October 1, 2025 • 43 mins
Women control more wealth than ever—so how do you find an advisor who shares your values? According to McKinsey & Company, by 2030, women are expected to control nearly two-thirds of U.S. assets. With that kind of stewardship comes both opportunity and responsibility. On the next Faith & Finance Live, Rob West and Sharon Epps share five practices that women should expect from their financial advisors. Then, it’s your financial questions. That’s Faith & Finance Live, where biblical wisdom meets today’s finances—weekdays at 4pm Eastern/3pm Central on Moody Radio.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
S1 (00:02):
Today's faith and finance live is actually not live, so
our phone lines are not open. Women control more wealth
than ever. So how do you find an advisor who listens,
explains clearly, and shares your values? Hi, I'm Rob West.
According to McKinsey and company, by 2030, women are expected
to control nearly two thirds of US assets, around 30 trillion.
(00:25):
With that kind of stewardship comes both opportunity and responsibility. Today,
Sharon Eppes joins us to share five simple practices that
women should expect from their financial advisors. Then we have
some great calls lined up. But please don't call in
today because we're prerecorded. This is faith and finance live.
Biblical wisdom for your financial decisions. Sharon Eppes is president
(00:50):
of Kingdom Advisors, and the points will share. She and
the team here at Kingdom Advisors use to train certified
Kingdom Advisors to practice openly and professionally and as it
relates to today's topic. Serving women specifically. Sharon, great to
have you here.
S2 (01:06):
I can't wait to talk about it.
S1 (01:08):
Sharon. As I just said, you know, these are five
practices that we teach advisors who are serving women clients
to be sure to bring into their practices, to serve
them effectively. And we're going to share these five things,
because I think this could really help our listeners be
on the lookout for these things as they're interviewing advisors.
(01:29):
Would you agree?
S2 (01:30):
I do, and I think it starts with terminology. We
want the advisor to be able to explain things clearly
in a language that not only a woman, but all
clients can understand. That includes we have a lot of
terms in the financial industry RIAA, CFP, all kinds of
jargon that is unique to us. And so one of
the best things that an advisor can do is stop
(01:53):
and ask questions and say, hey, did you understand? Let
me use an analogy to help make it clearer to you.
And when you don't understand. Ask me. I'd love to
just explain it better.
S1 (02:05):
Yeah, and so be on the lookout for that. Perhaps
even express your desire to this advisor you're interviewing that
you want to toss the terminology. All right. The second
thing we teach advisors, Sharon, is to light a candle.
What do we mean by that when we're talking to advisors?
S2 (02:19):
Well, we don't want them to actually put a match
to the flame. It might burn their building down. But
what we're trying to say is create a warm and
welcoming environment. Things like, are you sitting across a round table,
or do you have a power desk that makes the
woman feel intimidated? How can you show hospitality? There's a
reason that some of the hotels give warm baked cookies
(02:40):
when people check in. The same idea would be true
in the advisor office.
S1 (02:43):
Yeah, be on the lookout for that as you're interviewing advisors.
The third is open the medicine cabinet. We're talking about
transparency here, aren't we?
S2 (02:52):
We absolutely are. Now advisors have a fiduciary responsibility to
feed transparency, but there's a lot more than that. We
want to have an advisor if that we're opening up
our true authentic self. They are too.
S1 (03:05):
Yeah. So you can ask your advisor as it relates
to transparency, for instance, where on paper can I see
every fee and how you're paid? Now, this fourth teaching
point we have for advisors that applies to you as
you interview an advisor, is use a magnifying glass, talk
about that.
S2 (03:21):
Well, we want the advisor to be interested in much
more than just your money, because money, remember, is just
a tool. It helps you accomplish the purposes and calling
that God's put on your life. So that advisor needs
to be asking you about your values, your plans and
your purposes.
S1 (03:37):
Yeah. And the exciting thing is, with the Certified Kingdom
Advisor designation, you can find an advisor who shares those
values and can help you express them in your financial
decision making. All right. Sharing that final teaching point of
these five for advisors is Developing God's heart for her.
What does it mean for advisors to practice what we
(03:59):
might call whole person care?
S2 (04:01):
Well, this is the most important part of the program,
and that is we want the advisors to see themselves
as spiritual disciple makers, to walk alongside not only the woman,
but the whole family in praying for the clients, in
walking with them in big transition seasons, big decision making.
We want both spouses to be a part of the
(04:24):
conversation and as you know, spouses aren't alike. And so
it's important that that advisor not only ask the male
spouse what he thinks about things, but the female as well.
And so being a part of unity with the family
is a huge part of developing God's heart for the woman.
S1 (04:44):
Here's my hope and prayer is that as you hear
these things that Sharon just shared, that as you interview
an advisor, you would feel like you have permission to
look for these things. You deserve to have these things
reflected in your advisor relationship again. A certified Kingdom Advisor
can be found on our website, Philly.com. Just click Find
(05:05):
a professional. Sharon, really helpful stuff. Thanks for stopping by.
S2 (05:08):
Always good to be here.
S1 (05:09):
That's Sharon app. She's president of Kingdom Advisors. Here's the takeaway.
Women don't need a different standard. They simply need the
standard done right with confidence, clarity empathy and shared values.
Go to faith. Com click find a professional. We'll be
right back. Thanks for joining us today on Faith and
(05:36):
Finance Live I'm Rob West. We're so glad you're along
with us today. Now we're away from the studio so
don't call in. But in just a moment we'll be
taking some questions that we lined up in advance. You
won't want to miss those, but first, let's tackle a
couple of emails. These come into us regularly at, uh.
Moody radio. Uh, this first question comes to us by
(05:58):
way of Hanna. She writes, we recently sold our house
for a good profit, and we're wondering how to tithe
on it. Do we tithe on the full amount we received,
or only what goes above the initial price and interest
we paid? Uh, you would tithe on the difference between
the sale price, Hanna, and the initial purchase price. Uh,
(06:18):
so you don't have to look at anything else other
than what is that true increase in the value of
the property. Because if when we're giving a tithe, it
is based on the increase, the profit. So no matter
what asset it is, whether it's a stock or a
piece of real estate, it's simply the difference between the
sale price and the original purchase price. Um, that increase,
(06:41):
then you would apply a 10% tithe and then give
that to your local church. And I think that's a
great idea. This next one comes to us from Karen.
She writes, I have a 401 K and I'm wondering
how I can invest according to my values with the
options that are available in it. It seems like the
only options are big companies that I'd rather not be
invested in. Do you have any suggestions? Well, yeah. If
(07:04):
you don't find one of the faith based investing fund
families in your 401 K, now, uh, I would contact
your 401 K custodian and tell them that you're interested
in values aligned investing and that you'd like to suggest
the addition of some of these fund families like Praxis,
like Timothy plan like Eventide, like one ascent or Guidestone.
(07:29):
It may not happen right away, but as they start
to hear from more and more of their 401 K
account holders, they're eventually going to add those, and they're
always reevaluating what new funds need to be in the plan.
So just because they're not in there now doesn't mean
they won't be in there next year. And so I
would reach out first. Second. You can also see if
(07:52):
you have something called a brokerage window. That's just simply
the opportunity for you to invest beyond the menu of
choices in your 401 K in anything that's available through
that custodian. And odds are, if it's a Fidelity or
Schwab or one of the big brokerage firms, you'd be
able to get access to one of the faith based
investing companies. The third option, just put enough in your
(08:15):
401 K to get the match, and then put the
rest up to the annual contribution limit in a Roth
IRA or a traditional IRA. And then you most certainly
could invest in the faith based investing fund families when
you do that. All right. Let's get to those phone
calls that we lined up in advance. Right now we're
going to begin in Florida today. Hi, Chris. Go ahead.
S3 (08:37):
My question, Rob, is I'm retired, living on Social Security.
I have no debt. My all my expenses are paid off. Um,
whenever I have a significant project that I'm only pulling
in about 1900 a month on Social Security. So whenever
I have a project for the house or whatever, I
(09:01):
pull it out of my, um, I believe it's an
IRA that that my broker has set up for me. And, uh,
what I'm wondering from your expertise is, is that, um,
is that the best way to go about financing these
projects so that I can remain debt free and I
don't have to finance anything and incur any interest?
S1 (09:27):
Yeah, it's a great question. And let me just say,
first of all, Chris, kudos to you. You're in a
strong position being debt free. You know that IRA is
obviously money you worked hard to set aside during your
working years. Now you're retired, 69, living on Social Security.
So that's what it's there for. The the only thing
we're going to want to keep an eye on is
(09:47):
just what that withdrawal rate looks like. To ensure that
we can keep this IRA around for as long as possible.
To the extent that Social Security alone is not enough
to cover your living expenses, especially as some of those
expenses can grow in the future, namely around long term
care and medical related expenses. So what what is your
(10:10):
balance roughly on that IRA? And then if you look
at the last 12 months, how much have you pulled out?
S3 (10:17):
Um, in the last 12 months, uh, just, uh, I
have not I took a recent distribution of a taxed
distribution of 25,000 out, and that was it for this
current calendar year. Uh, before that, I've still got, uh, half.
(10:40):
I've still got about 5000 in a savings account. That
is a remnant of the 10,000 I withdrew in 2024.
