XY Planning Network members can't help but shine, and brightly at that—they regularly serve as subject matter experts for major media outlets. (We invite our journalist friends to submit requests using our media portal.) We've compiled this roundup of recent articles featuring some of our superstar advisors.
The pandemic forced Americans to face unprecedented financial dilemmas. Here’s how advisors have stepped in to help
CNBC, featuring XYPN member Brett Koeppel
Raven Whitehurst was inspired to seek professional financial advice for the first time when she saw a notice on a bulletin board at the clinic where her 5-year-old son is receiving treatment for leukemia.
The pro bono guidance was offered through Family Reach, a non-profit organization offering financial advice to families facing a cancer diagnosis.
That organization had teamed up with the Financial Planning Association, a membership organization of certified financial planners, which offers a pro bono financial advice program to individuals and families who need it.
Whitehurst, 27, of Virginia Beach, Virginia, and a mother of four children ages 6 and under, said she wanted guidance on how to avoid the $30 overdraft fees she kept incurring.
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How Did You Give Back This Year? — Advisors' Advice
ThinkAdvisor, featuring XYPN members Julie Quick, Jovan Johnson, John Bovard, Emmanuel Henson, Stephanie Trexler, Cullen Fischel, and Dan Herron
Advisors are a generous bunch, especially when donating money to favorite charities. But many also reach out and donate time and talent to help those in need, especially in this year that has been so dreadful to so many.
We reached out to members of the XY Planning Network and Financial Planning Association asking what they’ve done this year to help out various charities and people in need.
We received too many responses to feature here, but answers were as varied as setting up donor-advised funds and buying lunch for local medical teams.
Here we feature 14 advisors whose generous spirits show how there are many new and creative ways to help our fellow man. We thank all those who sent in responses and for their good works.
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Americans boosted their retirement savings during Covid: Here’s how much money they put away
Grow, featuring XYPN member Shaun Melby
Americans didn’t stop saving for their financial futures last year, even though the pandemic made it hard for many people just to make it to the next paycheck. Despite economic uncertainty, the average individual retirement balance hit a new record.
That’s according to data from Fidelity, which analyzed retirement savings trends in the fourth quarter of 2020 across more than 30 million 401(k), IRA, and 403(b) accounts. The researchers studied account balances and contributions.
The trend highlights the unevenness of the economic recovery. “People fall into two camps,” says Shaun Melby, a CFP and owner of Melby Wealth Management in Nashville, Tennessee. Some are struggling with a Covid-related job loss or other loss of income. Others have “been affected by the pandemic but their industry has been able to adjust and they’re continuing forward relatively unscathed,” he says.
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FPA, NAPFA Evolve Alongside Pandemic, Online Competition
Wealth Management, featuring XYPN members Jake Morris, Alajahwon Ridgeway, John Bovard, Todd Pouliot, and Daniel Yerger
Advisors grappling with the coronavirus pandemic have changed how they relate not just to their clients but to each other as well.
Advisors in independent practices, much like doctors and lawyers, have always worked in some degree of professional isolation, even before COVID-19 put an end to in-person gatherings of like-minded peers. Many advisors join professional communities or organizations to find peer support, advice on running their practices and the latest professional developments.
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Women In Wellness: Julie Quick of ‘Cultivate Financial Wellness’ on the Five Lifestyle Tweaks That Will Help Support People’s Journey Towards Better Wellbeing
Authority Magazine, featuring XYPN member Julie Quick
As a part of my series about the women in wellness, I had the pleasure of interviewing Julie Quick, CFP®, BFA™, CDFA®
Julie Quick is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER TM professional with over 20 years of experience working with a wide variety of clients. Throughout her career, she learned that financial planning is about so much more than numbers. It’s about paying attention to the emotions and life experiences of each individual person.
Julie understands that women, in particular, face unique financial challenges. These may include the long-term effects of the gender wage gap, time out of the workforce to care for family members, and longer life expectancies — all of which can be compounded by a death, divorce or other major life events. As founder of Cultivate Financial Wellness, she uses her personal and professional experience to help women take charge of their financial lives and move from feelings of uncertainty to a place of freedom in pursuit of overall well-being.
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Meg Bartelt: 'More Money Does Not Make You Happier'
The Long View Podcast, featuring XYPN member Meg Bartelt
Our guest on the podcast today is financial advisor Meg Bartelt. She started Flow Financial Planning, a fee-only practice, geared toward providing financial guidance for women in the technology sector in 2016. Prior to starting Flow Financial, Meg worked for a fee-only Registered Investment Advisor in Virginia and was a technical writer for 10 years in the San Francisco Bay Area. She received her master's degree in financial planning from Golden Gate University, and her Bachelor of Arts in economics from Wellesley College. She is also a certified financial planner.
The Flow Financial founder talks about supporting women in the tech industry, IPOs and restricted stock, and what it means to be a financial life planner.
Read the transcript or listen here
Dad, a Death Sentence and the Planner Who Set Us Straight
The New York Times, featuring a link to XYPN members providing pro bono services
There are few things in life more fraught than conversations about illness, death and money.
I know this. I’ve written about it before.
But I really understood it only after my father’s amyotrophic lateral sclerosis was diagnosed in 2015. It was tempting to curse the gods, rant and rave, and lose myself in anticipated grief. That wouldn’t have been all that practical, though.
Thankfully, I wasn’t managing things alone. My two siblings absorbed the news in their own way, but one thing we were certain of was that we needed a lot of help, and fast. Sure, my brother is a lawyer, my sister runs a nonprofit that helps cancer patients, and I tell all of you what to do with your financial lives. But this was a case for a specialist, who could do what we couldn’t.
Luckily, I knew just whom to call: a medical doctor and certified financial planner with a passion for hard-luck cases. And the last five-plus years have been so much better than they might have been had she not turned up in our lives.
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‘Rule of law prevailed’: Advisers confident after riots at US Capitol
Investment News, featuring XYPN member Ryan Greiser
The broad financial advice community, from planners to investment analysts to bank CEOs, expressed grave apprehension for the Wednesday afternoon riots at the U.S. Capitol building that resulted in four deaths, one by gunshot, and the hours long disruption of lawmakers’ procedural vote to declare Joseph R. Biden the next president of the United States.
Concern, of course, is perhaps the least to be expected, but what stood out in comments Wednesday evening and Thursday morning from the financial advice world was the calm and confidence for the broad market, the economy and the country.
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