You chose work that matters. Your money deserves the same care.
The financial questions that come with this work are specific: pensions, 403(b)s, PSLF, lower salaries, real tradeoffs. The standard advice skips most of it. Koinos doesn’t.
The standard financial advice doesn’t fit mission-driven work. Here’s what actually does.
Most financial advice is built around private sector compensation: high salaries, 401(k)s, stock options. If you’re a teacher, a nonprofit program director, a city employee, or a healthcare worker at a community organization, the tools and the questions are different.
You may have a pension instead of a 401(k). You may have a 403(b) or 457(b) you’re not sure how to use. You may qualify for Public Service Loan Forgiveness. You may have benefits that offset lower pay in ways most people don’t account for. The standard advice skips most of this.
The specific questions this work raises.
Nonprofit and government employees often have access to 403(b) and 457(b) plans, sometimes both. The contribution limits, withdrawal rules, and investment options differ from a 401(k) in ways that matter for planning. A 457(b) in particular has no early withdrawal penalty, which changes how you think about retirement access. Getting those decisions right early matters.
If you work full-time for a qualifying nonprofit or government employer and have federal student loans, you may be on track for Public Service Loan Forgiveness after 120 qualifying payments. But the program is unforgiving of errors (wrong repayment plan, wrong employer certification, missed payments), and the planning decisions you make before forgiveness can save or cost you tens of thousands of dollars. Run the numbers before you act. The difference can be tens of thousands of dollars.
Teachers, state employees, and some nonprofit workers have defined benefit pensions, a guaranteed monthly income in retirement rather than an account balance. The decisions around pensions are consequential and often one-time: when to retire, whether to take a lump sum or annuity, how to handle survivor benefits, and how the pension fits into your broader retirement picture. These are one-time decisions. They deserve more than a quick answer.
Mission-driven work often pays less than comparable private sector roles. The financial planning questions aren’t simpler for it; the margin for error is smaller, and the decisions about how to use what you have matter more. Koinos has no asset minimum. The people who need the most careful planning aren’t always the ones with the largest portfolios.
Health insurance, employer pension contributions, loan forgiveness, and job security are real economic value that doesn’t show up in a salary comparison. Understanding what your total compensation is actually worth, and how to plan around benefits rather than just salary, is part of what a one-time plan or ongoing relationship with Koinos covers.
The people Koinos works with in this space.
Teachers and school administrators: navigating Idaho PERSI, supplemental retirement accounts, and what a teaching career looks like financially over 20 or 30 years.
Nonprofit employees: program staff, development directors, executive directors at organizations doing important work on modest budgets.
Healthcare workers at nonprofits: nurses, social workers, and clinical staff at community health organizations and hospitals.
Government employees: city, county, and state workers in Boise and the Treasure Valley with PERSI or other defined benefit plans.
People with student loans: especially those who may qualify for PSLF and need to understand whether they’re on the right path.
People who chose purpose over pay, and want their money handled as carefully as anyone’s.
The first call is thirty minutes and costs nothing.
Tell me what’s in front of you. If the fit is good, a written proposal follows. If it isn’t, I’ll tell you, and point you somewhere better.
A person to walk with you, year after year.
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