An Interview with
Hank Reifsnyder
CFP®, AIF®, SmartVestor Professional
How he draws on past challenges and personal tragedy to help his clients
How long have you worked at Hummel?
I’ve been working at Hummel Group for more than 15 years.
Were you always interested in working in the financial world?
The Lord led me down an interesting path to financial services. My first job out of college was helping people on welfare get jobs in Philadelphia. I was able to use my God-given networking abilities to help people who may not have had the necessary skill set to secure employment. Then, when my wife and I moved to Ohio, where she’s from, I went back to school to get my master’s from the University of Akron. I had severe dyslexia growing up, and school was a struggle. I wanted to help people like me, and that’s what I eventually did as a special education teacher in Dalton. However, the Lord, through a series of conversations, had also led me to work part-time at Hummel Group. The reason why? My father passed away from leukemia when I was young, and things were very hard for my family financially. The Lord said, “Hank, if you talk to people about the advantages of buying term life insurance, then what happened to your family after your dad passed away could never happen to their family from a financial standpoint. They would have the protection that they need.” And before too long, the part-time insurance sales role turned into a full-time career. I do miss teaching, but working at Hummel has been such a blessing to my family. It’s probably one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.
How did your experiences growing up affect how you relate to people today?
The variety of life experiences that the Lord has provided me has given me the unique ability to relate to a wide spectrum of the population. I wake up every day and say, “Lord, I’m ready to talk to people. I don’t know who you have in store for me to talk to today, and I don’t know what it is they’re supposed to hear, but I’m happy to be your messenger.”
I was blessed to grow up in a Christian household with a loving mom, but there were challenges, so I can relate to people when they are in a challenging situation. I can also relate to people when they wake up in the morning and cannot believe how blessed they are. I’m fortunate to be married and have three healthy kids. It’s also hard for me at 43 to realize how much the Lord has done for me.
Because of my background and current situation, I can have a conversation with just about anyone about their financial needs.
What is life outside of Hummel like for you? What are some of your hobbies?
My wife and I are raising our kids in a conservative Christian household. One of the most important things in my life is my relationship with the Lord. I enjoy finding out what the Lord wants me to be doing with the different talents and opportunities he’s blessed me with.
One of them is baseball. God was able to use baseball to open up doors in my life that would have been closed otherwise. It turns out there’s a whole bunch of young guys in the Dominican Republic growing up in single-parent households. They feel like underdogs at home, but the tables turn on the baseball field—they see that as their ticket to a more comfortable future.
I can very much relate to that. So, I really enjoy traveling down there to connect with young ball players and point out that God has given them much more talent than He ever gave me. God did not allow the hard things to happen in my life because He didn’t love me or didn’t care about me, or because He forgot about me. He allowed those difficult things to happen because He knew that He was going to pull my family and me through them. And then, once we got through those challenging circumstances, I was going to turn around and tell other people they could do it too.
What can you tell us about being a Dave Ramsey SmartVestor Pro?
My mom introduced me to Financial Peace, Dave’s book about adopting good lifelong habits with money. She wanted me to always have a good job and make good decisions while being down to earth. That has stuck with me.
My wife, Megan, and I grew up to not take things for granted. We lived like broke college kids for the first 10 years of our marriage, even though we didn’t necessarily have to.
As a result, we’ve been able to turn challenges, like the 2008 financial crisis, into opportunities. For example, we were able to purchase 18 rental houses and sell them after about eight years. These were $30,000 houses that had previously been worth $100,000. That worked out extremely well for us.
What misconceptions about money do you hear the most?
People feel like it can be complicated and intimidating, and I think it should feel like anything but that. Ultimately, if somebody doesn’t understand something, they should probably not invest in it. Finances should be boiled down to the most basic elements because if you keep things as simple as possible, then you can execute as efficiently as possible to get the results you want.
What can clients expect when they work with you? What’s your process like?
I start with an initial conversation to get a feel for where they are right now. Next, we’ll map out a plan together that shows them where they’re at now and where they want to be 5 to 10 years from now. Then we discuss the steps they have to take to get where they want to go.
If a couple is willing, for a brief period of time, to live below their means, they can pay off debts and save—giving them a better financial foundation for the rest of their marriage. Financially, it’s just so much easier to win the game if you’re playing with a lead. It’s fulfilling to help a young couple start off on the right foot because I understand the long-term impact of making the right decisions when you’re in your 20s and 30s.
I also enjoy working with people very close to retirement because they’ve worked extremely hard to get to that pinnacle, and now they need to make the right decisions to enjoy the fruits of their labor and retire comfortably.
What do you most enjoy about your job, and what is the most challenging part?
Frankly, I enjoy the paperwork the least. I am so thankful that we have such tremendous support at Hummel that I can spend most of my time doing what I like and what I’m good at: forming meaningful relationships and getting to know the families I’m helping. Some of the people I’ve worked with are getting to retirement age, and they were just 50 when we started working together. It’s been fun to watch families grow.
If you’d like to talk to Hank and discuss your financial goals, visit www.talktohank.com or give him a call at 800-860-1060.
Read the full Spring 2024 newsletter here.
Hank Reifsnyder is a Registered Representative offering securities through The O.N. Equity Sales Company, Member FINRA/SIPC, 4585 State Route 39 Berlin, Ohio 44610 Phone: 330-893-2600. Investment
Advisory Services offered through O.N. Investment Management Company and Hummel Wealth Management, LLC. The O.N. Equity Sales Company and O.N. Investment Management Company are not
affiliated with Hummel Wealth Management., LLC. Dave Ramsey’s SmartVestor Pro is a directory of investment professionals. Working with a SmartVestor Pro does not guarantee investment success, and no
assurance can be made that working with a SmartVestor Pro will produce better results than working with a financial professional not affiliated with the program. Neither Dave Ramsey nor SmartVestor are
affiliates of The O.N. Equity Sales Company or O.N. Investment Management Company.
