Healthcare Open Enrollment

In the off chance you haven't been bombarded with ads and mailings about healthcare plans, you might have missed that we are in open season for enrollment. That's right, it's time to make a decision.

And the clock is ticking. You have less than a month to decide which healthcare plan you'll go with in 2021. Today, host Rob West talks about that and much more with Lauren Gydeck of Christian Healthcare Ministries. Then it's your calls at 800-525-7000. 800-525-7000. I'm Steve Moore, Healthcare Open Enrollment.

That's next right here on MoneyWise Live. Well, Rob, Lauren Gydeck is Vice President of Communications and Media at Christian Healthcare Ministries, and today she's loaded with lots of great information to help us make wise choices and decisions about paying for healthcare in the coming year. Well, just in time, Steve, because as you pointed out, we're already in open enrollment. Lauren, welcome back to the program. Great to have you with us again. Oh, thank you so much for having me back, gentlemen. Absolutely.

You know, we may have some listeners here. This is a new idea, perhaps a new term, open enrollment. So why don't you begin by explaining that for us?

Sure thing. Well, Christian Healthcare Ministries is a nonprofit medical cost-sharing ministry. We have hundreds of thousands of members all across the United States and in foreign countries who share in paying each other's medical bills, and we've done that now for almost 40 years.

Next year will be our 40th year. And to answer your question about open enrollment, this is a time of year when people are typically looking for a solution to their healthcare for next year. And so, you know, they're going to the insurance exchanges and they're looking online. They're asking friends what they do.

Maybe they're looking at what their employer offers. But what I mentioned about Christian Healthcare, I brought all that up because with Christian Healthcare Ministries, you can actually join us at any time. It's just that we recognize that this is the time of the year when a lot of people are looking for those types of solutions. Very good.

Yeah. So you can join the ministry at any time. And, you know, you're not an insurance company. Instead, you offer health cost sharing. You touched on this, but perhaps explain a bit more about how that works.

Yeah, I'd be happy to do that. Health cost sharing, I like to describe it as a way to meet your medical costs and help others. But at the same time, you're upholding your Christian beliefs and you're sticking to your budget. It is a budget-friendly option.

Very good. Yeah. And so that's key, obviously, because what folks want to know is that they can go visit their healthcare provider and that they're not going to have to absorb the full cost of that, recognizing that everything from office visits, especially when you string them together around a single incident, all the way to a visit to the hospital or something more involved, can get costly. So having the backing of Christians aware of and sharing each other's burdens is really key, and it's built on a biblical model, isn't it? Yes, it is. Our foundational verse is Galatians 6, 2, which is, carry each other's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. And we just want to make a Christian community available to people while at the same time meeting a very important need in their life, which is, how are you going to pay for your healthcare costs?

Yeah, that's exactly right. And there's no contract involved. As you said, members pay a monthly financial gift to contribute to the ongoing medical needs of others. Now, speaking of open enrollment and the requirements that are there, according to the Affordable Care Act, are people still required to have healthcare in place if they have this type of plan?

The answer to that question is technically yes. But because of the tax law that was passed a couple of years ago, and then went into effect in 2019, it actually took away the individual mandate, what we call the individual mandate for people to have health insurance or some kind of healthcare plan. And so even though it still exists, and the law is still in place, you don't have to pay a penalty anymore for not having something for your healthcare. Yeah, very good. Well, we're going to have to hit a break here in just a few seconds. But this is really helpful information, especially in light of the season that we're in, as people are thinking about how to deal with the rising cost of healthcare. So perhaps we'll get into a few more specifics and talk about who this is really for, what situations and circumstances, even life stages, that's all to come. That's right. Lauren Gydeik with us today from Christian Healthcare Ministries, certainly one of the leaders in the medical cost sharing ministry circle that's out there, 40 years of helping people.

We'll be right back. Many people are experiencing financial challenges such as credit card debt, downsizing, debt in jobs and depleted savings. In fact, more than half of all divorces are the result of financial pressures at home. But there's hope in Your Money Counts. Biblical financial expert Howard Dayton shows that the Bible is a veritable blueprint for managing your finances, and you'll discover the profound impact it has on your relationship with God.

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Hi, I'm Bernie Diamond. I don't have some neatly packaged answer for you, but I'd like to share a poem with you that I guess reflects some of my understanding of the stuff that I've been through in my life. It's called The Weaver, and it goes like this. My life is but a weaving between my Lord and me. I cannot choose the colors as he weaveth steadily. Sometimes he chooses dark threads, and I in foolish pride forget he sees the upper and I the underside. Not till the loom is silent and the shuttles cease to fly shall God unroll his canvas, and explain the reason why the dark threads are as needful in the weaver's skillful hands as the threads of gold and silver in the pattern he hath planned.

