Find Your Freedom: Financial Planning for a Life on Purpose

Introduction

by Ron Carson, CFP®, ChFC®

Finding freedom and expanding your impact

Freedom means something different to each of us. Think about it. What feeling does freedom evoke in you when you hear the word? Uncovering that fundamental truth inside you takes time and reflection, but I promise you it is one of the most meaningful questions to ask yourself.

There is so much that goes into our relationship with money, from our first memories in childhood to our milestone moments in adulthood. I remember as a kid we once had our house broken into, only to find my cherished piggy bank smashed. It was devastating.

Several years passed and again as a teenager I saw my parents struggle with money, going broke on their farm. This implanted a deep-seeded feeling of scarcity in me, shaping the way I managed my money and eventually leading me to the profession of being a financial advisor.

Why do I tell you this story? Well, because I was running from that scarcity most of my life, only to find I could never outrun it. No matter how much I accumulated early in my career, I couldn’t satiate my appetite for more. Yet, when I arrived at more I still wasn’t satisfied.

This was the beginning of a new chapter for me. A phase in life when I realized I needed to be thoughtful about what freedom meant for me. Frankly, that manifested into the need for planning. Without a clear definition of what true wealth—which we define as all that money can’t buy and death can’t take away—meant to me, I would continue the endless journey of directionless wandering.

When you hear freedom you may think of financial freedom. Many of us do; however, I didn’t truly experience the meaning of freedom for myself until I spent time really getting to know who I was, what motivated me, and how scarcity and worry drove so much of my direction. For me, ultimate freedom is living an untethered life and being able to have maximum impact on the lives of others.

So how would I get there? The short answer: by having a financial plan. The longer story: by better understanding my worry, where it originated from as that resilient boy on the farm trying to make each day count. Then, I found purpose in wanting to provide that sort of planning for others, to let them know they would be okay so they could free up that mental space for the work they were meant to do. This process of finding my freedom led to helping others find theirs.

Encountering the unexpected on Mount Everest

In the spring of 2022, I embarked on a once-in-a-lifetime trek to Mount Everest’s South Base Camp. Around 40,000 people per year make their way to the camp, while only 4,000 climbers have ever successfully summited Everest.

Preparation for the climb is extensive, not only in terms of physical exertion but also in terms of mental sharpness. However, over the course of our weeklong journey to base camp’s elevation of 17,598 feet, I was not surprised as much by the individual challenge of traversing glaciers and rough terrain as I was by the living conditions of those who called Nepal home. From Kathmandu to base camp, we witnessed a degree of poverty and pollution I’d never seen before.

With so many tourists and climbers making the expedition each year, and so few ways to properly dispose of everything from human waste to debris and trash, the mountain has been called the world’s highest garbage dump. National Geographic wrote a piece claiming that as much as eighteen pounds of trash is generated by each person climbing the slopes. With all this waste littering the tallest peak on Earth, locals are the ones suffering. The Sagarmatha National Park watershed, an important water source for thousands of local people, has been so affected that many Nepalis have no easy way to get access to clean water.

As you can imagine, this experience shook me. Instead of celebrating an individual accomplishment—reaching one of the highest base camps in the world—my heart turned to the masses living and suffering in such extreme poverty. It changed my perspective on giving back and helped me redefine what it means to truly leave an immeasurable impact while I am here.

Every human should have access to the basic rights of clean water and food, and yet not enough is being done to ensure that they do. Too many people are fighting just to make it to tomorrow. On one occasion, I crossed a few children during our ascent. I handed them some chocolate and they smiled, but those were the only smiles I encountered during the entirety of my trip. Deep down I knew that even those smiles wouldn’t last long.

I share this experience with you for a number of reasons, the most important of which lies at the heart of why we are writing this book: to inspire a spirit of generosity, resolve and resolution to gain clarity on how to meet your base level of needs so you can move up the hierarchy and focus your energy on self-actualization and helping others. And, while we can all agree that our challenges are not as dire as those who fight for food and water every day in less-developed countries, we can take steps to pursue a life of greater purpose. So much of this process you are about to embark upon starts with attaining financial freedom.

