The free setting at your brokerage that installs a watcher who can't steal.
There is a feature at every U.S. brokerage that installs a second person your firm can call if something looks wrong with your account — and that person cannot touch, trade, or decide anything. It costs nothing. It takes one phone call or one secure message.
As of 2024, about 42% of investors have named a trusted contact. That means roughly 58% still have not. It is free, and most solo women are in the second group. This guide moves you to the first.
Adoption figure: FINRA Foundation, 2024. Trusted contacts exist under FINRA Rule 4512.
What a trusted contact is — and what it is not
A trusted contact is a person you name on your brokerage account whom the firm can reach out to if it has a concern — for example, if it can't reach you, or if it suspects you're being financially exploited.
Here is the part that matters, in FINRA's own words. Naming a trusted contact:
“does not give that person any authority over your account. A trusted contact cannot make trades in your account, cannot make decisions about your account, and does not become a power of attorney, legal guardian, trustee, or executor by virtue of being named your trusted contact.”
— FINRA investor education, “Trusted Contacts”
Read that again, because it is the whole point. This is a watcher who cannot steal. The designation grants no power at all. (One honest nuance: a trusted contact and a power of attorney are separate roles, not opposites — a person who holds your POA can also be listed as your trusted contact. Being a trusted contact, by itself, carries none of a POA's power.)
What the firm can do: confirm your contact information, ask whether you're okay if they can't reach you, and — if they suspect exploitation — reach out to that person while looking into it.
What the firm cannot do: give your trusted contact access to your account, your balances by default, or any ability to move money.
Why this matters if you're solo
A power of attorney is a key to the house. A trusted contact is a neighbor you've told to call you if they see a strange truck in the driveway. The neighbor can't get in. That's the feature, not a limitation.
For a woman with no obvious single person to hand a key to, this is the answer that doesn't require handing over a key at all. You are not importing risk to reduce risk. You are adding a set of eyes with no hands.
Scope, stated plainly
FINRA Rule 4512 covers broker-dealers — investment and brokerage accounts. It does not cover your bank or credit union. Don't call your bank asking for a “trusted contact under FINRA”; that's the wrong door. Some banks offer their own voluntary version, and your bank's real equivalents are its transaction, new-payee, and login alerts — the kit's Component 2 covers that side.
Do this for every investment account: a brokerage account, an IRA at a fund company, an old 401(k) at a former employer's plan provider, a robo-advisor. Each is a separate institution and each needs its own trusted contact on file.
The scripts
By phone
Call the customer-service number on your statement. After you verify your identity, say:
To check if one is on file:
“I'd like to confirm whether I have a trusted contact person on file for this account, and if so, who is listed. Can you check that for me?”
To add one:
“I'd like to add a trusted contact person to my account. I understand this person cannot trade or make decisions on my account and does not become a power of attorney — I just want them on file as my trusted contact. Can you take that information now?”
Then give: the person's full name, relationship to you, phone number, and mailing or email address. Before you hang up, always ask: “Can you tell me it's now showing on my account, and is there a confirmation you can send me?” Write down the date.
To change one:
“I'd like to change the trusted contact person on my account to a different person. Can you remove the current one and add the new one now?”
By secure message
Many firms let you do this inside your online account — look under Profile, Account Settings, Security, or Beneficiaries & Trusted Contact. Menus differ by firm; if it isn't obvious, the phone script always works.
“Please add the following person as my trusted contact person. I understand a trusted contact has no authority to trade, make decisions, or act as my power of attorney.
Name: __________
Relationship: __________
Phone: __________
Email/Address: __________
Please confirm once it is on file.”
The conversation with the person you're naming
This is the part that's hard, and not for any technical reason. Asking someone to stand in this role can feel like admitting you need a minder, or like handing someone a burden. It's neither. Here is what to actually say:
“I'm setting up my accounts so there's a second person my brokerage can call if something ever looks off — like if they can't reach me, or they think someone's trying to scam me. I'd like that person to be you.
To be clear about what it is and isn't: you can't see my balances, you can't move any money, and you can't make any decisions. You have no access to anything. All it means is that if my firm has a concern, they've got someone to call. That's the whole job. It might be a phone call once, or never.
Would you be willing to be that person?”
If they hesitate because they're worried about doing it wrong: “There's nothing to do wrong. You can't make a mistake with money you can't touch.”
Most people say yes immediately, and are a little touched to be asked. You are not asking them to carry you. You are asking them to pick up the phone.
Fair questions
Can it be a friend, not a relative? Yes — anyone you choose. It does not have to be family. Pick someone reachable and level-headed.
Can I name more than one? Firms vary; many allow one per account. Ask. (The kit's Circle-of-Three component is how you build multiple watchers across your whole system either way.)
Can I change it later? Yes, anytime, free, no limit.
Will she find out my balance? Not by being named. The designation gives her no access to your account or balances. If the firm ever contacts her over a concern, what it can discuss is limited — it doesn't hand her a login or a statement.
Is this the same as making her a joint owner? No — and this is important. A joint owner or authorized user can move money. A trusted contact cannot. If anyone suggests adding someone to your account “to keep an eye on things,” that is a far more powerful arrangement. Keep them separate.
That's the whole first component, free — and so is the rest of the kit. The kit adds the bank-side Alert Grid, the seven-card Scam Reference Deck, the Circle-of-Three scripts and watchword ritual, the 48-Hour Rule, and the Done Ledger. All six components, all free, all on this site.
Educational only, not financial or legal advice. Reduces risk; doesn't eliminate it. Scripts dated July 2026.