Health Insurance in Retirement with Taylor Garner

[00:03:31] Dean Barber: One of their products.

[00:03:33] Taylor Garner: One of their products because they’ve got a manager that they have to report to. They probably would like to see their name on a report that week or that month. So, their vested interest is to put you on one of their two, three, or four plans, whether it fits you or not. Consulting as a broker, that’s, in my opinion, the way that this whole industry is moving. So, a lot of people don’t know what a broker is. They’ve heard it. They may have a little bit of, they think they have an idea of what it is, but as a broker, I’m contracted with all of those main carriers that are out there, plus a lot of carriers or insurance companies that you may not have heard about.

So, when somebody calls me and says, “Hey, I need some help with health insurance or a Medicare plan,” I’m not sitting there going, alright, well, I’ve only got four different plans that I can put them on. So, I hope I get lucky here. I get to do a true needs analysis. I get to find out why are you looking for health care? What do you need it to cover? Do you need it to cover anybody else? What are your main concerns?

And then I am going to go do my job. I’m going to go shop. I’m going to look at all the different plans that are out there. And I’m going to bring back to you the two or three options regardless of the company name. I don’t care what company’s logo is printed on somebody’s card. I want the actual insurance vehicle to do what you want it to do.

[00:04:53] Dean Barber: Which is exactly what you should do. And Jason, when you’re doing financial planning and you’re doing the risk management analysis, what are you looking at? What are you looking for? And why would you, as a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL™ professional, work hand in hand with a guy like Taylor?

[00:05:05] Jason Newcomer: Yeah, well, I mean, in anything we do, the client’s interest is at the forefront of that, right? Whether we’re talking about investment planning or insurance planning, we’ve always got to look at things through that lens that the client’s interest is above all. So, the model that you’re describing, Taylor, shopping independently, looking at all of the available options and presenting the top two or three options for the client, we do that every day as financial planners when we’re looking at solutions for our clients, right?

[00:05:40] Dean Barber: Yeah. So, what you’re saying is let’s use an example of somebody that’s heading into retirement. And we could probably talk about a lot of different situations here, but there’s a lot of people that don’t want to work until they’re Medicare eligible. They don’t want to work to age 65. There are some people that do, that enjoy what they do. And they’re just working because it’s what they love or they don’t know anything else.

They have no hobbies or whatever, but there are a lot of people that would love to go, I’ll retire at 60. I would, but there’s no Medicare, and my company plan doesn’t roll over. So, Jason, how do you address that, first of all? And then when do you bring a guy like Taylor in to say, okay, well, let’s figure out what’s going on here?

[00:06:20] Jason Newcomer: So, one of the very first questions I think that we ask people when they come in and meet with us before they become clients and we’re just learning about their goals and their dreams and what it is they want to accomplish, when do you want to retire? And I can’t tell you a percentage, but it’s a good amount. It’s more than a small percentage that gives you an age of, say, 65 when you want to retire, 65.

I think I know why you’re telling me 65, but tell me more about that. Why is it that 65 is the age? Is that when you want to travel? Or is that when your kids are out of the house and you’ve got an empty nest or something like that? And oftentimes it’s no, that’s the age when I can get health insurance.

[00:07:04] Taylor Garner: I also have to remind them like, I asked you when you wanted to retire.

[00:07:07] Jason Newcomer: Right, yeah. I’m not asking.

[00:07:08] Dean Barber: Now, when you think you’ve been told you should.

[00:07:10] Jason Newcomer: Exactly. I’m not asking you when you’re eligible for Medicare. I know that. I want to know when do you want to retire? What is important to you? So, when we dig a little deeper in there, maybe we find out that the answer is really well, gosh, I can’t stand the job that I’m at right now. I don’t get along with my coworkers or I would just prefer to be doing something different. I’d prefer to be spending time with my grandkids. I’d prefer to be on vacation with my spouse. I want to be volunteering somewhere, but I can’t leave my job because I’m tied to it because of my health insurance.

[00:07:42] Dean Barber: And that’s a preconceived notion. And so, a guy like Taylor here, how do you help the financial planners say, this is really what’s going on? Tell us about the way you dig into it and what are you looking at?