Let me ask you something. When you're suffering, when you're struggling, where will you turn? If the heavy burden of debt is robbing you of freedom and peace of mind, Christian credit counselors can help. We're a nationwide nonprofit credit counseling organization that has helped over 300,000 individuals in the last 27 years get out of credit card debt 80% faster while honoring that debt in full. To learn how Christian credit counselors can help you, visit christiancreditcounselors.org.

That's christiancreditcounselors.org, or call 800-557-1985. Hey, it's super to have you with us today. It's MoneyWise Live. Your host is Rob West. I'm Steve Moore, and joining us from Christian Healthcare Ministries, as she always does every other month or so, is Lauren Guidak. Lauren, we've already established that this is a ministry built on biblical principles, doing unto others as you would have others do unto you, helping others when they need help, so that someday if you need help, they'll help you. Just how large is the ministry, and how much have you shared, let's say, in the last year or so? Yeah, I mentioned a couple minutes ago, we have several hundred thousand members in all 50 states.

We do operate in all 50 states. And also, last year in 2019, for the entire year, we shared about $500 million. And I'm just really excited to share with you today that as of the end of October of this year, 2020, even with COVID, and everything else that's been going on this year, as of the end of October, we already surpassed that amount from last year, and we have shared over $516 million so far.

Why am I still paying for my own aspirin? That's what I'm wondering, Rod. $516 million, my goodness. Yeah, it's over half a billion dollars, and it just gives you a sense of the size and the scope of the ministry that's taking place. And that's really what it is. I think what so many people appreciate, Lauren, about CHM is that it's really a more compassionate approach to dealing with these issues. Would you agree with that?

Oh, I absolutely would. And the most common feedback that we hear from people as to why they joined is because, you know, what we do aligns with their Christian beliefs. And, you know, it's something that they feel good about, that they believe in. And also, you know, when they call in, they're hearing a real person, first and foremost, and the compassion of our staff is coming across.

And people just really appreciate not having to haggle, you know, over their medical bills and things like that. Yeah. Well, and another key aspect of this is really built on transparency, this idea that each member understands going into any kind of medical experience or need, knowing full well what will be shared and what won't be, right?

Right. And it's very important to us to operate with transparency and accountability. And, you know, that comes across in, I would say, just about everything we do, down to the very fact that, you know, the people who join our program actually see their medical bills. You know, they come to the patient and then the patient sends them on to us. And so they actually know the cost of their healthcare.

And that just really puts the patient in the driver's seat, which I think is really powerful. You're in the driver's seat today because this is a call-in program. And if you have access to a phone, here's our number, 800-525-7000. If you'd like to get some additional details, some information we haven't mentioned so far, this is a great time to call.

We have the people here with the answers, and we have open lines, 800-525-7000. You know, Lauren, so many people, if you ask them about their current system of getting their medical coverage covered or in place, they mention all the paperwork that's involved and all the confusion that often comes with that paperwork. Is it any easier, any better with Christian Healthcare Ministries?

I would say what people need to know about Christian Healthcare Ministries is, you know, we're not insurance. So it's a little bit of a paradigm shift for folks. But once you kind of understand what it is and what it does and how we work, we have so many people who say, you know, I would never go back. I want to stay a member because, you know, they know that they know what we're trying to accomplish.

And that is transparency, like we already talked about, you know, the compassion and so on and so forth. And there really isn't a lot of paperwork involved. In fact, when you go to join, our application is very quick, very simple online. You fill it out, you send it in, you get a confirmation number and you're a member.

Yeah, very good. Let's get real practical for a second, because, you know, here's the thing. Awareness of health cost sharing is growing, but still not widely known or understood.

And there's probably some folks listening saying, I like the idea of this, but I just don't understand how it works. First question, any physical or medical tests that have to be run prior to somebody becoming a member? No, there's no test whatsoever. And you can join CHM regardless of your age, your weight, where you live, and your health history.

You're welcome to join as long as you're a Christian living by biblical principles. And as far as pre-existing conditions, nothing really there? We do have some limitations for pre-existing conditions, but we do also have two programs set up to assist with those. So, you know, there's a little bit of, you have to understand the programs for the pre-existing, but we do offer help with those as well. Right. Okay.

And we've mentioned before that some of our own staff members here have been a member of Christian Healthcare Ministries for a long time and several entering the program with pre-existing conditions, some of them quite substantial and doing just great, would never go back to any other options. So really worth checking if you're wondering about the openings today and what your options might be. Let's take a call, Chattanooga, Tennessee. Hi, Roberta. What's on your mind?

Oh, hi there. I'm looking to retire December 1st. I'm 62. And I'm trying to find some kind of affordable health care.

