July 29, 2026 • 36 mins
Hosted by Safe Money Advisor Christopher Krolak, Estate Planning Attorney Kevin Clark and Medicare Advisor Jeffrey Kuhn, The Roc Your Life Show guys offer expert insight for your life with an entertaining twist."
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
The following is paid programming by the Rock Your Life
Radio Show. The content of this show is that of
the Rock Your Life Radio Show and does not reflect
the views or policies of this station or iHeartMedia.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
News Radio Wham 1180 welcomes you to the Rock Your
Life Show, discussing safe money, estate planning, and Medicare with
an entertaining twist. Now from the News Radio Wham 1180
studios in downtown Rochester, here are your hosts, the Rock
Your Life guys, Christopher Krolak, Kevin Clark, and Jeffrey Kuhn.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
Welcome everyone to Rock Your Life Radio and thank you
for joining us. I'm Christopher Krolak, your safe money advisor
and owner of the J. Christopher Group. Also in the
studio with me are my two co-hosts, attorney Kevin Clark.
He's the founding partner of the Clark Peshkin Law Firm
and Medicare specialist Jeff Kuhn. He's the owner of the
(00:58):
Medicare Shop and Jeff is also a certified financial educator
and a certified financial planner. We're all Rochester-based business owners
and And you'll get to know us as the Rock
Your Life Guys, where each week we're going to try
to bring you some insight on education, entertainment, and topics
that affect each one of our lives. So let's get
(01:19):
this show started by introducing the Rock Your Life Guys.
Most of you know me already as a co-host of
the Seniors Rock Show with recently semi-retired Joanna Palvino. So
when I decided to take the hour over, I thought
about just changing the format just a little bit. Seniors
Rock was a great format to help people learn about
the resources to assist the aging. It's a very important
(01:42):
and necessary service. But I wanted to add a twist.
I wanted to include the generation that helps care for
the aging population and the challenges of everyday life that
they face. We call them the sandwich generation.
Speaker 4 (01:54):
So actually..
Speaker 3 (01:55):
I cold called both Kevin and Jeff to pitch this concept.
And you want to know what? They both enthusiastically jumped
on board. And I'm so pleased to have them here
with me right now. So let's dive in. Let's get
to know, actually, attorney Kevin Clark. Now, Kevin is an
estate planning attorney that focuses on family law. And he
(02:16):
has a pretty impressive career. So, Kevin, what made you
decide to go into this area of law?
Speaker 4 (02:24):
Well, thank you, Chris. I think about what made me
decide to go in this area of law. I got
to back up a little bit. I'll give you a
little bit of background. And I know a lot of
my clients listen to Wham! So they've already heard this,
but it's what makes me who I am. You know,
I didn't grow up in upstate Western New York. I
grew up in Nebraska. I went to the University of Nebraska,
(02:45):
got a business degree. I started working for the Gallup organization.
A lot of people know that as the Gallup Poll.
And after college, they promoted me and moved me to
Minneapolis where I consulted with Fortune 1000 companies and was
required to get my MBA. I did that for a
few years, but it wasn't my passion. My passion was
always wanting to be a lawyer. So I took an
(03:07):
opportunity at age 34 to go to law school. And
when I graduated, I only wanted to take the bar
exam once. And I met my wife in Minneapolis, but
she was from Penfield, New York. So we decided with
a small family to move to Penfield. And that's where
I started my law career. Kind of a go-getter. I
wanted to either start a firm or be a trial attorney.
(03:31):
So I worked for the district attorney's office first for
about six and a half years and then started the firm.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
So Kevin, what did you do as a DA?
Speaker 4 (03:40):
Great question. It was a very rewarding career there. As
an assistant district attorney, at least the last four years
of my tenure there, I was at the highest level
as a, um, a major felony bureau prosecutor. So I
prosecuted crimes such as murder, burglary, robbery, arsons, um, all
the kind of worst of the worst that people do
to each other in the community. And I would handle
(04:03):
the case from start to finish, um, from the original
arrest through a grand jury presentations, uh, through negotiations, and
then ultimately, uh, trial, um, down at the courthouse, uh,
and then sentencing. And it was a great career. I
liked it, but I'd always also had this passion from
my business background to start a firm. So in 2014,
(04:26):
I left and the firm started shortly thereafter. And we
wanted to be a kind of a larger firm for
the family. We weren't going to be doing mergers and acquisitions.
We weren't going to be doing corporate law. We wanted
to do things that help individuals and their family as
much as we can. So it very quickly became estate planning,
(04:47):
and family law, which is also matrimonial law and divorce.
Very early on, our slogan became, your family is our business.
And that really is the passion behind what we do.
We're looking at areas of law that help family members,
whether you're 20 years old, 50 years old, 80 years old.
(05:08):
So it naturally became a focus of matrimonial and estate
planning The last four years or so, I've really focused
almost exclusively myself on estate planning and have developed quite
a large group of clients. We do these workshops where
I get to educate people in the community, and it
really is what I love to do. So that's how
(05:28):
I chose this area of law.
Speaker 3 (05:30):
A little different clientele than what you did at the
DA's office then, right?
Speaker 4 (05:34):
Absolutely. How long have you said you've been in Rochester total?
I moved here in 2007.
Speaker 5 (05:40):
What's your overall, now that you've been here since 2007,
what do you think of it?
Speaker 4 (05:43):
Oh, I love it. I mean, I grew up in
the middle of Nebraska. I think Nebraska has like two lakes.
And coming out here, Minnesota was cold. I was there
for about seven years. It was very beautiful. It was
a step up, but just too cold. So when I
first got my exposure to the Rochester area, I fell
in love because it was kind of the best of
both worlds. You know, all the environmental, beautiful aspects of
(06:08):
western New York. But it wasn't as cold as Minnesota.
Speaker 3 (06:11):
Yeah, what was a Saturday night like in Nebraska growing up?
Speaker 4 (06:14):
You've heard of tipping cows? Watching corn grow?
Speaker 5 (06:18):
And following tornadoes. All the fun stuff. Kevin, I've got
to ask you a question. When Chris originally called you
and he asked you to be on Rock Your Life Radio,
what interest you would drew you to saying yes and
being part of the show?
Speaker 4 (06:33):
Great question. And I really loved the timing of it because...
I meet with over 1,000 people a year on estate planning.
And some of the things in this industry that I've
seen with other practitioners, offerings of estate planning, estate planning
has become such a big word and such a popular
(06:57):
word among very different industries, from financial planners to wealth
managers to even accountants sometimes get into this estate planning business. lingo.
And it really confuses the general public because there's different
aspects of estate planning. For example, financial planning and wealth management,
(07:18):
I say that's about the zeros. How do we make
your zeros grow? What I mean by zeros is your money.
Do you have $ 100, $ 1, 000, $ 1 million? How many zeros
do you have? From an attorney's perspective, I don't care
about the zeros. I'm not investing your money. I'm not
making them grow. What I care about is what's going
to happen to your house when you pass away or
all of your stuff that your kids or your loved
(07:40):
ones are going to have to deal with. And when
Christopher is called and I got to meet with him
and hear his philosophy, which was wonderfully in the same
lane as mine. this idea of a show where we
could really educate people and not confuse them, right? Because
I get clients all the time that come in and say, well,
(08:01):
my financial advisor advised me that I should put my
house in this deed or this thing, which is really
a legal aspect. And I don't know a lot of
financial advisors that are lawyers, nor do I know a
lot of lawyers that are financial advisors. So I was
really excited to meet and get going on this project
(08:21):
after learning his philosophy and then also meeting you and
learning your philosophy is right in line with that. It's
just about an opportunity to speak and educate people in
the best way possible with, with what's really true out there.
Speaker 3 (08:34):
I think a lot of it was, we're all staying
in our lanes. We're not trying to be something we're not. We're,
you know, experts in our areas and that's where we
leave it. And we can rely on experts in other
areas to, answer those particular clients' questions. So many times
I see people try to play attorney or they try
(08:55):
to play Medicare specialist and it doesn't work and the
client really winds up getting screwed up.
Speaker 5 (09:01):
Oh, I found that. It's so true, Chris. People try
to be a jack of all trades, right? And the
saying about master of none. So with that, we're going
to take a short break for the news, but stay
with us because we're going to continue our conversation with
Kevin on WHAM 1180.
