ST. LOUIS — There were babies everywhere.
A little one in a cuddly green onesie, wrapped around dad’s shoulder. The tiniest, quietest little two-month-old nestled in her mother’s arms. A fuzzy small head peeking out of a baby sling.
The presence of children — and amenities to accommodate exhausted parents, including a room for childcare — underscored just how much the organizers of the XY Planning Network want their RIA event to be a family affair unlike any other in the industry.
Joining the trend was XYPN co-founder Alan Moore, who presided over events with his wife and newborn daughter never too far away.
Other members of the next gen-focused advisor association showed up with their older children in tow.
Strolling the vendor booths was John McCarthy and his nine-year-old son Colin. McCarthy, president and founder of Cincinnati-based Advisor Facing Tax, a practice dedicated to helping advisors with client tax issues, brought Colin along to learn about the planning industry.
Andrea Clark, an RIA owner from Mountain Hills, Arizona, had brought along her teenaged daughter. Clark felt it was important to show her daughter how she had succeeded in the career.
“Even if it’s not the path for her, she’s going to believe it for her friend and her children,” Clark said.
The conference’s family-fun theme characterized much of its activities — one lunch was served from a line of food trucks, the menus’ offerings delighting any teenaged mutant ninja planner: pizza and tacos.
The conference’s opening night reception was held in a cavernous, gilded space that used to be a major train station. In fact, St. Louis and the venue itself, the Union Station Hotel, were such fan favorites that XYPN co-founder Michael Kitces told Financial Planning that the XYPNLive conference will return there in 2019.
Of the several hundred people at the reception, casual attire was the rule: Men in shorts and open-toed sandals, men and women aplenty wearing varying versions of XYPN T-shirts with snarky phrases on the back. Among the most-popular: “We’re big fans of the F-word (Fiduciary),” and “Financial Planner: Because Freakin’ Miracle Worker isn’t an official job title.”
No suits or ties were visible; indeed, only two people were easily spotted wearing a blazer: Kitces himself and one of the authors of this story.
The conversations touched on topics like devotion to fee-only compensation models, which digital offerings best leverage an advisor’s time, and industry diversity (or the significant lack thereof).
As early evening grew into late evening, heads abruptly turned upward: a light show, partly images of nature in motion, partly psychedelic, filled the atrium’s vast, barrel-vaulted ceiling.
“There are things you see at XYPN that you don’t see at any other financial planning conference,” said Amy Irvine, founder of Irvine Wealth Planning Strategies in Corning, New York.
Other quirks never to be seen at a custodian’s conference included an ‘Introvert Room,’ designated by a large sign that read: “Join us in here if it’s too peoplely out there! (No talking, please!)”
Richard Carroll, an RIA with First Ascent Financial from Colorado Springs, Colorado, was tempted to enter. But instead, the self-described introvert took the chance to find other like-minded advisors to talk about issues he otherwise wrestled with alone.
Carroll, whose niche practice is helping clients in the Armed Forces, found much to share with Chris Dale, an RIA from Orlando, Florida, whose practice niche is summed up by the name of his firm: Life After Grief Financial Planning.
Far from a glum discussion, the pair was energized; Carroll sought Dale out after hearing his presentation about his work. “I really liked what he had to say,” Carroll said. “I really don’t initiate conversations that much.”
The emphasis XYPN puts on niche practices fosters a sense of sharing and fair play, Dale said. “You’re not trying to beat each other. You’re not all going after the same client.”
The closing event was held in St. Louis’ City Museum, housed inside a former shoe factory. Among its attractions: a 10-story slide, metal mesh mazes 20 feet off the ground, a rooftop Ferris Wheel and a school bus dangled a quarter of the way off the rooftop.
With the entire museum — more a funhouse possessed by the imagination of Tim Burton and Salvador Dali — to themselves, Irvine and other advisors found themselves shooting down metal slides, crawling into tunnels randomly dug into floors and navigating spiraling stairs that led up to abandoned airplanes or down into massive ball pits.
Irvine, 46, joined her younger colleagues, diving headfirst into many of the zany, physically challenging activities.
“It was a team-building exercise, we were all laughing,” Irvine said. “The fun side comes out, the inner child.”
Clark agreed. “That’s what financial services needs,” she said. “We need to be approachable.”
