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Safe Money Radio with Brad Pistole
Safe Money Radio host Brad Pistole is a nationally recognized Financial Professional who specializes in planning that protects principal from stock market volatility and creates guaranteed lifetime income. Listen here to receive insights from Brad and hear what he has to say regarding retirement income planning.
Safe Money Radio with Brad Pistole
American College of Financial Services (Horizons Conference) 2026: Part 1
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Retirement plans don’t usually fail because of a bad spreadsheet. They fail because of a life event. From the sold-out Horizons 2026 conference at The American College of Financial Services, we bring you three powerful conversations that hit the real pressure points in retirement planning: widowhood, longevity risk, taxes, Social Security, Medicare costs, and the emotional weight of major transitions.
First, we sit down with Gene Chatsky of HerMoney.com and the Her Money Podcast to talk about why so many women end up managing money alone later in life. One statistic says it all: 80% of men die married, and 80% of women die single. We unpack what that means for financial independence, getting organized, and making sure both spouses understand where the money is and how the plan works before it’s urgent.
Next, Lindsay Lewis (CFP, ChFC) shares what she’s seeing with widows and why the average widow is far younger than most people assume. We dig into the “three G’s” framework (grief, growth, grace), the need for a structured 30/60/90-day game plan, and the guardrails that can prevent rushed decisions. We also cover the wealth transfer to women, the advisor talent gap, and why AI can’t replace the empathy and trust people want from a real financial advisor.
Finally, Heather Schreiber connects Social Security claiming strategy to coordinated retirement income planning. We talk about the temptation to file at 62, how permanent benefit reductions work, and how Medicare premiums and IRMAA surcharges can change your net income for life. If you want a tax-smart retirement paycheck that lasts, this conversation brings the pieces together.
Subscribe, share this with a friend who needs it, and leave a review so more families can find help planning a safer, smarter retirement.
To learn more about Brad Pistole and the Ozark Retirement Group, please visit www.ozarksretirement.com
The Safe Money Promise
SPEAKER_06When the market goes up, you go up. When the market goes down, you don't go down. Safe Money Radio, you might stay inside.
SPEAKER_01Welcome to Safe Money Radio with your host, Brad Pistol. Brad is a retirement income and tax planning certified professional, primarily serving clients in the Midwest, but he's sought after nationally for his expertise in helping people secure their retirements. Mr. Pistol is a licensed life insurance professional in approximately 20 different states, and he specializes in working with people who are near retirement and those who have already retired with wealth management, income planning, and asset protection strategies using life, health, long-term care, and annuity insurance products. And now, here to talk with you about securing your retirement, it's your host, Brad Pistol.
Why Horizons 2026 Matters
SPEAKER_02Well, hello everyone. Thank you so much for joining us today on Safe Money Radio. Now I know I will often say that I'm super excited about the show today, which if you've known me over the last 18 years of doing radio, I'm always excited about what's going on. I think this stuff is fun. I think it's exciting. And hey, we spend most of our lives trying to build up for the golden years, our retirement years, where we get to enjoy all of our labor and hard work. And so I find this all very exciting. I love to teach. I have a degree in education. I do a lot of work through the American College, as those of you that have listened to me know. And so I I know I often say that I'm excited, but I will tell you, today I'm announcing something that I've never been able to announce before, not quite like this. This is incredible news for people in the Springfield, Missouri area who are listening, and people all across the country because people listen to the Safe Money Radio podcast in at least 25 different states. We have clients, and so this is really exciting. The American College of Financial Services started a financial conference in 2025 called Horizons. And I was invited to attend. I was one of the advisors who were there, financial professionals, but also as a radio show host and a podcast host, and they invited me to come in and interview a lot of their keynote speakers. And so we had nine different guests on the show from Horizons in 2025, and it was an incredible experience. The event sold out, it was a lot of fun. And the best of the best were there. Well, then scroll forward to this year, 2026, they invited me to come back again. I'm so excited to be the only person that was there, not only as a financial professional, learning and attending classes, but being able to interview the leading economist in the United States, and then to be able to package that up and bring it back home and share it with all of our viewers throughout the states of Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas on radio, but then also all across the nation through the podcast. And so today, whether you're listening on the radio or whether you're listening to the podcast, we're so grateful that you're joining us because this year I interviewed 13 different speakers. As a matter of fact, 12 of them were all in a row, back to back to back in one day, and then one the next morning because of scheduling. I was interviewing them as they came off the stage before they went into another class or into a group session. And Horizons 2026 was phenomenal. It was sold out again. We're already looking forward to 2027, which is gonna be in San Antonio, Texas. But I'll say this regarding 2026 and what took place, I often will describe it as you know, pick your favorite sporting event. Let's say it's baseball. We're in the middle of baseball season, and so you know there's an all-star break. And whenever the all-stars all-stars all come together, boy, that's a mouthful. You know that there's the the home run derby, and there's two different teams that are playing each other. And the amazing thing about an all-star event is that everyone there is an all-star. Now, when two baseball teams are playing each other, even though it's MLB and they're professionals, there's still only gonna be a few stars out there. Whenever you have the all-star event, everyone there is an all-star. And with Horizons, it is the top financial planning experts from all across the country who are there. The all-stars. And I got to interview these people, they're great friends and colleagues, and here's the amazing thing. Over the next four weeks, we have a month of radio shows, a month of podcasts that result from this event. I interviewed people like Jeffrey Levine, Dr. Wade Fow, Jane Catsky, Don Graves, Dr. Jason Figner, Lindsay Lewis, Dr. Michael Finka, Jamie Hopkins, David McKnight, John Manganero, Heather Schreiber, and Ed Slot. Now you hear those names, and to some of you you may be like, Well, I've never heard of some of them. And to others of you, especially if you're a podcast listener who follows a lot of these people, you're like, Holy cow, those people were all at one event. That's right, the leading economist in the nation, America's IRA expert, New York Times best-selling authors, is just an unbelievable cast of people. And so I'm very honored to be in this position, to have been hosting this radio show now for almost two decades, to have more than 800 shows and episodes air, and to be able to bring to you the listener, the people who are striving every day to do the best you can to beat Uncle Sam to the punch, to save your money in tax-free or tax-advantage retirement accounts, so that you can live the retirement of your dreams with your family. And this is gonna be the information that's gonna help you do that. So if you're listening right now to this first show, just know for the next four weeks, we're going to be interviewing or releasing the interviews with all the different guests that I just mentioned.
