You see it all too often: A caretaker is arrested for stealing funds from a senior under his or her care. What you don’t see as frequently—though I believe it’s a great deal more prevalent—is family financial fraud, primarily targeting seniors. It generally takes the form of identity theft and account takeovers. It often involves close family members, in-laws, and friends, and it can leave seniors virtually destitute.
I’m a list maker. I carry around various lists for different parts of my life, and add and delete as I work my way through the tasks. While much in my life has become digital, I always write these lists out on paper. No digital task lists on my Blackberry or in my e-mail system.
But in other ways, I’ve eliminated a significant amount of paper from my life. One benefit is that fewer important pieces of correspondence have to compete with the avalanche of catalogs that seem to pour into the mailbox with astounding regularity. However, there are risks.
