Medicare open enrollment runs October 15 through December 7, and if you are eligible for Medicare, you’ve probably started receiving calls for insurance agents trying to get you to switch. Criminals also know this is the one stretch of the year when a call about your Medicare plan sounds like it might be legitimate.

Here are a few of the scams I’ve heard about directly from clients or other advisors…

When most people buy car insurance, they usually get a few quotes, pick a familiar company, and trust the agent’s recommendation. 

Unfortunately, that can leave families exposed to major financial risk. Here are a few gaps that I’ve seen routinely come up with clients over the years…

For many retirees, the insurance gap between retiring and becoming eligible for Medicare at age 65 can feel like a mystery. There’s a lot of misconceptions about what is available and the costs. The two most common options include -

1.      ACA Marketplace plans, and

2.      Private (off-exchange) plans.

Each comes with trade-offs in cost, flexibility, and coverage…

I recently met with a client whose close friend had just lost a parent after a 7+ year battle with dementia. Their friend had spent countless hours personally caring for their parent before hiring care and spending several hundred thousand dollars. It got them thinking about their care later in life and whether we had allocated enough funds for those expenses. I’ve also met with plenty of retirees who don’t have a plan for long-term care and haven’t given it much thought. There can be risks with planning too much or too little. If you fear the worst-case scenario, you’re more likely to underspend in retirement by putting away too much money for a low-probability event. If you don’t plan at all, you could put your spouse, children, or family members in a challenging position later on.

Long-term care (LTC) is a critical component of retirement planning, yet many retirees may not fully grasp the likelihood or implications of requiring such care. A recent study by the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College compared individuals' perceptions of their LTC needs with objective assessments…