According to research published in the 2020 Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), forgetting to pay bills on time or at all might be an early symptom of dementia or Alzheimer’s disease among those in their golden years. According to the study, mature adults with memory loss are also more likely to skip critical bill payments and damage their credit score, and this behavior might start up to six years before a diagnosis. In addition, they are more vulnerable to elder financial exploitation and mishandled personal funds due to memory-related issues. Even if your loved one does not have dementia, they may be having financial difficulties, which is still worrying and concerning. Not to worry, here are 5 asset management tips for your loved one.
Converse with Your Loved Ones
Here is one tip to better manage your loved one’s assets. Have a conversation with your loved ones about their future plans as much as feasible and as soon as possible. In addition, remember to express your intention to assist them in succeeding. Starting the conservation as soon as possible is crucial to prevent any possible memory loss disease from further progressing and making it more difficult to manage the assets of your loved one. Try to keep things basic and focused on your loved one, while giving them sufficient time and space should they need it. You may even consider having a professional or third party during the conversation.
Block Scammers First
To protect your loved ones’ assets, it is best to block scammers first. And this can be done so by adding your loved ones’ home and cell phone numbers to the National Do Not Call Registry. This will prevent fraudsters from phoning your loved one in the first place, so they do not run the risk of falling prey to monetary scams.
Enable Automatic Payments
Enabling automatic payments for your loved ones can also ensure better management of their assets for your loved ones. For instance, the automatic payments enablement can be done so for their rent cost, credit card bills, energy bills, or mortgage costs. This prevents them from missing payments and having to pay more interest and waste their assets in the long run.
Enroll Your Loved One in a Credit Report Service
What better way to manage your loved one’s assets than to enroll your loved one in a credit report service? In fact, Experian, Experian, and TransUnion, the three national consumer credit reporting firms, all provide free credit report services. This is useful in managing your loved ones’ assets because it allows you to easily check out for any strange behavior or suspected fraud.
Set a Spending Limit
Setting a spending limit for credit and debit card transactions for your loved one can also help with better asset management. This is because it ensures that they do not overspend and waste away their assets. Therefore, come to an agreement on what their daily spending limit should be, while keeping in mind their total assets. However, if your loved one still continues to overspend despite the agreed spending limit, consider giving them preloaded bank cards rather than standard debit or credit cards.
