Hearings to examine empowering seniors through financial literacy

The U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging will now come to order. I'd like to start today's hearing by asking you to think about someone you love. We all have somebody we love. I've got a I would first off think about a five-year-old granddaughter that turns six tomorrow. She's so excited about her birthday. Maybe it's a parent, a grandparent, even a neighbor you've lived down the street from your whole life. Someone who worked hard their entire career and did everything they could to set themselves up for retirement with the information available to them. Now ask yourself, ask yourself, is that enough? Does that person know when the best time to claim their Social Security benefits is? Do they know what happens to their monthly check if you claim it at 62 versus 67 versus 70? Do they know the difference between a Medicare Advantage plan and a Medigap supplement? Do they know what questions to ask before handing their savings over to a financial planner? Chances are they don't. And it's not entirely their fault. For so many Americans, and especially our seniors, it's hard to find the information. When you do find it, it's often incredibly complicated and it might be biased. As a country, we have done a poor job of ensuring people know their options and what route will work best for their needs. I wonder how AI answers these questions, it'd be interesting. And it's having real consequences on our seniors' lives. Right now, nearly half of older American households earn less than what's needed to cover basic living expenses. Housing, healthcare, transportation, food, the basics, and they've all gone up in cost. Social Security, which is about 78 percent of retirees what they depend on, only replaces about 40 percent of pre-retirement income on average. Oftentimes people don't think about that. The math's hard, the reality is stark, there's little room for error. At the same time, older Americans are being forced to make some of the most consequential financial decisions of their entire lives. When to retire, when to claim benefits, how to draw down savings without outliving them, how to evaluate insurance products, how to protect a home and an estate. One thing like in our state, people are frustrated you buy a house and then your property insurance keeps going up or your HOA fees. When I was growing up, if you got your house paid off, there was almost no other cost. These aren't easy questions and too many seniors are answering them alone, without clear guidance, under real pressure, and with less of a cushion than they expected. The result becomes a guessing game where they hope for the best and often fear for the worst. But you can't blame them. Too often the resources that are supposed to help people best prepare are buried on government websites, written in language designed for policy experts, and delivered too late. I just learned yesterday when the FDA does a recall, they just put it on a website. That's all they do. So you have no idea. No idea. Who would think that would be a problem? But the challenges don't stop there. On top of all that, the scammers come calling. You know, I get on a daily basis now, and I delete it and I hit spam, somebody that has said I'm approved for a new credit line. Every day, and it's a different number every day. In 2024, fraud and scams cost older Americans nearly $5 billion. These criminals are not amateurs. They use tools like artificial intelligence, voice cloning, government impersonation, and more to attack us all. They do their homework, they know exactly what to say and exactly how to say it. For all the work, they are counting on one thing, that nobody ever warned their victim about what to look for. That needs to change. Financial literacy is one of the most powerful and most underused tools we have to protect older Americans. Not just from fraud, but across the board. When seniors understand how their benefits work, they make better decisions. When they know how to read a financial statement and recognize bad actors, they're harder to deceive. When they understand the difference between a legitimate investment and a pitch that's too good to be true, they protect themselves. I got a letter from a Canadian law firm that said they think somebody died that was related to me because they had the last name Scott. And they said they would split it with me and it was something like $8 or $10 or $12 million bucks. And so it looked like a nice letterhead from a law firm, so I looked up I got on the web and I looked up the law firm, it looked like a legitimate law firm. But they didn't have any lawyers. Details, details. When they understand the difference between legitimate investment and a pitch that's too good to be true, they protect themselves. When they know where to turn for trusted help, they know they're not navigating this alone. And the best part, this doesn't require a new government program or more federal bureaucracy. It doesn't require more spending to be thrown at the problem. It requires clear information, trusted messengers, and the commitment to actually get that information to people's hands. This is exactly what this committee set out to do, and today I'm proud to announce the upcoming release of our it's from both the ranking member and me, a new resource, Guarding Your Nest Egg: A Financial Resource Guide for Older Adults. This package will cover the decisions that matter most in retirement: Social Security, Medicare, housing, charitable giving, disaster preparedness, and planning for the unexpected. It will also provide clear guidelines as to what a scam looks like and how to guard yourself against them. Plain language, tools you can actually use. It's available today at aging.senate.gov. Because every older American in this country deserves the tools to protect what they spent a lifetime building. Not more red tape, not more bureaucracy, just clear information and the freedom to use it. Now let me turn it over to the ranking member who's been a pleasure to work with on this committee.

