Professional Coach, Consultant, Author, Lawyer
Stephen Pollan's advice and counsel are based on his extensive professional training and also drawn from the sum total of his life's experience. Stephen is a respected author whose numerous books on meeting life's challenges include three bestsellers.
Stephen appeared nationally as "The Answer Man" on CNBC for six years, responding to viewers' live personal finance questions. He's also a frequent guest on the Today show, Good Morning America and other programs. Besides television, Stephen contributes regularly to national publications such as U.S. News & World Report, Worth, New York and he has an upcoming monthly column in Money titled "Finding the Right Words."
Expressing his life-affirming perspective in his 1997 national bestseller, Die Broke, Stephen followed with Live Rich, a companion volume and also a national bestseller. In both books, he throws conventional wisdom about money and career out the window and replaces it with a rational, pragmatic — and counterintuitive — approach. His most recent books are It's All in Your Head and Fire Your Boss. Currently Stephen is working on Lifelines, a book about how to prepare for life's inevitable catastrophesÖ and grow from them. He and his longtime collaborator, Mark Levine, have been nominated for three National Magazine Awards.
The First "Act"
Stephen's personal journey has been far from easy. As a young man, he was a "practicing workaholic," striving to build the largest nest egg possible for his wife, Corky, and their four children. After graduating law school, he started his own law firm. It grew quickly and soon allowed him to take a leave of absence to become CEO of a closed-end investment company listed on the American Stock Exchange. Stephen then served as a senior vice president for National Westminster Bank. In addition, he served on the U.S. Small Business Administration Advisory Council.
But when he was 48 years old, Stephen received terrible news: He was diagnosed with lung cancer and told he didn't have long to live. Suddenly he was dealing with imminent mortality and the prospect of having to say goodbye to his beloved family. Two weeks later, though, he learned that he had been misdiagnosed. It wasn't cancer; it was "only" tuberculosis. He'd live — and he'd been given a "second life" in one lifetime.
The Next "Act"
During the next two years of slow recovery at home, Stephen rethought his priorities. He saw for the first time that he'd been living for other people — his father's dreams, his friends' goals, society's expectations. Stephen began to think about what was most important to him. And this thinking led him in an entirely new direction.
With his enforced time out, Stephen developed a new set of values in response to the gratitude he now felt in his life. He decided his priorities were to become the best husband, father and friend that he could be; to appreciate each and every day fully; to be with those he loved. In short, to savor life. The "new" Stephen may have been a "born-again," but he was still Stephen Pollan — and that meant helping others based on the important life lessons he had learned.
Stephen's "second act" began with teaching. He served as an adjunct professor at Marymount Manhattan College, and later as an assistant professor at Long Island University's Graduate School of Business. Subsequently he became a spokesperson on personal finance for American Express. AmEx sent him to over 30 major U.S. colleges and universities, where he gave seminars on credit, spending and finance for the students. Stephen started writing magazine articles and publishing, over the course of many years, more than 20 books. He also began his consulting practice, and has earned a reputation as one of the nation's most trusted financial advisers. On the personal side, he is blessed with a loving family that includes eleven grandchildren.