Marketplace Evangelism

In Mark 16, Jesus gives His disciples the Great Commission, and He said to them, Go into all the world and proclaim the Gospel to the entire creation. As followers of Christ, we have the same calling now to share the good news of the Gospel wherever we go.

Does that include the marketplace? Well, today, Kingdom Advisors President Rob West shares his thoughts. Then we take your calls at 800-525-7000. I'm Steve Moore, Marketplace Evangelism.

That's next, right here on MoneyWise Live. Well, Rob, we all need to look for opportunities to share the Gospel with those who don't yet know Christ, but business people, I think, are in a unique position to do that. Wouldn't you agree?

I absolutely would, Steve. Not only do they come into contact with many different people—I'm talking about associates, customers, vendors—but while doing that, they can make a strong witness for Christ. I don't mean by proselytizing necessarily, but by always acting with absolute integrity and honesty, and by showing respect and concern for others. You know, it's probably no coincidence that the Hebrew word Avada means work, worship, and service. So the idea that we can worship God while doing our work is actually embedded in the name. Avada meaning today, perhaps, avocation?

Is that where that comes from? Exactly right, and the Bible is very clear in supporting that idea. You know, from the very beginning, Steve, we were to be workers even before the fall of man. We see work referred to as a gift in Genesis 2 and a gift from God in Ecclesiastes 5. We're also commanded to work in 2 Thessalonians 3.10. In fact, work in its different forms is mentioned more than 800 times in the Bible, more than all the words used to express worship, music, praise, and singing combined. All right, let's see. Let's hone in on the specifics for people who are in the marketplace today, buying and selling.

What do we find there? Well, we find that business people have a unique platform, or pulpit, you might say, for leveraging their kingdom influence. Let's go back to God's word, this time in the New Testament, when Jesus called the twelve disciples, many of them owned and operated businesses as tradesmen and commercial fishermen. Then let's look at where Jesus spent his time.

Of the 134 appearances, 122 of them are in the marketplace. He also told a total of 52 parables, and 45 of them had a workplace context. Now let's look specifically in the book of Acts.

Of the 40 divine interventions recorded there, 39 were in the marketplace. So if the Holy Spirit and the apostles knew the value of witnessing in the business world, well, I guess we should too. But we really see the value of marketplace evangelism throughout the Bible. In Hebrews 11, we find what's often called the faith hall of fame. Listed there are the many who were saved by their faith, including Abel, Abraham, Moses, David, Samuels there, Rahab, the list goes on. Now, they weren't all business people as we define the term today, but they all use their position and dealings to influence others around them for God. Only one of them was actually a religious, you might call professional.

Well, you've been doing your homework. What about today in the modern world? Do we have examples of business people using their influence to lead others to Christ in these times?

Yeah, we certainly do. Countless examples, in fact, of God's people using their marketplace influence for the cause of Christ. In his book, you'll know it, Steve, God Owns My Business, Stanley Tam writes this, and I quote, Although I believe in the application of good principles in business, I place far more confidence in the conviction that I have a call from God.

I am convinced, Stanley says, that his purpose for me is in the business world. My business is my pulpit, end quote. We also see this demonstrated by, well, you could say the Green family at Hobby Lobby, the Kathy family at Chick-fil-A, even the Maloons.

You know that story. They were the owners of Correct Craft. The Barnhart family, I was just with Alan Barnhart the other day, owner of Barnhart Crane and Rigging. They give away millions of dollars.

And of course, let's not forget R.G. Letourneau, who's often cited as the most inspiring Christian inventor, businessman, and entrepreneur the world has ever seen. He has given millions to spreading the gospel around all over the world. And of course, Steve, as you know, the late Larry Burkett was very successful as a businessman as well. And he was the author of Business by the Book, which lays out all the principles.

That's right. Well, it's a key opportunity for people in business today. It's an opportunity to be a preacher.

