Lifestyle & Mindset
Winning! Finding Your Competitive Edge in Life
Whether you're on the field or in the marching band, the spirit of competition shapes who you become.
The American Retirement Advisor — News & Insights
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inheritance planning
The Call Your Kids Will Get: Inheritance From the Other Side of the Table
You spent forty years building it. It will land in your kids' lap during the most expensive decade of their lives. This week we sit in their chair, because the best inheritance plans are designed from the receiving end.
Lifestyle & Mindset
Eat the Rainbow! Colorful Nutrition for Better Health
Each color in the food rainbow provides different nutrients and health benefits. Mom knew best when she said eat your fruits and vegetables!
Lifestyle & Mindset
The Lobster Roll Trail, Part 2: Cash Only in Harpswell, Sunrise on Cadillac Mountain
Part 2 of our weekend break from the serious stuff. A no-mayo roll at the end of a peninsula where they only take cash, a bench in Camden harbor where the masts sing, and a 3:30 AM alarm on Cadillac Mountain. Plus the question this whole trip is really about: what was all the saving for?
Lifestyle & Mindset
The Lobster Roll Trail, Part 1: Plum Island to Kennebunkport
We spent all week on The Widow's Penalty, and it was heavy for a reason. This weekend we are taking a break and doing something fun: a two-day road trip up the New England coast, one lobster roll at a time. Part 1 runs from a comeback-story shack on the Plum Island Turnpike to a round bun on a bridg
Retirement Income
What to Do Financially When Your Spouse Dies: The First 90 Days
She started over from zero and built a seven-figure retirement on her own. Most survivors never need to do that, because most of what goes wrong in the year after a loss is preventable with a calm list and the right order. The finale of The Widow's Penalty: the first 90 days, what can wait, and what
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How It Works
1
Discovery
We start by learning what you want to accomplish and what you have to work with. We can't help if we don't know the full picture.
2
Build Your Plan
We keep the best of what you already have, replace what can be better, and make sure nothing is falling through the cracks.
3
Review Every Year
As life changes, so should your plan. We lock in an annual review to make sure everything is still working for you.
Medicare & Healthcare
See What Smart Medicare Planning Looks Like →
Medicare & Healthcare
Eddie and Betty Are Coming to the Big Screen
Betty gets to say it herself. On Friday, October 2, Eddie and Betty are coming to the big screen for one day only, two showings, at two Valley libraries, alongside the advisors you have been reading all summer. Here is everything, including how to save your seat at no cost to you.
Medicare & Healthcare
A Bill Arrives for Income You No Longer Have
You retire in the spring. Your income drops by two thirds. And the following January, Medicare bills you as though you are still earning what you earned two years ago. There is a form that fixes this, most people have never heard of it, and it is the last of our seven doors.
Medicare & Healthcare
She Picked Advantage Three Years Ago. Nobody Mentioned the Door Locked Behind Her.
There is exactly one window in your life when an insurance company cannot say no to you on a Medicare supplement. It is six months long, it happens once, and Medicare says plainly that it does not repeat. Almost nobody understands what they are giving up when it closes.
Medicare & Healthcare
He Turns 65 in March. She Is 62 and on His Plan. Nobody Asks About Her.
Medicare is an individual program. There is no family plan and no spouse rider. So when the older half of a couple ages into it, the younger half can quietly lose coverage, and the moment that happens determines whether she has good options or almost none.
Retirement Planning
Discover How Retirees Protect Their Income →
Retirement Income
The Annual Physical for Your Money
You would not skip your annual physical, and you should not skip your money's either. To close out our week on financial interactions, here is what actually happens in a real annual review, piece by piece, and the moment from one of ours that I would put up against any product pitch in the country.
Retirement Income
Every Product Had Its Own Salesperson
One of our clients sees more doctors than anyone I know, and every one of them is careful, thorough, and completely unaware of what the others are doing. His money worked the same way for thirty years. Here is what happens when nobody is the general practitioner, and what it looks like when somebody
Retirement Income
The Death Benefit You Already Own
Plenty of retirees are carrying a death benefit they forgot about, tucked inside an annuity, an old policy, or a benefit from a job they left years ago. Before you buy new life insurance, take an inventory. The smartest sentence I've heard in a review meeting this year explains why.
Retirement Income
Your Money Has Drug Interactions Too
You would never take a new medication without checking what it does alongside the ones you already take. But most people buy annuities, life insurance, even funeral policies without asking the same question. One client's story shows why the question matters more than the product.
Inheritance Planning
Learn How Families Preserve Their Legacy →
inheritance planning
Show Up Once: Badly Prepared Beats Perfectly Absent
The last card on the fridge is the easiest one to misread. You do not prepare for a first meeting with an advisor; the meeting is where preparing happens. Day five of The Fridge List closes the series: why walking in with a shoebox and three questions beats staying home with a perfect plan you never
inheritance planning
Put It in the Box: One Place Your Family Can Find Everything
The documents exist. The accounts exist. The passwords exist. Almost none of it lives in one place, and most of it lives in your memory. Day four of The Fridge List is one job: gather it all where your family can actually find it, and why a single labeled box beats a lifetime of good filing.
inheritance planning
Tell the Kids: The Call Parents Put Off
The documents are signed. Nobody has told the kids what is in them. Day three of The Fridge List is the executor conversation: who to call, what to say, and why the kids are relieved by that call, not burdened by it.
inheritance planning
What Actually Happens in the First Trust Meeting?
The appointment is on the calendar, and the dread changes shape. What happens in that room? Day two of The Fridge List walks you into the first trust meeting: a conversation, not an exam, fewer decisions than you fear, and a cost you learn up front. And almost everyone says the same thing on the way