About Ryan
Kimberlite is the rock that brings diamonds up from miles beneath the earth.
It is also, in a manner of speaking, where Ryan Hammett spent the first half of his career — nearly twenty years in the jewelry industry, starting behind the counter at Zales in the Park City Outlets and learning a lesson that has quietly shaped everything he has built since:
The product almost never sets you apart. The service does. How well you educate the customer. How you make them feel about the decision they are making. Whether you are still standing there when they come back for the next occasion.
Ryan founded Kimberlite Financial Services to bring that same standard to a counter that desperately needs it.
A Park City story
Originally from the Los Angeles area, Ryan moved to Park City, Utah in the early 1990s and grew up in the mountains, raised by a loving mother and father — both hard workers who excelled in careers of their own, his father in computer science and his mother as ticket office manager at Deer Valley Resort — and who together quietly set the tone for everything that came after. Money was not a frequent topic at the dinner table, because it did not need to be. The work ethic was.
His path into finance arrived at an unlikely intersection. The loss of his father, the early days of COVID, and a multi-year low in Bitcoin all landed at roughly the same time. The grief was real — but so was the gift. His father had planned ahead, and the life insurance Ryan inherited bought him both the time to think and the runway to retool. It was one final, quiet act of provision from a man who had spent his life providing. Ryan owes his parents everything, and he says so plainly. Much of what Kimberlite has become traces directly back to the discipline and foresight of a hard-working mother and father who planned ahead so that their son might one day help others do the same.
Equipped with a deep-dive curiosity he has carried since childhood, Ryan began studying digital assets, then equities, then markets broadly — and realized he had found a field that married his lifelong skill (taking care of people across a counter) with a new passion (the way money actually works).
From day trader to fiduciary
Before joining a national firm, Ryan partnered in a day trading practice — an experience he loved and one that taught him, in his own words, what it actually takes to make money in the markets. Different visions eventually pulled the partnership apart, and Ryan brought that hard-earned market sense into Fidelity Brokerage Services, and then to E*TRADE from Morgan Stanley, where his real-world trading background was credited toward his career track.
Ryan is a registered investment adviser representative of Kimberlite Financial Services (CRD #7660572), having qualified through the Series 66. He has also passed the FINRA Series 3, 7, 9, 10, and 63 examinations and holds Utah insurance licenses for life, health, and property & casualty.
The longer he worked inside the big houses, the clearer the gap became. The financial landscape is changing fast — digital assets are no longer a fringe experiment, and clients at large firms are often shown only half the picture, because a large firm can only recommend what a large firm offers. Ryan started Kimberlite to close that gap. As an independent fiduciary, he works for the client first — exploring every available avenue to build the right plan, not just the in-house one.
Who Kimberlite is for
Kimberlite serves Utah individuals and families across every stage of the financial journey:
- The forty-something who dabbled in crypto and is not sure how it should fit alongside a 401(k).
- The professional approaching retirement who wants tax-efficient planning so more of their money stays theirs when withdrawals begin.
- Anyone who would rather have a real plan than a default one.
Ryan's view on digital assets is measured and clear: Bitcoin is not going to replace the dollar, and it is not a scam. It is a place to store value as scarcity grows, and there are other tokens with use cases that will shape daily life the way the internet did. The right amount in the right portfolio, held with patience, can be a meaningful piece of a long-term plan.
Kimberlite Financial Services is registered as an investment adviser with the Utah Division of Securities, and Ryan is a registered investment adviser representative of the firm. He is based in Layton, serving clients throughout the Wasatch Front, Park City, and beyond.
When he's not at the desk
When Ryan is not running the firm, he is home with his wife of nearly fifteen years and their thirteen-year-old daughter, who is, in his words, his whole world. The family is happiest outside — kayaking, hiking, camping, and a full rotation of boards depending on the season (skateboard, snowboard, wakeboard, in roughly that order). Sunday dinners with his mom in Park City, frequent trips to St. George to see his twin brother Jason and his family, and a standing rivalry over the croquet lawn round out the picture of a guy who built a financial firm for people who actually have lives — because he has one too.
The bottom line
Just because something has always been done one way does not mean that is the way it has to keep being done, or that it is the right way for you. Working with Kimberlite means exploring every available avenue to find the financial plan that actually fits your future.
Kimberlite is where diamonds are found. Kimberlite Financial is where security is found.