Meet Mark

Mark S. Fischer has helped hundreds of people successfully manage the transition to retirement, as a financial planner and retirement coach. In addition to his new book, Serious About Retiring, he is a co-author of Mapping Your Retirement

With decades of experience as a retirement planner and coach, he offers on-line courses on preparation for retirement. He also taught for many years at the University of Minnesota in their College of Continuing Education program.

Mark takes a holistic and research-oriented approach to retirement-planning. His goal is always to use the best available information to tailor individual plans for his clients/students.

On July 28^th 2000, Mark was on vacation with his wife in Colorado eating at a nice restaurant. For dessert he ordered “Death by Chocolate,” cake, ice cream, sauce, all chocolate. After dinner he had a heart attack. He was flown over the Rocky’s in a hospital helicopter to a hospital in Denver, where he had triple bypass surgery.

Over the next ten weeks he recovered his health. But the incident changed how he looked on his life. He had almost died but hadn’t. He began to ask himself—what am I here for?

Everything changed after that. His doctor told him—exercise or die. So, he made a commitment to take better care of his health. He became more serious about biking and, over the next six years, he biked the entire length of the Mississippi River, in intervals, from Lake Itasca to New Orleans.

His work changed. He became even more of a resource to his clients and to his community. He launched two charities and set up trusts to leave substantial amounts of money to his favorite charities after his (and his wife’s) death(s). As a financial planner, he specialized in charitable planning so his clients could leave substantial amounts of money to their favorite causes. He also matched charitable donations from his clients.

Mark spent more than three years writing Serious About Retiring. This book condenses his insights from research, his work with clients and his experience in his own semi-retirement. The book is his way of giving something back to the community, to help others have a smooth transition and many fulfilling years.

Mark grew up in Elmira, New York. As a boy, he became interested in the stock market. It was a family hobby. He earned a BA, with honors, in chemistry at Brandeis University and a Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of California-Berkeley, where he worked with Nobel laureate Melvin Calvin. After a Post-Doc at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, he taught Biochemistry at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst.

He launched his financial planning career when he was in his 40’s, when he decided to make a career out of his hobby. By this time, he and his wife and son were living in Minneapolis. His first position as a financial planner was at The Equitable, where he earned an award as the best new agent.

Mark continues to refine his own life purpose and legacy. His workshops help pre- and early retirees develop their individual life purposes.

In his early 70’s he began to take cello lessons. This has become an important part of his retirement life. He practices an hour every day. His hope is, someday, to be good enough to play in a string quartet—and be invited back.

Mark and his wife, artist-author-gerontologist, Lucy Rose Fischer, have been married for fifty-five years. They both work at home, with offices next to each other. A love of travel allows them to visit their son and seven grandchildren frequently as well as travel to many places in the States and around the world.

Are you serious about retirement? Get in touch with Mark to learn more.