You have questions, and our expert coaches have answers. The highly coveted Coaches' Corner will be back in 2021—providing real solutions to address the pain points keeping you awake at night.
Test out your marketing ideas, hone your sales process, receive one-on-one compliance support, get help from our bookkeepers, and much more! Coaching clients share their most pressing issues and walk away with actionable takeaways to improve their firms.
We're announcing coaches on a rolling basis, so check back soon for more!
Coaching sessions are available on a first-come, first-served basis. Confirmed attendees may register for one session of their choice, subject to availability. Attendees will receive an invitation via email based on when they purchased a conference pass.
Coaching sessions book quickly. For your chance to secure a spot in Coaches' Corner, get your #XYPNLIVE 2021 pass early!
Does your state require you to prepare financials in accordance with GAAP? If so, you should be preparing your financials on an accrual basis. Come chat with Dan Keslin, Director of XY Bean Counters, to learn what this means for you and your business, and win the day as you figure out how to make accrual entries without breaking a sweat.
Having been a small business owner himself, Dan knows how important it is to have clean, accurate books. Dan has five years of individual and business tax preparation experience, ten years running and accounting for his own businesses, and now over three years of hands-on accounting in the financial advising industry for business owners like yourself. Attend Coaches Corner with Dan to figure out if you are preparing your books correctly, understand the difference between accrual and cash accounting, and get any and all of your general bookkeeping questions answered.
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Quickbooks Online is a great tool for your bookkeeping needs. However, as with all software, there is a learning curve that can lead to frustrations and bad books. Are your bank balances off? Do you have items showing on your balance sheet that shouldn’t be there? Is the profit and loss accurate? Do you trust that your books are accurate? Let me help you sort through the problems you are having in your books. Sit down with Rhonda Moore, XY Bean Counters Account Manager, to take a look at your specific issues and solve them together.
Rhonda Moore has been on the XYPN team since its inception, first as a bookkeeping contractor and then as a team member for XY Bean Counters. Rhonda’s primary roles are to onboard new monthly bookkeeping clients and to set up and train XYPN members who chose to do their own bookkeeping. Rhonda has an Associate's Degree in Accounting and is a QuickBooks ProAdvisor. She believes that a good set of books holds the history of your company, reduces your stress during those state audits, and, of course, makes tax time less difficult. Rhonda enjoys working with Financial Advisors and will work with you to solve those pesky QBO issues you may be experiencing.
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When was the last time you took a step back to assess the effectiveness of your compliance program? Does it adequately cover the risks that are present within and across your firm? Regardless of firm size, CCOs must periodically conduct risk assessments to identify any risks, determine if current policies, procedures, and internal controls adequately mitigate against those risks, and then adjust or amend the specifics of the compliance program to protect against those identified risks. Sound overwhelming? Luckily, it doesn't have to be—XYPN Compliance Consultant, Shelby Brown, will walk you through every step of the process. Compliance handled.
Shelby Brown joined XY Planning Network as a Compliance Consultant in May 2019. Prior to joining XYPN, Shelby gained extensive experience filing initial registration applications for state and SEC registered investment advisors of all sizes and designing and developing compliance programs for immediate implementation. Shelby’s Investment Advisor Certified Compliance Professional® (IACCP®) designation, earned in 2016 through National Regulatory Services (NRS), certifies that she is equipped with the knowledge and tools necessary to implement and manage a successful compliance program at any investment advisory firm.
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Adding your first employee or another partner carries some important compliance obligations. As a solo-advisor, it is almost inevitable that you wear many hats, including Chief Compliance Officer (CCO). As CCO, you are ultimately responsible for the supervision of your firm’s compliance program and your firm's advisory services. This supervision responsibility grows as your team grows; your compliance program must evolve with these new dynamics. XYPN Compliance Consultant, Terria Heng, will take you through the compliance obligations every CCO should be aware of when adding their first employee. You'll walk away with a comprehensive understanding of the supervision and training requirements, recommendations for annual procedures, knowledge of how to maintain the employee file, and more. Best yet, you'll gain confidence when hiring your first employee.
