This is your First Step Toward Maximizing Your Retirement Income.

Let's plan for the next chapter.

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Retirement should be a time of relaxation
and enjoyment.

But for many, the stress of managing finances can overshadow the peace they deserve.

My focus is helping you take control of your financial future by ensuring you know exactly how much you can safely spend, without the worry of running out of money. Together, we’ll design a strategy tailored to your needs, so you can live your retirement with confidence and clarity, knowing your money is working for you, not against you.

One of the biggest concerns for retirees is the tax burden that can erode their hard-earned savings. With the right planning, however, there are ways to minimize taxes throughout retirement and protect your assets. I specialize in helping clients lower their lifetime tax bill, ensuring you keep more of what you’ve worked for. Whether it’s managing withdrawals from tax-deferred accounts or identifying tax-efficient investment strategies, my goal is to create a plan that reduces unnecessary tax liabilities, allowing you to maximize your retirement income.

Your legacy matters, and it’s important to safeguard it for the people and causes you care about. Many retirees overlook the long-term impact of their pension decisions or fail to anticipate how inflation and market fluctuations can affect their nest egg. Together, we’ll avoid costly mistakes with your pension and develop strategies to protect your legacy, ensuring that your financial plan stands the test of time. If you’re ready to take the first step in securing your future, I’m here to guide you with personalized, compassionate advice that puts your goals at the forefront. Let’s work together to build a retirement you can look forward to, with peace of mind for years to come.

Learn About The Process

A Lifetime of Hard Work Deserves a Thoughtful Retirement Plan—Let’s Get It Right Together.

Explore Our Services

Plan with Confidence. Focus on what is relevant.
Gain greater understanding. Act with purpose.

You Are 4 Steps Away From a Protected Future.

Introduction

This meeting serves as an introduction where we both will learn about each other and where we can offer some suggestions on how best to achieve what you are looking for despite whether we end up working together. If we decide our Values-Based Planning approach is a good fit, we will move forward and engage in a planning relationship.

The Roadmap

No numbers and figures! This is a discussion about your values, what you truly want to accomplish and why. The outcome of this meeting will set the course for the suggestions on how to move forward on your path toward your goals.

Family posing for a picture at a dinner table

Drafting The Plan

Here is where we will get into the functional aspects of how to move toward the goals you set. Together, we will review your current financial reality and use various tools to illustrate how certain choices can lead to potential outcomes. In conclusion, we will have a clear understanding of your top priorities and begin the analysis to determine which choices offer you the best way forward.

Final Draft & Implementation

We review the specific implementation steps to move you toward the goals you set that align with your values. Implementation, investment management and ongoing guidance is offered as a service for a flat-fee monthly rate.

Take Your First Step

Harmony between one’s faith, fitness, family, friends, and finances can lead to a more fulfilled life.
- Erik Nero, Founder & President

Erik created First Step Wealth Planning to help his clients experience their ideal lives through helping them align their wealth to their values.

Professionally, Erik has been helping families make smart decisions with their money for over 25 years. He has held positions in wealth management for families and institutions at a variety of large, multi-national firms and has had the privilege of getting to know the stories, desires, and dreams of hundreds of clients. This privilege has been both educational and rewarding. Erik is grateful to have learned from so many wonderful people, which led him to realize what matters most to people is their time and their ability to live the life that they want. He has narrowed his focus to work with those who seek greater simplicity in their lives, so that they can spend more time on what is most important to them. Erik is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ Practitioner and holds the designation of Retirement Income Certified Professional®.

Erik is a husband of over 20 years to his wife, Nicole. They have three children, and a chocolate Labrador, Shiloh. Although he spent many years of his career in New York City, Erik and his family have made a home near Saratoga Springs, New York. He is a native of New York’s Hudson Valley region and a graduate of Siena College. He loves being present and involved in the many activities his children participate in, as well as the art, culture, restaurants, and activities that are abundant in Saratoga Springs.

Think retirement is a dream?
Let's turn it into a well-funded reality.

My typical client is grounded in their values and have built their lives through hard work, dedication, and a deep sense of responsibility to their families and communities.

Who I help:

Grandparents and grandchild on christmas

Example Couple 1

Ready to focus on their finances, after assisting their kids
Have grandchildren
Dual Earners
Money does not define them
They feel fortunate and grateful for what they have accomplished
Hold $2+ million is total savings, mainly in retirement accounts
They don’t like the phrase “high net worth” nor do they think of themselves as such

Example Couple 2

Lifelong savers
Value hard work, frugality, fairness, charity in both time and money
Humble beginnings - not from wealth
Typically earn $300,000+/year and at peak earnings years
Typically worked as employees and ascended to higher positions in their companies

Example Couple 3

Married or on second marriage
Believe there is something greater than themselves
One spouse is the “money person”
See the value in paying a fee for guidance
Value the opinions of those they know and trust and prefer to be introduced to a planner