Erika is a financial advisor, retirement plan specialist, and founder of Point Sur Advisors, LLC. She studied economics and graduated with a B.A. in Geology from Pomona College, Claremont. She obtained her MBA from the Orfalea College of Business at CalPoly San Luis Obispo.

Erika’s experience lies in comprehensive financial planning and designing strategies for wealth preservation and growth for individuals and business owners. She works with clients to tailor financial solutions for retirement income, tax efficient investing, insurance, generational wealth transfer, and charitable foundations. Her firm also specializes in retirement plan design and operation for 401(k), profit sharing, and pension plans. Erika holds her Series 7 and 66 securities registrations with LPL Financial in addition to her CA & NY insurance licenses. She is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professional and Chartered Retirement Plan Specialist (CRPS®).

Prior to founding Point Sur Advisors, she was Vice President at an independent wealth management firm where she managed qualified plans. Her primary role was compliance monitoring, plan maintenance and participant education. She was also responsible for insurance case design, portfolio management, and advanced planning strategies for the firm’s individual clients.

Erika has volunteered her time and skills to several community organizations. She served on the Board of Directors and as the Treasurer/Secretary for the French Hospital Medical Center Foundation. She also chaired the Foundation’s finance committee, which was responsible for managing the organization’s multi-million dollar endowment. In 2020, Erika was the Vice Chair for the Board of Directors of the South County Chambers of Commerce. She enjoys mentoring high school and college students who are interested in pursuing careers in financial services and has devoted time as a guest speaker for Cal Poly’s finance club.

Prior to her career in financial services, she studied economics as an undergraduate before changing her major to geology, which strongly appealed to her love of the outdoors. After graduation, she worked as a geologist for a local environmental consulting firm, where much of her field expertise was applied to soil and groundwater remediation projects at Avila and Guadalupe Beaches and in the Santa Maria Valley. She travelled extensively throughout the US for consulting projects before taking a position as an exploration geologist with a Canadian mining company based in Suriname, South America. In 2010, she obtained her MBA before pursuing a career as a financial advisor and retirement plan consultant.

A lot of business owners I meet are great at running their business.

But when you ask them if they're on track for retirement, they couldn't tell you. They have the same fears of running out of money that all pre-retirees struggle with, or they don't have a plan at all.

Most don't have the time to be great at running a business and great at optimizing their personal finances at the same time. So the big decisions keep getting pushed.

Decisions that compound over years into real money either kept or lost. And the longer they sit unanswered, the harder they get.

In my opinion, the time to start is 10-15 years before you're ready to stop. That's when the decisions still have room to work.

Self-employed professionals and small business owners who are still heads down running the business but starting to wonder if the personal plan is actually there.

Here's what that looks like in practice:
→ Choosing the right business structure
→ Designing a retirement plan that works for you and your employees
→ Coordinating investments across account types
→ Reducing your lifetime tax bill
→ Optimizing your salary to keep more of what you earn
→ Maximizing the QBI deduction that so many overlook
→ Managing personal finances and investments outside the business so everything works cohesively
→ Planning the transition — income, taxes, and passing assets to heirs

I'm here to make sure the financial plan and the tax strategy are working toward the same goal because when they're not, it's you who pays for it.

When you're ready to stop, the income should be there, you should have a tax plan, and you should have somebody looking out for blind spots for you.

Based in Arroyo Grande. Serving the Central Coast and beyond.

Background & Community
Education:
B.A. in Public Policy, Arizona State University | Arroyo Grande High School

Community Involvement:
✓ SLO County Chamber of Commerce Ambassador
✓ Former 17 Strong Foundation Committee Member

Outside the Office:
Basketball | Golf | Scuba Diving

Ready for your next chapter?
Connect with Sawyer for straightforward, reliable guidance built for business owners and high earners who refuse to settle for cookie-cutter advice.

Tanner May joined Point Sur Advisors as Client Service Associate in 2022. He works closely with clients during the onboarding process and with day-to-day service related to their accounts. He currently holds his California life and health insurance license and will be studying for the securities licensing exams. He is a native of San Luis Obispo County and graduated from Arroyo Grande High School in 2019. From an early age, Tanner was fascinated with the idea of flying and recently pursued his interest in aviation by learning how to fly airplanes, his favorite being Piper Cherokees. Much of his spare time is devoted to completing his flight hours and training toward his private pilot license. In addition to his love for flying, Tanner is also an avid snowboarder and world traveler, with his most recent destination being Kyoto, Japan.