Ft Myers Beach - Good Neighbor

Building Financial Freedom After the Storm: Eric Tibbs' Journey-Eric Tibbs/Edward Jones

• "Cabo" Jim Schaller • Season 5 • Episode 7

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What happens when life's hardest financial lessons become your professional mission? For Edward Jones advisor Eric Tibbs, watching his grandfather's $700,000 farm inheritance vanish through bad financial advice created a powerful purpose—ensuring others never face similar hardships.

From his first taste of Fort Myers Beach at Dog Beach after leaving the Air Force, Eric recognized something special in our community. Rather than choosing the "hoity-toity" atmosphere of Naples, he planted roots here in 2008, establishing his Edward Jones office in Santini Plaza. Following his regional leader's advice to "live where you work," Eric committed fully to island life, spending half his salary on a Lazy Way rental to become a true beach local.

Eric's approach to financial advising stands apart through his willingness to meet clients in their homes—"like an old-fashioned doc making house calls." This personal touch allows him to understand clients' lives more deeply, seeing their travel photos and family mementos while helping create strategies for what he calls "financial freedom"—having enough recurring monthly income to cover essential expenses regardless of market conditions.

Hurricane Ian forced Eric to relocate his practice to Estero's Miromar Design Center in 2023, but his beach connections remain strong. Alongside his professional work, Eric has poured himself into community service through Kiwanis Club, where he met his wife Melody and served as president during both COVID and post-hurricane recovery efforts. The club contributes $120,000-$150,000 annually to children's programs, exemplifying the giving spirit that makes our beach community special.

Drawing from personal experience with family members battling Alzheimer's, Eric emphasizes long-term care planning in his practice, noting that 70% of people over 65 will need extended care. His father's wisdom—"teach a man to fish" and "problem solvers rule the world"—continues to guide his approach to helping clients navigate retirement, healthcare, and legacy planning.

Discover how Eric's journey from building a plywood fishing boat with his dad to helping clients weather financial storms reflects the resilience and community spirit that defines Fort Myers Beach. Contact Eric at 239-463-0164 or erictibbs@edwardjones.com to learn how he might help you "finish well" financially.

Eric Tibbs from Edward Jones
10800 Corkscrew Rd Suite 304, Estero, FL 33928
(239) 463-0164
eric.tibbs@edwardjones.com
edwardjones.com
#EricTibbs
#FinancialAdvisor
#edwardjones

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Speaker 1:

Welcome to the Fort Myers Beach Good Neighbor Podcast, where the sun's always shining and the stories are even brighter. Each episode we bring you closer to the neighbors, local legends and beachside businesses that make Fort Myers Beach the slice of paradise we all love. Pull up a beach chair, grab a drink and let's meet the people who make this island feel like home. We want to send out some island love to Eric Tibbs from Edward Jones State Insurance USA and Home Well Care Services Fort Myers.

Speaker 2:

They are the businesses that allow us to share the soul of our Welcome Good Neighbors to the Fort Myers Beach Good Neighbor podcast. Today we have Good Neighbor Eric Tibbs from Edward Jones. Welcome hey.

Speaker 3:

Jim, thank you so much, I appreciate it.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, no, I appreciate you being part of this and helping us get off the ground with this and being a sponsor. It really is appreciated. We got a lot of good things to do for Fort Myers Beach and I'm happy to have you as part of that. Things to do for Fort.

Speaker 3:

Myers Beach and I'm happy to have you as part of that. Absolutely, it's a community. You know I moved to back in 2008 and have grown to love and so I'm glad to give and share back Absolutely.

Speaker 2:

It's a great community and it's changing, but changing for the better.

Speaker 1:

Yes, absolutely.

Speaker 2:

So let's start off first. But why don't you share a little bit about what you do work-wise at Edward Jones?

Speaker 3:

So at Edward Jones I get the privilege of helping people manage their money to get to retirement or achieve their goals really, and make sure that they get to finish well really.

