The most important thing I learned from Dale

I first met Dale Minyo when I was a senior in high school serving as a state FFA officer. Even though it would be seven years before we would begin to work together I ran into him quite a bit in the interim.

One such time was when he was filming one of the last segments for the Agri County TV show. He was doing a story at the Shelby County Quality Assurance event that took place after our county fair. I was there also because my brother’s barrow won grand champion that year and its carcass was on display.

Dale was waiting to interview my dad when I overheard a conversation he was having with another man. He was talking about his Roth IRA. He told the guy how he invested in that and how the money would be tax-free when he took it out. He went on to share how his money in that fund had doubled. Frankly, he spoke very highly of this Roth IRA thing.

That got me thinking……

The next week I went to my local bank and asked how do I get one of those Roth IRA’s?

Now, that is not a question often asked by a broke, 20-year-old college student headed into their junior year. They set me up with a financial adviser who helped me set aside a few thousands dollars into a Roth IRA and thus begin my retirement saving.

My mother thought I was nuts and that was the last thing I needed to be doing with what little money I had. Hey, Dale Minyo did it, so I thought I should too!

Each year since then I have diligently contributed to the account and the last several years I’ve made it a point to max out my contribution.

It was funny when a while back when my boss, Bart, sought to give me some advice. He told me I should take some of my money and put it into this thing called a Roth IRA. I informed him I already had one of those and max it out. I failed to mention the source of financial wisdom. He had no idea I had got second-hand financial advice from Dale of all people a decade ago.

I’ve learned so much from Dale over the years. The most important thing though he never meant to teach me — the importance of saving for retirement and doing it while I’m young.

Heather Hetterick has been promoting agriculture from an early age. From her 4-H and FFA days to present, sharing the ag story has been important to Heather.

Her current responsibilities include reporting for the Ohio Ag Net, filling in for Dale Minyo and sales for the radio network. She is also involved with sales for Ohio’s Country Journal.

She is a graduate of the Ohio State University, where she was named one of the Top 10 Seniors in the College of Food, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. After college Heather was the Director of Marketing & Education for the Ohio Pork Producers Council. She then went on to work for Clear Channel Radio and Time Warner Cable before joining the Ohio Ag Net.

Heather also blogs about food, frugality and freebies at http://www.heathershelpings.com. She resides in Shelby County, near Botkins, with her husband Zach.

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