The Next Chapter: Wealth & Life After 55

Most people believe estate planning is for the wealthy, that a spouse automatically inherits everything, and that family will sort things out fairly if there's no will. Alina Nuñez, founding attorney of Nuñez Estate Law and Title in Miami, joins Pat Lanotte to dismantle those assumptions one by one. From how blended families complicate inheritance to why a property in foreclosure doesn't p...

What happens when your home is worth more than your lifestyle? In this episode, we sit down with Beth and Karl Mann, Full Spectrum clients who made the decision to downsize, unlock significant home equity, and use it to fund the retirement they had always envisioned. Beth and Karl share the moment they realized their spending approach was unsustainable, how they found themselves taking ad hoc lump...

Estate planning and financial planning are often treated as separate conversations. Business and estate attorney Mitch Beinhaker, with over 30 years of experience and host of the Accidental Entrepreneur podcast, joins Pat Lanotte to explain why that separation creates real problems. They cover the hidden traps of irrevocable trusts, what happens to your estate when you move to another state, why M...

What happens when one spouse is ready to retire and the other is not? Tom and Diane have been Full Spectrum clients for 25 years. Tom, a former HVAC sales executive at Johnson Controls, retired at 72 after six stents and a clear-eyed reckoning with his own mortality. Diane, an anesthesiologist who has run her hospital department for 23 years, is still working full-time and transitioning to per die...

After decades in demanding corporate careers, Sean and Marcy Corrigan faced a question many professionals struggle with: when can we actually afford to retire, and what will our life look like when we do? Through comprehensive financial planning with Full Spectrum Financial Solutions, they discovered not only that retirement was possible, but that they could relocate to South Carolina, maintain th...

Most people avoid thinking about Medicaid until they're in crisis mode, and by then, their options have drastically narrowed. In this episode, Pat Lanotte sits down with Tara Wood, owner of Legacy Estate Elder and Probate Law Group in Boca Raton, Florida, to demystify one of retirement's most confusing and feared topics: Medicaid and long-term care planning. Tara shares why she dedicated h...

What does it really take to retire with confidence when you don't think you have enough money? In this episode, we sit down with Alan and Marylou, Full Spectrum clients for over 30 years, who share their remarkable journey from financial worry to retirement peace of mind. Alan, a former HVAC account executive who retired early due to health issues, and Marylou, a public school teacher who taug...

Most people think they're prepared with a will in a drawer, but when a health crisis hits, that document does nothing while you're alive. Pat Lanotte sits down with Lisa Hostetler Brown, one of only 500 certified elder law attorneys in the United States, to discuss the critical difference between traditional estate planning and comprehensive elder care planning. Lisa shares real stories of...

After 42 years with the same insurance company, Marci LoBello thought retirement was at least seven years away. She was clipping coupons, living paycheck to paycheck as a single mom, and waiting for Medicare to kick in at 65. Then she attended a dinner seminar. In this intimate conversation, Marci shares her journey from cautious curiosity to confident retirement—discovering she could retire immed...

After 33 years of helping people retire, Pat Lanotte, CFP® has heard every fear, faced every challenge, and witnessed every kind of transformation. Welcome to The Next Chapter: Wealth & Life After 55 — a podcast for people who are done just saving and ready to start living. Join Pat for real conversations with real retirees about the decisions that kept them up at night, the surprises they nev...