Behind The Advisor

Today, we talk to XYPN member Ethan Miller, CFP®, founder of Planning for Progress—a fee-only firm based in Washington D.C. Ethan started his career in labor and union organizing which gave him the passion for working with individuals one-on-one to empower them to make the world a better place. Financial planning seemed to be the perfect way to help clients lead socially responsible lives while building financial stability. He launched Planning for Progress in 2016 part-time to build slowly (and remain an active part of movements for social and economic justice). After 4 years, his network and niche aligned. Ethan relaunched in 2022 as a full-time advisor and now serves 70 clients in a calendar year. This episode is fun—and brutally honest. Ethan shares his experience of transitioning between service models to fit his ideal client by embracing both comprehensive and project-based service models and getting his existing clients on board. If you're thinking about starting a firm part-time or looking for ways to incorporate your values into your business, this episode is full of advice for you. You can find show notes and more information by clicking here: http://www.xyplanningnetwork.com/343

We're excited to welcome XYPN member, Rachael Burns, CFP®, CDFA®, founder of True Worth Financial Planning, on the show today. Rachael's start in financial services and life experience have allowed her to build a practice based on empathy and education. The day after learning she was pregnant with twins, her family faced the news that no one should have to hear: her husband had a brain tumor. Shortly after the birth of their twins, the COVID pandemic hit. The next year was challenging—to say the least. In this interview, Rachael talks candidly about finding #XYPNRadio during the pandemic and the role that it played in taking the leap to start her own firm. She soon realized that opening her own fee-only firm was a real possibility and found the courage to launch. Rachel's leap of faith paid off—after two years, she now has found her niche helping women manage money stress to deal with what really matters. Rachael's story is incredible, as is her commitment to advising with empathy. You don't want to miss this episode. You can find show notes and more information by clicking here: http://www.xyplanningnetwork.com/342

We're excited to welcome Colton Etherton CFP®, XYPN Member, and owner of Out of the Office Planning to the show today. On this episode, Colton talks us through his professional background, which includes starting his career in the banking side of financial services, transitioning to Merrill Edge, Schwab, then an independent RIA, all before launching his fee-only firm with a tattoo artist niche. Colton shares the impact of his unexpected unemployment in the launch of his firm in January of 2021 and how his banking background gave him the confidence to build his own firm from scratch. After 9 months of business, Colton scrapped his niche nine months in to be the go-to resource for tattoo artists on his schedule. His firm is now growing incredibly fast, bringing in 10 clients in 6 months, on a schedule that prioritizes his personal and business goals. You can find show notes and more information by clicking here: http://www.xyplanningnetwork.com/341

We're excited to welcome XYPN member Sharon Weaver, CFP®, the founder of Mission Financial Planning, on the show today. Sharon has been a CFP® for over 25 years but had never actually done a financial plan until she launched her firm 11 years ago. Some early dentist clients from a center of influence referral eventually led her to go all in on working with dentists. She's been growing her network of dentistry practice consultants, bankers, and insurance folks who work with dentists and is also networking with investment managers who refer clients to her because she is advice-only, meaning she doesn't manage investments. She's been growing her firm and has started hiring for support. Sharon talked about the decision to hire and what she's looking for in a second planner. If you're interested in learning more about what it's like to work with dentists and hire on a second lead planner, this episode is for you. You can find show notes and more information by clicking here: https://www.xyplanningnetwork.com/340

We're excited to welcome XYPN member Chad Holmes, founder of Formula Wealth, on the show today. Chad always knew he would be an entrepreneur and discovered financial planning in high school when his grandparents invited him to sit in on a meeting with their financial advisor. He started his career in public accounting as an auditor, thinking it would help prepare him to be an advisor because accounting and finance were basically the same things, right? Not really, and Chad is glad to be on a different path now. Before ending up at an RIA actually doing financial planning, an unexpected pregnancy, and his wife getting a fellowship across the country led him to decide to launch his own firm. This was in 2020, in the middle of COVID, in a new state. Chad shared how they made it work as a family for him to be able to pursue his dream of entrepreneurship while also supporting his wife's career. Now he works part-time and has taken on the household responsibilities, and is building a great firm focused on helping clients that our industry has historically underserved. You can find show notes and more information by clicking here: https://www.xyplanningnetwork.com/339

