January 21, 2025 • 40 mins
This week Dayna's guests are Dustin Albanese and David LeJune. They offer some advice on making 2025 your year by having a financial plan that works for you.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well, hello Southeast Texas. I'm so glad you've joined us
today for the Dana Simmons Show. We are expecting a
wonderful show for you today. Have you thought about you'd
like to get out of debt, you'd like to start investing,
you really want to get your finances in order. Well,
I have a couple of guests today that might be
able to help you do just that, so stay tuned
(00:23):
for that. We're going to talk to them here shortly.
But first I want to give you a little bit
of an update on what's going on in the market. Well,
right now, we are having a little bit of an
even market. We're seeing that we have about an average
of six months of properties on the market, and we
call that an average market. If we have a months
(00:43):
of inventory that's less than six, less than five, we're
looking at a seller's market. If we're going over six,
we're looking at a buyer's market. So we're a little
over six at about six and a half. But things
are looking much better for the spring. So if you're
thinking about buying or selling real estate, we'd love to
sit down and talk to you about your needs and
(01:04):
your goals, so we can give you specifics about what's
going on in your neighborhood or what's going on in
the neighborhood that you want to purchase. So give our
office a call at four zero nine eight six six
eight three two six, and it's a no obligation conversation
we can have with you just to get you the
information you may need with me this morning or today
(01:26):
this afternoon. Now is Dustin Albanize and he is a
senior vice president with investments at Stifle. Now, Dustin, thank
you so much for being on the show.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
Let's talk a.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
Little bit about you. You've been living here a very
long time.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
Yeah, long time. So I grew up in the area
and graduate of Harden Jefferson High School. My parents are
from the area South Park, Greenies, both of them, and
so I've been here for a really long time. We
didn't move off for a little while. I lived in
Las Vegas, Nevada for a little over a year. I
(02:01):
don't necessarily recommend that that's a great vacation spot. I
don't necessarily know living there. Phoenix, Arizona, we lived there
for a little while. We lived in Dallas for a
little while. But I always tell people that Beaumont has
some sort of a gravitational pool and brings you you
back in. And so family was that gravitational pool for us,
and my wife and I were ready to start a
(02:22):
family and wanted to be close to family.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
And I love that back. I really love that.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
I love it when I'm able to see families who
did go away for a bit but then chose to
come back to Beaumont to invest in our community and
to be able to spend time with family.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
So I love your story.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
So talk a little bit about you decided to come
back here, and then talk about your career path and
how it took you to where you are today as
far as stifles fairly new sure, sure, so talk a
little bit about that.
Speaker 3 (02:55):
So, yeah, what brought me different parts of the country.
Worked for AT and T at the time and was
helping them set up wireless retail stores in different new
markets for them. And it was a lot and it
was fun. We was a bit like drinking from a
fire hydrant. But we got to a point where we thought, hey, again,
(03:17):
we wanted to start a family and we wanted to
move close to home, and and so I reached out
to a friend who was in the financial services business,
and he got me in touch with his supervisor. And
crazy story, we were in Phoenix at the time, and
his supervisor was at a conference in Phoenix at the
same time, and so we met in a hotel lobby
(03:38):
and she interviewed me and offered me a position here,
and so we dropped everything that we were doing and
moved back. It was a It was a pretty daunting
deal and really one of those kind of naive moments
you had no idea what you were about to step into.
It just sounded really fun and probably as you get
a little bit older, you're less willing to take some
(04:00):
of those risks. But at that point in our lives,
will you know, certainly see God's hand and that and
absolutely it was. It was the right thing to do,
And twenty years later I would say, that's absolutely the
right thing.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
Well, I love it. I love that you have two daughters, right.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
I got three daughters.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
Three daughters, yes, and so three daughters.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
You guys live here, you work here, you go to
church here, so very active in the community.
Speaker 3 (04:27):
Yes, Well again it's uh, We've lived in some really
big cities and so when you you know, coming back
to Beaumont, it's one of the things that we've loved
about being here. I always tell my kids, just in
a joking manner, they they really can't go anywhere without
somebody that we know that has an eye on them
and I And that's that's been born out. I've I've
(04:49):
I've received text messages from friends saying, hey, you know,
I just saw your daughter here or whatever the case.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
Well, they say, it takes a trip the whole village.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
That's it. That's the word. Sorry, got the wrong one.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
No, it absolutely does. And that's one of again, one
of the neat aspects that I believe the community here
in Beaumont offers. Yeah, while we're still here.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
Yeah, so let's talk a little bit about the company
you're now with. Talk a little bit about that company
and what that is and how you came into that position.
Speaker 3 (05:20):
Yeah. So I'll start off with saying, probably one of
the most unique things is how you actually pronounce the
name right. Most everybody wants to stay stifle or stiff
full or some other version. My wife says that it's
spelled incorrectly. It's actually pronounced Stiefel, kind of like a
church steeple.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
And I think I actually pronounced it incorrectly.
Speaker 3 (05:41):
That's okay. Look, we've had clients now for almost two
years at Stefel and they still struggled to say it
right every every time.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
So I'm in good company.
Speaker 3 (05:50):
Then, absolutely absolutely. Stefel's been around, you know, since the
late eighteen hundreds and really was appealing for us. We
worked at a big firm here in Beaumont for all
of our careers. I've got two other partners, Mark Hall
and Lee Turley, and we looked at the size of
(06:13):
Stefel as compared to the size of the bank we
were working for at the time, or the investment firm
that we were working for at the time, and the
freedom to be able to do some of the things
that we really wanted to do in order to help
our clients the way we wanted to help our clients.
And we just we've felt that we were kind of
hamstrung at our previous firm, and so Stephel kind of
(06:35):
gave us the opportunity to, you know, have some independence
and do again the things that we wanted to do
for our clients that we felt like our clients would
benefit from. And they opened that door for us. They
asked us to open up their first office in Southeast Texas,
and so we did a lot of research and a
lot of due diligence. It was a nerve wracking deal.
My other two partners close to thirty years and twenty
(06:59):
five years previous firm, me close to twenty. It's the
previous firm. So moving was a big deal for us.
A lot of anxiety, a lot of sleepless nights. My
wife could tell you about that for sure. But again
it's been a you know, we we kind of pinch
ourselves most days that were there in the office. It's
it's a really unique opportunity and really glad we took
(07:21):
the jump.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
Well, and it's a beautiful office and the location there
on Delaware. Talk a little bit about that location, sure, So.
Speaker 3 (07:29):
That's a big part of it, right, You go from
a big, storied firm, big big financial firm to a
name that's maybe not as well known, and certainly you
want to make sure that you know that the building
looks right and clients feel comfortable with you know, with
where they're coming to meet with you, and and all
of those things. And so we put a lot of
time and effort into that. Albany's Cormiera Real Estate owns
(07:52):
the building and they have done a phenomenal job of
updating the building and make it look like what you
see it today. And they were phenomenal and the transition
and making sure we had all the things that we needed.
And so the construction process, as you're well aware, can
always be difficult. And you know, I always thank my
(08:12):
clients for trusting us and you know that process and
coming over because at the very front of it, we
were in kind of an outdated, older, you know building,
half of it was was sectioned off and they were
doing construction. So we were calling clients and saying, hey,
you know, we moved over to this new firm.
Speaker 1 (08:30):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (08:31):
They would come in and so we're in this older
kind of section of the office. There's jackhammers and saws
and drills going on on the back and they're they're
you know, they have no idea who who Stifel is,
and so they trusted us and they followed us. So
I'm always very very grateful to the clients for that trust.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
Well, and the trust comes from who you are and
the fact that they had a relationship with you. And
I always say that is what brings clients back again
and again it's not the building. It's nice to have
a nice building, but when they know who who you
are and they can trust you, that's the benefit. Well,
when we come back, we're going to talk a little
bit about are you ready to get started down the
(09:08):
road of financial freedom?
Speaker 2 (09:10):
What does that look like?
Speaker 1 (09:11):
Is this something that they can help you with? So
don't go away, We're going to come right back and
continue visiting with Dustin Albanize. This is Dana Simmons with
the Dana Simmons Show. Welcome back. This is Dana Simmons
with the Dana Simmons Show, and I have Dustin Albanize
with me. Are you thinking about wanting to get on
a right track financially? You know, so many of us
(09:33):
have had challenges in our past, during our college years,
maybe when we were young marrieds, where we got off
on the wrong foot financially, and maybe you're at the
point in your life where you need to get right
back on the right foot, or maybe you're at the
point that you're ready to start making some investments. Well,
Dustin's going to share a little bit of information about
(09:55):
his company and what they can do to help you. So, Dustin,
how would you recommend and that someone gets started down
the road to financial freedom, what are their steps?
