Broken Trust: Elders, Families and Finances

This study from the MetLife Mature Market Institute (MMI), the National Committee for

the Prevention of Elder Abuse, and the Center for Gerontology at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University provides a comprehensive understanding about the extent and implications of elder financial abuse in all its various manifestations—personal, institutional, and societal.

Researchers from the National Committee for the Prevention of Elder Abuse (NCPEA) reviewed all newsfeed articles from April through June 2008 collected by the Administration on Aging’s National Center on Elder Abuse (NCEA), National Association of Adult Protective Services (NAPSA.

Key Findings:

• While underreported, the annual financial loss by victims of elder financial abuse is

estimated to be at least $2.6 billion dollars • Elders’ vulnerabilities and larger net worth

make them a prime target for financial abuse • The increased aging of the population, social changes, and technology advances will lead to a dramatic increase in the opportunity for a growing level of elder financial abuse

• The perpetrators of elder financial abuse are typically not strangers and most are

people who have gained the trust of the older individual, including business and service

professionals and family members

• The victims of elder financial abuse come from all walks of life, and this type of abuse

affects elders regardless of gender, race, or ethnicity

To read the full report go to:

http://www.metlife.com/assets/cao/mmi/publications/studies/mmi-studies-broken-trust.pdf