Medicare Annual Enrollment Period: What you need to know

The Medicare Annual Enrollment Period (AEP) occurs from October 15 through December 7. Robert "Bob" Powell and Silvur Technology Services CEO and retirement expert Rhian Horgan break down everything you need to know about Medicare Advantage Plans, market exits, and more in this week's episode of Decoding Retirement.

Medicare Annual Notice of Change (02:00)

If you're in a Medicare plan, your plan will send you a "Plan Annual Notice of Change" (ANOC) each fall. The ANOC includes any changes in coverage, costs, and more that will be effective in January.

"So this is not the year to rip up the Annual Notice of Change and put in the trash. This is the year that every single American over the age of 65 needs to be reading it because there's some really big changes," Horgan says. "The big change that's come through is as a result of the Inflation Reduction Act, we're seeing a significant reduction in what's called the maximum out of pocket for prescription drugs. That's dropping from $8,000 a year to $2,000. Sounds like great news. The challenge is that that maximum out-of-pocket is just for what are called covered drugs ... And then the second thing is the drugs are switching. So it could be that your drug was covered last year, but it may not be covered this year."

Inflation Reduction Act (06:20)

The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, signed into law by President Biden on August 16, 2022, includes several provisions to lower prescription drug costs for people with Medicare and reduce drug spending by the federal government.

"I would describe it as a buy now, pay later. We go to Walmart (WMT), we go to Target (TGT), we can buy now, pay later most of the kind of consumer experiences we have today. And that is what the government has set up," Horgan explains. "The skeptic in me would say, well, what does that say about the American healthcare system? The fact that we need to buy now, pay later for prescription drugs says that something is fundamentally broken."

Advice for older adults in the workforce (18:20)

Powell was also joined by Yahoo Finance Senior Columnist Kerry Hannon to discuss the challenges of aging and advice for those age 50 and older who are looking for work.

"I do think ageism is alive and well. And I have seen some change. I truthfully talked to a lot of employers who really are trying to get beyond that. But it's deeply embedded in our culture, in the workplace culture," Hannon says. "So you have to really be proactive. If you're 60 plus, 50 plus looking for a job, you need to make sure that you're up to date and your skills are sharp."

Ask Bob: 401(k) vs. Roth 401(k) (14:35)

Question:

Should high earners stop contributing to their traditional 401(k) and contribute instead to their Roth 401(k) if they have one, and consider other strategies to avoid higher taxes later?

Answer:

Tax expert Ed Slott advises high earners to rethink their contributions to pre-tax 401(k)s and IRAs. The reason? Future tax implications.

Under the 10-year rule for inherited IRAs, non-spouse beneficiaries must withdraw the funds within a decade, which could push them into higher tax brackets.

But there are ways to manage these taxes – like converting to a Roth IRA, using life insurance, or making charitable donations directly from your IRA.

Ask Bob: Medicare Part A (22:50)

Question:

Do I have to enroll in Medicare's Part A when I turn 65 and I'm enrolled in a large group health plan?

Answer:

You are not required to enroll in Medicare Part A when you turn 65 if you are covered by a large group health plan (defined as a plan with 20 or more employees) through your or your spouse's current employment. However, you have several options:

1. You can choose to enroll in Part A at age 65 while keeping your employer coverage.

2. You can delay enrolling in Part A without penalty until you (or your spouse) stop working or lose your employer coverage, whichever comes first.

If you've got questions about money or retirement, email us at AskBob@yahoofinance.com.

Video highlights:

00:30 - Medicare Advantage Plans: What to know about market exits

02:00 - Medicare Annual Notice of Change (ANOC)

04:55 - Medicare: What to know about out-of-pocket costs

06:20 - Inflation Reduction Act: What to know about prescription drugs

11:35 - Social security: Thoughts on cost of living adjustment

12:45 - Social security reforms: What you need to know

14:35 - Ask Bob: 401(k) vs. Roth 401(k)

15:15 - Great jobs for adults age 50 and older

18:20 - Advice for older adults in the workforce

20:45 - Healthcare costs in retirement

22:50 - Ask Bob: Medicare Part A

Retirement planning doesn’t mean locking up your money for a rainy day and forgetting about it. Planning your future means reacting to events today. Decoding Retirement gives you the tools to navigate the years ahead, and take action now!

