Behind The Advisor

If you're interested in learning about the advantages of growing your firm with like-minded advisors, hiring a virtual assistant, and having a supportive spouse, this episode is for you! Mike Troxell, founder of Modern Financial Planning, started his career in tech as an accountant but eventually transitioned into financial planning. Though he loved his job at an RIA, he decided to launch his own firm when the timing unexpectedly aligned, despite just having his first child and expecting a second. Mike's firm focuses on clients with RSUs or stock options, often in the tech industry. We talked about how he helps clients with those unique financial decisions and his decision to bring on another advisor and hire a virtual assistant. It's a great interview full of insights and fun stories! You can find show notes and more information by clicking here: https://www.xyplanningnetwork.com/359

If you’ve ever found yourself questioning what “having it all” looks like for you, how to pull focus on those visions and find balance as you start and run your business, this episode is for you. In this reflective and empowering conversation, XYPN member Betty Wang, CFP®, founder of BW Financial Planning, shares a very real look into her journey from a career in financial services on the buy side, to taking time off to care for her children with medical issues to returning to the industry in private equity and ultimately deciding to do her own thing as a firm owner.  While she doesn’t describe herself as an entrepreneur—because she doesn't fit the image that she had of what it means to be an entrepreneur—she has built a very successful firm. She launched in 2018, but struggled to put herself out into the world, so she didn't see much traction early on.  That all changed in 2020 when she made the decision to lean into the uncomfortable parts of the business, primarily selling financial planning and the relationship with her as the product of her business—and it has grown rapidly since.  She shares how she has been able to be intentional with her time—focusing on working 25 hours a week so she can spend time with her kids (something she hadn’t envisioned being a priority in the beginning of her career).  She also shares tools she uses to help with what she calls life planning—a way for her to focus on living from a fulcrum of integrity, according to her values.  There are many aspects of Betty’s story that you may find familiar, but mostly I think you’ll appreciate her ability to turn the unexpected into an intentional and meaningful life.  I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did! - Alan You can find show notes and more information by clicking here: https://www.xyplanningnetwork.com/358

If you’re interested in learning how to grow your initial firm investment five-fold in 3 ½ years in a dual-entrepreneurial household, this episode’s for you! Join in the conversation with XYPN member Jake Northrup, CFP®, CFA, CSLP®, founder of Experience Your Wealth and hear about how he started his firm journey in late 2019, with no clients, at the ripe age of 27. As if that wasn’t challenging enough, his wife started her own wedding planning business at the same time.  Jake always knew he wanted to be an entrepreneur, and after working in an RIA that served mostly older clients, he wanted to build a firm that focused on younger families that did a lot of traveling and wanted to experience more of life during their younger years versus just saving for retirement and hoping to have fun in their 60s.  Jake spent a lot of his upfront money building a website focused on telling the story of who he wanted to work with and how he was different from other advisors. It has clearly worked as he made just over $80,000 in his first 12 months and he has now crossed the $500,000 of recurring revenue mark, just three and a half years into the business.  We had a wide ranging conversation about how he has found success finding clients, his service model, what makes his business unique, how he and his wife have balanced being entrepreneurs at the same time, and how his views on building the business have changed from building a solo practice to hiring another lead advisor and other team members. Check out his interesting journey! You can find show notes and more information by clicking here: https://www.xyplanningnetwork.com/357

Andie married her high school sweetheart, who was an Air Force pilot and started moving all over the world every two years. She found work as a math teacher at community colleges, and over time, that ended up shifting into the realm of financial planning. She took part in a joint program between FINRA and the DOD that helped her get her AFC designation. That led her to getting her CFP® and, as her husband was retiring from the military and they were deciding where they wanted to end up, she started her financial planning firm. She talked briefly about a couple of big planning opportunities that service members can take advantage of this year. And it is clear how important having in-depth knowledge of what all service members have access to is when working with them. She's also part of a group that she helped found called the Military Financial Advisors Association, which is a group of XYPN members that serve military members and their families. They host regular meetups and provide education to members and have a pretty awesome lead gen program that's set up for members to take advantage of.  Another great example of the power of being better together! You can find show notes and more information by clicking here: https://www.xyplanningnetwork.com/356

Frank Austin, CFA, ChFC®, founder of Sustainable Financial Planning, achieved his FIRE goal of retiring at 50 and starting his own financial planning firm. His goal in starting the firm wasn't to make a lot of money as he was already set up for retirement, but instead to impact the lives of as many clients as possible. We talked about some of the things he thought he would focus on early in the business, such as ESG investing and how those plans evolved over time as he found the clients he enjoyed working with and learned the challenges of running his own solo practice. He's made a recent pivot to moving into more advice packages and away from ongoing planning, and he shared why he made that move and the clients he hopes to help with that new program. I hope you enjoy hearing about Frank’s journey as much as I did!  You can find show notes and more information by clicking here: https://www.xyplanningnetwork.com/355  

