Firefighting Finances: Ryan Larson's Life of Service and Success

Ryan Larson: 00:00:00

If you're real, if you're genuine, if you got a good

Ryan Larson: 00:00:05

heart, if you're an advocate and you just try to do the best for

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people, what's the old phrase?

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People will come field of dreams.

Ryan Larson: 00:00:16

People will come

Tim Winders: 00:00:29

How can you transition from your working years to retirement

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with confidence and security?

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Today on Seek Go Create, we're exploring this critical life stage with Ryan

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Larson, founder and principal investment advisor at FirstLine Financial in

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Scottsdale, Arizona, just down the road from me as we're recording this.

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Specializing in the unique financial needs of retirees and transitioning

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boomers, which that's me, Ryan combines securities and insurance offerings

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with meticulous strategies designed to grow, And preserve retirement assets.

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His approach, not only safeguards against market fluctuations, but also optimizes

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tax efficiencies and minimizes fees.

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Join us as we delve into Ryan's missions to help his client achieve the American

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dream in their retirement years, ensuring they can lead the life they aspire to.

Tim Winders: 00:01:19

Post career, Ryan, welcome to seat.

Tim Winders: 00:01:22

Go create.

Ryan Larson: 00:01:25

Thank you, Tim.

Ryan Larson: 00:01:25

This is a great opportunity.

Ryan Larson: 00:01:28

Really excited to be with you.

Tim Winders: 00:01:30

Yeah.

Tim Winders: 00:01:30

And, I think I shared with you before we hit record.

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I got my first question I'll ask in just a second, but, we should

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have done this face to face.

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I'm recording this just, what about an hour and a half North of you?

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And you're in Scottsdale.

Tim Winders: 00:01:40

I'm up here in the Valley.

Ryan Larson: 00:01:43

Yeah, I would say, yeah, at about an hour.

Ryan Larson: 00:01:45

I take that, that commute a lot, when I'm going to the mountains, that's kind of my,

Ryan Larson: 00:01:50

place to get my sanity back, but I'm, I'm very familiar where you're at right now.

Tim Winders: 00:01:54

Yeah, we're spending about a month here as we're migrating

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north and, we went to Sedona and, Cottonwood this last weekend.

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And anyway, what a, what a great area up here.

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anyway, it's beautiful.

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We're enjoying it.

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But before we get started, if you and I were to bump into each other or, Just

Tim Winders: 00:02:13

out and about and I ask you what you do.

Tim Winders: 00:02:16

What do you tell people when they ask you what you do?

Ryan Larson: 00:02:20

Yeah, it's, it's interesting because, Yeah, 20 years ago I would say,

Ryan Larson: 00:02:25

I'm a fireman for the city of Phoenix.

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now you fast forward.

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Twenty three years later, that's how much time I have with the

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City of Phoenix, as a firefighter.

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now I would say, well, I started my journey as a firefighter,

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and I transitioned into the, the financial field.

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and I'm juggling both, surprisingly, and people would

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say, well, how are you doing that?

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Well, time, right?

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Time is, is one of the precious things that we have.

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And I just try to allocate my time as best as possible.

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I'm, raising a, a family, which is very important to me.

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So it is sometime, a juggle to, focus your time on each because I think

Ryan Larson: 00:03:11

obviously being a firefighter, being an advocate for those, people that you

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serve is, you need to focus on that.

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You need to make sure that you're, getting good sleep, eating healthy,

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making sure that you're in that ready, ready phase at all times.

Ryan Larson: 00:03:25

But then also with the financial business that I'm running, you need

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to make sure that once again, you're getting enough sleep and you're

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looking at markets and seeing what's kind of coming down the pipeline.

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And just when you go home, there's that's that's, that's when you

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definitely have to step into those dad shoes and, being tired, being worn

Ryan Larson: 00:03:45

out, being potentially, upset because something didn't go right in my day.

Ryan Larson: 00:03:49

That's, that's not allowed.

Ryan Larson: 00:03:51

I think that's kind of how I would, share my, my story, if

Ryan Larson: 00:03:55

we were to bump into each other.

Tim Winders: 00:03:57

So firefighter, financial guy, family.

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It's a lot, that is a lot going on there.

Tim Winders: 00:04:04

Yeah, I just, I just read your book, Ladder to Leader.

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I think I started last night.

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I think your wife, Kate, sent me the copy and I went, Ooh, I didn't, at

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first I didn't know you had a book.

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So I read all that, but man, I enjoyed it.

Tim Winders: 00:04:15

Enjoyed your story and,

Ryan Larson: 00:04:16

that's great.

Ryan Larson: 00:04:17

Yeah.

Tim Winders: 00:04:18

and, and stuff like that.

Tim Winders: 00:04:20

Yeah.

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What a, what a cool background, but I guess, I guess it's kind of kick

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off by saying what is, you mentioned time, you mentioned rest and sleep,

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but a lot of people, they struggle with just kind of doing one thing.

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You you've got.

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Two big things not even bringing the family into it because I know your

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kids are, younger and stuff like that But I mean, you got firefighter.

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You've got i'll use the term fiduciary We'll define it later, by the way,

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but I love that word fiduciary.

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So you're a A fiduciary representative, financial representative.

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What's the, what's the biggest challenge with juggling those two?

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Just, anything that comes to mind that you go, Ooh, those two things conflict.

Ryan Larson: 00:05:08

it's, they're polar opposites.

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so I guess that is one thing that I kind of struggle with.

Ryan Larson: 00:05:13

Sometimes is finding that identity of who I am.

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when you're coming out of high school, you're moving into that those college

Ryan Larson: 00:05:22

years, you're looking for, for who you are going to be right or who you desire to be.

Ryan Larson: 00:05:30

And, coming out of high school, I didn't know what I wanted to do.

Ryan Larson: 00:05:34

And my mom, had a very impactful, path by introducing the fire department to

Ryan Larson: 00:05:40

me, which I pursued with, Relentless work ethic and I accomplished that that goal

Ryan Larson: 00:05:47

but I would say it's it's it's sometimes a struggle to take this fire department role

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in this fiduciary role like you described it and kind of merge them together.

Ryan Larson: 00:06:00

But at the end of the day, what I would say is, is just being an advocate.

Ryan Larson: 00:06:06

that has, those are very good similarities between the two.

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The, the, the conflict is, it's definitely polar opposites, but there

Ryan Larson: 00:06:15

is one thing that ties it together and that's just being an advocate.

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for either the, the patients that I run on with the fire department or for the

Ryan Larson: 00:06:27

clients that I visit with in my office.

Ryan Larson: 00:06:30

So hopefully that helps kind of bring the two together.

Tim Winders: 00:06:35

Yeah, it does.

Tim Winders: 00:06:36

Cause I was going to follow up that question with how do they conflict?

Tim Winders: 00:06:38

And then also how do they compliment?

Ryan Larson: 00:06:41

Yeah.

Tim Winders: 00:06:42

I've always been fascinated with the schedule.

Tim Winders: 00:06:48

of firefighters, first responders, but primarily firefighters.

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Cause I think, I think police and other emergency responders have

Tim Winders: 00:06:57

sort of different schedules based on kind of just my outsider knowledge.

Tim Winders: 00:07:02

Tell me a little bit about the, because some people are just sitting

Tim Winders: 00:07:06

here going, how in the world can you mentally or physically do those two?

Tim Winders: 00:07:12

But the schedule is extremely unique for firefighters.

Tim Winders: 00:07:15

Tell us a little bit about that.

Ryan Larson: 00:07:18

Yeah.

Ryan Larson: 00:07:19

We definitely have a very interesting schedule.

Ryan Larson: 00:07:21

but it's, it's a flexible schedule.

Ryan Larson: 00:07:24

I think if you have friends or family who are You know, in that

Ryan Larson: 00:07:28

public safety field, usually they have some type of side hustle.

Ryan Larson: 00:07:33

but our schedule, we work 24 hours on and then we get 48 hours off.

Ryan Larson: 00:07:39

within the Phoenix Fire Department organization, you, you're probably

Ryan Larson: 00:07:44

aware, Tim, that you're, you're seeing this probably just as you're

Ryan Larson: 00:07:46

commuting, in, in, in Arizona right now.

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It's just like, there's a lot of traffic here and there's a lot of

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people who are coming to the valley.

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And so as a firefighter, in this organization, you're running a lot faster.

Ryan Larson: 00:07:59

more calls.

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there's some stations that are, running 20 to 25 calls a shift.

Ryan Larson: 00:08:06

And if that's a 24 hour shift, you spread that out your, first thing

Ryan Larson: 00:08:10

you're going in in the morning and then you're starting to run calls all the way

Ryan Larson: 00:08:14

after midnight when people are sleeping and it definitely takes its toll.

Ryan Larson: 00:08:18

but those 48 hours, allows you to, that first part of that, that, that first day

Ryan Larson: 00:08:25

off, get some sleep if you have to, right?

