Financial Advisor for OPERS & STRS Retirees in Columbus
Quick answer: OPERS and STRS retirees in Columbus, Ohio face retirement planning decisions that don't fit neatly into typical financial planning frameworks. Pension payment options, PLOP elections, healthcare and Medicare coordination, OPERS HRA mechanics, STRS health care rules, pension taxation, and survivor benefit elections all interact with each other and with investment and estate decisions. A coordinated planning approach — handled 12-24 months before retirement — tends to produce better outcomes than handling each decision in isolation. This article describes what to look for in an advisor for OPERS and STRS retirees and is educational rather than a recommendation for any specific firm.
Key Takeaways
- OPERS and STRS retirees face decisions that interact with each other — pension, healthcare, taxes, investments, and estate planning need coordinated review.
- Many of the most consequential decisions are irreversible after retirement, so planning is best done 12-24 months ahead.
- A fiduciary financial advisor is legally required to act in the client's best interest, which matters when evaluating recommendations.
- Fee-only is a specific compensation model (client fees only, no commissions) that's distinct from "fee-based" — the terms aren't interchangeable.
- The right advisor for an OPERS or STRS retiree understands how pension income interacts with the rest of the retirement plan, not just the investment portfolio.
- Modern planning technology supports better-coordinated decisions but doesn't replace the advisor relationship.
Table of Contents
- Why OPERS and STRS Retirees Often Benefit From Coordinated Planning
- What an Advisor Should Review Before Retirement
- Pension Decisions an Advisor Can Help Analyze
- Healthcare and Medicare Coordination
- Tax Planning Across the Retirement Years
- Investment Management Around a Pension
- Estate Planning Coordination
- Planning Technology That Supports the Work
- What to Look For in a Financial Advisor
- Frequently Asked Questions
Why OPERS and STRS Retirees Often Benefit From Coordinated Planning
OPERS and STRS retirees face financial situations that look quite different from typical private-sector retirees. Instead of relying primarily on a 401(k), most public employees and educators retire with a defined pension. That pension provides dependable lifetime income, but it also creates decisions that can't easily be undone once retirement paperwork is filed.
The planning areas that come up repeatedly:
- Pension payment option — affects lifetime and survivor income, generally irreversible
- PLOP or lump sum elections — affects liquidity, taxes, and monthly income for life
- Healthcare and Medicare coordination — affects monthly cash flow and access to care
- Tax planning — pension income creates a taxable income floor that interacts with everything else
- Investment strategy — needs to coordinate with pension income rather than being managed in isolation
- Estate planning — beneficiary designations and survivor options interact with the pension itself
- Cash flow modeling — determines whether the overall plan is sustainable across retirement
The pattern that creates problems is treating each decision separately. Pension, taxes, investments, healthcare, and estate planning don't sit in silos — they affect each other in ways that aren't obvious until you model them together.
This article is part of my broader guide to OPERS and STRS retirement planning in Columbus, which walks through how these decisions fit together.
What an Advisor Should Review Before Retirement
A coordinated pre-retirement review for an OPERS or STRS member typically covers the full financial picture, not just investments:
- OPERS or STRS pension estimates at different retirement dates
- Pension payment option modeling (single-life vs. joint-life alternatives)
- Survivor benefit analysis
- OPERS PLOP analysis if applicable
- Healthcare and Medicare planning, including HRA mechanics for OPERS and plan options for STRS
- Federal and Ohio tax withholding setup
- IRA, 403(b), 457, Roth, brokerage, and cash positions across the household
- Social Security claiming strategy, if applicable
- Beneficiary designations across all accounts
- Estate planning documents and coordination with an attorney
For Columbus-area public employees and teachers, this review ideally begins 12-24 months before the target retirement date.
The questions a good pre-retirement planning conversation tends to address:
- When should I retire, considering pension, Medicare, and Social Security timing?
- Which pension payment option fits my household best?
- Should I take a lump sum if available, and how would it be taxed?
- How much after-tax monthly income will I actually have?
- What will healthcare cost in retirement, including premiums and out-of-pocket?
- How much should I withdraw from investments, and from which accounts first?
- Should I consider Roth conversions, and over what timeframe?
- Is my spouse adequately protected if I die first?
- Are my beneficiary designations current and aligned with my estate plan?
