Living in a 55+ community, I have heard about some elderly residents who have issues regarding unpaid bills, delayed payments, losing money in scams, and investing in high risk stocks. These residents were financially very savvy a few years ago and now they have difficulty keeping up. In some cases, their children have started handling their finances.
An article ( ” Dollars and Dementia – An early warning system” in AARP Bulletin, December 2025 issue) points out this could be an early warning sign that their cognitive abilities are declining. A study, cited in this article, found that 7.4 million older adults with dementia or cognitive impairment were managing their household finances on their own.
Giving up financial control is a very hard thing to do. It is a highly emotional decision. I have seen children taking away car keys when parents cannot drive safely. This may be a lot easier than handing over financial control.
This
study found that nearly 84% of survey respondents would not want to give up financial control at the onset of cognitive decline, preferring to wait for a moment before they would completely lose the ability to manage their own money.
What has been your experience dealing with such a situation? If you are a retiree, how will you prepare in advance so the transition is smooth, when the time comes?
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I am 78, all in Trust or IRA’s with beneficiaries. One of my children will be an executor to handle our finances, when we pass for the 3 children. We have a line of succession for Power of Attorney for Health and for Property. However, as we grow older I plan to give them more and more insight into all our finances, and have prepared documents with detailing the banks, Vanguard, Fidelity and the like. I think easing into it is the way to go. I hope to manage my finances until sometime in my 90’s. I have done my Fed taxes since I was 16, and still do, but now get help from Turbo Tax. At 16, it was one page, now it is like 50, deepening how you count all the schedules.
I’m 75 and never married. My only close relatives are my 78-year-old brother and my 65-year-old sister. None of us have any children. My brother is in assisted living, I handle his relatively simple finances. My sister and I both have more savings than we will ever likely spend.
I have tried to simplify my finances. My investments are all at Vanguard, mostly in a traditional and a Roth IRA. I do most of my banking with Capital One, which has excellent online features to manage my accounts. I plan to close a long-dormant credit union account in the next few days.
In my will, I’m leaving my home and any vehicle to a non-profit. My IRAs will also mostly go to non-profits as beneficiaries.
When I’m no longer capable of managing my own financial affairs, I plan to use Vanguard’s financial advisory service for my IRAs. A local non-profit set up to protect the elderly will handle the rest of my finances and pay my bills for a fee.
I accept that I will probably stop driving entirely in a few years. I expect to move to a senior facility of some sort around then. Most likely, I’ll donate my home to the non-profit at that time.
The big question in my mind is how to decide when to turn my finances over to others. That will certainly be much harder for me than the decision to stop driving.
Looks like you have thought through a lot of things already and organized well. Question of when you should hand over control of finances is a big one. Someone close to you, who sees you often, can figure out if you are slipping and that could be the trigger. Others on this board may have better suggestions.
Sundar, I appreciate very much that you have brought up this topic again, I tried to ask about it when the forums first opened, but received few responses. We are in this situation now with our elderly parents and I appreciated all of the responses given. It is a difficult time. Chris