Alan Moore didn't want anyone to control his entire income. So he started his own financial planning company. Ten years later, the XY Planning Network is still going strong. (Photo special feature)
Alan Moore started his own financial planning company because he didn't want others to control his income or his entire life.
That realization only came after he was laid off from a job that moved him to Wisconsin, which he says was a humbling life change for him. Mr. Moore's problem was that people without millions of dollars didn't have access to the same resources as his wealthy customers.
“The vast majority of Americans who don't have investable assets of 500,000 or more cannot work with a financial advisor because they don't meet the minimum,” Moore explains. “We felt it was a business model issue, not a client issue.”
moore BSFCS '09, MS '12Now living in Montana because he can ski and fish in the same weekend, he founded a company focused on clients who don't have to meet the usual requirements of being wealthy to receive advice. Mr. Moore also used a fee-for-service model, rather than the traditional model based on a percentage of investable assets.
In the first 18 months of running his company, Serenity Financial Consulting, he also fielded more than 100 calls from fellow financial advisors. “People were asking very similar questions, but they weren't asking about financial planning. They wanted to know how you run your business,” Moore says. says Mr. “Our degree programs teach you how to do a job, but they don't teach you how to run a business.”
This conversation led Moore to start another company as a side project. The interest was overwhelming.
“We had no idea about the market we were entering,” Moore says. He sold Serenity to focus on a new initiative: XY Planning Network, which celebrates its 10th anniversary this year. Mr. Moore is currently CEO and Co-Founder of XY Planning Network and Co-Founder and Executive Vice Chairman of AdvicePay, Inc.
XY Planning Network takes the guesswork out of running a business by providing technology recommendations, marketing resources, and coaching to small business owners in the financial planning industry. Moore uses the podcast to highlight his members' entrepreneurial journeys.
Our mission is to help people live great lives. ” — Alan Moore, CEO and Co-Founder of XY Planning Network
XY Planning Network members follow Moore's fee-for-service model, which also allows them to connect with younger clients who are building wealth. AdvicePay, Inc. was launched as an efficient and compliant way for these advisors to receive compensation.
But Moore says the biggest benefit members receive is the community the platform creates.
“Our mission is to help people live great lives,” Moore says. “Every advisor we help start their own business can impact the lives of 100 clients through their work. More than 180,000 consumers now have access to financial planning. , most of which were previously inaccessible.”
To gain access, it is equally important to ask the right questions. While working on her master's degree in family financial planning at UGA, Moore learned about economic therapy through her ASPIRE clinic at UGA, where she worked with students training to become marriage and family therapists. .
“I believe financial planning is a useful profession,” Moore says. “How I was trained at his UGA is to take a more comprehensive look at someone's personal finances, to really center that person and figure out what they want out of life. I will ask.”