Meet Gene Chatsky
SPEAKER_02In today's show, we're gonna start with Gene Chatsky, the host of Her Money, the Her Money Podcast. We're gonna have Lindsay Lewis, CHFC, CFP, Hazard Masters, and Heather Schreiber, who's been a recurring guest on our show for many, many years. So let's do this. I'm super excited. Let's jump into our very first interview from Horizons 2026 from the American College event that was sold out. It was in Orlando, Florida, in the first week of May. And here is our guest, Gene Chatsky, the host of the Her Money Podcast, the CEO and co-founder at Her Money Media, a New York Times and Wall Street Journal, the best-selling author from Philly, Pennsylvania. She has a brand new book that's being released in September of 2026. I ordered it today. It's on pre-release. Listen to the title of this book, The Forever Paycheck: The New Retirement Strategy to Spend More, Worry Less, and never run out of money. Here's my good friend Gene Chatsky. Let's all listen in.
Why Women Often Retire Alone
SPEAKER_02Well, hey everyone, we're coming back to you live here from Horizons with the American College. And we have a great guest with us right now, Gene Chatsky. Thank you so much for joining us on the show. Yeah.
SPEAKER_05Thanks for having me.
SPEAKER_02And I only got to step into a few minutes of your last segment. You were actually, you had a panel of people up there and you had people who actually consumers. Consumers going. I stepped in not knowing what to expect because I didn't know I was going to get to be in there for very long. And I was like, whoa, these are actual clients, consumers who are talking about their retirement experiences. And so I want to talk about that here in a minute, but first, if you will just tell our viewers just a little bit about yourself and your background.
SPEAKER_05Oh boy. I am a longtime financial journalist. So I've been um reporting and writing on real people and their real money for 35 years.
SPEAKER_02Wow. And you have the Her Money podcast?
SPEAKER_05I do, and the Her Money website. Um, so we are a community of women and um, yeah, produced a number of episodes, hundreds.
SPEAKER_02So what is the website address so people can go find you?
SPEAKER_05It's just HerMoney.com.
SPEAKER_02Hermoney.com, it's that easy. And it's I I was listening last night and this morning to your podcast, and I've listened to you for a long time. So I see you on LinkedIn, and so I've watched a lot of your stuff, and we've had a lot of similar guests on the show. Yeah, so I I want to do this. I know, so Joe Jordan was on the show a couple weeks ago, and he's on the board for the American College, and he threw out a stat, and I I love stats, kind of a stat nerd, and he said something that kind of it didn't shock me, but I didn't realize it was this high. He said, 80% of men die married, and 80% of women die single. And of course, that speaks to stuff that you talk about all the time and this this gap that's there where you know men are older and they die first, and women are gonna be left holding the bag, the purse, the situation, trying to figure it out. So talk about that a little bit.
SPEAKER_05It is um, I I've never heard it phrased in exactly that way, but I I love that stat and I'm a nerd too, so I'm gonna hold on to it.
SPEAKER_06Yeah.
SPEAKER_05The the very scary thing is that many women are not prepared for that eventuality. That when you look at um, when you look at the fact that there's still a gender wage gap, significant, budged, that women are the ones who take time out of the workforce to care for kids and older parents, and that then we go on to live longer than our male partners. Um a lot of women are ill-equipped for retirement. And many people I think believe that the wage transfer, the wage transfer, the wealth transfer is going to help solve for that. Right. And I think in some ways it will, but it's not coming as fast as we originally thought. Um, and so the time for women to get educated, to become active investors, to make a plan so that they know that they're gonna have enough to last as long as they do is is today.
SPEAKER_02I love that you just made me think about something in a way I don't think I ever had before, and that's that we know ahead of time what the statistics say. So if you're a female, you know there's a pretty good chance that you're gonna outlive your spouse, and you're gonna be the one having to figure out how to deal with the finances for the rest of your life, so you gotta prepare right now.
SPEAKER_05And you have to at least become knowledgeable about where the money is and who's managing it. We still all too often run into a scenario where women are not involved enough in the family finances to be able to pick things up easily.
SPEAKER_02Yes.