These questions are best answered together rather than one at a time.
Pension Decisions an Advisor Can Help Analyze
Your pension is likely one of the largest single financial assets you'll have in retirement. An advisor can help analyze pension decisions in the context of your income needs, family situation, tax picture, expected longevity, and other assets.
The pension decisions that benefit from coordinated analysis:
- Retirement date and how it affects benefit calculation
- Monthly pension amount under each available option
- Single-life vs. joint-survivor options and the trade-offs involved
- PLOP or lump sum decisions where available
- Spouse and survivor protection
- Pension tax withholding setup
- Coordination with Social Security claiming, IRA withdrawals, and other income
For OPERS members, the PLOP decision is one of the most consequential — it trades higher monthly lifetime income for an upfront lump sum, and it's generally irreversible. I cover this analysis in detail in my piece on whether OPERS employees should take the PLOP.
For comprehensive pre-retirement walkthroughs by system, see my OPERS Retirement Checklist for 2026 and STRS Ohio Retirement Checklist for 2026.
Healthcare and Medicare Coordination
Healthcare is one of the largest retirement expenses for most OPERS and STRS retirees, and the rules differ meaningfully between the two systems.
For OPERS retirees, the Health Reimbursement Arrangement (HRA) provides tax-free reimbursement for qualified medical expenses, with eligibility rules that vary depending on whether you're Pre-Medicare or Medicare-eligible. Medicare-eligible OPERS retirees must enroll through Via Benefits to maintain HRA deposits. See my piece on how the OPERS HRA works in retirement for the mechanics.
For STRS retirees, the STRS Ohio Health Care Program offers medical and prescription drug coverage with its own eligibility rules and Medicare coordination requirements. STRS requires medical plan participants to enroll in Medicare at age 65 or earlier if eligible, with Part B required for all enrollees. See my walkthrough on STRS Ohio health care in retirement.
The areas where coordinated planning tends to help:
- Medicare timing and enrollment requirements
- Medicare Advantage vs. Medigap evaluation
- Prescription drug coverage based on actual medication needs
- OPERS HRA planning and Via Benefits enrollment, where applicable
- STRS health care premium and plan selection, where applicable
- Spouse or dependent coverage decisions
- Out-of-pocket cost estimates and budgeting
- Long-term care planning considerations
For OPERS retirees, the HRA and Via Benefits process is often a major planning area. For STRS retirees, Medicare enrollment and plan selection should be reviewed before retirement or before age 65, whichever comes first.
Tax Planning Across the Retirement Years
Taxes are often the single largest expense in retirement — and one of the most overlooked planning areas before retirement actually begins.
OPERS and STRS pensions create steady taxable income at the federal level and generally in Ohio as well. When combined with IRA withdrawals, 403(b) and 457 distributions, investment income, and Social Security, the total tax picture can be larger than retirees expect.
The retirement tax planning areas that benefit from coordinated review:
- Federal and Ohio tax withholding on pension payments
- Pension income taxation
- Traditional IRA, 403(b), and 457 withdrawal timing and tax treatment
- Roth conversion evaluation across multi-year tax brackets
- Required Minimum Distribution planning
- Medicare IRMAA threshold management
- Capital gains and dividend planning in taxable accounts
- Charitable giving strategies, where applicable
The objective isn't simply to minimize taxes in any single year. It's to manage taxes across the full retirement period — which can change the answer significantly. I cover the specifics in my piece on how OPERS and STRS pensions are taxed in Ohio.
A coordinated example: a Columbus OPERS retiree may receive monthly pension income, take an IRA withdrawal, and enroll in Medicare in the same year. Without planning, that combination could push into higher federal and Ohio tax brackets, increase the federally taxable portion of Social Security, and affect Medicare premiums two years later through IRMAA. With planning, the same set of decisions can be sequenced to manage tax brackets and avoid unnecessary cost.
A note: a financial advisor isn't a substitute for a qualified tax professional. The right approach typically involves coordination between an advisor handling overall planning and a tax professional handling preparation and specific tax advice.
Investment Management Around a Pension
A pension changes how your investment portfolio should be designed.
Because OPERS and STRS pensions may provide dependable monthly income, your investment portfolio can serve different roles than it would for a retiree without a pension. The portfolio doesn't have to be the primary source of monthly cash flow, which can change appropriate risk levels, asset allocation, and withdrawal strategies.
