Susan Sima Alefi

Susan Alefi did not choose financial advising by accident. She chose it because of her grandmother.

Like many women of her generation, Susan's grandmother moved through life without a financial safety net - without knowledge, without guidance, and without anyone in her corner who truly understood her situation. That story stayed with Susan. It shaped the way she thinks about money, about people, and about what it means to actually serve someone well.

Before building Serenity Financial Planning, Susan spent years working in several financial institutions - and what she observed there reinforced everything she had come to believe. Clients were known by an account number. No one asked about their goals. No one learned their names. The relationship that should have been at the heart of financial guidance simply was not there. Susan was determined to change that.

She has since built a practice grounded in genuine personal service, patient guidance, and a deep commitment to the people she works with. Her work centers on investment portfolio management, retirement planning, tax planning strategies, insurance solutions, and estate planning - with a particular passion for helping families navigate the tax side of their financial lives and empowering women to take confident control of their financial futures.

Susan holds the Accredited Asset Management Specialist (AAMS), Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC), and Enrolled Agent (EA) designations. With the EA credential — the highest tax credential awarded by the U.S. Department of the Treasury — Susan is federally authorized to represent clients before the IRS on matters including audits, collections, and appeals. This means tax strategy is not a separate conversation at Serenity. It is woven into everything we do.

She has seen firsthand what happens when people make major financial decisions - selling a business, selling a home - without a clear picture of what comes next. Those moments can be difficult to reverse. That reality drives her to make sure every client she works with understands exactly where they stand before making any decision that matters.

Susan works with a select group of clients who value a real relationship with their advisor - people who want someone who picks up the phone, knows their story, and genuinely cares about where they end up. For Susan, that is not a service model. It is simply the right way to do this work.