So I heard this and I was like, I've looked around and everything's super expensive. And I'm trying to find something that would cover somebody that, say, goes to the doctor four times a year in a 62. Sure. Lauren, maybe just an overview of how that works in terms of per incident and what would be shared based on doctor visits and that type of thing.

Sure. Well, thank you so much for your question, Roberta. So Christian Healthcare Ministries is mostly for the type of expenses that you cannot plan for. So, you know, I like to say, for example, if you know you're going to go to the doctor, typically that's a minimal expense. That's something you already know is going to happen.

But, you know, what you can't foresee is maybe tomorrow you fall and break your arm. So for those types of things, that's really what Christian Healthcare Ministries is for. It's for surgery, it's for hospitalization, it's for those unexpected things. And all three of our programs are reflective of that. So our best program is our gold program. That one is $172 a month, Roberta, if it was just you. And then you could add on, you know, additional people in your family if you wanted to. But that would essentially be for everything over $500. So if your doctor visits totaled up to over $500 and if they were in a certain period of time, then they would become eligible for our program. Yeah, I think that's really the big idea here is that this is affordable. And it's really having that peace of mind to know that you've got the backing of literally tens of thousands of believers who are sharing one another's burdens per incident.

And as Lauren has said, you know, at the gold level over $500. So you're thinking beyond the routine and you're thinking about things that would come unexpected. We appreciate your call today. Perhaps, Steve, we can take another one. Let's try.

Let's see. How about line three? Illinois and Veronica, how can we help you?

Yes, hi. First, I want to say thanks for taking my call. And I really appreciate your show. I listen as much as I can and have learned so much.

Thank you for that. My question was, I was really set on joining Christian Healthcare Ministries. And now that it's open enrollment at work, I really wanted to just drop that plan and join this one. But with things so uncertain these days, I was wondering if this individual mandate were reinstated, would I then have to find myself searching for insurance in the free marketplace?

Yeah, great question, Lauren. Oh, Veronica, I am so happy you asked that question because, you know, obviously this is something we've experienced before when the individual mandate was in place. So if that were to go back into effect, you know, Christian Healthcare Ministries would still be an eligible exemption under the law. So the whole time that the ACA, the Affordable Care Act was in place, you know, Christian Healthcare Ministries was operating just like we always did.

And we will be operating just like we always do after that happened. So you can still have Christian Healthcare if you so desire. Or we also can be used as a secondary form, you know, as a secondary source to help pay for your medical bills if you do keep your insurance. Anything else, Veronica? No, I think that's good.

I'm looking forward to it and saving some money, that's for sure. Well, they have a great website, so you should really check them out today. It's chministries.org. It is.org, right?

Yes, it is. Sorry, sometimes I freeze there. Chministries.org, O-R-G. And as I mentioned, the website is full of great information, easily accessible, easy to move your way around, and you'll find answers to all the questions you might be wondering about. We have to pause here for a brief break, and then we'll come back. Ann's in Chicago, and she's got a question about pre-existing healthcare issues. And perhaps you have a similar question or something totally different. Maybe this is the first time you've heard of Christian Healthcare Ministries. Well, this is your lucky day.

Give us a call, 800-525-7000. You're listening to MoneyWise Live. Many people adopt an attitude toward marriage and finances that it'll all work out somehow. But sadly, it often doesn't. Financial woes can devastate a marriage, but there is a better way. God's Way. Money and Marriage God's Way by Howard Dayton will help you discover God's approach to growing your finances, strengthening your relationship with your mate, and cultivating Godly joy.

Money and Marriage God's Way is available when you click the Store button at MoneyWiseLive.org. Hebrews 4-12 says, For the Word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword. Here's Beth Moore with a quick word.

Nothing has taken a bigger beating on any of us than our hearts. Nothing. Nothing. So if we just wanted to shift into what was convenient, our tendency would be to be great lawkeepers. We would not mind becoming legalistic. But see, we could get to where that would be a whole lot easier than loving.

A lot easier. We could find us some rules to obey. But what the Word of God is telling us is there is nothing else. As much as we would like to fill up that vessel some other way with good works, oh, we're just going to show our love with so we're just going to serve. We're just going to serve.

We're going to give to the poor. We're going to do all those things, but we're going to withhold any emotion from it because we do not want to get hurt. You know, to the degree that you are in pain when you get something up, when you lose a loved one to the degree you grieve is somehow a testimony of the degree to which you loved.

That's a wonderful thing. That you got in there and you just risked it all again because I've been like you. I've been hurt so badly that you just think, never again. We will never please Christ by overprotecting our hearts.