Speaker 4 (09:15):
Rock Your Life Radio.
Speaker 5 (09:17):
I'm Jeff Kuhn with the Medicare Shop, and we're continuing
our conversation with attorney Kevin Clark of Clark Peshkin. So, Kevin,
I've run into this quite a bit, and I wanted
to ask you a question. Clients that are on Medicare,
and I'll get a call periodically, and there's typically a
moment of crisis where they've got a loved one that's
been in and out of the hospital. They're like, what
(09:38):
is this going to cost? What are the bills going
to be? Because they're having to figure out that responsibility
and pay for it. The question is Medicare versus Medicaid,
and I'm trying to differentiate between the two of them.
The question is about power of attorney, and there's a
whole host of things that people should have been planning
for already. When is the right time to be thinking
(09:59):
about and doing these things? Because that, to me, seems
a little late.
Speaker 4 (10:03):
Great question. And the right time, I know this is
a little cliche, but the right time is now. The
right time to start thinking about it is now or yesterday.
The right time to do something is in the near future.
And I know that's very generic. But it is true.
I mean, procrastination is the number one enemy to my
profession of legal estate planning because it happens to everybody.
(10:26):
People think about or are afraid of their mortality. They
don't know where to get the right information. They're hearing
things from their neighbors, from their friends, from various areas,
and it becomes overwhelming. So what I teach people is
take action now and take the appropriate action now and
plan for other things later. So With respect to an
(10:47):
estate plan, let's do that right now. I mean, any
of us, death and taxes, it hits us. Taxes hit
us all the time. We don't know when death's going
to happen, but it could be tomorrow. Is everything in order?
And a will is not enough. You need to be
educated about what's really out there. As it relates to
your question about what you deal with Medicare, on the
(11:07):
Medicaid aspect, my interaction with Medicaid is around nursing home care.
which a lot of people don't understand isn't necessarily assisting living.
It's not assisted living. We're talking about when your loved one,
you know, has a fall, they go in under Medicare
for the 30 days of recovery and then they have
(11:27):
to stay in the nursing home. That's when we start
looking at Medicaid. So when's the time to plan for that?
Anytime before you have to do the Medicaid application, we can,
you know, plan and preserve assets at any point up
to the application point. Now, listeners, if you take one
thing away and remember is if a loved one is
(11:50):
facing nursing home stay for any period beyond the 30 days,
contact someone like me right away because there's always something
we can do before that application. And unfortunately, there's people
out there, even in my profession, that say that there isn't.
And the fact is that there is. With married couples,
we can save up to 100% of assets, single person,
(12:13):
up to 50%, and there's just things that we can
always do.
Speaker 5 (12:17):
Yeah, because a lot of times people ask us, some
of the first questions I ask people, do you have
power of attorney, right? Because sometimes we need to consider
changing plans, right? Advanced medical directors, some important things that
people need to make decisions, and then they find out,
you know, where's the roadblock? Because they can't get information
for a loved one or family member because they didn't
plan in a timely manner to be able to deal
(12:38):
with those things.
Speaker 4 (12:39):
Correct. A durable power of attorney with gifting rights is
the most important aspect for a loved one that's in crisis.
Speaker 3 (12:48):
So, Kevin, what's the biggest mistake that you see people
make when during that time mom or dad or grandma
or grandpa have to go into the nursing home? What's
the big mistake that people make? Is it trying to
give money away, scatter the money out, hide it under
the mattress?
Speaker 4 (13:05):
What is it? Yeah, it's the DIY of our profession.
Do it yourself. I always say in my workshops, Home
Depot is great for home projects. There's no such equivalent
for what we do. And there's a reason for it
because it doesn't work. Gifting is not the strategy for
somebody that's facing a Medicaid application. They will look back
five years and any uncompensated transaction, that's a legal term
(13:27):
for you all. That means giving something money away and
not getting fair market value back, which is a gift,
will be penalized. So You've got to be very careful
from that. It's interesting. I say the thing about Medicaid
in my workshops. I'll say, those that know, know. And
you start seeing faces up and down because they've had neighbors, friends,
(13:49):
family members that went through it. And the education is
intense and immense. There's a lot to it. Those that
don't know need to talk to someone like me. Not
necessarily me, but someone like me. Because there's so much
that you can do in advance now. And the biggest problem, again,
is procrastination.
Speaker 5 (14:09):
Kevin, recently I had a phone call from somebody that
was referred to me by the Office of the Aging.
They couldn't figure out a bill. And a quick conversation,
I got a copy of it. The gentleman's got a
bill from his mother being in rehab, and it was
about $ 12, 000. You normally get about 21 days of rehab
after you get out of a surgery or procedure. I
asked a few quick questions and found out they didn't
actually do any rehab, physical therapy, and she kind of
(14:32):
turned it down. So guess what that got billed at?
It's a nursing home stay, and people don't realize you're
there for a reason. If you don't get it, they
want to bill it as a nursing home because that's self-pay.
Is there any way around avoiding those things for people?
Speaker 4 (14:45):
That situation is really interesting and tough because good for
you for digging into it. I think the thing that
people need to do is be diligent about being educated
as much as you can before the events happen and
then ask questions as things happen. When you get that bill,
review it, look it over. And ask someone, I mean,
(15:06):
call and talk to one of us, anybody that can
really lay that out. There's resources for every aspect of
what it is that we do. I get solicited all
the time. It's like, there's this company that's on me.
They handle Medicaid liens. So apparently this company, if somebody
gets a Medicaid lien against them, they're willing to negotiate
(15:27):
it down. Everything's negotiable. So if you look at it,
and if I'm sitting there and my mom or dad
are are aging to the point where this is a
relevant conversation, I'm thinking, what education can I get for
them and tell them about? What can I do to pre-plan?
What can I do to avoid crisis planning? And then afterwards,
(15:47):
what can I do to make sure everything was done correctly?
Speaker 5 (15:50):
That's a great point. I always tell people you've got
to be prepared. Like clients will call them and have
this procedure, and it brings in the conversation. If you're
going to be in rehab, make sure that they do
the rehab every day.
Speaker 4 (15:58):
Yeah, and then also. And asking the right questions. And
also make sure that, you know, if you're educated, you'll
know that as that rehab becomes a permanent nursing home stay,
you know, the social workers, they're wonderful. And the nursing
home staff, I am an advocate for how well they are.
But they're just doing their job. They'll come in and
start the Medicaid application. And I've had a number of
(16:21):
people in the last couple months where I'm like, whoa, stop.
Don't move forward until we actually look at the resources
your parents have or your loved ones have and do
some planning before we do the application.
Speaker 3 (16:33):
Man, this is some good information. So, Kevin, tell us
how people can reach you if they have a legal
matter that you can help them out with.
Speaker 4 (16:40):
So just go to ClarkPeshkin.com or 888-222-4996. And ask for
a consultation or just talk to our intake specialist about
what's going on and they'll lead the way. One of
the best things I can offer is our free workshop.
I mean, I do it on Wednesdays at noon and
(17:02):
for most Wednesdays. Just go to ClarkPeshkin.com and sign up
or call and come to the free workshop. It's totally free.
It's just to give information.
Speaker 3 (17:13):
That's awesome. Thanks. So next up, we have Mr. Jeffrey Kuhn,
owner and proprietor of the Medicare shop here in Rochester. Now,
Jeff has been tagged in many of his reviews as
the Medicare guru, and I can personally attest to that fact.
Based on my experience, my clients have had with dealing
with Jeff. And we're going to take some time to
(17:35):
get to know Jeff a little bit more personal. He's
had a pretty remarkable career. We're going to find out
what drew him away from corporate America to form the
Medicare shop. So it looks like we're going to need
to take another short break, but stay with us as
we continue our conversation with one of our Rock Your
(17:56):
Life radio guys, Jeff Kuhn of the Medicare shop. So
stay tuned. Welcome back. You're listening to the Rock Your
Life Guys, and let's pick up right again with Jeff
Kuhn of the Medicare Shop. So, Jeff, the question I
posed earlier, what drew you away from corporate America to
form the Medicare Shop?