[00:07:56] Taylor Garner: Great question. So, the first approach or the first step, honestly, is just talking with that prospective client or the person who has that question about, when can I actually retire? And I think that like you said, it’s a preconceived notion where you may very well be able to get benefits that are as good or maybe even better than your current employer coverage offers you right now and not have to work until 65, but when it comes to finances, when it comes to health insurance, these two worlds are very confusing, which is why people need a true advisor or educator on their side. And to answer your question, the first step is just a needs analysis, which is who do you have that needs to be insured? So, let’s pretend that you do retire tomorrow, okay?

[00:08:46] Dean Barber: Say it’s a 60-year-old couple, perfect.

[00:08:50] Taylor Garner: So, 60-year-old couple, I need to find out, do you have any health issues? Do we have any medications that we’re taking? We’re going to do a needs analysis and then we’re going to go, look, I need to find out how much is being taken out of your paycheck every month to insure you and your spouse.

Can we get an explanation of benefits for your current insurance plan so that I can compare deductibles, copays, networks, maximum out-of-pocket costs to these other products that may very well fit your need? If I find out that the coverage that you’re on really can’t be beaten by anything out there, which happens sometimes, but honestly, not that often, I’m going to tell you that, but if I do find a couple of options out there that are really going to benefit you and your spouse, you’re also going to know what those are, how much they cost, and what the coverage will look like.

[00:09:38] Dean Barber: Yeah, I was going to say one of the biggest things that I think is cost, I mean, I think that so before the Affordable Care Act destroyed most individual plans out there, and now, you’re going to go look on the exchange, I want you to tell everybody how that really works today because it used to be that the number of carriers that you could get for individual health care, I mean, there was a bunch of companies that were doing it.

[00:10:02] Taylor Garner: A ton.

[00:10:03] Dean Barber: And that had a lot of different products and a lot of competition. And now, we’ve got a very limited number of options when it comes to individual health care coverage or you’re forced to the exchange.

[00:10:15] Taylor Garner: Yeah, you have a limited number. So, when the ACA, Affordable Care Act, was signed into law, and we start seeing these plans pop up, we lost, I would say, probably 75% of the free market. And you have large companies out there that used to have a portfolio of 20, 30 different health insurance plans under one roof.

They shut the doors to 95% of those. Maybe they only had one or two left. It was devastating. You saw it. A lot of people out there have seen it. So, the way that that would work, if you go to the ACA, the Affordable Care Act, and you go to the exchange, you want to take a look at some health insurance plans, you’re going to see an initial monthly premium for that plan. And usually, that’s just an average monthly premium. And what that’s based on are getting income subsidy credits. So, I just dealt with this exact same scenario.

It was last week I had a gentleman called in. He has retired prior to age 65 and he wanted to know, “Hey, my wife and I, we need some health insurance. What can we do? I want to look at the exchange. I want to look at some ACA plans.” I said, “Perfect, let’s do that.” So, we hop online. We start looking at the prices. Once we go to plug in his income, everything changes.

That monthly premium that was showing on his screen doubled. So, he thought he had a really good deal at first. And then we get down to the nitty-gritty of it. And I said, “I just want to warn you, we’re going to plug in your income here.” And I’ll tell you right now, this was not an extremely high income. This was not a six-figure earner. It doesn’t take a whole lot to breach that threshold where you lose the subsidies, and now, you’re looking at what a true affordable care really is. And those monthly premiums are a lot higher than they used to be.

[00:11:58] Dean Barber: Right. And then the other part about the ACA that I think hurt a lot of people is what the Affordable Care Act policies will cover and more importantly, what they won’t cover compared to what we had in the private health insurance industry prior to the ACA.

[00:12:15] Taylor Garner: You’ve got a lot of things that they don’t cover, and it seems to be fairly similar across the board. And the other thing that harms a lot of folks, too, is when we had our private health insurance just blooming and blossoming left and right, you could pick those plans up whenever you wanted to.

With the Affordable Care Act, you’ve got very specific enrollment windows and granted, if you lose a job or have a life-changing event, it’s going to open the door for you to enroll in one of those plans, but some people don’t get enrolled when they’re supposed to and they can’t get into one of those plans. It really disrupted the entire health insurance market. It did. And there’s a ton of questions about it, which is why we’re seeing a lot of people ask questions about health insurance more so than we did a few years ago.

[00:13:01] Dean Barber: So, Jason, going back to your point earlier, when you ask people when they want to retire and they say 65, and the main reason is because they want to wait until they’re Medicare eligible, but when you get people to finally go, no, if I could do it tomorrow, I’d do it. So, can we run the numbers, and maybe you can find it? Then talk to me about your process to get a guy like Taylor involved in and understanding more about this person and how do you build that into the financial plan and all that.

