Daily Money Managers: What They Do and What to Check

Updated August 3, 2026. Quick answer: a daily money manager handles the administrative side of personal finances — bills, statements, paperwork — for people who can still decide but no longer want to, or can no longer manage, the mechanics. The occupation is not licensed by any state we could verify, so the checking is on you.

What they do

Per AADMM’s own site, 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 – including bill payment, payroll-related tasks and bookkeeping.

For someone without family this fills the third of the four seats — the person who does the work. The other three, and what any of them costs.

What it costs. No association and no government body publishes a rate for this work. Two federal ceilings do exist and they bind only an appointed representative payee or VA fiduciary — and an individual serving as your payee may not charge for it at all. The published caps, and what to settle in writing when none of them applies.

The credential, and a correction

The credential is the CDMM, Certified Daily Money Manager, awarded by the American Association of Daily Money Managers. Sources disagree on the initials because the designation was renamed: the association’s own page for people hiring a daily money manager records that it was formerly the Professional Daily Money Manager, PDMM. Same credential, older letters. What it takes to earn and keep it — the hours, the background check, the exam and the renewal — is now set out in full.

What we confirmed from AADMM directly: The CDMM is valid three years. Renewal requires 20 continuing-education credit hours – two of ethics, ten of payroll, finance, bookkeeping and bill-paying, eight of standards of practice and types of expenses – plus a $150 member or $200 non-member recertification fee.

The gap this page used to carry is closed

An earlier version of this page listed four things it could not confirm because the association’s pages were unreachable. All four have since been read at the source and three are now published in full. The pages were not down; they live on a different host from the one first tried, and the certification page’s own address is spelled differently from the link text that points at it, so a guessed URL returns a 404 while the real page returns 200.

• The certification requirements — exam, experience, background check, fees and renewal — are set out at the CDMM credential, requirement by requirement.
• The association’s own guidance on vetting one is a long list of hiring questions covering scope, insurance, references, billing and a written engagement letter; the fee and insurance parts of it are quoted at what a daily money manager charges.
• The scope of the work is described by the association as bill-paying, reconciling accounts, preparing deposits, organising tax documents and papers, checking medical insurance claims, and referring clients on to lawyers, accountants and investment professionals — explicitly complementing those professionals rather than replacing them.
• State licensing is the one still open. No state scheme for this occupation was found, and the association describes its voluntary programme as something that may head off statutory licensing — but an unfound scheme is not a proven absence, and we have not checked all fifty states.

The boundary below is still worth drawing in your own engagement, and it is now the advice rather than a substitute for missing research.

The boundary to establish yourself, in writing

Whatever the association says, these are the lines you want drawn in your own engagement:

• Do they have custody of anything? The safest arrangement is that they prepare and you sign, with no independent authority to move money.
• Are they an agent under your power of attorney? If yes, that is a much larger grant than bookkeeping and belongs in a separate decision. What misuse looks like.
• Do they give investment advice? That is a different, regulated activity.
• Who else sees the statements? A second pair of eyes on someone with access to your accounts is the whole safeguard.

How to check one

• Ask for proof of bonding and insurance, and the amounts.
• Ask for references and actually call them.
• Run a background check. Nobody has done it for you if the state does not license the occupation.
• Keep a trusted contact on the accounts who is not the daily money manager. Free, and gives away no authority.
• Keep statements coming to you as well as to them, even if you do not read them all.

None of this is suspicion of a legitimate profession. It is the ordinary care you would take with anyone who has access to your money, and it matters more when no relative is watching. Building the layer that notices.

General information drawn from IRS, Medicare, HUD and state statute and regulation, not legal, tax or financial advice. Continuing-care law is state law and differs materially between states; every figure here is year-labelled and every source named. Fiduciary licensing, executor compensation and intestacy are STATE law and differ materially between states. Fee figures are quoted from published schedules on the dates stated and change without notice; nothing here is a substitute for advice on your own facts.