Financial Scams that Every Senior Should Know About

financial scams

 

As the president of Bergen Financial Group, Darcy Bergen is committed to advising clients on topics related to retirement planning. Along with choices in areas like income and wealth transfer strategies, Darcy Bergen wants his clients to be aware of financial scams that specifically target the older population.

Senior citizens make ideal targets for con men, and the frequency at which seniors are scammed has continued to rise in recent years. One way scammers frequently gain access to the finances of older adults is through mail or telemarketing fraud. This includes tactics like lottery scams and obtaining credit card information by feigning the sale of a product the senior wants to buy.

The elderly may also be deceived by the sale of fake prescription drugs. Thieves advertise discounted prices on medicines commonly used by seniors and obtain credit card information. The thieves then never send the medicine or send cheap drugs that are not what the individual ordered, making this scam extremely dangerous.

Bergen’s Mission Turns Tragedy into Charity

Bergen’s Mission
Image: bergensmission.com

An accomplished entrepreneur and financial executive based in Phoenix, Arizona, Darcy Bergen serves as president of Bergen Financial Group and as an independent consultant for Bell & Associates. Active in several nonprofit organizations, Darcy Bergen is treasurer of Bergen’s Mission, a charitable foundation that supports children who have been orphaned and other Kenyan youth in need.

Founded by Canadian missionaries John and Eloise Bergen, the foundation raises funds to provide essential resources for orphanages in Kenya, as well as to support general development in the region. The founders established the foundation after a brutal home invasion by nine armed men left them severely injured. The couple, who had been working for the Canadian group Hope for the Nations, remained committed to serving as missionaries and improving the quality of life for Kenyans.

To share their own story of recovery and healing, the couple wrote Forgiveness in the Face of Terror, which is available on www.bergensmission.com or at www.amazon.com.

The Bergen’s Mission Charity

Bergen’s Mission
Image: bergensmission.com

Darcy Bergen is the president of Bergen Financial Group in Mesa, Arizona. In this capacity, Darcy Bergen provides financial advice to seniors and hosts finance workshops throughout Arizona. Outside of work, he also serves as the treasurer of the Bergen’s Mission Charity.

The Bergen’s Mission Charity is an organization that was established following a 2008 attack on John and Eloise Bergen. The couple endured a near-fatal assault and robbery at the hands of eight men in rural Kenya. At the time of the attack, John and Eloise were four months into a mission to help orphaned children. The couple made headlines for choosing to remain in Kenya after their long recovery, despite the horrors that they experienced. They also publicly forgave their attackers during the course of their recovery. The local police managed to find and arrest all of the men involved.

The Bergens are now back home in Canada. They wrote a book about their mission in Kenya, and they often speak about the 2008 attack and their subsequent recovery at special functions.

To learn more about the Bergen’s Mission Charity, visit www.bergensmission.com.

How to Become a Member of the Million Dollar Round Table

Million Dollar Round Table
Image: mdrt.org

Darcy Bergen is a Phoenix, Arizona-based financial professional who provides advisory services to seniors through the Bergen Financial Group, where he serves as president. Darcy Bergen also holds membership in the Million Dollar Round Table (MDRT), a premier association of financial professionals.

MDRT was established in 1927 and is currently a global association comprising of over 40,000 life insurance and financial services professionals considered to be world leaders. Due to this reputation of excellence, membership to MDRT is a distinction that requires the highest standards in professional knowledge, ethical conduct, and client service.

Requirements for admission vary from country to country. In the United States, there are currently three regular methods of qualification: commission/fee, premium, and income qualification.

In both the commission and premium methods, applicants must reach a minimum amount of eligible commissions/premiums. For commissions, this amount is $93,000, while for premiums the amount to be reached is $186,000. Meanwhile, in order to qualify through the income qualification method, applicants must have at least $160,000 of annual gross income from insurance and financial products, $46,500 of which should have come from new business during the production year.