A financial advisor who manages nearly a billion dollars will tell you his real job has almost nothing to do with money.
William Hocking sits down with Jason LaBarge, founder of LaBarge Financial and author of If It's Meant To Be, It's Up To Me, for a back-porch conversation about money, family, and what it actually takes to build a life worth living.
Jason came to Maryland in 2013 with one wife, one kid, zero clients, and zero assets under management. Thirteen years later he has five kids and a firm managing just under a billion dollars. But the story he tells is not about the numbers. It is about his father, who led by example instead of lecturing, and his grandmother Marcella, who raised a family on Social Security after polio and a husband who died young, and who handed Jason the line that became his book title.
Bill and Jason get into the difference between green money and red money, why retirement scares people who have more than enough, what private equity is quietly doing to small businesses and communities, and why Jason chose to build something his own kids could one day walk into.
Tune in to hear a financial advisor explain why he cannot fake caring, and why he would not want to.
Chapters:🤠
02:56 Meet Jason LaBarge: from Rapid City, South Dakota to Annapolis
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05:20 One wife, one kid, zero clients, and thirteen years to just under a billion
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08:37 The father who led by example instead of lecturing
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14:18 Kicked out till dinner: growing up when the whole village raised you
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21:14 Green money and red money, and why the safety nets are a slow burn
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25:18 Marcella, polio, and the line that became his book title
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28:15 Why you cannot fake genuinely caring, and people always know
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39:10 Building a firm his own kids can one day walk into
Episode 6