Meet Emily
A fiduciary financial planner working in educators’ best financial interest
How a decade of classroom teaching experience inspired a deep commitment to providing specialized financial advice for educators.
One afternoon, over drinks with my teacher colleagues, we joked about whether we’d last long enough to vest in our pensions.
Or if vesting was even worth it.
That conversation lit a fire inside me.
The following weekend, I built a spreadsheet to calculate NY pensions by age and years of service. Those numbers made it clear how much each year of service was worth, providing valuable insight for me and my coworkers.
I wondered why school districts didn’t educate their own educators on how their pensions worked.
And I knew I wasn’t the only one who had questions about it.
I started researching more about the pension system, benefits, and financial options for teachers and shared bite-sized insights with my fellow time-crunched educators on Instagram.
I also pulled back the curtain on my own personal financial decisions around…
planning for early retirement,
managing costs of infertility treatment,
navigating parental leave,
leaving the classroom,
and why I continue to rent versus buy a home.
My mission is to help educators understand all of their options.
Financial planning is not just about saving money.
It’s about achieving your life goals and being intentional about tradeoffs. It’s about finding the balance between saving for retirement versus saving for a trip next summer or “spending” the money on a salary cut if it means cutting your commute by 75%.
I help you look at your money through a holistic lens and make decisions based on your goals and dream life.
I am a fee-only fiduciary financial planner.
This means I am ethically and legally obligated to work in your best interest and do not receive commissions or other payments for financial products or investment recommendations.
I’ve come across too many educators who have been pushed into high-fee investments or sold expensive and unnecessary insurance products simply because the person “advising” on the products made a commission on the sale.
But educators deserve to partner with an expert who understands the intricate layers of their pension, investment opportunities, benefits, and financial decisions.
When we work together, you can trust that my advice is solely aimed at improving your financial future. I also bring over a decade of teaching experience and navigating my own retirement savings across multiple states and countries.
A little more about me...
➡️ I taught for over a decade - mostly in the NYC DOE, but also in in Micronesia, Italy, Thailand, and the Bay Area. I love talking about teaching in international schools!
➡️ I have a BS in engineering from Tufts University, and MAT in math education from the Relay Graduate School of Education.
➡️ I love traveling, surfing, and playing the ukulele.
➡️ I hold the Certified Student Loan Professional (CSLP) certification and am a Registered Investment Advisor in the state of New York.
➡️ I live in NYC with my husband, 1-year-old, and two cats.
➡️ Myers-Briggs calls me an ENFJ - the “teacher” personality type
A few of my favorite things!
Favorite bagel
BEC on an everything bagel
Weekend plans
Chasing my toddler around NYC or surfing at Rockaway Beach
Currently reading
A pop finance book… or a good beach read!
A few podcasts I’ve been featured in…
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Teacher Career Coach
With Daphne Gomez
Episode 49: Should You Stay for Your Pension?
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Emmett Marsh
DESIGN DIRECTOR
It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more.
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Eleanor Parks
SUSTAINABILITY DIRECTOR
It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more.
My favorite finance books:
Millionaire Teacher by Andrew Hallam
Quit Like a Millionaire by Bryce Leung and Kristy Shen
The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel
Questions about pension calculations, teacher travel hacking, TDA/403(b) investing, planning for kids, or other financial questions? Access all of my past @teacherfinancialplanner posts here, organized by topic!
It’s time to feel confident about your financial future
Let’s work together to find out what’s possible for you!