Your Money, Your Goals - A financial empowerment toolkit for social services programs.

Tool 2:

Client goal and financial

situation assessment

Situation Assessment

A picture of conditions today used to

create a plan for actions to change

conditions in the future.

You may be wondering where you should start
with a client. The Client Goal and Financial
Situation Assessment may help you figure out a
beginning point with a client.

Use of this assessment is optional. It can help you
efficiently and effectively determine where to
start in the toolkit, but you may find that you
already ask similar questions in your existing assessment protocol.

If you do use this assessment, consider using it when:

 Clients fill out intake paperwork for your organization or program

 You meet with clients for an initial assessment

 Clients are waiting for other services (such as waiting to have their tax returns prepared

at a Volunteer Income Tax Assistance site)

You may also choose to:

 Send this home with clients to fill out privately

 Use it as a guide to ask questions in a conversational style to better understand the

financial concerns and goals of your clients

 Ask the questions over several sessions with your client

How does it work? When you feel the time is right, you can simply ask a client to complete the
assessment. You can match her answers with modules in the Your Money, Your Goals toolkit as
a starting point for assistance.