DL Wealth Management opens in Houma

C.J. Domangue and Toby Lafont are highly enthusiastic about opening their first DL Wealth Management office on Corporate Drive in Houma.

The Houma-Thibodaux-area natives have been friends since the two worked as financial advisors for the nationwide brokerage house Edward Jones beginning in the 1990s.

Lafont left Edward Jones in 2003, and Domangue followed in 2004, to form Domangue Lafont Wealth Management.

The two Houma residents shortened the name to DL Wealth Management when they opened the new 4,200-square-foot office on May 31 with an Open House/Grand Opening.

The firm could no longer be named after its founders because Domangue, who is a certified financial planner, and Lafont, a certified retirement plans specialist, had added two more advisers to the firm, C.J.’s brother Christopher in 2005 and former Hibernia Bank financial planner John Dupont in 2006.

After leaving Edward Jones, C.J. Domangue and Lafont rented space to conduct business until their own office was opened.

DL Wealth Management offers a full range of financial services, such as 401(k), retirement plans, estate planning, and tax-advantaged investing. The firm is affiliated with the larger independent brokerage outfit Linsco/Private Ledger.

“You have to be established before you can join them,” Domangue said. “You have to have the technology.”

Domangue, 41, said that he and Lafont, 33, became independent financial planners for several different reasons.

“Big business firms have a cookie-cutter approach,” Domangue said. “In south Louisiana, we do business differently. We hold crawfish boils, and other client-appreciation events.”

As independent brokers, the firm has “access to everything,” Lafont said.

“It helped to build our business even further once we moved,” Domangue said. “Our referral base increased when we became independent.

“Our business is doing fantastic,” he said. “We added two financial planners (Dupont and Christopher Domangue) in 18 months. Houma is a big town/small town. If you do a good job, they’ll let people know.”

The DL Wealth Management Open House/Grand Opening attracted 250 people.

The attendees were mostly clients wanting to see the firm’s new space. A large percentage of those clients had transferred their business from Edward Jones to Domangue Lafont Wealth Management after the two left the big firm.

Other financial consultants wanted to become part of the newly minted outfit as well.

“As we grew, a lot of good financial planners wanted to leave larger firms, but we’re particular,” Domangue said. “We have room for three more financial planners, and three more staff people.”

DL Wealth Management performs all its functions in-house. The outfit has an MBA, and a notary on staff.

Lafont said the firm expects to branch out into the Thibodaux area, which is where Lafont was raised. His father was a trawler who later did oilfield work, then attended Nicholls State University.

Domangue is from Chauvin, where his father was a shrimper.

Lafont earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Nicholls State. Domangue spent six years in the U.S. Navy, serving in Desert Storm. He worked with computers in the military mostly, before becoming a financial planner.

Both men say that their working backgrounds help them to reach out to a variety of customers.

“We’re blue-collar people from the bayou,” Domangue said.

He said he believes someone with a small amount of money should receive the same financial services as bigger players.

“Why should you get less service?” he said. “We want to help as many people as we can.

“Our parents never would have gotten anyone to talk to them,” he said. “Some people don’t have the backgrounds to make financial decisions. We think we provide an important service. There are some unscrupulous people out there.

“We try to find the best investment for the client,” Domangue said. “You will get DL Wealth Management service no matter who you are. A lot of firms will turn you away. We don’t turn anyone away.”

He said that some people could find the new office imposing.

“We sit down and go through the steps with the client,” Lafont said.

Domangue and Lafont emphasized that their firm “deals with some of the wealthiest people in the area.” Lafont mentioned numerous select clients.

Mostly, with their new office, the two wanted to show their commitment to the Houma-Thibodaux area.

“We’re here for the next 30 to 40 years,” Domangue said.