Speaker 3 (10:06):
Yeah, so I think there's all kinds of different steps.
Then I tell you the first thing is to start
take there that that first step and saying hey, I'm
I need help or I want to do this this thing,
and and then you know it sounds a little bit simple,
but goals, you know, what are the goals? You know,
(10:26):
if we if we don't have those goals, oftentimes we
don't know what we're what we're shooting for. And so
you know, setting simple goals, attainable goals, you know that
that alle smart acronym. I'm sure you've you've heard before.
But if not specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and timely or
time bound goals. So if we can set a specific goal,
(10:50):
what does it mean to be financially free? That that
question is going to get answered differently everybody. Measurable? Are
we measuring the goals? That's one of the things that
I see often with with folks that do set goals
is we may have some big, ambiguous goal that that's
maybe hard to track or hard to measure, and that
(11:11):
just makes it a little bit more difficult to again
walk down that road and then you know, make making
it kind of what I just said, making it achievable
again if we if we're if the the goal is
is monstrous, if it's it's too large, I see that
a lot.
Speaker 4 (11:28):
I see.
Speaker 3 (11:28):
Look, I want to have, you know, some really large
number saved, or I want to achieve this really really
big goal. And you know, a third of the way
through the year, you're you're not tracking, and and you
know it's just kind of demoralizing, and so you end
up laying it down and you don't even pick it
back up. So something that's achievable, something that's relevant to
your current goals and what you're what you're trying to achieve. Uh,
(11:52):
and then you know, put a timeline on the time
side of it. I really hone in on on you know,
short and long term goals that kind of goes back
to the tracking process. But give yourself, you know, hey,
the first week of this this new year or this
this new goal, this new effort, in the first week,
I want to attain something this, I want to do
(12:13):
this one thing, whatever it is. And then you know,
by the end of the month, I want to have
this accomplished. And so those short term goals can really
help to create some momentum and motivation. And so then
we can struct start stretching, structuring those and stretching them
together and you start seeing that snowball effect where it's
it gets larger and larger and larger and more packful.
(12:35):
And one other thing that I would say too, as
far as starting off down this road to financial freedom,
accountability is a huge thing. We talk a lot about
that in our practice, we talk about it in my family,
we talk a lot about it at church. And this
idea of accountability is just not doing life alone, right.
(12:56):
And so at the end of the day, if I'm
struggling financially, or even if I'm not, if I have
this goal that I want to achieve, bring somebody else
in on that on that goal. H somebody that that's
you know, that you're going to allow to ask you,
you know, some tough questions and challenge you and make
sure that that you are doing the things that that
you say you want to accomplish.
Speaker 4 (13:17):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (13:17):
But also somebody is going to have some grace too,
because in all likelihood you're going to stumble. There's going
to be you know, uh, a trip you want to
take or you know, a new pair of shoes or
whatever the case that you want to want to get
and there may be a stumbling moment on this this road,
but somebody that can encourage you, right, that's that's Uh,
it's not going to beat you down, but encourage in
and lift you up. So that accountability piece, I would say,
(13:39):
Dana is a huge part of that. And as you're
trying to develop and I would say, kind of formulate
what that what that looks like. You know, if it's
from a financial standpoint, obviously we want to save more money.
I mean, that's that's that's a big impact. That has
a huge impact on on financial freedom, right, But there's
other aspects of that too. You know, do we have
(14:00):
debt and currently you know what what is our debt load?
And what does that look like? What are the things
that we owe money on? How do we want to
tackle that that that's a huge part of it. And
then you know, from a saving standpoint, how do we
want to save? Do we want to just throw money
in our savings account? Oftentimes interest rates are pretty low
in those those accounts and it may not be the
(14:21):
best vehicle to utilize. But again, for some of those
short term goals can be a great place to start
just pile some money in there. Well, another one I
think that the folks sometimes overlook is they're their own employer,
and they're for one case, can be a great way
to to utilize a you know, a method to save
money and and get financially independent.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
So you've talked about about several of those steps that
they should take. What do you recommend is the first step?
Does that change depending on the person? I mean, does
it require you looking at everything first? Or if someone
out there say, and what is my first step? I
realized you said to start with those goals, and and
(15:05):
then what would you recommend as the best first step?
Speaker 3 (15:09):
So I do think data that's going to be different
for you know, most everybody. And again I'll go back
to what I said initially, and that is just start,
you know, take take a step. If there's a large
amount of debt, okay, let's let's figure out how we
can we can uh yeah, approach that taking a little
(15:30):
bit at a time maybe, and again that snowball effect.
If we if we can start paying you know, some
simple things or smaller things off, can can we snowball
that into something larger and paying more off. Uh, you know,
do we start paying the debt off first or do
we start saving money first? Well, I kind of look
at it. You know, it's it's fun if if you've
got a pile of debt and you start paying that
stuff off, It is fun to see those balances go down.
(15:54):
But it's also fun to see your savings account balance
going up, right, And so I tend to recomm in
both if we can figure out a way to do that,
because I think that there's again some motivational factor on
both sides of that. And so yeah, if we can
tackle a little bit of the debt and one piece,
and then we can you know, pigeonholes some money on
(16:15):
the other side and start increasing that savings balance, those
are great places to start. And and to be honest
and fair, I think most people when they say financial freedom,
debt is a huge part of that. And so yes,
we want to we want to address that and we
want to eliminate that because that is absolutely fighting against
your goal to be financially free or independent. But again,
(16:39):
it's also fun to see those account balances go up.
And so if we're if we're paying a little bit
of attention to that, then certainly we can we can
accomplish that and.
Speaker 1 (16:47):
Have a little bit of a nest egg something in
case of emergency emergency find So let's talk about the
investment side though. Is it better to invest if your
company has a four oh one K or is it
better to invest a brokerage account, a wroth ra? What
are the best ways to tackle that?
Speaker 3 (17:05):
So all of them, they're all great, Yes to all, yes, all.
Speaker 4 (17:11):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (17:11):
You know the thing is, I'll start with the four
to one K. I mean, oftentimes with the four one
K there's a huge benefit, I would say, because you
get a payroll deduction. And so if you're not, if
you're not in the habit of saving money, it's pretty
easy to sign up for your employer's for one K
plan and set a deduction electronically and then it automatically
(17:34):
comes out. It automatically comes out of your paycheck, and
it's not something that you have to worry about physically, uh,
moving from one account to another. I know all of
that happens electronically these days and there's less physical to it.
But by the same token, I can set a percentage
of my payroll or my paycheck and it automatically goes
in and I don't. I don't ever see it. I
(17:54):
don't have to handle it, and I don't have to
add another layer of discipline in order to make sure
that money goes where I needed to go. Same vein
with the four one K is is you know, again
if it depends on everybody's financial situation, but uh, depending
on where you're working as well. Oftentimes employers offer a match. Yeah,
and that's free money. And so again, if if we can,
(18:17):
if we can, you know, combine the two and say, okay, yes,
we need to take care of some debt, but we
also want to save some money as well. Certainly when
we look at the four one K and if there's
a company match that's attached to that, we want to
we want to try to take advantage of that. That's
that's free money that we want. We don't want to
miss out on.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
This has been such great information. So I want to ask, though,
when you're investing, is it better to invest online with
some d y investing or does someone need to consider
hiring a financial advisor to help them and guide them
and help them be accountable.
Speaker 3 (18:51):
Sure, so obviously I'm a little biased, right that is
what I what I do for a living. But I'm
also very aware that today there's more options available than
they really ever have been, and so some folks want
want to do that online, they want to try to
do it themselves. There's lots of data out there to
show that certainly those options are less expensive, at least
(19:15):
on paper. But there's also a lot of data out
there that show that a good financial advisor will pay
for themselves. When it comes to investing money in general,
it's very emotional and it takes discipline, and that's where
I see folks on the DIY side, you know, that
are investing online by themselves. That's where I see it
get in trouble the most. And that's not a discouragement,
(19:36):
it's it's more just a hey, if you're going to
do this thing, be disciplined about it, and oftentimes it
means taking the emotion out of it. That's where I
think a financial advisor can offer, you know, a lot
of value is oftentimes we're keeping the goal, the end
goal in mind, and so often we as humans tend
(19:57):
to be pretty shortsighted, and so having somebody come alongside
of you, that financial advisor should be should be doing
more than just picking your stocks and bonds and you know,
individual investments. Uh, they should be a part of your
financial life. If you're going to buy a new car
right or if you're going to buy a house, involve
your financial advisor and that they should be They should
(20:19):
be able to and be willing to offer advice and
counsel on the right ways to approach, you know, taking
on some of those those sure goals objectives.