Terria Heng has spent her career in financial regulatory compliance. She got her start as a compliance consultant at a boutique compliance firm located in Beverly Hills, CA, where she assisted breakaway brokers in transitioning from wirehouses to the independent RIA space. Prior to joining XYPN, Terria was a financial examiner at the Texas State Securities Board for six years. Terria has extensive knowledge in state compliance examinations, including effectively communicating with regulators, responding to regulatory inquiries, and best practices in practice management.
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As a registered investment advisor, it's up to you to ensure your disclosure brochure, supplements, and all internal compliance documents remain current and up to date at all times. This can be a challenge for fast-growing firms that are evolving and going through transitions in service offerings, fee structures, staffing structure, and even office dynamics. Some changes may only require updates to your documents once a year, while other changes require you to update your documents promptly once the current information is no longer accurate or up to date. As a former financial examiner and analyst, XYPN Apprentice Compliance Consultant, Tyler Braman, is well-versed in the requirements for investment adviser disclosures and how to navigate those requirements smoothly.
Tyler Braman is a former Florida regulator with over seven years of experience in compiling, reviewing, analyzing data, and processing registrations in the financial industry. Through this experience, he has become a subject matter expert in compliance for investment advisors and is thrilled about the opportunity to share his expertise with you.
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Getting your firm registered is a big step toward launching your business. Lucky for you, XYPN’s in-house Compliance Team is stacked with experts like our Manager of Investment Advisor Registrations, Kendra Rehm-Dehn, who routinely helps advisors prepare for and navigate the state and SEC initial registration processes. Developing your services and determining how you will be compensated carries many compliance considerations that vary across state and federal jurisdictions. Kendra can help you better understand these nuances and how they impact your desired service and fee arrangements. She’ll work with you to understand the initial registration process and provide you with the guidance you need to get your firm state- or SEC-registered.
Kendra joined the XYPN team in March 2019 as a Compliance Specialist, and she brings an impressive amount of experience and expertise to the table. To date, she has registered over 160 firms in 40+ states. Next up? She can't wait to handle any registration roadblocks standing between you and the firm of your dreams.
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Year-end renewals and annual ADV updates are all part of the process when you're a firm owner. At XYPN, Senior Compliance Specialist, Krystal Schmitz, has guided countless advisors through these processes and can't wait to do the same for you. She'll walk you through every step of the process, like updating necessary information such as your number of clients, amount of assets under management, and the required breakdown of those figures as needed to update Form ADV Part 1 and Part 2A. Join Krystal to discuss how to best prepare for these annual tasks and get them done efficiently, and most importantly, on time.
Krystal joined the XYPN Compliance Team in November 2019, specializing in Initial State Registrations and leading the Annual ADV update experience. She enjoys working with XYPN Advisors through their firm’s Initial Registration and has a solid background effectively navigating a wide array of state nuances in order to get Advisors onto the exciting task of becoming their own CCO! She has also assisted with and overseen the Annual ADV update process and additional annual tasks for over 500 XYPN Advisors! Krystal is excited to share her knowledge in the area of Compliance, both Initial Registration and insight on how to best prepare and get through those year-end Compliance “to dos” with confidence!
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A client service calendar is one of the most powerful ways to create client awareness and appreciation for everything you continuously do for them outside of client meetings. It’s also been proven to increase closing ratios for prospective clients while increasing stickiness for current clients. Connect with our Financial Planning & Process Coach, Kathleen Boyd, CFP®, to get tips on how to craft your own annual service calendar in a way that’s comprehensive and lets your clients know you’re actively taking care of their financial lives, even when they don’t hear from you.
Kathleen Boyd is XYPN’s resident Financial Planning & Process Coach. She holds the CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ designation and possesses almost ten years of experience working for a variety of financial services firms. Kathleen is an Investment News "40 Under 40" recipient, and FA Magazine named her a "Top 10 Advisor to Watch." Outside of XYPN, Kathleen has written financial planning pieces for Michael Kitces’s Nerds Eye View blog and currently works as an adjunct professor teaching CFP® coursework at Oklahoma State University.
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Assets under management (AUM) can contribute to the significant growth of firms. Thomas Kerney, Senior Director of XY Investment Solutions, will review your unique circumstances and then discuss why and how you can leverage the success of your planning practice to lay the groundwork for gathering assets that can impact your bottom line.