Yahoo Finance's Decoding Retirement is hosted by Robert Powell, and produced by Zach Faulds.

Find more episodes of Decoding Retirement at https://finance.yahoo.com/videos/series/decoding-retirement.

Thoughts? Questions? Fan mail? Email us at yfpodcasts@yahooinc.com.

Editor's note: This post was written by Zach Faulds.

Video Transcript

Medicare's annual election period begins October 15th.

Welcome to the Madness and welcome to Decoding Retirement.

Hi, I'm your host, Bob Powell.

And today I'm joined by Rianne Horgan, who's the president and founder of Silver, Rian.

Welcome.

Thanks so much for having me, Bob.

So I said madness is about to begin.

Um There's a, there's a lot for us to talk about today.

I would like to start with this notion that many Medicare advantage plans around the country offered by Aetna CV S Humana are exiting the markets that they're in for one reason or another.

Costs are too high.

Federal government regulations are too steep, et cetera, et cetera.

Um Tell us what folks need to know about this trend.

Look, I think that the trend is that health care has gotten really expensive for the carriers to actually manage.

And they are saying, look, we can only be in certain markets which means less choice for consumers.

It's typically um most impactful on rural areas.

And so the folks that actually need access to health care maybe have more um kind of either coverage or cost challenges or the ones that are more at risk um, I actually noticed, um, just recently that C MS has announced that you can no longer do a lot of, um, telehealth visits from home, which is pretty wild.

I mean, I, I actually thought that that was kind of a, that was the point that was where we were going and, and particularly for rural health, it was, it was really important.

So, um, this is gonna be a year that a lot of folks are going to have to re evaluate yet again, which plan they want to be on.

Um And I, and I think that, um, you know, just causes a lot of consternation because I think all of us know the doctors that we've been with for a while.

We want to be able to stay with them, but we're also trying to juggle what might our future needs be?

And are those doctors gonna be a network?

So folks have already received their annual notice of change or their Enock their evidence of coverage that EOC uh beginning October 1st, they could go on and start looking at the beginning today.

They could go to use Medicare's plan finder.

Uh What, what advice do you have for them about that?

Yeah.

So this is not the year to rip up the annual notice of change and put in the trash, right?

This is the year that every single American over the age of 65 needs to be reading it.

Um, because there's some really big changes.

And I would say that the kind of high level thought is that the changes are positive but the devils in the details.

So the big change that's come through is as a result of the Inflation Reduction Act.

Um We're seeing a significant reduction in what's called the maximum out of pocket for prescription drugs that's dropping from $8000 a year to $2000.

Sounds like great news.

The challenge is that, that maximum out of pocket is just for what are called covered drugs.

So, if you have heart disease, there are probably 20 different drugs that could be prescribed by your doctor.

Your plan only covers a couple of them.

And now that the carriers are being told, well, the max out of pocket is going down, there's two things that are happening, premiums are going up and then the second thing is the drugs are switching.

So it could be that your drug was covered last year, but it may not be covered this year.

So your part D premium which covers the prescription drugs, it could be a stand alone product or it could be part of a Medicare Advantage program.

Uh You'll likely see premiums go up for that.

You'll likely see the number of drugs covered in what tier one go down and, and the number of drugs in tier two and tier three.

Exactly right.

So you really need to pay attention to your plan.

Finder for folks who, uh, find that their Medicare Advantage plan has disappeared.

What options do you think they have in terms of you're staying with the same carrier or just looking farther a field?

Yeah, I mean, I think one thing I would say is also on the prescription drug side is if you're acting as a caregiver, this is a year, not only to be thinking about yourself, but also thinking about a family member because oftentimes caregivers are taking care of just making sure that mom and dad are getting the prescription drugs that they need.

And this is again the year that like you just can't have it on kind of on, on auto enrollment.

Um, with change comes opportunities to see what other plans are out there.

And I think this is where, you know, each, each consumer has to really think about, well, what are their spend, you know, are they a high user of prescription drugs?

Are they currently a low user of prescription drugs?

The irony is that the low users of prescription drugs will actually probably see their costs go up.

Um, the high users if they're staying, um, on cover drugs will probably see theirs go down the donut hole also is also going away as part of this reform.

