Financial Well-Being in the United States: The Roles of Financial Literacy and Financial Stress

This paper examines the role of financial stress in explaining the relationship between financial literacy and financial well-being among individuals in the United States. The 2018 FINRA National Financial Capability Study dataset is used for the empirical analyses of this study. The results found that financial literacy was positively associated with financial well-being. The study also found that the association between financial literacy and financial well-being was mediated by perceived financial stress experienced by individuals. Additionally, the results from the moderated mediation model showed that while financial stress mediated the association between financial literacy and financial well-being, the association between financial stress and financial well-being was moderated by financial literacy. Financial education was positively associated with financial literacy in this study. The broader implications of the main findings of this study for individuals' sustainable financial well-being are presented for policymakers, financial educators, and financial counselors and planners.

Financial hardship and depression experienced by pre-retirees during the COVID-19 pandemic: the mitigating role of stimulus payments

This study examines the association between financial hardship and depression among pre-retirees (ages 50 to 65) using the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) and its 2020 COVID-19 supplement. We find a negative association between the amount of stimulus received and financial hardship experienced by respondents during the pandemic. Additionally, the results indicate that African American households were less likely to increase spending, Hispanic households were more likely to increase savings, and households with lower educational attainment were more likely to pay down debt using their stimulus money. Financial wealth was negatively associated with the perception of feeling depressed. Overall, the findings from this study underscore the important role that the stimulus checks and other financial resources played in buffering the economic shock experienced by American households during the COVID-19 pandemic.

An Examination of Life Insurer Share Price Behavior Surrounding Covid-19 Death Announcements

As of May 2022, the Covid-19 pandemic records over 1 million deaths in the United States. Pertinent to the reported number of deaths, it is questioned whether life insurance firms gained or lost from those incidences. This paper pursues an event study that examines life insurer share price behaviors by the announcements reporting the cumulative death numbers when they reach a certain threshold. We find that life insurers' share prices drop with every announcement. Specifically, our analysis finds evidence for the support of the damage hypothesis based on two competing eses in the literature: damage and revenue hypothesis. Our post-analysis also finds that the pandemic penalized overvalued firms and discouraged dividend cash spending.