Pinnacle Bank
P.O. Box 430
Elberton, GA 30635
As a Winder local, Branch Manager Lisa Giles serves our team with her local touch and over 20 years of experience in banking.
With her love of spending time with family, Lisa fits right into our “hometown” culture, fostering an open, supportive workplace.
Pinnacle Bank is proud to have you, Lisa!
With her military background and 15 years in banking, Angie Hubble brings a love of consistent customer care and employee mentorship to her new role as Branch Manager of Augusta – Furys Ferry.
When she’s not helping Pinnacle Bank customers with financial planning, she’s spending time exploring new places with her husband, children and grandchildren.
We’re proud to have you, Angie!
When starting your own business, there’s nothing more valuable than insight from those who’ve gone before you. And with 20% of small businesses failing in their first twelve months – there’s a great deal of data to glean.
On your journey to success and stability, these are three of the most common challenges for your fledgling business:
FINDING CUSTOMERS
Everyone from 133-year-old Nintendo to your day-old LLC can relate to this struggle. How do you find the people who want to buy your product? Who are they, and what need of theirs are you addressing with your business?
Many first-year companies have not identified their ideal customer by creating what’s known as a “buyer persona.” This profile helps you tailor your message to a specific audience, targeting them with ads where they are likely to see them and in a way that speaks to their needs.
Before you start, figure out who you’re talking to and how they will most likely see your product (print, radio, television, online, etc.).
FINDING QUALITY LABOR
Every company wants to grow, but finding the right people comes with a cost for many. Drafting job descriptions and onboarding paperwork, conducting interviews, and training new hires all reduce your own productivity and administrative attention.
Throw in a protracted hiring process or bad hire, and you’ve now spent thousands of dollars of your own time that could have gone elsewhere.
Much like the buyer persona, a great tool in alleviating the cost of hiring is writing “candidate personas.” Using these writeups on hiring platforms like LinkedIn, you provide defined responsibilities for prospects and your organization – reducing downtime during training and overall role redundancy.
FINANCIAL PLANNING
Unclogging cash flow can be the difference between success and failure. Solutions for almost all small business struggles are tied up with the necessary capital to address them.
With our membership in their Preferred Lender Program, we can provide financing to small businesses when funding is unavailable on conventional terms. In these cases, the Small Business Administration (SBA) guarantees major portions of the loan on behalf of the business. They typically come with lower fixed, variable interest rates and longer repayment terms.
For an inside look at how Pinnacle partners with you via SBA loans, watch our customer testimonials here.
YOU’RE NOT ALONE
If you’re looking to start or strengthen a business, Pinnacle Bank is here to help. If you’d like to talk with us, reach out via customerservice@pinnaclebank.com or call 877.759.7939.
Bringing over nine years of experience in the industry to Pinnacle Bank, Buford-native Brandi Humphrey joins our team as a Branch Manager in Gainesville.
On top of her banking background, Brandi has five seasons under her belt coaching her daughter’s travel softball team – providing a proven team player perspective to her leadership.
Welcome to Pinnacle Bank, Brandi!
As a Colombia-borne banker, Lina Cook comes to Pinnacle Bank as an experienced mortgage banker who is also fluent in Spanish.
Living in Jefferson, Georgia, with her husband and family for almost 20 years, Lina holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration and finance and an associate’s degree in computer science – making her a great guide for today’s technologically changing landscape.
Lina loves using her background and skills to help other families start their journeys by guiding them through the home-buying process.
Welcome to Pinnacle Bank, Lina!
Megan Ballew joins the #PinnacleBank Family as a Branch Manager, working from a debit card clerk to a seasoned banker over the course of 9 years in the industry.
Her greatest professional joy is leading a team to find the best services and solutions for those who trust Pinnacle Bank. When she’s not helping customers or coworkers, Megan is out with her family hunting, fishing, and riding motorcycles.
Pinnacle Bank is proud to have you, Megan!
Brooke Lowden joins the Pinnacle Bank team as a Mortgage Banker, bringing over a decade of experience in the banking industry along with her.
While she enjoys traveling, she’s a Georgia native, hailing from Homer – a small town about an hour from Pinnacle’s HQ in Elberton.
