Financial planner, retirement income specialist and professor Jamie Hopkins has joined financial management company Carson Group as vice president of private client services and director of retirement research, as of January 1.
Hopkins, a noted advocate for financial education in the retirement income space and prominent voice in the reverse mortgage community, will maintain his position as a member of the Funding Longevity Task Force at the American College of Financial Services. The Task Force was originally established under the auspices of Security One Lending in 2013, before becoming associated with the college.
Though no longer a full-time professor at the college, Hopkins shared with RMD that he has accepted a position as an adjunct professor in order to better accommodate his new responsibilities at the Carson Group.
“I will be transitioning from my role on the Task Force from the program champion at the American College to joining the group as a member,” Hopkins told RMD in an email. “Dr. Wade Pfau has agreed to champion the Task Force along with the Chair Shelley Giordano.”
“Jamie is still an integral part of the Task Force,” said Shelley Giordano, founder and chair. “His knowledge of how the housing asset contributes to retirement income security is extraordinary and although his responsibilities at Carson are no doubt broad and comprehensive, it cannot hurt the cause that he is now part of such a large and prestigious firm!”
Founded in 1983 as financial planning firm Carson Wealth, Carson Group primarily serves financial planners and investors through the services of its associated businesses. The original Carson Wealth is joined by Carson Group Coaching and Carson Group Partners as the core businesses of the group, offering different forms of financial advice and guidance.
The company claims that a total of 1,284 firms across the country are “coaching members” of Carson Group, according to its official website.
“I will continue to support the mission of the Task Force and believe that comprehensive planning requires you to look at and educate the client on the products, tools, and strategies that they have available, including reverse mortgages when appropriate,” Hopkins said.
Hopkins also told RMD specifically about his responsibilities in the new position, and what motivated him to make the move.
“As Director of Retirement Research at Carson Group I will be starting off with my initial focus aimed at consumer research and education. We really believe to be the most trusted in financial advice you have to put the client first. I will also be working to develop additional tools, technology, and strategies to help our advisors better serve their clients,” he said.
“[Advisors could] hear something from the very trenches they live in, they let us know, and within a couple of days Jamie can have written up an article, we can get it compliance approved and posted to all of our partner websites,” said Aaron Schaben, EVP and managing partner at Carson in describing to Wealth Management how Hopkins will operate within the Carson network.
Hopkins also said that Carson’s reputation and commanding presence among financial planners helped illustrate to him that he could leverage a platform there to effectively continue his work.
“The thing that attracted me to Carson Group was their desire to be the most trusted in financial advice. I’ve been watching them grow and be leaders in the profession for years. […] When Carson Group acts, the financial planning world listens,” Hopkins said.
Hopkins also told RMD about his perspective on the past year for the Funding Longevity Task Force, and what 2019 could mean for the organization.
“I think 2018 was the most impact year ever for the Task Force and we hope 2019 is even better,” he said. “There is still a lot of work to be done but the Task Force has fundamentally changed the conversation around housing wealth and retirement planning. [It] is such an amazing group of thought leaders and we were so fortunate to add Dr. [Barbara] Stucki last year to the group,” he said.
