A new public service campaign launched by the Securities and Exchange Commission is aimed at providing older investors with important information about their finances.
The SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy (OIEA) unveiled the campaign that includes a TV spot with the theme “Never Stop Learning”. It emphasizes that seniors should continue to educate themselves about protecting their money and investing for their future.
The spot includes four informational videos about issues of importance to older adults:
-Financial warning signs for caregivers to protect those they care for, including watching out for sudden financial changes, missing cash, and unusual account withdrawals or wire transfers.
-Red flags of fraud, such as romance scams, imposter scams, crypto scams, high-pressure sales tactics and deals that seem good to be true.
-Protecting retirement money by conducting background checks on investment professionals, resisting the temptation to invest for fear of missing out, using strong passwords and checking privacy settings to protect online and social media accounts.
– Explaining the importance of designating a trusted contact to serve as a backup contact for a person’s brokerage account in case the account holder cannot be reached, becomes sick, or suffers diminished capacity.
“Older investors have years of life experience, and we want to encourage them to build on their experiences and knowledge to never stop learning about investing and fraud protection,” said Lori Schock, Director of the SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy. “This year’s campaign, along with our new Never Stop Learning resource pages, provides vital information so that older investors have the tools and resources to safeguard their hard-earned money from fraud and abuse.”
The campaign also promotes the free tools and resources available on Investor.gov, including new resource pages for older investors that are in both English and Spanish. The site provides information about topics including investing in retirement, spotting fraud, and doing background checks on financial advisors. More than 60 million users have accessed Investor.gov since it launched in October 2009, the SEC said.
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