Securities Fraud Lawyer Blog
Financial Exploitation of Elders – What You Need to Know
Due to age and the impairments that accompany it, our elderly population is, unfortunately, at a high risk of being taken advantage of financially. Elderly investors are vulnerable to financial exploitation and investment fraud due to a general desire to trust their financial professional, and the difficulty of keeping abreast of the ever-changing financial, retirement, annuity and insurance products marketed by Wall Street.
By the year 2030, all baby boomers will be over the age of 65. By 2035, the amount of people over 65 will be greater than those under the age of 18 for the first time in history. Naturally, a substantial amount of wealth and retirement savings will be found in this demographic. However, close to 20 percent of people over the age of 65 have some form of cognitive impairment. For those over 85, more than half have Alzheimer’s disease of some other form of dementia. The aging of our investor class presents inherent opportunities for the unscrupulous promoter of unsuitable investments, or those intent on defrauding others.