American Retirement Advisors vs. Strategy Financial Group

How does American Retirement Advisors compare to Strategy Financial Group in 2026?

If you have eaten a nice dinner at a Valley restaurant while someone explained retirement income on a projector, there is a fair chance Strategy Financial Group was the host. Founded in 2012 by Calvin Goetz and headquartered in north Phoenix, the firm manages about $367 million for roughly 1,050 clients, runs Retirement Roadmap seminars at venues like Maggiano’s and Cooper’s Hawk, and pairs its SEC-registered advisory arm with an affiliated insurance agency. The playbook is familiar to us, because parts of it rhyme with our own: income-first planning, annuities where they fit, education up front.

Which is exactly why the fine print matters. The differences between these two firms live in the fee mechanics, the insurance concentrations, and who actually manages the money. All of it is in their own filings, all of it is quoted below, and by the end you will know exactly which questions to ask at the next dinner.

At a Glance: American Retirement Advisors vs. Strategy Financial Group

Read the fee schedule twice: the cliff versus the tier

This is the single most important paragraph on this page, and it is built entirely from Strategy Financial’s own March 2026 brochure. Their maximum asset-based schedule is 1.80% under $1 million, 1.55% from $1 million to $3 million, and 1.30% above $3 million. Then their brochure says this, verbatim: the fees above are not tiered, meaning that the total fee charged changes when clients cross the fee thresholds shown above. This can result in a meaningful overall fee change even though assets under management did not change materially.

Translate that: at $999,000, the whole account pays 1.80%, about $17,982 a year. Most firms with tiered schedules charge the higher rate only on the first bracket. A cliff schedule is not illegal or hidden, and their disclosure is admirably plain. It is simply a mechanic you must understand before you sign, because 1.80% under $1 million is among the higher advisory rates we have documented on any of these comparison pages. American Retirement Advisors charges no advisory fee at all on the planning itself, and fee-based management applies only to assets you choose to place under management.

Head to head: The insurance allocation question

Both firms use insurance products, so let us compare disclosures instead of postures. Strategy Financial’s brochure states it is common for their clients to have allocations of up to 40% of investable assets in insurance products, that advisory fees are not charged on those products, and that fixed annuity sales generally pay a one-time commission typically around 6 to 7% with surrender penalties in the first 7 to 10 years. They also disclose a referral arrangement with Advisors Excel that shares insurance commissions. Every word of that is from their own filing, and the transparency deserves credit.

Here is how we run the same play differently. An annuity at American Retirement Advisors comes with the carrier comparison, the surrender schedule, and the commission on the table before you sign, and the sizing is driven by your income floor math, not by a customary allocation. Forty percent is the right number for some households and the wrong number for many. Ask any firm proposing an annuity, us included, to show you the income calculation that produced the percentage. If the math came after the number, keep your pen in your pocket.

Head to head: Who actually manages the money

Per its brochure, Strategy Financial currently uses only the AE Wealth sub-advisory platform: models and strategies are sub-advised by AE Wealth Management, which also provides fee billing and operational support, and the firm acknowledges its operations are dependent to some degree on that relationship. The direct-indexing add-ons carry their own flat fees and minimums on top of the advisory schedule.

There is nothing wrong with outsourced management; it is common at this scale. But it reframes the 1.80% question: the fee buys you the relationship and the seminar-grade education, while the portfolio engineering happens at a platform in Topeka. At American Retirement Advisors, fee-based investment management is likewise delivered with independent partners, and we say so in plain English, which is the standard you should hold every firm to: who picks the investments, who bills the fee, and what does each layer cost.

Head to head: Medicare and healthcare planning

Strategy Financial’s website says the firm helps clients navigate Medicare options under its healthcare planning umbrella, and with 13 insurance-licensed people on staff, there is real capability there. What their public materials do not describe is the depth of process: annual all-plan comparisons, IRMAA monitoring against the withdrawal plan, enrollment mechanics.

So ask them, and ask us, the same three questions: who on staff compares every plan in my zip code each fall, who watches my income two years ahead for IRMAA, and what does that service cost me? Our answers: licensed in-house specialists, as a staffed annual discipline, at no cost to you. Get their answers in the same sentence-level detail and compare.

