Andy & Danny Babitz on Jews in the Lou (Full Episode)

Andy & Danny Babitz on Jews in the Lou (Full Episode)

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

And so I'm like, no, they are. Look, they're in the kitchen. You know, you can see them right there. And they were, they're obstinates of the island. He's like, well, let's go in and see what they're up to. I'm like, sounds good. I'm looking this way. And then we turn back to the kitchen and they're just making up. And I mean, I was like, Hey guys, Alex Rich.

SPEAKER_01 0:21

Ben Foremba. Hey, we are excited to let you know that we have episodes of our podcast, Jews in the Lou, dropping every other week. And you're not going to want to miss.

SPEAKER_00 0:29

We have some very guests lined up. Amazing. And while I have you, I want to thank the St. Louis Jewish Light for their incredible partnership and support of our podcast, uh, the St. Louis Jewish Light doing amazing work for our community, keeping us informed, uh uh with stories, with updates.

SPEAKER_01 0:45

Um visit stljuwishlight.org, subscribe to their newsletter, they'll keep you up to date on everything going on. Absolutely. Well, see you soon. The Babbitts brothers. Well, let's start by just first saying nothing against Joe Babbitts. Yeah, dude. That's right. True. Plus, you're we when you involve a lawyer, this is a former lawyer. When you involve a lawyer, it gets complicates things a little bit for sure. Um, Andy and Danny Babbitts, this is one of the most exciting ones that I'm looking forward to. Because I know a lot about you guys already, but we're gonna dig into like maybe some of the stuff that we haven't talked about, which I don't know what that would be. That would be for you guys to tell me. But um, for the people that don't know, we went, we've got kind of different generations of like going to high school together, kind of growing up together. So you and my brother kind of grew up together.

SPEAKER_03 1:37

That's right, that's right. Me and and your older brother AJ, we grew up going to Sunday school and Hebrew school together, man. It's uh back at the old United Hebrew, and then you're a Parkway Central guy.

SPEAKER_01 1:48

I'm a Parkway Central guy, we're Parkway North guy. That's right, man. Vikings, baby, Vikings all the way. Yeah, um, and then uh then it's me. I'm a year older than Joe, the youngest Babbitt's boy.

SPEAKER_03 2:00

Yeah, we could all have been in one household. I know. We've got very similar mothers, too.

SPEAKER_01 2:05

Very similar mothers, yeah. I appreciate you guys coming on the show, dude.

SPEAKER_02 2:09

We're dude, we're honored. You know, my wife, shout out to Caitlyn, um loves this thing. And I told her that we were gonna be on here, and uh my status in my household went up so immediately went up. Yes, yes, okay.

SPEAKER_01 2:23

Yeah, hopefully your street cred goes up too. Man, I hope so. I hope so. I could use that credit.

SPEAKER_03 2:29

Our street cred is very low.

SPEAKER_01 2:31

Anything to raise our street cred be helpful. Okay, we'll see what we can do. Yeah, um, but I brought you guys on together because um obviously Jews and Lulu, we like to highlight different Jewish individuals that are kind of doing cool things in the community, but also like I think what's unique about you guys is, and we'll get into that you're a former lawyer. Is that what you say? You're still technically a lawyer. How does it be?

SPEAKER_03 2:54

No, I used to I used to say that, right? I used to say that I think when I was starting the business, but now uh I I say I'm a recovering attorney.

SPEAKER_01 3:01

A recovering attorney, yeah. I'm watching suits right now, so I'm like all invested in it. Great shit. Um, but you guys work together, so it's a family business. It is a family business, Northwestern Mutual in um in Forest Park. Yep, yeah, right, man. And you guys just uh moved into your own office space, and um I kind of want to go back in time because I don't know if this is something that you always wanted to do. It's definitely not something that you always thought about doing, clearly, because you you changed professions. Yeah. But talk about, you know, there's a lot of people in this in the money space, in the finance space, whether it's you're an accountant or you're a financial planner, whatever that may be. But kind of growing up, what made you, is it even something you wanted to do? Is it something that you you saw yourself doing, or what stuck out where you were like, this is the path I want to go?

SPEAKER_02 3:57

Yeah, I think what's uh I think what's really cool about that is like I had no interest uh at the beginning in doing this. Uh really our uncle Paul Flatkin was associated with Northwestern Mutual and kind of left our family business for a long time was grocery stores. Okay. Uh, you know, people listening or watching. I didn't know that. Yeah, yeah. The Flatkins was a uh, you know, an incredible supermarket.

SPEAKER_03 4:24

And uh yeah, you know where the Shane Co is on Olive right there? Yeah. So that was a building that our grandfather had as Flotkins grocery store. Is that right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I had no idea.

SPEAKER_02 4:35

It was the like before Cones was Cones, and like it was a place people went for their kosher stuff. And it's kind of like almost this uh, like it kind of had a bit of a Strobs feel, maybe not as super high-end, but like it was a community, right? And we never really got to see it because it closed a what 88, 90, 80, something a lot.

SPEAKER_03 4:55

I think there's a picture. I was born in 84. I think there's a picture of me as a baby, like on the conveyor belt of the checkout lane, which is why he's so messed up. Exactly, for sure. But I mean, it's it's interesting because you when you chat with somebody who might be a little bit older than me, I'm 41, somebody in their in their late 40s, early 50s, especially people in their 60s and 70s, you mention it. If you grew up in St. Louis, it was like it was like being uh, you know, knowing Ben Paremba, right? Like somebody who had a a tie to the community in a specific uh way. And I didn't mean to interrupt you there, but uh it's a it's a it's a cool thing because the name Flotken, which uh we've both continued on with our with our kids who have middle names that are Flotken, is is a name that in St. Louis, especially among the Jewish community, is hopefully got still some meaning, and and we're we're grateful to be a part of that, which is really cool.

