October Treats – 2020
[et_pb_section fb_built="1" _builder_version="3.22"][et_pb_row _builder_version="3.25" background_size="initial" background_position="top_left" background_repeat="repeat"][et_pb_column type="4_4" _builder_version="3.25" custom_padding="|||" custom_padding__hover="|||"][et_pb_text _builder_version="4.4.4" hover_enabled="0" admin_label="Text"]I have fond memories of trick or treating with my two brothers at an early age. We received all kinds of homemade treats back in the day before people were afraid to eat a homemade treat. Popcorn balls, homemade fudge and cookies, cupcakes, sticks of sassafras or peppermint. If it was a cold Halloween night some folks even served hot apple cider or hot chocolate! We didn’t get much store-bought candy. Visiting each home was more of a visit to friends and neighbors and lasted 5-10 or even 20 minutes to enjoy each visit. Nowadays everything must be in a protective wrapper and Moms and Dads are reviewing the candy haul in their kids’ bags to make sure everything looks OK before allowing anyone to eat anything.
Still, many folks are planning on Trick or Treating, even with all this Virus scare.
So, sounds good .... but let’s take a few precautions.
If you are the one handing out the treats at your door, consider using some tongs or wear a glove to pass out the goodies so that you are not touching the candy you hand out. Wear a mask at the door (maybe even a scary one)!
If you are the parent, it is almost impossible to keep the kids from eating a bite or two before they get home, but the virus can’t exist on a surface for more than 72 hours (so the experts say). Consider just keeping the bag of goodies out of reach for a few days before letting little Johnny or Jill partake of the sugary morsels.
Also, avoid outings with large groups of kids or parents. Keep group size small, to just 3-4 kids with parents. It would also be advisable to bring along a bottle of hand sanitizer and spray the kids’ hands often, as who knows what they might touch.
One last thing. Don’t overdo the mask thing, especially if your kid is going to wear a Halloween mask. Remember your kid has to breathe, so if you are making them wear an N95 mask make sure the Halloween mask isn’t overdoing it!
Happy Halloween!
[/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section]Change to save! – 2020
[et_pb_section fb_built="1" _builder_version="3.22"][et_pb_row _builder_version="3.25" background_size="initial" background_position="top_left" background_repeat="repeat"][et_pb_column type="4_4" _builder_version="3.25" custom_padding="|||" custom_padding__hover="|||"][et_pb_text _builder_version="4.4.4" hover_enabled="0" admin_label="Text"]If you’ve been our client, you know that each year during Medicare’s Annual Election Period (AEP) we contact all of our clients via email or phone call. We get this opportunity each year from October 15th through December 7th to shop and select a new plan that starts January 1st of the new year.
Often folks will say “I have a plan I like, so why do I need to change”? Here is a success story explaining the reason why you check your plan every year.
Traci was age 70 and a referral from her friend, Sybil, who was our client. Traci was complaining that her every-six-month infusion was costing her $4000.00. Sybil urged her to call us at American Retirement Advisors to assist her in researching her infusion kit. When she called, I asked her “why are you buying your infusion kit”? She let me know that she is a retired nurse and can perform the infusion herself. “I don’t need a doctor to do the infusion” she proudly exclaimed. I informed her, that if she went to an outpatient facility for the infusion, Medicare and her Medigap Plan G would cover the cost of her infusion at no cost to her. “Nobody ever told me that”! she exclaimed. We then researched her Part D drug plan to ensure her other prescriptions were covered appropriately and found she was overpaying co-pays on the plan that her Agent signed her up for when she first initially enrolled in Medicare years ago. “Why didn’t my Agent tell me there were other plans”? I let her know that an Agent works for one Carrier and it’s their job to sell that one plan. When dealing with our Certified Medicare Planners®, we research all the plans to ensure our clients are enrolled in the most appropriate and cost-effective plan in their market.
Point is that all these Medicare Part D drug plans and Medicare Advantage plans can change their premiums, deductibles, and copays every year. Doctors and hospitals can change their networks every year. Wouldn’t you like the comfort of knowing you are on the most appropriate plan for you for next year? Wouldn’t it be
nice to have a little Medicare Angel sitting on your shoulder checking your options and answering the question of should you stay, or should you switch?
