Shaping the Future of Financial Planning: Inside Bluestem’s 2-Year Residency Program

At Bluestem, we’re not just passionate about providing top-tier financial advice — we’re also dedicated to shaping the future of financial planning. Our Financial Planning Residency program, launched in 2021, is a testament to this commitment. Designed as a two-year immersive experience, this residency is not only a unique training ground for aspiring financial planners, but also a strategic initiative to meet the evolving needs of our clients. 

Why We Created the Financial Planning Residency 

The financial planning profession is dynamic and growing, but the pool of skilled, fee-only financial planners is limited. We saw an opportunity to address this gap while supporting our firm’s growth by creating a program that cultivates the next generation of financial planners. By offering structured, hands-on training, we aim to enhance the quality of advice we provide to clients while helping launch the careers of promising professionals. 

This program serves as both a recruitment tool for emerging talent and a way to ensure our clients receive personalized, expert guidance as they navigate their financial journeys. 

What the Residency Offers 

The Financial Planning Residency is designed to develop a well-rounded, capable financial planner through a phased approach. Over two years, residents gain foundational technical skills and client-facing experience, ensuring they’re prepared to serve clients effectively and confidently. 

Year One: Foundational Experience 

In the first year, residents focus on learning the inner workings of financial planning. From supporting the creation of financial plans to mastering essential tools and processes, residents build the technical and operational skills needed to succeed. This phase is primarily back-office focused but lays the groundwork for a deeper understanding of client needs. 

Year Two: Client-Facing Development 

The second year transitions residents into more client-facing roles. They begin to lead client meetings, present financial strategies, and build relationships. This year is all about honing communication and leadership skills, preparing residents to not only offer advice but to guide clients with confidence. 

Graduation: What Comes Next? 

Upon completing the two-year residency, our residents have multiple paths forward. Some may choose to stay with Bluestem as full-time financial planners, contributing to our mission of delivering client-first advice. Others may use the experience, skills, and connections they have built during their residency to launch into the next phase of their careers, with Bluestem’s full support and network at their disposal. Whether they stay or move on, our goal is to help each resident succeed and thrive in the financial planning profession. 

Meet the Residents 

We are proud to highlight our current and past residents, each bringing a unique background and perspective to Bluestem Financial Advisors: 

• Sam Wesley – In the first year of his residency following a robust undergraduate education at the University of Illinois, Sam is already contributing positively to engagements with our clients. He is busy mastering the technical side of financial planning while starting to work on the intricacies of leading a client relationship. Read more about Sam on our website here. 

• Tim Lee – Currently in his second year, Tim has been a tremendous asset to the team and is focused on continuing to solidify his technical financial planning skills while focusing more on developing strong client relationships and leading financial planning sessions. Read more about Tim on our website here. 

• Sue Plisch – As many of you may remember, Sue started as an intern with our firm in 2020, helped develop and launch our Residency Program, and graduated from the program to start her own firm in 2023. She has always shown the ability to connect deeply with clients, bringing advanced relational skills to every interaction. Sue’s success story is a testament to the impact of the program and Bluestem’s commitment to fostering future leaders in financial planning. You can learn more about Sue and her new firm by checking out her firm’s website here.  

At Bluestem, we believe that nurturing the next generation of planners is crucial for the long-term success of both our clients and the profession. Our Financial Planning Residency is just one of the ways we are investing in that future, offering our clients the best of today’s expertise and tomorrow’s potential. 

If you or someone you know might be interested in our open position for June 2025, please check out our job posting!  

Finding Your Philanthropic Focus - Guest Blog Post

Finding Your Philanthropic Focus

By Shari Fox, CAP®

Principal, Fox Philanthropic Advisors LLC

Are you interested in using more of your financial resources to help others? Do you want to give more but find it challenging to decide where to donate your time and resources? Do you want to ensure the charitable giving you are already doing has the most significant impact possible? Have you ever felt overwhelmed by the sheer number of charities and causes out there, making it difficult to know where to start?