Speaker 5 (18:15):
You know, Chris, it's an interesting story. It's kind of
a long journey I've been on. You know, it started,
you know, I graduated from Fairport High School, and it.
Speaker 4 (18:24):
Took me a bit.
Speaker 5 (18:24):
I graduated from RIT, actually, with a finance degree and
thought I wanted to be in corporate finance. And I
got a call one day. It was, you know, people think,
you know, certain financial things happen to some people, not others.
My mother of all people called me and wanted me
to take a look at something because she had to
take money out for my grandfather and actually it was
for my grandmother and my grandfather had passed away. And
(18:49):
there was a big surrender charge on one of the
new fixed annuities that they had. And she wanted me
to look into it because she didn't understand why that
she'd had this thing for so long. And I, got
a copy of the application paperwork. And I found out,
looked at the data signature and it was two days
after my grandfather died or two years, I'm sorry, after
my grandfather died.
Speaker 4 (19:09):
So what does that tell you? Two years, right?
Speaker 5 (19:11):
He signed an annuity application. They surrendered an annuity, subject
now to surrender charges, right? So how could he have
signed that two years after his date of death? And
it just infuriated me. I had a very stern conversation
with the insurance company and they you know, they made
it right. The insurance agent had fraudulently signed an application to,
(19:33):
you know, commit a financial crime, essentially, to get paid
a commission. And it aggravated me so bad that that
was a trigger. I said, you know, I really need
to be an advocate for other people. It happened in
my own family to look after people's best interests. And
I had become a certified financial planner and went out
on my own. I had my own office down in Washington, D.C.,
(19:54):
and I dealt with a lot of complicated issues with
business owners and constantly running into people that were looking
out for their own best interests.
Speaker 4 (20:02):
And I was like a financial watchdog, if you will.
Speaker 5 (20:06):
And I started getting calls from clients, you know, and
they're like, Jeff, we've got to take more money out
of IRAs than we anticipated because we're in the donut hole.
And if you remember that term, it was just a
couple of years ago that finally ended. And I go,
how is it feasible? You got to pay 7,000 prescription costs.
I dealt with a lot of complicated financial issues and,
(20:26):
you know, they're talking about Medicare and I go, well, I,
you know, how hard can this be? I got to
figure this out and maybe advise them because I like
to know things. I like to be able to educate
people and, and help advise around it. And I was
blown away by how complicated the terminology was, right? And
you hear all this stuff with Medicare A, B, C, D.
You've got these plans G, they're supplemental, Medigap. And I
(20:49):
tell everybody that comes into my office, don't expect to
understand this stuff. Don't look at this Medicare new book
and try to figure out. It took me three years,
when I say master it, to really master Medicare. And
when I first tried to understand it, I've never felt
so stupid in my entire life. I was absolutely confused
by it. And once I became what I consider a
master in understanding Medicare, my phone just blew up. People
(21:14):
were getting my name from other people. And I started
doing this well over 15 years ago here. And nobody
in this area did it. And now there's nearly 2,000
licensed Medicare agents, right? And a lot of them are
other insurance agents trying to sell Medicare to get business in.
And I've been doing this a very long time. I'm
very fortunate that people rely on me for objective advice
and looking out for the best interest. Because quite often,
(21:35):
I hate to say this, the insurance companies aren't looking
out for your best interest. They're trying to sell you plans.
A lot of insurance agents, I hate to say, are
really looking out for what's not always in the client's
best interest.
Speaker 4 (21:47):
And sometimes it doesn't make sense to go on Medicare.
Speaker 5 (21:50):
People are turning 65.
Speaker 4 (21:53):
And they've got a lot of questions and they're still working.
You know, Jeff, one of the things that I completely
agree with you on that you're saying is the self-interested
aspect of our professions. And what I hear you saying
is that you got into this specifically or in part
specifically because your family was a victim of self-interest. And
(22:15):
that's one of the things I really appreciate about you
and Chris. And I think coming together and doing this
is giving information that isn't self-interested. I mean, we all
own our own businesses and do our own things. And
I just want listeners to really appreciate when you're dealing
with professionals in this area of our industries, look for
(22:35):
the most professional individuals that aren't self-interested, that want to
give information away. Tell me what you think about that. Yeah,
it's amazing.
Speaker 5 (22:43):
People come into the office and quite often they ask,
what do I owe you? Because they'll spend an hour
with me. And in 15 minutes, this burden of understanding
Medicare is just released. And for me, And people ask,
you know, what are you going to do when you retire?
If I can do this, this is retirement. It's by
far the most rewarding thing I've ever done. And ethically
and morally, you know, if it doesn't make sense for
(23:04):
somebody to be on Medicare, my job is to explain
everything to them in a way that's understandable and help
them make that decision. Even if that means I don't
get paid, I'm okay with that because you know what?
They're going to go out and tell somebody else what
a great experience. I'm absolutely looking out for somebody's best interests.
And it's rare to find somebody that's actually going to
do that and give them objective advice. Because when you're
looking at, do I stay on a group plan or
(23:26):
do I go on Medicare? Well, we got to do
an apples to apples comparison. We got to look at
your medications. What does your current plan look like? What
is it actually going to cost you to be on
Medicare over the course of a year? Looking at your doctors,
your co-pays, what your prescription costs are, and backing that
up with Medicare, the premiums, and doing a really, a
truly objective analysis to help people make smart decisions.
Speaker 3 (23:49):
So when people come in, I've found that many times
in different industries, they have one product. And by God,
you're going to get sold that product no matter what.
When you walk in the door, despite all of the
objective advice that they're going to give you, and they're
only licensed in this one thing or that one company.
(24:11):
How are you different than that?
Speaker 5 (24:13):
You know, I had somebody in my office yesterday was
referring me to just moved to the area from Florida.
I'm licensed in Florida and a lot of other states
and people want to sell advantage plants because they're easy, right?
They get paid more probably on some of those products
and it's not objective. And, you know, people go online,
they'll look at YouTube and they'll hear all this information. Well,
(24:35):
New York state's very unique and most of the stuff
that you see online and 99% of the time, people
that are chirping in your ear, don't do this, do that,
they're not correct factually. And it's really understanding the laws here,
what you can and can't do, because New York is
just very, very unique. So there's a lot of misguidance
out there. There's people that only sell one particular type
(24:55):
of Medicare product. They don't educate the client about all
of them, the costs, and help the client make a decision.
My jobs provide information. You know, sure, I get paid.
And the question is, how do I get paid? It's
the same amount. It doesn't matter which insurance company. or
typically the plan, when I do the enrollment, I get
compensated that way. You know, rarely, I will charge a
fee to somebody that's got really unique, complicated circumstances, but
(25:18):
that's so rare. But really for me, it's doing the
right thing and it makes me feel good helping somebody
get the right information and make a good decision.
Speaker 3 (25:27):
So how does somebody figure out, you know, whether that
agent's sort of that one trick pony or whether they
have the ability to go in many different directions. What's
a question they could ask?
Speaker 5 (25:41):
It's hard, you know, because you just don't know what
to ask and who they're licensed with. I mean, you
can certainly ask somebody how many companies you represent or
what type of plans, what's the breakdown of your clients.
But you really got to get information, maybe talk to
somebody else. I hate to say it, but don't just
talk to one person.
Speaker 4 (26:01):
Yeah, I see this all the time too. And I
advise people just be direct. I mean, you know, if
you're lucky enough to find someone that isn't so self-interested
and will give you the information. Listen to how they talk.
When I do my workshops, I tell people all the time,
I'm not trying to do anything with getting your business.
I'm trying to educate you. Sure, we get a lot
of people that end up becoming clients, but that's not
(26:23):
what it's about. We need to have a movement of education,
which is what I love what you're saying and how
you handle your business.
Speaker 5 (26:28):
Yeah, usually monthly I do new to Medicare or people
that are on Medicare that want to get educated. It's
completely non-solicitous. I go over all the information they need
to know making a decision. It's up to them. If
they want to follow up down the road, But at
least it gives them the tools and the resources in
an objective manner, Chris, to make that determination. Am I
getting presented with objective factual information or am I being
(26:49):
sold something?
Speaker 3 (26:49):
Okay, let's take a short break. But I want you
to stay with us for the final segment of Rock
Your Life Radio on WAM 1180.
