Two-Day Intensive Workshop on Savvy Social Security

See Us in New York on September 10-11th!

Finally, Your Chance to Immerse Yourself in the Intricacies of Social Security Planning

Join Horsesmouth's Elaine Floyd, CFP^® in two days of accelerated learning that will:

Help you achieve mastery over this critical retirement planning topic
Cover the full range of tricky claiming strategies
Examine how to integrate Social Security into your client service and business development strategies

Jeff Young
Scottsdale, AZ

Elaine has been the patron saint of the Social Security world. She has been a leader not only for myself but my firm as somebody we can go to both on the website and through her columns and now meeting her in person. She is a wealth of information. She communicates that very, very effectively. She understands where we are out in the world trying to work with our clients and she keeps an open eye to that relationship and she reinforces, validates and underscores. She's just been marvelous. It's been a pleasure having her teach me for these two days.”

Dear Advisor:

If there's one financial planning issue that has dramatically reared its head in recent years, it's Social Security planning for boomers.

For years, many advisors followed a simple rule of thumb: They'd tell clients to file early for Social Security and get the money while they could.

Of course, that has proven to be a terrible mistake for many people. The truth is there is no simple rule of thumb when it comes to claiming strategies for Social Security, especially when you start to consider spouses, age differences, retirement assets, health needs and other variables.

Social Security planning is complicated. And while the Savvy Social Security Planning for Boomers program gets you up to speed on these issues, many advisors have expressed the desire to go deeper.

That's why we've developed our intensive, two-day workshop on Social Security.

Mary Kusske
Kusske Financial Management
Burnsville, MN

Getting to the Nuts and Bolts

It's a fabulous opportunity for us to get together—a group of professionals from around the country. The knowledge is invaluable. I've had the good fortune of working with Horsesmouth since 2008 so it was just an affirmation of listening to the webinars we've done with Elaine over the years and again just an opportunity to really sit down and talk to others and really get the nuts and bolts of it and we really understand how we can utilize it to help our clients. The case studies are phenomenal information.

“I think because as we're all aging—a third of my book of business is 60+ so I cater to the pre-retiree/retiree. Just the knowledge base and helping clients get through some of these hurdles that they are going to be facing, not only with Social Security but the Medicare planning—getting them to understand the options.

“Elaine’s a pillar…just an inspiration to those of us to see somebody that knowledgeable and her passion just comes through in her teaching. Just wonderful. I'm really fortunate to be here.”

You'll get the chance to spend quality time with Elaine Floyd and other like-minded advisors while really exploring the intricacies of how Social Security planning intersects with your clients' retirement income planning needs.

Workshop Objectives

We've designed the workshop around these key objectives:

To learn the intricacies of how benefits are calculated so you can help clients maximize their individual benefits.
To learn how to design claiming scenarios for married couples, widow(er)s, and other dually entitled clients so you can take advantage of sequencing rules to maximize benefits.
To deepen your Social Security expertise so you will be ready for any question presented by a client, CPA, or reporter.
To understand complex cases involving dependent benefits, disability benefits, WEP/GPO, self-employed individuals, same-sex couples, and more.
To get fresh ideas for marketing your Social Security expertise to new prospects and centers of influence.
To find out how other financial advisors are using the Savvy Social Security Planning program to serve clients and bring in new business.
To get accurate information on Social Security straight from Elaine Floyd.

Who Should Attend

The workshop will cover everything an advisor needs to know to work with clients and prospects on selecting the best time and best strategies for claiming Social Security benefits.

The chief benefit of the workshop is to carve out two days of learning, uninterrupted by the rest of your business.

So whether you are well-acquainted with the topic, or just starting out, the workshop will be a unique chance to learn it all.

And you'll go home with a vastly expanded understanding of how to solve clients' Social Security claiming scenarios.

Presenters

Elaine Floyd

Your workshop will be led by Elaine Floyd, CFP^®, Horsesmouth's Director of Retirement and Life Planning. Elaine is the author of The Financial Advisor's Guide to Savvy Social Security and The Financial Advisor's Guide to Savvy Medicare. She is often quoted in leading publications including the Wall Street Journal, Kiplinger's Retirement Report, Marketwatch's Retirement Weekly and other publications.

Sean Bailey

Sean M. Bailey is the editor in chief of Horsesmouth. Over the last 16 years, Sean has interviewed hundreds of advisors about “what’s working” in their efforts to grow their businesses. In his business development presentation at the Two-Day Intensive Workshop, he’ll lead you through in-depth case studies examining the prospecting side of advising Boomers about Social Security.

Morris Shank
Integrated Financial Group
St. Louis, MO

A Catalyst for Just Doing It

I came because I'm semi-familiar with this and it's important to me. And I've now been a Savvy Social Security subscriber for about a year and I've read through all the Q and A. I'm fairly confident in an unconfident way and I thought this would be a catalyst for really getting immersed in it. I really felt like being in here with other people and being involved in all that feedback would be helpful.

“I was talking to one of my colleagues last night who came out here with me and I just said I've really enjoyed Elaine. I think she hangs in there with us. And I feel like she's dedicated to it…I'm confident in what she's doing and why she's doing it and I think being here and seeing her in person was helpful with that.”