Thomas Kerney, Senior Director of XY Investment Solutions, has more than 14 years of experience in the investment banking and asset management sector and a bevy of certifications—including not only his FINRA Series 7 and 66, but also his Series 4, 24, 27, 53, 57, and 79 (covering a wide range of principal and supervisory roles). Prior to his time at XYPN, he served as the President & Chief Compliance Officer of an investment firm with over $500 million in assets under advisement. In addition to his extensive experience, Thomas earned his Certified Investment Management Analyst® designation from the Investments & Wealth Institute®.
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How do you answer client questions about predicting the future of financial markets after you’ve told them you can’t predict the future? Chief Investment Strategist of XY Investment Solutions, Mario Nardone, recognized the unique position that advisors find themselves in regarding making predictions about an uncertain future and will show you how to navigate these types of conversations with ease—no crystal ball required.
Mario Nardone is Chief Investment Strategist of XYIS via a consulting engagement with the firm he founded, East Bay Investment Solutions. He began his investment career in 1999 with Vanguard mutual funds, where he spent ten years consulting institutions and advisors on investment policy and portfolio construction, specializing in ETFs. He earned the Chartered Financial Analyst designation in 2003. Mario was the past President of the CFA Society South Carolina and former Chairman of the College of Charleston Finance Department Advisory Board. His approach to investments and the industry has been featured in Investment News, NAPFA Advisor Magazine, South Carolina Public Radio, and other publications and media outlets.
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Transitioning from a solo advisor to having a team can be intimidating. No one wants to be a bad boss, and most of you don’t want to get bogged down in managing people when you’d rather be planning for clients. Let’s talk about getting your team established and on the right track to work well together, elevate your client service, and grow your business. Sit down with XYPN Executive Business Coach, Arlene Moss, and discuss the challenges you are facing so she can help you create a game plan for managing your team.
Arlene has been coaching and nudging fee-only planners since 2004. Arlene helps financial advisors get over being overwhelmed and take on their frustrations so their businesses soar. Arlene works to ensure financial planners are able to help their clients prosper while creating a sustainable business model. Specializing in fee-for-service planners in the independent RIA space allows her to focus her development and coaching on specific issues. Through XYPN group training, public speaking, and XYPN Academy content, planners get the support they need to grow their businesses and overcome the challenges that come their way.
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Finding, selecting, hiring, and onboarding your next team member is an overwhelming process. Hiring requires strategic and pragmatic thinking while staying human-centric. XYPN Talent Acquisition Manager, Manju Rajendran, and Chief People Officer, Ryan Watin, are here to share helpful tips to find the right talent, expand and build a talent pool, discuss how diversity is directly related to increased productivity and culture enrichment, refine your candidate and new-hire experience, share best onboarding practices, and so. much. more. Join Manju and Ryan to learn everything you could ever need to know about hiring and successfully growing your team.
Manju is a talent acquisition professional with more than a decade of experience in full life cycle recruiting. She has championed diversity recruiting efforts in some prominent technology companies across the country, and she excelled as a Crisis Talent Acquisition Strategist at one of the nation's biggest health care organizations and grocery chains. Manju is passionate about delivering the best candidate and hiring manager experience while meticulously building Team XYPN.
×As XYPN’s Director of People and Culture, Ryan Watin leverages his passion and talent for bringing people together, enabling them to achieve far more than they could on their own. He spends his days championing XYPN's positive, inclusive, innovative, and get sh*t done culture and doesn’t rest until every team member has what they need to thrive. Ryan is a fundamental part of the seriously strong glue that holds everything we do at XYPN together because, as he knows, we are nothing without our people.
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Let's face it—being an intern is not easy. And being a manager trying to help interns not only find their footing but grasp the knowledge needed to succeed under your tutelage can be even more daunting. How and where do you start? What do you need to consider along the way? Join XYPN People Operations Manager, Pearl Michalson, to get answers to these questions and more. You'll walk away with a comprehensive understanding of what it takes to set up a successful internship program for your firm.
Pearl is the People Operations Manager at XY Planning Network and is responsible for all things related to the XYPN Internship Program. She is a Navy veteran with over 20 years of experience bringing various organizations and students together, enabling them to successfully navigate their next goals and career paths. Pearl is keenly perceptive to the various ways in which available resources can be used efficiently. It is this ability that allows her to organize and develop the XYPN Internship Program, develop a future apprenticeship program, and help interns receive the intellectual challenges and one-on-one training they are looking for to thrive.