In this informative conversation with XYPN member Joanne Burke, CFP®, CPA/PFS, founder of Birch Street Financial Advisors, we learn why Joanne left a big four firm to join a partner who’d split off to go independent and help start their accounting practice. After a few years and the birth of her second child, she decided to launch her own tax practice to give herself the flexibility to spend more time with her family than public accounting would have provided. Fast forward after her youngest left for college, she decided to pursue her passion for financial planning and made the leap in 2020 to start her own RIA. We talked about her original plans to convert tax clients over to ongoing financial planning clients and the challenges she faced as she tried to move from being seen as their tax preparer to being seen as their financial advisor. Her deep tax knowledge has proven to be a real asset as she’s shifted tax prep conversations from reactive solutions to proactive planning. We talked about the upcoming decision she'll get to make as she decides if she wants to stay solo or hire and begin to grow the firm. You can find show notes and more information by clicking here: https://www.xyplanningnetwork.com/354

Whether you live in a single or dual-entrepreneurial household, have children you’re balancing in that equation, or are just looking for effective tips to convert prospects into clients, this episode is for you! In this fun and informative conversation with XYPN member Sarah Ponder, CFP®, MBA, founder of Real Estate Wealth Planning, Sarah joked that she's 37 and on her fifth and hopefully final career. We talked about her fee structure, successful marketing programs, her new course for realtors, and also how her family has leveraged an Au Pair to be able to support them with childcare so they can build their respective businesses. You can find show notes and more information by clicking here: https://www.xyplanningnetwork.com/353

We’re excited to welcome back XYPN member Kay Dee Cole, CFP®, founder of Clarity Wealth Development, on the show today. Kay Dee was on the show back in 2017 and we wanted to bring her back on now, to give us an update on her firm and how things have progressed and changed. I have to say it was hard to find anything that was similar to the business she was running five years ago, aside from her being there and her niche. Kay Dee shared the various transitions that have happened from splitting with a business partner, finding her integrator, which is something we talked a lot about, building up the team, selling a portion of the company to her employees, and ultimately setting herself on a path to spend more time on passion projects. If you’re interested in being really intentional about building the business that makes sense for you and where you're at in life, this episode is for you! You can find show notes and more information by clicking here: https://www.xyplanningnetwork.com/352

At XYPN we talk a lot about community. This holiday season feels like a great time to celebrate what a powerful gift being independent, but never alone can be.  So, we invited three members of an XYPN Mastermind Group, Dillon Cobb, CPA, CFP®, Andrew Gray, CFP®,  and Allen Mueller, CFA, MBA, to share how their group has become a gift that “keeps giving” toward their personal and professional successes. We’ll hear about how the group has become a place of shared strengths and divided weaknesses – kind of like a family.  A family whose support betters themselves, their firms, and their clients.  It’s impact acceleration at its absolute best. Their varied backgrounds and unique paths to launching their own firms enrich and inform their conversations as do their commonalities – like facing the challenges of raising young kids and building solo practices. We had a wide-ranging discussion about the value of a mastermind group – from helping navigate family dynamics playing out in their firms to imposter syndrome. You can feel the difference their support of one another has made in their lives and practices.  If you are already in an XYPN Mastermind Group, you’ll recognize the positive impact and feelings our guests share.  And if you aren’t – you may find yourself seeking the powerful gift of community by the time you're done listening to this episode. You can find show notes and more information by clicking here: https://www.xyplanningnetwork.com/351

We’re excited to welcome XYPN member, Daniel Yerger, MBA, CFP®, ChFC, AIF, CDFA, founder of MY Wealth Planners, a fee-only firm based in Colorado on the show today.  Today’s podcast follows Daniel’s career path from joining the Army and specializing in PSYOPS to becoming an IT manager for IBM before deciding to pursue financial planning. He effectively started his own firm at a broker-dealer because he didn't have a salary to build his own client base from scratch. Looking back, if he found a salary position in financial planning, he would have taken it and maybe would have never started his own firm. In this show we talk about the importance of meeting like-minded financial planners and his decision to launch his own RIA after attending an FPA NexGen conference. We cover a variety of other topics, including fee structure and using net worth in fee calculations as well as leveraging interns in his practice - one of whom ultimately became his associate advisor. He discusses the importance of firms hiring and paying interns in order to expose more young people to the work we do as financial planners. We closed our discussion on his PhD research on financial advisory fees, advisor compensation, and ultimately how the fight on Twitter regarding fees is really missing the point. If you’re interested in the importance of finding a passion that fits and exposing next generations to financial planning, this show is for you. You can find show notes and more information by clicking here: https://www.xyplanningnetwork.com/350