My parents worked hard during their careers and did quite well with their finances. They lived below their means and put the excess income into investments that did quite well. That gave them more than 20 years of comfortably enjoying the retirement phase of their lives.
Priorities Can Change
During their active years, my parents handled their daily money management and kept good, well-organized financial records. A number of years into retirement my father realized he was tired of doing this himself and he wanted to have his household finances managed by someone else.
Life priorities change, as travel, new hobbies, and spending more time with family become the new focus.
Financially comfortable families can choose to hire professionals to take over areas that become a lower priority. Landscaping, house, pool, and vacation house maintenance and management are often turned over to companies who can oversee these tasks.
At some point, managing the household finances may also become a lower priority. Daily money managers can provide the professional services to handle household finances just as other professionals handle other aspects of the home. It is nice to have this flexibility, but sometimes the decision isn’t always in our hands.
Life Can Change
As we know, the future cannot be predicted, and we can’t know what our lives will resemble years from now. A sudden change in one’s health or the health of a family member may result in a situation where finances can no longer be self-managed.
This situation can become chaotic if a family member not familiar with the financial situation has to help and try to take over. This may often coincide with the family helping with caregiving needs. In such times, often it can be overwhelming to take on the additional responsibilities while at the same time keeping up with everything else around the house.
A daily money manager can ease that burden by making sure the household finances are not overlooked and nothing slips through the cracks.
Some Questions to Think About
Whether by choice or by life circumstances, how and who manages your daily finances can change. One option is to have a family member take over these tasks, but not everyone has a family member who can or should take over the money management duties.
Should you hire a professional or should you continue doing daily money management yourself? Here are a series of questions to ask that will help with the decision:
- Do you want to do this? Is this something you enjoy doing? Or has this changed from being an enjoyable task to one that you dread?
- Is this becoming a burden to you? Are you finding you aren’t as good at this as you used to be? Are you making more mistakes that result in frustration rather than a challenge?
- Have you prepared for the time when you cannot do this yourself? Do thoughts of preparing for the future result in anxiety?
- You may already have professionals managing aspects of your household. Would you like to have peace of mind knowing that your household finances and properties are expertly handled by a knowledgeable professional?
If the answer to any of these questions is yes, then this might be the right time to invest in a professional Daily Money Manager. The American Association of Daily Money Managers provides many sources of information to help you find, interview and ultimately hire a personal financial professional to keep your household in smooth running order, regardless of what happens in your life.
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Thomas Lapp is president of Triad Personal Paperwork Services, headquartered in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania. Thomas received both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Electrical Engineering and has been a logical thinker and detail-oriented person all of his life. He uses these skills to organize and provide daily money management services for his clients.
