Quoted: Member Media Roundup - March 2020

XY Planning Network members 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. 

How to Handle Coronavirus Market Meltdown: Advice from the Pros

Kiplinger, featuring XYPN members Eric Roberge and Paul Sydlansky

Married With Firm: Advisor Couple Build A Practice By Working Together 

Investor's Business Daily, featuring XYPN members Natalie Slagle and Dan Slagle

On a Sunday morning a few weeks ago, Natalie and Dan Slagle took a two-hour nature walk. They weren't thinking about business ideas for couples. They were just enjoying the scenic beauty and romping in the snow.

For many married couples, such an outing hardly qualifies as special. But when you work together all week in close quarters, as the Slagles do, setting aside leisure time takes on more importance.

Both certified financial planners, Natalie and Dan run Fyooz Financial Planning in Rochester, Minn. They launched their fee-only, independent firm in October 2019 after each of them spent nearly a decade in financial services.

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Happy Accidents Or Planned, Advisors Enjoy Virtual Practices

Financial Advisor Magazine, featuring XYPN members Lazetta Rainey Braxton and Luis Rosa, and XYPN co-founder Michael Kitces

It’s hard to say how many virtual financial advisors are out there because industry trackers aren’t keeping count. But more advisors are launching virtual-only practices and brick-and-mortar firms are also delivering more advice remotely to clients they may rarely or never see.

Virtual advisors range in age from baby boomers to millennials, said Michael Kitces, a partner and director of wealth management with Maryland-headquartered Pinnacle Advisory Group and co-founder of XY Planning Network. Virtual advisors span from larger firms (such as Vanguard Personal Advisor Services and Personal Capital) to solo firms (including XYPN members), he said.

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Advisors’ Advice: What Does the Secure Act Really Mean for Clients?

ThinkAdvisor, featuring XYPN members Ashlee DeSteiger, Travis Gatzemeier, Michael Henzes, Jason Speciner, and Mark Wilson

The Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (Secure) Act has been called the most comprehensive retirement security legislation in decades. Overall, it has received a thumbs up for several changes, such as:

• It will be easier for small businesses to set up 401(k)s by increasing the cap under which they can automatically enroll workers in “safe harbor” retirement plans, from 10% of wages to 15%;
• Providing a maximum tax credit of $500 per year to employers who create a 401(k) or SIMPLE IRA plan with automatic enrollment;
• Encouraging plan sponsors to include annuities as an option in workplace plans by reducing their liability if the insurer cannot meet its financial obligations (a provision popular with the insurance industry but questioned by some advisors);
• Pushing back the age at which retirement plan participants need to take required minimum distributions (RMDs), from 70 ½ to 72.

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Game Plan: A Couple Wants to Pay Off Debt—and Save for Disney World

The Wall Street Journal, featuring XYPN member Jason Speciner

As Freddie and Mary Ellen Fabbri near their 50s, they dream of bucket-list items like taking their 4-year-old daughter to Disney World

“Experiences and security are what we’re looking for,” Mr. Fabbri says, “not more and more stuff.”

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XY Planning Network's media request program is available to all XYPN advisors as a member benefit. Interested in joining our community of expert advisors? Read more about XYPN's marketing support and watch our introductory video, Disrupting Financial Planning: The XYPN Movement.