Around one in five people in developed countries are ‘financially excluded’. But how meaningful is this when the current definition does not differentiate between those who choose to be excluded and those who are forced to be? This conceptual paper draws on frameworks from social exclusion, resilience and ecological systems theory to critique the current definition of financial exclusion and to introduce an alternative concept. The paper argues that the emphasis of extant literature on an access-point approach has isolated the context surrounding financial exclusion and contributed to simplifying the phenomenon. It puts forward the need for a change in the way financial exclusion is conceptualised in developed countries to take broader contextual settings and a more holistic approach into account and it suggests that a shift to financial resilience may be a way forward.