The American Retirement Advisor
Retirement should feel like freedom, not a puzzle. The American Retirement Advisor is your daily dose of straight talk on the three decisions that shape every retirement: your healthcare, your income, and your inheritance plan.
Each episode is a short, focused read of our latest article, drawn from real conversations with real families at American Retirement Advisors in Scottsdale, Arizona. No jargon. No sales pitch. Just the kind of advice you'd want from a trusted friend who happens to do this for a living.
Hosted by Ian Schaeffer, author of Medicare Made 123Easy, COO of ARA, and founder of 123Easy Studios. Articles read by Betty.
American Retirement Advisors has served over 14,900 families since 2001. Featured in Forbes, a 4-time America's Select Financial Advisors honoree, a 3-time Inc. 500, and a Nextdoor Neighborhood Favorite.
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Read the full articles at https://news.americanretirementadvisors.com/
Episodes
198 episodes
COBRA does not stop the Medicare clock. Here is the math.
The company hands you 18 months of COBRA on the way out and it feels generous. Medicare's 8-month clock started the month you left, COBRA usually costs more than Medicare would, and no, you do not get to keep both. An engineer shows his work.
Three plans at work. What feels like three hundred at 65. Happy Labor Day.
My wife just started a new nursing job and picked her health plan in one evening from a list of three. At 65 it feels like three hundred, and the person down the hall who used to vet it for you is gone.Read the full article:
More than 2,000 of you have already checked in for enrollment season. Thank you.
Our client care team has walked more than 2,000 clients through this year's enrollment check-in. Here is what happens to your answers next, and why the early birds sleep better in October.Read the full article:
Friday, Hayes ran the show. Thank you, and get ready for the next one.
Fiscal Fridays taped Friday with my dad and Greg Frantz, and for the first time Hayes Clement was fully in charge as director and producer. He was incredible. Here is what happened in the room, and how to make sure you are in it next time.<...
What to bring to the library on October 2nd, and what you'll walk out knowing.
Save your seat at the October 2nd workshop: https://123easy.co/podIf you're coming to sit with us Friday, here's how to get the most out of the hour, what we'll actually cover, and wh...
Why we show up for plans we don't get paid on.
Save your seat at the October 2nd workshop: https://123easy.co/podThere are Medicare plans we help people with that pay us nothing, and the list gets longer every year. Here's why we'...
"Humana is cutting plans" is a headline. Here is what it actually means for you.
Save your seat at the October 2nd workshop: https://123easy.co/pod600,000 members sounds enormous until you read the rest of it. Here's what the Humana Medicare Advantage reporting ac...
The scariest Medicare letters of the year land October 2nd
Save your seat at the October 2nd workshop: https://123easy.co/podA wave of Medicare Advantage non-renewal letters is about to land, and the headlines will scare people before the fac...
How to Split the House and the Heirlooms Without a Family War
The thing that actually splits families isn't the money. It's a ring, a chair, a photo, and the feeling of being left out. Here is how you hand it all down without anyone stopping speaking.Read the full article:
How to Ask Your Parents If They've Actually Planned Anything
Asking your parents about their estate feels like reaching for the inheritance. It isn't. It's making sure the plan they built still does what they wanted. Here are the words that open it gently.Read the full article:
How to Give the Grandkids Money Now, and Watch It Matter
The money you give while you are alive to watch it land is worth more than the same money left behind. Here is how to do it without stepping on the parents or spoiling the kids.Read the full article:
How to Tell Your Kids What They're Getting, Before You're Gone
Your kids can already see the money is there. Telling them the plan while you're alive is the only way to explain the why yourself, so nobody has to guess after you're gone.Read the full article:
How to Help a Struggling Adult Child Without Ruining Them
The hardest check to write is the one you can easily afford. Eddie and Betty talk through Ian Schaeffer's piece on helping a struggling adult child with money without taking over their life: why silent giving and silent refusal both hurt, the r...
How to Talk to a Parent About Money When Time Is Short
When time gets short, money is the last thing anyone actually wants to talk about, and that is exactly why the conversation matters. Eddie and Betty talk through Ian Schaeffer's piece on how to open the inheritance conversation with a parent wh...
The Inheritance That Comes With a Deadline
Most people who inherit an IRA think they have ten years to do whatever they want with it. Eddie and Betty walk through why that assumption is wrong for a lot of families, and why 2025 is the first year it truly costs them: the SECURE Act's ten...
The Rooms Are Filling Up Again
Ian takes us back to the library rooms where American Retirement Advisors ran its Medicare workshops for years: the Beach Boys over the speakers, David Edge calm on his phone until showtime, and a room that would sit nearly empty until it sudde...
Eddie and Betty Are Coming to the Big Screen
Betty gets to say it herself. On Friday, October 2, Eddie and Betty are coming to the big screen for one day only, two showings, at two Valley libraries, alongside the advisors you have been reading all summer. Here is everything, including how...
Eddie and Betty Have Been Keeping a Secret
The two voices you have been listening to all summer said yes to something last week, and I promised them I would not spill it. Tomorrow morning, right here, Betty gets to tell you herself. This is the story of how they found their voice, and t...
Show Up Once: Badly Prepared Beats Perfectly Absent
The last card on the fridge is the easiest one to misread. You do not prepare for a first meeting with an advisor; the meeting is where preparing happens. Day five of The Fridge List closes the series: why walking in with a shoebox and three qu...
Put It in the Box: One Place Your Family Can Find Everything
The documents exist. The accounts exist. The passwords exist. Almost none of it lives in one place, and most of it lives in your memory. Day four of The Fridge List is one job: gather it all where your family can actually find it, and why a sin...
Tell the Kids: The Call Parents Put Off
The documents are signed. Nobody has told the kids what is in them. Day three of The Fridge List is the executor conversation: who to call, what to say, and why the kids are relieved by that call, not burdened by it.Read the full...
What Actually Happens in the First Trust Meeting?
The appointment is on the calendar, and the dread changes shape. What happens in that room? Day two of The Fridge List walks you into the first trust meeting: a conversation, not an exam, fewer decisions than you fear, and a cost you learn up f...
Why Is the Attorney's Number Still on Your Refrigerator?
The card went up under a magnet so you would see it every day and call. That was years ago. 73 percent of Americans say estate planning matters to them, and 56 percent have not signed a single document. Day one of The Fridge List: the call is s...