As a member of the North Georgia Board of Realtors, Brooke brings insight and local charm to helping first-time homebuyers on the hunt for their dream home.
Welcome to Pinnacle Bank, Brooke!
We’ve all known the feeling of purchasing something routine – a tank of gas, a cup of coffee, deli meat, diapers, you name it – and noticing the total is considerably higher than the week before. Usually, inflation invades our lives very subtly, slowly raising costs, but in the past year and a half, it’s been quite rapid and impossible to miss.
No one feels the sudden weight of inflation more than small business owners, operating with a vigilant eye on all expenses. Surviving the inflation surge can be difficult, so here are a few tips to help:
Inflation is best beaten with as much preemptive action as possible. Applying these tips will look different for every business, but we believe we can survive this together.
Whether its international conflicts or the lingering effects of a pandemic, economic uncertainty remains a challenge from Wall Street to Main Street. Pinnacle Bank understands the need of its customers to find guidance during challenging times.
One of the ways our community bankers are helping is by providing more guidance and reassurance in matters of everyday banking and longer-term financial planning, particularly regarding economic issues like inflation.
Financial planning is vital for customers, no matter the stage of life. Depending on your unique financial situation, you might consider insurance, estate planning, college planning, retirement planning and business planning as part of your overall financial plan.
These decisions are something Pinnacle Bank is happy to discuss with you. From a brief overview of our services to a detailed conversation with one of our planning experts, helping you is what makes our day.
How did we get to this economic position?
Starting in March of 2022, the Federal Reserve Open Market Committee raised short term rates.
The Federal Reserve noted it is appropriate to raise interest rates based on inflation conditions and the tight labor market. Americans have enjoyed rock-bottom interest rates for about 13 years. Interest rates for home mortgages while higher, are still in a reasonable range. Homeownership is often a path to financial growth, so it should still be a consideration in people’s financial planning.
The consumer price index rose 8.6% from May of 2021. And with Covid-related stimulus remaining in the economy, there is plenty of inflation in the pipeline. To help ease inflation, the market believes the Fed’s benchmark rate will end the year somewhere between 2.75%-4%.
The Fed did recently indicate the overall economic activity for the second quarter of 2022 had picked up, plus job gains were robust.
So, what does this mean to you?
Short-term rates will rise along with federal rate increases, including home equity lines of credit and short-term consumer loans. Auto loans may increase but to a lesser degree. Long-term rates for mortgages may continue to tick upward over the next two years.
Despite inflation, wages are higher, giving people more purchasing power. And no matter what market we’re in, we always recommend finding ways to save for retirement and big purchases and to have a financial plan in place.
We invite people who have questions about their financial situation to talk to us. Our philosophy is that customers are not transactions: Customers are people we want to serve with financial products to make their lives easier or more efficient.
If you would benefit from further discussion about how to combat inflation or for a discussion on financial planning overall, feel free to contact us at 877.759.7939 or visit your nearest branch.
Bringing over 20 years of experience in business and consumer banking, Dustin Young is Pinnacle Bank’s Senior Vice President – Market Manager in Augusta. A native of Augusta and graduate of Butler High School, Dustin earned his bachelor’s of business administration with a major in finance and graduated Magna Cum Laude from Augusta University.
Through his involvement with the Rotary Club of Augusta — where he’s been a member for 13 years — he has served the local community, including a year as the benevolent organization’s president. Dustin believes in the importance of giving back and making relationships that last.
Beyond banking and attending to the financial needs of customers, Dustin enjoys watching movies with his wife, playing golf with his four daughters, strumming his guitar and working on cars. Dustin has big plans for helping customers and we’re thrilled he’s on the team!
It is important to us that all individuals have access to the information contained within our documents. However, please note that some documents, particularly PDF files, may not be fully compatible with screen reader software used by individuals with visual impairments or other disabilities.
If you encounter any difficulties accessing or navigating our PDF documents, we are here to assist you. Please contact Pinnacle Bank at 877.759.7939 for further assistance or to request an alternative format of the document.
We are committed to ensuring accessibility for all individuals and appreciate your understanding and cooperation.
