Frontline Workers With Two Simple Money Habits Miss Fewer Bills and Score Higher on Financial Health, New Stream Research Finds

Study of more than 7,000 U.S. frontline workers finds two financial behaviors are linked to fewer missed bills, greater financial confidence and better financial health scores.

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Frontline workers with similar jobs, pay and financial pressures can still experience their financial lives very differently. New research from Stream, a Workplace Finance platform available to more than four million workers, explores how two small, everyday money habits are associated with those differences.

In their new report, Mind Over Money, Stream surveyed 7,171 U.S. frontline workers, all using the same employer-provided financial app, and grouped them based on whether they practice two everyday financial behaviors. This resulted in four groups:

Planners (19%): those that plan ahead before accessing a portion of their pay early
Trackers (31%): those that track their earnings in real time as they work
Planners + Trackers (20%): those who practice both behaviors
Neither (30%): users who neither plan nor track

Two habits, meaningfully different financial outcomes

Across all groups, respondents reported greater financial confidence today than before using Stream, with Planner + Trackers seeing the largest gains. They were half as likely as workers who did neither to describe themselves as lacking day-to-day financial confidence (7% versus 14%). Among Planner + Trackers, those who recalled lacking confidence in their long-term financial future fell from 21% to 5%, a 76% reduction.

This pattern also shows up in financial stability. Compared with workers who neither planned nor tracked their wages, Planner + Trackers were less likely to describe their household debt as unmanageable (44% versus 56%), to have less than a week’s emergency cushion (14% versus 26%), or to have missed four or more bill payments in the prior three months (17% versus 26%). While 44% of workers doing neither said they don’t save regularly, that fell to 27% among Planner + Trackers.

Notably, differences in financial education alone do not appear to explain the gap. Every respondent answered the Stanford “Big Three,” a widely used set of three financial literacy questions covering compound interest, inflation and investment risk. Scores were nearly identical across groups. The findings suggest that financial behaviors may distinguish these workers more than financial literacy alone.

A national benchmark puts the gap in context

Stream also scored each group against the FinHealth Score®, the national financial health benchmark from the Financial Health Network, which in 2025 stood at 65 out of a 100. Workers who neither planned nor tracked their wages averaged a FinHealth Score of 45, 20 points below the national average, and 43% were classified as ‘Financially Vulnerable.’ Meanwhile, Planner + Trackers averaged a score of 57, narrowing the gap by 12 points, with only 24% considered ‘Financially Vulnerable.’ Planner + Trackers were also more than twice as likely to reach the top ‘Financially Healthy’ tier (16% versus 7%).

A third of workers who neither planned nor tracked still described their household as one that “plans ahead financially.” The resolve is there. For employers, the opportunity is to make it easier for workers to put that intention into practice.

“Many frontline workers already have the intention to financially plan ahead, even if that intention doesn’t always translate into action,” says Emily Trant, Chief Impact Officer at Stream. “Having visibility of your earnings allows more informed forward-planning while having early access to your salary allows workers to confidently manage their way through financial bumps that might previously have driven them to credit cards or even more punitive forms of short-term credit,” she adds.

About the study

Mind Over Money is based on a single self-reported, cross-sectional survey of 7,171 Stream members in the U.S. Respondents’ median earnings were $2,600 a month, about 39% below the national median wage, and half support at least one child under 18. They were grouped based on two behaviors: whether they reported planning pay transfers in advance, and whether they used Stream's real-time earnings-tracking feature. Because the sample consists of Stream users, findings reflect workers who already have access to a Workplace Finance app, not U.S. frontline workers broadly. This report leverages the Financial Health Network’s FinHealth Score®. The full report is available here.

About Stream

Stream is the leading global Workplace Finance platform, reaching four million workers through 2,000 employers. Delivered by the employer in one easy-to-use app, Stream goes beyond Earned Wage Access – helping workers keep more of what they earn, build savings, claim the government benefits they qualify for, and plan ahead with an AI money coach, all built on responsible access to pay they've already earned. Stream partners with leading US employers including Albertsons Companies, Dollar General, Five Below, Wayfair and GE Appliances. As a Certified B Corporation, Stream is committed to improving financial outcomes for every worker.