Mid-Year Reflections from the CPO

It’s hard to believe we’re halfway through 2025 already! And what a ride it’s been. I’ve been sharing with many people that it’s felt a bit like whiplash – political announcements, frequent changes, a high volume of legislation, and market reactions (which, by the way, means the market has been working exactly as it should be! Reacting in real time to news as it comes out is exactly what we want to see). And the noise and the news are just one piece – all the other ongoing financial planning is still happening here at Yeske Buie. With so much going on, I thought I’d take a moment to share some updates and reflections here:

Energy, Passion, Values, and FPA Residency

Now that I’ve been back from maternity leave for over a year, I’m feeling renewed energy and passion for my role as Chief Planning Officer, our amazing team, the dear relationships we get to build and work we get to do with Clients, and my excitement for the overall profession. If you have or have had small children, you may be able to relate to the time it sometimes takes to get your “normal” levels of energy back!

I am confident that energy and passion was further sparked during my recent service as a mentor at the Financial Planning Association’s Residency Program for the third time. I was a Resident myself over a decade ago and to have been asked to come back as a mentor three times now has been an honor. Residency (which, by the way, is different from Yeske Buie’s Financial Planning Resident program, which is more akin to a three-year medical residency to prepare new planners for their careers and dreams in joining another firm or starting their own) is a week-long financial planning bootcamp, well-described by FPA here:

This program is near and dear to Yeske Buie’s heart and values – Elissa and Dave have both been involved with Residency for many decades and have served as the program’s Dean (the one who runs the full week each time) many times. In fact, Dave will be serving as the Dean this fall and our teammates Kacie Fawls and Tim Connolly will be attending as Residents.

Residency is about practicing the art of financial planning and one of our values, Think Big, shares that we believe that exquisite action demands the artful application of the best available science. Elissa also wrote To Feel … Like a CFP^® in July 2000 and shared more about what it means to us to truly be with our Clients, perhaps the unknown precursor to another value, arguably one of the most discussed: Client Big – We believe to best serve others you must feel the world through their heart.

Financial planning absolutely includes number crunching (and we tend to be nerds about that part and love it) and investing (you know how much we love this part from all the conversations we have and webinars we host), and it’s about so much more. Those things do not matter if we don’t know who you are and who and what matters to you, and why. As Elissa noted in her article, feeling more “doesn’t make the thoughts or the facts irrelevant, it just puts them into some perspective…a human perspective.”

That’s why our Discovery Process is so important to us and why we strive to live in that discovery phase always – so we can be the best thinking partner with you along your journey.

New Energy, Same Standard

In an effort to maintain our same standard of excellence in everything we do for you, our Clients, we’re also bringing new energy to exploring the best available research and technology to allow us to continue to serve you to that standard.

We’ve long been practicing evidence-based financial Planning (Elissa and Dave wrote To Learn … Like a CFP^® on the topic in 2011) and another value, Learn Big, shares that we believe learning fuels potential. We are committed to being lifelong learners and that comes in a few forms specifically in 2025:

• I’ve recently built a Financial Planning Committee that will rotate members of the Financial Planning Team periodically. The goal of the committee is to have a few people responsible for exploring and diving into new methods or technologies as the first set of eyes. This committee will review research, sample new technologies, and coalesce around pros/cons for anything we’re exploring adding to our approach. We’ll use the lens of our values to determine when something might make sense to bring to the team for further comment and analysis and be responsible for managing the implementation of any new related processes.
  • Initially, the additional committee members are Yusuf, Sydney, and Kacie.

• We’re currently working to finalize our proposed policies, processes, and templates for the new tax planning software you’ve seen me write about before – Holistiplan.
  • One of our biggest focuses in adopting this new software is how to ensure everyone on the team, including future new team members, maintains deep understanding of how tax calculations work. It’s vital to us that the software help us be more efficient and accurate without allowing us to turn our brains off. Off the cuff conversations and brainstorms happen often in meetings; we need to be able to understand how the taxes work so we can have those discussions. We must maintain the same standard of excellence we’ve always had, even while improving our efficiency.

• Our team is also exploring AI for notetaking and meeting preparation. There are AI services built by and specifically for financial planners that are trained to take notes, summarize action items, and review past notes for meeting preparation efficiencies – all while taking into account the significant compliance regulations we must follow and the fiduciary duty to do what’s in our Clients’ best interests at all times (which includes maintaining privacy and safety of data).

• I also recently explored an estate planning review software that helps to summarize key decision points, decision makers, and ultimate flow of assets. This is something we have always done and believe is a very important part of the financial planning process and ongoing annual update process, and, as technology improves, we believe it makes sense to see what is out there and how it works. There are a few providers doing this so we’ll be exploring all of them for adequate comparison abilities.

We all love what we do and embrace the passion we have for being the best partners to you, our Clients, at all times. We have an incredible team (financial planners and all others) who align with and live our Yeske Buie values day-in-and-day-out. It’s important to us to foster the culture we have, remain committed to our standards, and empower the new energy of the full team to continue to carry us forward. We’re continuing to build our knowledge and expertise to continue to serve you, your families, your loved ones, and every future generation you care about as an independent firm.