Speaker 1 (20:29):
So tell me, if someone's like you know, Destin, and
I'm interested in connecting with you, how would someone reach
out to you and be able to make an appointment
to sit down with you? And then what does that
look like? What does an initial appointment with you look like?
So let's talk about that, and then I'd like you
to give them your information.
Speaker 3 (20:49):
Sure, so an initial appointment or meeting with with us
is going to look very laid back, very simple. We're
going to always tell you bring the things and talk.
Let's talk about the things that you feel comfortable talking about.
But we also tell clients too that that you know,
not that I am a doctor, but if we withhold
(21:11):
information from a doctor, that can be detrimental. And it's
the same thing for us, So if you're going to
go sit with any financial advisor, I would say, be
open and honest with that financial advisor and lay it
all out there. Uh. The more information that we have,
the better advice and guidance that we can we can provide.
And so for us, it's it's kind of a get
to know you know. I mean that's a big part
(21:31):
of it too. I mean, if you if you've got
we're talking about your life savings, you know, if you're
preparing for retirement, or even if it's you know, we're
just getting started with investing. This as a financial advisor,
you know, hiring a financial life this might be somebody
you work with for a really long time, and so uh,
taking some time to get to know one another, make
sure it's a good fit. One of my partners, Mark
(21:53):
always talks about the analogy of so often in times
we see folks when they when they get ready to
buy a car, or even buy a house or a
boat or a new gun, they'll do months of research,
but when it comes to our life savings, oftentimes they
look at their buddies sit next to them and say, hey,
who's your person, and they just go with with that. Person,
(22:14):
and so we always recommend when it comes to financial advisors,
interview them. Find two or three and that are recommended
to you and and go interview them and make sure
that there's a good fit. So that's going to be
our first meeting is kind of getting to know each other.
We're real big on financial planning, and so we're going
to take the time to really kind of uncover what's there,
(22:35):
what it is that you're trying to accomplish, and we're
going to put together an overall plan. Generally we like
to meet with you twice. That first is kind of
a data grab, and then that that second meeting we're
going to go through it in detail with you and
lay out the plan.
Speaker 1 (22:51):
That's great, And if someone wanted to get in contact
with you, what's the best way for them to do that.
Speaker 3 (22:55):
Our phone number four oh nine seven five seven eight
five eight, that's the best way to reach us, and
we're happy to help.
Speaker 2 (23:06):
And tell us the name of the company again.
Speaker 3 (23:07):
Yes, Steffel like a church steepl Stefel.
Speaker 1 (23:10):
Okay, I'm going to I'm going to remember that church
Steeple Stiefel. Absolutely well, Dustin, thank you so much for
sharing some great information with us and helping to guide
us to financial freedom. And if you didn't get that
number for Dustin, you're always welcome to call my office
or reach out to me at Dana Simmons real estate
dot Com. I'll be happy to get you his information. Well,
we are going to come back with David la June.
(23:32):
He is with First Financial Bank. So don't go away.
Speaker 2 (23:34):
This is the Dana Simmons Show. Welcome back.
Speaker 1 (23:39):
This is Dana Simmons and we are talking today about
helping you get to the road for financial freedom and
then investing. How do you create long term investments and
be able to be financially free? So with us now
I have David la June. He is the market president
(23:59):
at First Financial Bank and Mid County office. So David,
thanks for joining me today. Tell everyone a little bit
about you.
Speaker 5 (24:07):
Yeah, David Ajune, I've lived in Mid County actually grows
and then import natures all my life. My first profession
and a great profession. I started off as a teacher coach.
I taught emotionally sturbed boys for actually eight years of
my ten year of coaching and teaching love teaching, love
(24:27):
coaching every day of my life, and then went on
to some other items. And today, I've been a commercial
banker for eleven years, and I always say a business
banker or I'm part of their business. Going back to me,
I'm married, have two kids, both live in important ages,
and I became a grandfather February second, so they call
(24:51):
me big Poppy. Now I'm not that tall though.
Speaker 1 (24:55):
Yeah, And you and I could talk for hours about
that new grandparent role. The thing ever, it sure is
it's awesome.
Speaker 2 (25:02):
Well, and I love that people who know.
Speaker 1 (25:05):
You call you mister Portnachius because you are active and
so many things in your community. And everyone out in
the Mid County area really knows you because you've been
there so long and you've been a part of that community.
And one of the things about First Financial Bank that
I do love is the way that everyone in those
(25:28):
in each different bank is very active in the community.
And that's a part of what you guys do.
Speaker 5 (25:33):
Yeah, you know, And I always tell I say this,
I'm not active because the bank makes me active.
Speaker 4 (25:39):
I'm not active because I draw business.
Speaker 5 (25:42):
I'm active because that community has been great for me
and my family, and it's been great for my kids.
I see kids grow up there and come back, and
I want to give back. I want to try to
help the small community. I want to try to help
the small business owner. I want to try to help
anybody there try to grow business or connect dots. Face
it today's world, it's about connecting dots, trusting people and
(26:05):
building that relationship of trust. And so they have people
to call of whatever aspects they're asking. If it's investing,
if it's housing, is it's commercial building, if it's just
life in general. You know, you got to trust somebody
to call that person.
Speaker 1 (26:21):
Yeah, And like you said, the connecting the dots because
you've been in the community for so long, and it's
not just you know mid County that you're connected with.
You're connected with people all across Southeast Texas and because
of the businesses that you've been involved in. And I
love that that's part of it. Sometimes that's you connecting
different businesses. I mean, you're connecting all kinds of dots.
So let's talk a little bit about what are the
(26:43):
things that you do at First Financial Bank, What does
your job entail, what all do you handle? I know
that you talked just a minute ago about commercial businesses,
small businesses. Talk a little bit about the range of
things that you do.
Speaker 4 (26:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (27:00):
So you know, I am over a branch, mid county branch,
and so you try to make your branch grow, right.
You try to make it grow through accounts, through checking,
through new people to the business, by commercial business, by
mortgage loans, by whatever. And so you're constantly trying to
grow the branch and give people an opportunity to see
(27:22):
what you're made of or see what the bank can
do for you. You know, That's what I really love about
First Financial Bank is we're so involved in the community,
and we can do so many more things than other
banks can do. And we're willing to give. We're willing
to help and give and connect the dots. But the
biggest part I do is commercial lending, or I always
say I'm part of their business. I know just as
(27:46):
much sometimes as they know about their business, because I
love that part of it.
Speaker 4 (27:50):
You know.
Speaker 5 (27:50):
I help them by real estate. I help them make
decisions on the P and L and balance sheet, I
help them make decisions on personnel. I connect dots with
other business owners that might have that same aspect of
trying to grow, trying to add employees, trying to add
a region or dangerously try to go outside the market
and try to work outside your market, plus also handle
(28:13):
your main hub of so we do all kinds of things.
Every day is a challenge and everything every day's new.
Speaker 1 (28:22):
And David, one of the things that I do love
about what you were saying is that a lot of
the decisions that are made for the people that you
work with, they're really made here locally, ohs. And that
is one of the differences in First Financial Bank then
a lot of other banks in Southeast Texas is that
it is about the people, and it's about do you
(28:43):
know this person? And maybe what it looks like on
paper is just like borderline, but when the people know
the people, sometimes it's like, yeah, but I know them,
I know their character, I know how they do business,
and so a lot of times that's a part of
the conversation.
Speaker 5 (29:00):
Yeah, I think it's really neat. We're still very very
old school banking. You know, We've been in Texas for
one hundred and thirty five years and we still do
in face or a loan committee where we present a package,
we present a new business to the bank, and we
tell a story. I tell a story about the business,
(29:23):
I tell a story about the family. And then what's awesome.
We have this great board of you know, business owned
people and you can ask them what do you think
about this property, what do you think about this location,
what do you think about this new aspect of what
they're trying to get into, and they give great feedback
and then you connect that dot say, hey, I'd love
(29:44):
for you to meet Dana. Dana knows that area and
she thinks there might be a little better area that
has more traffic or more visibility. And we do that
for every one of our customers.
Speaker 1 (29:55):
Yeah, and I think that's one of the benefits of
First Financial Bank is it is people business and it
is very personal. When we come back, we are going
to talk about if someone's thinking about investing, whether it's
in commercial real estate or maybe they're thinking about getting
into rental property, We're going to talk about how does
someone start with that, and what do you do with
(30:17):
them and what do they need to know before they
come to visit with you. So don't go away, We'll
be right back. This is the Dana Simons Show.
Speaker 2 (30:27):
Hey, David L.
