Retirement Guidance for Ohio Public Employees

Built for educators, school staff, municipal workers, and state employees balancing pension choices with real-life planning goals.

Serving clients in Youngstown, Independence, and surrounding communities.

Understand Your Ohio Benefit System With Confidence

Ohio public employees often have strong retirement foundations, but many still face difficult questions: when to retire, how to maximize pension income, and how to coordinate benefits with personal savings. A defined benefit pension can provide stability, but your full retirement picture should also account for healthcare costs, inflation, Social Security timing, and taxable income strategy.

My role is to help simplify those decisions into a practical, step-by-step plan that aligns your pension elections, supplemental savings, and long-term lifestyle goals.

OPERS Planning Support

For clients in OPERS, planning is not just about your projected monthly benefit. We evaluate contribution history, pension or member-directed plan factors, retirement eligibility, survivor elections, and how your OPERS income fits with personal assets such as IRAs, brokerage accounts, and workplace deferred compensation plans.

Common OPERS planning topics:
  • Coordinating OPERS benefits with 457(b) and IRA distributions
  • Building a tax-efficient income strategy in the first 10 years of retirement
  • Evaluating benefit elections with spouse and legacy priorities in mind

STRS Planning for Educators and School Professionals

Teachers and school administrators in STRS have unique planning needs, including service credit timing, retirement windows, and evaluating options that impact guaranteed income and family protection. Retirement readiness also depends on how well your pension integrates with additional savings vehicles.

Common STRS planning topics:
  • Aligning STRS retirement timing with personal cash flow goals
  • Using 403(b) and 457(b) accounts to increase flexibility in retirement income
  • Preparing for healthcare and longevity risks beyond pension income

Whether you are five years from retirement or already weighing a retirement date, the goal is clarity: clear numbers, clear tradeoffs, and clear next steps.