I started my trip in Nepal with a self-centric perspective on what I was going to get from the adventure.

Instead, the experience taught me what I could learn from those around me. Those who don’t even have some of their most fundamental needs met.

The butterfly effect

I have always believed in the power of small actions leading to substantial change. Reading this book is a very simple decision you’ve made that could have life-altering ripple effects across the rest of your life. You may have heard the term the butterfly effect, a tenet of chaos theory that states small, seemingly random events in a system or environment can lead to large-scale change and unpredictable results.

I have witnessed this cosmic connection tying all things together countless times in my life. My parents went broke when I was 17 years old. This period in the early 1980s humbled me. It imprisoned me in the state of fear and scarcity that drove so much of our family’s decisions, particularly our financial ones. But it also lit the path that showed me how I could break free. Watching my parents struggle was eye-opening. I watched my dad cry for the first time in my life. It bred so much fear in me that I vowed never to let it happen to me again, never to be in a position where I could not provide for my future family.

I don’t believe in accidents when they happen at such a crucial stage in life, and this time as a teenager was no different. I went to the library, picked up an issue of Money Magazine and saw a top ten list of best careers. There, ranking at #1 as the top profession of the future, was a financial advisor with a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ designation. I said to myself, That’s it! That’s what I’m gonna do.

I took this as the universe speaking to me and went off to college to pursue my degree. My career was born in that college dorm room at the University of Nebraska back in 1983, and I never looked back.

More than three decades had passed when I found myself in Napa, California, at the Napa Valley wine auctions. I was chatting with an executive who had connections of her own in financial services, and she suggested I talk to a contact of hers who was also attending the wine auction. I approached this contact and we introduced ourselves. She asked, Oh, where are you from, Ron?

I answered that I was from Nebraska.

She then asked, What do you do? To which I responded that I was a financial advisor and entrepreneur. She continued with, How’d you get into that?

I told her my story, and total shock washed over her face.

She exclaimed, "I was at Money Magazine in the early eighties, and I wrote that article!"

We both sat back in utter disbelief. Here in front of me was the very woman who had single-handedly influenced the trajectory of my entire career, more than 30 years later. If that isn’t proof of how connected we all are, I don’t know what is.

For years, unknowingly to me, she lived her life and I lived mine, not having realized the large-scale change we had made in each other’s lives. Then, to meet each other, by chance, at an event 1,500 miles away from my home—this tapped something close to my soul about what it means to impact others. To influence so many lives at scale around us, by one person taking a simple action.

Recently, I ran into a former colleague who told me that he had been watching my Ronsense videos for the past couple of years. He walked up and said, Thank you, Ron. I’ve watched some of the content you’re putting out there and really took to heart the things you said. I quit my job as a compliance officer, started my own firm, have six people working for me now, and have built this business I love because of how much your message stirred me to make a change. I found my version of freedom. I started my journey four years ago, I lost eighty pounds and took the three things you mentioned in an episode about personal health to heart: my exercise, my diet, and my sleep. I got serious about all three. I don’t drink anymore, I lost a lot of weight, I’m doing a triathlon, and I’ve never felt better.

I stood there in surprise, not having known the impact I had on his life from sharing a three-minute video on social media three years prior.

The butterfly effect in full force.

There’s something I want you to think about after hearing these stories. What does it mean for you to find this plane of existence where you are impacting the lives of so many people—minutes, months, or years into the future? This is where you will find the answer to your own personal version of freedom.

In my life, I’m trying to explore the outer reaches of my influence. How can I have so much impact on the world, in helping others find their freedom, that there is no way to measure it? No way to know everyone I touched. No concern for how to get credit. Completely boundless. That is what I want my legacy to be. And it all starts with an unsuspecting seed that can quickly germinate into trees and forest.

