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 June 2025 and the future!
In her free time, Lauren enjoys spending time with family (especially experiencing the joys of childhood with 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 with her husband, Daniel, 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 is enjoying the New Year and can’t believe how quickly it’s already going. As Elissa often says, we’ll all be planning our Thanksgiving dinners before we know it. The beginning of the year is a fun time for the financial planning team – it includes completing Safe-Spending Analyses, preparing and placing rebalancing and investing cash trades, and meetings with Clients looking into what’s to come for them in 2025. It’s also the start of tax season! While Yeske Buie doesn’t prepare tax returns, we do work closely with our Clients’ tax professionals to share tax documents and details for 2024 and discuss changes or strategies to think about for 2025.
Lauren enjoyed sharing space with Dave and Yusuf on our recent webinar, Drive Into 2025 – Navigating The Road Ahead. She is looking forward to spending time with Yusuf and their respective study groups at the DFA NEXT Summit in Austin, Texas in early February.
Lauren, Daniel, Nora, and Owen started the year off with a quiet New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day and then headed to Disneyland in early January! It was so fun seeing the magic of Disney through Nora’s eyes and exclamations. She rode her first roller coaster and many rides, high-fived Minnie, and hugged Pluto. She can’t wait to go back one day. Owen ate as many snacks as he could and watched the magic around him (he also got to go on a couple rides and enjoyed It’s a Small World). Lauren is looking forward to some special family trips this year including time in Hawaii.
*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.