Speaker 1 (30:27):
June the market president at First Financial Bank and the
one in the location in mid County and so One
of the things that you do, David, that I know
that a lot of our listeners may be interested in
is people who are considering investing in the real estate market,
whether it's they need a commercial building for their business,
(30:49):
for a new business, or they want to invest in
residential real estate and get into either an airbnb business
or a long term rental business. If someone is interested
in that and they come to you, let's talk about
what do you look at? What do you do to
sit down with them and see if they are in
fact ready to do that.
Speaker 5 (31:11):
Yeah, So what I like to do. Let's say it's
a new person. I've never met the couple or never
met the business owner, and they come to me, and
I say, let's talk about I want to understand your
short term goals and your long term goals and why
you're wanting to do this new thing right. And the
next thing I ask them to do is bring me
what we call a personal financial statement. It's a really
(31:34):
a simple document. It's actually a personal balance sheet. And
what I mean by a balance sheet it's assets versus liabilities.
And I can tell a lot by looking at that
personal balance sheet, and then we can start talking.
Speaker 4 (31:49):
I like to see.
Speaker 5 (31:51):
You know, I like to see their credit card debt.
I like to see if this is something brand you
And I'll give an example. Maybe this is a good
I met a young couple wants to buy a new business.
They both are w two employees. That means they work
for somebody and get a check and everything's good. They
make a nice living. But when I kept looking at
their credit bureau, they have a lot of debt, and
(32:14):
they have a lot of debt at eighteen twenty five
percent interest. They don't have a lot of cash. And
so I said, hey, here's what I want you to do.
Now you might be able to go down the street
into another institution or somebody that's really needing the loan
or not needing a relationship, and they probably do this
deal for you because you make enough money. Everything looks
(32:35):
okay on paper. I want you to clean up some
credit card debt, and I want you to clean up
the highest rate credit card that you have, and I
want you to save some money. I want you to
have a cash reserve. And then I said, let's do
a six month review. You're more than welcome go look
somewhere else. I think you're six months twelve months away,
(32:55):
and I think they took that and said, you know what,
it's exactly what we probably need to do. We're not
ready for that new business, and so we start off there.
Then we start working a plan. You know, I want
to know what are they're trying to get into. Is
it an Airbnb? Is it a first time rental? Right now, rentals,
if you really look at them, don't make a lot
of cash flow. You know, if you if this is
(33:18):
a retirement investment or you're are you're waiting for the
market to increase by twenty twenty five percent and you
want to gain assets, great purchase. But if you come
into me and say I need cash flow. I want
to make five hundred thousand dollars a month on this
rental property, I'm going to say that's not realistic.
Speaker 2 (33:35):
I love that.
Speaker 1 (33:36):
I love that you want to look at what's best
for the individual and not.
Speaker 2 (33:41):
Just give them a loan. That's right, even if they qualify.
Speaker 1 (33:44):
You want to say, here's some things you should do
or think about because you you're building a long term relationship.
You're not just wanting the short term let me get
this loan.
Speaker 5 (33:54):
Yeah, so I always look at it this if I
can make somebody successful and do it right the first time.
They'll never leave If I try to slam or jam
a deal in that's so tight, that's gonna be crunching.
They're not going to sleep at night. Why do they
come back to me to do another one, you know?
(34:14):
Or they go and do this at a credit union
or another bank that's not looking at that. They're going
to come back in a year or two when they're
ready to do the right one.
Speaker 1 (34:22):
Yeah, And so thinking about those investments, You've looked at it,
You've looked at their personal financials and they look good.
And they find a property that they want to purchase.
What is the next steps for you in that situation?
Speaker 2 (34:36):
What is required?
Speaker 5 (34:37):
So they come to me, they say, we found a property,
we're going to buy it as is, or they need
to do improvements. So what I'd ask for is that
financial statement, which I should already have in my hand,
and then I need two or three years of tax
returns and look at their income. I also want to
know what kind of income do we think we're going
to get on this rental or is it a flip?
(34:58):
What can we make? How fast can we flip it?
And then if it's a flip. I want to see
improvement costs. I want to see who's the contractor. You know,
I've seen fifty sixty percent of all the contractors. I
know who can do it, and I know how they
can do it. And so then we talk about that again. Remember,
I want them to be successful and I want them
to be a win. On the first flip, we're just
(35:21):
trying to make a little money because there's always glitches, right,
that's always glitchous. And so I look at that, we
put together a cash flow, I get it approved, and
we usually can close one of those loans under about
two hundred and fifty to three hundred thousand.
Speaker 4 (35:36):
And twenty one days. Realistically, we do them very fast, so.
Speaker 1 (35:42):
And it goes really quickly and smoothly if you've gotten
all that information that you need up front. Now, let's
say someone's considering that they're renting their business, is renting
a property, and instead they want to begin to invest
in their own What are the steps that you need
to take if you're a business wanting to buy a
(36:02):
building to put your business in.
Speaker 2 (36:04):
What does that look like?
Speaker 4 (36:04):
True?
Speaker 5 (36:05):
Similar I still want to look at their personal financial statement.
Now I need to look at their business financials. See
you know what they've been paying in rent, See what
the cash flow is there. And I'm always for buying
your if you and we call them owner occupied, you
know they're going to run their business out of that business,
out of that real estate purchase. And it's always a
(36:25):
good deal if you're going to be a long term business.
You're putting it into your your assets, you're building that asset,
you're paying yourself.
Speaker 1 (36:33):
Actually, yeah, and that's one of the things that you know,
Ken and I did that I'm so thankful we did,
is that we two went to First Financial and said, look,
we really want to have our own building. And just
like you're talking about, our building was a very old
building and it had to have renovations. And so what
you guys did is said, okay, give us the the
(36:55):
sales price of the building, and then give us what
are those renovations going to cost?
Speaker 2 (37:00):
And you were able.
Speaker 1 (37:01):
To wrap that all together for us, and I'm at
a value that was actually less than a rental. And
now we're investing in our own investment. I mean, our
business is paying for our investment. So long term, that
is your right. Such a great way to grow your
business and grow your equity in your own business and
(37:24):
your own property. Yeah, so, David, any other tips before
we wrap up today for someone who is thinking about investing,
either in real estate or in other ways with you guys,
any other tips that people need to know before they
come and talk to you.
Speaker 5 (37:43):
Now, you know, do your research, but go visit your banker,
Go visit your realator, go visit your attorney. Have all
that planned out, and you know, don't jump on it
right away and don't say we've got to close one
in twenty one days. Have a plan, work on it,
talk about it, and pick some other people's brains that
(38:05):
are in the same industry. You know, successful people love
to help other people be successful. If they're not trying
to help you, then they're probably not very successful. So
find those people and you know, put yourself around those
type of people.
Speaker 1 (38:18):
Well, and you made a good point to go visit.
I mean, if you are at a bank that they
don't have a personal banker there or a banker that
can help you, a commercial banker or a personal banker,
someone that you can walk into the bank and visit with,
maybe you need to consider finding one that does.
Speaker 5 (38:35):
Yeah, we would love to visit with you. You know, I
always tell my new customers, I'm going to give you
five numbers. Those are cell numbers, those are their personal
desk numbers, and they're going to know your account. I
don't ever want you to call a one eight hundred number.
I don't want you to talk to someone you won't know,
and I want to match that with someone else. Most
people don't have five people that they can get you to. Yeah,
(38:57):
it's going to be a Houston number, to be a
New York number, it's a one eight hundred number call center.
We want you to talk to our people and they're
going to know your account, and they're going to help.
Speaker 2 (39:07):
You, and they know who you are.
Speaker 1 (39:09):
It's like when I walk into the bank, people know
who I am because I'm I'm a customer there and
I do business with them. So that's one of the
things I do love about First Financial is that it
is personal and it's connections. So let's talk a little
bit about how someone would get in touch with you, David,
if they wanted to visit with you about anything we've
talked about today.
Speaker 5 (39:31):
I'll give you my cell phone. All our lenders will
give you their cell phone our president will give you
a cell phone you can stop buy. My location is
right there in Central Mall, right off of the Seers location.
It's a standalone bank. It's a really good great spot
for mid County because we kind of touch all the
cities right there. So you know my cell phone, I
(39:51):
tell everybody it's four zero nine seven one nine eight
three eighty five.
Speaker 4 (39:56):
I'd love to talk to you.
Speaker 2 (39:58):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (39:58):
Well, David, I've so enjoyed having you on the show today.
I really appreciate what you do and how you do it.
If you have any questions and you did not get
that cell number, I can get that to you, So
go ahead and reach out to my office either by
our phone four O nine eighty six six team four
O nine eight six six eight three two six, or
go to Dana Simmons real Estate dot com. It's been
(40:20):
great having you listen to the show today. Hope you
have a great weekend. This is Dana Simmons with the
Dana Simmons Show.