[00:13:27] Jason Newcomer: Yeah. So, there’s a couple of different ways that we can go about that. One is, if we get to the heart of that discussion and we say, “Okay, let’s build out a plan for you to retire by the time you’re 62.” So, obviously, there’s going to be a gap there before you’re eligible for Medicare. So, we need to plan on some expenses for health insurance. We can go out and we can look at national surveys of what people on average are paying, but just like any survey, it’s pretty much worthless once you get into the details of the specific client.

And that’s where bringing in an expert like Taylor, someone who can sit down with the client on their side of the table and say, “Let’s dig a little deeper. Let’s look at your income. Let’s talk about your health. Here is a more accurate representation of what this health care coverage is going to cost you.” Now, we’ve got real numbers we can plug into their financial plan. We can plan on cash flows and things like that. We can budget for that and see, is retirement at 62 a feasible thing for you? Can we make this a reality? And now, all of a sudden, that link in someone’s brain where they have to stay at work because of Medicare age in 65 gets broken, and a new reality can start to form.

[00:14:36] Taylor Garner: Well said.

[00:14:37] Dean Barber: Yeah, it’s perfect. And then so, what you would do then in that instance is you’d say, okay, here’s our coverage gap. You’ve got between 62 and 65. So, we need to plan our premiums of X for that period of time. And once you get Medicare eligibility before you’re working with Taylor on that and he’s going to go, okay, here’s a type of plan. If they stay in the same health they’re in that they would be looking at and here would be their out-of-pocket. So, you can then build that cost into their retirement plan.

So, people can really get an eye-opening view of one biggest fear that people have, which is what happens if I get sick? Am I going to go broke? And so, understanding that health insurance and what’s available and what’s it going to cost and how is it going to impact other things that you won’t be able to do, I think is critical. So, that’s why it’s so cool that we can work together, CERTIFIED FINANCIAL™ professional along with an insurance consultant, not a salesperson, could help guide people down the right path.

[00:15:35] Jason Newcomer: Yeah, not only that, but you brought up the subsidies on some of those policies, right? There’s a big tax planning opportunity there as well, that potentially if we’re working alongside you, you have an understanding of what our clients are really trying to accomplish. We can control, to some degree, their income.

[00:15:53] Dean Barber: Taxable income.

[00:15:54] Jason Newcomer: Exactly. You’ve done shows on that before, and we’ve written articles on how to control your income in retirement. Maybe we’re able to structure their income for the initial part of their retirement where they are qualifying for some of these subsidies on health insurance. So, it’s really a collaboration between the financial planner, the tax team, a health insurance expert like Taylor.

[00:16:15] Dean Barber: Yeah, when it all comes together, it’s really cool. Let’s switch gears a little bit, Taylor, because we’re kind of getting to start to hit on Medicare and we’re not going to do a show on Medicare. Let’s just suffice it to say that Medicare in and of itself is uber confusing and especially when you start having to file claims.

So, here you have the biggest part of our country, the population, who is by the day becoming less mentally sharp and then thrown into a scenario where, first of all, it’s confusing on what am I getting, and then I got to file claims and I got all these different pieces coming at me and I get rejection letters and I get this and I get, and if they don’t have somebody that’s helping them, if they don’t have a son or a daughter or somebody that is saying, hey, no, I understand what’s happening here, and most people don’t, you got to have a good insurance consultant to say, okay, this is what’s really happening. I’m going to help you with it. Is that something you do?

[00:17:24] Taylor Garner: Absolutely. And I will tell you that every year, I end up picking up multiple clients per month just because they’re not a client. They call in because of the exact same situation you just described. Hey, I don’t know you, Taylor, and I found you online, but I’ve got a couple of claims here. I don’t know who to turn to. I’ve tried dealing with my insurance company. I’m getting absolutely no help. I say, send them on over, I’ll help you. I don’t care. It’s the right thing to do. And you’re absolutely right. As people age, number 1, they’re supposed to be retired. They’re supposed to be enjoying their life. The last thing they want to do is study insurance every year and all the changes that take place.

And it is confusing, there’s no doubt about it. But helping people fix those issues is, for somebody who does it for a living like myself, we can fix it fairly quickly 90% of the time. That’s just because whoever was in billing at that medical office, they coded it incorrectly. Your insurance company is not going to know that. Medicare can’t help you. The insurance company can’t help you. We’ve got to go to the source of the bill. And I just did that again two weeks ago for a lady. She’s not a client. She will be, but she called in and she has some bills. She needs help.