The Unexpected – 2020
[et_pb_section fb_built="1" _builder_version="3.22"][et_pb_row _builder_version="3.25" background_size="initial" background_position="top_left" background_repeat="repeat"][et_pb_column type="4_4" _builder_version="3.25" custom_padding="|||" custom_padding__hover="|||"][et_pb_text _builder_version="4.4.4" hover_enabled="0"]As we go through our daily lives, we occasionally get an unexpected curve ball tossed at us from nowhere. Sometimes it’s a blessing, like extra money we didn’t expect, a gift, a winning lottery ticket, or an unexpected phone call or visit from a loved one. Other times, it might be something not so pleasant; an unexpected expense like a repair on your car or home, a broken tooth, or something even worse, like the unexpected loss of a loved one. Whenever these things happen, they impact us, but how you react makes you…. you.
There are days when these unpleasant, unexpected events gang up on you all at one time making your life miserable. I had one of those weeks where nothing was going right. It started out innocently enough with a canceled dental appointment. Then a waterline broke, flooded upstairs, and, of course, it happened while we were sleeping and didn’t hear anything. Water goes downhill into the garage ceiling and the ceiling gets waterlogged. Of course, the ceiling, now heavy with water, falls on top of the car, damaging the car. And the Cherry on top, the A/C unit stops working.
And it got worse……
Our fur baby dog gets sick and goes to the vet. The worse news ever, cancer, and has only days to live. Great dog and certainly part of the family as anyone who has a pet understands. I had just made a comment the month before in the Newsletter about the one thing I can always count on is the happy feeling of my dog being excited to see me every day when I get home from the office. Well…not anymore.
With everything going on in the world right now, with all the negativity, and now a string of the unexpected? Anyone starting to feel like Job? A just and upright man who misfortune befalls him.
Well, call me a Pollyanna, but no matter what happens I get up every morning with the expectation that I’ll help as many people as possible, and sometimes those people include helping me. You think you got problems? There are folks out there who have real problems far worse than any of these things that happened to me this past week. As I endeavor to get through these trials and tribulations, I know that hope, patience, and perseverance will prevail. We will get through this. How you react and deal with everything going on makes you…. you.
David S. Edge
V.P. of “Happy” Healthcare & Retirement Planning Professional Utilizing fact-based decision making to protect your retirement lifestyle!
[/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section]It’s Fall (somewhere) – 2020
[et_pb_section fb_built="1" _builder_version="3.22"][et_pb_row _builder_version="3.25" background_size="initial" background_position="top_left" background_repeat="repeat"][et_pb_column type="4_4" _builder_version="3.25" custom_padding="|||" custom_padding__hover="|||"][et_pb_text admin_label="Text" _builder_version="4.4.4"]It’s a fall like we never had before; late school openings, kids still at home, shortened college football seasons, or, worse, terminated completely. The baseball season should be entering the playoffs soon, but not this year. Leaves are starting to turn their beautiful colors but since our Arizona monsoon season was a ‘no show’ this year… what fall leaves?
With schools starting or not starting, it was funny to see one of my neighbors (who is retired) suddenly having kids arrive at their home every morning. After a brief discussion, it was all their grandkids coming to the house for homeschooling since all the parents were going back to work and no schoolhouse to go to. Fred took it with good humor that he now has an excuse to see his grandkids every day, for a while at least. While driving past their house yesterday, the entire driveway was covered in drawings and art from the kids with chalk. I even spied an old hopscotch drawn into the concrete. Everything old is new again?
With fall occurring, the countdown starts with Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas. I already have seen Halloween stuff in the stores and its only August. One retail store was putting up Christmas! I asked the manager what in the world was going on and she politely informed me that they were just trying to get people to feel good with all the negative stuff going on. Maybe she is on to something, at least the feel-good aspect?
And with all the finger-pointing and tit-for-tat going on between China and the USA, don’t expect those catalog items to be here anytime soon, as most of those products are sitting on a dock somewhere waiting for one or the other to let commerce start again.
But for most of us, it’s still going from the air-conditioned house to the air-conditioned car, to the air-conditioned grocery store, or some other retail place with A/C. All I know is our fall schedule has me a tad discombobulated, and my wife is not a happy camper. Hmmm…. Happy wife, Happy Life? I, for one, hope things get better soon! And maybe…it’s not too early to start ordering those Christmas gifts? Merry Jack-o-Lantern-Turkey-Santa to you!
