Most seniors in the United States don’t have the necessary information to help them find a qualified financial advisor in order to avoid investment fraud and financial exploitation, a new survey finds.
According to a new online survey of securities regulators, financial planners, social workers and other experts in senior issues, which was conducted by the non-profit Investor Protection Trust (IPT) and Investor Protection Institute (IPI), 75% said that this sort of fraud is a ‘very serious’ problem, and 78% said older Americans are “very vulnerable” to investment fraud/financial exploitation.
The top three financial exploitation problems identified by the experts are: theft or diversion of funds or property by family members (cited by 79%); theft by caregivers (49%); and financial scams perpetrated by strangers (47%).
Additionally, 58% said seniors are ‘not very able’ or ‘not able at all’ to determine ‘the legitimacy, value, and authenticity of credentials held by their financial advisors and planners’; 59% said existing accountability controls are not effective at deterring the misuse of ‘senior advisor credentials’; and, 53% said that “the available resources for seniors when selecting a financial advisor with appropriate knowledge” are either not very effective or not effective at all.