Jaden Flanery — Personal Financial Planning

Jaden S. Flanery

Personal Financial Planning
/
University of Missouri
/
Class of 2027

Personal Financial Planning at the University of Missouri, class of 2027. A summer inside an advisory firm, two years of client research before that, and four years leading people who chose to be led.

See the work Read the letters

Jaden Flanery in a navy suit and tie, photographed outdoors under a tree

Where I have actually worked.

Financial Planning Intern
Summer 2026

Opulence Planning Group

A summer inside the day-to-day operations of an advisory firm, working directly under a CFP and building the top of the firm’s pipeline.
- Built a lead generation engine running 30+ distinct sourcing strategies in parallel, widening the top of the funnel rather than relying on any single channel.
- Worked under Tanner Dallas, CFP, with direct exposure to how planning decisions actually get made.
- Met clients and prospects across coffee chats, office meetings, and video calls, expanding the firm’s network one relationship at a time.
- Used Power Query within Excel to turn unsorted prospect information into something actionable.
At the OPG office with Tanner Dallas, CFP (right) and Matt Bitter, CPA (left).
Product Resource Specialist
Sept 2023 – Aug 2025

Germfree (formerly Arcoplast)

O'Fallon, Missouri — Hybrid

Two years of client outreach and prospect research, building the systems the sales side ran on.
- Built and maintained a detailed database of prospective clients and firms.
- Organized and analyzed lead information to direct business development effort.
- Built a centralized digital library of product documentation for client use.
- Started as a Warehouse Assistant before moving into the resource role.

Leadership.

None of this is a job. It is where I learned to run a room and keep people showing up.

Program

Team Leader

Eagle U Youth Success Camp

Summer 2026

Four years as a participant, then selected to come back and lead. A week-long program built around putting young adults a step ahead of their peers.

Attended 2021 through 2024; returned as a Team Leader in Summer 2026.
Structured mentorship with professionals across a range of industries.
Public speaking, professional networking, interviewing, relationship-building.

What is Eagle U?

Eagle University is a five-day summer program for high school and college students, built to give them a seven-year head start on their careers. Participants build self-confidence, motivation, and direction, define their goals and find the tools to reach them, and learn from mentors who have proven the principles they teach by their own performance. The 2026 session ran 13–17 July at Baker University in Baldwin City, Kansas.

eagleuniversity.org

The full Eagle U cohort, around a hundred people, on the steps of a stone building with hands raised — The full cohort.

The Eagle U team leaders in matching shirts on the steps of a stone building — Team leaders.

Jaden with his Eagle U team in business attire in front of an Eagle U Youth Success banner

Jaden with his Eagle U team and a mentor in front of an Eagle U Youth Success banner

My team, 2026.

Hobby

Virtual Team Leader

AFL

2024 – Present

Running a competitive esports roster going on three years. Not a job — but the scheduling, the review sessions, and the part nobody volunteers for are real.

15-20 people coordinated

Lead and coordinate the roster week to week, including the scheduling.
Keep morale up through losing stretches, which is most of the actual job. A team that is still in good spirits after a bad week is a team that shows up to the next one.
Lead performance review sessions built around what actually went wrong.
Produced and edited instructional video used by the team.

Club

Founder

Liberty High School Ping Pong Club

2022 – 2024

Started a club from nothing and grew it into one of the biggest at the school. Starting one is easy. Keeping people coming back is the half that counts.

25+ members

Kept it open play — no tryouts, no experience needed, no commitment past turning up. That is what kept people coming back.
Cared that every member actually got better, not just the ones who were already good. Someone who had never picked up a paddle got the same coaching time as someone who had played for years.
Ran one-on-one coaching sessions with members.
Handled sponsorship outreach and advertising.

LHStoday newspaper article headlined "It's On Like Ping Pong", covering the founding of the Liberty High School ping pong club — LHStoday, 24 January 2022 — reported by Gavin Block. Read the article

Coursework and credentials.

Academics

University of Missouri

2024 – Present

B.S. Personal Financial Planning

Columbia, Missouri

Liberty High School

2020 – 2024

Class of 2024

Lake Saint Louis, Missouri

Graduated Magna Cum Laude

Professional involvement

Financial Planning Association

University of Missouri chapter

Active member · since 2024

Weekly chapter meetings, industry seminars, and firm visits across the semester — the fastest way I have found to meet people who already do the job.