Ryan Larson: 00:08:28

Get the kids off to school or, whatever you have to do in the morning, just

Ryan Larson: 00:08:32

to kind of settle thing your life down for a little bit, maybe take a little

Ryan Larson: 00:08:36

bit of a nap and then you're up and Adam and you're starting to move again

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and now you have, another day to kind of prioritize what you want to do.

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Spend it with family, work, whatever you enjoy out there.

Ryan Larson: 00:08:48

So that's kind of what, what I do is I, I, I see myself, going in,

Ryan Larson: 00:08:55

once again, going back to my health fitness, it's all important because

Ryan Larson: 00:08:59

if I'm running those calls, I need to be mentally sharp when I come into

Ryan Larson: 00:09:04

that financial arena the next day.

Ryan Larson: 00:09:07

trying to get as much sleep as I can.

Ryan Larson: 00:09:09

and, and just staying focused on my end goal, which is providing for my family.

Tim Winders: 00:09:16

the, the, the odd thing about that is I've

Tim Winders: 00:09:19

heard you in our short period.

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We've been talking, you're talking about sleep and rest, and I am

Tim Winders: 00:09:25

becoming more keenly aware of how critical that is for my well being, you

Tim Winders: 00:09:33

know, and I was probably in my late twenties, thirties.

Tim Winders: 00:09:37

I don't think I gave a rip about how much sleep I've got.

Tim Winders: 00:09:40

And I, I

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used to boast, I used to boast that I might live off three to four hours.

Tim Winders: 00:09:45

I think during the nineties, I think I, know, I had a corporate gig and a

Tim Winders: 00:09:49

side hustle and, and I used to, now I'm like pretty focused on how much

Tim Winders: 00:09:58

rest I'm getting, the consistency of rest and things like that.

Tim Winders: 00:10:02

And I guess that's one thing that I guess I want to follow up as a question because

Tim Winders: 00:10:08

my wife jokes with me all the time.

Tim Winders: 00:10:09

She goes, you're, you're kind of a.

Tim Winders: 00:10:10

Creature of habit.

Tim Winders: 00:10:11

Like if

Tim Winders: 00:10:12

she gets up in the morning before I do, I sometimes can be a little

Tim Winders: 00:10:15

bit, not grouchy, but it's like, oh man, it threw my schedule off to me.

Tim Winders: 00:10:21

It seems like with that 24 on 48 off.

Tim Winders: 00:10:25

Kind of that 24 on could be 24 on or it could be 24 where y'all are,

Tim Winders: 00:10:31

prepping but you're hanging out That may not be a good way of saying it.

Tim Winders: 00:10:36

What does that do for the for your rhythms for your consistency for?

Tim Winders: 00:10:40

you've mentioned rest a few times for your sleep patterns and and different things

Tim Winders: 00:10:45

like that And i'm just curious about it.

Tim Winders: 00:10:47

We don't have to pick it apart totally.

Tim Winders: 00:10:49

But what does that do for you?

Ryan Larson: 00:10:51

Yeah, that's, that's a good point.

Ryan Larson: 00:10:53

luckily, being, I guess, a senior member now at the Phoenix Fire Department,

Ryan Larson: 00:10:57

I kind of have my, my choice of the stations that I, you know, And so I

Ryan Larson: 00:11:05

have chosen to go to a slower station.

Ryan Larson: 00:11:08

I, I'm going to throw that out very loosely right now because

Ryan Larson: 00:11:11

once again, the population coming into Arizona is just crazy.

Ryan Larson: 00:11:15

So we are seeing a big tick up in our call volume.

Ryan Larson: 00:11:19

But, I work in, a part of the valley, which is called Paradise Valley.

Ryan Larson: 00:11:23

It's a very, very pretty, area.

Ryan Larson: 00:11:25

I'm not sure if you're aware of that area, Tim, but it's, It's

Ryan Larson: 00:11:29

definitely more slow tempo.

Ryan Larson: 00:11:32

However, we're getting pulled into different, cities now.

Ryan Larson: 00:11:36

So our call volume is going up just because they need

Ryan Larson: 00:11:40

outlining and cities need help.

Ryan Larson: 00:11:41

when I come in, Yeah.

Ryan Larson: 00:11:43

I definitely try to find that tempo.

Ryan Larson: 00:11:45

I come in, I work out, fairly quickly, check out the truck, work out and that

Ryan Larson: 00:11:50

puts me in a good mindset right there.

Ryan Larson: 00:11:53

But then I do, the good old cold plunge and that just, if I was tired,

Ryan Larson: 00:11:58

if I was like a little lethargic, from working the day before on the

Ryan Larson: 00:12:03

financial side, because sometimes that takes, quite a bit of energy as well.

Ryan Larson: 00:12:07

you're, you're looking at markets, you're, you're seeing what kind of different

Ryan Larson: 00:12:12

asset classes are performing well, or, what's, what is going to kind of be

Ryan Larson: 00:12:16

that next shiny object out there that investors are going to want to pursue.

Ryan Larson: 00:12:21

And so that, that does take a lot of energy.

Ryan Larson: 00:12:24

So coming into the, the fire station, I try to, revamp myself as fast as I can do.

Ryan Larson: 00:12:31

And.

Ryan Larson: 00:12:32

that cold plunge.

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And then after that, I'm going in.

Ryan Larson: 00:12:37

I'm going to back up after that cold plunge.

Ryan Larson: 00:12:38

I'm, I'm going out, I'm going into the sun, I'm stretching, I'm using,

Ryan Larson: 00:12:43

I'm, I'm using that sun's energy to kind of get me going again.

Ryan Larson: 00:12:47

I'm, I'm not the tannest guy, but, I'm, I'm in the sun, because I think that is

Ryan Larson: 00:12:52

a very healthy component of our life.

Ryan Larson: 00:12:54

And so after I do, the cold plunge and then the stretching and, with my shirt off

Ryan Larson: 00:12:58

in the sun, I'm feeling really good, Tim.

Ryan Larson: 00:13:01

And then I just take that energy, that level, I bring it back into the

Ryan Larson: 00:13:06

station, and then, I spend time with my crew, I connect with them, but if

Ryan Larson: 00:13:11

there's not much going on, if it's, if there's There's not a lot of calls.

Ryan Larson: 00:13:14

I am definitely moving into my room, refocusing on my business, which

Ryan Larson: 00:13:21

is the, the financial business and using that, I guess, organization

Ryan Larson: 00:13:28

to continue, my pursuit as becoming a well rounded individual.

Tim Winders: 00:13:34

And in a little while, we're, as we move into talking about

Tim Winders: 00:13:37

some of the financial I want to maybe draw some comparisons between the two,

Tim Winders: 00:13:45

but one of the things that I, that we really love doing here, Ryan, is we,

Tim Winders: 00:13:50

we really like to pick apart how people define success, how success comes about.

Tim Winders: 00:13:56

And, and in my, my theory is that most of our culture, many of the

Tim Winders: 00:14:01

things we do in culture, especially our first world Americanized culture.

Tim Winders: 00:14:05

People haven't taken time to really define what success is.

Tim Winders: 00:14:09

One of the things I loved about reading through your story is that

Tim Winders: 00:14:14

it appears as if, and if I'm reading something into it, I don't think I am.

Tim Winders: 00:14:19

It, it appears as if you struggled with what success was for a good

Tim Winders: 00:14:25

portion of the early part of your life.

Tim Winders: 00:14:28

And, we could talk a little bit about that because I think it's what led

Tim Winders: 00:14:31

you into being a firefighter and we're really big on journey here.

Tim Winders: 00:14:35

It's like, there's

Tim Winders: 00:14:36

seasons people go through and things like that.

Tim Winders: 00:14:38

But what can you share about it?

Tim Winders: 00:14:40

I've just read it.

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So it's pretty fresh in my mind.

Tim Winders: 00:14:43

But what can you share about how you define success?

Tim Winders: 00:14:47

If you even had a grasp of it?

Tim Winders: 00:14:50

early on growing up because there's just hints of struggle

Tim Winders: 00:14:55

throughout that story as I read it.

Ryan Larson: 00:15:00

Yeah.

Ryan Larson: 00:15:00

There, there definitely has been some struggle.

Ryan Larson: 00:15:03

Um, throughout my journey, I think there's struggle just out there with everyone.

Ryan Larson: 00:15:10

And I just, I was, I was hesitant about opening up my, my story to the public.

Ryan Larson: 00:15:18

And, You don't know how people are going to take it.

Ryan Larson: 00:15:21

But what I, what I'm learning more, I just started going to church a lot

Ryan Larson: 00:15:26

more and kind of opening up my faith and, kind of turning to God because,

Ryan Larson: 00:15:31

my journey, is, is still a struggle.

Ryan Larson: 00:15:34

Nothing has ever, is, everything is good sometimes, but sometimes you go

Ryan Larson: 00:15:42

through this black cloud, if you will.

Ryan Larson: 00:15:45

And so what I will say is growing up, I got into a lot of fights.

Ryan Larson: 00:15:51

I use kind of, these as kind of resolution tools, which is not appropriate at all.

Ryan Larson: 00:15:57

And I don't think it, took me in the right direction, but what I had going

Ryan Larson: 00:16:03

for me is just a good family foundation, which they did not want to see me fail.

