NYT: Financial Skills May Be “First to Go”
Sunday’s New York Times has a feature article on aging and financial skills, and the message is not “just” for individuals with dementia:
“Studies show that the ability to perform simple math problems, as well as handling financial matters, are typically one of the first set of skills to decline in diseases of the mind, like Alzheimer’s, and Ms. Clark’s father-in-law, who suffered from mild dementia, was no exception. Research has also shown that even cognitively normal people may reach a point where financial decision-making becomes more challenging.”
The article gives several example of individuals who were vulnerable to exploitation, because of their reduced interest in or understanding of financial decisions. David Laibson, an economics professor at Harvard, one of the researchers cited in the article said “he believed that crystallized intelligence tended to plateau when people reached their 70s.” Further, “he wishes all 65-year-olds would start by simplifying their financial lives, reducing the money clutter to just a few mutual funds at a reputable institution.”
The article, As Cognition Slips, Financial Skills Are Often the First to Go, offers several links to recent reports and studies, as well as examples of “early signs.”
Hat tip to Penn State’s Dickinson Law 1L student Spencer Flohr for sharing the link to this article — and noting the probable relevance to law students’ studies of trusts and estates law. Good catch!