The Pocket Change Podcast is presented by Leaders Credit Union. To learn more about Leaders, visit leaderscu.com.
Shea:
Hey, this is Shea!
Carrie:
And this is Carrie!
Shea:
Welcome to the Pocket Change Podcast!
Carrie:
Where you'll learn better ways to spend, save, and invest and take control of your financial journey. So, Shea, today we've got one of our very own who's going to share with us his outlook on financial saving tips and just, you know, things that we should do to start off when you're young, you know.
Shea:
Yeah. He's a younger guy. And so, you know, he's had some experience and now he works in financial services. So, just being able to share those tips with others who are listening, whether it's parents or even, teenagers or young adults, you know, being able to help them establish themselves early on their financial journey is important.
Carrie:
So, we're excited to welcome our guest, Riley Deakins. He's one of our financial champions here at Leaders. Welcome to Pocket Change!
Riley Deakins:
Thank you for having me.
Carrie
Yeah! So, before we get started on all of the things about money, tell us a little bit about your journey and how you ended up working in financial services here at Leaders.
Riley Deakins:
Yeah. So, I grew up in West Tennessee, so this has always really been home for me. But, you know, grew up in Jackson primarily. We moved to Gibson County, you know, later on. And that's where I ended up graduating high school from. College background, I thought I was going to go into education. I ended up going to, a smaller private Christian university called Mississippi College, so I’m down in central Mississippi. And didn't know I needed to stretch my legs until I did it. But it was definitely beneficial for me, just to kind of move away and come back. It's definitely done a lot for me in appreciating where I'm from. Because down there is great and awesome. I've also lived in the Memphis area and they are all, you know, their own individual kind of archetypes of cities. But, there's just something sweet about the size of Jackson and the people here, and kind of the pace of life. So that's definitely been beneficial. But when I was down there, I ended up studying in communications, with a concentration in public relations. And, you know, you would think, working in financial services, I don't use that every single day.
But I do. So, definitely, you know, outside in, if I, you know, had done business or done something else. I thought I was going be a crisis manager with my degree, so going into working here and, just the different things I see on a daily basis, not everything we see is perfect. So, definitely having that kind of problem solving background, that relational background, and how to you, you know, connect with people. You know, there's a lot of times where, I'm dealing with somebody, it's difficult, but I never want them to walk out of my office and think, “Oh, I can't come back to him.” So, I definitely think that my education in communications and in public relations has really helped with that. So, definitely, that's just kind of a little glimpse of my background, how I ended up getting to Leaders, is kind of interesting. Graduated during Covid, so, job market for what I was going into was really difficult to get into; not an easy track. So, I ended up working for Chick-Fil-A. I had been working for them in their nonprofit sector in college. So, I ended up, you know, going and working for a franchisee, like a lot of my friends did whenever they kind of didn't know what to do. And, I learned a lot about customer service, speed of service to you, and different things like that that allowed me to come in work as a teller, or a universal banker, as we call it. And it really allowed me to step in and not, you know, work from scratch. Which, you know, we do a lot, and people thrive in doing that - coming with no experience in financial services. But I came in, did that. And, I've really enjoyed, you know, just learning and growing over the last, three plus years.
Shea:
And so, you started, you know, pretty young in your career here. And how did that impact how you handled your finances early on?
Riley Deakins:
Yeah. So, for younger people that are wanting to get into financial services, or in, you know, any kind of, you know, business space, it's really good just to talk to people and listen to them because they're not just people that have gone through it themselves, they’re walking with other people through it on a daily basis. So, one thing that I've learned, is just to really take advice from people that you trust. That's one of the things I did. One of the most eye-opening things, I actually went through our financial counselor certificate program. And it really opened my eyes to ways I needed to be more proactive about my money and how I was growing my credit because, at that time, all I had was a credit card with Leaders. That was the only thing I had, going into it, you know, I hadn't really had any kind of credit building, and I was, you know, 25 at the time. And just working here kind of allowed me to see the products and services that we offer our members that are really low risk for them to get into. So just, you know, different programs that we have, have allowed me to kind of learn more about ways to get my foot in the door and build my credit, even if I didn't do it at 18, I did it at 25.
Shea:
That's great.
Carrie:
So, for someone that's just graduating college or entering their first job, what would be your top financial tips for them?
Riley Deakins:
I would say if they're really looking to grow their credit or they don't already have it established, looking at secure lending options is really big. At Leaders, you know, we offer a secured credit card and a secured loan. Both are, you know, anywhere from $500 to $1000 for you to do. And all of them are ways that you can immediately have access to those funds.