Certifications

The Externship

2026

Amplified Planning

Eight-week virtual program covering the financial planning process; counts 500 hours toward the 6,000 CFP Board requires on its standard pathway.

View certificate

Generative AI Fundamentals

2025

Google Cloud / Coursera

Specialization covering prompt engineering, data visualization, and applied AI.

Verify

Claude 101

2026

Anthropic

Short course on working with Claude.

Verify

Claude Code 101

2026

Anthropic

Short course on building software with Claude Code.

Verify

Seal of Biliteracy in Spanish

2024

State of Missouri

Earned senior year, after four years through AP Language and Culture.

The year, in rooms.

Firm visits, seminars, and the people I met at each.

The Financial Planning Association chapter in business attire in front of a wall-sized screen showing a city skyline at dusk — Firm visit to American Century, with three other FPA chapters.

Students seated around a boardroom table taking notes while two advisors speak, under a sign reading PLAN YOUR STORY — Firm visit to BMG Advisors.

A group of students in suits in an advisory firm office, beneath lettering on the wall reading OUR PURPOSE — Firm visit to Krilogy.

What people who taught me wrote down.

Jaden is an outstanding student who consistently demonstrates a strong work ethic, attention to detail, and an ability to think critically and creatively. He is an excellent problem solver who is always willing to take the initiative to explore new ideas and approaches to learning.

Angela Greminger, MAE

Spanish Teacher, Liberty High School

Taught Jaden for four years, freshman through senior, ending with AP Spanish Language and Culture.

February 2024

Add to this a genuine compassion for others around him, an extremely high intellect, a positive mental outlook, and an unfailing work ethic, and Jaden is one of the few people — let alone students — who I can say with conviction that runs his life with integrity.

Matt Barker

AP Psychology Teacher, Liberty High School

Taught Jaden AP Psychology, and wrote in support of his Honors College application.

2024

I also build software.

Two of six. Both are live and both started as something I wanted to exist. The rest are on the portfolio.

Ascent

An adaptive learning platform with a difficulty dial.

Next.js TypeScript Supabase Claude

Ascent is built around a single control: drag the altitude slider from “explain like I’m five” up to expert and the same concept is retaught at that level. The goal was to fix the two ways self-study quietly fails — lessons pitched at the wrong altitude, and not knowing what to ask next when you are new to a subject. So after every answer the tutor suggests the sharp follow-up question, which is the part a beginner cannot supply for themselves. Finance leads the catalogue, with Series 65 and CFP prep as the proving ground.

Read the write-up

Life Platform

A personal operations app that opens as a briefing, not a menu.

Next.js Supabase PWA Claude

Life Platform answers one question the moment it opens: what matters right now? Rather than a launcher, the home screen is a morning brief — the next thing on the calendar, the checklist, and the tasks that actually matter, assembled before I ask for them. The goal was to run a whole day from my phone without bouncing between six apps. Every feature is a self-contained module behind a config flag, so it is built as a template rather than as one person’s app.

Read the write-up

Six projects, written up properly. See the full portfolio

The rest of it.

None of this is a qualification. It is the part of the answer the sections above do not cover.

Junior year

Went out for tennis with no experience.

I went out junior year having never played, made the JV squad, and saw the season through. Being new at something in front of an audience does not bother me, and that has ended up mattering a lot more than the tennis did.

A high school tennis match on a blue and red hard court, shot through the chain-link fence around the court — Junior season.

Jaden seated beside Ronnie Coleman at a signing table, both giving a thumbs up, in front of a banner reading GO FOR MORE — With Ronnie Coleman, eight-time Mr. Olympia.

Since 2021

The gym, and an interview I did not expect to get.

My mom competed in bodybuilding and my dad powerlifted, so it was around long before I had any say in it. I started the summer before tenth grade and have not stopped since, which is most of why getting to interview Ronnie Coleman meant what it did. Eight Mr. Olympia titles, a record still unbeaten, and a reputation built on out-working everyone rather than out-talking them. I had a short window with him and spent it on mindset, work ethic, and discipline instead of training. Training advice is everywhere. Someone who has actually held to it at that level, for a whole career, is not.

You are here Ronnie Coleman