So I'm very frugal with my money, and I kept
that distribution from 2024 around in case, uh, I came
up short or got hit with any unbudgeted expenses that would, um,
(11:05):
put me over the over the ability to pay with
the 1900 a month Social Security.
S1 (11:11):
Got it. Yeah. That's great. Glad you're you're doing that.
It sounds like you're being really judicious about how you're
using that money. The 25,000 that you mentioned. Is that
what's needed but you haven't taken, or have you already
taken that as well?
S3 (11:23):
I took that out, uh, about a month ago. And
that was taxed. Whenever my broker sends me the money,
he withdraws 10% in tax off of that right off
the top.
S1 (11:37):
Sure. Yeah, that's a good practice that way. That's a
head start on what you'll ultimately owe. Even if that's
not enough, at least you've got something that you know
is offsetting that tax liability. What is the balance on
that IRA roughly.
S3 (11:50):
Before all this? I think it was right around the
beginning of the year. It was about 1,000,002. And honestly, Rob,
I hate to sound like a chicken, but after my
broker called me to congratulate me with going over the
million mark, I. Lately I have not looked at the account.
It was down slightly in the first quarter, but I
(12:14):
haven't actually looked at it.
S1 (12:16):
Well, that's probably a good thing, because the last thing
you'd want to do would be to react emotionally and
call him and say, hey, let's get out of the market. Um,
and so I'm glad you have an advisor overseeing it
because that, you know, makes sure that we're not acting
on an emotional basis. We've got hopefully a rules based, uh,
you know, approach to investment management. Sounds like he's doing
a good job. It grew, you know, from that $1
(12:37):
million mark to now 1.2. You know, I think just
in terms of a rule of thumb, if you were
to think about limiting and you've gone far under this,
which is great limiting to your annual distributions to, you know,
no more than 4% a year, which would be on
your case, 48,000 on the 1.2, obviously a little less
than that if the balance has come down. But as
(12:58):
long as you're staying under that, that's why this money
is there. I think you're taking out an appropriate amount.
So it should continue to grow despite these withdrawals. And
the last thing we'd want to do is take on debt,
you know, and pay interest when you've got this money
sitting there for this purpose. So, you know, I think
you're in great shape. I'd say continue to do this.
And given how little you're pulling out, I think you've got,
(13:20):
you know, even a bit more room there, um, for
you to do other things, you know, if you wanted
to do some work on the house or take a
trip or something like that.
S3 (13:30):
You nailed it. Rob. I was going to ask you
about that because that, uh, after the current project is
done with, um, I had planned on getting back on
track with home renovation. And I'm very judicious with that.
A lot of people from my church, we have a
lot of, uh, craft type people, carpenters and, and builder stuff.
(13:52):
So they normally, uh, are my go to.
S1 (13:56):
I love it. One other thing. Once you're 70.5, I
understand you're not there yet. That'll be the time for
you to look at doing qualified charitable distributions. Any giving
you're doing out of cash, you ought to replace with
qualified charitable distributions. And then you can get that money
out without paying any tax on it. Uh, hang on
the line. I want to send you a copy of
our magazine. We'll be right back.
S4 (14:16):
You're listening to Faith and finance live. Today's broadcast is prerecorded,
so please keep that in mind. We're going to pause
now for a brief break. Then we'll be back after
that with more on faith and finance live.
S1 (14:35):
So thankful to have you with us today on Faith
and finance live. I'm Rob West, your host. Now our
team is away from the studio today, so don't call in.
But we lined up some questions in advance that I
know will be helpful to you. Had a great call
there just a moment ago, and we were able to
finish up off the air a bit more as we
talked with the previous caller, just about, you know, how
(14:56):
we can manage the money that we have in that
retirement season of life. Uh, you know, as we as
we chatted with Chris, I mean, he's in a really
strong position, really being judicious about what he takes out
of his IRA. But that's what that money is there for. Now,
I hit on something right there at the tail end
that I want to make sure to circle back on,
because I think a lot of people miss this, and
(15:17):
that's the opportunity once you're 70.5, to do what's called
a qualified charitable distribution, this is specifically money coming out
of an IRA can't be a 401 K. It's got
to be an individual retirement account in a traditional, um,
but you can take money out of that, which normally,
you know, the money goes into that traditional IRA either
(15:37):
by way of rollover or direct contributions pre-tax. So you remember,
the money that went into that account was excluded from
your federal and state taxes. So you got the deduction
on it. And then normally you pay tax on it
as income when it comes out. The only way to
get the money out tax free, which means it went
in without paying any tax on it. It's also coming
(16:00):
out without any tax is when it goes direct to
charity or your church. And when you use that qualified
charitable distribution, you're getting that money out of that IRA
and you're never paying tax, which means you get to
satisfy your required minimum if you have it. Or at
the very least, you get to hang on to cash
(16:21):
you've already paid tax on in your checking or savings
account and just have that money go straight from your
IRA to that ministry or charity. And it's a huge
opportunity because now you've got more going into the kingdom,
because there was never any tax paid on it, which
is just an enormous blessing. And so a lot of
folks will just say, you know what? I'm giving X
(16:42):
amount for my checking account every month to my church,
or I might be setting a systematic contribution here to
Faith VI, but instead I'm going to have that money
instead of going out of after tax accounts, I'm going
to come out of a pre-tax account through the qualified
charitable distribution and go straight to that ministry and never
pay any tax on it. What an opportunity. So don't
(17:04):
miss that. If you're 70.5, you can do up to
$105,000 out of an IRA through a qualified charitable distribution.
You just call your broker or your, uh, broker dealer,
like Schwab or Fidelity or Edward Jones or Merrill Lynch,
whoever you have your IRA with, and just say, I
want to do a qualified charitable distribution. They'll send a
(17:24):
check straight to the ministry. Let them ministry know it's coming,
and then you can report that on your 1040 that yes,
it was a withdrawal, but it gets offset on the
line below it because it was a qualified charitable distribution.
And so no tax is paid even though the withdrawal occurred.
So don't miss that. It's a phenomenal opportunity for you
(17:45):
that are in that fourth quarter of life. You've got
IRA money and you want to give generously. All right.
Let's get back to the phones. Let's go to Maryland. Hi, Ingrid.
Thanks for your patience. How can I help you?
S5 (17:57):
Uh, yes, I would like to know, um, I have, um,
a backup card is, um, from a store here in Frederick, Maryland,
and it's like seven 700, close to a 800. And
(18:18):
I also have to pay all the bills. Like my
cell phone on cricket.
S1 (18:24):
Yes, ma'am.
S5 (18:26):
And, um, I also have to pay, um, Xfinity for
for my, um. Um.
S1 (18:37):
Yeah. For your cable or your internet?
S5 (18:40):
For the internet? Yes. The internet. Uh, and I also
have other bills like the Potomac Edison. I'm very, uh,
behind on on that. Um.
S1 (18:54):
Okay.
S5 (18:55):
I have to pay $172.60.
S1 (19:00):
Yes, ma'am.
S5 (19:02):
And I have a water bill that is outstanding, too.
And it's $246.28.
S1 (19:11):
And, Ingrid, are you just having trouble kind of making
all of that work with the limited income that you have?
S5 (19:17):
Yes.
S1 (19:18):
Yeah. Very good.
S5 (19:19):
Because I only have I only have Social Security SSI. Uh,
that is $967 per month. Per month?
S1 (19:30):
Yes, ma'am. Okay. Yeah. Listen, I know that can be
a real challenge, and I appreciate your call today, and
I'd like to help with this. Um, here's what I'd
like to do if you'd be willing to get on
the phone, um, with one of our certified Christian financial counselors.
These are men and women who have been trained to
(19:51):
come alongside God's people and help them, uh, to manage
God's money. And they're very adept at situations like this
where there's limited resources and you're just trying to to
balance it all. And perhaps if, if you'd be willing,
they could help you look at all the look at
the income you have, look at the bills you have
and develop a plan for how you cover each of
(20:14):
these bills throughout the month. Now, the extent to which
there's just not enough money there to make it go around,
we're either going to need to try to cut back,
eliminate some of those expenses, or find a way to
get some additional income. That may not be possible, but
it's it's the other side of the equation. But in
either case, they can be an encouragement to you, pray
with you, and just look at the overall situation and
(20:36):
help you figure out how to manage it. So, uh,
would that be helpful for me to have somebody give
you a call that could help you navigate all of this?
S5 (20:45):
Yes, please.
S1 (20:47):
All right. Very good. Listen, Ingrid, there's not going to
be any cost to you. We're going to pay for
it here at Faith VI, just as our gift to you.
And we'll cover, you know, two or 3 or 4 sessions,
whatever you need, uh, from the certified Christian financial counselor.
And they'll just be available to you to serve you.
So you stay on the line. Our team will get
(21:07):
your phone number. And then one of our certified Christian
financial counselors will reach out to you. We'll pay for it,
but I'm confident they'll be a blessing to you. And, um,
I'm going to ask the faith and finance community to
be praying for you as well as you steward God's resources.
