You've built real value. You just can't touch it.
I'm Alan Rhode, an independent, fee-only fiduciary and financial advisor for business owners. No products. No commissions. No Wall Street. Just honest advice from someone on your side of the table.
A relaxed 30-minute conversation. I listen. I don't sell.
If any of this sounds familiar
You've built real success. The clarity hasn't caught up.
Liquidity
Locked in the business
Most of your wealth and liquidity is locked inside the business.
Coordination
Never in the same room
Your CPA, attorney, and financial advisor have never been in the same room.
Taxes
Surprised in April
You're paying more tax than you should, and only finding out in April from your accountant.
Readiness
Not ready to sell
You could sell one day, but the business isn't built to run without you.
Purpose
No clear "what's next"
You have money, but not a clear answer to "what's next?"
Retirement
The business is the plan
Everything rides on the sale clearing enough. Nobody has run the number to check.
For 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.
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?"
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?"
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
- Start taking risk off the table before every egg is in one basket
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?"
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 valuation, so you actually know what it's worth
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?"
What I'd focus on first
- Read the deal: third-party sale, family transfer, buy-out, or recap
- Business valuation and exit-readiness, 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 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. 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 talkWhat 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
Eight 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
Three advantages most advisors can't offer.
The business
I work on the business, not just the proceeds
Most advisors treat your company as a black box and show up after the sale to invest the cash. I value it, find what's capping its worth, build the plan to grow it, and shape the exit years ahead. That's the work of a certified exit and value-growth advisor, and a portfolio manager can't do it.
One plan
I run both sides as a single plan
Your CPA, attorney, and advisor have probably never been in the same room, so compensation, entity structure, retirement plans, tax, and business value get decided in isolation. Most advisors hold only the personal corner. I hold the business credentials too, so the whole picture moves as one system, not a pile of disconnected decisions.
Concentration
I unlock wealth trapped in one asset
When most of your net worth rides on one illiquid business or position, the generalist advisor is weakest right where you're most exposed. My advanced wealth work is built for concentrated balance sheets: a patient, tax-aware path to diversify without handing a fortune to the IRS. Anyone can run a diversified portfolio. Far fewer can safely unwind a concentrated one.
The person on your side
Hi, I'm Alan.
I started Modern Wealth because I was tired of watching good people get sold products dressed up as advice. 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.
I'm a Penn State finance grad with more than 15 years in the business and a stack of relevant 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®). In plain English: I can 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.
When I'm not doing that, you'll find me autocross racing, cheering (and suffering) for Philly sports, or home in Blue Bell with my wife Jamie, our daughter Joey, and our Goldendoodle, Enzo. I'd genuinely like to hear your story.
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.
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.
Exploration
A relaxed conversation about your goals and questions. I listen. I don't pitch.
Free 30-min callVision
We get clear on what your money is for, and I show you a first read on where you stand.
Free One Page PlanObstacles
We organize the full picture, accounts, tax, estate, business, and find what's in the way.
Getting OrganizedKnowledge
Your financial plan, and for owners, valuation, value acceleration, and exit plan.
Wealth PlanExecution
An ongoing partnership: focused meetings through the year.
Year-round cadenceThe evidence, minus the sales pitch
I can't show you testimonials. I'll show you the work instead.
As an independent, 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.
Situations I work in
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.
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.
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.
A household that only thought about taxes in April, rebuilt around proactive Roth conversions and withdrawal sequencing, coordinated directly with their CPA.
Illustrative composites of work I do, not testimonials, no specific results, no client identifiable.
The standard for comprehensive planning: every part of your financial life coordinated into one plan instead of a pile of accounts.
Advanced strategy for complex, concentrated balance sheets: the tax, growth, and transfer problems of wealth tied up in one place.
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.
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.
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.
Four ways to work together, each a flat or tiered fee paid directly by you. No products, no commissions, ever.
Investment Advisory
Professional investment management from a real fiduciary.
- Asset allocation and location
- Direct indexing and tax management
Wealth Planning
Comprehensive financial planning from a real fiduciary.
- EVOKE® onboarding process
- Comprehensive planning across the eight areas below
Private Wealth Management
Financial Planning and Investment Management ($500,000 minimum).
- Everything in Investment Advisory
- Everything in Wealth Planning
Wealth Planning & Business Advisory
Ongoing Financial Planning and Business Advisory.
- Everything in Wealth Planning
- Business valuation, value acceleration and exit planning
Wealth Planning covers all eight areas below, included in every plan:
- Investment planning and analysis
- Retirement savings and income
- Estate planning and documents
- Tax analysis and planning
- Risk management and insurance
- Employee benefits and equity compensation
- Education planning and funding
- Cash flow and debt management
These are Modern Wealth's standard starting fees. Your exact fee depends on complexity and is confirmed in writing before any engagement. Never a commission, never a surprise.
For referral partners
CPAs, attorneys & exit planners: a partner who keeps you in the loop.
I collaborate around your client, not over the top of you, and I report back. See how I work with professional partners.
Let's have a real conversation.
Book a free 30-minute call. No pitch, no obligation, just a clear read on where you stand and whether we're a fit. I'll even bring the one-page plan.
Schedule an Intro Call
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