The investment questions worth working through:
- Does my pension cover my fixed essential expenses?
- How much additional income do I need from investments?
- How much cash should I hold for short-term needs and emergencies?
- Should my portfolio be more growth-oriented or more conservative given my pension foundation?
- Which accounts should I withdraw from first to manage taxes?
- How should my portfolio handle inflation over a 25-30 year retirement?
- How should investments be coordinated with tax strategy?
Portfolio construction isn't standalone. It should support your pension income, tax strategy, healthcare costs, and estate plan together.
Common roles different parts of the portfolio play in a retirement plan:
- Cash reserve — covers short-term spending needs and emergencies
- Fixed income — provides stability and predictable income
- Equities — helps offset inflation across long retirement periods
- Roth accounts — provide tax-free flexibility for managing tax brackets
- Taxable accounts — may offer favorable long-term capital gains treatment
For OPERS and STRS retirees, investment management is often most useful when it focuses on income sustainability, risk management appropriate for the household, and tax efficiency.
Estate Planning Coordination
Estate planning is an important part of public-employee retirement planning, and it's an area where uncoordinated decisions create real problems.
Your pension survivor option, beneficiary designations across multiple accounts, and legal documents should all work together as a coherent plan rather than being handled as separate items.
The estate planning items that interact with the rest of your retirement plan:
- OPERS or STRS pension beneficiary and survivor option elections
- IRA, 403(b), 457, and Roth account beneficiaries
- Life insurance beneficiaries
- Transfer-on-death designations on bank and brokerage accounts
- Joint ownership on real estate and accounts
- Will
- Trust, if appropriate for your situation
- Financial power of attorney
- Healthcare power of attorney
- Living will / advance healthcare directive
A common mistake is assuming a will controls everything. In practice, many assets transfer by beneficiary designation, joint ownership, or transfer-on-death instructions — and these override anything in the will.
A financial advisor can help coordinate the financial side of your estate plan with your accounts and survivor needs, but estate documents themselves should be prepared by a qualified attorney. The relationship between advisor and estate attorney matters; they should be working with the same information.
Planning Technology That Supports the Work
Modern financial planning has become more transparent and data-driven as planning technology has matured. The tools don't replace the advisor relationship — they support it by making the underlying picture clearer.
The areas where well-integrated planning technology can help:
- Financial planning platforms can consolidate accounts in one place, track net worth and cash flow, and run real-time retirement scenarios
- Portfolio reporting platforms support clear performance reporting and account aggregation for investment management
- Tax analysis platforms help identify planning opportunities such as Roth conversion windows, charitable strategies, and tax bracket management
- Estate organization tools help organize documents and legacy planning information in accessible formats
At Blue Advisors, we use eMoney for financial planning, Advyzon for investment reporting and portfolio management, Holistiplan for tax analysis, and Epilogue for estate planning organization. The point isn't any single tool — it's how they connect, so that a decision in one area can be evaluated across its effects on the others.
Technology supports good advice; it doesn't replace it. The judgment, context, and ongoing accountability still come from the advisor relationship.
What to Look For in a Financial Advisor
OPERS and STRS retirees considering financial advice should look for an advisor whose approach matches the complexity of public-employee retirement planning. A useful checklist:
Fiduciary standard. A fiduciary is legally required to act in your best interest, not merely to recommend something "suitable." Confirm this directly rather than assuming.
Fee-only compensation. Fee-only advisors are compensated only by client fees — no commissions or product sales. This is different from "fee-based," which can include commissions. The distinction matters when evaluating conflicts of interest.
Comprehensive planning approach. OPERS and STRS planning works best when investments, taxes, healthcare, Medicare, and estate planning are all part of the conversation rather than just portfolio management.
Familiarity with OPERS and STRS planning issues. Pension payment options, PLOP analysis, OPERS HRA mechanics, and STRS Medicare requirements all have specific rules that affect retirement decisions.
Modern planning technology. Integrated technology helps coordinate decisions across the different planning areas.
Coordination with other professionals. A good advisor works alongside your CPA, tax preparer, and estate attorney rather than treating each in isolation.
Clear communication. Decisions should be explained in plain language. If you can't follow why a recommendation makes sense, ask until you can.
