What happens at Fiscal Fridays today?
October 23, 2026
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Show Notes
Eddie and Betty's Conversation
Welcome to The American Retirement Advisor. I'm Betty, Eddie's here with me in the studio today, and we are doing something a little different this morning because something is actually happening right now, like today, and we wanted to make sure you knew about it before it was too late.
Yeah, and when Betty says now, she means it. This is one of those episodes where the clock is genuinely ticking.
So here's what's going on. Ian Schaeffer wrote a piece this morning about Fiscal Fridays, the show that American Retirement Advisors puts on, and today is the day they open the studio doors to a live public audience for the very first time.
Yeah, and it's something. Which, if you've watched Fiscal Fridays on YouTube, you know the format is already pretty great. But today people get to walk in and be in the room.
And there is a spray bottle involved, which I have questions about.
Ian mentioned that it's apparently waiting somewhere in the building for the first advisor who runs long. So they have a system.
That is the most efficient meeting management tool I've ever heard of. I want one for the holidays.
I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that.
Okay, so walk me through the actual logistics. Where, when, all of it.
The address is the American Retirement Advisors Studio, 8501 East Princess Drive, Suite 210 in Scottsdale. Coffee is on at ten. The show itself starts at ten-thirty Arizona time.
Which for anyone on the East Coast is one in the afternoon, just add an hour.
Right. And the show runs about forty-five minutes, so you're not sitting there for three hours watching someone read PowerPoint slides.
Which is the thing I love about Fiscal Fridays. It's tight. It moves.
And then after the forty-five minutes, the panel stays seated and takes questions from the room. That part matters.
Okay, who is on stage? Because this is where the article gets interesting.
David Schaeffer hosts. Kyle Jacobs and Jason Tweet are on the panel. And then there is one more chair.
For a secret guest, right?
That's the one. Ian describes him as a Medicare health plan executive who has spent his career inside the health insurance business. The name is being kept as a surprise for the people actually in the room.
Wait, so the only way to find out who it is, is to be there?
That's the deal, yes.
And this is happening right now, during the Annual Enrollment Period, when everyone has Medicare questions anyway. The timing is not a coincidence.
Not even a little bit. Someone who has spent their whole career on the inside of health insurance, sitting at a table, taking questions from regular people? That is not something you stumble into every day.
And the article makes a point of saying bring one. Like, a real one.
Ian gets specific about it too. He mentions Social Security raises, required minimum distributions, Medicare this fall, and then he adds this one that I thought was lovely: the watch in the drawer that nobody has decided about yet.
Oh, that got me. Because everyone has that thing. Not necessarily it, but the financial decision that's just been sitting there because nobody wants to be the one to bring it up.
And the panel takes questions from the room after the show. So you can walk in with that thing you've been avoiding and just ask.
How many seats are we talking about here? Because I want to make sure people don't read this and think, oh, I'll figure it out later.
Twenty. That's it. Twenty. And they go to whoever saves one first.
That's not a lot.
It is not a convention center. It's an intimate studio. Which is probably why the questions get answered instead of getting read off an index card.
So if someone is listening to this right now and wants to know if there's still a seat, what do they do?
Check the show page, or call 602-281-3898 this morning and they will tell you straight. Ian's words, not mine. They will tell you straight.
I like that. No runaround, just yes or no.
And if the answer is no, if it's already full, that's okay too. Because past shows are on the Fiscal Footnotes channel on YouTube, so you can watch from your couch.
Which is where I have watched more than a few of them, I'll admit. The buzzer situation is real.
It's very real. The September show is the one Ian points to if you want a feel for the format.
And there's a detail in the article I keep thinking about. David's 1878 pocket watch will be wound and ready.
Which is a very elegant way of telling the panelists that time is not a suggestion.
Probably both.
Yeah, both.
Okay, so let's just be clear about what this is and what it isn't, because I think it matters.
Go ahead.
This is not a seminar. Ian's piece draws that line. It's a show, not a seminar. No one is sitting through a sales presentation. It's educational content, which is the whole point of what this team does.
And the format enforces that. A buzzer, a spray bottle, a panel that answers real questions from real people in the room. That's not a seminar structure.
It's more like the best dinner party conversation you've ever had, except everyone at the table knows what they're talking about.
And nobody is trying to sell you something between the salad and the main course.
Right. So the question for someone listening is, do you have a question? Because if you do, and there are still seats, and you're anywhere near Scottsdale this morning...
602-281-3898. Call now.
And Ian also mentions that if today's format is new to you, there's a piece about why Fiscal Fridays is a show rather than a seminar in the first place. Worth reading if you want the fuller picture.
It's a different way of thinking about financial education, and it's one I wish more people had access to.
For those who can't be there today, and I know a lot of our listeners are not in Scottsdale, there is a next show. November 20th.
That one's got more details coming, Ian says. So keep an eye out.
And in the meantime, YouTube. Fiscal Footnotes channel. If you haven't watched any of it yet, that September episode Ian mentioned is exactly where I'd tell you to begin.
It gives you the whole feel. The format, the buzzer, the questions, all of it.
You know what I find most appealing about it? It's that one line in the article. A pen helps too. Somebody always writes one thing down.
That's the part that tells you what kind of event it is. If people are writing things down, something useful is being said.
It's not ambient background noise. They're walking out with it.
Which is all you can really ask for from forty-five minutes and a cup of coffee.
So here is where we land. If you are in Scottsdale or close to it, and you have a Medicare question, a Social Security question, an RMD question, or a watch-in-the-drawer question, that number we gave you a moment ago is your next step. Dial it this morning and find out if there's still a seat.
Twenty seats. Secret guest. A Medicare health plan executive in the guest chair. And coffee.
Never underestimate it.
Doors open at ten, show at ten-thirty. Same address Betty just gave you -- punch it into your maps and the coffee'll be waiting.
And if today is not possible, the YouTube channel is there, the November 20th show is coming, and if any of what we talked about today stirred up a real question for your own situation, the right move is to sit down with an advisor and work through it.
That's where the specific answers live. Not in a podcast, not in a general format. With someone who knows your numbers.
The team at American Retirement Advisors is exactly who we'd point you to for that conversation. Whether it's Medicare, Social Security, distributions, or that thing you've been putting off, they're the ones to call. Thanks for spending this time with us today, and we hope to see some of you in that room this morning.