CHIEF PLANNING OFFICER • PARTNER
Lauren Stansell, CFP® earned an honors B.S. in Economics, summa cum laude, from Virginia Tech in May 2012. She earned her second honors bachelor’s degree in Finance, summa cum laude, from Virginia Tech’s CFP® Certification Education Track, a CFP Board-Registered program, in December 2012. Lauren passed the CFP® exam in July 2014 and became a CFP® professional in February 2015. Lauren earned her Master’s in Advanced Financial Planning with a concentration in Taxation through Golden Gate University in 2019.
In 2024, Lauren was named to InvestmentNews’ inaugural list of Rising Stars*, a list of the best Wealth Managers and Advisors under 40. Also in 2024, Lauren was named to Forbes’ Top Next-Gen Wealth Advisors Best-in-State list*, Lauren’s second recognition by Forbes. Her first came in 2023 when she was named to Forbes’ Top Women Wealth Advisors Best-in-State list*. According to Forbes, advisors on these lists “represent the true role models of the industry – advisors that are leading the way in offering best practices and providing a high-quality experience for clients.” Lauren has also been featured on various podcasts including ‘NextGen Planners Podcast’ and the ‘You’re a Financial Planner… Now What?’ podcast. She has also been quoted in publications including InvestmentNews, WalletHub, BankRate.com, and AssetTV. She has served as both a speaker and a moderator for various panels and presentations at conferences around the country including a hiring presentation a succession planning panel, and a Women in Wealth panel. She was also involved in building a new course with The Institute for the Fiduciary Standard and moderated the first class on the history of the financial planning profession.
Lauren co-founded the Financial Planning Association® (FPA®) Student Chapter at Virginia Tech and was the first president of the organization. In the first year of its existence, the chapter grew to over 70 students, making it the largest student chapter in the country. Lauren’s passion for engaging with the next generation of financial planners led her to take on the role of Co-Director of NexGen for the FPA of the National Capital Area in 2014. A natural born leader, Lauren served as the 2021 President and 2022 Chair of the FPA of San Francisco. Lauren is a graduate of FPA’s Residency Program and had the honor of serving as a Mentor to the Residents in June 2019 and 2021; she looks forward to serving as a Mentor again.
In her free time, Lauren enjoys spending time with family (especially watching her daughter, Nora, and her son, Owen), hiking, exploring new cities and areas of her home city (San Francisco), horseback riding (she started riding when she was four years old), trying new restaurants and recipes, and enjoying jogs and long walks along the San Francisco Bay.
Client Focus: As Chief Planning Officer, Lauren strives to empower Clients to pursue their Live Big lives, to be their “deep breath” in times of need, and to facilitate and participate in the meaningful relationships built. Lauren’s role on the team as a leader is an integral one: not only does she provide guidance and mentorship for those who support her, but she’s also considered the Protector of our core values, ensuring that all strategies and decisions are in alignment with who we are at our core.
Current Update:
Lauren and the team have been busy digging into year-end tax planning (reviewing projected portfolio distributions and strategic roth conversions, confirming retirement account related distributions and contributions are complete, and planning for any final charitable gifts before the end of the year)! She’s also been paying close attention to the news, markets, and commentary on what’s to come in the next presidential term (see our recent webinar here.) As policy changes are announced and enacted, she’ll be paying close attention to tax and estate planning policies and will be writing pieces for TheLiveBigWay® Digest and coming webinars – stay tuned.
As we head into the new year, Lauren looks forward to continuing to deepen knowledge and utilization of the tax planning software the team is now using and continuing to explore new offerings within the financial planning software the team uses. The team has also restarted Yeske Buie University – an internal name for our team educational endeavors (reading articles and books and discussing as a team – what the research set out to do, what it showed, how it affects what we do and how we do it).
Lauren is looking forward to the holidays with family and friends! She, Daniel, Nora, and Owen are hosting Thanksgiving and excited for the preschool and daycare holiday festivities to come. Owen will be turning ONE on 11/30 and everyone is excited to celebrate!
*Recipient advisor or wealth manager of an award and/or ranking is no guarantee as to future investment success, nor is there any guarantee that the selected wealth managers will be awarded this accomplishment in the future. Disclosures for Awards and Rankings are available here.