CPA Leaves Tax Season for Financial Planning Focused on Women

Cristina Wiebelt-Smith left a CPA tax practice that required long hours to join Gertsema Wealth Advisors in St. Joseph, Missouri as a senior wealth advisor and financial planner focused on educating women.

She reconsidered her career as her children neared college. Tax season required 60 to 80-hour weeks, and Wiebelt-Smith recalled, “Half the year is taken up by it.” At nearly 50 she decided she wanted “to spend my life doing something I love.”

At Gertsema, she uses tax knowledge as a starting point for client planning. The firm requests a tax return from every client; Wiebelt-Smith described tax fluency as “very practical” for both individuals and businesses and added that it enables ongoing planning rather than reactive tax work.

Her roster includes clients who fit the “millionaire next door” profile, recently widowed women and clients who feel overlooked by the financial industry. Wiebelt-Smith observed many clients feel they do not belong in investing circles or lack enough money to invest.

She leads a Women & Wealth Workshop program offering daytime lunch-and-learns and evening food-and-wine sessions. Sessions cover household cash flow, identity-theft protection and estate planning. Materials are designed to be repeatable by colleagues, and presentations use graphics and screen tools. Wiebelt-Smith tells participants, “You don’t have to have it all figured out.”

Wiebelt-Smith began volunteering at a St. Joseph pregnancy resource center in 2023 and now serves on its board and as treasurer. In weekly My Baby & Me classes she and a co-volunteer meet with pregnant women to offer encouragement and help them earn diapers, clothes and baby-care items. Libby Owens, the center director, praised Wiebelt-Smith’s work and called her a mentor to more than 25 pregnant women.

Wiebelt-Smith noted financial planning requires more emotional engagement than tax work because clients share personal details and fears, adding, “It takes a lot more emotional energy in this job.”

She was named a 2026 Rising Star.