August 1, 2025 • 42 mins
When it comes to money, most people look for two things: security and peace of mind--and that’s understandable. Life is unpredictable. Expenses pop up. Markets swing. But here’s the question: What if peace or security isn’t found in your circumstances at all? What if the foundation on which you’re building isn’t as solid as you think? On the next Faith & Finance Live, Rob West shares the real secret to financial wisdom. Then, he addresses your questions on various financial topics. 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
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S1 (00:08):
When it comes to money, most people are looking for
two things security and peace of mind. Hi, I'm Rob
West and that's understandable. Life is unpredictable. Expenses pop up,
markets swing. But here's the question what if peace or
security isn't found in your circumstances at all? What if
the foundation you're building on isn't as solid as you think?
(00:30):
Today I'll share the real secret to financial wisdom. And
then it's on to your calls at 800 525 7000.
This is faith in finance. Live. Biblical wisdom for your
financial journey. Financial wisdom isn't just about knowing what to
do with your money. It's about knowing who your provider is.
(00:52):
Proverbs three five and six says, trust in the Lord
with all your heart, and do not lean on your
own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him and he
will make straight your paths. That's where wisdom begins. Not
with a budget, not with a savings plan, but with surrender.
If you're chasing peace through your paycheck or portfolio, you'll
always come up short. True peace. Peace that surpasses understanding
(01:16):
can only be found in Christ. But when you start there,
when your foundation is trust in God, you begin to
see money differently. So what are the secrets to financial wisdom? Well,
let me give you a few. Not from Wall Street,
but from God's Word. Secret number one. Know who owns
it all. Psalm 24 one says, the earth is the
(01:36):
Lord's and the fullness thereof. Everything belongs to God. Your income,
your home, your retirement, even your ability to earn financial
wisdom starts by recognizing we're not owners. We're stewards. Stewards
manage resources on behalf of someone else. That mindset shifts
the question from what do I want to do with
(01:56):
my money to Lord, what would you have me to
do with what you've entrusted to me? Secret number two.
Spend with purpose. In Luke 1611, Jesus asks if you
have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will
trust you with true riches? How we manage money reveals
our hearts. Why? Spending isn't just about avoiding debt, it's
(02:19):
about aligning our decisions with God's purposes. So create a
plan not just to track dollars, but to prioritize what
matters most giving, saving, living within your means, and investing
in things that last. Secret number three avoid the slavery
of debt. Proverbs 22 seven says the borrower is slave
(02:39):
to the lender. Debt can chain us to the past
and limit our future. It creates stress, restricts generosity, and
often limits our ability to fully serve others or to
respond to new opportunities that God may place before us.
wise stewards build margin. They avoid debt when they can
and pay it down as quickly as possible. Not because
(03:01):
all debt is wrong, but because freedom is better than financing.
Secret number four save with perspective. Proverbs 2120 says the
wise store up choice food and olive oil, but fools
gulp theirs down. Saving isn't hoarding, it's preparation. It reflects
a heart that's thinking ahead and trusting God with tomorrow.
(03:23):
So save for emergencies, save for what's coming. But do
it knowing that your ultimate security is in the Lord,
not in your savings account. Secret number five give first
and freely. And here's maybe the greatest secret be generous.
Second Corinthians nine seven says, God loves a cheerful giver. Why?
Because generosity reflects the heart of God. It loosens the
(03:47):
grip of greed, reminds us we're not defined by what
we own, and gives us the opportunity to To participate
in God's Kingdom work today. When we give, we're saying
with our actions, God, I trust you more than I
trust this money. Now here, this stewardship purpose, freedom, preparation
and generosity. These don't guarantee worldly success. You can do
(04:11):
all the right things and still face hardship. That's the
reality of living in a broken world. But when your
financial foundation is Christ and His wisdom, you're anchored even
in the storm. Because financial wisdom won't always make you rich,
but it will make you ready. Ready to respond with
peace when markets drop. Ready to be generous when a
(04:33):
need arises. Ready to walk confidently. Not because your finances
are perfect, but because your hope is built on something greater.
Isaiah 33 six says he will be the sure foundation
for your times, a rich store of salvation and wisdom
and knowledge. The fear of the Lord is the key
to this treasure. So if you're seeking peace or security
(04:55):
in your finances, don't start with a spreadsheet. Start with Christ.
Let him be your treasure. Let His Word shape your choices,
and let your money become a tool not to build
your kingdom, but to build his. At the end of
the day, the secret to financial wisdom isn't really a
secret at all. It's surrender, faithfulness, and trust. All right,
(05:17):
your calls are next. 800 525 7000. We'll be right back.
S2 (05:34):
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 (05:59):
Great to have you with us today on Faith in finance. Live,
I'm Rob West. Looking forward to taking your calls and
questions today. That number to call 800 525 7000. You know,
as we look across those 2300 verses in God's Word
that deal with money and possessions, what you'll find is
that about a third of them deal with the idea
that God owns it all, and therefore we're stewards. The
(06:21):
other third or so are really about the fact that
money reveals what we value and where we've placed our trust,
and then the rest deal with this idea of faithful
stewardship leading to flourishing for us and for others and
for eternity. And that's really the big idea in the
counsel of Scripture. Now, what you will find is kind
(06:44):
of like an iceberg. The 10% above the water line
is the how, the why? Well, not the why, but
the how of financial decision making. So it's the budgets
and the debt repayment and the investments. But the 90%
that you can't see below the water line is really
the biggest part. And that's the why. And that's really
primarily what we see in God's Word. We just have
(07:05):
to be careful that money doesn't compete with our hearts. Now,
those practical decisions you make every day are still important.
And so we want to deal with both sides of
that equation here. We started today really talking about our
hearts and some of the issues related to money that
we need to wrestle through. And we'll do that to
open the program each day, either, as I just share
(07:27):
with you something on my heart or as we, uh,
deal with an interview, as we talk to somebody who
really has a unique perspective and, and, and something to share.
And today, in particular, we talked about this idea of
financial security. But now we want to turn and give
you the rest of the program and talk about those
practical decisions you are making in your financial life, whether that's,
(07:48):
you know, how you invest for the future, just given
some of the turbulence in the markets today, certainly experiencing
some of that as the Dow Jones closes 500 points
lower because of the the tariffs and a weak jobs report.
Maybe it's debt repayment. How do you pay off debt.
Is it debt consolidation debt management. What about giving wisely.
(08:08):
Is there a way to do that. Minimize your taxes
and give generously to the Lord. Any of those topics
and more in play today? So if you want to
get in on the conversation, give us a call right now.
We'd love to hear from you. That number is 800
525 7800 525 7000. Let's dive into those questions. We'll
begin in Lookout Mountain, Georgia with Sharnell. Go right ahead.
S3 (08:32):
Yes, I wanted to find out if online bank accounts
give more interest than a local bank savings account.
S1 (08:41):
Yes, they sure do. Uh, yeah. You know, the reason
is your local bank branches have a brick and mortar operation,
and with that comes, you know, the requirement that they're
paying a lease or maintaining the property. They've got staff
to staff them. Um, and so that just takes some
of the, uh, you know, the cost that they would
normally be able to pass along to you and requires
(09:03):
that they use that, uh, you know, to cover their
operating expenses. The online banks, while they have the same,
in many cases, FDIC or NCUA insurance, they have the
same reserve requirements. I mean, they're full fledged banks. They're
just able to take some of that savings by not
having the brick and mortar operations and pay it to
you in the form of higher interest rates, uh, because
(09:27):
they just simply have lower overhead and they use those
higher rates to attract customers. So whereas you might see
4 to 5% APY on high yield savings, you might
see 0.01 to 0.5% Percent at many local banks. So absolutely,
you're going to get a better yield. Um, many of
(09:49):
them are FDIC insured or NCUA insured or privately insured.
I would make sure that that's the case. You are
going to want to know if there's any withdrawal limits
or fees. Um, you may also, like many of our listeners,
want to know that they align with your values, uh,
that that they really are, uh, operated in a God
honoring way, whether that's just not supporting things that would be,
(10:12):
you know, antithetical to the Christian faith or perhaps taking
a portion of their profits and supporting Christian ministry, like
our partners at Christian Community Credit Union. They've got a 5%
high yield savings. And, you know, it's really built for believers.
And so that, you know, that would be a great
option there. So yeah, you are going to do better
(10:33):
with the online options. You are, though, going to give
up the ability to walk in, you know, and see
somebody face to face. Does that make sense though?
S3 (10:42):
Yes it does. Also, I have a friend that's trying
to get me to invest gold in a company called GI.
Is that a good company to invest in gold or
is there a better one?