No product-first orientation. The advisor relationship should center on planning, not on selling products.
Useful questions to ask any advisor you're considering:
- Do you currently work with OPERS or STRS retirees?
- How do you evaluate pension payment options?
- Can you walk through how you'd analyze an OPERS PLOP decision?
- Is tax planning a regular part of your work or a separate engagement?
- How do you help coordinate Medicare and healthcare costs?
- How do you manage investments around pension income?
- What planning technology do you use, and how does it benefit clients?
- Are you a fiduciary, and is your fee structure fee-only?
These questions help separate advisors who do comprehensive planning from those primarily focused on managing investments.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do OPERS retirees need a financial advisor? Not every OPERS retiree needs an advisor, but many benefit from help coordinating pension options, PLOP decisions, healthcare and Medicare, taxes, investments, and estate planning. The most value typically comes from coordinated planning in the 12-24 months before retirement.
Do STRS retirees need a financial advisor? Many STRS retirees benefit from financial planning because pension options, survivor benefits, healthcare, Medicare, taxes, and investment withdrawals should be coordinated before retirement. Whether an advisor is needed depends on the complexity of each household's situation and the comfort level with handling these decisions independently.
What should an advisor know about OPERS and STRS? A useful advisor for OPERS and STRS members should understand pension income mechanics, survivor option trade-offs, OPERS PLOP decisions, STRS healthcare and Medicare rules, OPERS HRA and Via Benefits processes, federal and Ohio tax planning, and how all of these interact within a coordinated retirement plan.
Can a financial advisor help reduce taxes in retirement? A financial advisor can help coordinate pension income, IRA withdrawals, Roth conversions, tax withholding, capital gains, and Medicare IRMAA planning — all of which interact with tax outcomes. A qualified CPA or tax professional should be involved for tax preparation and specific tax advice; the advisor and tax professional ideally work together rather than in isolation.
What does fee-only mean? Fee-only advisors are compensated only by client fees — no commissions, no product sales, no third-party payments. This is different from "fee-based," which combines fees with potential commissions. The fee-only model reduces certain conflicts of interest by aligning the advisor's compensation with client outcomes.
What is a fiduciary? A fiduciary is legally required to act in the client's best interest, not merely to recommend products or strategies that are "suitable." For financial decisions of meaningful size, working with a fiduciary advisor protects against certain conflicts of interest that can affect recommendations.
When should OPERS or STRS members consider engaging an advisor? The most useful window for engaging a financial advisor before retirement is generally 12-24 months out — early enough to evaluate pension options and run modeling, but close enough to retirement that the decisions are concrete rather than theoretical.
Plan Coordinated, Not Piecemeal
OPERS and STRS retirees in Columbus, Ohio benefit most from retirement planning that brings the pieces together. Pension income, healthcare and Medicare, taxes, investments, estate planning, and cash flow are interconnected — each decision affects the others, and decisions made in isolation often produce results that wouldn't survive a coordinated review.
Whether you work with an advisor or handle planning yourself, the key is treating retirement planning as a connected system rather than a series of separate choices.
At Blue Advisors, we work with Columbus-area OPERS and STRS members to bring these moving parts together into one coordinated plan in the months before retirement. We work alongside our clients' tax professionals, attorneys, and other advisors rather than replacing them. For the full picture, start with our comprehensive guide to OPERS and STRS retirement planning in Columbus.
Schedule a conversation: If you're an OPERS or STRS member in Columbus, Ohio thinking through retirement planning, you can book an introductory call here: calendly.com/jimblue/blue-advisors-meeting.
By James Blue, Fee-Only Advisor | Blue Advisors
James Blue is the founder of Blue Advisors, a fee-only registered investment advisory firm based in Columbus, Ohio, serving public employees, teachers, retirees, and busy professionals across Central Ohio and nationally.
This content is provided for informational and educational purposes only and should not be construed as personalized investment, tax, or legal advice. The views expressed are those of the author as of the date published and are subject to change without notice. Blue Advisors is a fee-only registered investment advisory firm. Advisory services are offered only pursuant to a written advisory agreement and to clients in the State of Ohio, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and other jurisdictions where Blue Advisors is properly registered or exempt from registration. Past performance is not indicative of future results. Readers should consult with their financial advisor, tax professional, or attorney before making financial decisions.