Islander rescues those in financial distress
The islander rubber-banded household bills and stuffed the bundles into bank boxes around southwest Florida. Utility bills got paid only under imminent shutoff, bank statements, insurance and other affairs were in absolute disarray.
Five years into the catastrophe, Debi Almeida stepped in. She is in the forefront of a new trend: A daily money manager. Almeida spent weeks unraveling the islander’s financial mess, getting the bank, utilities, taxes, cable and pest control, investments, retirement and insurance policies, other household interests in order.
The elderly islander was financially literate, but had lost a spouse and had emotionally shut down, said Almeida, the owner of Financial Blue in Sanibel. No one had intervened to stop the spiraling. Almeida balanced the checkbook, got the islander’s estate organized.
The islander’s story is not unique: Millions of Americans are in arrears in everything from mortgage delinquency to back taxes, according to the American Association of Daily Money Managers (AADMM), a national agency representing some 700 licensed money managers, including Almeida.
The islander with the rubber-banded bills “was overwhelmed with grief,” she said of the disarray. “Things had been turned off, late fees were huge. We just needed to work things back to order.”
Personal money management is a fast-growing trend. The hands-on service mostly targets seniors whose finances are in disarray, a concierge of sorts who balances the checkbook. Many needing the services suffer from dementia, have no family or support network, or have been targeted for abuse by scammers. Almeida, for instance, was told of an elderly islander stopped by grocery clerks from sending a $20,000 wire transfer to a man posing as a hospital worker. The workers suspected the woman was being victimized in a so-called granny scam, which turned out correct.
Although not regulated, the business has become self-policed, Almeida said. The AADMM promotes regulating its members with bonding and insurance, operating under accountability rules and a code of ethics. A money manager’s fees range from $90 to $150 an hour. Their work is often supervised by lawyers, accountants, bankers and family, she said. But many of the clients are alone, she said. That’s why her firm offers a funeral planner that clients use to decide things like music, burial sites, obituary instructions and other choices at death.
“I love helping people,” said Almeida, whose background is in insurance and nonprofits. “And everyone needs someone they can trust.”
Learn more about money management at aadmm.com, or contact Almeida at sanibelblue.com.