Thank you, Chairman Scott. I'm very grateful that we're having this hearing today. I'm very excited about our report. I think it's going to be great. I think people are going to benefit from it and use it. Thanks to the witnesses for being here. I appreciate your expertise and your willingness to come help inform this debate so that we can hopefully do good things for our seniors and help them. April is recognized as National Financial Literacy Month and serves to raise awareness about the importance of financial education and income security. Over 11,000 Americans turn 65 every day, and longer lifespans translate into spending more years in retirement, fueling a need to carefully plan and to strategically save. These aging demographics also place a strain on our national, state, and local budgets, as well as our healthcare programs. Recently, the President shared that in his estimation, quote, "It's not possible to take care of Medicaid and Medicare. They can do it on a state basis. You can't do it on the federal level," end of quote. I would like to offer a strong counterargument to this statement. Since 1965, when Medicaid and Medicare were signed into law for older Americans, the disabled, and people with limited resources, the American people have expected these programs to be there to help take care of them and their loved ones when they need them. Just as government plan, develop, and budget for public programs, so do the American people when they're saving for their own lives. No matter the circumstance, whether they are focused on wealth management or tax strategies, building an emergency savings fund, or simply navigating paying for health insurance premiums or skilled nursing costs in retirement, Americans are simply doing the best they can to financially plan and provide for themselves and their families. CDC data shows that approximately 44 percent of adults over 65 are diagnosed with a disability. However, many people struggle to see themselves in these health statistics or to develop a future plan for a special needs adult or child. And despite individuals finding the time in their busy lives to build financial goals and striving to adopt a commitment to savings, the unexpected always happens. Suddenly, you have an injury, a loss of a job, or a death in the family, and it could be the family's breadwinner, requiring financial stabilization, resilience, and a new path forward. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau serves individuals who suffer a financial shock and are victims of financial fraud and different scams by providing resources and educational materials, and we recognize that more needs to be done strategically to coordinate across government to better protect older adults from financial abuse and elder abuse. I look forward to hearing from Americans on how they can become better empowered to secure their own future through enhanced financial competency and what opportunities exist to improve financial and digital literacy in our education system. I also welcome your views on how we tackle persistent gaps in financial and digital literacy in underserved communities and for women who are frequently responsible for caregiving and providing for multigenerational households. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Ranking Member. Now I'd like to welcome our witnesses to join us for today's hearing. Our first witness is Christine Kieffer, Senior Director and Interim Head of FINRA's Office of Investor Education. FINRA is a frontline watchdog for America's investment markets, responsible for overseeing broker-dealers, enforcing the rules that protect investors, and making sure that people selling financial products actually meet the standards required to do so. Christine leads FINRA's investor education mission where they work on developing the tools, resources, and programs that help everyday Americans, including older Americans, understand their financial options and protect themselves from bad actors. Thank you for being here, and please begin your testimony.

Good afternoon, Chairman Scott, Ranking Member Gillibrand, and members of the committee. My name is Christine Kieffer, and I serve as Interim Head of Investor Education at FINRA. I'm honored to be here to offer insights on the role of financial literacy in empowering seniors and preventing fraud. FINRA is a self-regulatory organization whose mission is to protect investors and preserve market integrity. The member firms and associated professionals we oversee are deeply committed to the issues being discussed today. For older Americans, financial literacy is not a luxury. It's an essential set of skills needed for building wealth, protecting savings, and preserving autonomy. A devastating loss at the hands of a scammer can undo a lifetime of work and severely impact both mental and physical health. Today, I would like to emphasize three points. Financial literacy is protective. It is only part of the solution. And success requires a team effort. First, financial literacy is a critical buffer against the predictable and unpredictable challenges of aging. Individuals with higher financial literacy are more likely to have emergency savings, better able to manage unexpected costs, and less susceptible to scams. Financial literacy matters not only in older age, but as we age. To support evidence-based programming, the FINRA Foundation undertakes and sponsors research to help policymakers and other stakeholders address financial literacy gaps. Second, financial literacy alone cannot provide adequate protection against scams at scale. It must be coupled with awareness of specific scams and a fluency in the tactics of persuasion, or persuasion literacy. Collectively, these skills help individuals defend against emotional manipulation and safeguard their assets. To maintain effectiveness, however, scam prevention messaging must be widely disseminated and frequently. And we must employ other tools, including enforcement and regulatory action, to protect Americans. Third, tackling financial fraud requires a collaborative approach. Cybersecurity and fraud threats are often sophisticated operations orchestrated by organized criminals across the globe, demanding a unified response. FINRA does its part to detect, prevent, and respond to these threats by working with a network of collaborators, developing and distributing fraud prevention resources, and training consumers and professionals, including our member firms, law enforcement, federal and state regulators, social work, social workers, and mental health professionals. FINRA's member firms are on the front lines of investor protection. So as a regulator, we are continuously improving our response to evolving threats. Early last year, we launched FINRA Forward, a series of initiatives to modernize our regulatory approach, including expanding our cybersecurity and fraud prevention activities. It also includes making enhancements to our rules that assist firms in safeguarding the accounts of older and vulnerable adults. And in March of this year, we launched the Financial Intelligence Fusion Center, which is a secure forum where firms can receive and share timely, actionable cybersecurity and fraud threat intelligence to protect their customers and business. Even in this short time, we've seen the Fusion Center speed the delivery of critical information to our member firms. Our collaboration extends to Congress, too. Last year, we hosted a fraud prevention and response training for constituent-facing staff. One office contacted us after the training to request assistance helping a constituent who was on the precipice of being victimized. The caseworker later shared that their intervention was successful, and the constituent walked away from the scam attempt unharmed. Encouraged by this feedback, in May, we will be expanding this program with the launch of the Frontline Responders program, a training that will equip congressional offices with the expertise to help constituents identify and report fraud and find additional support. FINRA has long been committed to protecting senior investors and combating financial fraud. We look forward to lending our support to your efforts. Thank you.

Thank you. Our next witness, Sam Kunjun, Vice President of Consumer Education at the American Bankers Association Foundation. The ABA represents banks of every size around the country, and the foundation is dedicated to helping Americans build the financial knowledge they need to make smart decisions at every stage of life. Sam leads their consumer education work, and he understands something that doesn't get said enough. Banks are often the first institution to notice when something has gone wrong for a senior customer. Whether it's a sudden wire transfer, an unusual withdrawal, or a pattern that doesn't just add up, banks are often the first to notice. Thanks for being here, please begin your testimony.

