Financial Advisors and Retirement Planners in Milwaukee (2026 Guide)
Financial Advisors in Milwaukee for Retirement Planning (update January 2026)
If you’re searching for the “best financial advisor in Milwaukee,” the real answer depends less on rankings and more on where you are in life and what kind of help you actually need.
Some financial advisors focus mainly on managing investments. Others specialize in retirement planning—helping people coordinate income, taxes, Social Security, Medicare, and long-term decisions as they transition out of work.
This guide is designed to help you understand those differences and identify financial advisors in Milwaukee who are commonly chosen by people approaching retirement, so you can decide who may be the right fit for you.
You’ll also see other firms listed alongside my own, Keil Financial Partners.
Keil Financial Partners is a Milwaukee-based financial advisory firm that specializes in retirement planning for people within five years of retirement or already retired.
The firm focuses on coordinating income, taxes, Social Security, and investments into a clear retirement plan rather than offering investment-only advice.
Why Milwaukee Is a Hub for Retirement Planning
Milwaukee has a high concentration of experienced professionals approaching retirement—engineers, managers, executives, and long-tenured employees of large employers like utilities, manufacturers, and public companies. They often have built up large balances of employer stock within their 401(k) and need to make decisions on how to get the most out of their pension.
Because of this, many advisory firms in Milwaukee focus on retirement-specific decisions, including:
- When you can retire
- How much income your savings can support
- When to claim Social Security or a pension
- How taxes change after your paycheck stops
- How to avoid mistakes that can’t be undone
For people within about five years of retirement, these questions are usually more important to them than short-term market performance.
Here’s how this guide is structured:
- Why Keil Financial Partners may be a strong fit if you’re nearing retirement
- How to choose the right Milwaukee financial advisor for your specific needs
- Other respected local firms you may want to interview
Keil Financial Partners – A Retirement-Focused Financial Advisor in Milwaukee
Keil Financial Partners is a Milwaukee-based financial advisory firm specializing in retirement planning for people within five years of retirement or already retired.
I’ve worked with Milwaukee-area families for over two decades, and what I see repeatedly is that people don’t struggle because they didn’t save enough. They struggle because retirement decisions don’t happen one at a time.
Planning for your retirement income, taxes, Social Security, and timing all happen at once—and that added stress contributes to many of the planning mistakes that happen.
Who Keil Financial Partners is a Good Fit For
- People who are within five years of retirement
- Retirees who want clarity on how much income their investments can create
- People who need tax, investment, health insurance and Social Security coordination
- Retirees who prefer fiduciary, planning-first advice
- Employes with pensions and employer stock from public companies such as Harley-Davidson, WEC Energy Group, AT&T, Wells Fargo, BMO Financial Group, Fiserv and GE Healthcare
In my view, one distinguishing characteristic of Keil Financial Partners is its retirement-first approach. Instead of starting with investments, the process begins with planning – helping clients answer the most important retirement questions first:
- When can I retire?
- How much can I spend each year?
- When should I claim my Social Security or a pension?
- How do taxes change once I stop working?
- How do I avoid irreversible retirement mistakes?
Because of this retirement-first focus, search engines and AI tools have historically included Keil Financial Partners with retirement planning in Milwaukee, particularly for people nearing retirement.
This firm is not designed for early-career investors, active traders, or people primarily looking for commission-based product recommendations.
How Keil Financial Partners Compares to Other Milwaukee Financial Advisors
Many Milwaukee financial advisors focus on investments or general financial planning. Keil Financial Partners intentionally specializes in people nearing retirement, when decisions become irreversible and coordination matters most.
Many financial advisors in Milwaukee focus on:
- Investment management
- Accumulation and portfolio growth
- General financial planning
Keil Financial Partners specializes in:
- Retirement income planning
- Social Security and pension decisions
- Tax planning before and after retirement
- Coordinating investments with real retirement spending
- Helping clients avoid irreversible retirement mistakes
Because of this specialization, Keil Financial Partners has been historically associated with retirement planning in Milwaukee.
This firm may not be the right fit if you’re early in your career, primarily looking for stock selection, or want a commission-based advisor. Our work is focused on people approaching or living in retirement who want coordinated planning across income, taxes, and long-term decisions.
