February 20, 2025 • 33 mins
Chris Hobart, founder of Hobart Wealth, joins Trent and Patrick on the "At Home with Roby" podcast. Hobart Wealth is a boutique wealth management firm dedicated to helping people make sound financial decisions at every stage of life. During the episode, Chris shares insights into his childhood, his journey to Charlotte, his time at UNC, and the bold move of taking out a second mortgage on his home to launch Hobart Wealth. Tune in to hear his story and approach to wealth management.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Good morning, Welcome to at Home with Roby. I'm Patrick
mcaac from Ruby Commercial in Services along with Trent Hasten
from the Ruby family of companies.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Trent, we are we are, we are your hosts.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
We you didn't say are your host.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
For all of our regular listeners for over eight nine years.
Now you need to say we are your hosts.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
I need to say we are your hosts.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Right, And it's not necessarily morning podcast as anytime twenty
four hours a day, seven days a week, three hundred
and sixty five in the year.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
Man, I was all teed up to make fun of you,
but you beat me to the punch and you are right,
so good whatever it is, it could be good. We
could say good day.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
We say good morning because when I was a kid.
I think I've said this once on the radio. You
got to find the show's probably five years ago. Dad
and Tim Robinette and Jeff Robinette my godfather and family
friends old mouse. Jeff has worked with us thirty years.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
I think yeah, he's the longest Rugby family, longest tenured
Ruby employee. Is my last name Hasting.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Yep, trying to catch Lee roy Oates who God rest
his soul. But they took me to see My dad
was a Vietnam vet, serve two tours. They took me
to see Good Morning Vietnams.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
I just copied that from that point forward.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
You don't say it right. Maybe I was nervous, but uh,
there was a lot of curse words in that movie.
And I was like eight years old. I don't know
when that movie was in the theater, but I bet
I bet it was thirty eight years ago.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
It took you way too long.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
Robin Williams, God rest his soul right right.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
And he came in here. I don't know if you
want to You came in here, dressed awfully nice. Came
from here.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
Yeah. Actually I had a funeral to go to today,
Timmy Robinett. Sure it was Tim Robinette, my godfather, his
brother in law, Ronnie Kent, his wife's Carolyn sister. And
I told Tim, I'm not a big fan of funerals
in the thought of it, but but it grounds you
(02:05):
in and uh, I'm a man of faith, so uh,
you know, it's a good service and and makes you
think about some positive stuff if your if your mind's
in the right spot. But uh, but when I was
a single digit age and Tim and Carolyn were dating.
He's probably twelve years older than me. He took I
(02:30):
went on several dates with them, and Ronnie, her brother,
went on the same dates. So that's how I got
to know Ronnie pretty well. Back then, we we would
go together with Tim and Carolyn on their dates. Thinking
about me dating, I didn't really bring a bunch of
hangers on on my dates. I don't know if that
makes uh Tim Tim a stut or something. I don't know.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
I don't know, man, Uh, maybe you should have had
some hangers on for your days, but not for maybe
like your your date should have brought somebody with her
just to keep an eye on you.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
My date needed to bring somebody from me? Is the
wrong date? Heard that he's a back back off baby?
Speaker 1 (03:11):
Will you so tell me about Snowshoe. You were just
in snowsh you went, Yeah, the whole family went, just
you who all trade that?
Speaker 2 (03:17):
Well? My oldest daughter, Tatum, she's seventeen, she just went. Uh.
She didn't make the Snowshoe trip for President's Day weekend
because she's in her a study abroad in Madrid, so
she had to leave while we were there. So she didn't.
She stayed back with GG Reagan's mother and then she
flew out Friday before President's Day to Madrid. She's having
(03:43):
a blast.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
Yeah, everything I've heard about Madrid. It's a cool cool.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
Woman loves to uh loves to travel and experience the world,
which is so special that she gets to do this
opens these opportunities. So fortunate. But I had, you know,
me and my dad learned to snowski at the same time.
Midnight to six the Ski Hawk's Nest. That was a
(04:09):
ski slope in Seven Devils. It's not there anymore now
they just have snow tubing. But uh, that was when
the movies in the eighties like Ski School were out
and stuff like that.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
Ski Patrol I, Ski Patro.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
All these guys were partying, and I was eight and
they were you know, beer boxes and pretty women and
wild skiing and shorts and blue jeans. I thought this
was cool. So we go to Seven Devils Ski Hawk's
Nests Midnight to six. First time I've ever skied, I
was nine. Dad was thirty nine. He's thirty years older
(04:42):
than me. And uh, my mom and my brother could
skial a little better. Soday went on to other regular slopes.
We stayed on the rope slope, the bunny slope, and
I could remember was my dad's mustache had ice boogers
on it the whole time, and he was trying to
smoke those vantage ultra lights like twenty degree weather, and
(05:03):
we had we were so miserable. We had so much fun.
The next year he took us the Snowshoe.
Speaker 3 (05:09):
In West Virginia.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
He had made it. Then you're in the bew Times.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
And now I've reflected on this as I now I'm
forty six. He was thirty nine. He was tight as
a tick, didn't have a lot of money, addicted to work,
I mean work six days a week. I cannot believe
he brought it upon himself. After that rope that night
(05:32):
we were icy. I just didn't have any facial hair
to grow ice on. He decided to take us up
to Snowshoe, West Virginia for about four days and the
first time we stayed in its like a hostel, but
it was their lodge at the top of the mountain,
and it was party. And as when my dad was forty,
(05:53):
he was he was like these guys were running down
the hall. I remember like all night he's a hey.
I think it was like, hey, hey, I'll be out
in a second. Get these boys asleep. So uh. And
then the next year we stayed in a in a
condo off the slopes and we did that about four
or five years, and so I hadn't been back in
(06:15):
like twenty five years.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
My dad so much has changed.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
It's so cool.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
It is very cool. I think I told you I
have a snowshoe story. I went when I was three.
My parents, Uh, we had a neighbor who owned a
bus leasing company and they had he got a big
bus and we drove from Atlanta to Snowshoes ten hours.
I remember stopping at the shonees. Had know what I
say on that you can't hide money. Okay, go ahead, done,
got a shony bear. But then my mom tells me,
(06:41):
I don't remember this that I went missing, like in
the middle of a snowstorm, just walked out the condo
and you didn't have cell phones or trackers and any
of this stuff. She's like, it's scared. I was gone
for a while, she said in Finally this couple was like,
I think, is this your kid?
Speaker 2 (06:55):
So well, my sister got missing that first time she's
crazy years younger than me, so she must have been
six or seven. And it was a snowstorm. I mean,
we didn't have that at Appalachian. I mean they don't
have snowstorms. They got ice flurries. Uh.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
I gotta tell you one other thing and then we'll
go to Uh, well, we got our guests. Who you
really want to stick around for is a really cool
story with Chris Hobart from Hobart. Will we dress a
light y'all, y'all, I'm very intimidated now that we're anywhere
on camera and be y'all both wearing sport coats. Uh see,
y'all look good.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
Y'all made me take mine off expose myself. Well, you're right,
we did. We want you to feel comfortable with arm
hairs now.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
Anyway, so I've told you about my daughter interfigure skating.
They had a tournament or they had a competition up
in Hershey, Pennsylvania, and it's a northern sport where Southern kids.
So we we've always kind of come in second to
last or last and and the girls really work their
butts off and this time they won. It was the
coolest thing. Uh, I'm brag on her she din like it.
(08:06):
But when we talk about but she and her team
team won, Uh, you're a.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
Helicopter dad, so you were probably the most excited.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
I was pretty pumped. Uh, but I don't really I
think my wife might be well, it's not go there.
Uh but uh, yeah, it was really cool. And I
overheard said she's a She was like, oh man, I
got a first place medal. It's really cool. And I
was like, well, you said that. You're only always tried
to get her to bite the medal. When she gets
like a silver or another whatever color fourth and fifth places,
(08:36):
she's like, all right, I'll bite the gold. So we've
got a picture of her biting the gold. So it
was it was neat. It was really cool. I'm excited.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
That is wonderful. Yeah, it was great. Uh. The Fellaw's funeral,
I went to Ronnie Kent, Yeah he won. The pastor
was talking about he won a bunch of medals in
the Special Olympics over his life. Oh cool, and he
said it might have been hundreds, it might have been thousands.
Ronnie didn't know. He just said he won a lot
(09:04):
of medals. But that's awesome in all kinds of sports. So, uh,
it was cool to hear those stories and and and
talking about his youthfulness for life and hearing of this
about Scarlett and knowing that you know, she's about in
my daughter's age range. So uh yeah, man, well.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
It's a good it's a good story with with what
we talk about with entrepreneurism and businesses is you just
got to keep going. You got to keep going, keep trying,
don't let speed bumps get in your way, and eventually
there might be a gold medal at the end.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
Really, so.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
We hope.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
I hope when I hope that's when gold's high. I
don't know where.
Speaker 1 (09:41):
There might be some bitcoin back there. Who do is well, well,
Chris can help us out with that. He is a
financial guru Hobart Well. He is also a member of
Vistage uh in the group with Dave MacGuire, our COO.
I told Chris that we probably throw a couple of
zingers about Dave to not be worried about that. It's
just kind of what we do. Uh. But I'm excited
to hear his story.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
Good and I hear he is a Roby commercial client.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
That's right, And he was a client of Roby Commercials who.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
Thank you, sir. I'm very grateful for patronage at all levels.
So uh all right, Chris Hobart when we return.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
And don't forget. Roby Services is your one stop source
for all your electrical heating, cooling, plumbing and handyman needs.
Keep it easy and get it all done by one.
Roby servicesnow dot com. That's Roby servicesnow dot com. Welcome
back at home with Roby. I'm Patrick mccasac with Roby's
Commercial and Services on trenin Hatson with the Roby family
of companies. We are your hosts. We are podcasting now,
(10:38):
so you can listen to any of the channels or
any of the shows anytime you want.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
You know or knew it, this podcast thing. I didn't know.
We'd go in, go out, come come in, come around,
and I don't know. We're trying to give you weird.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
Give you a level of comfort. And I didn't know
if you needed like a bathroom break or something, take
you know, go outside and come back. Yeah, you're kind
of wiggling a little bit.
Speaker 2 (10:58):
It's like my mom, She's like, why y'all go across
the street when you're sitting in the kitchen, Like because
we live on the River woman.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
And your your mom lives next door to you. To preface,
I mean, so my wife loved my dad Reagan. It's
been on our show a couple of times.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
She's so cool. She loves the river, She's embraced it
all and the West Side, and so she kind of
promotes it with our boys and until until we're at
church or at school or at a ballgame and my
son's standing there by the front door and he just.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
Whip says, that's happened. That's how I understand it.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
So whoa, hey do.
Speaker 1 (11:35):
But also from a small town in Indiana where all
this stuff goes on, and they brought their son, uh my,
you know, my wife's sister brought their son. He was
like four, and you know, I live like on some
major roads and he just, you know, middle of the yard,
just drops down and starts going. I'm like, oh, whoa, whoa.
Speaker 3 (11:52):
He didn't care.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
That's as how it was. I get it.
Speaker 2 (11:55):
But when you're me, the put you in jail.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
You can't do that. That's that's a little different.
Speaker 3 (12:01):
It's an hr issue.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
Yeah, it's a it's a hard argument.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
So many things. So we got Chris Hobart from Hobart
Wealth in the studio. I'm so excited to have you. You
and I met really for the first time. Uh, you
are gracious enough to invite a couple of us to
your vistage group and got to learn a little bit
there and uh, uh Tim Gusta Gustafson.
Speaker 3 (12:21):
Is that Yeah, Tim, Tim Gusts.
Speaker 1 (12:23):
Tim's Tim's your guy and such a friendly person. And
it was a great experience. And we started talking about
you advertising and in general, and uh, you said, hey,
not to mention you're also a Roby commercial client. Seemed
like a perfect fit. Uh, yeah, you're You're great, So
welcome to the show. I'm so glad to have you here.
Speaker 3 (12:40):
Yeah, I'd excited to be here. And just as a
quick plug for you guys, you guys did a great job.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (12:44):
So I know that's not why you brought me on,
but maybe say.
Speaker 2 (12:49):
I mean, I'm gonna be honest with you. I'm not
that bright, but I don't think if we had done
a great job you on the show.
Speaker 3 (12:56):
I thought this is a radio at first, so I
thought there'd be Paola, so I thought there'd be money
under the table for me to say nice stuff. But
it's podcasting, so it's different.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
Well, we could probably work something out. But yeah, well Chris,
and you're an entrepreneur, tell us to take us back
to the where'd you grow up? Where are you from?
Tell us a little bit about you.
Speaker 3 (13:14):
So, yeah, originally I'm from Corona, California. So I was
Corona before it was Corona, right, so spelling the same spelling.
And there's still coronas too, there's Corona del mar So
when you say Corona, everyone's like, oh wow, no, this
is Corona Inland, hot, nasty. So that's where I was born,
(13:36):
but moved around a lot as a kid, and between
California and Pennsylvania. And then finally, actually I guess I
was in eleventh grade. Family moved us down to North
Carolina and that's how we settled down this way, and
I moved away at one point in time back to California.
But overall, yeah, been here.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
For what reason did your family come to North Carolina?
Speaker 3 (13:58):
We moved away or we my dad's job you know this.
This was the eighties, nineties, so promotions came with with transfer. Yeah,
so so his job always took him different places. We
had a chance to go back to California, California is
its own thing, right, And we decided where can we
go instead of California And we're leaving Pennsylvania and we
had a couple of options, and North Carolina was on there.
(14:19):
We got a videotape of North Carolina with about the
city and uh, and my parents just said, let's give it.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
A shot, Chris, North Carolina's a state.
Speaker 3 (14:29):
But oh did I say? Did I say city?
Speaker 1 (14:31):
Was it Charlotte? It was Charlotte. I'm sorry, that's cool,
that's cool.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
Great, it's this California notion.
Speaker 1 (14:38):
It's funny you said about promotions and moving. I can
remember my dad's company was based in eastern Pennsylvania. I
grew up outside of Atlanta and in a wonderful place
Mary out of Georgia, and he he he would never move.
He's like, we're saying here, this is where he went
to high school, and they would try to lure him
up to eastern Pennsylvania, which I've never been there, but
doesn't sound great. Uh, maybe it's awesome.
Speaker 3 (14:59):
I gotta tell you, I grew up as a kid
in Pennsylvania and it's it's terrific.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (15:04):
So, I mean, Pennsylvania is at any place I lived
as great. You know, you make you make it is right.
But but I will say that California is great, Pennsylvania
is great, and North Carolina's great as well. There's there's
not really a place. It's all what you make of it, right.
I mean that's in business as well. It's all what
you make of it. You can have you can have
bad times, but uh, it's all what you make of it.
(15:25):
I think one of my favorite quotes is, uh, don't
pray for rain and complain about the mud, And I
think that's in life too, Like with all the moving.
My sister probably complained a little bit about the movie,
but for me, I was like, man, new adventure.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
So wow, great, great outlook. Yeah, and you're gonna have
tough times. Let us what you make of them, and
that's what you talk about. That was it was tough
that night, uh, twelve to six frozen. The funny thing
is I have a little bit of facial hair shaved
this morning, so it was a little a little gnarlier,
uh this past weekend. And Reagan's like, you got ice boogers, you.
Speaker 3 (16:01):
Get the ice boogers.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
I'm like, I'm keeping my ice boogers. I don't have
my daddy. No.
Speaker 3 (16:06):
You know, you were talking about that one story about
getting lost when you were a kid. That actually so
when we lived in Pennsylvania, we sted to go to
New York City. And this was New York City in
the eighties, not the New York today. Maybe maybe a
little bit like New York today, right, a little bit edgier,
but it was pretty sketchy. Time Square was sleazy. And
you know, anyhow, I was seven, eight years old, following
(16:26):
my parents. We were with a group of friends. I
thought I was following them. I wasn't. I ended up
just walking down the street at eight years old. They
went into a record shop and uh and next thing,
you know, I look around for my family and I'm
gone in the middle of New York City lost goodness,
like Kevin from I know, I was rich, rich, not
(16:48):
RICHI rich. I was scared I was going to be
like kidnapping, kidnappy or something. But fortunately, uh fortunately, after
like being lost in New York for about two hours,
they found me. But my you know, god, so my
mom was a wreck and all that.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
I can't imagine half five kids, yeah, well five.
Speaker 3 (17:07):
Kids, I mean, come on, there's one or two that
you'd be like negative, No, I'm not going there, all right,
do you not incriminate me?
Speaker 1 (17:16):
We'll talk when this is the best bumper sticker I've
ever seen. I was I should get this for you.
It said, uh, hell of kids up in this b
I T. Philip finished the last two letters, honk if
one flies out.
Speaker 3 (17:29):
The woman's car with a Roby sticker as well.
Speaker 1 (17:33):
Yeah, we were branded it.
Speaker 2 (17:34):
Yeah, yeah you got podcast.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
I heart you will be We'll be in the smiley
faced T shirt business Forrest Cump reference. But so you
were in Carolina and then you went.
Speaker 3 (17:50):
To Charlotte, Charlotte the great I've lived on both sides
of North Carolina, the great State of Mecklenburg, the great
state of Mecklenburg. And then you went to you, and
yeah I went to you. And see the funny thing
is went to you, and see I moved here in
eleventh grade, knew nothing about college basketball, didn't go to
un C until my first day at u n C.
(18:13):
Applied to go there, got got accepted. But everyone I
asked people this good school, bad school, and everyone's like, oh,
you should go. I went so obviously a basketball fan
now and yeah, so so I was there for four years,
maybe four and a half years. It took a little
extra time.
Speaker 1 (18:28):
Get that extra football season.
Speaker 2 (18:30):
What did you study.
Speaker 3 (18:32):
I studied business, so really business, and then I had
minors in German as well as in religion.
Speaker 2 (18:37):
Wow. So yeah, very well rounded. Well you are well rounded.
I couldn't get into business school. I went to U
and C as well. H At the end of your
freshman year, I think you had to have it like
a three to two. I was trying to figure college out.
Speaker 3 (18:51):
Still, they must have squeezed me in.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
So I'm economics so okay, yeah, yeah, so it is.
I like economics. But my wife came along a couple
of years later took business. She's really smart. She didn't
really like it, but she would always tell me, she
still tells me today, you would do that for the
fun of it. Everything in class I talked about is
what you read about.
Speaker 3 (19:13):
Yep. Well, and that's it. I mean, that's that's what
you know. People in business love business.
Speaker 2 (19:17):
Yep. And the classes.
Speaker 3 (19:19):
I'll be honest with you, very few classes I took
while in college are applicable to what I actually do
in business.
Speaker 2 (19:26):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (19:27):
So did you play any sports growing up?
Speaker 2 (19:30):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (19:30):
I played a bunch of different sports, but in ninth
grade I actually broke my back. So I played lacrosse
and it was actually my own teammate playing scrimmage. I
was fast as you could be and burnt by this
guy and he took his stick, he had a defense stick,
and nailed me in the back and it snapped my
l five one three spots. So yeah, so it's a
kind of changed my perspective. But because of that, I
(19:52):
couldn't really play the sports I wanted to. And in
college I wanted to play a varsity sport every year.
So my fresh I was like, Okay, what's a sport
I can get into that won't involve like my back
being hit that has low males? So I had. I
ended up being a cheerleader at un C, right and
never done it, you know, And there's cheerleaders. There's there's
(20:14):
the ones that like dance and flip and stuff. Not me.
I lived at people, yeah, basactly base and yell at
people and all that, but still kind of wild. Then
my second year I was on the varsity fencing team.
And it's just because fencing tended to have one a
smaller group, and it also is more females. So they
were looking for men and they really needed pin cushions, right.
(20:34):
So and I was a great I was a great
pin cushion. I mean I was awful. I I was horrific.
But Dean Smith, uh, this was right before he retired,
was the one that actually gave me my letters for
my letterman jackets. That is kind of cool.
Speaker 1 (20:49):
Growing up my Pooth, my parents went to or UNC.
My my mom actually do unc G. But Dean Smith
was like, I mean he was the guy. I mean,
it's so credible. I mean, just to be able, we
went to we both went to the basketball camp at
different times, Tritton and I did, but just to see
him in person was like, oh, oh my goodness.
Speaker 3 (21:08):
I ran into him one time. So we were at
the Dean Dome. We went to Hitting James, which is
right by there, so we were just hanging out down
there and all of a sudden, this really little dude came.
And again I didn't know a lot about basketball that
freshman year. I thought this guy was a janitor and
he's real nice talking to us. Yeah, and my buddy afterwards,
he's like, man, that was awesome, and I was like, yeah,
(21:28):
it seemed like a like a nice guy.
Speaker 1 (21:29):
And he's like, do you not know who that was?
Speaker 3 (21:31):
And I did, Yeah it was Dean Smith.
Speaker 2 (21:34):
So did you live in Hinton James?
Speaker 3 (21:35):
Yeah, oh yeah too.
Speaker 2 (21:36):
I lived in for two years.
Speaker 3 (21:37):
Oh up the up above y'all a.
Speaker 2 (21:40):
Little taller building. You were in.
Speaker 3 (21:42):
Granville though, right? I was no, no, ye one year
or two years?
Speaker 2 (21:47):
Two years me too, freshman, I saw more and then
I moved to Carborough for a year in Mill Creek.
Speaker 3 (21:52):
Okay, yeah, we knew how to rough it. Yeah, so
I like, oh yeah, oh yeah, they were down there
about a Dan Dome. Yeah, that was that. That was great.
And that's when he still camp out for tickets and
all that stuff.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
So that's a good old so cool.
Speaker 2 (22:03):
So after post college so that, how'd you become an entrepreneur?
Speaker 3 (22:08):
Yeah? You know, like anybody. I got some advice from
one of my dad's friends who's actually a client of
mine now, which is kind of kind of interesting. But
I got a job offer at at different companies and
he said, hey, get a good strong company, fortune five
hundred company, get the pension, you know, all the kind
of the the stuff that you look at now and
you're like what, And I took that advice and it
(22:29):
was and I asked. I remember asking my dad. I'm like, Dad,
is this a good idea for me? And he's like, hey,
give it a year. If it's not the right thing,
you can leave. My year anniversary at that company turned
in my resignation really oh yeah, and like to the
day my boss actually cried. It was not much of
a boss if he's crying, yeah, but he you know,
because I was like, it wasn't right.
Speaker 2 (22:49):
I should have punched you.
Speaker 1 (22:50):
Yeah, right, there's business.
Speaker 3 (22:52):
He actually called me into his office and he's like, Chris,
I've got great news. We got your promotion. Typically go
one level, but we got you two levels. And I said, Mike,
I'm resigning. So it was it was. It was tough,
but I just wasn't engaged. And from there, I, you know,
I went to the dot com world, which is a
little bit more entrepreneurial. But when that shrunk, gave me
(23:14):
an opportunity to say, Okay, what do I actually want
to do. And that's when I you know, I enjoyed
finance in college, and I said, Okay, I think I'm
going to go into the in the money world. And
I actually ended up working for a big company again,
because I was following that that worked for a big company,
did that for two years, saw tons of conflict of
interesting you know, all the advice that I was supposed
to give was really great for the company, but probably
(23:37):
not always the best thing for the clients. And oh yeah,
it's the financial industry. Industry is rife with that. In fact,
most websites, if you go at the bottom of their disclosures,
they've got a little spot that says, you know, where
there's money under the table, through through you know, different
types of kickbacks. It's crazy, right if you guys do
that in your business, you know, but you have to
disclose it. And as long as you disclose it, hey,
(23:58):
it's good. It's really cool. Crazy, but that's our business.
So after two years, I was like, okay, I gotta
do this on my own. And I remember telling my wife,
I'm doing this. We took we took a second mortgage
out on our house, which at the time, you know,
I was scared to death. That was fifteen thousand dollars.
I didn't have any money. So we took that second
mortgage out, did that, and that was that was the
(24:21):
start of what's now Hobart Wealth. You know we at
the time it was a different, different named company, and
we've changed through the years.
Speaker 1 (24:29):
Two things won that boss cry because he had just
gone to his boss and said, I'm gonna promote this
guy to be the next best thing. And he's like, hey,
I'm gonna go have a really hard conversation.
Speaker 2 (24:37):
His boss is like, is your finger not on the
paul Son?
Speaker 1 (24:41):
Yeah. The second thing is you get you bet on yourself,
you and your wife. I mean, I think that's that's amazing.
A lot of entrepreneurs we have on the show there's
a similar story where it's like, hey, I saw something,
had the chance second mortgage, all the things I.
Speaker 2 (24:54):
Mean, and the relative risk is is life. It's life
or death.
Speaker 3 (24:57):
It's life for debt right well, and that and that's it.
Like I think if I had to do that. Now,
you know, I'm forty eight years old, I don't know
if I've got the energy nor the desire to do
that level. But back then it was a matter of like, look,
I'm either going to be miserable with what I'm doing
and not feel like I'm giving the best advice. I
remember I had a client come in I won't say
her name, but I think she's passed away since since then.
(25:19):
But she came in and she wanted me to do
something that another advisor told her was about. And I
went to my higher ups at the company that I
worked at the time, and I said, hey, this is great,
it's perfect for her. Can we do this? And they
said no, and I said, well why not. It's it's
literally what she's looking for. And they said, well we
it competes with some of our most profitable products, and
(25:41):
they said, this is what you need to offer her.
And I said, well, that's not what she needs, that's
not what she wants, it's not what's right for her.
And the response was really, okay, you work for us,
that's what's right for her. And that's really what was
my what like broke me in.
Speaker 2 (25:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (25:57):
I was just like, man, I can't, I can't do that.
So that's when that's when I said, I got a
bet on me. We're going to do it the right way,
and we're going to create something that's special, that's unique
and truly serves the needs of clients different than what
I felt then the big companies were doing.
Speaker 2 (26:14):
So what does Hobart Well focus on?
Speaker 3 (26:17):
Well, you know again through the years, we've we've changed.
At that time, I mean we were I really thought
we would be doing this maybe two five years and
then figure out something else. And next thing, you know,
we've got a uh, we've got CFPS. You know, we've
got a lot of mouths to feed at at our company,
and we've got a lot of great clients. So our
primary focus is like what we call boutique wealth management.
(26:39):
We do all of our internal management inside the office
or inside the company, which is different for a firm
our size. You know, we're not a megafirm that has
all these resources.
Speaker 1 (26:48):
But you're big, your decent sized company. I mean, if
you check your website out, you have quite a few people.
Speaker 3 (26:52):
Yeah, yeah, I mean we've I think in our Balantine
office we have fifteen folks, and we've got our David's
in office, and we've got an office in Charlotte as well.
That's kind of more by appointment only. But you know,
when when I think about where we started to where
we are now, you know, we're full financial planning company.
We have cfps on staff, so all of our clients
(27:14):
meet with CFPS and also have access to our CFA,
which a CFA is like a really high level smart
financial person. You don't realize the amount of education that
has to go into that. And most companies are size
they farm that out. But we want to have that
in house because we want our clients to be able
to have all that. But really, when it comes down
to it, our job is helping people at different stages
(27:36):
of life just make sure that they are making good
financial decisions that support what their goals are long term.
So you know, for folks that are internear retirement, that's
about creating smart income for for yeah, cash flow and
doing it right. There's there's ten twenty different ways to
create cash flow. How you do it is going to
be based upon your risk, your tax sensitivity, all of
(27:59):
that type of stuff. So there a lot. Look, it's
really fun what we do fun during the good times.
It can be a little unnerving during the bad times.
But people ask me all the time, like boy to
get a lot of calls when the market's down and
all that, And I think we've built enough trust with
our clients. We don't, which is good probably a lot
like your business, right, it's very much, you know, it
(28:21):
is the best compliment you can give me is to
to not call when times are tough because you know
we've got it. And still let's have the conversation when
you need to. But when people trust you enough. Look,
when you guys did your your job with us, I
didn't talk with you all a bunch because I had
no need to do one. That's not really my job.
But I knew you guys were doing it and doing
(28:43):
it well. And the reason we hired Roby was because
we wanted a respectable company that had history, that knew
what they were doing.
Speaker 2 (28:50):
Because if you had to, you can find my little
head and walla, you got it.
Speaker 3 (28:54):
I got it. But with your logo, everywhere I find
those trucks on the road and I can stab atize
or where's the river?
Speaker 1 (29:01):
Walllet me first? So would you.
Speaker 2 (29:05):
There you go? That's funny. So that what a great story.
So did you go in business that I hear this?
You went in business with your wife?
Speaker 3 (29:13):
Well, I yes, and no. She actually worked for my parents.
My parents were entrepreneurs at that stage of life. My
dad actually got let go when we moved to North Carolina.
He lost his job. So because of that, they started
their own company. And I saw that. So when my
wife and I got married, she ended up working for them,
and I started my company and she ended up working
(29:33):
for me, and we've grown the business from there.
Speaker 2 (29:35):
Wow, man, that's awesome. How long have you been married?
Speaker 3 (29:39):
Oh, twenty three years this year?
Speaker 2 (29:42):
Mid twenties okay, yeah, entrepreneur and married mid twenties.
Speaker 3 (29:46):
Yeah, that's it. And you know, first kid, I guess
when I was thirty.
Speaker 2 (29:50):
So how many kids?
Speaker 3 (29:51):
Two kids?
Speaker 2 (29:52):
Two kids? Daughters?
Speaker 3 (29:53):
Yeah, eighteen and twelve.
Speaker 2 (29:54):
Congratulations.
Speaker 3 (29:55):
Yeah, well, you know I stopped it too. I don't
know about you folks with five that's I stopped.
Speaker 2 (30:01):
At one girl, girl, girl boy boy.
Speaker 3 (30:04):
Okay, we did two girls, and I was like, we're good.
Speaker 2 (30:07):
Girls are smart.
Speaker 1 (30:08):
Yes they are.
Speaker 3 (30:09):
Man, they're tough.
Speaker 1 (30:10):
I love them though.
Speaker 2 (30:11):
They're pretty good.
Speaker 3 (30:12):
They're Yeah, they.
Speaker 2 (30:14):
Have a four year old knucklehead.
Speaker 3 (30:16):
All my all my clients always told me like, hey,
they're gonna get to this stage where they're instead of
looking you in the eyes and saying I love you,
they're gonna look you in the eyes and say I
hate you. And I was like, no, never, not mine. Well,
I got past that age with my oldest and I
was like, we made it. We're that good appearance and
then it was like the year afterwards, and I remember
it's like she just looked at me and it was.
Speaker 1 (30:34):
Like, oh my gosh, what's so much change? Yeah, it's crazy.
Speaker 3 (30:37):
But uh, you know that's the fun part of parenting.
Speaker 2 (30:40):
You're never yeah, don't don't, don't get an ego out
of it, right, You're like, hey, not me, and then
it happens.
Speaker 3 (30:46):
Immediately exactly as soon as you think you're good.
Speaker 2 (30:49):
Yeah, man, what that was wonderful, wonderful story. How can
people look you up? Give yourself a plug?
Speaker 3 (30:55):
Yeah you can. You can find us on online hibert
wealth dot com. Uh, it's probably the easiest way. I mean,
people can always give us a call. I don't know.
Can I give my number?
Speaker 1 (31:03):
Yeah? Please?
Speaker 3 (31:05):
Seven O four five five three zero one two three.
Speaker 2 (31:09):
So yeah, you're jealous of that number, right, And Chris,
I'm gonna put you on the spot. What's one thing
that you live by both business and life?
Speaker 3 (31:19):
You know? I I I said it earlier, and I
just think it's it's a it's a great phrase, which
is don't pray for rain and complain about mud. And
to me, there are lots of tough things that happen
in life. But you know, oftentimes it's because we are
so fortunate and so blessed and we want we want
(31:40):
all the good stuff. But with the good stuff there
there's the tough stuff that comes by. And I try
and teach my kids that, which is like, hey, we've
got it really good, like compared to the rest of
the world, compared to just people everywhere, We've got it.
We've got it well. So when we hit bad times,
let's not sit there and just dwell on it, but
instead let's kind of sit there and say, hey, it's okay,
(32:00):
we we can we can overcome this, and and it's
mud and we can wash it off and move on.
Speaker 1 (32:05):
Be grateful.
Speaker 2 (32:06):
Yeah, rain makes corn, Corn makes whiskey. Whiskey.
Speaker 3 (32:12):
Frisky?
Speaker 2 (32:15):
Is this?
Speaker 3 (32:16):
How is this how you end up podcasting?
Speaker 2 (32:18):
You're frisky?
Speaker 3 (32:19):
A little nervous. I think I was a good guest,
But can I now.
Speaker 2 (32:22):
When Reagan gets frisky? This is my household man, so
fun to so fun. I think this is the first
time we've ever met. Yeah, yeah, it is good. I'm
glad already drinking whiskey. Sometimes I say that people are
like we met head two months.
Speaker 3 (32:39):
Ago, a little bit we could have met it. At Carolina, I.
Speaker 2 (32:42):
Was looking at his eyes. We might have met at cal.
Speaker 3 (32:45):
You may have seen me cheer.
Speaker 2 (32:46):
I definitely saw you cheer. I don't think I was
focused on you.
Speaker 3 (32:50):
I don't think so.
Speaker 2 (32:52):
We had a cheerleader at a mascot almost backed up.
I had that country song I just sung in my head.
Then I was not looking at super That be okay, Well, listen,
this is how I end the show. Go do the
Golden rule, treat others the way you want to be treated,
and carry a smile around on your face because you
do not know who needs it, and everybody needs a
(33:13):
smile in their life. Thanks for listening. Thank you, Chris,
thanks so nice to meet you. Look forward to hanging
out a lot. And thank you Patrick. You're welcome. You
make my job easy. Thank you, Trent, all right, take care.
Thanks for listening. At Home with Ruby
Good morning, Welcome to at Home with Roby. I'm Patrick
mcaac from Ruby Commercial in Services along with Trent Hasten
from the Ruby family of companies.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Trent, we are we are, we are your hosts.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
We you didn't say are your host.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
For all of our regular listeners for over eight nine years.
Now you need to say we are your hosts.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
I need to say we are your hosts.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Right, And it's not necessarily morning podcast as anytime twenty
four hours a day, seven days a week, three hundred
and sixty five in the year.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
Man, I was all teed up to make fun of you,
but you beat me to the punch and you are right,
so good whatever it is, it could be good. We
could say good day.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
We say good morning because when I was a kid.
I think I've said this once on the radio. You
got to find the show's probably five years ago. Dad
and Tim Robinette and Jeff Robinette my godfather and family
friends old mouse. Jeff has worked with us thirty years.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
I think yeah, he's the longest Rugby family, longest tenured
Ruby employee. Is my last name Hasting.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Yep, trying to catch Lee roy Oates who God rest
his soul. But they took me to see My dad
was a Vietnam vet, serve two tours. They took me
to see Good Morning Vietnams.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
I just copied that from that point forward.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
You don't say it right. Maybe I was nervous, but uh,
there was a lot of curse words in that movie.
And I was like eight years old. I don't know
when that movie was in the theater, but I bet
I bet it was thirty eight years ago.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
It took you way too long.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
Robin Williams, God rest his soul right right.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
And he came in here. I don't know if you
want to You came in here, dressed awfully nice. Came
from here.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
Yeah. Actually I had a funeral to go to today,
Timmy Robinett. Sure it was Tim Robinette, my godfather, his
brother in law, Ronnie Kent, his wife's Carolyn sister. And
I told Tim, I'm not a big fan of funerals
in the thought of it, but but it grounds you
(02:05):
in and uh, I'm a man of faith, so uh,
you know, it's a good service and and makes you
think about some positive stuff if your if your mind's
in the right spot. But uh, but when I was
a single digit age and Tim and Carolyn were dating.
He's probably twelve years older than me. He took I
(02:30):
went on several dates with them, and Ronnie, her brother,
went on the same dates. So that's how I got
to know Ronnie pretty well. Back then, we we would
go together with Tim and Carolyn on their dates. Thinking
about me dating, I didn't really bring a bunch of
hangers on on my dates. I don't know if that
makes uh Tim Tim a stut or something. I don't know.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
I don't know, man, Uh, maybe you should have had
some hangers on for your days, but not for maybe
like your your date should have brought somebody with her
just to keep an eye on you.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
My date needed to bring somebody from me? Is the
wrong date? Heard that he's a back back off baby?
Speaker 1 (03:11):
Will you so tell me about Snowshoe. You were just
in snowsh you went, Yeah, the whole family went, just
you who all trade that?
Speaker 2 (03:17):
Well? My oldest daughter, Tatum, she's seventeen, she just went. Uh.
She didn't make the Snowshoe trip for President's Day weekend
because she's in her a study abroad in Madrid, so
she had to leave while we were there. So she didn't.
She stayed back with GG Reagan's mother and then she
flew out Friday before President's Day to Madrid. She's having
(03:43):
a blast.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
Yeah, everything I've heard about Madrid. It's a cool cool.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
Woman loves to uh loves to travel and experience the world,
which is so special that she gets to do this
opens these opportunities. So fortunate. But I had, you know,
me and my dad learned to snowski at the same time.
Midnight to six the Ski Hawk's Nest. That was a
(04:09):
ski slope in Seven Devils. It's not there anymore now
they just have snow tubing. But uh, that was when
the movies in the eighties like Ski School were out
and stuff like that.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
Ski Patrol I, Ski Patro.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
All these guys were partying, and I was eight and
they were you know, beer boxes and pretty women and
wild skiing and shorts and blue jeans. I thought this
was cool. So we go to Seven Devils Ski Hawk's
Nests Midnight to six. First time I've ever skied, I
was nine. Dad was thirty nine. He's thirty years older
(04:42):
than me. And uh, my mom and my brother could
skial a little better. Soday went on to other regular slopes.
We stayed on the rope slope, the bunny slope, and
I could remember was my dad's mustache had ice boogers
on it the whole time, and he was trying to
smoke those vantage ultra lights like twenty degree weather, and
(05:03):
we had we were so miserable. We had so much fun.
The next year he took us the Snowshoe.
Speaker 3 (05:09):
In West Virginia.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
He had made it. Then you're in the bew Times.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
And now I've reflected on this as I now I'm
forty six. He was thirty nine. He was tight as
a tick, didn't have a lot of money, addicted to work,
I mean work six days a week. I cannot believe
he brought it upon himself. After that rope that night
(05:32):
we were icy. I just didn't have any facial hair
to grow ice on. He decided to take us up
to Snowshoe, West Virginia for about four days and the
first time we stayed in its like a hostel, but
it was their lodge at the top of the mountain,
and it was party. And as when my dad was forty,
(05:53):
he was he was like these guys were running down
the hall. I remember like all night he's a hey.
I think it was like, hey, hey, I'll be out
in a second. Get these boys asleep. So uh. And
then the next year we stayed in a in a
condo off the slopes and we did that about four
or five years, and so I hadn't been back in
(06:15):
like twenty five years.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
My dad so much has changed.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
It's so cool.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
It is very cool. I think I told you I
have a snowshoe story. I went when I was three.
My parents, Uh, we had a neighbor who owned a
bus leasing company and they had he got a big
bus and we drove from Atlanta to Snowshoes ten hours.
I remember stopping at the shonees. Had know what I
say on that you can't hide money. Okay, go ahead, done,
got a shony bear. But then my mom tells me,
(06:41):
I don't remember this that I went missing, like in
the middle of a snowstorm, just walked out the condo
and you didn't have cell phones or trackers and any
of this stuff. She's like, it's scared. I was gone
for a while, she said in Finally this couple was like,
I think, is this your kid?
Speaker 2 (06:55):
So well, my sister got missing that first time she's
crazy years younger than me, so she must have been
six or seven. And it was a snowstorm. I mean,
we didn't have that at Appalachian. I mean they don't
have snowstorms. They got ice flurries. Uh.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
I gotta tell you one other thing and then we'll
go to Uh, well, we got our guests. Who you
really want to stick around for is a really cool
story with Chris Hobart from Hobart. Will we dress a
light y'all, y'all, I'm very intimidated now that we're anywhere
on camera and be y'all both wearing sport coats. Uh see,
y'all look good.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
Y'all made me take mine off expose myself. Well, you're right,
we did. We want you to feel comfortable with arm
hairs now.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
Anyway, so I've told you about my daughter interfigure skating.
They had a tournament or they had a competition up
in Hershey, Pennsylvania, and it's a northern sport where Southern kids.
So we we've always kind of come in second to
last or last and and the girls really work their
butts off and this time they won. It was the
coolest thing. Uh, I'm brag on her she din like it.
(08:06):
But when we talk about but she and her team
team won, Uh, you're a.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
Helicopter dad, so you were probably the most excited.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
I was pretty pumped. Uh, but I don't really I
think my wife might be well, it's not go there.
Uh but uh, yeah, it was really cool. And I
overheard said she's a She was like, oh man, I
got a first place medal. It's really cool. And I
was like, well, you said that. You're only always tried
to get her to bite the medal. When she gets
like a silver or another whatever color fourth and fifth places,
(08:36):
she's like, all right, I'll bite the gold. So we've
got a picture of her biting the gold. So it
was it was neat. It was really cool. I'm excited.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
That is wonderful. Yeah, it was great. Uh. The Fellaw's funeral,
I went to Ronnie Kent, Yeah he won. The pastor
was talking about he won a bunch of medals in
the Special Olympics over his life. Oh cool, and he
said it might have been hundreds, it might have been thousands.
Ronnie didn't know. He just said he won a lot
(09:04):
of medals. But that's awesome in all kinds of sports. So, uh,
it was cool to hear those stories and and and
talking about his youthfulness for life and hearing of this
about Scarlett and knowing that you know, she's about in
my daughter's age range. So uh yeah, man, well.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
It's a good it's a good story with with what
we talk about with entrepreneurism and businesses is you just
got to keep going. You got to keep going, keep trying,
don't let speed bumps get in your way, and eventually
there might be a gold medal at the end.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
Really, so.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
We hope.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
I hope when I hope that's when gold's high. I
don't know where.
Speaker 1 (09:41):
There might be some bitcoin back there. Who do is well, well,
Chris can help us out with that. He is a
financial guru Hobart Well. He is also a member of
Vistage uh in the group with Dave MacGuire, our COO.
I told Chris that we probably throw a couple of
zingers about Dave to not be worried about that. It's
just kind of what we do. Uh. But I'm excited
to hear his story.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
Good and I hear he is a Roby commercial client.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
That's right, And he was a client of Roby Commercials who.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
Thank you, sir. I'm very grateful for patronage at all levels.
