Financial exploitation is a growing problem for American retirees and their families. It’s important to be familiar with common scams—such as being contacted about an unexpected windfall or an investment opportunity that sounds too good to be true. But more than knowing the warning signs of exploitation, it’s equally important to be proactive about its prevention.

 

A simple, yet effective way to help avoid the risk of potential exploitation is to provide a trusted contact person on your accounts who can be called on in certain circumstances to help protect your assets and respond to possible financial exploitation. This trusted contact person might be a family member or a friend. Or it might be a professional you depend upon, like an attorney or accountant.

 

A trusted contact person is someone you authorize your financial advisor to contact if they are unable to reach you directly. This person is not an authorized party on your account(s), and your financial advisor will not accept instructions from them to effect transactions and/or change account information.

 

Let’s say you and your spouse are on a cruise together, when your financial advisor notices a large transaction on one of your accounts that is not typical for you. The advisor is unable to reach you to verify the authenticity of the transaction and is concerned it is fraud. Thankfully, you had previously listed a close sibling as your trusted contact person, so your advisor follows up with them and is able to locate you to verify if the charge is valid.

 

Though designating a trusted contact is not mandatory, FINRA does require financial professionals to ask if you would like to name a trusted contact person at the time you open or make material changes to your account(s). It’s a good idea, it’s easy to do, and it could help you avoid financial exploitation in the future.

Senior Vice President - Financial Advisor

RBC Wealth Management

941-266-6752