Written By: Gong-Soog Hong and Patricia M. Swanson

This study examined the changes in the household financial well-being of older women ages 55 and over by using data from the 1977 and 1989 Survey of Consumer Finances. Three financial measures, household income, emergency fund adequacy, and debt-to-income ratio, were used. The findings showed that older women in both 1989 and 1977 had adequate emergency funds but women in 1989 had a lower level of adequacy than women in 1977. Older women in 1989 had a lower debt-to-income ratio as compared to older women in 1977. Education, employment, age, marital status, homeownership, and race, were found to be significant contributing factors to the household financial status of older women. The effects vary depending on the financial measures examined. KEY WORDS: financial well-being, older women, Survey of Consumer Finance

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