Mount Shasta financial planner's new book teaches people to find purpose, finance their dream

As a Certified Financial Planner for the past 26 years, Mount Shasta’s Mark Clure has always been in the business of helping people. Now he’s taking that concept a step further with his book, “True Wealth: The GUIDE Process for Finding Your Ideal Life.”

Released Sept. 8 on Amazon, “True Wealth” is a step-by-step workbook that helps people find their purpose in life and then teaches them how to finance living it. 

“I’ve had 10 people ‘test drive’ the book and all have been able to discover their purpose,” said Clure, 62, who is a principal partner at Enso Wealth Management. “That part is pretty exciting for me.”

The reviews are glowing: “I now feel hope for my future at 61 years old,” said Michelle Johnson, court reporter from Las Vegas, Nev., who called the book “eye-opening.”

Lev Mandel, a financial advisor from Walnut Creek, said the book changed the way he makes life, business, and financial decisions. “I can be more intentional because I have a much better understanding of myself and my purpose.”

Clure said he spent years trying to find his own purpose, but it was elusive.

“My life was great. I was happy, but I always felt there was something more,” he said. It turns out that “something more” was helping others find their purpose and unlock their potential.

“Ultimately, writing this book was part of my purpose,” Clure said. “Showing you the process to discover your purpose, live your ideal life, and achieve true wealth excites me.”

In the book, Clure writes about a fateful kayaking trip in Maui, during which he was a source of calm during a potentially deadly crisis. Although he’d always been looking elsewhere for guidance, after that incident, Clure realized he already had everything he needed inside himself.

That led Clure to begin thinking about what’s special inside each person, and how they might identify their own strength and purpose.

In “True Wealth,” Clure urges people to find their calling through a series of exercises that take a deep dive into their past to find common themes and motifs. Then he helps people mold a purpose statement.

“When you can articulate your purpose clearly, you can share it with others,” Clure writes. “When you can share it with others, the excitement regarding your purpose spreads. You’ll see this when you meet someone for the first time – a stranger on an airplane or someone at a cocktail party – and tell them your purpose. They’ll take an interest, get excited about your purpose, and share that excitement with others.”

The knowledge can transform how people live, Clure said, and enables them to discover what makes them truly happy and attain true wealth, which is “always about more than money,” he said.

Clure’s ideas are backed by research. The book is easy to read and packed with illuminating anecdotes about real people. In fact, you might recognize some of the names in the book if you’ve lived in the Mt. Shasta area for awhile.

The second part of “True Wealth” instructs people, also through a series of exercises, how to plan finances to support their ideal life.

In a step-by-step fashion, Clure asks readers to round up items including W2 forms, taxes and debt to nail down their cash flow.

“Knowing your actual cash flow will allow you to make realistic projections for financing your ideal life,” Clure writes. “Without knowing your cash flow, which most people don’t, you will make projections which are far from accurate. This happens because most people don’t have a clear-cut view of what they really spend.”

Clure admitted that the first part of the book is where his true passion lies. But his background as a CFP puts him in a unique position to assist people in completing a task that many don’t want to deal with.

Clure and his wife, Robin, have lived in Mount Shasta for 40 years. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, they owned Sweets and Eats, a donut shop in the Mount Shasta Shopping Center before he became a CFP. They have three adult children and six grandchildren; Clure dedicated the book to his family.

Clure said he thought about writing a book for 20 years. Once he had a solid idea, “True Wealth” came together in four months. He wrote on the weekends, mostly in the early mornings.

He published the book with the help of Scribe.

Clure gets choked up when he reads the reviews that relate how the book and the GUIDE process have influenced readers’ lives. His main goal is to get the book into the world so it can help people. 

“I hope it gets out there and touches lives like I think it can,” he said.

The steps, he said, “can take six days or six months, but you will get it done if you follow the process.”

You can order the book online at Amazon. The Kindle version is 99 cents or you can purchase a paperback copy for $14.99.