Chairman Scott, Ranking Member Gillibrand, and members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to testify at today's hearing. My name is Sam Kunjun, as you mentioned, I'm the Vice President of Consumer Education at the American Bankers Association Foundation, a subsidiary of the American Bankers Association that develops programs to help banks support the financial well-being of their customers and communities. As you noted earlier, America is aging. By 2030, one in five people will be age 65 and older. At the same time, elder financial exploitation is rising. Between 2024 and 2025, the FBI observed a nearly 60 percent increase in reported financial losses and a 37 percent increase in complaints among older people. The FTC estimates losses might have been as high as $81.5 billion in 2024 alone among older adults. Given this reality, the ABA and the ABA Foundation works with banks on a four-pronged strategy to help protect older adults. Firstly, educating consumers, secondly, training bankers, thirdly, cultivating partnerships with law enforcement and adult protective services, and fourthly, leveraging technology. In 2016, the ABA Foundation launched the Safe Banking for Seniors program to equip bankers with tools to educate older adults. We provide bankers with presentation slides, videos, handouts, and a variety of different materials to deliver community workshops. The program supports older adults and their families by focusing on preventing exploitation, strengthening financial caregiving, and managing money. It covers topics such as avoiding scams, preventing identity theft, digital safety matters, choosing a financial caregiver, understanding powers of attorney, and retiring with limited resources. To date, more than 2,000 banks have participated in the program. We also collaborate with federal partners such as the FBI, the Secret Service, and eight other agencies to produce infographics on scams targeting older adults, from check washing and cryptocurrency investment scams to government impostor and tech support scams. And we run national awareness campaigns like Banks Never Ask That and Practice Safe Checks to reinforce simple steps consumers can take to prevent fraud. Beyond the consumer education campaigns, we work with bankers to recognize, respond to, and report elder financial exploitation. We developed an online course for bankers on elder financial exploitation prevention and created an Elder Fraud Prevention Summit to train bankers on protecting older customers. Additionally, we recognize that strong coordination with law enforcement and adult protective services is essential. We work with the National Adult Protective Services Association and convene forums that help banks and investigators share trends, improve communication, and partner together to combat elder financial exploitation. And lastly, ABA helps banks explore innovative software solutions through the ABA Partner Network to strengthen fraud prevention efforts. These tools help banks detect suspicious activity, streamline reporting, and provide customers with more accessible banking experiences. Banks across the nation recognize that protecting older adults requires a diverse set of strategies. From large institutions to small community banks, banks are hosting fraud prevention workshops, online bank training, financial wellness seminars, and coordinating outreach with community organizations. While the banking industry is investing significantly in protecting older people, the scale of today's scams requires a strategic coordinated national response. America needs a nationwide education campaign bringing together federal agencies, nonprofits, as well as the private sector to expose common scam tactics such as impersonation, manufactured urgency, demands for secrecy, and pressure to act quickly. At the same time, Congress should consider legislative solutions that empower banks to delay transactions when they suspect elder financial exploitation. A clear federal standard with an appropriate safe harbor would help financial institutions further protect older adults. In conclusion, the banking industry is committed to protecting older adults through education, partnerships, and responsible innovation. With a unified national awareness campaign and clear authority to pause transactions when suspecting exploitation, we can better prevent fraud and help older people preserve the financial security they have worked a lifetime to build. Thank you for the opportunity to testify at today's hearing, I look forward to your questions.

Thank you, Sam. Now I'd like to introduce Carly Roszkowski, Vice President of Financial Resilience Programming at AARP. Carly leads AARP's efforts to help seniors build real financial resilience, the kind that holds up when costs rise, when a scammer calls, or when life throws something unexpected at you in retirement. AARP reaches older Americans in every congressional district in this country and she brings both the data and the on-the-ground experience to speak to what seniors are actually facing. Thank you for being here, please begin your testimony.

Thank you, Chairman Scott, Ranking Member Gillibrand, and members of the committee for inviting me to testify for this timely and important hearing. My name is Carly Roszkowski and I am the Vice President of Financial Resilience Programming at AARP. We deeply appreciate your attention to the important role financial literacy plays in building a more secure retirement. Financial literacy is foundational to economic security. It can help Americans save to afford housing and healthcare, avoid debt and fraud, make informed retirement decisions, and remain independent as they age. But financial literacy is not something that can be won and done. It must happen across one's life, especially as we age, when financial decisions become more complex and the consequences more severe. And we live in a new world where the retirement system has shifted risk from companies to workers. Individuals, not companies, must manage saving, investing, and turning those savings into lifelong income. Folks now have to decide on investment strategies, decide when and how to claim Social Security, draw down assets with little or no professional guidance, and balance that with ever-rising living costs and unknown lifespans. To make things worse, these decisions often occur during major life transitions: retirement, caregiving, widowhood, job loss, or health challenges, when people are least equipped to absorb complexity or recover from mistakes. Today, 64 percent of adults worry they won't have enough money to retire, and nearly one in five non-retirees has no retirement savings at all. Millions of retirees have returned to work, primarily because they need the income, though purpose does matter too. Rising costs, longevity uncertainty, and lack of guaranteed income mean this trend will likely continue. Work has become a bridge to financial security later in life, but that bridge is strongest when people understand the financial tradeoffs involved and have access to clear, trusted information. Financial literacy is also a critical defense against fraud. Older adults are disproportionately targeted by increasingly sophisticated scams that exploit technology, urgency, and trust. Fraud is no longer limited to suspicious phone calls. It involves email, text messages, social media, and artificial intelligence. Without ongoing, accessible financial education, even experienced consumers can be vulnerable. That is why financial literacy for older Americans must go far beyond basic lessons on saving or budgeting. It must include guidance on managing retirement income, coordinating Social Security with work and health costs, understanding decumulation, navigating digital financial tools, and recognizing and responding to fraud. It must reflect how people actually experience finances later in life, not just early in their careers. Equally important, financial education must be delivered in ways that work for older adults. A one-size-fits-all approaches are not effective. People vary widely in their comfort with technology, learning styles, and access to information. Programs are most effective when they use trusted messengers, plain language, and real-world examples. At AARP, we see that when older adults have access to relevant, trustworthy financial information, outcomes improve. People are better able to avoid scams, manage debt, stretch their savings, and maintain independence longer. Financial literacy is not just an individual benefit. It reduces public costs and strengthens families and communities. In closing, the realities of longer lives for some, rising costs, and a retirement system that places increasing responsibility on individuals demand a renewed focus on financial literacy that is practical, ongoing, and actionable. By investing in trusted education, decision support tools, and policies that reflect how people work and retire today, we can help ensure that every American has the knowledge and confidence to achieve financial security, independence, and dignity as they age. As Congress considers how to strengthen financial literacy efforts, we urge you to ensure a lifelong approach and ensure older adults' needs are a priority. Thank you for your leadership and commitment to protecting older Americans. I look forward to your questions.

