Our Team
Alicia Vande Ven
Financial Advisor, Candidate for CFP® Certification, M.S. – Personal Financial Planning
Alicia started with Walkner Condon in July 2022 and is a fee-only financial advisor who works with clients in the Madison area.
After spending the first part of her career at Epic Systems, where she honed her love for – and expertise with – spreadsheets, Alicia elected to pursue a master’s degree to build a career in the financial industry. Thanks to countless hours of studying, she recently passed her CFP® exam and is now working toward completing the two years of experience required for official CFP® certification. She earned her M.S. in Personal Financial Planning, with a certificate in Financial Therapy, from Kansas State University. Alicia has a particular fondness for taxes – unlike most of us – and has spent the last two and a half years as a Volunteer Income Tax Preparer at the Richard Dilley Tax Center in Madison.
Not only does Alicia have a versatile career and educational background, which includes a bachelor’s degree in marketing from UW-La Crosse, but she also spent more than six years running her own business, Asha’s Homemade Candles.
Alicia and her husband, Mike, live in Madison with their son and twin daughters. A self-proclaimed geek with a tan, Alicia nerds out on book trilogies like Lord of the Rings and the Diablo video game series, among others. She also loves traveling, being outdoors, and hiking.
In the Spotlight
“Pursuing the financial therapy certification was important to me because it really looked at the behavioral aspect of how we view money. So you can liken it to being on a diet. You know the right things to eat; where with money, you might know that you should be saving money, but not all people do. And so it’s looking at the psychological reasons why we sometimes have trouble saving for certain goals or handling money in the best that we know we should.”
Enjoys traveling, hiking, biking, and camping
Started her own homemade candle business in 2015
Loves board games & video games, including Diablo series
Featured Content
Although Alicia joined the Walkner Condon team in July 2022, she wasn’t afraid to jump headfirst into producing educational content. While most people shy away from taxes and equity compensation, those are two of Alicia’s favorite topic areas.
Rumor has it she also enjoys a good spreadsheet, and more than one Walkner Condon team member has already asked to see her famed cash flow management spreadsheet that she created for personal use (we’ll have to ask her if she’s okay sharing that proprietary secret). Be sure to check back as she continues to compile more content on those subjects and more.
The 83(b) Election and Restricted Stock Plans
Stock grants can leave you with large tax bills. However, through an 83b election you can potentially lower that bill significantly.