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Join XYPN Total Rewards Specialist, Bri Slingsby, for a deep dive into Gusto, XYPN's payroll platform of choice. She'll show you everything Gusto has to offer—including integrations and how state and federal reporting is handled—as she walks you through how to effectively and efficiently set up a payroll process for your firm. Whether you need to run payroll for yourself or a team, Bri has you covered. Join Bri to learn more about how Gusto can help you streamline your payroll process and, better yet, save time and energy.
Bri Slingsby is the Total Rewards Specialist at XY Planning Network. She has been in the payroll world for four years and realized not long after she got into it that she wanted to make it her career. She manages the benefits and payroll for XY Planning Network and oversees that they are compliant with all state and federal regulations. Prior to joining the team, she spent two years working at a public accounting firm where she managed over 150 payrolls. Payroll, numbers, state setups, and I9 verifications are her thing.
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From your email campaigns to your blogs, if you don’t have clearly defined client avatars, you’ll find yourself up the creek without a paddle. Client avatars are a non-negotiable part of your marketing strategy and will help you not only define the best prospects for your firm but also inform your marketing content. Your client avatars will set you up for success and give you the insight you need to communicate in a way that will resonate with prospects and drive them to action. Meet with Lindsey White, XYPN Email Marketing Manager, to learn how to discover, define, and create the ideal client avatars for your firm and grow your business.
After getting her start as Network Navigator on Team XYPN, Lindsey White now manages all things email in her aptly titled role of Email Marketing Manager. She is (almost) as passionate about subject lines and open rates as she is about growing the movement; lucky for her, she gets to focus on all of the above here at XYPN, where she crafts bragworthy emails like it’s her job—because it is.
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Color wheel got your head in a spin? Marketing materials making you queasy? Aligning your business and brand is no easy feat. In this coaches’ corner, we’ll talk through your brand as it stands—from basic ideation around your vision and mission to practical feedback on-brand collateral. After going through a foundational branding exercise, XYPN Brand Designer Audrey Moss will provide actionable feedback on building a brand that resonates with your clients. Whether you’re building your brand from scratch or looking to boost your branding to the next level, you’ll walk away with expert advice on setting up a brand that speaks to your vision.
Audrey Moss is a designer with a passion for helping entrepreneurs and small businesses communicate with strong, branding-focused work. She leverages the power of design to tell meaningful stories through clear, engaging visuals, using a process-based approach rooted in research and feedback. With a passion for typographically driven, color-forward branding, Audrey spends her days building and improving on the XY Planning Network brand vision.
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As an RIA, marketing can feel like the last thing on your mind. Your passion lies in connecting with clients to help them achieve their financial goals. But attracting those clients is essential to growing your business. By harnessing the power of marketing automation, you can build repeatable processes to help streamline your marketing efforts—freeing up your time to do what you do best. Sit down with XYPN’s Marketing Systems Administrator, Katie DeMars, to learn the fundamental marketing processes needed to support your firm. You’ll walk away with key processes you can implement right away to help market your firm.
As XYPN’s Webmaster, Katie DeMars plays a major role in communicating XYPN’s value proposition to the world through digital mediums. Her career experiences span marketing and web roles giving her a unique perspective when approaching each project.
Katie is passionate about creating exceptional virtual experiences and is excited to share XYPN’s story through digital platforms.
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Social media is a big player in digital marketing, but there’s a lot to figure out. Whether it’s YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, or others, social media provides the tool, and it’s up to YOU to use it effectively. Feeling like it’s time for your firm’s strategy to get a revamp? Bring one of your most promising social media profiles to XYPN Marketing Coach Carolyn Dalle-Molle and get her expert input on how to breathe fresh life into your firm’s strategy, content, and overall marketing approach.
Carolyn Dalle-Molle is a professional marketer with a decade of frontline experience helping small businesses reach their growth goals. Her approach to marketing is both creative and analytical; helping entrepreneurs achieve a creative flow that’s unique and exciting, while using tracking and metrics to learn what actually works for their business.
Based in Boston, she's honored to work with XY Planning Network members from coast to coast. Outside of work, she enjoys volunteering with elderly, making videos, and traveling with family.
