A sudden loss of wealth may be hazardous to one’s health

Your financial health may have more bearing on your physical health than you realize.

American adults who experienced a sudden and substantial loss of wealth were 50 percent more likely to die in a 20year period than were others in their age group whose financial picture remained relatively stable, or improved.

As bad as things were for those who experienced a “negative wealth shock,” they were even worse for Americans who didn’t have any wealth in the first place. These folks were 67 percent more likely than their financially secure counterparts to die during a 20-year study period.

The findings, published Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association, suggest that you should treat your bank account balance as a vital sign.

The same goes for the value of your stock market investments, your individual retirement account, your home, your vehicles, your business or your “other substantial assets.”

Researchers tallied all of these things for a group of 8,714 Americans who participated in the Health and Retirement Study. They were born between 1931 and 1941 and were tracked from 1994 until death or 2014, whichever came first.

The study authors calculated the net worth of each participant in 1994 and updated that figure every other year. People were judged to have experienced a negative wealth shock if their net worth fell by 75 percent or more in a two-year period.