Sounds like you're doing a great job. I realize it's
not easy, but, uh, we want to help you along
(21:27):
the way. So stay that right there and we'll get
somebody in touch with you. Well, folks, before we head
to this break, let me remind you, if you haven't
checked out Faith fi com, that's faith fi.com. I'd love
for you to do that. You'll find the best content
in biblical finance there for you to grow in your
understanding of managing money God's way. You'll find our community
(21:48):
and the money management system. It's all there at Faith
fi com. Now again, a reminder we're not here today,
but more of your questions that we lined up after
the break. Great to have you with us today on
faith and finance live. By the way, we're not live today.
(22:09):
We're away from the studio, so don't call in. But
we have some great questions that we lined up in advance.
By the way, this ministry is entirely listener supported. That
means we rely on your financial gifts and support to
do what we do on the air every day. If
you consider a gift, we'd certainly be grateful. Just head
to our website, faithfully. That's faith.com and click the give button.
(22:33):
Thanks in advance. You know, periodically we hear from folks that, uh,
write into us via email and we try to tackle
a few of these questions, uh, whenever we're able to.
Let's do a couple of those right now. Uh, this
first one comes from Lori. She writes I will be
full retirement age in August. I'm still working, so my
Social Security will be a surplus that I want to
(22:55):
put toward my home. I still owe $82,000 on it,
but I also know that it needs a lot of repairs.
Does it make more sense to put this extra cash
flow for repairs, paying down the mortgage or a little
bit of both? And I would just say, Lori, first
of all, if your home does need repairs, um, let's determine,
(23:17):
you know, first of all, are they imminent or are they,
you know, more renovations if they really are truly repairs?
We probably want to go ahead and get those done
just so we don't cause any damage to the home.
So I would say this surplus income is a great
opportunity for you to do that. I would start there now. Obviously,
the ability to fund any of that, you know, out of, uh,
(23:39):
you know, any other cash flow is great. But I
would see all of the surplus that you have, including
the Social Security, as a way to fund those repairs
without taking on debt. Um, so I think that's absolutely
the priority use of that. Um, I would say after that,
let's make sure we've got a fully funded emergency fund. Um,
(23:59):
you know, as you head into retirement, I'd love for
you to have a good six months living expenses, if
not a little bit more in that season of life.
And then once those two goals are met, um, you know,
I would say the home repairs are fully funded and
you're back up in kind of working order. Um, you've
got your fully funded emergency fund. Then let's take that
(24:20):
money and put it toward the mortgage principal. That will,
of course, reduce future interest costs and give you more
cash and retirement once you can pay off that house
and reclaim what is probably your largest expense. Uh, the
second one is a question that we've got here is from, uh, mekeisha.
Here's what Mekeisha writes. What's the difference between getting a
(24:40):
debt consolidation loan or working with a debt counselor? Well,
this is a great question, and it's one that comes
up a lot. Um, debt consolidation versus what I'll call
debt management. So debt consolidation is a loan. It essentially
is where you roll multiple debts into a single new loan,
(25:01):
typically with a lower interest rate. Now you're still fully
responsible for repayment. And you'll need good credit to qualify
for favorable terms. It's also dangerous, though, because what I
experience is that most folks who get a debt consolidation loan, uh,
end up doing so to take the pressure off without
actually changing the habits that led to the debt in
(25:25):
the first place. And so you've got to identify what
was the root cause. Am I just treating a symptom,
the debt, because of lifestyle spending beyond my means? Or
am I truly, you know, resolving the situation? I've already
handled the habits, and now I'm just looking to, you know,
eliminate the debt as quickly as possible with as little
interest as possible. Typically, this is just my experience. Typically,
(25:49):
what I find is most people that get a consolidation
loan haven't done the hard work to change the habits
that led to the debt in the first place. So
then they call me back six months later and say,
all right, Rob, now I've got the consolidation loan. And
guess what? The credit card debts back. So I want
to avoid that. Um, now when it comes to debt management,
(26:10):
that is my preferred way, without a doubt, for you
to get this paid off once and for all. Keep
in mind, when we do the debt consolidation role, everything together,
even if there's a lower interest rate, typically we have
a longer payback period. So what that just simply means
is if we have a lower rate but we pay
back over a longer runway, you know, we're probably going
(26:31):
to end up paying the same amount anyway. And that's
one other reason I don't like it. With debt management,
the debt stays right where it is. If you're with
Capital One on a credit card, you're going to stay
with Capital One, you're in city, you're going to stay
with city. But what happens is each of these credit
card companies have a department they call credit counseling, and
they all have an approved interest rate. And it's always
(26:53):
lower than the prevailing rate typically. Keep in mind, the
average interest rate right now is about 23%. Typically, credit
counseling rates are between 0 and 10%, often between 0
and 8. So a dramatic reduction, you know, in many
cases 50% less or more. Um, and so that's great
because that just means now I've got a larger percentage
(27:16):
every month with the same payment going to principal reduction
with that lower interest rate. The other key is you
have accountability because you're paying through Christian credit counselors. Thirdly,
they're going to help you do a budget that's great.
That's just an added benefit. And then fourth, and this
is a big one. Don't miss this. You know what
happens with credit counseling is you have a level monthly payment.
(27:36):
See if you've ever been paying back credit card debt.
You've probably noticed that as the balance comes down, the
minimum payment comes down because it's a percentage of the balance. Well,
what's your, you know, likely response to that? Well, I'm
just going to pay as little as possible because I
don't see myself getting out of this debt anytime soon.
So I might as well put that money to other
good use. Well, that just extends the repayment period. But
(27:58):
with credit counseling, you have a level monthly payment that
fits into your budget. And because that payment doesn't come
down with the balance every month, it's a larger percentage
of the overall debt that was owed, which is great.
And you put those two things together, the fact that
we've got a dramatically lower interest rate and the fact
that we've got a level monthly payment, All of that
(28:21):
together results in, on average, you paying that debt back 80% faster.
That's a game changer. And so this is absolutely my
preferred way. Now keep in mind there's many credit counseling
agencies out there. They're all nonprofit. They have to be.
But the one that we've worked with for a long,
long time, and they've worked with literally thousands of our listeners,
(28:43):
is Christian credit counselors. You will find them on the
web at Christian Credit Counselors. Dot. So long answer to
a short question, but I would stay away from debt consolidation.
I would absolutely do debt management or what's called credit counseling.
And I would use Christian credit counselors. Now, let me
take just a moment and mention one other option that
(29:04):
I don't like, but folks will often use. And it's
not debt consolidation. It's not debt management. It's a third option.
It's called debt settlement. Now here's what happens there. With
debt settlement you will find a company. And by the way,
there's a lot of bad actors in this space. So
this is just another reason to stay away from it.
But with debt settlement, they will ask you to stop
paying your creditors. I know it's crazy. Uh, they're going
(29:27):
to tell you that. Well, if you stop paying, they're
going to get into collections, and that's going to create
the environment where we can come in behind you and
negotiate a reduced settlement. But guess what? Number one, you're
not honoring your obligation. And I think as Christ followers,
we need to number two. Uh, you know, you are
putting yourself in a position where you're going to trash
your credit because you're stopping payment. So you're going to
(29:48):
get into collections. You know, it could be charged off.
There could be a judgment that's legal, a legal judgment
against you. All of that's going to hit your credit
report just creates a real mess. So that is not
what you want to do. So bottom line, these are
the three kind of most common ways people pay back debt.
Debt consolidation. Debt settlement and debt management. My preferred approach. Again,
(30:12):
debt management. And our friends at Christian Credit counselors.org and help.
By the way, if you have less than 4000, you
probably don't need it. Just snowball it. Smallest to largest balance.
Free up as much as you can in your budget.
Put as much toward principal every month as you can.
Got over 4000. That's where debt management really shines. Well, folks,
(30:32):
we're going to take one more quick break and then
back with our final segment today. But if you need
assistance from a financial or legal professional, we'd love for
you to visit faith. Com and click Find Us. Again
that's faith.com and click find a C.K. that stands for
Certified Kingdom Advisor, our preferred designation for financial advice from
(30:54):
a biblical worldview. We're back with much more just around
the corner. Stick around.
S4 (31:08):
This is faith in finance. Live with Rob West. Hey,
if you hear a phone number mentioned today, please ignore
that number and don't call us because today's broadcast was
previously recorded. But we think the upcoming information will help
you and make you a wise steward of what God
has given you. So please stay tuned.
S1 (31:28):
Let me take just a moment and tell you about
what it means to become a faith life partner, and
then we'll head to the phones. Anthony is holding patiently
in Wisconsin. Faith partners are those that support the listener
supported work of Faith fi. They come alongside us each
month with a gift of $35 or more, which is
huge because as a listener supported ministry, the only way
(31:49):
we can bring you this broadcast is through your listener support.
And so these are the men and women that say,
I love the program, I've benefited from it. I want
more people to get this message. I'm not getting this
anywhere else. And they say, I'll be in the boat
with you to the tune of $35 a month or
more now, as a way of saying thank you. And
because we know that if you're a faithful partner, you
(32:11):
want to be a good steward of God's resources. We
produce some world class resources that we send out to
our partners. But you would get four copies of our beautiful,
really thoughtful, magazine faithful steward. It's gorgeous and really incredible content.
