This study examines the role of non-labor income relative to net worth in shaping retirement satisfaction. Specifically, the authors create a ratio comparing income from annuities, pensions, and social security to net worth to observe the role of non-labor income relativity and its contribution to financial stability and quality of life during retirement. Further, we attempt to answer if consistent non-labor income can reduce financial anxiety that may be associated with market fluctuations or economic downturns, which typically affect net worth. In this regard, retirees may feel more secure when they have guaranteed income sources that are independent of market outcomes, which directly impact overall well-being and life satisfaction. Plainly, the objective of this study is to test if non-labor income relative to net worth is associated with retirement satisfaction.
Evidence on child support – or court-ordered payments from the noncustodial parent to the custodial parent – shows receiving payments improves child welfare. Yet, many eligible families do not establish paternity, a prerequisite to child support, nor do they obtain an award. These families are also disproportionately never-married, low income, and have less education. Compounding their financial vulnerability, these same families have also been shown to become disconnected from the labor force and means-tested government support during periods of financial hardship. To measure how these financially precarious families respond to unexpected hardship, I combine the first five years of the Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Survey with restricted medical records (1998-2000). Then, I construct a sample of mothers who are child-support-eligible at the time of their child’s birth and exploit a medically determined, severe, and random health shock that effects the child. Importantly this health shock is medically determined to be exogenous to the mother’s behavior e.g., smoking, and has been shown to induce financial hardship. Exploiting this random variation, I measure the likelihood of the custodial parent establishing paternity or obtaining a child support order one year later. I find that in response to increased financial hardship, mothers are 9 percentage points more likely to establish paternity, but I find no significant relationship to establishing child support. These findings speak directly to the significant challenges this population faces and the need for program intervention directly targeted to reducing barriers for these parents. Broadly, they also highlight the additional barriers to financial barriers this group faces which is particularly concerningly in light of increasing precarity and a patch work safety net.
The study investigates the factors that shape subjective well-being (SWB), focusing on how financial satisfaction, job satisfaction, relationship happiness, physical health, and community engagement contribute to overall life satisfaction. Unlike traditional economic measures like GDP, SWB offers a comprehensive view of consumer quality of life, providing insights into personal fulfillment and resilience, especially during economic and health crises. Using data from the General Social Survey from 2016 to 2022, this study analyzes the impact of financial satisfaction and other well-being dimensions on SWB through ordered logit regression models with robustness checks. Findings show that relationship happiness, financial satisfaction, and physical health are critical to well-being, with relationship happiness emerging as the strongest predictor (OR=28.25, AME=.4018). This research highlights the need for policies and programs that address financial and non-financial aspects of life to enhance consumer holistic well-being. Recommendations include financial literacy programs, supportive workplace environments, and accessible healthcare, which together can foster resilience and improve subjective well-being across diverse populations. This study contributes to an understanding of consumer well-being, supporting actionable strategies for policymakers, educators, and financial practitioners.
Making optimal investment decisions is complex due to the inherent uncertainty and the influence of individual risk preferences. This study investigates the impact of major health events on financial decision-making, focusing on risk-taking behavior and investment horizons. Utilizing data from the SHARE project, which provides a comprehensive longitudinal view of individuals aged 50 and above in Europe, we examine how health shocks such as heart attacks, strokes, and cancer diagnoses alter financial behaviors. Our analysis employs propensity score matching and mediation analysis to understand these dynamics. Results indicate that health shocks significantly deteriorate household financial conditions, reducing income, wealth, and employment probability. However, contrary to expectations, these shocks do not substantially alter risk appetite or investment planning horizons, suggesting a limited mediating role of decreased life expectancy in financial decision-making.
This study investigated the association between personal debt and psychological well-being among older adults aged 51 and above, with a specific focus on unsecured debt. The research explored the role of health literacy in this relationship. Data from the 2018 and 2020 waves of the Health and Retirement Study were utilized with a sample size of 10,687, involving respondents who completed both a core survey and a psychosocial leave-behind questionnaire. The analysis revealed that 35.9% of respondents had unsecured debt, and the presence of such debt was significantly associated with lower psychological well-being. Health literacy was a significant mediator between the deleterious role of unsecured debt in psychological well-being. Given that medical debt constitutes a sizable proportion of unsecured debt for older individuals, possessing greater knowledge of one's health situation appears to mitigate the psychological distress associated with debt. Interventions aimed at enhancing the ability of older adults to access and comprehend health-related information and services may serve as a protective measure against the negative psychological consequences of grappling with unsecured debt.
