The American Retirement Advisor
Retirement should feel like freedom, not a puzzle. The American Retirement Advisor is your daily dose of straight talk on the three decisions that shape every retirement: your healthcare, your income, and your inheritance plan.
Each episode is a short, focused read of our latest article, drawn from real conversations with real families at American Retirement Advisors in Scottsdale, Arizona. No jargon. No sales pitch. Just the kind of advice you'd want from a trusted friend who happens to do this for a living.
Hosted by Ian Schaeffer, author of Medicare Made 123Easy, COO of ARA, and founder of 123Easy Studios. Articles read by Betty.
American Retirement Advisors has served over 14,900 families since 2001. Featured in Forbes, a 4-time America's Select Financial Advisors honoree, a 3-time Inc. 500, and a Nextdoor Neighborhood Favorite.
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Read the full articles at https://news.americanretirementadvisors.com/
Episodes
134 episodes
The Tax Bill Hiding in Your House: Capital Gains on a Home Sale After 65
Many sellers still believe there is a special capital gains break once you turn 65. There is not, and the rule that replaced it has not grown in almost thirty years while home values have. Part two of The Fourth Color: what the sale really cost...
The Fourth Color: When Real Estate Is Part of Your Retirement Income
Green, yellow, red. For years those three colors of money covered nearly everything. But for more retirees than ever, the biggest asset on the balance sheet is a house or a rental, and it plays by its own rules. Part one of a new three-part ser...
Putting It All Together: A Tax-Smart Way to Draw Your Retirement Paycheck
The window, the conversions, IRMAA, the Social Security surprise: they all run on one number, your taxable income. Here is how to pull them into a single plan, and the one reason couples should not wait. The finale of The Gap Years.
The Social Security Tax Surprise: How Much of Your Benefit Is Taxable
Most retirees are surprised to learn their own Social Security can be taxed, and that up to 85 percent of the benefit can land in their taxable income. Here is how it works, and the new-law confusion to clear up. Part four of The Gap Years....
Meet IRMAA: The Medicare Surcharge With a Two-Year Memory
IRMAA is the Income-Related Monthly Adjustment Amount, a surcharge that raises your Medicare premium based on income from two years ago. Here is how it works, and how a smart year can quietly trigger it. Part three of The Gap Years.
Filling the Bracket: The Roth Conversion Window Before Age 73
During the gap years your tax bracket has room in it. A Roth conversion lets you fill that room on purpose, paying tax at today's low rate instead of tomorrow's forced one. Part two of The Gap Years.Read the full article:
The Gap Years: Often the Lowest-Tax Window of Your Life
The years between your last paycheck and age 73 are often the lowest-tax stretch you will ever see. Most retirees coast through and pay for it later. Part one of The Gap Years.Read the full article:
The Family Bank: Setting Up the Next Generation While It's Cheap
A policy on a young child or grandchild can lock in lifelong insurability and quietly build a pool the next generation can borrow against. Here is how the family bank works, and the honest catch. The finale of More Than a Death Benefit.<...
Your Own Life Insurance Could Be Adding to Your Tax Bill
A life insurance policy you own is counted in your taxable estate, which can quietly add to the very tax bill you hoped to cover. A special kind of trust is the fix. Part six of More Than a Death Benefit.Read the full article:
The Nine-Month Problem That Forces Families to Sell What They Love
When a large estate owes federal tax, the bill is due in cash within nine months, and the extension to file is not an extension to pay. Here is how life insurance keeps families from a fire sale. Part five of More Than a Death Benefit.
The Tax-Free Bucket Most Retirees Are Missing
Most people retire with nearly all their savings in accounts the government still gets to tax. Life insurance can quietly build a third bucket that it does not. Part four of More Than a Death Benefit.Read the full article:
The Policy That Helps You While You're Alive
Almost 70 percent of people turning 65 will need long-term care, and Medicare will not cover most of it. Some life insurance can step in while you are still living. Part three of More Than a Death Benefit.Read the full article:
Be Your Own Bank: The Cash Value Most People Never Touch
Some life insurance quietly builds a pool of money you can borrow against, tax-advantaged, for anything you want. Here is how cash value actually works, and the honest truth about whether it is worth it. Part two of More Than a Death Benefit.
The Inheritance That Has Nothing to Do With Money
A Father's Day reflection on the most valuable thing my dad ever gave me, which was never going to show up on any account statement.Read the full article:
Do I Need Life Insurance in Retirement? (An Honest Answer)
The honest answer is: it depends on the job you need it to do, and for some people it is no. Here is how to tell which side you are on. The first in our series, More Than a Death Benefit.Read the full article:
Build the Team Before You Need It
The worst time to assemble a coordinated team is in the middle of a crisis. The best time is now, while everything is calm. The finale of Both Ends of the Table.Read the full article:
Giving While You're Alive to Watch It
Most wealth passes at death, when heirs are in their sixties and need it least. There is a strong case, and some surprisingly generous tax rules, for giving while you are here to see what it does. Part six of Both Ends of the Table.
Layering a Windfall Onto an Already-Full Plan
When you already have enough, an inheritance is not really about security anymore. It is about purpose. Here is how to think about deploying a windfall when your plan is already full. Part five of Both Ends of the Table.Read the ...
The Tax Bill Hiding in a Good Year
A single big-income year, from an inheritance, a sale, or a large withdrawal, can quietly trigger four different taxes at once and raise your Medicare premiums two years later. Part four of Both Ends of the Table.Read the full ar...
When the Problem Isn't Growth, It's Coordination
Once you have enough, the biggest threat to your money is no longer a bad return. It is the gaps between advisors who never talk to each other. Part three of Both Ends of the Table.Read the full article:
The Inheritance You Can See Coming
Most people are blindsided by an inheritance. A lucky few can see it coming, and that window before it arrives is where nearly all the planning value lives. Part two of Both Ends of the Table.Read the full article:
The Hardest Part of Passing On Wealth Isn't the Money
America is in the middle of the largest wealth transfer in history, and the families who keep it are not the ones with the best investments. They are the ones who brought their children to the table early. The first in our Both Ends of the Tabl...
You Just Inherited. Now What? (Start by Doing Nothing.)
The biggest mistake people make with an inheritance is moving too fast. Here is the calm, in-order list, and why the kind of money you inherited changes everything. The finale of Passing It On.Read the full article: