Our Journey: Why a 70+ Year-Old Insurance Tech Pro Started This Website.
My wife and I navigated the maze of Social Security and Medicare. Now, we want to share our roadmap with you.
By
David Haertzen, Founder of SocialSecurityMedicare.com
A few years ago, my wife and I found ourselves facing the same overwhelming questions that millions of Americans confront as they approach retirement. We were staring at a mountain of paperwork and a sea of acronyms—SSA, FRA, IEP, Medigap, IRMAA—and it felt like we needed a whole new language just to understand our own future. Even with a 50-year career in Information Technology and over two decades spent deep in the world of life insurance and financial services, I found the process to be incredibly complex. If it was challenging for me, I thought, how must it feel for everyone else?
That experience was the spark that ignited the idea for this website. My name is [Your Name], and I am the founder of Infogoal, LLC, based here in Simpsonville, South Carolina. My wife and I are in our 70s, and we are not just the creators of this resource—we are living the life this site is all about. We’ve been through the enrollment periods, made the tough decisions, and navigated the bureaucracy. This website is the culmination of my professional expertise and my personal journey, created with a single, clear mission: to help you and your family navigate retirement with clarity and confidence, so you can live better, more secure lives.
A Career Spent Solving Puzzles
To understand why I felt compelled to build this resource, it helps to know a little bit about me. I am, by nature and profession, a puzzle solver. I spent over 50 years in the IT world, creating systems to make sense of massive amounts of complex data. For twenty of those years, I worked as an Enterprise Architect and Information Architect for Allianz Life Insurance of North America, one of the world's largest financial services companies. My job was to design the systems that managed everything from insurance policy administration and long-term care to investment analytics and anti-fraud detection.
I wrote a book in 2012 called "The Analytical Puzzle," and that title really sums up my career. I love taking a chaotic jumble of information, finding the patterns, and building a clear, logical structure that helps people make better decisions. I’ve worked with Python and SQL, built data warehouses, and created tutorials to help others understand complex technical topics. So, when I turned my attention to the puzzle of our own retirement, I approached it with the same analytical mindset I’ve used my entire life.
Our Social Security Decision: Why We Waited
The first big piece of the puzzle was deciding what is the Best Age to Claim Social Security? We were bombarded with the same advice everyone gets, and the temptation to start the checks flowing at age 62 was certainly there. But my analytical side kicked in. I ran the numbers, read the research from respected financial sources, and we had long conversations about our health, our family history, and our long-term financial security.
Ultimately, we made the deliberate decision to wait until I turned 70 to begin collecting our benefits. We understood that for every year you delay past your Full Retirement Age (up to age 70), your benefit increases by a guaranteed 8%. That’s a rate of return you simply can’t find anywhere else in the financial world. By waiting, we each maximized our own monthly benefit, which provides a higher, inflation-protected income stream that will last for the rest of our lives. It also ensures that if one of us passes away, the surviving spouse will receive the highest possible survivor benefit. It was a choice for our long-term security, and one we feel very confident in.
Our Medicare Path: Choosing Predictability
The next puzzle was Medicare, and it was even more complex. We were faced with the "Great Debate": do we go with an all-in-one Medicare Advantage plan, or do we stick with Original Medicare and add our own supplemental coverage? We saw the appeal of Medicare Advantage plans, with their low or $0 premiums and extra perks. For many people, they are an excellent and cost-effective choice.
However, given our desire for predictability and freedom of choice, we opted for the traditional path. We are both enrolled in Original Medicare (Parts A and B). To cover the gaps in coverage, we each purchased a Medicare Supplement plan (Medigap). This means that after we meet our annual Part B deductible, our medical costs for Medicare-approved services are 100% covered. We also each enrolled in a separate standalone Part D plan to cover our prescription medications. For us, paying a higher, fixed premium each month in exchange for very low and predictable out-of-pocket costs was the right decision. It gives us the freedom to see any doctor or visit any hospital in the country that accepts Medicare, without worrying about networks or referrals.
The "Aha!" Moment: From Personal Plan to Public Mission
As we finalized these decisions, I had organized all my research into spreadsheets, documents, and checklists. I had created our own personal roadmap. A friend going through the same process asked for advice, and as I walked him through our findings, I had a powerful realization. My entire career had been about turning complex data into clear information for a large corporation. Now, I had the opportunity to do the same thing for my own community, for my peers, for millions of Americans who felt just as lost as we initially did.
The internet is full of websites about these topics, but so many of them are run by insurance agents or marketing firms whose primary goal is to sell you a product. I saw a need for a resource built on a foundation of unbiased, data-driven analysis and authentic, first-hand experience. I wanted to create a place that felt like getting advice from a knowledgeable and trusted friend who has one goal: to help you succeed. That is when socialsecuritymedicare.com was truly born.
Our Promise to You
This website is the roadmap. It’s the result of hundreds of hours of research, filtered through the lens of a 70-something tech and insurance professional who is also a Medicare beneficiary and Social Security recipient.
Here is my promise to you:
- Clarity over Confusion: We will break down the most complex topics into simple, plain-English guides and checklists.
- Education over Sales: Our goal is to empower you with knowledge, not to sell you a specific product. We will explain all your options fairly.
- Data over Dogma: We will provide you with the numbers and statistics you need to make your own informed decisions.
- Community over Corporation: This is a place to learn and share. We will build a presence on platforms like YouTube and Facebook to answer your questions and foster a supportive community.
My wife and I are on this journey with you. We invite you to explore the articles, use the resources, and join the conversation. The puzzle of retirement is complex, but together, we can solve it. Welcome to socialsecuritymedicare.com.