Is The Money Worth It?
Walking away from a thriving business
Before I get to the decision at hand, I think you need a little background. Long-time readers will already know most of this, but I feel compelled to provide the information rather than link to past articles.
The Big Adventure
As soon as my wife and I were scheduled for our COVID shots, we planned a three-month trip to Mazatlán, Mexico, to begin in March 2021. The plan was to celebrate my 68th birthday in Saltillo, Mexico, and then celebrate my wife’s 75th birthday at an oceanfront hotel in Mazatlán. Then on April 1st, we would move into our apartment, where we would remain until July 1, 2021.
At the time, the plan was to return home and continue rebuilding my insurance business. However, by early June, my wife began talking about going home and selling everything before returning to Mazatlán as our permanent home.
While I agreed, this new plan sent me into panic attacks. My insurance business had been devastated by the Affordable Care Act, and I had been rebuilding it since 2016. By 2020, my business had regained enough ground that we could afford to go on vacation, but it was still far below the income of 2011. Then, when COVID hit, my business growth came to a virtual halt.
My biggest fear back in June 2021 was that I would be unable to put off taking Social Security until age 70. Since our savings had been significantly reduced as my business plummeted, we had very little to fall back on.
A Lucky Break
I will spare the rest of the gory details. But, I do want you to know that after our return to Mazatlán in August 2021, I had a stroke of amazingly good luck. There is a hospital in Mazatlán that serves a large number of Americans. Many are snowbirds, while others basically live there full-time but go home annually to visit family.
If these individuals have a Medicare Advantage Plan with Aetna or UnitedHealthcare and experience a medical emergency, they are not required to pay their bill upfront at this hospital. This hospital can bill these companies directly. That is a massive relief for older Americans who spend a lot of time in Mexico.
As it turned out, I had been explaining to many of the Americans down there that having an address was not enough to be legal. Medicare Advantage Plans require that you not be away from your home area for more than six months (some plans allow for 12 months). If you exceed that, the plan is required to cancel your coverage. One of these Americans shared my information with the hospital, and soon, they were referring all Americans to me who came to the hospital for information. From August 2021 through the first half of 2025, my business grew more than it would have had we not relocated.
Better Off Than I Deserve
As a result of my new relationship with this hospital, my income grew, and my wife and I were able to enjoy a very good life without relying any of her Social Security benefits. In addition to her Social Security going into savings, I was often able to add to it.
This allowed me to delay taking my Social Security and maximize my benefits. Life was good. And then the health problems began in 2023. In February 2023, we returned to the home we purchased in Arizona, thinking we would be back in Mexico by September. Unfortunately, things went south, and without boring you with details, we never returned.
But the insurance income allowed us to buy a larger home and still have some fun. And our savings continued to grow. As a result, we have gone from having significantly less than the median net worth for our age to having more than the median net worth.
That has brought significant peace of mind.
The Decision to End My Insurance Business
For a long time, I believed that I would never really quit the insurance business. To me, it never felt like work. I used to love talking to my clients. I have always enjoyed guiding individuals about their Medicare options. I felt like I was making a difference. Additionally, I was earning a good income.
Still, two factors made me decide to quit the Medicare business. The first was that I was always worried that one of my Mazatlán clients would cause me to lose my license. It wasn’t that I did anything wrong, but I could imagine one of my older clients calling Aetna and saying that they “lived” in Mexico. This became a bigger concern as some of my clients in their mid-to-late 80s started calling me about things we had already discussed multiple times.
And then there were the ever-changing government regulations around Medicare Advantage plans. During open enrollment for 2025 plans (in 2024), many of my clients found their plans cancelled by the insurance company. In fact, this happened to my wife and me. But the insurance companies do not send the agent a list of clients with cancelled plans. Instead, the agent gets a list of plan numbers, by state, that are not being renewed. The agent then must go through all their clients to look for plans that have been cancelled.
Ultimately, I had two clients who never responded to my emails or texts. As a result, these two clients found themselves without coverage in 2025. We were able to get this fixed, but it was a headache.
As we head into the 2026 enrollment, companies are not only canceling hundreds of plans but also changing benefit levels, and not for the better.
To sell the 2026 plans, an agent must undergo the tedious process of recertification. Combined with the fact that my wife has cancer, I decided that I would not recertify for 2026.
Failing to recertify does not only mean that I cannot help clients with their 2026 choices, I also lose 100% of my commissions. And since Medicare Advantage represents most of my insurance income, it also means that I lose that income.
Giving up that income is a huge decision. Even though I know that my wife and I will be just fine without that income, I still think about my decision. That is an income stream that I will never get back.
Looking Ahead
The truth is that if I continued my insurance business, the months of October and November would be lost. Open enrollment begins October 15th and continues through December 7th. That would be time that I would not be able to spend with my wife. And if her next scan showed a new metastasis, I would be sorry.
I also know that we no longer need to add to our savings. Even if she never has another metastasis, we have more than enough income to continue living a good life. I will address the idea of when your savings are enough in another article. However, at 72 (my age) and 79 (my wife's age), we cannot add enough to make a difference.
As I write this, we are in Medellin, Colombia, for 30 days. Even though my wife is having some health issues, we wanted another great adventure. And since I do not have to be concerned about certifying for the 2026 enrollment, we can do this.
Soon after we return to the US, my wife will have her next scan, and then we will decide what is next.
Final Thought
Many of us worry about money. Many retirees have little beyond their Social Security, so every dollar of income is crucial. In the United States, 11% of seniors must work to supplement their Social Security. For these individuals, quitting is not an option.
Then there are 17% of seniors who work by choice. I was one of those in a way. My wife and I could have lived nicely on both Social Security checks and our small retirement income, and that would have left no room for error.
But there comes a time when you ask yourself, “Is the money worth it?” Saying that the money is not worth it is a difficult thing for us Americans to do. There is no end to the rationalizations we can devise to continue working.
Even knowing that now is the perfect time to stop worrying about the extra income, it still nags at my mind. That is probably because until October 15th, I can still change my mind. I know that I won’t change my mind. I also know that this is the right decision. Once January 1, 2026, dawns and I no longer receive that income, I have no doubt that I will be very happy with this decision!
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