American Retirement Advisors vs. Sensible Money

How does American Retirement Advisors compare to Sensible Money in 2026?

Let us start with something most comparison pages will not say: Sensible Money is a genuinely excellent firm. Founded in 2011 by Dana Anspach, a nationally recognized retirement income researcher, it is a fee-only Scottsdale practice managing $742 million for about 380 households. If you are comparing them with us, you are shopping carefully, and you should.

The two firms overlap in one big way: both believe retirement is an income problem, not an investment contest. The differences are in the machinery. Sensible Money charges an asset-based advisory fee with a $1 million service minimum and a $12,500 minimum annual fee, and refers insurance work out. American Retirement Advisors has no account minimum, does Medicare in-house at no cost to you, and is compensated through insurance and annuity carriers for that side of the work, with fee-based investment management available when you want it.

Neither model is a trick. They are just built for different people, and by the end of this page you will know which one is built for you.

At a Glance: American Retirement Advisors vs. Sensible Money

Who is each firm best for? The honest breakdown

This is the part most comparison articles skip. Not every firm is right for every person, and pretending otherwise does not help you make a good decision.

If you have less than $1 million saved

Sensible Money designed its flagship service for clients with $1 million or more, with a minimum annual fee of $12,500. Their brochure notes that smaller portfolios accepted at the firm’s discretion will generally pay an effective rate above the standard schedule. On $600,000, a $12,500 fee is about 2.1% a year. That is not a criticism, it is arithmetic, and their own documents are upfront about it. American Retirement Advisors has no minimum, and the Medicare and income-planning work costs you nothing out of pocket. At this asset level the choice mostly makes itself.

$1 million to $5 million

Now it gets interesting, because you qualify comfortably for both firms and each will do real planning work. Sensible Money will build you a detailed withdrawal-sequencing plan and manage your portfolio for roughly 1.25% on the first million and 1.00% on the next. American Retirement Advisors will build the income floor with guaranteed instruments, coordinate your Medicare, organize the inheritance side, and only charge investment fees on the assets you choose to have managed. If you want every dollar under one fee-only roof, they have the cleaner story. If you want guarantees under your income and healthcare handled in the same office, we do.

$5 million and above

Sensible Money’s tiers drop meaningfully at this level, reaching 0.25% above $10 million, which is genuinely competitive for pure portfolio management. At this level you likely also have a CPA and an estate attorney, and the question becomes who coordinates the whole team. That is the quarterback role, and it is the job American Retirement Advisors has been doing for Arizona and Nevada families since 2001.

Head to head: Medicare and healthcare planning

Here is the clearest difference between the two firms. Sensible Money’s planning process evaluates insurance needs, including life, health, and long-term care, and then refers you to outside providers for the products themselves. It is a legitimate fee-only approach: they do not sell insurance, so they do not earn commissions on it.

American Retirement Advisors treats Medicare as a core service, not a referral. Licensed specialists compare every plan option in your zip code each year, watch the IRMAA income thresholds that quietly raise premiums for higher-income retirees, and handle the enrollment paperwork, at no cost to you. If your retirement plan and your Medicare decisions live in two different offices, the coordination is your job. Under our roof it is ours.

Head to head: Estate and inheritance planning

Both firms consult on estate strategy and refer document drafting to attorneys, so the honest score here is closer than the marketing would suggest. The difference is depth of process. American Retirement Advisors builds the inheritance side as a named discipline: beneficiary audits across every account and policy, family conversations, and coordination with independent estate attorneys in Arizona (Sean Greengard) and Nevada (Jason Sadow) so the legal advice never answers to the firm managing the money. Sensible Money covers estate planning consultation and charitable strategies as part of its planning scope, and does it credibly, but inheritance mechanics are not the organizing principle of the practice.

Head to head: Investment management and fees

Sensible Money is fee-only. Per their March 2026 Form ADV Part 2A, the standard schedule runs 1.25% on the first $1 million, 1.00% on the next million, 0.75% from $2 million to $5 million, 0.50% to $10 million, and 0.25% beyond, billed quarterly in advance, with a $12,500 minimum annual fee and a $1,200 deposit to begin the planning engagement. Portfolio implementation runs through their subadvisor, Asset Dedication, at no added fee to you. It is a transparent, well-documented structure.

American Retirement Advisors is built differently. Insurance and annuity work pays us a commission from the carrier, not from your account. Fee-based investment management applies only to assets you choose to place under management. On a $1.5 million household where $900,000 sits in guaranteed income instruments, that structural difference is real money every single year. The honest trade: our model involves commissions, which we disclose plainly, and theirs involves a recurring fee on every managed dollar, which they disclose plainly. You should understand both before you sign either agreement.

