National Senior Fraud Awareness Day

They are taking this action to raise awareness of the growing fraudulent activities targeting older adults. Protecting the rights and preventing abuse of older adults and people with disabilities is our top priority at ACL, and we are working with states to develop systems and programs to prevent abuse from happening out, while also assisting individuals who have experienced abuse. Together with our partners at the National Center for Elder Abuse, we are also counting down the days until June 15th, World Elder Abuse Awareness Day, the day we unite with communities around the world to shed light on this important issue.

National Senior Fraud Awareness Day also got us thinking about financial security in general and inspired us to write this post about the importance of financial literacy, retirement planning, achieve economic rights and security.

ACL supports a variety of initiatives to promote financial security in the lives of older adults, people with disabilities, families and carers in communities across the country. From programs to help young people with disabilities find work, to helping carers balance work with helping elderly loved ones, ACL is committed to boosting the financial viability of everyone we work with serve.

I would like to highlight two programs that have made a particular difference for older adults: the Retirement Information and Counseling Program; and the National Resource and Education Center for Women and Retirement.

There are approximately 700,000 private (and thousands) public retirement and retirement plans in the United States With one employee likely to have worked for several employers and these employers may have consolidating, selling their plan or going bankrupt, it is difficult for the average person to know where to go for help in figuring out if the person is receiving all of their pension benefits are not. Without their pensions earned, these Americans risk living in poverty during retirement or not being able to retire at all. For many Americans, a pension becomes the only asset or savings.

ACL's pension advisory projects provide hands-on assistance in pursuing claims and helping older adults access pension plans lost to mergers and acquisitions; answer questions about complex plan terms; and refer the target to other professionals for support. Since its founding in 1993, the projects have successfully recovered hundreds of millions of dollars in customer benefits, returning more than nine dollars for every federal dollar invested in the program.

Complementing the direct services and legal expertise of the Retirement Information and Counseling Program, the National Center for Women's Education and Resources in Retirement and Resources, run by the Women's Institute for Safe Retirement (WISER) ), which works to improve women's chances of securing a retirement income through effective savings strategies. The program provides education, skills building, and special retirement planning tools to low-income women to increase their financial security in retirement. For example, during last year, WISER provided training and educational tools as well to women in rural of West Virginia; American Indian women in Tulsa, Oklahoma; and child care providers in Charleston, West Virginia. They provide educational brochures, blog posts, and training materials that explain complex financial and retirement concepts like 401Ks, employer-matched benefits, and compound interest to best understood by the public.

At ACL, we believe that everyone should have the right to choose and control decisions in and about their lives, and we know economic security can be a key factor in helping people live independently through Programs like this, ACL help make this possible for more people.