Carrie:
Can you describe to our listeners what secured credit or secured loan means? Not everyone knows.
Riley Deakins:
Absolutely. So, secured credit is where you're putting up the funds yourself to establish the score, or to help raise the score if it's low. Secured credit card, it's a $500 or $1000 that you would put up for the life of the line of credit. You know, once we get it, you know, improved, we can take it off. But that amount is what establishes the balance. So it's either $500 or $1000 for the balance. Secured loan, you know, you can do it for larger amounts, but the minimum is $1,000 to do it. I think, you know, the easiest one I've done - because I've done it a lot with our members who are trying to grow their credit - if you do a $1,000 for 24 months, your payments are under $44 a month. And that's a really simple thing for you to do if, you know, you have nothing on your credit report, you're just trying to grow what you're doing, and really help you get your foot in the door. And a lot of people think, you know, “Well, if I put this money up, it's going nowhere.” Well, if you do the credit card for $500 or $1,000, you get that money back whenever the card, you know, gets closed, and we can take you on to an unsecured card. Or with the loan, for the secured loan, it allows you to immediately get that cash back in your pocket. I always like to use an auto loan as an example for it. You know, you come in, we work an auto loan for you. We have to pay the dealership for us to purchase that vehicle. And the title itself is the collateral involved. Well, with a secured loan, your money is the collateral. So that money's on hold for the life of the loan, while you're paying it off, and in that situation, you know, we give a check to the dealership for them to go get the vehicle that they've just done with us. With a secured loan, we have to give that cash back somewhere. So for me, I put up $1,000. We secured it. But when the loan funded, I got that thousand dollars back because we have to pay someone when we're doing a loan. So, it was a really low risk way for me to kind of have something that's an installment loan on my credit report that allowed me to kind of have diversity, on my, trade lines for what I was looking at for my credit.
Carrie:
That's a great example. So, thanks for sharing that.
Shea:
Yeah, that was the way I got started using credit, whether I was as knowledgeable as I am now or not. Well, at that time I wasn't. But being able to use a secured credit card was a way that I was able to establish credit history and credit score and making an on-time payment and having that reported. And so, those are good ways and, like I said, ways that aren't risky for a lender or the borrower to establish credit or rebuild credit if they need that assistance. So that's helpful. A part of that, you know, and a part of financial well-being is budgeting. And, you know, what's your approach when you're coaching people through that?
Riley Deakins:
So, definitely do what works best for you, but definitely have something, I think that if you're just, you know, spending blindly, that works for you but not everyone can afford to think like that.
Shea:
You wanna know where your money is going.
Riley Deakins:
Definitely. And I know that if you're starting out, kind of in this example that we're using, for me, I just have a notes section on my phone. That notes section, I put in, you know, when I get my deposit, it’s hitting my account, it may not necessarily have gone in yet. I know exactly what I'm getting paid. And then that's where I go through and do, like, my deductions. What am I having to pay this time around? What am I putting back into my savings? You know, what am I doing so I am paying my bills, and then what do I have left over? That's the last thing on there. So it kind of lets me know, like, “Hey, I need to tighten up, you know, for the next two weeks,” or, “Hey, like, I actually have a little bit more that I can spend or put back into savings than what I had previously.”
Shea:
Yeah. And you know, what you're saying is you're knowing what your income is, what your expenses are, you're listing it out. And that's a part of budgeting is knowing what's coming in and what's going out. And so that's important. Whether it's on a notes app, you write it down, you use a mobile app or something. I mean, as long as you're trying to track it and understand what's coming in, what's going out, that’s really the best way to do it.
Carrie:
Right. You mentioned using your notes app, which I think that's great too, because it's kind of like using the old school register, you know, like, yeah, wherever you do it. But do you have any other tools that you would recommend that you use?
Riley Deakins:
Yeah. So we actually have a budgeting function on our mobile app. My favorite thing to do is like whenever I have somebody coming in to, you know, open up a membership, is I kind of get them set up on that. That's just a part of the process when you're coming in. But I really tell them, like, hey, here are all the different things that you can do on here. This is not just to view your balances or transfer money. You know, you can connect other accounts on there. You can set up your travel notifications. But there's a variety of different things on there. Even our credit score tool that allows them to know kind of where they're at. All those different things on there really allow our members to get an idea of where they're at, or set up a budget on our budgeting tool, just so you know, they're not going in blind. And they also know that those are resources are 100% free to them as members of the credit union.
