Laura initially planned on going to law school, but after receiving her Bachelor’s in Economics with highest academic honors, she decided she was tired of tests. Instead, she moved to Minnesota and entered the workforce during the difficult national recession of 1981. She spent three years working for a local hospital, working her way up from a temporary secretary to a management engineer. Then an article in Forbes magazine changed everything. It told of a new profession called financial planning, which combined the technical aspects of money management with the overlay of personal connections. Laura knew immediately it was what she wanted to do. She