Living up to your infinite potential

Chances are, you are reading this book because you have had a realization that something in your life needs to change. That realization may have come as a sudden epiphany or a slow burn over months or years. It may be born from a mistake or a resolution. You may be entering the workforce for the first time as a 20-something, energized by the endless possibilities to set healthy habits in your financial life. You may be going through a milestone moment in your 30s or 40s—marriage, your first home purchase, a growing family, an unexpected divorce, a career change—and awaken to the need for a clear path for your next chapter. Or, you may be quickly approaching retirement, still baffled by what life has in store for you as you care for aging parents, exploring the idea of freedom beyond your working years, and find yourself rattled by the meaning of leaving your own legacy.

No matter your life stage or situation, we all come to those crossroads in our life where we know that what got us here today will not get us to where we want to go tomorrow. We see the path ahead of us split, and we must choose. Is this a shift in my core values and priorities? Are the priorities that were important to me years ago still as important today? Are the goals I set for myself still aligned with those values and what I want to accomplish in life? These are the questions that lead to clarity and choosing the path that makes the most sense for you.

Spending the last 40 years as a financial advisor has opened my eyes to a stark reality. Most of us avoid exercising enough of this self-reflection when examining our financial lives, and even when we do, we tend to do it alone. We require a set of tools and a framework to help us act when motivation isn’t present. That’s what this book can help provide.

One of my favorite reflections to ask clients when exploring life’s goals and wishes is from our Blueprinting Guide, which Jamie will talk more about in the chapters ahead. I pose a simple statement to the client, If I wasn’t so afraid, I would…

Giving our clients the space to sit with this statement and finish it on their own is crucial to helping them find their freedom.

What emotions spill out of you when you think about how you would finish that statement?

Every day we wake up competing against our own potential, and most days we come up short. Fear, guilt, shame, envy—these emotions drive so many of our financial decisions. And they keep us from living our full potential. We are so fortunate as Americans to have an economic system that gives people the ability to define success for themselves and go after it. Unfortunately, this definition of success normally comes in the form of financial gain, even though success can mean so many different things to different people.

As my career advanced and my company grew, I became consumed with acquiring. I zoned in on acquiring more wealth, building a bigger business, chasing new capabilities, seeking further investment capital, and the list goes on. I was so busy with the pursuit of more that I never took the time to understand what I was chasing. More importantly, I wasn’t aware of how this desire to accomplish and achieve more was driven by a childhood need to avoid scarcity and loss. Think of the time, energy and resources wasted when living a life this way—by default, not by design. Much can be learned when these core emotions are identified.

The foundational concepts outlined in Find Your Freedom were developed not only to clearly articulate a mental framework for how to take ownership over your financial life, but also to help you gain a better understanding of your core emotional ties to money. Without this foundational level of awareness, your infinite potential is limited, and your financial future is directionless.

My wish for you is that the stories and best practices included here allow you to take personal inventory of your life. That this process awakens you to get to that next level of realizing your infinite potential. When you commit yourself to continual improvement, you also acknowledge that the journey never ends. There is no finish line to living in financial freedom. It’s a process of redefining what is most important to you and pursuing those ideals, knowing they will shuffle and change with time. If you can find joy in this state of continuous improvement, you will be more prepared for the future, and best of all, you can live more fully in the present.

There is no better gift than that.

Why you need this book

I’ve known my co-author Jamie Hopkins for a long time. I first met him when I was on the board at the American College, an educational institution with a longstanding heritage of advancing financial advisors with designations and degrees, and very quickly realized he was an intelligent young man; but more impressively, he was someone who got stuff done. A few years ago, Jamie joined Carson Group and he is now a member of our Executive Board. I wanted his perspective and expertise on how we could continue to build a firm of advisors who put financial planning first. I now understand why he is so good at decoding the financial planning process. His backstory is similar to mine, in that his first money memory shaped the very fabric of who he is and how he had to provide leadership for his family at such an early age. He’s one of the most brilliant, well-read individuals I’ve crossed in my 40-year career. There isn’t another person I would trust more with clarifying and simplifying the sometimes perplexing concepts of financial planning.