Ryan Larson: 00:16:12

my mom and dad were very good stewards of just making sure that I, kept my focus

Ryan Larson: 00:16:17

on something pure and one of those, well, Just being in, an athlete, doing football

Ryan Larson: 00:16:24

and baseball, wrestling, that, that obviously took my focus and narrowed it.

Ryan Larson: 00:16:30

And I just tried to, when I would start getting lost, whether it's running with

Ryan Larson: 00:16:35

the wrong crowd, getting into fights, um, doing drugs, whatever it was, I found that

Ryan Larson: 00:16:44

I could always come back to my, athletic abilities to, and that would define

Ryan Larson: 00:16:50

ultimately my success at that point.

Ryan Larson: 00:16:54

but now as I kind of get older, I'm 46 and I'm kind of maturing, success for me.

Ryan Larson: 00:17:01

It's, it's still a struggle to define and, being a firefighter was, it was

Ryan Larson: 00:17:09

a very, it's a very impactful job.

Ryan Larson: 00:17:12

And I'm, as I'm cloning out, as I'm closing out my journey.

Ryan Larson: 00:17:15

with that kind of organization, I'm looking at what I did

Ryan Larson: 00:17:23

within that organization and I was like, was I successful?

Ryan Larson: 00:17:27

did I accomplish my goals?

Ryan Larson: 00:17:29

And I would say getting hired.

Ryan Larson: 00:17:32

Was just one of the biggest accomplishments of my career.

Ryan Larson: 00:17:36

It's a very competitive job.

Ryan Larson: 00:17:39

I think I, was competing against potentially six to 7000 people for

Ryan Larson: 00:17:45

a handful of jobs back 20 years ago.

Ryan Larson: 00:17:48

I was not the smartest kid.

Ryan Larson: 00:17:50

definitely did not get good grades.

Ryan Larson: 00:17:52

But what I found is when I saw something that I wanted to pursue, I pursued

Ryan Larson: 00:17:58

it with just a relentless work ethic.

Ryan Larson: 00:18:00

And I don't think I've ever once started something that I didn't finish.

Ryan Larson: 00:18:11

And I don't know why that is.

Ryan Larson: 00:18:15

And I think I'm looking for that success.

Ryan Larson: 00:18:17

Because if, if I don't, complete it, then I feel like, Oh, my life's not worth it.

Ryan Larson: 00:18:22

Or, I wasn't worth it internally.

Ryan Larson: 00:18:25

but now, tripping, failing, And I think when you lose, those are some of the

Ryan Larson: 00:18:33

best moments in people's lives because it, you get to identify what went wrong.

Ryan Larson: 00:18:38

You get to kind of like a self reflect.

Ryan Larson: 00:18:41

I didn't like losing.

Ryan Larson: 00:18:42

But when I lost, it just made me a better, winner at the end of the day.

Ryan Larson: 00:18:47

So hopefully, that was a little,

Tim Winders: 00:18:48

It is.

Tim Winders: 00:18:49

Yeah.

Tim Winders: 00:18:49

you, do you think this, this is something again, I just, I, I read through your

Tim Winders: 00:18:54

book fairly quickly and this is not me.

Tim Winders: 00:18:57

Being a analysis analysis and analyzing anything but

Tim Winders: 00:19:03

At times I was sitting here saying because you you mentioned that you

Tim Winders: 00:19:07

weren't the best student I think you were a great athlete, but maybe

Tim Winders: 00:19:12

You know, you also weren't six three You, 220 pounds, maybe short.

Tim Winders: 00:19:17

It's almost like to me that this is a guy, Ryan is a guy early on in his

Tim Winders: 00:19:23

career that had something to prove, had a chip on his shoulder a little bit.

Tim Winders: 00:19:26

I don't know if that's correct or not.

Tim Winders: 00:19:28

It seemed like that

Ryan Larson: 00:19:29

is.

Tim Winders: 00:19:30

because maybe he

Tim Winders: 00:19:31

didn't fit in with the, Yeah, yeah.

Tim Winders: 00:19:33

Maybe it didn't fit in with what, know, the high school, the structures,

Tim Winders: 00:19:37

the systems defined as success.

Tim Winders: 00:19:41

anyway, and, and was there, I mean, any learning disabilities

Tim Winders: 00:19:46

or anything like that?

Tim Winders: 00:19:47

I mean, I don't, you, you mentioned it was tough, but, Any of the, I mean,

Tim Winders: 00:19:52

we've, we've interviewed like, emergency room surgeons that have had dyslexia

Tim Winders: 00:19:57

and it was just fascinating them talking about that, but talk a little bit about,

Tim Winders: 00:20:03

did you have a chip on your shoulder?

Ryan Larson: 00:20:06

I did, I did have a chip on my shoulder.

Ryan Larson: 00:20:08

but also too, yes, I, I struggled in school.

Ryan Larson: 00:20:13

so I was in resource and, I didn't even know what that meant.

Ryan Larson: 00:20:17

What is resource?

Ryan Larson: 00:20:18

Well, it's just, you're not keeping pace with, the rest of the class.

Ryan Larson: 00:20:23

So when I was in elementary, we would all start, opening up the books, and

Ryan Larson: 00:20:28

then I would have another separate teacher come and get me, and I

Ryan Larson: 00:20:32

would go to this, special classroom.

Ryan Larson: 00:20:35

And, everyone would say, well, where's Ryan going?

Ryan Larson: 00:20:39

And, and so I would, I would always like, Oh, are they talking about me?

Ryan Larson: 00:20:44

Are they saying, Oh, he's stupid, or, so I think that was the start of my chip.

Ryan Larson: 00:20:51

and I think it's definitely kind of like stayed with me into my high school days.

Ryan Larson: 00:20:57

because I never thought, I always thought I was different and I didn't

Ryan Larson: 00:21:05

want to be a part of the herd.

Ryan Larson: 00:21:06

I always want to be going against the herd or going against the grain.

Ryan Larson: 00:21:11

And I think that's what has made me successful in today's society is because

Ryan Larson: 00:21:18

every time that someone has told me.

Ryan Larson: 00:21:21

I would, I would listen, but I would push back and I would say, okay,

Ryan Larson: 00:21:27

well I don't want to do it this way.

Ryan Larson: 00:21:28

I'm going to do it this way.

Ryan Larson: 00:21:30

And so I would just, I would find myself pivoting a lot.

Ryan Larson: 00:21:34

And I don't know if it was because I was isolated when I was younger, in

Ryan Larson: 00:21:39

resource and it made me think differently.

Ryan Larson: 00:21:43

or I just looked at, all the friends that I had that were

Ryan Larson: 00:21:46

in different social classes.

Ryan Larson: 00:21:49

And I was like, I don't really want to be a part of that one today.

Ryan Larson: 00:21:51

I want to be part of this one.

Ryan Larson: 00:21:52

And so I was, I was always picking and choosing where I want to go.

Ryan Larson: 00:21:55

And I think that is, that has made me, a very successful man because if

Ryan Larson: 00:22:02

something doesn't feel good, if If it doesn't sit right, and if someone

Ryan Larson: 00:22:06

is, is definitely trying to tell me, Oh, this is the right way, I'm going

Ryan Larson: 00:22:09

to say, well, maybe that's your way.

Ryan Larson: 00:22:13

That's not Ryan Larson's way.

Ryan Larson: 00:22:15

And I'm going to pursue my own path and I'm going to go, I'm going to do what

Ryan Larson: 00:22:20

I feel right for, for me and who, like what my DNA is, how, how I operate.

Tim Winders: 00:22:26

Yeah.

Tim Winders: 00:22:27

Life has a tendency to alter and change sometimes our thought

Tim Winders: 00:22:34

processes or how we define things.

Tim Winders: 00:22:38

And, in reading through your book, I'm going, okay, this is a guy that's seems to

Tim Winders: 00:22:43

have come to terms some of those things.

Tim Winders: 00:22:46

So the question I've got is, do you still have a chip on your shoulder?

Tim Winders: 00:22:51

You still trying to prove something?

Tim Winders: 00:22:53

You seem peaceful and relaxed to me, but is there something underneath

Tim Winders: 00:22:57

that peaceful demeanor that you're still, there's still kind of a drive?

Tim Winders: 00:23:03

And I will tell you it's a bit of a trick question.

Tim Winders: 00:23:05

I'll go ahead and warn

Tim Winders: 00:23:06

you.

Tim Winders: 00:23:07

This is a trick question because based on how you respond, I

Tim Winders: 00:23:10

might go in different directions.

Ryan Larson: 00:23:12

Yeah.

Ryan Larson: 00:23:12

I love it.

Ryan Larson: 00:23:12

No, it's good.

Ryan Larson: 00:23:13

And I, I, I love where this is, is going this conversation because,

Ryan Larson: 00:23:19

I am still, learning who Ryan is.

Ryan Larson: 00:23:23

I want to be more on the vulnerable side, within this podcast.

Ryan Larson: 00:23:28

And I was, I, I've had struggles my whole life.

