• Posted March 23, 2026

Your Bank Account Might Show How Well Your Brain Will Age, Researchers Say

A person’s bank statement might predict how fast their brain will age, a new study says.

Money troubles in middle and old age were consistently associated with worse memory scores and faster brain decline, researchers recently reported in the American Journal of Epidemiology.

The link was strongest among folks 65 and older, they found.

“Financial well-being is an emerging economic determinant of health that may be associated with cognitive aging,” said senior researcher Adina Zeki Al Hazzouri, an associate professor of epidemiology at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health.

“Prolonged financial strain may overwhelm mental bandwidth and contribute to negative cognitive outcomes,” she added in a news release.

For the new study, researchers analyzed data from nearly 7,700 people 50 and older taking part in the federally funded U.S. Health and Retirement Study between 2010 and 2020.

The team assessed how average financial status and four-year changes in financial well-being related to participants’ performance on brain function tests.

To check financial status, researchers used an index that captured both the mental strain and the material hardship of money struggles – financial dissatisfaction, stress, trouble paying bills, low income, reduced access to basic needs.

Each point a person lost on the financial well-being index was associated with lower memory scores and faster decline, researchers found.

However, they noted that improvements on the financial index did not always result in better brain scores.

The team said financial strain might harm brain health through chronic stress, reduced access to health care and healthy eating, and less ability to socialize with others.

Seniors are particularly vulnerable to financial worries because they rely on fixed incomes and have few options to recover from a setback, researchers said.

“Our findings also point to potential policy implications,” Zeki Al Hazzouri said. “Income supports and financial assistance in later life may help protect cognitive health and reduce dementia risk, particularly for those experiencing financial decline.”

More information

Harvard Medical School has more on protecting your brain from stress.

SOURCE: Columbia University, news release, March 18, 2026