Speaker 4 (26:57):
Welcome back. You're listening to Rock Your Life Radio. Thank you, gentlemen,
for sharing your stories and life with us a little
bit today. Jeff, going back to our conversation, when Chris
called you, what drew you to Rock Your Life Radio?
Fair question, Kevin.
Speaker 5 (27:13):
Chris originally called me. He was looking for somebody to
help advise his clients around Medicare. I had no idea
that this show was even in existence or a possibility.
I think it's a vetting out. Chris was probably vetting
me out a little bit. I get calls from people
and I'm happy to work with Chris' clients. I work
(27:33):
with a number of different advisors' clients. You know, Chris was,
I guess, originally Chris, you complained that you've had other
Medicare people not call your clients back, not show up
for meetings and different things.
Speaker 3 (27:46):
It was disaster after disaster. And quite frankly, it made
me look bad. So, you know, I went through a
bunch of people and interviewed people. Some people didn't show
up to these meetings. And it was so frustrating. So
when you and I kind of got together, we seemed
to hit it off a little bit. And then the
very first time You know, I took that leap of
(28:08):
faith and actually had you sit with one of my
clients that I was sitting there with. I was daunted
and everything worked exactly the way it was supposed to work.
So that's kind of how I got started with you
and good move.
Speaker 5 (28:22):
Yeah, it's, you know, all I do is Medicare and it's,
I started a podcast called The Medicare Show, more for
my clients to get information because so much changes so frequently.
And Chris said, hey, I've got this radio show. and
I want to bring you and this guy Kevin in.
I go, what a great way to share information because
I love educating. I love giving information out in a
(28:43):
non-solicitous manner. And I go, and it should be fun.
Like I'm from Rochester. There's like so many great people
and things to do here, and I think it would
just be a great experience just being part of this.
Speaker 3 (28:53):
So ironically, I think this is the tie that binds us.
Kevin puts on his workshops. I think he has one
coming up on what day?
Speaker 4 (29:00):
July 15th. July 15th.
Speaker 3 (29:03):
I have my workshops that I do on the east
side and west side, and Jeff, you're going to be
doing these Medicare Monday things?
Speaker 4 (29:09):
Yeah, free Medicare Mondays. You can call in or come
in for questions.
Speaker 3 (29:12):
It's all centered around just basic education and giving people
good information that they can take away and do what
they will. So I think the show is going to
really do a good job of enhancing that education, maybe
some real-life experiences as we go along. And maybe tell
(29:33):
us a little bit about our personal lives, too, even
though they're not are incredibly boring but sometimes they're a
little exciting too.
Speaker 5 (29:39):
Sure there's a lot a lot happening in this area.
Speaker 3 (29:42):
All right so jeff give me something relevant that's going
on in medicare right.
Speaker 5 (29:48):
Now god there's so much that's always going on it's
putting me on the spot i can think back probably
over the last week right the questions i get in
the phone calls And a lot of it's recently based
on prescriptions. You know, people have had big changes. They
have copays now where they didn't. And I think on
the next show that we're going to do, I'll probably
answer some of those questions. Really, what's changed? How do
(30:09):
we get here? Big one right now, people are trying
to figure out is these GLP-1s, right? Because normally with Medicare,
they're only covered for diabetes, chronic conditions that people have.
And now it's covered under weight loss. And people have
been trying to navigate, how do I get those prescriptions?
There's a very specific way that you can get those
prescriptions covered for weight loss now. And it's actually going
(30:34):
to be very inexpensive, even cheaper than people can get
those same drugs covered under the Medicare plan. So that's
something I think is very relevant, very timely. How do
you navigate that? What needs to happen to get those
drugs now that have been unaffordable? I had a client
yesterday call me. She's spending out of pocket $ 450 a
month for these prescriptions, and now they're going to be
covered but can't figure out how to do it. So
(30:54):
I'm going to share that information.
Speaker 3 (30:55):
Man, that's some good information, Jeff. So thank you for
all you do. How do people get a hold of
you if they need to talk to you about these
issues or their Medicare?
Speaker 4 (31:05):
Real simple.
Speaker 5 (31:06):
You can go to my website, MedicareShopNY, or you can
just call me at 283-2553. And quite often, you'll get
me answering the phone. If not, we do call you
right back.
Speaker 3 (31:17):
So it's MedicareShopNY.com.
Speaker 4 (31:21):
Yep.
Speaker 3 (31:22):
Or what's the number again?
Speaker 4 (31:23):
283- two five five three.
Speaker 2 (31:26):
Cool.
Speaker 3 (31:26):
All right. Again, thanks so much, Jeff. Um, great information.
So Kev, anything going on that you want to share
or invite our listeners to?
Speaker 4 (31:36):
Well, as you mentioned, um, earlier, you know, my, the
workshops that I do, it's a state planning workshops. Um, we,
we hold them at our office. I've got a 30
person classroom, uh, where we invite you in, you know, there's,
there's coffee and cookies and such. Um, We spend about
two hours talking about estate planning and what that looks like.
(31:59):
Some of the myths about estate planning, some really good
information that everybody should know. And what is a good
estate plan or what's a real estate plan? And then
I walk people through the process of building that plan
and the options that may be good for them or not.
(32:19):
It's really about giving people information to create the plan
with honest information that's right for them. That's going to
be July 15th. It's a Wednesday. Pretty much most Wednesdays
I'm doing these workshops. We offer at noon and at 4,
so I do two a day. On our website, we
(32:40):
have a way at ClarkPeshkin.com. You can click and register
or just call the office and ask for Alicia, and
she'll schedule you and get you a seat.
Speaker 5 (32:51):
So Kevin, I'm going to put you on the spot
and ask you a quick question. I've been to a
number years ago of different financial seminars and presentations that
focus on estate planning. And it seems like there are
cookie cutter templates being, people are being charged thousands of dollars.
Speaker 4 (33:06):
How are yours different? What's different? Well, that's a great question.
And I'll be honest with you. Back in the beginning,
my training was basically from that mold of a cookie cutter,
talk about a story and you know, kill off dad
and what happens if mom's around and all this. And
I didn't like it. I didn't feel that I was
(33:27):
able to exert my passion and get the response from
the crowd. This is an interactive workshop that I put on.
So I very quickly turned away from that, scrapped the
whole thing, and took some time and built a workshop
presentation that based on things that I know and what
I think people, if I were sitting out there in
(33:48):
the audience, what I would want to hear, which really is,
I think, kind of revolutionary for estate planning because I
don't pull any punches. I am direct. I will answer
any question. I don't script my workshops. I talk about
the same things every time, but it is my own authentic,
and it's individualized.
Speaker 5 (34:08):
Am I going to learn something then as opposed to
being sold something?
Speaker 3 (34:12):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (34:13):
Well, it's interesting. It's all about learning, and yes, you will.
And I actually tell people up front, because I'm transparent.
I talk about our prices. I talk about how I
came up with the prices. I talk about when I
deviate from the prices. And I also tell people, if
you think I'm selling you even one bit during the presentation,
disqualify me from being your estate planning attorney. I don't
(34:34):
want that to be the takeaway. The takeaway is information,
because there's a lot of misinformation that we can correct
through this workshop.
Speaker 5 (34:41):
Yeah, I mean, like all of us, you want to
be their trusted advisor.
Speaker 4 (34:44):
That's it. And just a trusted advisor generally. And back
to our earlier conversation, we as professionals need to get
the self-interest out. Of course, we charge for things, but
be transparent and let people know. So when they walk
away and talk to their friends and their family members
and their kids, everybody knows that they've got the most solid,
(35:05):
confident estate plan that they can.
Speaker 3 (35:08):
Hey, guys, looks like we're bumping up on some time
right now, but Jeff and I are actually going to
be at Kevin's workshop on July 15th. So if you're attending,
you can meet the Rock Your Life guys. But I
also want to thank everyone for tuning in this hour.
You know, together we're here to have real conversations about
the topics that impact your life the most, your money,
(35:29):
your health, and your legal protection. So be sure to
join us next week where we'll cut through the noise,
break down complex issues into practical terms, and help you
understand what you need to know before small problems become
big ones. No confusing jargon, no scare tactics, no sales pitches,
just straightforward information and honest insight from professionals who work
(35:51):
with these issues every day. So until then, have a
great rest of your weekend, and remember, your best years
aren't behind you, they're just getting started.
