4 Tips to Protect Seniors Against Fraud and Identity Theft
By Jocelyn Baird, NextAdvisor.com
Posted: Updated:
“Unfortunately, no matter whether it’s a specific reason or many, seniors are at risk for fraud and identity theft. It’s important for the people in their lives to understand these risks and do their part to protect seniors they care about from the many scammers that lurk. As aging expert Carolyn Rosenblatt said in a recent Forbes article, it’s not just a matter of law enforcement or the government taking action — seniors and their caregivers also need to be vigilant.” READ MORE
Elderlife Planner
Aging Clients Create Major Crisis For Financial Service Professionals
Bob O’Toole
Friday, July 10, 2015
(See posts from THURSDAY, AUGUST 25, 2011, and most recently from MONDAY, JUNE 29, 2015). He has teamed up with elder law attorney Carolyn Rosenblatt, (who is also an RN),to create a much needed resource AgingInvestor.com.They recently announced a very attractive opportunity for legal and financial professionals that I hope many will take advantage of. As frequently mentioned in this blog, elder financial abuse has become a very serious problem, one that the Wall Street Journal has called “the crime of the 21st century”. If you are a professional who works in any field that requires that an older client needs to make financial decisions, you need to get as much information about the nuances of aging decision making as you can. READ MORE
Most law firms have elderly clients, but few lawyers are skilled at recognizing when someones mental capacity is declining.
Carolyn Rosenblatt, a mediator, tackles this subject in her new book, Working with Aging Clients: A Guide for Legal, Business and Financial Professionals, published in June by the American Bar Association.
Rosenblatts background includes working as a nurse to the elderly, followed by 27 years as a practicing attorney. She now works as a mediator, author and blogger focused on elder law and elder abuse, running the mediation practice and providing advice at AgingInvestor.com in partnership with her husband licensed psychologist Mikol Davis.
I wanted to dispel some myths about aging and encourage professionals to face the reality that aging often brings with it impairment, she told Big Law Business. READ MORE
NextAdvisor Blog
How to Manage Your Parents Finances When They Cant
5 suggestions from money pros for when you need to step in
Elder Fraud: 9
Tips to Protect Clients
3:45pm ET
The costs of elder financial fraud and abuse are more than financial.
In fact, for elderly citizens who are financially exploited, the impact is more emotional than financial, a survey from the AICPA shows. This is because elder fraud frequently involves family members. What’s more, fraud cases involving elderly clients are on the rise, with nearly half of the CPA financial planners who participated in the survey, around 47%, saying they have seen an increase in financial fraud in the last five years. READ MORE
On the Radio
June 9, 2015
Frank Sampson interviews Carolyn Rosenblatt on protecting elders from financial abuse and her latest book, “The Family Guide To Aging Parents.”
The Challenge of Elder Abuse
Representing aging clients who may be financially exploited poses increasing issues for attorneys.
by Janice Fuhrman | June 2015
‘Lawyers Don’t Understand’
“The problem,” says Carolyn L. Rosenblatt, a litigator and former nurse, “is that lawyers don’t understand cognitive impairment. … Our profession has not demanded that lawyers get more education in the subtle erosion of financial decision-making capacity that comes with Alzheimer’s and other dementias.” Rosenblatt, 67, lives in San Rafael with her psychologist husband, Mikol Davis, where the two consult on aging issues and mediate family conflicts involving elders. Rosenblatt volunteered in nursing homes from the age of 14, emptying bedpans and bathing patients. After earning a nursing license, she worked at hospitals and nursing homes and then as a visiting home-care nurse while in law school at the University of San Francisco. Before becoming a mediator, she had a personal injury practice, which included some elder abuse matters. “People with diminished capacity are like putty in the hands of a predator,” says Rosenblatt.
Live with Carolyn Rosenblatt, Author of “The Family Guide to Aging Parents“
Listen now by clicking HERE
June 3, 2015
Alzheimer’s Speaks Radio loves raising everyone’s voice regarding Dementia and Caregiving, so feel free to join us live by calling in to talk with us or using the chat box to communicate with us. What questions do you have for our guest?