You get four issues a year mailed to your door. Plus,
every time we come out with a study or devotional,
(32:31):
which is typically twice a year, you'll get that mailed
to you as well. So if you want to become
a partner, just head to our website. Dot com click
give at the top of the page and you'll find
all of the details. All right let's round out the
broadcast today as many calls as we can. Uh, Anthony,
thanks for waiting patiently there in Wisconsin, sir. Go ahead.
S6 (32:50):
Yes, sir. Uh, well, first off, I want to thank
you for your program. I try to listen to it daily. Uh,
just the the financial, the financial, uh, advice from a
Christian perspective is invaluable. But, uh, my question is, my
wife and I are going to be purchasing a home,
hopefully this year. We have a purchase agreement already lined up. Uh,
(33:13):
the homeowners right now, actually, they're looking for a new house,
and they have a home equity line of credit that
they're going to use to purchase their home from the
from the sale of the home that they're living in.
And my question is the credit union that we're going through,
they're offering us the, you know, the standard 30 year
mortgage with one monthly payment. Yeah. But, uh, my wife
(33:34):
and I, we, we try to do extra payments at
least once a month, maybe once every two months. And
the loan officer said that they offer a biweekly payment plan.
And I just wanted to get some of your insight
on that. What would be better? Which one would be best?
You know the pros and cons of both.
S1 (33:51):
Yeah. Well, it's a great question, Anthony. And I love
you sending extra to the principal because that's really going
to pay off. I mean, if you just send the
equivalent of one extra payment a year, it'll take a
30 year mortgage and make it like 26 years, depending
on the interest rate. Uh, but it's going to cut
years off, which is awesome. And, you know, that's a
(34:12):
that's a real, uh, savings and interest. Now, here's the thing.
I like the biweekly payment option, and I'll explain for
the rest of our listeners what that is in just
a moment. Um, the only thing I don't like is
if in doing that, by setting it up through the
credit union, if they're going to charge you a fee,
you don't need to do that because you can essentially
(34:32):
do this on your own. Now, if they're willing to
do it and not charge anything, that's great. The other
thing is you don't want to have to do it.
You want it to be an optional thing. Because if forever,
if for any reason you ever needed to just go
back to the the one standard payment a year instead
of the the half payment every, uh, you know, two weeks,
(34:55):
you would want that option. You don't want to have
to be forced into, uh, doing the biweekly payment. Does
that make sense?
S6 (35:02):
Yes, sir.
S1 (35:03):
Okay. But essentially, you can do this on your own. Now,
let me explain how this works for the benefit of
the rest of our listeners. So think about this. When
you make a mortgage payment, you make one payment each month.
So you make 12 per year. And that's just the
way most people pay their mortgage with the biweekly mortgage payment.
Or some people call bi monthly. Essentially, you make a
(35:25):
half payment every two weeks. Okay. Now when you make
a half payment every two weeks, there are 26, uh,
you know, two week periods in a year, which means
you're making 13 monthly payments. You're making an extra payment
every year. And so by getting into that, you know,
(35:48):
biweekly option where you send a half payment every two weeks, essentially,
if you can get into that rhythm you're going to
every six months, you're going to send an extra half payment.
Every year. You're going to send an extra the equivalent
of one full payment. That's great because again, that one
extra payment a year makes a dramatic difference in the
total payback of that mortgage. The key is I don't
(36:09):
want to pay for the option to do that because
it shouldn't cost you anything. And I don't want to
be required to do that. But apart from that, I
really like it. Is that helpful, though?
S6 (36:17):
Yes, sir. It makes sense.
S1 (36:19):
Awesome. Well, Anthony, all the best to you and your
bride on purchasing that home. That's going to be a
real blessing. Just make sure you don't get stuck with
a home that you you can't afford. I realize homeownership
is really challenging right now, and, um, you know, you
don't want to stretch and buy a house that's beyond
your means, but as long as you keep it within
(36:40):
your means, typically that means around 25% of your take
home pay for principal interest, taxes, and insurance with a 20%
down payment, then it'll be a real blessing to you. Hey,
thanks for calling today. Call anytime. We appreciate you being
on the program. By the way. Stay on the line.
I'm going to send you a copy of Faithful Steward.
I think it'll be an encouragement to you. Uh, let's
go to Texas. Hi, Lizette. How can I help?
S7 (37:02):
Hi, Mr. West, uh, I have a question. My husband
and I, we have a whole life insurance policy. We've
been paying it for about ten years and we only
have 19,000. We should have 24,000, but that's what it shows.
And we were thinking if we should cancel it, they
would only get 16,000.
S1 (37:23):
Yes. Okay. What is the death benefit on that? Lisette?
Do you know?
S7 (37:27):
I believe it's 150,000.
S1 (37:30):
Okay. And do you all need that death benefit? I mean,
if something. Well, first of all, who who is it?
Whose life is insured? Is it your husband?
S7 (37:41):
My husband?
S1 (37:42):
Okay. Payable to you?
S7 (37:45):
Yeah. And we have two children, so we're all in there.
S1 (37:49):
Okay. But the. But you're the beneficiary. So if he
passed away, the 150,000 would come to you, right?
S7 (37:55):
Yes.
S1 (37:56):
Okay. And if he passed away, would that create a
hardship for you because you lose income.
S7 (38:03):
Mhm. Yeah. He's the one that provides mostly for our home. Yeah,
I work part time.
S1 (38:10):
Got it. Yeah. So that's the real purpose of this
and that. You know, I would prefer you see this
life insurance as offsetting that risk that exists that if
he were to be called home by the Lord and
he passes away, that would be a, you know, create
a challenge for you because his income is gone. But
the most cost effective way to get that life insurance
(38:32):
is not through a whole life policy where it's combined
with a savings vehicle. It's through what's called term insurance,
which is pure insurance. You're simply paying the cost every
month for the mortality expense. What it actually costs, based
on the actuarial tables to insure his life for a
set period of time, based on his health and the
amount of coverage that you want. But I suspect that
(38:55):
150,000 wouldn't be enough. But the nice thing about term
insurance is, you know, maybe you get a ten year
policy on his life so that between now and when
you all retire, where at that point, hopefully you've got
enough in the way of assets and income sources like
Social Security, where you no longer need his income. Uh,
(39:16):
he wouldn't have it anyway if he's retired. And then
you don't need that insurance anymore, you drop it. But
while he's still working, you've got plenty of insurance so
that if he passes away, you've got enough to be
able to, you know, fund your lifestyle for the rest
of your life. Well, the the most cost effective way
for that insurance is term insurance. So here's what I
(39:37):
would consider doing. And you know, remember we only have
a couple of minutes together on the air here. So
if you want to get an advisor to get in
the middle of this, that would always be the better option.
But just my kind of high level thoughts are let's
determine how much insurance you need. You know, what would
it take for you to replace his income, at least
(39:57):
between now and when you know he was planning to
retire instead of 150, you may decide that's three or
4 or $500,000. And then let's go see what it
would cost to get a ten year term policy for
that amount on his life. Payable to you. And then
I suspect it's going to be perhaps less than the
policy you're already paying. And once it's in force. And
(40:19):
that's the key, we wouldn't want to do anything until
that policy is in force. But at that point, then
you could cancel the whole life. Reclaim the 19,000. Maybe
use that to shore up your emergency fund. And now
you're no longer paying for the whole life policy. You've
got the cash value to do something else with. And
you have more life insurance for the next decade. So
(40:39):
that if something happens to him, you're good. And then
once you all get to retirement, you don't need that
policy anyway. And you drop it. Does that make sense?
S7 (40:48):
It does. Thank you. Thank you so much for your advice.
S1 (40:52):
All right. You're welcome. Lisa. Thanks for calling today. We
appreciate you very much. Well, folks, we've covered a lot
of ground today. You know, as we think about managing
money God's way, The key is that we need to first,
I think, recognize that God owns it all. And that
sounds simple. And yet it's a profound idea because when
we recognize God's ownership, then it allows us to put
(41:15):
everything in its proper context. Our money now becomes a
tool to not only provide for our families, which is biblical,
but perhaps to this bigger idea of being invited into
a story that's much bigger than us and that's that
God's grand generosity adventure. And here's the reality, folks. When
we take a step back and we look at how
(41:35):
we're allocating God's money, what we realize is that we're
telling a story about what's most important to us in
the way we allocate God's money. And yet it's an
opportunity for each of us to say, regardless of the
mistakes we've made in the past or the decisions we've
made in our financial life from this point forward, I
want to be found faithful when it comes to our money.
(41:57):
We have an opportunity to go to God's Word, to
renew our minds, to get into the scriptures and see
what he has for us in those 2350 verses and
those parables, more than half of them that deal with money,
and we can see the heart of God and how
we should be rich toward God and handle money in
such a way that it's evident that God is our
treasure and not our money. You remember in Mark four,
(42:20):
in the parable of the sower, Jesus, when he was
explaining to the disciples what choked out the word from
bearing a 30 6000 fold return? He said it was
the deceitfulness of riches and the cares of this world
and the desires for other things. Let's not let that
be true about us in the way we handle God's money.
