February 19, 2026 • 37 mins
Today Dayna talks with Cynthia Montoto of King Club Ministries about the after school programs offered to youth. Michael Kiefer with First Financial Trust explains what a trust can do for you.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well, hello everyone, glad you could join us this wonderful
Saturday morning. This is Dana Simmons and we are looking
forward to an incredible show today. I have some amazing
guests that you're not going to want to miss. Ayana Williams,
the program director, and Cynthia Montoto, the executive director for
King's Club. Er here, what is King's Club? You might say, Well,
(00:22):
guess what. They're going to give us a little bit
of insight into what they do and it is amazing,
So you're going to want to stay tuned for that.
Also with us is Michael Keeper. Michael Keeper is a CPA,
but he has retired from that. It is now the
senior vice president and market leader of the Southeast market
for First Financial Trust. So going to visit with Michael
(00:45):
about money things, I know you want to hear about that,
but before we do it, let's kind of chat a
little bit about the market. So where is the market.
What's going on? Well, in February of this month, we
have seen phone calls increase, properties are going under contract.
(01:05):
Even last week I had a house that had four
offers on one house. So the multiple offer situation has
come back into play. The buyers are coming out of
the woodwork with the interest rate drop, and so if
you are thinking about is now the time to put
your house on the market, let's chat. Give my office
a call at four nine eight six six eight three
(01:27):
two six and we can sit down with you and
see if now is the right time. Or go to
Dana Simmons real estate dot com and you can check
out your value. It's a fun little tool we have
that gives an AI value. But we can then also
come out and sit down and visit with you and
give you a more professional value. There's nothing like humans
(01:47):
to give you a more accurate view of what's going on.
As we get started this morning, I want you to
get to know our guests. They are some amazing people
with great stories, and I want you to know a
little bit about them. So Anna, you have an incredible
story in that you, uh not only were started in
(02:09):
the King's Club, but now you're a program director there.
Tell us a little bit about you and and how
you managed to move into that position.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
I grew up in both my born and aid. I
was in King's Club as I was seven. Then I
was struggling on my walk with the craze but King's
Club helped me with that, and of course we all fumble,
but as I grew older, I began to, you know,
(02:38):
be more developed in King's Club. So yeah, I'm not
here today, and like you, she's start working for it.
So I'm here today.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
So you've had people who are volunteers, mostly volunteers who
just really spoke into your life and were there for
you to help develop you. So we're gonna talk more
about what King's Club does and how it impacts our
younger people in our youth. And I love Aana that
you are a beautiful picture of that for us here today,
(03:11):
and I love your story and I love seeing all
that God has done in and through you. So looking
forward to hear.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
More about that.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
Also with us, we have Cynthia Monto Doo, who is
the newly yes, newly recent executive director for King's Club.
Speaker 3 (03:29):
Right, yes, now, this is a new position for you,
Yes it is.
Speaker 4 (03:33):
I come from a background I've always worked with teenage,
troubled teens and young adults and it is just my heartbeat.
That's something that God has placed on my heart. So
when I moved from Arkansas because I worked for Teen
Challenge there for about nine years God told me to
(03:53):
come to Texas and I was like, Texas, But.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
I don't sound so excited about that.
Speaker 5 (03:59):
I actually love it here.
Speaker 4 (04:02):
But it led me to King's Club and it's just
been an amazing journey and I'm growing in it as well.
Speaker 3 (04:11):
I love that. Well.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
I'm excited for everyone to hear more about what is
King's Club and what are some of the events that
you guys have coming up, And we'll talk about that
in our next segment, So you guys stay tuned for
that also with me Michael Keefer. Now, Michael, you've been
in south East Texas a while, since.
Speaker 6 (04:31):
I was a year and a half old.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
Yeah, that's a while.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
Yeah, and so you have not only lived here as
a child, but then married the love of your life
and then raised a daughter here.
Speaker 6 (04:43):
Absolutely. Yeah. So I definitely married up when I married
my wife, and so we have a beautiful daughter twenty
two going to Lamar for her master's degree in speech pathology.
And so I retired from public accounting last year after
thirty four and a half years CPA and maintaining that.
But now I'm the senior vice president and market leader
(05:05):
for Southeast Texas for First Financial Trust.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
Yeah, and so we'll talk more about what does that mean,
what is trust versus any other department that First Financial has,
because it's a completely separate entity. And so we'll talk
a little bit about how that can benefit someone and
what you may knowledge you may have that may help
others as they're listening today, even if they're not using
First Financial. You have some great tips for us today.
(05:32):
So when we come back, we're going to give you
a little bit of information about what is King's Club.
So don't go away. This is the Dana Simmons Show.
Welcome back. This is Dana Simmons and I have a
wonderful lineup of guests for you today. We are going
to visit with a program director and executive director of
(05:52):
King's Club. But let me just say I've known about
King's Club for a very long time. For those of
you in Southeast Texas who have known Angie boas she
and her husband Rick have been a part of our community.
Rick was a Beaumont Police officer for a very long time,
just actually retired a few months ago. They have given
their life for service unto the Lord, and Angie's heart
(06:17):
is just amazing and she is the one who actually
began King's Club out of a heart of seeing the
need for children. So let's talk a little bit about
how that got started.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
Well, we started and I think of twenty fourteen, twenty fifteen.
It all started the Village apartment right there on Helbig Road.
It was kind of a rough area, so it placed
on its Angie hearts to come to us and I
was also living there myself, and that's how I began
(06:55):
to start King's Club.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
Her Plymouth Village was a housing area that was really
a lower income housing area with people with pretty significant
needs there. And so Angie recognized the need to reach
out to that segment of our community for because she
had a heart for you guys.
Speaker 3 (07:20):
And so she.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
Started there at Plymouth Village. I think she started a
women's Bible studies and then also what she called informed
eventually into King's Club. Right, So that was for the children.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
Yeah, I think what happened was she was a teacher
and some of our kids from our complex. She realized
that like they were like living in a rough environment
and you know, we need Jesus. So it just placed
on her heart to you know, maybe she just thought something.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
You know, how one person saw need and said, hey,
I'm going to step out and make a difference in
that and just how much this organization has grown. And
so she has just now really after ten fifteen years,
decided that she needs to step away from that because
(08:14):
she's going to be caring for her dad who is
needing assistants. And so in the interim, Cynthia, you have
stepped up to that executive director position, and talk a
little bit about that side of King's Club, what you
do and what the organization looks like.
Speaker 3 (08:32):
Where do you meet now?
Speaker 1 (08:33):
I know it started Plymouth Village, that's kind of changed
a little bit, but talk a little bit about what
that looks like today.
Speaker 4 (08:40):
So we meet at is that R. C. Miller Library.
They are so sweet. They give us the room every Thursday.
So we have right now what we call an after
school program, and so the kids come in after school,
we do their help them with their homework, and then
we do a Bible study with them and then we
(09:02):
have some kind of activity. But more importantly, these kids
do not some of them don't have a safe place.
So it's a safe place with us and we can
love on them. They come from broken homes, they have parents,
maybe in prison or they're in foster care, and so
we want to empower them to succeed. We're not giving
(09:26):
them things, but we're empowering them. We've had kids that
have graduated and then went on and got a degree
in welding, this one young man. And so it's so
good to see how this program helps and helps these
kids grow.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
I know that's Angie's heart, not a hand out, a
hand up, Yes, to empower them to be something better
and greater than the situation they're currently in. Yes, Now
that requires a lot, and this has grown into a
pretty big organization as far as from where it started.
Speaker 3 (10:02):
To it is now. It is growing.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
But in order for it to continue to grow and
meet the needs, you have needs and so some of
those needs are volunteers. And then also we can talk
about funding. But let's talk a little bit about your
volunteers first.
Speaker 4 (10:18):
We have some precious volunteers that are really really faithful.
