July 24, 2025 • 42 mins
Being born again in Christ changes a person. We’re given a new nature that fights against our old, corrupt nature. Sometimes, evidence of this can be seen in the area of our finances. On the next Faith & Finance Live, host Rob West will share about a fellow believer’s journey to faithful stewardship. Then, Rob responds to your calls and 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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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
S1 (00:08):
We know that our old self was crucified with him
in order that the body of sin might be brought
to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved
to sin. Romans six six. I am Rob West. Being
born again in Christ changes a person. We're given a
new nature that fights against our old, corrupt nature. Sometimes
the evidence of this is in the area of finances,
(00:31):
straight ahead, a journey to faithful stewardship. And then it's
on to your calls at 800 525 7000. That's 800
525 7000. This is faith and finance. Live biblical wisdom
for your financial journey. You know, it's a great privilege
to be able to interact with you folks, answering your
(00:53):
financial questions and helping whenever possible. This was especially true
a while back, when Bobby and Nebraska called into the program,
Bobby was in a lot of debt. He had a
car repossessed and was delinquent on medical and credit card debt.
He'd failed to pay back overdraft loans with a credit union,
and they'd been sent to collections. But now Bobby has
(01:14):
committed to turning his life and his finances around, and
he wanted advice on how to do that. I asked
him if there's been any kind of change in his
life since accumulating that debt. Quite a bit of change,
as it turns out. Bobby tells it better than I could.
So let's hear him in his own right now.
S2 (01:34):
I'm clean and sober. I don't do none of that
kind of stuff. I actually have money in my bank account.
Praise God, September 10th, 2021 was the biggest start of it.
And that's when I gave my life to Jesus Christ.
And now I'm just trying to get everything back in
line or get everything to where it needs to be.
S1 (01:52):
Man. To God be the glory. Bobby. That's incredible. I'm
so thrilled to hear that you've invited Christ into your
life as your Savior, and that you're sober and God
has rescued you from that, and you're wanting to, uh,
get back on track as a steward of God's resources.
That's amazing. So I'm just delighted to hear that. Here's
what I'd love. Okay. So we really wanted to help.
(02:14):
We advised Bobby to pull copies of his credit reports
from Experian, Equifax and TransUnion because at that point, he
wasn't even sure of who all he owed money. We
also recommended that he contact Christian Credit counselors for help
with some of his debt, mostly credit cards. Getting on
a debt management plan with one monthly payment would help
(02:35):
him pay off those debts faster. We offered to connect
Bobby with one of our certified Christian financial counselors. That's
cert CFC for short, at no charge to work with
him one on one to develop a budget and a
plan for paying off those debts. Finally, we took a
moment to pray for Bobby, thanking our Heavenly Father for
miraculously intervening and extending to him the gift of eternal life.
(03:00):
There's no question that accepting Christ as his Savior has
dramatically changed Bobby's life. He gave up drugs, got out
of prison, began saving money, and felt a burden to
repay old debts. Now, several biblical principles are at work here. First,
the body has a temple leading Bobby to give up drugs.
First Corinthians 619 reads, do you not know that your
(03:22):
body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you,
whom you have from God? You are not your own. Next. Humility.
Bobby humbled himself and asked for help on a network
radio program. This isn't easy to do, but Proverbs 22
four tells us the reward for humility and fear of
the Lord is riches and honor and life. Another biblical
(03:43):
principle now guiding Bobby is honesty. God hates dishonesty so
much that he codified his disapproval in the Ninth Commandment,
found in Exodus 2016. It warns, you shall not bear
false witness against your neighbor. And the Apostle Paul teaches
in Colossians three nine that dishonesty should have no place
(04:03):
in those who are born again. It says, do not
lie to one another, seeing that you have put off
the old self with its practices. Bobby felt a burden
to own up to his debt. He didn't deny it.
The Bible tells us that if we owe someone money,
we should pay it back. Psalm 3721 reads, the wicked
borrows and does not pay back, but the righteous is
(04:25):
generous and gives. And Romans 13 eight tells us, let
no debt remain outstanding except the continuing debt to love
one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law.
Now all of those are important, but perhaps the biblical
financial principle that most guides Bobby's life now is stewardship.
(04:46):
He wants to get his finances in order. First Corinthians
four two reads. It is required of stewards that they
be found faithful. And we were so grateful to be
able to help Bobby. If you need help getting your
finances in order, getting on a budget, developing a plan
to pay down debt and to save well, give that
(05:06):
five 7000 back with your questions after this. Stick around.
S3 (05:20):
The opinions offered during this program represent the personal or
professional opinions of the participants, given for informational purposes only.
Any information provided is not intended to replace advice from
a financial, medical, legal, or other professional who understands your
specific situation.
S1 (05:44):
Thanks for joining us today on Faith and Finance Live.
I'm Rob West, looking forward to taking your calls and
questions today. The calls have started coming in, but we've
still got room for you at the moment. So if
you have a financial question, something going on in your
life you'd like some wise counsel, perhaps we can help
you with that. We'll make sure we look to God's
Word for principles that we can apply to the very
(06:07):
specific things you're wrestling with in your financial life today,
whether it's getting out of debt, saving for the future,
giving generously no matter what it is, call right now
800 525 7000. Again, that number is 800 525 7000.
We will head to those phone calls here in just
a moment. So this is a great time to call
(06:28):
in the news today. According to a new AARP survey, 74%
of Americans say they're informed about Social Security. But many
misunderstand key facts. Nearly 96% agree it's an important program,
yet only 36% are confident it will be there for
them in the future. That's down from 43% in 2020,
(06:51):
and 78% worry it won't provide enough to live on
in retirement. One of the biggest misconceptions well, it's that
Social Security will run out in 2034. Now, while the
program's trust fund reserves are projected to be depleted by then,
Social Security will not disappear. And here's why. Even without
(07:12):
the trust fund, ongoing payroll taxes are estimated to cover
about 81% of scheduled benefits. Again, that's if it's allowed
to go to zero. Still, 47% of Americans wrongly believe
their benefits would be cut by half or more. Once
the trust fund runs out, in reality, a 19% reduction
(07:35):
is expected unless Congress acts. Now let's talk about that
for a moment. In terms of Congress acting. You know,
this is a very divisive issue and no one is
going to want to run politically. Knowing that under their watch,
Social Security will be cut in any way. So. We
fully expect Congress will intervene. What levers do they have
(07:58):
to pull? Well, we'll likely see either the full retirement
age be pushed out further. We may see an increase
in FICA taxes. It might be a combination of the two. Nevertheless,
even if it did run dry again, only about 19%
of benefits would be cut. Another area of confusion is
when to claim benefits. You, of course, can start at
(08:19):
age 62, but at a permanent discount. Waiting until your
full retirement age about 66 or 67 somewhere in between there.
That gives you 100% of your benefits, and delaying to
70 could actually boost your payments by 8% per year.
Yet 41% didn't know the earliest claiming age and 66%
(08:43):
didn't know how to maximize their benefits. By the way,
if you are to wait to age 70 and get
that roughly 25% boost on your full retirement age check,
it'll take you about 12 years on average to get
paid back for what you gave up between full retirement
age and age 70, because remember, you weren't collecting during
(09:03):
those years. But when you get beyond 12 years now,
you've made up 100% of what you gave up and
you're enjoying that 25% higher check for the rest of
your life. If you have longevity on your side, you're
relatively healthy and you don't need the money right away.
It's not a bad idea. With more than 70 million
Americans depending on Social Security, and that number is expected
(09:26):
to grow to 82 million by 2035. Well, it's vital
to understand how the program works and what the future
truly holds. Let me just finish by saying, for believers,
this is an opportunity to trust God's provision rather than
panic about the future. Social security is a tool, but
our ultimate treasure and security rests in the Lord. So
(09:49):
as we plan wisely, we do so with faith and
not fear. But hopefully that's dispelled some, perhaps rumors you
were considering in your own life. All right, let's dive
into your questions today. The lines are filling up, but
we still have room at the moment. 800 525 7000. Uh,
we're going to go to, uh, Groveland, Florida. Andrew, how
can I help?
S4 (10:09):
Yes, I wanted to, uh, thanks for accepting my call. And, uh,
I wanted to ask your opinion on. Should I try
to reverse mortgage? My situation is I didn't plan good.
A couple bad breaks for retirement, so I still work
full time. I'm 71. I got a long time on
(10:30):
my mortgage, and I don't know how much longer I'll
be able to work. So if I could get rid
of the mortgage payment, I may be able to get
by if I have to quit work.
S1 (10:42):
Yes, sir. Well, I certainly understand that. Let me ask you,
what kind of equity do you have in the home
right now? What is it worth, and what do you
owe on it?
