Michael Ernest Kitces

Employer firm

Focus Partners Wealth, LLC CRD 159289

$182B regulatory AUM 1,500 advisory clients

Reported services (Item 5G)

• Financial planning
• Portfolio management (individuals)
• Portfolio management (investment companies)
• Portfolio management (pooled vehicles)
• Portfolio management (institutions)
• Pension consulting

From the firm’s Form ADV. Read the guides:

• Item 5F — Regulatory AUM
• Item 5G — Advisory services
• Full firm profile

Current Employers

Employment History

• 12/2002 → 03/2020
  Pinnacle Advisory Group, Inc.
  Columbia, MD
• 03/2020 → 11/2024
  Buckingham Strategic Wealth
  Clayton, MO
• 11/2024 → Present
  The Colony Group, Llc
  Boston, MA

Previous Registrations

• 2020-10-21 → 2024-11-14
  Buckingham Strategic Wealth, Llc
  Reston, VA
  St Louis, MO
• 2007-02-02 → 2020-03-06
  Pinnacle Advisory Group, Inc.
  Columbia, MD

Other Businesses

Kitces.com, LLC, non-investment related business, located at 11110 Sunset Hills Road, #2231, Reston, VA, 20190. Chief Financial Planning Nerd, writer, speaker and owner. Approximately 20-40 hours/week during business and non-business hours devoted to this outside business activity. The nature of the business is to speak and write on the issues in the financial planning profession and provide continuing education programs to other professional advisors. XY Planning Network, non-investment related, located at 24 E. Main Street, Bozeman, MT, 59715, co-founder and owner. Approximately 5-10 hours/week during business and non-business hours devoted to this outside business activity. The nature of the business is to help financial advisors launch, grow, and run financial planning firms, with a particular focus on providing financial planning advice to Generation X and Generation Y consumers. XY Planning Network has a subsidiary XY Investment Solutions which is investment related. AdvicePay, non-investment related, located at 24 E. Main Street, Bozeman, MT, 59715, co-founder and owner. Approximately 1-2 hours/week during business and non-business hours devoted to this outside business activity. The nature of the business is to provide a platform for financial advisors to collect their non-AUM planning fees in a compliant and secure way. New Planner Recruiting, non-investment related, located at 1860 Barnett Shoals Rd Suite 103 PMB 445, Athens, GA, 30605, founder and owner. Approximately 1 hour/week during business and non-business hours devoted to this outside business activity. The nature of the business to provide associate planner and paraplanner career seekers and firm owners a space to find qualified candidates and employers in one place. fpPathFinder, non-investment related, located at 3 Walnut Farms Drive, Farmington, CT, 06032, co-founder and owner. Approximately 1 hour/week during business and non-business hours devoted to this outside business activity. The nature of the business is provide interactive flowcharts and checklists for financial advisors to navigate difficult financial planning situations.

Exams

• S65 Uniform Investment Adviser Law Examination
  2000-10-13
• S63 Uniform Securities Agent State Law Examination
  2000-07-12

Designations

• Certified Financial Planner
• Chartered Financial Consultant