SPEAKER_05And it's changing, um, which is fantastic, but again, not changing fast enough. And I get it, when you are a married couple, particularly if there are kids in the picture, life gets very busy very fast, and the only way to manage is to divide and cumber. And so if you divide and cumber in a way that perhaps she is handling the budget, but she's handling the investments, she is at a real loss. And all too frequently the financial advisor relationship, if there is one, is a relationship between the man and the advisor with the woman not an equal participant, which is why you hear that scary statistic about the huge number of women that leave the advisor when the husband dies. Yes. Now the good news on that stat is that it's way overblown. It's it's not 70%, it's it's far lower than that according to some new data. But more women than men do lead the advisor, and that could be avoided if the advisor brought women into the relationship.
SPEAKER_02And include them in the discussion.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, or I mean I know advisors who will not have the annual meeting unless both partners attend.
SPEAKER_04Yes.
SPEAKER_05Um, which sounds like a very hard line to draw in the sand. One that you might wonder if it's gonna implicate your business in a negative way. Um, it hasn't.
SPEAKER_02No, I love that. I will always say if only one party comes in and I discover that they're married, I'll say, hey, I would really love it in our next meeting if we can have both of you present because it's just good to have both sides.
SPEAKER_05100%.
SPEAKER_02And there's two lines on every paper when I'm asking them their purpose, I'll say how long you've been married, and if they say 25 years, I'll say, well then you've learned to compromise, haven't you?
SPEAKER_05Yes.
SPEAKER_02And so that's okay if your answers are different to the questions I'm about to ask you, because we have to learn how to make that work together.
SPEAKER_05And and so many answers are different. I think people assume that if they get married, all of a sudden they are gonna want the same things at the same time, in the same way. Of course not. You know, you marry somebody that you're attracted to because they're different from you in so many cases. And um, but those differences need to be worked out, um, often with the help of the advisor who wears the therapist hat much more often than you would think.
SPEAKER_02Well, I so appreciate all the things that you talk about because I think in in life, when you experience something, you you talk to everyone about their situations, but then when you experience it, it changes things. So my father was a financial advisor for 50 plus years. He passed three years ago. My mother is probably gonna live 15 to 20 years longer. People will see her with me and think that she's my spouse. So and so the beauty to this situation is that she had this great financial planner, but guess what? He never shared any of that stuff with her. And so when he passed, she called me and said, Okay, financial advisor son, what do I do now? I don't know where anything's at. I don't know his passwords, I don't know where the accounts are, do you know? And then that started this whole process and journey of explaining things to her and holding her hand, and you when you walk through that with your mother, then you realize there's a lot more skin in the game than when you're walking through with other people who just lost their spouse.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, it's so true. I lost my mom a few years ago, and she left me a notebook, which was just such a godsend. All the important numbers, all the important people, all the passwords. I mean, you know, we're not supposed to write it down in one place where somebody else could access it and get that, but thank goodness, right? And the one thing that I learned in handling her affairs was do not cancel the phone. You're gonna need that phone for two-factor authentication for so much longer than you think.
SPEAKER_02Mom still has dad's phone for lots of reasons, and she still checks the things, but no, it's so good because even though dad was an advisor and he worked in our business with us, I still didn't know his passwords to his computer. He left me a note like you were talking about, but he didn't leave a detailed one. I had to kind of do some mystery to figure out his brain set to the codes of how, you know, birth dates and and all these anniversaries. I'm like, okay, so it wasn't easy. So I do learning from experience, give all my clients a retirement planning book for when you pass here's you need to have this filled out ahead of time for your clients. And so what and as we're about to run out of time, I knew this would go quickly, but what are some of the key things you see people facing every day? You have females living longer, they're living as widows, they're going through divorce. What are some of the key issues they're facing right now that you help people with?
SPEAKER_05I think the big issue on a lot of people's minds is at this point decumulation.
SPEAKER_06Yes.
SPEAKER_05Um, we've gotten really, really good at putting money into our 401ks. Behavioral finance hacks have helped us, right, with auto-enrollment and auto-escalation. But we don't know how to take the money and make it last as long as we do. And the key factor there is understanding what the cost of your life is gonna be, and most people don't know that either. Yes. Get a grip on where your money is going, and that unlocks a whole lot of information.
SPEAKER_02I heard a comment yesterday, I got to go to one of the first planning sessions on tax planning versus tax preparing. There's a big difference in the two. And it was talking about your total lifetime tax bill, and they said, you know, retirement planning doesn't stop when you retire. No. It's the most important part from there on, and that's the decumulation. We've learned how to accumulate really well, but how do we take it back out? And how do we do it in the most tax-efficient way, especially when there is a divorce or a loss of a spouse, and now you're in the single bracket. Now there's the widow and the widower's penalty, and we have all these issues that we have to face. So thank you so much. So, for those of you watching, you need to go to hermoney.comhermoney.com and her money podcast. You can learn about all these great things by watching. So thank you so much for joining us here at the American College at Horizons 2026. Thanks, Gene. Thank you. Well, there
Decumulation And The Widow’s Tax Hit
SPEAKER_02you have it, friends. We just listened to Gene Chatsky from the host of Her Money Podcast, and we're so grateful that she joined us on the show. And I just want to say this if we can help you with your retirement planning needs in any way, you can always call us at 866-780-7233, or just go to Ozarksretirement.com and click on the contact us button. Since I have to take a break, now would be a great time to call me for a complimentary copy of my best-selling book, Bulletproof, the Safe and Secure Retirement Income Plan. And I'll also give you a copy of my Safe Money Kit. My number is 866-780 SAFE. That's 866-780-7233. Isn't it time to stop exposing your retirement to market risk? You're listening to Safe Money Radio with Brad Pistol.