Um, but I, I think it's kind of having that moment in time assessment, but you know what's always challenged the American consumer is, it's not only what I need today, but it's what I need five years from now and I don't know about you, but I don't know what I'm gonna need five years from now.

Yeah.

So, II I think about it this way, there are about what, 30 million people of the 60 million on Medicare Advantage plans, many of them went into these plans because it had, because it had a $0 premium.

It had, uh, hearing aids, uh, dental, uh vision, et cetera, silver sneakers, who knows what else?

Right.

And, but they didn't forecast that they did all this when they were healthy and when they're unhealthy, they could be exposed to $8000 per year in out of pocket costs for medical expenses.

Yeah.

And I think it's, it's, it's the cost, it's the cost and it's also choice, right?

And I think you're starting to see some evolution on the choice side for Medicare advantage that there are, there is kind of more choice creeping into the market.

But I think at a very high level, what you typically see is the Medicare supplement plans are gonna look more like a PPO, right?

They're gonna, you're gonna have the choice of doctors which when you have a severe medical issue is often what people are looking for.

Um, but you can't really just switch into it right when you have that medical issue.

That's just not the way the program works.

You, you mentioned that people should look at their drugs and whether they're covered or not, they should also look at the network to make sure that the doctors they want are in the network, doctors are covered are in the network.

And then the other thing to be thinking about when you're really thinking about total costs is understanding any life changes you might have had.

So you may be familiar with the Irma surcharge, kind of the income surcharge and things like receiving an inheritance, selling a home can flip you into Irma again.

It's probably in some ways one could say like a luxurious problem to have.

But I think folks are shocked particularly when they're selling homes and downsizing that they may not feel like they are wealthy, but they are put into this premium surcharge for a couple year window.

Yeah, especially for folks who are doing Roth Ira conversions.

They are susceptible to this.

Roth's also a really good example of what triggers it, right?

And hopefully it's only a one year event that you're exposed to Irma.

But in some cases it's not, I think it typically lasts for at least two years unless you can kind of fight fight the battle.

Yeah, you mentioned the inflation reduction act with the $2000 cap.

One thing about that is that folks who have the ability can go into a 12 month payment program for those drugs that are in that at least within that range.

Is that correct?

Yeah, I would describe it as a buy.

Now, pay later, right?

We, we go to Walmart, we go to Target, we can buy now pay later at kind of most of the kind of consumer experiences we have today.

And that is what the government has set up.

Um, on one hand, this is a positive which is, it allows folks that have kind of an acute illness that you know, need a medicine for three months to spread the cost out over the course of the year.

It's probably not, you're probably not going to use it if you're on like a monthly prescription, but something that you need for a short period of time, you can spread out.

Um the skeptic and me would say was, well, what does that say about the American health care system?

Right?

The fact that we need to buy now pay later for prescription drugs says that something is fundamentally broken.

Yeah.

So uh another thing about the Medicare Advantage plan is exiting the markets.

I understand that if the plan leaves the market entirely that you may have an opportunity to switch into a meta gap, original Medicare with a meta gap plan without underwriting, but the premiums may be a little bit steep.

Yeah.

So I I think that's where again, you know, just trying to take the bright side of the cha the bright side of the of the changes that, you know, you know, when your plan does exit you kind of get to start from scratch again.

But um again, you know, the older you are, the higher those premiums maybe.

Yeah.

So one of the things I often think about is with social security, it's a one and done decision.

But with Medicare, this is sort of like the cruelest thing that we can do to older adults here in the United States is to make them look at their annual notice of change each and every year, look at the plan finder each and every year and try to discern which plan is best for them at a time when their cognitive abilities may be declining and they uh and there's a reluctance uh for them to switch because they're set in the ways.

Well, in theory, the notice of change is written at a third grade reading level.

And I say in theory because um I think we all can remember the first time we logged on to the Medicare website or we logged on to Social Security and we all know how confusing that experience was and the amount of acronyms and um you know, those acronyms continue to change, right?

It's like there's one set of acronyms when you started and they continue to evolve.

Um So I, I think that's where again, for caregivers, this is where I just think about your mom and dad like you may or may not be enrolled yourself in Medicare, but this is like the year you have to really make sure that your family members are being taken care of because they may have kind of trained themselves to not worry about this and just kind of put everything on autopilot.

Um And in particular, this year is the year like not to let things go on autopilot.

So the hard copy of the Medicare and you 2025 book has arrived.