The following is paid programming by the Rock Your Life
Radio Show. The content of this show is that of
the Rock Your Life Radio Show and does not reflect
the views or policies of this station or iHeartMedia.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
News Radio Wham 1180 welcomes you to the Rock Your
Life Show, discussing safe money, estate planning, and Medicare with
an entertaining twist. Now from the News Radio Wham 1180
studios in downtown Rochester, here are your hosts, the Rock
Your Life guys, Christopher Krolak, Kevin Clark, and Jeffrey Kuhn.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
Welcome everyone to Rock Your Life Radio and thank you
for joining us. I'm Christopher Krolak, your safe money advisor
and owner of the J. Christopher Group. Also in the
studio with me are my two co-hosts, attorney Kevin Clark.
He's the founding partner of the Clark Peshkin Law Firm
and Medicare specialist Jeff Kuhn. He's the owner of the
(00:58):
Medicare Shop and Jeff is also a certified financial educator
and a certified financial planner. We're all Rochester-based business owners
and And you'll get to know us as the Rock
Your Life Guys, where each week we're going to try
to bring you some insight on education, entertainment, and topics
that affect each one of our lives. So let's get
(01:19):
this show started by introducing the Rock Your Life Guys.
Most of you know me already as a co-host of
the Seniors Rock Show with recently semi-retired Joanna Palvino. So
when I decided to take the hour over, I thought
about just changing the format just a little bit. Seniors
Rock was a great format to help people learn about
the resources to assist the aging. It's a very important
(01:42):
and necessary service. But I wanted to add a twist.
I wanted to include the generation that helps care for
the aging population and the challenges of everyday life that
they face. We call them the sandwich generation.
Speaker 4 (01:54):
So actually..
Speaker 3 (01:55):
I cold called both Kevin and Jeff to pitch this concept.
And you want to know what? They both enthusiastically jumped
on board. And I'm so pleased to have them here
with me right now. So let's dive in. Let's get
to know, actually, attorney Kevin Clark. Now, Kevin is an
estate planning attorney that focuses on family law. And he
(02:16):
has a pretty impressive career. So, Kevin, what made you
decide to go into this area of law?
Speaker 4 (02:24):
Well, thank you, Chris. I think about what made me
decide to go in this area of law. I got
to back up a little bit. I'll give you a
little bit of background. And I know a lot of
my clients listen to Wham! So they've already heard this,
but it's what makes me who I am. You know,
I didn't grow up in upstate Western New York. I
grew up in Nebraska. I went to the University of Nebraska,
(02:45):
got a business degree. I started working for the Gallup organization.
A lot of people know that as the Gallup Poll.
And after college, they promoted me and moved me to
Minneapolis where I consulted with Fortune 1000 companies and was
required to get my MBA. I did that for a
few years, but it wasn't my passion. My passion was
always wanting to be a lawyer. So I took an
(03:07):
opportunity at age 34 to go to law school. And
when I graduated, I only wanted to take the bar
exam once. And I met my wife in Minneapolis, but
she was from Penfield, New York. So we decided with
a small family to move to Penfield. And that's where
I started my law career. Kind of a go-getter. I
wanted to either start a firm or be a trial attorney.
(03:31):
So I worked for the district attorney's office first for
about six and a half years and then started the firm.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
So Kevin, what did you do as a DA?
Speaker 4 (03:40):
Great question. It was a very rewarding career there. As
an assistant district attorney, at least the last four years
of my tenure there, I was at the highest level
as a, um, a major felony bureau prosecutor. So I
prosecuted crimes such as murder, burglary, robbery, arsons, um, all
the kind of worst of the worst that people do
to each other in the community. And I would handle
(04:03):
the case from start to finish, um, from the original
arrest through a grand jury presentations, uh, through negotiations, and
then ultimately, uh, trial, um, down at the courthouse, uh,
and then sentencing. And it was a great career. I
liked it, but I'd always also had this passion from
my business background to start a firm. So in 2014,
(04:26):
I left and the firm started shortly thereafter. And we
wanted to be a kind of a larger firm for
the family. We weren't going to be doing mergers and acquisitions.
We weren't going to be doing corporate law. We wanted
to do things that help individuals and their family as
much as we can. So it very quickly became estate planning,
(04:47):
and family law, which is also matrimonial law and divorce.
Very early on, our slogan became, your family is our business.
And that really is the passion behind what we do.
We're looking at areas of law that help family members,
whether you're 20 years old, 50 years old, 80 years old.
(05:08):
So it naturally became a focus of matrimonial and estate
planning The last four years or so, I've really focused
almost exclusively myself on estate planning and have developed quite
a large group of clients. We do these workshops where
I get to educate people in the community, and it
really is what I love to do. So that's how
(05:28):
I chose this area of law.
Speaker 3 (05:30):
A little different clientele than what you did at the
DA's office then, right?
Speaker 4 (05:34):
Absolutely. How long have you said you've been in Rochester total?
I moved here in 2007.
Speaker 5 (05:40):
What's your overall, now that you've been here since 2007,
what do you think of it?
Speaker 4 (05:43):
Oh, I love it. I mean, I grew up in
the middle of Nebraska. I think Nebraska has like two lakes.
And coming out here, Minnesota was cold. I was there
for about seven years. It was very beautiful. It was
a step up, but just too cold. So when I
first got my exposure to the Rochester area, I fell
in love because it was kind of the best of
both worlds. You know, all the environmental, beautiful aspects of
(06:08):
western New York. But it wasn't as cold as Minnesota.
Speaker 3 (06:11):
Yeah, what was a Saturday night like in Nebraska growing up?
Speaker 4 (06:14):
You've heard of tipping cows? Watching corn grow?
Speaker 5 (06:18):
And following tornadoes. All the fun stuff. Kevin, I've got
to ask you a question. When Chris originally called you
and he asked you to be on Rock Your Life Radio,
what interest you would drew you to saying yes and
being part of the show?
Speaker 4 (06:33):
Great question. And I really loved the timing of it because...
I meet with over 1,000 people a year on estate planning.
And some of the things in this industry that I've
seen with other practitioners, offerings of estate planning, estate planning
has become such a big word and such a popular
(06:57):
word among very different industries, from financial planners to wealth
managers to even accountants sometimes get into this estate planning business. lingo.
And it really confuses the general public because there's different
aspects of estate planning. For example, financial planning and wealth management,
(07:18):
I say that's about the zeros. How do we make
your zeros grow? What I mean by zeros is your money.
Do you have $ 100, $ 1, 000, $ 1 million? How many zeros
do you have? From an attorney's perspective, I don't care
about the zeros. I'm not investing your money. I'm not
making them grow. What I care about is what's going
to happen to your house when you pass away or
all of your stuff that your kids or your loved
(07:40):
ones are going to have to deal with. And when
Christopher is called and I got to meet with him
and hear his philosophy, which was wonderfully in the same
lane as mine. this idea of a show where we
could really educate people and not confuse them, right? Because
I get clients all the time that come in and say, well,
(08:01):
my financial advisor advised me that I should put my
house in this deed or this thing, which is really
a legal aspect. And I don't know a lot of
financial advisors that are lawyers, nor do I know a
lot of lawyers that are financial advisors. So I was
really excited to meet and get going on this project
(08:21):
after learning his philosophy and then also meeting you and
learning your philosophy is right in line with that. It's
just about an opportunity to speak and educate people in
the best way possible with, with what's really true out there.
Speaker 3 (08:34):
I think a lot of it was, we're all staying
in our lanes. We're not trying to be something we're not. We're,
you know, experts in our areas and that's where we
leave it. And we can rely on experts in other
areas to, answer those particular clients' questions. So many times
I see people try to play attorney or they try
(08:55):
to play Medicare specialist and it doesn't work and the
client really winds up getting screwed up.
Speaker 5 (09:01):
Oh, I found that. It's so true, Chris. People try
to be a jack of all trades, right? And the
saying about master of none. So with that, we're going
to take a short break for the news, but stay
with us because we're going to continue our conversation with
Kevin on WHAM 1180.
Speaker 4 (09:15):
Rock Your Life Radio.
