A long-running study from University College London (UCL) found something more worrying. People who struggled with money for years had weaker memory and slower thinking by middle age, with more signs of ageing on their brain scans later on. The work was published in the journal Innovation in Aging. 

How the Study Measured Money Trouble 

The researchers followed 2,759 people in Britain, all born in the same week of 1946, from birth into their seventies. They looked at money trouble in two ways. 

The first was long-term low income. A person was in this group if they were in the bottom 20% of earners at least twice when incomes were checked, at ages 26, 43 and 53. About one in six people in the study were in this group.

The second measure was long-term financial hardship. This meant reporting, at least twice between ages 36 and 53, that they had trouble paying bills or living on their income. About one in eight were in this group.

Most earlier studies only looked at a person’s finances at one point in time. Because this study followed the same people for decades, the researchers could tell the difference between a short period of difficulty and years of constant struggle. Years of constant struggle showed the strongest link with worse brain health. Short rough patches mattered far less.

What the Study Found

The memory test was simple. People were read a list of 15 words, three times over, and asked to recall as many as they could. By age 53, people who had faced years of financial hardship remembered around two words less on a memory test than people who had not. For those with long-term low incomes, the difference was more than three words. 

They also did worse on tests of thinking speed. Between ages 69 and 71, a smaller group had brain scans. People with long-term low incomes showed larger fluid-filled spaces inside the brain, a sign of an ageing brain.

The link stayed the same even after the researchers took into account childhood intelligence, education and childhood poverty. This means the results cannot be explained by a poor start in life alone. 

The clearest signs of faster brain ageing, including brain shrinkage, showed up in three groups. Men, people who grew up poor, and people who carry the APOE-ε4 gene, which raises the risk of dementia. 

One result looks strange at first. Memory scores fell more slowly between ages 53 and 69 in the hardship group. This was not because hardship protected them. Their scores at 53 were already low. Most of the harm had happened by middle age.

Why Money Stress Might Harm the Brain

The researchers suggest two explanations. First, constant stress causes inflammation in the body, and inflammation speeds up brain ageing. Second, money worries use up mental energy. A person who worries about bills every day has less energy left for reading, hobbies and time with friends. These activities help keep the brain healthy.

Dr Jacques Wels, one of the study’s authors, said the damage comes from “the accumulation of hardship over many years”, not from short periods of difficulty. The researchers hope the findings push governments to do more, since easing long-term poverty could mean fewer dementia cases down the line. 

What This Means If You Are Struggling With Money

Years of money trouble were linked to weaker memory and thinking, and the link held even after the researchers accounted for other explanations. The study found a strong link, but it cannot prove that money problems directly cause brain ageing. 

Everyone in it was also born in Britain in 1946, so the picture may look a little different for younger people or for people here. 

The study is really about time. Money trouble that drags on for years is what wears the brain down, more than the odd tough stretches. That is why getting support early can make a difference. 

Where to Start if You Are Struggling

If money is tight and the repayments are piling up, there are a few things worth looking at, from the simple to the more serious. Start with your own repayments. Paying more than the minimum on a credit card makes a real difference over time, since the minimum keeps you in the most expensive part of the debt. If you are juggling a few cards, clearing the one with the highest interest first is usually the cheapest way out.

If the repayments themselves are the problem, talk to your bank before you miss one. It is normal to feel awkward about it, but banks would rather work something out than see you default, and many have relief options like a longer tenure or turning a card balance into a lower-interest term loan. 

When you owe several banks at once, a debt consolidation loan rolls everything into one repayment, often at a lower rate, so you are tracking one due date instead of five. A balance transfer does a similar job for card debt, moving it onto one card at a low or 0% rate for a set stretch.

And if things have gone past that, AKPK, the credit counselling agency set up by Bank Negara Malaysia, offers free counselling and a Debt Management Programme. The counselling is free, and the DMP works by rolling what you owe into one plan across your banks. It is a bigger step, since it shows on your CCRIS report and can limit new borrowing while you are on it, which is worth knowing before signing up. 

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