Inheritance Planning Made 123Easy

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 reframe between replacing what a kid can do and building it, and the actual words to use at the table tonight. Read the full article: https://news.ameri...

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 who doesn't have long: why families go quiet instead, the reframe that makes it possible (open with the person, not the accounts), and the actual wo...

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-year rule, the annual withdrawal requirement most people never hear about, the penalty relief that just ended, and what to actually do if you've...

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 suddenly wasn't. Eddie and Betty talk through the memory, and the news at the end of it: the workshops are coming back, starting Friday, October second. Rea...

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 to save your seat at no cost to you. Read the full article: https://news.americanretirementadvisors.com/eddie-and-betty-big-screen/ American Retirement Adv...

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 the one thing I am not allowed to say yet. Read the full article: https://news.americanretirementadvisors.com/eddie-and-betty-secret/ American Retirement Adv...

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 questions beats staying home with a perfect plan you never start. Read the full article: https://news.americanretirementadvisors.com/show-up-once/ American Re...

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 single labeled box beats a lifetime of good filing. Read the full article: https://news.americanretirementadvisors.com/put-it-in-the-box/ American Retirement A...

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 article: https://news.americanretirementadvisors.com/tell-the-kids-the-call-parents-put-off/ American Retirement Advisors helps families in Arizona and Nevada navigate h...

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 front. And almost everyone says the same thing on the way out. Read the full article: https://news.americanretirementadvisors.com/inside-the-first-trust-meet...

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 smaller than the dread. Here is what it actually sounds like. Read the full article: https://news.americanretirementadvisors.com/attorneys-number-on-your-ref...

A couple we work with gave their beneficiary planning box a name, and somewhere along the way, Bob became part of the family. This is a story about paperwork, which means it is really a story about love, new grandkids, and the kindest gift you can leave on a shelf. Read the full article: https://news.americanretirementadvisors.com/the-box-they-named-bob/ American Retirement Advisors helps families...

You know the invitation. Heavy cardstock, a nice restaurant, a free dinner, and a presentation about an exciting financial opportunity. Go. Enjoy the steak. I mean that sincerely. Just bring the one question that turns the whole evening in your favor. Read the full article: https://news.americanretirementadvisors.com/the-steak-dinner/ American Retirement Advisors helps families in Arizona and Neva...

One of our clients sees more doctors than anyone I know, and every one of them is careful, thorough, and completely unaware of what the others are doing. His money worked the same way for thirty years. Here is what happens when nobody is the general practitioner, and what it looks like when somebody finally is. Read the full article: https://news.americanretirementadvisors.com/every-product-had-it...

Plenty of retirees are carrying a death benefit they forgot about, tucked inside an annuity, an old policy, or a benefit from a job they left years ago. Before you buy new life insurance, take an inventory. The smartest sentence I've heard in a review meeting this year explains why. Read the full article: https://news.americanretirementadvisors.com/annuity-death-benefit-vs-life-insurance/ Ame...

Funeral insurance and a prepaid funeral are two answers to the same question, and plenty of people are quietly paying for both. Here is what each one actually is, the federal rule that protects you at the funeral home, and the one conversation that keeps you from buying the same peace of mind twice. Read the full article: https://news.americanretirementadvisors.com/funeral-insurance-vs-prepaid-fun...

You would never take a new medication without checking what it does alongside the ones you already take. But most people buy annuities, life insurance, even funeral policies without asking the same question. One client's story shows why the question matters more than the product. Read the full article: https://news.americanretirementadvisors.com/your-money-has-drug-interactions-too/ American...

The finale of Seven Ways In, a seven-part series on how seven very different people arrived at the same program, and the one detail that decided each case. Today: he retired in April after a big final year, deliberately so. The following January a notice arrives explaining his Medicare premium will be roughly triple what he expected, because of what he earned two years ago. Eddie and Betty walk th...

Part six of Seven Ways In, a seven-part series on how seven very different people arrived at the same program, and the one detail that decided each case. Today: she picked a Medicare Advantage plan at 65. Three years later she wants a supplement, and for the first time an insurance company gets to decide whether it wants her. Eddie and Betty walk through the one enrollment window in your life that...

Part five of Seven Ways In, a seven-part series on how seven very different people arrived at the same program, and the one detail that decided each case. Today: he turns 65 and she is 62, on his employer plan. Medicare is an individual program. There is no family version and no spouse rider. Eddie and Betty walk through what actually happens to the younger half of a couple when the older half age...

Part four of Seven Ways In, a seven-part series on how seven very different people arrived at the same program, and the one detail that decided each case. Today: he retired from a city job with the retiree health plan everyone in the building envied. What nobody explained is that retiree coverage and employer coverage are two different things under Medicare rules. Eddie and Betty walk through the...

Part three of Seven Ways In, a seven-part series on how seven very different people arrived at the same program, and the one detail that decided each case. Today: a veteran turns 65 and someone he trusts tells him he does not need Medicare Part B because he has the VA. It is offered kindly, it sounds like common sense, and it quietly assumes something that is not true. Eddie and Betty walk through...

Part two of Seven Ways In, a seven-part series on how seven very different people arrived at the same program, and the one detail that decided each case. Today: she was let go at sixty-eight after decades with the same company, and handed two years of COBRA. It felt generous, and it was. What nobody mentioned is that a completely separate clock had started the day her employment ended. Eddie and B...

Part one of Seven Ways In, a seven-part series on how seven very different people arrived at the same program, and the one detail that decided each case. Today: the business owner. There is a line in the Medicare rules drawn at twenty employees. On one side, your group plan pays your bills first. On the other side, Medicare does, whether or not you ever signed up for it. Eddie and Betty walk throu...

Four things happened in the last ten days that change what your 2027 Medicare decision looks like. All of them are public. None of them were announced to you. Here is what came into our advisors' inboxes this summer, and what it means for your family. Read the full article: https://news.americanretirementadvisors.com/the-mail-the-carriers-send-us/ American Retirement Advisors helps families i...