So uh all right, Chris Hobart when we return.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
And don't forget. Roby Services is your one stop source
for all your electrical heating, cooling, plumbing and handyman needs.
Keep it easy and get it all done by one.
Roby servicesnow dot com. That's Roby servicesnow dot com. Welcome
back at home with Roby. I'm Patrick mccasac with Roby's
Commercial and Services on trenin Hatson with the Roby family
of companies. We are your hosts. We are podcasting now,
(10:38):
so you can listen to any of the channels or
any of the shows anytime you want.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
You know or knew it, this podcast thing. I didn't know.
We'd go in, go out, come come in, come around,
and I don't know. We're trying to give you weird.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
Give you a level of comfort. And I didn't know
if you needed like a bathroom break or something, take
you know, go outside and come back. Yeah, you're kind
of wiggling a little bit.
Speaker 2 (10:58):
It's like my mom, She's like, why y'all go across
the street when you're sitting in the kitchen, Like because
we live on the River woman.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
And your your mom lives next door to you. To preface,
I mean, so my wife loved my dad Reagan. It's
been on our show a couple of times.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
She's so cool. She loves the river, She's embraced it
all and the West Side, and so she kind of
promotes it with our boys and until until we're at
church or at school or at a ballgame and my
son's standing there by the front door and he just.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
Whip says, that's happened. That's how I understand it.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
So whoa, hey do.
Speaker 1 (11:35):
But also from a small town in Indiana where all
this stuff goes on, and they brought their son, uh my,
you know, my wife's sister brought their son. He was
like four, and you know, I live like on some
major roads and he just, you know, middle of the yard,
just drops down and starts going. I'm like, oh, whoa, whoa.
Speaker 3 (11:52):
He didn't care.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
That's as how it was. I get it.
Speaker 2 (11:55):
But when you're me, the put you in jail.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
You can't do that. That's that's a little different.
Speaker 3 (12:01):
It's an hr issue.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
Yeah, it's a it's a hard argument.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
So many things. So we got Chris Hobart from Hobart
Wealth in the studio. I'm so excited to have you. You
and I met really for the first time. Uh, you
are gracious enough to invite a couple of us to
your vistage group and got to learn a little bit
there and uh, uh Tim Gusta Gustafson.
Speaker 3 (12:21):
Is that Yeah, Tim, Tim Gusts.
Speaker 1 (12:23):
Tim's Tim's your guy and such a friendly person. And
it was a great experience. And we started talking about
you advertising and in general, and uh, you said, hey,
not to mention you're also a Roby commercial client. Seemed
like a perfect fit. Uh, yeah, you're You're great, So
welcome to the show. I'm so glad to have you here.
Speaker 3 (12:40):
Yeah, I'd excited to be here. And just as a
quick plug for you guys, you guys did a great job.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (12:44):
So I know that's not why you brought me on,
but maybe say.
Speaker 2 (12:49):
I mean, I'm gonna be honest with you. I'm not
that bright, but I don't think if we had done
a great job you on the show.
Speaker 3 (12:56):
I thought this is a radio at first, so I
thought there'd be Paola, so I thought there'd be money
under the table for me to say nice stuff. But
it's podcasting, so it's different.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
Well, we could probably work something out. But yeah, well Chris,
and you're an entrepreneur, tell us to take us back
to the where'd you grow up? Where are you from?
Tell us a little bit about you.
Speaker 3 (13:14):
So, yeah, originally I'm from Corona, California. So I was
Corona before it was Corona, right, so spelling the same spelling.
And there's still coronas too, there's Corona del mar So
when you say Corona, everyone's like, oh wow, no, this
is Corona Inland, hot, nasty. So that's where I was born,
(13:36):
but moved around a lot as a kid, and between
California and Pennsylvania. And then finally, actually I guess I
was in eleventh grade. Family moved us down to North
Carolina and that's how we settled down this way, and
I moved away at one point in time back to California.
But overall, yeah, been here.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
For what reason did your family come to North Carolina?
Speaker 3 (13:58):
We moved away or we my dad's job you know this.
This was the eighties, nineties, so promotions came with with transfer. Yeah,
so so his job always took him different places. We
had a chance to go back to California, California is
its own thing, right, And we decided where can we
go instead of California And we're leaving Pennsylvania and we
had a couple of options, and North Carolina was on there.
(14:19):
We got a videotape of North Carolina with about the
city and uh, and my parents just said, let's give it.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
A shot, Chris, North Carolina's a state.
Speaker 3 (14:29):
But oh did I say? Did I say city?
Speaker 1 (14:31):
Was it Charlotte? It was Charlotte. I'm sorry, that's cool,
that's cool.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
Great, it's this California notion.
Speaker 1 (14:38):
It's funny you said about promotions and moving. I can
remember my dad's company was based in eastern Pennsylvania. I
grew up outside of Atlanta and in a wonderful place
Mary out of Georgia, and he he he would never move.
He's like, we're saying here, this is where he went
to high school, and they would try to lure him
up to eastern Pennsylvania, which I've never been there, but
doesn't sound great. Uh, maybe it's awesome.
Speaker 3 (14:59):
I gotta tell you, I grew up as a kid
in Pennsylvania and it's it's terrific.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (15:04):
So, I mean, Pennsylvania is at any place I lived
as great. You know, you make you make it is right.
But but I will say that California is great, Pennsylvania
is great, and North Carolina's great as well. There's there's
not really a place. It's all what you make of it, right.
I mean that's in business as well. It's all what
you make of it. You can have you can have
bad times, but uh, it's all what you make of it.
(15:25):
I think one of my favorite quotes is, uh, don't
pray for rain and complain about the mud, And I
think that's in life too, Like with all the moving.
My sister probably complained a little bit about the movie,
but for me, I was like, man, new adventure.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
So wow, great, great outlook. Yeah, and you're gonna have
tough times. Let us what you make of them, and
that's what you talk about. That was it was tough
that night, uh, twelve to six frozen. The funny thing
is I have a little bit of facial hair shaved
this morning, so it was a little a little gnarlier,
uh this past weekend. And Reagan's like, you got ice boogers, you.
Speaker 3 (16:01):
Get the ice boogers.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
I'm like, I'm keeping my ice boogers. I don't have
my daddy. No.
Speaker 3 (16:06):
You know, you were talking about that one story about
getting lost when you were a kid. That actually so
when we lived in Pennsylvania, we sted to go to
New York City. And this was New York City in
the eighties, not the New York today. Maybe maybe a
little bit like New York today, right, a little bit edgier,
but it was pretty sketchy. Time Square was sleazy. And
you know, anyhow, I was seven, eight years old, following
(16:26):
my parents. We were with a group of friends. I
thought I was following them. I wasn't. I ended up
just walking down the street at eight years old. They
went into a record shop and uh and next thing,
you know, I look around for my family and I'm
gone in the middle of New York City lost goodness,
like Kevin from I know, I was rich, rich, not
(16:48):
RICHI rich. I was scared I was going to be
like kidnapping, kidnappy or something. But fortunately, uh fortunately, after
like being lost in New York for about two hours,
they found me. But my you know, god, so my
mom was a wreck and all that.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
I can't imagine half five kids, yeah, well five.
Speaker 3 (17:07):
Kids, I mean, come on, there's one or two that
you'd be like negative, No, I'm not going there, all right,
do you not incriminate me?
Speaker 1 (17:16):
We'll talk when this is the best bumper sticker I've
ever seen. I was I should get this for you.
It said, uh, hell of kids up in this b
I T. Philip finished the last two letters, honk if
one flies out.
Speaker 3 (17:29):
The woman's car with a Roby sticker as well.
Speaker 1 (17:33):
Yeah, we were branded it.
Speaker 2 (17:34):
Yeah, yeah you got podcast.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
I heart you will be We'll be in the smiley
faced T shirt business Forrest Cump reference. But so you
were in Carolina and then you went.
Speaker 3 (17:50):
To Charlotte, Charlotte the great I've lived on both sides
of North Carolina, the great State of Mecklenburg, the great
state of Mecklenburg. And then you went to you, and
yeah I went to you. And see the funny thing
is went to you, and see I moved here in
eleventh grade, knew nothing about college basketball, didn't go to
un C until my first day at u n C.
(18:13):
Applied to go there, got got accepted. But everyone I
asked people this good school, bad school, and everyone's like, oh,
you should go. I went so obviously a basketball fan
now and yeah, so so I was there for four years,
maybe four and a half years. It took a little
extra time.
Speaker 1 (18:28):
Get that extra football season.
Speaker 2 (18:30):
What did you study.