S4 (10:52):
Uh, I'm not sure. When I bought it. I bought
it at 220, and I bought it right during the
Covid when everything was cheap. Now I think it's around 330.
The value.
S1 (11:07):
Okay. And what is the balance on that mortgage that
you're paying on?
S4 (11:11):
Well, I only been paying. It's a 30 year mortgage.
I only been paying on it about six years.
S1 (11:17):
Okay. But how much did you borrow originally?
S4 (11:23):
Uh, 220.
S1 (11:25):
Okay, so you had 100% financing when you bought it?
S4 (11:29):
Yes.
S1 (11:30):
Okay. Yeah. That's going to be the challenge. The problem
is you've got to have around 50% Percent equity in
the House to be able to get a home equity
conversion mortgage, which means, you know, if if in fact,
your home is worth 330 and they need to confirm that,
you know, then a 50% equity would mean you would
(11:51):
need to have a mortgage that's no more than about 165,000.
At that point, yes, they could come in and, you know,
pay off that mortgage with a reverse mortgage, what's called
a home equity conversion mortgage. And you're absolutely correct at
that point with a reverse, you would no longer have
a payment. That outstanding balance would grow over time with
(12:13):
fees and interest. But so does your home value. And
then when you pass away or move, uh, you know,
the home would be sold to satisfy the loan. The problem, though,
that I'm hearing, Andrew, is although it could be a
very effective tool for you, it doesn't sound like you
have that 50% equity that is required in order to
be able to, to do this. And so, you know,
(12:35):
perhaps you don't have a goal of paying it off,
but maybe your goal is to get it down to 50%
of the value. And at which point you can do that.
Now all of a sudden, you know, you could bring
in a reverse mortgage, pay it, you know, off with
the reverse mortgage and get rid of that mortgage payment.
But it sounds like that's going to be still a
(12:56):
good ways off, unfortunately.
S4 (12:59):
Yeah, I kind of thought so. Okay. Uh, do do
you have a number to a good, uh, company you
would recommend?
S1 (13:09):
I do, yeah. Are you comfortable using the internet?
S4 (13:14):
Yeah. I could get my grandkids to help me. Yeah.
S1 (13:17):
All right. If you just write this down, go to Movement.com.
I'll say that again. It's. Uh, our friends at Movement Mortgage,
they really have a whole department that specializes in reverse mortgages.
They're all believers. And so I would have confidence that
(13:38):
they would counsel you the right way in terms of
whether or not this is a good offering for you.
I think what you're going to find is it may
be a great option for you just given the situation,
but it's just not going to be available for a
number of years until you can get to that 50% equity.
But go ahead and check with them, and they can
walk you through all the details based on your specific situation. Andrew,
(14:01):
thanks for your call today. All the best to you, sir.
Call anytime. Well, we're going to take a break when
we come back. More of your questions today. The number
800 525 7000. Call right now. We'll be right back. Hey,
great to have you with us today on Faith and
Finance Live. Here's our goal each day on this program
(14:23):
to help you live as a wise and faithful steward.
Help you to see God as your ultimate treasure. Help
you to understand the counsel of Council of Scripture and
really a biblical worldview of money and money management, which
starts with the idea that God owns it all and
God is our provider and we are stewards, not owners.
And therefore we've been given a high calling of managing
(14:44):
the resources that God has entrusted to us. And we
want to do that for God's glory. Knowing that money
is a good gift created by a God that wants
us to enjoy it and delight in it, so long
as it doesn't become the thing that occupies our devotion.
We don't ever want to let it compete with our
devotion to God. But if it's put in its proper
place as a tool to accomplish God's purposes, well, it
(15:08):
can do wonderful things as we give it away and
invest it and enjoy it and use it to provide well.
We want to help you do that each day as
we help you navigate the very specific questions you have.
So if there's something you're wrestling with today, go ahead
and give us a call 800 525 7000. You can
call right now. Let's go to Miami, Florida Angela, you'll
(15:28):
be next up. How can I help?
S5 (15:30):
Oh, thank you so much. I have a dilemma here.
I'm not sure how to go about it or how
to make the right decision. I recently retired. I'm not
taking Social Security as yet because I have enough to
live on. Because I hear to wait until I'm seven
to maximize it. But my plan at work, my 401
K and fidelity that I had at work. Um, someone recently, uh,
(15:56):
advised me or told me about this other company called, um,
Big Money Retirement Solution. And I talked to someone there,
and they're guaranteeing me an annuity that can pay me 9%
annually right now. Fidelity that I have is paying me 7%.
(16:17):
I've never really heard of this company, so I'm trying
to see is this a wise move to get, like,
half of my portfolio from fidelity and send it to
big money? Would that be a wise move? Because I've
never heard of them before.
S1 (16:30):
Well, I haven't either in the name is is tripping
me up here a little bit. But what's more concerning
to me is that what you said after the name,
and that is that they're going to offer an annuity
with a guaranteed 9% return. Uh, you know, that is, uh,
should raise some serious caution because it really, Angela just
(16:50):
doesn't align with typical returns from reputable, reputable fixed annuity providers. Um,
even if the annuity company they're talking about, uh, is reputable,
and that wouldn't be hard to look up to see
what is their, uh, you know, am best rating and
so forth. But guaranteed annuities, you know, are typically in
(17:11):
this environment offering somewhere between 4 and 6% for guaranteed rates, uh,
you know, depending on the length. Um, so, you know,
for a ten year guaranteed annuity, you might have something
like 5.6%, 6%, maybe close to 6%. Um, but, you know,
nothing that would get up, you know, near 9%. There's
(17:32):
just 9% guarantees are unrealistic in today's interest rate environment.
So that would be a significant red flag for me
on top of, uh, of the name big Money retirement solutions,
which just doesn't sound like I mean, again, I don't know.
So I'd be hesitant to say it's it's not reputable, but, um,
(17:54):
you know, there's just too many caution flags going up
for me on this one.
S5 (17:59):
All right. Thank you so much.
S1 (18:01):
All right, Angela, we appreciate your call today. Lord bless you.
800 525 7000 is the number to call taking your
calls and questions today on anything financial. You know, when
it comes to investing, I love the rule of thumb.
If we don't understand it or can't explain it to
our mom, we don't invest in it. You know, these
days it can be challenging and there's so many complicated
(18:23):
products that are being sold. And, you know, many cases,
they sound too good to be true, which should be
a red flag in and of themselves. Um, and, you know,
we're we're seeing an increase in the complexity as well,
just with some of the new wave of investments, notably
in the crypto space. You know, a lot of folks
are getting, uh, caught up in some of the frenzy
(18:46):
around cryptocurrency. And that's why we've said here, you know,
first of all, three years ago, we said, let's just
stay away from it all together. It's the wild, wild West.
There's far too much volatility. You know, there's an uncertain
regulatory environment. It's difficult to understand. I would say now
we've gotten to the place where blockchain and crypto is
not going anywhere. We've got the first pro crypto president
(19:10):
in the Oval Office. We've worked through a lot of
the regulatory environment. We've now got institutional investors and exchange
traded funds. But even then, I'd say it's probably limited
to To Bitcoin and not the others, which makes up
about 60% of the crypto space Bitcoin alone. The rest,
the 40% is between all the rest. So I'd stay
(19:30):
in Bitcoin and even then I would probably only take
a portion of what you might consider as your gold allocation.
So maybe it's a 10% gold allocation and take a
portion of that if you're going to do it. But
you need to understand it's going to be very volatile.
And that's why you would, you know, maybe have 5%
at the most in your portfolio. And be sure that
(19:52):
you are sophisticated enough as an investor with a long
time horizon, that you can put that even that small
of a portion of your portfolio in something that is
considered more speculative. Um, but I would again default back
to that rule. If we don't understand it, it sounds
good to be true. Too good to be true. I
would say pass on it or get with somebody who
(20:14):
can look at the fine print, uh, who's a trusted
counselor or advisor who could evaluate it for you. Hope
that helps. All right. We're going to continue to take
your calls and questions today. Again that number to call
is 800 525 7000. That's 800 525 7000. Pennsylvania is
where we're going next, Marianne. Go right ahead.
S6 (20:34):
Yes. Thank you for taking my call. I, my husband
and I are both in retirement age. We have no debt,
we have good savings, and we are still paying on
our life insurance. Do you think that that's a good idea?
Because I don't think what we'd get back for benefits for, like,
funeral expenses, is really worth how much we could potentially
(20:57):
be paying into it for the next possibly 20 years.
S1 (21:01):
Yeah, yeah. Is it a whole life policy that has
a cash value component? Yes it does. All right. Go ahead.
S6 (21:10):
Yes it does.
S1 (21:11):
Okay. And what is the cash value today that's built
up in the policy?