[00:18:35] Dean Barber: Yeah, I know, because I look at my poor mom who spent some time in the hospital. It wasn’t a COVID-related deal, but man, when she got out of the hospital, and the bills start showing up and the claim starts, I mean, it’s just like this pile of Mayos on her table, I don’t want to do.

[00:18:50] Taylor Garner: I agree. And when you look at some of those folks that have been on Medicare for a few years, it’s sad because if they don’t have someone like you, she doesn’t have her son to turn to or somebody to help them, they drown in those bills. They let that stuff sit around forever. And those companies aren’t going away. They want their money, or at least they think they want their money until they realize the claim actually should be paid by the insurance company. So, you kind of look at the advisor like the liaison sometimes between the client and the insurance companies. And that’s, absolutely, help that we provide.

[00:19:23] Dean Barber: And I think that’s critical. So, what do you think that people need to be on the lookout for? I mean, I know, look, I see ads on television, I hear ads on the radio and…

[00:19:36] Taylor Garner: Joe Namath, the old football player, I know.

[00:19:40] Dean Barber: Okay, so what are the people really selling here?

[00:19:45] Taylor Garner: Wow, that’s a loaded question because I’ve got a few answers.

[00:19:48] Dean Barber: And you can say whatever you want to say, right? Be just candid about it. Don’t hold anything back.

[00:19:52] Taylor Garner: Okay. I will tell you right now that those commercials are designed to do exactly what they’re doing. They got you talking about it. They got me talking about it. They’ve got our clients talking about it. Those ads are designed to confuse you, and they work because they look so official. I’ve got to call that number and find out. What was the last one that I saw? It said, we’re not going to get too deep in the weeds here, but on Medicare, everybody has to pay for Part B, regardless of what other insurance you tie into it.

And the ads are claiming that you can get all 12 months of your Part B Medicare premium back. That’s true for a very small percentage of low-income people. You’ve got people out there making six figures calling in, going, I want my Part B premiums back. You said I could get them back. The ads work. You just called into a sales organization. And trust me, they’re going to confuse you worse than that commercial did. It’s designed to create action. It’s a call to action is what it is.

[00:20:55] Dean Barber: And the same thing happens in our world, Taylor, the financial advisory world. There’s a lot of people out there that call themselves financial planners or financial advisors. And really, they’re nothing more than slick, what I call financial salespeople, right? Our industry has created a lot of that. So, I think it’s difficult to differentiate the trusted advisor, the CERTIFIED FINANCIAL™ professional who’s acting in the capacity of fiduciary, the insurance specialist, the guy that’s working as a consultant, is really trying to look out for you. It’s hard to differentiate that from the slick salesman out there.

[00:21:29] Taylor Garner: I agree. I agree. And I think that something that, let’s say regardless of whether you’re on Medicare, not on Medicare, under 65, and you’re just looking for health insurance options or you’re looking for a financial advisor or a health insurance advisor, first of all, call anybody here on this show, I mean, we’ll help you, but let’s just say that you want to go shopping and you want to find an advisor as opposed to a sales agent, how can you differentiate between the two?

First of all, do not call directly into, and I’ll just talk about the insurance world, alright, don’t call directly into an insurance company. And an insurance company is going to differ than a broker because an insurance company, they write their own paper policies. They’re going to be the insurer of your health insurance. If you call directly into them, we already went over that, they’re going to talk to you about the four plans they have.

Call a broker, look up your local broker and ask them a few questions. First off, how long have you been in business? If you talk to somebody in their licensed life and health agent and they’ve been in business for one or two years, I am not saying that they may not be amazing at what they do, but the chances of them seeing the changes that have taken place in the ACA market as well as Medicare over the last seven, eight, nine, ten years, they don’t have that experience.

[00:22:48] Dean Barber: And truly understanding what to do about it.

[00:22:50] Taylor Garner: Yeah, truly understanding. So, again, not trying to be negative towards newly licensed agents by any means, chances are they’re not going to be that familiar with all the different products, because guess what? As the health insurance market changes, as Medicare changes, so do all the insurance companies and all their plans. So, if you haven’t been around a few seasons to watch that, you’re not really going to know what to expect next season. And then also ask them that question that we kind of went over before. Very simple question. Have you ever helped somebody with their insurance and not received a penny off of it? If their answer, the advisor’s answer is absolutely, that’s the person you want to work with. So, we’re not on the other end of the phone just trying to sell you, we’re here to help.