Speaker 5 (09:17):
I'm Jeff Kuhn with the Medicare Shop, and we're continuing
our conversation with attorney Kevin Clark of Clark Peshkin. So, Kevin,
I've run into this quite a bit, and I wanted
to ask you a question. Clients that are on Medicare,
and I'll get a call periodically, and there's typically a
moment of crisis where they've got a loved one that's
been in and out of the hospital. They're like, what
(09:38):
is this going to cost? What are the bills going
to be? Because they're having to figure out that responsibility
and pay for it. The question is Medicare versus Medicaid,
and I'm trying to differentiate between the two of them.
The question is about power of attorney, and there's a
whole host of things that people should have been planning
for already. When is the right time to be thinking
(09:59):
about and doing these things? Because that, to me, seems
a little late.
Speaker 4 (10:03):
Great question. And the right time, I know this is
a little cliche, but the right time is now. The
right time to start thinking about it is now or yesterday.
The right time to do something is in the near future.
And I know that's very generic. But it is true.
I mean, procrastination is the number one enemy to my
profession of legal estate planning because it happens to everybody.
(10:26):
People think about or are afraid of their mortality. They
don't know where to get the right information. They're hearing
things from their neighbors, from their friends, from various areas,
and it becomes overwhelming. So what I teach people is
take action now and take the appropriate action now and
plan for other things later. So With respect to an
(10:47):
estate plan, let's do that right now. I mean, any
of us, death and taxes, it hits us. Taxes hit
us all the time. We don't know when death's going
to happen, but it could be tomorrow. Is everything in order?
And a will is not enough. You need to be
educated about what's really out there. As it relates to
your question about what you deal with Medicare, on the
(11:07):
Medicaid aspect, my interaction with Medicaid is around nursing home care.
which a lot of people don't understand isn't necessarily assisting living.
It's not assisted living. We're talking about when your loved one,
you know, has a fall, they go in under Medicare
for the 30 days of recovery and then they have
(11:27):
to stay in the nursing home. That's when we start
looking at Medicaid. So when's the time to plan for that?
Anytime before you have to do the Medicaid application, we can,
you know, plan and preserve assets at any point up
to the application point. Now, listeners, if you take one
thing away and remember is if a loved one is
(11:50):
facing nursing home stay for any period beyond the 30 days,
contact someone like me right away because there's always something
we can do before that application. And unfortunately, there's people
out there, even in my profession, that say that there isn't.
And the fact is that there is. With married couples,
we can save up to 100% of assets, single person,
(12:13):
up to 50%, and there's just things that we can
always do.
Speaker 5 (12:17):
Yeah, because a lot of times people ask us, some
of the first questions I ask people, do you have
power of attorney, right? Because sometimes we need to consider
changing plans, right? Advanced medical directors, some important things that
people need to make decisions, and then they find out,
you know, where's the roadblock? Because they can't get information
for a loved one or family member because they didn't
plan in a timely manner to be able to deal
(12:38):
with those things.
Speaker 4 (12:39):
Correct. A durable power of attorney with gifting rights is
the most important aspect for a loved one that's in crisis.
Speaker 3 (12:48):
So, Kevin, what's the biggest mistake that you see people
make when during that time mom or dad or grandma
or grandpa have to go into the nursing home? What's
the big mistake that people make? Is it trying to
give money away, scatter the money out, hide it under
the mattress?
Speaker 4 (13:05):
What is it? Yeah, it's the DIY of our profession.
Do it yourself. I always say in my workshops, Home
Depot is great for home projects. There's no such equivalent
for what we do. And there's a reason for it
because it doesn't work. Gifting is not the strategy for
somebody that's facing a Medicaid application. They will look back
five years and any uncompensated transaction, that's a legal term
(13:27):
for you all. That means giving something money away and
not getting fair market value back, which is a gift,
will be penalized. So You've got to be very careful
from that. It's interesting. I say the thing about Medicaid
in my workshops. I'll say, those that know, know. And
you start seeing faces up and down because they've had neighbors, friends,
(13:49):
family members that went through it. And the education is
intense and immense. There's a lot to it. Those that
don't know need to talk to someone like me. Not
necessarily me, but someone like me. Because there's so much
that you can do in advance now. And the biggest problem, again,
is procrastination.
Speaker 5 (14:09):
Kevin, recently I had a phone call from somebody that
was referred to me by the Office of the Aging.
They couldn't figure out a bill. And a quick conversation,
I got a copy of it. The gentleman's got a
bill from his mother being in rehab, and it was
about $ 12, 000. You normally get about 21 days of rehab
after you get out of a surgery or procedure. I
asked a few quick questions and found out they didn't
actually do any rehab, physical therapy, and she kind of
(14:32):
turned it down. So guess what that got billed at?
It's a nursing home stay, and people don't realize you're
there for a reason. If you don't get it, they
want to bill it as a nursing home because that's self-pay.
Is there any way around avoiding those things for people?
Speaker 4 (14:45):
That situation is really interesting and tough because good for
you for digging into it. I think the thing that
people need to do is be diligent about being educated
as much as you can before the events happen and
then ask questions as things happen. When you get that bill,
review it, look it over. And ask someone, I mean,
(15:06):
call and talk to one of us, anybody that can
really lay that out. There's resources for every aspect of
what it is that we do. I get solicited all
the time. It's like, there's this company that's on me.
They handle Medicaid liens. So apparently this company, if somebody
gets a Medicaid lien against them, they're willing to negotiate
(15:27):
it down. Everything's negotiable. So if you look at it,
and if I'm sitting there and my mom or dad
are are aging to the point where this is a
relevant conversation, I'm thinking, what education can I get for
them and tell them about? What can I do to pre-plan?
What can I do to avoid crisis planning? And then afterwards,
(15:47):
what can I do to make sure everything was done correctly?
Speaker 5 (15:50):
That's a great point. I always tell people you've got
to be prepared. Like clients will call them and have
this procedure, and it brings in the conversation. If you're
going to be in rehab, make sure that they do
the rehab every day.
Speaker 4 (15:58):
Yeah, and then also. And asking the right questions. And
also make sure that, you know, if you're educated, you'll
know that as that rehab becomes a permanent nursing home stay,
you know, the social workers, they're wonderful. And the nursing
home staff, I am an advocate for how well they are.
But they're just doing their job. They'll come in and
start the Medicaid application. And I've had a number of
(16:21):
people in the last couple months where I'm like, whoa, stop.
Don't move forward until we actually look at the resources
your parents have or your loved ones have and do
some planning before we do the application.
Speaker 3 (16:33):
Man, this is some good information. So, Kevin, tell us
how people can reach you if they have a legal
matter that you can help them out with.
Speaker 4 (16:40):
So just go to ClarkPeshkin.com or 888-222-4996. And ask for
a consultation or just talk to our intake specialist about
what's going on and they'll lead the way. One of
the best things I can offer is our free workshop.
I mean, I do it on Wednesdays at noon and
(17:02):
for most Wednesdays. Just go to ClarkPeshkin.com and sign up
or call and come to the free workshop. It's totally free.
It's just to give information.
Speaker 3 (17:13):
That's awesome. Thanks. So next up, we have Mr. Jeffrey Kuhn,
owner and proprietor of the Medicare shop here in Rochester. Now,
Jeff has been tagged in many of his reviews as
the Medicare guru, and I can personally attest to that fact.
Based on my experience, my clients have had with dealing
with Jeff. And we're going to take some time to
(17:35):
get to know Jeff a little bit more personal. He's
had a pretty remarkable career. We're going to find out
what drew him away from corporate America to form the
Medicare shop. So it looks like we're going to need
to take another short break, but stay with us as
we continue our conversation with one of our Rock Your
(17:56):
Life radio guys, Jeff Kuhn of the Medicare shop. So
stay tuned. Welcome back. You're listening to the Rock Your
Life Guys, and let's pick up right again with Jeff
Kuhn of the Medicare Shop. So, Jeff, the question I
posed earlier, what drew you away from corporate America to
form the Medicare Shop?
Speaker 5 (18:15):
You know, Chris, it's an interesting story. It's kind of
a long journey I've been on. You know, it started,
you know, I graduated from Fairport High School, and it.
