About Us

Our Mission

Our purpose is to help our clients get through life with its multiple transitions with ease and financial clarity, while creating a secure financial life.

We are a financial planning firm offering a wide range of services. What sets us apart is our genuine interest in you as a person and how your finances can help you achieve your life goals. We customize our services to connect your money to your goals, recognizing that each client is unique and has different needs.

Anja Luesink, MBA CFP^® CeFT^® GFP

My Story

“When I came to the US after living in Europe, I wanted to understand my own US finances better. I started studying financial planning in my spare time and discovered I really liked personal finances. It became my passion to help others like me to understand and improve their finances.

I became a Certified Financial Planner^®, gained experience by working in financial planning firms and even taught retirement classes at NYU, then I started the business.”

I was immediately drawn to the holistic approach of Life Planning and followed the training as a Registered Life Planner at the Kinder Institute of Life Planning. In Financial Life Planning we help the client discover what is a truly fulfilled life and see how their financial resources can create that. A financial plan should be more than a printout from a software program; it should be customized as every client is different and specifically this personal side is what drives decisions.  As a planner you have to get to know and understand the client.

We all struggle when irrevocable changes in life take place (and whose life is without those).  My training as a Certified Financial Transitionist^® (CeFT^®) at  the Sudden Money Institute helps me to understand these emotional, often chaos-creating events so I can better guide clients through those human transitions. Our Goal is to provide clarity, make it easier for clients to make decisions and make the outcome better.

Having an international background, I enjoy working with international clients, mostly Europeans living in the US or Americans living in Europe. Cross-Border planning can be a minefield, so to be better aware of the difficulties that Global Financial Planning encompasses I followed the Master Class at the Global Financial Planning Institute.”

Anja is an active member of the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors (NAPFA) and the Financial Planning Association (FPA). For many years she has provided pro-bono financial planning advice (and still does when the opportunity rises) to low-income New Yorkers for the FPANY Pro-Bono Committee; as part of her pro-bono work, she taught financial literacy at homeless shelters, domestic violence survivor and foster children programs. She was a Board member of the FPA New York Chapter and later headed the National Pro-Bono Committee for FPA. In 2012 she received the prestigious Heart of Financial Planning Award from the National FPA for her role in the community.

She lives with her husband in Riverdale, NY. In her free time, you can find her in her house Upstate New York working in the garden, cooking or walking in the forest. She loves reading and making jigsaw puzzles. (“Client cases are sometimes like a jigsaw puzzle”).

Clare Stenstrom, CFP^® CeFT^®

Clare Stenstrom is a Certified Financial Planner™ (CFP^®) practitioner and a Certified Financial Transitionist™ (CeFT^®). She provides comprehensive, holistic financial life planning and investment advisory services, with a focus on clients in the midst of money-related life changes.

Clare achieved Mastery level with the Sudden Money Institute™ in her quest to coach her clients to successfully navigate life’s financial transitions.   In 2014, Clare partnered with Anja Luesink to form Luesink Stenstrom Financial, an independent fee-only financial planning and investment management firm.

Prior to that, Clare was a partner at Bourne Stenstrom Lent Asset Management. For also worked for twenty plus years at the investment advisory firms, Parmelee Management Corp., where she was a principal, and the firm, Neville, Rodie & Shaw.  

Clare is passionate about providing financial planning and financial literacy to those in need. She is the recipient of the Heart of Financial Planning Distinguished Service Award, given by the Financial Planning Association (FPA) and the first Heart of Financial Planning award given by the FPA’s New York Chapter (FPANY). As a past President of the FPANY, she created a program that provides pro bono financial planning services to the families of 9/11 victims. Out of this program, grew the Financial Planning Association’s national Pro Bono program, which exist today to provide free financial planning and financial literacy.

She remains an active participant and leader in the FPANY and continues to work with people affected by 9/11. She also co-created multiple financial literacy programs, including the Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC) program, which prepares student ambassadors to be financially confident for the rest of their lives, and the MoneyWise program for domestic violence survivors that is now taught in several Family Justice Centers around the country.  

Her expertise in investing, debt management, credit repair and basic financial planning has garnered her numerous speaking engagements and her advice is often quoted in the media.   Clare divides her time between New York and Melbourne Australia. With her husband and fellow Certified Financial Transitionist,™ she has launched the Sudden Money Institute Australia to train Australian financial planners in the art and science of financial transition. She also provides financial transition coaching to international clients.

Kim Mocha, CFP^®

Kim Mocha is a Certified Financial Planner™ (CFP®) and works as a virtual paraplanner. She has spent 25+ years working in the financial services industry, gaining most of her licensing and experience during her almost 20 years with Raymond James & Associates, Inc.

Kim takes pride in her work and strives for excellence in serving our clients.  She takes care of some of the administrative needs and assists with financial planning and research.  She enjoys helping clients achieve their goals.

Originally from the suburbs of Chicago, she moved to St. Petersburg, Florida 35 years ago to enjoy warmer weather and sunshine.  She actively supports local dog rescue groups and enjoys spending time with her dog Kylo.  She spends her free time at the beach, gardening, camping, and taking her 55 Chevy station wagon to a variety of car shows.