Financial Advisor and CPA for Teachers and Professors
A flat-fee CPA and Financial Planner team that gives you personalized, holistic advice across your taxes and financial plan. We plan your pension, 403(b) and 457(b), loans and side income, and file your returns.
What we handle for teachers and professors
An educator often has a pension, two workplace plans and a contract that pays for nine or ten months. We plan them as one retirement income.
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Your pension and Social Security
If your school or university did not withhold Social Security, its pension used to cut your Social Security under WEP and GPO. The Social Security Fairness Act ended both for benefits payable from January 2024, so your own, spousal and survivor benefits are no longer reduced.
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A 403(b) and a 457(b) together
Many districts and public universities offer both, and the limits are separate: $24,500 each in 2026, or $49,000 before catch-ups. Leave the job and a governmental 457(b) pays out at any age without the 10% early withdrawal tax, apart from money rolled in from another plan.
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Catch-ups only schools offer
After 15 years with the same school system or university, a 403(b) may allow $3,000 more a year, up to $15,000 in all, if your plan offers it. In the three years before the plan’s normal retirement age, a 457(b) can allow up to $49,000, though not alongside the age-50 catch-up.
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TIAA at a university
Many universities hold their 403(b) at TIAA. Money in TIAA Traditional under a Retirement Annuity contract can be withdrawn or moved only in 10 annual installments, so we plan around it before you count on it for a house, a rollover or an early retirement.
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Classroom spending
A K-12 teacher, counselor, principal or aide with 900 hours in the school year deducts up to $350 of 2026 classroom costs without itemizing. From 2026, if you itemize, spending above that is deductible too, and coaches qualify for that part. Professors are not eligible educators.
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Consulting and book royalties
Consulting fees go on Schedule C with self-employment tax and quarterly estimates. Royalties from a book usually go on Schedule E with no self-employment tax, unless writing is a business you carry on. A Solo 401(k) for consulting shares your $24,500 deferral limit with your 403(b).
How Nino helps teachers and professors
Educators often have a pension statement, two plan providers and a loan servicer, and no one adding them up. On an Advisor plan your financial planner and CPA plan your pension, savings and loans as one retirement income and file the return that reflects it.
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A plan in your first two weeks
Your financial planner and CPA build a plan from your pension statement, your 403(b) and 457(b) statements, your contract and your loan servicer’s figures, then revisit it every quarter and before you choose a pension option.
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Your return, prepared and filed
Your CPA prepares your federal and state returns, including Schedule C for consulting, Schedule E for royalties and your educator expense deduction. Nothing is filed until you approve it.
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Your accounts in one view
Nino’s AI software connects your 403(b), 457(b), IRAs and loans read-only, so you can ask how far you are from PSLF or what a summer of consulting adds after tax.
What should teachers and professors decide early?
Four choices that a school calendar and a pension make easy to put off.
PSLF or Teacher Loan Forgiveness
Public schools and universities are government employers and private nonprofit colleges are 501(c)(3)s, so all count for PSLF. Teacher Loan Forgiveness pays up to $17,500 after five years at a low-income school, but those years cannot also count toward PSLF. Compare the two before you apply.
Which account to fill first
When you plan to stop working sets the order. A governmental 457(b) can be reached without the 10% tax as soon as you leave; a 403(b) usually waits until 59½, or 55 if you leave in or after the year you turn 55.
Ten paychecks or twelve
A 10-month contract can be paid in 10 checks or spread over 12. Either way each check is taxed in the year you receive it, so the year you switch shows less pay. With 10 checks, set aside the summer from the school year, including what goes to your 403(b).
Which pension option to elect
A pension plan usually asks you to choose once between a larger pension for your life alone and a smaller one that continues to a spouse. We model each option against your savings and your Social Security, which now arrives unreduced, before you sign.
Pick your plan
Every Advisor plan includes a CPA and Financial Planner team, federal and state tax filing, and our Ultra software.
Essential
- Everything in Ultra software, plus:
- A dedicated CPA and Financial Planner team for you
- Single-filer return, quarterly taxes included
- Retirement & equity planning
- Quarterly advisor access
- Rentals
- 0
- K-1s
- 0
- States
- 1
- Brokerage
- 3
Plus
Most Popular- Everything in Essential, plus:
- A dedicated CPA and Financial Planner team for you and your spouse
- Married filing jointly return, international coverage included
- One coordinated plan for both of you
- Quarterly and ad hoc advisor access
- Rentals
- 2
- K-1s
- 5
- States
- 3
- Brokerage
- 5
Premier
- Everything in Plus, plus:
- Business bookkeeping and tax filings, priced by complexity
- Joint or single return, complex international coverage
- Advanced equity & estate planning
- Priority advisor access
- Rentals
- 5
- K-1s
- 10
- States
- 5
- Brokerage
- 10
Software plans starting from $20 a month
Our AI financial assistant on its own, with a 7-day free trial.
Guides for teachers and professors
Read up on these decisions, or run your own numbers.
401(k) Contribution Limits for 2026
The 2026 employee limit is $24,500. See age-based catch-ups, employer contribution limits, and the Roth catch-up rule.
Read guideRoth IRA Contribution and Income Limits for 2026
The 2026 IRA contribution limit is $7,500, or $8,600 at age 50+. Income and contributions to other IRAs may reduce your Roth IRA allowance.
Read guideSolo 401(k) vs SEP IRA
A Solo 401(k) beats a SEP IRA at most incomes because it adds a $24,500 employee deferral and catch-ups. See the 2026 math at $60K, $150K, and $300K.
Read guideTax and Financial Deadlines for 2026 and Early 2027
Every date from October 2026 to April 2027: estimated taxes, December 31 moves, tax forms, IRA and HSA deadlines, and the life-event clocks that run on their own.
Read guideRetirement Calculator
Estimate retirement income, how long savings could last, and any funding gap.
Open calculatorRoth IRA Calculator
Estimate your income-based Roth IRA limit and compare long-term account growth.
Open calculator
More people we work with
See how our CPA and Financial Planner team helps people in situations like yours.