S1 (10:53):
Yeah, it's a good question. I'm not familiar necessarily with GSE. Um,
I would just say, you know, in general, uh, I
like gold as an investment. Um, I would be looking
to buy the metal itself, either by taking physical possession, uh,
based on the spot price of gold, you just need
(11:15):
to make sure that there's not a lot of markups
on it when you're buying through a dealer. Or you
could buy a tracking, uh, investment. So there are a
lot of gold. What are called ETFs, exchange traded funds
GLD would be an example. There's a dozen of them
or more. And basically you'd buy and sell them, uh,
Chanel like a stock. But they just track the underlying
(11:38):
movement of the metal. So in this case they have
actual physical gold in vaults, but it allows you to
buy and sell it just like a stock whenever the
stock market is open. So it it has the features
of gold because you're able to benefit from the rise
of the gold, the underlying precious metal. But you don't
have to buy it, take possession of it, secure it,
(12:00):
things like that. So I would say either buy it
outright or buy one of the tracking stocks. Um, you know,
when you're buying a gold investment, uh, you know, sometimes
you're buying the miners and some of the other ways
you can take, you know, a position in gold. I
wouldn't do that just because you basically want to, um,
you know, make sure you're not getting caught up with
(12:22):
the performance of that particular company when really all you're
trying to do is take the possession of the gold itself.
But do you have any follow up questions on that?
S3 (12:34):
Yes. Um, what was the company that you said? Did
you say a certain company I should invest matched in gold.
S1 (12:39):
Well I didn't. What I was saying is, first question
you have to decide is, do I want to buy
the physical gold where they literally mail it to you
and you put it, you put a safe in your home,
or you put it in a safe deposit box and
you're storing it and you might keep it forever and
pass it down. Or do you just want to buy
one of the trackers? And you know, what I was
(13:00):
saying is there are a lot of exchange traded funds
that that track the price of gold. I mentioned one
which would be gold. So that would be the spider
gold shares GLD that trades on the stock exchange. Another
one would be IAU. That's probably the the second largest.
They've got about 46 billion in that in that exchange
(13:23):
traded fund. That's from iShares. Um, you know and there
are a bunch of other ones as well. Those are
probably the two most popular GLD and IAU. So, you know,
if you decide, hey, I just want to benefit from
the overall Growth or appreciation of the price of gold.
Then these ETFs are a great way to go. If
you want to buy the physical gold, then you really
(13:45):
need to find a reputable dealer. Read a lot, read
a lot of reviews. Find somebody who's trusted that can
make that purchase for you, and then you just need
to make sure you have a plan to secure it safely.
So hopefully that helps you. Sharnell we appreciate your call today.
Thanks for being on the program. Well, folks, we're going
to take a quick break. When we come back, we'll
talk to Chuck about, uh, universal life insurance. Uh, also,
(14:08):
Tara wants to know, how do I just get starting, uh,
with my investments? And, Kevin, let's talk about tithing. That
and perhaps your question 800 525 7000. We'll be right back.
(14:29):
Great to have you with us today on Faith and
Finance live. I'm Rob West. We're taking your calls and
questions today. Let's head right back to the phones. Let's see.
Florida's where we're headed next. Hi, Chuck. Go ahead.
S4 (14:39):
I just got a real quick question about a universal
life policy. I'm 75 years old. I've owned it since 2001.
So I've been paying into it for all these years,
and and I'm just I'm trying to decide if I
should let it just stop paying premiums and let it
(14:59):
let it go. Go, uh, till the end, till it,
till it. Well, it'll go for about six more years.
Or whether I should, uh, take the investment, which is
about the cash value, $40,000, and invest it somewhere else
and do something else with it. That's really my question.
S1 (15:18):
Yeah, well, it's a great one, and it's one that
folks come up to, you know, a lot in this decision.
I think you have to start with, do I still
need the insurance? So if the answer is yes, you
want to leave a legacy or you're trying to cover expenses,
Then keeping it may make sense. If no. If you
have kids, they're grown. You don't have any debt. You
(15:39):
don't have a clear need. No one's depending upon you
for your income. Then I think cashing it out may
be more useful if the policy could sustain itself for
six years with no more premiums. You know you're buying
time without the out of pocket cost, but after six
years it would lapse. Of course, unless you start paying again,
or unless you know the market performs well, depending on
(16:01):
how it's structured. The question then would be if you
did cash it out, what would you do with the 40,000?
I suspect you could invest it and do better, but
of course that ends the policy and any death benefit. Um, so,
you know, I think at the end of the day,
if you don't need the policy and it's going to
continue to get more costly, at the very least, chip
(16:22):
away at your your accumulated cash value and cause you
down the road to either let it lapse or continue
to invest in it. Then, you know, perhaps it served
its purpose. And I think this 40,000 plus, anything you
might add to it in the future could probably be,
you know, handled better elsewhere. Um, so at the end
(16:42):
of the day, I'm not a huge fan of this
type of product. Uh, unless there's a very specific need
for it. I'd rather you just do straight investments without
the added expense of the mortality and the other insurance
related costs. Does that make sense, though?
S4 (16:55):
I it does. I, uh, you know, I originally bought
it for the death benefit. That's what I've kept it
for all these years. And and now I'm starting to realize, man, I,
you know, I it's it's just not going to not
going to do much and maybe I can do better
with the cash value if I can get it out
and go from there.
S1 (17:15):
Yeah, yeah. Very good. I would agree with that. Excellent.
Thanks for your call, Chuck. Call anytime, sir. God bless you. Uh,
we're going to stay in Florida. Tara, how can I
help you?
S5 (17:23):
Oh, hi. Thanks for taking my call.
S6 (17:26):
Yes, ma'am.
S5 (17:27):
Um, I asked a question. Yes. Um, my son just
graduated high school and he's exploring financial trading. He's currently
mentored by a classmate father who is a primary care.
You probably should, um, know what I'm talking about. Primary care.
So he earned his first insurance license through them, but
(17:47):
he's planning to transfer to a university. But he said
that trading, not primary care, is his long term goal.
He has recently asked me to join primary care to
help him qualify for bonuses. I've invested some money there
in a non-qualified mutual fund to that advisor. So that
advisor now recommends me to transfer my, um, 2035 target date, um,
(18:14):
for O1 for more aggressive management. So I need some
guidance on a few things. First of, I would like
to understand, um, do you think that my son is
getting financial mentorship or is being steered toward, uh, some
kind of recruitment for bonuses? Or do you think, um,
moving my old forward into that advisor care is a
(18:36):
good thing?
S1 (18:37):
Yeah, it's a great question. And you know, what I
would say is that the business model there for the
Primerica Advisors is one similar to what you're describing. I
hear this a lot where, you know, they get in
a lot of folks who are just starting out in
the business and, you know, they're just really pushing them
(18:59):
hard to recruit, uh, often from friends and family members.
Many of them don't kind of stay in the business. Um,
you know, their, their products, I think, generally speaking, are,
you know, seen as perhaps a little bit more expensive, um,
you know, and perhaps, you know, don't perform quite as well.
(19:22):
And so, you know, it would not be my first
place to recommend that somebody go to learn the business. Where,
you know, my preference would be you find somebody who's
truly going to mentor you and bring you in and
teach you the business and let you get, you know,
learn the the planning side. Um, you know, and be
in the meetings in the conference room and, you know,
(19:43):
watch the planning, perhaps help in assisting in creating the
financial plans rather than a sales based model where there's
just a lot of focus on, excuse me, going out
and and attracting new clients from your friends and family.
So that's just been my experience. It doesn't mean they're
doing anything wrong. It's certainly a legitimate company. There's probably
(20:04):
a lot of people listening, maybe, who have used Primerica
or currently or even some advisors from there that are
doing a great job for their clients. But I just
think as a firm, that approach that you're describing is
is what I most commonly hear people talk about when
they talk about Primerica.
S5 (20:20):
Yes. Do you have any, uh, do you have in
mind any educational path, Anything that I can tell my
son to follow so he can be a real skill
in financial trading.
S6 (20:31):
Yeah.
S5 (20:31):
What would you.
S6 (20:32):
Recommend?
S1 (20:33):
Where is he? In school.
S5 (20:35):
Um, he started a community college, um, so he can
transfer after two years into, um, a university. FIU. That's
his goal. Florida international university.
S1 (20:47):
Okay. And where? How many? Has he already gone there yet?
Or is he just entering?
S6 (20:51):
No, no no, no, he just graduated.
S5 (20:53):
He just started. He's, uh. He has a goal. He
wants to start, you know? Um, well, and I also
want to help him. So he doesn't really, um, waste
too much time or go to the wrong path.
S1 (21:04):
Yeah. Okay. Got it. Yeah. I mean, I think, uh,
getting into a financial planning program would be ideal. Uh,
even if it was online. I mean, for instance, Liberty
University has a track, and there's many others. It's not
just Liberty, but I'll use this as an example. Has
a track for believers that want to go into financial services,
(21:26):
where you can get both the certified financial planning education,
which is the premier designation in this business, and the
certified Kingdom advisor. And then when you graduate, there's thousands
of advisors ready to hire you. Let's do this. Let's
pick this up on the other side of the break.
