Erika Wood leads Balefire’s Planning team and serves as a trusted advisor to clients across the firm. She sets the strategic direction for Balefire’s planning offerings, oversees process implementation, and shapes how the firm differentiates its approach to stewarding client wealth. Erika works closely with other team leads to make sure clients experience a unified, collaborative effort from every subject matter expert at the firm.
Erika has spent nearly two decades working directly with clients, including the past six years in tandem leadership roles, giving her insight into a wide range of client situations and challenges, and the ability to quickly identify the right course of action or the right expert to bring in. She has earned several industry and firm-based awards for client retention and growth, though she points to the depth and longevity of her client relationships as what she values most. Leading teams has sharpened a different set of strengths for Erika beyond advising, including project management, organizational discipline, and a servant leadership style that puts her team’s success ahead of her own recognition.
Erika holds the CFP, AIF, and RICP designations, credentials that reflect her depth of training across financial planning, fiduciary investment practices, and retirement income strategy.
Erika’s approach to financial decisions starts with values, not numbers. She believes the math is only part of the equation; what matters more is whether a client’s decisions align with their core values, vision for the future, and provides sense of purpose. She treats planning as a comprehensive, ongoing process rather than a one-time exercise, aligning a client’s vision with their tax, estate, investment, and insurance plans into a single cohesive strategy built around what matters most to them.
Erika lives in a suburb of Minneapolis with her husband and their three children. In her free time, she enjoys cooking, reading, and swimming.