S6 (21:17):
Uh, 10,000 each.
S1 (21:19):
Okay. And what do you know?
S6 (21:22):
It's, uh, 5000 each.
S1 (21:25):
Okay. Got it. Let's do this. Um, I want to
ask you a few more questions off the air. And
then when we come back from the break, uh, I'll
give you my thoughts. It's a great question. Stay right there, Marianne.
We'll pick it up on the other side. We'll be
right back. Hey, thanks for taking some time to be
(21:47):
with us today on Faith and finance. Live. Each day,
each afternoon, we come together on this program to encourage
you in your role as a faithful steward of God's money.
This is all about helping you navigate your financial journey
in light of biblical wisdom. So if you have a
financial question today on any topic savings, investing, getting out
of debt, your credit score, giving generously no matter what
(22:10):
it is, we'd love to tackle it with you. Go
ahead and call right now. We've got some lines open.
We've still got half the program remaining. So we've got
room for you. 800 525 7000. Before the break, we
were talking to Mary Ann in Pennsylvania. She's wondering if
she and her husband should continue to pay on some
whole life policies that they've had for quite a while. Uh,
(22:31):
they're each, uh, $10,000 worth of death benefit. So between
the two of them, 20,000 total in death benefit, they've
built up some cash value. So each policy has about
5000 in cash value. And my understanding is they're spending
about $2,000, almost $2,000 a year in premiums between the
(22:53):
two policies. So to spend $2,000 every year to preserve
a $20,000 total death benefit probably doesn't make sense. I mean,
after a few more years, Mary Ann, as you continue
to age, your premiums could exceed the payout. And, you know,
if you don't need the money, meaning you have other
ways to cover burial expenses. I'd far prefer you take
(23:17):
that 2000 a year and put it toward more productive purposes,
give it away, or put it into savings and kind
of build up your own nest egg. Not to mention
the fact that you could, you know, reclaim this roughly
$10,000 in cash value between the two policies. So I
guess I'm just wondering, do you need the life insurance
in this season of life? And if not, you know,
(23:39):
I think this policy, just what you're putting into it
every year just doesn't, uh, you know, equate to what
you would ultimately get out of it in the form
of a death benefit. Does that make sense?
S6 (23:51):
Yes. Very good. Thank you.
S7 (23:54):
All right. You're very.
S1 (23:55):
Welcome. Listen, call any time. Thanks for being on the
program today. Uh, let's go to Chicago. Hi, Aaron. How
can I help you?
S8 (24:01):
Hi, there. Um, so pretty much my story is kind of.
I was following the David Ramsey thing. Um, I paid
off all of my credit cards. Uh, I paid off
my car as of April. So I feel like I'm
doing really well. My question is about the emergency fund
versus like a savings. So recently I've just had a
(24:22):
few things happen. I've had dental issues and it completely
depleted my emergency fund and I had to go into
my savings. Um, I'm not doing terrible, but I was
just wondering how big of an emergency fund versus a
savings do I need? Like, is there like a ratio,
(24:43):
like 1 to 4 or, you know, like, yeah, something
to kind of go off of.
S1 (24:48):
Yeah. No, this is great. Well, first of all, I'm
delighted to hear that you made getting out of debt
a priority, starting with that high interest credit card debt
and then the car. That's great. Obviously you're living within
your means. You're you're setting goals. You're exercising some discipline here.
So that's really encouraging. Aaron, you should be thrilled at
the progress you've made. Um, both emergency savings and what
(25:11):
I'll call regular savings are important, but they serve different purposes. So.
So think of them like two different tools in your
financial toolbox. So tool number one the emergency savings. Think
about that. As for the unexpected. So this is your
safety net money that's set aside for unexpected expenses. Something
(25:32):
you couldn't see on the horizon a job loss, medical bills,
major car or home repairs. The reason I say, major
is you should be saving in the regular savings category,
and I'll get to that in a moment for routine
car maintenance and home repairs, because we know we're going
to have some of those. But if there's something that
(25:54):
comes out of left field, that's major. That's where the
emergency bucket would come in. Because again, that's for the unexpected.
That should be liquid and safe. I recommend 3 to
6 months of living expenses in that bucket. Okay. The
second tool in the toolbox is regular savings. And whereas
the emergency savings is for the unexpected, the regular savings
(26:18):
is for the planned. So this is for things you
know are coming like your vacation holiday, spending a new car,
home upgrades or appliances. Regular car and home maintenance. You know,
not the unexpected major expense, but something that's more routine.
I would have that in a separate savings account, and
(26:39):
I'd be using an online bank with FDIC insurance so
you can earn some interest on it. Now, if you
don't have either of them, I would absolutely start with
the emergency savings. And, you know, get at least up
to 1 to 3 months expenses. And then you might
want to split your surplus between, you know, your emergency
(27:00):
savings and some of that planned spending that you've got
where you'd save in particular buckets for known expenses that
are coming not today, but down the road. Does that
make sense, though?
S8 (27:13):
Absolutely. Because that's sort of what I'm doing right now.
I'm just falling into that kind of by accident. Um,
so I have my two checking accounts at the moment.
I have one that's, uh, taking a certain amount out
of my paycheck, and then the rest goes into the
other one. So the emergency fund makes sense. Um, absolutely.
(27:36):
Because I definitely have one that's separate. Um, I do
my car insurance in six month plans. Uh, so I
make sure to take out, like, 100 a month, um,
to make sure that's covered. So I'm used to that.
It's just, I guess my savings that I'm having an
issue with, um, because my plan is more to buy
(27:58):
a property, um, just land, not a house or anything
like that. And, um, I know that you need about like, 10%
down or something like that. And so, so you're recommending
like basically make sure that I have should I have
2 or 3 accounts. Should I have three.
S7 (28:17):
Yeah. I mean it really depends on you.
S1 (28:19):
You could you could have one account and kind of
do it on paper. And that's why we built the
Faith VI app, because what's in your checking and savings
could then be in the app without moving the money
kind of allocated to these different, uh, you know, envelopes,
if you will, digitally speaking, for specific purposes, one might
be emergency savings and then you might have multiple planned
(28:41):
regular savings categories. Like I said, you might have one
for that, uh, that piece of land you want to buy,
you might have another one where, you know, you're going
to need a new car in the next three years.
So you're saving for that. We know, you know, you're
taking a vacation next summer, and so we're saving for that.
And so you've got to decide based on how much
(29:01):
surplus or margin you have on a monthly basis, how
much is available for any long term savings goals? And
then you would need to decide how much of that
surplus am I going to put into my emergency savings
versus one of these other planned savings buckets, whether that's
by opening multiple accounts and actually, you know, putting the
(29:22):
money in each account or doing that, you know, tracking
that digitally, but operating out of one account, if that
makes sense.
S8 (29:31):
Gotcha. Yeah. So it's more of making sure that I
really don't touch the other accounts because, yeah, that's the problem.
Is that because the bank is connected I can move
the money so easily?
S7 (29:44):
Yeah.
S8 (29:45):
From my savings to my checking that, um, I do
kind of abuse that. That's why I try to set
up the second account so that if I wanted it,
it would take much, much longer.
S1 (29:57):
Yeah. Well, I think that's right. And that and that's
where it can be helpful. You know, many of these
online banks allow you to set up as many accounts
as you want, essentially, and they don't charge you any fees.
They're fee free. But just the fact that to move
the money, you know, from the savings account back to
your checking requires, you know, 2 to 3 days through
(30:17):
the ACH system, that's not a bad thing because it's
not so readily available. But at the end of the day,
this is all about discipline, and it's all about delayed gratification.
Knowing that, you know what, I want to be able
to take that vacation and pay cash. So I'm going
to put the time in to save in my savings account.
I hope that helps. We'll be right back. Hey, thanks
(30:42):
for joining us today on Faith and Finance Live here
on Moody Radio. I'm Rob West. Hey, faith and finance
is listener supported, which just simply means we can't do
what we do every day to bring you this program
without your generous support. And as we are in these
summer months, giving slows down ever so slightly. And so
if you've loved the program, if you listen regularly and
(31:02):
you'd consider a gift, we'd certainly be grateful. One great
way to support the ministry and ensure we can reach
more people is by becoming a Faith VI partner. Partner.
Support us at $35 a month or more, or $400
or more per year. And as a way to say
thank you, we send you wonderful resources to encourage you
in your stewardship journey, including for issues of our magazine,
(31:25):
Faithful Steward. By the way, the most recent issue just
went to the press this week and it is chock
full of some incredible content. It'll be out in September,
and if you become a partner right now, you'll be
ready to receive our fall package to our Faith VI partners.
