Meet the Team: River Galland

Since its inception, Yeske Buie has hosted interns from all over the world. One of our summer 2024 interns is River Galland. River is a graduate of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo where he earned a Bachelor of Science in Financial Management. In addition to his schooling, River has worked at two wealth management firms, which served as powerful opportunities to solidify his interest in building a career in financial planning.

River looks forward to supporting the team and Clients at Yeske Buie and hopes to meet and exceed our standards of excellence. We hope you enjoy getting to know more about River in this edition of Meet the Team. Welcome to the team, River!

Yeske Buie: Let’s begin by learning more about you. Tell us about yourself – your background, your passions, your interest in financial planning, and anything else you’d like to share.

River Galland: Let’s do it! To start, I grew up in Mill Valley, CA. I’ve always loved the area; it’s such a beautiful place with sunny weather and access to both the ocean and the mountains. It was the perfect place to build my passions for surfing and golfing. I’ve been surfing since I was seven years old, and I’m proud to say that I surfed the Mavericks, one of California’s iconic waves. There’s something for me about being in the ocean that feels like a nice cleanse to get away from reality and get into a flow state.

On the professional side of life, I didn’t know what career I wanted to pursue coming out of high school, though I had an interest in economics. I started studying and fell in love with how the whole economy works – it’s what makes the world go ‘round! I decided to major in financial management because I felt that it was a nice blend between the economics side of the industry and being in a field where I can help people.

In my junior year of college, I worked at a wealth management firm called Ridgecrest Wealth Partners which was a great opportunity to get an initial grasp on the industry. During my time there, I was able to see how planners navigate client relationships – especially when discussing tough topics – and use their deep knowledge of clients to help them prosper. After that, I got a second job working at a local RIA that further solidified my interest in wealth management. Feeling confident this was a career a wanted to pursue, I studied for various legal exams and approached my director to see what it would take to get the CFP^® designation. While there wasn’t a CFP^® program at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo at the time, I worked with my director to ensure their program met the CFP requirements and at the end of the year, the program was officially a CFP Board Registered Program.

My next Learn Big challenges are to prepare for the CFP^® exam in November, find a firm that feels like a good fit, apply the skills I’ve gained in my internships and studies, and build my own book of business to serve clients.

Yeske Buie: Wow, thank you for sharing! It’s impressive how much exposure you’ve gained by working with a variety of firms already. What have you observed about the planners you’ve worked with at your first two internships and at your internship at Yeske Buie?

River Galland: One thing that stands out about all of the advisors I’ve worked with so far is their Client-centric approach. These professionals approach their Client relationships as more than just work relationships. They want to be a Client’s first point of contact for both good and bad moments.

At Yeske Buie, it’s stood out since my first day how important the Client relationship is, and it’s so much deeper than the financial level. The first meeting is spent getting to know the other person as a unique human being, not just a set of numbers. In my experience, having more focus on the relationship side than the money side is really unique about Yeske Buie. The intentional steps we take, the care we have for Clients, and how deeply knowledgeable each planner is stands out – I haven’t seen it in many other places.

Yeske Buie: Beautiful observations, thank you. Digging a little deeper into your experience and interests, what is your favorite aspect of financial planning and why?

River Galland: The piece I enjoy the most about financial planning is the ability for planners to adapt to changing situations. Situations arise and the need of our Clients are never going to be stagnant. It’s not mechanical, it’s always changing, and you’re never going to be bored. Figuring things out for Clients so they can live a happy life and be able to enjoy that myself is my favorite part of the job.

On the technical side, portfolio creation was my favorite class in college. In the class, we built optimized portfolios in Excel and then made retirement portfolios to be able to forecast and plan for the money you’ll have in a certain number of years. I found it fascinating getting to know how each aspect of the portfolio applies to the economy and adjusting for changes.

Yeske Buie: Neat! Now perhaps combining the previous two questions, how are you approaching the role of Financial Planning Intern? What do you hope to accomplish and are there any areas of focus you’re most looking forward to experiencing?

River Galland: I’m approaching the role with an open mind hoping to further grow my knowledge of the profession and how to navigate relationships, tough conversations, and life changes. I hope to get a grasp on not only the numbers but how to nurture Client relationships and feel confident to be able to build trusting relationships throughout my career. I’m looking forward to seeing this through Yeske Buie’s estate planning processes, seeing how the firm builds their portfolios and handles Client requests, and being a part of the process of creating an overall financial plan that ties everything together.

Yeske Buie: All of those areas are so important to the work we do for our Clients, I’m certain you’ll get some exposure in both of those areas. We have one more question for you before we wrap up. You’re clearly driven and ambitious and passionate. What can you tell us about what motivates you?

River Galland: I think one of the things that motivates me most are the values instilled in me as a kid – perseverance and drive. Once I set my mind to something, I really want to achieve it. I want to go above and beyond and not let anything get in my way. And I think these values relate to Yeske Buie’s core value to Learn Big. I hope to learn as much as I can about the profession not just now, but I want to continuously grow as long as I can. I love that about this profession – you can never know enough, there’s always something to improve on.

Yeske Buie: Inspiring – thank you! We are grateful for everything you’ve shared with us today and we look forward to being on your learning journey throughout your internship and throughout your career.