And we'll be right back to talk some more. When it comes to investing guidance, you want advice grounded in God's Word. That's the approach offered by Sound Mind Investing. SMI has helped tens of thousands of Christians acquire investing wisdom and confidence. Regardless of your investing experience or how much you have to invest, you can learn to be a wise and faithful steward in the area of investing.

A short video webinar on profit and peace of mind is available now at soundmindinvesting.org. It's now time to play answer the question wrong and you could lose your life. Let's get started. I'd like to welcome to the show Tim, not a believer.

Welcome. Oh, wait a minute. I think I'm on the wrong show here. What makes you think that? Well, I wanted to win a million dollars, not lose my life.

Let's get started. No, wait, wait. Now keep in mind, answer the question wrong. You could lose your life. Great prize, huh?

Lose my life? Why? I've been good, raised good kids, been faithful to my spouse.

I gave the charity. Well, Tim, those things are nice, but will it get you to heaven? Is that the question? No. Is it? I don't know. Have you trusted Jesus as Lord of your life?

That's the question. Romans 1 9 says that if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved. Something to think about from your friends at Moody radio. 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. Welcome back to Money Wise Live. Your host is Rob West. I'm Steve Moore and we're taking your calls today on anything financial, 800-525-7000. We have a number of open lines. Not sure why. Maybe it's just because it's Friday, so if you've been trying to get in, give us a try today.

There's a good chance. 800-525-7000. For just a couple of minutes, we're talking about something that's often referred to as marketplace evangelism. When I said here's your opportunity to be a preacher if you're in business, I wasn't thinking that you would necessarily have an altar call over the counter of the ice cream shop where you work, but just by the way you treat other people, being honest, following God's biblical principles when it comes to how you treat co-workers, vendors, customers, even your competitors. Would you agree, Rob?

Well, that's exactly right, Steve. We have the opportunity to be salt and light, be difference makers in the world, be the hands and feet of Jesus, and be known by the way we treat others so that others looking on will say, you know what, there's something different about that person, him or her, and want to know more. Perhaps even somebody going through a difficult time that might reach out to you because they know you're a person of faith and at the appropriate time might give you the opportunity to say, can we pray about that? Or can I encourage you by reading you what the scriptures say about this particular issue?

Just pray that the Lord would give you eyes to see and an openness to be used by him in whatever capacity that is. And I think you're exactly right, Steve, that starts with really being of the utmost reputation, having the utmost integrity and honesty, and working with diligence and excellence in all that we do. Yeah, I won't go into any details, but I can tell you for a fact that the late Larry Burkett and also Howard Dayton, author, teacher, the founder of Compass, finances God's way, both of those gentlemen told me stories of reaching out to competitors and going the extra mile with competitors. And what, how that flabbergasted the other person that a competitor, how that's how their competitors saw them, that a competitor would reach out and go the extra mile as a competitor. But if you really believe in your heart that God's in control of you, your business, your future, then a competitor takes on a different definition.

Well, that's exactly right. When we recognize that God is our provider, not our customers, not the industry we're in, not even our employer or the US government, God is our provider. And so therefore we're responsible to him. You know, we play to an audience of one, which means we're free to just serve others as opposed to trying to necessarily always be focused on winning business. That's ultimately up to the Lord. Now we need to do our part, but I think ultimately we need to be focused on being in service to those around us as opposed to anything else. Amen. Again, your calls next on anything financial that you may be wondering about, give us a call.

800-525-7000. We have a number of open lines. Let's begin by going out to Wisconsin. Deborah, is it a little, little chilly up there today in Wisconsin? Actually, it's pretty mild. It's in the high twenties, actually the low thirties, but bright sunshine and about six inches of snow. It's mild up there, Rob. High twenties. What do you think, buddy? Well, have you been outside recently?

It's pretty chilly here in Atlanta. I think we're actually in the thirties, but yeah, it's a little different. Everything's a matter of perspective.