Stay right there. We'll be right back. Thanks for joining
(21:54):
us today on Faith in finance live here on Moody Radio.
I'm Rob West. We're taking your calls and questions today.
That number 800 525 7000. Before the break, we were
talking to Tara in Florida. She's wondering for the best
way or what is the best way for her son
to start learning investments. And certainly, you know, just getting
started and understanding the investment world. Tara, I'm going to
(22:17):
send you a book that I'd like for you to
pass along to him to begin to educate himself on investing.
If he's working at all and has earned income, I'd
get him to start a Roth IRA and start learning
to diversify through exchange traded funds or faith based investing ETFs,
where the investments are aligned with his values. And all
of that will be in this book that I'll send you.
(22:39):
In terms of pursuing a career in financial services, you know,
there really is a phenomenal career track that has emerged
around faith based financial advice. And I think the the
key is he wants to get into a program that's
going to lead to the CFP, the certified financial planner. And,
you know, there are many programs across the country, both
(23:01):
online and residential, community college and, you know, four year
university that offer either a certificate in financial planning or
often it's a bachelor's of science, a BS in business
administration with a financial planning concentration. But the key is
you want it to be a CFP board registered program
(23:21):
so that when he's done, he can sit for the
CFP designation because that's what employers are going to look for.
And then the secondary designation is the one that we
offer here at Kingdom Advisors, which will give him the
biblical worldview. And that is the Certified Kingdom Advisor. And
there are about ten universities across the country that offer
(23:42):
a financial planning degree program with CFP. And where when
he graduates, he's ready to sit for both. But if
he's already got kind of his plan charted out, he
knows where he's going. It's too late to make a change.
Then I would just say while he's in school, wherever
he is, he wants to start working on or should
start working on his CFP. If he can. And then
(24:04):
I would take advantage of internship opportunities starting between his
freshman and sophomore year. You know, in the Kingdom Advisors Network,
there are tons of faith based financial advisors that would
love to have him as an intern during the summer,
and that will give him a lot of great real
world experience that when he graduates, he'd be ready to
(24:24):
land a job in this really exciting and growing industry
of faith based financial advice. Does that make sense?
S5 (24:33):
Um, yes. Um, but let me ask you quickly for
the Kingdom Advisory Network so he can go online and
just register for some kind of internship, or does he
need some kind of reference?
S6 (24:45):
No. Yeah.
S1 (24:46):
Yeah. So, um, the best thing to do would be
to come to the Kingdom Advisors conference in February. It'll
be about 3000 advisors. And then we do a job
fair at the conference where the students that are there,
there'll be about 300 of the 3000 that are undergraduate students.
They basically do speed interviews where they can lock down
jobs and internships with all the faith based, uh, investment
(25:10):
companies and financial planning companies. Um, there, the tuition or
the registration for the conference is free, but he does
need to be in a CFP program to be able
to come to the conference. So you can learn about
all of that at Kingdom advisors.com.
S5 (25:25):
Oh, thank you so much. I definitely will look it up.
Just one last thing before I go. Um, that was
regarding my 401 K, which is a 2035 target, uh,
date for one K. So that advisor was telling me to, um,
to put it under his care, you know, his management, so,
but I'm a little bit concerned. So I was wondering
(25:48):
if you think that I can roll it myself into
an IRA. You think I'm looking for a more aggressive management, though?
S1 (25:55):
Yeah, yeah. Very good. How much do you have in
the 401 K?
S5 (25:59):
Um, about, um, that's from an old job, about 125.
S6 (26:04):
Um, okay.
S1 (26:05):
Yeah. Um, you know, if you've separated from that employer,
I like the idea of you either rolling it into
your new 401 K if you have one, or rolling
it out to an IRA, but you will need to
determine who's going to manage it, because inside the 401 K,
you have a limited investment universe. You know, you've used
a great option with this target date fund, which makes
(26:26):
it really simple. As soon as you get into the IRA,
you basically have an unlimited number of choices. Um, and
so I think having an advisor, whether it's this one
or maybe a caixa in your area, and I did
interview at least 2 or 3, um, would be a
good choice. Do you have a new 401 K where
you're currently working?
S5 (26:45):
I do, but I didn't want the idea to roll
it over to that new one. I just want it
to be more aggressive with that one. So yeah, I'm
looking into, you know. Yeah.
S1 (26:57):
Okay. So then I'd roll it out to an IRA.
And then depending on whether you feel like this advisor
is a good fit or you'd want to interview a
few more, you can find a CA in your area
at Faith. That's faith. Philly.com. Just click find a professional.
S5 (27:13):
All right. Thank you so much. I appreciate your your help.
It's really, um. Thank you. It's a blessing to have you.
S6 (27:20):
Thank you.
S1 (27:20):
Well thank you. Tara, listen, stay on the line. We're
going to get your information, and I'm going to have
my team send you the Sound Mind investing handbook for
you to give to your son as our gift. Okay.
Thanks for being on the program. Let's go to Chicago. Hi, Kevin.
Go ahead.
S7 (27:34):
Hi. Um, I'll be as succinct as possible here. So
say a person makes $1,000 a week, say they've decided
that they wanted to give 20 or 25% of it
back to work of God. Their local church has envelopes,
and on the envelope they have the general line. Then
they have a missions line. They have a benevolence line.
(27:54):
Then they have another line for, you know, a couple
different things that might be going on in the church
does 10% automatically. The first 10% I have to go
to the general fund.
S1 (28:06):
Well, I think the key there is when you say
does it have to because remember, you know, we're not
under the Old Testament law of Moses any longer. I mean,
we see plenty of of talk of the old in
the Old Testament of the tithe. The idea of tithing,
you know, is there in terms of really talking about
what is the tithe, like 15 times in Scripture? The
(28:28):
word itself is used nearly 50 times. Um, in the
Old Testament we see lots of different types of tithes. Uh,
certainly the one that went to the temple to support
the Levitical priests. You would see that there, uh, you
would see other tithes, uh, like, you know, there was
a ties that were enjoyed as a part of a
community celebration and, uh, a charity tithe, you know, when
(28:52):
you put them all together, it might have been 30%
in a single year. But in the New Testament, you know,
really what we read is that it's more about our
character and our heart posture than a number or a
percentage of giving. Because, you know, biblical generosity is really
an expression or an overflow of our gratitude to God
(29:12):
for the grace that he's extended to us. And clearly,
we see in the New Testament we're to give freely
and joyfully. I think we're to give proportionately to what
God has provided to us. I think we're also to see,
to give. We see this in Scripture sacrificially. Now, if
you want to apply the principle of the tithe to
your giving, and I think that's a great thing to
(29:34):
do as a starting point, then yes, the word tithe
means a 10th. It was on your increase, and I
think initially it was to support the local church. And
we see this, you know, with the the Levitical tithe that,
you know, shows up in Leviticus 27. And so I
would say, yes, that would be a very appropriate way
(29:55):
to do it as to say, I'm going to give
a 10th, 10% to the general fund to support my church.
And then anything beyond that, you know, is really an offering.
And you could decide absolutely to to allocate that to
missions at that point. Does that make sense?
S7 (30:11):
It does. But I'm just making sure the general principle
is you're going to give that first money to the
operation of the actual congregation, that church building that, that
you go to.
S1 (30:23):
That's exactly right. Yeah. Give to the local church to
advance the gospel, to support spiritual leaders. That reflects the
Levitical tithe. And that would be most, uh, the most
parallel thing to that would be giving to the general fund. Absolutely.
Thanks for your call. I hope that helps. We'll be
right back. Thanks for joining us today on Faith and
(30:57):
Finance Live. I'm Rob West here in our final segment today.
We'll get to as many calls as we can. Let's
jump right back in. Henry is in Missouri. Go ahead sir.
S8 (31:06):
Hi, Rob. Thank you for my call. Hi. I'm 74
years old. I'm a retired from AT&T and I started
working as an instructor for Southeast Missouri State University. I'm
got a 4K from the retirement from AT&T, which I
have to get the minimum distribution this year. But since
(31:29):
I'm still working, uh, my question was, uh, would I
be able to create a Roth IRA at this point?
S1 (31:38):
Uh, yes, you absolutely would. Um, so when it comes to,
you know, your ability to contribute, uh, you can contribute
so long as you have earned income. And as I think,
you know, by way of your question. But I'll just reiterate, um,
you know, that means wages, salaries, self-employment income, not Social Security.
(31:58):
But if you're working in any capacity and reporting that income,
then you're eligible. Absolutely.