Speaker 5 (10:22):
How long have they been Most of them been been.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
With us, well, Miss Maya has been with us for
a long time. Miss Lane has actually all volunteer has
been with this for a long time. We have some
new ones. They're amazing as well, and.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
Their heart's just get attached, don't they. Yeah, you know
those kids, you see the need and you want to help,
and then your heart gets attached to them.
Speaker 3 (10:47):
There are a couple of those people that you're talking about.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
Miss Maria has been in a Bible study that I
do BSF. That's how I first met her for a
very long time. And then I know Monica is in
my small group, Monica Huber and she's one of them.
And then Miss Betty, Yeah, Miss Betty. Miss Betty has
been seventy I think Miss Many seventy five years old
and you would never know it because she loves people.
(11:14):
She's just incredible. So you're the message right here is
you're never too old. That's right to be able, to
be used and able. So do you still need volunteers?
Is that a need that you have?
Speaker 5 (11:29):
Yes, we do.
Speaker 4 (11:30):
We still need people that would come in in love
on these kids and help them with their homework. We're
having a summer program coming up and that's going to
be that's going to be the busiest time. That's when
we see about fifty to seventy five kids and so
we do two days with them when we have the
(11:51):
activities that we do at the church and then we
take them out on field trips.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
So which church we need a First Baptist and we
also have jail tee, which that's the way they go
on the field chips.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
Okay, so you meet at First Baptist church so that
you have that whole field out there and activities. There's
not associated with First Baptists. Y'all just are able to
utilize their facility because they've opened their doors.
Speaker 5 (12:17):
Yea, y they're such a blessing.
Speaker 1 (12:18):
Yes, So let's talk about if someone's thinking, you know,
I might be interested in being a you know, a volunteer,
what kind of time commitment is that and what does
it require?
Speaker 4 (12:30):
Well, the after school program is from three thirty to
five thirty, and we would have to we would of
course meet with them and kind of train them in
what we do and how we operate and see if
they're a good fit. And then the summer program we
need leaders you know, we need leadership. We have so
(12:52):
many different classes, like there's a music class, a dance class,
a craft class, and then we go outdoors it's sports.
Speaker 5 (13:01):
So there's a big need there.
Speaker 3 (13:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (13:03):
Okay, So if someone's interested, how do they connect with you?
Guys to find out more.
Speaker 4 (13:08):
They can go there on our Facebook page and just
private message me and we will get right with them.
And it's called the King's Club King's Club Facebook gamet okay,
so it's not the just King's Club, just Kings Club. Yes,
King's Club.
Speaker 3 (13:22):
Okay. Great.
Speaker 1 (13:23):
So there is your opportunity for you to if you're
looking for something to get involved in. This is an
incredible place to do that. So that is the people
aspect of it. But it also requires funding in order
to do that. So let's talk a little bit about
how do you guys raise the funds needed to be
able to support this program.
Speaker 4 (13:44):
Well, we did, Bless Angie's heart, she did the grants
for me this year because I'm learning on those, but.
Speaker 5 (13:53):
We do get grants.
Speaker 4 (13:55):
We also we have an upcoming event on the twenty first,
which is going to be kind of a it's a
big fundraiser. It's going to be outside. We're going to
have popcorn, snow cone machine, you get to throw pie
in Pastor David's face.
Speaker 5 (14:11):
He volunteered for that.
Speaker 1 (14:13):
So it's March twenty first. Where is this going to
be held.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
It's in the parking of Coals across the sheet from Walmart.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
Okay, so in the parking lot of Coals across from
Walmart Okay. And then what are the some of the
events that are going to be happening there and what
is the time for this event?
Speaker 4 (14:33):
We hoped, Well, we know we'll be running at ten
and then we will probably shut down around five or
five thirty.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
So an all day event, yes, okay.
Speaker 4 (14:45):
We're going to have baskets and all kinds of stuff
there for a silent auction, so you can come in
and buy tickets and you can win something nice. I
want to give a shout out to Dana she doing
a basket for us. Text Joy has donated some of
their spices and stuff and Louisiana Fish my products. Yes,
(15:11):
so it's starting to come in.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
So just now working on sponsorships and on baskets. So
if someone is listening and they're they're thinking, you know,
I'd love to participate. There are a couple of ways
you can do that. You can provide a basket for
the live auction, or if you just want to make
a donation, you can do that as well as that.
Would they go on to the Facebook page to do
(15:34):
that or how would they.
Speaker 4 (15:35):
Do yes, they can go on the Facebook page and
there's a code on there, and then there's also like
an address they can mel it to or a lot
of people use their use their phones and now also.
Speaker 1 (15:49):
Yeah, well I'll tell you the things that I've seen
are incredible. I love going to your Facebook page and
seeing the children and how excited they are, and seeing
the volunteers sitting there doing homework with them. When these
kids don't have anyone at home to help them with that,
that's right, How do we expect them to make it
(16:10):
through school and then be a productive human? You know,
it's very challenging when they're young and they need help.
Homework today is not easy. So having someone to sit there,
I mean just that basic need of sitting there and
just assisting. And you know, I would say, don't worry
that you're not you can't handle it because some of
(16:31):
that math. Let me just say for some people challenging.
Speaker 3 (16:36):
But so, what are some.
Speaker 1 (16:38):
Other ways that people can get involved or what other
information do you think is really important for us to
make sure we get out here today?
Speaker 4 (16:48):
Well, we we are starting to grow. So the funding
if they want to partner with us, we have partners
that give one hundred dollars a month or if they
want to come and volunteer with us. That's our biggest
need right now because there is such a need with
these kids out there. I'm telling you, I hope I
(17:08):
don't cry. They need us and they need Jesus and
they need for us to be able to love on them.
And that's the biggest thing because some of them just
they don't even know, like the parents are so checked out.
Speaker 5 (17:23):
They could be.
Speaker 4 (17:24):
Using drugs and it's just a wide variety of things
that they do. But they need us, and in order
to do this, we need to have a flow of
income coming in.
Speaker 6 (17:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:36):
Yeah, it's very interesting that we're talking about this. Just
this last Sunday in our small group, we're talking about
faith and works. And now I'll show me your faith
and I'll show you and show me your works. They
go together their hand in hand. The Book of James
talks very clearly about your salvation through faith, but then
that produces works. So what are you doing, how are
(17:57):
you participating? How do you want to encourage you community?
Maybe this is the spot for you. For some people,
there's another place that they are ministering. But for some people,
they don't have a place to step up and help,
and this is a place that you can sit three
thirty to five thirty and help someone. So I appreciate
you guys coming and sharing. Any last words before we
(18:19):
close this segment.
Speaker 4 (18:21):
Well, I do believe Angie. I just want to say
that she is so into community and so that's one
of the things. You know, we have missionaries that are
called to the mission field, but we need to really
look at our communities now and help.
Speaker 5 (18:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
Well, you know, Angie was a teacher and Rick was
a police officer, so they were on the front lines
every day seeing what was going on and what is
going on in our city. And then they made a difference,
decided to say instead of just saying, oh, it's terrible,
look what's going on, what can I do to change
the current situation. And what a gift that she started
(19:01):
this organization and what a gift that you guys are
continuing it. So thank you so much for all that
you do for the children here in Beaumont. Well, when
we come back, we will be visiting with We will
be visiting Michael Keefer. Michael, my brain went completely blank.
It's got soo excited about King's Club. It's like, who
(19:22):
am I talking to next? When we come back, We'll
be visiting with Michael Keefer. Don't go away. This is
the Dana Simmons Show.
Speaker 3 (19:29):
Welcome back. This is Dana.