Head to head: Client experience and advisor access

Sensible Money runs a focused book: roughly 380 households served by a credentialed team, 11 CFP holders on their roster, with deep specialization in withdrawal strategy. Clients work through a structured process they call The Juicing Experience, with quarterly billing and scheduled plan updates. It is a thoughtful, research-driven practice and their client ratios are genuinely good.

American Retirement Advisors serves about 10,000 households with 5 advisors and a 6-person planning team, which works because the practice is built on systems: every client meeting starts with a pre-meeting intelligence brief covering recent conversations, policy details, and life changes. When you call, your advisor knows who you are. Different scale, same intention. The question is whether you want a small research boutique or an established local institution with Medicare, income, and inheritance under one roof.

Where Sensible Money might be a better fit

Credit where it is due, and in this case a lot is due.

• You want strictly fee-only compensation. If commissions are a dealbreaker for you on principle, Sensible Money never earns them. That is their model, executed honestly.
• You want nationally published withdrawal research. Dana Anspach wrote Control Your Retirement Destiny, created a Great Courses retirement series, and has been publishing on retirement income since 2008. That intellectual footprint is real.
• You have $2 million or more in portfolio assets and want a dedicated asset manager. Their tiered schedule gets more competitive as accounts grow.
• You prefer a smaller client roster. A few hundred households means a tight, high-touch practice.

Where American Retirement Advisors shines

• No minimum, no annual fee floor. A $400,000 household gets the same income planning discipline as a $4 million one.
• Medicare handled in-house, at no cost to you. Not evaluated and referred out. Compared, enrolled, and reviewed every year, including IRMAA planning.
• Guaranteed income instruments on the menu. Fee-only firms cannot sell annuities. When a guaranteed income floor is the right answer, we can actually build it.
• Inheritance as a discipline. Beneficiary audits, family meetings, and independent attorney coordination in two states.
• 25 years in the same community. Offices in Scottsdale, Mesa, and Las Vegas, with the same leadership since 2001.

What is Sensible Money’s minimum investment?

Sensible Money’s flagship service is designed for clients with $1,000,000 or more in assets and carries a minimum annual fee of $12,500, per their March 2026 Form ADV Part 2A. Smaller households can be accepted at the firm’s discretion, but the brochure notes they will generally pay an effective rate higher than the standard schedule. American Retirement Advisors has no account minimum.

What are Sensible Money’s fees?

Per their March 2026 brochure: 1.25% annually on the first $1 million, 1.00% on the next million, 0.75% from $2 million to $5 million, 0.50% from $5 million to $10 million, and 0.25% above that, billed quarterly in advance, with a $12,500 minimum annual fee, a $1,200 engagement deposit, and hourly planning at $200 to $500 when offered. On a $1 million portfolio the standard fee is $12,500 a year. American Retirement Advisors charges no fee for Medicare or income planning; insurance work is carrier-paid, and investment management is fee-based only on assets you place under management. See how we build lifetime income plans.

How much money does Sensible Money manage?

Sensible Money reported $742,532,213 in regulatory assets under management, all discretionary, across 1,416 accounts in its Form ADV filed March 27, 2026. About 92% of those assets belong to high-net-worth households. The firm reported 16 non-clerical employees, 8 of them performing advisory functions.

Where does Sensible Money have offices?

Sensible Money is headquartered on North Marshall Way in Old Town Scottsdale, with additional planners working remotely in other states. American Retirement Advisors serves clients from offices in Scottsdale, Mesa, and Las Vegas, and meets virtually with clients nationwide. Find the office nearest you.

Sensible Money reviews: how to read them (and ours)

Read any firm’s current Google reviews yourself before you choose. Ratings move and sample sizes matter, so we will not quote a number for them here. Look for continuity, service after the paperwork, and how the firm answers criticism. American Retirement Advisors holds a 4.9-star Google rating across our offices, and we are glad to introduce you to clients who have worked with the same advisor for a decade. Meet one of our advisors or hear real client conversations on our podcast.

Keep exploring before you decide

The best way to judge any firm is to sample its actual work, and that goes for both firms on this page. Read Dana Anspach’s published work, truly. Then sample ours: start with the Roth Conversion Playbook, read our series on widowed retirement, or learn what to do when you inherit a retirement account. No forms, no calls, just the work.

The bottom line

If you want a strictly fee-only portfolio and planning shop, have comfortably more than $1 million to place under management, and are happy handling Medicare and insurance decisions through referrals, Sensible Money is one of the better choices in Scottsdale, and we mean that.

If you want income guarantees available in the toolkit, Medicare done in-house at no cost to you, inheritance treated as a first-class discipline, and no minimum standing between your family and real planning, that is what American Retirement Advisors has built since 2001.