Financial capacity challenges among older adults with vision impairment: Technology implications
Sayli Pednekar, Elena T Remillard, Wendy A Rogers
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AbstractBackground: Older adults with vision impairment are likely to experience unique challenges with financial tasks, including performance skills (e.g., counting currency, paying bills) and judgment abilities (e.g., budgeting). Little is known about the specific issues this population faces with everyday financial tasks, which have become increasingly digital in society.
Research aim: We investigated the financial capacity challenges experienced by older adults with long-term vision impairment. The goal was to classify the challenges and provide guidance for improved financial technology (fintech).
Methods: We analyzed data from Aging Concerns, Challenges, and Everyday Solution Strategies (ACCESS) – a mixed-method study exploring everyday challenges and user needs of people aging with long-term disabilities. Participants (N=103) included older adults with long-term vision impairment (i.e., at least 10 years) who discussed challenges with shopping and financial activities in the interview.
Results: Participants used a variety of assistive devices to complete financial activities (e.g., screen readers, scanners, magnifiers). The most common challenge was accessibility, which encompassed barriers interacting with physical documents (e.g., reading/paying bills, completing forms) and digital financial information (e.g., online shopping and banking). Other challenges included cognitive and knowledge limitations (e.g., memorizing passwords and personal financial details, technology familiarity), reliance on other people for assistance (e.g., quality of help, desire for independence), and privacy/security concerns.
Conclusion(s): We identified critical challenges impacting the ability of older adults with vision impairment to carry out financial activities. To support more inclusive financial independence, we translated these findings into actionable design requirements for fintech and transaction systems, including preserving context under magnification; enabling error prevention and clear confirmation for high-stakes actions; reducing cognitive burden through progressive disclosure and just-in-time guidance; minimizing harmful timeouts by supporting flexible pacing; and offering multimodal, privacy-preserving interaction and assistance pathways. Broadly, these insights have implications for shopping vendors, financial companies, fintech designers, and policymakers.Keywords: vision impairment, blind/low vision, finance, fintech
Sayli Pednekar, Elena T Remillard, Wendy A Rogers (2026). Financial capacity challenges among older adults with vision impairment: Technology implications. Gerontechnology, 25(3), 1-12
https://doi.org/10.4017/gt.2026.25.3.1246.6