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Stop financial exploitation. Financial exploitation means using an older adult’s funds or property for someone else’s profit or gain.
How can you spot this?
- It could be as simple as a family member living with a senior and refusing to pay his or her share of living expenses.
- It could be consumer fraud where someone tricks the senior into paying for work (like a roof repair) that is never completed.
- Talking a senior into buying something they don’t use or want.
- It could be a caregiver or a family member who uses the senior’s ATM or takes withdrawals from their bank without permission.
Keep an eye out for anyone who uses their position of power to force compliance or coerce a senior into giving up personal, financial information.
What can you do to help ensure your aging loved one or an older adult in your family isn’t being taken advantage of? Make sure there is an open line of communication about money and bank accounts. Let your aging loved one know if they are uncomfortable about anyone, or anything, relating to their personal finances to speak up.
Senior Financial Tips brought by Marty Feldman Center for Financial Planning Wayne State Institute of Gerontology and Baldwin Society.
You can listen to previous Senior Financial Tips here.