Ryan Larson: 00:23:31

I just started going to see a therapist and, you know, cause everything that

Ryan Larson: 00:23:36

we see within the fire department, that's, that's a struggle in itself.

Ryan Larson: 00:23:40

and then, I had stuff that, I was, I was, going on internally with the family.

Ryan Larson: 00:23:46

And so, I'm always learning like who Ryan is, but what I have found, and it has made

Ryan Larson: 00:23:53

me, I guess more at peace, like you said, Tim, is the counseling wasn't working.

Ryan Larson: 00:24:02

And I just like what I just shared with you and someone

Ryan Larson: 00:24:05

saying, Oh, you got to do this.

Ryan Larson: 00:24:06

Everyone's like, Hey, maybe you got to go.

Ryan Larson: 00:24:08

Sit down with the counselor.

Ryan Larson: 00:24:09

Sit down with the counselor.

Ryan Larson: 00:24:10

Why I did that.

Ryan Larson: 00:24:12

It didn't resonate with me.

Ryan Larson: 00:24:14

It didn't feel good to me.

Ryan Larson: 00:24:17

But, my wife, she's, she's, was raised Catholic and, was always,

Ryan Larson: 00:24:23

she's been brought up in the church and she said, When you're ready,

Ryan Larson: 00:24:27

God is always accepting, right?

Ryan Larson: 00:24:29

And so I turn to God, I was looking for a higher power to get me through some

Ryan Larson: 00:24:36

of these struggles that I was having.

Ryan Larson: 00:24:38

And to, to answer your question is, I, I don't believe I have

Ryan Larson: 00:24:44

a chip on my shoulder anymore.

Ryan Larson: 00:24:46

I'm learning to be at peace because I know that there's only one person

Ryan Larson: 00:24:56

who I'm going to answer to at the day.

Ryan Larson: 00:24:58

And, if I, if I show up, on his doorstep and, I have this bad attitude and I, he's

Ryan Larson: 00:25:06

obviously going to forgive me, but, I want to come to him with an open heart with,

Ryan Larson: 00:25:10

without any, I don't want to be sinful.

Ryan Larson: 00:25:13

Like I used to be in my, in my, younger days.

Ryan Larson: 00:25:15

And I want to go with, to him with an open heart.

Ryan Larson: 00:25:19

And, What makes me successful today is pursuing what I'm passionate

Ryan Larson: 00:25:24

about, but accomplishing those things that is success for me.

Ryan Larson: 00:25:32

But the ultimate success for me is just Raising my family Properly, you know

Ryan Larson: 00:25:38

raising my my little girl my little boy in the in the best way that I can

Ryan Larson: 00:25:45

trying to take after my my dad and You know some some manners and others,

Ryan Larson: 00:25:51

not so much right but trying to find that rhythm as being, the type of man

Ryan Larson: 00:25:58

that I want my son to, to look up to.

Ryan Larson: 00:26:03

And I want to give him the, the, the characteristics and the traits that,

Ryan Larson: 00:26:08

I got from my dad and I I've evolved and now I'm passing those onto him and

Ryan Larson: 00:26:13

trying to kind of, keep that, I guess, that bloodline just keep moving forward.

Ryan Larson: 00:26:18

But ultimately You know, the success that I have is going to be what I

Ryan Larson: 00:26:22

do on this earth and to help my kids become good, members of society.

Tim Winders: 00:26:29

That's good.

Tim Winders: 00:26:30

That goes back, you, you mentioned the word identity earlier and, and I, I think

Tim Winders: 00:26:35

part of our, I don't want to say struggle, but our journey or walk here on this earth

Tim Winders: 00:26:42

is to come to terms with our identity.

Tim Winders: 00:26:45

And I'll say it even a different way.

Tim Winders: 00:26:47

You brought up the spiritual.

Tim Winders: 00:26:48

It's like, what are we created for?

Tim Winders: 00:26:50

What are we here for?

Tim Winders: 00:26:51

And I'm going to, I'm going to do a shameless plug here for a novel for you.

Tim Winders: 00:26:57

And,

Tim Winders: 00:26:57

it's written by me.

Tim Winders: 00:27:00

And it relates to all that we've talked about so and if you need me to send you

Tim Winders: 00:27:04

a copy Whatever or get it to you it's coach the name of it is coach a story

Tim Winders: 00:27:09

of success redefined And it it addresses all of these topics and it's one of

Tim Winders: 00:27:14

the reasons why I love reading your book Because yours is an actual story.

Tim Winders: 00:27:18

Mine's a novel.

Tim Winders: 00:27:19

There's a lot of me in it, but it It's all about this and that identity

Tim Winders: 00:27:25

piece and that journey that we're on.

Tim Winders: 00:27:27

And so anyway, very cool.

Tim Winders: 00:27:29

I love, I love having these type conversations because I believe they

Tim Winders: 00:27:34

create a foundation when we start talking about how a lot of people

Tim Winders: 00:27:38

measure success, which is financial.

Tim Winders: 00:27:42

And, and you could probably tell that, see, my journey was slightly different.

Tim Winders: 00:27:47

I, I think I did well through high school years, college and all that.

Tim Winders: 00:27:53

But I had an addiction that I was addicted to.

Tim Winders: 00:27:56

It was either more or tomorrow.

Tim Winders: 00:27:58

I can't decide which one I was addicted to.

Tim Winders: 00:28:00

And so I was always.

Tim Winders: 00:28:01

Pursuing and shooting for more.

Tim Winders: 00:28:04

There's one thing that I want to say.

Tim Winders: 00:28:05

We've got a great deal in common here And we might could talk about

Tim Winders: 00:28:08

this There was a movie that somewhat defined me and you said it defined

Tim Winders: 00:28:14

you and that was gordon gecko And

Tim Winders: 00:28:19

and wall street

Tim Winders: 00:28:21

And the phrase greed is good would have been one of my favorite

Tim Winders: 00:28:26

principles as I was coming along.

Tim Winders: 00:28:29

But for you, it was more, you loved what was going on on the trade floor.

Tim Winders: 00:28:35

Correct.

Tim Winders: 00:28:35

I mean, is that

Tim Winders: 00:28:36

what you loved about that movie?

Tim Winders: 00:28:37

See, I love the greed, man.

Ryan Larson: 00:28:39

Mm hmm.

Ryan Larson: 00:28:40

Interesting.

Ryan Larson: 00:28:41

Yeah, that's yeah.

Ryan Larson: 00:28:43

I love.

Ryan Larson: 00:28:43

I love what was going on with the trade desk, the trade floor and how everything

Ryan Larson: 00:28:49

was like shaking and baking, I was, I was really intrigued, with that.

Ryan Larson: 00:28:54

And I was like, is that really how it is?

Ryan Larson: 00:28:56

And yeah, I, I, I, I started pursuing that probably eight years into the fire

Ryan Larson: 00:29:03

department and I had the opportunity, I started off in like foreign currency and

Ryan Larson: 00:29:09

so I was doing pretty well on that and I caught the attention of, of an advisor who

Ryan Larson: 00:29:13

was actually managing my fire departments.

Ryan Larson: 00:29:16

we have a 457 advisor.

Ryan Larson: 00:29:18

401k account.

Ryan Larson: 00:29:19

those are types of, retirement accounts for, for the listeners

Ryan Larson: 00:29:23

who, who aren't aware.

Ryan Larson: 00:29:24

but he was managing those, those accounts for me.

Ryan Larson: 00:29:27

And, 2008 came around.

Ryan Larson: 00:29:29

I was doing very well with the foreign currency, bought a million dollar condo.

Ryan Larson: 00:29:34

I was like, Hey, this is, I'm, I'm doing it.

Ryan Larson: 00:29:35

I'm living it.

Ryan Larson: 00:29:37

And then 2008 happens and completely shuts down like everything that I was doing.

Ryan Larson: 00:29:44

I was, I was nervous to trade because, the million dollar condo is not a

Ryan Larson: 00:29:47

million dollars financial crisis.

Ryan Larson: 00:29:49

I mean, so I sat down with him and said, Hey, what do I do with my money?

Ryan Larson: 00:29:53

And, I, I started to share my story.

Ryan Larson: 00:29:56

He's like, well, why don't you come to work for me?

Ryan Larson: 00:29:59

And, I pursued getting my series seven and my 66.

Ryan Larson: 00:30:02

and that just allows me to manage retirement accounts.

Ryan Larson: 00:30:07

but yeah, ultimately I had the opportunity to, to go on.

Ryan Larson: 00:30:13

the Nasdaq floor, in, in New York.

Ryan Larson: 00:30:15

And it was, it was everything I imagined it.

Ryan Larson: 00:30:19

It was, it was really, really cool seeing what I kind of always

Ryan Larson: 00:30:23

dreamt about watching, Wall Street.

Ryan Larson: 00:30:26

Now being there with my wife, looking at all these, traders and

Ryan Larson: 00:30:32

trade desks and how everything's being executed at the best price.

Ryan Larson: 00:30:35

It was, it was definitely amazing.

Ryan Larson: 00:30:36

it was a really cool journey, to, to get there.

