You've built real value. You just can't touch it.
I'm Alan Rhode, a financial advisor in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, working with business owners to turn the value locked in the company into money you can use and a life you actually want. No products, no commissions, no Wall Street. Just someone on your side of the table.
Check the ones that sound like you.
You've built real success. The clarity hasn't caught up.
0 of 6 sound like you.
Schedule an Exploration CallFor business owners, wealth isn't a portfolio problem. It's an optionality problem.
Before we ever talk about investments, I ask the harder question most firms skip: what is the purpose of your money? Then we build a financial plan that turns a business you can't easily sell into a life you can freely choose.
Schedule an Exploration CallFrom locked to liquid
Turning what you've built into a life you can choose.
- 01Today
Locked in the business.
Most of your wealth and liquidity is locked inside the business. It's real value, but you can't spend it, and everything rides on one company.
- 02The plan
Built to be worth more.
I help you grow what your business is worth and plan a smart exit, with your CPA and attorney working from the same plan, so wealth starts moving out of the company long before the sale.
- 03After the exit
Money you can use.
The value you built becomes money you can use and a life you actually want, with one plan for the portfolio, the income and what comes next.
Find your stage
Where are you on the path to your next chapter?
Pick the one that sounds most like you right now, and I'll show you what I'd focus on first.
Sound like you?
Heads down and growing, and your wealth is piling up inside the business.
"Am I taking on risk I can't see? Shouldn't I be doing something smarter with what I'm making?"
The first move: start shifting wealth out of the business. Point at either side.
What I'd focus on first
- Build your first real financial plan, right alongside the business
- Set up the right company retirement plan to cut tax and reward your team
- Start moving wealth out of the business so it isn't all riding on one asset
- Make sure your growth builds transferable value, not just income
Sound like you?
Growing fast, and the financial side hasn't caught up to the business.
"We're scaling, but is my own financial life keeping pace, or just getting more complicated?"
Business and personal finances, coordinated as one plan. Point at a side.
What I'd focus on first
- Coordinate your business and personal finances as one financial plan
- Optimize your compensation and entity structure to cut tax
- Use retirement and benefit plans to reward and keep key people
- Plan around the personal guarantees and debt that growth puts in your name
Sound like you?
Most of your net worth rides on one asset, and that's started to worry you.
"If something happened to the business tomorrow, would the rest of my life be okay?"
A patient, tax-aware path to diversify out of concentration. Point at either side.
What I'd focus on first
- A patient, tax-aware path to diversify out of concentration
- Concentration and risk analysis across your whole balance sheet
- Protect what you've built, estate documents, insurance, liquidity
- An independent assessment of what the company is worth, and what is capping it
Sound like you?
A sale or transition is in view, and you only get this once.
"How do I read these offers, and keep more of what the business is worth?"
Each is read, valued and structured to minimize the tax bite, well before you sign. Point at one.
What I'd focus on first
- Read the deal: third-party sale, family transfer, buy-out, or recap
- A value assessment and exit-readiness review, well before you sign
- Structure the transaction to minimize the tax bite
- Get your financial plan and retirement ready for the day the money lands
Sound like you?
The business sold. Now the money has to do the work the business did.
"What is all of this actually for, and how do I make it last?"
What is all of this actually for, and how do you make it last? Point at one.
What I'd focus on first
- Turn proceeds into reliable, tax-smart retirement income
- Roth conversions, gifting, and charitable strategies that fit your year
- Estate and legacy planning, kept current
- The harder question too: purpose, and the chapter you actually choose
Who I help
I focus on people whose wealth and work are inseparable.
Different owners, same root problem: a balance sheet, a tax life, and a business value all tangled together. Whether you are down the road in Montgomery County or three time zones away, here's where I go deep.
Practices
Practice owners
Doctors, dentists, and specialists balancing a practice, partners, and an eventual buy-in, buy-out, or sale, with personal wealth riding on all of it.
Let's TalkFounders
Founders & agency owners
Owner-operators whose company is the largest, and least liquid, thing they own, and who want it to become a true asset, not just a high-paying job.
Let's TalkPre-exit
Owners approaching an exit
Owners whose business is their single largest asset, heading toward a sale, succession, or buy-out, who need the deal, the taxes, and their personal plan coordinated as one.
Let's Talk
What I solve
One plan, where your business and personal life finally reinforce each other.
You don't need another menu of services. You need someone to coordinate the moving parts you don't have time to orchestrate. Every area feeds the same plan. Explore any one to go deeper.
Coordinated, not bolted together
Nine areas, one plan
Every area connects to the same plan, so a move in your business and a move in your personal life are never made in isolation.
Why owners choose me
Four advantages, and the credentials behind each one.
- 01
The business
I work on the business, not just the proceeds
Valuing a company, finding what caps its worth, and shaping an exit years ahead is the work of a certified exit planner and a value growth advisor. I hold both, and the plan gets built on what that work finds.
