Behind The Advisor

In this episode, you'll get to hear what it's like being the owner of a large RIA firm. Chip Munn of Signature Wealth Strategies joins us to share his journey and transition from teaching to building a fast-growing firm with multiple locations and thousands of clients. He has a lot of great insight when it comes to building a strong structure, developing a solid team, and having a powerful acquisition strategy.

You can find show notes and more information by clicking here: https://www.xyplanningnetwork.com/189

Jeremy Walter had a unique experience breaking into the financial advising world. In this episode, he shares his uncommon career path, including his transition from working at a firm he enjoyed to starting his own firm—and how he cordially navigated the change with his boss. He also gives some great insight into how to grow steadily from the start and the importance of adjusting your vision along the way.

You can find show notes and more information by clicking here: https://www.xyplanningnetwork.com/188

What happens when you can't find the financial advice you need, so you decide to become the advisor you were looking for?

Angela Moore's journey into financial advising began with personal frustration over the lack of accessible, trustworthy financial guidance—even for well-educated professionals. That experience didn't just change her finances—it changed her career path. In this episode, Angela shares how she transitioned into financial planning, built her own firm from the ground up, and strategically merged with another firm to scale her impact.

You can find show notes and more information by clicking here: https://www.xyplanningnetwork.com/187

Having a flexible schedule is valuable, especially when you're starting a family and want to spend more time at home. Alyssa Lum shares her journey going from a financial projection team to learning her way around financial planning and eventually starting her own firm at home. She discusses the ups and downs of the experience and lets us in on what she learned throughout the process.

You can find show notes and more information by clicking here: http://www.xyplanningnetwork.com/186

Making the shift from serving in the Marines to navigating the financial services world is not the easiest transition, but Steven Fox managed it and ended up owning his own successful firm. In this episode, he shares how he initially learned about the financial planning field and decided it was what he really wanted to do, as well as the steps he took to build his career.

You can find show notes and more information by clicking here: https://www.xyplanningnetwork.com/185

Malcolm Thomas became XYPN's Director of Advisor Success about six months ago, and he brings with him a wealth of knowledge and experience. Having had the unique experience of being on both the buy-side and sell-side of mergers, as well as various roles throughout his career, Malcolm has seen almost every corner of the industry.

In this episode, he shares his insight on the various business models out there, as well as the struggles each are facing. Listen in to hear the lessons he's learned over the years, his mission in working with XYPN's Advisor Success Department, and his outlook on the future of the industry.

You can find show notes and more information by clicking here: https://www.xyplanningnetwork.com/184

Today's episode is great for all financial planners, but especially those wanting to incorporate more in-depth tax planning—and even tax preparation—into their service model. XYPN member Dave Zaegel is here to share his journey from public accounting to financial planning to starting not one, but two firms of his own. Now a partner at both an accounting firm called CPAs for Hire and a financial planning firm called CWOs for Hire, Dave provides comprehensive financial planning services, including tax work, for his clients.

In this episode, Dave discusses how his two businesses are structured and how they work together within his service model. He also talks in depth about the way his financial planning process works, why he decided to focus on a niche of small business owners, and his plans for the future as both of his businesses continue to grow.

You can find show notes and more information by clicking here: http://www.xyplanningnetwork.com/183

Although he didn't expect to become a financial advisor, Evan Loomis is now a successful owner of a firm that has gained 22 clients in just one year. How did he get there? In this episode, we'll hear about his start in collections, as well as how he excelled in his financial career due to his work ethic and ability to ask the right questions and listen.

Evan discusses how he strives to improve people's lives through his unique philosophy that unites his passion for soccer and finances, and opens up about the issues he had working at different levels of the financial sector that pushed him to move to a smaller firm before eventually starting his own. He also shares why he still coaches on the side, how he leverages his soccer network and what his plans are for the future of his firm.

You can find show notes and more information by clicking here: https://www.xyplanningnetwork.com/182

Today I'm excited to have XYPN's Chief Operating Officer, Raul Dominguez, on the show! After spending the first part of his career as a Navy helicopter pilot, Raul decided to transition to civilian life and ultimately joined our team back in 2015. He joins this episode to share what his day-to-day looks like as COO in order to give listeners some insight into what operations-focused team members do—and why they are so valuable.

We talk in depth about the concept of the visionary and integrator roles that we've been exploring lately on the podcast, and we discuss helpful tools for clarifying roles and responsibilities, goal setting, and developing staff. Whether you're an entrepreneur thinking about hiring an operations manager or someone who wants to be on the operations side of things, this is an episode you don't want to miss.

You can find show notes and more information by clicking here: https://www.xyplanningnetwork.com/181

XYPN co-founder Michael Kitces is back on the show! For the second year now, we have collected data from our member firms to help us better understand their businesses and how they're operating, and Michael joins me today to talk about what we found.

We dive into our 2018 Benchmarking Study's primary charts and cover key data points that will help advisors thinking about launching a firm set realistic expectations about growth. How much revenue should you expect for your first years in business? Is it really necessary to find a niche? Does the CFP even matter? Listen in to get those answers and more!

You can find show notes and more information by clicking here: https://www.xyplanningnetwork.com/180