Is Mom a Sucker?
Sometimes a caregiver is a combination of maid, doctor, spiritual advisor and amateur detective. It’s no secret that elderly people sometimes become more like teenagers and children then mature adults. So, while we wish they wouldn’t do it, your senior citizen mom or dad may be hiding a few things from you.
And one thing parents are fiercely independent about is their finances and how they use their money. But being independent doesn’t translate into being wise in how your retired parents use their money. And its one of your jobs as caregiver to look after your parents well being which means watching where their money goes so their limited financial resources can last a long time.
There are plenty of horror stories about senior citizens becoming victims of scams and clever sales people who sell them a hope and a dream in exchange for their very real money. We shouldn’t be too surprised that slick talking sales people will call or email our parents. After all, they try to get by you so why should your parents be immune to it? But the thing you don’t know is if or when your aging parents become a victim of a scam and get ripped off.
One thing is for sure is that your senior citizen parents are not gong to tell you they got ripped off. So you have to become that amateur detective to find out if mom is a sucker for a slick salesman and if you need to step in and start getting these shysters out of your parent’s lives. Some signs that your parent has become a sucker are…
. Watch your parent’s mail. If mom is getting an unusually large amount of junk mail and a lot of get rich quick schemes, phony contests or other scams, it’s possible your parent has become a victim of a scam or two.
. Spend a little more time at your parent’s house or apartment and answer the phone for her. If there are more sales calls for scam offers or charities, then your parent may have already fallen pray to these kinds of calls and their name got passed around to other scam artists.
. Are there a lot of junk items lying around mom’s house that look like the crap that are used for “amazing gifts” or junk products?
. Start paying attention to your parent’s budget. For one thing, if mom doesn’t want you poking around her checkbook, there may be some problems going on with her account. But if you see a lot of checks to scam artists, you know mom has become a sucker. Watch her credit card statements as well for similar activity.
. Watch her email and look particularly at her “sent items” folder. There you can see if she responded to any scam email schemes.
Its going to take some gentle convincing to get mom to let you see some of these documents and you can expect her to be defensive about her activities. Getting involved with scams, bogus contests and get rich quick schemes has an addictive quality to it and even though mom may have already been suckered out of hundreds of dollars, she still will fall for the next crook that comes along because of the addiction. So as you would with any addict, be loving and gentle in how you approach the problem but do not neglect the problem either.
The key to selling your aging parent on letting you take over her checkbook is convenience. You might start by taking over her taxes. Then once she feels comfortable with you being that close to her books, you can offer to take over bill paying and balancing the checkbook. Then you can gently begin to question expenditures that are questionable.
Don’t try to get her money back from crooks that have already victimized your aging parent. But you can begin making it very difficult for people to get money out of her account. Right away, cancel all direct debits that are not easily identifiable. Also, start getting control over the flow of junk mail, phone calls and emails. By making access to your parents accounts and to her to try to victimize her again, you can be both the detective and now the guard dog to keep bad people from getting to your parent’s much needed money.
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Disclaimer
The Publisher has strived to be as accurate and complete as possible in the creation of this website, notwithstanding the fact that he does not warrant or represent at any time that the contents within are accurate due to the rapidly changing nature of the Internet.
This site is a common sense guide to Is Mom a Sucker?. In practical advice websites, like anything else in life, there are no guarantees of income made. Readers are cautioned to reply on their own judgment about their individual circumstances to act accordingly.
This site is not intended for use as a source of legal, business, accounting or financial advice. All readers are advised to seek services of competent professionals in legal, business, accounting, and finance field.
Any perceived slights of specific people or organizations are unintentional.
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The Caregiver’s Emotions
When the End is near
The Caregiver’s Greatest Enemy
Where Should Grandma Live?
That Thing We Don’t Talk About
That Thing We Don’t Talk About
When is it Time to Step in?
Making a Difference Together
Caring for the Caregiver
Caregivers and the Work Place
Caregivers and the Work Place
When is it Time to Step in?
A Stressful Job
Senior Citizens Bill of Rights
Quality of Life for your Senior Citizen
Easing into Care Giving
Taking Care of Yourself is Part of the Job
Does Grandpa Like Himself?
Managing Your Senior Citizen’s Medications
Giving Thanks for Being a Caregiver
Where Should Grandma Live?
Easing into Care Giving
Making a Difference Together
Quality of Life for your Senior Citizen
Is Mom a Sucker?
Keeping it at Arm’s Length
Listening to Your Parents even Now
The Greatest Loss of Them All
Taking Care of Yourself is Part of the Job
The Greatest Loss of Them All
Is Mom a Sucker?
Listening to Your Parents even Now
Does Grandpa Like Himself?
Giving Thanks for Being a Caregiver
A Place to Go
Going to a Better Place
Caring for the Caregiver
When the End is near
A Place to Go
We Are the Sandwich Generation
We Are the Sandwich Generation
Keeping it at Arm’s Length
Managing Your Senior Citizen’s Medications
Guilt Helps Nobody
The Caregiver’s Greatest Enemy
Guilt Helps Nobody
A Stressful Job
Senior Citizens Bill of Rights
Going to a Better Place
The Caregiver’s Emotions
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