Ryan Larson: 00:30:39

But yes, on that movie, I would say that was one of the things

Ryan Larson: 00:30:44

that I wanted to always pursue and.

Ryan Larson: 00:30:48

Try to, accomplish one day is just, just to get on this, get on the

Ryan Larson: 00:30:51

floor of the New York stock exchange.

Tim Winders: 00:30:53

When's the last time you saw that movie?

Tim Winders: 00:30:54

It's been a long time for me.

Tim Winders: 00:30:56

I wonder if it still holds up.

Tim Winders: 00:30:57

That was like or something.

Ryan Larson: 00:31:01

I think, yeah, I think you're right.

Ryan Larson: 00:31:03

Yeah, I was, I was, yeah, I know I wasn't that old when I first watched it, but I

Ryan Larson: 00:31:07

was like, Oh, this is, this is awesome.

Ryan Larson: 00:31:09

but

Ryan Larson: 00:31:09

yeah, I

Ryan Larson: 00:31:10

would,

Tim Winders: 00:31:10

It was right before I was about to be married.

Tim Winders: 00:31:12

So I was just coming out of Georgia Tech And man, I

Tim Winders: 00:31:16

loved the slick back hair

Tim Winders: 00:31:19

and the suits and you know the office I mean, it kind of showed to me a bit

Tim Winders: 00:31:25

of superficial Ness of what I thought success was at the time, but it was

Tim Winders: 00:31:31

of part of my journey And also Yeah.

Tim Winders: 00:31:34

i'd be curious if it holds up when's the last time you saw it?

Ryan Larson: 00:31:38

Yeah, it's been a long time.

Ryan Larson: 00:31:40

I mean So, now that I've been running this business for, I've been in the financial

Ryan Larson: 00:31:45

industry for 15 plus years now, and I think I started, Firstline Financial,

Ryan Larson: 00:31:50

which is a registered investment advisory firm that I, that I own.

Ryan Larson: 00:31:54

I'm the founder with him and I have Kate who's helped me in this business venture.

Ryan Larson: 00:31:59

yeah, I don't really, it's completely different, Tim.

Ryan Larson: 00:32:04

it's just like, I sometimes like to just meet clients just like this or,

Ryan Larson: 00:32:09

I started off in that suit and tie and slip back hair and all that good stuff.

Ryan Larson: 00:32:12

But you know what?

Ryan Larson: 00:32:14

What I found is if you're if you're real, if you're genuine, if you got

Ryan Larson: 00:32:21

a good heart, if you're an advocate and you just try to do the best

Ryan Larson: 00:32:28

for people, what's the old phrase?

Ryan Larson: 00:32:30

People will come field of dreams.

Ryan Larson: 00:32:33

People will come and they continue to come.

Ryan Larson: 00:32:37

And it's just because I'm living that message.

Ryan Larson: 00:32:40

I'm not, I'm not pushing, I'm not pushing it on society of like,

Ryan Larson: 00:32:47

Oh, I'm this, this fiduciary.

Ryan Larson: 00:32:48

I'm just, I'm just having that mindset is like, if I'm a good

Ryan Larson: 00:32:52

person, I'm going to share my stories.

Ryan Larson: 00:32:56

And once everyone hears the story, they can make their own decision.

Ryan Larson: 00:33:01

If I'm the right guy, if I'm the right wrong guy, and I'm not always going

Ryan Larson: 00:33:04

to be the right guy, for the job.

Ryan Larson: 00:33:07

just based on, people's interaction, right?

Ryan Larson: 00:33:10

But what I will say is I'm the most qualified for the job.

Ryan Larson: 00:33:14

And the reason for that is, yes, I am a fiduciary.

Ryan Larson: 00:33:18

So that's first and foremost, but also to I am doing things that is

Ryan Larson: 00:33:25

not being done out there right now.

Ryan Larson: 00:33:27

And, and one of the things, one of the companies that I just started

Ryan Larson: 00:33:31

is a, a real estate company.

Ryan Larson: 00:33:33

but I started a real estate fund.

Ryan Larson: 00:33:37

And so what this allows individuals to do, Tim, is to not just focus on

Ryan Larson: 00:33:42

stocks, bonds, mutual funds, because I think that is just part of the equation.

Ryan Larson: 00:33:48

I think what makes a truly diversified portfolio or, or a, how you can get

Ryan Larson: 00:33:56

ahead faster is by merging those two asset classes together, right?

Ryan Larson: 00:34:04

In a perfectly balanced, financial plan for someone because obviously we all

Ryan Larson: 00:34:10

know real estate has done very well.

Ryan Larson: 00:34:13

stock market has been a little shaky, especially right now with,

Ryan Larson: 00:34:17

everything that's going on in the Middle East and Russia, Ukraine,

Ryan Larson: 00:34:19

but there's always opportunity.

Ryan Larson: 00:34:25

within real estate.

Ryan Larson: 00:34:26

And it's just, you just got to buy at the right time.

Ryan Larson: 00:34:31

You got to know people.

Ryan Larson: 00:34:33

They said it.

Ryan Larson: 00:34:34

One person said it best.

Ryan Larson: 00:34:35

It's like real estate.

Ryan Larson: 00:34:37

is an insider game.

Ryan Larson: 00:34:40

if you try to be, do insider trading in the financial side,

Ryan Larson: 00:34:44

you're going to get slapped.

Ryan Larson: 00:34:44

You're going to get, you might go to jail, but insider trading

Ryan Larson: 00:34:48

is allowed within real estate.

Ryan Larson: 00:34:50

And so when I thought about that, I'm like, Oh my gosh,

Ryan Larson: 00:34:53

that totally makes sense.

Ryan Larson: 00:34:54

So, I, I know I'm a little bit long winded, but I think

Ryan Larson: 00:34:57

this is a good message.

Ryan Larson: 00:34:59

for people who are looking into how to create wealth and build wealth

Ryan Larson: 00:35:05

is you need a good balance of both.

Ryan Larson: 00:35:09

Don't just continue to put all your dollars into that 401k or that IRA and

Ryan Larson: 00:35:14

hope that it's going to continue to go up.

Ryan Larson: 00:35:16

Because our world is, This is, it's a little bit mixed up right now, and if

Ryan Larson: 00:35:25

we, if we just have that, that longterm approach works, like, don't get me wrong,

Ryan Larson: 00:35:31

but you're going to need to stomach 20 percent losses, 30 percent losses.

Ryan Larson: 00:35:37

And you can recover for that if you have time.

Ryan Larson: 00:35:40

But if you introduce other vehicles, that is a lot.

Ryan Larson: 00:35:44

That is a recipe for success.

Ryan Larson: 00:35:47

When something doesn't do well, Another asset class that is doing

Ryan Larson: 00:35:52

well for you and it's more predictable and cash flowing, if you will.

Tim Winders: 00:35:57

Yeah, they're they're used to To be, there may still be some

Tim Winders: 00:36:03

that promote something that's called a balanced portfolio, you know, 60, 40, or,

Tim Winders: 00:36:09

you know, or, or, 60, 20, 20, just various things and, and all of that.

Tim Winders: 00:36:17

And you just kind of alluded to it briefly, that it's, stocks

Tim Winders: 00:36:21

and bonds and, and, a lot of people would say nothing else.

Tim Winders: 00:36:27

And.

Tim Winders: 00:36:28

I am one I have to be careful and I don't know if this is just my

Tim Winders: 00:36:32

nature, but I love alternatives.

Tim Winders: 00:36:34

I love asymmetric type things I love Some of the things and I don't think

Tim Winders: 00:36:40

this is going to be a time where we're going to go off talking about

Tim Winders: 00:36:42

it But you brought up real estate.

Tim Winders: 00:36:44

We had a real estate company.

Tim Winders: 00:36:45

We had you mentioned one condo that you had I am very convinced that

Tim Winders: 00:36:50

we bought a handful of condos And the date that we closed was the

Tim Winders: 00:36:55

absolute peak of the market in 2008.

Tim Winders: 00:36:59

I am convinced of that.

Tim Winders: 00:37:00

And, uh, and a lot of our story is the changes and all that occurred after that.

Tim Winders: 00:37:05

But I'm sure that that's been part of a, uh, a journey for you.

Tim Winders: 00:37:12

So guess maybe before we dive into a few things as we finish up here,

Tim Winders: 00:37:18

maybe with some specifics or I know you can't give advice, but with some.

Tim Winders: 00:37:22

With some things maybe of next steps for people to do talk a little bit about

Tim Winders: 00:37:28

You alluded to it briefly That we've had some changes at the end of the book.

Tim Winders: 00:37:34

You're talking about covid which that was That was a few years ago You

Tim Winders: 00:37:39

know, some would say we're through it.

Tim Winders: 00:37:42

I I think we're through that event.

Tim Winders: 00:37:44

I think we're going to be Seeing much more cyclical type things.

Tim Winders: 00:37:50

but talk let's talk, let's use that word balance for, for, for a beginning point

Tim Winders: 00:37:57

here, what do you look at as far as a, a.