Let's Talk - 02
One plan
I run both sides as a single plan
Compensation, entity structure, retirement plans, tax and business value usually get decided in separate rooms. I hold the business credentials alongside the planning ones, so they move as one system.
Let's Talk - 03
The life
I start with the life, then build the money around it
Registered Life Planner is a Kinder Institute credential. It is why our first real conversation is about your time rather than your balance sheet, and why the plan is built backwards from that answer.
Let's Talk - 04
Concentration
I unlock wealth trapped in one asset
When most of your net worth rides on one illiquid asset, diversify is the one thing you cannot simply go and do. My advanced wealth credential is built for exactly that problem: a patient, tax-aware way out.
Let's Talk
The person on your side
Hi, I'm Alan.
- 01Why I started
I started Modern Wealth in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, after living the moment my clients now plan for. My father ran a solo dental practice that carried our whole family, and when he got sick I stepped in to keep the doors open, then led the sale so my mother would be okay. I know firsthand how much rides on decisions made at the worst possible time, and how few advisors are built to help. So I built the opposite: an independent, fee-only firm that earns nothing but the fee you pay me. No commissions, no quotas, no hidden agenda.
- 02What I bring
I'm a Penn State finance grad with more than 15 years in this work and a stack of credentials I actually use: Certified Financial Planner™ professional (CFP®), Certified Private Wealth Advisor® professional (CPWA®), Certified Value Growth Advisor® (CVGA®), Certified Exit Planning Advisor® (CEPA®), and Registered Life Planner® (RLP®). Along the way I've been named a US Top 100 Financial Advisor and a Philadelphia Five Star Wealth Manager. I hold the whole picture on one page. In plain English, I help you grow what your business is worth, plan a smart exit, and turn it into a life you actually want, not just a bigger account balance.
- 03Outside the office
When I'm not doing that, you'll find me on an autocross course in my Miata, running the same clean 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, or home in Blue Bell with my wife Jamie, our daughter Joey, and our goldendoodle, Enzo, the reason any of this matters. Money is a tool for building a life, and the life is the point. I'd genuinely like to hear your story.
Money is a tool for building a life, and the life is the point.
- CFP®
- CPWA®
- CVGA®
- CEPA®
- RLP®
Life outside the spreadsheet
The person you'll actually be working with.
In writing
Most advisors won't sign this. I will.
A fiduciary oath is a simple, binding promise to put your interest first, always, not just when it's convenient. If an advisor won't sign one, it's usually because they can't. You can download mine right here.
"A binding promise to put your interest first, always, and to disclose every conflict, in writing."
How it works · the EVOKE® process
A clear path from "I'm not sure" to "I know exactly where I stand."
Five steps, each producing something you keep. No mystery, no obligation, you'll know if we're a fit before any paperwork.
- 01
Exploration
A 30-Min ChatA relaxed conversation about your goals and questions. I listen. I don't pitch.
- 02
Vision
One Page PlanWe get clear on what your money is for, and put what you want on one page.
- 03
Obstacles
Getting OrganizedAn hour organizing your wealth until everything is in one place.
- 04
Knowledge
Wealth PlanYour financial plan, and for owners, a value assessment, value acceleration, and exit plan.
- 05
Execution
Year-Round CadenceAn ongoing partnership: focused meetings through the year.
Find your number
What's your wealth gap?
Your wealth gap is the distance between what you have today and what it takes to live the life you want after you exit. It's the number your business transition has to fund. Put in your numbers.
Your wealth gap
what remains after your assets and the business sale
Schedule an Exploration CallThe evidence, minus the sales pitch
I can't show you testimonials. I'll show you the work instead.
As an independent, Pennsylvania state-registered fiduciary, I'm not permitted to use client testimonials or endorsements. So instead of reviews, here's what I can put in front of you: a real track record, the situations I work in every week, and credentials that change your outcome.
Business owners, professionals and their families, each working from one plan rather than a pile of accounts.
CFP®, CPWA®, CVGA®, CEPA® and RLP®: financial planning, private wealth, business valuation, exit planning and life planning.
Business advisory, retirement plan services, investments, retirement, tax, estate, risk, cash flow and education, all coordinated as a single plan.
US Top 100 Financial Advisor and Philadelphia Five Star Wealth Manager. Awards are not client endorsements, and the selection criteria are on the website disclosure page.
Situations I work in
The exit
An owner weighing three offers, two private-equity firms and a family business, who needed to read what each deal structure meant for their wealth, their taxes, and how much control they'd keep.
The practice
A specialist practice owner with a partner buy-out ahead, whose business value, company retirement plan, and personal taxes had never once been modeled as a single plan.
The concentration
A founder with nearly all of their net worth locked in the business and one account, and a patient, tax-aware path to diversify without handing a fortune to the IRS.