To overprotect and to just love when it's convenient is something that will continually leave that vessel completely empty. And you know what? Leave us empty as well. Beth and the team are thankful for the grace gift to serve you. Your letters, prayers and support are a vital part of this program. To request this month's thank you gift, text the word GIFT to 57682. Again, text G I F T to 57682 or go to Bethmoor.org forward slash donate. You probably have a strategy for your finances, your career, even your retirement, but do you have a strategy for your giving? At the National Christian Foundation, we can help you create a giving strategy to inspire your family, maximize your resources and leave a lasting legacy of faith.

To learn how visit MoneyWise.org slash NCF. Our friend Lauren Guidak back with us today from Christian Healthcare Ministries. You'll find them online and you really should check them out because that's great information. Maybe if not for you, a family member, an adult child, CHMinistries.org, CHMinistries.org. And Rob, with your permission, we'll take another call.

Okay, let's do it. Chicago, Anne, thanks for holding. What's your question?

Yes, thanks for taking my call. I have a 28 year old daughter that has lupus and RA, rheumatoid arthritis, has had it since she was 19 and is currently just ending being on a COBRA plan that was allowing her to stay with all of her providers. I had contacted a different minister, I don't know that it was yours, and because of pre-existing health issues, they weren't willing to take her on. Is that the same with your organization? Because she's a nanny and she doesn't get insurance, that's not an option.

It's going to be really expensive. Sure, great question. And Lauren, your thoughts? Yeah, Anne, I can tell you for sure that the company you talked to was not Christian Healthcare Ministries, because we do take everyone who is a Christian living by biblical principles, regardless of their health history. So, you know, she would be accepted as a member as long as she made that profession of faith. And with the pre-existing conditions, you know, it's a little bit tricky because I don't know all of the details of your situation. So, I would refer you back to our guidelines, of course, for the specifics on her condition. But essentially, you know, if you're in the middle of an incident when you join, we're not able to help with those bills. But, you know, she's got a long-term chronic condition, and she's going to have stuff that pops up every now and again. It's going to flare every now and again.

And, you know, once a new incident starts, you know, after you join, there's a period of time, and then if a new incident starts or if a flare-up occurs, that's when our pre-existing programs can kick in to help. Very good. Anne, thanks for that great question, and call CHMinistries.org to learn more. Before we go to the next caller, and I know we're going to run out of time, Lauren, here quickly, and there's a lot of questions on the board.

Let me ask Toddies, because we're not going to be able to get to her. Her daughter recently lost her job, currently pregnant, wondering if CHM would be an option. Yeah, if you're not working, you can still be part of Christian Health Care Ministries. It's not tied to your employment at all. So whatever stage of life that you're in, you can join Christian Health Care Ministries and you can take it with you. If you get a job, you know, you might want to go with insurance, you might not. You can still keep CHM regardless of your employment status. And what about pregnancy? How is that handled? That would be where, you know, you would have to be in a marriage and you would have to have joined, you have to become pregnant after you join.

So those are the two stipulations there, but we help with a lot of maternity bills. Alright, great. One more.

Jeff in Davenport, Iowa. Jeff, we're going to have to squeeze it in and give us the high points here. Okay.

Yeah. Thanks for taking my call. I get an explanation of benefits from my current insurance provider.

There's a big inflated number that just would blow you out of the water to see it. And then after they go down the lines, your provider, they give the provider a huge, you know, like an 85% cutback, you know, of drop of the charges. Now in health care, when sharing, are you on the hook for the whole thing or do they get a certain, that same type of amount deducted from theirs? Great question, Jeff.

Lauren? That is a really great question. We don't have pre-negotiated rates with medical providers. What we do is we will negotiate with them on the back end. And in a lot of cases, our members will even do the negotiation. And we see a lot of healthcare providers offering discounts sometimes after the fact, sometimes right before a surgery, but a lot of times after, you know, the charges have been incurred. And then, you know, CHM shares 100% of the qualifying expenses.

And in the case you're describing, we would share 100% of the qualifying expenses after the discounts had been applied. I love it. Thanks for your call, Jeff. Lauren, great to have you stop by today.

We're so thrilled with our partnership with CHM and your covenant relationship with your members, where you share each other's medical bills. We'll look forward to having you back again real soon. All right. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. God bless.

Thanks so much. And if you're just tuning in, well, it's Money Wise Live. We're taking your calls live on any financial topic.

He's Rob West. I'm Steve Moore. Here's the number 800-525-7000. You'll find us online at MoneyWiseLive.org. Stick around.

We'll be right back. How should we as Christians think about investing? What if we could invest our money in a way that aligns with what we believe? At Eventide, we believe it is possible to love God and love our neighbor in the very practice of investing. We design investments for performance and a better world so you can invest for the future with a sense of wholeness and purpose. We call this investing that makes the world rejoice.