Shea:
It also has a cool feature where you'll do like debt payoff. Like if you connect debts that you maybe you have at Leaders or elsewhere, you know, you can simulate, you know, I'm going to put an extra $50 on this and it'll show me, oh, it's going to be paid off this many months early. And so that's cool that you can have that too on Money Management, which any listener or member can find in our mobile app or online banking.
Riley Deakins:
Yeah. And I even like our credit simulator. That's a really good one. So you can, you know, see if I'm doing a personal loan or a credit card or an auto loan, I can put in the amount that I'm looking to do for it. And it simulates what could possibly happen to my credit whenever I take that out. So kind of gives you an idea like, “Hey, I want to have, you know, I want to get a home. I want to do home loan.” What that'll do to your credit. Whenever you take on that debt.
Shea:
And then on the opposite side, how it will affect it if you're paying down debt or paying off of debt, too. Yeah. That's good. So outside of budgeting, what are some other things that have helped you save on your monthly expenses?
Riley Deakins:
I definitely think, just being really vigilant of like, what you're spending your money on has helped. I think, you know, when you're younger, conveniences are really something that you look forward to. You're like, “I am exhausted. I had, you know, just a crazy day…”
Shea:
And when you're older.
Carrie:
I was gonna say, yeah, I think the older I get, the more I look for those conveniences.
Riley Deakins:
Definitely. I mean, even, you know, growing up, like, if we had a crazy day, we're getting Mexican. Like, that was just kind of like, you know, just the go-to. But, I think, you know, if you do those earlier on and you're looking for those - I mean, there's nothing wrong with going in any makes it honestly, it's my favorite thing to do. We have tons of options here in Jackson.
Carrie:
It's true.
Riley Deakins:
But I think, you know, when you're looking at kind of the opportunities - I'm single. I'm in my 20s. So, one of the biggest things that's helped me is like limiting myself the number of times that I can, you know, get Chick-Fil-A when I'm by myself. Because, you know, it makes it a little bit harder because you're not like, “Oh, I can just swing through here.” It's like, “Oh, no. Like am I getting dinner with people? Like is this worth me kind of going out of my way to, you know, spend this extra money on something that I can possibly, you know, find a way to make something way less expensive that's really similar to it at home?” Definitely grocery shopping is a huge thing as well. One thing that my mom did growing up that I've absolutely carried into adulthood is shopping at multiple places for the best thing. Like knowing where to, you know, “If I buy this in bulk, am I going to use it at Sam's?” Like, you know, “If I go there and I get, you know, this huge thing of things will that expire before I'm actually through with it?” Or, you know, which places are the best places to get meat? Which are the best places to get produce? Knowing that you're getting the absolute best product at the best price is really huge. Because there's some places where their generic is fantastic. I think Kroger is one of them. Yeah, some of the products at Kroger that are like their premium generic are like just incredible. And I just think looking for those things and finding them and knowing like, “Hey, like, I may have gone to four different places to end up getting what I could have gotten all at once in, you know, a pick up at this place,” but you're allowing yourself, one, to have more options and, two, to save more money and get the best possible thing you can whenever you're deciding to, you know, stay at home and cook at home. And also, you know, looking at your subscriptions and seeing, you know, “Have I used this streaming service in like the last three months? Is it worth me paying you know, $6 to $12 for, if not more for, each month?” has been really helpful. One of the things my parents did growing up was like, if I had, you know, toys when I was really little, they're like, hey, have you used this, you know, in the last six months or in the last year? And typically, you know, if the answer wasn't that, it was like, “Hey, we need to do something with it. Because, you know, it's just taking up space. I think, you know, as a functioning adult, sometimes the things that we spend our money on take that same place. If this thing you know isn't being used, why am I paying money for it?” Each and every month. So really looking at kind of what you are actually using versus what you really want to keep, because, you know, for me, I mean, I use Peacock all the time, so I may need to unsubscribe whenever The Traitors isn’t on. But if you know, I'm really into an Apple show and it's going, you know, that's the time to stay subscribed. You know, so just really looking at kind of what you're spending your money on and if it's best to keep it.
Carrie:
That's true. I've heard a quote that says something about, you know, does it bring you joy or is it resourceful, or something like that? And if it doesn't, then maybe you need to let it go. So that's a good tip for that. So, you work here, Leaders, and you work with our members every day. So, could you share a story with us about how you've helped one of our members along their financial journey?
