Financial Abuse Of The Elderly

Financial exploitation of older adults is a growing yet hidden epidemic. The media regularly chronicles outrageous behaviors involving awful and unlawful treatment of older adults. Gender, circumstances, the relationship of the perpetrator to the victim, and other elements of the stories change but the outcomes are similar - compromised health, wellness and safety of older adults.

Vulnerability to elder abuse increases as a result of age-related changes and challenges such as cognitive impairment, reduced sensory capabilities, mobility challenges, depression, isolation, and dependency on others for assistance with daily living activities.

What is “Financial Abuse”?
It’s using the elder’s money or assets contrary to the elder’s wishes, needs, or best interests - or for the abuser’s personal gain.

My Predictions For The Future

There are many economists and psychics who will tell you what is going to happen in the future.  I thought I might give it a try too, so here goes.

Rates will go up, someday.  There are arguments about whether or not rates will rise this year or next.  I’m going to boldly say that 10 years from now, rates will have gone up from today!  I feel pretty safe saying this as these are pretty much the lowest bank rates that have existed since such tracking began.

Lessons From Pigs, Truckers And Overtime

Pigs:  One of the first lessons I learned was the importance of work.  My dad believed having animals and chores would be good for us kids, and those chores were what we did because we lived under his roof.  We were also given the opportunity to buy and raise animals.  I bought 4 pigs, took care of them (fed, cleaned the stalls, watered…) and sold them after about 12 months.  After totaling the costs and paying my dad back for the feed, I barely broke even. 

After some bitter complaining about all that work for nothing, my dad simply said “If you had fed the pigs every morning and night, cleaned their stalls out more often, and always made sure they had water, you probably could have sold them at 8 months for the same price.  By not doing those things properly, it took longer for them to gain weight and increased your costs.  Do it right next time and you will make money.”  Hard lesson for a 14 year old to learn.  I bought more pigs, did a better job at caring for them and made some money off them.

Investments Too Good To Be True

I have a family member who was taken in by a con artist.  Actually, it was a group of con artists.  It was a very slick, smooth, and quick con that took advantage of my family member’s preconceived notions about the investment world.  They lied about their investment opportunities and ended up taking a lot of money from many different people.  Unfortunately, because these con artists were from another country and the people who were conned feel quite embarrassed about the situation, no-one has ever been prosecuted.  Some victims, in fact, still believe in the con artists and insist that the investment is growing and will pay off any day now.  Pretty sad, and I just hope they aren’t still giving the crooks money out of incredibly misplaced faith.

I shared the above because I want to emphasize one thing:  If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.  Now, I have to say that there are many investment opportunities out there, from investing in large corporations, to buying into a business, to helping fund private investment firms.  However, there are many crooks that are quite willing to take your money, and they are very good at it.  The following are a few of the things you will want to think about before trying to invest your hard earned money: