Building a Better Future: USSFCU’s 90-Year Legacy

SPEAKER 01 : 0:01

Welcome to The Good News with Angie Austin. Now, with The Good News, here’s Angie.

SPEAKER 03 : 0:09

Hey there, friend. Angie Austin, Jim Stovall with The Good News. I just wanted to chit-chat with you a little bit first, Jim, and tell everybody about that trip up to Estes Park. But we just got back from Tennessee as well, and my daughter got another offer for a really great school in Tennessee that I think this time we’re going to take this one. fantastic yeah this is good and good news in higher education all right so the bull elk up at ymc the rockies i sent you guys a picture it was it’s enormous and i heard i was in rocky mountain national park trying to find elk right and i heard all these photographers talking about you know big sam or whatever his name is they’ve nicknamed him because there used to be a huge one at ymc the rockies who was no longer there like his head’s up on the wall you know kind of thing he’s And so now there’s another one. And I don’t know what they named him, but I was eavesdropping on these photographers saying, yeah, well, I saw him once in the park, but everybody’s seen him at the Y. So we love the YMCA, the Rockies. Our family stayed up there a bazillion times. So I drive up there with my husband because we went for the day. I made him take the day off work and everything because I love to go up there. It’s like two hours, you know. So we get up there, and what do I see right outside Arts and Crafts Center is this enormous elk on the top of the hill. And all the other herds I’d seen, the guys had like 10 ladies, 15 ladies. He had 35 ladies. So this bull elk had like the harem of all harems, right? So he’s standing up. As the picture I sent you, he’s under the swing set. And his antlers are like basically touching the top of the swing set. But it was so cool because we saw five herds. And no idiots, nobody trying to take elk selfies.

SPEAKER 06 : 1:48

Yeah, they’re so cool. And here’s an Oklahoma story. Crystal and I got married back in the early 80s. And I was developing a piece of property on a huge lake north of here. And We had 30 acres and then next to us, a guy had 90 that was not developed to just virgin land. And the wildlife department decided they were going to bring in a pair of elk to see if they could, you know, raise them and they would procreate here in Oklahoma. Well, somebody that actually got to go to prison shot the male elk. So they always told us this female, this widowed female elk is running around. Well, we had this berry patch on the part of our property, and it was pretty isolated over there. And Crystal comes running back one day. She’d been down there picking berries. And she said, there’s a giant camel in our berry patch. And I said, babe, I’m pretty sure they don’t have camel. She said, well, I didn’t stand there very long to look at it. It was staring at me and started making noises. She said, well, we checked, and it’s this widowed elk. So after a while, Crystal kind of tamed the thing, named it Molly, and she could go up and pick berries and then leave a bucket of berries, and it would come right over to her and eat them and all this. So we lived with the female, Molly, for a long, long time. She was great.

SPEAKER 03 : 3:16

Oh, they’re such magnificent animals. And it’s just fun to see them and, I don’t know, the bugling. And it’s fun to, they’re exhausted, you know, because the males are constantly trying to keep the females from running off. So the minute they get kind of like out of line, plus they’re also fending off males all the time. I’ve only seen two males fighting. for dominance. Up in Evergreen, Colorado, they were like, you know, ramming each other in the head. And I don’t know all the, you know, idiosyncrasies of, you know, elk rutting or mating. But, you know, once that one gets pretty much whooped, he takes off. But that poor guy that’s guarding the harem, he’s got to whoop all the guys and keep all the ladies in line. So they’re like exhausted.

SPEAKER 06 : 3:56

Yeah, it sounds like a Saturday night in the country and Western bar.

SPEAKER 03 : 4:01

Right, right, right. But I’m going to send you some videos from Tennessee. We loved it. And we got to go to the barbecue festival that was right off campus. And so there was hog calling. There was like a pig rescue. So my daughter got to get in with the pigs, which are apparently extremely smart, like a three-year-old. And they had like a vocabulary of 200 words. Not that they could speak them, but I guess understand these words well. And so and then they had like, you know, country and Western bands and the hog calling that was precious. I’ve got to send it to you. I mean, it was like straight out of central casting. One of the guys was Billy Weenis. And then the guy says, no, I just want to make it clear. It’s little Billy Weenis. Right. So I’m thinking a little kid’s going to come up on stage. It is a man that’s six, six, three hundred and fifty pounds. Little Billy Weenis. And I’m like, OK, his dad must be Big Billy. But that’s so Southern to me that he was named Little Billy as a kid. And now he’s this enormous man and he’s still Little Billy.

SPEAKER 06 : 4:54

I have to tell you, Angie, it’s always talking to you every week is always a cultural experience. I’m never quite sure where we’re going to be.

SPEAKER 03 : 5:03

Well, we did get to vote on the antique tractor contest. And one said on the side, the guy had passed away, but this was his Pride Joy 1935 John Deere tractor. And so it was antique tractors, and then you pick your favorite one. And I picked that one because it said, a tractor is just like your wife. If it ain’t yours, don’t go messing with it.

SPEAKER 05 : 5:26

There you go. That is some good advice right there.

SPEAKER 03 : 5:30

Well, I think we’ll be going to Tennessee a lot more next year. All right. So she got to play with the team, too. I’ll send you some videos. OK, so what are we learning this week in our winner’s wisdom column?

SPEAKER 06 : 5:43

We’re talking about good and evil. And it’s an interesting topic having to do with money. And for 25 years, I’ve been writing these syndicated columns that go around the world. And my contact info is there. So I hear from people. And the number one thing people want to know about is they want to get rich, they want to have more money, they want to be happy, all those sorts of things. And I think, you know, so I put together this millionaire survey that people can take. And, you know, the interesting thing in this assessment I put together is it looks at your views on money. And most people, if they’re totally honest, they grew up with, You know, many misguided people in the church said money is evil when the Scripture says the love of money is evil. Money is neither good nor bad. It’s just a tool. It can build a cathedral, a church. It can feed people, or it can build missiles and kill people. I mean, money is inert. But if you really believe that money is evil, but you say you want to become wealthy— You know, deep down, you’ve got this dichotomy inside of you that’s very, very hard to overcome. So one of the things I’ve done in several of my books, and we try to do with people, is change their thinking on what money is. And, you know, for Crystal and I, going from poverty to prosperity has enabled us to help so many people. We’ve sent 500 kids to college, and we’ve fed people around the world. And those things would not have been possible without the money. and now just because you have money doesn’t mean you’re going to do good things but you know and a lot of people tell me what their priorities in life are but if you really want to see what somebody’s priorities are you look at two things look at their calendar and look at their bank account how do you spend your time and how do you spend your money no matter what you tell me the reality is what’s most important to you is how you spend your time and your money And, you know, I remember meeting a colleague who was a professional speaker, but he’s a road warrior. I’ll only take three or four gigs a month. He is out there all the time. And one day I asked him, I said, what are you doing this for? I mean, what is your good? Well, I want to spend more time with my children. They haven’t seen you in six months. I mean, what are you talking about? I mean, I think they would be more interested in spending a weekend with their dad than then how much is in your bank account? Obviously, you’ve got to take care of the family, but this is ridiculous. So you can tell me it’s about your kids, but really you’ve got to look a little deeper, and that gets to Stovall’s 11th commandment, which is thou shalt not kid thyself.

SPEAKER 03 : 8:29

I love that commandment.

SPEAKER 06 : 8:31

Well, I think we, you know, I mean, you know, the most dangerous lies we ever tell are the ones we tell ourselves, and we believe that stuff.

SPEAKER 03 : 8:41

Yeah, I think so. I think so. And I think, you know, Grandpa was telling me he wishes things were flipped, that he could have worked a lot now and spent more time with his kids because he worked so hard so many years as a union president. And he worked, you know, in the cat factory and then became a union president outside of Chicago. So he was pretty, you know, pretty busy and traveling, etc. And he wished he could have spent the time with the kids and then worked hard the years when the kids are gone, basically.

SPEAKER 06 : 9:09

Yeah, one of my favorite literary characters is a guy named Travis McGee, a fictitious guy written by John McDonald back in the 60s, 70s, and 80s, and he probably wrote 30 books about this guy. But the interesting thing, he lived on a houseboat down in Florida, and he would always not work when he had a certain amount of money, and then it was like a gas tank. Once it got down to yee, he would be, okay, now I’m going to go work, but Before it got to E, he would just tell everybody, oh, I’m taking a piece of my retirement right now. So here’s this young guy taking a piece of his retirement, but when the account gets down to E, then he’ll go to work for a little while. And in an interesting way, it makes a good novel. I’m not sure it would make a good lifestyle, but it makes a good novel.

SPEAKER 03 : 9:56

So in terms of do you have any unique regrets? I mean, I know you guys don’t have kids, but you’ve got so many people you do things for and with and ties to the community. And all that time you spent with your parents before they passed, they lived a long time. So you had a ton of time with them. Do you think you readjusted your priorities so you did the things that were important even while you were becoming successful?