Speaker 1 (19:30):
Simmons and I was joined by Anna Williams and Cynthia
Montoto with a wonderful organization that is really helping kids
across Southeast Texas, King's Club. So if you want more
information about King's Club, you can go to their Facebook
page and you can see some beautiful pictures of amazing
(19:50):
children and wonderful volunteers who are making a difference in
the lives of children here in Southeast Texas. Also with
me today. I'm super excited did to have Michael Keefer
back with us and Michael, welcome back to the show.
Speaker 6 (20:05):
Thanks, it's great to be here. Thanks for having so.
Speaker 1 (20:08):
Tell us again, remind me how long were you out
there in the public as a CPA.
Speaker 6 (20:14):
So I was in public accounting for thirty four and
a half years, retired at the end of June, and
then started over at First Financial Trust. I'm keeping my
CPA license, so I'm still a CPA.
Speaker 3 (20:24):
That's amazing.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
Well, we are so excited to have you with us,
and we said we were going to talk a little
bit about money. And you said, in one of the
organizations you were a part of, they used to call
you Michael Money.
Speaker 3 (20:37):
Michael Honey, Michael.
Speaker 6 (20:38):
When I was a leadership bowman. Yeah, that was my
leadership name.
Speaker 1 (20:41):
You had a little nickname. So we're going to talk
money today, Michael. And so one of the things I
thought we would start with is contributing to an IRA.
You know, for some people, how to do that, what
to do all of those things, it's just like they
have no idea where to even start. So give us
(21:01):
a little education on that.
Speaker 6 (21:03):
Sure. So for an IRA, you know, first you have
to decide. You know, eventually I'm going to retire. I
need to put money away, and how am I going
to do that? You know, you may or may not
have a four to one K through work. You know,
that's that's a retirement plan through an employer. But in
addition to that, or if you don't have that, you
can still contribute to an IRA to get started. And
(21:24):
the sooner you get started, you know, the math is
going to be in your favor. It makes all the
difference in the world. To start early, it's not too late.
You know, if you're forty or fifty or sixty two
and you haven't started, anything's better than nothing. But if
you can start in your twenties, actually even in your teams,
and we'll talk about that, they just give you a
better shot of having a comfortable retirement.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
Yeah, So talk a little bit about twenty twenty five contributions.
Speaker 6 (21:50):
So it's not too late. For most tax things, you
have to do them by the end of the year.
For an IRA, you can actually contribute still for twenty
twenty five. You have until April fifteenth, which is the
normal filing deadline for your tax return. Now, of course
most people know you can extend your tax return out
to October. That does not extend the time to contribute
(22:13):
to an IRA. So you have until April fifteenth to
do that.
Speaker 1 (22:17):
Now, are there income limitations on that?
Speaker 6 (22:19):
There are, and so part of it depends on whether
or not you're covered by an employer plan. So what
I would always tell people you need to work this
in conjunction with finalizing your tax return. If you're in
that range where you know you've had a limitation before,
you might have one this year, then you really want
to kind of see where everything falls out this year,
(22:41):
because it depends on kind of IRA you're doing, and
we'll talk about that. You may or may not be
able to contribute to a roth ira at all, or
if it's to a traditional ira, if your incomes too high,
you can't deduct it, and so you probably want to
know that before you finalize the tax return.
Speaker 1 (22:59):
Absolutely, and so really now's probably the best time to
go ahead and start working on your twenty twenty six
contributions as well.
Speaker 6 (23:07):
Right, absolutely, And of course you want to do that
after you've maxed out whatever you're going to do for
twenty twenty five. Okay, you know, so if you're thinking
about doing one for at all at this time of year,
if you've not done one for twenty five, I'd recommend
doing that first, because come April fifteenth, you cannot do
one for twenty twenty five, but you still have a
(23:29):
year after that to do for twenty twenty six. So
go ahead and do for twenty five while the windows open,
assuming that you know you're within the income limitations.
Speaker 1 (23:38):
Yeah, now you say anyone should should be doing this,
and so are you talking about you know, kids as well?
Talk a little bit about what how that impacts a
child or a student.
Speaker 6 (23:50):
Yeah, so you know, we all know some people have
teenagers that may be earning money from a part time
job or babysitting or law and work that counts as
earned income. You have to have earned income to contribute
to an IRA. And when we talk about earned income,
we're not saying my savings account earned some interest. No,
(24:10):
we're talking about from work that you actually do, so
there's no age limitation on it. So you know, it
could be a fourteen year old getting babysitting money, or
you know, a twenty year old in college with a
part time job or something. Those count. That income counts
towards the income limitation because at that age, when you
(24:31):
have low income, the limitation is how much you earned.
So for older people, the income limitation is probably you
can only make so much and if you go over
that then you can't contribute or you can't deduct it.
On the lower end, you can only contribute up to
what you earned. So if your total babysitting, lawnmowing, part
(24:54):
time job is twelve hundred dollars, that's the maximum you
can put into the IRA.
Speaker 1 (24:58):
And so estion for me is can parents and grandparents
participate in that for them or with.
Speaker 6 (25:05):
Them absolutely, so you know, the money doesn't have to
come from the person contributing to the IRA, so it
can be gifted by somebody else Mom and dad, grandma, aunt, uncle, friend, brother, whoever.
Because the reality is trying to get somebody that you
know does babysitting or you know, has that part time job.
They earn two thousand dollars, so the contribution limit to
(25:28):
their IRA is two thousand dollars. It's hard to say,
you know what, Junior, I think you need to be
saving all of that for retirement. So, depending upon family situations,
mom and dad may contribute to it. They may do
a match you put in, you know, a'll match dollar
for dollar, fifty cents on a dollar whatever to kind
of encourage them to do that. But of course the
(25:50):
parents probably need to look at their own situation to
make sure they're maximizing their own before they help take
care of Junior, because they're not going to be able
to borrow for their retirement. Junior has longer to save.
Speaker 1 (26:02):
Yeah, and so then you did talk about, you know,
there are limitations, how do you ensure that you're not
exceeding those contributions.
Speaker 6 (26:12):
So there's limits, you know, overall set by law for
how much you can put in. But then when we
talk about say, excess contributions that could be to a
wroth IRA those income limitations, if you exceed those, you
cannot contribute to a wroth at all, okay, Whereas on
a traditional you know, you can still contribute to its
(26:33):
whether or not you can deduct it. So if you
have an excess contribution, there is a six percent excise
tax penalty if you will, that applies every year that
you leave it in the IRA until you withdraw it
or can otherwise contribute it in a future year.
Speaker 1 (26:50):
You know, here is exactly why it is helpful to
have a CPA, because how can an individual understand all
these rules on their own when you have your own
full time job doing all of that. So all of
this information is so helpful, and it's something as a
normal citizen, I don't have all of that, So I
(27:13):
would imagine the majority of people out there can't know
all of that either, and so having an accountant who
can walk you through that is definitely something that you
all probably need to do or at some point we'll.
Speaker 6 (27:26):
Want to do.
Speaker 1 (27:27):
Now, you talked a little bit about the differences in
a wroth are ira and a traditional ira. What are
some of the additional things that are different about them.
Speaker 6 (27:38):
So for a wroth ira, basically, you pay the tax
now because you're going to contribute the money, but you're
not going to get a deduction for it. But as
long as you meet the rules, which is you wait
until age fifty nine and a half to pull anything out,
and you've had a wroth ira for a minimum of
five years, then all of the money you pull out
(28:00):
is completely tax free. So you put in say five
thousand dollars this year, and east the next few years
you put in a total of fifty thousand, it grows
to two hundred and fifty thousand. That two hundred and
fifty thousand when you pull it out, is completely tax free.
That doesn't happen to the tax law very often. Whereas
if you do a traditional ira, it may or may
(28:22):
not be deductible depending upon your income, depending upon whether
or not you're covered by an employer plan. Those are
different income limitations. So when you put it in, it
may be deductible, and so you save the tax. Now.
The flip side is when you pull it out ten
twenty fifty years from now, you're going to be tax
(28:42):
on every bit of it that you pull out.
