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Abstract
The worldwide COVID-19 pandemic has brought significant effects to economic and financial systems and have altered consumers’ financial behaviors due to the negative financial consequences. This dissertation consists of three essays investigating how the COVID-19 pandemic adversities affect financial well-being and financial behaviors for individuals, families, and businesses. The three essays break down the analyses of retirement planning adequacy, financial behaviors, and business hardship. The targeted group of the essays is Baby Boomers, and the dissertation compares financial situations and behaviors of Baby Boomers to Gen Xers and Millennials. The first essay uses the life-cycle theory and the theory of planned behavior to investigate the relationships between COVID-19 adversities and retirement adequacy and identify generational differences. The results indicate that financial COVID-19 adversities and retirement adequacy are negatively related. Baby Boomers are better prepared for retirement than Gen Xers and Millennials. The second essay constructs its theoretical framework with the Financial Help-Seeking framework and the Stress and Coping theory to examine the relationship between financial self-efficacy (FSE) and financial behavior while considering the roles of financial advice seeking and financial stress during the COVID-19 pandemic. The outcomes indicate that Baby Boomers have the highest financial stress and unemployment rate during the pandemic compared to Gen Xers and Millennials, and financial stress moderates the relationships among FSE, financial advice seeking, and financial behavior. The third essay mainly explores the relationships between COVID-19 adversity and business hardship of Baby Boomer business owners. COVID-19 adversity and business hardship were two latent variables constructed using the Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) technique. The model was then validated by the Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA). The results indicate that COVID-19 adversity and business hardship are positively correlated. The findings from the essays provide implications for financial service providers, policymakers, and government agencies on improving overall financial behaviors and financial well-being and providing guidance on enhancing financial resilience to survive and recover from a pandemic or similar worldwide adversity. Due to Baby Boomers’ special timeline in life, more attention should be given to this generation to prevent them from substantial financial stress and unemployment during financial shocks.