SPEAKER 06 : 10:19

Yes, we did. And I’ve told you before, but that all happened for me. One day, you know, in my 30s, I come home from work and I told Crystal, I’m really excited. This deal I’ve been working on, you know, for all year finally came through. And I realized she has no idea what I’m talking about. We were that far disconnected. And then I also realized my parents live two miles away from my home and I hadn’t seen him in three months. And I decided right then and there, both of these things change right now. And from then on, you know, I have the morning hour with Crystal and we have our date night. And I talk to mom and dad every morning from then on. And then we had dinner together at least once a week for the next 25 years. And that was such a blessing. And sometimes you just got to wake up and realize, wow, this isn’t where I want to be.

SPEAKER 03 : 11:09

I love that. I love that you were able to still do well but set your priorities straight. I think we’re pretty good. My husband doesn’t golf. I’m not saying that golfing takes – but I do know a lot of friends whose husbands golf and they’re gone a lot on the weekends. And he definitely spends all of his time with us. Now, we are going on – fall break next week without him just me and the girls because my son’s in college and my husband’s got a lot going on at work so but that’s unusual for us to take you know a vacation without him usually he does like a working vacation and he’ll work you know while we’re doing all of our fun stuff and everything but yeah all right well anything going on with the movie we’ve got about another minute left anything going on that you know

SPEAKER 06 : 11:50

Yeah, I just finished, well, they’re still working on the Will to Win movie, I’m excited about that, and then I just finished a novel called Coach for Life, and a movie company has already optioned that for another film, so I’m excited about that, and yeah, things are really good. You know, I remain convinced that if William Shakespeare or Mark Twain or the Apostle Paul were alive and with us today, in addition to writing books, they’d be making movies, because it You just reach so many people with a film, even compared to a bestselling book. So I’m really excited about that and looking forward to more coming.

SPEAKER 03 : 12:28

Excellent. Well, I appreciate you, friend. I just get a kick out of all of our discussions and hearing about your books and everything you’re doing with your family. And is there a new book coming out soon?

SPEAKER 06 : 12:42

I have, well, there are several books that will come out before that one I just finished. I have a book coming out that will be called Think Like a Dog that Beth here in my office and I did together. She trains dogs and I train people and we looked at what can we learn from one another. And then I have a book called Millionaire Answers that will be out after the first of the year. So those are the next two.

SPEAKER 03 : 13:05

Now, the think like a dog, that just makes me laugh. You guys wrote it together and then you gave expert advice. That’s for humans and to work with humans and dogs.

SPEAKER 06 : 13:18

Yeah. I mean, it’s what, you know, how to train our dogs and what they teach us. And, you know, it’s just, you know, I think it’s fascinating because the When you look at them, they are wonderful beings, and I wish a lot of us were as good as they are. So we had a lot of fun with it, just doing the research and writing all about dogs and people.

SPEAKER 03 : 13:39

I love it. JimStilwell.com. Thank you, friend. You’re welcome.

SPEAKER 02 : 13:47

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SPEAKER 03 : 14:44

Golden is listening to the mighty 670 KLT Denver. Well, if you are just joining us, this is Angie Austin with the good news. And joining us today is Tim Anderson, president and CEO of United States Federal Credit Union. In fact, it’s United States Senate Federal Credit Union here to discuss the history of the USS FCC and how it has changed and evolved over the past 90 years. And to answer one of my top questions, what is the biggest difference between a credit union and a bank? Welcome to you, Tim.

SPEAKER 04 : 15:22

Thank you, Angie, and thank you for having me. And I always start with the cooperative versus for-profit. The biggest difference is banks, and I worked on the banking side, got many friends over there, but banks are for-profit. Credit unions are not for-profit. Same economist Milton Friedman once said, The sole responsibility of a for-profit organization is to make money for shareholders. It’s not social. It’s not community. It’s to make money for shareholders at the credit union. That difference is our members own the credit union. We don’t have shareholders. So in turn, we can give back to our members, whether it’s giving back in lower loan rates, which generally we have, higher deposit rates, lower fees. For example, We were one of the first credit unions, you know, banks have and credit unions check an account. And if you overdraft an account, you write a check, don’t have enough money, then they’ll charge you a fee, $35, $40. We did away with that fee. So we believe that the not-for-profit model, that cooperative model, that’s the biggest difference.

SPEAKER 03 : 16:33

Now, in terms of the United States Senate Federal Credit Union, yours, there’s a very interesting history I was reading about. Talk about 90 years ago, how this initially started, this nonprofit credit union.

