Seniors Are More Likely to Be Victims of Money Scams According to FBI

Here’s a slap for the gray-haired cowboys among us.

The FBI tells us that seniors are most likely to be the victims of money scams for many reasons.

They usually have a nest egg…

They’re from a generation that was raised to be polite and courteous, and scammers use that against them…

They’re less likely to report a scam or fraud because they’re embarrassed to admit they were taken…

And even when they do report the crime and the scammer is caught, they tend to make bad witnesses – memory issues and all.

But new research points to another reason they get taken as often as they do and it has nothing to do with the scumbags of the world. It’s all about who we really are… cowboys!

Seniors as a group take so many high risks with their money because they are lured by the same thrill of the big kill as everyone else is.

The image of the wise old person who knows a bucket of horse manure when he sees or smells it is a bunch of bunk.

Research conducted over a 13-year period found that seniors are just as likely as anyone else to jump into an investment scam for the possibility of a big payoff.

If that isn’t bad enough, here’s the zinger. The research states that most do it multiple times. Fool me once, shame on you…

Talk about adrenaline junkies! They’re just as likely to get taken and for the same reasons the less experienced and dumber folks of the world are. The thrill of it all. The possibility of hitting the big one.

You want thrills? Go to the race track. Buy a lottery ticket. Date someone 30 or 40 years younger than you.

No, forget the dating thing… That’ll cost you more than a scam.

But keep your emotions and crazy dreams of riches out of your money decisions. Investing at our age is about security and safety. It’s about making enough to pay our bills and our taxes and staying ahead of inflation.

If you haven’t gotten the “money cowboy” out of your system, you will soon. Keep plowing your money into big-return schemes and you won’t have enough left to do it again. That’s the only remedy for some of us.

Come on, folks, let’s get real. Our rodeo days are over. If you want to trot into the sunset with some cash in your pockets, get off the emotional ride.

Good investing,

Steve