With the aging of the U.S. population, financial exploitation of seniors is a serious and growing concern. To help combat this, on February 5th the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) adopted new rules that requires member firms (such as Charles Schwab & Co.) to make reasonable effort to obtain the name of and contact information for a trusted contact person for a client’s account. The Trusted Contact person is intended to be a resource for Schwab AND ZRC Wealth Management in administering your account, protecting assets and responding to possible financial exploitation.
The Trusted Contact you elect can be a close family member, child, sibling, friend or neighbor, someone who knows you well and has your best interest at heart. Examples of when we would reach out to a Trusted Contact could be:
- If we are unable to reach you after multiple attempts and methods, we might call the named Trusted Contact to inquire about your current contact information.
- If we notice unusual or out-of-character behavior with regard to spending/budget habits – say you start buying lavish “gifts” for a new “friend” – we might reach out to the Trusted Contact to analyze the circumstances of this new-found generous gift giving.
- If we suspect the onset of dementia, Alzheimer’s, or another form of diminished capacity.
- Only you as the account holder have the ability to add, update, or remove a Trusted Contact Person(s) for your account(s).
- Providing Schwab with Trusted Contact Person information is voluntary.
What you will be authorizing.
If you provide a Trusted Contact Person(s) to Schwab, you understand that you have authorized Schwab and ZRC to contact the Trusted Contact Person(s) at their discretion and to disclose information about your account to address possible activities that might indicate financial exploitation of you; to confirm the specifics of your current contact information, health status (including physical or mental capacity), or the identity of any legal guardian, executor, trustee, or holder of a power of attorney on your account(s); or as otherwise permitted by FINRA rules or state law.
We encourage all of our clients to name a Trusted Contact. To do this, simply fill out this short form, click HERE and upload it to our secure ShareFile portal click HERE, or contact Kelly Gillette, Client Advisor by email or at (707) 524-6131.