Head to head: The seminar model

Strategy Financial runs a professional seminar operation, Retirement Roadmap events and Social Security workshops at well-known Valley restaurants, and their events page frames them as practical education. Dinner seminars fill rooms because they work, and plenty of attendees learn something real.

Just know what a seminar is: the top of a sales funnel, for them and for anyone who runs one. The presenter’s job is to earn the appointment. Nothing wrong with that, but the decision you make afterward should rest on the firm’s filings and fees, not the salmon. We built this comparison page, and publish our own guideposts and podcast, for people who prefer to do that homework with their shoes off. Whichever education style you like, verify the same three numbers: the fee schedule, the insurance allocation logic, and the minimum.

Where Strategy Financial might be a better fit

• You want in-person education to start. Their seminar calendar is active and professionally run, and some people genuinely learn best in that format.
• You want West Valley or Tucson-area coverage. Chandler, Peoria, and an Oro Valley meeting suite cover geography our offices do not.
• You like a larger staff under one brand. Twenty non-clerical employees with a defined leadership team is real infrastructure for a 2012-vintage firm.

Where American Retirement Advisors shines

• No advisory fee on the planning, ever. Their schedule starts at 1.80% under $1 million, not tiered. Our planning costs you nothing out of pocket.
• No minimum. They generally require $100,000, and their brochure notes waived minimums pay a higher effective fee. We take the meeting, period.
• Annuity sizing from income math, not custom. Carrier comparison, surrender schedule, and commission on the table, sized by your income floor.
• Medicare as a staffed annual discipline. Every plan in your zip code, IRMAA watched, at no cost to you.
• Fourteen more years of doing this. Since 2001, same owners, same community.

What is Strategy Financial Group’s minimum investment?

Per their March 2026 Form ADV Part 2A, Strategy Financial generally requires a minimum of $100,000 of assets under management for an individual account, waivable at the firm’s sole discretion, with the brochure noting that where the minimum is waived, the fee as a percent of assets will be higher. American Retirement Advisors has no account minimum.

What are Strategy Financial Group’s fees?

Per their March 2026 brochure: 1.80% annually under $1 million, 1.55% from $1 million to $3 million, and 1.30% at $3 million and above, billed monthly in arrears, with total asset-based fees capped at 1.80%. The schedule is explicitly not tiered, so crossing a threshold changes the rate on the whole account. Direct-indexing add-ons cost $250 or $500 per account per year with $250,000 and $500,000 minimums. Insurance commissions, typically around 6 to 7% one-time on fixed annuities per their disclosure, are separate. American Retirement Advisors charges nothing for income, Medicare, and inheritance planning; insurance work is carrier-paid and disclosed, and investment management is fee-based only on assets you place under management. See how we build lifetime income plans.

How much money does Strategy Financial Group manage?

Strategy Financial Services, LLC reported $366,734,230 in regulatory assets under management, all discretionary, across 3,820 accounts for 1,051 clients in its Form ADV filed March 31, 2026, with 20 non-clerical employees, 13 of them insurance-licensed. Portfolio models are sub-advised by AE Wealth Management.

Where does Strategy Financial Group have offices?

Headquarters at 7010 E. Chauncey Lane in north Phoenix, with offices in Chandler and Peoria and a periodic-use meeting suite in Oro Valley near Tucson, per their 2026 filing. American Retirement Advisors serves clients from offices in Scottsdale, Mesa, and Las Vegas, and meets virtually with clients nationwide. Find the office nearest you.

Strategy Financial Group reviews: how to read them (and ours)

Read their current Google reviews yourself, and read ours the same way. Look past the seminar impressions for reviewers who describe year-two and year-three service: annual reviews that happened, calls that got returned, annuities that were explained again after the ink dried. American Retirement Advisors holds a 4.9-star Google rating across our offices. Meet one of our advisors or hear real client conversations on our podcast.

Keep exploring before you decide

Skip the dinner if you like and sample the work directly: start with our 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

Strategy Financial Group is a real firm with honest disclosures, professional education events, and a conservative-income philosophy that overlaps ours. If you meet them at a seminar and like what you hear, take the appointment, and take this page with you.

Then compare three numbers side by side: a 1.80% non-tiered fee versus planning that costs you nothing; a $100,000 general minimum versus none; customary insurance allocations up to 40% versus annuity sizing derived from your income floor. If the second column reads like the firm you were looking for, that is American Retirement Advisors, since 2001.