Justin Brenis, FSCP with Brenis Financial Services & Nylife Securities LLC

10/28/2026

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Today, we honor honor the service, sacrifice, and collective work of public safety professionals. Happy National First Responders Day!

10/27/2026

One of the easiest mistakes in retirement planning?

Building a great strategy for the first responder...and barely discussing their spouse.

Your household may eventually have:

• A public pension
• Social Security benefits, if applicable
• 457, 401(k) or 403(b) accounts
• IRAs
• Insurance
• Savings and investments
• Different retirement dates

Those pieces don't exist independently.

Retirement is ultimately a household event.

If you're married, an effective retirement conversation should include both sides of the kitchen table.

10/23/2026

If you're looking for opportunities to take advantage of the current interest rate environment, I would encourage you take the time to reach out! Rates won't hold like this forever.

10/22/2026

Your shift is over. Phone is finally quiet. Nothing on the calendar.

What's your preferred way to completely disconnect from the job?

Gym? Golf? Gaming? Hunting? Coaching the kids? Working in the garage? Sitting somewhere where absolutely nobody is asking you a question?

Bonus points for an answer I haven't heard before.

10/20/2026

Ask a first responder when they're retiring and you'll often get an immediate answer.

“25 years.” “Age 52.” “After DROP.” But there are really two questions:

When can you retire?

AND

When are you financially prepared to retire the way you want?

Those aren't automatically the same date.

The second question requires looking beyond years of service and considering your expected pension, savings, debt, taxes, insurance, family obligations and desired lifestyle together.

Eligibility gives you a date.

Planning helps you understand what that date could look like.

10/15/2026

Question specifically for those who have been on the job awhile: Think about the 22- or 23-year-old version of yourself starting this career. What's one financial decision you would tell that person to make earlier?

Not looking for anyone's account balances or personal details.

Just the lesson.

I'm curious whether there are a few answers that come up over and over again.

10/13/2026

For a lot of first responders, there are two different numbers:

Your salary. And...what you actually make.

Overtime, details, shift differentials and other compensation can substantially change household cash flow.

The danger?

Allowing every increase in income to quietly become an increase in lifestyle.

Instead, consider giving at least part of additional income a specific assignment before it hits your checking account:

• Building emergency reserves
• Paying down debt
• Increasing retirement contributions
• Funding family goals
• Strengthening insurance protection

You worked the extra hours.

Make sure some of that money is still working for you after the shift ends.

10/06/2026

“I have a 457.”

Good.

Now comes the more important question:

What job is your 457 supposed to do?

Is it intended to supplement your pension?

Help bridge an early retirement?

Create another source of retirement income?

Build assets for later in life?

Provide greater flexibility outside the pension?

There isn't one universally correct answer.

For many public employees, a governmental 457(b) can be an important part of retirement planning. But contributing to an account and having a strategy for that account aren't necessarily the same thing.

Know why you're saving—not just where you're saving.

10/01/2026

Something I'm curious about from the first responders in my network: What's one thing about your profession that civilians generally don't understand until someone explains it to them?

Not necessarily a complaint.

Just something about the reality of the job that looks very different from the outside.

09/29/2026

First responders: if I asked you these three questions today, could you answer them?

1. What percentage of your income will your pension actually replace?

2. How much of your retirement savings could eventually be taxable when withdrawn?

3. How much money do you have available outside of your pension and retirement accounts?

You don’t need to have every answer memorized.

But you should know where to find them.

A retirement strategy isn't just about accumulating the biggest account balance possible. It's about understanding how the different pieces of your financial life may eventually work together.

Start with the numbers.

Then build the strategy.