Are you confident you can
Retire Only Once?
Your Wealth. Your Legacy. Our Guidance.
Are you confident you can
Retire Only Once?
Your Wealth. Your Legacy. Our Guidance.
Are you confident you can
Retire Only Once?
Your Wealth. Your Legacy. Our Guidance.
Planning the Best Life and Legacy
for those who are...
Within 5 to 10 Years of Retirement
The 5 to 10 years before retirement are a pivotal turning point, often determining how confidently and comfortably you can live for decades to come. Many people reach their peak earning years and substantial wealth during this stage, so prudent planning becomes essential for managing market risks, optimizing tax efficiency, relocating or downsizing, maximizing Social Security family benefits, and planning for lifetime incomes.
These decisions have far greater impact when made before you decide to stop working. Carefully assessed strategies can help ensure your lifestyle and long-term goals are not left to pure chance.
Already in Retirement
You have spent your whole life saving and investing; now, the money has to go to work for you. This distribution-phase strategy requires special care in coordination of benefits, creating family spending plans, preserving income sources, and repositioning investments.
This type of planning is both an art and a science. Ongoing management is required for you to confidently enjoy the long-term lifestyle you've earned while safeguarding your assets and preserving your legacy.
Facing Major Life Decisions
We work with individuals and families navigating life’s biggest transitions to provide clarity around the potential impact to their finances. Whether you’re receiving a family inheritance, changing jobs, getting married, facing divorce, or coping with the loss of a spouse, these events bring significant financial opportunities and risks.
By providing empathetic guidance and practical planning solutions, we help you understand how to position your finances to support your life's new changes and preserve your current goals and family priorities.
Small Business Owners
As a successful small business owner, your business is both one of your largest assets and greatest responsibilities. Your financial life is complex and interconnected. Business operations, personal wealth, income taxes, investments, risk exposures, and succession plans create an environment demanding careful strategy.
Proactive planning requires coordination with key professionals including accountants, attorneys, consultants, etc. This integrated approach can improve tax efficiency, foster smarter reinvestment decisions, mitigate risk, and create a clear path toward lasting personal and professional wealth.
What We Can Do for You
and how we make it all fit together.
Your financial life is more than numbers; it's your dreams, your family, and the future you're working to create.
We help you to connect every part of your financial world so each decision moves you closer to the life you envision.
- Financial Planning
- Client Education
- Tax Optimization
- Social Security Timing
- Retirement Planning
- Insurance Strategies
- Legacy Planning
- Life Event Consulting
- Investment Management
- Lifetime Income Solutions
Each piece represents a critical area of planning, working in harmony to give you clarity and confidence. With a complete view of your finances on what truly matters: living your life.
"If you don't know where you are going, you might end up somewhere else."
- Yogi Berra
What Makes Us Different?
Our clients and their interests come first.
We don't have any quotas or proprietary products to sell.
Fiduciary Duty of Care
As an independent fee-based advisor, we are legally and ethically committed to acting in your best interest. This responsibility requires ongoing collaborative guidance, transparency, and recommendations that align with your goals, values, and long-term financial well-being.
A Planning-First Approach
We believe strong outcomes begin with strong plans. Our approach starts with understanding your goals, values, and financial picture before making any investment or product decisions. We think your investments should align with your life, not the other way around.
Strong Strategic Partnerships
As an independent wealth advisor affiliated with LPL Financial, we can access a broad network of strategic partnerships. These include many of the top investment companies and insurance carriers, giving us thousands of options at both local and national scale.
Why do I choose LPL Financial?
Simply put: they take care of their advisors,
so their advisors can take care of their clients.
LPL Financial is a Fortune 500 company. (Listed on Nasdaq: LPLA) Today, LPL is a leader in the markets we serve, supporting more than 18,000 financial advisors, 800 institution-based investment programs and 450 independent RIA firms nationwide. At LPL, independence means that advisors have the freedom they deserve to choose the business model, services, and technology resources that allow them to run their perfect practice. It was founded on the principle that the firm should work for the advisor, and not the other way around. And advisors have the freedom to manage their client relationships, because they know their clients best.