If you've answered yes to any of these questions, then this blog is for you. We'll explore the steps you can take to narrow your focus in charitable giving, allowing you to make a real difference in the world. Are you ready to learn how to make the most of your charitable donations and help those in need? Let's dive in!

To start, look at the giving you are already doing. You likely compiled receipts from the charitable organizations you supported last year to file your tax return. Or if you have a donor advised fund, maybe you reviewed a summary of your grants for the year. Did you notice anything? Was there a pattern? Did you make a few large gifts to organizations within a particular cause (education, global health, or the environment, for instance)? Or did you make a lot of small to modest gifts all over the place?

First, whichever of the above holds true for you – thank you. Thank you for being generous and caring about your communities, local and global. If those gifts add up to a substantial portion of your income or wealth, though, particularly if the total is large enough for you to itemize deductions, you have an opportunity to be intentional about making a difference.

Think about that for a minute. What change would you like to make in the world? Seriously. What would you like to accomplish with your money that would be meaningful to you?

If you’ve never taken the time to determine your philanthropic focus, start by reflecting on your motivations for giving.

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀· Why do you give? Is it in response, or is it to create?

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀· What do you hope to gain from your giving?

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀· What do you want to sustain in the world?

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀· What do you want to change in the world?

Write down your answers. Then, reflect on your core values. Here are some possibilities.

Try to narrow it to three from this list, five tops. Write them down. Are they reflected in your charitable contributions? Review that stack of receipts from charitable organizations, the one you compiled for your tax return. Is there an opportunity for you to establish a philanthropic plan that more intentionally aligns with your core values?

Identifying your philanthropic focus can make giving less reactionary and more meaningful. It's crucial to uncover your motivations for charitable giving to make sure that your donations have a more significant impact. I had the pleasure of getting to know a woman who did just that. She turned 100 recently, and we sat down to discuss her reflections on a lifetime of philanthropy. She told me that since she was a young adult, she has always been open to giving to community needs. As she became more experienced as a donor and volunteer, though, she realized how much her childhood experiences and her access to a good education, particularly a college degree, had influenced her life as an adult. With that in mind, she began to focus her dollars and her time in the areas of women and education, particularly in her local community. Her primary areas of support include programs that help women advance their education and employment opportunities.

Through her volunteer efforts, she also saw that many children did not have opportunities to interact in productive ways outside of the classroom, and that the only way many of them knew students of other schools was as rivals on the playing field or court. She decided that in addition to programs that help women achieve their personal goals, she would prioritize developmental and social programs that bring together children and teens from different backgrounds, believing that when combined with a good foundational education, these would help them grow into healthy, engaged citizens.

These areas of emphasis would, in this philanthropist’s thinking, improve lives and contribute to the betterment of society as a whole.

Another couple with whom I’ve worked had a particular interest in leadership development, as they had each risen to positions of prominence during their careers. This, too, is a broad category, so they spent time discussing where and how they wanted to have an impact. They landed on supporting student leadership programs at their alma maters, funding leadership development retreats and programs to bring back successful alumni for multi-day residencies. In addition, they funded an academic research project to determine the impact of one university’s student leadership programs on its alumni success, thereby informing the efficacy of their contributions and others’.

These are simply two examples of donors being intentional about their philanthropic focus. There are many others, whether they be healthcare, medical research, animal welfare, the arts, environmental sustainability, mental health – the list is long and the need for investment is great. Like other worthy endeavors, doing philanthropy well takes some work. The rewards, however, can be beyond measure.

This post was guest written by Shari Fox of Fox Philanthropic Advisors. If you would like to delve deeper into your personal or family philanthropic mission and practice, contact me at sharifox@foxphilanthropic.com for an exploratory conversation. The first one is on me.

The team at Bluestem believe that charitable giving can play a crucial role in helping our clients achieve a more fulfilled life. If you're interested in incorporating charitable giving into your tax and financial plan, we would love to help. Here is how to connect and learn more.

Fox Philanthropic Advisors LLC Disclaimer: This information is not intended as legal, tax, or financial planning advice. Readers should consult with their own professional advisors before making any charitable gift.