SPEAKER_00Hey, it's Glenn Beck. Can you feel it? America's pride is on the rise again. And right here in the Ozarks, the same pride lives on in how we protect our families and plan for the future. That's where Brad Pistol, president of the Ozarks Retirement Group, comes in. Brad's a certified financial fiduciary, and most importantly, a trusted neighborhood who's helped countless Ozark families find financial independence. Call Brad Pistol from the Ozarks Retirement Group. Or Ozarksretirement.com.
SPEAKER_01You're listening to Safe Money Radio with your host, Brad Pistol.
SPEAKER_02Hi, this is Brad Pistol, the host of Safe Money Radio, right here in the Ozarks. I'm a retirement income and tax planning certified professional through the American College, and I'm so happy to be hosting this show for the past two decades. Thanks for joining us today. Now let's get right back to the show. Friends,
Meet Lindsay Lewis
SPEAKER_02thank you so much for joining us on the show today. We now are going to have a guest interview with Lindsay Lewis. Lindsay's been on the show many times. She's such an amazing person. She's an educator, a speaker, a financial advisor. Listen to this. She got her master's in business and her CFP, our certified financial professional designation, before the age of 25. She's from Salt Lake City, Utah. She is now the managing director for the Center for Women at the American College of Financial Services. She's also back in practice, forward-facing with clients, helping them with their financial planning. And I had the opportunity to interview her at Horizons 2026. So let's listen to what Lindsay had to say. Well, here we are at the American College's Horizons Conference, year number two, sold out, and with one of my favorite people, Lindsay Lewis. Thank you for joining us today.
SPEAKER_03Thank you so much for having me.
SPEAKER_02Well, I got to go to part of your class, your panel a minute ago, and I only get to go to maybe two or three classes because we have so many people we're interviewing. But I heard some fascinating things in your class. And so before we get there, I want to say to everyone watching, this young lady right here had her MBA and her CFP before the age of 25.
SPEAKER_03That is correct.
SPEAKER_02I do my homework. And you've been on the show before.
SPEAKER_03I have been on the show. So very driven person, and you are the head or the director of the Center for Women at the American College, and then help lead our Next Gen Advisory Task Force. And if I'm in my any other free time, I help champion our representation strategic focus area, which is around championing emerging talent into the profession.
SPEAKER_02Fascinating. So what I love about doing something different, which because I've listened to a lot of things you do, watched you on all kinds of podcasts, and to see you doing the panel for widows, I thought, well, you know, I walked in the room and I noticed that it was a lot of women in there. Not a lot of men came in for that education. But I have a lot of clients. So I have 2,000 clients, and so a lot of death benefits, a lot of death claims, and this is something I've noticed that falls in line with all the statistics. The majority of the people we help are women. It's not men. So I think Joe Jordan, who's on the board for the American College, he threw out a stat that I'd never heard. I shared it earlier when Gene was on the show. Eighty percent of men die married, eighty percent of women die single. And so let's talk about this. There's eleven million widows in the United States, and this blew my mind. What's the average age?
SPEAKER_03Fifty nine.
SPEAKER_02What was your guess? I was thinking when they said, okay, what do you think the average age is? I'm thinking 65, 67. It's 59 and a half. Yes. And that triggers all kinds of thoughts in my mind, but what do you think about that? 11 million widows, average age of 59 and a half, that creates problems for us, all kinds of issues.
SPEAKER_03It does, especially when you look at longevity risk for women at large, right? That is one of the biggest things that we're trying to solve in retirement planning and retirement income planning. So if she is, you know, single at this point and is going to live longer and she has perhaps less income, she's in a different tax bracket. We talked about this, might experience some Irma issues later down the road. And so it's so important for advisors to build a skill set of working with individuals like this, especially when you see this large transition of wealth that's gonna happen. Anywhere between $30 to $100 trillion, depending on which article you read. However, this wealth is transitioning to the hands of women. And it's interesting because you notice that there were mainly female advisors who were in the room. Yes. And it's our male advisors that need some, you know, additional coaching and support and training around how to work with widows, because a lot of it is those soft skills that are so important around demonstrating empathy, active listening, working through those emotions. It cannot just be a financial transaction.