I think it's about 100 and 31 onerous pages.

I always say if you think student loans are complicated, wait till you get Medicare in you, right?

100 and 30 pages to describe like how to just enroll in health care coverage in retirement.

So I know your firm offers help to people through credit unions.

There are other places that people can go, they can go to their senior center where they might be a uh a ship or a shine advisor who can help them.

The point being though with that, if you're going down that route, you better book an appointment sooner rather than later because those spots fill up.

Yeah, it's a very short window.

You know, I almost kind of equate it to tax season, which is, you know, seven or eight weeks short window in order for you to kind of get that time to review it.

So you have a short window to do your assessment.

But also the advisers have a limited amount of time that they can actually spend on the phone and so kind of getting ahead of it's important.

Yeah.

So oftentimes I get a question, Brian about who I can trust in this marketplace.

And when you're going to a, an agent, uh oftentimes one of the things that we're told is that the commission that they earn on a Medicare Advantage plan is three times more than the commission that they earn on a meta gap, which creates perhaps a conflict of interest.

Look what I um yes, I, I definitely see that um I think one of the things I always encourage consumers to do is understand what carriers and what types of policies an agent actually provides because as a consumer, lots of choice can be confusing.

But you actually want your agent to do that for you.

You want your agent to represent Medigap um Medicare advantage and also D snap policies.

A lot of folks avoid D snaps, which is the dual eligibility, Medicaid Medicare.

Um A lot of folks are like, that's just extra hassle.

I'm not gonna kind of focus in on that and leave a portion of the consumer base out.

Um So I think that's kind of the most important thing there is like that they actually are representing as many carriers as possible.

It could be like there's a whole set of national carriers, but there's also local carriers, right?

And so someone who just reps one carrier is just selling you that one product there.

They may not necessarily be getting you like the right policy for you.

So you mentioned this problem of Medicare advantage plans uh leaving mostly in rural areas, folks who live in the cities, New York City, San Francisco, they have a plethora of choices and insurers and carriers.

Do they not?

Um we do as residents of New York City, but I'd also say it's pretty expensive, right?

You, you tend to see some of these, these, um, big city markets, just the cost of providing health care ends up being pretty high.

Interestingly, the me care plans tend to be higher.

But, um, the long term care coverage as far as getting, um, in home support because you've got a bigger population end up being a little bit less expensive than what, what, what long term care, um, coverage can be in, in rural areas.

All right.

I know we haven't covered the entire landscape of Medicare, but I want to turn my attention to another topic that you're fond of, which is social security.

Um, I, at some point soon the cost of living adjustment will be announced.

It's predicted to be around 2.5% and that will take the average monthly benefit from say 1000 782 to 1826 or so.

Um, any thoughts about that?

Well, I think the first thing to think about is that the cost of living adjustment we've seen over the last let's call it 25 years for social security is actually half of what the Medicare part B premium increases have been.

Um, so we've got a problem here, which is, you know, most Americans are depending on social security to, to fund their retirement income, but their expenses are going up faster than their actual retirement income.

That said the cost of living adjustment is probably one of the biggest benefits of social security.

right?

And I think we all felt that three years ago when we went through this like spike in inflation.

And I think there were many folks that had pensions that didn't have inflation writers or um had inflation writers that were capped at 2%.

Um The fact that this is currently linked to CP I is a huge benefit for the retiree population.

So the other thing I know that you're fond of talking about is Social Security reform, the tax foundation.

Uh When we're recording, this just came up with a new report that suggested some changes that would at least uh address some of the deficit that the trust fund could experience in the next 10 to 10 years or so.

Uh One is changing the uh to using the price index, increasing the retirement age, using chain CP I and raising the payroll tax cap any quick thoughts about that?

Yeah, look, I think as, as you've mentioned, the Social Security Trust Fund will not be fully solvent in 10 years time.

Um I think that creates a lot of concern for folks that are um either retired already and receiving benefits and those that will be electing.

You know, if the past predicts the future, I would not expect that folks that are already on Social Security to see their benefits change.

Um Typically, what Social Security does is frankly a combination of what the tax foundation has suggested, which is increase taxes on higher income earners so that workers are putting more into the system.

Um But also think about, well, when is full retirement age, I, I think the, you know, just the mental challenge with this term, full retirement age is that most of us don't, don't wanna be working at 67 or 68 or 69 whatever the number is.

