Older people (+60) are more likely than young adults (18-36) to be influenced by other people to make impulsive financial decisions
https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/2024/older-people-are-more-swayed-by-the-impulsive-actions-of-others-when-making-financial-decisions
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>The study set out to explore delayed gratification and how our willingness to wait and social influence develop and differ across our lifespan. To test how age affects these behaviours, a group of 76 young adults (aged 18–36) and 78 older adult
>The results showed that older people were more susceptible to social influence, especially from the more impulsive person. After seeing someone who consistently chooses the impulsive option, older adults were more likely to change their preference to make impulsive decisions themselves. In contrast, younger adults were more resistant to such influence, tending to stick with their original preference even after seeing someone repeatedly opt for the impulsive option.
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>The researchers also measured people’s self-reported emotional experiences to see if there were differences between people in how susceptible they were to social influence. Amongst older adults, those who reported higher levels of affective empathy (i.e., a greater ability to feel others’ emotions) and reported being more emotionally motivated were more strongly affected by impulsive social influence.
Paper: [Older adults are relatively more susceptible to impulsive social influence than young adults | Communications Psychology](https://www.nature.com/articles/s44271-024-00134-0)
I am 50. I am finally at a place in my life where i feel financial secure. My RRSP and TFSA are maxxed (this is Canada). I have an emergency fund to cover any unforeseen circumstances. I am in a place where if someone suggests an investment to me I could invest without fear of it breaking me. This was not the case when i was younger so I would have just straight up said no. Now i have the funds to give it a try.
does this control for liquidity and wealth? in other words, older people having more accumulated wealth, disposable income, and as a bonus i’d imagine they have less risk aversion because they have presumably made it through the most risk sensitive portion of their lives, kids have grown, will soon have access to pension/savings, etc. this seems like an intuitive finding
This isn’t new, but having studies and statistics makes it easier to write laws that take advantage of the elderly.
My parents got mildly scammed, and all the guy had to do ( which I figured out from the way they were telling me what happened before they realised) was just make them feel vaguely “with it”. They were adamant they hadn’t been scammed right up until they opened the box. Did not appreciate me being right and being able to smell it immediately.