SPEAKER_02And that's what happens so much of the time. It's almost like in the male mindset they think, oh well, when that happens with our clients, I'll I'll have I'll have a female member of my staff deal with it. You know, and think about that, because they're just not good at it, and they don't like admitting that they're not good at it. But we need increased education. Uh you said something else that was pretty amazing to me, and I realize this, but talking a lot about not making quick financial decisions when you go through a life change like that, whether it's divorce or whether it's the loss of a spouse, um, because one of the people on your panel, I wrote down what they said, it was pretty fascinating. She said, I have my PhD, I'm a CFP, I have my own practice, but when my husband died, I lost my mind. I went crazy. And she said, you know, I I had a total meltdown. And so I know some so much of the time people will just rush into making decisions, financial decisions right after. There are some that need to be made, you talked about that. There's some that probably shouldn't. So what do you think about that?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I think it is the structured timeline. So we talked about the three G's, right? So you go through the grief, you go
Widows At 59 And Longevity Risk
SPEAKER_03through growth, and you go through grace. So in the grief process, we're triaging and we're trying to get to stability for these women. And that might be finding the death certificate, submitting it, all of this, and then hopefully as we move along. One thing I will mention is that all of financial planning is dealing with behaviors. Yes. And uh especially with widows, it's just heightened. And so one thing I talked about is practicing those reps of emotional capacity when table stakes are a little bit lower, yeah, and having those conversations with people. When one thing that's important is to have a structured uh timeline, right? So we know a couple things that have to get done in the first 30, 60, 90 days. Also, you need to have guardrails.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Okay, we're not making any major financial decisions for at least six to nine months. Yeah. Because what can happen is like, I'm gonna sell the house, I'm gonna donate all of this to charity, I'm going to change my whole lifestyle, I'm gonna, you know, go to my yoga teacher training. Just kidding. But you know, they're making large financial decisions, so you have to have some guardrails that you put out there, and then from there you're gonna create a communication plan and effective strategy. But one thing I mentioned is that this process is a long process, right? So one of my good friends, Carrie Carbonero, right, one of her clients had nine meetings in 11 months and just cried in every session, right? So we do want to make sure we're making some traction, but it is gonna be a little bit of a long haul, especially with these folks.
SPEAKER_02Very good. That's just such great advice. So let's transition a little bit into some of your work with the American College and the Center for Women. So I know you're driven, very passionate about that. Why is it something that you're so passionate about?
SPEAKER_03Especially, I mean, I grew up with six brothers, no sisters, so I think that makes anyone a feminist. But of course. Um really it comes down to I in school I did a CFP registered undergrad program, and I saw the percentage of women who held that specific designation, which was around 25%. Fast forward two decades later or a decade later, it's still actually pretty similar. But you have like a large denominator of folks, and so it's a little bit harder to make impactful changes of the percentage of women who are educated and the advisors in the space, and so um I want to make sure that women know about this profession and have access to it and have understanding. So, one thing that I'm working on is actually a course around the landscape of financial services, and that'll be releasing later this year. And the the theory behind this is that there's not a lot of transparency in the business, and so you could say you're a financial advisor, and eight dozen people could also say they're a financial advisor, but how you're compensated, how your days are structured, what your work-life integration looks like is totally different. So we want to dispel some of the myths of what it looks like to work in an independent broker dealer versus an insurance-back broker dealer versus an RA versus a fintech firm versus you know uh a well a warehouse or a bank or a you know a different institution. And so that is part of the education component, and that's why I love the American College because it's applied financial knowledge. And we really want to democratize what it's like to be a financial professional in the space so that more folks can come in. Because we have a huge advisor gap that's on the horizon, right? A hundred thousand financial advisors plan to retire in the next 10 years, and you also have probably a similar amount of insurance-backed professionals at current attrition rates, they're gonna have to hire at least half a million to a million folks to replace those just to meet current demand. And I'm just like, we have all this wealth that's transferring to women, we have this huge talent gap that's gonna happen, and it is such an amazing profession that allows work-life integration and work-life autonomy and all these things that a lot of women value, but they just don't know about it, or they have insecurities as it relates to compensation.
SPEAKER_02I love that. I want to back up for a minute because that was that's a little mind-blowing. I was at a conference last year and I heard this stat and I've heard it repeated, it's always really close. The average individual in this industry as a financial advisor is a white male age 56.
SPEAKER_06Correct.
Grief Guardrails For Big Decisions
SPEAKER_02So you look at it and go, okay, so now that's 57 or 58 because we're aging, but you said something, a hundred thousand, can you say that again?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, a hundred thousand financial advisors plan to retire in the next decade.
SPEAKER_02So that reminds me of something that I know Jean had some people up on a panel this morning, I could see part of it, and one of the ladies was talking about going through four different financial advisors. And so a lot of that transition is gonna happen, either because because she said one of them passed away, one of them sold their business, one of them was a relative of mine, and that didn't work out maybe. So there's gonna be a lot of transitions where you're gonna be jumping ship and going from advisor to advisor to advisor because of these transitions. So, what do you think about it? We only have a couple minutes. So, what do you think about the younger generation thinking, oh, I don't even need to worry about that. AI is gonna be doing all my trading for me. You know, there's AI commercials everywhere, they're gonna give them 20 bucks, they'll make all the trades for you. Do you think that day's coming, or do you think the need for flesh and blood advisors who are well trained is gonna continue for a long time?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, there's an interesting report by Morningstar where they actually surveyed consumers with advisors who are leveraging AI.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
SPEAKER_03And what they found were a couple of interesting facts. So highlight reel here that individuals, clients did not like AI-generated emails. And even though AI can help democratize quite a bit of the planning process, what it does is it creates a larger divide of needing access to qualified folks who understand them as an individual. So, like we talked about, the top things that clients are looking for personalization, empathy, and trust. And so AI can do some of those things, but it can't fill all of those things. And like Kathleen was talking about in our panel, right? Like you can know all of the right answers and be a financial advisor, and then I'm still like, should I max out my HSA? And it's like, absolutely yes. So I think AI will actually drive more demand for people who are seeking qualified financial advice from someone who understands them as an individual. As much as Claude or ChatGBT or Gemini, whatnot, they can know stuff about me, but it is different to talk to someone and work alongside someone because you can get advice on the internet. You could have done that a decade ago and people weren't implementing it. So, what they found is that firms that are leveraging AI are speeding up certain processes, but also that you need to let your clients know how you're leveraging AI, which a lot of advisors don't do, which is like send one little report of like this is the AI that we've incorporated at our firm, and this is these are the reasons why we're incorporating them. And this is how it's beneficial to you, the client, and this is what it's freeing up our time to do, which is to have more meaningful, impactful
The Advisor Gap And The Wealth Shift
SPEAKER_03conversations with those folks that their client needs absolutely matter. So uh the we did a survey of Gen Z at the American College, and 86% of them want to leverage AI and financial services, so like definitely have it on board. I don't think it's gonna make it go away. I think it's gonna make the importance of specialized expertise and knowledge even more important as people move forward with their financial planning needs.