Well, hello Southeast Texas. I'm so glad you've joined us
today for the Dana Simmons Show. We are expecting a
wonderful show for you today. Have you thought about you'd
like to get out of debt, you'd like to start investing,
you really want to get your finances in order. Well,
I have a couple of guests today that might be
able to help you do just that, so stay tuned
(00:23):
for that. We're going to talk to them here shortly.
But first I want to give you a little bit
of an update on what's going on in the market. Well,
right now, we are having a little bit of an
even market. We're seeing that we have about an average
of six months of properties on the market, and we
call that an average market. If we have a months
(00:43):
of inventory that's less than six, less than five, we're
looking at a seller's market. If we're going over six,
we're looking at a buyer's market. So we're a little
over six at about six and a half. But things
are looking much better for the spring. So if you're
thinking about buying or selling real estate, we'd love to
sit down and talk to you about your needs and
(01:04):
your goals, so we can give you specifics about what's
going on in your neighborhood or what's going on in
the neighborhood that you want to purchase. So give our
office a call at four zero nine eight six six
eight three two six, and it's a no obligation conversation
we can have with you just to get you the
information you may need with me this morning or today
(01:26):
this afternoon. Now is Dustin Albanize and he is a
senior vice president with investments at Stifle. Now, Dustin, thank
you so much for being on the show.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
Let's talk a.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
Little bit about you. You've been living here a very
long time.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
Yeah, long time. So I grew up in the area
and graduate of Harden Jefferson High School. My parents are
from the area South Park, Greenies, both of them, and
so I've been here for a really long time. We
didn't move off for a little while. I lived in
Las Vegas, Nevada for a little over a year. I
(02:01):
don't necessarily recommend that that's a great vacation spot. I
don't necessarily know living there. Phoenix, Arizona, we lived there
for a little while. We lived in Dallas for a
little while. But I always tell people that Beaumont has
some sort of a gravitational pool and brings you you
back in. And so family was that gravitational pool for us,
and my wife and I were ready to start a
(02:22):
family and wanted to be close to family.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
And I love that back. I really love that.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
I love it when I'm able to see families who
did go away for a bit but then chose to
come back to Beaumont to invest in our community and
to be able to spend time with family.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
So I love your story.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
So talk a little bit about you decided to come
back here, and then talk about your career path and
how it took you to where you are today as
far as stifles fairly new sure, sure, so talk a
little bit about that.
Speaker 3 (02:55):
So, yeah, what brought me different parts of the country.
Worked for AT and T at the time and was
helping them set up wireless retail stores in different new
markets for them. And it was a lot and it
was fun. We was a bit like drinking from a
fire hydrant. But we got to a point where we thought, hey, again,
(03:17):
we wanted to start a family and we wanted to
move close to home, and and so I reached out
to a friend who was in the financial services business,
and he got me in touch with his supervisor. And
crazy story, we were in Phoenix at the time, and
his supervisor was at a conference in Phoenix at the
same time, and so we met in a hotel lobby
(03:38):
and she interviewed me and offered me a position here,
and so we dropped everything that we were doing and
moved back. It was a It was a pretty daunting
deal and really one of those kind of naive moments
you had no idea what you were about to step into.
It just sounded really fun and probably as you get
a little bit older, you're less willing to take some
(04:00):
of those risks. But at that point in our lives,
will you know, certainly see God's hand and that and
absolutely it was. It was the right thing to do,
And twenty years later I would say, that's absolutely the
right thing.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
Well, I love it. I love that you have two daughters, right.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
I got three daughters.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
Three daughters, yes, and so three daughters.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
You guys live here, you work here, you go to
church here, so very active in the community.
Speaker 3 (04:27):
Yes, Well again it's uh, We've lived in some really
big cities and so when you you know, coming back
to Beaumont, it's one of the things that we've loved
about being here. I always tell my kids, just in
a joking manner, they they really can't go anywhere without
somebody that we know that has an eye on them
and I And that's that's been born out. I've I've
(04:49):
I've received text messages from friends saying, hey, you know,
I just saw your daughter here or whatever the case.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
Well, they say, it takes a trip the whole village.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
That's it. That's the word. Sorry, got the wrong one.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
No, it absolutely does. And that's one of again, one
of the neat aspects that I believe the community here
in Beaumont offers. Yeah, while we're still here.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
Yeah, so let's talk a little bit about the company
you're now with. Talk a little bit about that company
and what that is and how you came into that position.
Speaker 3 (05:20):
Yeah. So I'll start off with saying, probably one of
the most unique things is how you actually pronounce the
name right. Most everybody wants to stay stifle or stiff
full or some other version. My wife says that it's
spelled incorrectly. It's actually pronounced Stiefel, kind of like a
church steeple.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
And I think I actually pronounced it incorrectly.
Speaker 3 (05:41):
That's okay. Look, we've had clients now for almost two
years at Stefel and they still struggled to say it
right every every time.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
So I'm in good company.
Speaker 3 (05:50):
Then, absolutely absolutely. Stefel's been around, you know, since the
late eighteen hundreds and really was appealing for us. We
worked at a big firm here in Beaumont for all
of our careers. I've got two other partners, Mark Hall
and Lee Turley, and we looked at the size of
(06:13):
Stefel as compared to the size of the bank we
were working for at the time, or the investment firm
that we were working for at the time, and the
freedom to be able to do some of the things
that we really wanted to do in order to help
our clients the way we wanted to help our clients.
And we just we've felt that we were kind of
hamstrung at our previous firm, and so Stephel kind of
(06:35):
gave us the opportunity to, you know, have some independence
and do again the things that we wanted to do
for our clients that we felt like our clients would
benefit from. And they opened that door for us. They
asked us to open up their first office in Southeast Texas,
and so we did a lot of research and a
lot of due diligence. It was a nerve wracking deal.
My other two partners close to thirty years and twenty
(06:59):
five years previous firm, me close to twenty. It's the
previous firm. So moving was a big deal for us.
A lot of anxiety, a lot of sleepless nights. My
wife could tell you about that for sure. But again
it's been a you know, we we kind of pinch
ourselves most days that were there in the office. It's
it's a really unique opportunity and really glad we took
(07:21):
the jump.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
Well, and it's a beautiful office and the location there
on Delaware. Talk a little bit about that location, sure, So.
Speaker 3 (07:29):
That's a big part of it, right, You go from
a big, storied firm, big big financial firm to a
name that's maybe not as well known, and certainly you
want to make sure that you know that the building
looks right and clients feel comfortable with you know, with
where they're coming to meet with you, and and all
of those things. And so we put a lot of
time and effort into that. Albany's Cormiera Real Estate owns
(07:52):
the building and they have done a phenomenal job of
updating the building and make it look like what you
see it today. And they were phenomenal and the transition
and making sure we had all the things that we needed.
And so the construction process, as you're well aware, can
always be difficult. And you know, I always thank my
(08:12):
clients for trusting us and you know that process and
coming over because at the very front of it, we
were in kind of an outdated, older, you know building,
half of it was was sectioned off and they were
doing construction. So we were calling clients and saying, hey,
you know, we moved over to this new firm.
Speaker 1 (08:30):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (08:31):
They would come in and so we're in this older
kind of section of the office. There's jackhammers and saws
and drills going on on the back and they're they're
you know, they have no idea who who Stifel is,
and so they trusted us and they followed us. So
I'm always very very grateful to the clients for that trust.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
Well, and the trust comes from who you are and
the fact that they had a relationship with you. And
I always say that is what brings clients back again
and again it's not the building. It's nice to have
a nice building, but when they know who who you
are and they can trust you, that's the benefit. Well,
when we come back, we're going to talk a little
bit about are you ready to get started down the
(09:08):
road of financial freedom?
Speaker 2 (09:10):
What does that look like?
Speaker 1 (09:11):
Is this something that they can help you with? So
don't go away, We're going to come right back and
continue visiting with Dustin Albanize. This is Dana Simmons with
the Dana Simmons Show. Welcome back. This is Dana Simmons
with the Dana Simmons Show, and I have Dustin Albanize
with me. Are you thinking about wanting to get on
a right track financially? You know, so many of us
(09:33):
have had challenges in our past, during our college years,
maybe when we were young marrieds, where we got off
on the wrong foot financially, and maybe you're at the
point in your life where you need to get right
back on the right foot, or maybe you're at the
point that you're ready to start making some investments. Well,
Dustin's going to share a little bit of information about
(09:55):
his company and what they can do to help you. So, Dustin,
how would you recommend and that someone gets started down
the road to financial freedom, what are their steps?