So we may end up with a full retirement age concept that is like completely disconnected from when people actually retire.

Um But there needs to be compromise.

I would, I would say that whether you're a Democrat or a Republican or you're independent.

Um, you know, folks that are listening to this podcast today have most likely been paying taxes into the system for 20 or 30 or 40 years, right.

We've all been good taxpaying citizens.

We need to be able to get our money back out and we shouldn't be living in fear that our retirement savings will not be there for us, Rianna.

I want, I wanna thank you for sharing your knowledge and wisdom with us today.

It's greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

Thank you for having me.

I appreciate it.

We're going to take a short break, but first we're going to answer a reader question in a segment.

We call, ask Bob, the reader's question goes like this should high earners stop contributing to their traditional 401k and contribute instead to their Roth 401k if they have one and consider other strategies to avoid higher taxes later.

Well, tax expert ed slot advises high earners to rethink their contributions to pre tax 401k S and Ira s. And the big reason is this future tax implications under the 10 year rule for inherited Ira S non spouse beneficiaries must withdraw the funds within a decade which could push them into a higher tax bracket.

But there are ways to manage these taxes like converting to a Roth Ira using life insurance or making charitable donations directly from your Ira.

Welcome back to decoding retirement.

I'm now joined by Kerry Hannon, a senior columnist at Yahoo Finance Carrie.

Welcome.

Hey, Bob.

Great to be here.

Oh, it's so great to be with you and it will be great to have you talk about a topic near and dear to my heart, which is great jobs for the 50 plus crowd where to begin.

That works for me too.

Um You know, this is a great uh area because, you know, 50 plus is a huge swath of people, correct.

And more people are working longer uh lives, uh working lives as well.

But here's the thing, there are lots of great jobs out there for people over 50.

But what you need to do is understand that almost any job can be done by somebody in this age category.

But it's up to you to figure, I always counsel people, you know, think about what your mission is, what motivates you.

Where would you like to work at this stage in your life?

You've got this great experience.

A lot of employers value that experience.

They value the soft skills that you have too, as well as, you know, things like your communication skills.

It's really, really important, Bob.

And the thing is uh you know, the industries that are hiring right now, um of course, are ones we, we look to a lot, the health care industry, education.

But for somebody who has uh a few decades of experience under their belt, you know, a small association, small businesses.

These are ones that really say, hey, you know, we're start up, they're like, we really need you, we need your expertise.

And again, if you have some of those hard skills in your back pocket, like accounting, right?

Everyone's looking for somebody who can help with their bookkeeping.

So, you know, you're on a good path there.

So I think there's a lot of wiggle room.

One thing I want to mention though, Bob, it's really important that people at this age are kind of, you know, thinking about what it is.

I should move to next.

You have to be willing to get out of your lane.

Ok. At this stage in your life, your career might not be as linear.

You might not have that replicate that job you just had before if you're in the job market right now.

And so don't get stuck in a moment like you two sings about, you know, I think you need to be willing to pivot and a quick story and then I'll get back to you is I met this guy recently who was over 50.

He lost his job in sales trying to get back into finding a sales job, was facing ageism as he figures it was, I don't know, he loves to sail.

That was his hobby.

He's a fabulous sailor.

He went down and started teaching sailing down in long, long boat, Key Florida just for the spring.

You know, takes a, takes some people out, teach them sailing.

Um, he's out with the CEO teaching him how to, how to sail.

And he tells the guy, you know, this isn't my real thing.

This is, I'm just in between looking for work.

And he said, well, you know, I have a company in New Jersey.

I'm looking for a project manager.

You'd be great.

And this guy is like, heck, no, I've never ever been a project manager.

I don't have any of the certifications.

And he said, you know what you just proved to me you can get from A to B and B to C in rough weather and this and that.

He said you would be fantastic end of story.

He got the job and he's now been promoted twice.

So look to your hobbies, looks to the things you love and you might find a new direction at this age that you didn't expect.

Yeah, you mentioned ageism a second ago.

What are some of the challenges of aging in the workplace?

Uh, in addition to, uh ageism?

I, I have just as a preface, I have a dear friend.

Uh, he worked for a financial services company.

He was an expert in digital marketing, the firm merged.