Speaker 3:

And you know, make sure that they get to finish well right. The reason I get to do that, or the reason I really love doing that, is because, you know, in our family my grandpa retired back in 1987 and got his first thousand dollar pension check from public service power in Denver, colorado. In the same year he and his five brothers sold the family farm in Iowa and they each got about $700,000. And they ran into somebody in my business that was amazing at turning a dollar into a dime, and so it should have been a tremendous family legacy turned into other than that. And so my grandparents had to downsize their home. They had to move to a small condo, they had to do things that you know they shouldn't have had to do had they had somebody in my business who was actually looking out for their best interest. And so my goal in life is to make sure that nobody ever has to go through that, and so whoever you know I can help finish well. That's really what my mission is to do.

Speaker 2:

And that's great because you know so many people work so hard and then when they finally get a chance to enjoy and relax in life a little bit, they find themselves in a bad situation which you can help prevent, which I love.

Speaker 3:

So yeah, and I really like to focus on making sure people are financially free, and the way I define that is having enough recurring income coming in every month to cover all your base bills so that when things like hurricanes happen or COVID happens or whatever happens, you have enough money so that I don't have to worry about what's going on with the stock market or any of that sort of stuff. But every month I've got more money coming in than to cover my base bills, and so we really try and focus in our office on providing financial freedom to everybody who walks through our doors.

Speaker 2:

Perfect, perfect. A lot of people need some help and guidance, you know, especially with a lot of people moving down here and especially with a lot that's gone over in the past couple of years. But you used to have an office on Fort Myers Beach, right, I did.

Speaker 3:

So, I started that office back in 2008, 2009, down in Santini Plaza and Mr Alderette, who has since passed away. I met him on my first day on Fort Myers Beach and wandered into his shop at Fishtail Marina and said, hey, I'm going to open a business here on the island. Do you have any space for me? And he said, no, but when I do, I will gladly let you know. And so about three months later, in September of 2008, he said, hey, the old florist is moving out. I've got the corner you know on the edge there for you. And so you know, I was in that corner spot on Santini Plaza up until September of 22.

Speaker 3:

And the last remaining thing that was part of that office is right behind me. That's the sign that hung over my door when we started that office back in 2008.

Speaker 2:

That is crazy.

Speaker 3:

It is, and so I still love the people of the beach and I'm down there about once a week helping service clients and meet with clients, and so it's a wonderful privilege. And I'm like an old-fashioned doc Since the beginning's a wonderful privilege. And you know, I'm like an old-fashioned doc Since the beginning. I've made house calls right, and so I love meeting with people around their dining room table and just really getting a sense to know who they are and, you know, get to see their pictures and the places they've traveled and all those sort of fun things right, so I can help continue that family legacy for them.

Speaker 3:

So, let's back up that story a little bit. Why Fort Myers Beach, of all places? Well, but when I transitioned out of the Air Force, I worked in a small company developing chemical and explosive detection equipment and I had a friend of the family that lived in Cape Coral At the time. I had two dogs and so I came down to Dog Beach after I left that and joined Edward Jones and I said, hey, where do you want to start an office? And I said I don't know Naples. And I got down to Naples and it was a little too hoity-toity for me. I took my dogs to Dog Beach and came back up through Fort Myers Beach. I'm like this is a cool little place. So I called my regional leader at the time, jim Koinis, and said hey, can I put an office out there?

Speaker 3:

He's like I don't know, call home office. So I did and they gave me, you know, said hey, choose one of these locations. And Santini Plaza was one of those locations, and I said OK. And so then Jim, my regional leader, said hey, if you're going to live and work on an island, you need to live on that island. So I rent a little place on Lazy Way. It took half of my salary at the time, a thousand dollars a month to rent a place on Lazy Way, half of my salary at the time, a thousand dollars a month to rent a place on lazy way. And we were off to the races. I spent the next, you know, two years out knocking on people's doors, meeting my neighbors, letting them know I was opening an office, and from there our business has just flourished. God has just, you know, tremendously blessed our business.

Speaker 2:

So yeah, and you really embraced the community and submerged yourself into the community on top of that.

Speaker 3:

I did.