Speaker 3 (10:06):
Yeah, so I think there's all kinds of different steps.
Then I tell you the first thing is to start
take there that that first step and saying hey, I'm
I need help or I want to do this this thing,
and and then you know it sounds a little bit simple,
but goals, you know, what are the goals? You know,
(10:26):
if we if we don't have those goals, oftentimes we
don't know what we're what we're shooting for. And so
you know, setting simple goals, attainable goals, you know that
that alle smart acronym. I'm sure you've you've heard before.
But if not specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and timely or
time bound goals. So if we can set a specific goal,
(10:50):
what does it mean to be financially free? That that
question is going to get answered differently everybody. Measurable? Are
we measuring the goals? That's one of the things that
I see often with with folks that do set goals
is we may have some big, ambiguous goal that that's
maybe hard to track or hard to measure, and that
(11:11):
just makes it a little bit more difficult to again
walk down that road and then you know, make making
it kind of what I just said, making it achievable
again if we if we're if the the goal is
is monstrous, if it's it's too large, I see that
a lot.
Speaker 4 (11:28):
I see.
Speaker 3 (11:28):
Look, I want to have, you know, some really large
number saved, or I want to achieve this really really
big goal. And you know, a third of the way
through the year, you're you're not tracking, and and you
know it's just kind of demoralizing, and so you end
up laying it down and you don't even pick it
back up. So something that's achievable, something that's relevant to
your current goals and what you're what you're trying to achieve. Uh,
(11:52):
and then you know, put a timeline on the time
side of it. I really hone in on on you know,
short and long term goals that kind of goes back
to the tracking process. But give yourself, you know, hey,
the first week of this this new year or this
this new goal, this new effort, in the first week,
I want to attain something this, I want to do
(12:13):
this one thing, whatever it is. And then you know,
by the end of the month, I want to have
this accomplished. And so those short term goals can really
help to create some momentum and motivation. And so then
we can struct start stretching, structuring those and stretching them
together and you start seeing that snowball effect where it's
it gets larger and larger and larger and more packful.
(12:35):
And one other thing that I would say too, as
far as starting off down this road to financial freedom,
accountability is a huge thing. We talk a lot about
that in our practice, we talk about it in my family,
we talk a lot about it at church. And this
idea of accountability is just not doing life alone, right.
(12:56):
And so at the end of the day, if I'm
struggling financially, or even if I'm not, if I have
this goal that I want to achieve, bring somebody else
in on that on that goal. H somebody that that's
you know, that you're going to allow to ask you,
you know, some tough questions and challenge you and make
sure that that you are doing the things that that
you say you want to accomplish.
Speaker 4 (13:17):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (13:17):
But also somebody is going to have some grace too,
because in all likelihood you're going to stumble. There's going
to be you know, uh, a trip you want to
take or you know, a new pair of shoes or
whatever the case that you want to want to get
and there may be a stumbling moment on this this road,
but somebody that can encourage you, right, that's that's Uh,
it's not going to beat you down, but encourage in
and lift you up. So that accountability piece, I would say,
(13:39):
Dana is a huge part of that. And as you're
trying to develop and I would say, kind of formulate
what that what that looks like. You know, if it's
from a financial standpoint, obviously we want to save more money.
I mean, that's that's that's a big impact. That has
a huge impact on on financial freedom, right, But there's
other aspects of that too. You know, do we have
(14:00):
debt and currently you know what what is our debt load?
And what does that look like? What are the things
that we owe money on? How do we want to
tackle that that that's a huge part of it. And
then you know, from a saving standpoint, how do we
want to save? Do we want to just throw money
in our savings account? Oftentimes interest rates are pretty low
in those those accounts and it may not be the
(14:21):
best vehicle to utilize. But again, for some of those
short term goals can be a great place to start
just pile some money in there. Well, another one I
think that the folks sometimes overlook is they're their own employer,
and they're for one case, can be a great way
to to utilize a you know, a method to save
money and and get financially independent.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
So you've talked about about several of those steps that
they should take. What do you recommend is the first step?
Does that change depending on the person? I mean, does
it require you looking at everything first? Or if someone
out there say, and what is my first step? I
realized you said to start with those goals, and and
(15:05):
then what would you recommend as the best first step?
Speaker 3 (15:09):
So I do think data that's going to be different
for you know, most everybody. And again I'll go back
to what I said initially, and that is just start,
you know, take take a step. If there's a large
amount of debt, okay, let's let's figure out how we
can we can uh yeah, approach that taking a little
(15:30):
bit at a time maybe, and again that snowball effect.
If we if we can start paying you know, some
simple things or smaller things off, can can we snowball
that into something larger and paying more off. Uh, you know,
do we start paying the debt off first or do
we start saving money first? Well, I kind of look
at it. You know, it's it's fun if if you've
got a pile of debt and you start paying that
stuff off, It is fun to see those balances go down.
(15:54):
But it's also fun to see your savings account balance
going up, right, And so I tend to recomm in
both if we can figure out a way to do that,
because I think that there's again some motivational factor on
both sides of that. And so yeah, if we can
tackle a little bit of the debt and one piece,
and then we can you know, pigeonholes some money on
(16:15):
the other side and start increasing that savings balance, those
are great places to start. And and to be honest
and fair, I think most people when they say financial freedom,
debt is a huge part of that. And so yes,
we want to we want to address that and we
want to eliminate that because that is absolutely fighting against
your goal to be financially free or independent. But again,
(16:39):
it's also fun to see those account balances go up.
And so if we're if we're paying a little bit
of attention to that, then certainly we can we can
accomplish that and.
Speaker 1 (16:47):
Have a little bit of a nest egg something in
case of emergency emergency find So let's talk about the
investment side though. Is it better to invest if your
company has a four oh one K or is it
better to invest a brokerage account, a wroth ra? What
are the best ways to tackle that?
Speaker 3 (17:05):
So all of them, they're all great, Yes to all, yes, all.
Speaker 4 (17:11):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (17:11):
You know the thing is, I'll start with the four
to one K. I mean, oftentimes with the four one
K there's a huge benefit, I would say, because you
get a payroll deduction. And so if you're not, if
you're not in the habit of saving money, it's pretty
easy to sign up for your employer's for one K
plan and set a deduction electronically and then it automatically
(17:34):
comes out. It automatically comes out of your paycheck, and
it's not something that you have to worry about physically, uh,
moving from one account to another. I know all of
that happens electronically these days and there's less physical to it.
But by the same token, I can set a percentage
of my payroll or my paycheck and it automatically goes
in and I don't. I don't ever see it. I
(17:54):
don't have to handle it, and I don't have to
add another layer of discipline in order to make sure
that money goes where I needed to go. Same vein
with the four one K is is you know, again
if it depends on everybody's financial situation, but uh, depending
on where you're working as well. Oftentimes employers offer a match. Yeah,
and that's free money. And so again, if if we can,
(18:17):
if we can, you know, combine the two and say, okay, yes,
we need to take care of some debt, but we
also want to save some money as well. Certainly when
we look at the four one K and if there's
a company match that's attached to that, we want to
we want to try to take advantage of that. That's
that's free money that we want. We don't want to
miss out on.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
This has been such great information. So I want to ask, though,
when you're investing, is it better to invest online with
some d y investing or does someone need to consider
hiring a financial advisor to help them and guide them
and help them be accountable.
Speaker 3 (18:51):
Sure, so obviously I'm a little biased, right that is
what I what I do for a living. But I'm
also very aware that today there's more options available than
they really ever have been, and so some folks want
want to do that online, they want to try to
do it themselves. There's lots of data out there to
show that certainly those options are less expensive, at least
(19:15):
on paper. But there's also a lot of data out
there that show that a good financial advisor will pay
for themselves. When it comes to investing money in general,
it's very emotional and it takes discipline, and that's where
I see folks on the DIY side, you know, that
are investing online by themselves. That's where I see it
get in trouble the most. And that's not a discouragement,
(19:36):
it's it's more just a hey, if you're going to
do this thing, be disciplined about it, and oftentimes it
means taking the emotion out of it. That's where I
think a financial advisor can offer, you know, a lot
of value is oftentimes we're keeping the goal, the end
goal in mind, and so often we as humans tend
(19:57):
to be pretty shortsighted, and so having somebody come alongside
of you, that financial advisor should be should be doing
more than just picking your stocks and bonds and you know,
individual investments. Uh, they should be a part of your
financial life. If you're going to buy a new car
right or if you're going to buy a house, involve
your financial advisor and that they should be They should
(20:19):
be able to and be willing to offer advice and
counsel on the right ways to approach, you know, taking
on some of those those sure goals objectives.