SPEAKER_02I love it. Thank you so much for your work with the American College for taking time to share with all of our listeners today. Here from Horizons 2026 with the American College. Thank you, Lindsay Lewis.
SPEAKER_03Thank you so much for having me.
SPEAKER_02We're so grateful for being able to listen to Lindsay share that powerful information with us today. If we can help in any way, just call us anytime at 866-780-7233 or go to Ozarchretirement.com and click on the contact us button. Since I have to take a break, now would be a great time to call me for a complimentary copy of my best-selling book, Bulletproof, the Safe and Secure Retirement Income Plan. And I'll also give you a copy of my Safe Money Kit. My number is 866-780 SAFE. That's 866-780-7233. Isn't it time to stop exposing your retirement to market risk? You're listening to Safe Money Radio with Brad Pistol.
SPEAKER_00Hey, it's Glenn Beck. Can you feel it? America's pride is on the rise again. And right here in the Ozarks, the same pride lives on in how we protect our families and plan for the future. That's where Brad Pistol, president of the Ozarks Retirement Group, comes in. Brad's a certified financial fiduciary, and most importantly, a trusted neighbor who's helped countless Ozark families find financial independence. Call Brad Pistol from the Ozarks Retirement Group. 417-581-9222. That's 417-581-9222 or OzarksRetirement.com.
SPEAKER_01Now back to more Safe Money Radio with your host, Brad Pistol.
SPEAKER_02Hi, this is Brad Pistol, a retirement income certified professional. And if you're wanting to learn how to keep your money safe and to last the rest of your life, you're listening to the right show. We are Safe Money Radio right here in the Ozarks. Now let's get back to the show. Well, friends, we've been bringing you interviews from the American Colleges Horizons event 2026. It was sold out. It literally is the all-star event of all financial advisors and financial professionals. There were so many different groups and firms there, individuals there. And now I want to bring to you a third interview that we did from the conference, and it's my good friend Heather Schreiber. She's probably one of our recurring guests on the show that we've had on more than anyone else next to Ed Slot, America's IRA expert. You know, Heather works with the Ed Slot group. She does their Social Security newsletter. She's a registered Social Security Analyst. She's a retirement income certified professional. She is currently in the tax planning certified professional program that I completed this last year. She's from the Atlanta metropolitan area. She's a keynote speaker, an author, an educator, a consumer advocate. She works in Social Security with people all across the nation. She helps advisors answer all the critical claiming questions that they have for their clients. She's an Irma specialist. She's the one that originally coined the phrase mean old Aunt Irma that we're always talking about on the show. So if you hear anyone from anywhere talk about mean old Aunt Irma, that came from Heather Schreiber. Someone's copied it and borrowed it from her, but that tagline that it took off, and everyone says it now. And so what is Irma? Income related monthly adjustment amounts. She's an Irma specialist. She's a retirement income strategist, and she helps take things that are very, very difficult and make them simple for consumers and for advisors. So let's listen to what Heather had to say from the Horizons Conference with the American College. Well, thank you to everyone for joining us here. We're
AI Can’t Replace Trust
SPEAKER_02coming to you from Horizons Conference with the American College. And this person needs no introduction. If you're watching right now, this is my sis, Heather Schreiber. So you guys always know referred to her as my sister, like she just said before. She's I'm like the brother that she didn't want. You can't pick your siblings. So here we go. But we're grateful for you taking the time today. I know you've already had some sessions, you've been speaking, but you're here joining us. So thank you for taking your time to join us today.
SPEAKER_04A pleasure always to be sitting with you.
SPEAKER_02Well, you know, there's so many different things we can talk about. And of course, I didn't tell you anything that we're going to talk about ahead of time.
SPEAKER_04Did not tell me anything we're going to talk about.
SPEAKER_02But let's talk a little bit about what you've talked about today to the group that's here at Horizons.
SPEAKER_04You know, I've fed off of, and it kind of every session has been incredible, I'll have to say that first. But I obviously talked about social security, which is one of my many passions about retirement income planning. Um, but we talked about how that can't social security is obviously foundational for most people's retirement income planning, but that it cannot be discussed in silos, right? It isn't something, and and often the clients that that the financial advisor has thinks of it that way, right? And they don't know much about it. And so I I really talked about and and really echoed the sentiments across the sessions about coordinated income planning. And one of the things that you know every client is gonna say
Meet Heather Schreiber
SPEAKER_04they don't want to pay tax, they don't want to pay taxes, right? Right. And so it was really a discussion about how to create both financial independence with social security. That's something that is very important to me because life changes, right?
SPEAKER_02And quickly.
