At any age, managing daily finances and household responsibilities such as bill payments, insurance, investments, income, and expenses takes a considerable amount of time and concentration. Seniors are often dealing with limiting conditions like arthritis, dementia, or compromised vision, which make dealing with routine financial issues even more difficult.

While many professionals are able to advise a senior about estate planning and asset management, they do not provide the senior with the daily management of financial affairs and related domestic matters. Everyone needs to pay bills regularly, maintain bank accounts, be aware of changes in healthcare coverage, remain on a budget, and face numerous other financial-related issues, or they may have to face bitter consequences that could include eviction, utility cutoffs, or loss of healthcare coverage.

Family members, usually adult children who take on the role of the parent, often step in at the beginning to perform domestic tasks for their senior loved ones. This informal model of money management assistance can work well depending on the availability of the family members and the difficulty of the overall financial picture. Over time, it may become overwhelming, require too much of a family member’s time, or it may make sense to have a neutral party oversee the finances. At that point, it may be time to hire professional help.

Getting assistance means keeping independence
A relatively new approach for seniors and their families is to enlist a daily money manager. When working with a daily money manager, the senior and the involved family members remain in complete control of their finances. At the same time, on a regular basis, they receive support in managing and organizing the day-to-day financial responsibilities of a household and the senior individual. Often, a daily money manager will come into the home and assist a senior with organizing mail and paperwork, paying bills, reviewing medical claims, negotiating with creditors, reconciling credit card statements, and more. Ultimately, the daily money manager provides a comprehensive approach to managing the household’s paperwork and keeping the senior as independent as possible.

Public agencies and private companies are available to provide this service. Various state agencies offer this service in different formats. With private companies, the money manager and the client set up the appropriate agreements and authorizations in advance. The contracts are usually arranged on a month-to-month basis and based on an hourly rate. Rates vary depending on your geographical location.

The profession of daily money management is not regulated by any state or federal organization, but the American Association of Daily Money Managers (AADMM) offers a credentialing program, and its members abide by a strict code of ethics. Courtney Smith, a board member of the AADMM and President of Benefit Payee Services, states that, “The job of a daily money manager entails more than needing a financial degree. When a daily money manager is invited into someone’s home to help him or her with money matters, that daily money manager will get a comprehensive look at the senior’s life. The nature of the job of a daily money manager is one that lends itself to monitoring the overall well-being of the senior client as well as their finances. Therefore, the daily money manager must also be prepared to assist the individual with legal matters, household issues, benefits and insurance concerns, and much more.”

The expanded role of a daily money manager
The typical responsibilities of a daily money manager also include these supportive functions:

• An advocate - Informs the senior about community services available, benefits he or she is entitled to, and application assistance.
• A debt manager - Helps negotiate with creditors.
• A bill payer - Organizes the bills and reminds the senior when to pay each bill, or the daily money manager may have authorization to pay the bills from the senior’s bank account.

How do you know when a senior needs this service?
According to the U.S. Agencies on Aging, National Center for Elder Abuse website, it’s time to enlist help for a senior when the senior:

• Fails to pay bills on time, resulting in discontinued utilities, late fees, or penalties.
• Pays the same bills multiple times.
• Cannot keep track of assets or property, or loses checks, cash or, credit cards.
• Forgets to open and pay bills, deposit checks, and record expenses.
• Spends excessively on useless items or makes irresponsibly large donations to charities.

Different models of daily money management offer assistance
Private pay models of daily money management are when a senior or the family hires a professional daily money manager to help the senior remain independent and fiscally responsible. The professional generally comes into the home of the senior on a regular basis.

Daily money management community-based programs were developed by AARP and others over the past twenty years. These “programs can help prevent the devastating consequences of financial mismanagement and poverty,” says Debra Sacks, Esq., senior staff attorney at the Brookdale Center for Healthy Aging and Longevity’s Sadin Law Institute.

The AARP Money Management Program is another resource that offers money management help to low-income older adults and people with disabilities who have difficulty budgeting, paying routine bills, and keeping track of financial matters. This service’s outcome is the client’s ability to manage their own financial affairs and remain independent in the community. Volunteers deliver and manage two distinct services:

Bill paying services - Volunteers assist seniors with checkbook balancing and bill paying. Volunteers serve some clients on a short-term basis, but for the most part, committed volunteers serve on a long-term basis.
Representative payee services - When a client becomes incapable of handling his or her own funds, a federal government agency appoints volunteers to receive and manage the senior’s government benefit, such as a Social Security check. The government usually deposits the benefit check directly into the bank account from which the volunteer pays the client’s bills.

State and local government and nonprofit agencies all over the United States offer the AARP Foundation Money Management Program. Area Agencies on Aging, Departments of Social Services, and senior centers sponsor the program. For more information on the program or to find an agency near you, visit www.aarpmmp.org

Finding good daily money management assistance
To locate good daily money management help, do thorough research, find a few good candidates to interview and compare, and ask the right questions:

• Are you willing to work as a team with my lawyer, accountant, or family member?
• Are you insured?
• Can you provide a reference list? (Be sure to call those references.)
• How do you bill for your work? Is the rate hourly?
• Do you have a backup in case you are sick or on vacation?

To find an appropriate person to help with finances, consider asking for a referral from a professional you trust, such as an elder law or estate attorney

Other means of locating assistance with daily money management include:

National Association of Professional Geriatric Care Managers – This is a non-profit organization that provides referrals to licensed professionals, primarily social workers and nurses, who work with families in need of assistance with caregiving. About 20 percent of geriatric care managers also provide daily money management services.
www.caremanager.org
520-881-8008

American Association of Daily Money Managers – This national membership organization represents individuals and businesses in the growing profession of daily money management. These professionals provide personal financial/bookkeeping services to senior citizens, the disabled, busy professionals, and others.
www.aadmm.com
301-593-6462

AARP Money Management Program – This program offers daily money management services to help low-income older or disabled people who have difficulty budgeting, paying routine bills, and keeping track of financial matters. www.aarpmmp.org

The Brookdale Center for Healthy Aging and Longevity developed an evidence-based assessment of daily money management by studying the costs and outcomes of programs that assisted seniors. The findings, as stated by Sacks, were that “daily money management programs are an effective and cost effective way to keep older adults safely in their homes and communities while safeguarding client finances and assets from self-neglect, fraud and abuse.”

The goal of daily money managers is to keep seniors as independent as possible for as long as possible. Smith suggests, “Be open to the idea of working with a neutral third party when it comes to the financial piece. Oftentimes, people need that advocate to maintain the independence they are used to. This provides peace of mind for the senior and their families, takes the pressure off of dealing with these issues every day, and gives the senior access to a person or organization that is a good resource of information.”

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