Trusted Contact Guide
Who Needs a Trusted Contact?
Anyone with an investment account. FINRA's guidance is explicit that the designation is recommended for investors of every age — though the loss data shows why it matters most, and soonest, for older account holders.
The regulators say everyone
FINRA states it without qualification: having a trusted contact “is recommended for all investors, regardless of age, but can be particularly helpful protection for older investors.”
The SEC's infographic answers the same question with, “We suggest a trusted contact for anyone who has an investment account.”
Firms take the same line. Ameriprise recommends everyone have a Trusted Contact Person listed. Vanguard notes that while those experiencing cognitive decline and older Americans are most vulnerable, all investors of any age are at risk.
FINRA's chief executive has made the general case: every investor benefits from the extra layer, and it puts the firm in a better position to help keep the account safe.
The everyday scenarios are age-neutral. A car accident. A hospitalization. A hurricane that takes out cell service for a week. A stretch of travel somewhere without reliable signal. Any of these can make a 35-year-old unreachable at the moment a fraudulent wire request lands.
2025 IC3 Data
But the risk is not evenly distributed
The 2025 IC3 data shows losses rising sharply with age.
| Age Group | Complaints (2025) | Reported Losses (2025) |
|---|---|---|
| Under 20 | 31,254 | $67.1 million |
| 20–29 | 112,069 | $563.1 million |
| 30–39 | 153,293 | $1.7 billion |
| 40–49 | 167,066 | $2.957 billion |
| 50–59 | 124,820 | $3.7 billion |
| 60 and over | 201,266 | $7.748 billion |
Average loss among complainants age 60 and over.
Year-over-year increase in complaints from the 60+ group.
Year-over-year increase in reported losses among the 60+ group.
The 60-and-over group filed the most complaints and lost the most money, with an average loss of $38,500 — well above the $20,699 average across all ages.
The FBI explains the targeting in plain terms: seniors tend to be trusting and polite, and usually have financial savings, own a home, and have good credit — all of which can make them attractive to scammers.
There is another factor: older victims may be less likely to report because they do not know how, because they are ashamed, or because they fear relatives will lose confidence in their ability to manage their own affairs.
One legal protection is age-specific
Here is a distinction worth holding onto. The trusted contact designation is for everyone. But the temporary-hold protection it feeds into is not.
FINRA Rule 2165 applies only to a “Specified Adult”: a person age 65 or older, or a person 18 or older whom the firm reasonably believes has a mental or physical impairment rendering them unable to protect their own interests.
A healthy 40-year-old can name a trusted contact and benefit from the communication channel — but the hold mechanism under Rule 2165 is not available for that account.
If you are helping an aging parent: naming a trusted contact is one of the few protective steps that requires no legal instrument, no court, no cost, and no surrender of control. It does not touch their independence. It gives their firm someone to call.
When it matters most
Situations that make the case stronger
You live alone or your social circle has narrowed.
Isolation is repeatedly identified as a risk factor; Fidelity calls it “a trigger for financial problems.”
You travel often, or spend part of the year somewhere else.
Being unreachable is the ordinary case, not the exception.
You have a diagnosis that may affect capacity over time.
Vanguard notes that financial issues can be an early indicator of cognitive decline — often visible in the account before anywhere else.
Your accounts are concentrated at one firm.
A single point of failure deserves a second point of contact.
Someone new has become closely involved in your finances.
Chase's warning signs include new friendships, online or in person, and sudden changes to a will, estate plan, or power of attorney.
Who should not be your trusted contact
The consistent guidance across the CFPB, Schwab, and Ameriprise: do not name someone who already holds authority over the account.
The designation exists to create an independent check. Naming the same person twice removes it.
The CFPB goes further, suggesting a second trusted contact precisely so a firm has somewhere else to turn if the first person is the one under suspicion.
Research
Sources
- SEC Office of Investor Education and Advocacy — Investor Bulletin: Trusted Contact Persons
- SEC — Trusted Contact Person infographic
- FINRA — Trusted Contact Persons
- FINRA — Older Investors and Financial Exploitation
- FINRA Rule 2165 — Financial Exploitation of Specified Adults
- FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center — 2025 Internet Crime Report
- FBI — Elder Fraud
- CFPB — Trusted Contacts (November 2021)
- Charles Schwab — Why You Should Establish Trusted Contacts
- Chase — Financial Abuse and Elder Fraud
- Fidelity Viewpoints — Protecting Against Elder Fraud
- Vanguard — Protect Your Finances as You Age
- Vanguard — Financial Exploitation
- Ameriprise — Trusted Contact Person
- Morgan Stanley — Trusted Contact: An Extra Layer of Security
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