Hey Deb, what's on your mind? Well, recently my mom passed away and she left some money for both in life insurance and then also a Vanguard account that's being shared by myself and four siblings. And so I'm wondering what to do with that money in my current life situation.

Yeah, so let's walk through that a bit. First of all, I'm sorry to hear about your mom's passing, but I appreciate the way you're approaching this because whenever we come into any money, ultimately it all belongs to the Lord, but now you're the steward of these resources. The question we always want to ask is, Lord, what would you have me to do? Now, the good news is he's laid out principles in his word, more than 2,300 passages in the Bible that deal with money and possessions and net worth.

And so we can look to God's word to inform how we should think about it. But at the end of the day, I'm going to ask you, Deborah, to really come before the Lord and say, Lord, give me wisdom to know how to manage your money and to use it in a way that aligns with what's most important to me and on your heart as well, because we want to find alignment with our values and our money so that we can use it in a way that accomplishes ultimately his purposes. Now, as we kind of navigate the priorities of allocating God's resources, you know, I would always start by saying, what giving do we want to do? And anytime you come into a windfall, I think that's the first opportunity you have is to say, Lord, would you like me to put a portion of this back into circulation in the kingdom? And if he does, you could give it directly or you could use something called a donor advised fund, which is think of it like a charitable checking account, if you will, that you can use to give money away as the Lord leads. Beyond the giving, the next thing I would look at would be any savings. Do you have an emergency fund of three to six months expenses? And if not, I would start by replenishing or funding that particular emergency reserve in an online savings account where it's safe and secure and available if you need it. Beyond that, I would be looking at consumer debt that you might want to pay off, which is going to be a guaranteed return equivalent to the interest rate that you're paying.

So certainly if you have credit card debt, as long as you've fixed the problem that got you there in the first place, if there was one, then I'd look at the opportunity to pay that off and even other consumer debts like car loans or student loans. Once that's in place, then I would be looking at whether or not you've been systematically funding long term savings, what we would typically refer to as retirement savings and evaluate your readiness there. And then lastly, I would be thinking beyond all of those things about any other short term or medium term goals that you have. Are you looking to buy a new car to replace one that's beyond its useful life or are you looking to buy a home and therefore you need a significant down payment? So given some of those things that I've just kind of walked through in priority order, tell me where you're at and what sounds like it might apply to you. Okay.

I think I'm towards the last half of what you were saying. I do not have any debt. I do have savings about and then about $75,000 in a retirement account. My car does need to be replaced.

Actually, I need a car that will maneuver in the snow. And then housing is a question that I have because I'm temporarily living on site at an outdoor center where I work and live. But this summer, I will need to find my own housing, sold my house about three years ago. And so some actually all that money is was put in savings.

So I'm wondering at my age, should I be renting looking at a condo, I don't know if I want to be in a house because I'm single and taking on that responsibility on my own. Yes. Yeah. So if I understood correctly, in addition to the $100,000, you have about $75,000 in retirement accounts. What do you also have in savings that was the proceeds from that sale a few years ago? I have between some at a local bank and then another in an account about $165,000. Okay.

So with the $100,000 inheritance, you have about $265,000 plus your retirement savings? Correct. Okay. All right. And are you actively contributing to your retirement account? Yes.

Okay. Well, given your age at 62, I would just make sure that you have a plan for what you're going to do to supplement guaranteed income sources, namely Social Security and anything else you're expecting so that you know how you're going to fund your lifestyle if the day comes or when the day comes, you can no longer work for pay. Now, you may be planning to continue to work for the foreseeable future, and that's great. But if there's a point at which you want to be able to stop working, you need to know how much your savings goal is to be able to generate that amount of income to cover your lifestyle.

The good news is you're, for all intents and purposes, debt-free. I think we just need to prioritize the use of these funds moving forward. I would look at the opportunity to, first of all, make sure you've got that six months' worth of expenses in a savings account. And then if you need to replace an automobile, let's do it as economically as we can, but let's go and earmark the amount to buy that with cash so we're not doing it with debt. And then with the remainder, I would look at fully funding your retirement account options each year whether that's through a 401k or an individual retirement account, an IRA. And then beyond that, we've got to consider the housing option.

I think you're right. You need to look at both the upkeep and the overhead as well as the cost. If you can buy something that you'd planned to stay in for some period of time that's reasonable, maybe a town home, something that you can own and build equity in using some of these funds that you have, and it fits with your lifestyle and the amount of upkeep you want to be able to cover, then I think that's great. But I don't think there's anything wrong with renting necessarily, Debra, if you want a little bit more flexibility because I would only want you to buy something if you really thought you could stay with it for a long period of time.

And I think you're right. Being a single woman who's entering the retirement years in the next decade, let's say, making sure you think about the upkeep that's appropriate and that you're willing to do is really, really key. So I think you're on the right track.

I'd certainly be comfortable with you buying something small that fits into your budget. And I like the idea of you trying to stay debt-free throughout all of this. Debra, thank you so much for calling us and we wish you the best as you go forward.

Thanks again today. You're listening to MoneyWise Live with Rob West. When we come back, well, Mary wants to sign up for Social Security. Brad is wondering what kind of budgeting software is out there.

I think we can tackle both of those and perhaps yours at 800-525-7000. More MoneyWise Live after this. Do you know if you have enough? Enough money? Enough house?

Do you know how much is enough? If not, Ron Blue can help with his book, Master Your Money, a step-by-step plan for experiencing financial contentment. Learn how to save, invest, and give wisely. How to create a long-term financial plan and how to get out of debt.

You'll find it all in Master Your Money by Ron Blue, 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. Matthew, Chapter 18, it says, See that you do not look down on one of these little ones, for I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven. This is what you and I have heard called guardian angels. And there are angels that are certainly summoned by God to bring protection. But I just want you to know, if we were ever in a Bible trivia contest or anything, guardian angel is never used. That's not a phrase we would ever see in Scripture. Will you find angels that guard?

Absolutely. We would find that in Psalm 91. We would find that, you've just heard it in Matthew, Chapter 18 and verse 10. I believe we can fairly accurately assume that every single one of us have angels who are assigned to us.

We know that without a doubt where children are concerned. And I love that it says that they look on the faces, that they look on the face of God. Because they are looking continually, they are watching us, continuing to look back at the face of God, continuing to look back at us. They are looking for the least expression, the least bidding of God where we are concerned. Any harm comes to us.

There has never been a hair touched on the head of a little one that their guards did not look back at the Father and saw that he was watching. You've been listening to A Quick Word with Beth Moore. Beth is excited to announce now that faith has come, a study of Galatians is now available as an online experience or as a printed workbook edition. Get your copy today at BethMoore.org.

Keep listening for another Quick Word with Beth Moore. Many people adopt an attitude toward marriage and finances that it will 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.

Whether you're in Florida, South Carolina, Texas, California, Washington, maybe you're in Cleveland, that's okay too. Give us a call, 800-525-7000. We'd love to chat with you today. Brad is in Florida and you're wondering about budgeting software, Brad, right? What are you trying to accomplish? Hi, Brad.

Thanks for taking the call. I was married about six months ago and my wife and I, we've worked out a budget on paper, but I'm just wondering what you'd suggest related to an app or software. Well, boy, do I have an answer for you, Brad. Actually, until the beginning of last year, so about a year ago, I would have gone through the various apps that are out there on the market, but I would have said, you know, there's not one that's perfect. I mean, they all have their shortcomings, but then last year we took it upon ourselves to build our own app based on everything I had ever wanted in a digital envelope system app and that's exactly what we have. So it's called MoneyWise biblical finance.

