Still a new concentration at the Donald G. Costello College of Business at George Mason University, financial planning and wealth management offers a rewarding career that many students have never considered.
Dan Lash, CFP®, AIF®, BS Economics ’97, is a partner and advisor with VLP Financial Advisors, an independent financial planning and asset management firm located in Vienna, Virginia. A lifelong resident of Northern Virginia, he specializes in investment analysis, asset allocation, college and retirement planning, estate planning, and risk management. He’s found his career field to be especially rewarding. “We help people accomplish certain financial goals in life that maybe they couldn’t have done without us,” he says. “We get thanked on a regular basis in our business. We get invited to retirement ceremonies and kids’ college graduations.” He is currently serving a two-year term as the chair of the financial planning and wealth management advisory board at the Costello College of Business.
Lash was excited when he got word that Mason was establishing the financial planning and wealth management concentration in 2020. Jason Howell, BS Accounting ’97, was the inaugural chair of the board, and he reached out to him about joining. “One of the first things I did as chair was seek out my successor,” says Howell. “Dan immediately volunteered to take on that responsibility. His staff reached out to support his candidacy and within a day or two, it was obvious that Dan would be our next chair. We are a better university because of Dan's contributions.” Lash, who had previously served as board president for the Financial Planning Association National Capital Area Chapter, was eager to get involved. After Howell’s term ended, he stepped into the role. Most of the members had never served on an advisory board before, so there was a lot of figuring out during the early stages. “Once we got up and going, the biggest thing for me was to set up scholarships,” he says. “Originally there was just one, but now we have three merit-based scholarships and three needs-based scholarships that are $5,000 each.” Another major accomplishment is the growth of the concentration from eight students at its start to 56 students today.
“There are students leaving the program every year through graduation and so we have to find new students to bring in and get excited about this career path,” says Lash. “A lot of these students had never heard of financial planning before.” With Mason’s diversity and its number of first-generation college students, he finds it a greater challenge to inform and excite students about financial planning and wealth management. But it’s a challenge that he embraces, and the growth of the concentration has shown that the board’s determination is paying off. Lash is grateful to be at this stage of his life and career where he is able to lead on the board and give back to the community.
As much as Lash wishes there was a financial planning and wealth management concentration when he was studying at Mason, he finds it energizing to play a significant role in the concentration’s current growth and development. Admittedly, when he was starting out after school, he wasn’t sure what to expect, but the field has provided a very fulfilling career for him and he wants others to enjoy similar success. Now he’s spreading the word and getting more students interested and financially supported. He’s such a believer in the concentration that he’s pushing for financial planning and wealth management to be a required course for all public university students in Virginia. Not only does financial planning and wealth management make for a great career but it builds skills that are critical in everyone’s lives when managing their own finances. “There’s one thing in this country, maybe on this planet, that we all have to deal with is money, having it or not having it, or however you’re going to spend it,” says Lash.