You'll also receive all of our studies and devotionals. I'm
(31:46):
working on our next devotional right now. It'll be out
in the fall. I'm so excited about it. And you'll
get access to the Faith VI app. All of that
and more when you become a Faith five partner, just
go to faith. Com. That's faith. All right. Let's go
back to the phones. We'll get to as many calls
(32:06):
as we can here in this final segment. Uh, next to, uh, Akron. Charles.
Go ahead.
S9 (32:13):
Hello? Yes. Um, I was listening to your program a
while back, and I heard something about, um, that's the case, uh, that, uh,
spousal benefits, um, for Social security. Um, my wife is
going to be turning 65 this year, and I'm already
collecting Social security, but, um, she never got enough credits
(32:37):
to actually, um, benefit from that. You know, she can't
do it on her own.
S1 (32:44):
Sure.
S9 (32:44):
Um, so is there some some way she can collect
on mine now, or does she have to wait till
I'm dead?
S1 (32:55):
Uh, no. No. Um, right now, she would have the
ability if she doesn't have enough work credits to qualify
for her, uh, Social Security on her own. She would
be eligible for what's considered spousal benefits, which the most
she can earn as spousal benefits is up to 50%
of your full retirement age benefit, even if she's never worked. Um,
(33:20):
she can get that as early as age 62. And
you must already be collecting your Social Security, which you
are now. If she takes it before her full retirement age,
which is probably somewhere between 66 and 67, she wouldn't
get the max, which is up to 50% of yours.
She would be reduced. So, for example, if she files
(33:43):
before her full retirement age at, let's say, 65, her
benefit would be reduced permanently by somewhere between 4 and 7%.
So instead of getting 50% of yours, she would get
somewhere between 43 to 46% of yours if she waited
until full retirement age, then she could get up to 50%
(34:06):
of yours again as a spousal benefit, even though she
doesn't have the work history in her own, you know,
40 quarters of work to qualify. Now, when you pass away,
then she'd be able to switch to, uh, survivor's benefits,
which would mean she could get your benefit. And she
dropped the the spousal benefit at that point.
S9 (34:28):
Right. So, so basically she we she at 65, which
she's turning in October. If she signs up for that,
she can take that benefit and it won't affect anything
when when I die that she would get my full amount. out.
S1 (34:50):
That's correct. Yes.
S9 (34:55):
Huh? So.
S1 (34:56):
Yep.
S9 (34:58):
So I guess the thing to do is sign up
for it, right? It's. It's money available. So.
S1 (35:07):
That's exactly right. The only question would just be, do
you want to wait until she's full retirement age to
get the max amount? Uh, which would be, you know,
66 or 6, but somewhere between 66 and 67. Um,
and then, you know. Or does she want to go
ahead and start taking it now and get a little
bit less? And then, yes, that surviving spouse, her in
(35:27):
this case can receive up to 100% of your benefit, um,
once you pass away. And so, you know, if you've, uh, they'll,
she will get up to the full amount you were receiving. Um,
and then she would drop her spousal benefit at that time.
S9 (35:45):
Right, right. Okay. Well, that sounds really good. And I said,
since we don't need the money, it's better to wait
until she gets to like, 67 or something like that,
you said.
S1 (35:57):
Yeah, that's exactly right. I mean, if you want to
maximize what she can get and you don't need the
money right now, then yes, she could wait until full
retirement age, which she could look up her full retirement age,
but it's going to be somewhere between 66 and 67.
S9 (36:11):
Great. Well thank you. Thank you very much.
S1 (36:14):
All right. Anytime, Charles. Thanks for your call, sir. To Tennessee. Hi, Sharon.
Go ahead.
S10 (36:19):
Hello, Rob. Um, thank you so much. I want to
start with saying answers to prayer. So your program, um,
and also, we found a Christian contractor to deal with
the tear down and rebuilding and a proven company to
deal with our foundation that has, um, apparently always been
bad because our builder, um, was, um, he literally is
(36:44):
was wanted by the law and he had to move.
S11 (36:46):
Out of state.
S10 (36:47):
Etc.. So anyway.
S1 (36:52):
Oh, Sharon, it looks like we lost you there for
a second. Are you still with us? All right. Looks
like we have lost Sharon. So we are going to
go to Alaska and welcome Barb. Barb, go right ahead. And, Sharon,
we'll try to get you back on the line. Barb,
how can I help?
S12 (37:09):
Um, my grandson is. Parents are serving as missionaries in Asia,
and it's a good possibility he will go to school
in Asia. His extended ed. And I'm wondering if I
start a 529 for him. Can he use those benefits
(37:30):
outside of the US?
S1 (37:33):
Possibly, yes. 29 plan can be used for college outside
the US, but it's only at eligible foreign institutions. So
it's really going to come down to whether the school
is approved by the US Department of Education to receive
federal student aid. I think there's something like 400 international
schools that qualify. Um, so you'd want to go to
(37:54):
student studentaid.gov and just search foreign schools eligible for Fafsa. And,
you know, that would give you a list. Uh, of
those schools, it is limited. So you are taking a risk, um,
that the school would not, you know, be able eligible
to receive those funds. And then at that point, he
(38:15):
would not be able to access that money, at least
in the way that you had intended, uh, without you
just taking a withdrawal and paying the penalty and the taxes.
But it is possible.
S12 (38:27):
Oh, okay. So if he does choose to go to
school in Asia and it's not a qualified school, there
is a way to access that money. It doesn't just
go to the government. That was my concern.
S1 (38:43):
Yes. Uh, for. So it'd be a non-qualified, uh, withdrawal. Uh,
and and you you certainly can do that. Uh, but
you are going to have, uh, you know, penalties associated
with that. Uh, so basically, you know, when you pull
the money out, there's going to be a 10% penalty
on the earnings portion, and then you're going to pay
(39:06):
ordinary income tax, uh, as well, um, on the growth, uh,
so you just need to know that that's coming, um,
which is going to, you know, take a hit on,
you know, some of what you have built up, uh,
between the taxes and the penalty on the earnings.
S12 (39:22):
Okay. Thank you very much. I just I just didn't
know if it was lost money if, you.
S1 (39:28):
Know, not lost money. Yeah. You're just going to have
to give up a little bit of that growth, uh,
to taxes. But you, you'll certainly be able to get
it back as a, as a non-qualified withdrawal. Thanks for
your call today. All the best to you. Sharon, I
understand we have you back there in Tennessee. I'm. I'm
short on time. I've got about 90s. I know the
foundation of your home needs to be repaired, but go
(39:49):
ahead and pick up from there.
S10 (39:51):
Okay, so it's going to be about half of our
home value per Zillow estimate to get all of that done.
And I want to know how do I get the
money to complete the project? I don't want to dip
into our 401. I can't go and use our emergency fund. Um,
what do you recommend?
S1 (40:09):
Yeah, well, I would love for you to avoid your
401 K as well. I mean, that's smart due to
the the taxes and the lost future growth. So really
the other options would be I mean, just primarily the
the only option I would probably look at is a
home equity line of credit. Um, and so, you know,
(40:30):
these tend to be the best tools for major home repairs. Uh,
I like the fact that you're borrowing from the equity
in your home. Not for, you know, personal spending or
to consolidate debt. You're using it to shore up or
improve the value of the home, which is protecting the
asset that you'll ultimately sell down the road. Um, you know,
(40:52):
the rates are going to be lower than personal loans
because they've got the home as collateral. Uh, you'll be
able to potentially deduct the interest. And with the home
equity line of credit, that interest rate is variable, which
is good because we think the longer term, you know,
trajectory for interest rates is down. So as rates come
(41:12):
down that variable rate would come down with it. Um,
the challenge is you've got to make sure that you
can cover the debt service. And most of these home
equity lines of credit only require you to pay the interest,
which means you're not paying any principal. So I would
try to only do it if you have the ability
to pay not only interest, but toward the principal as well,
(41:35):
with a goal, maybe to get it paid off within
ten years, but a home equity line of credit is
probably the best way to go for you.
S10 (41:43):
Okay, super. Thank you.
S11 (41:45):
Thank you. Appreciate it.
S1 (41:47):
You're welcome.
S11 (41:48):
Sharon.
S1 (41:49):
Thank you so much I appreciate you. Thanks for being
with us today. Well, again, folks, we're so delighted you
were here with us today. I hope you found something
today helpful or encouraging. And we're just grateful that each
day you invite us into your homes and cars and
work to encourage you in your journey as a faithful steward.
It's certainly a privilege to be able to do this
every day, and I couldn't do it without an amazing
(42:10):
team behind me. There are so many folks here at Faith,
Fi and Kingdom Advisors that make this possible, but serving
us specifically on this program today was Omar, my engineer, Tara. Tara,
who was producing today, Rihanna and Jim, plus everybody else
here at Faith by Faith and finance is a partnership
between Moody Radio and Faith five. We'll see you tomorrow.