More information is available at InvestEvenTide.com. Christian Health Care Ministries enables believers to show love for one another by sharing each other's health costs. Through CHM's voluntary health cost sharing programs, members uplift each other spiritually and financially. CHM is an eligible option under the Affordable Care Act and a Better Business Bureau accredited charity.

Interested? Learn more by calling 800-791-6225 or online at chministries.org. Hi. My name is Ryan Koch, a youth ministry major at the Moody Bible Institute. The Moody Radio Verse of the Week is found in Galatians 2-20. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.

In the life I now live in the flesh, I live my faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. That's Galatians 2-20, the Moody Radio Verse of the Week. Your day by pursuing God. Listen to the Mornings with Tozer podcast. AW Tozer provides you with two minutes of spiritual intimacy with God. You'll discover a God of breathtaking majesty and world-changing love. As you step into the morning light of a new day, listen to Mornings with Tozer on Spotify or Apple podcasts.

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You'll find it all in Master Your Money by Ron Blue, available when you click the store button at MoneyWise Live. With SRN News, I'm John Scott. President Trump's legal team held a news conference in Washington earlier concerning the election and the legal challenges that are underway. Rudy Giuliani detailed election voter fraud. The 2020 presidential election, he says, was fraud at its worst. The Wisconsin Elections Commission has ordered a recount of more than 800,000 ballots cast in two heavily Democratic counties. President Trump paid 3 million and filed a petition for the recount. The president says there were irregularities in Milwaukee and Dane counties.

And Texas sending medical staff to overworked hospitals by the thousands amid a worsening surge of cases across the Lone Star State. Stocks ending higher today. The Dow was ahead 44 points.

The NASDAQ jumped 103 and the S&P 500 gained 14. This is SRN News. Happy to have you with us today at MoneyWise Live. And we have another way of reaching us if you don't actually want to call in and speak live to Rob today. You can always send us a brief email.

And if you'll keep it brief, then we might be able to get to it on air, like we're going to do right now with an email from Mary Ann. She says, Dear Rob, we're both retired and have unwisely racked up quite a bit of debt, which I'm sick about. We don't have an emergency fund. I have about $41,000 in retirement funds, which I have not touched. After taxes and tithing, it would cover our debts plus pay off our car.

And that's good. The bills are killing us, however, and we can't tithe anymore. So should I take my TSP out in a lump sum or start taking out enough monthly just to cover the payments?

I'd insist that from now on we use our credit card only if we can pay it off each month. Yeah, Mary Ann, I appreciate that so much. So here's the bottom line.

Let me just summarize if you missed part of that. Mary Ann, they're retired. They've got quite a bit of debt. All they have is $41,000 in retirement funds, no other retirement, no emergency savings, but they're not able to make ends meet, especially given even the minimum payments on the debt. So Mary Ann's wondering, should she pull out her thrift savings plan out of the $41,000 to pay off the debt? At least that comes out of the budget each month.

And I'm just going to say, let's not take that option yet, Mary Ann. If we have to eventually, perhaps. What I would do is start paying just the minimums. If you need to take a withdrawal to keep them current out of the $41,000, take just what you need. And let's try to find other sources of income. Perhaps you or your husband need to think about part-time work. What can we do to get the income up so we can balance the budget without pulling out the only remaining assets you have, which is these retirement funds?

It's easy to go to that, and I realize it may become necessary, but I want to exhaust every other option first. And if you guys could get some part-time work, get some income coming in, balance that budget, I think I'd feel a lot better, I know you would too, about you preserving $30,000 or $35,000 or more of that retirement fund so it's available down the road if you need it for a major medical event or something like that. So let's try that first and see if we can't find some income and we'll trust that the Lord will provide. Okay, and if you have a question you'd like to ask Rob and you'd like to send it via email, the address is questions at MoneyWise.org.

Let's go to Tampa, Florida. Hi Rebecca, thanks so much for holding and what's on your mind? Thank you so much for taking my call. I'm calling because three years ago I was diagnosed with a terminal illness and I'm still here, but I'm really struggling with some financial issues. I've got some home repairs that need to be taken care of and I have a having blank insurance policy which allows for a 50% payout if I have a terminal diagnosis, which I do. And I'm trying to find out how that would affect my Medicaid.

I'm currently receiving Medicaid and Medicare and I'm just wondering how adversely that would affect my status as far as my insurance. Yeah, Rebecca. Well, I appreciate so much that question. Let me just say, first of all, the Lord is our provider. He's also our creator and he's the great physician, right? So let's be on our knees and we'll certainly join you in asking for a healing touch on your body that he would be present in every way as he always is in every facet of your life, including this medical situation. And yet we place our complete trust in him for every breath, right?