Riley Deakins:
Yeah, absolutely. So, one really big example that sticks out in my mind: I had a member who was looking to possibly do a debt consolidation loan. Was not looking to you know, use her home as collateral for it to do, kind of like a second mortgage or a home equity line of credit without a first mortgage. And, you know, I was just sitting down with her, looking at things. Based on our guidelines that we go off of, she didn't necessarily meet them, but, you know, she had excellent income, had a great home that she could use for it. So it was one of those ones where I kind of had to think outside the box on how we could do it. And we were able to cut her interest on her current debts by two and a half times what they were, because they were high interest debts, by doing that. And we were also able to give her enough money to also do home renovations with it. Altogether, her payments, monthly, were half what they were going to be.
Carrie:
That's amazing.
Riley Deakins:
So really just finding this opportunity to empower our members and seeing things that they may not necessarily see. You know, we have a lot of times where people will come into the South Highland branch and, you know - and this is in all of our branches even - where they will be looking for a product or service. And with us, you know, having the knowledge that we do and the things that we've learned through all the various trainings we do, we are able to serve our members beyond what they're actually needing, and finding those opportunities to meet them exactly where they're at.
Carrie:
So speaking of the South Highland branch that you work at, Riley, we just recently built a new branch there that we're very proud of. So, have you noticed an impact in the growth there since our new branch opened?
Riley Deakins:
Yeah, absolutely. I think what's really special about South Highland is, is it's still technically a part of Jackson because, you know, it's still incorporated into it. But we are the furthest point south, out of all of our branches here. And, if anyone else needs our services, that's located in further south, that's typically the branch that they come to because it's the closest. And since we've, you know, grown our square footage as much as we have, we really have seen just an exponential growth in people that are like, “No, it's time.” Like, you know, we are in a substantially bigger building, we have more staff and it's allowed us to really reach our members where they're at and just find those opportunities to further our relationship with the people out South. One of the biggest things that I've seen with it is that we really have people that are using their voices. I mean, a lot of our members aren't necessarily located in Jackson that go there. They're located in Pinson, in Henderson, or in Selmer or other parts of West Tennessee that's further going down that direction towards Mississippi. And I think every single one of them wants to have Leaders in their backyard, because they know that our brand is great and our people are good. And, that is definitely something that they're seeking at this time.
Carrie:
Yeah, we're very proud to be able to serve those members.
Riley Deakins:
For sure.
Shea:
Yeah. Coming to a backyard near you!
Carrie:
Yeah.
Shea:
Coming soon. So, you've shared a bunch of tips with us already. But we always like to ask, since this is a financial podcast, what is some of the best financial advice you've ever been given?
Riley Deakins:
I think it is starting small and growing big. That's the biggest thing. And it's, you know, not just in money. It's not just in, you know, the way that you save for retirement, which is one of the biggest, you know, most recent examples I've had. But it's, you know, learning habits. It's developing yourself. It's growing in your relationships with other people. Just starting small and growing big is way better than doing nothing and trying to do something. I think that, you know, when you take those little steps to do it, even if it's something that's hard, it makes it less painful. So definitely, you know, specifically with, you know, saving for retirement is a great example for young people. You know, my parents told me whenever I got on here – it was the first time I ever had a job that had a retirement plan. And they're like, you know, “Definitely do the match. That is the wisest thing. But if you put more in now, you won't think about how hard it is later on when you try to increase it.” You know, I have a little plan set up for how I increase the amount I'm saving for retirement each year. But, just knowing, like, early on, I had a larger number. So, it's making it way easier for me to budget because I'm not trying to fit a larger number in there on the percentage that's coming out.
Carrie:
Yeah, that's great advice. Well, we have one last question for you. Since this is the Pocket Change Podcast, if you were to find some extra change in your pocket, what would you spend it on?
Riley Deakins:
Easy answer is probably going to be Chick-Fil-A. I know that's probably a common one y'all get. But definitely also, you know, those Aldi steaks, they're grass-fed, they come in a two pack, so I know I could get multiple meals out of them. So those are probably the two that I would do if I had a little bit of pocket change.
Carrie:
Sounds great.
Shea:
Yeah, we’re coming to your house for grilling out. There we go.
Carrie:
All right. Well, thanks, Riley, for joining us today and sharing all the tips on, you know, smart ways to save money and to invest, and all the things that you do out south. And we appreciate you working out there.
Riley Deakins:
Awesome. Thank y’all for having me.