Poverty and homelessness can happen to anyone. It’s not unheard of after a divorce and it also happens to people returning from abroad to densely populated home countries with housing shortages and an abundance of regulatory restrictions. Those are just two examples.

Yet I reckon that common responses when a well-educated person claims to have no income are the following.

• Has a drugs or alcohol problem or shopping addiction.

• May be developing dementia and doesn’t know where her money is or how much comes in when.

• Is trying to scam the system and is hiding income or savings.

The simple reality is that more often than not, yes, they have almost no income.

Increasingly often, people fall victim to a costly scam. Don’t judge them. It even happens to savvy investors!

Don’t use suspicion or negative expectations as your standard approach. Assume that people are telling the truth. The adage “Trust but verify” is a very good guideline for all sorts of situations.