Financial Security
Working to ensure all older adults have the financial resources they need to age well in their home and community.
The Problem
More older adults are working longer, and more are struggling with financial insecurity than any generation before them. These rising trends are impacting marginalized communities at a disproportionate rate – older adults of color are more likely to hold physically demanding jobs that jeopardize their job security, job loss is occurring earlier, and has hit our priority populations the hardest.
MORE THAN HALF of Black and Hispanic adults 65+ are economically insecure.¹
1 IN 3 OLDER ADULTS now struggle to pay for regular expenses like groceries, rent, healthcare, and other regular expenses; a rate double that from previous figures.²
NEARLY HALF OF ADULTS 55-65 have no retirement savings.³
The Opportunity: Empower the Older Adult Workforce
Older adults nationwide are a significant and valuable workforce asset – bringing a wealth of experience, maturity, and knowledge that if leveraged could offer substantial and sustained value to our economy. Expanding viable workforce opportunities for this vital population could offer a scalable solution to financial insecurity.
We invest in research and solutions that help older adults find and maintain quality work. Current priorities center around opportunities to improve: job transitions, upskilling and reskilling, age bias in hiring, and gig economy roles.
Related Investments
ASPEN INSTITUTE FINANCIAL SECURITY PROGRAM
Rainy Days Don’t Retire: Older Adults, Financial Shocks and the Promise of Emergency Savings Tools
Financial security is a fundamental factor in one’s choice to age at home. Yet many older adults are not financially secure – lacking retirement savings, emergency savings, and the financial management tools they need. In fact, 47 percent of older adults (ages 55+) don’t have the liquid savings needed to weather a financial shock. As more and more older adults leave the traditional workforce and their streams of income change, they need a wider variety of emergency savings tools. The SCAN Foundation partnered with the Aspen Financial Security Program to explore how we can tailor emergency savings products and services to meet those needs and inspire market innovation.
FINANCIAL HEALTH NETWORK
Empowering Lower- and Middle-Income Older Adults through Fintech: Assessing the Efficacy of Fintech Solutions
Fintech can greatly impact how consumers access and manage their finances and the fintech industry is beginning to serve the needs of lower-middle income older adults through new products and services. The SCAN Foundation partnered with the Financial Health Network (FHN) to ensure that this growing landscape of fintechs is in fact executing on its mission to serve lower-and middle-income older adults and that community-based organizations and other trusted entities can easily identify and recommend fintechs to members of their communities. A toolkit and fintech landscape report for community based organizations launched April 2024, designed to empower CBOs to confidently recommend fintech solutions to older adults in their communities.
GENERATION
Rooting the AI Conversation in Reality: How Midcareer and Older Workers are Experiencing AI at Work
Little has been done to investigate how AI is shaping the future of work for midcareer and older adults today, and the research that does exist focuses on highly paid, highly educated professionals. Together, The SCAN Foundation and Generation will give a voice to the experiences and perspectives of older entry-level and mid-level workers by collecting new data to provide insights and recommendations on how employers, older workers, industry players, and policymakers can take steps to best position themselves for an AI-infused workplace moving forward.
1 – Defined as those with incomes below 200% of the federal poverty level. Kaiser Family Foundation.
2 – Forbes, “Older Adults and Debt: A Storm on the Horizon?”
3 – US Census Bureau