[/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section]Should I take it? – 2020
[et_pb_section fb_built="1" _builder_version="3.22"][et_pb_row _builder_version="3.25" background_size="initial" background_position="top_left" background_repeat="repeat"][et_pb_column type="4_4" _builder_version="3.25" custom_padding="|||" custom_padding__hover="|||"][et_pb_text _builder_version="4.4.4" hover_enabled="0" admin_label="Text"] Pricilla called our office wanting to ask a few questions about retirement in general. So, our customer service team member let her know right away that she indeed had called the right place. “If it’s got to do with retirement, we do it.” she simply stated. As the call was routed to me there is usually a note about the subject matter, but there was no note. So, I started the conversation with what I usually do “How can we help you today?” Pricilla let me know very quickly that she was somewhat vexed that she could not find anyone at her office to give her a straight answer to her retirement questions. We encouraged to fire away. She was still working at age 64 and wanted to know, can she turn on her Social Security check right now even though she was still working, and would there be any issues? She wanted the extra income to start a savings account to create a small nest egg when she retired at age 66 and 2 months. I was quick to let her know that there are some issues she needed to be aware of before making this decision that could impact her financially. If she makes more than $18,240 in income, she will get a penalty for taking SS check benefit early and making too much income. She could actually wind up owing money back to SS. As far as creating a nest egg, if she waits to collect her check at full retirement, she can request that that SS backdate her start date by 6 months, and she will get a lump sum check for those months. If she waits after the full retirement date, her SS check benefits will continue to grow at approximately 8% guaranteed. There is nothing in the market right now that’s paying 8% guaranteed. These answers to her question threw an entirely different perspective on her decision making. “Finally! Some real answers so I can make an informed decision”! She exclaimed. While there is more detail to each of these scenarios than we have space for in this article, we strongly recommend attending our “Basics of Social Security and Claiming Strategies” workshop before making any final decisions on when to activate your Social Security benefits. [/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section]Sky Raisins? – 2020
[et_pb_section fb_built="1" _builder_version="3.22"][et_pb_row _builder_version="3.25" background_size="initial" background_position="top_left" background_repeat="repeat"][et_pb_column type="4_4" _builder_version="3.25" custom_padding="|||" custom_padding__hover="|||"][et_pb_text _builder_version="4.4.4" hover_enabled="0"] We’ve all had our experiences with animals; maybe by growing up on a farm or maybe it was a pet. What was your experience? Was it a cat, dog, bird, or maybe just a goldfish or gerbil? Maybe you were lucky enough to have something larger, like a horse? Your parents probably made sure that if it was yours, you had to take care of it the feeding, grooming, litter box? Ugh! Maybe there was never a pet and it was just trips to the zoo. Whatever your experience was…. it made you…. you. Being around animals there were many times something funny or hilarious would happen to give you a good laugh. I know we all probably have a story or two we can tell. I had an experience just last week that gave me a good laugh. So, I’m sitting in my backyard with family, having a BBQ, it’s a beautiful day, relaxing with no hassles. Our dogs are playing in the yard and suddenly, my son-in law’s goofy dog starts jumping up in the air, almost doing flips, snapping his teeth at something I could not see. I’m like, “what in the world is your dog doing”. “Oh, he’s just chasing sky raisins” he calmly replied. I’ve been around the block a few times and I’ve heard a lot of colloquialisms, but it was the first time I’d heard of a fly being referred to as a sky raisin. Next thing I knew my daughter yells at the same dog to stop chasing whatever insect he was after because it was a “spicy sky raisin”? OK, I thought, now what. She could tell by the look on my face that I needed to know the difference. “A spicy sky raisin is a bee, so we try to get him to not chase those”, she calmly explained to her obviously dense dad. Seeing this 45-pound dog jumping 3-4 feet straight up in the air trying to catch a bug was pretty funny. Many of us are lucky enough to enjoy the company of a pet. They become part of the family. We share their affections and their lives. We care and take the time to invest in their training where to do their business, their food schedule, and who doesn’t want to be a good boy and get a treat! While I can’t speak for everyone, I know at the end of the day when I arrive home there’s at least one furry person who is always happy to see me! So whatever your experience with animals has been, it made you….you! [/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section]Embrace the Happy Hot