Speaker 3:

You know, the Little Beach community is such a fantastic close knit community and my wife I met my wife Melody there through Kiwanis, and so we've been part of the Kiwanis Club for a long, long time Help them find the location that they're at now, helped them, you know, I was the president of the club through COVID and through the storm I was the president of the club and helped us get it back on our feet.

Speaker 3:

And it's amazing. Kiwanis is like one of the, you know, little gems of the giving world. You know all the Kiwanis clubs in Lee County combined to give about a million dollars a year back to kids in the community, and so the Fort Myer Beach Kiwanis is a tremendous part of that. And you know we were able to give about one hundred and twenty to one hundred fifty thousand dollars a year back, and in about three years, when that building is paid off, we'll be able to almost double that. So we're going to have that mortgage hang overhead. It's just tremendous, right. And the people of the beach make it happen because they're generous donors. They give us the furniture, they give us all this sort of things and we turn that you know trash into treasure, right. And so it's amazing.

Speaker 2:

And that's right on the corner of what? Pine Island? Right yeah, pine Ridge.

Speaker 3:

Pine Ridge, yep, and so it's right there on the corner of Pine Ridge and Summerlin. You know we're open Monday through Saturday, and so what a great group of folks, and it's, you know, almost all staffed by volunteers right, I love it.

Speaker 2:

See, that's what community is all about. So obviously running a business at the beach sounds like a dream, right, right?

Speaker 3:

But we all deal with storms, obviously the big one. What's been your biggest challenge since then? Really, the biggest challenge was not having a location for people to really come to, so it was kind of like getting thrown back to where I started in 08, where I was working out of the trunk of my car or my house and really meeting people. And so we finally we searched and searched and really wanted to open another location back on the beach, but I had to make a business decision in 2023. And so we opened an office over here in the Miramar Design Center, right off of 75 and Corkscrew in Estero. That's where we could actually find some commercial space that would really suit us. So we're a little bit off the beach, but you know, I either go to my beach clients or they come to me and it's really. You know, it's been really, really good since the storm.

Speaker 2:

So that was my biggest challenge. Yeah, and you've got a lot of history here, so you've got a lot of connections, so you're still close enough, you know, and, like you said, you get over here quite frequently as well, so that is great. So, talking about business, are there certain things that are changing, trending, people should be aware of?

Speaker 3:

Well, you know there are. There are certain things that are changing and trending, and so you've got you know the rise of cryptocurrencies. You've got you know different ways to invest those sort of things, but the fundamental principles really still hold true of buying, holding for the long term, letting things work for you and then finding things that really spit off good income. You can look at different forms of bonds, and down here in the state of Florida we do a lot of tax-free bond business, which means if you lend your money to a municipality like Fort Myers Beach or Lee County Airport, all the interest income you get is tax-free, which is a tremendous thing, right? You don't owe Uncle Sugar any more money than you need to, right?

Speaker 3:

And so we love working with those sort of things. Cryptocurrencies you know that's going to be something that the government has just signed some legislation on and will continue to evolve as those continue to grow bigger and you know governments and or institutions put some of the reserves in those currencies as well, and so that's something that Edward Jones is currently exploring. So that's something that Edward Jones is currently exploring. I don't know that we actually do that right now, but you know the fundamentals of investing have pretty much stayed the same.

Speaker 2:

You know, buy good quality stuff and hold it and it will do you well for a lifetime. There we go, just got to keep up with all the changes. So is there something that our listeners should know about Eric Tibbs and Edward Jones that maybe they wouldn't be too aware of?

Speaker 3:

You know, one of the things that really has impacted me and the reason I get to do what I do, is my dad was my greatest mentor in life, right, and so I just remember, every Friday night he would take me and my mom, my sis, in our pumpkin orange BW pop top camper van, and he took us to this thousand acre ranch called the Box T and he taught me two really big lessons. He taught me to teach Amanda Fish, right, that principle. And then problem solvers rule the world, right. And so one of the things that we do is we try and pass that on, right. He was kind enough as a young boy to teach me how to go, how to provide for a family and hunt and fish, but he always knew the best fishing was in the middle of the lakes and we didn't have a boat. But dad found some plans from his dad in our garage and so we built a plywood fishing boat in our garage and, man, we tooled that thing.

