Industry blogger and advisor Michael Kitces and planner Alan Moore launched Friday their XY Planning Network, a platform dedicated to helping young planners build a fee-only business targeting Gen X and Gen Y clients.
Members of the XY Planning Network, which Kitces told ThinkAdvisor now includes 20 founding members, will offer fee-only financial planning services on an “affordable” monthly retainer, and may choose to offer investment management services but without what Moore and Kitces call “cumbersome asset minimums.”
Members “must offer monthly retainers and be willing to work with clients virtually,” Kitces said.
The network is in “soft launch” for founding member sign-ups starting Friday and going through the end of May, Kitces told ThinkAdvisor in an email message.
On June 1, the founding members will begin to receive full access and benefits to the services XY Planning is providing, particularly regarding some of the technology tools, he said. “Between now and then we’ll be going through the onboarding process for founding members, and preparing for a launch of the consumer side of the platform that will include an Advisor Search tool for consumers to find an XY Planning Network member to work with.”
Co-founder Moore added in a release announcing the launch that when he started his financial planning firm, Serenity Financial Consulting, in 2012, “there were simply no resources that I could find to help me start and run my practice.”
The XY Planning network, Moore said, “will serve as that resource for younger advisors starting today, providing everything a new firm needs to start, run and grow the business” by providing members with access to a turnkey solution, including compliance and marketing support, discounted access to key technology packages, and relevant education to advisors and their ideal clients.
Moore added that supporting the younger generation is “critical, as millennials represent the largest generation in history — less than 3% of CFP professionals are under the age of 30, and only 21% are under the age of 40.”