S8 (32:05):
Great, great. Uh, can you suggest to whom I should
have that wrath with?
S1 (32:12):
Yeah. It really just depends upon how you want to
approach the investments. So, you know, you've got a couple
of options. You could use a robo advisor, which is
a low cost, kind of automated, hands off approach to
investing that would use exchange traded funds to capture, you know,
broad swaths of the market that in a way that's
(32:33):
appropriate for your age and risk tolerance. A second way
would just be to buy a couple of high quality
mutual funds that are low cost, with good track records.
A third way might be a variation of that might
be faith based investing mutual funds that are screened for your, uh,
you know, your values. Um, so those would be the
(32:55):
typical ways if you're just starting out with this Roth
and you don't have other investable assets, you probably couldn't
get an advisor to do it for you, so you'd
probably be left with either selecting the ETFs or the
mutual funds yourself, or using the robo advisor.
S8 (33:12):
Sounds good. Well, thank you very much.
S1 (33:15):
You're welcome. If you want a couple of options on
either of those scenarios. If you want a robo. I'd
probably look at the Schwab Intelligent Portfolios. If you just
put that in your search engine, it'll take you there.
It's Charles Schwab, but it's their robo advisor. They call
it the Intelligent Portfolios. Um, if you want just straight
mutual funds, I'd probably go to our friends at Sound
(33:36):
Mind Investing and they would, uh, through their Sound Mind
Investing newsletter, uh, be able to provide you with the
buys and sells on the various funds that fit your
age and risk tolerance. And then you would open the
Roth at Fidelity or Schwab wherever you wanted, and then
you'd just use their recommendations to make decisions. So hopefully
that helps you. Henry, we appreciate your call. All the
(33:58):
best to you. Uh, to Florida. Hi, Sean. Go ahead.
S9 (34:03):
Hi, Rob. Thanks for taking my call. I have my
IRAs right now. I have a few of them, I guess,
between my wife and I, and we've we've just invested
in stocks. Um, but I've had some questions about ETFs
and maybe your recommendation for a percentage of our investment
that would make sense to go into ETFs, specifically ETFs.
(34:27):
I'm curious about crypto and also, um, real estate ETFs. Um,
and then I also had a question about my company
that I invest with does not allow me to do
this out of my IRA, but they said it is possible.
So I just wanted to get your understanding of how
(34:47):
I can. I use money from an IRA to invest
in a specific real estate investment, like I find a house,
a building that I want to invest in, sort of
how do I do that? So yeah, a couple questions there.
S1 (34:59):
Yeah, those are good ones. So let's start with that
last question first. So yes, you can invest directly in
real estate through an individual retirement account, but it requires
a special custodian. Um, that's called a self-directed IRA custodian.
So that that self-directed is the key word that is
required for you to invest in directly into anything other
(35:24):
than marketable securities that you would buy on the stock
and bond market. So real estate, you would just want
to do your research on, you know, various self-directed IRA custodians.
You'd want to read a lot of reviews, make sure
you find one that's very reputable. But that self-directed IRA custodian,
that's all they do is help folks invest in, um,
(35:44):
you know, non marketable security assets like real estate. So
that's what you would do there. Uh, in terms of
just IRA investments, including ETFs, I mean, more and more
people are using exchange traded funds, uh, for their portfolios.
It's really not a matter of ETF or not. It's
really what kinds of ETFs. Because there's all kinds of
(36:06):
varieties of ETFs. You've got you know the most common
which is where ETFs started which are the indexes where
you'd buy the, you know, Spy which is the S&P 500, or,
you know, any number of indexes that mirror the broad
market indexes. And then you've got actively managed ETFs. So
like I talk a lot about the faith based investing
providers like Praxis and One Ascent and Eventide and Crossmark.
(36:30):
Well they've all created ETFs in addition to their mutual funds.
So those would be more actively managed where there's a
money manager who's trying to outperform the market, but they're
also bringing the faith screens. And then you've got ETFs
around Bitcoin now which has brought the institutional players in.
You've got ETFs that track the price of gold. So
(36:51):
you can use ETFs for just about anything. The question
is what is the right investment mix for you based
on your age and your risk tolerance. What is your age?
For instance.
S9 (37:01):
I'm 57.
S1 (37:03):
All right. So at 57, you know, basically what we
would say is, you know, you'd probably want, you know,
about 50% of your portfolio in stocks. And if you
use ETFs, then, you know, you'd want to make sure
you're diversified within that stock portion, you know, so that
you don't have too much in technology, too much in largecap,
(37:25):
too much in small cap. You don't want to be
all domestic and no international, so you'd want to be
diversified within it, but roughly a 50% allocation to stocks.
And then the other 50%, you know, would typically be
fixed income. Um, you know, you might have a bond fund,
something like that. Now, if you wanted to add precious
metals and crypto, I'd say carve out 10%, 5% from each, 5%
(37:50):
from the stocks, 5% from the bonds. And then take
that gold allocation, that 10% for precious metals and split
it between gold using, let's say, IAU or GLD. One
of the gold ETF trackers and then the other 5%
into a Bitcoin ETF if you want some crypto exposure.
And I think, you know Bitcoin is now mainstream. Uh,
(38:13):
I wouldn't look at any of the other cryptocurrencies. But
with Bitcoin, as long as you understand it's very speculative
and volatile. And as long as it lives inside your
your gold allocation of no more than 10%, I think
that's the place for it.
S9 (38:28):
Yeah. Do you have I mean several different ETFs that
deal with cryptocurrency. So is there any, um, any specific
one that you or ones you recommended? You recommended a
couple of gold ones.
S1 (38:41):
Yeah. You know, I mean, I typically don't make recommendations.
I mean, what you would find is that, uh, you know,
there's there's some that are kind of the leaders in
this space. Um, so iShares is probably one of the
most commonly known, just because they're one of the biggest
in this play in players in this space. Um, you know,
so that's Ebit. Uh, fidelity has a pretty popular, very large,
(39:05):
I think about 25 billion in their Bitcoin fund. Uh,
another one is grayscale. They're uh, you know, one of the,
the big players here, uh, Ark Ark. Um, you know,
has has one. So I would probably just do your research, um,
you know, on what are the top, uh, bitcoin ETFs
and what you're looking for is direct bitcoin exposure. You know,
(39:28):
not some of the other strategies like futures and mining
exposure and things like that.
S9 (39:34):
Right. Okay. All right. Thank you.
S1 (39:35):
Yeah. All right. You're welcome. Thanks for your call today. Uh,
let's go to Chicago. Hi, Austin. Go ahead.
S10 (39:42):
Rob. Thank you so much for having me. I also
have an investment question. Uh, for context, I was blessed
with the opportunity to come into a good amount of cash.
Good amount of money early on in life. I'm still
in my 30s, but I decided to invest it, and, uh,
and I should start this by saying I completely believe
(40:03):
in diversification. But one of the positions that I began, um,
has really run off and become a really big winner. Uh,
and so initially it was just under 10% of the portfolio.
This is a single stock that is now ballooned to
almost 40% of my portfolio. And it's become a high
(40:24):
conviction for me. Now, I know I don't I can't
see the future, but this is kind of one of
those questions about, you know, um, I know conventional wisdom
and biblical wisdom believes in diversification of any portfolio, but, uh,
would it, uh, how foolish is it, Rob? Is what
I'm asking if if I continue with this large of
(40:46):
a position, knowing full well I could lose it all
and I would still be okay, but I kind of
like the idea that I might have picked a winner.
S1 (40:55):
Yeah. Uh, yeah. I mean, so really what it comes
down to is diversification. And, you know, as we think
about this, you know, you have to just acknowledge the
fact that the higher the concentration, the higher the risk.
And so, listen, we're we're you know, we can get
it right every now and then and maybe, you know,
(41:15):
disproportionately see some incredible success. But at the end of
the day, uh, you know, I would go back to
King Solomon, who offered a powerful insight about diversification in
Ecclesiastes 11 two when he said, give a portion to
seven or even to eight, for you do not know
what disaster may happen on the earth. And you know,
(41:37):
and to see that play out, um, we just we
need to look no further, uh, to than Enron. Um,
you know, because most of those employees were very excited
about their the future prospects of their company, and they
were very highly concentrated in their 401 s and their
(41:58):
own company stock. And they had a bright future. And
then all of a sudden accounting irregularities put it out
of business and they lost everything. And so, you know,
I think that's what King Solomon was getting at. So,
you know, your high conviction, if you have the ability
to take more risk. And as long as you know
there's risk, maybe you're willing to go beyond what I
(42:19):
would say is normally no more than 10% in a
portfolio like that, but I wouldn't be at 40. Does
that make sense?
S10 (42:26):
That makes sense. Thank you so much.
S1 (42:28):
All right. God bless you Austin. All the best to you.