Speaker 1 (28:45):
Okay, so let's talk about how who a wrath is
valuable for.
Speaker 3 (28:52):
Who is that going to be valuable for.
Speaker 6 (28:54):
So that's going to be people especially. I mean, it
can work for anybody, but for anybody that's in a
very low or tax bracket or pays no tax. Now,
those are the ones especially that it's going to make
a difference for Later. That's going to be teenagers, college students,
probably people in early careers, maybe retirees with earned income.
(29:17):
It's you know a little bit, Why do a traditional
IRA now to get a deduction that's going to save
you little or no tax when perhaps for the same
cost you can put it in a wrath and save
all the tax later. In other words, don't get a
deduction at lower no tax and pay tax later when
(29:38):
you're presumably in a much higher tax bracket.
Speaker 3 (29:41):
Yeah, that makes sense.
Speaker 1 (29:42):
So what are considerations that you would say for investing
the funds in an ir ray? What should we be
thinking about on that?
Speaker 6 (29:52):
So part of it is, you know, you have to
decide with any investment, you have to decide what your
time horizon is, what your objectives are, and what's your
risk tolerance. So you know, on a time horizon, it's
an IRA, so by definition it's for retirement. That's going
to be long term money, so you can probably invest
it a little bit more aggressively for objectives. You know,
(30:14):
you have to decide what your comfort level for thing is.
You know, when you're twenty years old, it's going to
be a lot more geared towards growth. If you're in
your latter years, it may be more towards income. But
even if you're you know, getting close to retirement age,
you have to remember it, Yes, it's a retirement account
and you may be tapping some of that in two
(30:35):
or five years, maybe when you get to retirement, but
retirement doesn't end in two or five years. It's going
to be you know, the rest of your life, so
it may be that some of that still really long
term money. You know, you retire say at sixty five,
you know, for somebody say that has a thirty year
life expectancy, Well, some of that money is not needed
(30:57):
for twenty or thirty years yet, So you know, you
look at that, but you also have to look at
risk tolerance. So for some people, they're not going to
worry too much if the market goes down. You know,
what's their threshold for feeling pain? You know, if if
I see my investment go down at all, and that
really bothers me, well, you know, you probably should have
(31:19):
limited exposure to stocks because they're more volatile. So then
you're going to be on the fixed income side, but
that generally is going to have lower returns. So you know,
it's not unusual to have market pullbacks or corrections where
it goes down two or five percent, or you know,
over long term, even twenty or fifty percent. You know,
(31:40):
for a period of time. But if it's going to
go down five percent, you put in one thousand dollars
and it's now worth nine hundred and fifty dollars. If
you're gonna lose sleep over that, and then you probably
don't really belong much in the stock market. So you
have to kind of figure those things out before you
can actually make the investments.
Speaker 1 (31:58):
And that's why sitting down in talking to a professional
who can kind of guide you through what works for you,
what are your needs. We're going to talk more about
this when we come back with Michael Keefer. This is
Dana Simmons with the Dana Simmons Show.
Speaker 3 (32:14):
Welcome Back.
Speaker 1 (32:15):
This is Dana Simmons and I am joined by Michael Keefer.
Michael Keefer is a CPA and he is the senior
vice president and market leader of the Southeast Texas market
for First Financial Trust. And Michael, we covered quite a
bit in our last segment. Can we maybe just summarize
(32:36):
that because that was a lot of great information and
if you were listening or if you didn't hear all
of it, this will be on the KLVII website where
you can go search for the podcast and get more information.
But Michael, give us another little summary about I raise.
Speaker 6 (32:51):
Certainly so for the iraise. You know you can still
do twenty twenty five contributions to April fifteenth. You want
to consider those before you consider for twenty twenty six Teenagers,
young people contribute. You know, you don't have to be
into workforce. You can still be a dependent mom or
dad or grandma, somebody can make the contribution to the
(33:11):
IRA for the person. A wroth IRA versus a traditional
IRA obviously is a big consideration. With the wrath, it's
basically pay the tax. Now with a traditional you're going
to pay the tax later because you probably deducted it now.
And then considerations for investing the funds in the IRA,
you have to look at your time horizon. Most of
(33:33):
it's probably long term, even if you're close to retirement
when you do it, your objective, whether or not it's
growth or income, and then of course risk tolerance, which
is different for each person.
Speaker 1 (33:44):
Yeah, yeah, and so as we talk about these things,
these are really things that you should be talking to
your tax advisor about right.
Speaker 6 (33:51):
Absolutely, and they're going to be the one in the
best position to help you decide what's appropriate for you.
They know your tax situation. You know, if you're just
talking to your friend or somebody else that doesn't really
know all the nuances of your tax situation, they can't
help you decide how to do that. You know, they
(34:12):
might be able to give you generalities, but you know,
we mentioned earlier there are specific income limitations for a
roth IRA. If your income goes over that, you can't
contribute to it at all. So you know, it might
be easy to say, well, I was able to do
it last year, but yeah, you were, but you forget
about that bonus or you forget about that stock sale
(34:33):
or the sale or your business, or that you have
oil royalties this year, or your wife went back to
work or any of those things that really changed your
taxable income and now you can't do it. So it's
dependent upon each year. Talk to your tax advisor, you know,
friends and family. And when I say talk to your
tax advisor, you know, keep in mind if you don't
(34:53):
think you have a tax advisor, you're not paying somebody
to prepare your tax return. That makes you your own
tax advice. So you know you have to be a
little bit careful of doing that.
Speaker 1 (35:02):
Yeah, Now all of this comes from a wealth and
knowledge from your being a CPA and working in the
public for a long time. But what you do now
is you work for First Financial Trust. So talk a
little bit about what you do and how you help
people today.
Speaker 6 (35:18):
Sure, so, a lot of what we do at First
Financial Trust, you know, we're affiliated with First Financial Bank,
We're under the same umbrella company. A lot of it's
just think of it as wealth management, you know, traditional
brokerage account I raise and you know, investing it for you,
you know, for one k's rollover. Somebody retires from the
(35:39):
city of Or County, one of the refineries they want
to roll it over. Most of what we do is
just general wealth management, but we're different in the sense
that we don't get a commission and we manage the
money for you. We're not calling you suggesting you buy
this stock and sell that stock. We figure out a
plan for you and then we implement it for you.
Speaker 1 (35:58):
Yeah, and you figure that out based on a conversation
that you have with the client, talking through what.
Speaker 3 (36:04):
Are their goals.
Speaker 6 (36:06):
Absolutely, we really want to get to know the client,
know more about them. You know, it's not a ten
minute process to come in and say, hey, I want
to do this. I want to get to know you,
more about you, how everything's going to play out for you.
And then I want to keep that conversation active, you know,
in the coming months and years, so we know about
changes and how we can help guide you.
Speaker 5 (36:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (36:25):
That well, That's what I love about First Financial is
that they cover the gamut of all things financial that
you may need to have or know about. If someone
wants to be able to contact you, Michael, what's the
best way for them to get a hold of you?
Speaker 6 (36:40):
So they can call me at my office and that
phone number is four zero nine six hundred sixty four
six zero.
Speaker 1 (36:48):
Yeah, and you are located at the Dollon branch. They're
in Beaumont, and so if anyone would like to make
an appointment and come sit down and visit with you.
Speaker 3 (36:58):
You are located right in the middle of the West End.
Speaker 6 (37:00):
Yes, but I'm also portable, so I can go to
meet you at one of the other branches. You know,
if you're in Lumberton, or you're in Orange or Mauriceville,
I can meet you at one of the branches there.
That's not a problem.
Speaker 1 (37:12):
That's great, Michael. It has been such a pleasure to
have you on the show and to learn. I learned
a lot today, so thank you so much. It has
been a great Saturday. I hope you are enjoying it
out there. We will see you next Saturday again at noon.