SPEAKER_02 5:54

I didn't know that. That's awesome. Yeah, yeah. So like you know, our uncle Paul was uh kind of like getting into a manager status there and found his way towards Northwestern Mutual. And you know, when I was growing up and we were growing up, uh, you know, our his youngest, JJ Flotkin, uh is seven years older than me. Okay, and so you know, when he went to college, he was you know 18 and I was 11. And so we got to go to a lot of stuff with our Uncle Paul. And it was like not only going to a Cardinals game in four rows behind the dugout, which was really cool, right? But it was also going to stuff at our congregation and seeing the involvement that he had in the community. I mean, he was the president of UH when they moved from Skinker to where it is today, town and country, was a huge you know, he's in the picture, and so I think he was 36 at the time, by the way, which is nuts to think about.

SPEAKER_03 6:50

I'm 39, yeah, you know, man.

SPEAKER_02 6:52

So uh uh, you know, and we I saw this life he had where he had this huge impact where he was helping his clients, helping the community, and was able to be a really present father and husband, and so um I had no idea what he did. And I was just like, hey man, you know, I'm a junior in college, all my friends are getting internships. Like, can I can I have breakfast with you to like figure out what the heck it is you even do? And we sat down and he shared it with me. And I was just like, I really don't know what the day-to-day is, but if you're telling me that you're making this impact in people's lives, you're able to be this present father, um, and then also be able to do some really cool stuff for your family too. Like, I'm I'm really interested in that. And the thing I remember him saying to me is that there's a lot of different companies, industries, like you said, a lot of money. I mean, in St. Louis, man, Stiefle, Wells, Edward Jones, all home offices here. He's like, you know, just like any industry, there's good and bad. And he said, the only way you're really gonna make it long term is if you do right by people because the client retention is everything. Okay. And that really stuck out to me. So uh here we are. And what's crazy is Andy joined, you know, much fur, you know, nine years later, we started our own firm and we announced the other day at our ribbon cutting, like we currently serve over 6,500 households. Uh, and um, it's just really been an awesome reward in so many ways. Yeah, but like we know we could also take so much of what we're doing and spread it out as far as impact goes in a different way. And I think that that's you know our next step of opportunity.

SPEAKER_01 8:40

Yeah, and I think that and I think I've told you guys this before. It's like you you were just yeah, your family's great, obviously, but you were just raised the right way. Where I don't know two, well, three of you throw your brother or four of you throw your sister in there in the mix of the room.

SPEAKER_02 8:56

Amy's gotta be thrown in, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:58

Amy's gotta be thrown in. But you guys are such of course you're intelligent and very smart and successful people, but I think that's well, but I think the other thing um is that you're just genuinely like good people. Anytime anybody ever asks me about the Babbitt's guys and like why I trust, you know, this is I I guess the shameless plug for Northwestern and working with you guys, right? But like I there's never a time where I have to worry that what you guys are doing, because candidly, yeah, you guys, I you guys do some stuff with my money as well, but um, there's never a time where I have to worry about like the right thing being done because you guys do things the right way. And I guess that kind of is my transition into talk about your your background as far as like how you guys were raised and the expectations of how you should treat people or and and what of that comes from your Jewish background that you um that you see in your everyday life.

SPEAKER_03 9:58

I think it's such a great question. We've we've talked about this now that we're both fortunate enough to be fathers, right? Like I'm a father of three, he's a father of two, and we say this all the time like our our parents should have written a book. Like uh we we have no idea how they did it, uh how they raised four, you know, genuinely speak for the other three, really good humans. Um you know, and and I think a a lot of it was like our parents they they treated us with the same respect that we should have treated them with, right? Like we they were we were always asked for input. Um, you know, we had real discussions about things. And you know, I think you look at the the old Jewish tenant of look, you know, love thy neighbor as thyself, like that was that that's the golden rule of everything. And I remember specifically one time speaking to Paul, like one of the things my mom shared with me was like one of the things that that Paul really does well is even if you ask him a question, he turns the question of, okay, so so what does that mean to you, or like what's going on in your life? And I think, you know, uh you ask anybody about a flotkin or or or my father or or my mother, our mother, you know, our father is there they genuinely care about others and uh putting others first and then always doing the right thing and understanding is it it takes decades and a lifetime to make a reputation and just one little thing can can ruin it. And so we together have the same values of it's it's long-term thinking, um, you know, work hard, do right by others, and and genuinely care about the people that you're working with. So that that was a huge uh just mindset uh around the the people that we that we grew up with.

