The Advisor Who Shows Up

HOW A BOOK CHANGED EVERYTHING

Rob Clark grew up in Edwardsville, Illinois — just across the river from St. Louis — in a family where faith, hard work, and showing up for people weren't just values, they were the expectation.

His mom spent her career leading Emmaus Homes, a nonprofit serving adults with developmental disabilities in the St. Louis area, and Rob has been watching her do it his whole life. His dad is still the person he calls when he wants to play a round of golf. Growing up with parents like that has a way of shaping what you believe work is actually for.

When Rob enrolled at Mizzou as a finance major, he didn't have a clear direction. The program pushed students toward analyst roles and real estate. Neither felt right. Then, during his junior year, his mom handed him Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover.

He didn't finish the book before he knew what he wanted to do.

Within weeks, he was listening to the Dave Ramsey Show every day, drawn in by the idea that someone could sit across the table from ordinary people and help them make smart decisions about money. Not in a corporate boardroom. At the kitchen table. That was the kind of work Rob wanted to do.

Rob and his father playing a round of golf.

THE START OF SOMETHING REAL

After graduation, Rob explored opportunities with some of the bigger firms and well-known insurance companies. The pitch was always the same: build a book by selling to everyone you've ever known. Rob passed.

Instead, he sent his resume to Ramsey Solutions with a simple request: pass this to your Endorsed Local Providers in St. Louis. Greg Shepardson called.

Greg was an advisor with Financial Legacy Associates and was receiving 20 to 40 Dave Ramsey leads per month — more than he had time to follow up with. He offered Rob a desk, a computer, and a deal: connect with a lead, close the relationship, split the revenue. 

What followed was a genuinely formative stretch. Rob cold-called leads, built relationships from scratch, and learned the business from the inside out. Greg's two guiding principles became his own along the way: if a client's money matters to them, it matters to us. And always under-promise and over-deliver.

As that work grew, so did the partnership. When they moved to LPL Financial and launched INT Wealth Planning in 2021, it became formal. Rob wore a lot of hats in those years — operations, technology, office buildout, team management — and Greg's willingness to hand him those responsibilities early is something Rob is genuinely grateful for.

When Greg began planning his retirement, Rob purchased the firm. At 30 years old, he became the sole owner of INT Wealth Planning.

CREDENTIALS & PROFESSIONAL BACKGROUND

Rob graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of Missouri with a degree in finance. He completed Mizzou's accredited CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ program and holds the CFP® designation — one of the most rigorous credentials in the financial planning industry, requiring comprehensive examination, documented client experience, and ongoing continuing education.

Rob is held to the fiduciary standard by both LPL Financial in advisory relationships and the CFP Board, meaning he is required to act in your best interest at all times.

He has nearly a decade of experience working with upper-income professionals in the Greater St. Louis area, with a focus on retirement planning, tax planning, and helping clients build and follow an intentional financial plan.

Rob is a Registered Representative with, and Securities and Advisory Services offered through, LPL Financial, a Registered Investment Advisor and Member FINRA/SIPC. INT operates as an independent firm, which means Rob has the freedom to make recommendations based solely on what's right for you — backed by LPL's research, technology, and infrastructure.

Rob Clark, CFP®
Owner & Financial Planner
rob@intwealthplanning.com
636-777-4215

WHAT DRIVES HIM

Ask Rob what he loves most about this work, and he doesn't talk about markets or portfolios. He talks about the moment someone realizes they can do something they never thought was possible: pay off their debt, retire earlier than planned, leave something meaningful behind for their kids.

He talks about changing family trees.

Three quotes live on the wall in his office:

"Plans are of little importance, but planning is essential." — Winston Churchill

"You don't rise to the level of your goals, you fall to the level of your systems." — James Clear

“Consistent. Congruent. Credible.”

That last one isn't a quote from a famous person. It's a standard Rob holds himself to every day:

Be the same person in every room. Do what you say you'll do. Earn trust through action, not words.

LIFE OUTSIDE THE OFFICE

Rob and his wife Sam live in the St. Louis area with their daughter and two golden retrievers — one carefully considered, one a puppy they bought before they were ready. He's made his peace with that decision.

Family is the organizing principle of his life. Sunday Mass at St. Boniface Parish in Edwardsville, where Rob has gone his whole life and hopes his daughter will too. Sunday dinners with Sam's family. Friday morning coffee with his mom, every week, unless one of them is out of town. These are the rhythms that keep everything else in perspective.

His high school football coach used to write three words on the weight room board: Faith. Family. Football. Rob still thinks that's a pretty good ordering for life.

Outside of family, Rob reads constantly — business, history, personal development. He strength trains three days a week. And he is fully committed to NFL Football Sundays. Packers fan. Multiple games running simultaneously. Zero apologies.

Golf is where he recharges. He plays less now than he used to, but he gets out when he can, usually with his dad. Some of his favorite rounds are the ones where nothing remarkable happened except that he spent four or five hours outside with good company.

He defines financial freedom the way Morgan Housel put it: "There is only one success — to be able to spend your life in your own way."