During our interview, I told her there were thousands of advisors who catered specifically to Gen X and Y consumers. I followed up by telling her about the XY Planning Network, a company that teaches advisors how to set up a financial planning practice to cater to this demographic and has a directory of members to select from. There are over 600 advisors that belong to this network. Angela can get an affordable financial planner who will tell her all the things she should be thinking about financially. Angela is among the many who do not know what they don’t know. If you’re in this situation, getting a financial planner is the best thing you can do for yourself.

Angela has since moved to New York, paid down a good amount of her debt, and is actively evaluating different planners. Angela had a great view on why she plans to get a financial planner. “We all put at least 40 hours of work into our job and spend an incredible amount of effort into doing our job well. The output of that work is money, yet so many people don’t put any effort into what to do with the money afterwards. The effort should be continuous throughout the whole cycle, but it’s not. It makes no sense.”

A Long-Term Relationship

Barry (not his real name) is single, 37, and a cyber security expert who has an MBA. Barry describes himself as a methodical person who does not get rattled easily. Barry has had the same advisor since right after graduating college, and in fact he uses the advisor his parents have been using. Mark (not his real name) has been working with Barry’s parents for many years, coming to the house to discuss various issues, so Barry has known him for a long time. Mark started his career as an insurance agent, then later got his series 7 license and now only gives investment advice and securities brokerage services, no longer selling insurance. When Barry was about to graduate from college, Mark invited him to his office to give him tips on his résumé and job hunting. Barry was very appreciative, and found it refreshing that Mark took an interest in Barry’s career and future.

In Barry’s first job, he participated in his employer’s 401(k), then started getting guidance from Mark. Later, he opened an IRA and a Roth IRA with Mark and contributed as much as he could each year. During the 2008 recession, Mark called Barry very frequently to see how Barry was doing, as so many people were rattled and making emotional decisions. Barry had to tell Mark to call less often; he was fine, and understood markets go down. He was confident in his investments.

Over the years, Barry has met with other advisors, but none have given him the comfort level Mark has. Mark understands what level of detail and information Barry needs, is always prepared, and knows when to persist on a certain topic and when not to. Barry’s primary goal is to fund retirement, and possibly get out of the corporate life and start his own business in the future, in order to control his own earnings destiny. Because he started early and stayed the course, he is on pace—and in fact, ahead—of most of his peers.

An Entire Organization For Millennials

Michael Kitces is the co-founder of XY Planning Network, an organization with over six hundred advisor-members who provide financial planning services to Generation X and Y consumers. Michael has been in the industry 18 years and is very well known in the financial advice and financial planning communities. He is also a partner and director of wealth management of Pinnacle Advisory Group, as well as founder of his Kitces.com and Nerd’s Eye Blog, and finally, co-founder of AdvicePay—an application that makes it easier for advisors to charge monthly retainer or other financial planning fees while safely complying with SEC rules. He holds two master’s degrees and many designations, including the CFP, CLU and ChFC.

XY Planning Network (XYPN) was founded in 2014 in response to an observation by Michael and co-founder Alan Moore that there was not enough focus on helping consumers who needed and wanted financial advice, but who had not yet accumulated an investment portfolio to give an advisor to manage in exchange for that advice. Alan had in fact already been working with clients in their twenties and thirties when he and Michael decided to create a business around the notion that there are many younger consumers who need advice that is unrelated to managing an investment portfolio. XYPN is an organization that helps advisors set up and maintain a planning business for younger consumers that is fee-only and charges a reasonable monthly fee for financial planning advice. The network has many support programs for the advisor members, including bundled technology to run a fee-for-service planning firm, membership in a trade association, discounts on additional software licensing, and an advisor support system through access to a community of like-minded advisors. It is rapidly growing.

For a young consumer, selecting an advisor listed on the XY Planning Network website will provide access to a licensed CFP professional to answer myriad questions such as how to budget, how to manage cash flow, how to take advantage of employment benefits, how to save for a house down payment and more. During my interview with Michael, he made the statement that many people refer to their attorney for legal advice and refer to their CPA for tax advice, so why not refer to a retained planner for anything and everything relating to money and wealth?