Meet our Director of Financial Planning

My first job in financial services was filing papers and answering the phone for my dad, Doyle. I was 15. He started a financial planning and wealth management firm in Fargo, ND, when I was 3. Even though I grew up hearing about his work and meeting his clients, I never planned on being a financial planner. I was the college kid who made it my mission to take classes in every building of my small liberal arts college and changed my major multiple times.

After graduation, I spent a year in law school (not for me!) and switched to the business school. I got an MBA and became an internal auditor, first in state government and then for a regional bank. I loved this work – I got to learn about different departments and business functions while helping them. It was the adult version of taking classes in every building on campus. But I felt a tug.

My dad’s firm, Ranstrom Financial Planning, had grown. He had already brought on one planner and my brother, Morgan, joined him in 2008 to work on the investing side. I approached him about joining and becoming a financial planner. In February 2009, I very humbly started at the bottom. I learned every part of that business, from operations and compliance to client service and investment management. Most importantly, I learned how to be a financial planner.

Day after day, my dad showed me what it meant to be a good financial planner. He sat with his clients and truly listened to them; he guided them through their biggest financial decisions, breaking them down into smaller, more manageable pieces; he showed them care when life got to be a bit too heavy; and he handled the behind-the-scenes work seamlessly.

By 2012, we had grown our firm to four owner-advisors along with support staff. However, as my dad thought about transitioning to retirement, Morgan and I decided to break away from the firm that had given us so much. We wanted to build a financial planning-focused firm. Investing gets a lot of attention and is admittedly far more exciting, but for most of us, financial planning is where the real benefit lies. It’s not as exciting and doesn’t have cable networks dedicated to talking about it 24/7, but in my opinion, discussing how we can align our priorities (family, education, work, philanthropy, travel, retirement) with our resources (money, time, energy) is the good stuff.

Morgan and I launched Trailhead Planners in January 2017. In January 2020, we added Bill Mulvahill to our partnership. We focused on tax-smart financial planning and investment management for business owners and legacy-minded retirees.

Leaving Trailhead Planners has been one of the hardest decisions of my life. Morgan and I have worked together for seventeen years. I have been lucky beyond measure to have him as a business partner, along with Bill, who I’ve loved working with and learning from. To leave a firm I co-founded has to say something amazing about the firm I’m going to.

Ryan and I first met in 2023 and quickly became friends. We think alike when it comes to financial planning and investment management, and we built a professional relationship grounded in mutual respect and the genuine enjoyment of sharing ideas.

Freedom Day is built around a simple calculation:

Income streams – Expenses (Needs & Wants) = Freedom Day

I was drawn to this framing because I like the idea of Freedom Day. Our Freedom Day can include work, but the goal is that our partners know that they have reached the point where they can choose how they want to spend their days. Once I met the team that Ryan has put together, I knew this was where I should be. I am excited to get to work as Freedom Day’s CFO and Director of Financial Planning. More importantly, I am excited to continue my work for the partners I moved over from Trailhead Planners and eager to meet and work hard for the partners of Freedom Day.

As I worked on this transition to Freedom Day, what I felt most was gratitude — for seventeen years of building something meaningful alongside my brother, for the colleagues

who made it great, and for the partners who have trusted me with something as important as your financial future. That trust does not go unnoticed or unappreciated.

As for my why, ultimately, I do this work for my two daughters, Eliza and Tilda, and in memory of my grandma, Dorothy. Grandma Dorothy became a widow at 39 years old with six kids, ages 1 to 17, still at home. She moved her family from their farm in northern Minnesota, finished her teaching degree, and taught in Elbow Lake, MN, until her retirement in the early 80s.

When she bought a house at 44 years old, a male family member also had to sign for the mortgage because the bank required a male co-signer. I continue to center my practice around working with and for women. Women's financial lives are complex and made even more so by being underserved and misunderstood. I love taking difficult topics, breaking them down into smaller pieces, and working through them with my clients so they feel empowered to make the best decisions for themselves and their families.

When I’m not working, you’ll find me reading, hiking (Big Sur is a favorite spot), cooking, and enjoying the outdoors with my girls. I enjoy gardening, though only the hardiest plants seem to survive their time with me.