Where The Needs Of Others Come First · Available 24x7 For Emergencies
As we age, sometimes our ability to be sharp at managing our finances diminishes and our vulnerability to unscrupulous outsiders increases. Here are some ways to avoid losing control of Seniors’ finances:
- Ask your parent to authorize the bank to send your parent’s bank statements to you each month.
- Consider asking the post office to forward all of your parent’s mail to you, so that you can watch for warning signs such as past due bills, credit card statements with outlandish purchases, or ads for fraudulent schemes.
- Offer to pay your parent’s bills for him or her, saving them the time and effort and keeping yourself “in the know” about their finances.
- Set up a weekly pocket money allowance for your parent so that he or she can’t be victimized for large amounts of money.
- Cancel your parent’s credit and debit cards.
Home care caregivers or personal attendants helping your parents can be allies for you in your campaign to protect your parent’s finances. If you know that the home care workers are honest and dependable you can work with them to be vigilant when answering the phone or answering the door when people come to visit your parents and speak up if it seems like someone is taking advantage of your parent.
There is a useful article about this on AgingCare.com called Warning Signs That Your Parent’s Finances Are Off Track.
