The $50,000 Pledge He Couldn't Afford (ft. Scott Hanson, co-founder of Allworth Financial)

Scott Hanson co-founded Hanson McClain in 1993 with two sublet offices, one desk, and one assistant. It became Allworth Financial — over $40 billion under management as of the morning we filmed. He's hosted Money Matters for 31 years, run ultramarathons, raised four kids (two by adoption), and he's celebrating his 60th birthday by running 60 miles around Lake Folsom. By any scoreboard our industry keeps, he's in the hall of fame. So listen to what he says near the end of this conversation: "If you'd told me ten years ago that I wouldn't feel completely secure at the financial number I have now, I would have thought you were crazy. And I still feel like this could all be gone."In between: the phone-company pension play that launched the firm, the tree business he bought at 19 with no cash ("if you just show up on time, that's half of it"), and the story David can't stop thinking about — newlywed Scott, $7,000 in credit card debt, an empty living room, being asked to pledge $50,000 to his church's capital campaign. He prayed. He committed. God opened the floodgates — and a couple of years ago, the Hansons made a single gift 100 times that size. Plus the conversation from nine years ago that David never forgot: "If you were a cellist, would your friends tell you to quit practicing? Maybe God wants you to be the best financial advisor in the world." Connect your faith and your finances → KERUXHQ.com