NEWS RELEASE TEMPLATE: FREE LUNCH MONITOR PROGRAM

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

[AGENCY] MARKS OLDER AMERICANS MONTH
BY ENCOURAGING PARTICIPATION IN
FREE LUNCH MONITOR PROGRAM

[DATELINE] — In recognition of National Older Americans Month (May 1-31), [AGENCY] reminds [JURISDICTION]’s seniors that they can help ensure a better tomorrow by taking steps to protect their financial nest eggs today.

With a lifetime’s worth of savings, seniors are a primary target for financial fraud and abuse, said [ADMINISTRATOR]. One of the ways unscrupulous sales teams find new targets is through so-called “free lunch” seminars, where investors are introduced to inappropriate or unsuitable investments in exchange for an expensive meal provided at no cost.

Four out of five investors age 60 and over received at least one invitation to a free investment seminar in the past three years—and three out of five received six or more. The invitations often promise to educate participants about investing strategies or managing money in retirement.

“Instead of unbiased financial education and a meal, many free-meal seminar attendees are being fed a hard sales pitch for investment products that are often unsuitable,” said [ADMINISTRATOR].

To help fight this problem, the [AGENCY] is urging senior investors through the state to volunteer as a Free Lunch “monitor” as part of a nationwide campaign sponsored by the AARP and the North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA), of which the [AGENCY] is a member.

“The Free Lunch Monitor program gives older Americans an opportunity to fight fraud and protect their hard-earned dollars from unscrupulous investment promoters by reporting possibly questionable investment practices in their communities to state securities authorities,” [ADMINISTRATOR] said.

Volunteer monitors participating in the program are offered a simple checklist to take with them to a free lunch seminar. The checklists help assure that both the products promoted atfree investment seminars, as well as the promoters, conform to securities laws and regulations. The completed checklists are forwarded to AARP, which sends them to the appropriate state securities office for evaluation.

For more information about the Free Lunch Monitor program and to become a free lunch monitor, please visit www.aarp.org/nofreelunch. For information about [AGENCY], visit our website at [AGENCY LINK].

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