The relationships among three factors affecting the financial decision-making abilities of adults with mild intellectual disabilities.
Daily money practice and basic finance lessons drive decision-making skill in adults with mild ID, leaving IQ in the background.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team asked 30 adults with mild intellectual disability about money. They looked at IQ scores, basic money knowledge, and how often the adults got to make real money choices.
They used numbers to see which factor most strongly linked to good financial decisions.
What they found
Knowing basic money terms and having daily chances to spend or save predicted good decisions. IQ mattered only because it helped with basic money knowledge.
In short, practice and simple lessons beat high test scores.
How this fits with other research
Poppes et al. (2010) ran a similar adult-ID sample and also saw IQ fade out. Their task forced adults to weigh several money cues; most looked at just one cue, again showing executive skills, not IQ, drive the choice.
Romanowich et al. (2010) extended the idea to delay-of-reward tasks. Adults who first looked impulsive became consistent after brief training, proving quick teaching works.
Grzadzinski et al. (2011) gave adults a simple visual aid during money tasks. Choice quality jumped right away, backing the core message: structure and tools help more than raw intellect.
Neveu et al. (2025) widened the lens: stronger everyday math predicted higher quality of life across all ID levels, so teaching money skills is also a well-being intervention.
Why it matters
Stop waiting for higher IQ scores before you teach money skills. Add real choice moments to the day: let clients pick lunch items, pay at the register, or allocate a small budget. Pair each chance with a quick visual or verbal prompt that names coins, totals, or compares prices. These tiny lessons build the exact abilities that predict safe financial decisions.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
BACKGROUND: Among adults with intellectual disabilities (IDs), there is a need not only to assess financial decision-making capacity, but also to understand how it can be maximized. Although increased financial independence is a goal for many people, it is essential that individuals' decision-making abilities are sufficient, and many factors may affect the development of such abilities. METHOD: As part of a wider project on financial decision-making, we analysed previous data from a group of 30 adults with mild IDs, identifying correlations among four variables: (i) financial decision-making abilities; (ii) intellectual ability; (iii) understanding of some basic concepts relevant to finance; and (iv) decision-making opportunities in everyday life. RESULTS: The analysis indicated a direct relationship between ID and basic financial understanding. Strong relationships of a potentially reciprocal nature were identified between basic financial understanding and everyday decision-making opportunities, and between such opportunities and financial decision-making abilities. CONCLUSIONS: The findings suggest that the role of intellectual ability in determining financial decision-making abilities is only indirect, and that access to both basic skills education and everyday decision-making opportunities is crucial for maximizing capacity. The implications of this are discussed.
Journal of intellectual disability research : JIDR, 2005 · doi:10.1111/j.1365-2788.2005.00647.x