Edward T Gurka III
Managing Director|CFP®, CLTC®, WMCP®, CLU®, ChFC®
Personal
I grew up in Pompton Plains NJ with my mother, father, younger brother, and younger sister. Childhood consisted of playing many sports, family traditions, and spending time with friends. The two sports I played throughout childhood were swimming and baseball. After high school I continued to swim competitively at Marist College. I swam all four years and was a captain my senior year. I met my wife Ashley in high school, but we didn't start dating until sophomore year of college. We got married in 2013 and welcomed our daughter, Ellie Noelle, to the world in 2018 and our son Theo in 2020.
When not working, I enjoy spending time with my wife and two children. I am an advocate for wellness and enjoy cold plunges to rejuvenate as well as exploring my love for food, wine and travel!
Lending a hand in my community.
As part of Northwestern Mutual, I'm proud to help accelerate the search for better childhood cancer treatments while supporting families undergoing treatment, and survivors from late effects. Here are some of the organizations we partner with:
Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation for Childhood Cancer (ALSF)
ALSF funds cancer research, raises awareness, and supports the families of children with cancer. Since 2012, Northwestern Mutual, its employees, and financial professionals like me have donated more than $20 million to support ALSF and fund over 400,000 research hours.
Sunrise Association
The mission of the Sunrise Association is to bring back the joys of childhood to children with cancer and their siblings worldwide. Sunrise accomplishes this through the creation and oversight of welcoming, inclusive summer day camps, year-round programs and in-hospital recreational activities, all offered free of charge.
Professional
I joined Northwestern Mutual in October of 2008 and have decades of experience in the financial services industry. I began my career as a financial representative after graduating with a Bachelor’s degree in finance and economics from the AACSB accredited School of Management at Marist College. In 2011, I transitioned into being a financial advisor. I continued my studies and expertise by becoming certified in financial planning, and obtained my CFP® designation along with my WMCP®, ChFC®, CLU® and CLTC® designations.
Currently, I hold my series 7, 66, 63, 6 and 26 securities registrations, along with the life, accident, and health insurance licenses.
Professional Designations
Ed Gurka has earned his Bachelor of Science in Finance and Economics from Marist College.
The CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER® (CFP®) certification identifies to the public those individuals who have met rigorous professional standards and have agreed to adhere to the principles of integrity, objectivity, competence, fairness, confidentiality, professionalism, and diligence when dealing with clients. The certification differs from an educational designation or state license in that it is based upon requirements that have been determined by extensive job analyses of actual practitioners in the field, and therefore, continue to evolve with the profession.
The Certified in Long Term Care® designation is one of the most extensive educations available for financial professionals in the field of long-term care insurance. Graduates of the CLTC® designation program from the Corporation for Long-Term Care Certification, Inc. have completed a multidisciplinary curriculum with a detailed concentration on essential information involved in the sale of long-term care insurance.
The Wealth Management Certified Professional® is a foundational designation credential offered by The American College of Financial Services that focuses on comprehensive wealth management education. This wealth management designation is designed to give financial professionals the strategic and practical framework to build broadly-diversified, tax-efficient portfolios aligned with client goals.
The Chartered Financial Consultant® designation offers comprehensive education in the essentials of financial planning, including insurance, taxation, retirement, and estate planning. It also addresses advanced areas such as behavioral finance, non-traditional family structures, and small business planning.
The Chartered Life Underwriter® designation is a specialized certification for life insurance underwriting and planning offered by The American College of Financial Services. The CLU® certification gives financial professionals an in-depth understanding of life insurance products, underwriting, and solutions as a key part of a goal-based financial plan. This underwriting certification includes insights on life insurance for business continuity, employee benefits, and estate planning. The CLU® designation offers a more focused course of study on the practical, legal, and ethical aspects of life insurance throughout clients’ lifecycles.
Here are my areas of expertise
Financial Planning
Wealth Management
Investment Planning & Strategies
Life Insurance Strategies
Retirement Planning & Income Strategies
Education Planning & Funding
Disability Planning
Planning for Special Needs
How Northwestern Mutual helps you live the life you want.
When people feel better about their money, good things happen—they become more confident and feel more secure. For more than 160 years, Northwestern Mutual has helped people achieve the financial flexibility they need to live more and worry less.
Being a mutual company means Northwestern Mutual reports to its clients, not Wall Street. They don't believe in chasing fads or taking undue risk for short-term gains. Instead, they take a long-term approach—both in the way we help people plan to reach their goals, and in the way they do business. This has served their clients (and mine) well through all kinds of economic ups and downs, including wars, recessions, even the recent pandemic.
It's why I'm happy to be part of a company that's in it for the long-haul and prioritizes clients over profit.