[et_pb_section fb_built="1" _builder_version="3.22"][et_pb_row _builder_version="3.25" background_size="initial" background_position="top_left" background_repeat="repeat"][et_pb_column type="4_4" _builder_version="3.25" custom_padding="|||" custom_padding__hover="|||"][et_pb_text _builder_version="4.4.4" hover_enabled="0"] It’s August and, hopefully, by now, we are getting small relief from some Monsoon storms in the southwest. The cicadas should be about done with their loud, annoying, mating calls, and we’ve all been able to complete some of those long-awaited DIY projects to our house or landscaping. One of the things I like to do this time of year when the water is warm is to sit in my pool at night and star-gaze. Unfortunately, over the past 25 years, all the empty land around my house has been developed with new neighborhoods, 4 public schools, three parks, and 4 churches. All this development has created too much light pollution at night, so my star gazing has been a somewhat less-than-stellar experience than in past years. But we all know that’s the price of progress. Even with all the development over these many years, I’m still amazed by all the wildlife which continues to roam around our neighbor-hoods. Javelina, coyotes, great-horned owls, bobcats, skunks, roadrunners, and even mountain lions, have made their visits much to the dismay of new city folk moving to Scottsdale who were thinking they were moving into a nice vicinity of the Metro area. Well, it’s still a nice area, they just need to learn how to share with our neighbors who were here first. I do find humor with of some of the postings on our neighborhood website when a new family moves in and they start seeing all these weird bugs, reptiles, birds, and such. The first thing they want to know…. is it dangerous? While we enjoy a great deal of nature up close where we live, there is always that chance that something here stings, pokes, scratches, or bites. I learned right off the bat, observe but don’t touch! Take a picture, but don’t touch! Enjoy the beauty, but don’t touch! But there are some people who are like a kid, who doesn’t believe that match will burn until they stick their finger on it and then want Mama to kiss the burnt boo-boo and make it better. Some people. So, what are you or your friends and family doing to enjoy August? Firing up the grill? Trip to the lake? A picnic? Or just going shopping to get out of the house to have something to do? Whatever your activity, embrace the heat and make the best of it! [/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section]Now is the time – 2020
[et_pb_section fb_built="1" _builder_version="3.22"][et_pb_row _builder_version="3.25" background_size="initial" background_position="top_left" background_repeat="repeat"][et_pb_column type="4_4" _builder_version="3.25" custom_padding="|||" custom_padding__hover="|||"][et_pb_text _builder_version="4.4.4" hover_enabled="0"]This month’s story is not so much about a specific success story but more of how to be your own financial success story and avoid retirement pitfalls. This should be filed under “planning ahead of time” to save yourself some money and yourself from a whole bunch of stress.
We here at American Retirement Advisors preach regularly, to anyone who will listen, that you start planning and adjusting your investments as early as five years before you retire.
Too many times we have clients who call us and want to make a retirement plan because they just retired and want to plan their financial retirement. In many cases, that ‘train has left the station” and what they can do now vs. what they could have done could have incredible consequences.
We had an engineer (Connie) who called and told us she had just retired and wanted to meet with us. She was in her last week at work and had asked the Human Resources staff to email her whatever paperwork she needed to complete during the retirement process. The HR staff member said they will be happy to email the retirement packet. They sent the packet to her work email, which was disconnected her last day at work. Company policy was that any sensitive information had to be sent via the company secure email system or the only other way was to mail hard copies in the U.S Postal system. It took 20 days for Connie to get the packet, and the directions were for several things she had to do before she left on her last day. The paperwork and getting her retirement money into her other accounts turned into a nightmare due to having to use the postal mail system.
Another client who retired wanted to transfer their retirement funds out of their company 401(k) and there was a 90-day waiting period. When the 401(k) money was still not transferred the 90th day, the employee called their company only to find out there was an additional form she had to file. What if the market had changed drastically during that 90+ days? She would have been the loser, financially.
Point is, you make plans and file all the paperwork and open new accounts at a minimum of several months before you retire to ensure you avoid any risk. Now’s the time!
Stop procrastinating and get your plan in place to save frustration and possible financial loss.
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