(42:32):
Bye bye.
We know that our old self was crucified with him
in order that the body of sin might be brought
to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved
to sin. Romans six six. I am Rob West. Being
born again in Christ changes a person. We're given a
new nature that fights against our old, corrupt nature. Sometimes
the evidence of this is in the area of finances,
(00:31):
straight ahead, a journey to faithful stewardship. And then it's
on to your calls at 800 525 7000. That's 800
525 7000. This is faith and finance. Live biblical wisdom
for your financial journey. You know, it's a great privilege
to be able to interact with you folks, answering your
(00:53):
financial questions and helping whenever possible. This was especially true
a while back, when Bobby and Nebraska called into the program,
Bobby was in a lot of debt. He had a
car repossessed and was delinquent on medical and credit card debt.
He'd failed to pay back overdraft loans with a credit union,
and they'd been sent to collections. But now Bobby has
(01:14):
committed to turning his life and his finances around, and
he wanted advice on how to do that. I asked
him if there's been any kind of change in his
life since accumulating that debt. Quite a bit of change,
as it turns out. Bobby tells it better than I could.
So let's hear him in his own right now.
S2 (01:34):
I'm clean and sober. I don't do none of that
kind of stuff. I actually have money in my bank account.
Praise God, September 10th, 2021 was the biggest start of it.
And that's when I gave my life to Jesus Christ.
And now I'm just trying to get everything back in
line or get everything to where it needs to be.
S1 (01:52):
Man. To God be the glory. Bobby. That's incredible. I'm
so thrilled to hear that you've invited Christ into your
life as your Savior, and that you're sober and God
has rescued you from that, and you're wanting to, uh,
get back on track as a steward of God's resources.
That's amazing. So I'm just delighted to hear that. Here's
what I'd love. Okay. So we really wanted to help.
(02:14):
We advised Bobby to pull copies of his credit reports
from Experian, Equifax and TransUnion because at that point, he
wasn't even sure of who all he owed money. We
also recommended that he contact Christian Credit counselors for help
with some of his debt, mostly credit cards. Getting on
a debt management plan with one monthly payment would help
(02:35):
him pay off those debts faster. We offered to connect
Bobby with one of our certified Christian financial counselors. That's
cert CFC for short, at no charge to work with
him one on one to develop a budget and a
plan for paying off those debts. Finally, we took a
moment to pray for Bobby, thanking our Heavenly Father for
miraculously intervening and extending to him the gift of eternal life.
(03:00):
There's no question that accepting Christ as his Savior has
dramatically changed Bobby's life. He gave up drugs, got out
of prison, began saving money, and felt a burden to
repay old debts. Now, several biblical principles are at work here. First,
the body has a temple leading Bobby to give up drugs.
First Corinthians 619 reads, do you not know that your
(03:22):
body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you,
whom you have from God? You are not your own. Next. Humility.
Bobby humbled himself and asked for help on a network
radio program. This isn't easy to do, but Proverbs 22
four tells us the reward for humility and fear of
the Lord is riches and honor and life. Another biblical
(03:43):
principle now guiding Bobby is honesty. God hates dishonesty so
much that he codified his disapproval in the Ninth Commandment,
found in Exodus 2016. It warns, you shall not bear
false witness against your neighbor. And the Apostle Paul teaches
in Colossians three nine that dishonesty should have no place
(04:03):
in those who are born again. It says, do not
lie to one another, seeing that you have put off
the old self with its practices. Bobby felt a burden
to own up to his debt. He didn't deny it.
The Bible tells us that if we owe someone money,
we should pay it back. Psalm 3721 reads, the wicked
borrows and does not pay back, but the righteous is
(04:25):
generous and gives. And Romans 13 eight tells us, let
no debt remain outstanding except the continuing debt to love
one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law.
Now all of those are important, but perhaps the biblical
financial principle that most guides Bobby's life now is stewardship.
(04:46):
He wants to get his finances in order. First Corinthians
four two reads. It is required of stewards that they
be found faithful. And we were so grateful to be
able to help Bobby. If you need help getting your
finances in order, getting on a budget, developing a plan
to pay down debt and to save well, give that
(05:06):
five 7000 back with your questions after this. Stick around.
S3 (05:20):
The opinions offered during this program represent the personal or
professional opinions of the participants, given for informational purposes only.
Any information provided is not intended to replace advice from
a financial, medical, legal, or other professional who understands your
specific situation.
S1 (05:44):
Thanks for joining us today on Faith and Finance Live.
I'm Rob West, looking forward to taking your calls and
questions today. The calls have started coming in, but we've
still got room for you at the moment. So if
you have a financial question, something going on in your
life you'd like some wise counsel, perhaps we can help
you with that. We'll make sure we look to God's
Word for principles that we can apply to the very
(06:07):
specific things you're wrestling with in your financial life today,
whether it's getting out of debt, saving for the future,
giving generously no matter what it is, call right now
800 525 7000. Again, that number is 800 525 7000.
We will head to those phone calls here in just
a moment. So this is a great time to call
(06:28):
in the news today. According to a new AARP survey, 74%
of Americans say they're informed about Social Security. But many
misunderstand key facts. Nearly 96% agree it's an important program,
yet only 36% are confident it will be there for
them in the future. That's down from 43% in 2020,
(06:51):
and 78% worry it won't provide enough to live on
in retirement. One of the biggest misconceptions well, it's that
Social Security will run out in 2034. Now, while the
program's trust fund reserves are projected to be depleted by then,
Social Security will not disappear. And here's why. Even without
(07:12):
the trust fund, ongoing payroll taxes are estimated to cover
about 81% of scheduled benefits. Again, that's if it's allowed
to go to zero. Still, 47% of Americans wrongly believe
their benefits would be cut by half or more. Once
the trust fund runs out, in reality, a 19% reduction
(07:35):
is expected unless Congress acts. Now let's talk about that
for a moment. In terms of Congress acting. You know,
this is a very divisive issue and no one is
going to want to run politically. Knowing that under their watch,
Social Security will be cut in any way. So. We
fully expect Congress will intervene. What levers do they have
(07:58):
to pull? Well, we'll likely see either the full retirement
age be pushed out further. We may see an increase
in FICA taxes. It might be a combination of the two. Nevertheless,
even if it did run dry again, only about 19%
of benefits would be cut. Another area of confusion is
when to claim benefits. You, of course, can start at
(08:19):
age 62, but at a permanent discount. Waiting until your
full retirement age about 66 or 67 somewhere in between there.
That gives you 100% of your benefits, and delaying to
70 could actually boost your payments by 8% per year.
Yet 41% didn't know the earliest claiming age and 66%
(08:43):
didn't know how to maximize their benefits. By the way,
if you are to wait to age 70 and get
that roughly 25% boost on your full retirement age check,
it'll take you about 12 years on average to get
paid back for what you gave up between full retirement
age and age 70, because remember, you weren't collecting during
(09:03):
those years. But when you get beyond 12 years now,
you've made up 100% of what you gave up and
you're enjoying that 25% higher check for the rest of
your life. If you have longevity on your side, you're
relatively healthy and you don't need the money right away.
It's not a bad idea. With more than 70 million
Americans depending on Social Security, and that number is expected
(09:26):
to grow to 82 million by 2035. Well, it's vital
to understand how the program works and what the future
truly holds. Let me just finish by saying, for believers,
this is an opportunity to trust God's provision rather than
panic about the future. Social security is a tool, but
our ultimate treasure and security rests in the Lord. So
(09:49):
as we plan wisely, we do so with faith and
not fear. But hopefully that's dispelled some, perhaps rumors you
were considering in your own life. All right, let's dive
into your questions today. The lines are filling up, but
we still have room at the moment. 800 525 7000. Uh,
we're going to go to, uh, Groveland, Florida. Andrew, how
can I help?
S4 (10:09):
Yes, I wanted to, uh, thanks for accepting my call. And, uh,
I wanted to ask your opinion on. Should I try
to reverse mortgage? My situation is I didn't plan good.
A couple bad breaks for retirement, so I still work
full time. I'm 71. I got a long time on
(10:30):
my mortgage, and I don't know how much longer I'll
be able to work. So if I could get rid
of the mortgage payment, I may be able to get
by if I have to quit work.
S1 (10:42):
Yes, sir. Well, I certainly understand that. Let me ask you,
what kind of equity do you have in the home
right now? What is it worth, and what do you
owe on it?
S4 (10:52):
Uh, I'm not sure. When I bought it. I bought
it at 220, and I bought it right during the
Covid when everything was cheap. Now I think it's around 330.
The value.
