Protecting Your Parents: Identifying and Preventing Elder Financial Abuse in 2021

About the author: Lamar Watson, CFP®, is a Fee-Only Financial Advisor in the Washington, D.C. area, that works with clients virtually across the country. Lamar's work with his clients focuses on budgeting, employee benefits, paying down debt, buying their first home, and investing. Lamar is the Founder of Dream Financial Planning, a virtual financial planning firm specifically designed to help young professionals and minorities take control of their finances and fulfill their dreams. Feel free to schedule a complimentary consultation to learn how we use the DREAM Financial Planning Process ™ to help our clients achieve their goals. 

Nobody likes to think of their parents getting older and needing assistance, but it’s a reality many of us face. An important part of caring for your parents as they age is identifying and protecting them from elder financial abuse. Baby boomers and the Silent Generation are getting older, and with their accumulated assets, they have a higher chance of being defrauded than those who are younger. According to one estimate, seniors collectively lose up to $30 billion a year to elder financial abuse.¹ This abuse can come from total strangers or even friends and family members.

As a concerned child, how can you help you combat this? Here are seven ways to spot financial abuse and six ways to protect your parents and their financial futures.

7 Signs of Elder Financial Abuse

Protecting your parents from scammers is crucial, especially as they get older and have a harder time managing their finances.

Warning signs may include:²

• Unusual activity in their bank accounts, such as large or unexplained withdrawals
• Withdrawals from an inactive account
• A newly opened joint account
• New credit card balances
• Bank and credit card statements sent somewhere other than your parents’ home.
• Suspicious signatures
• Closing a Certificate of Deposit or savings accounts without worrying about penalties

Protecting Your Parents From Financial Abuse

Tip #1: Talk to Them About Money

Reach out to your parents and make sure that you are staying in touch with them regularly. Make sure they are paying their bills and, if applicable, find out who is doing it for them. Your parents may not want to share this information or admit that they need help, so you can ease them into it by asking them for advice or speaking about your own money worries. Once this becomes more comfortable, they may let you help with more as it becomes necessary. 

Tip #2: Automate Their Bills or Deposits

One way to go about helping them pay their bills is by automating the process. Automating your parents’ payments with direct debits from their account can help keep things organized while lessening the chance that they will become victim to a scam.

Similarly, you can automate transfers into their checking account, as they may have funds coming from various sources, such as social security, pensions, annuities, etc.

Tip #3: Have the Necessary Documents Ready

Are your parents’ legal documents in an accessible location?

This could include:

• Wills
• Healthcare Proxy
• A HIPAA Release Form
• Power of Attorney

Make sure your parents are careful when choosing a power of attorney, as this person will be responsible for managing finances once your family member is no longer able to do this. Having more than one is also a good idea, as this is a good way to be able to act together and consult each other.

Tip #4: Condense Your Parent’s Finances

Consolidate your parents’ finances when possible, as many older people have more than one account. Practice caution when consolidating and moving accounts to make sure that you don’t incur any penalties. Additionally, you need to respect beneficiary designations, or you could face legal action. 

Tip #5: Encourage Credit Card Use Over Cash

If your parents sent cash to a scammer, it would be much more difficult to trace than if they paid with a credit card.

If they were to make a purchase with a card, the credit card company can:

• Protect against identity theft
• Allow past transactions to be reviewed
• Reimburse any money that was stolen

Tip #6: Create a Trust

A trust is a great way to manage and protect your parents’ assets. However, they can still withdraw from this account, making it easy for them to fall prey to scammers. If you set up an irrevocable trust, they will not be able to withdraw money from this account without consulting the trustee, making it much more secure.

Many older people do not like giving up this type of control, but if you speak to them about the importance of their safety, they may be more open to it.

If you can establish a system of checks and balances by utilizing the above tips, your parents will be much more protected from fraud. Take a proactive approach so that you can get ahead of them before it becomes an issue rather than waiting until your parents become the victim of financial abuse.

Dream Financial Planning Process ™

Whether you're managing student loan debt, starting a business, or considering buying your first home, the DREAM Financial Planning Process™ is tailored to the unique needs of busy professionals in their 30s and 40s. This process focuses more on short-term goals while you grow and evolve in your personal and professional life. If you're looking for guidance on Financial Planning, optimizing employee benefits, budgeting, student loans, and managing your 401k or investments, we can help.

Complimentary Consultation

With uncertainty surrounding the economic stability of our country, it's okay to have fears and anxieties surrounding your own savings and investments. The most productive course of action from here is to reach out to Dream Financial Planning (or whoever your trusted advisor might be) and discuss your options. It's easy to have knee-jerk reactions when it feels like the bottom is falling out, but it is imperative to make decisions using research-backed data and a level head. If you'd like a Complimentary Review and risk assessment of your investment portfolio, feel free to send me an e-mail.

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