Older Americans are so often victims of financial abuse that the National Council on Aging estimates it costs the elderly $36.5 billion annually.
Sometimes, a financial planner is the first person to notice and they must decide whether to report the problem to the authorities. Making the call is simple when the thief isn’t related to the client. But when the miscreant is a child or grandchild, family dynamics can muddy an otherwise clear situation.
Rick Kagawa, a planner at Capital Resources & Insurance in Huntington Beach, California, called the police when a client’s gardener stole from her. The client lost about $3,500 to the man, who eluded arrest. Her family, however, took the report as a call to arms, working with Kagawa to hire a caregiver and bookkeeper for the client. "She doesn’t handle money anymore," he reports.
When the thief isn’t related to a client, calling the police or other authorities is a simple decision, Kagawa says. "It’s our duty to the client to report suspected abuse," he says.
A DISHONEST GRANDSON
When the thief is a family member, though, it’s a tougher call. Kagawa had another client who lost about $450,000 to a dishonest grandson. He called the police only when alerting the client’s family failed to stop the theft. "Before that, I held off because the family wanted to deal with it themselves," he says.
Most families prefer to deal with intra-familial financial abuse privately, agrees Quentara Costa, a planner at Powwow in North Andover, Massachusetts. "It’s a fine line, and family dynamics come into play," she says. "It’s definitely best to bring up the problem with the senior and the family first."
No planner wants to see repeated theft, but an elderly parent might be very upset to see a son go to jail for talking her out of $1,000. "If they don’t want the theft to be a big deal but they do plan to address the problem, that’s fine," Costa says. "You don’t want to cause the family unnecessary stress and strain."
The CFP Board encourages but doesn’t require planners to report suspected elder abuse. If the family doesn’t take steps to protect a client, the planner should report the problem to the police or other authorities that handle reports of suspected wrongdoing against a vulnerable person, elderly or not.
The worry that an innocent person will end up in jail shouldn’t prevent you from reporting legitimate suspicions, Kagawa says. "It’s not your job to be judge and jury," he says. "If everything is fine, the police won’t do anything." (A proposed federal law,
The suspect may not end up in jail even if there is a real issue. Steve Branton, a senior planner at Mosaic Financial Planning in San Francisco, California, found that out when a client’s best friend told him that she thought her son was trying to take control of her assets. Branton’s client called state authorities about the situation, and the agency interviewed the woman’s son. "That put the son on notice that he was on someone’s radar, and they’ve had no problems since," Branton says.
Unfortunately, sometimes a thief stays out of jail because the client or the client’s family refuses to press charges.
CEO Ron Kruszewski received praise for leading the firm's wealth management unit to a record for revenue, despite costly legal setbacks.
As Vice President, Underwriting Research and Development, Jackie Waas is involved in investigating and developing underwriting innovations, with an emphasis on concept development, research, presenting new ideas, and participating in concept validation activities.
She started her career with RGA in 2018 as Director of Underwriting Services, where she supported direct-to-consumer accelerated offerings, including assisting with the auditing of the e-underwriting program and helping develop digital health scores while supporting the Digital Health Data team.
Prior to joining RGA, Jackie was an Underwriting Business Consultant and automated underwriting systems subject matter expert with Legal & General America for four years after working in an underwriting capacity with the company for nine years. She also had five years of underwriting experience with AXA Equitable and formerly worked as a marketing manager for Steele Rubber Products.
Jackie received a Bachelor of Arts with a major in communications and a minor in psychology from Lenoir-Rhyne University in North Carolina. She is a Certified Fellow of the Academy of Life Underwriting, a Fellow of the Life Management Institute, and a Fellow of the Financial Services Institute. She is also an Associate, Reinsurance Administration; Associate, Insurance Agency Administration; and an Associate, Insurance Regulatory Compliance. Jackie also holds the Professional, Customer Service Institute designation, and she is a member of the Association of Home Office Underwriters.
Guizhou Hu is Vice President, VP, Head of Risk Analytics at RGA, where he supports global RGA underwriting initiatives and produces internal and external thought leadership pieces based on RGA's in-depth risk analytics. Before joining RGA in 2018, Guizhou served as Vice President, Chief Decision Analytics, for Gen Re and as a Senior Vice President for BioSignia Inc. Guizhou holds a medical degree from Beijing Medical University and a Ph.D. in Philosophy from Cornell University.
"I’ve called Adult Protective Services and the police for an elderly client, a woman in her eighties who is no longer living," says Allan Moscowitz, principal planner at Transformative Wealth Management in El Cerrito, California. "One of her sons was a meth addict, and he would manipulate her to give him money. He had all kinds of stories: they needed it for rent, or he was in trouble with the law and needed to pay some fine. After she sold her house, she ended up giving him several hundred thousand dollars."
But Moscowitz’s client was mentally competent, and she declined to press charges. "She wasn’t willing to do anything about him," Moscowitz says.
Eventually, the woman’s family took her checkbook away, created a trust, and made other, sober children her trustees. A different son took charge of paying her bills. "That stopped the problem," Moscowitz says. "The drug addict even ended up going to rehab, and he’s doing much better. Before that, though, this was tearing the heart out of this family, and there was nothing I could do."
After the woman died, some money still remained for her heirs, Moscowitz says. "And believe it or not, the former meth addict was still an heir."
