" ... big do-it-yourself investing and trading venues like Vanguard Group, Fidelity Investments and Charles Schwab Corp. are strengthening some of the ways they detect possible signs of [baby boomers' cognitive] decline. Among other things, all three firms check for clients’ difficulty navigating security protocols or need for frequent password resets. In such cases, a designated family member might be informed." - Randall Smith, The Wall Street Journal, June 6, 2021.
Some baby boomers recognize they are not what they were - at least in their thinking processes.
A poignant example of that had been the character Denny Crane, played by William Shafter, on "Boston Legal." He referred to that as his "Mad Cow Disease." He even asked a colleague to shoot him when the time came that he totally lost it.
But more often, perhaps because a complex system of denial mechanism kick in, there is an unawareness of slow-moving cognitive decline.
In the process we baby boomers can make myriad bad decisions about our financial matters. Usually it's at a period of our lives when we have little margin for error.
Yes, some financial firms are monitoring signs of versions of early-stage dementia. But, what about those which aren't?
In simulating "thinking like a laywer," I wonder if in the coming years I start eroding my nest egg because I am no longer all-there. Can my family file a landmark lawsuit alleging that the financial institution was negligent in not establishing a screening system for my interactions, digital, on-the-phone and in-person, and alerting those on my personal-care network about that development?
Of the original 78.8 million baby boomers many of us are still alive. Next, factor in Gen X. By 2030, projects the U.S. Census Bureau, 20% of the U.S. population will be over-65.
Given our litigious society, financial institutions better be pro-active on this one.
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