The topic of elder financial fraud is becoming a bigger topic by the day. CNBC (I will give them credit) had a good article on it recently. Before we run down some of the facts let me mention something. One of the first lines of defense when it comes to elder financial abuse falls onto financial advisors.
I follow a few financial planners on Twitter and last week two of them were going back and forth (in a positive interaction) tweeting about how service levels differ between financial planners, advisors and salespeople. One of them, Carolyn McClanahan, has a graphic on her website comparing her services to asset-based advisors and commission-based advisors. I thought this was great as I frequently get people asking me what the difference is between what I cover with my clients and the typical financial advisor. It is so great I created my own and figured it was worth sharing to illustrate what comprehensive financial planning looks like in my world.