We're excited to welcome XYPN member Ryan Greiser, founder of the Pennsylvania-based financial planning firm Opulus, to the show. Ryan started his professional career as an athletic trainer before a client recruited him into a financial planning firm, where "financial planning" was actually just cold calling and selling insurance. Ryan lasted three years before moving to a broker-dealer, and while he was able to do more planning there, he was still expected to sell insurance—and a lot of it at that. Ryan ultimately launched his own firm in 2019, and has been on a rapid growth trajectory ever since. Most recently, Ryan has been building out a cryptocurrency offering to support his clients, which has become a big driver of new business for his firm. In this episode, we talk extensively about Ryan's cryptocurrency offering, going into the details of how he designed it and his vision for the future. You can find show notes and more information by clicking here: https://www.xyplanningnetwork.com/338

We're excited to welcome XYPN member Patrick Clark to the show today. Patrick is the founder of Neshaminy Creek Advisors, a fee-only firm specializing in volunteer firefighting companies and their firefighters in Bucks County, PA. Patrick has been in the industry for almost 30 years, starting out on the investment side of the business before getting introduced to financial planning through a friend and eventual business partner. He launched his own firm four years ago with just one volunteer firefighting company, but has quickly grown. Patrick shared how his niche is starting to compound with referrals from existing clients, and referrals from an accounting firm that also exclusively specializes in the same niche and the firefighters themselves. His story is a great example of why having a niche truly is so powerful. You can find show notes and more information by clicking here: https://www.xyplanningnetwork.com/337

We're excited to welcome XYPN member Reese Harper to the show today. Reese is the founder of Dentist Advisors, a virtual firm based in Salt Lake City, UT., focused on serving (you guessed it) dentists. Reese started his firm in 2007 after working at Northwestern Mutual, and he had one dentist client as part of a book of business that he left with. After experiencing 2008 and his first year of running his firm, he decided to go all-in and focus exclusively on dentists—and this is at a time when having a niche wasn't the cool thing to do. As the firm grew, he saw the need to provide more ongoing monitoring of clients' financial situations and started building some highly-functional spreadsheets to provide value to his clients. Then he shared a few of those spreadsheets with other advisors to get their feedback and input and has now built out a tech company named Elements to provide all advisors with the ability to monitor and provide proactive recommendations to their clients. You can find show notes and more information by clicking here: https://www.xyplanningnetwork.com/336

We're excited to welcome XYPN member Danielle Harrison, MBA, CFP®, CFT-I™, the founder of Harrison Financial Planning, a fee-only firm based in Columbia, Missouri, on the show today. Danielle's journey is particularly relevant to all of us navigating today's economic landscape. She launched her fee-only firm in January 2021—right in the middle of the pandemic—and has not only survived but thrived through the market volatility we've experienced since then. What makes Danielle's story so compelling is how she transformed her early fascination with finance into a modern practice that rejects the old product-pushing model that many of our listeners are trying to escape from. Her experience transitioning from traditional banking to independent planning offers valuable insights for anyone looking to make a similar leap in today's digital-first environment. Stay tuned as Danielle shares how she's adapted her business to the economic climate, leveraged technology to serve clients remotely, and built a practice that genuinely supports both her clients' financial well-being and her own family's lifestyle goals. Whether you're considering starting your own firm or looking to make your existing practice more resilient, today's conversation offers practical takeaways you can implement immediately. You can find show notes and more information by clicking here: https://www.xyplanningnetwork.com/335

Today's episode is a shift from our typical one. Alan Moore, CEO and Co-Founder of XYPN, joins Maddy for a conversation about some changes that are happening—good ones—with the leadership structure at XYPN, their roles, and this podcast. As you'll hear, over the past ten months since Alan was on last, XYPN has continued to grow and formalize, which means Alan and Maddy's roles are shifting. Alan discusses his move back as the host of #XYPNRadio, and Maddy's shift away from being the host. For over 100 episodes, Maddy has interviewed XYPN members, allies, and teammates about a range of topics—listeners have been through COVID and more together with Maddy, and she shares how thankful she is for the support of each and every listener. She has found so much joy in being able to bring stories of success to each of you, and inspire some of you to go out on your own. If you want to hear more about the future of #XYPNRadio and how you can shape it by filling out a listener survey telling us what you love about the show and want to hear more about, then this episode is for you. You can find show notes and more information by clicking here: https://www.xyplanningnetwork.com/334