Speaker 3 (18:32):
I studied business, so really business, and then I had
minors in German as well as in religion.
Speaker 2 (18:37):
Wow. So yeah, very well rounded. Well you are well rounded.
I couldn't get into business school. I went to U
and C as well. H At the end of your
freshman year, I think you had to have it like
a three to two. I was trying to figure college out.
Speaker 3 (18:51):
Still, they must have squeezed me in.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
So I'm economics so okay, yeah, yeah, so it is.
I like economics. But my wife came along a couple
of years later took business. She's really smart. She didn't
really like it, but she would always tell me, she
still tells me today, you would do that for the
fun of it. Everything in class I talked about is
what you read about.
Speaker 3 (19:13):
Yep. Well, and that's it. I mean, that's that's what
you know. People in business love business.
Speaker 2 (19:17):
Yep. And the classes.
Speaker 3 (19:19):
I'll be honest with you, very few classes I took
while in college are applicable to what I actually do
in business.
Speaker 2 (19:26):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (19:27):
So did you play any sports growing up?
Speaker 2 (19:30):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (19:30):
I played a bunch of different sports, but in ninth
grade I actually broke my back. So I played lacrosse
and it was actually my own teammate playing scrimmage. I
was fast as you could be and burnt by this
guy and he took his stick, he had a defense stick,
and nailed me in the back and it snapped my
l five one three spots. So yeah, so it's a
kind of changed my perspective. But because of that, I
(19:52):
couldn't really play the sports I wanted to. And in
college I wanted to play a varsity sport every year.
So my fresh I was like, Okay, what's a sport
I can get into that won't involve like my back
being hit that has low males? So I had. I
ended up being a cheerleader at un C, right and
never done it, you know, And there's cheerleaders. There's there's
(20:14):
the ones that like dance and flip and stuff. Not me.
I lived at people, yeah, basactly base and yell at
people and all that, but still kind of wild. Then
my second year I was on the varsity fencing team.
And it's just because fencing tended to have one a
smaller group, and it also is more females. So they
were looking for men and they really needed pin cushions, right.
(20:34):
So and I was a great I was a great
pin cushion. I mean I was awful. I I was horrific.
But Dean Smith, uh, this was right before he retired,
was the one that actually gave me my letters for
my letterman jackets. That is kind of cool.
Speaker 1 (20:49):
Growing up my Pooth, my parents went to or UNC.
My my mom actually do unc G. But Dean Smith
was like, I mean he was the guy. I mean,
it's so credible. I mean, just to be able, we
went to we both went to the basketball camp at
different times, Tritton and I did, but just to see
him in person was like, oh, oh my goodness.
Speaker 3 (21:08):
I ran into him one time. So we were at
the Dean Dome. We went to Hitting James, which is
right by there, so we were just hanging out down
there and all of a sudden, this really little dude came.
And again I didn't know a lot about basketball that
freshman year. I thought this guy was a janitor and
he's real nice talking to us. Yeah, and my buddy afterwards,
he's like, man, that was awesome, and I was like, yeah,
(21:28):
it seemed like a like a nice guy.
Speaker 1 (21:29):
And he's like, do you not know who that was?
Speaker 3 (21:31):
And I did, Yeah it was Dean Smith.
Speaker 2 (21:34):
So did you live in Hinton James?
Speaker 3 (21:35):
Yeah, oh yeah too.
Speaker 2 (21:36):
I lived in for two years.
Speaker 3 (21:37):
Oh up the up above y'all a.
Speaker 2 (21:40):
Little taller building. You were in.
Speaker 3 (21:42):
Granville though, right? I was no, no, ye one year
or two years?
Speaker 2 (21:47):
Two years me too, freshman, I saw more and then
I moved to Carborough for a year in Mill Creek.
Speaker 3 (21:52):
Okay, yeah, we knew how to rough it. Yeah, so
I like, oh yeah, oh yeah, they were down there
about a Dan Dome. Yeah, that was that. That was great.
And that's when he still camp out for tickets and
all that stuff.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
So that's a good old so cool.
Speaker 2 (22:03):
So after post college so that, how'd you become an entrepreneur?
Speaker 3 (22:08):
Yeah? You know, like anybody. I got some advice from
one of my dad's friends who's actually a client of
mine now, which is kind of kind of interesting. But
I got a job offer at at different companies and
he said, hey, get a good strong company, fortune five
hundred company, get the pension, you know, all the kind
of the the stuff that you look at now and
you're like what, And I took that advice and it
(22:29):
was and I asked. I remember asking my dad. I'm like, Dad,
is this a good idea for me? And he's like, hey,
give it a year. If it's not the right thing,
you can leave. My year anniversary at that company turned
in my resignation really oh yeah, and like to the
day my boss actually cried. It was not much of
a boss if he's crying, yeah, but he you know,
because I was like, it wasn't right.
Speaker 2 (22:49):
I should have punched you.
Speaker 1 (22:50):
Yeah, right, there's business.
Speaker 3 (22:52):
He actually called me into his office and he's like, Chris,
I've got great news. We got your promotion. Typically go
one level, but we got you two levels. And I said, Mike,
I'm resigning. So it was it was. It was tough,
but I just wasn't engaged. And from there, I, you know,
I went to the dot com world, which is a
little bit more entrepreneurial. But when that shrunk, gave me
(23:14):
an opportunity to say, Okay, what do I actually want
to do. And that's when I you know, I enjoyed
finance in college, and I said, Okay, I think I'm
going to go into the in the money world. And
I actually ended up working for a big company again,
because I was following that that worked for a big company,
did that for two years, saw tons of conflict of
interesting you know, all the advice that I was supposed
to give was really great for the company, but probably
(23:37):
not always the best thing for the clients. And oh yeah,
it's the financial industry. Industry is rife with that. In fact,
most websites, if you go at the bottom of their disclosures,
they've got a little spot that says, you know, where
there's money under the table, through through you know, different
types of kickbacks. It's crazy, right if you guys do
that in your business, you know, but you have to
disclose it. And as long as you disclose it, hey,
(23:58):
it's good. It's really cool. Crazy, but that's our business.
So after two years, I was like, okay, I gotta
do this on my own. And I remember telling my wife,
I'm doing this. We took we took a second mortgage
out on our house, which at the time, you know,
I was scared to death. That was fifteen thousand dollars.
I didn't have any money. So we took that second
mortgage out, did that, and that was that was the
(24:21):
start of what's now Hobart Wealth. You know we at
the time it was a different, different named company, and
we've changed through the years.
Speaker 1 (24:29):
Two things won that boss cry because he had just
gone to his boss and said, I'm gonna promote this
guy to be the next best thing. And he's like, hey,
I'm gonna go have a really hard conversation.
Speaker 2 (24:37):
His boss is like, is your finger not on the
paul Son?
Speaker 1 (24:41):
Yeah. The second thing is you get you bet on yourself,
you and your wife. I mean, I think that's that's amazing.
A lot of entrepreneurs we have on the show there's
a similar story where it's like, hey, I saw something,
had the chance second mortgage, all the things I.
Speaker 2 (24:54):
Mean, and the relative risk is is life. It's life
or death.
Speaker 3 (24:57):
It's life for debt right well, and that and that's it.
Like I think if I had to do that. Now,
you know, I'm forty eight years old, I don't know
if I've got the energy nor the desire to do
that level. But back then it was a matter of like, look,
I'm either going to be miserable with what I'm doing
and not feel like I'm giving the best advice. I
remember I had a client come in I won't say
her name, but I think she's passed away since since then.
(25:19):
But she came in and she wanted me to do
something that another advisor told her was about. And I
went to my higher ups at the company that I
worked at the time, and I said, hey, this is great,
it's perfect for her. Can we do this? And they
said no, and I said, well why not. It's it's
literally what she's looking for. And they said, well we
it competes with some of our most profitable products, and
(25:41):
they said, this is what you need to offer her.
And I said, well, that's not what she needs, that's
not what she wants, it's not what's right for her.
And the response was really, okay, you work for us,
that's what's right for her. And that's really what was
my what like broke me in.
Speaker 2 (25:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (25:57):
I was just like, man, I can't, I can't do that.
So that's when that's when I said, I got a
bet on me. We're going to do it the right way,
and we're going to create something that's special, that's unique
and truly serves the needs of clients different than what
I felt then the big companies were doing.
Speaker 2 (26:14):
So what does Hobart Well focus on?
Speaker 3 (26:17):
Well, you know again through the years, we've we've changed.
At that time, I mean we were I really thought
we would be doing this maybe two five years and
then figure out something else. And next thing, you know,
we've got a uh, we've got CFPS. You know, we've
got a lot of mouths to feed at at our company,
and we've got a lot of great clients. So our
primary focus is like what we call boutique wealth management.