And congrats on that hot stock pick. Hey big thanks
to my team today. Tahira, Jim, Dan and Lisa. Faith
and finance. Lives of partnership between Moody Radio and Faith fi.
Have a great weekend. Come back and see us on Monday.
Bye bye.
When it comes to money, most people are looking for
two things security and peace of mind. Hi, I'm Rob
West and that's understandable. Life is unpredictable. Expenses pop up,
markets swing. But here's the question what if peace or
security isn't found in your circumstances at all? What if
the foundation you're building on isn't as solid as you think?
(00:30):
Today I'll share the real secret to financial wisdom. And
then it's on to your calls at 800 525 7000.
This is faith in finance. Live. Biblical wisdom for your
financial journey. Financial wisdom isn't just about knowing what to
do with your money. It's about knowing who your provider is.
(00:52):
Proverbs three five and six says, trust in the Lord
with all your heart, and do not lean on your
own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him and he
will make straight your paths. That's where wisdom begins. Not
with a budget, not with a savings plan, but with surrender.
If you're chasing peace through your paycheck or portfolio, you'll
always come up short. True peace. Peace that surpasses understanding
(01:16):
can only be found in Christ. But when you start there,
when your foundation is trust in God, you begin to
see money differently. So what are the secrets to financial wisdom? Well,
let me give you a few. Not from Wall Street,
but from God's Word. Secret number one. Know who owns
it all. Psalm 24 one says, the earth is the
(01:36):
Lord's and the fullness thereof. Everything belongs to God. Your income,
your home, your retirement, even your ability to earn financial
wisdom starts by recognizing we're not owners. We're stewards. Stewards
manage resources on behalf of someone else. That mindset shifts
the question from what do I want to do with
(01:56):
my money to Lord, what would you have me to
do with what you've entrusted to me? Secret number two.
Spend with purpose. In Luke 1611, Jesus asks if you
have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will
trust you with true riches? How we manage money reveals
our hearts. Why? Spending isn't just about avoiding debt, it's
(02:19):
about aligning our decisions with God's purposes. So create a
plan not just to track dollars, but to prioritize what
matters most giving, saving, living within your means, and investing
in things that last. Secret number three avoid the slavery
of debt. Proverbs 22 seven says the borrower is slave
(02:39):
to the lender. Debt can chain us to the past
and limit our future. It creates stress, restricts generosity, and
often limits our ability to fully serve others or to
respond to new opportunities that God may place before us.
wise stewards build margin. They avoid debt when they can
and pay it down as quickly as possible. Not because
(03:01):
all debt is wrong, but because freedom is better than financing.
Secret number four save with perspective. Proverbs 2120 says the
wise store up choice food and olive oil, but fools
gulp theirs down. Saving isn't hoarding, it's preparation. It reflects
a heart that's thinking ahead and trusting God with tomorrow.
(03:23):
So save for emergencies, save for what's coming. But do
it knowing that your ultimate security is in the Lord,
not in your savings account. Secret number five give first
and freely. And here's maybe the greatest secret be generous.
Second Corinthians nine seven says, God loves a cheerful giver. Why?
Because generosity reflects the heart of God. It loosens the
(03:47):
grip of greed, reminds us we're not defined by what
we own, and gives us the opportunity to To participate
in God's Kingdom work today. When we give, we're saying
with our actions, God, I trust you more than I
trust this money. Now here, this stewardship purpose, freedom, preparation
and generosity. These don't guarantee worldly success. You can do
(04:11):
all the right things and still face hardship. That's the
reality of living in a broken world. But when your
financial foundation is Christ and His wisdom, you're anchored even
in the storm. Because financial wisdom won't always make you rich,
but it will make you ready. Ready to respond with
peace when markets drop. Ready to be generous when a
(04:33):
need arises. Ready to walk confidently. Not because your finances
are perfect, but because your hope is built on something greater.
Isaiah 33 six says he will be the sure foundation
for your times, a rich store of salvation and wisdom
and knowledge. The fear of the Lord is the key
to this treasure. So if you're seeking peace or security
(04:55):
in your finances, don't start with a spreadsheet. Start with Christ.
Let him be your treasure. Let His Word shape your choices,
and let your money become a tool not to build
your kingdom, but to build his. At the end of
the day, the secret to financial wisdom isn't really a
secret at all. It's surrender, faithfulness, and trust. All right,
(05:17):
your calls are next. 800 525 7000. We'll be right back.
S2 (05:34):
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 (05:59):
Great to have you with us today on Faith in finance. Live,
I'm Rob West. Looking forward to taking your calls and
questions today. That number to call 800 525 7000. You know,
as we look across those 2300 verses in God's Word
that deal with money and possessions, what you'll find is
that about a third of them deal with the idea
that God owns it all, and therefore we're stewards. The
(06:21):
other third or so are really about the fact that
money reveals what we value and where we've placed our trust,
and then the rest deal with this idea of faithful
stewardship leading to flourishing for us and for others and
for eternity. And that's really the big idea in the
counsel of Scripture. Now, what you will find is kind
(06:44):
of like an iceberg. The 10% above the water line
is the how, the why? Well, not the why, but
the how of financial decision making. So it's the budgets
and the debt repayment and the investments. But the 90%
that you can't see below the water line is really
the biggest part. And that's the why. And that's really
primarily what we see in God's Word. We just have
(07:05):
to be careful that money doesn't compete with our hearts. Now,
those practical decisions you make every day are still important.
And so we want to deal with both sides of
that equation here. We started today really talking about our
hearts and some of the issues related to money that
we need to wrestle through. And we'll do that to
open the program each day, either, as I just share
(07:27):
with you something on my heart or as we, uh,
deal with an interview, as we talk to somebody who
really has a unique perspective and, and, and something to share.
And today, in particular, we talked about this idea of
financial security. But now we want to turn and give
you the rest of the program and talk about those
practical decisions you are making in your financial life, whether that's,
(07:48):
you know, how you invest for the future, just given
some of the turbulence in the markets today, certainly experiencing
some of that as the Dow Jones closes 500 points
lower because of the the tariffs and a weak jobs report.
Maybe it's debt repayment. How do you pay off debt.
Is it debt consolidation debt management. What about giving wisely.
(08:08):
Is there a way to do that. Minimize your taxes
and give generously to the Lord. Any of those topics
and more in play today? So if you want to
get in on the conversation, give us a call right now.
We'd love to hear from you. That number is 800
525 7800 525 7000. Let's dive into those questions. We'll
begin in Lookout Mountain, Georgia with Sharnell. Go right ahead.
S3 (08:32):
Yes, I wanted to find out if online bank accounts
give more interest than a local bank savings account.
S1 (08:41):
Yes, they sure do. Uh, yeah. You know, the reason
is your local bank branches have a brick and mortar operation,
and with that comes, you know, the requirement that they're
paying a lease or maintaining the property. They've got staff
to staff them. Um, and so that just takes some
of the, uh, you know, the cost that they would
normally be able to pass along to you and requires
(09:03):
that they use that, uh, you know, to cover their
operating expenses. The online banks, while they have the same,
in many cases, FDIC or NCUA insurance, they have the
same reserve requirements. I mean, they're full fledged banks. They're
just able to take some of that savings by not
having the brick and mortar operations and pay it to
you in the form of higher interest rates, uh, because
(09:27):
they just simply have lower overhead and they use those
higher rates to attract customers. So whereas you might see
4 to 5% APY on high yield savings, you might
see 0.01 to 0.5% Percent at many local banks. So absolutely,
you're going to get a better yield. Um, many of
(09:49):
them are FDIC insured or NCUA insured or privately insured.
I would make sure that that's the case. You are
going to want to know if there's any withdrawal limits
or fees. Um, you may also, like many of our listeners,
want to know that they align with your values, uh,
that that they really are, uh, operated in a God
honoring way, whether that's just not supporting things that would be,
(10:12):
you know, antithetical to the Christian faith or perhaps taking
a portion of their profits and supporting Christian ministry, like
our partners at Christian Community Credit Union. They've got a 5%
high yield savings. And, you know, it's really built for believers.
And so that, you know, that would be a great
option there. So yeah, you are going to do better
(10:33):
with the online options. You are, though, going to give
up the ability to walk in, you know, and see
somebody face to face. Does that make sense though?
S3 (10:42):
Yes it does. Also, I have a friend that's trying
to get me to invest gold in a company called GI.
Is that a good company to invest in gold or
is there a better one?
