ALTON - A local financial advisor is offering a free “deep dive” on Social Security.
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From 6–7 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 24, 2026, community members can gather at Vera Lee Meeting and Event Venue in Alton for the free workshop, hosted by Bill Kinkel. The workshop will cover basic questions about when to claim Social Security and how that decision can affect other financial concerns. Kinkel hopes he can be informative, but his main priority is to build confidence in attendees to make these choices.
“They want to have confidence that I know the material. But the most important thing I'm trying to accomplish here is giving them the confidence. That’s why they’re there in the first place,” he said. “They’ve got questions. They’re not sure how to proceed. The goal is to give them the confidence to look through their specific situation. We can help them.”
The seminar will discuss basic information about Social Security. Kinkel encourages people to come with questions
He explained that deciding when to claim Social Security can be a difficult choice. The timing can affect other benefits, Medicare costs, taxes and more. But everyone’s “right time” is different, depending on your marital status, age, retirement plans and more.
He hopes the seminar helps people understand their circumstances and what would be best for them. His goal is to demystify Social Security so people can make those choices with certainty.
“If I’m doing my job right, I’m building confidence in those that attend to make good judgment calls on how they should approach their claiming decisions,” he said. “All of those can stack on top to create some unintentional tax consequences. They can create some Medicare surcharges. So how you set that up is critically important. There’s no one best claiming strategy. If I’m doing my job correctly, we’re able to work with the individual client and work through their specific situation. That’s the key.”
This work is important to Kinkel, who has an office on Henry Street and Bethalto and raised his family in the Riverbend community. The people who come to his workshops are his neighbors, fellow congregation members, and grandkids’ friends. He wants to make sure he is supplying them with the information they need.
He often makes “15-minute touchpoint calls” after his seminars, if desired by attendees. In these phone calls, he invites people to ask clarifying questions that are specific to them. He is also happy to schedule one-on-one meetings with community members, including “coffee Q&As” at local coffee shops. His firm is local before, during and after the workshop, and happy to answer questions that come up later.
Whatever your needs are, Kinkel will do his best to meet them because he cares about informing the community. He hopes the Social Security seminar helps people understand their options and make the choices that are right for them.
“It’s extremely important to us that we leave good information for our local community, the people that we work with, and that we see throughout the community,” he added. “That’s critically important. If they show up at a workshop that I’m doing or that one of the partners is doing, they’re going to walk away really feeling like they got valuable information.”
For more information, including how to register for the seminar, click here.
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