Signs of Senior's Difficulty in Managing Money

Sometimes noticing that your parent is having difficulty managing money is the first sign that there’s a problem. This can be the first sign that your loved one may be experiencing cognitive decline.

Signs of managing money difficulty

There are some specific signs you can look for if you think your parent is having trouble dealing with finances. These may include:

• Having a problem using the ATM machine. They may try to place the wrong card in or have difficulty understanding how it works.
• If they have difficulty figuring out change or how much to pay for an item they purchased.
• If the account is overdrawn or if they have a problem balancing the checkbook.
• If you notice your parent is forgetting to pay the monthly bills or if they forget where they placed their cash.
• If you see unusual merchandise in their home or abnormal charges on their credit cards.
• If there is a pile of unpaid and overdue bills being ignored

What can you do?

There are ways to put safeguards in place to help them and protect them from being taken advantage of. Some of these steps are:

• You can add a co-signer to your parent's bank account. This makes paying bills and buying purchases much more accessible.
• Limit all credit card access. Alert the bank of your loved one’s problem with financial transactions so an alert system can be in place if money is withdrawn.
• Make it a point to review the credit history report at least once a year if not more often.
• Open a mailbox at the post office, this way you can keep track of the mail and unpaid bills
• Make your parent aware of any scam that is surfacing. Plus, place your parent’s phone number on the “Do Not Call” list to avoid calls from telemarketers.

Other information

If your parent is experiencing financial issues, make an appointment with their doctor. Their doctor can find out if any other medical problems are causing the problem such as a medication side effect or depression. There are also a series of tests which can diagnose Alzheimer's. See if your parent would be agreeable to a full diagnostic work-up to check for it.

Once the problem with finances is realized, you should tread lightly. Because your loved one could deny that there's a problem, or don't want to burden you, they could resist the idea of help. So, you need to be careful in how you offer help, so your parent doesn't feel as if they're losing their independence. It's an essential thing for your parent to keep their dignity and self-respect. Even when they aren't handling the bulk of their finances, letting them keep a small checking account is important. Also, a pre-paid credit card is also an option. This way your parent still has some access to spending money and won’t feel as if they have to ask you for every penny.

The ideal situation will be if your parent has taken the time to establish a durable power of attorney before anything happens. This document allows a person they trust to handle everything financial if they can't handle it any longer. If you don't have this, then you'll have to go to court to allow guardianship to be established.

Don't wait for impaired memory to cause the need for action. Try to have everything in place before it happens, so there is a smooth transaction for both of you.