Experience with a Daily Money Manager?

In My Humble Opinion
1

Hi Dopers,
Does anyone here have experience working with a Daily Money Manager? This is not a financial planner or secretary, but somewhere in between. According to the American Association of Daily Money Managers (AADMM), “Money Managers (DMMs) represent individuals and businesses in the field of daily money management. Daily Money Managers deliver essential personal financial services to seniors and older adults, people with disabilities, busy professionals, high net worth individuals, small businesses and others.”

I’m curious about real-world experiences and would love to hear from anyone who has engaged such a professional. It might have been for an aging parent or someone who just can’t be bothered to handle his own financial affairs. Or if anyone reading this IS such a professional, would love to hear from you too!

(The reason for the question is I have a relative I think might be in need of such services, and I think I might be qualified to deliver them. So I’m educating myself on both fronts.)

Thanks!

2

I was not aware that was even a service that’s offered.

That said, I suppose they do stuff like pay your bills, move stuff into savings, budget, etc… for their clients.

3

Are you thinking of acquiring this certification so you can pay bills for your relative? If so, why? Why not just pay your relative’s bills without the certification or the title?

4

I worked for a big name accounting firm many years ago. One colleague, who was a CPA, performed this service for a very wealthy client. In her case, I remember the most time consuming (i.e., profitable for the firm) part being that my colleague would comb invoices related to remodeling the client’s Central Park apartment to look for double billings, overcharges, etc. With that aspect of the work, my colleague supposedly paid for her own services. Of course, that colleague was an unreliable fabulist so who knows whether that’s true.

5

I’m not thinking of getting certified, no. I was just interested to see that there is such a professional role and was wondering about pitfalls anyone might have encountered. I think that for everyone’s sake a formal agreement might be in order, seeing as how the money manager presumably has full access to the client’s resources. If it were a parent or someone to whom I’m very close, I would likely do it as a favor. But this relative and I are not close so I’d like to structure the relationship as professionally as possible and be compensated for my time. That way there would be agreements and codes and such to which I could look were any problems to arise.

It seems like real-world examples could range from the informal “I make sure my mom’s utility bills are paid” kind of thing, to something much more involved for a client like Tired_and_Cranky describes. My relative would be somewhere in the middle, needing help handling routine needs but also running interference for him with respect to leases, contracts, investments. He’s just hopeless when it comes to any kind of fine print or regulations and loses interest immediately. And he’s a computerphobe, not comfortable with online interfaces of any kind, making online services for banking and investments a nonstarter. He’ll definitely need a financial advisor but he’ll also need someone to sort of translate and make sure he understands what decisions need to be made–and once decisions are made to make sure the paperwork is completed, etc.

The person who had been his hand-holder recently died, leaving him swinging. He doesn’t know what he doesn’t know, you know?