I’ve experienced firsthand the power of financial planning, both in my life and in the lives of thousands of families we serve across the country today. It’s perhaps one of the most influential exercises a person could undertake in their adult life. So many of the decisions we make every day boil down to our conscious and subconscious worries of whether we are going to be okay.

Can I support my family?

Will I have enough money in retirement?

Who around me is impacted if something unexpected happens to me? Do I have enough money, time, resources, energy?

These questions are all normal, and they are being wrestled with every second of every day in the minds of millions of Americans. But they all can be addressed with the power of planning. When you have a team you can rely on, running the numbers, anticipating scenarios, and keeping their eyes on the things you can’t see, you have the freedom to focus on the truly important aspects of life. This is something we call operating in the Third Level of Trust—anticipating our clients’ needs and delivering solutions before they know they have a problem. When this confidence isn’t present, we start to sense instability—financially, emotionally, or otherwise. These feelings of scarcity and fear easily seep into our subconscious mind and steer our actions in ways that keep us chasing things we shouldn’t expend our energy on, much like I did as a young man.

Planting your root system with a plan starts now

Ideally, the time to plan for the challenges ahead is when things are going well, not once the storm clouds have rolled in. While many of us cringe at the thought of spending our days worrying about things that could possibly happen in the future, it is important to evaluate the strength of your root system. That’s because—whether we’re talking trees or humans—the things we see on the surface are not necessarily indicative of what lies below. Sometimes, a tree that looks beautiful above ground can have a weak or unhealthy root system hidden deep below ground. Similarly, outward appearances don’t always tell the full story when it comes to our own physical, emotional, or financial health.

I spend a fair amount of time taking in nature throughout the American West, and the whole idea of building a financial plan often reminds me of the forests in the Sierra Nevada mountains. Take the majestic redwood, for example. The giant sequoia, one of three species of coniferous trees known as redwoods, is native to Northern California. They are among the planet’s oldest and largest trees and can grow to up to 350 feet tall and 20 to 30 feet or more in circumference. These giants are known to live up to 3,400 years and hold the distinction of being the largest trees on Earth in terms of total wood volume. So, you might think their root systems reach deep into the earth to support all that weight and height, but you’d be wrong. These enormous trees have a uniquely shallow root system of six to twelve feet. Yet, they rarely fall. Why? Their root system is intertwined with the other redwood trees, literally holding each other up. The trees, which grow very close together, are also dependent on each other for nutrients. For more than seventy million years they have thrived by intertwining their root systems to create the foundation required to maintain their equilibrium and access the resources they depend upon to flourish—individually and collectively.

I share this little fact because a healthy root system not only creates a stable foundation for nurturing growth, but also provides the resilience required to thrive under challenging and stressful conditions.

Like the roots of a giant sequoia, your finances are interconnected. Each financial decision you make impacts other decisions, which—in turn—influences your ability to accomplish your life goals. For example, choosing whether to contribute to a traditional or Roth IRA determines whether you pay taxes now or later on that income. Doubling monthly payments on credit card debt now means less money lost to high-interest debt maintenance later. And how much you choose to save now will influence when you can retire with the confidence that you can pursue all the goals you have set for the next great chapter of your life.

However, when financial decisions—and your financial plan—are made in a vacuum and not tied to a bigger purpose, your ability to accomplish your goals is drastically diminished.

That’s the inherent power of a financial plan. Planning helps to build a strong foundation while anticipating the unexpected, so that you’re in a better position to weather changing circumstances. It provides a framework for evaluating important decisions—from career changes to buying a new house, or how you will pay for a child’s education costs—in a way that’s aligned with your goals and timeline.

If you have alignment, you have freedom. And, if that alignment is strengthened by the root system of a sound financial plan, your definition of freedom will extend far beyond anything you can imagine. That is a realization I hope you glean from reading this book, and a truth I hope you find for yourself after hearing the practical approach Jamie outlines in the chapters ahead.

