Cortburg Speaks Retirement

Helping Aging Parents with Finances: Smart Steps for Financial Security

• Miguel Gonzalez, MBA, AIF®, CPFA®, CRC® • Season 2024 • Episode 227

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This week, Miguel Gonzalez, CRC, shares practical steps to help protect your aging relatives' finances—organizing accounts, preventing scams, and setting up a Power of Attorney. 

Cortburg Retirement Advisors is a boutique financial planning firm committed to helping you grow, protect, and preserve your assets from your first job to retirement. We specialize in wealth management, estate and tax planning, group retirement, employee benefits, insurance, and retirement planning to navigate any economic climate.

Miguel Gonzalez, a Retirement Specialist with 20+ years of experience, offers expertise in retirement income planning, investment management, and retirement plan design. With an MBA from Columbia Business School, and professional experience with JP Morgan Chase, Merrill Lynch, and more, Miguel is a trusted advisor for his clients.


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Welcome to Cortburg Speaks Retirement Podcast
with Miguel Gonzalez, MBA, AIF®, CPFA®, CRC®

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Welcome to Cortburg Speaks Retirement

An audio podcast about investing in the stock market, financial planning, money management and retirement planning.  Each Wednesday, we help investors at all stages of life learn how to potentially grow and preserve their money from first job through retirement.

Now here is your host, Miguel Gonzalez.

 Good morning and welcome to the CORTBURG SPEAKS RETIREMENT audio podcast.   

This week we’re talking about how to create financial security for aging parents.

There are often red flags you may notice that indicate your parents have reached a point where they need help with their finances. Some of these red flags to be aware of include:

  • They are making odd purchases or being careless with their money, which is out of character.
  • Scammers are targeting them through phone, snail mail, and email and you believe they are vulnerable.
  • They struggle with normal behaviors, such as balancing their checkbooks or forgetting to turn off the stove and lock their doors at night.

This is a difficult time for everyone involved. But the sooner you take action, the easier it is to mitigate unfortunate events from occurring and for you and your parents to start adjusting to the changes.

Consider these practical steps for helping your parents plan their finances:

Collect and organize financial and legal documents.

Not only does it provide you with a better picture of where your parents stand financially, but it is also pivotal for decision-making and taking necessary actions on their behalf.

Keep a separate record of important account numbers.

Maintaining up-to-date and accurate records is crucial when it comes to financial planning. If you don’t have a record of the account numbers, it will be difficult to monitor for security purposes and manage accordingly.

Stay organized and keep your parents’ finances separate from your own.

Ensure you stay organized and keep your parents’ finances separate from your own. Several techniques for staying organized include:

  • Create a budget for your parents’ expenses.
  • Maintain a payment schedule for bills.
  • Continue to make manageable goals to work toward.

Stay vigilant against identity theft and scams.

Identity theft and scams targeting the elderly are getting worse, and people can lose significant savings to these predators. Several methods to help protect parents from financial scams include:

  • Monitor their credit report 
  • Be on the lookout for scams and block potential scammers.
  • Safeguard personal information, including regularly changing passwords, shredding documents, and ensuring parents are only giving information when necessary and to verified parties.
  • Regularly review their accounts for any misuse of funds or strange activity.

Talk to them about Power of Attorney

Powers of attorney can be an effective tool when managing your parents' finances and estate planning. Some of the benefits of a power of attorney include:

  • Making financial and personal decisions on their behalf.
  • Working through insurance issues and helping them save money.
  • Paying bills on time.
  • Monitoring accounts against fraud and scams.
  • Updating beneficiaries in the event of death or the wishes of the parents.
  • Revising other aspects of the estate plan.

Consult a financial professional

Financial planning is complex, and in a world that is constantly shifting and evolving, it can be extremely challenging to prepare yourself and your parents for potential roadblocks. Decisions made today may impact you decades down the road. Having the most accurate financial plan for your parents is beneficial in both the short and long term, and also can help you avoid expending time and resources to correct any missteps.

Make sure to visit our website, www.CortburgRetirement.com. Our site is filled with educational videos, eBooks, publications, and financial calculators designed to help you learn more about your finances.  As you search our site, send us a note regarding any questions you may have about any particular investment concepts or products. We will get back to you quickly with a thoughtful answer.

This is Miguel Gonzalez, Certified Retirement Counselor (CRC) and Managing Partner, with Cortburg Retirement Advisors signing off for this week’s educational podcast.  

 

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Miguel Gonzalez, MBA, AIF®, CPFA®, PPC®, CRC®

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