Sherri L. Combs is a senior advocate, author, and founder of the Silver Streak movement, a nationwide initiative focused on helping older adults avoid scams, find trusted resources, and prepare for aging. Recently, her book, The Just-In-Case Plan, won a Next Generation Indie Book Award for Social Change. Combs has shared plans to travel to Chicago next month to receive the award.
Previously, the book was also recognized as a winner in the Four Seasons Book Awards Winter Edition. For Combs, this recognition extends her mission of helping seniors prepare to age confidently.
The Growing Crisis Facing Older Adults
For many families, conversations about aging begin too late. A medical emergency happens, or a parent falls victim to fraud. Siblings disagree over finances and care decisions, while important documents go missing. The result is intense stress at exactly the wrong moment.
Sherri L. Combs has spent decades watching these situations unfold. After more than 30 years in banking and financial services, she became known in her community as someone families could turn to during difficult estate settlements and retirement transitions. Over time, she saw the same problems repeat. Families were unprepared for aging, and seniors were being targeted by scammers.
So Combs built Silver Streak Senior Services around scam prevention, trusted senior resources, and aging preparedness.
She believes the issue goes far beyond money. She has seen families break apart during estate disputes and watched carefully prepared plans fail because laws changed across state lines or paperwork became difficult for banks to execute. In many cases, she says, the problem starts long before a crisis. Families simply avoid the conversation.
The book addresses this directly. Instead of focusing only on death planning, it encourages families to prepare for aging itself. That preparation includes long-term care discussions, legal awareness, financial planning, and open family communication.
“Written in clear, accessible language, The Just-In-Case Plan avoids technical jargon and one-size-fits-all advice,” explains Combs. “Instead, it provides thoughtful explanations, real-world examples, and practical prompts that help readers slow down, ask better questions, and make informed decisions together.”
The book is paired with an interactive workbook. It helps individuals and families take action at their own pace, reduce uncertainty, and preserve dignity and choice throughout the aging process.
Turning Scam Prevention Into a National Habit
The Silver Streak Senior Services platform verifies providers through background checks, license reviews, insurance verification, and community feedback. Families can search more than 130 business categories built specifically for older adults and caregivers.
Rather than functioning as another online directory, Silver Streak focuses on trust and safety. The platform uses large fonts, plain language, and senior-friendly navigation to reduce confusion for older users.
One of the strongest ideas behind the Silver Streak movement is its push to make scam prevention memorable and practical.
Combs has started using the phrase “Silver Streak it” as a public call to action. In partnership with Silver Streak Senior Solutions, a 501(c)(3) public charity she founded, she wrote a 30-page book on fraud awareness for seniors and trademarked the “P-R-O-V-E IT” Method. The method teaches people to Pause, Read for Red Flags, Outreach for a Second Opinion, Verify Independently, and End the Transaction. The course is currently taught at no charge to senior centers and public libraries nationwide.
She believes that educating seniors on why and how scammers target them is the best prevention. Fraud is heavily underreported, often because of embarrassment and shame. Combs works to dispel that shame, shifting the narrative from “you should have known better” to “you were targeted by professionals who know how to trick your brain.” That is why the PROVE It method resonates. Before you open it, click it, buy it, or wire it, make them PROVE it.
Combs believes communities, businesses, and local governments should work together to create scam-resistant cities. Her work now includes municipal partnership discussions, public speaking appearances, and education initiatives aimed at helping communities better protect older adults.
For Family and Community
There is a personal story behind Combs’ mission. She grew up in San Diego, though her family roots trace back to Texas and New Mexico. She moved back to Texas in 2011 and says those roots continue to shape her views on service and community.
She has been married for 26 years and has helped raise eight children, including those welcomed into the home through blended-family dynamics and caregiving. That focus on family explains why her work emphasizes preserving relationships during aging transitions.
To her, it all comes down to one idea. Preparation is not about fear. It is about reducing confusion before a crisis arrives.
A Broader Mission
Financial scams continue to grow more sophisticated, and the challenges of aging keep getting harder for families to manage alone. Sherri L. Combs is building systems like Silver Streak Senior Services, Silver Streak Senior Solutions, and The Just-In-Case Plan to encourage families to start conversations earlier and make informed decisions before stress takes control.
With the book receiving a Next Generation Indie Book Award for Social Change, Combs is helping build financial awareness and confidence among older adults. She believes protecting seniors should become part of everyday culture. Her movement is working to make that happen.