Format

The workshop will be interactive. Elaine will walk you through various topics and scenarios and then leave time for questions and discussion. You'll also have time to work with fellow advisors in small groups to analyze specific case scenarios. Feel free to bring your own case studies for analysis by Elaine and the group.

The event is limited to 30 advisors.

Location

The workshop will be held at:

American Management Association
1601 Broadway, #8 (Times Square)
New York City, NY

Things to Do in New York

September 10-11

Baseball fanatic? Watch the Yankees play the Blue Jays on Thursday, Friday, or Saturday during your stay. Find tickets here.

Tennis fan? Catch a US Open match during your stay. Find more information here.

Fashion lover? Don't miss your favorite designer during New York Fashion Week.

Want to celebrate Italian culture? The Feast of San Gennaro is a must.

Visit the 9/11 Museum. You can find more details here.

And don't forget to visit NYC's famous spots:

19 Reasons to Attend Our 2-Day Intensive Social Security Workshop

Here’s why you should come to New York:

Because if you’re looking to become the Social Security “go-to guy” (or gal) in your region, there’s no better way of super-charging your Social Security expertise.
Because you’ll spend time examining case studies revealing more than a dozen different approaches to building your business by capitalizing on your growing Social Security expertise.
Because after answering more than 6,000 questions from Advisors about their clients’ claiming options, Elaine Floyd has nearly seen it all; now you’ll get to learn from Elaine as she shares her best insights over 12 hours of training.
Because clearing two days from your calendar to immerse yourself in Social Security is one sure-fire way to move you from mildly knowledgeable (enough to be dangerous) to deeply knowledgeable (knowing how to quickly find the answers to even the toughest questions).
Because you’ll get drilled on dozens of case studies that will finally solidify key, critical aspects of your Social Security knowledge base, especially issues around spousal, divorce, survivor and taxation.

Lavonne Marsh
Marsh Financial Services
Augusta, GA

Learning from Each Other

I came to this seminar to learn from the expert, Elaine Floyd on how to develop strategies for integrating Social Security into the overall retirement plan for my clients. But a big benefit that I gained in addition to that was just being exposed to the people here—to my peers who have been…some of them have been doing it for years and they have a lot of real life stories to tell. Others of us are new to this and so we're all searching for ways to improve. How's it going to help my clientele? Any time that we can help a client get a bigger return on any investment and then help them strategize those investments for the maximum lifetime payoffs…I think that's what Social Security is going to do for a lot of people. I'm excited about the ways that I can use this valuable tool.

“Elaine Floyd has this almost bigger than life reputation. I was warned about her from my First Global broker dealer about how knowledgeable she was and what she brings to the table. She has surpassed it. She really has. It flows from her like water. It's just such a natural thing for her. It's because she's just filled up with it. I will be using her as a sounding board in the days and months to come. She's wonderful.”

Because you’ll learn how one Illinois advisor’s team generated more than 200 qualified leads explaining how Social Security fits in the bigger retirement picture—and how they raised $35 million in new assets doing that.
Because you’ll learn how a California-based advisor found a totally free way for his Social Security class to be promoted to 100,000 people in his region—three times a year. Now he’s the “go-to expert” in his area on the topic and he’s enjoying record growth in his business—with practically no marketing expenses.
Because you’ll learn how a rural Missouri-based advisor fills seats at his Social Security and Medicare workshops and has had so much success, now HNW clients invite him to present in front of their friends and colleagues.
Because you’ll learn how an Arizona-based advisor runs Social Security workshops every week throughout his wealthy, metropolitan area.
Because you’ll learn the simple technique to instantly connect with your Social Security audience—and then keep them focused.
Because you’ll get real data on how much advisors spend to drive new, valuable prospects to their office for successful follow-up meetings.
Because you’ll get answers to tricky tactical presentation questions such as “office or off-site,” “direct mail or self-promote,” “feed or don’t feed,” “restaurant or hotel,” “weeknight, weekday, or weekend,” “short or long presentation,” “interactive or hold questions to the end,” “on-the-spot appointment making or follow-up scheduling,” “free SS claiming analysis or paid,” “one-, two- or three-meeting close,” and a lot more.
Because meeting other advisors also interested in Social Security provides a unique opportunity to collect new insights and tips and observations that can immediately benefit you.
Because spending time listening and interacting with Elaine Floyd is a powerful way to learn and strengthen your Social Security knowledge. You’ll spend more than 12 hours over two days soaking up Elaine’s insights and answers to questions you and your fellow advisors have.
Because Elaine will show you the resources and best practices for finding the answers to tough Social Security questions.
Because you’ll finally clear the hurdle of confusion between “file and suspend” and “restricted” applications—and your clients will thank you for it.
Because the rare but vexing WEP-GPO questions will finally be revealed for what they are: not that difficult to understand and apply, as painful as they are to some clients.
Because you’ll get in-depth information on exactly what and how many advisors add $7 million to $9 million in new assets a year by teaching prospects about Social Security.
Because you’ll get a first-hand tour of the difficult POMS guide that holds the answers to the trickiest question posed to Social Security each year.