Tim Winders: 00:38:03

I'm using air quotes for those listening that might be watching the video

Tim Winders: 00:38:06

of a balanced portfolio in general.

Tim Winders: 00:38:10

We're not talking specific.

Tim Winders: 00:38:11

Everybody's got a different story, but in general, what is Ryan at

Tim Winders: 00:38:15

46 years old and 15 plus years experience in the financial arena?

Tim Winders: 00:38:20

Look at it balanced in we're recording this in 2004.

Tim Winders: 00:38:24

I think it'll give us some good conversations for the next few minutes.

Tim Winders: 00:38:27

But,

Ryan Larson: 00:38:29

Yeah.

Ryan Larson: 00:38:29

This might shock a lot of people.

Ryan Larson: 00:38:31

especially with what I do.

Ryan Larson: 00:38:33

But once again, I'm, I'm a very transparent guy and what I say right

Ryan Larson: 00:38:38

now could change tomorrow, right?

Ryan Larson: 00:38:41

And so what I'll do is, is I'll just position like what I'm doing.

Ryan Larson: 00:38:47

I'm being very, cautious in my approach right now.

Ryan Larson: 00:38:50

And the reason is just because there are some, there's a lot of noise out there.

Ryan Larson: 00:38:55

And so at 46, I, I have raised, more cash in my portfolio.

Ryan Larson: 00:39:04

I am not, I am not long.

Ryan Larson: 00:39:07

the markets right now.

Ryan Larson: 00:39:09

I'm, I'm inner day or inner week.

Ryan Larson: 00:39:12

I would say inner week.

Ryan Larson: 00:39:14

if, if things start moving the right direction, then I might use

Ryan Larson: 00:39:18

that cash to, buy into a portfolio of, of, of not overweight equities

Ryan Larson: 00:39:26

because equities bring risk.

Ryan Larson: 00:39:29

So I would say I'm I have that balance, right?

Ryan Larson: 00:39:34

Where I'm introducing more of that fixed income.

Ryan Larson: 00:39:39

I don't really like bonds, but you have pretty decent rates, just in,

Ryan Larson: 00:39:44

in, money market accounts, 5%, 4%.

Ryan Larson: 00:39:47

So don't, I, I guess, don't point your nose up in the air when you're getting

Ryan Larson: 00:39:54

4 percent in a market like this.

Ryan Larson: 00:39:57

Because what that allows you to do is when things do, if things do happen, it's easy

Ryan Larson: 00:40:02

to pull your money, out or put it in to the market so you can be more flexible.

Ryan Larson: 00:40:08

So that's kind of My approach, I'm holding more cash.

Ryan Larson: 00:40:12

I'm not long equities.

Ryan Larson: 00:40:14

inner week.

Ryan Larson: 00:40:15

I'm an inner week trader, and I'm introducing more alternatives.

Ryan Larson: 00:40:21

Like you said, Tim, I'm introducing more real estate using more self directed

Ryan Larson: 00:40:27

Directed IRA investment vehicles to continue moving that train down the track.

Ryan Larson: 00:40:35

If you will, I

Tim Winders: 00:40:41

is almost, I don't know.

Tim Winders: 00:40:45

I don't know how you measure inflation.

Tim Winders: 00:40:46

My wife and I went to the local grocery here.

Tim Winders: 00:40:49

I don't go to the grocery store that often, so I'm maybe a little out of touch.

Tim Winders: 00:40:53

I mean, I read some stuff, but we got four items.

Tim Winders: 00:40:56

It was like 41 bucks, a couple of.

Tim Winders: 00:40:58

Frozen cauliflower pizzas.

Tim Winders: 00:41:00

And,

Tim Winders: 00:41:01

know, and I'm like going, good gracious, I said, we don't, I mean, we could

Tim Winders: 00:41:04

carry it out in one hand and she goes, Oh yeah, this stuff's eating.

Tim Winders: 00:41:08

I mean, I mean, I guess that's a factor, right?

Tim Winders: 00:41:11

Inflation.

Ryan Larson: 00:41:14

It is, but what else is a factor, Tim is if you have your

Ryan Larson: 00:41:20

money in the market, because you're.

Ryan Larson: 00:41:22

listening to other advisors saying, Oh, if you put your money in cash,

Ryan Larson: 00:41:26

you're losing out to inflation.

Ryan Larson: 00:41:28

Well, did the financial advisor that fiduciary tell you, well,

Ryan Larson: 00:41:34

what happens when your money takes a 20 to 30 percent hit?

Ryan Larson: 00:41:38

I don't care about losing out.

Ryan Larson: 00:41:42

from, what, let's just say inflation is 6%.

Ryan Larson: 00:41:45

I didn't look at the latest, the numbers, but let's say it's 6%.

Ryan Larson: 00:41:49

Well, if I'm getting five on a money market, how I'm losing one.

Ryan Larson: 00:41:54

Okay.

Ryan Larson: 00:41:55

I'm okay with losing one, but I'm not okay.

Ryan Larson: 00:41:59

If we go to war, with Middle East or, if we, if someone bombs NATO and

Ryan Larson: 00:42:06

losing 30, 40, 50%, like potentially we did in 2008, 2017, 2020, 2022, So you

Ryan Larson: 00:42:16

got away with the good with the bad.

Ryan Larson: 00:42:19

that's what makes me different is I'm a free thinker.

Ryan Larson: 00:42:23

Like, I'm not trying to push you in one direction.

Ryan Larson: 00:42:27

I'm trying to say.

Ryan Larson: 00:42:29

Let's, let's look at this situation together and let's make the best decision

Ryan Larson: 00:42:35

based on maybe what your gut is telling you, what my experience is telling me,

Ryan Larson: 00:42:41

and then let's put a plan together.

Ryan Larson: 00:42:43

and let's introduce.

Ryan Larson: 00:42:45

things that are not being talked about with other financial firms out there.

Tim Winders: 00:42:50

I'm a systems guy, like systems.

Tim Winders: 00:42:52

And I, I saw something briefly.

Tim Winders: 00:42:54

I think your rap.

Tim Winders: 00:42:56

Is, the system that you use, tell me more about

Tim Winders: 00:42:59

that and, and what that is.

Tim Winders: 00:43:01

Just give a, brief overview of that so that we

Tim Winders: 00:43:04

understand this, because this, that's the foundation of your system, correct?

Ryan Larson: 00:43:09

It is.

Ryan Larson: 00:43:10

Yeah.

Ryan Larson: 00:43:10

Thank you for bringing that up.

Ryan Larson: 00:43:11

So yeah, it's called the wrap.

Ryan Larson: 00:43:13

We got a trademark and it's called the written retirement action plan.

Ryan Larson: 00:43:17

So it's just a process.

Ryan Larson: 00:43:19

that we take with our, with every client that we bring on and it's

Ryan Larson: 00:43:25

essentially it's a written document that is proprietary to FirstLine Financial

Ryan Larson: 00:43:30

that we put together after sitting with our clients, and determining what

Ryan Larson: 00:43:36

would fit, what will fit their needs.

Ryan Larson: 00:43:38

So that is essentially like that.

Ryan Larson: 00:43:40

the playbook of their retirement future, but once again, just like every

Ryan Larson: 00:43:45

playbook, pages need to be replaced and, put back in and, changed a lot.

Ryan Larson: 00:43:51

it's a, it's a ever evolving, process.

Ryan Larson: 00:43:55

process, if you will.

Tim Winders: 00:43:56

Yeah.

Tim Winders: 00:43:57

What, what is it like when you have someone, I'm 60 years old and this is

Tim Winders: 00:44:03

not asking for personal advice while we're recording, it's going to go

Tim Winders: 00:44:08

out to the world either, by the way.

Tim Winders: 00:44:10

But what is it like.

Tim Winders: 00:44:13

When you're now dealing with people, we mentioned that you you deal with

Tim Winders: 00:44:17

a lot of boomers Obviously, there's i'm the I believe that i'm the

Tim Winders: 00:44:21

tail end of the boomer generation I think if depending on how someone

Tim Winders: 00:44:26

Measures it but as that generation, we saw the little blip in 87 88, you

Tim Winders: 00:44:34

know when there was an adjustment we saw the 2000 those To me we're fairly

Tim Winders: 00:44:41

small relative to what happened in 08 And then you know, some of us are

Tim Winders: 00:44:46

still scratching our heads going.

Tim Winders: 00:44:48

We're not really totally sure what happened with this worldwide

Tim Winders: 00:44:52

pandemic and Things like that.

Tim Winders: 00:44:54

You mentioned you're a free thinker.

Tim Winders: 00:44:55

We won't go down those roads, but You know, we do kind of ask questions.

Tim Winders: 00:44:59

It's like, man, things are, things seem to be kind of, whiplashing

Tim Winders: 00:45:07

stronger than they have in the past with your rap, with that system.

Tim Winders: 00:45:14

What are you doing?

Tim Winders: 00:45:16

Maybe in general, I don't know if it's general.

Tim Winders: 00:45:18

I know you can't get into specifics, but maybe the alternatives is one of

Tim Winders: 00:45:22

the answers, but what are you doing with people that are seeing large swings?