Here’s to helping you find your freedom.

Part 1

Foundations of Financial Freedom

1

Financial Planning is Deeply Personal: Jamie’s Money Story

Financial planning is about moving along your path in life, finding the things that you want to accomplish, finding the freedom that you want to have, being able to define those things, prioritize, and execute on them.

—Jamie P. Hopkins

Financial Freedom Framework

The events in our lives shape the way we feel about money. What happened to us when we were younger could make us feel fear and scarcity around money. And while people have historically mistrusted the financial services industry, progress has been made in recent years to change the industry for the better. Finding a trusted partner to guide you is critical to overcoming negative emotions around money and helping you find your financial freedom.

Like many people, I didn’t grow up understanding everything about financial planning, money, finances, or business. I grew up in a household where neither one of my parents graduated from college. My dad did construction—he hung gutters, and did roofing, fascias, and siding—and my mom helped him run that business.

My parents were business owners and entrepreneurs, but were not entrenched in financial planning and did not have a financial plan. My parents did not have a pension plan or a 401(k). Much of my story starts off with trauma around finances, not abundance.

My dad passed away coming down a ladder from a job site up on a roof; he slipped and fell and was gone. All of a sudden my mom was caring for me and my sister without the person who was really the breadwinner—the one doing the work up on roofs and earning.

My mom had a moment where she realized she just had to find a way to keep going because her kids relied upon her to survive. Even to this day, she’s still working, running the gutter company, and looks like many other Americans—she’s almost got her mortgage paid off, she’s in retirement, and she’ll likely be very reliant on Social Security and Medicare.

I remember being young and seeing my mom cry about where the money was going to come from to pay the mortgage, where we were going to get our food from next, and how to pay for the extra unexpected things that made it feel like the world was collapsing—like an unexpected $20 expense, or money for gas.

My mom pulled things together, kept working and pushed us forward. She created opportunities for my sister and me—and our future sisters, too—to be able to go to college and build careers, invest back into ourselves, develop our own financial knowledge and understanding of the world, and provide for our families later on.

When people ask me why I care so much about financial planning, it’s because it’s deeply personal. It’s rooted in my upbringing, in loss and tragedy, and not rooted in abundance. I know what it’s like not to have the things that I want to have. I know what it’s like not to have the things that I need.

My life philosophy has been to ask myself how I can have an impact on the world. How do I change the future and financial security for millions of people like my mom—who didn’t have financial planning and life insurance? We were the perfect example of a family that should have had both—parents with young children, one working a dangerous job whose income we were reliant on. But this advice never got to my parents—not about insurance, not about retirement planning, not about IRAs, and not about 401(k)s.

So many Americans fall outside of the demographics served by the financial planning advice world, and my goal was to help change that. To help more people find financial stability and eventually get to financial freedom, so they don’t have to live with the pain, tragedy and fear around money that so many people grow up with because they don’t have enough and they worry about it. It’s not always happy when you think of your first money memory—instead it can be traumatic. That’s really where it was for me.

Every day that I go to work, I think, How do I make somebody like my mom more secure for retirement? That’s what gives me a drive for this industry.

My journey into the industry

I also liked deals. I always liked conversing with people and coming up with solutions. I was really interested in the deal side of the legal world and I wanted to put those together. I ended up going to Davidson College outside Charlotte, N.C. I got to see amazing things, like Steph Curry playing basketball, and got to spend some time with and learn from Coach Bob McKillop, who’s one of the all-time winningest college basketball coaches. I got to be captain of a Division I swimming and diving team at Davidson. And I got to take those skills and go to law school. All those things helped shape me.

In law school, you really learn how to think, evaluate the world, question things, and stand on both sides of an argument. That was a useful skill that I was later able to bring into the financial planning world. But at this time, I didn’t know much about money. Money wasn’t talked about much in my family, I hadn’t met money; hadn’t dated it; hadn’t developed a relationship with it. The reality is that we were strangers.

When I