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Asking a prospect to do business with you can feel terrifying, with doubts running amuck through your brain. Together, with XYPN Sales Coach BB Webb, you’ll have the opportunity to discuss systematic steps that work up to your big ask, making "popping the question" a natural and expected part of the process. Learn how to create a safe place for your prospect to share and how to collect the information you need while sharing your unique value and expertise. Through sharing stories of how you’ve helped others while demonstrating your leadership ability and passion through your sales process, you’ll soon have your prospects asking you, “Can we work together?”
XYPN Sales Coach BB Webb boasts an impressive background in the arts and as an entrepreneur. She first dipped her toe in the world of sales while touring her one-woman play across country and then dove in headfirst as the founder of an award-winning Atlanta-based special event venue. In 2014, BB published her book, Build Your Business: BB Webb’s Notes From the Highwire, and before joining XYPN, worked as an Executive Coach with small business owners. BB’s goal is to help XYPN members build great relationships, plans, and processes for sharing their services as financial advisors—guiding them towards having meaningful conversations with prospects and sharing their value fearlessly and with joy.
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In his corner, XY Tax Solutions Tax Manager, Dan Ritter, CPA, will cover everything from capitalization policies and accountable plans to common startup deductions to those extra special business owner deducatons you want to be sure you're taking advantage of (we're talking home office, reimbursable expenses, mileage—the whole nine yards). He'll also dive deep into the nitty-gritty of documentation, such as filing a 1099-MISC or 1099-NEC.
After graduating from Norwich University in 2009 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting, Dan Ritter served as an officer in the United States Marine Corps for seven years. In 2016, Dan joined a tax firm in Bozeman, MT and fulfilled the role of a Staff Accountant/CPA for over four years. Dan also graduated with a Master of Professional Accountancy Degree from Montana State University in 2017. Dan specializes in tax for individuals and small businesses, bookkeeping, financial accounting, and QuickBooks Online.
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Is your firm considering becoming an S corp? Or maybe you're contemplating combining your S corp with a Solo 401(k) to maximize your retirement plan contributions? Both of these decisions can save on self-employment taxes and help you funnel more money into retirement. To find out how, sit down with XY Tax Solutions Senior Tax Manager Michael Law, CPA. (To get the best estimate of just how much you can save, come prepared to discuss what financial planners earn in your area.)
Michael Law has 22 years of experience including time spent as Vice President of Tax Operations at Goldman Sachs. Other hats he has worn throughout his career include Supervising Senior Accountant, Tax Manager, Audit Manager, and Tax Partner.
He's been published or quoted in Accounting Today, Small Biz Daily, Business News Daily, and more. Michael holds a Masters of Science in Taxation from Golden Gate University and a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from California State University.
As Managing Director of XY Tax Solutions, Michael will lead our in-house team of tax experts, ensuring the highest standards are met while serving as your in-house team.
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Employee stock options. Asset location and tax implications. Roth versus traditional. Cryptocurrency taxation. End-of-year tax planning. Have these tax topics left you scratching your head wondering which way's up? Then be sure to join XY Tax Solutions Senior Tax Manager, Sam Nguyen, CFP®, EA, who will deconstruct and demystify complex tax questions—and make it look oh so easy.
Sam Nguyen has over 11 years of experience in tax planning and preparation in the financial planning industry. He is an Enrolled Agent, a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™, and graduated from Virginia Tech’s financial planning program in 2009.
Sam has extensive experience working with financial planners and their clients, and knows that understanding the goals and the comprehensive financial planning picture of a client allows for better tax planning and advising.
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"My 30 minutes with Jen in Marketing was the most valuable experience at the conference!"
"The most I got out of #XYPNLIVE was my coaching with Kingston for compliance. That was worth it for the whole stinking thing."
"Great input from Carolyn during my coaching session. Things I can do to further hone in on my niche."
"My coaching session with Katie was helpful. We discussed several items to consider for my website. I left with three different software solutions to explore."
XY Planning Network is the leading financial planning platform for fee-for-service financial advisors who want to serve Gen X and Gen Y clients, providing comprehensive financial planning services for a monthly subscription fee and without product sales or asset minimums. The Network offers a virtual community for new and established financial advisors who want to serve a younger clientele, and provides its members compliance support services, marketing support, business tools and templates, and a wide range of technology solutions. Learn more about XYPN >