S1 (11:07):
Okay. And what is the balance on that mortgage that
you're paying on?
S4 (11:11):
Well, I only been paying. It's a 30 year mortgage.
I only been paying on it about six years.
S1 (11:17):
Okay. But how much did you borrow originally?
S4 (11:23):
Uh, 220.
S1 (11:25):
Okay, so you had 100% financing when you bought it?
S4 (11:29):
Yes.
S1 (11:30):
Okay. Yeah. That's going to be the challenge. The problem
is you've got to have around 50% Percent equity in
the House to be able to get a home equity
conversion mortgage, which means, you know, if if in fact,
your home is worth 330 and they need to confirm that,
you know, then a 50% equity would mean you would
(11:51):
need to have a mortgage that's no more than about 165,000.
At that point, yes, they could come in and, you know,
pay off that mortgage with a reverse mortgage, what's called
a home equity conversion mortgage. And you're absolutely correct at
that point with a reverse, you would no longer have
a payment. That outstanding balance would grow over time with
(12:13):
fees and interest. But so does your home value. And
then when you pass away or move, uh, you know,
the home would be sold to satisfy the loan. The problem, though,
that I'm hearing, Andrew, is although it could be a
very effective tool for you, it doesn't sound like you
have that 50% equity that is required in order to
be able to, to do this. And so, you know,
(12:35):
perhaps you don't have a goal of paying it off,
but maybe your goal is to get it down to 50%
of the value. And at which point you can do that.
Now all of a sudden, you know, you could bring
in a reverse mortgage, pay it, you know, off with
the reverse mortgage and get rid of that mortgage payment.
But it sounds like that's going to be still a
(12:56):
good ways off, unfortunately.
S4 (12:59):
Yeah, I kind of thought so. Okay. Uh, do do
you have a number to a good, uh, company you
would recommend?
S1 (13:09):
I do, yeah. Are you comfortable using the internet?
S4 (13:14):
Yeah. I could get my grandkids to help me. Yeah.
S1 (13:17):
All right. If you just write this down, go to Movement.com.
I'll say that again. It's. Uh, our friends at Movement Mortgage,
they really have a whole department that specializes in reverse mortgages.
They're all believers. And so I would have confidence that
(13:38):
they would counsel you the right way in terms of
whether or not this is a good offering for you.
I think what you're going to find is it may
be a great option for you just given the situation,
but it's just not going to be available for a
number of years until you can get to that 50% equity.
But go ahead and check with them, and they can
walk you through all the details based on your specific situation. Andrew,
(14:01):
thanks for your call today. All the best to you, sir.
Call anytime. Well, we're going to take a break when
we come back. More of your questions today. The number
800 525 7000. Call right now. We'll be right back. Hey,
great to have you with us today on Faith and
Finance Live. Here's our goal each day on this program
(14:23):
to help you live as a wise and faithful steward.
Help you to see God as your ultimate treasure. Help
you to understand the counsel of Council of Scripture and
really a biblical worldview of money and money management, which
starts with the idea that God owns it all and
God is our provider and we are stewards, not owners.
And therefore we've been given a high calling of managing
(14:44):
the resources that God has entrusted to us. And we
want to do that for God's glory. Knowing that money
is a good gift created by a God that wants
us to enjoy it and delight in it, so long
as it doesn't become the thing that occupies our devotion.
We don't ever want to let it compete with our
devotion to God. But if it's put in its proper
place as a tool to accomplish God's purposes, well, it
(15:08):
can do wonderful things as we give it away and
invest it and enjoy it and use it to provide well.
We want to help you do that each day as
we help you navigate the very specific questions you have.
So if there's something you're wrestling with today, go ahead
and give us a call 800 525 7000. You can
call right now. Let's go to Miami, Florida Angela, you'll
(15:28):
be next up. How can I help?
S5 (15:30):
Oh, thank you so much. I have a dilemma here.
I'm not sure how to go about it or how
to make the right decision. I recently retired. I'm not
taking Social Security as yet because I have enough to
live on. Because I hear to wait until I'm seven
to maximize it. But my plan at work, my 401
K and fidelity that I had at work. Um, someone recently, uh,
(15:56):
advised me or told me about this other company called, um,
Big Money Retirement Solution. And I talked to someone there,
and they're guaranteeing me an annuity that can pay me 9%
annually right now. Fidelity that I have is paying me 7%.
(16:17):
I've never really heard of this company, so I'm trying
to see is this a wise move to get, like,
half of my portfolio from fidelity and send it to
big money? Would that be a wise move? Because I've
never heard of them before.
S1 (16:30):
Well, I haven't either in the name is is tripping
me up here a little bit. But what's more concerning
to me is that what you said after the name,
and that is that they're going to offer an annuity
with a guaranteed 9% return. Uh, you know, that is, uh,
should raise some serious caution because it really, Angela just
(16:50):
doesn't align with typical returns from reputable, reputable fixed annuity providers. Um,
even if the annuity company they're talking about, uh, is reputable,
and that wouldn't be hard to look up to see
what is their, uh, you know, am best rating and
so forth. But guaranteed annuities, you know, are typically in
(17:11):
this environment offering somewhere between 4 and 6% for guaranteed rates, uh,
you know, depending on the length. Um, so, you know,
for a ten year guaranteed annuity, you might have something
like 5.6%, 6%, maybe close to 6%. Um, but, you know,
nothing that would get up, you know, near 9%. There's
(17:32):
just 9% guarantees are unrealistic in today's interest rate environment.
So that would be a significant red flag for me
on top of, uh, of the name big Money retirement solutions,
which just doesn't sound like I mean, again, I don't know.
So I'd be hesitant to say it's it's not reputable, but, um,
(17:54):
you know, there's just too many caution flags going up
for me on this one.
S5 (17:59):
All right. Thank you so much.
S1 (18:01):
All right, Angela, we appreciate your call today. Lord bless you.
800 525 7000 is the number to call taking your
calls and questions today on anything financial. You know, when
it comes to investing, I love the rule of thumb.
If we don't understand it or can't explain it to
our mom, we don't invest in it. You know, these
days it can be challenging and there's so many complicated
(18:23):
products that are being sold. And, you know, many cases,
they sound too good to be true, which should be
a red flag in and of themselves. Um, and, you know,
we're we're seeing an increase in the complexity as well,
just with some of the new wave of investments, notably
in the crypto space. You know, a lot of folks
are getting, uh, caught up in some of the frenzy
(18:46):
around cryptocurrency. And that's why we've said here, you know,
first of all, three years ago, we said, let's just
stay away from it all together. It's the wild, wild West.
There's far too much volatility. You know, there's an uncertain
regulatory environment. It's difficult to understand. I would say now
we've gotten to the place where blockchain and crypto is
not going anywhere. We've got the first pro crypto president
(19:10):
in the Oval Office. We've worked through a lot of
the regulatory environment. We've now got institutional investors and exchange
traded funds. But even then, I'd say it's probably limited
to To Bitcoin and not the others, which makes up
about 60% of the crypto space Bitcoin alone. The rest,
the 40% is between all the rest. So I'd stay
(19:30):
in Bitcoin and even then I would probably only take
a portion of what you might consider as your gold allocation.
So maybe it's a 10% gold allocation and take a
portion of that if you're going to do it. But
you need to understand it's going to be very volatile.
And that's why you would, you know, maybe have 5%
at the most in your portfolio. And be sure that
(19:52):
you are sophisticated enough as an investor with a long
time horizon, that you can put that even that small
of a portion of your portfolio in something that is
considered more speculative. Um, but I would again default back
to that rule. If we don't understand it, it sounds
good to be true. Too good to be true. I
would say pass on it or get with somebody who
(20:14):
can look at the fine print, uh, who's a trusted
counselor or advisor who could evaluate it for you. Hope
that helps. All right. We're going to continue to take
your calls and questions today. Again that number to call
is 800 525 7000. That's 800 525 7000. Pennsylvania is
where we're going next, Marianne. Go right ahead.
S6 (20:34):
Yes. Thank you for taking my call. I, my husband
and I are both in retirement age. We have no debt,
we have good savings, and we are still paying on
our life insurance. Do you think that that's a good idea?
Because I don't think what we'd get back for benefits for, like,
funeral expenses, is really worth how much we could potentially
(20:57):
be paying into it for the next possibly 20 years.
S1 (21:01):
Yeah, yeah. Is it a whole life policy that has
a cash value component? Yes it does. All right. Go ahead.
S6 (21:10):
Yes it does.
S1 (21:11):
Okay. And what is the cash value today that's built
up in the policy?
S6 (21:17):
Uh, 10,000 each.
S1 (21:19):
Okay. And what do you know?
S6 (21:22):
It's, uh, 5000 each.
