The Car Insurance Leading Indicator

One sometimes overlooked indicator that a client may be suffering from diminished mental capacity has to do with car insurance, of all things. The Hartford has come up with a program called Family Conversations About Alzheimer's Disease, Dementia, and Driving, which addresses different issues families should talk about when they have a relative dealing with dementia. "It was started because people were calling to cancel their auto insurance for spouses with dementia who shouldn't drive anymore, but as we all know, that's not going to necessarily make the spouse stop driving," says Stephanie Chappell, corporate financial gerontologist at The Hartford. The program includes ways to assess when a person has reached the point when it's no longer safe for them to drive and how to talk to him about it.