Through the lens of the Social Drift theory, which posits that psychological distress increases the likelihood of future financial challenges, this study examines the relationship between pre-retirement psychological distress and family wealth at retirement.

 As hypothesized, respondents with a history of higher levels of psychological distress had greater negative percent changes in wealth. Race and gender were also significant. These findings offer significant opportunities for future research, particularly in exploring additional health conditions, and race and gender categories.