This week’s #fridayfive is on the effectiveness of financial capability interventions for older people.

ILC-UK research has revealed that older people have lower levels of financial numeracy than younger people, with only half understanding what an annuity is ‘quite or very well’

However, older people appear to have higher levels of financial capability, i.e. the manifestation of financial knowledge in skills, attitudes and behaviour

ILC-UK research has found that there is very little evidence of which interventions designed to improve financial capability amongst older people actually work. There are no formal evaluations of how to help people deal with funeral planning and bereavement in later life, and very few evaluated examples of successful interventions to help older people safeguard from fraud

Providing ‘just in time’ financial capability programmes, i.e. programmes that are immediately applicable have a stronger impact, since the effects tend to dissipate over time

Financial capability interventions have a strong quantifiable impact if they address specific issues – for example, increase savings or uptake of pension credit.

For more information on financial capability interventions for older people, read ILC-UKs new report ‘What works? A review of the evidence on financial capability interventions and older people in retirement’.