Protect your finances

You can take charge now to ensure your finances are in the right hands in the future. Some steps to take are:

• In case over the years, you become unable to make decisions on your own, develop necessary legal documents to ensure future decisions about your finances match with your expressed preferences and desires.
• Establish direct deposits so your funds can go where you want them
• Set up joint bank accounts so one or more people besides yourself can make decisions about your funds
• Educate yourself by going to the Washington State Attorney General’s website in order to avoid fraudulent practices that often target older adults.
• Learn from the Washington State Secretary of State about other resources to help protect your finances
• Learn more and access tools at www.MyMoney.gov, a product of the Congressionally Chartered Federal Financial Literacy and Education Commission.