Tana Gildea is a Principal who began her career as a financial advisor with a phone call out of the blue in 2005. At the time, she didn’t even know what a financial planner was but quickly realized that she had found her “next chapter” in life after staying at home with four young children and serving in various PTA, Girl Scout, and booster club leadership roles.
The phone call led Tana to join Compass Financial Consulting, a fee-only wealth management firm where she moved from part-time client service administrator for the small but growing firm all the way up to Principal in 2014. She served as the Chief Compliance Officer at Compass, helped with many of the administrative aspects of running the business, and worked with a variety of clients. She also became a Certified College Funding Specialist in 2011 just as her first child headed off to college. Compass merged with Homrich Berg in January 2018 at which time Tana became a Principal at HB.
Prior to joining the Compass team in 2005, Tana had earned both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in accounting. She had served as a corporate audit specialist, an operational manager, and an adjunct accounting teacher at Chattahoochee Technical College. She returned to the classroom as an instructor for Kennesaw State University’s new certified financial planner program in 2018. While no longer consistently teaching for the program, she remains available as a sub.
A published author, Tana has shared a wealth of financial advice for young people and other financial novices in her award-winning book, The Graduate’s Guide to Money, and in other publications. She enjoys speaking to college students about how to start their financial lives on the right foot. Tana often speaks to women’s groups about the emotional aspects of money management. Contact Tana if you need a speaker for your event.
In 2023, Tana became a Certified Divorce Financial Analyst® to delve more deeply into the issues facing people who are divorcing and serve those women who may want to seek a new financial advisor post-divorce. She is thrilled to be a member of the Atlanta Women’s Foundation Inspire Atlanta class of 2024.
Tana loves working with the “up and coming” clients helping them to set and work toward financial goals, make shifts as their situation changes, and serve as financial guide as they develop their holistic financial plan. She also has a large contingent of clients at the other end of life’s journey who are perhaps “suddenly single” and need that extra help to transition to a new normal and learn some new financial skills as they manage the retirement phase of life. Regardless of life stage, Tana is a willing partner for anyone looking to come to financial peace-of-mind.
