Editorial-grade public-record research.
Every claim traceable to public records — PACER, EDGAR, EFAST2, A.M. Best, NAIC, IAPD/FINRA, Form ADV, Form 5500, Form 990, county-recorder filings. Editorial Standards and Sovereignty Boundary documents available to counsel and institutional compliance before any engagement.
The active research feed and the live intelligence brief archive are published on the RetireSmarter.AI brand surface. The catalog below summarizes the research practice maintained by the corporate entity.
- Counsel-grade evidentiary packetsPlaintiff-side ERISA and IB95-1 fiduciary-process research. Source-anchored to PACER, EDGAR 8-K Item 5.02, EFAST2 Schedule R, and EBSA enforcement files.Current cluster focus: Apollo-controlled Athene PRT placements and adjacent PE-owned-insurer structures.
- Advisor-attrition intelligenceIAPD, FINRA BrokerCheck, and Form ADV cross-source fracture detection. Schedule C backfill identifies displaceable incumbents before the relationship breaks.For institutional buyers monitoring RIA and IMO consolidation patterns post-acquisition.
- Plan-architecture briefsStructural reads on 401(k), group-benefits, and pension risk-transfer decisions. Plan-termination and lump-sum-window trajectory signals.For institutional plan sponsors and the advisors who serve them.
- Agriculture & farm-succession overlaysMulti-generational landowner mapping — USDA NASS cohorts, Land Trust Alliance directory, PAD-US easement aggregates, state Secretary-of-State farm-entity filings.§2032A, §6166, conservation-easement, and step-up regime framing for mid-tier farm operators.
- Retirement advisoryIndividuals and families across America — protected income, estate considerations, trusts.Life insurance with living benefits, long-term care, Medicare.
What a deliverable contains.
Counsel-grade packets share a common spine. Structure is deliberate — every section maps to a verification standard, every claim to a source.
Executive structure
Cluster identification, scope, audience designation (counsel-track vs. institutional-track), and the structural question the packet answers.
Source-anchored claims
Every claim carries a citation — PACER docket, EDGAR filing, EFAST2 Schedule R, A.M. Best rating, IAPD CRD, county-recorder instrument number. No inferred attribution.
Verification trail
Item → source → retrieval timestamp → verifier. Counsel can replay any claim back to the original record.
Sovereignty acknowledgment
Each packet declares scope and what is intentionally outside it. The Sovereignty Boundary document governs reuse, redistribution, and downstream attribution.
Hash-chain receipt
Before delivery, the packet is sealed into an append-only hash-chained ledger. Receiving counsel can verify the chain on request.
Counsel sign-off
No packet leaves the practice without an internal editorial sign-off. Counsel-track deliverables receive a second-pass review prior to any partner-facing forward.
What we are watching now.
Five clusters maintain ongoing surveillance against public-record feeds. Cluster summaries are made available to counsel and institutional compliance through the request channel below.
- Apollo / Athene PRT placementsPE-owned-insurer pension risk transfers. Cross-reference of EDGAR 8-K Item 5.02 disclosures, EFAST2 Schedule R, A.M. Best ratings, and NAIC filings.Counsel-track. Status: active surveillance, partner-facing packets in circulation.
- Wealthcare / Sammons advisor displacementIAPD watchlist on Wealthcare CRDs post-Sammons acquisition. Form ADV branch-count delta, disclosure-flag movement, cross-firm migration.Institutional-track. Status: monitoring, intelligence brief cadence quarterly.
- CreativeOne / BD-side fracturesFINRA BrokerCheck watchlist on CreativeOne Securities, CreativeOne Wealth, Athene Securities. Dually-registered movement signals.Institutional-track. Status: monitoring, lateral-recruit intelligence on request.
- Mid-tier farm-succession compressionMulti-generational landowner mapping in the corn belt — OH, IN, KY, MO, NE, IA. State Secretary-of-State farm-entity filings cross-referenced against PAD-US easement aggregates and Land Trust Alliance directory.Counsel-track + institutional-track. Status: cohort packets shipped weekly.
- Plan-termination / lump-sum-window trajectoriesEFAST2 Schedule R trajectory analysis on plan-termination and lump-sum-window disclosures. Early signal of pension risk-transfer momentum.Institutional-track. Status: continuous, signal feed delivered via the RetireSmarter.AI intel surface.
The standards that govern every claim.
The full Editorial Standards document is available to counsel and institutional compliance on request. The principles below are the spine.
- —Public records only. No leaks, no scraped private data, no paid-source attribution we cannot disclose.
- —Every claim source-cited. Filings carry docket numbers, instrument numbers, CRDs, EFAST plan numbers.
- —No inferred allegations. Where structure is suggestive but not established, we name the gap.
- —No speculative attribution. Named individuals appear only where a public filing places them on record.
- —Counsel review before any partner-facing forward. No exceptions on counsel-track deliverables.
- —Hash-chained ledger receipt issued before delivery. Receiving counsel can verify chain integrity on request.
- —Sovereignty Boundary acknowledged on every deliverable. Redistribution and downstream attribution governed in writing.
retiresmarter.ai/intel→Live intelligence-brief archive.
retiresmarter.ai/whitepapers→Long-form whitepaper library.
Request Editorial Standards→Counsel / institutional compliance only.
Request Sovereignty Boundary document→Counsel / institutional compliance only.