Thank you, Carly. Now I'd like to recognize Ranking Member Gillibrand to introduce our last witness.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I want to move to introduce our next witness, Scott Kahan. Mr. Kahan is a certified financial planner, educator, and lifelong New Yorker. In 1986, Mr. Kahan founded the Financial Asset Management Corporation, which operates in Westchester County and New York City, and serves as president and senior financial planner. He provides pro bono financial planning for those in need, regularly organizes college planning seminars for the community, and is responsible for the establishment of the certificate in financial planning program at NYU. Notably, Mr. Kahan spearheaded the coordination of pro bono financial planning services for affected 9/11 families and provides assistance to individuals who continue to cope with ongoing impacts. Mr. Kahan, it's your time to speak.

Chairman Scott, Ranking Member Gillibrand, and members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to testify today. My name is Scott Kahan, I'm a certified financial planner professional, and for more than 40 years, I have worked directly with individuals and families in New York to help them build financial security and peace of mind. I appreciate the committee's focus on empowering seniors through financial literacy, particularly during Financial Literacy Month. In both my personal and professional life, I have learned that access to trustworthy financial planning improves outcomes. Research consistently shows that individuals who work with a CFP professional are more likely to have emergency savings, feel financially secure, and feel confident about their future. Financial planning isn't a luxury, it's a lifeline. And when it matters most, it needs to come from a CFP professional. Today's seniors face incredibly complex financial decisions: choosing when to claim Social Security, navigating Medicare, managing retirement income, and planning for long-term care, among other challenges. At the same time, seniors are being targeted by increasingly sophisticated fraud. Advances in AI have made scams more convincing than ever, it could be hard to tell what is real. When seniors are victimized by fraud, the impact is often devastating. Unlike younger victims, seniors frequently do not have time or income to recover. Money lost to fraud is money they plan to use to support themselves in retirement. The harm is immediate, and under the current tax law, victims often face a tax bill on those losses, creating a double hit. For many seniors, financial fraud is not just a setback, it's permanent. We should empower seniors with clear information, trustworthy guidance, and tools to protect themselves in an increasingly complex financial landscape. Financial security supports independence, family stability, and dignity in later life. Financial literacy and access to competent, ethical financial planning can make a real difference. CFP professionals help individuals cut through complexity, recognize bad information, and make decisions grounded in their best interests. We work holistically across budgeting, investing, insurance, taxes, and retirement planning. Just as important, we are financial first responders and often spot early warning signs of fraud or financial exploitation and can help intervene before damage becomes irreversible. The broader financial picture in this country makes this work even more urgent. Many Americans are financially vulnerable long before fraud enters the picture. A large portion of households lack even modest emergency savings. For seniors living on fixed income, a single unexpected event can trigger long-lasting financial harm. I've seen all this repeatedly in my own work and in my own life. As a newly minted senior citizen, I recently navigated Medicare. I'm a CFP professional with 40 years of experience, and it still challenged me. Imagine facing that system alone, without my background or without the help of an expert like a CFP professional. I've also lived the reality of the sandwich generation. My parents retired earlier than their resources realistically allowed. They eventually ran out of money. I supported them for much of their retirement while raising my own children and saving for my own retirement. Their experiences are far from unique. Many families are quietly carrying the same burden. Too often, people seek help only when they are already in crisis. But crisis is the worst time to make complex and impactful financial decisions. Just as we encourage preventative healthcare, financial planning should be viewed as preventative care for financial well-being. You shouldn't have to be wealthy to benefit from financial planning. Many CFP professionals provide pro bono financial planning services. After 9/11, I began offering free financial planning to victims in New York, an experience that showed me how powerful timely guidance can be. I support that work today as a member and former chair of the board of the Foundation for Financial Planning. An organization that provides funding to community-based organizations to provide pro bono financial planning along with financial literacy to underserved populations like military families, families suffering financial hardship due to cancer, and seniors in crisis. I also know that the CFP Board has called upon Congress to expand access to financial planning through policy tools such as tax incentives, particularly for middle-income Americans. Financial literacy and access to trusted financial planning help seniors navigate complexity, avoid fraud, and protect their futures. I urge the committee and Congress to continue advancing policies that expand access to this vital protection. Thank you.

Thank you each of you for being here. Now we're going to turn over questions, we'll start with Senator Husted.

Thank you, Chairman Scott. So I want to focus on how seniors are being exploited through...

Thanks to each of you for being here. Now we're going to turn over to questions, we'll start with Senator Husted.

