15 Ways to Prevent Financial Exploitation with Cameron Huddleston

Talking to our aging parents about their finances can be a tough conversation. But there are ways to educate and protect our parents from being taken advantage of by scammers, charities, and other organizations without being seen as controlling or overstepping.

Today's guest is Cameron Huddleston. Cameron is an author, speaker, and award-winning financial journalist. She's the Director of Education and Content at Careful, the first service built to protect and monitor aging adults' daily finances. Cameron's work has appeared in a number of publications including Forbes and The Chicago Tribune.

Show Notes:

• [1:09] - Cameron described the experience of caring for her mother with alzheimers. She had not had a conversation with her about her finances.
• [2:37] - Talking to your parents about scammers is a way to open the door to more conversation about finances.
• [5:13] - Warn your parents about red flags because there's no way you can keep them updated on every single scam.
• [6:29] - As we age, we all experience some level of cognitive decline.
• [7:38] - Get an idea of how they are doing now so that you will be more aware of changes.
• [8:56] - You're not trying to pry or be nosey. This is a series of conversations that open the door to communication about finances for the future.
• [10:00] - Older adults are more likely to be exploited by someone they know.
• [11:10] - Nothing has to happen right now except the beginnings of conversations. Cameron lists some things to have in order later.
• [13:07] - There are things you can do to help prevent a caretaker from taking advantage of your parents.
• [14:35] - There are some red flags to listen for in conversations with your aging parents and/or their caretaker.
• [15:43] - If you are concerned about your parent's credit or finances, you can have their credit frozen and you can monitor everything for safety.
• [16:58] - Your parents can also sign up for services while they are healthy and add you to the monitoring account for notifications.
• [18:39] - Cameron shares an experience with her own mother. She was a giving person but with her alzheimers, she wound up donating money frequently.
• [19:51] - How can you help them get the spending on charity donations under control?
• [22:21] - One piece of advice for parents is to let all calls go to voicemail and don't call the numbers they called from.
• [24:21] - Chris describes an unusual and suspicious new text scam. How can we warn parents about the things that are out of the norm?
• [27:00] - If you have a parent with dementia, these warnings won't always do much good. Leave notes and reminders for them.
• [28:26] - Cameron describes a situation with her mother and she realized that she was no longer safe to live alone.
• [31:09] - There are a lot of things that parents can have in place in writing while they are relatively young and healthy.
• [32:33] - Cameron has a lot of great resources on her website CameronHuddleston.com.

Thanks for joining us on Easy Prey. Be sure to subscribe to our podcast on iTunes and leave a nice review.

Links and Resources:

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• Carefull Website
• Cameron Huddleston's Website