Let's hold it loosely. Let's give it generously, and let's
(42:43):
use it to honor the King of Kings. And let's
do that together on this program each day. Thanks for
being with us today. Hey, faith and Finance Live is
a ministry of Faith, fi and Moody Radio. Thanks to
my team today and we'll see you tomorrow. Come back
and join us then.
S8 (42:57):
Bye bye.
Today's faith and finance live is actually not live, so
our phone lines are not open. Women control more wealth
than ever. So how do you find an advisor who listens,
explains clearly, and shares your values? Hi, I'm Rob West.
According to McKinsey and company, by 2030, women are expected
to control nearly two thirds of US assets, around 30 trillion.
(00:25):
With that kind of stewardship comes both opportunity and responsibility. Today,
Sharon Eppes joins us to share five simple practices that
women should expect from their financial advisors. Then we have
some great calls lined up. But please don't call in
today because we're prerecorded. This is faith and finance live.
Biblical wisdom for your financial decisions. Sharon Eppes is president
(00:50):
of Kingdom Advisors, and the points will share. She and
the team here at Kingdom Advisors use to train certified
Kingdom Advisors to practice openly and professionally and as it
relates to today's topic. Serving women specifically. Sharon, great to
have you here.
S2 (01:06):
I can't wait to talk about it.
S1 (01:08):
Sharon. As I just said, you know, these are five
practices that we teach advisors who are serving women clients
to be sure to bring into their practices, to serve
them effectively. And we're going to share these five things,
because I think this could really help our listeners be
on the lookout for these things as they're interviewing advisors.
(01:29):
Would you agree?
S2 (01:30):
I do, and I think it starts with terminology. We
want the advisor to be able to explain things clearly
in a language that not only a woman, but all
clients can understand. That includes we have a lot of
terms in the financial industry RIAA, CFP, all kinds of
jargon that is unique to us. And so one of
the best things that an advisor can do is stop
(01:53):
and ask questions and say, hey, did you understand? Let
me use an analogy to help make it clearer to you.
And when you don't understand. Ask me. I'd love to
just explain it better.
S1 (02:05):
Yeah, and so be on the lookout for that. Perhaps
even express your desire to this advisor you're interviewing that
you want to toss the terminology. All right. The second
thing we teach advisors, Sharon, is to light a candle.
What do we mean by that when we're talking to advisors?
S2 (02:19):
Well, we don't want them to actually put a match
to the flame. It might burn their building down. But
what we're trying to say is create a warm and
welcoming environment. Things like, are you sitting across a round table,
or do you have a power desk that makes the
woman feel intimidated? How can you show hospitality? There's a
reason that some of the hotels give warm baked cookies
(02:40):
when people check in. The same idea would be true
in the advisor office.
S1 (02:43):
Yeah, be on the lookout for that as you're interviewing advisors.
The third is open the medicine cabinet. We're talking about
transparency here, aren't we?
S2 (02:52):
We absolutely are. Now advisors have a fiduciary responsibility to
feed transparency, but there's a lot more than that. We
want to have an advisor if that we're opening up
our true authentic self. They are too.
S1 (03:05):
Yeah. So you can ask your advisor as it relates
to transparency, for instance, where on paper can I see
every fee and how you're paid? Now, this fourth teaching
point we have for advisors that applies to you as
you interview an advisor, is use a magnifying glass, talk
about that.
S2 (03:21):
Well, we want the advisor to be interested in much
more than just your money, because money, remember, is just
a tool. It helps you accomplish the purposes and calling
that God's put on your life. So that advisor needs
to be asking you about your values, your plans and
your purposes.
S1 (03:37):
Yeah. And the exciting thing is, with the Certified Kingdom
Advisor designation, you can find an advisor who shares those
values and can help you express them in your financial
decision making. All right. Sharing that final teaching point of
these five for advisors is Developing God's heart for her.
What does it mean for advisors to practice what we
(03:59):
might call whole person care?
S2 (04:01):
Well, this is the most important part of the program,
and that is we want the advisors to see themselves
as spiritual disciple makers, to walk alongside not only the woman,
but the whole family in praying for the clients, in
walking with them in big transition seasons, big decision making.
We want both spouses to be a part of the
(04:24):
conversation and as you know, spouses aren't alike. And so
it's important that that advisor not only ask the male
spouse what he thinks about things, but the female as well.
And so being a part of unity with the family
is a huge part of developing God's heart for the woman.
S1 (04:44):
Here's my hope and prayer is that as you hear
these things that Sharon just shared, that as you interview
an advisor, you would feel like you have permission to
look for these things. You deserve to have these things
reflected in your advisor relationship again. A certified Kingdom Advisor
can be found on our website, Philly.com. Just click Find
(05:05):
a professional. Sharon, really helpful stuff. Thanks for stopping by.
S2 (05:08):
Always good to be here.
S1 (05:09):
That's Sharon app. She's president of Kingdom Advisors. Here's the takeaway.
Women don't need a different standard. They simply need the
standard done right with confidence, clarity empathy and shared values.
Go to faith. Com click find a professional. We'll be
right back. Thanks for joining us today on Faith and
(05:36):
Finance Live I'm Rob West. We're so glad you're along
with us today. Now we're away from the studio so
don't call in. But in just a moment we'll be
taking some questions that we lined up in advance. You
won't want to miss those, but first, let's tackle a
couple of emails. These come into us regularly at, uh.
Moody radio. Uh, this first question comes to us by
(05:58):
way of Hanna. She writes, we recently sold our house
for a good profit, and we're wondering how to tithe
on it. Do we tithe on the full amount we received,
or only what goes above the initial price and interest
we paid? Uh, you would tithe on the difference between
the sale price, Hanna, and the initial purchase price. Uh,
(06:18):
so you don't have to look at anything else other
than what is that true increase in the value of
the property. Because if when we're giving a tithe, it
is based on the increase, the profit. So no matter
what asset it is, whether it's a stock or a
piece of real estate, it's simply the difference between the
sale price and the original purchase price. Um, that increase,
(06:41):
then you would apply a 10% tithe and then give
that to your local church. And I think that's a
great idea. This next one comes to us from Karen.
She writes, I have a 401 K and I'm wondering
how I can invest according to my values with the
options that are available in it. It seems like the
only options are big companies that I'd rather not be
invested in. Do you have any suggestions? Well, yeah. If
(07:04):
you don't find one of the faith based investing fund
families in your 401 K, now, uh, I would contact
your 401 K custodian and tell them that you're interested
in values aligned investing and that you'd like to suggest
the addition of some of these fund families like Praxis,
like Timothy plan like Eventide, like one ascent or Guidestone.
(07:29):
It may not happen right away, but as they start
to hear from more and more of their 401 K
account holders, they're eventually going to add those, and they're
always reevaluating what new funds need to be in the plan.
So just because they're not in there now doesn't mean
they won't be in there next year. And so I
would reach out first. Second. You can also see if
(07:52):
you have something called a brokerage window. That's just simply
the opportunity for you to invest beyond the menu of
choices in your 401 K in anything that's available through
that custodian. And odds are, if it's a Fidelity or
Schwab or one of the big brokerage firms, you'd be
able to get access to one of the faith based
investing companies. The third option, just put enough in your
(08:15):
401 K to get the match, and then put the
rest up to the annual contribution limit in a Roth
IRA or a traditional IRA. And then you most certainly
could invest in the faith based investing fund families when
you do that. All right. Let's get to those phone
calls that we lined up in advance. Right now we're
going to begin in Florida today. Hi, Chris. Go ahead.
S3 (08:37):
My question, Rob, is I'm retired, living on Social Security.
I have no debt. My all my expenses are paid off. Um,
whenever I have a significant project that I'm only pulling
in about 1900 a month on Social Security. So whenever
I have a project for the house or whatever, I
(09:01):
pull it out of my, um, I believe it's an
IRA that that my broker has set up for me. And, uh,
what I'm wondering from your expertise is, is that, um,
is that the best way to go about financing these
projects so that I can remain debt free and I
don't have to finance anything and incur any interest?
S1 (09:27):
Yeah, it's a great question. And let me just say,
first of all, Chris, kudos to you. You're in a
strong position being debt free. You know that IRA is
obviously money you worked hard to set aside during your
working years. Now you're retired, 69, living on Social Security.
So that's what it's there for. The the only thing
we're going to want to keep an eye on is
(09:47):
just what that withdrawal rate looks like. To ensure that
we can keep this IRA around for as long as possible.
To the extent that Social Security alone is not enough
to cover your living expenses, especially as some of those
expenses can grow in the future, namely around long term
care and medical related expenses. So what what is your
(10:10):
balance roughly on that IRA? And then if you look
at the last 12 months, how much have you pulled out?
S3 (10:17):
Um, in the last 12 months, uh, just, uh, I
have not I took a recent distribution of a taxed
distribution of 25,000 out, and that was it for this
current calendar year. Uh, before that, I've still got, uh, half.
(10:40):
I've still got about 5000 in a savings account. That
is a remnant of the 10,000 I withdrew in 2024.
So I'm very frugal with my money, and I kept
that distribution from 2024 around in case, uh, I came
up short or got hit with any unbudgeted expenses that would, um,
(11:05):
put me over the over the ability to pay with
the 1900 a month Social Security.
