The signs were there: unpaid bills, unusual cash withdrawals and, oddly, the mortgage of the family home refinanced — at a higher interest rate. Angela Reynolds worried when her mother’s refrigerator was nearly empty. But she missed the trail of financial flags until it was too late.
The warning came for Sharon Gwinn when the grocery store declined her credit card, despite a healthy account she held with her husband. She contacted her bank, assuming it was fraud. It wasn’t.
As the power-of-attorney agent, Gina keeps careful watch over her grandmother’s finances. But that didn’t stop a relative from allegedly taking $54,000 when an opportunity presented itself.
All three families stumbled into a hard reality that faces more and more aging Americans: The financial consequences of cognitive functions lost to various neurological diseases. The costs of these illnesses — Alzheimer’s disease alone is projected to affect 7.7 million Americans over age 65 people by 2030 — are enormous.
Isolated or ill seniors are more vulnerable to exploitation by scammers or financial abuse from family members. Other times, people buy things without reason, piling their homes with unopened boxes or draining their savings. Or older adults impulsively give away large sums of money. This all puts their homes, retirement savings and inheritances at risk.
Despite the commonality of those risks, solutions remain elusive. Congress hasn’t made it a priority. Financial institutions are slow to act, arguing that they have neither the ability nor authority. Aging parents and adult children alike can be paralyzed by the prospect of uncomfortable conversations, so they avoid them. Until that changes, families are left on their own to navigate a challenging maze of emotions, actions and consequences.
Meanwhile, a growing body of research is clear: Financial problems are not just a result of dementia but can be a predictor of it.