Speaker 4 (18:24):
Took me a bit.
Speaker 5 (18:24):
I graduated from RIT, actually, with a finance degree and
thought I wanted to be in corporate finance. And I
got a call one day. It was, you know, people think,
you know, certain financial things happen to some people, not others.
My mother of all people called me and wanted me
to take a look at something because she had to
take money out for my grandfather and actually it was
for my grandmother and my grandfather had passed away. And
(18:49):
there was a big surrender charge on one of the
new fixed annuities that they had. And she wanted me
to look into it because she didn't understand why that
she'd had this thing for so long. And I, got
a copy of the application paperwork. And I found out,
looked at the data signature and it was two days
after my grandfather died or two years, I'm sorry, after
my grandfather died.
Speaker 4 (19:09):
So what does that tell you? Two years, right?
Speaker 5 (19:11):
He signed an annuity application. They surrendered an annuity, subject
now to surrender charges, right? So how could he have
signed that two years after his date of death? And
it just infuriated me. I had a very stern conversation
with the insurance company and they you know, they made
it right. The insurance agent had fraudulently signed an application to,
(19:33):
you know, commit a financial crime, essentially, to get paid
a commission. And it aggravated me so bad that that
was a trigger. I said, you know, I really need
to be an advocate for other people. It happened in
my own family to look after people's best interests. And
I had become a certified financial planner and went out
on my own. I had my own office down in Washington, D.C.,
(19:54):
and I dealt with a lot of complicated issues with
business owners and constantly running into people that were looking
out for their own best interests.
Speaker 4 (20:02):
And I was like a financial watchdog, if you will.
Speaker 5 (20:06):
And I started getting calls from clients, you know, and
they're like, Jeff, we've got to take more money out
of IRAs than we anticipated because we're in the donut hole.
And if you remember that term, it was just a
couple of years ago that finally ended. And I go,
how is it feasible? You got to pay 7,000 prescription costs.
I dealt with a lot of complicated financial issues and,
(20:26):
you know, they're talking about Medicare and I go, well, I,
you know, how hard can this be? I got to
figure this out and maybe advise them because I like
to know things. I like to be able to educate
people and, and help advise around it. And I was
blown away by how complicated the terminology was, right? And
you hear all this stuff with Medicare A, B, C, D.
You've got these plans G, they're supplemental, Medigap. And I
(20:49):
tell everybody that comes into my office, don't expect to
understand this stuff. Don't look at this Medicare new book
and try to figure out. It took me three years,
when I say master it, to really master Medicare. And
when I first tried to understand it, I've never felt
so stupid in my entire life. I was absolutely confused
by it. And once I became what I consider a
master in understanding Medicare, my phone just blew up. People
(21:14):
were getting my name from other people. And I started
doing this well over 15 years ago here. And nobody
in this area did it. And now there's nearly 2,000
licensed Medicare agents, right? And a lot of them are
other insurance agents trying to sell Medicare to get business in.
And I've been doing this a very long time. I'm
very fortunate that people rely on me for objective advice
and looking out for the best interest. Because quite often,
(21:35):
I hate to say this, the insurance companies aren't looking
out for your best interest. They're trying to sell you plans.
A lot of insurance agents, I hate to say, are
really looking out for what's not always in the client's
best interest.
Speaker 4 (21:47):
And sometimes it doesn't make sense to go on Medicare.
Speaker 5 (21:50):
People are turning 65.
Speaker 4 (21:53):
And they've got a lot of questions and they're still working.
You know, Jeff, one of the things that I completely
agree with you on that you're saying is the self-interested
aspect of our professions. And what I hear you saying
is that you got into this specifically or in part
specifically because your family was a victim of self-interest. And
(22:15):
that's one of the things I really appreciate about you
and Chris. And I think coming together and doing this
is giving information that isn't self-interested. I mean, we all
own our own businesses and do our own things. And
I just want listeners to really appreciate when you're dealing
with professionals in this area of our industries, look for
(22:35):
the most professional individuals that aren't self-interested, that want to
give information away. Tell me what you think about that. Yeah,
it's amazing.
Speaker 5 (22:43):
People come into the office and quite often they ask,
what do I owe you? Because they'll spend an hour
with me. And in 15 minutes, this burden of understanding
Medicare is just released. And for me, And people ask,
you know, what are you going to do when you retire?
If I can do this, this is retirement. It's by
far the most rewarding thing I've ever done. And ethically
and morally, you know, if it doesn't make sense for
(23:04):
somebody to be on Medicare, my job is to explain
everything to them in a way that's understandable and help
them make that decision. Even if that means I don't
get paid, I'm okay with that because you know what?
They're going to go out and tell somebody else what
a great experience. I'm absolutely looking out for somebody's best interests.
And it's rare to find somebody that's actually going to
do that and give them objective advice. Because when you're
looking at, do I stay on a group plan or
(23:26):
do I go on Medicare? Well, we got to do
an apples to apples comparison. We got to look at
your medications. What does your current plan look like? What
is it actually going to cost you to be on
Medicare over the course of a year? Looking at your doctors,
your co-pays, what your prescription costs are, and backing that
up with Medicare, the premiums, and doing a really, a
truly objective analysis to help people make smart decisions.
Speaker 3 (23:49):
So when people come in, I've found that many times
in different industries, they have one product. And by God,
you're going to get sold that product no matter what.
When you walk in the door, despite all of the
objective advice that they're going to give you, and they're
only licensed in this one thing or that one company.
(24:11):
How are you different than that?
Speaker 5 (24:13):
You know, I had somebody in my office yesterday was
referring me to just moved to the area from Florida.
I'm licensed in Florida and a lot of other states
and people want to sell advantage plants because they're easy, right?
They get paid more probably on some of those products
and it's not objective. And, you know, people go online,
they'll look at YouTube and they'll hear all this information. Well,
(24:35):
New York state's very unique and most of the stuff
that you see online and 99% of the time, people
that are chirping in your ear, don't do this, do that,
they're not correct factually. And it's really understanding the laws here,
what you can and can't do, because New York is
just very, very unique. So there's a lot of misguidance
out there. There's people that only sell one particular type
(24:55):
of Medicare product. They don't educate the client about all
of them, the costs, and help the client make a decision.
My jobs provide information. You know, sure, I get paid.
And the question is, how do I get paid? It's
the same amount. It doesn't matter which insurance company. or
typically the plan, when I do the enrollment, I get
compensated that way. You know, rarely, I will charge a
fee to somebody that's got really unique, complicated circumstances, but
(25:18):
that's so rare. But really for me, it's doing the
right thing and it makes me feel good helping somebody
get the right information and make a good decision.
Speaker 3 (25:27):
So how does somebody figure out, you know, whether that
agent's sort of that one trick pony or whether they
have the ability to go in many different directions. What's
a question they could ask?
Speaker 5 (25:41):
It's hard, you know, because you just don't know what
to ask and who they're licensed with. I mean, you
can certainly ask somebody how many companies you represent or
what type of plans, what's the breakdown of your clients.
But you really got to get information, maybe talk to
somebody else. I hate to say it, but don't just
talk to one person.
Speaker 4 (26:01):
Yeah, I see this all the time too. And I
advise people just be direct. I mean, you know, if
you're lucky enough to find someone that isn't so self-interested
and will give you the information. Listen to how they talk.
When I do my workshops, I tell people all the time,
I'm not trying to do anything with getting your business.
I'm trying to educate you. Sure, we get a lot
of people that end up becoming clients, but that's not
(26:23):
what it's about. We need to have a movement of education,
which is what I love what you're saying and how
you handle your business.
Speaker 5 (26:28):
Yeah, usually monthly I do new to Medicare or people
that are on Medicare that want to get educated. It's
completely non-solicitous. I go over all the information they need
to know making a decision. It's up to them. If
they want to follow up down the road, But at
least it gives them the tools and the resources in
an objective manner, Chris, to make that determination. Am I
getting presented with objective factual information or am I being
(26:49):
sold something?
Speaker 3 (26:49):
Okay, let's take a short break. But I want you
to stay with us for the final segment of Rock
Your Life Radio on WAM 1180.
Speaker 4 (26:57):
Welcome back. You're listening to Rock Your Life Radio. Thank you, gentlemen,
for sharing your stories and life with us a little
bit today. Jeff, going back to our conversation, when Chris
called you, what drew you to Rock Your Life Radio?
