The people I work with spend their careers on other people's most important decisions. Their own tend to wait.

That isn't carelessness. It's what happens when your compensation is complicated, your hours aren't yours, and the decisions that matter most are the ones nobody puts on your calendar.

Much of my work centers on a single transition: the shift from being paid for your work to owning part of what you're building. It arrives under different names depending on where you sit — a capital contribution and a K-1, a first allocation of carry, deferred stock that vests on someone else's schedule. Underneath the labels the questions are the same. What does this actually pay? When does it become mine? What does it cost in tax, and what should I be doing in the meantime?

These also tend to be the years with the least attention to spare. Income arrives in irregular pieces, the window to turn it into something durable is narrower than it looks, and most standard advice quietly assumes a steady paycheck, no restrictions on what you're permitted to own, and a career that doesn't reorganize itself every few years.

My work starts with planning rather than products: cash flow and savings strategy, tax positioning, income protection, decisions about equity and deferred compensation, and estate coordination as families grow. Investment management follows the plan rather than leading it.

That focus sits inside a full financial planning practice. Whether you want coordinated planning across every area or focused help in one — retirement income planning, investment management, estate planning, business succession planning, or college savings — the starting point is the same conversation.

If any of this sounds familiar, the best place to start is a conversation. Twenty-five minutes, nothing to prepare, and you'll leave with a clearer view of which decisions are actually in front of you.

Originally from Arlington, Virginia, I earned my Bachelor's degree in Economics from the University of Richmond. I live and work in New York and remain closely connected to the Washington, D.C. area where I grew up.

I hold the Life, Accident and Health and Variable Lines insurance licenses, FINRA Series 7 and Series 66 registrations, and the Chartered Retirement Planning Counselor (CRPC®) and Certified Plan Fiduciary Advisor (CPFA®) designations.

Stephen Stavrou is a registered representative of and offers securities and investment advisory services through MML Investors Services, LLC, Member SIPC (www.sipc.org). Supervisory address: 90 Park Avenue, 17th Floor, New York, NY 10016. 212.536.6000.

Fifth Avenue Financial is not a subsidiary or affiliate of MML Investors Services, LLC or its affiliated companies.

Education

University of Richmond

Hobbies

Cooking, Piano, Traveling, Running, Tennis, Swimming, Hockey, Golf, Hiking