SPEAKER_04And quickly.
SPEAKER_02Yes.
SPEAKER_04Uh, and so I talked a lot about how do you do that. Most notably, women are the ones that tend to have, you know, it's changing, but women tend to be the ones that have maybe a smaller benefit. So I talked a lot about how do you create financial independence with social security, and then how do you create a coordinated income plan? So that was sort of two the two part of my session and really fed on and kind of tied it back to a lot of the other session sessions. Right before me, uh Jean Chaski had talked to a consumer panel, and I wrote five five pages of notes from that. I was like, yes, yes. Because it's just it was so good to hear from consumers and what they're going through. Or going approaching retirement. It was amazing.
SPEAKER_02It was. I didn't get to stay in for all of it. It's amazing, but it was pretty mind-blowing, especially when someone's talking about how they've gone through four different advisors and all the transitions and the stress that creates.
SPEAKER_04And what they're looking for.
SPEAKER_02Yes. So you have someone pass away, you have someone retire, you have a family member take over, and that didn't work out that great. That did not work out. Right, and then you have to hire someone else. I mean, that's there's a lot of changes that can take place. We know we kind of live in this uh YOLO, you only live once, live for now, I want it right now. We've talked so much on the show about when and how to file for Social Security, even though that's not the only part of retirement income planning we do, it's a lot of it. And a lot of times people don't give it a lot of thought. The only the only reason that's driving their decision is, well, it's available, so I want to go get the money now. But we had Jason Fickner on earlier and he was talking about how, yeah, but if someone said, Hey, I have this benefit for you, um, you can take it when it's permanently reduced, or you can take it when it's as high as possible. Which one would you want? And no one wants a permanently reduced benefit. They were like, Well, I don't want that, I want that full maximum benefit. And yet so many people are running out and filing at 62. And what is it at 62?
SPEAKER_0470% of what it would be at full retirement age, and 67% less of what it would be at 70.
SPEAKER_02So why are we doing it? Why are so many consumers in this rush to get out there and file for Social Security at 62 when it's often not what's best for them?
SPEAKER_04Well, I think that there's not enough awareness of how important it is to possibly wait. It's also because everyone is concerned. Right. Everyone's saying it may not be there.
SPEAKER_02Right.
SPEAKER_04So I'm gonna go ahead and file now and protect myself.
SPEAKER_02And get my money while I can.
SPEAKER_04But when the trustees report came out and said it was the same iteration, this this iteration of you know, the the trust funds are running out of money. This insolvency issue, we're having to tap into the trust funds, has been going on uh since 2021. Um, insolvency doesn't mean it's going broke, there's nothing going on, unless everyone and their brother start stop working, right? So it's a pay as you go system, so the workers are funneling it. But what it's saying is we're we have more benefits going out to our baby boomers than we do have workers that can bring it in. Um but but if those benefit cuts were to occur, they don't grandfather you in and say, Oh, well, you're good. So that is really sort of the counterintuitive
Social Security Timing And Medicare Costs
SPEAKER_04thing to do because if you've just taken, if your full retirement age is 67, you've been born in 60 or later, then you've taken the 30% cut, and then you're gonna take roughly a 20 to 23% cut on top of that. For most people, as I talked about earlier, you know, most private sector employees don't have a pension anymore. Right. This is their sort of lifetime inflation adjusted income. And something else I talked about in my session was the very real concern that Medicare premiums continue to rise at a rate that's far higher than the general inflation rate.
SPEAKER_02Yes.
SPEAKER_04Healthcare in general.
SPEAKER_02Much higher than the COLA, also.
SPEAKER_04Exactly. And that Medicare premium is coming out of your your social security check. So those are the kinds of things that advisors really need to help them connect the dots on. And so, and the other thing is people often think, well, I'm retiring, therefore I claim. That isn't always the right thing to do. In fact, sometimes it's it's really not, particularly if you're working with a married couple and that is the higher wage earner. Yes. So there's a lot that goes into that. That's why you can't think of social security in a silo. You have to look at the entire picture, and that's why these clients or consumers need a planning, you know, a planning professional because it it's impossible for them to do it alone. Can you imagine trying to put all of those pieces together by themselves?
SPEAKER_02Very, very intimidating. And I would say, you know, talking with Jason Fickner earlier, and he's done the whole uh the aging into the system, how many people are turning 65 every single day, peak 65.
SPEAKER_04It's now 11,000 or 12,000 every year. 11,200, yep.
SPEAKER_02So we hit the peak last year. But I think about that and go, okay, if we were able to, and it's not possible, but if we could go interview every person as to why they filed at 65, they would say, well, because you're supposed to retire and trigger at the same time. And people, I don't think they understand or know what happens if I just did decide to defer my social security. How do I even make the payments for Medicare Part B? Because it's naturally deducted from your check. Exactly, and they don't.
SPEAKER_04Right. That is the educational component that they're missing. There's so much lack of information, misinformation. That's the problem, and that's why we advocate for education. You know, those kinds of things, that alone, to say, oh, well, I have to in order to enroll in Medicare, I I have to file.
SPEAKER_02Sure. How else are they gonna get my Part B premiums? Well, that's why I love and I'll shout out to the American College for doing very proactive things like joining and partnering with RSSA that we both just went through. Registered Social Security Analyst, I know uh that was great information. Did you not find that fascinating?