Today we are so lucky to have Carolyn Rosenblatt, author of “The Family Guide to Aging Parents: Answers to Your Legal, Financial and Healthcare Questions.” She has over 45 years of experience in her combined professions of nursing and legal practice. Dr. Mikol Davis will also join us. He is a clinical psychologist with over 40 years of experience. Dr. Davis evaluates elders for capacity for decision-making and is skilled in assessing and diagnosing financial capacity in those with cognitive impairment.
Bankrate.com
How to help elderly parents with investments
May 29, 2015
By Heather Larson
Daughters and daughters-in-law are usually the prime movers in starting these conversations, says Carolyn Rosenblatt, an elder care attorney in San Rafael, California.
“Because women are the caregivers and nurturers, they almost always initiate talks about financial matters,” says Rosenblatt, who also wrote “The Family Guide to Aging Parents: Answers to Your Legal, Financial, and Healthcare Questions.”
Consider where the discussion will take place. It should be a place where the senior parents feel comfortable, Rosenblatt says. Find a location that signifies comfort and peace and will put them in the right mood — their home, a park, a special restaurant.
The Lifetime Income Series: Making a Move Make Money
Special Guest: Carolyn Rosenblatt on Loss of Financial Capacity
May 29, 2015
In a special reprise edition of The Lifetime Income Series, Jim and Cathlyn discuss how where you live can have a great impact on your retirement. Jim looks at selecting an appropriate state in which to retire, taking into account the cost of housing, the cost of living, access to healthcare, weather, and of course taxes, be they income, sales, property or estate. There is also the consideration of living close to the kids and grandkids, although they may not stay put either. Jim stresses the importance of making plans on where to live before retirement, instead of figuring it out once in retirement, and he illustrates these issues through the case study of Michael and Brooke Bullock. The guest this week is Carolyn Rosenblatt, who discusses the loss of financial capacity and how judgment about finances erodes very early in the process of developing dementia. As a registered nurse and attorney, Carolyn has worked extensively in geriatric caregiving as well as legal problems of aging. Together with her husband, geriatric psychologist Dr. Mikol Davis, she founded AgingParents.com, a resource for families.
Carolyn Rosenblatt – Financial Elder Abuse Today
Click on the picture below to Listen
May 28, 2015
Blog Talk Radio interview
Elder financial abuse is being called the fastest growing area of crime in America. And it may be happening in your family, if you aren’t paying attention to a caregiver — or a relative — who, under the guise of being helpful, is syphoning off an elderly person’s life savings.
This issue no doubt affects seniors across all socio-economic groups, cultures and races. It is a major problem that is expected to grow dramatically with the aging of our population. We are delighted and honored to be joined by Carolyn Rosenblatt, an expert on the topic, to help us protect our parents or loved ones as well as equip us with tools to spot the red flags that exploitation is happening.
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Stay tuned for fresh and insightful ideas on what it means to age with dignity and live your best life as an elder or caregiver today. Life is a Sacred Journey airs Thursdays at 5pm PDT.
Financial Planning and OnWallStreet
With Elderly Clients, Advisors Must Involve Heirs
May 28, 2015
Advisors might not delight in the prospect of talking with aging clients about end-of-life issues, but having those conversations, hard as they are, is in the best interest of the clients, their family and even the advisory practice.
So argues Carolyn Rosenblatt, co-founder of AgingInvestor.com, an education and training firm formed to help the financial community better understand and meet the needs of an aging population.”People in financial services just don’t seem to know very much about aging,” says Rosenblatt, a registered nurse and lawyer.
FORGE FAMILY TIES
Rosenblatt and her fellow co-founder, husband Mikol Davis, a psychologist, argue that advisors need to forge ties with elderly clients’ relatives, but too often fail to do so. By shying away from discussions about estate planning and who will become involved if clients begin to lose their faculties, advisors create the prospect that their clients’ wealth will pass out of the family.