The next stage
A household with enough, and no plan for what enough was for. We put real numbers behind the things they had stopped saying out loud: time with the people they love, the trip that keeps getting postponed, and the work they would happily do for nothing.
The letters, and what they do
Certified Financial Planner™ professional
The standard for comprehensive planning: every part of your financial life coordinated into one plan instead of a pile of accounts.
Certified Private Wealth Advisor® professional
Advanced strategy for complex, concentrated balance sheets: the tax, growth, and transfer problems of wealth tied up in one place.
Certified Value Growth Advisor®
I help make the business itself more valuable, and less risky, in the years before you sell, not just measure what it's worth today.
Certified Exit Planning Advisor®
I build the plan for your eventual transition, a sale, a succession, or a buy-out, so the business is ready and so are you.
Registered Life Planner®
The Registered Life Planner® designation. We start with the life you want, then build the money around it.
How I charge
Transparent pricing, no surprises.
Six ways to work together, each a flat or tiered fee. No products, no commissions, ever.
Financial Plan
A one-time financial planning project that may include any or all of:
- Investment planning and analysis
- Retirement savings and income
- Estate planning review
- Tax analysis and planning
- Risk management and insurance
- Employee benefits optimization
- Equity compensation planning
- Education planning and funding
- Cash flow and debt management
Anyone who wants a clear, written plan for a specific decision or stage of life, without an ongoing commitment, and is comfortable putting it into action themselves.
Investment Management
Professional investment management from a fiduciary. Tiered: 1.00% on the first $1,000,000, falling to 0.30% above $10,000,000.
- Portfolios built around your goals
- Globally diversified models
- Asset allocation and location
- Direct indexing and tax management
- Alternatives and private investments
- Scheduled reviews and rebalancing
Investors who want their portfolio managed by a fiduciary but don't need ongoing financial planning. There is no account minimum.
Wealth Planning
Comprehensive, ongoing financial planning, beginning with the EVOKE® onboarding process, across:
- Investment planning and analysis
- Retirement savings and income
- Estate planning and documents
- Tax analysis and planning
- Risk management and insurance
- Employee benefits optimization
- Equity compensation planning
- Education planning and funding
- Cash flow and debt management
Entrepreneurs and executives who want a planner in their corner year-round, keeping the plan current as life, taxes and goals change.
Private Wealth Management
Ongoing investment management and financial planning together ($500,000 minimum). Tiered: 1.25% on the first $1,000,000, falling to 0.30% above $10,000,000. The investments:
- Portfolios built around your goals
- Globally diversified models
- Asset allocation and location
- Direct indexing and tax management
- Alternatives and private investments
- Scheduled reviews and rebalancing
And Wealth Planning across:
- Investment planning and analysis
- Retirement savings and income
- Estate planning and documents
- Tax analysis and planning
- Risk management and insurance
- Employee benefits optimization
- Equity compensation planning
- Education planning and funding
- Cash flow and debt management
Households with $500,000 or more to invest who want one advisor coordinating their investments and their whole financial plan.
Wealth Planning & Business Advisory
Ongoing financial planning and business advisory. Set by the business's annual revenue: under $5,000,000, from $10,000 a year; $5,000,000 to $15,000,000, from $15,000; above $15,000,000, from $20,000. Across:
- Investment planning and analysis
- Retirement savings and income
- Estate planning and documents
- Tax analysis and planning
- Risk management and insurance
- Employee benefits optimization
- Equity compensation planning
- Education planning and funding
- Cash flow and debt management
- Business Value Assessment
- Business Value Acceleration
- Business Exit Planning
Business owners whose wealth is tied up in the company, who want the business and the household planned as one, from building its value to the exit.
Retirement Plan Services
Fiduciary advice for your company's retirement plan, billed to the plan, not your household. Tiered: 0.50% on the first $1,000,000, falling to 0.20% above $10,000,000. Includes:
- 3(21) or 3(38) fiduciary role
- Investment Policy Statement
- Investment menu and monitoring
- Fee benchmarking and vendor search
- Plan design consulting
- Committee meetings, fiduciary file
- Employee education and enrollment
- New plans on Altruist or Vestwell
Business owners who sponsor a company retirement plan, or want to start one, and want it working for the owners, the team and an eventual sale.
For referral partners
- CPAs
- Attorneys
- Insurance Agents
- Exit Planners
- Business Consultants
- Bankers
I collaborate around your client, not over the top of you, and I report back. I work alongside professionals across Montgomery County and Greater Philadelphia, and over Zoom with firms anywhere in the country. Send me a note and I'll walk you through exactly how that works.
Let's have a real conversation.
Book a free 30-minute call. No pitch, no obligation, just a conversation about what you want and whether we're a fit. We talk by phone, so I work with owners here in Blue Bell and across the United States.
Schedule an Exploration CallLet's work together
Tell me a little about your practice and what you are looking for. I read these myself and reply personally.