Thank you, Chairman Scott. So I want to focus on how seniors are being exploited through scams and the nature of what's happening to many seniors that are being targeted by criminals because what I think is especially sinister about it is they prey on their generosity, their compassion, and their kindness. And you see that particularly with AI-driven technologies. They can impersonate the voice of a child, a grandchild. They can find new and inventive ways of scamming our seniors. Frankly, I think the criminals that do this, there's a special place in hell for them because it's so awful what they do to these senior citizens who are preyed upon. I've introduced legislation preventing deepfake scams that would establish a task force and work with financial institutions on how we can use and avoid the abuses of AI. How we can use it for good, how we can use it to protect seniors from the potential risks. And so let me start, and I wasn't here for the pronunciation of your name, but I'm going to go the way it has it phonetically spelled here is Mr. Kunjun. Got it. All right. And I want to start with you. What can banks and other financial institutions do? What are you doing? What can we do proactively to protect seniors from these AI-driven scams?

Sure. There's a couple of things that are going on. And I want to thank you for your question because this is something that bankers are dealing with on a regular basis. It's an everyday situation for looking at this particular type of issue. When it comes to banks, what we're doing is we're making sure that they are appropriately trained. And one of the major indications of something that is wrong is a change in a person's behavior. Whether that might be something along the lines of their demeanor might be changing. Maybe they're stressed out all of a sudden, maybe they're suddenly disheveled, something looks off. That's one of the steps. Second step is to look at if there's any changes to the accounts. Is something going on very differently there that seems to be indicative of some sort of exploitation or fraud. A third area is, is there some sort of a change having to do with a transaction. Are they wiring money abroad when they never wired money anywhere. Those are some of the ways that we are training banks to identify these issues. Separate from that, we're also educating consumers on a couple of key things. Make sure that you talk to people in your trusted circle before you make any financial decision. Don't trust your phone number. If phone numbers can be spoofed, caller IDs can be spoofed, don't trust that information. Always hang up on somebody, call back if there's some sort of urgency or concerns about anything that might be popping up, and reach back out to that person on a known number, or if it's an organization, on the back of a bank card, a legitimate number along those lines.

Great advice for family members. What kind of recommendations do you have for family members about if they're concerned about their elderly family members?

In this case, I would say families need to be involved with money decisions. One of the major concerns about all of this is that oftentimes if there's loneliness or social isolation, that makes an individual much more vulnerable. If we as a country become much more socialized with the idea of being involved in our family's money to make sure that we can check out and see what's going on, having these discussions, this could be incredibly important and valuable. In addition to that, banks as well as securities firms have implemented trusted contact opportunities. So if something is off or seems awry, a bank, a financial institution can reach out to a trusted contact to get in touch with someone if something looks off. So if families and customers can identify who that is, that provides a great opportunity to get in touch and have some of those conversations.

And then quickly, what are some of the emerging scams? What are some of the things that you are seeing that people ought to be aware of today?

I would say the top three scams are investment-oriented scams, tech support scams, as well as romance scams. These are three particular scams that the FBI identified as the top scams for losses among older adults. That being said, tangentially, cryptocurrency-oriented scams have also been highlighted in about 20 percent of all complaints in 2025 alone.

Okay. Great. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you. Senator Gillibrand.

I'd like to yield to Senator Kim.

Thank you. Yes, sorry, I just jumped straight in here, but thank you for letting me be able to jump in. I didn't catch the fullness of that answer just there on the scam side, but I'd love to be able to just keep that conversation going in terms of just what comes next here. So, you know, I'm trying to think through this in terms of what to expect going forward a couple years down. We know how much the technology's been strengthening it up here, and so we're looking at this and living through this moment of immense technological change. And, you know, look, there's a lot of that that's exciting, but it's also dramatically increasing the risks from sophisticated actors that are seeking to take advantage of this. So, you know, maybe I'll just start with Ms. Kieffer to be able to just go through here. If you could share, I mean, I know you talked about some of this just more broadly as a group, but could you share with me more about some of the fast-growing types of scams targeting older Americans right now and how you see them evolve in the last couple years, what to expect next. I know that was some of what was talked about, but keep building on it.

Thank you for the question, Senator. What we're seeing today is a merging of scam typologies. And oftentimes what might start as a relationship or not even a romance, just a friendship, morphs into an investment scam. Sometimes it is a trading strategy suggestion, sometimes it might be a pump and dump scheme, an old-school pump and dump turned into a relationship and romance scam. And in many cases, we see recovery operations where after the first scam has taken all that they can from a victim, we see a follow-on scam implemented by the same perpetrators that are coming for additional funds. Sometimes requesting HELOCs or that they take money from family and friends. So in FINRA's purview, we see a lot of the investment scam infrastructure and we see it morphing in those ways that I just suggested.

So build stick with you here. You know, like so I recently introduced with some of my colleagues the Senior Security Act and, you know, we're looking at other ways, you know, that would create a senior investor task force within the SEC, strengthen some of these safeguards. But as we're thinking about these next steps, I mean, do you have thoughts on what we should be taking away in terms of what and how federal regulators can continue to coordinate on this issue to try to develop up the best strategies for seniors to both be able to protect them from the scams but also to be better educated on just the technology and the positive use as well of that.

Well, the positive use of the technology is one that that would be a wise area to study because we need to get ahead of the scams. Once the money's out the door, it's very difficult to recover. And so to the extent that we can be working public-private partnerships that encourage the use of these same transformative technologies to prevent the pitches from ever reaching the individual, we would be well served. And that would be the beginning of bending the curve, but it does take all of us working together in the different corners that we serve, using the different jurisdictions that we have to make a difference.