The present study aims to bring conclusive findings on how an individual’s personal finance contributes to his/her subjective well-being. By following Amartya Sen’s Capability approach, the present study created a model and analysed the influence of personal finance on the subjective well-being of U.S. adults through three distinct dimensions of personal finance: objective financial well-being, subjective financial well-being and financial capability. The relationship has been analysed by taking 4705 U.S. adults data from the 2016 National Financial Well-Being Survey (NFWBS) conducted by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). Structural equation modelling was used to analyse the relationships. The results reveal that subjective financial well-being significantly contributes to subjective well-being, whereas objective financial well-being does not. However, it is found that objective financial well-being has an indirect significant positive effect on subjective well-being through subjective financial well-being (full mediation). Further, the study revealed that financial capability has a positive impact on objective financial well-being, subjective financial well-being, and subjective well-being. A serial mediating relationship has been found between financial capability and subjective well-being through objective financial well-being and subjective financial well-being.
Financial discrimination is a complex issue that demands attention. It perpetuates poverty and inequality among people of color, women, and other marginalized groups, limiting their ability to accumulate wealth. This, in turn, fosters economic instability and undermines the nation’s economic health. In this study, we investigate whether racial and ethnic disparities in financial discrimination persist after controlling for various factors. First, we examine racial and ethnic disparities in overall societal discrimination using the full sample. Then, we focus on three domains of financial discrimination, measured by respondents' experiences in the (a) labor market, (b) financial market, and (c) housing market, using a subsample of those who had experienced societal discrimination. In addition to racial and ethnic disparities, we control socio-demographic characteristics.
Financial behavior is crucial for young adults’ consumer protection. And even though the topic has been augmented with a beyond-rationality approach, it is predominantly researched on an ad-hoc basis. Available longitudinal studies are based primarily on panel data or tackle the effectiveness of educative programs. The main aim of this paper is to investigate how the diverse financial behaviors of young adults change over time and how rational thinking dispositions moderate financial behavior. The final sample of 862 young adults (16-28) in Croatia was collected in two waves with a minimum elapsed time of one year. Using a multilevel, mixed-effects model. For four out of six dependent variables (Responsible financial behavior, financial planning, impulsive consumption, and investing experience) the interaction between time and CFC difference was significant meaning that the difference in dependent variables was contingent on the CFC difference. These results indicate that the change in various (responsible) financial behaviors is accompanied by the change in rational thinking dispositions among young adults. The insights provide a valuable foundation for generating novel educational policies and for further experimental research in financial behavior.
This research utilizes the Panel Study of Income Dynamics dataset to examine the impact of the Affordable Care Act on labor force participation and overall well-being among workers with disabilities, with a particular focus on expanding individuals with Medicaid and access to healthcare exchanges. It also examines the ACA and Medicaid expansion associations on income level change for individuals with disabilities and compares labor force participation for individuals with disabilities between states that have adopted Medicaid expansion and those that haven't. The preliminary findings in this study add empirical evidence that the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid expansion positively impact labor participation levels and directly benefit family income levels due to better healthcare access, especially for individuals from lower incomes or with disabilities.
Financial anxiety is a crucial topic in financial well-being and public health issues. Financial resilience, as a specific financial capability for coping with adversity, can promote financial well-being and holistic health. However, the association between financial resilience and financial anxiety has yet to be examined, particularly considering cross-national heterogeneities. Built on resilience theory and international evidence, this study proposed and examined a framework of global financial health nexuses. Empirical data was extracted from the World Bank, United Nations, and Fraser Institute. Hierarchical linear modeling was used to analyze the multilevel data from 100,134 adults across 131 countries. After considering country-level indicators, there were still significantly negative associations between subjective or objective financial resilience and financial anxiety. Cross-national differences in financial anxiety were also significantly influenced by individual characteristics, human development index, and social welfare expenditure. Subjective financial resilience showed higher effects than its objective counterparts. Extreme poverty and social welfare expenditure were significant moderators. This study contributes to providing a global development perspective on relations and variations between financial resilience and financial anxiety, and it also suggests contextually adaptable implications for international policies and services on socioeconomic interventions, sustainable development, and financial health promotion.
This research examines the role of financial resilience in supporting well-being, particularly during and after adverse life events. Financial resilience is defined as a composite of four dimensions: economic resources, financial access and inclusion, financial knowledge and behavior, and social capital (Salignac et al., 2019). Our study utilizes data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey, covering the period from 2014 to 2020. To explore how financial resilience impacts well-being, we employ fixed effects panel regression, focusing on indicators such as life satisfaction, financial satisfaction, and mental health. Additionally, we apply a difference-in-difference event study design to examine the "bounce back" effect, assessing how financial resilience influences recovery from adverse life events. The findings contribute to our understanding of how financial resilience acts as a buffer against declines in well-being following financial and personal shocks, helping individuals recover more quickly. These results highlight the crucial role of financial resilience in safeguarding both financial stability as well as mental health and well-being.