Tim Winders: 00:45:29

At possibly critical times, you know, in what

Tim Winders: 00:45:32

they, what they look at their lives.

Tim Winders: 00:45:34

I don't even know if that, I posed that question, But maybe just take it and

Tim Winders: 00:45:37

go wherever you want to go with it.

Ryan Larson: 00:45:39

Yeah.

Ryan Larson: 00:45:39

I see where you're going.

Ryan Larson: 00:45:40

it's, it's again, just looking at vehicles that are not the traditional

Ryan Larson: 00:45:49

stocks, bonds, mutual fund that that 60, 40, 70, 30 portfolio.

Ryan Larson: 00:45:55

So I've always struggled with that, Tim.

Ryan Larson: 00:45:59

I really have.

Ryan Larson: 00:46:00

And I pushed back on it, but I have found a lot of success.

Ryan Larson: 00:46:05

Once again, when I push back on things, I find success in other ways.

Ryan Larson: 00:46:11

So with, with that being said, I'm going to continue to push

Ryan Larson: 00:46:16

back on that 60 40 model.

Ryan Larson: 00:46:18

I'm going to look at other things, ideas, ways that we can kind of insulate

Ryan Larson: 00:46:25

people's, life savings, life savings.

Ryan Larson: 00:46:30

If you're, if you're, in that, pre retiree, or a retirement, age and

Ryan Larson: 00:46:37

your, your money's in the market.

Ryan Larson: 00:46:39

that's a head scratcher for me.

Ryan Larson: 00:46:41

there are ways that you can continue to get really, really nice cashflow

Ryan Larson: 00:46:46

without any of the volatility.

Ryan Larson: 00:46:48

and yeah, that's, that's how I would position position that question.

Ryan Larson: 00:46:52

Just looking at, more predictable cash flowing vehicles that are just

Ryan Larson: 00:46:56

not correlated to the stock market.

Tim Winders: 00:47:00

I do find myself pursuing, and I don't know your

Tim Winders: 00:47:03

thoughts on these alternatives that are highly, divisive In our

Tim Winders: 00:47:09

world, like if you mention to someone precious metals or if you mention

Tim Winders: 00:47:14

to someone, crypto or bitcoin, you know something in that phrase

Tim Winders: 00:47:18

or if you mention Things like I I love the investment of real estate

Tim Winders: 00:47:24

even even with my history I love

Tim Winders: 00:47:27

And yours too, right?

Tim Winders: 00:47:29

I mean it was

Tim Winders: 00:47:29

like I do think that real estate is, and, and, you know, some of the

Tim Winders: 00:47:34

alternatives I love is I love now there's ways to position yourself to

Tim Winders: 00:47:39

be early stage investors in businesses, similar to what it used to be with some

Tim Winders: 00:47:45

of the, we'll call them the big boys, some of us didn't have access to that.

Tim Winders: 00:47:50

And, I like investing small amounts in 10 companies, knowing that

Tim Winders: 00:47:54

eight of them probably won't exist.

Tim Winders: 00:47:57

And those have done very well in helping me do what I.

Tim Winders: 00:48:01

I would call maybe catching up, after

Tim Winders: 00:48:04

going through, uh, some challenges, any, any thoughts or responses to, to those, if

Tim Winders: 00:48:09

I bring those up in the, I didn't see your head spin or green stuff come out of your

Tim Winders: 00:48:13

mouth when I mentioned a few of those.

Ryan Larson: 00:48:16

Yeah, no, those are, those are, yeah, private companies, obviously

Ryan Larson: 00:48:20

it's a, they're good opportunities and, and, but what I will say is,

Ryan Larson: 00:48:25

you got pros and you got cons, right?

Ryan Larson: 00:48:27

So those are usually less liquid.

Ryan Larson: 00:48:31

They are going to take longer to kind of come to fruition, to see potentially

Ryan Larson: 00:48:36

like a return on your investment.

Ryan Larson: 00:48:38

so if you're in that, if your comfort level is someone who could

Ryan Larson: 00:48:44

withstand having your money locked up for a while, potentially losing

Ryan Larson: 00:48:49

it all, that's, that's going to be a trade off, for, for individuals.

Ryan Larson: 00:48:53

But do I do that?

Ryan Larson: 00:48:55

100%.

Ryan Larson: 00:48:56

I look at, I look at these, smaller companies, up and comers.

Ryan Larson: 00:49:01

Am I putting all my eggs in one basket?

Ryan Larson: 00:49:03

Nope.

Ryan Larson: 00:49:04

Not, not a, not a chance.

Ryan Larson: 00:49:06

so yeah, that's just, we're literally, it's just, we're,

Ryan Larson: 00:49:09

we're baking a really nice meal.

Ryan Larson: 00:49:12

We're, we're using different ingredients.

Ryan Larson: 00:49:14

There's a, There's a big recipe, to, to follow for, for individuals out there

Ryan Larson: 00:49:21

today, and that's why they, I would say, to employ these, fiduciaries, put

Ryan Larson: 00:49:27

them, kind of in the, in the hot seat.

Ryan Larson: 00:49:29

but fly that plane together, right?

Ryan Larson: 00:49:32

I mean, really take a proactive approach because this is your life savings.

Ryan Larson: 00:49:36

And there are people who, we'll take advantage of the situation

Ryan Larson: 00:49:40

sometimes, for their, for their best interests and not yours.

Ryan Larson: 00:49:43

And I've seen it time and time again.

Ryan Larson: 00:49:45

So make sure that you're working with a trusted, advisor, a trusted

Ryan Larson: 00:49:50

financial firm, and hopefully that they're showcasing, really

Ryan Larson: 00:49:56

the breadth of what they can do.

Ryan Larson: 00:49:59

Besides, hey, we can put your money into Apple or Tesla or Microsoft.

Ryan Larson: 00:50:04

Yeah, that's

Tim Winders: 00:50:05

Yeah.

Tim Winders: 00:50:05

These people that get to get, get the fees.

Tim Winders: 00:50:08

I like that word fiduciary.

Tim Winders: 00:50:10

That, that you use because, it's not a word that's common in, in most

Tim Winders: 00:50:17

people's vocabulary, but it speaks so much of a steward, of someone who is an

Tim Winders: 00:50:24

overseer, someone who, who has, gained some wisdom and knowledge and areas

Tim Winders: 00:50:29

in there, sharing that and partnering.

Tim Winders: 00:50:31

I love, I love that term fiduciary.

Tim Winders: 00:50:35

Anything else you want to say about that word since it is sort of, I was

Tim Winders: 00:50:40

almost wondering if, when I asked you what you do earlier, if you

Tim Winders: 00:50:43

were going to say, I'm a fiduciary.

Ryan Larson: 00:50:46

had the buzzword.

Ryan Larson: 00:50:48

Yeah.

Ryan Larson: 00:50:48

No, I think just not saying it, but living it, I think is a better,

Ryan Larson: 00:50:55

better way to go about that, right?

Ryan Larson: 00:50:58

Cause there, it is, it is a buzzword and you'll hear that

Ryan Larson: 00:51:01

in the financial industry a lot.

Ryan Larson: 00:51:04

And I'm a little burned out on it, honestly, because I

Ryan Larson: 00:51:06

hear it talked about so much.

Ryan Larson: 00:51:08

So I try to live it.

Ryan Larson: 00:51:11

I, I share stories to bring that fiduciary to life.

Ryan Larson: 00:51:17

and I kind of say, Hey, I, I go into people's houses at the

Ryan Larson: 00:51:23

worst moment of their life.

Ryan Larson: 00:51:26

We take care of them.

Ryan Larson: 00:51:28

We treat, treat them with the best possible care that we have.

Ryan Larson: 00:51:34

We get them to the hospital as fast as we can.

Ryan Larson: 00:51:38

We nurture and console the family.

Ryan Larson: 00:51:41

And if that's not a fiduciary, I don't know what is so

Tim Winders: 00:51:47

So one thing in this whole financial arena, this is

Tim Winders: 00:51:50

getting close to my final question.

Tim Winders: 00:51:52

One thing in the finance, I think a lot of people look for home runs.

Tim Winders: 00:51:59

They look

Tim Winders: 00:52:00

for, swinging for the fences and not the, day to day.

Tim Winders: 00:52:06

of the things that I think, and you maybe can, this will maybe tie back to

Tim Winders: 00:52:12

some things we talked about earlier.

Tim Winders: 00:52:14

A lot of people look at firefighters, first responders, And they only think

Tim Winders: 00:52:20

about, the 9 11, the, the, the, the event, the, the event that they hear about, that,

Tim Winders: 00:52:29

those situations you just talked about.

Tim Winders: 00:52:32

But, it's kind of one of the reasons I asked about the rhythm earlier

Tim Winders: 00:52:34

because I think it relates here.

Tim Winders: 00:52:36

Maybe this will be my final question, and that is, All of the downtime, all of the

Tim Winders: 00:52:41

prep time, all of the time that's outside of, I mean, because if you just showed

Tim Winders: 00:52:46

up and said, Hey, I'm a firefighter and just let me know when it's time to go

Tim Winders: 00:52:51

fight a fire, what would that be like?