“What they’re also avoiding is dealing with having relationships with their clients’ heirs,” Davis says. “They’re missing a very vital opportunity to deal with this potential intergenerational transfer of wealth.”
Elder Financial Abuse: Regulators’ Red Flags
Make no mistake about it. Regulators will pay more attention in the near future to advisors’ relationships with the growing population of elderly clients.
With more states enacting legislation targeted at protecting seniors, and lawsuits slamming wealth planners for failing to safeguard avidly enough their elderly clients’ interests, advisors surely recognize the trend.
When Rick Fleming, who is the first to be appointed to lead the SEC’s one-year-old Office of the Investor Advocate, spoke to an advisory conference earlier this year, he highlighted his focus by citing statistics:
COMPLEX PRODUCTS
Advisors should also keep in mind a short-list of verboten investment products, including non-traded REITS and variable annuities, which they should not offer seniors, says elder law attorney Carolyn L. Rosenblatt of AgingInvestors.com. Rosenblatt is author and a consultant to families struggling with elderly parent issues, and financial planners, who work with seniors. Read more
The Pillars of a Healthy Retirement
May 25, 2015
By Carolyn Rosenblatt
Carolyn Rosenblatt of AgingParents.com discusses 2 of the 3 Pillars of a Healthy Retirement
To Listen Click This LINK http://exitcoach.podbean.com/e/the-pillars-of-a-healthy-retirement-carolyn-rosenblatt1/
6 ways to avoid dying broke … or worse
May 24, 2015
By Robert Powell
Dying broke may be your idea of the perfect retirement plan. But there are plenty who might take issue with that point of view in the wake of just-released research.Consider: Slightly more than 1 in 5 (21%) Americans who died at 85 or older had no financial assets left, and 1 in 10 (12%) had no assets at all, according to the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI), a Washington, D.C.-based research firm. When it comes to living the life you desire in retirement, having a plan is far better than no plan. Unfortunately, far too many people don’t plan soon enough for retirement, if at all. “In our planning we always carry out the plan to age 95,” Sarenski says. “I believe many of the people cited in the (EBRI study) never thought they would live as long as they did.”Also, don’t rely only on online life-expectancy calculators. “No matter what calculators one uses, they generally do not figure out how to make your money last to age 100 or beyond,” says Carolyn Rosenblatt, an elder law attorney and co-founder of AgingParents.com in San Rafael, Calif.
Tech for Seniors: Devices to Make Elderly Clients Lives Easier
Most advisors, including Dusty Wallace, have considered mentioning to elderly clients, whose physical fragility appears to be increasing, such devices as medical alert bracelets. If the older folks wear themand plenty of options are found on the marketand they fall, they simply press the bracelets button and set in motion a customized emergency response plan, perhaps contacting a family member first, and then local medical officials if necessary. Weve talked about that, says Wallace, who is the director of financial planning and the compliance officer at Lee Financial in Dallas, Texas, which has nearly $1.1 billion in assets.
But many other new technologies exist that advisors may potentially share with older clients and help them stay safely in their homes longeroften the most inexpensive and attractive residential option as people age, according to Carolyn L. Rosenblatt. She is the founder of AgingInvestors.com and a consultant to families struggling with elderly parent issues, and financial planners, who work with seniors. Read more…..
5 Things You Need to Know About Caring for Aging Parents from a Distance
The New York Times
As Cognition Slips, Financial Skills Are Often the First to Go
ThinkAdvisor.com
5 Protection Questions for Older Clients
April 2, 2015
ThinkAdvisor.com
Clients Showing Signs of Dementia: The Advisors Role
November 25, 2014
Are you feeling caught between a rock and a hard place with your aging clients who may have dementia? They may ask you to do dangerous things or take ridiculous risks. They may no longer follow your advice as they once did. They can readily be victimized by telemarketing scams, Internet thieves and other clever con artists. At the early stage of Alzheimers disease, there is already moderate cognitive impairment, according to research by Dr. Daniel Marson at the University of Alabama, Birmingham.