For more information about LPL Financial, visit www.lpl.com.
Meet Your Advisor
Ken Norkus
Chartered Retirement Planning Counselor
Ken Norkus has been helping individuals and families in the Chicagoland area and their extended families across the country make sense of their finances. A graduate of Southern Illinois University, Ken earned his bachelor’s degree in finance while competing in Track & Field, an experience that shaped the discipline, persistence, and long-term focus he brings his clients.
With over 25 years in financial services, comprehensive financial planning, lending, and risk management, Ken is deeply committed to provide a well-rounded perspective on the challenges and opportunities that arise before and during their retirement. He brings clarity through purposeful planning. He loves to educate beyond the numbers. You can find him teaching local seminars and webinars throughout the year. His passion is to help clients prepare today, so they can retire confidently with their lifestyle and legacy goals and dreams within their reach.
Professional Licenses and Designations
- FINRA Series 6, 7, 63, and 65 securities licenses through LPL Financial
- Life and Health Insurance licenses and Variable Contracts certification
- Chartered Retirement Planning Counselor™ (CRPC®) designation
Born and raised in Chicago’s Western Suburbs, Ken remains actively involved in the community. He and his wife have two children. Their son is pursuing a Doctor of Chiropractic degree in Lombard, Illinois. Their daughter is studying Business and plays collegiate basketball at the University of Evansville in Indiana.
Outside of the office, Ken enjoys being active, walking his two doodles, grilling, golfing, playing pickleball, and spending quality time with family and friends. He is an active member of TLC Church and the local business communities. He volunteers at Feed My Starving Children and supports local Senior Citizen Townships & Coalitions.
What is the CRPC® Certification?
Chartered Retirement Planning Counselor™
A Chartered Retirement Planning Counselor (CRPC) is a professional designation awarded by the College for Financial Planning®, a Kaplan Company, to candidates who successfully complete a rigorous, focused program of study and pass a final examination.
CRPC professionals are experienced advisors who specialize in the entirety of the Pre- and Post-Retirement planning process. A CRPC professional helps retirees and pre-retirees navigate complex financial decisions with confidence. These advisors tailor strategies to your financial situation, lifestyle goals, and long-term priorities while providing tax-efficient retirement income planning.
Don't trust just any financial planner to manage your nest egg...
Importance of a CRPC Certification
- Education standards set by the College for Financial Planning
- Specialized in retirement income and distribution phase planning
- Advanced Social Security, Medicare, Tax, and Estate knowledge
- Holistic, reliable lifetime retirement income and transition planning
- Continuing education in retirement strategies and evolving trends
Let's Talk
As you accumulate more wealth and get closer to retirement, it's normal to have questions about making your money, family, and legacy all fit together.
- Will I run out of money in retirement?
- Am I overpaying on income taxes?
- How do I transfer my wealth to my next generation?
- How can I reduce common threats to my retirement?
- Are my lifestyle and legacy dreams attainable?
Clear Direction. Confident Decisions.
Attain answers with clarity through our four steps:
Discover
It all starts with a simple conversation. We want to hear your story, identify your goals and dreams, and understand your concerns. We're focused on knowing who and what is most important to you.
What keeps you up at night? How do you envision your future? How can we help you get there?
Define
To help you achieve your dreams, we must fully understand your reality. Together we'll demystify where you stand currently, assess the situation without judgement, and help you organize your financial picture.
Do you know what you own, owe, and want to protect? Do your investments align with your intentions?
Develop
With your situation identified and goals understood, our analysis begins. We'll create a personalized financial roadmap designed to give you a clear path from where you are to where you want to be.
We'll explain every recommendation, answer any questions, and make sure you have confidence in your journey.
Decide
No rush, no pressure. Whenever you're ready, we'll set your investments and custom plan in motion. As markets shift, plans change, and life evolves, we'll provide ongoing guidance and strategy reviews to keep you on track.
You won't be navigating your financial future alone, so you'll be free to focus on what matters most to you.