It's on all the app stores, the Apple app store, the Google play store. There's even a web app to go along with it if you'd rather use a modern browser, but here's what it does. You connect it to all of your financial institutions. You set up your funding accounts so it will download your transactions automatically. You build your budget using the tried and true envelope system that goes all the way back to Larry Burkett where each budget category is essentially a digital envelope. You fund those envelopes, which can be done automatically every month time to your paychecks. And then as the transactions come down from your debit card or your checking account, you can even enter them manually if you want. You then just allocate them, which by the way, it'll learn over time where they go and it'll do it automatically, but they get allocated to the envelope, which just reduces the amount available until it's funded again.

So at any given time, you and your wife could both open the app and see where you stand in every one of your envelopes. So it's a great way to not only set up your budget and plan month to month, but also to track your spending as well because if you come up with the best budget in the world and stick it in a drawer, it doesn't do you any good. You have to be able to tell at any given point in the month, how am I doing and when do I need to stop spending? So take a great budget buster category like eating out. You know, if you decide you want to be able to spend $200 a month in eating out, well, you'd fund that, let's say twice a month, $100 goes in. And then every time you eat out, you allocate that into the envelope, it reduces what's left. But here's the key.

When it's gone, you've got to stop. But at least you have that information so you can make that decision. So go download it today. It's called MoneyWise biblical financial find it in your app store. And here's what I'd like to do for you, Brad, if you hold the line, we'll get your information. And we'll make sure we enable a pro subscription for you for the next six months, which will allow you to download and categorize those transactions automatically. Brad, we're glad you got through today and we wish you and your wife the best as you move into the first year of your marriage. And I think this is going to help you.

You're going to love this budgeting software. Let's move to Nebraska now. Hey, Mary, what's your question for Rob West?

Hi there. I wanted to say thank you first for your wonderful program. It's so nice to hear biblical on our finances.

So I appreciate it. And then I wanted to ask about Social Security. I've heard that if my husband's Social Security is greater than mine, I could sign up for half of his.

And I wondered if that is true. And I have a call into the Social Security people in Nebraska, they're doing appointments because of COVID. And so my call is next Monday. And my birthday, I'll turn 65 on Wednesday.

So I'm wondering, will if I climb it early, will there be a deduction on my Social Security matter how I take it, whether I claim half my husband or my own, and how I would figure all that out? And also, the other question I have is, do I need documents in front of me when I take this phone call on Monday for this appointment? Yes. Okay, very good. Well, a lot of moving parts there, by the way.

Happy early birthday to you as turning 65 next week. That's great. So a couple of things. Maybe we can get through these. If not, we'll ask you to hold and get to it after the break.

First of all, you can only claim one, but you'll want to take the higher of the two, either half of your husband's or your own. Let's do this though. I'm going to ask you to hold the line so I can answer the rest of your questions. We'll do that right after the break and be sure to cover all of these. Stay on the line, Mary.

Maybe we can get invited to her birthday party next week. Who knows? This is MoneyWise Live. He's Rob West. I'm Steve Moore.

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.

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Interested? Learn more by calling 800-791-6225 or online at chministries.org. Hi, I'm Amanda, a communications major from Dallas, Texas, at the Moody Bible Institute. The MBI verse of the week is found in Joshua 1-9. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.

That's Joshua 1-9, the Moody Bible Institute verse of the week. Do you feel stuck? Are you tired of going through the motions of faith? Do you want to make real progress in your life but not know where to start? How to Grow is a book to help you grow spiritually and help others grow as well. We often see the Gospel as the starting point of the Christian life, rather than the main point of all life. How to Grow, a new book by Daryl Dash, available at moodypublishers.org.

That's moodypublishers.org. Would you like your life to be infused with joy? Would you like to interject an eternal dimension into even the most ordinary day? Author Randy Alcorn says you can when you discover the Treasure Principle. In a concise, power-packed style, this newly revised and updated book offers a six-step plan to finding the immediate pleasure and eternal rewards of the Treasure Principle. And once you discover it, life will never look the same.