SPEAKER 04 : 16:47

And thank you for that question. Yeah, we’re celebrating 90 years, and we’re pretty proud of that. We started back, founded in 1935, and nine United States Senate employees, including one senator, pooled together $45, $5 each, to start the credit union. And I often say that we were born out of the Great Depression because it was right at the height of the Great Depression that these nine United States Senate employees saw the need to start the credit union. And it was for doing tough times during the Great Depression to help support federal workers and financial services, accessible and affordable financial services.

SPEAKER 03 : 17:29

So these nine workers pool their resources. They come up with 45 bucks and they charter charter the United States Senate Employees Credit Union. 90 years later, it’s still rolling. And, you know, I didn’t realize I mean, I was a member of a credit union when my my grandmother was a teacher. And then I worked at a hospital and I was in a credit union both times. And so I guess I’ve been under the misconception that that. I had to be in a certain organization to be a member of like all credit unions. Now, is that the case for some that you have to be in a certain organization? And are there some credit unions that anyone can join?

SPEAKER 04 : 18:09

Yeah. And there are some credit unions that anyone can join. And there’s some that still serve just like their select groups. Here at the United States Senate Federal Credit Union, Angie, anyone, anyone can be a member at the United States Senate Federal Credit Union. I mentioned those nine staffers, and they were made up of office staffers, committee members, and one senator and a custodian, those nine United States Senate employees. And we have grown exponentially. And to your point of can anyone join, we are – Around the country and around the world. And right now, there are 142 million plus members belonging to credit unions. And population wise, I think we have just over 330 million people in the country. in the U.S., and 142 million of them belong to credit unions. Wow, that’s impressive.

SPEAKER 03 : 19:07

Let’s talk a little bit about some of the changes in that 90 years, obviously, with the nine employees and the 45 bucks. Now you guys are massive. So what are some of the most significant changes that have occurred over the nine decades that you’ve been in operation?

SPEAKER 04 : 19:23

And there have been many, and I’ll name a few. We started out of the basement of the Russell Building. We moved. Obviously, we grew, so we had to move, and we moved to Alexandria, Virginia. That’s where we’re headquartered now.

SPEAKER 01 : 19:38

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER 04 : 19:38

And we began in the Senate Russell Building, the basement, when those non-staffers started the credit unions. So far, we’ve grown to just under $1.6 billion, so that $45 investment, $1.6 billion in assets. We have over 55,000 members. We’re in all 50 states. We’re around the world. We serve over 140 groups, including the Senate itself. That’s where it all started. The Capitol Police, the architect of the Capitol, the Supreme Court, the government accounting office, and as I mentioned earlier, anyone, anyone across the country can be a member.

SPEAKER 03 : 20:19

Now, in terms of some of your accolades, you actually have a pretty impressive one regarding what it’s like to work at your place of work. So talk a little bit about that. I understand it was USA Today and Washington Post Top Workplace 2025. I mean, why? I mean, that’s pretty impressive. How did you get that?

SPEAKER 04 : 20:42

And, you know, a CEO, that makes me proud, obviously, because we lay our hats on building a very good culture where our people can really thrive. And so the last couple of years, we have been named by the USA Today and the Washington Post as a top workplace. Now, that’s a top workplace across all industries, not just banks and credit unions and financial services. That’s all industries. So we’re pretty proud of that. Our staff, they’re pretty proud of that. And the reason why it’s important to cultivate a good culture is because our people take care of our members. And so they do a great job with servicing our members. Also, we were just listed, Angie, in Forbes and Fortune magazine as a leading credit union in the D.C. area. We’re doing a lot with innovation. We’ve done some pretty nifty things there. We have business partnerships with Broadcom. Also, NVIDIA, where we’re doing some things with AI. We just received… AI awards for service awards, just doing a great job there, just staying in touch with what’s going on in the digital world, what’s going on in the AI world, because our members, they’re asking for that. So I’m pretty proud of our team for winning those awards. And then we have a great marketing team. We just received this year a Trailblazer Award for our marketing, our branding, and we just do a great job of keeping the credit union front and center, but mainly because we want to make sure that we do a good job for our members.

SPEAKER 03 : 22:24

Well, this doing these interviews, you know, with radio people, podcasters, TV people. I mean, I’m going to join now. I didn’t I didn’t know about you guys. So, you know, you’re doing a good job in terms of getting the word out to the masses around the country. Now, what do you personally think? What makes it the best place to work in your opinion? Or what do you hear from your employees besides, you know, the AI and the great marketing? What what? I mean, it’s a big deal to be the best workplace. I just ran into somebody last weekend. I was out with a bunch of my news friends from LA and we went to this little country, you know, restaurant. And I asked the girl, cause I’m such a journalist. I’m like, why do you, why are you so happy? Why do you like this job so much? Because this is the best place I’ve ever worked in, in my life. They really care about us. So what makes your place the best workplace in your opinion?