SPEAKER_02 11:54

Yeah, it's uh it's funny because hopefully mom will listen to this at some point, right? It's like it doesn't matter uh what you do as a parent, there's uh stuff you're gonna give your kids and stuff you're gonna miss. And uh they gave us so much more than they missed. And the thing that they gave us over everything else was like the golden rule like treat others how you want to be treated. And um, I think that values part of it. One thing for any parents listening, and I I feel like that I'm gonna take this from them, is we had to go to each other's games. Like interesting. That's all the weekend was. The weekend was sport sporting events, and so like even Amy who played soccer, and she actually played Varsity as a freshman, like soccer player, but she was on St. Monica's, right? Remember St. Monica's over there? Like, there's a field back there, and her best friend's mom coached the team. And I remember going to those games. I met Weston, our brother-in-law, okay, who married Amy, which is which is a whole other next thing. Yeah, there's too many layers there. Yeah, but at Joe's soccer practice for also St. Monica, which used to be at that little park behind St. Monica, and I met him there, and then you know, years later he's my best friend and uh marries Amy. But I think although we didn't love, you know, being in elementary school, middle school, and going to our younger, older kids' events, it has made us so that us as siblings, uh, you know, family is always the most important thing. Yeah, and uh I think it's been better as we've gotten older too, where things always seem great from the outside. But we've been able to have challenging conversations with each other. All four of our families have different dynamics and our strong relationship and the value of family over everything else creates this open environment to be able to have those discussions and uh strengthen our relationship. Conflict leads to intimacy, and I think that uh that's been a really good blessing for us.

SPEAKER_01 14:02

Yeah, I think that's funny you touched on it, but is it ever um it's there's a sometimes, well, from the brotherly perspective, sometimes it's tough to a just be brothers and see eye to eye on a lot of stuff.

SPEAKER_03 14:17

Hard being brothers.

SPEAKER_01 14:18

It's hard, it's hard being brothers. That's movie quote number one. It's hard being brothers, yeah. Um see how many movie quotes we can get in this sense of um, but uh you know, when you look at like your best friend who ends up marrying your sister, right? It takes, I think, a certain kind of friendship and relationship with like we talked about, the people outside of your family, for you to have that kind of trust. And I think that goes to like back to what I said about like you guys are genuinely like I think some of the most authentic, like real people that you could come across. What was that like dynamic like? I know it could, you know, you probably years past that it was an awkward conversation, but like, how does that even come up being able to have the trust in because it could go two terribly different ways? Yeah, it either goes the way it did, which is great, movie-esque, talking about movie quotes, yeah, yeah. Or it goes to maybe it doesn't work out, and that affects your friendship with him.

SPEAKER_02 15:25

Yeah, well, we both have stories within this, so I'll just say mine real quick is like I was the fortunate enough to be the best man in their wedding, and I saw them making out when I was a junior in high school and never told them about it. Like, I'm yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, it was like, is this the first they're gonna hear about it right now? So maybe I mean we got some time, so I can tell the story real quick. Got back from a high school party junior year, and a few weeks before, Amy was like, she had to tell me that she and Weston were hanging out as friends, and so I kind of thought nothing of it because out of all my friends, Weston was definitely the least threatening. And some some people listen, they know some of my other friends from high school, they'd be like, gosh, yeah, good thing it was him the other guys, and so I was like, Yeah, I don't think anything other. It's Weston, you know? So uh love you, Wes. And so um, it's just kind of funny because get back and I'm with my buddy Eric, and we pull up and he's like, What? It's like 11 30 nine. He says, What is Weston's car doing on the driveway? And I was like, Oh, yeah, I forgot to tell you, they're like hanging out as friends, and Eric's, you know, in the driver's seat, and I'm and he's like, Oh yeah, dude, I'm sure, I'm sure they're hanging out as friends. And so uh, I'm like, no, they are. Look, they're in the kitchen, you know, you can see them right there. And they were their oppositions of the island. He's like, Well, let's go in and see what they're up to. I'm like, sounds good. I'm looking this way. And then we turn back to the kitchen and they're just making up. And uh, I mean, I was like, and so I like begged Eric to drive the car. He couldn't stop laughing, and uh I didn't tell them this story until I I shared this at their wedding. I think it was either at their wedding or after they got engaged, which was so much further down the road, because I just didn't want to make it weird. And I knew uh a couple weeks after that, Weston approached me and it was fine. Uh they were, but because of who they are and just Weston fitting in with the values of our family. I mean, he was even on Andy's bachelor party when they were not together. That's how close he was with our family.

SPEAKER_03 17:33

So yeah, I mean, the the coolest thing, like I think it was a blessing that we didn't go to the same high school. Right. Um, yeah, okay, yeah, not because we would have been a problem, right? But like we grew up doing everything together. We're 25 months apart, and um, you know, the the the we got good at sports because every day we would go out and play something basketball, baseball, football, whatever. And we got to kind of have our own experiences in high school, which by the way, I I want to come back to this.

SPEAKER_01 18:08

The Babbitt's brothers. I'm kind of looking at all the cameras, hands down some of the greatest. I've talked to other people about this. Hands down some of the greatest intramural athletes. That's intramural.

SPEAKER_03 18:25

Coming from one of the best in the middle.

SPEAKER_01 18:28

I'm telling you, there's not, I don't think there's an intramural like type like extracurricular activity you guys haven't put championships together.

SPEAKER_03 18:43

Appreciate that.

SPEAKER_02 18:44

That means a lot to us because without the intramural, it wouldn't mean you know, it wouldn't be a true story.

SPEAKER_03 18:51

Coming from three vertically challenged Jews. But, you know, we got back to like I did my kind of own thing and in the fraternity at Mizzou for a while, and then I recruited Danny and Weston to be in the fraternity. And and that was a huge like value add for all of us that that I became really close, obviously with Danny, who is my best friend anyways, but with Weston too. And um, you know, I'm not gonna get into the details of all of this stuff, but at the end of the day, it's like when you're in high school, the last person you ever want to be with your sister is your best friend or somebody that you know. Right. But when you get into your mid to late 20s and early 30s, like you you're blessed that it's somebody that you trust, it's somebody who you know is not gonna do anything wrong to that person or the rest of the family, and it's somebody that you can constantly mess with. Like it's just it's amazing that we get that relationship with Weston. So yeah, it's it's it's really rare. And we're we're really fortunate that that you know he is our brother. And then, you know, he gets the opportunity to to interact with the Babbitt slash Vlodkin family, which I look directly at the camera and know that he absolutely loves.

