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People often see the outcomes of financial hardship, but not the limited choices that shape them.
This experience invites you to explore the everyday decisions and tradeoffs many hardworking households face and discover how opportunity shapes those choices.
What happens next often depends on the choices available in that moment.
Financial security is about more than having enough money. It's about having the freedom to make choices that move your life forward.
Together, we can build communities where more people have the freedom to pursue the future they envision for themselves.
Your challenge
Make everyday financial decisions, respond to unexpected events, and experience the tradeoffs many hardworking households face every day.
This experience recognizes that the decisions we make daily are based on the jobs we select, the income we earn, and the fixed expenses we incur at the beginning of every month.
Decisions about these fixed expenses are connected, influenced by our income after taxes, and represent the essential needs of our households - housing, transportation, healthcare, childcare, communications.
The type of job you select may, for example, be influenced by where you live, options for transportation, whether the job offers healthcare benefits, whether you have children that would require care, and access to communications technology.
1) Choose a household.
Select a profile that reflects your household or the household of someone you know.
2) Choose a job.
Your income is based on the average hourly wage for Indiana's 20 most common jobs.
3) Make financial decisions.
Decide how to spend your income after taxes. First, you'll choose your regular monthly expenses. Then you'll use what's left of your paycheck to cover everyday needs for the first two weeks of the month.
4) Prepare for the unexpected.
As the month unfolds, you'll face new situations that require tough decisions. Every choice comes with tradeoffs. Make the best choices you can.
You'll track your income, savings, and debt in the blue bar at the top of the screen.
Many ALICE® households have little or no savings after paying for essentials. To reflect that reality, you'll begin with $0 in savings. You'll also start with credit card and medical debt, and later you'll make decisions about how to manage it.
You now have some choices to make about how you will earn income and take care of the essential needs of your household. These essential needs include childcare, healthcare, housing, transportation, and communication.
Did you know? Struggling to meet everyday needs over long periods significantly worsens physical and mental health, leading to chronic stress, anxiety, and depression.
Your Balance:
$0
Every household has a different cost of living. The ALICE® Household Survival Budget is based on the household profile you selected and estimates the minimum monthly cost to cover basic needs where that household lives.
Your household's monthly survival budget: $0
Your current monthly income before taxes: $0
(Source: State of ALICE in Indiana: 2026 Update on Financial Hardship)
You've chosen to take on an additional job to help meet your household's essential needs. Extra work often means less time for other important parts of life.
Based on your job selections, your income for the first two weeks of the month is: $0.00
After federal, state, and local taxes, your take-home pay is: $0.00
This is the money you have available to cover monthly expenses like housing, healthcare, transportation, phone and internet, and food.
Because you ran out of money, you won't be able to:
Your Balance:
Every Indiana community is supported by a local United Way working alongside partners to expand opportunity and help households build financial security.
Enter your ZIP code or select your county on the map to find your local United Way and discover ways you can get help, get involved, or give back.
Your Decision Chain
| # | Question | Your Choice | Cost / Income | Balance After |
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