Speaker 1 (20:29):
So tell me, if someone's like you know, Destin, and
I'm interested in connecting with you, how would someone reach
out to you and be able to make an appointment
to sit down with you? And then what does that
look like? What does an initial appointment with you look like?
So let's talk about that, and then I'd like you
to give them your information.
Speaker 3 (20:49):
Sure, so an initial appointment or meeting with with us
is going to look very laid back, very simple. We're
going to always tell you bring the things and talk.
Let's talk about the things that you feel comfortable talking about.
But we also tell clients too that that you know,
not that I am a doctor, but if we withhold
(21:11):
information from a doctor, that can be detrimental. And it's
the same thing for us, So if you're going to
go sit with any financial advisor, I would say, be
open and honest with that financial advisor and lay it
all out there. Uh. The more information that we have,
the better advice and guidance that we can we can provide.
And so for us, it's it's kind of a get
to know you know. I mean that's a big part
(21:31):
of it too. I mean, if you if you've got
we're talking about your life savings, you know, if you're
preparing for retirement, or even if it's you know, we're
just getting started with investing. This as a financial advisor,
you know, hiring a financial life this might be somebody
you work with for a really long time, and so uh,
taking some time to get to know one another, make
sure it's a good fit. One of my partners, Mark
(21:53):
always talks about the analogy of so often in times
we see folks when they when they get ready to
buy a car, or even buy a house or a
boat or a new gun, they'll do months of research,
but when it comes to our life savings, oftentimes they
look at their buddies sit next to them and say, hey,
who's your person, and they just go with with that. Person,
(22:14):
and so we always recommend when it comes to financial advisors,
interview them. Find two or three and that are recommended
to you and and go interview them and make sure
that there's a good fit. So that's going to be
our first meeting is kind of getting to know each other.
We're real big on financial planning, and so we're going
to take the time to really kind of uncover what's there,
(22:35):
what it is that you're trying to accomplish, and we're
going to put together an overall plan. Generally we like
to meet with you twice. That first is kind of
a data grab, and then that that second meeting we're
going to go through it in detail with you and
lay out the plan.
Speaker 1 (22:51):
That's great, And if someone wanted to get in contact
with you, what's the best way for them to do that.
Speaker 3 (22:55):
Our phone number four oh nine seven five seven eight
five eight, that's the best way to reach us, and
we're happy to help.
Speaker 2 (23:06):
And tell us the name of the company again.
Speaker 3 (23:07):
Yes, Steffel like a church steepl Stefel.
Speaker 1 (23:10):
Okay, I'm going to I'm going to remember that church
Steeple Stiefel. Absolutely well, Dustin, thank you so much for
sharing some great information with us and helping to guide
us to financial freedom. And if you didn't get that
number for Dustin, you're always welcome to call my office
or reach out to me at Dana Simmons real estate
dot Com. I'll be happy to get you his information. Well,
we are going to come back with David la June.
(23:32):
He is with First Financial Bank. So don't go away.
Speaker 2 (23:34):
This is the Dana Simmons Show. Welcome back.
Speaker 1 (23:39):
This is Dana Simmons and we are talking today about
helping you get to the road for financial freedom and
then investing. How do you create long term investments and
be able to be financially free? So with us now
I have David la June. He is the market president
(23:59):
at First Financial Bank and Mid County office. So David,
thanks for joining me today. Tell everyone a little bit
about you.
Speaker 5 (24:07):
Yeah, David Ajune, I've lived in Mid County actually grows
and then import natures all my life. My first profession
and a great profession. I started off as a teacher coach.
I taught emotionally sturbed boys for actually eight years of
my ten year of coaching and teaching love teaching, love
(24:27):
coaching every day of my life, and then went on
to some other items. And today, I've been a commercial
banker for eleven years, and I always say a business
banker or I'm part of their business. Going back to me,
I'm married, have two kids, both live in important ages,
and I became a grandfather February second, so they call
(24:51):
me big Poppy. Now I'm not that tall though.
Speaker 1 (24:55):
Yeah, And you and I could talk for hours about
that new grandparent role. The thing ever, it sure is
it's awesome.
Speaker 2 (25:02):
Well, and I love that people who know.
Speaker 1 (25:05):
You call you mister Portnachius because you are active and
so many things in your community. And everyone out in
the Mid County area really knows you because you've been
there so long and you've been a part of that community.
And one of the things about First Financial Bank that
I do love is the way that everyone in those
(25:28):
in each different bank is very active in the community.
And that's a part of what you guys do.
Speaker 5 (25:33):
Yeah, you know, And I always tell I say this,
I'm not active because the bank makes me active.
Speaker 4 (25:39):
I'm not active because I draw business.
Speaker 5 (25:42):
I'm active because that community has been great for me
and my family, and it's been great for my kids.
I see kids grow up there and come back, and
I want to give back. I want to try to
help the small community. I want to try to help
the small business owner. I want to try to help
anybody there try to grow business or connect dots. Face
it today's world, it's about connecting dots, trusting people and
(26:05):
building that relationship of trust. And so they have people
to call of whatever aspects they're asking. If it's investing,
if it's housing, is it's commercial building, if it's just
life in general. You know, you got to trust somebody
to call that person.
Speaker 1 (26:21):
Yeah, And like you said, the connecting the dots because
you've been in the community for so long, and it's
not just you know mid County that you're connected with.
You're connected with people all across Southeast Texas and because
of the businesses that you've been involved in. And I
love that that's part of it. Sometimes that's you connecting
different businesses. I mean, you're connecting all kinds of dots.
So let's talk a little bit about what are the
(26:43):
things that you do at First Financial Bank, What does
your job entail, what all do you handle? I know
that you talked just a minute ago about commercial businesses,
small businesses. Talk a little bit about the range of
things that you do.
Speaker 4 (26:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (27:00):
So you know, I am over a branch, mid county branch,
and so you try to make your branch grow, right.
You try to make it grow through accounts, through checking,
through new people to the business, by commercial business, by
mortgage loans, by whatever. And so you're constantly trying to
grow the branch and give people an opportunity to see
(27:22):
what you're made of or see what the bank can
do for you. You know, That's what I really love about
First Financial Bank is we're so involved in the community,
and we can do so many more things than other
banks can do. And we're willing to give. We're willing
to help and give and connect the dots. But the
biggest part I do is commercial lending, or I always
say I'm part of their business. I know just as
(27:46):
much sometimes as they know about their business, because I
love that part of it.
Speaker 4 (27:50):
You know.
Speaker 5 (27:50):
I help them by real estate. I help them make
decisions on the P and L and balance sheet, I
help them make decisions on personnel. I connect dots with
other business owners that might have that same aspect of
trying to grow, trying to add employees, trying to add
a region or dangerously try to go outside the market
and try to work outside your market, plus also handle
(28:13):
your main hub of so we do all kinds of things.
Every day is a challenge and everything every day's new.
Speaker 1 (28:22):
And David, one of the things that I do love
about what you were saying is that a lot of
the decisions that are made for the people that you
work with, they're really made here locally, ohs. And that
is one of the differences in First Financial Bank then
a lot of other banks in Southeast Texas is that
it is about the people, and it's about do you
(28:43):
know this person? And maybe what it looks like on
paper is just like borderline, but when the people know
the people, sometimes it's like, yeah, but I know them,
I know their character, I know how they do business,
and so a lot of times that's a part of
the conversation.
Speaker 5 (29:00):
Yeah, I think it's really neat. We're still very very
old school banking. You know, We've been in Texas for
one hundred and thirty five years and we still do
in face or a loan committee where we present a package,
we present a new business to the bank, and we
tell a story. I tell a story about the business,
(29:23):
I tell a story about the family. And then what's awesome.
We have this great board of you know, business owned
people and you can ask them what do you think
about this property, what do you think about this location,
what do you think about this new aspect of what
they're trying to get into, and they give great feedback
and then you connect that dot say, hey, I'd love
(29:44):
for you to meet Dana. Dana knows that area and
she thinks there might be a little better area that
has more traffic or more visibility. And we do that
for every one of our customers.
Speaker 1 (29:55):
Yeah, and I think that's one of the benefits of
First Financial Bank is it is people business and it
is very personal. When we come back, we are going
to talk about if someone's thinking about investing, whether it's
in commercial real estate or maybe they're thinking about getting
into rental property, We're going to talk about how does
someone start with that, and what do you do with
(30:17):
them and what do they need to know before they
come to visit with you. So don't go away, We'll
be right back. This is the Dana Simons Show.
Speaker 2 (30:27):
Hey, David L.