S1 (11:11):
Got it. Yeah. That's great. Glad you're you're doing that.
It sounds like you're being really judicious about how you're
using that money. The 25,000 that you mentioned. Is that
what's needed but you haven't taken, or have you already
taken that as well?
S3 (11:23):
I took that out, uh, about a month ago. And
that was taxed. Whenever my broker sends me the money,
he withdraws 10% in tax off of that right off
the top.
S1 (11:37):
Sure. Yeah, that's a good practice that way. That's a
head start on what you'll ultimately owe. Even if that's
not enough, at least you've got something that you know
is offsetting that tax liability. What is the balance on
that IRA roughly.
S3 (11:50):
Before all this? I think it was right around the
beginning of the year. It was about 1,000,002. And honestly, Rob,
I hate to sound like a chicken, but after my
broker called me to congratulate me with going over the
million mark, I. Lately I have not looked at the account.
It was down slightly in the first quarter, but I
(12:14):
haven't actually looked at it.
S1 (12:16):
Well, that's probably a good thing, because the last thing
you'd want to do would be to react emotionally and
call him and say, hey, let's get out of the market. Um,
and so I'm glad you have an advisor overseeing it
because that, you know, makes sure that we're not acting
on an emotional basis. We've got hopefully a rules based, uh,
you know, approach to investment management. Sounds like he's doing
a good job. It grew, you know, from that $1
(12:37):
million mark to now 1.2. You know, I think just
in terms of a rule of thumb, if you were
to think about limiting and you've gone far under this,
which is great limiting to your annual distributions to, you know,
no more than 4% a year, which would be on
your case, 48,000 on the 1.2, obviously a little less
than that if the balance has come down. But as
(12:58):
long as you're staying under that, that's why this money
is there. I think you're taking out an appropriate amount.
So it should continue to grow despite these withdrawals. And
the last thing we'd want to do is take on debt,
you know, and pay interest when you've got this money
sitting there for this purpose. So, you know, I think
you're in great shape. I'd say continue to do this.
And given how little you're pulling out, I think you've got,
(13:20):
you know, even a bit more room there, um, for
you to do other things, you know, if you wanted
to do some work on the house or take a
trip or something like that.
S3 (13:30):
You nailed it. Rob. I was going to ask you
about that because that, uh, after the current project is
done with, um, I had planned on getting back on
track with home renovation. And I'm very judicious with that.
A lot of people from my church, we have a
lot of, uh, craft type people, carpenters and, and builder stuff.
(13:52):
So they normally, uh, are my go to.
S1 (13:56):
I love it. One other thing. Once you're 70.5, I
understand you're not there yet. That'll be the time for
you to look at doing qualified charitable distributions. Any giving
you're doing out of cash, you ought to replace with
qualified charitable distributions. And then you can get that money
out without paying any tax on it. Uh, hang on
the line. I want to send you a copy of
our magazine. We'll be right back.
S4 (14:16):
You're listening to Faith and finance live. Today's broadcast is prerecorded,
so please keep that in mind. We're going to pause
now for a brief break. Then we'll be back after
that with more on faith and finance live.
S1 (14:35):
So thankful to have you with us today on Faith
and finance live. I'm Rob West, your host. Now our
team is away from the studio today, so don't call in.
But we lined up some questions in advance that I
know will be helpful to you. Had a great call
there just a moment ago, and we were able to
finish up off the air a bit more as we
talked with the previous caller, just about, you know, how
(14:56):
we can manage the money that we have in that
retirement season of life. Uh, you know, as we as
we chatted with Chris, I mean, he's in a really
strong position, really being judicious about what he takes out
of his IRA. But that's what that money is there for. Now,
I hit on something right there at the tail end
that I want to make sure to circle back on,
because I think a lot of people miss this, and
(15:17):
that's the opportunity once you're 70.5, to do what's called
a qualified charitable distribution, this is specifically money coming out
of an IRA can't be a 401 K. It's got
to be an individual retirement account in a traditional, um,
but you can take money out of that, which normally,
you know, the money goes into that traditional IRA either
(15:37):
by way of rollover or direct contributions pre-tax. So you remember,
the money that went into that account was excluded from
your federal and state taxes. So you got the deduction
on it. And then normally you pay tax on it
as income when it comes out. The only way to
get the money out tax free, which means it went
in without paying any tax on it. It's also coming
(16:00):
out without any tax is when it goes direct to
charity or your church. And when you use that qualified
charitable distribution, you're getting that money out of that IRA
and you're never paying tax, which means you get to
satisfy your required minimum if you have it. Or at
the very least, you get to hang on to cash
(16:21):
you've already paid tax on in your checking or savings
account and just have that money go straight from your
IRA to that ministry or charity. And it's a huge
opportunity because now you've got more going into the kingdom,
because there was never any tax paid on it, which
is just an enormous blessing. And so a lot of
folks will just say, you know what? I'm giving X
(16:42):
amount for my checking account every month to my church,
or I might be setting a systematic contribution here to
Faith VI, but instead I'm going to have that money
instead of going out of after tax accounts, I'm going
to come out of a pre-tax account through the qualified
charitable distribution and go straight to that ministry and never
pay any tax on it. What an opportunity. So don't
(17:04):
miss that. If you're 70.5, you can do up to
$105,000 out of an IRA through a qualified charitable distribution.
You just call your broker or your, uh, broker dealer,
like Schwab or Fidelity or Edward Jones or Merrill Lynch,
whoever you have your IRA with, and just say, I
want to do a qualified charitable distribution. They'll send a
(17:24):
check straight to the ministry. Let them ministry know it's coming,
and then you can report that on your 1040 that yes,
it was a withdrawal, but it gets offset on the
line below it because it was a qualified charitable distribution.
And so no tax is paid even though the withdrawal occurred.
So don't miss that. It's a phenomenal opportunity for you
(17:45):
that are in that fourth quarter of life. You've got
IRA money and you want to give generously. All right.
Let's get back to the phones. Let's go to Maryland. Hi, Ingrid.
Thanks for your patience. How can I help you?
S5 (17:57):
Uh, yes, I would like to know, um, I have, um,
a backup card is, um, from a store here in Frederick, Maryland,
and it's like seven 700, close to a 800. And
(18:18):
I also have to pay all the bills. Like my
cell phone on cricket.
S1 (18:24):
Yes, ma'am.
S5 (18:26):
And, um, I also have to pay, um, Xfinity for
for my, um. Um.
S1 (18:37):
Yeah. For your cable or your internet?
S5 (18:40):
For the internet? Yes. The internet. Uh, and I also
have other bills like the Potomac Edison. I'm very, uh,
behind on on that. Um.
S1 (18:54):
Okay.
S5 (18:55):
I have to pay $172.60.
S1 (19:00):
Yes, ma'am.
S5 (19:02):
And I have a water bill that is outstanding, too.
And it's $246.28.
S1 (19:11):
And, Ingrid, are you just having trouble kind of making
all of that work with the limited income that you have?
S5 (19:17):
Yes.
S1 (19:18):
Yeah. Very good.
S5 (19:19):
Because I only have I only have Social Security SSI. Uh,
that is $967 per month. Per month?
S1 (19:30):
Yes, ma'am. Okay. Yeah. Listen, I know that can be
a real challenge, and I appreciate your call today, and
I'd like to help with this. Um, here's what I'd
like to do if you'd be willing to get on
the phone, um, with one of our certified Christian financial counselors.
These are men and women who have been trained to
(19:51):
come alongside God's people and help them, uh, to manage
God's money. And they're very adept at situations like this
where there's limited resources and you're just trying to to
balance it all. And perhaps if, if you'd be willing,
they could help you look at all the look at
the income you have, look at the bills you have
and develop a plan for how you cover each of
(20:14):
these bills throughout the month. Now, the extent to which
there's just not enough money there to make it go around,
we're either going to need to try to cut back,
eliminate some of those expenses, or find a way to
get some additional income. That may not be possible, but
it's it's the other side of the equation. But in
either case, they can be an encouragement to you, pray
with you, and just look at the overall situation and
(20:36):
help you figure out how to manage it. So, uh,
would that be helpful for me to have somebody give
you a call that could help you navigate all of this?
S5 (20:45):
Yes, please.
S1 (20:47):
All right. Very good. Listen, Ingrid, there's not going to
be any cost to you. We're going to pay for
it here at Faith VI, just as our gift to you.
And we'll cover, you know, two or 3 or 4 sessions,
whatever you need, uh, from the certified Christian financial counselor.
And they'll just be available to you to serve you.
So you stay on the line. Our team will get
(21:07):
your phone number. And then one of our certified Christian
financial counselors will reach out to you. We'll pay for it,
but I'm confident they'll be a blessing to you. And, um,
I'm going to ask the faith and finance community to
be praying for you as well as you steward God's resources.
Sounds like you're doing a great job. I realize it's
not easy, but, uh, we want to help you along
(21:27):
the way. So stay that right there and we'll get
somebody in touch with you. Well, folks, before we head
to this break, let me remind you, if you haven't
checked out Faith fi com, that's faith fi.com. I'd love
for you to do that. You'll find the best content
in biblical finance there for you to grow in your
understanding of managing money God's way. You'll find our community
(21:48):
and the money management system. It's all there at Faith
fi com. Now again, a reminder we're not here today,
but more of your questions that we lined up after
the break. Great to have you with us today on
faith and finance live. By the way, we're not live today.
