Financial Well-being of Older Americans

In 2015, the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection released a scale to measure a person’s sense of financial well-being. This recently published report from the Bureau uses this scale to explore the factors that are associated with the financial well-being of older Americans.

The report examines the association of financial well-being and: (1) age; (2) individual characteristics; (3) employment and retirement; (4) housing situation; (5) debt; (6) family and living arrangement; (7) health-related experience; and (8) financial knowledge, skill, and behavior. This report also explores differences in some of these associations between older and younger adults. The findings indicate that, in general, financial well-being increases with age into the late seventies, then declines.