Membership Agreement

We strive to maintain the highest membership standards of any organization for financial advisors. Why are these membership standards important to us? Because providing financial planning to the next generation is the core of what we do. We believe everyone deserves professional financial advice, regardless of age or assets. A traditional AUM fee model won't work for clients without assets, who often need us most.

Our Agreement Guidelines

Upon joining XYPN Members agree to:

Stop selling any new products
Eliminate all trails within 12 months
Not hold out as fee-only at any point (including during the 12-month transition period) while receiving trails
Wait to be listed on the Find-an-Advisor portal until receipt of all trails has ceased

Here at XYPN, you'll sign a Membership Agreement that all members must read and accept upon application and joining the network. This agreement includes your Member Agreement, a Fee-Only Agreement, and a Fiduciary Oath all rolled into one document. Yay, for simplicity!

If you'd like to review this document, here's a copy of the most recent Membership Agreement! You can conveniently locate your Membership Agreement right from your XYPN Portal! Here's the link that will take you there!

Our Membership Standards

Fee-Only: Members must operate on a fee-only basis. We follow the CFP Board’s definition of Fee-Only: “A certificant may describe his or her practice as “fee-only” if, and only if, all of the certificant’s compensation from all of his or her client work comes exclusively from the clients in the form of fixed, flat, hourly, percentage or performance-based fees.”
Provide Services Virtually As Needed: Members must be able to accommodate clients with mobility/accessibility considerations. Physical location should not limit one’s access to financial planning
Fee-for-Service (Retainer, Subscription, Hourly, Flat-Fee offering): Must offer financial planning services to clients without requiring a certain asset level. Note: There is nothing wrong with offsetting planning fees with AUM
Good standing with BrokerCheck: Each member is screened via BrokerCheck for approval into the Network. No member is approved if they have a regulatory fine, arbitration, or settlement in excess of $10k. Please review this article for more information.

FAQs

Where can I find my membership agreement?

Navigate to the Settings of your XYPN Portal.
Toggle over to Agreements.
Download your membership agreement.

Didn't I already sign an agreement when I joined XYPN?

We're in the middle of a big move! After 10 years of updates, it was time to simplify and modernize our agreements. Signing multiple documents got confusing for both members and our team, so we brought everything into the Portal for easy access. Plus, with more regulators asking for the agreement during audits, we wanted to make sure you have a clean copy to share. Once you sign, we can update things without needing your signature again. We'll still let you know about any changes, and you can always find the latest version in your XYPN Portal.

Help! I'm being audited and regulators are asking for all of these documents?

We know that it's typical for regulators to request service agreements that an advisor has with third parties, such as the custodian, billing platform, professional insurance, etc. XYPN is considered a third-party service provider.
Members can provide a copy of their Membership Agreement to regulators, found under the "Agreements" tab of their XYPN Portal. Members can also provide a copy of their Initial Registration Contract (if IR was completed with the XYPN Compliance Team) as well as a copy of the Fiduciary Oath/ Fee-Only Promise that is signed upon joining membership.
- You can request a copy of these documents by reaching out to the Membership Team at membership@xyplanningnetwork.com!
Looking for your Due Diligence Documents from your tech stack vendors? At the bottom of each Tech Stack Knowledge Base article, you'll find these documents and other helpful information, too!

Questions?

If you have any questions about the Membership Standards listed above, please reach out to membership@xyplanningnetwork.com.