For the Press
140 Character Bio: Father, Crossfitter, Financial Planner, Speaker, Consultant, Serial Entrepreneur, Tech Nerd, and aspiring Ski Bum
Location: Location Independent, currently living in Bozeman, Montana
Media Snippet: Alan, a financial planner and co-founder of the XY Planning Network, located in Bozeman, Montana.
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The Professional Version
Alan Moore, MS, CFP® is the co-founder of the XY Planning Network, a support network for advisors looking to serve next generation clients. He is also the CEO of AdvicePay, the first and only compliant payment processor for financial advisors. He is passionate about helping financial planners start and grow their own fee-only firms to serve Gen X & Gen Y clients largely ignored by traditional firms. Alan has been recognized by Investment News as a top “40 Under 40″ in financial planning, by Wealth Management as one of a “The 10 to Watch in 2015″, and was the first recipient of the NAPFA Young Professional award in 2015. Alan frequently speaks on topics related to technology, marketing, and business coaching, and has been quoted in publications including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes and The New York Times.He is also the host of XYPN Radio, one of the largest podcasts for independent financial advisors. He currently lives in Bozeman, MT so that he can hit the slopes on powder days.
The Real Version
I started Serenity Financial Consulting in 2012 because I realized that most fee-only advisors were ignoring young consumers because they didn’t meet the advisors asset minimums. I quickly realized that I would have to redesign the financial planning process from the bottom up to serve these younger clients. As my business grew, I started getting a lot of phone calls from other young advisors asking me how I had start a fee-only firm at 25 years old, focusing on clients under 50, that didn’t have assets to manage. Those calls eventually led Michael Kitces and me to co-found the XY Planning Network to help these advisors start and run their firms.
When I started my firm, I took a very traditional approach; I had an office, met with clients in person, and tried to do things the way I had been taught to do them. Six months in, my firm was growing, but I wasn’t happy. I realized that while I encouraged my clients to live the life of their dreams, I wasn’t living my great life. I decided that since I always vacationed in Bozeman, Montana I should just move there. I transitioned my business to 100% virtual and start living the life of my dreams. 12 months later, I made the move and now reside in Bozeman full-time and plan to ski 80+ days this winter! The success of the XY Planning Network eventually led me to sell my firm to Abacus Wealth Partners, a fee-only firm managing over $1.5 billion AUM, and now serve as their Champion of Next Gen, and am working to prove that large firms can profitably serve younger clients.
I have always had a natural desire to improve things around me. If I saw a problem, I wanted to fix it. Growing up, most people took this for me just being hardheaded, or having undiagnosed ADD/ADHD. It took me a long time to realize that I wasn’t crazy and that my desire to improve was simply what folks now call “being an entrepreneur.” Steve Jobs described me better than I ever could with his infamous quote:
“Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. But the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.” – Steve Jobs
I think to put it simply, my job is to fix what I see as broken and my niche is the financial planner space. And honestly, I can’t wait to see what problems I get to tackle next.