In the next decade and a half, our country’s senior population is expected to grow as the “baby boomer” generation enters the retirement age. By 2030, it is estimated that 18% of the Nation’s population will be 65 years or older.
Because of this expanding group, seniors today make up an enormous portion of the investor community in modern financial markets, and their presence will only increase in the next 10 to 15 years.
One of the many challenges that our seniors face today is predatory attacks on their investments by financial scam artists that abuse the system to steal from these older investors. Seniors are alarmingly more susceptible to scam artists and other financial predators than are other groups, providing for a multi-billion dollar per year criminal industry.
Thus, it is essential that our seniors are provided the necessary resources and protections against investment fraud perpetrators, who are estimated to cost our seniors more than $2.9 billion annually through illegal financial abuses.
The seniors in our Second District have worked hard their whole lives to build their savings. It is absolutely unacceptable and deplorable for their hard-earned investments to be so egregiously abused.
That is why last week I joined Congresswoman Kyrsten Sinema (AZ-09) in introducing the Senior$afe Act in the House. This bipartisan bill is a companion bill to Senator Susan Collins’ legislation that she introduced in the Senate this past October.
The Senior$afe Act will enable financial institutions to report suspected instances of financial exploitation by an investment finance predator to the proper agencies to combat the abuse. It also promotes training financial institution employees to identify suspected financial fraud. This bill would encourage banks, credit unions, investment advisors, and broker-dealers to report suspected financial fraud targeting senior citizens to the proper authorities.
My colleague, Senator Susan Collins, has worked hard on her bill in the Senate to fight for important protections for our senior investors and I applaud her good work. I am honored to introduce a bipartisan companion bill in the House, continuing to advance this important legislation to protect our seniors.
Seniors have worked their entire lives and built their investments through hard, honest work. We should ensure that they are afforded these important protections on their investments for their futures.
