Understanding 403(b) Plans: How to Support Educator Clients in Navigating Retirement Plan Options

Scott Dauenhauer, CFP, MPAS is the founder of Meridian Wealth Management, a fee-only, fiduciary financial planning practice that has primarily served educators for the past twenty years.   He is also the co-founder of the non-profit 403bwise.org where he serves as Director of Research among other roles. 403bwise.org advocates for better, lower cost investment choices for educators.  

Scott is the author of Wild West: Providing Fiduciary Advice to Public School Employees and the co-author of The 403bwise Guide.  Scott has been a featured speaker on topics that affect educator’s retirement and has worked with many large state retirement systems to develop their defined contribution retirement programs.  

While Scott is not currently taking on new clients, he continues to service his existing clients while promoting the ideals of 403bwise through podcasts, weekly Zoom events, blog posts, interviews with reporters and nationwide speaking events.

With nearly a decade in financial planning and several years in education as both a teacher and counselor, Autumn collaboratively guides people toward confident, informed decisions. She is the founder and lead financial planner at her firm, Styled Wealth, where she helps people navigating complex financial decisions align their resources with their unique vision of a wealthy life.   She is a five-time Investopedia Top 100 Advisor and is listed on Financial Advisor's 2023 10 Young Advisors to Watch. She is routinely quoted in publications such as Investopedia, CNBC, NerdWallet, CBS News and Fortune. She is a former Financial Planning Association NexGen President, and attributes much of her professional opportunities to her involvement in that community.

Within the umbrella of comprehensive financial planning, Autumn has specific knowledge in supporting people through decisions on equity compensation, business planning and projections, irregular cashflow management, sabbatical planning, and planning toward financial independence (as in “financial independence, retire early,” or FIRE). Her background as a high school counselor has given her deep experience with college planning, advanced student loan strategies, and even FAFSA and CSS Profile knowledge.  

Autumn's personal life undoubtedly influences her ability to communicate as a financial planner. She is a first-generation high school and college graduate. Her personal background allows her to relate to people who find personal finance mystifying, and she helps empower them toward a productive relationship with their personal finances. Much of her academic and professional knowledge came through mentors, luck and a try, try again attitude. Autumn is a wife and a mother to two young children, who offer her opportunities to become a better person and communicator each day.

Before becoming a fee-only financial planner, I worked as a teacher and then as a school administrator overseeing HR, including recruiting and hiring teachers. Working in HR revealed a lot about the financial lives of employees, and that’s where the lightbulb went off:     Too many people feel overwhelmed with their finances, always wondering if they're making mistakes. And too many people who want help are taken advantage of or shut out by our financial institutions.     I changed careers, earned a certificate in financial planning from L.S.U., became a CFP® professional, and started Deliberate Finances.