The financial planning profession has its salesmen and strategists, but in Michael Kitces, director of research for Columbia, Md.-based Pinnacle Advisory Group, the industry has its intellectual. Kitces thinks deeper than most people about a wide range of topics in this field. He understands how to exploit the nuances that change the approach to developing a client's financial plan.

The industry actively solicits his insights. "Michael provides relevant, technical information that planners use in their practices," says Marc Freedman, president of Freedman Financial and a former member of the FPA's board of directors. Kitces, 32, sits on 11 boards, committees and professional groups, and his quarterly e-newsletter, The Kitces Report, will soon hit 500 subscribers.

MY GENERATION

Kitces, along with Aaron Coates, a financial planner at Valeo Financial Advisors, and others, co-founded NexGen, an FPA subgroup that aims to bring young advisors together and bolster their efforts to advance their careers. Late last year he collaborated with Caleb Brown, creator of the FPA Career Day program, to launch New Planner Recruiting, a national recruiting service that helps firms fill entry-level positions.

Kitces' passion for planning and developing junior professionals drives his body of work. "It's such a young, emerging profession," he says. Yet bringing newer planners together and finding jobs for them isn't enough, says Kitces, who believes the industry must also ask introspective questions.

For instance, how does the profession turn less-experienced advisors into professionals? Younger planners often believe earning a CFP designation alone prepares them to hang out their shingle. Established advisors typically demand several years of experience before trusting younger colleagues with client meetings. The groups must find a middle ground, Kitces says, perhaps by allowing new practitioners to do meaningful work with clients on a supervised basis.

THE TECHNICAL GURU

Kitces isn't interested in gathering assets and signing up clients, which makes him unusual for senior staff. But his value at Pinnacle, which he joined in 2002, is clear. From his desk, he delves deep into difficult planning questions for the firm's clients. In the process, he intuits information that others don't see, information important to the firm-and to the industry, says Ken Solow, chief investment officer for Pinnacle.

Kitces' now-famous work on withdrawal rates from retirement portfolios is a classic example. Conventional thinking says retirees should draw a maximum of 4% per year, with an adjustment for inflation after the first year. Kitces examined studies on withdrawal rates, overlaid them with P/E ratio analysis and realized that the safe withdrawal rate varies, depending on the current market valuation environment. He developed a partial solution to the challenge, adding clients' ages and the volatility of their portfolios into the mix.

Kitces' current title at Pinnacle, director of research, is another position created for him. His progress underscores Kitces' uniqueness: In an industry heavily reliant on client acquisition, he has been rewarded for deep expertise and insight in areas like taxes and investments. It remains to be seen, however, whether this type of career path will gain popularity. The majority of planning firms can't-or won't-support a Kitces-type brain trust.

There are clear similarities between Kitces' career and the progress of the planning profession: Both are young and inventing themselves. His intellectual accomplishments-Kitces has master's degrees in financial services and tax, and seven professional designations-and professional success also suggest a way for the industry to embrace and reward professionals who focus on analysis.