A systematic and bibliometric review of the financial well-being: advancements in the current status and future research agenda

Purpose Achieving financial well-being is essential for individuals, families and countries as it leads to life satisfaction and happiness. This study synthesizes and identifies financial well-being’s key areas and dimensions using a blended systematic literature review and bibliometric analysis approach. Design/methodology/approach The authors systematically study a sample of 467 articles from the Scopus database to identify the research trend regarding financial well-being during the last 25 years (1997–2021). Various graphs and networks are presented to understand the publication trends, influential papers, conceptual and intellectual structures and research collaboration status. Findings Four clusters in the field of financial well-being were found: conceptualization and antecedents of financial well-being, financial well-being of young adults, the relationship between financial literacy and financial well-being and consequences of financial well-being. Further, emerging themes in financial well-being were identified with a content analysis of the papers published during the last five years. Practical implications This study will help financial planners, regulatory bodies and academic researchers in getting a better understanding of financial well-being and in identifying potential areas for future research. Originality/value Prior to this study, no such comprehensive bibliometric analysis on financial well-being has been carried out to the best of the authors' knowledge. This gap motivated the authors to combine quantitative and qualitative methods to review the published research and do a content analysis, to identify prominent authors and publications.