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This study explores the impact of COVID‐19‐related job loss on early retirement withdrawals, highlighting the roles of financial hardships, subjective well‐being, financial knowledge, and emergency savings. Drawing from 2929 respondents, the research identified that job loss increases early withdrawals, both directly and through financial hardships and well‐being perceptions. Notably, individuals with greater financial knowledge and at least 3 months of emergency savings experience less negative impact from job loss. Our findings emphasize the vital role of employers in offering workplace financial education and promoting emergency savings. This aligns with the SECURE 2.0 Act's strategies and underlines the significance of financial readiness in buffering against the economic fallout of unexpected events like the COVID‐19 pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Having access to convenient and quality healthcare at all times is not only a human right but also a goal that many countries strive to achieve for their population. However, access to healthcare might face blocks in the presence of financial exclusions. Saudi Arabia has, over the years, continued to pursue policy and system reforms to enhance its population's access to financial inclusion, as well as proper health coverage to improve health outcomes. This study seeks to estimate the effects of financial inclusion on the financial hardships in accessing healthcare in Saudi Arabia. Methods: This study uses a nationally representative survey conducted with 1009 adults, using the 2017 World Bank Global Findex Study data. The study estimates the conditional probability of coming up with emergency funds and the conditional probability of borrowing for medical purposes to understand access to healthcare. A composite value is created for financial inclusion using several variables for individuals' interactions with financial institutions, such as access to financial services and loans. Results: The results revealed that financially included individuals have a higher conditional probability of both borrowing for medical purposes and coming up with emergency funds, compared to those who are financially excluded. Additionally, the study showed that individuals in low-income brackets are more likely to be financially excluded and have a reduced chance of coming up with emergency funds and borrowing for medical purposes. Conclusion: These findings indicate that there is need for authorities to roll out a financial inclusion drive that will not only incentivise the financially excluded population to become included but that will also aim at promoting various financial products so that those who are already financially included have a wide range from which they can choose. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many caregivers of individuals who are frail and elderly face financial hardships that have negative consequences that compound over time. This article explores the causes of these hardships, reviews Medicaid home and community-based interventions, and related government financial supports that have been used to alleviate them and concludes with recommendations for social work practice and social policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Multiple economic factors and social relationships determine dietary behaviours, but the inter-relations between determinants is unknown. Whether women and men differ in the vulnerability to, and impact of, combined disadvantages is also unclear. We examined associations between diverse combinations of economic resources and social relationships, and healthy eating in British older women and men. Methods: Our sample comprised 9,580 over-50s (47 % of over-50 respondents) in the EPIC-Norfolk cohort study. We examined six economic factors (education, social class, home-ownership, money for needs, frequency of insufficient money for food/clothing, paying bills) and three social relationships (marital status, living arrangement and friend contact), independently and in combination, in relation to fruit variety and vegetable variety. We analysed gender-specific associations using multivariable linear regression with interaction terms. Results: Lower social class, lower education, and difficulty paying bills were associated with lower fruit and vegetable variety in both genders, independent of social relationships. All social relationships were independently associated with fruit variety in men and with vegetable variety in both genders. Substantially lower variety was found for all combinations of low economic resources and lack of social relationship than for either measure alone, with men faring worse in the majority of combined disadvantages. For example, the difference in vegetable variety for men reporting low social class and non-married was much greater (β -4.1, [-4.8, -3.4]), than the independent association of low social class (β -1.5, [-1.8,-1.2]), or non-married (β -1.8, [-2.3,-1.3]). Variety was also lower among men with high economic resources but non-married or lone-living. Conclusion: A double burden of low economic resources and lack of social relationships suggested they are unique joint determinants, particularly in older men, and that public health efforts to improve healthy eating would offer most benefit to older adults with intersecting economic and social disadvantages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Multiple economic factors and social relationships determine dietary behaviours, but the inter-relations between determinants is unknown. Whether women and men differ in the vulnerability to, and impact of, combined disadvantages is also unclear. We examined associations between diverse combinations of economic resources and social relationships, and healthy eating in British older women and men. Methods: Our sample comprised 9,580 over-50s (47 % of over-50 respondents) in the EPIC-Norfolk cohort study. We examined six economic factors (education, social class, home-ownership, money for needs, frequency of insufficient money for food/clothing, paying bills) and three social relationships (marital status, living arrangement and friend contact), independently and in combination, in relation to fruit variety and vegetable variety. We analysed gender-specific associations using multivariable linear regression with interaction terms. Results: Lower social class, lower education, and difficulty paying bills were associated with lower fruit and vegetable variety in both genders, independent of social relationships. All social relationships were independently associated with fruit variety in men and with vegetable variety in both genders. Substantially lower variety was found for all combinations of low economic resources and lack of social relationship than for either measure alone, with men faring worse in the majority of combined disadvantages. For example, the difference in vegetable variety for men reporting low social class and non-married was much greater (β -4.1, [-4.8, -3.4]), than the independent association of low social class (β -1.5, [-1.8,–1.2]), or non-married (β -1.8, [-2.3,–1.3]). Variety was also lower among men with high economic resources but non-married or lone-living. Conclusion: A double burden of low economic resources and lack of social relationships suggested they are unique joint determinants, particularly in older men, and that public health efforts to improve healthy eating would offer most benefit to older adults with intersecting economic and social disadvantages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]