Tidewater Wealth Management turned five this October 2026. Since then, I have sat across the table from a lot of professors, researchers, and physicians, and an anniversary is a good excuse to ask myself why I still look forward to every one of those conversations.
It began with the people I met at TIAA
I have spent more than 30 years in this industry, most of them with TIAA, including a decade as a Wealth Management Advisor at TIAA Financial Services. The clients I came to know there were largely in academic, research, medical, and cultural fields. Their work stayed with me. They spend their careers teaching, healing, and discovering, and the focus of almost all of it is on other people.
I also grew fond of the details that come with their world: 403(b) plans, pensions, phased retirement from a university, and benefits layered across a hospital or a research institution. Those details are complicated, and they matter a great deal to the people living with them. Helping someone make sense of their own situation is some of the most satisfying work I know.
What I hear most often
The conversations that stay with me are about regret. People tell me they wish they had thought sooner about how income would last, how taxes would affect it, and how much risk was right for them. More often, though, the wish is about life itself. They wish they had planned for travel, for volunteering, for learning something new, for the daily routine and friendships that make retirement feel full.
The common thread is intention. A retirement that is well funded can still feel incomplete if no one asked what it was for. That is why I spend so much of a first meeting on questions that are not about investments at all. How do you want your days to look? Who do you want to look after? What do you want to be remembered for?
Money and meaning
What motivates me is helping people reach a point where they can look back with satisfaction. Financial security is the foundation. Clarity about lifestyle, purpose, and legacy is what turns it into something people can enjoy. Some of my favorite conversations are about charitable giving, where a client's resources meet the causes they care about and the plan begins to reflect who they are.
I have always liked sharing what I know. I would rather a client understand why a recommendation makes sense than simply accept it, and I find that people make better decisions, and feel better about them, when they are part of the thinking.
Away from the desk
I am a father of five. I have coached lacrosse and soccer, and I serve as a Connecticut State Certified First Responder with the Easton Volunteer Fire Company. Coaching taught me that people grow when someone pays attention and the plan is clear. The fire company taught me the value of staying steady and being useful when something unexpected happens. Both shape how I work with clients, because a good financial plan should help a family feel steady when life surprises them.
Looking ahead
I am grateful to the clients who have trusted me with these conversations over the past five years, and to the colleagues at Tidewater who share the work. If you are a faculty member, researcher, or physician wondering what your next chapter could look like, I would be glad to talk it through.