Angela Reynolds knew her mother’s memory was slipping, but didn’t realize how bad things had gotten until she started to untangle her mom’s finances: unpaid bills, unusual cash withdrawals, and oddly, the mortgage of the family home had been refinanced at a higher interest rate.
Looking back, Reynolds realizes that her mother was in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease: “By the time we caught on, it was too late.”
Reynolds and her mother are among a large group of Americans grappling with the financial consequences of cognitive decline.
A growing body of research shows money problems are a possible warning sign — rather than just the fallout — of certain neurological disorders. This includes a 2020 study from Johns Hopkins University of more than 81,000 Medicare beneficiaries which found that people with Alzheimer’s and related dementias started to develop subprime credit up to six years before a formal diagnosis.
The reach of these conditions is enormous. One recent study found that nearly 10% of people over age 65 have dementia; more than twice as many are living with mild cognitive impairment.
Isolated or ill, older adults are more vulnerable to exploitation by scammers or financial abuse from caregivers, say legal and medical experts. Other signs of dementia can include people buying things without reason, piling their homes with unopened boxes while draining down their bank accounts. Or they may impulsively give away large sums of money. This all puts their homes, retirement savings and inheritances at risk.
Missing the signs of declining cognition
One weekday during the spring of 2018, Reynolds sat next to her…
Read the full article here