S1 (21:25):
Okay. Got it. Let's do this. Um, I want to
ask you a few more questions off the air. And
then when we come back from the break, uh, I'll
give you my thoughts. It's a great question. Stay right there, Marianne.
We'll pick it up on the other side. We'll be
right back. Hey, thanks for taking some time to be
(21:47):
with us today on Faith and finance. Live. Each day,
each afternoon, we come together on this program to encourage
you in your role as a faithful steward of God's money.
This is all about helping you navigate your financial journey
in light of biblical wisdom. So if you have a
financial question today on any topic savings, investing, getting out
of debt, your credit score, giving generously no matter what
(22:10):
it is, we'd love to tackle it with you. Go
ahead and call right now. We've got some lines open.
We've still got half the program remaining. So we've got
room for you. 800 525 7000. Before the break, we
were talking to Mary Ann in Pennsylvania. She's wondering if
she and her husband should continue to pay on some
whole life policies that they've had for quite a while. Uh,
(22:31):
they're each, uh, $10,000 worth of death benefit. So between
the two of them, 20,000 total in death benefit, they've
built up some cash value. So each policy has about
5000 in cash value. And my understanding is they're spending
about $2,000, almost $2,000 a year in premiums between the
(22:53):
two policies. So to spend $2,000 every year to preserve
a $20,000 total death benefit probably doesn't make sense. I mean,
after a few more years, Mary Ann, as you continue
to age, your premiums could exceed the payout. And, you know,
if you don't need the money, meaning you have other
ways to cover burial expenses. I'd far prefer you take
(23:17):
that 2000 a year and put it toward more productive purposes,
give it away, or put it into savings and kind
of build up your own nest egg. Not to mention
the fact that you could, you know, reclaim this roughly
$10,000 in cash value between the two policies. So I
guess I'm just wondering, do you need the life insurance
in this season of life? And if not, you know,
(23:39):
I think this policy, just what you're putting into it
every year just doesn't, uh, you know, equate to what
you would ultimately get out of it in the form
of a death benefit. Does that make sense?
S6 (23:51):
Yes. Very good. Thank you.
S7 (23:54):
All right. You're very.
S1 (23:55):
Welcome. Listen, call any time. Thanks for being on the
program today. Uh, let's go to Chicago. Hi, Aaron. How
can I help you?
S8 (24:01):
Hi, there. Um, so pretty much my story is kind of.
I was following the David Ramsey thing. Um, I paid
off all of my credit cards. Uh, I paid off
my car as of April. So I feel like I'm
doing really well. My question is about the emergency fund
versus like a savings. So recently I've just had a
(24:22):
few things happen. I've had dental issues and it completely
depleted my emergency fund and I had to go into
my savings. Um, I'm not doing terrible, but I was
just wondering how big of an emergency fund versus a
savings do I need? Like, is there like a ratio,
(24:43):
like 1 to 4 or, you know, like, yeah, something
to kind of go off of.
S1 (24:48):
Yeah. No, this is great. Well, first of all, I'm
delighted to hear that you made getting out of debt
a priority, starting with that high interest credit card debt
and then the car. That's great. Obviously you're living within
your means. You're you're setting goals. You're exercising some discipline here.
So that's really encouraging. Aaron, you should be thrilled at
the progress you've made. Um, both emergency savings and what
(25:11):
I'll call regular savings are important, but they serve different purposes. So.
So think of them like two different tools in your
financial toolbox. So tool number one the emergency savings. Think
about that. As for the unexpected. So this is your
safety net money that's set aside for unexpected expenses. Something
(25:32):
you couldn't see on the horizon a job loss, medical bills,
major car or home repairs. The reason I say, major
is you should be saving in the regular savings category,
and I'll get to that in a moment for routine
car maintenance and home repairs, because we know we're going
to have some of those. But if there's something that
(25:54):
comes out of left field, that's major. That's where the
emergency bucket would come in. Because again, that's for the unexpected.
That should be liquid and safe. I recommend 3 to
6 months of living expenses in that bucket. Okay. The
second tool in the toolbox is regular savings. And whereas
the emergency savings is for the unexpected, the regular savings
(26:18):
is for the planned. So this is for things you
know are coming like your vacation holiday, spending a new car,
home upgrades or appliances. Regular car and home maintenance. You know,
not the unexpected major expense, but something that's more routine.
I would have that in a separate savings account, and
(26:39):
I'd be using an online bank with FDIC insurance so
you can earn some interest on it. Now, if you
don't have either of them, I would absolutely start with
the emergency savings. And, you know, get at least up
to 1 to 3 months expenses. And then you might
want to split your surplus between, you know, your emergency
(27:00):
savings and some of that planned spending that you've got
where you'd save in particular buckets for known expenses that
are coming not today, but down the road. Does that
make sense, though?
S8 (27:13):
Absolutely. Because that's sort of what I'm doing right now.
I'm just falling into that kind of by accident. Um,
so I have my two checking accounts at the moment.
I have one that's, uh, taking a certain amount out
of my paycheck, and then the rest goes into the
other one. So the emergency fund makes sense. Um, absolutely.
(27:36):
Because I definitely have one that's separate. Um, I do
my car insurance in six month plans. Uh, so I
make sure to take out, like, 100 a month, um,
to make sure that's covered. So I'm used to that.
It's just, I guess my savings that I'm having an
issue with, um, because my plan is more to buy
(27:58):
a property, um, just land, not a house or anything
like that. And, um, I know that you need about like, 10%
down or something like that. And so, so you're recommending
like basically make sure that I have should I have
2 or 3 accounts. Should I have three.
S7 (28:17):
Yeah. I mean it really depends on you.
S1 (28:19):
You could you could have one account and kind of
do it on paper. And that's why we built the
Faith VI app, because what's in your checking and savings
could then be in the app without moving the money
kind of allocated to these different, uh, you know, envelopes,
if you will, digitally speaking, for specific purposes, one might
be emergency savings and then you might have multiple planned
(28:41):
regular savings categories. Like I said, you might have one
for that, uh, that piece of land you want to buy,
you might have another one where, you know, you're going
to need a new car in the next three years.
So you're saving for that. We know, you know, you're
taking a vacation next summer, and so we're saving for that.
And so you've got to decide based on how much
(29:01):
surplus or margin you have on a monthly basis, how
much is available for any long term savings goals? And
then you would need to decide how much of that
surplus am I going to put into my emergency savings
versus one of these other planned savings buckets, whether that's
by opening multiple accounts and actually, you know, putting the
(29:22):
money in each account or doing that, you know, tracking
that digitally, but operating out of one account, if that
makes sense.
S8 (29:31):
Gotcha. Yeah. So it's more of making sure that I
really don't touch the other accounts because, yeah, that's the problem.
Is that because the bank is connected I can move
the money so easily?
S7 (29:44):
Yeah.
S8 (29:45):
From my savings to my checking that, um, I do
kind of abuse that. That's why I try to set
up the second account so that if I wanted it,
it would take much, much longer.
S1 (29:57):
Yeah. Well, I think that's right. And that and that's
where it can be helpful. You know, many of these
online banks allow you to set up as many accounts
as you want, essentially, and they don't charge you any fees.
They're fee free. But just the fact that to move
the money, you know, from the savings account back to
your checking requires, you know, 2 to 3 days through
(30:17):
the ACH system, that's not a bad thing because it's
not so readily available. But at the end of the day,
this is all about discipline, and it's all about delayed gratification.
Knowing that, you know what, I want to be able
to take that vacation and pay cash. So I'm going
to put the time in to save in my savings account.
I hope that helps. We'll be right back. Hey, thanks
(30:42):
for joining us today on Faith and Finance Live here
on Moody Radio. I'm Rob West. Hey, faith and finance
is listener supported, which just simply means we can't do
what we do every day to bring you this program
without your generous support. And as we are in these
summer months, giving slows down ever so slightly. And so
if you've loved the program, if you listen regularly and
(31:02):
you'd consider a gift, we'd certainly be grateful. One great
way to support the ministry and ensure we can reach
more people is by becoming a Faith VI partner. Partner.
Support us at $35 a month or more, or $400
or more per year. And as a way to say
thank you, we send you wonderful resources to encourage you
in your stewardship journey, including for issues of our magazine,
(31:25):
Faithful Steward. By the way, the most recent issue just
went to the press this week and it is chock
full of some incredible content. It'll be out in September,
and if you become a partner right now, you'll be
ready to receive our fall package to our Faith VI partners.
You'll also receive all of our studies and devotionals. I'm
(31:46):
working on our next devotional right now. It'll be out
in the fall. I'm so excited about it. And you'll
get access to the Faith VI app. All of that
and more when you become a Faith five partner, just
go to faith. Com. That's faith. All right. Let's go
back to the phones. We'll get to as many calls
(32:06):
as we can here in this final segment. Uh, next to, uh, Akron. Charles.