S1 (10:53):
Yeah, it's a good question. I'm not familiar necessarily with GSE. Um,
I would just say, you know, in general, uh, I
like gold as an investment. Um, I would be looking
to buy the metal itself, either by taking physical possession, uh,
based on the spot price of gold, you just need
(11:15):
to make sure that there's not a lot of markups
on it when you're buying through a dealer. Or you
could buy a tracking, uh, investment. So there are a
lot of gold. What are called ETFs, exchange traded funds
GLD would be an example. There's a dozen of them
or more. And basically you'd buy and sell them, uh,
Chanel like a stock. But they just track the underlying
(11:38):
movement of the metal. So in this case they have
actual physical gold in vaults, but it allows you to
buy and sell it just like a stock whenever the
stock market is open. So it it has the features
of gold because you're able to benefit from the rise
of the gold, the underlying precious metal. But you don't
have to buy it, take possession of it, secure it,
(12:00):
things like that. So I would say either buy it
outright or buy one of the tracking stocks. Um, you know,
when you're buying a gold investment, uh, you know, sometimes
you're buying the miners and some of the other ways
you can take, you know, a position in gold. I
wouldn't do that just because you basically want to, um,
you know, make sure you're not getting caught up with
(12:22):
the performance of that particular company when really all you're
trying to do is take the possession of the gold itself.
But do you have any follow up questions on that?
S3 (12:34):
Yes. Um, what was the company that you said? Did
you say a certain company I should invest matched in gold.
S1 (12:39):
Well I didn't. What I was saying is, first question
you have to decide is, do I want to buy
the physical gold where they literally mail it to you
and you put it, you put a safe in your home,
or you put it in a safe deposit box and
you're storing it and you might keep it forever and
pass it down. Or do you just want to buy
one of the trackers? And you know, what I was
(13:00):
saying is there are a lot of exchange traded funds
that that track the price of gold. I mentioned one
which would be gold. So that would be the spider
gold shares GLD that trades on the stock exchange. Another
one would be IAU. That's probably the the second largest.
They've got about 46 billion in that in that exchange
(13:23):
traded fund. That's from iShares. Um, you know and there
are a bunch of other ones as well. Those are
probably the two most popular GLD and IAU. So, you know,
if you decide, hey, I just want to benefit from
the overall Growth or appreciation of the price of gold.
Then these ETFs are a great way to go. If
you want to buy the physical gold, then you really
(13:45):
need to find a reputable dealer. Read a lot, read
a lot of reviews. Find somebody who's trusted that can
make that purchase for you, and then you just need
to make sure you have a plan to secure it safely.
So hopefully that helps you. Sharnell we appreciate your call today.
Thanks for being on the program. Well, folks, we're going
to take a quick break. When we come back, we'll
talk to Chuck about, uh, universal life insurance. Uh, also,
(14:08):
Tara wants to know, how do I just get starting, uh,
with my investments? And, Kevin, let's talk about tithing. That
and perhaps your question 800 525 7000. We'll be right back.
(14:29):
Great to have you with us today on Faith and
Finance live. I'm Rob West. We're taking your calls and
questions today. Let's head right back to the phones. Let's see.
Florida's where we're headed next. Hi, Chuck. Go ahead.
S4 (14:39):
I just got a real quick question about a universal
life policy. I'm 75 years old. I've owned it since 2001.
So I've been paying into it for all these years,
and and I'm just I'm trying to decide if I
should let it just stop paying premiums and let it
(14:59):
let it go. Go, uh, till the end, till it,
till it. Well, it'll go for about six more years.
Or whether I should, uh, take the investment, which is
about the cash value, $40,000, and invest it somewhere else
and do something else with it. That's really my question.
S1 (15:18):
Yeah, well, it's a great one, and it's one that
folks come up to, you know, a lot in this decision.
I think you have to start with, do I still
need the insurance? So if the answer is yes, you
want to leave a legacy or you're trying to cover expenses,
Then keeping it may make sense. If no. If you
have kids, they're grown. You don't have any debt. You
(15:39):
don't have a clear need. No one's depending upon you
for your income. Then I think cashing it out may
be more useful if the policy could sustain itself for
six years with no more premiums. You know you're buying
time without the out of pocket cost, but after six
years it would lapse. Of course, unless you start paying again,
or unless you know the market performs well, depending on
(16:01):
how it's structured. The question then would be if you
did cash it out, what would you do with the 40,000?
I suspect you could invest it and do better, but
of course that ends the policy and any death benefit. Um, so,
you know, I think at the end of the day,
if you don't need the policy and it's going to
continue to get more costly, at the very least, chip
(16:22):
away at your your accumulated cash value and cause you
down the road to either let it lapse or continue
to invest in it. Then, you know, perhaps it served
its purpose. And I think this 40,000 plus, anything you
might add to it in the future could probably be,
you know, handled better elsewhere. Um, so at the end
(16:42):
of the day, I'm not a huge fan of this
type of product. Uh, unless there's a very specific need
for it. I'd rather you just do straight investments without
the added expense of the mortality and the other insurance
related costs. Does that make sense, though?
S4 (16:55):
I it does. I, uh, you know, I originally bought
it for the death benefit. That's what I've kept it
for all these years. And and now I'm starting to realize, man, I,
you know, I it's it's just not going to not
going to do much and maybe I can do better
with the cash value if I can get it out
and go from there.
S1 (17:15):
Yeah, yeah. Very good. I would agree with that. Excellent.
Thanks for your call, Chuck. Call anytime, sir. God bless you. Uh,
we're going to stay in Florida. Tara, how can I
help you?
S5 (17:23):
Oh, hi. Thanks for taking my call.
S6 (17:26):
Yes, ma'am.
S5 (17:27):
Um, I asked a question. Yes. Um, my son just
graduated high school and he's exploring financial trading. He's currently
mentored by a classmate father who is a primary care.
You probably should, um, know what I'm talking about. Primary care.
So he earned his first insurance license through them, but
(17:47):
he's planning to transfer to a university. But he said
that trading, not primary care, is his long term goal.
He has recently asked me to join primary care to
help him qualify for bonuses. I've invested some money there
in a non-qualified mutual fund to that advisor. So that
advisor now recommends me to transfer my, um, 2035 target date, um,
(18:14):
for O1 for more aggressive management. So I need some
guidance on a few things. First of, I would like
to understand, um, do you think that my son is
getting financial mentorship or is being steered toward, uh, some
kind of recruitment for bonuses? Or do you think, um,
moving my old forward into that advisor care is a
(18:36):
good thing?
S1 (18:37):
Yeah, it's a great question. And you know, what I
would say is that the business model there for the
Primerica Advisors is one similar to what you're describing. I
hear this a lot where, you know, they get in
a lot of folks who are just starting out in
the business and, you know, they're just really pushing them
(18:59):
hard to recruit, uh, often from friends and family members.
Many of them don't kind of stay in the business. Um,
you know, their, their products, I think, generally speaking, are,
you know, seen as perhaps a little bit more expensive, um,
you know, and perhaps, you know, don't perform quite as well.
(19:22):
And so, you know, it would not be my first
place to recommend that somebody go to learn the business. Where,
you know, my preference would be you find somebody who's
truly going to mentor you and bring you in and
teach you the business and let you get, you know,
learn the the planning side. Um, you know, and be
in the meetings in the conference room and, you know,
(19:43):
watch the planning, perhaps help in assisting in creating the
financial plans rather than a sales based model where there's
just a lot of focus on, excuse me, going out
and and attracting new clients from your friends and family.
So that's just been my experience. It doesn't mean they're
doing anything wrong. It's certainly a legitimate company. There's probably
(20:04):
a lot of people listening, maybe, who have used Primerica
or currently or even some advisors from there that are
doing a great job for their clients. But I just
think as a firm, that approach that you're describing is
is what I most commonly hear people talk about when
they talk about Primerica.
S5 (20:20):
Yes. Do you have any, uh, do you have in
mind any educational path, Anything that I can tell my
son to follow so he can be a real skill
in financial trading.
S6 (20:31):
Yeah.
S5 (20:31):
What would you.
S6 (20:32):
Recommend?
S1 (20:33):
Where is he? In school.
S5 (20:35):
Um, he started a community college, um, so he can
transfer after two years into, um, a university. FIU. That's
his goal. Florida international university.
S1 (20:47):
Okay. And where? How many? Has he already gone there yet?
Or is he just entering?
S6 (20:51):
No, no no, no, he just graduated.
S5 (20:53):
He just started. He's, uh. He has a goal. He
wants to start, you know? Um, well, and I also
want to help him. So he doesn't really, um, waste
too much time or go to the wrong path.
S1 (21:04):
Yeah. Okay. Got it. Yeah. I mean, I think, uh,
getting into a financial planning program would be ideal. Uh,
even if it was online. I mean, for instance, Liberty
University has a track, and there's many others. It's not
just Liberty, but I'll use this as an example. Has
a track for believers that want to go into financial services,
(21:26):
where you can get both the certified financial planning education,
which is the premier designation in this business, and the
certified Kingdom advisor. And then when you graduate, there's thousands
of advisors ready to hire you. Let's do this. Let's
pick this up on the other side of the break.