[00:23:37] Dean Barber: So, Jason, you and I see this all the time, and we pointed out and then we go to a guy like Taylor to verify it, but I don’t do as many initial meetings as you do these days, and I’m not introducing to clients. We got a whole bunch of CERTIFIED FINANCIAL™ professionals here at the firm that are all doing that, but people will be over-insured and not really even know it.

[00:24:06] Taylor Garner: When you see that.

[00:24:07] Dean Barber: And you’re like, wait a minute, you’ve got two insurance policies and you’ve got Medicare. Why? Oh, well, this one does this and this one, I’m like, okay, now we got a backup. So, we’re going to take some of that stuff. And what do you do with that, Jason?

[00:24:20] Jason Newcomer: Yeah, I mean, there are situations all the time. And we had Darren Newell on a podcast, and he talked about an example.

[00:24:26] Dean Barber: Yeah, he’s on property and casualty.

[00:24:27] Jason Newcomer: Yeah. Talked about an example of someone being over-insured for homeowner’s coverage or something like that. So, I’m sure you see that kind of stuff all the time where people have multiple policies. There’s some overlap or there’s some confusion maybe about which policy would kick in first.

[00:24:41] Taylor Garner: The call that we will get. And yes, to answer your question, we do see it quite often. And again, it’s not from our clients. This will be from people that are looking for help, and they’ll ask the same question, Dean, just both. They basically call and say, hey, I need a little bit of help here. I’ve got four insurance cards. I’m paying the monthly premiums. I don’t know what they do. Can you help me? Absolutely.

We take a look at it. And like you just identified 90% of the time, I look at this and I’m going, oh, my goodness, how long have you been paying these premiums? Like, you do not need these three plans. You’ve got the coverage you need here. Somebody, whoever helped you join these plans, was just stacking on monthly premiums. They’re not benefiting you in any way, shape, or form.

[00:25:22] Dean Barber: They just turn in a commission.

[00:25:23] Taylor Garner: Yep. They’re out there to just sell. That’s a sales agent. That’s the sales agent.

[00:25:30] Dean Barber: Who cares about one person? And that’s the person that they look at in the mirror every morning. That’s the only person they care about.

[00:25:36] Taylor Garner: And if you’re in this industry and when I say this industry, I mean the industry of helping people with these confusing topics, whether it’s their financial wealth or their financial health, whether it’s their health insurance, it’s a career. I’m here to do this forever. It makes no sense to pile on three or four policies that you don’t need because guess what? Number 1, it’s not morally correct in my personal opinion. It’s the wrong thing to do. I don’t want you doing that to my parents, me, my kids, eventually. That’s not how you treat other people. Number 2, it’s a really good way to make a lot of people upset, because when they do find out that they’re over-insured and they’ve got a bunch of stuff they don’t even need, they’re telling everybody they know, don’t call that guy.

[00:26:21] Dean Barber: Yeah. Next year will mark 35 years for me.

[00:26:28] Taylor Garner: In this industry?

[00:26:29] Dean Barber: In this industry, like 35 years. And what you just said takes me back to my first three months in the industry. Alright, so I started out with a company, if I said the name, people would know it. And I was 21 years old. I really didn’t understand our industry at that time, but I thought that I wanted to help people. And so, there’s this one guy who was in one of the offices upstairs and fancy office, corner, got the nice views, kind of The Wolf of Wall Street kind of a deal. And so, I’m talking to this guy, and he goes, this is the greatest industry in the world because you can make so much money so fast. An I’m like, okay.

And so, I went and thought about that. And a couple of days later, I came back in and I talked to that guy and I said, “Something you said really bothered me. So, when you said you can make so much money so fast, that bothered me.” I said, “I think what I want to do is I want to do the right thing for people 100% of the time. And even if that means that I don’t make a lot of money really fast, I think what that’s going to mean is I’m going to have a lot of people that are going to trust me for a lot of years and I can have a great career. So, that’s going to be my approach.”

[00:27:43] Taylor Garner: That is crazy because that is so similar to my experience in this industry. Like, that’s very similar. I haven’t been in it 35 years yet, but I will eventually. Same thing, the first company I got hooked up with, will not name because I didn’t know anything about the health insurance industry. I knew I wanted to help people. Same conversation. And I was told that’s a pipe dream. You need to get applications.

