About Eric
Author, researcher, financial planner, educator, and former commercial airline pilot. I study what actually makes retirement work and help people and advisors put that research into practice.
Professional
Eric T. Ludwig, Ph.D., CFP®, RICP®
Eric Ludwig is the author of The Retirement Specialist: Why Retirement Requires Expertise and How to Find It and host of The Financial Insights Show podcast.
He is co-founder and CEO of Stockbridge Private Wealth Management, serving affluent clients approaching and throughout retirement nationwide. He is also Associate Professor of Retirement Income and Director of both the Center for Retirement Income and the Retirement Income Certified Professional (RICP) program at The American College of Financial Services, where he oversees the professional education of over 12,000 financial advisors in retirement income strategies.
His published research spans retirement well-being, income strategy, investor behavior, and artificial intelligence in financial services, appearing in journals including Financial Planning Review, Finance Research Letters, Journal of Financial Planning, Journal of Financial Counseling and Planning, and others. He serves as Guest Editor of Financial Planning Review‘s special issue on FinTech and AI, and sits on the editorial review boards of five academic journals.
Eric partners with leading financial services firms on applied retirement research, including Nationwide, Mission Square Research Institute, and JP Morgan. His commentary and expertise have been featured in The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Barron’s, Kiplinger, Newsweek, MarketWatch, Investopedia, and numerous other national media outlets.
A frequent keynote speaker at major industry conferences and Fortune 500 financial services firms, Eric has presented at events hosted by the CFP Board, Financial Planning Association, AFCPE, NAPFA, ACCI, and DCIIA, among others. He has also appeared on Nasdaq Trade Talk and delivered a Kitces.com webinar to over 2,500 financial advisors.
Before entering financial services, Eric was a commercial airline pilot. He holds a Ph.D. in Personal Financial Planning from Kansas State University (under the supervision of Dr. Martin Seay), a master’s degree from the University of Colorado, and a bachelor’s degree from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.
Nasdaq Trade Talk panel discussion, New York, NY
Awards & Recognition
AFCPE Outstanding Research to Practice Award, sponsored by NEFE
Consumer Movement Archives Applied Consumer Economics Award, ACCI
WealthManagement.com “Wealthie” Award, Best Industry Research Provider
Excellence in Research Award, The American College of Financial Services
Finalist, ThinkAdvisor Luminaries Thought Leadership Award
CFP Board Best Paper in Financial Planning Practice
Education
Academic Background
Personal
Outside the Office
Born and raised in the Madison, Wisconsin area. I live there now with my wife Karen (CEO of House Ludwig, trained sociologist and fiction writer, and the source of all my good ideas) and our daughter.
When I’m not researching or advising, you can find me running (5+ year daily streak and counting), training taekwondo (black belt), coaching my daughter’s basketball and softball teams, golfing, spending time at our lake house, or occasionally getting back in the cockpit for a recreational flight.
I’m also 6’8″, which mostly means I get asked about it in every meeting.
Danube River cruise, Passau, Germany, 2025
Let’s Connect
Media inquiries, speaking requests, research partnerships, and client consultations.