All of us do. And so his ways are sovereign and we need to be found faithful with whatever time we have all of us because we're not promised even another day. As you look at the financial side of this, it's important to understand exactly what the implications would be on this 50% payout of your insurance. I don't believe there'd be any issue with Medicare. The question is Medicaid and I'd like for you to dig a little bit further. I don't want to give you a definitive answer on that because there are a number of issues related to income and assets.

And frankly, I'm not exactly sure on a payout of a policy in this way, what impact that would have. But here's what I can tell you is the folks in the office that handle Medicaid would be great at sitting down with you and going over this. I direct you to Medicaid.gov. But what even might even be better than that, Rebecca, is to make an appointment there in your local office to go in, to sit down, to talk through the diagnosis that you have, talk through what's going to happen potentially with the insurance payout and ask about ramifications on that.

Because clearly I want you to know exactly what's going to happen before it happens. And I think getting that directly from the government in this particular office that handles Medicaid would be the best way to do that. So Medicaid.gov and then schedule a local appointment. Rebecca, God bless and we'll be praying along with you. Thanks so much for contacting us today. Time for one more, I think, before the break.

St. Joseph, Minnesota. Albert, how can we help you, sir? Hi, Rob.

Thanks for taking my call. Yeah, sure. I plan to retire next year at 65 and at that time I was wondering about using a portion of my 401k savings to generate a monthly income stream. So I was wondering what your thoughts were concerning a split annuity strategy whereby I use a five-year deferred fixed income annuity to fully fund a five-year fixed rate immediate income annuity with monthly payouts. Yeah, so the goal here is to solve for a gap in income that would be covered by the fixed annuity payouts, is that right? Correct. Okay.

And would that give you more peace of mind, Albert, as opposed to bearing that risk yourself and just investing that with a stock and bond portfolio? Yeah, that's correct. Yes.

Okay. Yeah, I think that's the key. I mean, annuities are not my favorite solution. Using an insurance contract in this way certainly has some upside. Primarily, it's transferring the risk from yourself to an insurance company that if you can solve for a gap in income that's then guaranteed for the rest of your life or with survivor's benefits, you and your wife, you know, it gives you the peace of mind to know at the very least we've got our bills covered.

Then I think that's really the upside is having the peace of mind that goes along with that. The downside is just the cost associated with it, the fees, the commissions and expenses, losing access to the funds without surrender charges and then just the limited returns. You know, with the variable products, you're giving up a portion of the upside and then often the guaranteed part is less than you might earn otherwise with figuring that you lose access to the funds, which goes along with it. But again, if that gives you the peace of mind that you're looking for because you're able to generate an income that's equal to what you need to make up a shortfall in a budget, I would say there's no reason not to do it. And the strategy you're describing with the split annuity, meaning using the deferred to fund the fixed, I don't find any problem with that whatsoever. The rates on five-year annuities are just over three percent, going up to only about three and a quarter for a nine-year annuity. So you're going to have to look at that and just make sure those numbers work. But it sounds like you've already investigated what that annuitized monthly payout would be.

And if that fits, then I can't find a flaw in your strategy as long as you've done that homework on the front end. But we appreciate your call today. Thanks for checking in with us, sir. Yeah, Albert, God bless.

Thank you so much, sir. You know, as we reflect on the calls that we've already had today and the things we've talked about, you know, whether you're dealing with a health issue or an automobile issue or trying to figure out how to best invest what God's given you, it all boils down to managing what you have well. And that involves a budget system, whether it's the old-fashioned envelope budgeting system or something more unique and something more high-tech than that. And that's where the new Money Wise app can really help, right, Rob?

I love that when you think high-tech, you think Rob West, Steve Moore. That makes me feel really good. Yeah, the Money Wise app is out and available. It's in your app store today. It's the best digital envelope system I've ever used. All right, there you go.

Check it out, Apple App Store or Google Play Store. Thanks for listening. Hi, I'm Barry McGuire. I'm here to help you understand the urgency and how much fun it is to share your faith through the eyes of a layman. If you'll take a step back for a moment and view the world from God's perspective, you'll see the entire world in chaos and looking for a savior. It's near pandemonium, not just here, but around the world, as every country is losing faith in its leaders and looking for somebody to rescue them. Ultimately, that will take us to the antichrist in a one-world government.

And that, as wild as it sounds, could happen sooner than we ever dreamed. Wherever we are in God's time clock, God's called us to sound the alarm to our unsaved friends that the enemy is coming. And in Ezekiel chapter 3, God actually explains how He's holding you accountable for your unsaved friends, that their blood will be on your hands if they die in their sins because you didn't warn them. If that doesn't motivate you, death be well. There's nothing more exciting than knowing God is using you to move people closer to Him.

Join us at igniteamerica.com. Hi, I'm Joni Eareckson-Tada. In Song of Solomon chapter 2, God says to us, quote, Show me your face, for your voice is sweet and your face is lovely.