You may realistically fear being on the receiving end of accusations that you should not have complied with a client’s outrageous demands for releasing funds to obvious crooks. The family of your client would likely be outraged if all the money is gone and you knew your client was being scammed. But is firing the client the only solution?
Read more http://www.thinkadvisor.com/2014/11/25/clients-showing-signs-of-dementia-the-advisors-rol
Guidevine Advisor Roundtable
Aging Clients: How Financial Advisors Can Succeed in Difficult Conversations
December 10, 2014
Have aging clients? Dreading the tough conversation on transferring power?
The legal and compliance risks to an advisors practice are very real. Forward-thinking advisors will ramp up their skills now.
Here are some tips from Carolyn L. Rosenblatt and Dr. Mikol Davis who together develop educational materials for financial advisors and speak at financial services industry conferences in a attempt to reduce elder abuse, and to also reduce legal and compliance risks for financial advisory firms and allied institutions. Rosenblatt is an RN, an attorney and a consultant on aging issues. Dr. Davis is a licensed, clinical psychologist with thirty-seven years of experience in the mental health field. More information about their work can be found atAgingInvestor.comandAgingParents.com.
Read more http://www.guidevine.com/roundtable/author/marieswift
Financial-Planning.com
Client With Dementia? 5 Steps to Take
As an attorney, health care professional and now consultant to the financial services industry, I think financial professionals can no longer just hope the issue will go away. How many frustrated family members are going to take aging clients’ assets away from your management because you don’t know what to do and aren’t willing to get out of your comfort zone to protect a vulnerable client?
Advisors need new knowledge and communication skills to best manage the aging investor population.
Read more http://www.financial-planning.com/30-days-30-ways/client-with-dementia-5-steps-to-take-2690933-1.html
Financial-Planning.com
Dementia: How to Protect Elderly Clients
We often think that getting older and getting forgetful go together. Sometimes they do, but memory loss should raise a red flag when it comes to your aging clients and their investments.
Losing capacity for financial decisions is something advisors need to be ready for, as it is likely to affect a huge part of our population.
By 2030, there will be 72.1 million people in the U.S. over age 65. and 7.7 million of them will have Alzheimer’s Disease, according to recent data from the Census Bureau and the Alzheimer’s Association. This directly translates to a large number of impaired clients making or attempting to make financial transactions and decisions. Some of those transactions could be with you. Are you prepared?
PROACTIVE MANDATE
Financial institutions, organizations and banks need to take preventive steps to avoid financial losses and the exploitation of their elderly clients. Institutions need to explicitly plan for the possibility of the diminished financial capacity of their clients.
Read more http://www.financial-planning.com/30-days-30-ways/dementia-how-to-protect-elderly-clients-2690874-1.html
Financial-Planning.com
My Word Protection in Dementia
December, 2014
Is one of your clients showing signs of cognitive impairment, respond by taking these 5 steps. Click the article below
Read more http://digital.financial-planning.com/financialplanning/december_2014#pg98
Goldstein on Gelt
January 5, 2015
Carolyn Rosenblatt, RN and elder law attorney, and author of “The Boomers Guide to Aging Parents,” talks about finances during your senior years.
How to prevent elder abuse.
What are the causes of financial abuse?
Which are the types of people that most commonly abuse senior citizens?
What are the signs of approaching dementia and memory loss?
Follow Carolyns work here:
Aginginvestor.com &
AgingParents.com
‘The Boomers Guide To Aging Parents” is for sale by clicking HERE
Richdad.com
The New Caretakers
For some of us, the idea of taking care of the people who raised us is too scary to face, the financial, legal and emotional stress can be overwhelming. This week we talk with Carolyn L. Rosenblatt (The Boomers Guide to Aging Parents) on dealing with the challenges of caring for elder parents and planning for the future.