Plans for teachers and nurses
Fee-only retirement planning in Charlotte for NC public school staff and hospital nurses within 15 years of retiring.
$4,800 a year, flat. Never a percentage of your savings. No commissions, no asset minimum.
Retirement readiness snapshot
Six numbers. Nothing is saved or sent until you book.
Pension: TSERS or a hospital plan, the monthly amount from your latest statement.
0%Working it out
Move any slider to run the snapshot.
- Your projected savings
- Needed to last to age 90 to 95
- Your retirement date
A good time for an intro call
The choices in the next few years move these numbers most.
Pick a time with Hannah Liu, CFP®. Video or phone, 20 minutes.
Hypothetical, not a guarantee. How this is worked out
This is a simplified projection for education, not advice and not a promise. Results change every time you change an input, and they will change over time as the assumptions do. It does not look at specific investments, so it says nothing about any fund or portfolio; other assumptions could give better or worse results.
- All amounts in today's dollars, with inflation at 2.5% a year.
- Savings grow 4.0% a year above inflation until you retire, then 3.0% a year.
- You'll spend 80% of your current pay each year in retirement, before tax.
- Social Security for one earner, claimed at 67, estimated from your pay with the 2025 benefit formula (bend points $1,226 and $7,391). Your real figure is on your statement at ssa.gov.
- Pensions are held flat in dollars from your retirement date, so they buy 2.5% less each year. TSERS cost-of-living raises are not automatic.
- Taxes, Medicare premiums and one-off costs are left out. The band shows the savings that would last to age 90 (lower edge) and age 95 (upper edge).
What 1% costs over ten years
Ten years of fees, side by side
1% of your savings
$113,195
in fees over 10 years. Left after 10 years: $1,325,829
Meridian Path, flat
$55,027
in fees over 10 years. Left after 10 years: $1,397,610
The flat fee leaves you $71,781 more after ten years, counting the growth the fees would have earned.
Hypothetical. Assumes 5% growth a year before fees, both fees paid from the account, and our $4,800 fee rising 3% a year. Not a projection of any investment.
$400,000 saved
At $400,000 saved, 1% is close to our fee, and in some years it's less. Over ten years you'd pay $50,309 at 1% and $55,027 with us. If your savings are about this size, a percentage fee is not a bad deal, and we'll say so.
$900,000 saved
At $900,000 saved, 1% comes to $113,195 over ten years. Ours is $55,027. Counting the growth those fees would have earned, the flat fee leaves about $71,781 more in your account.
$1.6 million saved
At $1,600,000 saved, 1% is $201,236 over ten years, and it rises every time the market does. Ours stays $55,027, the same as for a client with $90,000.
What we look at, year by year
Book a call10 years out
Count your service credit
Unused sick leave turns into service credit when you retire. We check it against your ORBIT statement.
Renee Okafor
5 years out
Price any service you can buy
Military time or years taught in another state can sometimes be purchased. We weigh the cost against the pension it adds.
Renee Okafor
3 years out
Fill the 457 and the 401(k)
The NC plans allow catch-ups from 50, and a larger one from 60 to 63. We set the amounts from your take-home pay.
Renee Okafor
1 year out
Choose a payout option
The Maximum Allowance or a survivor option, chosen once. We model each one against your spouse's age and savings.
Renee Okafor
Last school year
Set the Social Security date
NC teachers pay into Social Security, so it stacks on the pension. We pick the claiming age for each of you.
Marcus Bell
10 years out
List every plan you've had
The hospital 403(b), a 457, a 401(k) or a cash balance plan from a past job. One list, one plan.
Hannah Liu
5 years out
Plan the gap to Medicare
Stop before 65 and you need health cover. We price marketplace plans against your savings.
Hannah Liu
Ages 60 to 63
Use the larger catch-up
In 2026 the 403(b) limit is $24,500, plus an $11,250 catch-up for these four years.
Hannah Liu
1 year out
Time the last shift
Some systems pay out unused PTO. When it lands can move your tax bracket for the year.
Marcus Bell
Last 3 months
Set up the monthly paycheck
A transfer from savings to checking, in place before the last shift, so pay doesn't stop.
Marcus Bell
Year one
Build the paycheck
Which account pays first, and two years of withdrawals held in cash and short-term bonds.
Marcus Bell
Before 65
Enroll in Medicare on time
Your window opens three months before the month you turn 65. Late enrollment can cost you for life.
Marcus Bell
From 63
Watch the IRMAA look-back
Medicare premiums are set from your income two years earlier, so a Roth conversion at 63 shows up at 65.
Marcus Bell
Before RMDs
Convert in the low-tax years
Required withdrawals start at 73, or 75 if you were born in 1960 or later. The years before are often the cheapest to convert.
Marcus Bell
Every spring
Review after the tax return
The plan, the paycheck and next year's conversion, checked once the return is filed.
Marcus Bell
How a plan gets made
On the first call, 20 minutes by video or phone, we look at your snapshot together. You'll know by the end if we're the right fit and what your plan would cost. There is nothing to buy.
Over the next three weeks, two working meetings: your pension statement, your accounts, your Social Security record and what you spend. You get a tax projection for your first five years of retirement.
By the end of the month, a written plan of about twelve pages with a one-page summary on top, the first changes made with you, and a date for the next review.
Typical situations
Composites of questions we see every month. Not clients, and no results implied.
I was a planner at a large firm for eleven years. Most of my clients were teachers, and most of them paid 1% a year on savings they had built one paycheck at a time.
A teacher with $600,000 saved paid about $6,000 a year, and the fee went up every time the market did. The work didn't.
So in 2019 I started Meridian Path with one price for everyone: $4,800 a year for the plan and the advice, whatever you have saved. Nobody here earns a commission, and there is nothing to buy from us.
The name comes from the meridian, the line where the sun stands highest before the afternoon. In a plan, retirement is that line: your savings climb to it, then they pay you back. We draw it with your numbers, and we draw it honestly.
Renee Okafor, CFP®
Founder and lead planner
Book a 20-minute call
By video or phone at 7:00 AM, 7:30 AM, 4:15 PM or 7:00 PM on weekdays, around the school day and the 12-hour shift. We'll tell you on the call if we're the right fit.
Book a call