Make sense of your plan
Your plan may present a large number of investment options across more than one provider. Having the options is not the same as knowing which ones suit you. We work through them with you.
University employees, Financial planning for faculty and staff
You've spent years building your benefits.
Do you know everything they could make possible?
We are especially experienced working with university faculty and employees, helping them make sense of their retirement plans and benefits and see opportunities they may not realize they have.
5.0 from 17 Google reviewsRead client reviews
Our clients teach and work at universities like these
Institutions and employers listed are workplaces of Wallace Hart clients. Listing does not imply an endorsement of, affiliation with, or sponsorship by any institution or employer named.
Who we work with
Faculty and staff at every stage of a university career
We work with faculty and staff from the University of Kentucky, the University of Louisville, and universities across the country. Start with the stage that sounds like you.
Building your benefits
You are choosing contributions and investments inside a plan with a long list of options, often across more than one provider. We help you pick the ones that fit and see what they could add up to.
See how we investApproaching retirement
Leaving the university is in sight. We help you decide when to go, what income your plan and benefits can provide, and what to do with each account at the transition.
See how we planAccessing your plan
You are ready to draw on years of saving. We help you turn your retirement plan into a retirement paycheck, timing each withdrawal with the tax cost in mind.
See tax-smart retirement incomeIn our clients' words
What working with us is like
I have had an excellent experience with Wallace Hart Capital Management. Setting long term goals and money management is not my strong suit, and I have felt very supported talking to my financial advisor, Brandon Smith. He is very personable and breaks everything down step by step in an easy-to-understand way. He maintains contact and is available for any of my questions. Highly recommend.
To find a financial planner going into retirement is one of the most important and scariest decisions. You have to not only find someone you can trust, they must be able to establish a portfolio that meets your specific retirement goals. Wallace Hart Capital Management is a fiduciary and therefore never attempts to sell you anything. They work hard to listen and provide a plan that meets your goals, not theirs. There is never any pressure, only support and careful planning. I only wish I would have found them sooner in my retirement planning. A true first rate company you can trust.
With retirement fast approaching for us both, my wife and I needed personalized plans that would help secure our financial futures. Wallace-Hart have done exactly that. All members of the team are a delight to work with.
Reviews are published by clients on Google and are shown as written. No compensation was paid for any review. Reviews reflect the experience of the individual client and are not a guarantee of future results or indicative of any other client's experience.
How it works
Turn your benefits into a plan
Three stages, and you always know which one you are in. From a first conversation about your plan and benefits to ongoing management, there is never a question about what happens next.
We start with your goals, your preferences, and what matters most to you. Fit matters in both directions, so this stage is about understanding each other before any strategy is built.
- Your goals, wants, and preferences
- Where things stand for you today
- What a good fit looks like for both of us
The problem we solve most often
Having options is not the same as knowing which ones fit
We help you understand the choices in front of you by highlighting the ones that may not suit your situation, and why.
Why this is a natural fit
Our commitment to teaching is why this work suits us
We approach our work as teachers, problem-solvers, and practitioners. Explaining the reasoning is not an extra step for us, it is the job. That tends to matter a great deal to people who have built careers in higher education.
We want to be the go-to resource for university employees making sense of retirement benefits and turning years of saving into a thoughtful, tax-smart plan for the future.
Where we help
What the work looks like
Understand your benefits
Contribution limits, employer provisions, and the details that quietly determine outcomes. We help you see what you already have and use it well.
Plan for the transitions
Changing roles, leaving the institution, disability, divorce, or a death in the family. These are the moments where defaults are rarely the best answer.
Bring taxes into it
Turning years of saving into a thoughtful, tax-smart plan for how the money gets used later.
A note on who we work with
You do not need to have arrived to work with us
We work with people at every stage, including those still building. If you are mid-career and contributing steadily, that is often the most useful time to get the decisions right, because they compound for the rest of your working life.
The first conversation is about understanding your situation and whether we are the right fit for each other. If we are not, we will say so.
Common questions
What university employees ask us
Employer plans often present a large number of investment options across more than one provider. Having the options is not the same as knowing which ones suit your timeline, your risk tolerance, and the rest of your financial picture. That is the gap we fill.
Not necessarily. Much of the work is about making better use of what you already have, inside the plan you already participate in. Any recommendation to change something comes with the reasoning behind it.
We work with people at every stage, including those still building. The first conversation is about understanding your situation and whether we are the right fit for each other. If we are not, we will say so and try to point you somewhere useful.
That is often the most useful time to start. Contribution decisions, investment choices, and tax considerations compound over a career, and small adjustments made early tend to matter more than large ones made late.
That is one of the moments where decisions matter most and where defaults are rarely the best answer. We help you understand your options at those transitions rather than leaving you to work them out alone.
Imagine the Possibilities
What could your university benefits make possible?
A first conversation costs nothing and commits you to nothing. We will talk about your plan, your options, and what you are trying to build.