SPEAKER_01 20:09

Yes, he's one fortunate fella. I get it, yeah, yeah, yeah. We get it sometimes. Um, I think that's a good, like uh, a good opportunity to talk about like you two working together.

SPEAKER_03 20:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:23

Because you hear a lot about family businesses. There's family businesses that at times the parent who, you know, whoever owns the business is passing it on, and then the siblings start working together, and maybe things don't work out, or maybe there's um, you know, disagreements on certain things, and some people don't necessarily like the idea of of doing business with either good friends or family, whatever that may be. But we talked obviously a lot about who you guys are and your background and how you were brought up, but how do you think that you have been able to find success doing that? Like, what are the key pieces that stick out to you where it's like I really love like you brought Andy on on the team? Like it took a lot of, I would have to say, risk.

SPEAKER_03 21:14

There was a there was a lot of risk. I mean, there I I have looking back seven and a half years ago, like the amount of risk that Danny took to not only me, but to my wife and my kids of hey, look, I I think this is gonna work. I think you have the tools to be successful in this business. And uh for me being an attorney, like Danny and I were we're insanely uh in sync with our values, right? We have the the same values, the same work ethic. But uh I never thought, you know, whether you're a financial advisor, insurance, whatever it is, in anything in life, you have to be good at sales, in my opinion. And I I always Was of the opinion Danny can sell ice to an Eskimo in the middle of winter, right? And I and I he can, and it's it's a great skill, right? I never thought I had that skill. Sure. And to Danny's credit, he was able to see in me the the fact that my I think my skill is the ability to relate with people. And he saw that I could take that skill along with the systems and processes that he created to create a really successful business that we that we've been able to create. And, you know, it took a lot of faith on my part to say, okay, I'm gonna trust my younger brother with my business, my income, my family. And I said to myself, for for one year, whatever he says, I'm gonna say yes to. Yeah. And and and he put more time into me than he's ever put into himself or anyone else. And and and I'm I'm so lucky that that he did that. And um, you know, now uh you know, I'll let him talk a little bit more about this, but like you know, we uh it's crazy where we've you know been able to take this to where I mean in a couple of weeks where a team in upstate New York is flying us out there to to talk to their team about how to create you know more business and to to build a team and things of that nature. So just a a nine-year effort on his part. He's relentless. He is. Uh but but you know, thank God it it's it's it's paid off and I'm grateful for it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 23:44

Yeah, it's uh it's nice to to hear all that. And it was I think what's really unique or cool is what Andy said, we're uh insanely aligned and in sync with our with our values, and that's why I felt like we could do it. Um, but it took uh it took a lot. And I think the question was like how or what advice or whatever. Um it actually brought us closer, you know, in any relationship, and I'm sure everyone listening can attest to this. In any relationship, the the challenges come from a misalignment of expectations. Right. And Andy and I have always been really good friends, but you know, building our fraternity, playing intramural sports, like we've never had to really go down that path. And so we were just so clear with each other on like what he needed to do, what I needed to do, and what we were gonna allow to come into the space for the first time in our relationship, which is challenge the heck out of each other and give direct feedback. And in the moment, it can sometimes hurt and be challenging, but you know that when you care more about the person than how they feel about you in the moment, um you know the results can be really great. Right. So, you know, we you know, we have uh an awesome uh team member named Kara who started with me a month or two before Andy, and then when he started, it was just the three of us. And uh it's not like we took over any business, we started this from scratch, and it's been really rewarding. Uh, but there's all these challenges that come with us, and it's made our relationship a lot stronger, which is cool.

SPEAKER_01 25:20

Yeah, I was gonna say, it's like it's it's fun to see like you guys spend a lot of time together, obviously, but like that doesn't ever stop you from wanting to spend more time. Correct. I guess we could know.

SPEAKER_03 25:35

We wish we could spend more time together.

SPEAKER_01 25:36

Yeah, I mean, it may sound crazy to people, it's like, well, obviously, it's like it's family, but like also at the same time, there are a lot of people out there that do get sick of family and hanging out with the family and stuff, but like even things that you guys are doing as a family on the weekends, you've never let work or what you guys do professionally ever come between them. I think correct me if I'm wrong, I think that's because you genuinely uh you're always you're always kind of working in a sense where you're never really working because you're you don't look at it as a job, you look at it as something you're really passionate about and you're doing 100%.

SPEAKER_03 26:13

And I think there's there's no bigger cheerleader in you know we're we're partners in a lot of sense, and we run in our own lanes in a lot of sense within the business, but there's no bigger cheerleader for either of us in our own individual endeavors than than each other.

SPEAKER_01 26:27

What was the parent opinion? Because this is a Jewish podcast, sure. So there's always a parent uh opinion on the Jewish podcast. What was the perspective from your parents when when you approached this idea? Because law school is a not cheap. It's all takes a you know, you're you're there for years, yeah. Three years. So you're putting a lot of time and money into it. What was the conversation conversation like when the idea first came? Hey, like I think Andy would be great, like working with me.

