Last month I attended a conference in St. Louis where I met a ton of really great advisors, most of whom share similar backstories. We want to do what’s best for our clients but have similar past work experiences – bad partnerships, a succession plan that didn’t work, working for firms that were solely focused on selling products, and just plain not being able to do their best work for the firms they were at.
Most of us there were looking for a change and had joined the XY Planning network, created to help younger financial advisors start their own fee-only financial planning firms. Via an article in the New York Times earlier this year, XY Planning advisors,“must be a fiduciary, which means you have to pledge to act in your clients’ best interest at all times. Revenue can come only from client fees, not commissions. You have to be a certified financial planner to be listed in the network’s consumer directory and must have no major marks on your disciplinary record. One big fine can mean eviction.”
One of those advisors I’ve admired for a while, Justin Castelli, has his own successful firm in Indiana. He interviewed a handful of of us there for his podcast to answer one question:
“What is one misconception young professionals have about financial advisors that you’d like to debunk?”
Per Justin: “You’ll hear from different advisors, serving different niches, with different strengths and approaches to working with clients–yet, despite their differences, you’ll hear a lot of similar answers and an underlying theme that there is a growing tribe of advisors wanting to help young professionals and the traditionally underserved with financial planning.”
Their answers and mine can be found here:
