South Carolina Business Review

Are you ready for open enrollment?

By Mike Switzer

Published October 14, 2025 at 6:30 AM EDT

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Karlyn Jones, certified financial planner with Abacus Planning Group in Columbia, SC

With open enrollment for 2026 right around the corner, people are starting to evaluate their health insurance options. With subsidies, plan tiers, and new rules changing how enrollment works, our next guest says it’s important to know what questions to ask so you can pick the plan that truly fits your needs. Mike Switzer interviews Karlyn Jones, a certified financial planner with Abacus Planning Group in Columbia, SC.

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Mike Switzer

After almost 20 years, Mike Switzer retired from Wells Fargo Securities in 2001 as Senior Vice President/Investment Officer and Certified Portfolio Manager. In 1999, he and his wife, Maggie, purchased and operated for eight years the Baskin Robbins ice cream store on Forest Drive in Columbia. They grew the store from a bottom-tier operation in the Baskin Robbins franchise system to one in the top 5% nationwide within three years, tripling sales along the way. While operating the ice cream store, Mike and Maggie received patents for a portable ice cream sink and fold-down sneezeguard they invented and in 2002 started Magnolia Carts, an ice cream cart manufacturing company, which they sold in 2013.

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