Yeah. Ms. Roszkowski, I wanted to just bring you in on this because as we've been trying to do efforts throughout my state of New Jersey in terms of educating and being able to inform about fraud prevention, especially with seniors, I think some of the biggest challenge we have is is not just the quality of information or the approach, but the capacity to scale when we have just such an enormity of of people we're trying to reach. My office, it just feels like sometimes we're like, like is this even making a difference because of just the sheer number of seniors that we're still not able to connect in with. So I guess I just wanted to ask you just what are some of the better strategies and the tactics that we should be thinking about to actually be able to scale this type of education that we know is so important, but how do we do that in a way that meets the moment.

Thank you for that question, Senator. Fraud is growing at an alarming pace. We talked about investment scams, AI-related scams, job scams are up. AARP educates consumers through our Fraud Watch Network and works with fraud and scam victims through our free helpline. It's a free resource open to all and it ensures victims are all treated fairly and works with their families. We are very grateful for your support and leadership on both the GUARD Act as well as the Tax Relief for Victims of Crimes, Scams, and Disasters Act. We need to continue educating and educating in different channels and in different spaces. Being in every state, AARP has the ability to be on the ground in local communities educating on the scams that might be more local. And we have the power to educate and create awareness across the nation for the scams and getting ahead of those scams and continue to educate both in a financial literacy component, integrating fraud education into when we're talking about financial implications, but also through all of our other our channels.

Thank you for that and I'll yield back, Chairman.

Senator Moody.

Thank you, Senator Scott, for holding this hearing. Thank you, Ranking Member Gillibrand. This is an issue that is very near and dear to my heart. It always has been. I grew up with a mother who spent her entire professional career dedicated to making sure low-income seniors were not taken advantage of and helping them. It was incredible to watch and certainly my perspective on some of this and what we can be doing to be more fiercely guarded and protective of our seniors probably formed at an early age and carried on through my adult years. But as Attorney General, because I watched and heard so many times that our seniors were being taken advantage of, I started kind of the first-ever senior protection team with overlaying all different agencies, different forms of investigators, prosecutors, civil attorneys, all with this mindset of what how can we be better in Florida. Obviously, Florida is a senior state, we have a lot of seniors. And we started really its first of its kind in the nation, a cyber fraud unit statewide initiative because we saw so many seniors with the evolution of new technology, really good technology, that was being manipulated by criminals to take advantage of seniors. We wanted to educate them anywhere from the crypto space to the ATMs to internet scams. And really as this team of investigators and prosecutors became more up to speed, they were able to take and piece together things that even the federal government may not have taken for threshold reasons, maybe the dollar amount wasn't a lot even if it was a large amount of someone's life savings, or we would determine cumulative patterns where we saw when we put it together it would have met threshold amounts. And so after we did that, we had other states coming to us asking how they could do the same things. I really, really would love to see more federal coordination of these state technologically and legally trained investigators, prosecutors, civil attorneys to specifically address fraud on seniors using technology, really any fraud using technology and make sure that they can help and overlay the resources we have in the federal government. We're exploring ways to do that now. But specifically as it relates to seniors, I've noticed that when there were this fraud, for example, more recently we've seen the scams go as far as courtroom setup with actual judges and and lawyers and prosecutors and they'll get people in these Zoom hearings and trick them into thinking they're in some sort of legal proceeding. And of course then the next step is they then go to banks or financial institutions and try and withdraw money and send it by wire or some other place to satisfy some court debt or obligation that they've been tricked into believing they owe. And so a lot of the banks are really under a lot of pressure with the evolution of these new types of scams to examine how they can be good faith players when they realize something may be amiss. And certainly we never, ever want to facilitate the meritless holding of anyone's assets or money, certainly that and that would always be a concern. But I'm very interested in what some states are trying to do with bankers and their initiatives. Many states have passed I guess what's called hold laws more recently in Florida. They just passed a protection of specified adult statute, it went into effect in January of 2025. And I'm just wondering, and I guess I'll direct this question to Mr. Kunjun, what can we learn from states that have delved into working with banks to protect seniors where they believe things may be amiss, where they may have fallen for some of these technologically advanced scams? Have we seen those types of statutes be effective? Are the majority of states using this? And how has the federal government played into some of those protective efforts?

Sure, thank you for your question. It is something that we're interested in at the American Bankers Association as well. There's about 27 states around the country that have passed one of these hold and delay laws. A lot of the origin from this has also been proliferating as a result of what worked on the security side. So in 2018, there was a rule, two rules actually associated with this. One was 2165, the other was FINRA Rule 4512. One has to do with the hold and delay laws on the security side and then the second is related to that having to do with a trusted contact. So there's been a couple of years where we've seen this happen especially on the security side of when it comes to looking at financial institutions. But we've seen a lot more progress given that we've got 27 states around the country that have passed these laws on the state side for depository institutions. One of the major things that comes into play with this is we have to make sure that we appropriately educate people that this is possible. Because when an older adult may walk into a branch and has this conversation and is not under the impression that they know that they're in the middle of a scam. But if a banker thinks they're in the middle of a scam and a banker starts to ask them questions, initially the older adult may be a little bit put off. Secondly, if the bank says, you know, we're going to investigate this for a couple of days, that's going to lead to some complications. So we have to get ahead of all of that to make sure people understand this is for their benefit. Secondly, this is so to making sure that this is something that is one legal and allowed so the customer doesn't just leave and say, I'm going to go to another bank and then go through this whole process. Because that's what's really key here. And to your other point, Senator Moody, what I would say is what you've done in Florida has been amazing. I would say you may also want to look into what's worked in in Texas as well. They started the financial intelligence centers and that's financial crimes intelligence centers and that's been something that has been really beneficial to tackle white-collar crimes.

Thank you so much.

