Financial skills can erode before dementia is even suspected

When Mom begins to mislay her car keys, or Dad misses bathing for a couple of days, many of us realize that it might be time to take at peek at their finances to make sure nothing has gone awry.

However, this could be much too late. According to a couple of recent studies, patients with mild memory problems may already be exhibiting signs of financial impairment, putting their assets at risk.

I had the chance to talk in a telephone interview with one the field's foremost experts on Alzheimer's and financial behavior, Dr. Daniel Marson J.D., Ph.D., professor and director of the Alzheimer's Disease Center in the Department of Neurology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, who recently completed a new study on this topic.