Protect Your Senior Parents from Financial Scams

Elderly individuals in the United States collectively have $14 trillion dollars in savings, and there are hundreds of thousands of con artists who would like to steal their little chunk of it. There are people in this country that actually teach classes on how to rip off elderly people through outright fraud and by selling them bad and inappropriate investments! Senior adults have a major target painted at them, and you need to make sure that you keep a close eye on your senior parent's finances and make sure that they don't get scammed.

A very common practice among financial hucksters is to invite seniors out to a free meal on them as long as they listen and discuss the financial needs of the person getting the free dinner. If you are a senior adult, this could easily be the most expensive meal of your life. Seniors sometimes tend to feel an obligation to buy something if they have received a free dinner. Other times seniors simply don't understand what they are getting into and instead get wooed over by fast-talking salespersons. Usually the huckster will pitch all sorts of annuities, whole-life insurance, and other financial products that they will make a killing on.

Many scam artists are placing advertisements in newspapers targeted toward seniors that claim they will offer savings notes for up to 14%! Any senior who falls for this trick likely won't see a dime of the money they invest. We have to remember that if it sounds too good to be true, it most certainly is. This is a harsh reality, but sometimes our senior parents can be a bit naive and think they are getting a great deal, when in reality they're being ripped off.