clifp
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
- Joined
- Oct 27, 2006
- Messages
- 7,733
I know many folks have helped/taken over their elder parents' finances.
I've been managing my parents investment since the late 80s, and my sister and I have been handling all my mom's money for the last 1/2 dozen years.
The migration online greatly simplified many things. However, as website security has increased, with security questions, two factor authentication, biometrics it is becoming increasingly difficult to help our folks. I fear this is going to be even worse for us as we age to remember all the steps to log on to our accounts, and especially difficult for our kids who might want to help us.
When mom first started showing signs of dementia, she had accounts with Vanguard, Schwab, A credit union, and 4 or 5 banks and advisers. The first thing I did was consolidate, Vanguard, Schwab, one local bank.
In theory, this should not be complicated you get a power of attorney and so armed the financial institution will let you do everything you do. In practice, every major financial institution has its own power of attorney form. This means a trip to a notary while hoping your parent has a good day, and they know their name, social security #, and date of birth. (No longer true for my mom)
Even power of attorney does not do everything you want. For example, while I can write checks and move money for my mom's main Schwab account, it didn't cover the 4 educational saving accounts we set up for Great Grandchildren. So my sister just forged her name again so her great grandchild can use their ESA for college this year.
Now days managing anyone else financial account means you need access to their phone. In a few years, you may need to cut off your loved ones finger in order to get access to their money
I'm curious is there any organization, like AARP working on making this easier?
A really good starting point would be to have a universal power of attorney form that all financial institutions would have to accept. Does anyone know if such a thing exists?
I've set up my niece with password to my lastpass account, as well as contact names, and spreadsheet listing all my assets. But if die tomorrow without my phone pin, and fingerprint it won't do her a lot of good.
I've been managing my parents investment since the late 80s, and my sister and I have been handling all my mom's money for the last 1/2 dozen years.
The migration online greatly simplified many things. However, as website security has increased, with security questions, two factor authentication, biometrics it is becoming increasingly difficult to help our folks. I fear this is going to be even worse for us as we age to remember all the steps to log on to our accounts, and especially difficult for our kids who might want to help us.
When mom first started showing signs of dementia, she had accounts with Vanguard, Schwab, A credit union, and 4 or 5 banks and advisers. The first thing I did was consolidate, Vanguard, Schwab, one local bank.
In theory, this should not be complicated you get a power of attorney and so armed the financial institution will let you do everything you do. In practice, every major financial institution has its own power of attorney form. This means a trip to a notary while hoping your parent has a good day, and they know their name, social security #, and date of birth. (No longer true for my mom)
Even power of attorney does not do everything you want. For example, while I can write checks and move money for my mom's main Schwab account, it didn't cover the 4 educational saving accounts we set up for Great Grandchildren. So my sister just forged her name again so her great grandchild can use their ESA for college this year.
Now days managing anyone else financial account means you need access to their phone. In a few years, you may need to cut off your loved ones finger in order to get access to their money
I'm curious is there any organization, like AARP working on making this easier?
A really good starting point would be to have a universal power of attorney form that all financial institutions would have to accept. Does anyone know if such a thing exists?
I've set up my niece with password to my lastpass account, as well as contact names, and spreadsheet listing all my assets. But if die tomorrow without my phone pin, and fingerprint it won't do her a lot of good.