Go ahead.
S9 (32:13):
Hello? Yes. Um, I was listening to your program a
while back, and I heard something about, um, that's the case, uh, that, uh,
spousal benefits, um, for Social security. Um, my wife is
going to be turning 65 this year, and I'm already
collecting Social security, but, um, she never got enough credits
(32:37):
to actually, um, benefit from that. You know, she can't
do it on her own.
S1 (32:44):
Sure.
S9 (32:44):
Um, so is there some some way she can collect
on mine now, or does she have to wait till
I'm dead?
S1 (32:55):
Uh, no. No. Um, right now, she would have the
ability if she doesn't have enough work credits to qualify
for her, uh, Social Security on her own. She would
be eligible for what's considered spousal benefits, which the most
she can earn as spousal benefits is up to 50%
of your full retirement age benefit, even if she's never worked. Um,
(33:20):
she can get that as early as age 62. And
you must already be collecting your Social Security, which you
are now. If she takes it before her full retirement age,
which is probably somewhere between 66 and 67, she wouldn't
get the max, which is up to 50% of yours.
She would be reduced. So, for example, if she files
(33:43):
before her full retirement age at, let's say, 65, her
benefit would be reduced permanently by somewhere between 4 and 7%.
So instead of getting 50% of yours, she would get
somewhere between 43 to 46% of yours if she waited
until full retirement age, then she could get up to 50%
(34:06):
of yours again as a spousal benefit, even though she
doesn't have the work history in her own, you know,
40 quarters of work to qualify. Now, when you pass away,
then she'd be able to switch to, uh, survivor's benefits,
which would mean she could get your benefit. And she
dropped the the spousal benefit at that point.
S9 (34:28):
Right. So, so basically she we she at 65, which
she's turning in October. If she signs up for that,
she can take that benefit and it won't affect anything
when when I die that she would get my full amount. out.
S1 (34:50):
That's correct. Yes.
S9 (34:55):
Huh? So.
S1 (34:56):
Yep.
S9 (34:58):
So I guess the thing to do is sign up
for it, right? It's. It's money available. So.
S1 (35:07):
That's exactly right. The only question would just be, do
you want to wait until she's full retirement age to
get the max amount? Uh, which would be, you know,
66 or 6, but somewhere between 66 and 67. Um,
and then, you know. Or does she want to go
ahead and start taking it now and get a little
bit less? And then, yes, that surviving spouse, her in
(35:27):
this case can receive up to 100% of your benefit, um,
once you pass away. And so, you know, if you've, uh, they'll,
she will get up to the full amount you were receiving. Um,
and then she would drop her spousal benefit at that time.
S9 (35:45):
Right, right. Okay. Well, that sounds really good. And I said,
since we don't need the money, it's better to wait
until she gets to like, 67 or something like that,
you said.
S1 (35:57):
Yeah, that's exactly right. I mean, if you want to
maximize what she can get and you don't need the
money right now, then yes, she could wait until full
retirement age, which she could look up her full retirement age,
but it's going to be somewhere between 66 and 67.
S9 (36:11):
Great. Well thank you. Thank you very much.
S1 (36:14):
All right. Anytime, Charles. Thanks for your call, sir. To Tennessee. Hi, Sharon.
Go ahead.
S10 (36:19):
Hello, Rob. Um, thank you so much. I want to
start with saying answers to prayer. So your program, um,
and also, we found a Christian contractor to deal with
the tear down and rebuilding and a proven company to
deal with our foundation that has, um, apparently always been
bad because our builder, um, was, um, he literally is
(36:44):
was wanted by the law and he had to move.
S11 (36:46):
Out of state.
S10 (36:47):
Etc.. So anyway.
S1 (36:52):
Oh, Sharon, it looks like we lost you there for
a second. Are you still with us? All right. Looks
like we have lost Sharon. So we are going to
go to Alaska and welcome Barb. Barb, go right ahead. And, Sharon,
we'll try to get you back on the line. Barb,
how can I help?
S12 (37:09):
Um, my grandson is. Parents are serving as missionaries in Asia,
and it's a good possibility he will go to school
in Asia. His extended ed. And I'm wondering if I
start a 529 for him. Can he use those benefits
(37:30):
outside of the US?
S1 (37:33):
Possibly, yes. 29 plan can be used for college outside
the US, but it's only at eligible foreign institutions. So
it's really going to come down to whether the school
is approved by the US Department of Education to receive
federal student aid. I think there's something like 400 international
schools that qualify. Um, so you'd want to go to
(37:54):
student studentaid.gov and just search foreign schools eligible for Fafsa. And,
you know, that would give you a list. Uh, of
those schools, it is limited. So you are taking a risk, um,
that the school would not, you know, be able eligible
to receive those funds. And then at that point, he
(38:15):
would not be able to access that money, at least
in the way that you had intended, uh, without you
just taking a withdrawal and paying the penalty and the taxes.
But it is possible.
S12 (38:27):
Oh, okay. So if he does choose to go to
school in Asia and it's not a qualified school, there
is a way to access that money. It doesn't just
go to the government. That was my concern.
S1 (38:43):
Yes. Uh, for. So it'd be a non-qualified, uh, withdrawal. Uh,
and and you you certainly can do that. Uh, but
you are going to have, uh, you know, penalties associated
with that. Uh, so basically, you know, when you pull
the money out, there's going to be a 10% penalty
on the earnings portion, and then you're going to pay
(39:06):
ordinary income tax, uh, as well, um, on the growth, uh,
so you just need to know that that's coming, um,
which is going to, you know, take a hit on,
you know, some of what you have built up, uh,
between the taxes and the penalty on the earnings.
S12 (39:22):
Okay. Thank you very much. I just I just didn't
know if it was lost money if, you.
S1 (39:28):
Know, not lost money. Yeah. You're just going to have
to give up a little bit of that growth, uh,
to taxes. But you, you'll certainly be able to get
it back as a, as a non-qualified withdrawal. Thanks for
your call today. All the best to you. Sharon, I
understand we have you back there in Tennessee. I'm. I'm
short on time. I've got about 90s. I know the
foundation of your home needs to be repaired, but go
(39:49):
ahead and pick up from there.
S10 (39:51):
Okay, so it's going to be about half of our
home value per Zillow estimate to get all of that done.
And I want to know how do I get the
money to complete the project? I don't want to dip
into our 401. I can't go and use our emergency fund. Um,
what do you recommend?
S1 (40:09):
Yeah, well, I would love for you to avoid your
401 K as well. I mean, that's smart due to
the the taxes and the lost future growth. So really
the other options would be I mean, just primarily the
the only option I would probably look at is a
home equity line of credit. Um, and so, you know,
(40:30):
these tend to be the best tools for major home repairs. Uh,
I like the fact that you're borrowing from the equity
in your home. Not for, you know, personal spending or
to consolidate debt. You're using it to shore up or
improve the value of the home, which is protecting the
asset that you'll ultimately sell down the road. Um, you know,
(40:52):
the rates are going to be lower than personal loans
because they've got the home as collateral. Uh, you'll be
able to potentially deduct the interest. And with the home
equity line of credit, that interest rate is variable, which
is good because we think the longer term, you know,
trajectory for interest rates is down. So as rates come
(41:12):
down that variable rate would come down with it. Um,
the challenge is you've got to make sure that you
can cover the debt service. And most of these home
equity lines of credit only require you to pay the interest,
which means you're not paying any principal. So I would
try to only do it if you have the ability
to pay not only interest, but toward the principal as well,
(41:35):
with a goal, maybe to get it paid off within
ten years, but a home equity line of credit is
probably the best way to go for you.
S10 (41:43):
Okay, super. Thank you.
S11 (41:45):
Thank you. Appreciate it.
S1 (41:47):
You're welcome.
S11 (41:48):
Sharon.
S1 (41:49):
Thank you so much I appreciate you. Thanks for being
with us today. Well, again, folks, we're so delighted you
were here with us today. I hope you found something
today helpful or encouraging. And we're just grateful that each
day you invite us into your homes and cars and
work to encourage you in your journey as a faithful steward.
It's certainly a privilege to be able to do this
every day, and I couldn't do it without an amazing
(42:10):
team behind me. There are so many folks here at Faith,
Fi and Kingdom Advisors that make this possible, but serving
us specifically on this program today was Omar, my engineer, Tara. Tara,
who was producing today, Rihanna and Jim, plus everybody else
here at Faith by Faith and finance is a partnership
between Moody Radio and Faith five. We'll see you tomorrow.
(42:32):
Bye bye.
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