportunity to make a measurable difference.
Over the coming weeks, I'll be sharing the questions we're working through as this methodology takes shape—not because the answers are easy, but because building a meaningful proof point requires asking better questions before calculating better metrics.
Next week, we'll tackle another deceptively simple question:
How do you determine whether a checking account is truly a member's primary financial relationship?
Because before we can measure impact, we have to know where that member's financial story is actually being told.
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Credit unions do meaningful work every day—but those stories often live in silos.
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