Ways to Protect Older Adults Financially

"Hey Mike, I’ve got older family members who are getting taken advantage of financially; how can I stop this from happening?"

Discover ways to address siblings that may be taking advantage of older adults. 

Text your questions to 913-363-1234. 

Request Your Wealth Analysis by going to www.retireontime.com 

Episode Transcript

Mike (00:05):
Welcome to How to Retire On Time, a show that answers
your retirement questions. We'rehere to move past that
oversimplified advice and getinto the nitty gritty. As
always, text your questions to(913) 363-1234. Again, (913)
363-1234. And remember, thisshow is just a show.
It's not financial advice, somake sure you do your research.
David, what do we got today?

David (00:27):
Hey, Mike. I've got older family members who are getting
taken advantage of financially.How can I help stop this from
happening?

Mike (00:35):
So there's several layers of being taken advantage of.
Let's just define that reallyquickly. One layer is that
you've got a sibling and orrelative that continues to ask
for money, and they've got ableeding heart. So they just
keep giving it out over and overagain. That's an unhealthy
relationship, because it'sbasically bully.
K? I need this. You've got themoney. If you don't, then

(00:55):
there's, like, some sort ofleverage or threat or things
like that. It's an inequaldistribution of power, and
that's a very difficult thing toovercome.
We'll talk about that in asecond. The second one is that
everyone wants a deal. If you'renot a financial professional, if
you're not in groups, if you'renot connected to Wall Street,
and you think you're getting adeal, an insider scoop into

(01:17):
anything, you're not. You couldbe getting scammed. Okay?
Why would someone who has allthe connections in the world
talk to you? I mean, really, I'mnot trying to be rude. Sure. Why
are they talking to you? Eitherit's a bad deal, it's higher
risk than their Wall Streetfriends wanted to, so they're
going to the public, orsomething else.

(01:38):
The problem is greed. We asAmericans are hardwired to look
for the deal. We want the deal.Yeah. Really having a hard time
not saying that it's the art ofthe deal.
Yeah.

David (01:50):
Feels good to get a deal. Right?

Mike (01:51):
Everyone wants a deal. You want the you got in early. Yeah.
Right. That is how people arebeing taken advantage of.
It's modesty. It's admittingthat this is a reasonable
expectation. This is areasonable price. If you buy
things cheap, you're gonna havecheap results. If you think
you're getting a deal that youdon't fully understand, there's

(02:14):
then a high chance that you'regonna get taken advantage of.
You cannot manipulate theeconomics of finance. It does
not exist. If you get in early,there's a high risk that it
could fail. There's a reason whythere are certain things in
place to try and prevent thesethings from happening, but the
reality is people ignore thosewarning signs and so on. Here's
the first thing you need tounderstand.

(02:35):
First off, you cannot controlpeople. You may have a family
member or a relative that justpisses away all of their assets.
And that's the sad truth of itall, but it's the reality. And
the reason why you can't controlthem is because you can't force
them into some sort of legalagreement that says you now have
power and control over all theirfinances. And that right there

(02:55):
is an abuse of power.
You can't correct hate withhate. You can't correct bad
decisions by taking away theirability to make decisions. Like,
unless they're senile, that'snot principle based. It's not
healthy. It's not appropriate.
They have to want to correct itand so on. It's a very tricky
thing, but in my mind, it'sintervention is where you go

(03:18):
from here, and then you setvery, very clear boundaries.
I've told people before, if yourparents so if you're getting
ready for retirement and yourparents are making horrible
financial decisions

David (03:29):
Mhmm.

Mike (03:29):
You set a very clear boundary that this is all you
are willing to do for thatparent. You're not paying for
all of their services. Ifthey're on Medicaid and they
spent it all and it's all gonewhatever, that was their
decision. Your job, yourresponsibility is not to take
care of your parents. Your jobis to set your kids up for
success, teach them principles,and then let them govern

(03:50):
themselves.
Your job is to take care ofyourself and then your spouse.
And then if there is excessbased on mutual trust and
respect with appropriateboundaries, you can help other
people. But unlimited charity isnot actually charitable. It's
destructive.

David (04:08):
And does this go both ways too? Like, the parent
helping the adult children?

Mike (04:11):
Yeah. If you've got a 36 year old kid who's an abled
body, there's no clinical reasonwhy they're there, they're just
having a hard time, maybe thathard time, that that precedent
is because they're toocomfortable because of what
you've done. Seek counseling.Seek family therapists or other
professionals that are qualifiedand experienced to talk about
these sorts of things. But youcannot control another person.

(04:35):
Don't assume that. You caninvite them to heal and have a
healthier relationship withyourself and this other person.
And two, if it's a good deal,there's something you're
missing. That's how financeworks. It's not like sales at
the local grocery store orwhatever it is.
And even then, like, why is iton sale? It's to get you to buy
other things. Uh-huh. Or it'sbecause it's about to expire.

(04:58):
Sure.
Like, there's a reason for it.There's a reason why this is a
quote, unquote good or bad deal.So just be aware of that. That's
all the time we've got for theshow today. If you enjoyed the
show, consider subscribing to itwherever you get your podcast.
Just search for how to retire ontime. Discover if your portfolio
is built to weather flat marketcycles or if you're missing tax

(05:19):
minimization opportunities thatyou may not even know exist.
Explore strategies that may beable to help you lower your
overall risk while potentiallyincreasing your overall growth
and lifestyle flexibility. Isnot your ordinary financial
analysis. Learn more about YourWealth Analysis and what it
could do for you regardless ofyour age, asset, or target
retirement date, go towww.yourwealthanalysis.com today

(05:43):
to learn more and get started.