This is the Dana Simmons Show.
Well, hello everyone, glad you could join us this wonderful
Saturday morning. This is Dana Simmons and we are looking
forward to an incredible show today. I have some amazing
guests that you're not going to want to miss. Ayana Williams,
the program director, and Cynthia Montoto, the executive director for
King's Club. Er here, what is King's Club? You might say, Well,
(00:22):
guess what. They're going to give us a little bit
of insight into what they do and it is amazing,
So you're going to want to stay tuned for that.
Also with us is Michael Keeper. Michael Keeper is a CPA,
but he has retired from that. It is now the
senior vice president and market leader of the Southeast market
for First Financial Trust. So going to visit with Michael
(00:45):
about money things, I know you want to hear about that,
but before we do it, let's kind of chat a
little bit about the market. So where is the market.
What's going on? Well, in February of this month, we
have seen phone calls increase, properties are going under contract.
(01:05):
Even last week I had a house that had four
offers on one house. So the multiple offer situation has
come back into play. The buyers are coming out of
the woodwork with the interest rate drop, and so if
you are thinking about is now the time to put
your house on the market, let's chat. Give my office
a call at four nine eight six six eight three
(01:27):
two six and we can sit down with you and
see if now is the right time. Or go to
Dana Simmons real estate dot com and you can check
out your value. It's a fun little tool we have
that gives an AI value. But we can then also
come out and sit down and visit with you and
give you a more professional value. There's nothing like humans
(01:47):
to give you a more accurate view of what's going on.
As we get started this morning, I want you to
get to know our guests. They are some amazing people
with great stories, and I want you to know a
little bit about them. So Anna, you have an incredible
story in that you, uh not only were started in
(02:09):
the King's Club, but now you're a program director there.
Tell us a little bit about you and and how
you managed to move into that position.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
I grew up in both my born and aid. I
was in King's Club as I was seven. Then I
was struggling on my walk with the craze but King's
Club helped me with that, and of course we all fumble,
but as I grew older, I began to, you know,
(02:38):
be more developed in King's Club. So yeah, I'm not
here today, and like you, she's start working for it.
So I'm here today.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
So you've had people who are volunteers, mostly volunteers who
just really spoke into your life and were there for
you to help develop you. So we're gonna talk more
about what King's Club does and how it impacts our
younger people in our youth. And I love Aana that
you are a beautiful picture of that for us here today,
(03:11):
and I love your story and I love seeing all
that God has done in and through you. So looking
forward to hear.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
More about that.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
Also with us, we have Cynthia Monto Doo, who is
the newly yes, newly recent executive director for King's Club.
Speaker 3 (03:29):
Right, yes, now, this is a new position for you,
Yes it is.
Speaker 4 (03:33):
I come from a background I've always worked with teenage,
troubled teens and young adults and it is just my heartbeat.
That's something that God has placed on my heart. So
when I moved from Arkansas because I worked for Teen
Challenge there for about nine years God told me to
(03:53):
come to Texas and I was like, Texas, But.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
I don't sound so excited about that.
Speaker 5 (03:59):
I actually love it here.
Speaker 4 (04:02):
But it led me to King's Club and it's just
been an amazing journey and I'm growing in it as well.
Speaker 3 (04:11):
I love that. Well.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
I'm excited for everyone to hear more about what is
King's Club and what are some of the events that
you guys have coming up, And we'll talk about that
in our next segment, So you guys stay tuned for
that also with me Michael Keefer. Now, Michael, you've been
in south East Texas a while, since.
Speaker 6 (04:31):
I was a year and a half old.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
Yeah, that's a while.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
Yeah, and so you have not only lived here as
a child, but then married the love of your life
and then raised a daughter here.
Speaker 6 (04:43):
Absolutely. Yeah. So I definitely married up when I married
my wife, and so we have a beautiful daughter twenty
two going to Lamar for her master's degree in speech pathology.
And so I retired from public accounting last year after
thirty four and a half years CPA and maintaining that.
But now I'm the senior vice president and market leader
(05:05):
for Southeast Texas for First Financial Trust.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
Yeah, and so we'll talk more about what does that mean,
what is trust versus any other department that First Financial has,
because it's a completely separate entity. And so we'll talk
a little bit about how that can benefit someone and
what you may knowledge you may have that may help
others as they're listening today, even if they're not using
First Financial. You have some great tips for us today.
(05:32):
So when we come back, we're going to give you
a little bit of information about what is King's Club.
So don't go away. This is the Dana Simmons Show.
Welcome back. This is Dana Simmons and I have a
wonderful lineup of guests for you today. We are going
to visit with a program director and executive director of
(05:52):
King's Club. But let me just say I've known about
King's Club for a very long time. For those of
you in Southeast Texas who have known Angie boas she
and her husband Rick have been a part of our community.
Rick was a Beaumont Police officer for a very long time,
just actually retired a few months ago. They have given
their life for service unto the Lord, and Angie's heart
(06:17):
is just amazing and she is the one who actually
began King's Club out of a heart of seeing the
need for children. So let's talk a little bit about
how that got started.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
Well, we started and I think of twenty fourteen, twenty fifteen.
It all started the Village apartment right there on Helbig Road.
It was kind of a rough area, so it placed
on its Angie hearts to come to us and I
was also living there myself, and that's how I began
(06:55):
to start King's Club.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
Her Plymouth Village was a housing area that was really
a lower income housing area with people with pretty significant
needs there. And so Angie recognized the need to reach
out to that segment of our community for because she
had a heart for you guys.
Speaker 3 (07:20):
And so she.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
Started there at Plymouth Village. I think she started a
women's Bible studies and then also what she called informed
eventually into King's Club. Right, So that was for the children.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
Yeah, I think what happened was she was a teacher
and some of our kids from our complex. She realized
that like they were like living in a rough environment
and you know, we need Jesus. So it just placed
on her heart to you know, maybe she just thought something.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
You know, how one person saw need and said, hey,
I'm going to step out and make a difference in
that and just how much this organization has grown. And
so she has just now really after ten fifteen years,
decided that she needs to step away from that because
(08:14):
she's going to be caring for her dad who is
needing assistants. And so in the interim, Cynthia, you have
stepped up to that executive director position, and talk a
little bit about that side of King's Club, what you
do and what the organization looks like.
Speaker 3 (08:32):
Where do you meet now?
Speaker 1 (08:33):
I know it started Plymouth Village, that's kind of changed
a little bit, but talk a little bit about what
that looks like today.
Speaker 4 (08:40):
So we meet at is that R. C. Miller Library.
They are so sweet. They give us the room every Thursday.
So we have right now what we call an after
school program, and so the kids come in after school,
we do their help them with their homework, and then
we do a Bible study with them and then we
(09:02):
have some kind of activity. But more importantly, these kids
do not some of them don't have a safe place.
So it's a safe place with us and we can
love on them. They come from broken homes, they have parents,
maybe in prison or they're in foster care, and so
we want to empower them to succeed. We're not giving
(09:26):
them things, but we're empowering them. We've had kids that
have graduated and then went on and got a degree
in welding, this one young man. And so it's so
good to see how this program helps and helps these
kids grow.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
I know that's Angie's heart, not a hand out, a
hand up, Yes, to empower them to be something better
and greater than the situation they're currently in. Yes, Now
that requires a lot, and this has grown into a
pretty big organization as far as from where it started.
Speaker 3 (10:02):
To it is now. It is growing.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
But in order for it to continue to grow and
meet the needs, you have needs and so some of
those needs are volunteers. And then also we can talk
about funding. But let's talk a little bit about your
volunteers first.
Speaker 4 (10:18):
We have some precious volunteers that are really really faithful.