Wow. What tender, wonderful language. I mean, this is a God in love, right? No wonder the Bible speaks of Jesus as our bridegroom and us the bride. He longs to see our face and hear our voice as we praise Him in song and worship. And I like that part about God wanting to see our face. It shows that the Lord wants nothing to exist between He and us. No sin, no encumbrance, no barrier.

It's all about intimacy, friend. And you and I can get ready for our betrothal to our Savior as we expose our sin to the light of day and find cleansing in His forgiveness. Time to give God a great wedding gift on that day?

Well, you can begin right now by obeying His Word, as we've got to get ready for a pretty awesome wedding. Money and life run on the same track. But unfortunately, sometimes it seems like your money is heading in a different direction from your goals. In Never Enough, Three Keys to Financial Contentment, author Ron Blue helps you to break down all your financial options to a basic four, and then shows you how to keep it all chugging along in the right direction on the same track. Never Enough, Three Keys to Financial Contentment, available when you click the store button at MoneyWiseLive.org. Hey, thanks so much for sticking around for the final segment of today's edition of MoneyWise Live.

He's Rob West. I'm Steve Moore. You might want to see us, visit us, even like us on Facebook. You'll find us at MoneyWise Media. Now, be careful. We follow monkey media. Trust me, that's something totally different.

Just trust me on this. It dropped down a little bit. It's MoneyWise Media, and we go back to our phones. Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Hello, David. I'm not even going to go there, Steve. Well, it's all alphabetical. It's a crazy thing, and it's cute, but it's not who we are.

Murfreesboro, Tennessee. David, what's in your mind today, sir? Hey, guys. Thank you for taking my call. Sure. My wife wants to take an equity loan out on our house, and what it would do, actually, it would help us pay off both of our cars, which our amount on both cars is $70,000, but it would increase our house note for an additional six years, and an additional $200 a month on the note, but it would actually, on the backside, give us an extra $900 a month that's not obligated to go out to any other bills or anything, but just we could put aside. My question is, do you think that's a good idea? I'm not crazy about it, but we've got $135,000 round about that in equity in the house now, so we wouldn't be taking up a whole amount, but we'd be taking out roughly $70,000, $75,000 worth.

Yeah. David, in terms of the current mortgage that you have, what did you say the balance was? The balance on the house now is probably a little bit over $100,000, $135,000, $140,000. Okay, very good, and what are the interest rates on the car notes?

I can't tell you that. I know that both notes every month are right at $1,000. Okay, that's the payment. Yeah, I don't like this plan.

A couple of reasons why, David. Number one, you're taking the notes, which right now are secured by the cars, and you're converting that to being secured by the house. So if you do that, and something happens and you can't pay that second mortgage, and this would be obviously a drastic situation, I realize that, but in the event it happened, then, you know, you're putting your home at risk. Now, you said it's only $200.

What's the big deal? Well, the reason it's only $200, even though the interest rate perhaps is lower, although it doesn't necessarily have to be if you have good credit, is you are spreading it out over a much longer period of time. So the reason you're freeing up that $900 a month is because that car note is somewhat short, and you're going to have that paid back hopefully in the next, what, three to five years, whereas now we're talking about extending this out. I don't know whether you're looking at a 20-year note or what you're looking at, but this is debt that's going to be sticking around for a long time. So even though the interest rate comes down, you're going to end up paying a lot more in interest over the life of the loan, unless you were to take that $900 and plow it back in. But even then, we have this issue of attaching it to your home.

So what I'd prefer you do is stay on this as painful as it is. You know, this is the key why we really need to try to buy cars with cash. You know, $70,000 in car notes is a lot of money. And so, you know, is it time to look at perhaps refinancing those loans to get that interest rate down if possible?

You know, that would be one option. But I would just really stay focused on paying these off as quickly as you can as car loans. And then let's keep paying that money to ourselves. So that perhaps the next car we buy, we don't have to take on any debt, but attaching it to your house, you wouldn't be able to deduct it. And now we've encumbered the home, we've eroded most of the equity in the house. And we potentially have stretched it out over a much longer period of time because it's just so easy to say, we'll just pay the minimum payment because we have other places we need to spend this money.

For all of those reasons, I would stay away from tapping the home equity to pay these off. Dave, we wish you well on that. Thank you very much, buddy.

Quickly to Selma, Alabama. Hello, Todd. You have a question about long term health care, huh? I do. Thank you for taking my call. Yeah.

Oh, the I have sold my business. We had a term policy for the owners and I want to convert it to some I think a whole life with a long term health care writer. Yeah. How how much long term health care am I? Am I really going to need?

