The Elderly are Prime Targets for Scammers!
     While talking with a friend recently she told me she's not worried about her mother.  "She is 91, in great health, lives alone, does her own yardwork, housework, drives and 'takes care of old folks'".
"That's great!" I said.  But is she watching out for telemarketers and con artists"? 
     Unscrupulous scammers, from the local handiman who repairs the roof before the winter storms (a roof that didn't need repairs), to the telephone calls from companies pushing products that "you can't live without", to the "good samaritans"
who endear themselves to her and eventually gain her trust and her personal ID (that she unwittingly divulges over time), are in abundance and find an easy mark in elderly folks.  Adult Protective Services workers and elder law attorneys across the country are reporting a rise in financial abuse aimed at the elderly.

What you can do:
      Talk to or visit your parent often.  Listen to what they say.  Is there a new handiman around?  Check that person out.  Are products arriving in the mail that seem unlikely?  Ask about their finances.
Report concerns you have to Adult Protective Services in your parent area.

      Offer to take over the finances.  If it really isn't a job they want to spend time doing, they may be willing to let you do that.  But often, they view handling their own finances as one of the dwindling responsibilities they still have control over.  Its an important indicator that they are still independent. Or, as many of them see it, "Its still my money and I'll do it myself, thank you!"
     
       Set up a durable power of attorney.  Experts say anyone with their own assets (or over the age of eighteen) should have one.  Your parents may be reluctant, but if something should happen to them and they become incapacitated, in other words, unable to talk, or make decisions (that can and does happen suddenly in cases of a stroke or automobile accident), then you would have the power to handle the legal and financial matters immediately.  Your parent (not you) names a person to handle these matters if and when and to what extent your parent wishes. She sets the limits when setting up the documents.  If, for any reason, she doesn't want you to be that person, then she can designate her attorney, sister, or anyone she choses.  So long as she choses someone who is capable and reliable to step in when she needs help.  The best way to do this is to engage an elder law attorney (some county senior centers offer this service at a low or no fee).
Protect your parents' assets and their path to a comfortable future.