Why I Became a Daily Money Manager

Jeremy Nachtigall • April 19, 2021

If you’ve heard or seen my story, you know that I was a caregiver to my mother for 5 years during her bout with ALS. I’ve talked about the decision that I made to move my family into her house during what became her last year of life, but I never shared how it all started. 


In June of 2012, a month after my wedding, my Mom went into the hospital for a scheduled surgery to address a diagnosis of spinal stenosis which was causing paralysis in her right arm. We were advised by her neurosurgeon that although it would be a very long, challenging, multi-step procedure, he had full confidence in his ability to relieve the compression in her cervical spine.

Based upon his reputation and position as Head of Neurosurgery at the hospital, we had every reason to feel confident in his care. Following her surgery, which was deemed successful, she went to a sub-acute rehab facility to work on regaining her strength. It was at this time that we noticed that her right arm really wasn’t improving. I wasn’t overly concerned about her finances at this point because several years earlier, I had written a LTC policy for her for this exact reason: to protect her assets should an event like this occur. If I’ve done anything right in my life, this was it: making the recommendation that my Mom get a LTC policy.


It was at this point that I explained to my sisters that Mom had a Home Modification benefit on her LTC policy that was available to pay for things like grab bars, a stair lift, etc. So, in addition to interviewing multiple Home Care agencies so we would have an in-home aide ready for her when she got home, we had her split-level house fitted so she could get around from room to room and upstairs safely. I thought this was going to be temporary.


We didn’t get a diagnosis of ALS until several months after her surgery. We knew nothing about ALS or how unpredictable the disease was. This is when I started to get nervous about her money. Following a very brief period of recovery, her health began to deteriorate very quickly.  Along with that came greater needs, and higher expenses that were surpassing her LTC benefit amount and cutting into her principle. That’s a big no-no from a financial perspective. I immediately took on the role of financial caregiver with an objective of dramatically reducing her expenses while working with her, my sisters, my mother’s financial advisor and our eldercare attorney in developing a plan for our mother’s care to ensure that she didn’t run out of money. Over the next few years, my sisters and I took on multiple overlapping roles in helping to care for our Mom.  We dealt with transportation, grocery shopping, house management, and interfacing with the homecare agency, which included signing off on homecare services and reconciling insurance EOBs. We did this all while having our own separate careers and families. To say caregiving is a full time job, is an understatement. It's also very emotional, it’s financial, it’s administrative and logistical.


This is why I moved in. My mother needed a someone, a Daily Money Manager, who would go through the mail, to review all of the files in the house, separating legal and financial documents, to set up all of the autopay accounts, to pay the housekeeper, to communicate with utility companies on her behalf. She needed a Daily Money Manager to pay the property taxes and keep the house maintained, to pay the landscaper, to even deal with emergencies like getting the air conditioner fixed, literally, in the middle of July. The unintended outcome of all of this: My mom outlived her doctor’s expectations, didn’t outlive her money and I discovered a new passion to pursue, helping other families in similar situations deal with the daily pressures of caregiving.

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