Working for Seniors
By Ed Pittock, CSA
President
©2005 Society of Certified Senior Advisors
Narrow Approach To Seniors Decreases Chance of Success
If you ever want to drive your doctor crazy, do this: Next time you have a
sore throat, tell your doctor that you want only your throat examined – no
listening to your chest, no looking in your ears, no taking your temperature –
nothing but your throat.
If your doctor agrees to your terms, get a new doctor. No doctor would ever
treat a patient that way, and no patient would so tie a doctor’s hands.
But we do that with seniors all the time.
We may be vaguely aware that a lot of forces affect seniors – health, financial,
social, psychological – but in working with seniors, we think we can deal with
just one of those areas to the exclusion of the others. After all, why would
someone selling a financial product care about a senior’s social situation? Or
why would someone selling real estate care about a senior’s health? What’s wrong
with taking a narrow approach to seniors?
What’s wrong is that a narrow approach leaves seniors wide open to abuse. Things
that seem completely disconnected turn out to be thoroughly intertwined.
A good example of that is the growing problem of unscrupulous persons preying
on seniors to exploit them financially.
Financial exploitation of seniors is a national disgrace. Seniors from age 62
to 75 fear financial exploitation more than health crises or terrorism. The
National Center on Elder Abuse estimates that nearly one out of every three
elder abuse cases involves financial exploitation. And AARP says that seniors
are the targets of 40% of all financial scams.
But here’s the really important point: Financial exploitation is far more
than a matter of money.
It's a social issue: The more isolated a senior, the more
vulnerable he is to being scammed or misled. One technique scammers use is
to separate a senior from the senior’s friends and family. If a senior
hesitates to agree to something without talking to others, the scammer
will try to bully her by saying something like, “Aren’t you allowed to
make your own decisions?”
It’s a psychological issue:The primary goal of a senior
is to remain independent. The unscrupulous operator will use that desire
to remain independent to talk a senior into investing something that promises
high returns and guaranteed income – when neither is assured.
It’s a planning issue:The best deterrent to financial
exploitation is financial planning. If a senior has taken advantage of
good advice to plan for retirement, that senior is less vulnerable to the
appeals of the scammer.
It’s a self-consciousness issue:Seniors will sometimes
say that they understand what they’re signing, or they won’t take the time
to ask the right questions because they think that might suggest that they’re
not mentally sharp. They allow their pride to prevail over their prudence.
It’s a health issue:Can you tell if a senior you’ve never
met before is beginning to show signs of dementia? Can you tell when a senior
says she understands you, but she really doesn’t? An ethical professional
recognizes and compensates for these physical factors; a scammer uses them to
his own advantage.
The threat of being taken advantage of financially is just one of the challenges
seniors face. Others, while not perhaps as dramatic or potentially devastating,
are equally complex – and require the same understanding of the inseparable
nature of seniors’ health, financial and social issues.
That’s why Society of Certified Senior Advisors educates professionals about all
those areas. Teaching just one is like asking your doctor just to look at your
sore throat.
Only by understanding all of those forces and how they work together can
professionals successfully match the products and services they offer to the
needs of their senior clients. That benefits you and your clients. And isn’t
that what everyone wants?