(22:09):
We're away from the studio, so don't call in. But
we have some great questions that we lined up in advance.
By the way, this ministry is entirely listener supported. That
means we rely on your financial gifts and support to
do what we do on the air every day. If
you consider a gift, we'd certainly be grateful. Just head
to our website, faithfully. That's faith.com and click the give button.
(22:33):
Thanks in advance. You know, periodically we hear from folks that, uh,
write into us via email and we try to tackle
a few of these questions, uh, whenever we're able to.
Let's do a couple of those right now. Uh, this
first one comes from Lori. She writes I will be
full retirement age in August. I'm still working, so my
Social Security will be a surplus that I want to
(22:55):
put toward my home. I still owe $82,000 on it,
but I also know that it needs a lot of repairs.
Does it make more sense to put this extra cash
flow for repairs, paying down the mortgage or a little
bit of both? And I would just say, Lori, first
of all, if your home does need repairs, um, let's determine,
(23:17):
you know, first of all, are they imminent or are they,
you know, more renovations if they really are truly repairs?
We probably want to go ahead and get those done
just so we don't cause any damage to the home.
So I would say this surplus income is a great
opportunity for you to do that. I would start there now. Obviously,
the ability to fund any of that, you know, out of, uh,
(23:39):
you know, any other cash flow is great. But I
would see all of the surplus that you have, including
the Social Security, as a way to fund those repairs
without taking on debt. Um, so I think that's absolutely
the priority use of that. Um, I would say after that,
let's make sure we've got a fully funded emergency fund. Um,
(23:59):
you know, as you head into retirement, I'd love for
you to have a good six months living expenses, if
not a little bit more in that season of life.
And then once those two goals are met, um, you know,
I would say the home repairs are fully funded and
you're back up in kind of working order. Um, you've
got your fully funded emergency fund. Then let's take that
(24:20):
money and put it toward the mortgage principal. That will,
of course, reduce future interest costs and give you more
cash and retirement once you can pay off that house
and reclaim what is probably your largest expense. Uh, the
second one is a question that we've got here is from, uh, mekeisha.
Here's what Mekeisha writes. What's the difference between getting a
(24:40):
debt consolidation loan or working with a debt counselor? Well,
this is a great question, and it's one that comes
up a lot. Um, debt consolidation versus what I'll call
debt management. So debt consolidation is a loan. It essentially
is where you roll multiple debts into a single new loan,
(25:01):
typically with a lower interest rate. Now you're still fully
responsible for repayment. And you'll need good credit to qualify
for favorable terms. It's also dangerous, though, because what I
experience is that most folks who get a debt consolidation loan, uh,
end up doing so to take the pressure off without
actually changing the habits that led to the debt in
(25:25):
the first place. And so you've got to identify what
was the root cause. Am I just treating a symptom,
the debt, because of lifestyle spending beyond my means? Or
am I truly, you know, resolving the situation? I've already
handled the habits, and now I'm just looking to, you know,
eliminate the debt as quickly as possible with as little
interest as possible. Typically, this is just my experience. Typically,
(25:49):
what I find is most people that get a consolidation
loan haven't done the hard work to change the habits
that led to the debt in the first place. So
then they call me back six months later and say,
all right, Rob, now I've got the consolidation loan. And
guess what? The credit card debts back. So I want
to avoid that. Um, now when it comes to debt management,
(26:10):
that is my preferred way, without a doubt, for you
to get this paid off once and for all. Keep
in mind, when we do the debt consolidation role, everything together,
even if there's a lower interest rate, typically we have
a longer payback period. So what that just simply means
is if we have a lower rate but we pay
back over a longer runway, you know, we're probably going
(26:31):
to end up paying the same amount anyway. And that's
one other reason I don't like it. With debt management,
the debt stays right where it is. If you're with
Capital One on a credit card, you're going to stay
with Capital One, you're in city, you're going to stay
with city. But what happens is each of these credit
card companies have a department they call credit counseling, and
they all have an approved interest rate. And it's always
(26:53):
lower than the prevailing rate typically. Keep in mind, the
average interest rate right now is about 23%. Typically, credit
counseling rates are between 0 and 10%, often between 0
and 8. So a dramatic reduction, you know, in many
cases 50% less or more. Um, and so that's great
because that just means now I've got a larger percentage
(27:16):
every month with the same payment going to principal reduction
with that lower interest rate. The other key is you
have accountability because you're paying through Christian credit counselors. Thirdly,
they're going to help you do a budget that's great.
That's just an added benefit. And then fourth, and this
is a big one. Don't miss this. You know what
happens with credit counseling is you have a level monthly payment.
(27:36):
See if you've ever been paying back credit card debt.
You've probably noticed that as the balance comes down, the
minimum payment comes down because it's a percentage of the balance. Well,
what's your, you know, likely response to that? Well, I'm
just going to pay as little as possible because I
don't see myself getting out of this debt anytime soon.
So I might as well put that money to other
good use. Well, that just extends the repayment period. But
(27:58):
with credit counseling, you have a level monthly payment that
fits into your budget. And because that payment doesn't come
down with the balance every month, it's a larger percentage
of the overall debt that was owed, which is great.
And you put those two things together, the fact that
we've got a dramatically lower interest rate and the fact
that we've got a level monthly payment, All of that
(28:21):
together results in, on average, you paying that debt back 80% faster.
That's a game changer. And so this is absolutely my
preferred way. Now keep in mind there's many credit counseling
agencies out there. They're all nonprofit. They have to be.
But the one that we've worked with for a long,
long time, and they've worked with literally thousands of our listeners,
(28:43):
is Christian credit counselors. You will find them on the
web at Christian Credit Counselors. Dot. So long answer to
a short question, but I would stay away from debt consolidation.
I would absolutely do debt management or what's called credit counseling.
And I would use Christian credit counselors. Now, let me
take just a moment and mention one other option that
(29:04):
I don't like, but folks will often use. And it's
not debt consolidation. It's not debt management. It's a third option.
It's called debt settlement. Now here's what happens there. With
debt settlement you will find a company. And by the way,
there's a lot of bad actors in this space. So
this is just another reason to stay away from it.
But with debt settlement, they will ask you to stop
paying your creditors. I know it's crazy. Uh, they're going
(29:27):
to tell you that. Well, if you stop paying, they're
going to get into collections, and that's going to create
the environment where we can come in behind you and
negotiate a reduced settlement. But guess what? Number one, you're
not honoring your obligation. And I think as Christ followers,
we need to number two. Uh, you know, you are
putting yourself in a position where you're going to trash
your credit because you're stopping payment. So you're going to
(29:48):
get into collections. You know, it could be charged off.
There could be a judgment that's legal, a legal judgment
against you. All of that's going to hit your credit
report just creates a real mess. So that is not
what you want to do. So bottom line, these are
the three kind of most common ways people pay back debt.
Debt consolidation. Debt settlement and debt management. My preferred approach. Again,
(30:12):
debt management. And our friends at Christian Credit counselors.org and help.
By the way, if you have less than 4000, you
probably don't need it. Just snowball it. Smallest to largest balance.
Free up as much as you can in your budget.
Put as much toward principal every month as you can.
Got over 4000. That's where debt management really shines. Well, folks,
(30:32):
we're going to take one more quick break and then
back with our final segment today. But if you need
assistance from a financial or legal professional, we'd love for
you to visit faith. Com and click Find Us. Again
that's faith.com and click find a C.K. that stands for
Certified Kingdom Advisor, our preferred designation for financial advice from
(30:54):
a biblical worldview. We're back with much more just around
the corner. Stick around.
S4 (31:08):
This is faith in finance. Live with Rob West. Hey,
if you hear a phone number mentioned today, please ignore
that number and don't call us because today's broadcast was
previously recorded. But we think the upcoming information will help
you and make you a wise steward of what God
has given you. So please stay tuned.
S1 (31:28):
Let me take just a moment and tell you about
what it means to become a faith life partner, and
then we'll head to the phones. Anthony is holding patiently
in Wisconsin. Faith partners are those that support the listener
supported work of Faith fi. They come alongside us each
month with a gift of $35 or more, which is
huge because as a listener supported ministry, the only way
(31:49):
we can bring you this broadcast is through your listener support.
And so these are the men and women that say,
I love the program, I've benefited from it. I want
more people to get this message. I'm not getting this
anywhere else. And they say, I'll be in the boat
with you to the tune of $35 a month or
more now, as a way of saying thank you. And
because we know that if you're a faithful partner, you
(32:11):
want to be a good steward of God's resources. We
produce some world class resources that we send out to
our partners. But you would get four copies of our beautiful,
really thoughtful, magazine faithful steward. It's gorgeous and really incredible content.
You get four issues a year mailed to your door. Plus,
every time we come out with a study or devotional,
(32:31):
which is typically twice a year, you'll get that mailed
to you as well. So if you want to become
a partner, just head to our website. Dot com click
give at the top of the page and you'll find
all of the details. All right let's round out the
broadcast today as many calls as we can. Uh, Anthony,
thanks for waiting patiently there in Wisconsin, sir. Go ahead.
