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Daily Money Management – A Beneficial Service for Seniors and Those with Disabilities

By Richard Hynes

The phone rang. It was a local attorney. His long-time client, Lucy, whose husband had passed about a year ago, suddenly found herself getting letters from bill collectors and service providers indicating that her checks had bounced. Her attorney, knowing this 83-year-old had always been diligent about paying her bills, suspected something was wrong. He called me, a Professional Daily Money Manager, to see if I could help straighten out his client’s financial issues.

When meeting with Lucy, I discovered she did not keep track of her account register, and therefore was continuously unaware of the balance in the checkbook. Her husband had always ensured there was enough money in the account.  After sitting down with her, calling her bank, and establishing what the balance was in the checking account, provision was made to identify all the regular monthly charges, and ensure that a regular transfer from her savings account to the checking account would occur. We set up overdraft protection. We then agreed that she would set her bills aside in a separate basket and I would come by about every 3 weeks and write out the checks, balance the account, and ensure her service providers were all paid.

I also discovered Lucy was unaware of her own cognitive decline. It seemed appropriate that I call in an Aging Life Care Manager to assist with helping her understand the issues she was facing. The Care Manager proved to be a caring, compassionate, and knowledgeable advocate for Lucy.

As time went on, I kept track of all receipts, organized the records for tax filings, disposed of unneeded paperwork, and ensured that Lucy had proper and appropriate Medicare Supplement and Medicare Part D plans. We also developed a number of financial scenarios that showed Lucy how long her money would last if she either remained in her home or moved to a Continuing Care Community. Lucy had no other family and agreed to appoint me as her Agent under Power of Attorney for her affairs and Executor of her estate. Lucy’s credit rating improved, letters from the collection agency stopped, and her relationship with the bank improved immensely.

Working together with an Aging Life Care Professional, we were able to provide Lucy with the piece of mind and she was able to more comfortably go about her day-to-day activities with her friends and club members.

A Daily Money Manager in your area can be found through the American Association of Daily Money Managers at www.AADMM.com.

 

This article was first posted on 10 May 2016 and was updated on 26 July 2018