Meet the Team: Grant Barlow

Since its inception, Yeske Buie has hosted interns from all over the world. One of our summer 2024 interns is Grant Barlow. Grant is a rising senior at Virginia Tech and is pursuing dual Bachelor of Sciences degrees in Finance, concentration in Corporate Finance, and Financial Planning and Wealth Management. In addition to his schooling, Grant had an internship in Melbourne, Australia with a food consulting firm where he had the opportunity to shadow client meetings and assist clients as they expanded their businesses.

Grant looks forward to applying the lessons and skills he’s learned so far with his work at Yeske Buie. We hope you enjoy getting to know more about Grant in this edition of Meet the Team. Welcome to the team, Grant!

Yeske Buie: We’re happy to have you on the team this summer. Our team has come up with lots of ways that we feel you’ll be able to make a positive impact on our Clients and our team. With that, let’s get to know a bit more about you. Tell us about yourself…

Grant Barlow: It’s so great to be here, Lauren! I’m looking forward to helping the team and our Clients in any way that I can.

A bit about me: I was born and raised in Charlotte, NC and I have three sisters, which always kept things interesting growing up! In my free time, I enjoy fly fishing, rock climbing, surfing, skiing, hiking – anything outdoors.

On a more professional front, I am a rising senior in the Financial Planning CFP Board Education Program at Virginia Tech, and I’m also majoring in Corporate Finance. I completed an internship in Australia last year which was an amazing experience and was the inspiration for the double major in Corporate Finance. I’d love to move back to Australia, and because Financial Planning is conducted differently there than in the States, I want to expand my knowledge to help my future self. And whether or not that happens, I’ve learned a lot from my mergers and acquisitions class and a separate Excel focused class and I’m grateful for the opportunity to learn more in these areas.

Yeske Buie: You clearly have an adventurous side, Grant – thank you for sharing! Can you tell us a bit more about your journey into financial planning?

Grant Barlow: Sure. Thinking back on my childhood, I remember that I liked to save my money, which was the opposite of my older sister – she would ask me for my money because she spent all of hers! It made me happy to help her both by giving her money so she could buy what she wanted and by reminding her to save when she could. This general interest in money is a big reason that I decided to pursue finance as my major, and I found financial planning after a professor in the program, Jesse Lineberry, spoke in one of my classes. The way he described financial planning – as an opportunity to meet people and help them – resonated with me so deeply because it’s what I genuinely enjoy doing. He made me feel like it was a no brainer to pursue a career in this profession.

Yeske Buie: Thank goodness for good mentors! As you’ve learned more about financial planning, what would you say is your favorite aspect of the work that we do for our Clients?

Grant Barlow: I love learning more about the inner workings of creating a financial plan for a Client. I find it fascinating how you take a bunch of information – even details that a Client might not think are impactful – and you make it relevant and turn it into a productive plan.

It’s also been a privilege so far to shadow Yusuf (Yeske Buie CIO) and hear him talk about and interact with his Clients. The way he builds relationships and genuinely cares about his Clients is inspiring – it feels like he has real friendships with his Clients in addition to their working relationship. This has shown me that you’re not just helping someone achieve their goals, you’re building what will hopefully be a real, impactful, life-long relationship.

Yeske Buie: Beautiful, Grant. It is a true honor to be so deeply connected with our Clients. In thinking about the opportunities you’ve had to do work for our Clients thus far, is there a specific project or area of focus you’ve been most interested in or most looking forward to?

Grant Barlow: I’ll soon be working on a project to create a 10-year projection for select Clients to see if it makes sense convert their IRA to a Roth IRA with the goal of identifying tax savings to benefit the Clients. I’m looking forward to doing that analysis to help the financial planning team take care of their Clients. This project feels in line with my goal to reach the end of my internship feeling like I’ve contributed in ways that make a Client feel better about their relationship with us or their financial situation – that would feel really rewarding.

Yeske Buie: That’s an admirable goal, thank you for sharing. Shifting gears a bit, as you’ve learned, Yeske Buie has a distinct set of core values. Which of our core values resonates most with you and why?

Grant Barlow: At this stage of my life, Learn Big is the core value that resonates most with me. I feel that it’s really important to learn from mistakes and improve myself from what I learn. Rather than being held down by my mistakes, I use them as a learning experience. I like to think that this outlook allows me to welcome failure. Using failures as learning opportunities is more beneficial in the long run than getting held up in the past.

Yeske Buie: That’s an inspiring outlook and a great way to look at the Learn Big philosophy. Let’s talk about Live Big – what are a few of your Live Big goals?

Grant Barlow: My family are avid travelers and they instilled that in me. I’d love to hit all seven continents in my lifetime. I’m hoping to plan a trip to Greece or Japan next. And as I mentioned earlier, I’d love to live in Australia at some point in my life. I fell in love with the culture, the people, and the environment there and with my love for the outdoors, I think it would be a great place to live.

Lastly, I hope to carry on my Dad’s legacy with his annual charity hike for cystic fibrosis. It’s called the Xtreme Hike and lives up to its name as it demands 30.1 miles in one day for CF awareness. It’s been a special event to be a part of all these years and I look forward to continuing the journey for years to come.

Yeske Buie: Those are some incredible goals and initiatives – way to go! We look forward to hearing about all that you accomplish during your time at Yeske Buie and in all the years ahead.