Rory R. Peterson

Farm work and construction taught me an equation I still think about. Hours went in and dollars came out, and nothing arrived that I hadn't gone after. Growing up in Brigham City, renovating homes and putting in long days on job sites, I assumed for a long time that was the only equation available.

A few mentors introduced me to a different one: What if that same effort could eventually be leveraged so money worked for me instead of only the reverse? I think of it now as the law of the harvest. You prepare the ground, plant good seed, care for what you've planted, and in time there is something worth bringing in. That idea led me to investing. The notion that an ordinary person could own a piece of some of the world's most innovative companies and participate in what they built struck me as remarkable.

I started investing and learning everything I could—which also meant getting a fair amount wrong. I paid plenty of tuition to the School of Hard Knocks, and several of those lessons have stayed with me longer than anything I read. What became clear over time is that investing well only accounts for part of the outcome. Building wealth is one problem, and using it to create the life you actually want is a separate one that requires planning. My background in accounting gave me a foundation for understanding how the pieces connect, and later I became a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professional.

My interest gradually widened from markets alone to how investments, taxes, retirement, business decisions, estate documents, risk, and family all pull on one another. Before founding Keystone Private Wealth Advisors in 2026, I spent more than two decades in financial services, including nearly 18 years as a financial advisor with Ameriprise Financial, most recently as part of Legacy Private Wealth Advisors.

Over the years, I've seen again and again how much planning matters. Some of the most important financial decisions are made long before anyone knows just how important they will become. Markets change, businesses evolve, careers take unexpected turns, and life rarely unfolds exactly as planned. Those experiences have taught me that good planning isn't about predicting what will happen. It's about thinking ahead, understanding the possibilities, and making thoughtful decisions while there is still room to choose. I've carried one lesson from those experiences throughout my career: one of the best times to make an important financial decision is usually before you find out how important it was going to be.

So I go deeper before we move forward. I ask another question, run another scenario, and try to see around the corner while there is still room to change course. People are smart. They just don't know what they don't know, and often the most useful thing I can offer is helping someone find the question they had no reason to know they should ask. I have also learned that explaining something in plain terms is the best test of whether I understand it myself. Complicated and sophisticated are not the same thing, and if I cannot make a strategy make sense to the person it affects, that is mine to fix rather than theirs. Most of my week is spent across the table from clients, listening to what is happening in their lives and helping them think through decisions that matter. The rest goes toward analysis, research, coordinating with attorneys and CPAs, and building the team, systems, and processes that allow more people to receive that same standard of planning.

My wife, Carrie, and I have been married for more than 25 years, and we are raising five kids in Syracuse. Family life is busy, occasionally chaotic, and easily the most rewarding part of my life. We enjoy spending time together in all kinds of ways—boating, Jeeping, golfing, and traveling—but Lake Powell continues to be everyone's favorite family getaway. I've also had a lifelong love of learning and acquiring knowledge. I'm endlessly curious about how things work and have a hard time leaving a problem alone until I understand it.

That curiosity shows up in my work, but also in the rest of my life. I'm a lifelong do-it-yourselfer who enjoys taking things apart, fixing things, exploring new ideas, and learning simply for the sake of learning. Service matters to our family as well, and some of the most meaningful hours of my life have gone toward mentoring young people and serving alongside Carrie and our kids in our church. Family, faith, hard work, continual learning, serving others, and making good use of the time we have been given. Those are the things I care about most, and they tend to be the same things people bring up when we sit down and talk about what they want their money to accomplish.

Credentials & Designations

• CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professional (CFP®)
  
• Chartered Retirement Planning Counselor™ (CRPC™)
  
• Life Underwriter Training Council Fellow (LUTCF®)
  
• Bachelor's degree in accounting
  
• More than 20 years in financial services