About/ 01

The human read.

Twenty years in finance before I picked up a license. What I bring is the part most people don't get: the human read on a thirty-year decision dressed up as a transaction.

Portrait of Stephanie Cortese
Barrie, Ontario — Est. 2018

Numbers with context.

I'm a licensed Mortgage Agent (Level 2) and an independently owned franchise of Mortgage Alliance. No bank quotas, no in-house product to push. Just the right fit for the file in front of me. I work face-to-face in Barrie and Simcoe County, and on the phone with files across Ontario.

The longer version

I spent the first half of my career on the institutional side — reading T1s, building amortization schedules, watching the difference between a good decision and a default-on-paper. By the time I left to start my own practice, I had a clear opinion about what brokers were doing wrong: they were treating mortgages like transactions instead of like life.

Why I wrote a book about it

Most of the financial-wellness conversation talks down to people. Sick & Tired of Being Sick & Tired is the conversation I wish I'd had with someone twenty years ago. It's short, plain, and refuses to make money complicated for the sake of looking smart.

01
Licensed & Independent

Mortgage Agent, Level 2

Independently owned franchise of Mortgage Alliance. No bank quotas, no in-house product to push.

02
Local — not limited

Barrie-based, Ontario-wide.

Face-to-face in Simcoe County, on the phone with files across the province. Same care either way.

03
Published Author

Sick & Tired of Being Sick & Tired.

Twenty years in finance, and a book on the connection between personal and financial wellness.

How I got here/ 02

Twenty years in the trenches.

  1. 2003

    Started in institutional finance

    Reading T1s, building amortization schedules, learning how banks actually decide.

  2. 2018

    Opened the brokerage

    Independent franchise of Mortgage Alliance — Barrie, Ontario. No bank desk, no quota.

  3. 2024

    Published Sick & Tired of Being Sick & Tired

    A short book on the connection between personal and financial wellness.

Let's begin/ 07

Let's talk .

A short, no-pressure conversation. Tell me where you are, where you'd like to go, and what's stopping you.

Stephanie ready to chat