SPEAKER 04 : 23:14

And, you know, and, and it starts with just the caring part, right. And, I think it was Theodore Roosevelt, President Roosevelt, who said people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.

SPEAKER 01 : 23:27

I love that.

SPEAKER 04 : 23:28

And I was just walking down the hall this morning, and one of our employees who had been here like a year, and she said, again, this is the best place I’ve ever worked. So we lead with that. And what makes it the best place is we not only talk that talk, but we walk the walk. We care about the entire person, right? And I often say, yeah, we want to make sure that we do all the things to make sure that they’re successful here at work. But even in their personal lives, we don’t get into their personal lives, but we have to care what goes on in their personal lives so they could be their best authentic selves here. We create a safety that that whole idea of being able to be your authentic selves at work. We lay our hats on that. And so our people enjoy that culture. They know we care about them. And my biggest belief is when we take good care of them, they take good care of our members. And that’s been proven. And they love to come to work here.

SPEAKER 03 : 24:28

I totally agree.

SPEAKER 04 : 24:28

Psychological safety is a big one for us.

SPEAKER 03 : 24:31

I had a nanny once for my kids. She was probably with us like 10 years. And when she left, she started to cry. She has the best job she ever had. And I’m telling you right now, Tim, that’s the best compliment I think you can ever get when you provide that environment. And in my case, it was one person that works in our family. But what a great feeling that is for you to provide that kind of environment. Let’s talk about your foundations. I understand that your credit union, the USSFCU Foundation, launched its own foundations. You’re a nonprofit. Tell us about the mission of the foundation. What’s this all about?

SPEAKER 04 : 25:07

Yes, thank you so much. And we did launch the foundation this year in 2025. And we believe here at the United States Senate Federal Credit Union that financial services should be accessible to all. And it should be affordable financial services. But we believe that that starts with providing financial literacy. So through our foundation, we provide financial literacy, financial education, and wellness resources. We’re community focused. We work with our youth and schools in the community. And we also utilize the foundation to improve just in general the livelihood of those most economically challenged. So we believe that with the foundation, we’re able to do some of those things, get into the schools while they’re still young, early on, teaching financial education, financial literacy. And there’s a big need for that. And we want to fill that. We want to be right there in the community helping to fill that need.

SPEAKER 03 : 26:08

So Tim, I think I mentioned to you in the break, we were talking about my son and all my kids, they started investment accounts when they were around 13. My son started his business when he was 12. So he just bought a house. He’s a sophomore in college. And we have teenagers come over and teach them about compound interest and give them scenarios about like skipping Starbucks or Taco Bell or whatever and how much that money will be later on in life. And the schools are starting to get kind of savvy to it. So I love what you’re doing about giving this financial education. The school that he goes to, they have an investment class, or at least a high school that he went to. And they competed against each other at the end of the semester to see who he won, by the way, but to see who could make the most money in the stock market. And it was fake, but he was actually moving around his real money as, you know, in his investment account as they were doing the fake money in class. So I’m so glad people are starting to teach these kids how to manage their money, especially, you know, he’s got a college roommate that’s a football player. And these kids are making money in college now. They need to know how to manage it.

SPEAKER 04 : 27:15

Absolutely. And how cool is that with what your son is doing? You’re absolutely right. It really starts right in and, you know, right in elementary school and throughout school where we’re teaching those things. So kudos to your son. That’s wonderful.

SPEAKER 03 : 27:29

Yeah, I’m thrilled that his business is he’s eight years in now, age 20. So, yes, absolutely. I’m like his first volunteer. I travel around the country with him sometimes because he can’t even rent a car yet, you know, because he’s not old enough to rent his own car when we travel to all these big vintage events. All right. So I want to make sure people know where to get information and how they can join the credit union as well. I mean, it’s very appealing when you talked about the nonprofit aspect, because you’re trying to help us make money. You’re not trying to necessarily make money. You’re trying to help your members make money.

SPEAKER 04 : 28:04

Absolutely. And we can be reached, Angie, through our website at www.ussfcu.org. We also have social media channels, and you can do a search at USSFCU for the social media channels, and also podcasts. You can search USSFCU.

SPEAKER 03 : 28:25

Excellent. And again, Tim Anderson, President and CEO of the United States Senate Federal Credit Union. And just a real great education today, Tim. Thank you so much.

SPEAKER 04 : 28:37

Thank you for having me and have a great day. You too. Thank you.

SPEAKER 01 : 28:41

Thank you for listening to The Good News with Angie Austin on AM670 KLTT.