Fair question, Kevin.
Speaker 5 (27:13):
Chris originally called me. He was looking for somebody to
help advise his clients around Medicare. I had no idea
that this show was even in existence or a possibility.
I think it's a vetting out. Chris was probably vetting
me out a little bit. I get calls from people
and I'm happy to work with Chris' clients. I work
(27:33):
with a number of different advisors' clients. You know, Chris was,
I guess, originally Chris, you complained that you've had other
Medicare people not call your clients back, not show up
for meetings and different things.
Speaker 3 (27:46):
It was disaster after disaster. And quite frankly, it made
me look bad. So, you know, I went through a
bunch of people and interviewed people. Some people didn't show
up to these meetings. And it was so frustrating. So
when you and I kind of got together, we seemed
to hit it off a little bit. And then the
very first time You know, I took that leap of
(28:08):
faith and actually had you sit with one of my
clients that I was sitting there with. I was daunted
and everything worked exactly the way it was supposed to work.
So that's kind of how I got started with you
and good move.
Speaker 5 (28:22):
Yeah, it's, you know, all I do is Medicare and it's,
I started a podcast called The Medicare Show, more for
my clients to get information because so much changes so frequently.
And Chris said, hey, I've got this radio show. and
I want to bring you and this guy Kevin in.
I go, what a great way to share information because
I love educating. I love giving information out in a
(28:43):
non-solicitous manner. And I go, and it should be fun.
Like I'm from Rochester. There's like so many great people
and things to do here, and I think it would
just be a great experience just being part of this.
Speaker 3 (28:53):
So ironically, I think this is the tie that binds us.
Kevin puts on his workshops. I think he has one
coming up on what day?
Speaker 4 (29:00):
July 15th. July 15th.
Speaker 3 (29:03):
I have my workshops that I do on the east
side and west side, and Jeff, you're going to be
doing these Medicare Monday things?
Speaker 4 (29:09):
Yeah, free Medicare Mondays. You can call in or come
in for questions.
Speaker 3 (29:12):
It's all centered around just basic education and giving people
good information that they can take away and do what
they will. So I think the show is going to
really do a good job of enhancing that education, maybe
some real-life experiences as we go along. And maybe tell
(29:33):
us a little bit about our personal lives, too, even
though they're not are incredibly boring but sometimes they're a
little exciting too.
Speaker 5 (29:39):
Sure there's a lot a lot happening in this area.
Speaker 3 (29:42):
All right so jeff give me something relevant that's going
on in medicare right.
Speaker 5 (29:48):
Now god there's so much that's always going on it's
putting me on the spot i can think back probably
over the last week right the questions i get in
the phone calls And a lot of it's recently based
on prescriptions. You know, people have had big changes. They
have copays now where they didn't. And I think on
the next show that we're going to do, I'll probably
answer some of those questions. Really, what's changed? How do
(30:09):
we get here? Big one right now, people are trying
to figure out is these GLP-1s, right? Because normally with Medicare,
they're only covered for diabetes, chronic conditions that people have.
And now it's covered under weight loss. And people have
been trying to navigate, how do I get those prescriptions?
There's a very specific way that you can get those
prescriptions covered for weight loss now. And it's actually going
(30:34):
to be very inexpensive, even cheaper than people can get
those same drugs covered under the Medicare plan. So that's
something I think is very relevant, very timely. How do
you navigate that? What needs to happen to get those
drugs now that have been unaffordable? I had a client
yesterday call me. She's spending out of pocket $ 450 a
month for these prescriptions, and now they're going to be
covered but can't figure out how to do it. So
(30:54):
I'm going to share that information.
Speaker 3 (30:55):
Man, that's some good information, Jeff. So thank you for
all you do. How do people get a hold of
you if they need to talk to you about these
issues or their Medicare?
Speaker 4 (31:05):
Real simple.
Speaker 5 (31:06):
You can go to my website, MedicareShopNY, or you can
just call me at 283-2553. And quite often, you'll get
me answering the phone. If not, we do call you
right back.
Speaker 3 (31:17):
So it's MedicareShopNY.com.
Speaker 4 (31:21):
Yep.
Speaker 3 (31:22):
Or what's the number again?
Speaker 4 (31:23):
283- two five five three.
Speaker 2 (31:26):
Cool.
Speaker 3 (31:26):
All right. Again, thanks so much, Jeff. Um, great information.
So Kev, anything going on that you want to share
or invite our listeners to?
Speaker 4 (31:36):
Well, as you mentioned, um, earlier, you know, my, the
workshops that I do, it's a state planning workshops. Um, we,
we hold them at our office. I've got a 30
person classroom, uh, where we invite you in, you know, there's,
there's coffee and cookies and such. Um, We spend about
two hours talking about estate planning and what that looks like.
(31:59):
Some of the myths about estate planning, some really good
information that everybody should know. And what is a good
estate plan or what's a real estate plan? And then
I walk people through the process of building that plan
and the options that may be good for them or not.
(32:19):
It's really about giving people information to create the plan
with honest information that's right for them. That's going to
be July 15th. It's a Wednesday. Pretty much most Wednesdays
I'm doing these workshops. We offer at noon and at 4,
so I do two a day. On our website, we
(32:40):
have a way at ClarkPeshkin.com. You can click and register
or just call the office and ask for Alicia, and
she'll schedule you and get you a seat.
Speaker 5 (32:51):
So Kevin, I'm going to put you on the spot
and ask you a quick question. I've been to a
number years ago of different financial seminars and presentations that
focus on estate planning. And it seems like there are
cookie cutter templates being, people are being charged thousands of dollars.
Speaker 4 (33:06):
How are yours different? What's different? Well, that's a great question.
And I'll be honest with you. Back in the beginning,
my training was basically from that mold of a cookie cutter,
talk about a story and you know, kill off dad
and what happens if mom's around and all this. And
I didn't like it. I didn't feel that I was
(33:27):
able to exert my passion and get the response from
the crowd. This is an interactive workshop that I put on.
So I very quickly turned away from that, scrapped the
whole thing, and took some time and built a workshop
presentation that based on things that I know and what
I think people, if I were sitting out there in
(33:48):
the audience, what I would want to hear, which really is,
I think, kind of revolutionary for estate planning because I
don't pull any punches. I am direct. I will answer
any question. I don't script my workshops. I talk about
the same things every time, but it is my own authentic,
and it's individualized.
Speaker 5 (34:08):
Am I going to learn something then as opposed to
being sold something?
Speaker 3 (34:12):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (34:13):
Well, it's interesting. It's all about learning, and yes, you will.
And I actually tell people up front, because I'm transparent.
I talk about our prices. I talk about how I
came up with the prices. I talk about when I
deviate from the prices. And I also tell people, if
you think I'm selling you even one bit during the presentation,
disqualify me from being your estate planning attorney. I don't
(34:34):
want that to be the takeaway. The takeaway is information,
because there's a lot of misinformation that we can correct
through this workshop.
Speaker 5 (34:41):
Yeah, I mean, like all of us, you want to
be their trusted advisor.
Speaker 4 (34:44):
That's it. And just a trusted advisor generally. And back
to our earlier conversation, we as professionals need to get
the self-interest out. Of course, we charge for things, but
be transparent and let people know. So when they walk
away and talk to their friends and their family members
and their kids, everybody knows that they've got the most solid,
(35:05):
confident estate plan that they can.
Speaker 3 (35:08):
Hey, guys, looks like we're bumping up on some time
right now, but Jeff and I are actually going to
be at Kevin's workshop on July 15th. So if you're attending,
you can meet the Rock Your Life guys. But I
also want to thank everyone for tuning in this hour.
You know, together we're here to have real conversations about
the topics that impact your life the most, your money,
(35:29):
your health, and your legal protection. So be sure to
join us next week where we'll cut through the noise,
break down complex issues into practical terms, and help you
understand what you need to know before small problems become
big ones. No confusing jargon, no scare tactics, no sales pitches,
just straightforward information and honest insight from professionals who work
(35:51):
with these issues every day. So until then, have a
great rest of your weekend, and remember, your best years
aren't behind you, they're just getting started.
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