Thank you, Senator Moody. Ranking Member Gillibrand.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Banking and financial planning processes have shifted heavily towards digital platforms, requiring increasing digital literacy skills to navigate these systems. AARP research shows that most older adults use financial technology for basic tasks such as checking bank accounts, but are not engaged in more sophisticated tools that facilitate investment, loan applications, or advanced planning. 64 percent of older adults report to AARP that they do not feel technology is designed with them in mind, providing evidence of technology being viewed as a barrier to financial planning rather than a tool. Mr. Kahan, have you encountered clients facing difficulties with financial technology while planning for their retirement? What types of tools or supports would help seniors who are having trouble navigating this digital landscape?

Thank you for the question. We find that seniors often have problems with technology. Many times as a practitioner, professional, see people coming into us to help them with retirement planning, we sometimes see things that they've done because they read it online, they clicked a link or something and they've got some issues to deal with. I mean from basic standpoint, we try to educate clients one, you know, most of the scams we find start at the computer level from emails where they're clicking something. So we encourage them to have virus protection, understanding how to read an email if it's real or not. People will click on for Social Security or they'll Google something think for Social Security and they're brought to many different sites. Explain to clients that if it doesn't end in .gov, GOV, it is not necessarily a legitimate site and they may be trying to sell you something. So explain to people hover over an email so they understand to see where that's really coming from because it's not necessarily coming from where you think it is. Understanding their choices, Social Security, Medicare, and then again looking at how they can identify the fraud that's coming in because it's not just about the retirement planning part, it's about really understanding what they're reading, which many times is very confusing because as clients have aged, they're reading some of the most difficult decisions are tied to choosing when to take Social Security, when, you know, a Medicare, especially if you're still working. What are the options for Medicare? And when they start to go online, they start to really click in there various websites and some of them are fine and a lot of them are fraudulent. And we've had stories from clients where they wind up getting scammed for something and then they're embarrassed to talk about it. And that is the big problem because they don't want to tell their family members about it. They don't want to tell their spouse or partner about it. But we'll see it many times or they'll finally open up about it or, you know, having a family member contact us to say somebody was scammed and what can we do about that. So it's a matter of educating the clients about how to use the technology. Some of them can, some of them will not be able to, but letting them know it's okay to bring a family member in or a trusted advisor to help them go through to see what's legitimate, what's not. Because too often than not, we are seeing people scammed at every level. They're getting phone calls, they're getting texts. You know, we tell people sometimes when you answer your phone, don't say your name because they voice record it and now they can use that to maybe hack into one of your other accounts and they don't even realize it. So it's a matter of trying to educate them the best way of what where the scams are and how technology is used, but you have to be able to use it properly.

Right. Ms. Roszkowski, American workers and retirees are facing rising inflation and soaring costs. They're seeing their costs for groceries to go up, healthcare, utilities, housing. Earlier this year, AARP declared retirement is on pause, high costs push older Americans back to work. What are your members sharing as their top concern in these day-to-day issues that they are dealing with for their own retirement?

Thank you for your question, Ranking Member. They're concerned about affording everyday costs. They're concerned about groceries. They're concerned about gas. They're concerned about healthcare. They're concerned that they will outlive their retirement savings. Our research shows not only that 7 percent of unretirees are going back into the workforce, which is up from the survey we did last summer in 2025, also shows that 28 percent of retired people are unfortunately, they think they've retired too early. They're concerned they're going to outlive their savings. People, some people are living longer and it's hard to plan for. We're feeling it not only with everyday costs, but also long-term care, healthcare, and women 50 and older say that everyday costs is their number one concern.

Ms. Kieffer, with your work at FINRA and the Investor Education Foundation, what are the most common challenges older adults face while managing their own investments in retirement and where are the biggest knowledge gaps?

The switch from accumulation to decumulation. And in some cases it's not a perfect switch. There's there's a little bit of both happening. But older adults are facing new decisions, new products, potentially a new risk profile that they've not come back to revisit in some time. So just understanding and in this uncertain time period of longevity that we all grapple with. So coming to terms with these new product opportunities, new decisions that need to be made and switching the mindset to a decumulation phase can be very difficult. For some they might choose to work with a financial professional in that capacity. Maybe they didn't prior and would like to at this time. And whenever anyone is choosing to work with a financial professional, if someone comes to them directly or they're going directly to someone, they should always check out the background of that professional before they sign on any lines or even have follow-up meetings. They should use FINRA BrokerCheck to see is the person registered, are they registered to sell securities, are they registered for investment advice. The SEC's Investment Adviser Public Disclosure database provides similar information where investors can understand what the registration is, the services that are offered, and they should ask about fees. So for some navigating these challenges is supported by a financial professional and for others they they really need to take the time to educate and learn about these products. And to the extent that we as educators can be out there sharing information, not just about scams and frauds, of course, but about financial decision-making, the investor insights articles that FINRA puts out, some I would call 911, they're emergent issues and some I would call 411, they're educational resources where we help people understand what a product is, what are the pros and considerations are so they can make those informed financial decisions that are appropriate to their life. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Ranking Member. Ms. Kieffer, studies consistently show that financial literacy declines with age even among people who were financially sophisticated earlier in life. Is the financial industry doing enough to account for that reality in how it designs products and delivers advice to older customers?

Thank you for the question. While I can't comment to what the industry specifically is doing in this area, I do know that FINRA members are committed to investor protection and are regularly sharing investor education information and working with their clients to understand the different products that they're offering and being offered. We always stand behind if you don't understand the product, you need to double double think whether that product is for you and that's a premise of all of our investor education. Thanks.

Mr. Kunjun, say a senior walks into a bank branch and asks to wire $50,000 to someone they met online three weeks ago. What specific training do frontline bank employees receive today to recognize that situation as potential fraud?