I want you to pull one to three applications at every house you walk into. And I’m sitting there going, it made me want to, I had to go home and take a shower. I felt dirty. I’m like this. I’m not doing this. And those people are still out there. Oh, they’re out there in droves. They’re out there. And every year, they mess up people’s coverage and those people are calling in to get it fixed.

[00:28:27] Dean Barber: Yeah. Well, they exist in our industry, don’t they, Jason?

[00:28:30] Jason Newcomer: Still today, yeah, which is why it’s so important that you ask if you’re sitting across the table from, whether it’s a health insurance professional or with a financial advisor, you ask them those questions that you just mentioned, Taylor, earlier on. Those are two really good questions, the one that you said about, have you ever had to tell someone there’s really not a whole lot that I can do to improve your situation? Or you help them just because it’s the right thing to do and you’re not necessarily going to get compensated out of that transaction.

[00:28:58] Taylor Garner: And if their answer is, oh, I’ve never turned anybody away, I sell everybody, hang up the phone, that’s the wrong guy.

[00:29:05] Jason Newcomer: Yeah. Well, Dean, you’ve got a really good story about a situation like this.

[00:29:08] Dean Barber: Yeah, this goes back into the mid-2000s. It was probably just pre-Great Recession, maybe 2005, 2006. A guy comes in, a single guy, his wife had passed on. He had a daughter and he’s like, I just want to make sure that I’ve got everything in order. I want to make sure that it’s all good. And so, I said, look, here’s what we’ll do. We’ll sit down. We’ll take a look at your whole situation. I’ll ask you a bunch of questions and really try to find out what you’re doing. I’ll do an analysis for you and I’ll let you know.

So, we went through the whole thing, and I honestly looked at the situation, I’m like, this guy’s doing like 98% of what he should be doing. And I told him, I said, “Honestly, you might make one small tweak, but the reality is you’re doing everything that you should be doing.” He sat there and he looked at me, said, “Are you serious?” I said, “Yeah.” He said, I visited with probably 20 advisors in the last two years, and every single person that I talked to had something to say about what I was doing because they had a product that was going to be better and in almost every scenario, that product was going to lock my money up for a period of time and the broker was going to earn a big commission, yada, yada, yada. I’m like, I wouldn’t change a thing.

[00:30:33] Taylor Garner: Now, one of those 20 have been honest with them.

[00:30:35] Dean Barber: That’s right. Well, because they didn’t know how to do that analysis. First of all, Taylor, they were just saying, oh, here’s some money. I’m going to beat up that product that he’s in and go try to sell them something different. So, the interesting thing was he thanked me, shook my hand, and really appreciated it. I said, hey, it’s my pleasure. And I said, just don’t forget if you know anybody else that needs to get on a second opinion, have him come my way. So, like, three years later, this lady shows up on my schedule, I know who it was, and says she was referred by this guy. And I remember him.

[00:31:11] Taylor Garner: Three years.

[00:31:12] Dean Barber: Three years later.

[00:31:13] Taylor Garner: That’s awesome.

[00:31:13] Dean Barber: And so, the lady comes into my office, and he’s with her.

[00:31:18] Taylor Garner: Wow.

[00:31:18] Dean Barber: Alright, it’s his daughter.

[00:31:20] Taylor Garner: No way.

[00:31:21] Dean Barber: Yeah.

[00:31:21] Taylor Garner: Oh, cool.

[00:31:22] Dean Barber: And finds out he’s terminally ill. And he’s not going to be able to take care of stuff, and she doesn’t know anything about it. And he’s like, this is why I was here three years ago.

[00:31:31] Taylor Garner: Wow.

[00:31:32] Dean Barber: He said I want somebody to take care of my daughter, right? And so, this lady’s now been a client for close to 15 years. And so, yeah, I mean, it’s doing the right thing 100% of the time, right? That’s what really makes, to me, things like that, that’s what makes our job rewarding.

[00:31:53] Taylor Garner: Absolutely. And for anybody watching this right now, you can’t feel the emotion in the room. You can tell when people really are trying to help people like they’re actually trying to do the right thing. And sometimes, it feels like an uphill battle because you’ve got the people in your industry that are out there not doing the right thing. We have the people in our industry not doing the right thing, but you’re out there, kind of fighting the good fight, trying to help those folks that they don’t have anywhere to go. They don’t have anybody to turn to.

