The book
Beyond the RunwaySixteen chapters. One question.
Jim Carpenter spent forty years sitting at kitchen tables with families on the worst week of their lives. This is what he learned there, told through the airplanes that got him to the table.
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What is inside
It is not really a book about airplanes.
Jim earned his license in 1991 and flew about five thousand hours after that, mostly to see clients who lived somewhere a car could not reach in a day. The cockpit turned into a classroom. Every preflight, every weather call, every decision to turn back taught him something he kept seeing again on the ground, in families who had money and documents and no idea where either one was kept.
So the chapters read as flights. Each one carries a lesson that applies the moment you land. How to plan for the weather you cannot see yet. What it costs to assume instead of verify. Why the gauges sometimes lie and what to do when they do. And underneath all of it, the question the title is asking: who is standing at the end of your runway, and do they know what you know?
You do not have to read it in order. Jim wrote it so you can open it anywhere and find one story that is about you.
You don't need wings to rise. You need the courage to think differently, the discipline to prepare, and the heart to serve others well.
Jim Carpenter
The chapters
Sixteen chapters, and none of them are long.
Each one is a story first and a lesson second. Read one at a sitting and put the book down.
- The Leap of Faith
- License to Learn
- Flying Ahead of Your Life
- The Wisdom to Change Course
- Showing Up When It Matters
- Discipline Becomes Freedom
- The Cost of Assumption
- Trust but Verify
- When the Gauges Lie
- The Preflight of Trust
- Insurance Preflight
- Engines of Legacy
- Planning at Altitude
- The Mission That Almost Didn't Happen
- The Measure of a Life Well Flown
- Cleared for the Next Mission
The book also includes a plain English glossary of the aviation terms, a timeline of the four airplanes, and a set of printable checklists you will find in the Resources section of this site.
Before you buy anything
Read the first chapter. No email required.
Chapter one is the afternoon Jim's father looked at him across a worn oak desk and told him he would be the one to fly the aeroplane they were about to buy. It will tell you inside ten minutes whether the rest of the book is for you.
Read chapter one, PDFWho wrote it
Jim Carpenter
Jim went into financial services at nineteen, straight out of high school, following his father. He carried Life and Health insurance licenses and the Series 7, 63, and 65. What started in insurance grew into a financial and estate planning practice that has served more than eight hundred clients across several states over four decades.
He earned his Private Pilot License in 1991, then his Instrument and Multi-Engine Instrument ratings, and put roughly five thousand hours in the logbook flying to clients rather than around them. He lives on the southern Oregon coast with his wife Cindy.
Read Jim's story
How to get it
Two ways to start.
The book on its own, or the complete bundle with the eBook and the Legacy Organizer, which is where reading turns into writing things down.
Paperback
The book
$27.95
- plus shipping
- Paperback, printed and shipped for each order
- Sixteen chapters, glossary, and checklists
- Ships within a week
With the eBook as well
The Complete Bundle
$79.95
- free shipping
- Paperback, shipping included
- eBook, so you can read it tonight
- The Legacy Organizer, with your activation code
- A thirty minute session with an advisor when you finish
The eBook is also sold on its own. See what the Legacy Organizer is before you decide.
Beyond the Runway is educational. Nothing on this site or in this book is financial, legal, or tax advice, and reading it does not create an advisory relationship. Talk to your own attorney, accountant, or licensed advisor about your situation.