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11.8: The Elderly

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    308861
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    Today's elderly have a reputation for being conservative in their spending and in saving. Yet more and more elderly are mismanaging their money. USA Today online reported that "From 1991 to 2007, the rate of personal bankruptcy filings among those ages 65 or older jumped by \(150 \%\), according to AARP, which will release the new research from the Consumer Bankruptcy Project. The most startling rise occurred among those ages 75 to 84 , whose rate soared \(433 \% .^{16}\)

    Reasons for this trend include medical bills, wanting things they can't afford, maintaining a higher status, being taken advantage of by predatory lenders, and inflation that makes the spending power of their retirements less powerful. Predators tend to take advantage of the elderly, but others fall prey to them also.

    The most common theme is the quick cash, something-for-nothing, rare opportunity approach that makes you feel pressure to act now or you might miss the payoff. By far the most notable U.S. con man was Bernie Madoff who conned millions from the country's elite class who invested with him in order to get a huge and quick payoff on their money. Confidence scams tend to exploit our greed, vanity, and ignorance as they promise quick profits, low risks, and certain outcomes. Confidence scams are as old as time and rarely ever produce the desired outcome for the investor. They are fundamentally unsecured loans with huge risks and will cost millions of dollars this year to naïve investors. There never has and never will be a something for nothing miracle investment.


    Footnotes

    16. Bankruptcy Rising Among Seniors” retrieved 5 April, 2010 from http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/...-seniors_N.htm


    11.8: The Elderly is shared under a CC BY 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by LibreTexts.