[00:32:19] Dean Barber: And Taylor, that’s exactly why I started The Guided Retirement Show because I know that there are so many different issues that people face every single day. And if they can just get a little bit of education, it can be their defense against the financial salesmen out there that are out to just earn a commission.

[00:32:37] Taylor Garner: I love that. And that’s whether they’re going on to Medicare, whether they’ve been on Medicare, whether they’re not going to touch Medicare for the next 10 years, I always take an educational approach to their health insurance because I’m a huge believer in the simple fact that people are smart enough to make their own decisions as long as they understand what those decisions are. In finances, in health insurance, unless you do this for a living, you’re not going to know what direction to go because there are so many options out there. So, educating people up front, number 1, you’re going to find that that goes a long way, a long way. Number 2, they’re going to end up telling their friends about you.

[00:33:23] Jason Newcomer: To that point, Taylor, if I’m listening to this podcast right now and I’m, say, 66, 67 years old, I could get on Medicare, but I’m working, I’m enjoying my job, but I know that sometime, say, a year from now, my plan is to retire, to leave my work. And I know that I’m going to lose my employer’s health plan. When should I be reaching out to someone like you to talk about my options for Medicare and supplement policies, and really map those things out? Say I’m a year, a year and a half away.

[00:33:52] Taylor Garner: I love that question. And my initial response would be, if you have a question about it, reach out then. It doesn’t matter if you’re retiring in one year, two years, three years. Start the conversation whenever that question pops into your head. Ideally, what we’ll find is that if you know exactly when you’re going to retire, let’s start talking about 12 months before that because I don’t want you to be stressed, I don’t want you to feel rushed. I want you to actually understand what it is that you’ll be looking at. And it gives us plenty of time, plenty of time, but that being said, I’ve also got the people that call me and say, I’m retiring tomorrow, I need help. I can help them too, but it’s a little stressful sometimes.

[00:34:34] Dean Barber: Jason, we hate that.

[00:34:36] Jason Newcomer: Yeah. Hey, Dean, can I meet with you? I quit my job last week.

[00:34:40] Taylor Garner: You quit when? Last week, okay.

[00:34:43] Jason Newcomer: I’d like to talk about my retirement.

[00:34:46] Taylor Garner: It happens. So, I would say the sooner the better. If that question pops into your head and people think, well, I should start looking at this, that’s when you should call. We can look at it five years in advance. I mean, things will change between now and then, but the premise and the education are still going to hold still.

[00:35:02] Dean Barber: Yeah, well, this has been fascinating, and I had a great conversation. There’s more that we can talk about when it comes to health insurance. And so, maybe we get you back on, Taylor, another time. We’ll brainstorm about some other things, but I know that there’s more to talk about in this arena, and it’s hard to generalize. I think the biggest thing, the biggest takeaway for everybody is that you’re in your own personal situation, you and your family, your spouse, and we get it from a financial perspective, but I think that from a health insurance perspective, it’s just as critical. You got your own questions that you need to be answered. And that’s really what you need to do is go at it instead of saying, give me general education, give me specifics about what do I need.

[00:35:46] Taylor Garner: Yep.

[00:35:46] Dean Barber: Right?

[00:35:46] Taylor Garner: Amen.

[00:35:47] Dean Barber: And that’s what people can get by giving you a call.

[00:35:50] Taylor Garner: That’s exactly right, yes.

[00:35:52] Dean Barber: Alright. Well, beautiful. Thanks for joining us here on The Guided Retirement Show, Taylor. Appreciate it.

[00:35:57] Taylor Garner: Dean, thank you. Jason, thank you, guys. I would love to come back too.

[00:35:59] Jason Newcomer: Alright. Cool. Let’s do it again.

[00:36:00] Dean Barber: Alright.

[CLOSING]

[00:36:01] Dean Barber: Thanks very much for joining us. I think you’ll see exactly why we had Taylor Garner: on here, The Guided Retirement Show, absolutely passionate about what he does, doing the right things. Check out the show notes for a free consultation from one of our CERTIFIED FINANCIAL™ professionals here at Modern Wealth Management. You can also find a link for contact information for Taylor Garner: if you wish to talk to him. Thanks for joining us on The Guided Retirement Show. And as always, make sure you subscribe. Share this with your friends. And if you’re watching us on YouTube, give us a thumbs-up and a like.

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