Yeah. Well, I think, you know, this comes down to a couple of things. Number one, what do you have in the way of assets? You know, most folks who are buying long term care insurance have enough in the way of assets that they're concerned that this is a risk that the need for long term health care could erode those assets, but they don't have so much and I'm talking probably more than two or $3 million where it's not a concern and they could just fund it out of their own assets. So then the function is okay, what is the daily benefit that I need in the way of long term care assistance? And that's the way you buy long term care insurance other than the riders. You look at what's the daily benefit.

And so if you start by looking at okay, what is a nursing home going to cost in my city? Let's say it's 300 a day and I have the ability to cover 100 of that because I've got 3000 a month and you know, income that I can use to offset that, then I need a daily benefit of $200 a day. And then, you know, that's going to help me understand what kind of policy I need to buy that has that 200 or $175 a day. So that's really the way you kind of back into that the benefit of the attaching it to the whole life insurance is just understanding that you could get a return of premium. So, you know, if you need long term care, you start to access some of the money you've been paying in, as opposed to having to wait and get a death benefit for your beneficiaries. The only downside is you're also paying for that whole life insurance all the way through which is costly. And that's why some folks, you know, drop their term insurance when they no longer need a death benefit because nobody's depending upon them. And they buy a straight long term care insurance policy. So they're not also paying for the death benefit throughout the rest of their lives. I'd contact a long term care insurance specialist in your area. If you need a referral, contact a CKA there in Selma, and have them price out a number of different scenarios for you and walk you through this process. Great question, Todd, and we trust that that'll help you and give you some direction.

You're at a great age to start doing this research. Thanks very much for listening. Well, Rob, I think we have time for let's see one more call.

Let's go to Ohio and Sophie. You're our final caller of the day. How can we help you? Oh, well, I appreciate you taking my call. Thank you very much.

And I do love the show as everybody else does. However, I, I have some concerns for myself and just, just a quick little clip. I have come into some money, which is a large amount to me and of 250,000 and I have had a rough struggles in life and all kinds of reasons why I haven't been able to save much of anything. So I'm a little nervous about having this money and I want to invest it, but I also have another little dilemma where my, my, my son wants to start a business and he of course wants me to do this for him. I love my son dearly, but he's not been able to save either.

And so this makes me a bit nervous. I was thinking maybe the fair thing to do would be to tell him, well, let's see how much money for this business. And maybe I could meet you halfway depending on of course the amount of money that he wanted to put into a business, but mainly I don't know if I need a counselor or a financial advisor or please help me with this situation.

Well, Sophie, this is a challenging situation in the sense that, you know, it sounds like you feel somewhat of an obligation to help your son here. I mean, the wise thing would be for you to take this money, which is a real blessing, to recognize that it's been entrusted to you by the Lord. It's the Lord's money for you to stop and pray and say, Lord, what would you have me to do?

I think that's what I would do first and foremost. James 1 5, if we lack wisdom, let us ask and God gives it to us. And so you need wisdom in this decision moving forward. You also need to keep in mind that you are the steward of this money, not anyone else.

And so despite what pressure any family member may put on you because they see you have come into what is a very large sum of money, and it is to anyone, you don't need to feel pressured or obligated or guilty if you don't take it and use it for their benefit. You know, the fact that your son hasn't been able to save any money causes me some concern on why he would now make for a good business owner. You know, 20 percent of businesses fail in the first year.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 50 percent fail within their fifth year. That's not meant to scare you, but in some respects it should. I mean, there's a reason that it takes good money to start a business and often it takes a lot more than we expect. And this perhaps is quote unquote an easy way for him to go into business. And yet this could end up being very detrimental, and you all could lose all of it. And so I think what would be a better opportunity for you is to say, you know what, son, I want to help you get on a solid financial footing, but we need to do it the way that all of us do it where, you know, we go out, we get a job and we work hard and we develop some skills. And if you have a desire to start a business someday, then let's, you know, get you into that industry where you're working and you're earning a paycheck and you've demonstrated you can live on a budget and you can save and you can not take on any debt and you can be mentored and you can grow and someday you may be able to have your business. But to be able to short circuit that learning process, the discipline, the habits that need to be formed by taking this money that came very easy or could come very easy to him and dropping it in his lap when he's not prepared. And then God's money being, you know, five years from now, it's gone.

We haven't done anybody any favors. And so I think, you know, what you need to do is really again, start by making this a matter of prayer. I think the second thing you need to do is to connect with a financial advisor who could put a disciplined investment strategy in place for you.

And then beyond that, encourage your son and perhaps you help by giving him some, you know, a deposit of some kind to get into his own place or find other ways to help along the way and not dropping money into a brand new business when he's not ready. Sophie, we want to send you a book, Master Your Money. You stay on the phone line. We'll get your information. MoneyWise Live is a partnership between Moody Radio and MoneyWise Media. Thanks so much for being there. Join us again next time.