Speaker 5 (10:22):
How long have they been Most of them been been.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
With us, well, Miss Maya has been with us for
a long time. Miss Lane has actually all volunteer has
been with this for a long time. We have some
new ones. They're amazing as well, and.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
Their heart's just get attached, don't they. Yeah, you know
those kids, you see the need and you want to help,
and then your heart gets attached to them.
Speaker 3 (10:47):
There are a couple of those people that you're talking about.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
Miss Maria has been in a Bible study that I
do BSF. That's how I first met her for a
very long time. And then I know Monica is in
my small group, Monica Huber and she's one of them.
And then Miss Betty, Yeah, Miss Betty. Miss Betty has
been seventy I think Miss Many seventy five years old
and you would never know it because she loves people.
(11:14):
She's just incredible. So you're the message right here is
you're never too old. That's right to be able, to
be used and able. So do you still need volunteers?
Is that a need that you have?
Speaker 5 (11:29):
Yes, we do.
Speaker 4 (11:30):
We still need people that would come in in love
on these kids and help them with their homework. We're
having a summer program coming up and that's going to
be that's going to be the busiest time. That's when
we see about fifty to seventy five kids and so
we do two days with them when we have the
(11:51):
activities that we do at the church and then we
take them out on field trips.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
So which church we need a First Baptist and we
also have jail tee, which that's the way they go
on the field chips.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
Okay, so you meet at First Baptist church so that
you have that whole field out there and activities. There's
not associated with First Baptists. Y'all just are able to
utilize their facility because they've opened their doors.
Speaker 5 (12:17):
Yea, y they're such a blessing.
Speaker 1 (12:18):
Yes, So let's talk about if someone's thinking, you know,
I might be interested in being a you know, a volunteer,
what kind of time commitment is that and what does
it require?
Speaker 4 (12:30):
Well, the after school program is from three thirty to
five thirty, and we would have to we would of
course meet with them and kind of train them in
what we do and how we operate and see if
they're a good fit. And then the summer program we
need leaders you know, we need leadership. We have so
(12:52):
many different classes, like there's a music class, a dance class,
a craft class, and then we go outdoors it's sports.
Speaker 5 (13:01):
So there's a big need there.
Speaker 3 (13:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (13:03):
Okay, So if someone's interested, how do they connect with you?
Guys to find out more.
Speaker 4 (13:08):
They can go there on our Facebook page and just
private message me and we will get right with them.
And it's called the King's Club King's Club Facebook gamet okay,
so it's not the just King's Club, just Kings Club. Yes,
King's Club.
Speaker 3 (13:22):
Okay. Great.
Speaker 1 (13:23):
So there is your opportunity for you to if you're
looking for something to get involved in. This is an
incredible place to do that. So that is the people
aspect of it. But it also requires funding in order
to do that. So let's talk a little bit about
how do you guys raise the funds needed to be
able to support this program.
Speaker 4 (13:44):
Well, we did, Bless Angie's heart, she did the grants
for me this year because I'm learning on those, but.
Speaker 5 (13:53):
We do get grants.
Speaker 4 (13:55):
We also we have an upcoming event on the twenty first,
which is going to be kind of a it's a
big fundraiser. It's going to be outside. We're going to
have popcorn, snow cone machine, you get to throw pie
in Pastor David's face.
Speaker 5 (14:11):
He volunteered for that.
Speaker 1 (14:13):
So it's March twenty first. Where is this going to
be held.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
It's in the parking of Coals across the sheet from Walmart.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
Okay, so in the parking lot of Coals across from
Walmart Okay. And then what are the some of the
events that are going to be happening there and what
is the time for this event?
Speaker 4 (14:33):
We hoped, Well, we know we'll be running at ten
and then we will probably shut down around five or
five thirty.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
So an all day event, yes, okay.
Speaker 4 (14:45):
We're going to have baskets and all kinds of stuff
there for a silent auction, so you can come in
and buy tickets and you can win something nice. I
want to give a shout out to Dana she doing
a basket for us. Text Joy has donated some of
their spices and stuff and Louisiana Fish my products. Yes,
(15:11):
so it's starting to come in.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
So just now working on sponsorships and on baskets. So
if someone is listening and they're they're thinking, you know,
I'd love to participate. There are a couple of ways
you can do that. You can provide a basket for
the live auction, or if you just want to make
a donation, you can do that as well as that.
Would they go on to the Facebook page to do
(15:34):
that or how would they.
Speaker 4 (15:35):
Do yes, they can go on the Facebook page and
there's a code on there, and then there's also like
an address they can mel it to or a lot
of people use their use their phones and now also.
Speaker 1 (15:49):
Yeah, well I'll tell you the things that I've seen
are incredible. I love going to your Facebook page and
seeing the children and how excited they are, and seeing
the volunteers sitting there doing homework with them. When these
kids don't have anyone at home to help them with that,
that's right, How do we expect them to make it
(16:10):
through school and then be a productive human? You know,
it's very challenging when they're young and they need help.
Homework today is not easy. So having someone to sit there,
I mean just that basic need of sitting there and
just assisting. And you know, I would say, don't worry
that you're not you can't handle it because some of
(16:31):
that math. Let me just say for some people challenging.
Speaker 3 (16:36):
But so, what are some.
Speaker 1 (16:38):
Other ways that people can get involved or what other
information do you think is really important for us to
make sure we get out here today?
Speaker 4 (16:48):
Well, we we are starting to grow. So the funding
if they want to partner with us, we have partners
that give one hundred dollars a month or if they
want to come and volunteer with us. That's our biggest
need right now because there is such a need with
these kids out there. I'm telling you, I hope I
(17:08):
don't cry. They need us and they need Jesus and
they need for us to be able to love on them.
And that's the biggest thing because some of them just
they don't even know, like the parents are so checked out.
Speaker 5 (17:23):
They could be.
Speaker 4 (17:24):
Using drugs and it's just a wide variety of things
that they do. But they need us, and in order
to do this, we need to have a flow of
income coming in.
Speaker 6 (17:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:36):
Yeah, it's very interesting that we're talking about this. Just
this last Sunday in our small group, we're talking about
faith and works. And now I'll show me your faith
and I'll show you and show me your works. They
go together their hand in hand. The Book of James
talks very clearly about your salvation through faith, but then
that produces works. So what are you doing, how are
(17:57):
you participating? How do you want to encourage you community?
Maybe this is the spot for you. For some people,
there's another place that they are ministering. But for some people,
they don't have a place to step up and help,
and this is a place that you can sit three
thirty to five thirty and help someone. So I appreciate
you guys coming and sharing. Any last words before we
(18:19):
close this segment.
Speaker 4 (18:21):
Well, I do believe Angie. I just want to say
that she is so into community and so that's one
of the things. You know, we have missionaries that are
called to the mission field, but we need to really
look at our communities now and help.
Speaker 5 (18:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
Well, you know, Angie was a teacher and Rick was
a police officer, so they were on the front lines
every day seeing what was going on and what is
going on in our city. And then they made a difference,
decided to say instead of just saying, oh, it's terrible,
look what's going on, what can I do to change
the current situation. And what a gift that she started
(19:01):
this organization and what a gift that you guys are
continuing it. So thank you so much for all that
you do for the children here in Beaumont. Well, when
we come back, we will be visiting with We will
be visiting Michael Keefer. Michael, my brain went completely blank.
It's got soo excited about King's Club. It's like, who
(19:22):
am I talking to next? When we come back, We'll
be visiting with Michael Keefer. Don't go away. This is
the Dana Simmons Show.
Speaker 3 (19:29):
Welcome back. This is Dana.
Speaker 1 (19:30):
Simmons and I was joined by Anna Williams and Cynthia
Montoto with a wonderful organization that is really helping kids
across Southeast Texas, King's Club. So if you want more
information about King's Club, you can go to their Facebook
page and you can see some beautiful pictures of amazing
(19:50):
children and wonderful volunteers who are making a difference in
the lives of children here in Southeast Texas. Also with
me today. I'm super excited did to have Michael Keefer
back with us and Michael, welcome back to the show.