(26:39):
We do all of our internal management inside the office
or inside the company, which is different for a firm
our size. You know, we're not a megafirm that has
all these resources.
Speaker 1 (26:48):
But you're big, your decent sized company. I mean, if
you check your website out, you have quite a few people.
Speaker 3 (26:52):
Yeah, yeah, I mean we've I think in our Balantine
office we have fifteen folks, and we've got our David's
in office, and we've got an office in Charlotte as well.
That's kind of more by appointment only. But you know,
when when I think about where we started to where
we are now, you know, we're full financial planning company.
We have cfps on staff, so all of our clients
(27:14):
meet with CFPS and also have access to our CFA,
which a CFA is like a really high level smart
financial person. You don't realize the amount of education that
has to go into that. And most companies are size
they farm that out. But we want to have that
in house because we want our clients to be able
to have all that. But really, when it comes down
to it, our job is helping people at different stages
(27:36):
of life just make sure that they are making good
financial decisions that support what their goals are long term.
So you know, for folks that are internear retirement, that's
about creating smart income for for yeah, cash flow and
doing it right. There's there's ten twenty different ways to
create cash flow. How you do it is going to
be based upon your risk, your tax sensitivity, all of
(27:59):
that type of stuff. So there a lot. Look, it's
really fun what we do fun during the good times.
It can be a little unnerving during the bad times.
But people ask me all the time, like boy to
get a lot of calls when the market's down and
all that, And I think we've built enough trust with
our clients. We don't, which is good probably a lot
like your business, right, it's very much, you know, it
(28:21):
is the best compliment you can give me is to
to not call when times are tough because you know
we've got it. And still let's have the conversation when
you need to. But when people trust you enough. Look,
when you guys did your your job with us, I
didn't talk with you all a bunch because I had
no need to do one. That's not really my job.
But I knew you guys were doing it and doing
(28:43):
it well. And the reason we hired Roby was because
we wanted a respectable company that had history, that knew
what they were doing.
Speaker 2 (28:50):
Because if you had to, you can find my little
head and walla, you got it.
Speaker 3 (28:54):
I got it. But with your logo, everywhere I find
those trucks on the road and I can stab atize
or where's the river?
Speaker 1 (29:01):
Walllet me first? So would you.
Speaker 2 (29:05):
There you go? That's funny. So that what a great story.
So did you go in business that I hear this?
You went in business with your wife?
Speaker 3 (29:13):
Well, I yes, and no. She actually worked for my parents.
My parents were entrepreneurs at that stage of life. My
dad actually got let go when we moved to North Carolina.
He lost his job. So because of that, they started
their own company. And I saw that. So when my
wife and I got married, she ended up working for them,
and I started my company and she ended up working
(29:33):
for me, and we've grown the business from there.
Speaker 2 (29:35):
Wow, man, that's awesome. How long have you been married?
Speaker 3 (29:39):
Oh, twenty three years this year?
Speaker 2 (29:42):
Mid twenties okay, yeah, entrepreneur and married mid twenties.
Speaker 3 (29:46):
Yeah, that's it. And you know, first kid, I guess
when I was thirty.
Speaker 2 (29:50):
So how many kids?
Speaker 3 (29:51):
Two kids?
Speaker 2 (29:52):
Two kids? Daughters?
Speaker 3 (29:53):
Yeah, eighteen and twelve.
Speaker 2 (29:54):
Congratulations.
Speaker 3 (29:55):
Yeah, well, you know I stopped it too. I don't
know about you folks with five that's I stopped.
Speaker 2 (30:01):
At one girl, girl, girl boy boy.
Speaker 3 (30:04):
Okay, we did two girls, and I was like, we're good.
Speaker 2 (30:07):
Girls are smart.
Speaker 1 (30:08):
Yes they are.
Speaker 3 (30:09):
Man, they're tough.
Speaker 1 (30:10):
I love them though.
Speaker 2 (30:11):
They're pretty good.
Speaker 3 (30:12):
They're Yeah, they.
Speaker 2 (30:14):
Have a four year old knucklehead.
Speaker 3 (30:16):
All my all my clients always told me like, hey,
they're gonna get to this stage where they're instead of
looking you in the eyes and saying I love you,
they're gonna look you in the eyes and say I
hate you. And I was like, no, never, not mine. Well,
I got past that age with my oldest and I
was like, we made it. We're that good appearance and
then it was like the year afterwards, and I remember
it's like she just looked at me and it was.
Speaker 1 (30:34):
Like, oh my gosh, what's so much change? Yeah, it's crazy.
Speaker 3 (30:37):
But uh, you know that's the fun part of parenting.
Speaker 2 (30:40):
You're never yeah, don't don't, don't get an ego out
of it, right, You're like, hey, not me, and then
it happens.
Speaker 3 (30:46):
Immediately exactly as soon as you think you're good.
Speaker 2 (30:49):
Yeah, man, what that was wonderful, wonderful story. How can
people look you up? Give yourself a plug?
Speaker 3 (30:55):
Yeah you can. You can find us on online hibert
wealth dot com. Uh, it's probably the easiest way. I mean,
people can always give us a call. I don't know.
Can I give my number?
Speaker 1 (31:03):
Yeah? Please?
Speaker 3 (31:05):
Seven O four five five three zero one two three.
Speaker 2 (31:09):
So yeah, you're jealous of that number, right, And Chris,
I'm gonna put you on the spot. What's one thing
that you live by both business and life?
Speaker 3 (31:19):
You know? I I I said it earlier, and I
just think it's it's a it's a great phrase, which
is don't pray for rain and complain about mud. And
to me, there are lots of tough things that happen
in life. But you know, oftentimes it's because we are
so fortunate and so blessed and we want we want
(31:40):
all the good stuff. But with the good stuff there
there's the tough stuff that comes by. And I try
and teach my kids that, which is like, hey, we've
got it really good, like compared to the rest of
the world, compared to just people everywhere, We've got it.
We've got it well. So when we hit bad times,
let's not sit there and just dwell on it, but
instead let's kind of sit there and say, hey, it's okay,
(32:00):
we we can we can overcome this, and and it's
mud and we can wash it off and move on.
Speaker 1 (32:05):
Be grateful.
Speaker 2 (32:06):
Yeah, rain makes corn, Corn makes whiskey. Whiskey.
Speaker 3 (32:12):
Frisky?
Speaker 2 (32:15):
Is this?
Speaker 3 (32:16):
How is this how you end up podcasting?
Speaker 2 (32:18):
You're frisky?
Speaker 3 (32:19):
A little nervous. I think I was a good guest,
But can I now.
Speaker 2 (32:22):
When Reagan gets frisky? This is my household man, so
fun to so fun. I think this is the first
time we've ever met. Yeah, yeah, it is good. I'm
glad already drinking whiskey. Sometimes I say that people are
like we met head two months.
Speaker 3 (32:39):
Ago, a little bit we could have met it. At Carolina, I.
Speaker 2 (32:42):
Was looking at his eyes. We might have met at cal.
Speaker 3 (32:45):
You may have seen me cheer.
Speaker 2 (32:46):
I definitely saw you cheer. I don't think I was
focused on you.
Speaker 3 (32:50):
I don't think so.
Speaker 2 (32:52):
We had a cheerleader at a mascot almost backed up.
I had that country song I just sung in my head.
Then I was not looking at super That be okay, Well, listen,
this is how I end the show. Go do the
Golden rule, treat others the way you want to be treated,
and carry a smile around on your face because you
do not know who needs it, and everybody needs a
(33:13):
smile in their life. Thanks for listening. Thank you, Chris,
thanks so nice to meet you. Look forward to hanging
out a lot. And thank you Patrick. You're welcome. You
make my job easy. Thank you, Trent, all right, take care.
Thanks for listening. At Home with Ruby
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Decisions, Decisions
Welcome to "Decisions, Decisions," the podcast where boundaries are pushed, and conversations get candid! Join your favorite hosts, Mandii B and WeezyWTF, as they dive deep into the world of non-traditional relationships and explore the often-taboo topics surrounding dating, sex, and love. Every Monday, Mandii and Weezy invite you to unlearn the outdated narratives dictated by traditional patriarchal norms. With a blend of humor, vulnerability, and authenticity, they share their personal journeys navigating their 30s, tackling the complexities of modern relationships, and engaging in thought-provoking discussions that challenge societal expectations. From groundbreaking interviews with diverse guests to relatable stories that resonate with your experiences, "Decisions, Decisions" is your go-to source for open dialogue about what it truly means to love and connect in today's world. Get ready to reshape your understanding of relationships and embrace the freedom of authentic connections—tune in and join the conversation!