SPEAKER_04I found it amazing because it did, and I've been telling everyone, I mentioned it in my session. What I loved about it is that it does not treat Social Security as a set of rules, which it obviously is, but it it was coordinated planning. It it gave the advisor the ability to now take this these rules and and adopt it into a coordinated income plan that did just talk about taxes, that did talk about avoiding Medicare premium surcharges and talked about ARMA.
SPEAKER_02That's right.
SPEAKER_04Talk about how do you mitigate that, you know, qualified charitable distributions. It it talks about all that, and you have to do that if you're and you need to plan early. I mean the earlier you start planning and planning through the lifetime of the second spouse to die and even to the next generation, because what do we have now? Well, now we're concerned about all the the next generation inheriting the wealth, and if they're inheriting a big fat IRA, they got problems, right? Major tax issues. It's planning that takes forethought years before we get to the final spouse, right? So that's that's what it's all about.
SPEAKER_02And one of the things I loved about the RSSA was doing the case studies and using their software, being able to see specific situations to plug in whether or not someone was divorced or a widow. Or if they had a special needs child at home, all these different scenarios, which is chances change. Really good for us to flesh that out and walk through those scenarios and how how that's gonna affect our real consumers who are going through this and triggering their benefits every day.
SPEAKER_04That's right. When you have dependent children, that does sort of change the narrative. I would still say if the kids are gonna age out, I still don't think it should change the narrative unless, you know, unless they're super young. Uh but disabled children, I encounter that quite often. And that is a nuanced situation that would change the claiming strategy, probably.
SPEAKER_02Well, I knew time was gonna fly. Time just goes by. We do, we're we're right there. But if you had anything to say to people listening right now or watching, what advice would you give? You're it's it's tax planning, it's social security planning, you do everything. But what advice to the person that's listening right now? Maybe they're confused about when and how to file, they've got questions. What would your advice be to them?
SPEAKER_04My advice is are we talking is this consumers we're talking to?
SPEAKER_02Can be consumers, it could be professionals, either way.
SPEAKER_04I would say educate yourself. I mean, education is so critical.
SPEAKER_02Yes. Um don't make quick, quick, rash decisions. Yes.
Education, Coordination, And Next Steps
SPEAKER_04I mean, to the advisors out there, education. You gotta leave with education. Um, and the American Publishers to do that, I'll tell you that. For sure. It really is. I mean, education and the value, we heard this straight from the horse's mouth, right? In Jean's session, when she was talking to them, they want value. The value is anticipating what they don't even know to offer. And that's where you get the education, is where it is. You know, continuing to invest in yourself.
SPEAKER_02I love this from Jared Trexler right at the very opening of the conference when he said retirement planning doesn't end at retirement. It's one of the most important times where it's just beginning. There may be 25 more years of it. So that's great information to everyone watching, consumers, financial professionals. We're grateful to have people like Heather here sharing with us at Horizons at the American College to the sold-out crowd. Thank you so much for joining us. Thank you, Brad. Well, there you go, friends. We're so thankful that you've been joining us today, and now you know why I'm so excited to talk about the next four weeks of Safe Money Radio, the radio program and the podcast. If you didn't know there was a podcast, just go to YouTube, to Apple, to Spotify, look up Brad Pistol, Safe Money Radio, because over the next four weeks we're going to be bringing you the interviews from 13 financial planning all-stars, people who are CPAs, CFPs, RICPs, TPCPs. Well, what does all this alphabet suit mean? It means they're the best of the best of the best. People who are the all-stars in this industry. So today we got to hear from Gene Chatsky from the Her Money Podcast. We got to hear from Lindsay Lewis, a CHFC and CFP, the managing director for the Center of Women at the American College. We got to hear from my good friend, my sis, Heather Schreiber, an RICP, a registered Social Security Analyst, and someone who works with advisors and consumers all across the country. You got to hear their heart on what's happening in the world of women. You know, there are 11 million widows in the United States right now. For every one 100-year-old widower, there are five 100-year-old widows. They outnumber them five to one. And so this is very serious when it comes to financial planning. I always say this men are older and they die first. We have to have a plan for what's going to happen for the females who are going to live 10 to 15 years longer than their spouses. There are income gaps. They drop back from the joint filing tax status to the single filing tax status. That's why they call it the widow's penalty. There are so many things that are such key elements when it comes to financial planning, and it involves things like marriage and divorce and death and disability and long-term care planning and what happens if one person becomes disabled and ends up in a nursing home. And where do you spend the assets from? And all these different questions that come up. We're going to be talking about this over the next few weeks as we hear from several more incredible guests. You can always go to Ozarksretirement.com, click on the contact us button if you have financial planning questions or questions about your Social Security or your IRAs, your 401ks, or know that you could also always go in and call. Just call us 866-780 SAFE. That's 866-780-7233. Thank you so much for joining us today. We look forward to part two, part three, and part four of the interviews from the American College of Financial Services Horizons event that took place in May of 2026. Well, I'm about out of time, and I would like to thank you for listening to Safe Money Radio. If you're serious about your financial future, give me a call, and together, we'll get your retirement savings on the fast track to accumulation while reducing exposure to market losses. Thanks for listening, and until next time, at the same time, I'm Brad Pistol, reminding you to stay safe so you can step into a secure future.
SPEAKER_01You've been listening to Safe Money Radio with your host, Brad Pistol.
Closing And Important Disclosures
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