Money Leaks in Dementia Care

The article I could never find again

Early on as a power of attorney, I read an article that said people with dementia often run into financial trouble. Not through one big decision, but through a slow build-up of small things slipping through the cracks.

I have never been able to find that article again. The idea stuck with me anyway, because once I started looking, I recognised it everywhere in real life. What follows is the version I have lived, and what I have learned to watch for.

What a money leak actually looks like

I am not related to my senior by blood, so when I became POA in 2017, I was not involved in her day-to-day finances. I knew she had a pension, and I assumed her naturally thrifty nature would protect her.

I started paying closer attention when she was having trouble with bills. She wanted to pay the same bill several times because she knew it needed to be paid, but did not remember she already had. About three months in, I realised it was more complicated than that.

The phone got cut off. When she cancelled her cable to save money, she stopped getting e-bills from the telephone company, so she never thought about those bills again. I found written notes to the house insurance company saying she did not own a home, her parents did, and the bill was months overdue by the time I paid it for her. She could not remember the PIN for her bank card, so she would go into the branch and withdraw large sums to avoid going back.

A particularly strange one: someone at the bank recommended she reduce her credit card limit to 750 dollars. For months afterward she received repeated over-limit notices, 25 dollar fees, and warnings that she was damaging her credit, despite no real change in spending. A 750 dollar limit is simply unrealistic now. Several of her annual bills are higher than that on their own.

None of these things caused real damage. But they could have.

Why small gaps get expensive fast

If something had happened while the insurance was lapsed, the consequences could have been life-altering.

Tax filings are another quiet trap. In British Columbia, owners in designated areas have to declare every year for the Speculation and Vacancy Tax, even when nothing has changed. If you do not complete the declaration, you can be charged the tax at the maximum rate of two percent of the property's assessed value.¹ For a senior who has simply stopped opening the mail, that is a large and avoidable bill.

The human cost can be worse than the money. A friend's stepmom lost her place in subsidised housing because she stopped paying rent, and she stopped paying rent because she stopped checking her mail.

This is what money leaks look like in dementia care. Not one big mistake. Just a series of small, easy-to-miss breakdowns.

Why this happens with dementia

This is not carelessness, and it is not a character flaw. As the Alzheimer Society of B.C. puts it, when you are living with dementia "it can become difficult to make choices about your care, finances and other crucial decisions as your dementia progresses."² Routine money tasks depend on memory and follow-through, and those are exactly the things that slip.

It also makes people more vulnerable. A Government of Canada report on financial crimes against seniors notes that factors which "could render some older people more at risk include cognitive impairments."³ The same gaps that cause missed bills can be exploited by others.

That is why the Alzheimer Society encourages planning "as early as possible," while the person can still take part in the conversation.² Stepping in sooner is not taking over. It is getting ahead of the leaks.

The warning signs I watch for

If you have a senior in your life who may be experiencing early cognitive decline, here are some of the things I would watch for:

• Difficulty counting change or calculating a tip.
• Missing payments for rent, mortgage, insurance, credit cards, or utilities.
• Double-paying bills.
• Unusual changes to accounts, such as stopping automatic payments or reducing a credit limit.
• Missing filings for property tax or vacancy tax declarations.
• Trouble using a bank card or credit card when a PIN is required.
• Unopened and unpaid bills piling up in the mail.

Any one of these can signal the need to look at the bigger financial picture.

Putting guardrails in without taking over

If you are starting to notice even a few of these signs, it is worth stepping in earlier than feels necessary. Not to take over everything, but to put some simple guardrails in place while things are still manageable.

That might look like putting withdrawal limits on a primary account, getting a clear picture of all the accounts with an accountant, or simply making sure someone is regularly reviewing the bills and the mail. For me, involving an accountant more directly was one of the most useful decisions I made.

If you want a structured place to begin, our money leak audit walks you through the common blind spots in a few minutes, so you can see where the gaps are before they cost anything.

Where to start

The goal is not just to manage someone's money. It is to catch the leaks early, before a series of small gaps becomes something much harder, and much more expensive, to fix later.

Start with the mail and the bills you can see today. Get a clear picture of what is automatic, what is overdue, and what nobody is watching. That single step closes more leaks than any other.