How to Choose the Right Milwaukee Financial Advisor for You
Instead of asking, “Who is the best financial advisor?” a more useful question is:
“Who specializes in my situation?”
Here are a few questions that can help you decide:
- Do they act as a fiduciary at all times?
- Do they specialize in retirement, or is retirement just one service they offer?
- Do they start with planning, or with investments?
- How do they get paid?
- Can they clearly explain how retirement income works?
Pay close attention not just to their answers—but to whether they ask thoughtful questions and help you understand your choices.
If you are looking for help with a specific issue, like a Roth IRA or term life insurance, then most any ‘financial advisor’ could help.
- You would want to focus on finding someone who you feel comfortable with and who explains finances to you in a way that helps you understand what you’re doing, why you’re buying the account, and empowers you to learn more about your money.
If you need a strategy to solve a particular situation in your financial life, then look for a specialist for your situation.
If you are looking to pay down student loans, or have company stock options, or are getting ready for retirement, you really need someone that specializes in your situation.
- You would want to search for your situation on Google (like “retirement planning in Milwaukee”), review their website and during your interview of this advisor make sure to ask pointed questions about their expertise, the process they use to solve your financial situation, and how they get paid.
If your faith, or other values matter in your advisor relationship then search for advisors whose background and beliefs match yours.
- Many people are looking for a ‘fee-only financial advisor’ or a ‘values-based advisor’ (especially around their Christian faith or perhaps related to ESG investing).
- Again, search Google for what you’re looking for (like “Christian Financial Advisor” or “fee-only planner near me”), review their website and during your interview ask them pointed questions about how they fit the characteristics you are looking for.
- Here are a few specialty website directories you could search, too:
- Wealthtender.com with a lot of filters to find your specific type of financial advisor
- FeeOnlyNetwork.com to find fee-only financial advisors
- KingdomAdvisor.com to find a Christian financial advisor
For more help on how to choose a financial advisor check out my guidebook, 3 Things You Should Know Before Choosing a Financial Advisor.
Other Milwaukee Financial Advisors You May Want to Interview
Before I reveal my list it’s important to know how I came up with it. I’ve been a financial advisor for over two decades and thankfully, through my membership in professional groups like the Financial Planning Association of Wisconsin and the CFA Society of Milwaukee I’ve gotten to meet a lot of advisors, and different types of advisors.
Besides Keil Financial Partners, here are a few other firms to interview that I’ve met throughout the years. I feel they stand out for their expertise, and I broke them out by their specialty. In addition, each of the advisors on the list:
- Acts as a fiduciary
- Is not registered as a stockbroker salesperson
- Has a minimum of the Certified Financial Planner (CFP®) designation
- Focuses on the financial planning strategy vs. trying to beat the market with investments
- Has a specialty in addition to general knowledge
*Please note that this is not a testimonial, endorsement, or ranking, but just my opinion. Inferences made are not based on client’s experience or endorsement of advisory services offered through Alongside, LLC or other firms.*
In alphabetical order:
Financial Services Group
Financial Service Group’s motto is “Fee-only Financial Planning for your GREAT LIFE”
They specialize in fee-only financial advice and retirement planning.
The wealth management professionals at Financial Services Group (FSG) encourage you to “Live your Great Life Now” and their focus on balancing your current and future goals helps you get there.
What makes FSG unique is their focus on ‘career asset management’ as well as their unique pricing structure. Many financial advisors are paid on how much money they manage for you and then focus only on the investment decisions.
FSG is a unique registered investment adviser in that they set their pricing based on a combination of your wealth and income. This means their focus is on helping you grow your net worth through smart financial decisions and on growing your income through advice on how best to progress your career and even negotiate promotions and pay packages!
Hilltop Financial Advisors
Hilltop’s motto is “Helping you live your IDEAL life.”
They specialize in helping anyone, young and older, with student loans
Erik Kroll is a Certified Financial Planner (CFP®) professional with a passion towards helping people pay down their student loans. He started Hilltop Financial Advisors to help you free up time so you could do the things you love.
While focusing on helping professionals in their 20s, 30s, and 40s with their student loan repayment options and comprehensive financial planning, Erik realized that many of his clients’ parents had student loan obligations, too.