SPEAKER_02 26:58

Yeah, I mean, you know, it's funny is we visited for the first time in 2011, a year after he was uh an attorney, like graduated law school a year after, and he almost did this because he was just wasn't wildly passionate about the actual work itself that he was doing. And so, and I kind of knew that, and I just so again in 13 and 16. I think in our our parents knew that, like, if he was going to do this, right, that we would go through the right steps to make sure that we were aligned. I don't think they were ever nervous that it wouldn't work if he decided to do this, right? Uh, because they know who he is. And on the flip side, I think that they just trusted me that like I didn't even know my like strongest relationship in my life over here. I'm not gonna ruin that just for business, sure, right? Yeah, and that's when you feel like to me, what we do is a passion and a lifestyle, so much more so than anything else.

SPEAKER_01 28:01

Like his success, like you said, was more important to you than your own personal success. 100% success.

SPEAKER_03 28:08

And you could see that. And for me, I was fortunate enough to be able to know that he had done it at the highest of high levels, and he had done it as a 22-year-old during the Great Recession, right? Right. Like the the the difficulties that he faced and the difficulties that I faced were different, right? Like people knew the difficulty for me was, oh, why did you switch from being a lawyer to a financial advisor? But you're 34 years old, I kind of trust you, you've got a JD, you know, you're a good guy, blah, blah, right. But here's a 22-year-old kid with nothing, and he was able to become one of the best advisors in the country and build an incredible practice. So I knew I had seen the success that he had. And so not only did I trust him as a person, as a brother, as a best friend, but I trusted the fact that he was really freaking good at the business. Yeah. And and I could learn from him. And and I think when it comes to anything in life, I mean, we're we we all, again, former amazing intramural athletes who would rather be good at golf, who all kind of are hackers when it comes to good as a pretty. You guys are consistent. But I mean, no one hits it for the no one. No, no, no. But I mean, we we all could learn from anybody in any capacity.

SPEAKER_01 29:35

So do you um what because he mentioned you got into the business at a really like right out of college at a young age, you faced a lot of adversity along the way. I'm sure, as it's a competitive business, there's a lot of people that are out there having these conversations, and you at 22 are trying to get these people to trust a young guy, the intelligent guy, with financial decisions and guiding them on a path. You know, like I'm sure a lot of the conversations you were having were with like parent your parents' friends and things like that, where it's like there's a lot of there's a lot of pressure to make sure that you're not gonna like frankly just mess this up, right? Yeah, totally.

SPEAKER_04 30:19

Totally, totally.

SPEAKER_01 30:20

I can't imagine the amount of times that you probably looked and thought, this is too hard. I don't want to do this, as we all like get into those challenges, but like talk about kind of some of that, and whereas maybe like your Jewish background is always advocating for yourself, that we talk about on this um podcast often is you're always having to advocate for yourself because nobody else is gonna do that for us, especially in the world that we're living in right now. Um, it it's it just is what it is. There's always somebody out there that's gonna be saying something negative about Jewish people or the Jewish background, whatever it is. But looking at your your professional life and personal life, what have you seen as far as like instances where you've had to overcome that?

SPEAKER_02 31:09

Yeah, I mean, I think um, you know, the the Jewish values, again, I think why we love uh our religion and even my wife with our boys go to United Hebrew, like and your wife is not Jewish, and mine either. Yeah, and we are they're gonna get bar mitzvah. She loves uh the Jewish traditions and it's really cool. And maybe, you know, someday she'll convert. She has not, and whenever people ask her, she's just like, you know, I might at some point, right? But today she's just like, I love the tradition and I love the values and what they stand for. And I think so many of our values, like, I mean, gosh, you know, you you can go all the way back in the Bible and hey, Moses never gave up, these people never gave up. I I think you also have to be so clear on what the vision is that it gets you. And where I was really lucky was I every time it got really hard, I was like, well, I can quit, but I won't be able to even come close to scratching the surface of the life that my uncle Paul has and the impact that he's made. And when it was the decision to hang up the towel, you know, or or whatever they call it, you know, hang up the hang up the intramural sports version of uh professional world, right? Uh like I just I wasn't willing to not get that. And I think that that was really important. Uh, but I also think, you know, there's a value we have of like, you gotta finish what you start. You gotta finish what you start. And um that's something that I really hold near and dear. I mean, he we part of this is that you everybody almost quits. And the last thing I'll say about all this is going on too long is I think what's challenging being uh connected to Northwestern Mutual is that there's 300 offices nationwide. Uh, there's a lot of offices local, everybody runs things a little bit differently. And I think where my faith came in was I remember calling people my first year who had said, you know, I've met with a lot of Northwestern people in the past. It's never been for me. And I kind of took that as like, I don't want to say a chip on my shoulder, but like, hey, look, I have nothing negative to say about any of those folks. But what I know is that Northwestern Mutual is a great company, but you're not a you're not essentially buying the company. You're buying the person. You're you're buying the trusting them. And sales, as you guys say, is not infomercials. It's not the energy and the used car stuff, right? It is building relationships, asking good questions, and listening to what people want, and then delivering what they want. So I feel like that had a lot to do with it, too.

SPEAKER_01 33:54

But it is interesting that you brought that up because um, I guess, you know how many people, like you said, have gotten calls or had meetings with Northwestern Mutual, somebody that's just starting out, whatever, and they they get this bad uh negative connotation in their head when Joe Schmoe, Northwestern Mutual, picks up and they're like, hey, um I'm got this product, I want to talk to you about it. But you have never you never let that bother you. You like you said, you just kind of it was a chip on your shoulder, but it's like you know what I mean? It's like you're overcoming that, you're not letting what other people have thought about Northwestern Mutual as a company in the past, right? Like everybody's got a an opinion about every different company, right? And go ahead.

