For Simones, supporting his alma mater ‘feels only right’

Posted 10:47 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024

For Simones, supporting his alma mater 'feels only right'

UW-La Crosse is many things to Sam Simones.

It's the university he always wanted to attend - and the only one he applied to.

It's where he built the foundation for his successful career in financial planning and wealth management.

And it's where he continues to support the cross-country team that meant so much to him, first as a student-athlete and now as an alumnus.

"My experience at UWL was everything I thought and hoped for it to be and then some," says Simones, who earned his bachelor's degree in finance, with a concentration in risk, insurance and financial planning, in 2014. "The rich tradition of success for both the cross country and track programs was my initial attraction, but also: Find me a better small town in the United States than La Crosse, Wisconsin. I also think that in today's world of rapidly increasing cost of college education, it's hard to beat the value/cost ratio UWL offers."

Simones credits a financial planning internship he completed in college for jumpstarting his career as a private wealth advisor for the Minneapolis-based Erpelding Wealth Management.

He also co-owns Legends Living LLC, a residential real estate company that mainly provides housing for college students. He purchased his first rental - a house he had lived in while attending UWL - about a year after graduating. In ways big and small, Simones says, UWL remains a part of his everyday life.

"All of my best friends in the world are people I met at UWL," he says. "We follow the cross country and track programs religiously and are discussing the results of every meet for both teams. I attend an occasional UWL football and basketball game. I also stay connected by providing housing to many UWL students. I enjoy doing showings with new prospective tenants and sharing my passion for UWL and La Crosse in general."

Simones has frequently shown his support during One Day for UWL, the university's annual day of giving. He feels it's important to support the cross-country program, citing its relatively small roster and alumni base - but more importantly, the impact it has had on his life.

"With all the program has given to me in the form of memories, experience and lifelong friendships, I feel it is only right to give back to it," Simones says. "With as busy and preoccupied as life is, and with as many worthy causes as there are to give funds to, it would be easy for a year to go by and not give, if not for the organized effort and urgency the One Day for UWL provides. It means there's an opportunity to give back to something that has given me so much."

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