Senior Citizens: Beware of Rogue Financial Service Professionals
By Tara Chabria

Most experts say that you should look for someone with credentials when shopping for Financial Services such as insurance and investments. For example a senior citizen looking for long term care insurance does a search on the web and find over 80 agents with the following designations and credentials.

To make it more confusing, over half had two of more of the three designations listed above.
Question: How do the consumer make sense of this. How does a consumer decide which designation empowers the agent to help them make suitable choices for consumers or are they cheap and deceptive marketing devices.  The three designations above is under investigation by the US Senate Special Committee On Aging. The reality is that there are some rogue designations in existence that give the appearance that those using them are specialists in the finances of older Americans says Larry Barton the current president of the American College located in Bryn Mawr Pennsylvania. These programs are not designations; they are educational programs, often presented in hotels over a two or three-day period,” Barton explained. “The entire situation should cause anyone who is a serious educator, regulator, or consumer to be alarmed.”

The following designations are not in question and are exempt from the investigation.