SPEAKER_03 34:43

Well, I was just gonna say the the industry itself has a insanely low retention rate, not just Northwestern Mutual, but Ed Jones and Wells Fargo and all of it, it's a it's a insanely competitive industry. And uh crazily, St. Louis is the highest per capita financial advisor of any, I guess you could still call St. Louis a major city. But you know, uh getting back to kind of your like you look at just I think there's a reason that Jewish professionals have been successful, is because for thousands of years nobody handed anything to Jewish people, right? The reason we got into the lending business is because they wouldn't let us do anything else, right? And and there's always that mentality of somebody's out to get us because there's always been that. And so we've had to, as a people, always work hard, always not give up, like be the hardest working, smartest people in the room. Because if we didn't, there's we we would we'd be screwed. Like there's there's no one's no one's gonna come out and say, okay, Jews, here's here's here's this, here's that, right? And I mean, you know, you you're doing the same thing with what you do in terms of getting out there and working harder and being better than than people because of your work ethic.

SPEAKER_01 36:12

Yeah, I think, you know, I think that's well said. I was also thinking in my head when you were talking about that, you know, you've kind of hit that uh that Jewish stereotype of like you've checked two things off. You've been a lawyer and a financier. Totally.

SPEAKER_03 36:28

Couldn't be a doctor. Squeamish in the blood. My sister was a uh our sister was a burn ICU nurse, she could handle that stuff. But uh I remember in seventh grade being like, oh, that could be, I could be. I think we dissect the worm and I threw up from seventh grade.

SPEAKER_01 36:48

So yeah. Oh man, that's hilarious. Um are there things that like you guys want to carry on with your family? Like you guys both have like kids of your own, obviously. Are there things where now that you have children, traditions in the Jewish uh faith that like that you were raised on that maybe that you want to carry on, or like with your wife specifically, that she sees you talked about the Jewish traditions that she sees as like that's super important. I love that specific thing that you guys do. Like, it could be not necessarily a Shabbat dinner, but like Annie and I talk about all the time, like maybe we're not celebrating the traditional Shabbat where you're lighting candles and and and it's more of the idea of just you're coming together as a family and just celebrating the time of the week to kind of wind down and just be together. Are there things that like that stick out to you from when you were raised or just from how you're raising your family?

SPEAKER_02 37:52

Yeah, I would say for for me, you know, what's really cool is Caitlin loves lighting the Hanukkah candles, right? I mean, she makes it uh something we have to do every night, and not that we have to because anyone's telling us to, she just loves it. And learning some of the songs and uh, you know, we go to Cole Nidre, like just the two of us, because she she really loves that. I think there's just a a vibe throughout all of the Judaism that we were raised on that is again rooted in this like it's all about being a good person and the values, not hey, believe this or this happens. So she went to Catholic school growing up, and I think that again, I it I think that she really likes that part, and that's that means so much to me. So, um, you know, our parents to us before we went to bed every night would say, Before I sleep, I like to say thank you, God, for a happy day. And then we'd sing the Shema, and I'd do that. And and I do that too, yeah. And she she loves that, and we know our cousins do that, like, and so um it's kind of like it's kind of a cool thing, yeah. And uh the other day she was like, I was putting Brooks down, and she doesn't know the Shema all the way through, right? And so she was like, I need to do that because he was asking me to do it, and so here I am on my help forget if I don't do this now. So I recorded it on my phone and like sent it to her, but like it just means a lot to me that it's not about uh the Torah, it's about it's not about the right, it's about the Judaism and the feeling uh and and the family is how we associate.

SPEAKER_03 39:38

I think the the family's key, right? And and I think we're Danny and I are both we're very forward-thinking, right? But we believe that the past and traditions have a huge impact on on life, right? So um both of us live, he lives in U City, I live in East Creve Core. We both pass four or five different synagogues every day to take our kids to Chesterfield to go to United Hebrew. Right. We could go to, and and there's nothing wrong with the other synagogues, obviously, right? But we feel as our kids are fifth generation UH members, like there's a reason that we do that because of the continuity, because of the traditions, because our our uncle helped built that synagogue, and our great-grandfather was a board member on that synagogue in the early 1900s. So And Alex Rich is on the beam. Exactly. I'm up there. You look forward to coming and see.

SPEAKER_01 40:36

But dude, don't let him follow you. This guy can sing all these things. Dude, we all this guy, I mean, you guys, that's what I'm saying. Multi-town, like you're still playing the guitar a little bit? You ever picking up?

SPEAKER_03 40:47

I need to get back into it. Yes, no, I mean uh shameless plug. I'm gonna be leading the synagogue services on June 5th. Are you can't? Yeah, you you want to come up there and leave with me? Come on. I might have to. I'll do it. Uh our you know, Cantor Richmond is is going back to New Jersey, so that the synagogue is gonna be without a cantor for a couple of weeks and canterbabbits for the canterbabbits. It's uh it should be it should be a good time. But back to the I think for me and Diana, like the the Judaism itself, like Danny said, it's about the traditions, right? Like the traditions, our kids go to Sunday school, they're gonna get barabat mitzvah, they're gonna get confirmed. And and the other thing that we are really trying to instill from a tradition is just a really strong uh belief in and support of the state of Israel, like just because of, you know, I think I think obvious for obvious reasons, just of always wanting to support the state of Israel, but I think, you know, we as Jews have been, you know, uh in a position of relative ease in this country for the last 40 or 50 years, and and that's that's unfortunately shifting. And and and I think if I I think just as an existential piece, we've got to support the state of Israel, because you never know when we may have to may have to be there. I'm not that type of person that says that, but that's just those are the the the synagogue, the Judaism itself, uh as a tradition, you know, the holidays and supporting the state of Israel, massive, massive importance things to me and Diana.