Um and he's been unable to find a job, um, over the past eight months in part because he's in his sixties and maybe uh overpriced in the marketplace perhaps.

I mean, I hate to say that it's overpriced because frankly that's a, that's an old, uh, it's sort of one of the myths of hiring an older worker is that they're gonna want more money and that they're not gonna be up to speed with the new technology or what have you, uh, or they're not gonna play nicely with the younger, uh folks on the team.

So I, I'd like to think that each person is an individual.

There are a lot of companies who are gonna look at him at that age and say, you know what, we aren't gonna be able to match his salary demands.

But that individual might be very willing to work for a bit less in order to have autonomy to have flexibility.

That's what we want at this stage in our working careers.

We're not, if we can have that little bit of feeling like we're in control of our time.

Often you will take a little salary cut to have that or more vacation time, that sort of thing.

But I do think ageism is alive and well.

And, uh, and I have seen some change.

I truthfully, I've, you know, talked to a lot of employers who really are trying to get beyond that.

Um, that, but, but it, it's deeply embedded in our culture in the workplace culture.

So you have to really be proactive if you're 60 plus 50 plus looking for a job.

Um, you need to make sure that you're up to date.

Your skills are sharp and, um, and you, you do play nicely with the younger workers, right?

Joe Coughlin is fond of saying you need to become a lifelong learner and, uh, I think that is true for anyone who's in their sixties or so and wanting to stay gainfully employed.

Uh, Gary, I wanna turn my attention.

Uh, we could talk a lot about this.

We could talk about phase retirement and et cetera, et cetera, but I, I want to turn my attention to a conference that you just came back from called Future Proof.

And you had a chance to moderate a panel about um health care costs in retirement.

Uh What actionable advice do you have for us?

From that experience?

You know, Bob, the thing is this is huge, like your biggest expense in retirement may very well be your health care.

And even with Medicare, um Fidelity came out with a number this year that said that somebody who retired this year at age 65 could expect to have out of pocket medical expenses on average of 100 and $65,000.

Now, that's a big chunk of change and that's just an on average number.

If you have a health shock, it can be completely uh a much higher number.

So the panel I was on and I must say future proof was rocking.

This was the jamming place to be.

There was 4200 people there, mostly financial advisors, but all kinds of smarties in the financial world.

And, and it was really super fun.

But my panel was, we talked a lot about it.

We had a, a financial advisor who works with uh older clients and we had someone who was uh a medical doctor who had recently started a company not that recently, but a few years ago, uh a strategy health advisory that he partners up his firm with financial advisors and they work together to help people navigate the pathways and how to uh not, you know, really be a responsible uh person when it comes to making these decisions about your medical care and how it impacts your, your financial health.

And so uh it's a great partnership to, able to say, hey, you know, that assisted care place might not be the right one for you.

There are others that may be more affordable, that lots of different directions or even which uh professional, which uh specialist you go to.

You don't necessarily know the cost perspective, which is gonna be the best one for you.

So I think this is, it's really important that your financial advisor works with, with you to manage these health care costs because they can be really something that's quite shocking to people in retirement.

Carrie I want to thank you for sharing your knowledge and wisdom with us and uh it's greatly appreciated and I want to encourage everyone who's listening to make sure that they read your columns on Yahoo finance.com.

It's a plethora of great information, especially if they want to find a great job when they're 50 older.

So thank you again.

And now it's time for us to answer a reader question in a segment that we call.

Ask Bob.

And the reader's question goes like this.

Do I have to enroll in Medicare's part?

A when I turn 65?

And I'm enrolled in a large group health plan.

And the answer is this, you're not required to enroll in Medicare part A when you turn 65 if you're covered by a large group health plan through your or your spouse's current employment.

However, you have several options, you can choose to enroll in part A at age 65 while keeping your employer coverage or you can delay enrolling in part A without penalty until you or your spouse stop working or lose your employer coverage.

Whichever comes first.

If you've got questions about money or retirement, I'm here to help, send them to ask Bob at Yahoo finance.com and I'll answer them in future episodes.

So that's it for this week's episode of Decoding retirement.

We hope we provided you with some information to help you plan for or live in retirement better and don't forget, for the latest retirement news and expert analysis visit Yahoo finance.com.

This content was not intended to be financial advice and should not be used as a substitute for professional financial services.