Tim Winders: 00:52:56

I think a lot of people approach their financial that way.

Tim Winders: 00:53:00

Can you tie those two together here as we finish up?

Tim Winders: 00:53:02

And I may have another question or two.

Tim Winders: 00:53:04

I mean, am I relating things that shouldn't relate, but it seems to

Tim Winders: 00:53:07

me like that's what you've done.

Ryan Larson: 00:53:10

yeah.

Ryan Larson: 00:53:11

I think what you're saying is just being ready as possible, right?

Ryan Larson: 00:53:16

To, to respond to that alarm, to respond to that fire, to respond

Ryan Larson: 00:53:21

to that medical emergency.

Ryan Larson: 00:53:23

so being prepared and staying in that present moment, having that mindset

Ryan Larson: 00:53:28

of like, okay, I could be looking at my phone or But in a blink of an

Ryan Larson: 00:53:34

eye, I could be, once again, pulling someone's child out of, a pool.

Ryan Larson: 00:53:41

and it's, it's game time.

Ryan Larson: 00:53:45

And I think.

Ryan Larson: 00:53:46

using that kind of analogy within the, in the financial, just financial industry,

Ryan Larson: 00:53:53

just being prepared, staying present, staying up on your training or staying up

Ryan Larson: 00:54:00

on, news events is going to get you ahead.

Ryan Larson: 00:54:04

I mean, it just will.

Ryan Larson: 00:54:05

And those home runs, they don't last, they don't last.

Ryan Larson: 00:54:10

that long.

Ryan Larson: 00:54:11

You might hit one, you might hit maybe two your whole lifetime.

Ryan Larson: 00:54:15

I've seen hundreds and hundreds of, of clients come through the door.

Ryan Larson: 00:54:22

And I have seen a few home runs, but usually those home runs have been passed

Ryan Larson: 00:54:28

down from generation to generation, right?

Ryan Larson: 00:54:32

it's a, it's a, legacy asset, if you will.

Ryan Larson: 00:54:35

So if those positions, if you could hold them for a very, very long

Ryan Larson: 00:54:39

time, and you're just going to pass them on to your kids, that is

Ryan Larson: 00:54:42

a true definition of a home run.

Ryan Larson: 00:54:44

Do you see huge home runs?

Ryan Larson: 00:54:47

in today's markets, you might, but you're going to see more stories of, well,

Ryan Larson: 00:54:54

I swung for the fences and I struck out more than you do more than you do.

Ryan Larson: 00:54:59

Hey, I hit that ball, 100 yards over, over the, over the park,

Tim Winders: 00:55:05

love the long term thinking aspect of that because it's, when you

Tim Winders: 00:55:09

were talking about home runs, I was thinking I, I haven't looked at anything.

Tim Winders: 00:55:13

I'm getting to where I look at less news.

Tim Winders: 00:55:15

That's just for my mental state.

Tim Winders: 00:55:17

But,

Tim Winders: 00:55:18

I think yesterday as the time of recording this, Tesla stock had dropped blank.

Tim Winders: 00:55:23

I don't know percentage.

Tim Winders: 00:55:25

So a few years ago home run Today, they're laying off 10 of

Tim Winders: 00:55:31

their workforce and struggling.

Tim Winders: 00:55:32

I'm not sad, they'll probably be around I'm, not i'm not kicking, you

Tim Winders: 00:55:38

know throwing them in the grave or anything like that However, it shows

Tim Winders: 00:55:41

the ebbs and flows and the reason for

Tim Winders: 00:55:43

the need for long term ryan.

Tim Winders: 00:55:45

Is there anything?

Tim Winders: 00:55:47

That before I just finish up with a few things anything that you wish I'd

Tim Winders: 00:55:51

brought up or asked about or anything that you just Want to leave us with that?

Tim Winders: 00:55:56

I may have missed because I really I I love digging into the story and all

Tim Winders: 00:56:00

that but I know we didn't cover a lot of the financial stuff, but anything else

Tim Winders: 00:56:04

you want to say before we finish up?

Ryan Larson: 00:56:07

No, I think we we covered a great deal and I would I would just say

Ryan Larson: 00:56:12

for the listeners that Have faith, right?

Ryan Larson: 00:56:16

I'm just gonna keep coming to this to this faith component of the

Ryan Larson: 00:56:21

conversation Have faith in what you're doing is the right thing for you.

Ryan Larson: 00:56:29

God gives us these powers and we all have special gifts and, just have faith

Ryan Larson: 00:56:35

that, tomorrow is going to turn out.

Ryan Larson: 00:56:37

things are going to work out well for you, and your, all your endeavors.

Ryan Larson: 00:56:43

And so if you could just, keep that mindset and, I know we all go through

Ryan Larson: 00:56:48

these tough times, but if you could just manifest and, and stay on that journey, if

Ryan Larson: 00:56:55

it makes you happy, stay in that journey.

Ryan Larson: 00:56:57

you will find success and that definition is going to be once again,

Ryan Larson: 00:57:02

different from, from person to person.

Ryan Larson: 00:57:05

But my success is just spending more time with my family,

Ryan Larson: 00:57:09

running successful businesses.

Ryan Larson: 00:57:11

Providing value to my clients and, we all win together.

Ryan Larson: 00:57:17

That's my true definition of success.

Tim Winders: 00:57:19

Very good.

Tim Winders: 00:57:20

Love that.

Tim Winders: 00:57:21

Love that, Ryan.

Tim Winders: 00:57:22

I appreciate that.

Tim Winders: 00:57:23

Where can people connect, find you, either just reach out or, or

Tim Winders: 00:57:29

engage, whatever that looks like.

Tim Winders: 00:57:31

give all those items.

Tim Winders: 00:57:33

And then I've got one more question before we finish up.

Ryan Larson: 00:57:37

Yeah.

Ryan Larson: 00:57:37

your listeners could just go to firstlinefin.

Ryan Larson: 00:57:40

com, to kind of see, our company Firstline Financial.

Ryan Larson: 00:57:45

There's a, there's opportunities to schedule something online.

Ryan Larson: 00:57:50

to sit down, have a more, a deeper conversation on what

Ryan Larson: 00:57:53

your situation looks like.

Ryan Larson: 00:57:54

If that's what you, you feel that you want to do, or you could just

Ryan Larson: 00:57:59

reach out to Ryan at firstlinefin.

Ryan Larson: 00:58:03

com.

Ryan Larson: 00:58:04

And I would say, any listeners out there who want to, just send me a quick email.

Ryan Larson: 00:58:10

just let me know.

Ryan Larson: 00:58:11

where they're at in their, their journey in life.

Ryan Larson: 00:58:14

what I'll do is I'll respond as quick as I can, and I'll send a, I'll send a

Ryan Larson: 00:58:18

book out in the mail and just in support of all your listeners, for no cost.

Ryan Larson: 00:58:23

So just, just, I wanna, I wanna share my message and, hear other

Ryan Larson: 00:58:27

people's journeys and stories as well.

Tim Winders: 00:58:30

Very good.

Tim Winders: 00:58:31

I like that.

Tim Winders: 00:58:32

Appreciate you doing that.

Tim Winders: 00:58:33

Ryan.

Tim Winders: 00:58:33

We are seek go create those three words I'm gonna allow you to choose one of

Tim Winders: 00:58:39

those words of the other two is my final question and why seek go or create

Ryan Larson: 00:58:46

I would say I would, I would lean on create and, I've always

Ryan Larson: 00:58:51

loved to create things and it's just, right now I, I continue to create.

Ryan Larson: 00:58:58

create these, these companies from, from nothing.

Ryan Larson: 00:59:01

So I really like putting something together and creating a, a company that

Ryan Larson: 00:59:10

could bring really good people together.

Ryan Larson: 00:59:12

And once again, we're all kind of leveling up together.

Tim Winders: 00:59:19

Very good.

Tim Winders: 00:59:19

Ryan larson.

Tim Winders: 00:59:20

I appreciate the conversation.

Tim Winders: 00:59:22

I I enjoy the humility.

Tim Winders: 00:59:23

I enjoy the just transparency and I think it's really cool to talk to someone who

Tim Winders: 00:59:30

is a firefighter and And a fiduciary that is just that is a really really

Tim Winders: 00:59:37

cool combination and so I appreciate that I encourage you if you're listening

Tim Winders: 00:59:41

in to go just connect with Ryan reach out to him You know just ask a few

Tim Winders: 00:59:45

questions and I can tell that his mindset is He'll reach out and communicate.

Tim Winders: 00:59:51

so make sure you do that.

Tim Winders: 00:59:52

We are SeekGoCreate.

Tim Winders: 00:59:53

We have new episodes every Monday and, make sure you subscribe and leave

Tim Winders: 00:59:57

reviews where every Monday morning on YouTube and your favorite platform,

Tim Winders: 01:00:02

and we appreciate you joining us here until next time, continue being

Tim Winders: 01:00:08

all that you were created to be.