Stay right there. We'll be right back. Thanks for joining
(21:54):
us today on Faith in finance live here on Moody Radio.
I'm Rob West. We're taking your calls and questions today.
That number 800 525 7000. Before the break, we were
talking to Tara in Florida. She's wondering for the best
way or what is the best way for her son
to start learning investments. And certainly, you know, just getting
started and understanding the investment world. Tara, I'm going to
(22:17):
send you a book that I'd like for you to
pass along to him to begin to educate himself on investing.
If he's working at all and has earned income, I'd
get him to start a Roth IRA and start learning
to diversify through exchange traded funds or faith based investing ETFs,
where the investments are aligned with his values. And all
of that will be in this book that I'll send you.
(22:39):
In terms of pursuing a career in financial services, you know,
there really is a phenomenal career track that has emerged
around faith based financial advice. And I think the the
key is he wants to get into a program that's
going to lead to the CFP, the certified financial planner. And,
you know, there are many programs across the country, both
(23:01):
online and residential, community college and, you know, four year
university that offer either a certificate in financial planning or
often it's a bachelor's of science, a BS in business
administration with a financial planning concentration. But the key is
you want it to be a CFP board registered program
(23:21):
so that when he's done, he can sit for the
CFP designation because that's what employers are going to look for.
And then the secondary designation is the one that we
offer here at Kingdom Advisors, which will give him the
biblical worldview. And that is the Certified Kingdom Advisor. And
there are about ten universities across the country that offer
(23:42):
a financial planning degree program with CFP. And where when
he graduates, he's ready to sit for both. But if
he's already got kind of his plan charted out, he
knows where he's going. It's too late to make a change.
Then I would just say while he's in school, wherever
he is, he wants to start working on or should
start working on his CFP. If he can. And then
(24:04):
I would take advantage of internship opportunities starting between his
freshman and sophomore year. You know, in the Kingdom Advisors Network,
there are tons of faith based financial advisors that would
love to have him as an intern during the summer,
and that will give him a lot of great real
world experience that when he graduates, he'd be ready to
(24:24):
land a job in this really exciting and growing industry
of faith based financial advice. Does that make sense?
S5 (24:33):
Um, yes. Um, but let me ask you quickly for
the Kingdom Advisory Network so he can go online and
just register for some kind of internship, or does he
need some kind of reference?
S6 (24:45):
No. Yeah.
S1 (24:46):
Yeah. So, um, the best thing to do would be
to come to the Kingdom Advisors conference in February. It'll
be about 3000 advisors. And then we do a job
fair at the conference where the students that are there,
there'll be about 300 of the 3000 that are undergraduate students.
They basically do speed interviews where they can lock down
jobs and internships with all the faith based, uh, investment
(25:10):
companies and financial planning companies. Um, there, the tuition or
the registration for the conference is free, but he does
need to be in a CFP program to be able
to come to the conference. So you can learn about
all of that at Kingdom advisors.com.
S5 (25:25):
Oh, thank you so much. I definitely will look it up.
Just one last thing before I go. Um, that was
regarding my 401 K, which is a 2035 target, uh,
date for one K. So that advisor was telling me to, um,
to put it under his care, you know, his management, so,
but I'm a little bit concerned. So I was wondering
(25:48):
if you think that I can roll it myself into
an IRA. You think I'm looking for a more aggressive management, though?
S1 (25:55):
Yeah, yeah. Very good. How much do you have in
the 401 K?
S5 (25:59):
Um, about, um, that's from an old job, about 125.
S6 (26:04):
Um, okay.
S1 (26:05):
Yeah. Um, you know, if you've separated from that employer,
I like the idea of you either rolling it into
your new 401 K if you have one, or rolling
it out to an IRA, but you will need to
determine who's going to manage it, because inside the 401 K,
you have a limited investment universe. You know, you've used
a great option with this target date fund, which makes
(26:26):
it really simple. As soon as you get into the IRA,
you basically have an unlimited number of choices. Um, and
so I think having an advisor, whether it's this one
or maybe a caixa in your area, and I did
interview at least 2 or 3, um, would be a
good choice. Do you have a new 401 K where
you're currently working?
S5 (26:45):
I do, but I didn't want the idea to roll
it over to that new one. I just want it
to be more aggressive with that one. So yeah, I'm
looking into, you know. Yeah.
S1 (26:57):
Okay. So then I'd roll it out to an IRA.
And then depending on whether you feel like this advisor
is a good fit or you'd want to interview a
few more, you can find a CA in your area
at Faith. That's faith. Philly.com. Just click find a professional.
S5 (27:13):
All right. Thank you so much. I appreciate your your help.
It's really, um. Thank you. It's a blessing to have you.
S6 (27:20):
Thank you.
S1 (27:20):
Well thank you. Tara, listen, stay on the line. We're
going to get your information, and I'm going to have
my team send you the Sound Mind investing handbook for
you to give to your son as our gift. Okay.
Thanks for being on the program. Let's go to Chicago. Hi, Kevin.
Go ahead.
S7 (27:34):
Hi. Um, I'll be as succinct as possible here. So
say a person makes $1,000 a week, say they've decided
that they wanted to give 20 or 25% of it
back to work of God. Their local church has envelopes,
and on the envelope they have the general line. Then
they have a missions line. They have a benevolence line.
(27:54):
Then they have another line for, you know, a couple
different things that might be going on in the church
does 10% automatically. The first 10% I have to go
to the general fund.
S1 (28:06):
Well, I think the key there is when you say
does it have to because remember, you know, we're not
under the Old Testament law of Moses any longer. I mean,
we see plenty of of talk of the old in
the Old Testament of the tithe. The idea of tithing,
you know, is there in terms of really talking about
what is the tithe, like 15 times in Scripture? The
(28:28):
word itself is used nearly 50 times. Um, in the
Old Testament we see lots of different types of tithes. Uh,
certainly the one that went to the temple to support
the Levitical priests. You would see that there, uh, you
would see other tithes, uh, like, you know, there was
a ties that were enjoyed as a part of a
community celebration and, uh, a charity tithe, you know, when
(28:52):
you put them all together, it might have been 30%
in a single year. But in the New Testament, you know,
really what we read is that it's more about our
character and our heart posture than a number or a
percentage of giving. Because, you know, biblical generosity is really
an expression or an overflow of our gratitude to God
(29:12):
for the grace that he's extended to us. And clearly,
we see in the New Testament we're to give freely
and joyfully. I think we're to give proportionately to what
God has provided to us. I think we're also to see,
to give. We see this in Scripture sacrificially. Now, if
you want to apply the principle of the tithe to
your giving, and I think that's a great thing to
(29:34):
do as a starting point, then yes, the word tithe
means a 10th. It was on your increase, and I
think initially it was to support the local church. And
we see this, you know, with the the Levitical tithe that,
you know, shows up in Leviticus 27. And so I
would say, yes, that would be a very appropriate way
(29:55):
to do it as to say, I'm going to give
a 10th, 10% to the general fund to support my church.
And then anything beyond that, you know, is really an offering.
And you could decide absolutely to to allocate that to
missions at that point. Does that make sense?
S7 (30:11):
It does. But I'm just making sure the general principle
is you're going to give that first money to the
operation of the actual congregation, that church building that, that
you go to.
S1 (30:23):
That's exactly right. Yeah. Give to the local church to
advance the gospel, to support spiritual leaders. That reflects the
Levitical tithe. And that would be most, uh, the most
parallel thing to that would be giving to the general fund. Absolutely.
Thanks for your call. I hope that helps. We'll be
right back. Thanks for joining us today on Faith and
(30:57):
Finance Live. I'm Rob West here in our final segment today.
We'll get to as many calls as we can. Let's
jump right back in. Henry is in Missouri. Go ahead sir.
S8 (31:06):
Hi, Rob. Thank you for my call. Hi. I'm 74
years old. I'm a retired from AT&T and I started
working as an instructor for Southeast Missouri State University. I'm
got a 4K from the retirement from AT&T, which I
have to get the minimum distribution this year. But since
(31:29):
I'm still working, uh, my question was, uh, would I
be able to create a Roth IRA at this point?
S1 (31:38):
Uh, yes, you absolutely would. Um, so when it comes to,
you know, your ability to contribute, uh, you can contribute
so long as you have earned income. And as I think,
you know, by way of your question. But I'll just reiterate, um,
you know, that means wages, salaries, self-employment income, not Social Security.
(31:58):
But if you're working in any capacity and reporting that income,
then you're eligible. Absolutely.
S8 (32:05):
Great, great. Uh, can you suggest to whom I should
have that wrath with?