Key Workshop Questions

What's covered: Your workshop fee includes all the workshop materials and breakfast and lunch both days.

Continuing education: Yes, the workshop includes 10.5 continuing education credits for CFPs.

Cancellation and Refund policy

Your workshop registration fee workshop fee is 100% refundable if you cancel and contact Horsesmouth's Member Support team 30 business days or more before the event. You must call to receive a cancellation confirmation number. You can reach Member Support at 1-888-336-6884, ext. 1.

Cancellations received between 7-29 days prior to the event will receive a Horsesmouth store credit of 50% of purchase price towards a future event, subscriptions or products, minus $100 processing fee. For cancellations received 6 days or less prior the event, no refunds will be made nor store credits given.

Substitutions/name changes may be made at any time prior to the event without penalty.

Other workshop dates: Currently, this is the only date planned.

Savvy Social Security Planning: Intensive 2-day Workshop for Financial Advisors

10.5 CE credits for CFP®

Program Overview

Day One

Joe Hollen
Open Window Financial Services
Reno, NV

Building Confidence through Knowledge

I can't say enough about Elaine Floyd. I came in with preconceived notions being a subscriber to Horsesmouth and Social Security programs and the Medicare program. I came here for the couple of days already knowing that she'd help me individually in a great way. So I came in very biased with a positive view of Elaine Floyd and she's only gone up from there. It's only gotten better. Very detailed…the days have gone really quick here.”

Registration 8:00 am—8:45 am

Session One 8:45 am—10:15 am

Understanding the Basics of Social Security

The value of Social Security to your clients
The value of Savvy Social Security Planning to your business
How Social Security works
- Brief history of the program
- How Social Security is financed
How benefits are calculated
- Basic eligibility
- How the earnings record is established
- How the AIME and PIA are calculated
- Full retirement age
- Reductions for early claiming
- Credits for delayed claiming
- Spousal benefits
- Survivor benefits
The unintended consequences of early claiming
- Permanent benefit reduction and its impact on lifetime benefits
- Earnings test
- Unavailability of spousal strategies
- How to correct if already claimed
How to maximize benefits—understanding the impact of:
- Additional earnings
- Delayed claiming
- COLAs
- Coordination with other benefits (spousal, survivor)

Break 10:15—10:45

Session Two 10:45—12:00 noon

Introduction to Claiming Strategies

How to help clients with Social Security claiming strategies: rules and examples of scenario planning
- Questions to ask your clients
- Understanding the rules for each client situation
- How to approach scenario planning: where to start
- Avoiding invalid scenarios
Designing claiming strategies for:
- Single individuals
  - Never married
  - Divorced
  - Widowed
- Married couples
  - Two high earners
  - One higher earner, one low earner
Complex cases
- Age disparity between spouses
- Minor children
- One spouse has short life expectancy
- Unmarried couples
Implications for marital decisions
- How will remarriage affect Social Security benefits, either now or later?
- How will divorce affect Social Security benefits?
- Now that same-sex couples can marry in many states, should they?

Lunch 12:00 noon—1:00 pm

Session Three 1:00 PM—2:45 pm

The Q&A Intensive: Understanding the Rules

The five top questions asked by clients and how to answer them
Other commonly asked questions
We've heard them all: Arcane questions posted by advisors on the Savvy Social Security site
Your questions

Break 2:45 pm—3:15 pm

Session Four 3:15 pm—5:00 pm

Case Studies and Calculator Demonstration

Scenario planning using case studies brought in by participants. Calculator demonstration and discussion of claiming strategies.

Cocktail Hour 5:00 pm

Day Two

Jeff Young
First Financial Equity Corporation
Scottsdale, AZ

The Patron Saint of Social Security

One of the things that this session has done for me is to help me crystalize what I know, what I still need to work on, and it's given me great ideas regarding the sources that I can use to help my clients when I need proof sources, when I need to validate what I tell them and encourage them to do for Social Security planning.

“Elaine has been the patron saint of the Social Security world. She has been a leader not only for myself but my firm as somebody we can go to both on the website and through her columns and now meeting her in person. She is a wealth of information. She communicates that very, very effectively. She understands where we are out in the world trying to work with our clients and she keeps an open eye to that relationship and she reinforces, validates and underscores. She's just been marvelous. It's been a pleasure having her teach me for these two days.”

Session One 8:45 am—10:15 am

Examining Advanced Social Security Topics

How to use the SSA Detailed Calculator
Navigating POMS
WEP/GPO for government workers and teachers
Self-employed clients: how much should they pay themselves and/or their spouses to maximize Social Security?
Taxation of Social Security benefits
How the earnings test works
Maximum family benefit
Reform proposals and the future of the Social Security system
Introduction to Medicare

Break 10:15 am —10:45 am

Session Two 10:45 am—12:00 noon

Review of Social Security Rules and Strategies

Questions from the Savvy Social Security website
Your questions

Building Your Business Around Savvy Social Security Planning: Part 1

Marketing tools
Survey: How advisors succeed with workshops

Lunch 12:00 pm—1:00 pm