Michael Kitces

Michael E. Kitces, MSFS, MTAX, CFP®, CLU, CHFC, RHU, REBC, CASL, CWPP™ is director of financial planning for Pinnacle Advisory Group, a private wealth management firm located in Columbia, Maryland that oversees more than $600 million of client assets.

Over the years, Michael has had experience in a traditional commission model, a blended fee-and-commission practice, and currently as the Director of Research. This background has given him a broad perspective on the difficulties that financial planners face, especially the challenge of staying up to date in an ever-more-complex world. His vast experience has made him realize that there was an opportunity to leverage his passion even further to truly advance the financial planning body of knowledge and the quality of the solutions that financial planners deliver to their clients.

Michael is an active speaker, writer and editor and has been featured in publications including Financial Planning, Journal of Financial Planning, Journal of Retirement Planning, Practical Tax Strategies, Leimberg Information Services, as well as The Wall Street Journal, Businessweek, CNBC Powerlunch, NBC Nightly News, and more. In addition, Michael is a co-author with John Olsen of The Annuity Advisor, the first balanced and objective book on annuities written for attorneys, accountants, and financial planners.

Michael was recognized as one of only five financial planning practitioner “Movers & Shakers” for 2006 by Financial Planning magazine, and was recognized as one of 20 “Rising Stars in Wealth Management” by Institutional Investor News for 2007, for his active work in the financial planning community, serving as a member of the editorial review board for the Journal of Financial Planning, a moderator for the discussion boards on financial-planning.com, a commentator on annuity, retirement distribution, and retirement planning issues for Leimberg Information Services, Inc., and for his work as an active member of the Financial Planning Association at the local and national level. Michael also is a co-founder of NexGen, a community of the next generation of financial planners that aims to ensure the transference of wisdom, tradition, and integrity, from the pioneers of financial planning to the next generation of the profession.