GRAND PRAIRIE, TX, January 28, 2026 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Ric "Eric" Carroll has been selected for inclusion in Marquis Who's Who. As in all Marquis Who's Who biographical volumes, individuals profiled are selected on the basis of current reference value. Factors such as position, noteworthy accomplishments, visibility, and prominence in a field are all taken into account during the selection process.

Mr. Carroll was born in Irving, Texas and spent his early childhood in Canton, a small town in East Texas. At approximately five years of age, he relocated to Canton, where he remained through high school. Upon graduation, a recruiter presented him with the opportunity to join the United States Army, which marked the beginning of his military service. Mr. Carroll served eight years in the Army Reserve and four years on active duty, including a deployment during Desert Storm. He was stationed at Fort Bliss in El Paso and later spent two and a half years in Hawaii, where he helped establish AM radio at Schofield Barracks on the east side of Kahuku. His military career also included two years with the United States National Guard, serving with a armored tank unit in Arlington before being reassigned to an aviation unit at the Grand Prairie Naval Reserve to finish out his military active duty service.

Following his honorable discharge in 1991, Mr. Carroll enrolled at The University of Texas at Arlington. He completed coursework in advertising with a minor in marketing, graduating in 1999. During his academic tenure, he sold Kirby vacuums for three years until starting with AT&T in customer service in 1996. These early professional experiences provided him with foundational skills in communication and client relations that would prove invaluable throughout his career.

After earning his degree, Mr. Carroll transitioned into the business sector at AT&T, initially serving as a field service manager from 1999 to 2002. He then moved into mortgage lending as a loan officer at Reliant Mortgage from 2002 to 2005, followed by roles as a senior loan officer at AmeriNet from 2005 to 2006 and a personal loan consultant at Countrywide Home Loans from 2006 to 2007. The financial crisis of 2008 prompted his return to AT&T, where he held positions as an account executive in inside sales from 2007 to 2011 and an account manager in outside sales from 2011 to 2017. He tried a year with Century link before realization that telecommunications wasn't his passion.

Seeking new opportunities beyond telecommunications, Mr. Carroll decided that it was time for a change. He started seeking information on careers that would allow him to make a greater impact on people's lives. He wanted to shift focus from accomplishing impersonal, corporate goals toward making a positive impact on individuals' lives by helping educate them on financial literacy, understand credit scores, avoid unnecessary financial pitfalls, and better prepare them for retirement.

In 2019, Mr. Carroll entered the insurance and financial services sector as a licensed independent agent with Game Changing Benefits and as an independent insurance agent specializing in life and health insurance. That same year, he began working with Appreciation Financial as a TRS pension review specialist and retirement specialist until 2025. In this capacity, he found fulfillment in educating Texas teachers about their Teacher Retirement System pension plans. In this area, many educators lacked clarity regarding their benefits and retirement options.

At the end of 2024, Mr. Carroll founded Plush Retirement, which began operations in 2025. As president and founder, he has dedicated himself to educating clients on wealth protection, investment strategies, college funding and retirement planning. His approach involves learning about each client's unique financial situation, calculating projections for various retirement ages, and identifying potential risks, and educating them to empower them to make better decisions. He is known for engaging teachers and staff with interactive elements such as contests, drawings, prize wheels, seminars, lunches, and email marketing to attract participants, particularly teachers, and then able to securing numerous appointments through thoughtful questions about their retirement readiness.

Mr. Carroll's expertise encompasses college funding, estate planning, tax-free retirement strategies, annuities, gold investments, premium finance leveraged strategies, wealth protection, and retirement planning. He is recognized for developing financial education programs that have enabled college students to save between $12,000 and $82,000 on their education costs. Through collaboration with the American College Foundation, he has helped students manage their finances more effectively by leveraging available endowments, sometimes saving up to $25,000 in one year of college alone!

His professional credentials include certification as an Certified College Funding Specialist.

Mr. Carroll maintains active membership in several industry-related organizations, including the Grand Prairie Chamber of Commerce, American Legion, Post 184, where he serves as Treasurer, and Beta Theta Pi Alumni Association.

His civic involvement extends to participation with his church at Irving First Methodist where he serves on the Evangelical Team and occasionally sings with the choir. He is still continually engaged with the American Legion with their service work, social, and philanthropic activities.

Throughout his academic journey at The University of Texas at Arlington, Mr. Carroll received recognition for leadership excellence, including being named Most Outstanding President in 1995. He was also a Peer Leadership Trainer (PLT) in 1993, was elected as Liberal Arts Student Congress Representative in 1996 and contributed to his fraternity as an executive board member for five of those years. His military service was honored with the Army Achievement Medal and Good Conduct Medal.

In addition to his professional pursuits, Mr. Carroll appeared in "The Waiting Game" in 2012, further demonstrating his diverse interests as an actor. He has acted as an extra on several productions in the DFW Metroplex to include, Prison Break, Dallas (TBS Revamp), The Chase, and The Deep End.

On a personal level, Mr. Carroll is committed to learning investing strategies such as debit and credit spreads, while maintaining a passion for reading and learning about Christianity, self improvement, and religion. He is married to Katia Carroll—a nurse who has become disabled due to her service as a nurse. They have been married for twenty five years without any children. His extended family includes siblings residing across Texas in Flower Mound, Canton, and Arlington and in Wisconsin and Colorado.

Looking ahead, Mr. Carroll aims to assist thousands of individuals with their retirement planning by providing comprehensive financial education through Plush Retirement. He is dedicated to supporting students in educating and empowering them to get into their choice school at the very best or lowest price! Through resources like the American College Foundation and the College Funding Solutions he wants to be able to save all his students a million dollars by the end of 2027. His vision is for Plush Retirement to become synonymous with trusted financial education and literacy advisors and to provide sound, retirement planning guidance and accessible financial literacy resources for all who seek them. Among the key concepts he teaches is the Rule of 72—a fundamental principle for understanding investment growth over time—underscoring his commitment to empowering others with knowledge for lifelong financial security. He encourages everyone to check out the free education tab on his Plush Retirement website. It's always free and very informative. He even created the Financial Challenge to make it fun. See if you can get 5 out of 5 questions correct.
https://plushretirement.com/questionnaire/

If not, don't worry, all the education and answers can be found complimentary on the website.

About Marquis Who's Who®:
Since 1899, when A. N. Marquis printed the First Edition of Who's Who in America®, Marquis Who's Who® has chronicled the lives of the most accomplished individuals and innovators from every significant field of endeavor, including politics, business, medicine, law, education, art, religion and entertainment. Who's Who in America® remains an essential biographical source for thousands of researchers, journalists, librarians and executive search firms around the world. The suite of Marquis® publications can be viewed at the official Marquis Who's Who® website, www.marquiswhoswho.com.

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