Michael E. Kitces

About the Author

Michael E. Kitces

Michael E. Kitces, MSFS, MTAX, CFP, CLU, ChFC, is the director of research for Pinnacle Advisory Group, a private wealth management firm located in Columbia, Md., that oversees approximately $1 billion of client assets. He is the publisher of the e-newsletter The Kitces Report and the blog Nerd’s Eye View through his website www.Kitces.com. Kitces is also one of the 2010 recipients of the Financial Planning Association’s “Heart of Financial Planning” awards for his dedication to advancing the financial planning profession. Follow Kitces on Twitter at @MichaelKitces.

• In The Future, New Clients Will Seek—and Find—Best Firms: Part 2

  By Michael E. Kitces  |  May 3, 2012

  Advisory firms that want to succeed must take action on the following four steps.

• In The Future, New Clients Will Seek—and Find—Best Firms: Part 1

  By Michael E. Kitces  |  April 27, 2012

  Recent research on advisory firms has shown that a new category of marketing has quietly emerged as the one with the greatest growth: online search.

• Markets May Be Volatile, but Risk Tolerance Isn’t, Pt. 2

  By Michael E. Kitces  |  April 17, 2012

  A key point from FinaMetrica's research: investors are ultimately driven by two factors: their risk tolerance and their risk perception. Advisors' challenge: managing clients fluctuating risk (mis-)perceptions.

• Markets May Be Volatile, but Risk Tolerance Isn’t

  By Michael E. Kitces  |  April 13, 2012

  What's changing through market cycles is not the client's risk tolerance, but instead risk perceptions.

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  3 Reasons Financial Planning Firms Should Blog: Pt. 2

  By Michael E. Kitces  |  March 26, 2012

  If you're considering a blog for your firm, the first step is simply to understand why you would use the blog in the first place, as that can impact everything from the content you produce, to how often your produce it, to who you send it out to.

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  3 Reasons Financial Planning Firms Should Blog: Pt. 1

  By Michael E. Kitces  |  March 23, 2012

  The inspiration for today's blog is a recent conversation I had with a fellow financial planner, who said, "I feel like I'm 'supposed' to have a blog and I don't even know why. What's the reason?"

• Protecting the Public: After Fiduciary, Competence Is Next Frontier

  By Michael E. Kitces  |  March 8, 2012

  Notwithstanding some of the successes of the Financial Planning Coalition in pushing forward the fiduciary battle in Washington, requiring all advisors to act in the best interests of their clients is still an uphill fight.

• How Advisors Are Using Social Media (With No Compliance Headaches!)

  By Michael E. Kitces  |  February 27, 2012

  Advisors are increasingly under pressure to begin using social media in their own practices, but the research shows that the main benefit is how it improves communication and interaction with current clients.

• AICPA PFP: The ‘Other’ World of Financial Planners

  By Michael E. Kitces  |  February 7, 2012

  Last month witnessed the national conference for the Personal Financial Planning section of the AICPA – a world of CPA financial planners that have lived a relatively separate existence from “the rest” of the financial planning world.

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  CFP Board Relaxes Its Position on Financial Planner Bankruptcies: Pros and Cons

  By Michael E. Kitces  |  January 26, 2012

  What, specifically, are the arguments both for and against the CFP Board's proposed bankruptcy rule change? Who will it help and protect, and who will suffer? Part two of a two-part blog series.