Dear Bernard,

Who do you trust?

This was published in Barron's Magazine on June 14, 2024: "Seniors are frequent victims of financial fraud, and for every one reported case of elder abuse, 24 others go unreported. According to a study cited by the National Center on Elder abuse. The study pegs the annual losses from elder financial abuse at $28.3 billion."

We have talked about theft, scams, fraud, and many other ways people have tried to deceive you out of your money, your home, or other assets. According to Statistica.com, in the United States, the number of cybercrime incidents, including online fraud, has increased significantly. The increase has been reported from around 467,000 in 2019 to more than 880,000 in 2023. In fact, CBS news has reported that in 2023, the losses of these scams cost Americans over $2.3 billion. And these are just the reported cases.

So what have we done to provide you with protection?

To begin with, we have now been required to have all of our devices (computes, tablets, cell phones) linked with cybersecurity and multi-factor authentication (MFA) programs. This allows access by not only our compliance departments, but an added layer of protection on any system that accesses your information.

At a practice level, we are also required annually to attend compliance training in areas such as anti-fraud and/or money laundering courses, as well as financial elder abuse training. These are designed to keep us knowledgeable and to identify issues that may present problems.

As I mentioned in the beginning, seniors seem to be victims more often. We have also taken additional steps in this area. One of these include a "Trusted Contact" form.

The reason for this form is to allow, or encourage, our senior relationships to have someone they trust have access to their financial information within our practice. This trusted contact is not allowed to perform any transactions, but offer another set of eyes on the behalf of the account holder to review transactions and statements.

As we move forward, this will become a point of emphasis for all of our relationships, not just seniors. Our goal is to continue to lead in your best interest and always have our service be morally correct. Please look for us to discuss this as part of our review process. However, if you wish to put this in place before our next meeting reach out to us. We will be happy to put this in place for you at any time.

As always, thanks for reading.

Bernie & Chad