Yeah, thank you so much for that question because that is very much along the lines of things that happen. So banks provide the training but we also do at the ABA. One of the things that we do is we focus on those three areas looking at the changes in demeanor, changes in transaction, changes in in accounts to try to determine what might be going on. So in this type of situation they're going to be looking at looking back at their training to understand, okay, what is different here? Is there some sort of change? In this particular scenario there's absolutely a change if this person has never wired money abroad. Secondly, it's going to be looking at information about whether this person has even used this amount of money ever to take out, to transfer, to do anything along those lines. And then the third piece of this is to really understand why are they sending this money? So to your point about the question that has to do with the nature of this relationship, they'll be asking some specific pointed questions to understand how did this develop? How long have you been in a relationship with this person? How did you meet them? Have you ever met them online? Those are the types of things that they'll be asking. Beyond that if depending on state law they might have the ability to delay it, investigate further or they might reach out to adult protective services and or law enforcement to get involved and to address the situation or reach out to a trusted contact regarding this concern.

Thank you. Ms. Roszkowski, Social Security claiming decisions are among the most consequential financial choices an older American will ever make, often without professional guidance. AARP has done extensive work on this issue. What does your data show you about how many Americans are leaving money on the table by claiming too early and what it would take to change that?

Thank you for the question, Chairman. Most of the people I talk to say they're going to retire at 65. Americans do not know enough about Social Security and the money they will leave on the table if they claim at a certain age. Many don't know their full retirement age nor do they know it's approximately 8 percent per year they leave on the table if they choose to claim Social Security before age 70. We are supporting bills such as the Claiming Age Clarity Act, so thank you for your support with that. And this isn't a one-size-fits-all decision. That is why it's critical to be educating along one's lifespan. Things may change from one year to the next and Social Security is a one-time decision that can impact someone's full retirement which may last 30 years as well as their family. So it's continuing to educate and we know that Americans do not know enough about the implications of claiming too early as well as the money that they're leaving on the table.

Thank you. Scott, the fiduciary standard requires financial advisors to act in their clients' best interest, but not every person calling themselves a financial advisor is actually held to that standard. How does the senior who has no background in finance know whether the person managing their retirement savings is legally required to put their interest first?

The first thing we always tell people, seniors, they should be looking at a CFP professional. There's approximately 107,000 CFP professionals out there today. There's I don't know how many hundreds of thousands of so-called financial advisors. The financial CFP professionals have to follow a fiduciary standard which is putting the client's best interest first. People should be asking if you know when they're meeting with somebody, full disclosure. There's so many different compensation models out there, it's very confusing. There's commission, there's fees, fees and commission. Not to say one is better than the other, everybody has to figure out what works for them, but full disclosure. There's nothing wrong with asking somebody that you're sitting across from as a planner or advisor, whatever their term is, what are you making, what are your commissions, what are your fees. Fees are pretty apparent. Commissions are not always. And doesn't mean there's something wrong with that, but there should be no reason not to have full disclosure. And that way they can see or make a decision based on compensation of this is what you're doing for me, how much is it going to cost me? Because that is really the first step in understanding what the costs are. And looking at a fiduciary, putting the client's best interest first is the most important thing because it's about ethics and trusted relationship because people will share with us things that they don't share among each other. We'll have spouses come in and have conversations that they've never had before. And sometimes they're surprised of what the other one is saying, but we're there to help mediate sometimes, but in reality is to really figure out what the best interest for them and have that trusted relationship. but we're there to help mediate sometimes, but in reality is to really figure out what's the best interest for them and have that trusted relationship.

Thank you. Ms. Kieffer, FINRA's BrokerCheck tool exists so that any American can look up whether their financial advisor has a history of misconduct. But surveys show that most seniors have never heard of it. How many older Americans are handing their retirement savings to someone with a disciplinary record right now simply because nobody told them to check?

Thank you for the question, Senator. FINRA is committed to sharing the resource BrokerCheck and we work with a number of partners to make sure Americans are aware of this tool. We have run public awareness campaigns, we work with our broker-dealers to make sure that the information is out there so that the investors know to to check. Many years ago we ran a campaign called Before You Invest, Ask and Check that specifically was designed to drive traffic and understanding of this opportunity. The vast majority of brokers that are registered and inside of BrokerCheck do not have disciplinary record, but it is absolutely the information that an investor should know to ask the questions they need to ask before working with someone.

Thank you. Anything else? Thank you all for your testimony. Well, I'd like to thank everyone for does anybody have anything else they want to add? All right. I'd like to thank everyone for being here today and participating. This has been exactly the kind of conversation this committee exists to have. Here's what I keep thinking about the challenges we've talked about today are real. The gap between the information many seniors have and what they need is very real. The scammers sitting in in call centers overseas running a script designed to steal a lifetime of savings from someone's grandparent is very real. The confusion about Medicare enrollment windows and Social Security timing decisions that cost people thousands of dollars they can never get back is real. We've spent decades building programs that are supposed to help seniors and then bury them on government websites that no one can find or navigate. We've watched fraud explode while not doing anything about it. My colleagues and I are here on this committee to have legislation, not just have legislation, but make sure Congress acts when it's needed. This committee will keep pushing, we're going to keep shining a light on the gaps in financial education, and we're going to keep demanding that Washington works for older Americans because every senior in this country deserves to enjoy the retirement they spent their life building with dignity, with independence, and with the knowledge they need to protect it. I also want to remind seniors and families watching that the Senate Aging Committee operates a fraud hotline for anyone who believes they may have been targeted or victimized. The number is 1-855-303-9470. If any senators have additional questions for the witnesses or statements to be added, the hearing record will be open until next Wednesday at 5:00 p.m. I want to thank everybody for being here.