Supporting aging parents with their finances can feel overwhelming but taking a few proactive steps can make the process smoother. This guide serves as a starting point for organizing, monitoring, and protecting your parents’ financial well-being.
Start the Conversation with Your Parents
- Begin with empathy — frame it as wanting to support rather than take control.
- Focus on their goals and preferences: “I want to make sure your bills are always paid on time and your money is safe.”
- Reassure them that involving you doesn’t mean losing independence.
- Set the expectation that you’ll work together to put systems in place now, so there’s less stress later.
Get Documents Organized and Secure
Before stepping in legally or financially, it helps to gather and organize your parents’ key records. A few important actions:
- Create a list of all accounts with numbers and institutions.
- Confirm that accounts and policies are active and in good standing.
- Collect essential legal documents such as wills, trusts, birth certificates, insurance policies, and property deeds.
- Check for outdated or invalid documents and update them if needed.
- Record important contact information for advisers, banks, and service providers.
- Store originals in a fire-proof, secure box and keep scanned copies in an encrypted digital folder.
Accessing Accounts Without Becoming a Co-Owner
The next step is ensuring you have the right level of access to your parents’ accounts
without creating unintended ownership or tax complications.
- Authorized Signer / Signature Authority: a person is granted permission by the account owner to access and manage the account on their behalf.
- Lets you pay bills and manage accounts without being a joint owner.
- Avoids ownership, tax, and creditor issues tied to co-signing.
- Each bank has its own forms — worth calling and asking about while your parents are with you.
- Financial Power of Attorney (POA): a legal document that grants a designated individual the authority to manage the financial affairs of the person who created the power of attorney.
- Gives you legal authority to manage finances if your parents cannot.
- Key steps:
- Make sure it’s durable (remains valid if they become incapacitated).
- Provide each financial institution with a copy of the POA and keep proof of acceptance.
- Some institutions also require their own POA form; it is best to complete these in advance.
- Key steps:
- Gives you legal authority to manage finances if your parents cannot.
Monitoring and Managing Finances
- Automation
- Set up automatic bill pay for recurring expenses (utilities, insurance, etc.).
- Use account alerts (texts or emails) for large withdrawals or unusual charges.
- Monitoring Tools
- Ask your Altair team about services that can track activity across accounts, flag unusual spending, and provide caregiver dashboards.
- Online banking dashboards can also help you review accounts in real time.
- Consider consolidating accounts and limiting credit cards to reduce paperwork and oversight.
Protecting Against Fraud & Scams
- Phone Safety
- Landlines are a frequent source of scam calls. If possible, remove the landline or add a call-blocking service.
- Credit Protection
- Consider placing a credit freeze or fraud alert with Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. This prevents new accounts from being opened in their name.
- Mail Safety
- Make sure sensitive mail (bank/credit card statements) goes to a secure mailbox or consider a forwarding address if needed.
Taking over a parent’s finances is never easy, but with the right steps in place, you can make the process smoother, safer, and less stressful for everyone involved. By planning ahead and setting clear safeguards around money management, you’ll not only help protect their assets but also support their financial well-being for years to come.
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The material shown is for informational purposes only and should not be construed as accounting, legal, or tax advice. Although we made efforts to verify the accuracy of the information, Altair Advisers cannot guarantee its accuracy. Please see Altair Advisers’ Form ADV Part 2A and Form CRS at https://altairadvisers.com/disclosures/ for additional information about Altair Advisers’ business practices and conflicts identified.