Welcome to the inaugural blog post of our newly redesigned website! I am particularly excited about this new site. It tells the story of our planning process, and is designed to be more interactive! With the launch of our Blog, we hope to keep you up to date on what is happening in the firm and add short discussions and articles of interest in between our quarterly newsletter. If you want to follow this blog, you can subscribe by email in the right hand sidebar.
In my first post, I am excited to announce a two milestones in my own education and experience you might be interested in.
Master's Degree
This past summer, I have completed my Master's Degree through Kansas State University. I started this journey 4 years ago to meet the educational requirements to becoming a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™. My degree is in Family Studies and Human Services, specialized in Financial Planning. Like my Bachelor's Degree from the University of Illinois, this program is based on family and consumer research and theory. My Masters courses beyond the CFP® courses included studies of quantitative issues such as real estate and consumer law issues, as well as qualitative applications such as financial counseling, family dynamics, and behavior biases.
Enrolled Agent
As part of my Master's program, I was able to use self-study coursework to become an Enrolled Agent (EA). Enrolled Agent status is granted by the IRS after showing a high level of competency in the areas of Personal and Business Income Taxes, Tax Ethics and Procedures, and passing a background check. Like a CPA or Attorney, EA's are afforded unlimited rights to practice in front of the IRS. After a long process of studying, testing and application, I was granted the Enrolled Agent status in May of 2013. This means that as part of Bluestem's audit protection services, I now have expanded rights to defend or represent our clients in the event of an audit.
These items both represent the completion of two large significant personal and career goals. Though I have no immediate plans for additional degrees, I look forward to continuing my lifelong education and development.