Speaker 1 (30:27):
June the market president at First Financial Bank and the
one in the location in mid County and so One
of the things that you do, David, that I know
that a lot of our listeners may be interested in
is people who are considering investing in the real estate market,
whether it's they need a commercial building for their business,
(30:49):
for a new business, or they want to invest in
residential real estate and get into either an airbnb business
or a long term rental business. If someone is interested
in that and they come to you, let's talk about
what do you look at? What do you do to
sit down with them and see if they are in
fact ready to do that.
Speaker 5 (31:11):
Yeah, So what I like to do. Let's say it's
a new person. I've never met the couple or never
met the business owner, and they come to me, and
I say, let's talk about I want to understand your
short term goals and your long term goals and why
you're wanting to do this new thing right. And the
next thing I ask them to do is bring me
what we call a personal financial statement. It's a really
(31:34):
a simple document. It's actually a personal balance sheet. And
what I mean by a balance sheet it's assets versus liabilities.
And I can tell a lot by looking at that
personal balance sheet, and then we can start talking.
Speaker 4 (31:49):
I like to see.
Speaker 5 (31:51):
You know, I like to see their credit card debt.
I like to see if this is something brand you
And I'll give an example. Maybe this is a good
I met a young couple wants to buy a new business.
They both are w two employees. That means they work
for somebody and get a check and everything's good. They
make a nice living. But when I kept looking at
their credit bureau, they have a lot of debt, and
(32:14):
they have a lot of debt at eighteen twenty five
percent interest. They don't have a lot of cash. And
so I said, hey, here's what I want you to do.
Now you might be able to go down the street
into another institution or somebody that's really needing the loan
or not needing a relationship, and they probably do this
deal for you because you make enough money. Everything looks
(32:35):
okay on paper. I want you to clean up some
credit card debt, and I want you to clean up
the highest rate credit card that you have, and I
want you to save some money. I want you to
have a cash reserve. And then I said, let's do
a six month review. You're more than welcome go look
somewhere else. I think you're six months twelve months away,
(32:55):
and I think they took that and said, you know what,
it's exactly what we probably need to do. We're not
ready for that new business, and so we start off there.
Then we start working a plan. You know, I want
to know what are they're trying to get into. Is
it an Airbnb? Is it a first time rental? Right now, rentals,
if you really look at them, don't make a lot
of cash flow. You know, if you if this is
(33:18):
a retirement investment or you're are you're waiting for the
market to increase by twenty twenty five percent and you
want to gain assets, great purchase. But if you come
into me and say I need cash flow. I want
to make five hundred thousand dollars a month on this
rental property, I'm going to say that's not realistic.
Speaker 2 (33:35):
I love that.
Speaker 1 (33:36):
I love that you want to look at what's best
for the individual and not.
Speaker 2 (33:41):
Just give them a loan. That's right, even if they qualify.
Speaker 1 (33:44):
You want to say, here's some things you should do
or think about because you you're building a long term relationship.
You're not just wanting the short term let me get
this loan.
Speaker 5 (33:54):
Yeah, so I always look at it this if I
can make somebody successful and do it right the first time.
They'll never leave If I try to slam or jam
a deal in that's so tight, that's gonna be crunching.
They're not going to sleep at night. Why do they
come back to me to do another one, you know?
(34:14):
Or they go and do this at a credit union
or another bank that's not looking at that. They're going
to come back in a year or two when they're
ready to do the right one.
Speaker 1 (34:22):
Yeah, And so thinking about those investments, You've looked at it,
You've looked at their personal financials and they look good.
And they find a property that they want to purchase.
What is the next steps for you in that situation?
Speaker 2 (34:36):
What is required?
Speaker 5 (34:37):
So they come to me, they say, we found a property,
we're going to buy it as is, or they need
to do improvements. So what I'd ask for is that
financial statement, which I should already have in my hand,
and then I need two or three years of tax
returns and look at their income. I also want to
know what kind of income do we think we're going
to get on this rental or is it a flip?
(34:58):
What can we make? How fast can we flip it?
And then if it's a flip. I want to see
improvement costs. I want to see who's the contractor. You know,
I've seen fifty sixty percent of all the contractors. I
know who can do it, and I know how they
can do it. And so then we talk about that again. Remember,
I want them to be successful and I want them
to be a win. On the first flip, we're just
(35:21):
trying to make a little money because there's always glitches, right,
that's always glitchous. And so I look at that, we
put together a cash flow, I get it approved, and
we usually can close one of those loans under about
two hundred and fifty to three hundred thousand.
Speaker 4 (35:36):
And twenty one days. Realistically, we do them very fast, so.
Speaker 1 (35:42):
And it goes really quickly and smoothly if you've gotten
all that information that you need up front. Now, let's
say someone's considering that they're renting their business, is renting
a property, and instead they want to begin to invest
in their own What are the steps that you need
to take if you're a business wanting to buy a
(36:02):
building to put your business in.
Speaker 2 (36:04):
What does that look like?
Speaker 4 (36:04):
True?
Speaker 5 (36:05):
Similar I still want to look at their personal financial statement.
Now I need to look at their business financials. See
you know what they've been paying in rent, See what
the cash flow is there. And I'm always for buying
your if you and we call them owner occupied, you
know they're going to run their business out of that business,
out of that real estate purchase. And it's always a
(36:25):
good deal if you're going to be a long term business.
You're putting it into your your assets, you're building that asset,
you're paying yourself.
Speaker 1 (36:33):
Actually, yeah, and that's one of the things that you know,
Ken and I did that I'm so thankful we did,
is that we two went to First Financial and said, look,
we really want to have our own building. And just
like you're talking about, our building was a very old
building and it had to have renovations. And so what
you guys did is said, okay, give us the the
(36:55):
sales price of the building, and then give us what
are those renovations going to cost?
Speaker 2 (37:00):
And you were able.
Speaker 1 (37:01):
To wrap that all together for us, and I'm at
a value that was actually less than a rental. And
now we're investing in our own investment. I mean, our
business is paying for our investment. So long term, that
is your right. Such a great way to grow your
business and grow your equity in your own business and
(37:24):
your own property. Yeah, so, David, any other tips before
we wrap up today for someone who is thinking about investing,
either in real estate or in other ways with you guys,
any other tips that people need to know before they
come and talk to you.
Speaker 5 (37:43):
Now, you know, do your research, but go visit your banker,
Go visit your realator, go visit your attorney. Have all
that planned out, and you know, don't jump on it
right away and don't say we've got to close one
in twenty one days. Have a plan, work on it,
talk about it, and pick some other people's brains that
(38:05):
are in the same industry. You know, successful people love
to help other people be successful. If they're not trying
to help you, then they're probably not very successful. So
find those people and you know, put yourself around those
type of people.
Speaker 1 (38:18):
Well, and you made a good point to go visit.
I mean, if you are at a bank that they
don't have a personal banker there or a banker that
can help you, a commercial banker or a personal banker,
someone that you can walk into the bank and visit with,
maybe you need to consider finding one that does.
Speaker 5 (38:35):
Yeah, we would love to visit with you. You know, I
always tell my new customers, I'm going to give you
five numbers. Those are cell numbers, those are their personal
desk numbers, and they're going to know your account. I
don't ever want you to call a one eight hundred number.
I don't want you to talk to someone you won't know,
and I want to match that with someone else. Most
people don't have five people that they can get you to. Yeah,
(38:57):
it's going to be a Houston number, to be a
New York number, it's a one eight hundred number call center.
We want you to talk to our people and they're
going to know your account, and they're going to help.
Speaker 2 (39:07):
You, and they know who you are.
Speaker 1 (39:09):
It's like when I walk into the bank, people know
who I am because I'm I'm a customer there and
I do business with them. So that's one of the
things I do love about First Financial is that it
is personal and it's connections. So let's talk a little
bit about how someone would get in touch with you, David,
if they wanted to visit with you about anything we've
talked about today.
Speaker 5 (39:31):
I'll give you my cell phone. All our lenders will
give you their cell phone our president will give you
a cell phone you can stop buy. My location is
right there in Central Mall, right off of the Seers location.
It's a standalone bank. It's a really good great spot
for mid County because we kind of touch all the
cities right there. So you know my cell phone, I
(39:51):
tell everybody it's four zero nine seven one nine eight
three eighty five.
Speaker 4 (39:56):
I'd love to talk to you.
Speaker 2 (39:58):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (39:58):
Well, David, I've so enjoyed having you on the show today.
I really appreciate what you do and how you do it.
If you have any questions and you did not get
that cell number, I can get that to you, So
go ahead and reach out to my office either by
our phone four O nine eighty six six team four
O nine eight six six eight three two six, or
go to Dana Simmons real Estate dot com. It's been
(40:20):
great having you listen to the show today. Hope you
have a great weekend. This is Dana Simmons with the
Dana Simmons Show.
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