The goal of the present study was to examine whether there are associations between genetic factors and and the status of the aging process as being normal or successful. A Q-mode factor analysis was used to classify randomly sampled 4200 participants (35-90 years of age) in the longitudinal Betula Study as being normally or successfully aged. Data from a large number of cognitive and non-cognitive variables were entered into the factor analyses to determine normal or high function among those participants 70 years of age and older. Thirty candidate genes were examined in the genetic analyses. Preliminary analyses reveal that three of these genes are associated to successful aging, APOE, COMT, and KIBRA. The strength and the nature of these associations differ considerably. Future research on genetics and successful aging should focus on gene-gene interactions and gene-environment interactions.