SPEAKER_01 42:23

Does it worry you guys that your children, which obviously this is something you teach them, that it's important to be proud of it, but does it worry you in the state of the like the state of the state that we're like sure people are saying like it's cool to be anti-Semitic, yeah, right? Like for whatever reason, that's a thing, which is crazy to think about, like that we've gone back that direction. But does it worry you guys or how how are those conversations with your kids if you have them at all, or if you're prepared to have those conversations?

SPEAKER_03 42:58

I think it becomes it's become you know, my oldest is 11, right? So I think of all the five of our the kids that we have between us, she's probably the one who knows the most or hears the most. And um, yeah, I mean, I I think I think you see what's going on on university campuses and you see what's going on at Jewish day schools, and yeah, it's it's it's a scary time, but uh like everything else in life, you can never live in fear. You just can't. And you have to be. I mean, we're we're proud to be Jewish. It's something that we also take into our our role, you know, with there was a time where Northwestern Mutual as a company would invoke the name of Christ in in the public company prayers. And and that's been something that that we've advocated for change around and rec you know, they've asked us a lot of things about the Jewish religion and and so those are those are really important things uh for us. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 43:58

That's cool. I mean, that's good that you within the overall company, like you guys you've built up that you you know, that reputation to have that voice. But like the fact that you have a voice that's much bigger than just speaking on your own behalf. You're speaking on uh behalf of every Jewish person that may feel some type of way about something that was in you know uh in whatever the bylaws of of the company but like you that don't ever speak up. There's you know however many Jewish people that probably work for Northwestern Mutual across the entire country that it's you know their voice is smaller where they don't they haven't felt like they could speak up and now you guys are kind of advocating where it's like hey not everybody believes this way like we need to like it it's kind of if you if believe what you want to believe as long as you have a person it's like I think that's kind of in my perspective of like what Judaism is is like again it's not necessarily like what you believe or who you believe or whatever it is but it's like just understanding at the end of the day everybody's a good person and just like be good to the next person and and continue to kind of like pay it forward. We're talking about movies pay it forward you know like I think that's that's like that's like to me that's the idealistic like thought of Judaism.

SPEAKER_02 45:23

Absolutely yeah for sure I think uh you know what's really cool is there's so many companies that they just did things one way for so long and like you know I've I've been in Northwestern Mutual it'll be 18 years on June 2nd. Unbelievable they are one of the strongest financial institutions in America and they are so open to feedback and they're so agile they always do what's right their financial strength ratings couldn't be higher and what's what's you know we were talking about earlier some of the challenges is that you know everyone operates differently and when you have a massive company doing so well and you have all these individual sole proprietors out there the people that have been around even just a few years I mean even you know Andy seven and a half years now it it's amazing to see what they do what they do for the community how open they are to feedback and change and uh I think that our Judaism you know growing up probably you know strong opinionated mothers who you know it was never about wearing your yarmulka but it was always I mean you know same please and thank you making sure that you are uh you know doing right by others I mean gosh we all made mistakes growing up but there's Judaism layered in with that right and I think we're just really thankful that we had that in our household.

SPEAKER_01 46:48

Yeah yeah yeah are there Jewish foods that you love our mom makes the best homemade hala I mean homemade halala she braided it is yes it is dense it is unbelievable really excellent crushes the we'll get you a uh a we should have brought one for that would have been that would have been a good little snack that is yeah I mean what are some other latkas I mean she makes all the trim I like bagels he's not a big lot I hate to say it on the podcast too I I've not of course I love a bagel but the locks I like it it's just I don't something about it there's just other things I'd rather have sure same yeah totally um you I've seen you post a picture of the latkas that your mom makes totally from scratch yeah 100% no no um no mix or anything she like the shots she shreds the potatoes she cuts up the onions it's uh brisket for the big holidays brisket brisket is uh amazing love love some brisket yeah the the key is you take a piece of her homemade hala and then you take two of her homemade latkas and then a little bit of her brisket and you cover it with another piece of hala.

SPEAKER_02 48:03

Maybe put a little bit of dip into the jus you know and that is the best sandwich a human can have let me tell you if there's one problem that we had in our lives it was eating too much we're both on 75 hard right now so the hala wouldn't have worked out you know so that's hilarious.

SPEAKER_01 48:26

I mean honestly though I love like I just think I love I'm with you guys I love food in general maybe that's some of our Jewish background I don't know that I've ever met a Jewish person that doesn't love food for sure what are we doing what are we doing for dinner like that is I'm always thinking about the next meal honestly me too bud I really am and and you guys you're doing that 75 hard I need to get on that but I just I can't I just I tell myself I can't but this is talking to you guys it's like you're like just lock in and do it man when's Annie do again uh September.

SPEAKER_02 48:57

Oh dude you should do it now I you know I did it the first time Caitlyn was pregnant to go through something hard while she was going through something hard. How about that thought? Yeah I did it in the first trimester which was a terrible mistake because she was like you know not feeling great all the time and and probably the second trimester is the the time to do it.