S6 (32:50):
Yes, sir. Uh, well, first off, I want to thank
you for your program. I try to listen to it daily. Uh,
just the the financial, the financial, uh, advice from a
Christian perspective is invaluable. But, uh, my question is, my
wife and I are going to be purchasing a home,
hopefully this year. We have a purchase agreement already lined up. Uh,
(33:13):
the homeowners right now, actually, they're looking for a new house,
and they have a home equity line of credit that
they're going to use to purchase their home from the
from the sale of the home that they're living in.
And my question is the credit union that we're going through,
they're offering us the, you know, the standard 30 year
mortgage with one monthly payment. Yeah. But, uh, my wife
(33:34):
and I, we, we try to do extra payments at
least once a month, maybe once every two months. And
the loan officer said that they offer a biweekly payment plan.
And I just wanted to get some of your insight
on that. What would be better? Which one would be best?
You know the pros and cons of both.
S1 (33:51):
Yeah. Well, it's a great question, Anthony. And I love
you sending extra to the principal because that's really going
to pay off. I mean, if you just send the
equivalent of one extra payment a year, it'll take a
30 year mortgage and make it like 26 years, depending
on the interest rate. Uh, but it's going to cut
years off, which is awesome. And, you know, that's a
(34:12):
that's a real, uh, savings and interest. Now, here's the thing.
I like the biweekly payment option, and I'll explain for
the rest of our listeners what that is in just
a moment. Um, the only thing I don't like is
if in doing that, by setting it up through the
credit union, if they're going to charge you a fee,
you don't need to do that because you can essentially
(34:32):
do this on your own. Now, if they're willing to
do it and not charge anything, that's great. The other
thing is you don't want to have to do it.
You want it to be an optional thing. Because if forever,
if for any reason you ever needed to just go
back to the the one standard payment a year instead
of the the half payment every, uh, you know, two weeks,
(34:55):
you would want that option. You don't want to have
to be forced into, uh, doing the biweekly payment. Does
that make sense?
S6 (35:02):
Yes, sir.
S1 (35:03):
Okay. But essentially, you can do this on your own. Now,
let me explain how this works for the benefit of
the rest of our listeners. So think about this. When
you make a mortgage payment, you make one payment each month.
So you make 12 per year. And that's just the
way most people pay their mortgage with the biweekly mortgage payment.
Or some people call bi monthly. Essentially, you make a
(35:25):
half payment every two weeks. Okay. Now when you make
a half payment every two weeks, there are 26, uh,
you know, two week periods in a year, which means
you're making 13 monthly payments. You're making an extra payment
every year. And so by getting into that, you know,
(35:48):
biweekly option where you send a half payment every two weeks, essentially,
if you can get into that rhythm you're going to
every six months, you're going to send an extra half payment.
Every year. You're going to send an extra the equivalent
of one full payment. That's great because again, that one
extra payment a year makes a dramatic difference in the
total payback of that mortgage. The key is I don't
(36:09):
want to pay for the option to do that because
it shouldn't cost you anything. And I don't want to
be required to do that. But apart from that, I
really like it. Is that helpful, though?
S6 (36:17):
Yes, sir. It makes sense.
S1 (36:19):
Awesome. Well, Anthony, all the best to you and your
bride on purchasing that home. That's going to be a
real blessing. Just make sure you don't get stuck with
a home that you you can't afford. I realize homeownership
is really challenging right now, and, um, you know, you
don't want to stretch and buy a house that's beyond
your means, but as long as you keep it within
(36:40):
your means, typically that means around 25% of your take
home pay for principal interest, taxes, and insurance with a 20%
down payment, then it'll be a real blessing to you. Hey,
thanks for calling today. Call anytime. We appreciate you being
on the program. By the way. Stay on the line.
I'm going to send you a copy of Faithful Steward.
I think it'll be an encouragement to you. Uh, let's
go to Texas. Hi, Lizette. How can I help?
S7 (37:02):
Hi, Mr. West, uh, I have a question. My husband
and I, we have a whole life insurance policy. We've
been paying it for about ten years and we only
have 19,000. We should have 24,000, but that's what it shows.
And we were thinking if we should cancel it, they
would only get 16,000.
S1 (37:23):
Yes. Okay. What is the death benefit on that? Lisette?
Do you know?
S7 (37:27):
I believe it's 150,000.
S1 (37:30):
Okay. And do you all need that death benefit? I mean,
if something. Well, first of all, who who is it?
Whose life is insured? Is it your husband?
S7 (37:41):
My husband?
S1 (37:42):
Okay. Payable to you?
S7 (37:45):
Yeah. And we have two children, so we're all in there.
S1 (37:49):
Okay. But the. But you're the beneficiary. So if he
passed away, the 150,000 would come to you, right?
S7 (37:55):
Yes.
S1 (37:56):
Okay. And if he passed away, would that create a
hardship for you because you lose income.
S7 (38:03):
Mhm. Yeah. He's the one that provides mostly for our home. Yeah,
I work part time.
S1 (38:10):
Got it. Yeah. So that's the real purpose of this
and that. You know, I would prefer you see this
life insurance as offsetting that risk that exists that if
he were to be called home by the Lord and
he passes away, that would be a, you know, create
a challenge for you because his income is gone. But
the most cost effective way to get that life insurance
(38:32):
is not through a whole life policy where it's combined
with a savings vehicle. It's through what's called term insurance,
which is pure insurance. You're simply paying the cost every
month for the mortality expense. What it actually costs, based
on the actuarial tables to insure his life for a
set period of time, based on his health and the
amount of coverage that you want. But I suspect that
(38:55):
150,000 wouldn't be enough. But the nice thing about term
insurance is, you know, maybe you get a ten year
policy on his life so that between now and when
you all retire, where at that point, hopefully you've got
enough in the way of assets and income sources like
Social Security, where you no longer need his income. Uh,
(39:16):
he wouldn't have it anyway if he's retired. And then
you don't need that insurance anymore, you drop it. But
while he's still working, you've got plenty of insurance so
that if he passes away, you've got enough to be
able to, you know, fund your lifestyle for the rest
of your life. Well, the the most cost effective way
for that insurance is term insurance. So here's what I
(39:37):
would consider doing. And you know, remember we only have
a couple of minutes together on the air here. So
if you want to get an advisor to get in
the middle of this, that would always be the better option.
But just my kind of high level thoughts are let's
determine how much insurance you need. You know, what would
it take for you to replace his income, at least
(39:57):
between now and when you know he was planning to
retire instead of 150, you may decide that's three or
4 or $500,000. And then let's go see what it
would cost to get a ten year term policy for
that amount on his life. Payable to you. And then
I suspect it's going to be perhaps less than the
policy you're already paying. And once it's in force. And
(40:19):
that's the key, we wouldn't want to do anything until
that policy is in force. But at that point, then
you could cancel the whole life. Reclaim the 19,000. Maybe
use that to shore up your emergency fund. And now
you're no longer paying for the whole life policy. You've
got the cash value to do something else with. And
you have more life insurance for the next decade. So
(40:39):
that if something happens to him, you're good. And then
once you all get to retirement, you don't need that
policy anyway. And you drop it. Does that make sense?
S7 (40:48):
It does. Thank you. Thank you so much for your advice.
S1 (40:52):
All right. You're welcome. Lisa. Thanks for calling today. We
appreciate you very much. Well, folks, we've covered a lot
of ground today. You know, as we think about managing
money God's way, The key is that we need to first,
I think, recognize that God owns it all. And that
sounds simple. And yet it's a profound idea because when
we recognize God's ownership, then it allows us to put
(41:15):
everything in its proper context. Our money now becomes a
tool to not only provide for our families, which is biblical,
but perhaps to this bigger idea of being invited into
a story that's much bigger than us and that's that
God's grand generosity adventure. And here's the reality, folks. When
we take a step back and we look at how
(41:35):
we're allocating God's money, what we realize is that we're
telling a story about what's most important to us in
the way we allocate God's money. And yet it's an
opportunity for each of us to say, regardless of the
mistakes we've made in the past or the decisions we've
made in our financial life from this point forward, I
want to be found faithful when it comes to our money.
(41:57):
We have an opportunity to go to God's Word, to
renew our minds, to get into the scriptures and see
what he has for us in those 2350 verses and
those parables, more than half of them that deal with money,
and we can see the heart of God and how
we should be rich toward God and handle money in
such a way that it's evident that God is our
treasure and not our money. You remember in Mark four,
(42:20):
in the parable of the sower, Jesus, when he was
explaining to the disciples what choked out the word from
bearing a 30 6000 fold return? He said it was
the deceitfulness of riches and the cares of this world
and the desires for other things. Let's not let that
be true about us in the way we handle God's money.
Let's hold it loosely. Let's give it generously, and let's
(42:43):
use it to honor the King of Kings. And let's
do that together on this program each day. Thanks for
being with us today. Hey, faith and Finance Live is
a ministry of Faith, fi and Moody Radio. Thanks to
my team today and we'll see you tomorrow. Come back
and join us then.
S8 (42:57):
Bye bye.
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