Forbes magazine presented its Top Next-Gen Wealth Advisors Best-in-State list for 2024, and Stetson alumnus Sean Tamm was among those in Florida to receive the distinguished honor.

Professionally dressed in a crisp white shirt with tie, Tamm can be found in his Edward Jones office in downtown DeLand where he’s been a financial advisor since graduating in 2009.

“It’s certainly a great honor to be recognized that way, especially in a small town like DeLand,” the alumnus said with a smile. The other young, under-40 Florida advisors, who made the list work in the state’s bigger cities — Orlando, Miami, Naples and West Palm — where there’s typically a lot more financial action and wealth, he explained.

The Next-Gen Best-in-State list features 1,621 top professionals, including 136 from Florida, who cumulatively manage nearly $2.8 trillion in assets. They were born in 1985 or later and have at least four years of experience as advisors.

Meeting Forbes criteria

Tamm graduated Stetson with dual degrees — a Bachelor of Business Administration B.B.A. and a Bachelor of Science B.A. in Finance and Economics. During his time at Stetson, he participated in the Roland George Investments Program.

After launching his career at Edward Jones right out of school, he went on to obtain his Certified Financial Planner certification in 2014 and his Certified Private Wealth Advisor certification in 2022 through the Yale School of Management. With a solid education and 15 years of financial planning experience, the 37-year-old Tamm met Forbes criteria.

“You have to meet certain business metrics and other quantitative qualification criteria; once you meet those minimums you’re invited to apply,” he explained.

Tamm did, and he was then asked to provide examples of how he impacted the lives of his clients and how he provides service. The second step was a phone interview, with questions about his business process. So, how did Tamm learn that he made the list?

“I received just an email,” he said. And, despite no drumroll,] “It was really exciting.”

“It was a Journey”

Reflecting on how his years at Stetson helped him reach this point of national recognition, Tamm admits that it was a journey. He started as a discovery major in the Honors Program, with a focus on economics.

Since the Honors Program covered the basic education requirements for both the School of Business Administration and College of Arts and Sciences, he realized that he could basically get two degrees in four years. So, he added finance and, later, the Roland George Investments Program (RGIP) to his studies.

Tamm credits RGIP with giving him a head start in understanding the investment world.

“There’s no good personal finance training for most people coming out of high school or even coming out of college,” he said.

College students don’t have mortgages or 401Ks. These are things you learn about over a lifetime. So, Tamm was grateful for the in-depth investing knowledge and the better understanding of personal finance that he gained through RGIP.

From a developmental standpoint, Tamm says that among his experiences at Stetson the one that was particularly impactful to his career was being a member of the Delta Sigma Phi fraternity.

“It forces you to become proficient at making social connections, both inside and outside the fraternity,” he said. “Because, fraternities are made up of a very diverse demographic of people. People from very different economic backgrounds, people from different parts of the country, people in very different family situations.

Adding, that even though fraternities are often stereotyped as having members who are all the same, his was certainly not.

“It helped me to be able to more easily build relationships with a diverse group of people rather than just the people I was comfortable with,” he explained. “That’s really necessary in a job like mine because everyone in the population needs financial advice of some kind.”

Being a Financial Advisor

Since 2009, when Tamm started as a financial advisor, the industry and his role have evolved. “Just like your iPhone has evolved in the last 15 years on what it can do, so has the work of a financial advisor,” he said. “You have more apps on your phone than ever and that’s how our job works as well. We give advice and guidance on more topics than ever.”

As a financial planner, Tamm deals with various aspects of someone’s financial life, everything from saving and spending to investing and borrowing and all the elements of financial planning, such as cash flow, investment planning, goal planning, estate planning, tax planning and benefits planning, which includes Medicare and social security.

“It’s gotten a lot bigger, especially when you used to think of the broker with the cigar in his mouth saying, ‘buy and sell,’” he said.”It’s just not the same business anymore.”

And that makes being named to the Forbes list quite an achievement.

– Patricia Letakis