SPEAKER_01 49:16

Well let me tell you I um I was I'm just recovering from this foot surgery I had yeah been in a boot for it was a good three months I was in that man and and talk about something hard I don't know that I'm ready for it like it was terrible it was terrible timing because they you know they kind of tell you but you're like ah maybe it does maybe it's gonna be a little not as bad as they say but then like you know she's nauseous I'm asking for an ice pack I can't move off the couch she's trying to hold on for deer life you gotta stay healthy you know stay healthy it's tough it's well we have it so easy as men you know like for what the women have to go through uh through the whole pregnancy and everything like we uh we're very lucky and we're all blessed with the wives that we have and uh with the women we have in our lives so 100% we are uh very lucky yes it's uh and you'll see this too like I I think both of us we we we're former intramural glory champions we we've built luckily very successful businesses we both have incredibly loving amazing wives but like there's something about being a father uh that is it's a different role it's it's the most challenging but it's the most rewarding like I we are so excited for you yeah through that I appreciate it yeah you're gonna be I mean plus Norm you got a great example right yeah I mean come on it's uh it's awesome and and you're you're gonna you're gonna crush it man you're we're we're very excited we're looking forward to it um but I appreciate those kind words it just shows the kind of like I said this is not like this is not just me talking bullshit because we're on the camera and like we're talking like I really you guys know I've always thought like very highly of the Babbits boys and it's like every time every time your name comes up around my family too it's like my mom is always just like trusts that it's being done the right way. It's like you it's a crazy world out there man and like you guys are in the money business there's a lot of people that do sketchy weird shit in the money business at times and like again that's never ever something that's like that you even have to think twice about with you guys because it's just you go back to the core of who you guys are and it's I think people can see here during this conversation like really just genuinely how how good of people that you are like deep down and just even like not even deep down you don't have to look that deep into you it's just like right there you meet you guys and it's it's you you are getting exactly what you see. Well thanks man that that that means a lot to us it's it's what we strive for and uh you know we're insanely proud of you for for all the stuff that you've been doing amazing yeah I mean you want to talk about your just ability to improve like you're on the guitar and you're singing and so uh I love hearing you on the MAGA show in the morning that it's so funny it's it's it's great our street cred improves and people find out that we're 100% I appreciate it like that that's uh I'm telling you man well and I think well well one thing before we wrap up is there any well I want to touch because you do a lot with the Alex's lemonade sandwich I play it every year as well dude you you are amazing the way that you show up what you bring to the table you always stay late yeah um you always charge us way less than you uh you 100% no I appreciate that but I think like um that just shows another side of you like the charitable aspect of like that has nothing to do with Judaism or anything like relative to even like what you do professionally it's just something that you've gotten behind with Northwestern over the years and I think it's um I think it's really incredible like the impact that you're making that doesn't financially like it's something that doesn't financially benefit you. It's not like these are these are people stories who you don't know them necessarily personally but then you hear their stories you get to know them and then you make a genuine real difference and I think that that do you want to say anything about Alex's lemonade yeah I mean I I'll say we have an awesome event this year September 17th you know it's uh it's where you got married so many Union Station you're gonna love it.

SPEAKER_02 53:47

Yeah so we you know it started in 2016 on a rooftop 75 people and now we had over 300 last year and uh so we keep having to change the venue um I think it's just you know you say maybe you know not totally connected to Judaism but you know Sadaka and I I think our parents no matter if we were having a great year financially in our household or not we were always giving back to the community you know we we sang in an old folks home uh on Christmas one time you because we didn't really celebrate Christmas other than the Chinese food the bowling we have shots yeah every 12 and then the balling and movies for sure or Chinese and movies for sure but bowling was open you know so that was fun but um yeah I think you know it's all all the money goes to pediatric cancer research only four percent of federal funding goes to pediatric cancer research and so you know we uh have this desire to impact the community through the work we do but we also want to be financially successful so that we can pour back our own resources and and and get others involved in it. So the last three years we've raised over a hundred thousand dollars each year at this event and unfortunately last year we had a speaker uh a little girl some people probably know her Josie and uh she passed away a couple days ago and um it's just like you you hear that stuff and it's so heartbreaking and uh I think we can really make an impact. Yeah and what's really cool is that a lot of people who come you would think they're coming oh hey it's open bar with a ticket or whatever it is. Everyone started to wear lemon gear.

SPEAKER_03 55:37

You know it's Alex's lemon people are there for the 100% the cause not all the benefits of the event yeah and you looked awesome last year in your full we were magic oh yeah that's how you were the the Kenny flowers it's amazing and I think you know he's this was a vision that he had and and you talk about things that we want to instill in our kids like like this year around Christmas we brought our kids to the office we gathered a bunch of bags and we gave it to the the hospital floor and like just those are the type of things because you can see the impact of it and that whole Sadaka thing make the world a better place all of that stuff like what this event does is all of this money goes directly to the right type of there's no administration you know so um thanks for for helping us being a part of that and and thanks for having us here.

SPEAKER_02 56:33

This was fun of course this was a lot of fun this is awesome that you guys were able to come make this happen is there anything else you want to share like anything else that they people should know about the uh the two of the three Babbitt's brothers I mean I I think the only thing we would say is um our business has really evolved and um we just love the work we get to do with our clients. It is not it's a joke it's like it's not your mother's or father's or grandfather's Northwestern Mutual like it is uh it is significantly different. You know Andy's one of five CFPs we have in our firm we're doing things differently and uh you know that's why in our space you've been there you know it's a unique different space best cold brew in town yeah thanks right come on by have some cold brews it comes right out of the but I think it uh you know at the end of the day we are going back to the original conversation with my uncle with like you have to do right by people and as long as you do right by people you get everything you ever want and uh that's um you know something that we really try to live by 100% I love it you guys are the best Andy and Danny Babbitt and honorary Babbitt's brother okay I'll take it as he'll take it rotate on we all kind of yeah we're gonna we're gonna get you a beer I can't throw anything up here