Speaker 6 (20:05):
Thanks, it's great to be here. Thanks for having so.
Speaker 1 (20:08):
Tell us again, remind me how long were you out
there in the public as a CPA.
Speaker 6 (20:14):
So I was in public accounting for thirty four and
a half years, retired at the end of June, and
then started over at First Financial Trust. I'm keeping my
CPA license, so I'm still a CPA.
Speaker 3 (20:24):
That's amazing.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
Well, we are so excited to have you with us,
and we said we were going to talk a little
bit about money. And you said, in one of the
organizations you were a part of, they used to call
you Michael Money.
Speaker 3 (20:37):
Michael Honey, Michael.
Speaker 6 (20:38):
When I was a leadership bowman. Yeah, that was my
leadership name.
Speaker 1 (20:41):
You had a little nickname. So we're going to talk
money today, Michael. And so one of the things I
thought we would start with is contributing to an IRA.
You know, for some people, how to do that, what
to do all of those things, it's just like they
have no idea where to even start. So give us
(21:01):
a little education on that.
Speaker 6 (21:03):
Sure. So for an IRA, you know, first you have
to decide. You know, eventually I'm going to retire. I
need to put money away, and how am I going
to do that? You know, you may or may not
have a four to one K through work. You know,
that's that's a retirement plan through an employer. But in
addition to that, or if you don't have that, you
can still contribute to an IRA to get started. And
(21:24):
the sooner you get started, you know, the math is
going to be in your favor. It makes all the
difference in the world. To start early, it's not too late.
You know, if you're forty or fifty or sixty two
and you haven't started, anything's better than nothing. But if
you can start in your twenties, actually even in your teams,
and we'll talk about that, they just give you a
better shot of having a comfortable retirement.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
Yeah, So talk a little bit about twenty twenty five contributions.
Speaker 6 (21:50):
So it's not too late. For most tax things, you
have to do them by the end of the year.
For an IRA, you can actually contribute still for twenty
twenty five. You have until April fifteenth, which is the
normal filing deadline for your tax return. Now, of course
most people know you can extend your tax return out
to October. That does not extend the time to contribute
(22:13):
to an IRA. So you have until April fifteenth to
do that.
Speaker 1 (22:17):
Now, are there income limitations on that?
Speaker 6 (22:19):
There are, and so part of it depends on whether
or not you're covered by an employer plan. So what
I would always tell people you need to work this
in conjunction with finalizing your tax return. If you're in
that range where you know you've had a limitation before,
you might have one this year, then you really want
to kind of see where everything falls out this year,
(22:41):
because it depends on kind of IRA you're doing, and
we'll talk about that. You may or may not be
able to contribute to a roth ira at all, or
if it's to a traditional ira, if your incomes too high,
you can't deduct it, and so you probably want to
know that before you finalize the tax return.
Speaker 1 (22:59):
Absolutely, and so really now's probably the best time to
go ahead and start working on your twenty twenty six
contributions as well.
Speaker 6 (23:07):
Right, absolutely, And of course you want to do that
after you've maxed out whatever you're going to do for
twenty twenty five. Okay, you know, so if you're thinking
about doing one for at all at this time of year,
if you've not done one for twenty five, I'd recommend
doing that first, because come April fifteenth, you cannot do
one for twenty twenty five, but you still have a
(23:29):
year after that to do for twenty twenty six. So
go ahead and do for twenty five while the windows open,
assuming that you know you're within the income limitations.
Speaker 1 (23:38):
Yeah, now you say anyone should should be doing this,
and so are you talking about you know, kids as well?
Talk a little bit about what how that impacts a
child or a student.
Speaker 6 (23:50):
Yeah, so you know, we all know some people have
teenagers that may be earning money from a part time
job or babysitting or law and work that counts as
earned income. You have to have earned income to contribute
to an IRA. And when we talk about earned income,
we're not saying my savings account earned some interest. No,
(24:10):
we're talking about from work that you actually do, so
there's no age limitation on it. So you know, it
could be a fourteen year old getting babysitting money, or
you know, a twenty year old in college with a
part time job or something. Those count. That income counts
towards the income limitation because at that age, when you
(24:31):
have low income, the limitation is how much you earned.
So for older people, the income limitation is probably you
can only make so much and if you go over
that then you can't contribute or you can't deduct it.
On the lower end, you can only contribute up to
what you earned. So if your total babysitting, lawnmowing, part
(24:54):
time job is twelve hundred dollars, that's the maximum you
can put into the IRA.
Speaker 1 (24:58):
And so estion for me is can parents and grandparents
participate in that for them or with.
Speaker 6 (25:05):
Them absolutely, so you know, the money doesn't have to
come from the person contributing to the IRA, so it
can be gifted by somebody else Mom and dad, grandma, aunt, uncle, friend, brother, whoever.
Because the reality is trying to get somebody that you
know does babysitting or you know, has that part time job.
They earn two thousand dollars, so the contribution limit to
(25:28):
their IRA is two thousand dollars. It's hard to say,
you know what, Junior, I think you need to be
saving all of that for retirement. So, depending upon family situations,
mom and dad may contribute to it. They may do
a match you put in, you know, a'll match dollar
for dollar, fifty cents on a dollar whatever to kind
of encourage them to do that. But of course the
(25:50):
parents probably need to look at their own situation to
make sure they're maximizing their own before they help take
care of Junior, because they're not going to be able
to borrow for their retirement. Junior has longer to save.
Speaker 1 (26:02):
Yeah, and so then you did talk about, you know,
there are limitations, how do you ensure that you're not
exceeding those contributions.
Speaker 6 (26:12):
So there's limits, you know, overall set by law for
how much you can put in. But then when we
talk about say, excess contributions that could be to a
wroth IRA those income limitations, if you exceed those, you
cannot contribute to a wroth at all, okay, Whereas on
a traditional you know, you can still contribute to its
(26:33):
whether or not you can deduct it. So if you
have an excess contribution, there is a six percent excise
tax penalty if you will, that applies every year that
you leave it in the IRA until you withdraw it
or can otherwise contribute it in a future year.
Speaker 1 (26:50):
You know, here is exactly why it is helpful to
have a CPA, because how can an individual understand all
these rules on their own when you have your own
full time job doing all of that. So all of
this information is so helpful, and it's something as a
normal citizen, I don't have all of that, So I
(27:13):
would imagine the majority of people out there can't know
all of that either, and so having an accountant who
can walk you through that is definitely something that you
all probably need to do or at some point we'll.
Speaker 6 (27:26):
Want to do.
Speaker 1 (27:27):
Now, you talked a little bit about the differences in
a wroth are ira and a traditional ira. What are
some of the additional things that are different about them.
Speaker 6 (27:38):
So for a wroth ira, basically, you pay the tax
now because you're going to contribute the money, but you're
not going to get a deduction for it. But as
long as you meet the rules, which is you wait
until age fifty nine and a half to pull anything out,
and you've had a wroth ira for a minimum of
five years, then all of the money you pull out
(28:00):
is completely tax free. So you put in say five
thousand dollars this year, and east the next few years
you put in a total of fifty thousand, it grows
to two hundred and fifty thousand. That two hundred and
fifty thousand when you pull it out, is completely tax free.
That doesn't happen to the tax law very often. Whereas
if you do a traditional ira, it may or may
(28:22):
not be deductible depending upon your income, depending upon whether
or not you're covered by an employer plan. Those are
different income limitations. So when you put it in, it
may be deductible, and so you save the tax. Now.
The flip side is when you pull it out ten
twenty fifty years from now, you're going to be tax
(28:42):
on every bit of it that you pull out.
