Use the income your household actually receives after deductions — the amount available to pay for everyday expenses, bills and savings. Include regular income you reasonably expect to receive each month.

Include the regular expenses your household would still need to pay if income fell — such as housing, food, utilities, transport, insurance, healthcare, childcare and minimum debt repayments. Leave out spending you could reasonably pause or reduce.

Include savings you could realistically use to cover household expenses if income fell. This might include cash and money in accessible savings accounts. Avoid counting money that is locked away, difficult to access or intended for another purpose unless you would genuinely use it in this situation.

The test is designed around a simple question: what happens if part of your household income suddenly stops? By removing that income and comparing what remains with your essential expenses, the test gives you a clearer view of how your household might cope.

No. The result is a simple stress-test indicator, not a judgement of your household’s overall financial health. Real life can involve many factors the test does not capture, including changing expenses, insurance, government support, investments and other sources of help.

The One-Income Stress Test is designed to perform its calculations in your browser rather than sending your household figures to The Pocket Umbrella for storage. Please avoid entering sensitive personal information such as names, identification numbers, account numbers or passwords.