'Cognitive Decline' And Its Financial Early Warning Signs . . . | Your stories | Discussion forum

We may have discussed this in threads in the past but it is a good reminder and the link does a pretty good job of the main 'red flags'. I am a senior senior soon to be an octogenarian and have prepared best I can. To comment on the 5 points:

1. Absolutely went to auto payment as much as possible years ago. Only a few recurring things remain for 'manual initiation' and that is property taxes, income tax owing Apr 30, and my auto insurance/registration which needs signatures anyway. Even my tax instalments to CRA are set on auto-pay. I have Enduring POA for a family member. I took on that responsibility on condition he put everything he could on auto-payment.

2. Not much anyone can do about it if I fall into that trap, other than my POA recognizing my decline and persuading me to hand over the reins.

3. Similar to 2 above. I do have 'trusted contacts' set up for my brokerage accounts, all of which however are self-directed. I am however not convinced there is sufficient brokerage oversight of such accounts vs advisor managed accounts. Again, it would be best for me to soon give my POA trading rights so that he could see/monitor my actions in my brokerage accounts.

4. I am not a believer in adding an offspring as a JTWROS owner of any of my accounts for all the reasons stated. I view Enduring POA as the proper way to do this.

5. I have had updated Wills, and enduring POA, in place for decades. This includes digital Wills and the proper lists of assets and where held, access to my Password Manager, and guidance via IPS (Investment Policy Statement) for my investment accounts.

Not explicitly stated but similarly important as one ages. Simplicity is key. Avoid proliferation of accounts (bank and investment) and keep investment accounts simple with minimal holdings of ETFs.