Alan Rhode, CFP®, CPWA®, CVGA®, CEPA®, RLP®
Financial Planning and Business Advisory for Business Owners Approaching an Exit
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Serving Clients Nationwide
Financial Planning and Business Advisory for Business Owners Approaching an Exit
Areas of Focus
- Business Owners
- Business Transitions
- Direct/Personal Indexing
- Exit Planning
- Financial Life Planning
- High Net Worth
- High Net Worth Retirement Planning
- Investment Management
- Retirement Income Planning
- Retirement Planning
- Tax-Aware Retirement Income Coordination
- Tax-Efficient Planning
- Tax-Smart Accumulation Planning
- Tax-Smart Distribution Planning
- Taxes
- Wealth Management
About Alan Rhode, CFP®, CPWA®, CVGA®, CEPA®, RLP®
I'm Alan Rhode, founder of Modern Wealth, an independent, fee-only fiduciary firm in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania. I work almost entirely with business owners, because that is where the hardest version of this problem lives: most of what you own is locked inside a company you can't easily sell, and nobody is holding the whole picture.My father ran a solo dental practice that carried our family. When he got sick, I stepped in to keep the doors open, then led the sale so my mother would be okay. I learned how much rides on decisions made at the worst possible time, and how few advisors are actually built to help with them. So I built the opposite kind of firm.
What that means for you is simple. I'm paid only by you. No commissions, no product revenue, no referral payments, and I sign a fiduciary oath with every client. I'm also a solo advisor by design, so the person you meet on the first call is the person you work with in year ten. There is no handoff to a junior planner.
I hold the business credentials alongside the planning ones, which is the part most owners are missing. Owner compensation, entity structure, retirement plan design, tax coordination, what the business is actually worth, and how you eventually leave it all belong in one plan. Split across five professionals who never speak to each other is how good businesses produce mediocre outcomes for the families behind them.
Credentials: CFP®, CPWA®, CVGA®, CEPA®, and RLP®. Penn State finance graduate, more than fifteen years in this work.
The owners I help usually fall into one of three groups: practice owners with partners and an eventual buy-in or buy-out ahead, founders and agency owners whose company is the largest and least liquid thing they own, and owners with a sale or succession in view who need the deal, the taxes, and their personal plan coordinated as one. You do not need to be near an exit. The earlier we start, the more options you have.
We begin with a thirty minute Exploration call. No cost, no obligation, no pitch. I'll ask about your business, your family, and what you want the next ten years to look like. If we go further, my onboarding process is EVOKE®, developed by the Kinder Institute, which starts with the life you want and builds the money around it rather than the other way around.
Outside of work I live in Blue Bell with my wife Jamie, our daughter Joey, and our goldendoodle Enzo. You'll find me on an autocross course in my Miata running the same line I bring to planning: look far ahead, stay smooth, don't chase the hero lap. Otherwise I'm cheering and suffering for Philly sports.
Money is a tool for building a life, and the life is the point. I'd like to hear your story.
Professional Designations
- Certified Exit Planning Advisor (CEPA)
- CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER ®
- Certified Private Wealth Advisor (CPWA)
- Certified Value Growth Advisor (CVGA)
- Registered Life Planner (RLP)
Affiliations
-
CFP Board
- Fee Only Network
- Financial Planning Association
- Investments & Wealth Institute
- Kinder Institute of Life Planning
- National Association of Personal Financial Advisors
- XY Planning Network
- Fee Only Network
Primary Location
730 Penllyn Blue Bell Pike, Blue Bell, PA 19422
Meeting Options
- Video Conference
- In-Person
- Phone
Compensation Methods
- Fee Only
- Flat Fee
- One-time Financial Plan
- Percentage of Assets Managed
What to expect in the first meeting
The first meeting is a thirty minute Exploration call, at no cost and with no obligation. It is a phone call, so there is no video link to set up and no camera to be ready for. You can take it from the car, the shop floor, or wherever you actually are. It is a conversation, not a presentation. I will not put a slide deck in front of you and I will not pitch you anything. Most of the thirty minutes is me listening. Here is how it usually goes. I start by asking about your business, your family, and what you want the next ten years to look like. That is genuinely where I begin, not with your account balances. From there I will ask what prompted you to look for an advisor now and what you would want to be different a year from today. Toward the end, I will give you a plain read on where things stand from what I have heard, tell you honestly whether I think I am the right person for it, and walk you through how I work and what it costs. Then the floor is yours for questions about my process, my fees, my credentials, or anything else. To get more out of the time, there are two things you can do beforehand. Complete the Exploration Intake Form, which takes a few minutes and covers the basics so we do not spend the call on data entry. And give some thought to one question: if your money were handled, what would you actually do with your time? Most people have not said that out loud in years. It is the question the rest of the planning gets built around. You do not need to bring statements, tax returns, or a business valuation. Nothing is required and nothing is expected. If we go further, my onboarding process is EVOKE®, and the documents come later. You will leave the call knowing what I would focus on first in your situation and whether we are a fit. If we are not, I will tell you, and where I can I will point you toward someone better suited. There is no follow-up sequence and no pressure either way.Offers Investment Management
Yes
About Modern Wealth
Modern Wealth is an independent, fee-only registered investment advisor in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, founded in 2019. The firm serves roughly seventy-five client households, working locally across Montgomery County and greater Philadelphia and by video with owners across the country.The structure is the point. Modern Wealth is compensated only by the clients it serves. There are no commissions, no product revenue, no referral payments, and no affiliation with a bank, brokerage, or insurance company. That means there is no third party whose interests have to be balanced against yours, and every client relationship begins with a signed fiduciary oath.
It is also a deliberately small firm. I am the only advisor, so there is no team structure to navigate and no handoff after the sale. You work directly with the person who builds your plan, every year you are a client.
What makes the practice unusual is the range it covers. Most firms manage a portfolio and stop at the edge of the business. Modern Wealth runs both sides as one plan: investment management, retirement, tax planning, estate, risk, cash flow, and education planning on the personal side, and business valuation, value acceleration, and exit planning on the company side. For an owner, those are not separate questions. What you pay yourself changes your tax picture, your retirement plan design changes what the business is worth, and how you eventually leave changes all of it.
Fees are flat or tiered and paid directly by the client, with options for planning only, investment management, both together, and a combined planning and business advisory engagement for owners working toward a transition. Everything is disclosed in writing before you engage.
Onboarding follows EVOKE®, a five-step process from the Kinder Institute of Life Planning that starts with what you want your life to look like and builds the financial plan backward from that answer. The first conversation is thirty minutes, at no cost and with no obligation.
Modern Wealth does not provide legal, tax, or accounting advice and does not draft legal documents. It works alongside your CPA and attorney, and will coordinate with them directly.
Education
Yale School of Management, Wealth Management Theory & Practice | Penn State University, Bachelor's Degree, Business Administration
Hobbies and Interests
- Animals
- Baseball
- Beach
- Cars
- Eating Out
- Exercising
- Family
- Football
- Softball
- Sports
- Television
- Wine
- Working Out
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View DisclosureWho We Serve
- Business Owners
- Entrepreneurs
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