Speaker 1 (28:45):
Okay, so let's talk about how who a wrath is
valuable for.
Speaker 3 (28:52):
Who is that going to be valuable for.
Speaker 6 (28:54):
So that's going to be people especially. I mean, it
can work for anybody, but for anybody that's in a
very low or tax bracket or pays no tax. Now,
those are the ones especially that it's going to make
a difference for Later. That's going to be teenagers, college students,
probably people in early careers, maybe retirees with earned income.
(29:17):
It's you know a little bit, Why do a traditional
IRA now to get a deduction that's going to save
you little or no tax when perhaps for the same
cost you can put it in a wrath and save
all the tax later. In other words, don't get a
deduction at lower no tax and pay tax later when
(29:38):
you're presumably in a much higher tax bracket.
Speaker 3 (29:41):
Yeah, that makes sense.
Speaker 1 (29:42):
So what are considerations that you would say for investing
the funds in an ir ray? What should we be
thinking about on that?
Speaker 6 (29:52):
So part of it is, you know, you have to
decide with any investment, you have to decide what your
time horizon is, what your objectives are, and what's your
risk tolerance. So you know, on a time horizon, it's
an IRA, so by definition it's for retirement. That's going
to be long term money, so you can probably invest
it a little bit more aggressively for objectives. You know,
(30:14):
you have to decide what your comfort level for thing is.
You know, when you're twenty years old, it's going to
be a lot more geared towards growth. If you're in
your latter years, it may be more towards income. But
even if you're you know, getting close to retirement age,
you have to remember it, Yes, it's a retirement account
and you may be tapping some of that in two
(30:35):
or five years, maybe when you get to retirement, but
retirement doesn't end in two or five years. It's going
to be you know, the rest of your life, so
it may be that some of that still really long
term money. You know, you retire say at sixty five,
you know, for somebody say that has a thirty year
life expectancy, Well, some of that money is not needed
(30:57):
for twenty or thirty years yet, So you know, you
look at that, but you also have to look at
risk tolerance. So for some people, they're not going to
worry too much if the market goes down. You know,
what's their threshold for feeling pain? You know, if if
I see my investment go down at all, and that
really bothers me, well, you know, you probably should have
(31:19):
limited exposure to stocks because they're more volatile. So then
you're going to be on the fixed income side, but
that generally is going to have lower returns. So you know,
it's not unusual to have market pullbacks or corrections where
it goes down two or five percent, or you know,
over long term, even twenty or fifty percent. You know,
(31:40):
for a period of time. But if it's going to
go down five percent, you put in one thousand dollars
and it's now worth nine hundred and fifty dollars. If
you're gonna lose sleep over that, and then you probably
don't really belong much in the stock market. So you
have to kind of figure those things out before you
can actually make the investments.
Speaker 1 (31:58):
And that's why sitting down in talking to a professional
who can kind of guide you through what works for you,
what are your needs. We're going to talk more about
this when we come back with Michael Keefer. This is
Dana Simmons with the Dana Simmons Show.
Speaker 3 (32:14):
Welcome Back.
Speaker 1 (32:15):
This is Dana Simmons and I am joined by Michael Keefer.
Michael Keefer is a CPA and he is the senior
vice president and market leader of the Southeast Texas market
for First Financial Trust. And Michael, we covered quite a
bit in our last segment. Can we maybe just summarize
(32:36):
that because that was a lot of great information and
if you were listening or if you didn't hear all
of it, this will be on the KLVII website where
you can go search for the podcast and get more information.
But Michael, give us another little summary about I raise.
Speaker 6 (32:51):
Certainly so for the iraise. You know you can still
do twenty twenty five contributions to April fifteenth. You want
to consider those before you consider for twenty twenty six Teenagers,
young people contribute. You know, you don't have to be
into workforce. You can still be a dependent mom or
dad or grandma, somebody can make the contribution to the
(33:11):
IRA for the person. A wroth IRA versus a traditional
IRA obviously is a big consideration. With the wrath, it's
basically pay the tax. Now with a traditional you're going
to pay the tax later because you probably deducted it now.
And then considerations for investing the funds in the IRA,
you have to look at your time horizon. Most of
(33:33):
it's probably long term, even if you're close to retirement
when you do it, your objective, whether or not it's
growth or income, and then of course risk tolerance, which
is different for each person.
Speaker 1 (33:44):
Yeah, yeah, and so as we talk about these things,
these are really things that you should be talking to
your tax advisor about right.
Speaker 6 (33:51):
Absolutely, and they're going to be the one in the
best position to help you decide what's appropriate for you.
They know your tax situation. You know, if you're just
talking to your friend or somebody else that doesn't really
know all the nuances of your tax situation, they can't
help you decide how to do that. You know, they
(34:12):
might be able to give you generalities, but you know,
we mentioned earlier there are specific income limitations for a
roth IRA. If your income goes over that, you can't
contribute to it at all. So you know, it might
be easy to say, well, I was able to do
it last year, but yeah, you were, but you forget
about that bonus or you forget about that stock sale
(34:33):
or the sale or your business, or that you have
oil royalties this year, or your wife went back to
work or any of those things that really changed your
taxable income and now you can't do it. So it's
dependent upon each year. Talk to your tax advisor, you know,
friends and family. And when I say talk to your
tax advisor, you know, keep in mind if you don't
(34:53):
think you have a tax advisor, you're not paying somebody
to prepare your tax return. That makes you your own
tax advice. So you know you have to be a
little bit careful of doing that.
Speaker 1 (35:02):
Yeah, Now all of this comes from a wealth and
knowledge from your being a CPA and working in the
public for a long time. But what you do now
is you work for First Financial Trust. So talk a
little bit about what you do and how you help
people today.
Speaker 6 (35:18):
Sure, so, a lot of what we do at First
Financial Trust, you know, we're affiliated with First Financial Bank,
We're under the same umbrella company. A lot of it's
just think of it as wealth management, you know, traditional
brokerage account I raise and you know, investing it for you,
you know, for one k's rollover. Somebody retires from the
(35:39):
city of Or County, one of the refineries they want
to roll it over. Most of what we do is
just general wealth management, but we're different in the sense
that we don't get a commission and we manage the
money for you. We're not calling you suggesting you buy
this stock and sell that stock. We figure out a
plan for you and then we implement it for you.
Speaker 1 (35:58):
Yeah, and you figure that out based on a conversation
that you have with the client, talking through what.
Speaker 3 (36:04):
Are their goals.
Speaker 6 (36:06):
Absolutely, we really want to get to know the client,
know more about them. You know, it's not a ten
minute process to come in and say, hey, I want
to do this. I want to get to know you,
more about you, how everything's going to play out for you.
And then I want to keep that conversation active, you know,
in the coming months and years, so we know about
changes and how we can help guide you.
Speaker 5 (36:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (36:25):
That well, That's what I love about First Financial is
that they cover the gamut of all things financial that
you may need to have or know about. If someone
wants to be able to contact you, Michael, what's the
best way for them to get a hold of you?
Speaker 6 (36:40):
So they can call me at my office and that
phone number is four zero nine six hundred sixty four
six zero.
Speaker 1 (36:48):
Yeah, and you are located at the Dollon branch. They're
in Beaumont, and so if anyone would like to make
an appointment and come sit down and visit with you.
Speaker 3 (36:58):
You are located right in the middle of the West End.
Speaker 6 (37:00):
Yes, but I'm also portable, so I can go to
meet you at one of the other branches. You know,
if you're in Lumberton, or you're in Orange or Mauriceville,
I can meet you at one of the branches there.
That's not a problem.
Speaker 1 (37:12):
That's great, Michael. It has been such a pleasure to
have you on the show and to learn. I learned
a lot today, so thank you so much. It has
been a great Saturday. I hope you are enjoying it
out there. We will see you next Saturday again at noon.
This is the Dana Simmons Show.
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