DIMINISHED FINANCIAL CAPACITY AND FINANCIAL EXPLOITATION OF OLDER ADULTS

Abstract

The ability independently to manage one’s financial affairs, known as financial capacity, is an everyday life skill of critical importance. Financial capacity is closely tied to personal independence and successful community function, and has been equated to “diet, exercise, and sleep” as a key indicator of health status in adults. Impairment of financial capacity is also closely linked to risk of financial exploitation and financial elder abuse. This paper discusses how normal cognitive aging and dementias of aging diminish financial capacity in the elderly and create vulnerability to financial exploitation. It also discusses recent research into very early financial declines in older adults, and their implications for impaired financial decision-making and financial exploitation by others. The paper concludes by discussing neuroimaging studies of financial skill decline in patients with MCI and AD dementia, and the promise they hold for early identification and protection of at-risk elderly.