November 2025 – The Special Month

We are almost exactly 50% through the Annual Enrollment Period.
That 7-week window of time where they allow all 70 million people on Medicare to make plan changes for the upcoming year…

There have been a lot of things going on, so let’s go over them.

Here’s the Agenda

1. 2026 Medicare Numbers Announced

2. Book Recommendation

3. My Attempt At Words of Wisdom

2026 Medicare Numbers

They came a little later than expected, but CMS has finally released the new Medicare costs for 2026. The quick and dirty:

• Part A premiums, deductibles, and copays all increased.
  This doesn’t affect most, but we do have some friends here who do pay for Part A for various reasons. Those monthly costs have gone up.

• Part B Costs have increased

  • Part B premiums have increased by 9.7% to $202.90 per month as the base amount. You can download the updated 2026 IRMAA charts here:
    Retirement Nerds IRMAA Chart

  • Part B Deductible also went up by about 10%.
    It is now $283.

Other cost changes have been released throughout the year, so this video here goes over all of the different cost updates and how they fit in the context of other things going on in 2026.

Click the picture to view or click here.

We are about halfway through the Annual Enrollment Period deadlines.
This only applies to those of you on an Advantage plan or a Part D drug plan as it is your window to make adjustments for 2026.

If you like your plan and it is still around for 2026, you don’t need to do anything. It will automatically renew as long as you are paying any premiums that plan may have.

If your plan’s costs are out of control or your plan is being terminated, you’ll want to make sure you are reviewing your plan options to be set up in time for 2026.

We can get through this together 

If you haven’t seen this video already, here is one that covers a bit about what’s going on between agents and insurance companies right now that may be interesting to some of you:
3 Things Happening In Medicare Right Now

4 hours after I published that video… the 3rd problem I address in the video was resolved 🙂

Book Recommendation

It was startling, scary, and the beginning of how you and I would become acquainted.

I went back and tried to watch that video.
Let’s just say… I think I’ve come a long way.
I’m an awkward person in real life and that is evidenced in this video.
Here it is if you want to look back at a younger Erik – just don’t use it as blackmail:
2022 Medicare Cost Updates

I mean… what was I thinking having that big ol’ microphone between my face and the camera?!

The main point is… the whole reason I started the channel was to help existing clients with questions they kept having.
It wasn’t for the public at all! YouTube was just a free place that I could put the videos and easily share with links in emails to clients.
Clients knew me and could put up with my quirks.

Video number 2 totally blew up that strategy.

The Medicare world is complicated. 

Human nature tends to be self-preservation, and people would meet with us, chat for an hour, and leave saying they didn’t have any questions, only to email us as soon as they got home with questions because they were nervous to ask them in person for fear of looking like they didn’t understand.

I thought, “What if they could just watch a video, in the comfort of their home… without judgement or worry?”

“Pause it. Rewind. Take notes. Comment with questions…”
“Then, when we meet in person, you know pretty much as much as anyone and feel super confident in that conversation.”

That’s how I’ve tried to approach the vast majority of the videos you’ll see on the channel.
There are probably a hundred or more videos on the channel about very niche topics that go against every YouTube growth strategy out there because the masses won’t care about it… but a small group of people I care about, need it.

Topics like VA coverage, FEHB, Provider searches, SSA account tutorials, and others won’t ever get millions of views, but boy are they helpful for those who need it.

And this is what YouTube has come to really instill in my belief about life, and what I hope to share here with you…

As I focus our efforts on helping others… somehow, someway… it all comes back around to benefit me, too.

I can’t explain it.
Call it karma, good vibes, magic, voodoo… I dunno.
Whatever it is, I feel very fortunate.

The Medicare world is incredibly competitive.
Agents are often trying to steal your ideas, steal your clients, steal your materials and use it as their own.
I have enormous, multi-billion dollar organizations that reach out to me wanting to partner in various ways. The problem for me… is they are focused on those billions… and not the one.

They are less concerned with Kim, who’s trying to navigate having to pay for Part A because she’s a self-proclaimed Cougar 🙂 and won’t qualify for Premium free Part A until her husband reaches 62 in a couple years.

They don’t care about Paul, who’s Advantage plan was terminated and he finally has the chance to go to Traditional Medicare and a supplement plan after some health issues, but he lives in a state that doesn’t compensate agents for that help.

They don’t care about Laura, whose mom suffers from dementia and Laura is trying to figure out how Medicare works so that her mom is covered during the last years of her life and Laura is having to deal with providers and insurance companies. It just so happens, the insurance companies there don’t pay agents, so Laura can’t find help.

I hope I’m not coming off as arrogant or bragadocious, but just in the first half of the month of November… 1,918 people have trusted my silly YouTube channel enough to reach out and ask, “Erik, can you help?”

Every. Single. One… gets a response from me personally.
Not from AI.
Not from a secretary.
Not from an auto-response.

If someone has spent the time to watch my face, and listen to my silly voice, and reach out… I think they deserve this response.

I can’t help everyone. 
I’m often playing quarterback and introducing you to partners of mine who are licensed for your state, but I read every message, and respond to every one from my personal email address.
If I can answer a question, I will.
If I don’t know, I’ll find someone who does.

I am lucky to have surrounded myself with partners I trust who share the same philosophy of the one over the billions.

I am forever thankful for what November 15th, 2021 has turned into.

• 24 Million views later.

• 2.6 million hours of time people have spent watching the channel… that’s 300 years worth of time people have spent watching my goofy face.

• 44,730 interactions since April 1st, of 2024 – this is when I went on my own and made The Retirement Nerds.

• And, most importantly… You… reading this, right now.

Which leads me to the 3rd thing I love about November…

Thanksgiving
The origin of the Thanksgiving holiday is out there for people to worry about.
I’m not going there, all I care about is that it is a set aside month, week, and day filled with little moments that encourage me to reflect on what I am fortunate to have, who I’m fortunate to know, and what I’m fortunate to be.

I want YOU to know that I don’t take this relationship we have lightly.
Everyone has their own reasons, but you’ve agreed to let me send you a simple (but often super-long) email every single month and read through some Retirement information, book recommendations, and my thought-webs that spiral us all to places we’d never think we’d go in our minds.

Whether we know each other in person, we’ve messaged back and forth, or we’ve never met, I want you to know I’m thankful for you and the light, talents, and gifts you bring to the world.

The world is better for having you in it.

Thank you for taking the time to read this far.

I hope you have a wonderful month, and I’ll see you in the next newsletter 🙂

Erik

PS – Please excuse any typos. It’s my birthday, after all 😉