Elder financial abuse: Tips for the medical director.

Financial abuse against older individuals is estimated to be the second most common form of abuse, following only selfneglect in terms of incidence. 1 Estimates of financial abuse range from 20% to 30% of all abuse against older people. 1,2 Financial abuse is predicted to continue to increase in the future, because the population of older people is still increasing and because older people have a variety of conditions of which others may take advantage. These conditions include cognitive, physical, psychological, and social problems that make older people vulnerable. Older individuals have become common targets of financial abuse because they own a disproportionately large percentage of the wealth in the United States. 3 Having lived a number of decades, many older individuals own their own home, have significant money in the bank, have reasonably good credit, and may also have other assets such as stocks and bonds. Together, these features make older people likely targets of financial abuse. Financial abuse is especially devastating to older individuals. They often feel as though they are at fault and often believe that they were careless or stupid. In fact, perpetrators have become increasingly sophisticated about how to take advantage of older people and continually come up with new ways to do so. Elder financial abuse is also devastating in other ways. It robs the victim of important resources they need for their own health and well-being. Older people generally have fixed incomes. Unlike younger people, they do not have as much ability or time to regenerate the money they have lost. Having been robbed of one’s financial assets may lead to many deleterious outcomes, such as a change in residence, less money for food and medicines, postponing medical care, and