Seniors, Are You An Easy Target For Exploitation?

August 19th, 2011

Pay close attention to your savings and money as you grow older

One of the fears of growing older is that you might lose the ability to take care of yourself, becoming unduly dependent on others. Un¬fortunately, senior citizens, for any of a number of reasons, fre¬quently fall for schemes and swindles.

Elder abuse

Sadly, the phenomenon of "elder abuse" is becoming more wide¬spread. In places like Florida, it is a fast developing cottage industry. Newspapers report on stories of "caregivers" getting powers-of-attorney from their clients through fraudulent means, unscrupulous relatives stealing from Grandma’s ac¬counts and seemingly loving "sweethearts" marrying older people", either to steal their assets while they are still alive or be¬come beneficiaries of their estate.

Victims

Many victims of financial exploitation are individuals at the beginning stages of disorders’ such as senility, dementia, or Alzheimer’s, which cause them to lose control of their own affairs. Proper preparation and organiza¬tion can help minimize the chances of you or a loved one be¬coming a victim of financial exploitation.

Protect yourself

Take the following steps to protect yourself:

• Review your financial docu¬ments, including your will, powers-of-attorney, and insur¬ance policies, every year to make sure they still represent your wishes.

• Loneliness and depression in¬crease vulnerability. To mini¬mize the attentions of dishon¬est individuals, surround your¬self with family, friends, and enjoyable activities.

• Be diligent about checking bank and other financial records. If you don’t receive them by mail on a regular basis, learn how to check online. Many cases of financial exploitation are only discovered much later, due to lack of awareness.

• If your health is starting to fail, act before it gets too late. Make sure that you have a will and there is someone you know that you can trust who can be given the responsibility of making medical decisions for you, should you no longer be able to do so.

• Let your lawyer or other trust¬ed person know where your important documents are. Knowledge is power, and know¬ing your finances are well-organized and monitored is an impor¬tant defense against being exploited.

A note to the children

If you have elderly parents, keep a close eye on their care-givers and any new "friends" or "sweethearts" that suddenly appear on your parent’s doorstep or who seem to be extra helpful to the exclu¬sion of anyone else. If you ever hear your senior parents talking about “signing papers” or “visiting my lawyer to sign the papers”, be alarmed and find out exactly what is being signed. It may be the ownership deed to the house or a property.

The bank account

A parent in the beginning stages of disor¬ders’ such as senility, dementia, or Alzheimer’s may still have the right to walk into the bank and give instructions about money. If you in such a situation, warn the bank and cancel that person’s right to give the bank instructions. We know a widow whose late husband instructed the bank to sell all their stocks and shares when the market was at its very lowest in the recent recession and they had been living off the dividends. She is now close to destitute.

This entry was posted on Friday, August 19th, 2011 at 5:40 am and is filed under Business, Economy, Employment, Finance, Personal / Internet, Retirement. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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