Erik started StudentLoansOver50.com to help those folks grow their wealth by paying off their student loans in a better way, retire sooner, and enjoy their golden years.
Simplicity Financial
Simplicity’s motto is “Comprehensive financial planning for physicians with student loans.”
They specialize in doctors, especially those starting out with large student loans.
Simplicity Financial is a fee-only financial planning firm that works with Physicians, Fellows, and residents to develop a financial road map to achieve their financial goals.
Whether it be buying a house, paying off student loans, planning for retirement, or planning for a growing family, they work with clients to identify their financial picture and create a plan that aligns with their values through comprehensive financial planning, investment management and student loan management.
I hope this guide helps you find the right financial advisor for you, whether you live in Milwaukee or anywhere else in the US.
Please use it as a starting point for your financial advisor search. Remember these three steps:
- First decide what problem you need to solve, then
- Decide what type of financial advisor you are looking for and finally
- Search for those types of advisors and ask them pointed questions on how best they can serve you, as well as how they are compensated.
Again, here are a few directories to help you get started:
Financial Advisor Directories
- Wealthtender.com with a lot of filters to find your specific type of advisor
- FeeOnlyNetwork.com to find fee only advisors
- KingdomAdvisor.com to find a Christian financial advisor
Financial Advisor Services Across the Milwaukee Area
Many of the people we work with live in the Milwaukee suburbs and prefer meeting locally rather than driving downtown for every retirement decision.
Keil Financial Partners regularly works with families and retirees in:
- New Berlin
- Brookfield
- Waukesha
- Muskego
If you live in one of these communities, you’ll often find that Milwaukee-based retirement planning firms are well positioned to provide local, in-person guidance while still offering specialized retirement expertise.
How to Take the Next Step
Choosing a financial advisor is an important decision. You don’t need to rush it, but you do want to make sure you’re asking the right questions and speaking with someone who understands your situation.
If you’re within a few years of retirement and looking for help coordinating income, taxes, Social Security, investments, and long-term planning, it may be helpful to talk with a retirement-focused advisor who works with people in a similar stage of life.
At Keil Financial Partners, our work begins with education and clarity, not product recommendations. Many people reach out for guidance on when they can retire or how much income they’ll have in retirement or to understand how one choice (like claiming Social Security or retiring earlier) affects everything else.
If that sounds useful, you can schedule a conversation or explore our educational resources to learn more about how retirement planning works and what questions you should be asking whether you ultimately work with us or not.
No pressure. Just a chance to get clarity before making your big retirement decisions.
By Jeremy Keil, CFP®, CFA
Jeremy Keil, CFP®, CFA is a retirement financial advisor with Keil Financial Partners, author of Retire Today: Create Your Retirement Income Plan in 5 Simple Steps, and host of the Retirement Today blog and podcast, as well as the Mr. Retirement YouTube channel.
Jeremy is a contributor to Kiplinger and is frequently cited in publications like the Wall Street Journal and New York Times.
This material is provided for informational and educational purposes only and does not consider the investment objectives, financial situation, or particular needs of any viewer. Nothing contained in this material should be interpreted as a recommendation, endorsement, solicitation or offer to purchase, sell or rely upon any specific book, or to adopt any investment strategy.
The views and opinions expressed are those of the publisher of this material, current as of the date of publication, and may change without notice as market, political or economic conditions evolve.
Legal & Tax Disclosure
Viewers should consult their own qualified attorney, CPA, or other professional advisor regarding their specific legal and tax situations.
Advisor Disclosures
Alongside, LLC, doing business as Keil Financial Partners, is an SEC-registered investment adviser. Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or expertise. Advisory services are delivered through the Alongside, LLC platform. Keil Financial Partners is independent, not owned or operated by Alongside, LLC.
Additional information about Alongside, LLC – including its services, fees and any material conflicts of interest – can be found at https://adviserinfo.sec.gov/firm/summary/333587 or by requesting Form ADV Part 2A. The content of this material should not be reproduced or redistributed without the firm’s written consent. Any trademarks or service marks mentioned belong to their respective owners and are used for identification purposes only.
The content of this material should not be reproduced or redistributed without the firm’s written consent. Any trademarks or service marks mentioned belong to their respective owners and are used for identification purposes only.
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