Money mistakes could signal beginning of dementia

Some of the early signs of dementia are financial: forgetting to pay bills, for example, or having trouble calculating a tip. People who develop dementia also are more likely to miss credit card payments and have subprime credit scores years before they’re diagnosed, according to a study published last year in medical journal JAMA Internal Medicine.

Researchers linked health records for more than 80,000 Medicare beneficiaries to credit bureau data and found that people who developed dementia had a higher risk of skipping credit card payments starting six years before their diagnosis. The study found the chances of incurring subprime credit scores — indicating multiple or serious delinquencies — rose as early as two and a half years before diagnosis.

Researcher Lauren Hersch Nicholas, a health economist and associate professor at the University of Colorado School of Public Health, says the study was inspired by horror stories of people suffering catastrophic financial losses because of undetected cognitive decline.

“They and their families had no idea that they were in the early stages of dementia until something happened, like the house would get foreclosed on,” Nicholas says.

If a loved one is struggling to manage money, there may be ways to protect their finances and credit rating while preserving their dignity and autonomy. If you’re concerned about your own vulnerability to cognitive decline, you can also set up guardrails to protect yourself.

Simplify, automate and alert

EverSafe, a technology service that monitors people’s financial accounts for signs of fraud and identity theft, has some clients with dozens of bank, brokerage and credit card accounts, says EverSafe co-founder and CEO Howard Tischler. Even without cognitive issues, “it’s hard to stay on top of that,” Tischler says.

Consolidating to one bank, one brokerage and one or two credit cards can make monitoring accounts easier. Putting bills on autopay can prevent missed payments, although bank balances still have to be monitored so that those payments don’t deplete the account, Nicholas notes.

Most accounts allow customers to set up alerts so that they’re notified by text or email of low balances, transactions that exceed a limit you set or other potential issues. Often you can add more than one phone number or email address so that a second person is notified, as well.

Alerts can be set up online, or you can call the financial provider’s customer service number,