Eastern Planning Inc. is an independent financial advisory firm that, for over 30 years, has guided corporate executives, teachers, firefighters, and successful professionals through the financial decisions that define their futures, with family office-level care without the excessive minimums.

Eastern Planning was founded by Beth Blecker, an Ed Slott Master Elite advisor and author of It's Not Just Money, It's Life®. Her son, Matthew Blecker, CFA, CFP®, MBA (Columbia), serves as President. Together, they bring over 55 years of specialized guidance to executives and families navigating their most consequential financial decisions.

At Eastern Planning Inc., our services go well beyond investment management. We offer comprehensive financial planning that coordinates every aspect of your financial life, so nothing falls through the cracks:

• Investment management: disciplined, long-term, tax-efficient strategy
• Retirement income planning: Social Security optimization, sustainable withdrawal strategies
• Corporate benefit optimization: 401(k), deferred compensation, stock options, NUA options and RSUs for executives
• Tax strategy: Roth conversions, withdrawal sequencing, CPA coordination
• Estate planning review: wills, trusts, powers of attorney, health care proxy, beneficiary audits
• Insurance analysis: life, disability, long-term care, property and casualty (reviewed every 3–5 years)
• College funding: 529 plans and financial aid strategy
• Eldercare planning for aging parents
• Pension election guidance for teachers, firefighters, and NY State public employees
• Medicare and supplement elections at age 65 or when needed

Financial advisors charge in several ways: a percentage of assets under management (AUM), hourly rates, flat fees, or commissions on products sold.

Eastern Planning Inc. is a fee-based independent advisory firm. Our fee structure is clearly disclosed upfront so you always know exactly what you’re paying and why.

This transparency matters. Our investment management fee is straightforward and tied directly to the portfolio we manage for you. That alignment is central to how we work. Our fee is not tiered and we do not receive incentives or any hidden compensation from third parties. Our success is directly aligned with yours.

In practice, this means we regularly recommend strategies that serve your interests even though it is not part of our compensation: maximizing 401(k) contributions that stay at your employer, maintaining company stock with significant embedded gains, or keeping emergency reserves in high-yield savings accounts. We do what’s right for you. That’s what working with a transparent, client-focused advisor actually means.

Yes, unequivocally. Eastern Planning Inc. is a registered investment advisory firm and operates as a fiduciary at all times. This means we are legally and ethically obligated to act in your best interest, not ours, not a product manufacturer's, not a third party's.

As fiduciaries, Eastern Planning:

• Discloses all potential conflicts of interest
• Charges only the fee you explicitly agree to
• Makes every recommendation based solely on what is right for your situation
• Never earns referral fees from other advisors or product sales

"Your Best Interest. Always." — It's not a marketing line. It's how we're structured, and it's how we've operated for over 30 years.

Credentials signal both technical expertise and ethical commitment. When evaluating any financial advisor, look for:

• CFP® (Certified Financial Planner): comprehensive planning expertise
• CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst): rigorous investment management depth
• CPA (Certified Public Accountant): tax expertise
• Ed Slott Master Elite: one of the most demanding designations in IRA and retirement distribution planning

Beth Blecker, founder of Eastern Planning Inc., is an Ed Slott Master Elite advisor, a designation requiring intensive ongoing training in IRA strategy, retirement income, and tax planning. She is also the author of It's Not Just Money, It's Life®, which reflects her philosophy that financial planning is ultimately about your life, not just your portfolio.

Matthew Blecker, CFA, CFP®, MBA (Columbia University), serves as President. The CFA designation represents one of the highest standards in investment analysis and portfolio management globally.

Together, their credentials cover the full spectrum of what complex financial lives actually require: technical investment expertise, rigorous tax and retirement planning, and 30+ years of lived client experience in the New York market.

Ongoing review is built into how we work, not treated as an add-on or a premium tier. Here's what structured engagement looks like at Eastern Planning:

• All clients: Regularly scheduled meetings (at least semi-annually), phone check-ins and proactive outreach when planning opportunities arise
• Insurance reviews: Property and casualty coverage every 3–5 years
• Estate document reviews: Every 10 years (or after major life events)
• Beneficiary & account audits: Annually

Beyond scheduled reviews, we maintain an open-door policy. Call us about buying a car, changing jobs, taking out a mortgage, managing a parent's health crisis, or any financial question that comes up in life. When something important is happening, our clients don't wonder who to call. They call us.

Financial planning at Eastern Planning is not a one-time event. It is a continuous, evolving partnership that adjusts as your life does.

Eastern Planning follows a disciplined, long-term investment philosophy built on diversification, tax efficiency, and alignment with each client's specific goals and timeline. We do not engage in market timing, trend-chasing, or speculative strategies.

For each client, we build a customized asset allocation coordinated across all accounts, 401(k), IRA, taxable accounts, trusts, and manage the portfolio with ongoing tax-efficient rebalancing. We work to ensure investments are working in concert with the full financial plan, not in isolation from it.

For corporate professionals, we also address investment risks unique to their situation:

• Concentrated company stock positions: diversifying without triggering unnecessary taxes
• RSU vesting events: planning around large taxable income events
• Stock option exercise timing: minimizing tax exposure over a multi-year horizon

We observe that many clients are tempted to react to trends and short-term volatility. One of the most valuable things we do is provide steady perspective, keeping clients grounded in their long-term plan when markets get noisy.

Sustainable financial success is built through careful planning and discipline, not through predicting markets. That's been our philosophy for over 30 years, and it's what we believe our clients' futures deserve.

This is one of the most important, and most common, questions we help our clients answer. Many professionals in their 50s and early 60s have saved diligently for decades and still feel uncertain about whether they've done enough.

At Eastern Planning, we model retirement readiness across multiple scenarios:

• Early retirement at 58, 60, or 62, is it actually possible?
• Longevity planning to age 90 or 95 (New Yorkers often live longer than national averages). We have had several clients live past 100!
• Market downturn scenarios, what happens if markets drop 30% in year two of retirement?
• Rising healthcare costs and the pre-Medicare gap
• Eldercare expenses for aging parents
• Supporting children with down payments or education
• Untimely death of a spouse

We analyze every income source, pension, Social Security, 401(k), IRA, taxable accounts, deferred compensation, and build a sustainable, tax-efficient withdrawal strategy specific to your life in New York.

After 30 years in practice, we've learned that the most meaningful part of our work is helping clients realize they've already done enough, and giving them the confidence and freedom to actually enjoy the life they've earned.

Most of our clients are more financially prepared than they believe. They just need someone to run the numbers honestly, explain what they mean, and say: you've earned this. Now go live it.

Because it's not just money. It's life.®