S1 (32:12):
Yeah. It really just depends upon how you want to
approach the investments. So, you know, you've got a couple
of options. You could use a robo advisor, which is
a low cost, kind of automated, hands off approach to
investing that would use exchange traded funds to capture, you know,
broad swaths of the market that in a way that's
(32:33):
appropriate for your age and risk tolerance. A second way
would just be to buy a couple of high quality
mutual funds that are low cost, with good track records.
A third way might be a variation of that might
be faith based investing mutual funds that are screened for your, uh,
you know, your values. Um, so those would be the
(32:55):
typical ways if you're just starting out with this Roth
and you don't have other investable assets, you probably couldn't
get an advisor to do it for you, so you'd
probably be left with either selecting the ETFs or the
mutual funds yourself, or using the robo advisor.
S8 (33:12):
Sounds good. Well, thank you very much.
S1 (33:15):
You're welcome. If you want a couple of options on
either of those scenarios. If you want a robo. I'd
probably look at the Schwab Intelligent Portfolios. If you just
put that in your search engine, it'll take you there.
It's Charles Schwab, but it's their robo advisor. They call
it the Intelligent Portfolios. Um, if you want just straight
mutual funds, I'd probably go to our friends at Sound
(33:36):
Mind Investing and they would, uh, through their Sound Mind
Investing newsletter, uh, be able to provide you with the
buys and sells on the various funds that fit your
age and risk tolerance. And then you would open the
Roth at Fidelity or Schwab wherever you wanted, and then
you'd just use their recommendations to make decisions. So hopefully
that helps you. Henry, we appreciate your call. All the
(33:58):
best to you. Uh, to Florida. Hi, Sean. Go ahead.
S9 (34:03):
Hi, Rob. Thanks for taking my call. I have my
IRAs right now. I have a few of them, I guess,
between my wife and I, and we've we've just invested
in stocks. Um, but I've had some questions about ETFs
and maybe your recommendation for a percentage of our investment
that would make sense to go into ETFs, specifically ETFs.
(34:27):
I'm curious about crypto and also, um, real estate ETFs. Um,
and then I also had a question about my company
that I invest with does not allow me to do
this out of my IRA, but they said it is possible.
So I just wanted to get your understanding of how
(34:47):
I can. I use money from an IRA to invest
in a specific real estate investment, like I find a house,
a building that I want to invest in, sort of
how do I do that? So yeah, a couple questions there.
S1 (34:59):
Yeah, those are good ones. So let's start with that
last question first. So yes, you can invest directly in
real estate through an individual retirement account, but it requires
a special custodian. Um, that's called a self-directed IRA custodian.
So that that self-directed is the key word that is
required for you to invest in directly into anything other
(35:24):
than marketable securities that you would buy on the stock
and bond market. So real estate, you would just want
to do your research on, you know, various self-directed IRA custodians.
You'd want to read a lot of reviews, make sure
you find one that's very reputable. But that self-directed IRA custodian,
that's all they do is help folks invest in, um,
(35:44):
you know, non marketable security assets like real estate. So
that's what you would do there. Uh, in terms of
just IRA investments, including ETFs, I mean, more and more
people are using exchange traded funds, uh, for their portfolios.
It's really not a matter of ETF or not. It's
really what kinds of ETFs. Because there's all kinds of
(36:06):
varieties of ETFs. You've got you know the most common
which is where ETFs started which are the indexes where
you'd buy the, you know, Spy which is the S&P 500, or,
you know, any number of indexes that mirror the broad
market indexes. And then you've got actively managed ETFs. So
like I talk a lot about the faith based investing
providers like Praxis and One Ascent and Eventide and Crossmark.
(36:30):
Well they've all created ETFs in addition to their mutual funds.
So those would be more actively managed where there's a
money manager who's trying to outperform the market, but they're
also bringing the faith screens. And then you've got ETFs
around Bitcoin now which has brought the institutional players in.
You've got ETFs that track the price of gold. So
(36:51):
you can use ETFs for just about anything. The question
is what is the right investment mix for you based
on your age and your risk tolerance. What is your age?
For instance.
S9 (37:01):
I'm 57.
S1 (37:03):
All right. So at 57, you know, basically what we
would say is, you know, you'd probably want, you know,
about 50% of your portfolio in stocks. And if you
use ETFs, then, you know, you'd want to make sure
you're diversified within that stock portion, you know, so that
you don't have too much in technology, too much in largecap,
(37:25):
too much in small cap. You don't want to be
all domestic and no international, so you'd want to be
diversified within it, but roughly a 50% allocation to stocks.
And then the other 50%, you know, would typically be
fixed income. Um, you know, you might have a bond fund,
something like that. Now, if you wanted to add precious
metals and crypto, I'd say carve out 10%, 5% from each, 5%
(37:50):
from the stocks, 5% from the bonds. And then take
that gold allocation, that 10% for precious metals and split
it between gold using, let's say, IAU or GLD. One
of the gold ETF trackers and then the other 5%
into a Bitcoin ETF if you want some crypto exposure.
And I think, you know Bitcoin is now mainstream. Uh,
(38:13):
I wouldn't look at any of the other cryptocurrencies. But
with Bitcoin, as long as you understand it's very speculative
and volatile. And as long as it lives inside your
your gold allocation of no more than 10%, I think
that's the place for it.
S9 (38:28):
Yeah. Do you have I mean several different ETFs that
deal with cryptocurrency. So is there any, um, any specific
one that you or ones you recommended? You recommended a
couple of gold ones.
S1 (38:41):
Yeah. You know, I mean, I typically don't make recommendations.
I mean, what you would find is that, uh, you know,
there's there's some that are kind of the leaders in
this space. Um, so iShares is probably one of the
most commonly known, just because they're one of the biggest
in this play in players in this space. Um, you know,
so that's Ebit. Uh, fidelity has a pretty popular, very large,
(39:05):
I think about 25 billion in their Bitcoin fund. Uh,
another one is grayscale. They're uh, you know, one of the,
the big players here, uh, Ark Ark. Um, you know,
has has one. So I would probably just do your research, um,
you know, on what are the top, uh, bitcoin ETFs
and what you're looking for is direct bitcoin exposure. You know,
(39:28):
not some of the other strategies like futures and mining
exposure and things like that.
S9 (39:34):
Right. Okay. All right. Thank you.
S1 (39:35):
Yeah. All right. You're welcome. Thanks for your call today. Uh,
let's go to Chicago. Hi, Austin. Go ahead.
S10 (39:42):
Rob. Thank you so much for having me. I also
have an investment question. Uh, for context, I was blessed
with the opportunity to come into a good amount of cash.
Good amount of money early on in life. I'm still
in my 30s, but I decided to invest it, and, uh,
and I should start this by saying I completely believe
(40:03):
in diversification. But one of the positions that I began, um,
has really run off and become a really big winner. Uh,
and so initially it was just under 10% of the portfolio.
This is a single stock that is now ballooned to
almost 40% of my portfolio. And it's become a high
(40:24):
conviction for me. Now, I know I don't I can't
see the future, but this is kind of one of
those questions about, you know, um, I know conventional wisdom
and biblical wisdom believes in diversification of any portfolio, but, uh,
would it, uh, how foolish is it, Rob? Is what
I'm asking if if I continue with this large of
(40:46):
a position, knowing full well I could lose it all
and I would still be okay, but I kind of
like the idea that I might have picked a winner.
S1 (40:55):
Yeah. Uh, yeah. I mean, so really what it comes
down to is diversification. And, you know, as we think
about this, you know, you have to just acknowledge the
fact that the higher the concentration, the higher the risk.
And so, listen, we're we're you know, we can get
it right every now and then and maybe, you know,
(41:15):
disproportionately see some incredible success. But at the end of
the day, uh, you know, I would go back to
King Solomon, who offered a powerful insight about diversification in
Ecclesiastes 11 two when he said, give a portion to
seven or even to eight, for you do not know
what disaster may happen on the earth. And you know,
(41:37):
and to see that play out, um, we just we
need to look no further, uh, to than Enron. Um,
you know, because most of those employees were very excited
about their the future prospects of their company, and they
were very highly concentrated in their 401 s and their
(41:58):
own company stock. And they had a bright future. And
then all of a sudden accounting irregularities put it out
of business and they lost everything. And so, you know,
I think that's what King Solomon was getting at. So,
you know, your high conviction, if you have the ability
to take more risk. And as long as you know
there's risk, maybe you're willing to go beyond what I
(42:19):
would say is normally no more than 10% in a
portfolio like that, but I wouldn't be at 40. Does
that make sense?
S10 (42:26):
That makes sense. Thank you so much.
S1 (42:28):
All right. God bless you Austin. All the best to you.
And congrats on that hot stock pick. Hey big thanks
to my team today. Tahira, Jim, Dan and Lisa. Faith
and finance. Lives of partnership between Moody Radio and Faith fi.
Have a great weekend. Come back and see us on Monday.
Bye bye.
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