Kitces Raises Concerns With Colorado Financial Planning Guide

What You Need to Know

Kitces’ main concern is how the guidance pertains to the regulation of financial planning services delivered by RIAs providing “fee for service” billing arrangements

Popular blogger and advisor Michael Kitces, co-founder of XY Planning Network, is raising a number of concerns with the Colorado Division of Securities’ Ongoing Financial Planning Guide, especially as it pertains to the regulation of financial planning services delivered by RIAs providing “fee for service” billing arrangements.

Kitces pointed out his concerns in a recent comment letter to the division. XYPN is a membership organization for fee-for-service financial planners.

The Colorado Division of Securities Ongoing Financial Planning Guide, published in March, was, as Kitces notes, developed to “assist investment advisers offering ongoing financial planning services,” and was published “in response to the growing trend of advisers offering financial planning under an ongoing or continuous model, and the increasing need for advisers to review and enhance their compliance programs in this area.”

In his comment letter, Kitces states that “XYPN agrees in concept that guidance which helps firms to comply with state regulations is a key part of the regulatory oversight process” and that RIA and financial planning fees “should be transparent and fair, and that RIAs should be accountable for delivering the services promised to their clients via disclosures and in the client agreement.”