Category: News

The Elder Scam Crisis: Protect Yourself Part One

According to a recent AARP study, an estimated $28.3 billion is lost to elder fraud scams each year. The study found that 72% — or more than $20 billion — is taken by individuals who are known to the victims, like family members, friends, or advisers. This blog post will examine 10 of the most common elder fraud scams. Namely, how they work, and what to do if you find yourself or a loved one falling for a scam. Before

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Advanced Planning for Health Care Tools

Advance health care directive (AHCD) An advance health care directive (AHCD) is a legal document that outlines your preferences for medical decisions when you are unable to make those decisions yourself. It serves as a guide for your health care team and loved ones, helping them understand your wishes regarding treatment options and interventions. AHCD gives you control over medical decisions An AHCD gives you a voice in your medical treatment even when you are unable to communicate for yourself, and ensures that

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Stalking

The dictionary defines stalking as the act of willfully and repeatedly following or harassing another person causing the other person to be fearful due to express or implied threats. Stalking is a public health problem that affects millions of people in the United States. Stalking tactics, according to the CDC, include: Unwanted following and watching of the victim Unwanted approaching or showing up in places, such as the victim’s home, workplace, or school Unwanted use of global positioning system (GPS)

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Loneliness

The CDC defines social isolation as the lack of relationships with others. It is the feeling of having little to no social support or contact. The CDC defines loneliness as a feeling of being alone or disconnected from others. It occurs when you feel like you don’t belong or if you feel that you don’t have meaningful relationships with others. These feelings can affect people at any stage of life, but seniors are especially vulnerable as they are more likely

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Pickleball: What it is and Why Seniors Love it

What is Pickleball? You’ve probably heard of pickleball, a hot sports trend that became extremely popular during the Covid-19 pandemic. For those unfamiliar with this sport, pickleball is a racket sport played on a small court. The sport can be played as singles, with one person playing against another person, or as doubles, with two teams of two playing one another. What is Pickleball Popular? Pickleball has become especially popular among seniors. Pickleball appeals to older adults for a number

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Understanding Domestic Violence

October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month Domestic violence is very common and occurs in all communities, across all demographics. There are many different forms of domestic violence. It is important to recognize that domestic violence does not have to include physical abuse, such as hitting someone, or physical injury to constitute domestic violence. Domestic violence is often defined as a pattern of abusive behavior that is used by one person to gain or maintain power and control over another person.

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Small Claims and Security Deposit

While disputes between a landlord and tenant commonly arise, most of these disagreements are resolved by an email, phone call, or in person conversation. But in some cases of landlord conduct, a tenant’s only hope for a resolution may be by way of formal legal proceedings. In these cases, small claims may be the best option. and recover the money you paid out of pocket. Because you risk the landlord serving you a Three-Day Notice to Pay or Quit if

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What Can You Do If You Paid a Scammer With a Gift Card?

One common element of scams is that the scammers ask us to pay them using payment methods that are difficult to trace. These payment methods include payment via wire transfer, gift cards, cryptocurrency, or even cash. Scammers do this because it is harder for us to recover our money when we send the money through one of these methods. With gift card scams, the scammers often pretend to be someone they’re not and tell you that you must send money

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Understanding the Psychology of Scams

What are Psychology Scams? When we refer to the psychology of scams, we’re talking about what it is about human nature that makes us vulnerable to scams and how scammers use these characteristics to trick us. We’re all vulnerable to scams whether we realize this or not. One common misconception about scams is that only foolish people fall prey to scammers. This is far from true. In fact, overconfidence in your own abilities to avoid being scammed could put you

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Understanding Synthetic Identity Theft

Identity theft is very common in the United States and costs millions of dollars each year.  In 2019, one in nine people in the US experienced some form of ID theft. In addition to the financial cost, having your identity stolen is stressful and can take a long time to recover from. Identity theft recovery is a multi-step process that is challenging for many seniors. As thieves have gotten more sophisticated, they’ve improved their tactics and devised new ways to

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