Predictors of financial capacity performance in older adults using the Financial Competence Assessment Inventory

ABSTRACT Background: Declines in financial capacity in later life may arise from both neurocognitive and/or psychiatricdisorders. The influence of socio-demographic, cognitive, health, and psychiatric variables on financialcapacity performance was explored. Methods: Seventy-six healthy community-dwelling adults and 25 older patients referred for assessment offinancial capacity were assessed on pertinent cognitive, psychiatric, and financial capacity measures, includingAddenbrooke’s Cognitive Examination – Revised (ACE-R), Informant Questionnaire on Cognitive Declinein the Elderly (IQCODE), Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS), Geriatric Anxiety Inventory (GAI), selectedNeuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI) items, Financial Competence Assessment Inventory (FCAI), and SocialVulnerability Scale (SVS). Results: The internal consistency of the debt management subscale of the FCAI was relatively poor in oursample. Financial capacity performance differed between controls and patients. In our sample, performanceon the FCAI was predicted by Mini-Mental State Examination, IQCODE, and GAI, but not by ACE-R,GDS, NPI items, or SVS (adjusted R