Financial Well-Being and Financial Capability among Low-Income Entrepreneurs

Abstract

Financial well-being is a key component of quality of life and overall well-being and is likely to affect other aspects of quality of life, such as health and health care. The COVID-19 pandemic presents an immense crisis of financial well-being among low-income entrepreneurs and has left many small-scale entrepreneurs financially fragile. We argue that promoting the financial capability of low-income entrepreneurs is effective in protecting their financial well-being from a crisis. To examine the association between financial capability and the financial well-being of low-income entrepreneurs, we use the 2016 National Financial Well-Being Survey, which provides the latest and comprehensive measurement of financial capability, including financial knowledge, financial skills, and access to financial products and services. Our analyses show that, compared to their higher-income counterparts, low-income entrepreneurs have statistically lower levels of financial well-being, financial knowledge, financial skills, and access to mainstream financial products; they also have a statistically higher risk of using high-fee alternative financial products. In addition, low-income entrepreneurs have larger barriers to accessing mainstream financial products than low-income non-entrepreneurs. The results indicate that financial capability plays a significant role in promoting the financial well-being of low-income entrepreneurs.