Speaker 3:

And retirement, or giving a legacy, or taking care of health care and retirement, all those different buckets we really look at and say, ok, hey, you mass this big pile of stuff. Now how do we use it in the right way, in the right order, to get you to ultimately work to finish well, right and to if you want to ultimately work to finish well, right and to if you want to leave a tremendous legacy for your family Right. Because one of the biggest things that I've dealt with in our family is, you know, long-term care. That's the goal, but both of my grandparents, my grandmas, have had Alzheimer's. You know we're dealing with that with another member of our family right now and so trying to help people protect from that, because when you look at statistics, 70 percent of people over 65 will have a long term care event that lasts longer than 90 days, and so making sure that you have a good plan of how you're going to fund that is really another focus in our practice, jim.

Speaker 2:

I love that because it's not just, like you mentioned, taking care of yourself, but it's taking care of your loved ones as you age, you know, and people around you, so something I definitely think about. So you live by the beach. What do you love doing outside? You mentioned dogs, but what do you love doing outside of work?

Speaker 3:

So so my son Zeke and I who's now, which is kind of crazy, it was almost 12, it'll be 12 next in September we like going to shore casting from, you know, old Hickory, you know beach. We like, you know, just going and spending time on the beach. We've got a four-year-old granddaughter now and she likes going. So we get our paddle boards out and we inflate them and just go around. We just have a great time. We enjoy the outdoors in this beautiful spot that God has allowed us to live in. So that's what we really enjoy doing.

Speaker 2:

We got to get outside and enjoy the paradise. Like you mentioned, it's here.

Speaker 1:

Absolutely.

Speaker 2:

Why be inside? Get out and enjoy it. There's plenty to see. Even for people that have lived here for a long time, there's still plenty to see.

Speaker 3:

Absolutely yeah.

Speaker 2:

So how would our listeners go about contacting you if they had some questions or just wanted to learn more?

Speaker 3:

So they could. They could look us up online EdwardJonescom slash Eric Tibbs, and then they could call our office 239-463-0164. We still have one of those old beach exchange telephone numbers. You know, when you've had it for 17 years, you kind of stick with what still works, right.

Speaker 2:

Don't give it up.

Speaker 3:

Or they can shoot me an email at erictibbs, at edwardjonescom, right, and so we'd be glad to help people. However, you know we can Very good Any last words for our listeners today I just hope they enjoy this, the the beautiful beach right, I mean it's, it's tremendous right now and, um, I hope they get out and, um, you know it would be our privilege to help, you know, serve and guide, uh, anybody who needs help with their finances. So I love it and the beach has been great.

Speaker 2:

I've been there the last couple of weekends and the water is the clearest I've seen it in. A who needs help with their finances. I love it and the beach has been great. I've been there the last couple of weekends and the water is the clearest I've seen it in a long time, so get out there and enjoy it.

Speaker 3:

Absolutely. Yeah, we were out the other day and sometimes you have the little fish that nibble at your ankles when you're walking in the sand man, and you see them all around you. It's really kind of cool. So get out and enjoy it. Get out and enjoy it.

Speaker 2:

Eric, I want to thank you again for being such a good neighbor. Thank you for your sponsorship and what you're doing to help get this off the ground and share it with the community here locally and we're going to have you on on a regular basis, so we look forward to our next podcast with you. Sounds great.

Speaker 1:

Thanks, jim, take care podcast with you Sounds great. Thanks, jim, take care All right. Thanks for tuning in to the Fort Myers Beach Good Neighbor Podcast, where community meets paradise. If you love what you heard, share it with a friend and keep the good vibes going Until next time. Stay sunny, stay salty and keep being a good neighbor. Also, to nominate your favorite neighbors, local legends, heroes or island businesses to be on the show, go to CaboWaboGymcom. That's CaboWaboGymcom. Or call 239-427-4100. We want to send out some island love to Eric Tibbs from Edward Jones State Insurance USA and Home Well Care Services Fort Myers. They are the businesses that allow us to share the soul of our community with every listener, from local stories to the positive vibe of island life. Here's to celebrating all that makes Fort Myers.