The Treasure Principle is available when you click the Store button at MoneyWiseLive. Joe Biden has introduced the Governor of Rhode Island, the Mayor of Boston, and a small business advocate from California as the newest members of his economic team. The formal announcement came a day after his transition team announced Governor Gina Raimondo as his choice to become Commerce Secretary Mayor Marty Walsh, his candidate for Labor Secretary and Isabel Guzman as his pick to lead the small business administration. New research suggesting the COVID-19 vaccine made by Pfizer and BioNTech can still work against the mutated coronavirus.

The Los Angeles Dodgers say Hall of Fame manager Tommy Lasorda, who guided L.A. to two World Series championships has died. He was 93. Stocks shaking off a midday slump and powered higher in the afternoon to record highs. The Dow gained 56 points today.

The Nasdaq was up 134. This is SRN News. Hey, we're chatting with Mary. She's calling us from Nebraska today. She's turning 65 next week, wants to sign up for Social Security and has some questions about that. Mary, thank you for holding.

So back to these questions. You know, the key here for you to understand is that if any time you claim Social Security, whether you're claiming your benefits or you're claiming 50 percent of your husband's benefit, if you do that prior to full retirement age, which is either 66 or 67, depending upon your exact age, you're going to take a reduction. And so you're always better, if you can, to wait so that you don't take that reduction at all. If you claim it's 62, it's usually going to be around a 30 percent haircut that you'll take. And then it grows each year until full retirement age. So if you take it a year early, you could see as much as 8 percent of that coming off.

And that number is going to be locked in there. So if you have the ability to wait, I would do that now as to which one is going to be better, either taking your own benefit or taking the benefit 50 percent of your husband's as survivors benefits. The Social Security Administration will tell you which is better for you. Obviously, they'll give you the higher of the two amounts. Does that make sense? Sure.

Yeah. In terms of what you'll need, I mean, the typical things you'll have to have, and I realize the meetings right now are virtual, but in order to claim benefits, you need proof of age and citizenship with a birth certificate or a passport. You also need a driver's license or a state issued ID card. So, you know, typical information that you would need to provide as you start to claim those benefits.

I think the key is just whether or not you need the money right now or you have the ability to delay it and then take the higher benefit down the road. Mary, happy birthday. We hope that information helps you. Thank you very, very much for your call today. 800-525-7000.

Chelan, Washington. Hi, Linda. What's on your mind? Well, hi. How are you doing today? We're doing great. Thanks. All right. Well, my question is, and this might be old hat for you guys, but I'm wondering if there is a list of recommended things to invest in so that I can invest according to my values. You know, some products are used in post-abortion fetal tissue cells and how are electric car batteries harvested or parts of them and things like that. Yes.

Absolutely, Linda. And I'm so glad you've asked about this because this is a really exciting and growing aspect of the investment landscape right now that what we call faith-based investing is really taken off where alongside a secular counterpart called ESG, environmental, social and governance investing, where they screen for environmental issues or social impact, things like that. The faith-based investing space is around screening either out or in certain companies based on whether or not they use their profits to support things that would be counter to biblical values or whether you want to screen in companies making a social or a kingdom impact in the world and the ability to do that and still achieve a very competitive rate of return.

In fact, many of them are outperforming their secular counterparts and winning all kinds of awards. So it's a really exciting time to be able to invest in such a way that reflects your values and as an owner of a company, even a fractional owner, you should be thinking about that in my view. Now, where do you go?

Well, you've got a couple of options. Number one, if you're doing your own investing, Linda, meaning you're making your buy and sell decisions, you just want to be able to screen those companies and understand what they are supporting, what they're doing with their corporate profits. There's a great free tool by our friends at Inspire that you can find at inspireinsight.com where you can put in any stock, bond or mutual fund and it'll give you all of the publicly available information about how that particular company is using their profits and whether any of those things would be counter to biblical values. If you want somebody to actually make those decisions for you but you want to know that they're factoring in these kinds of things as they make those buy and sell decisions, you'll want to use either a mutual fund that's in this area of faith-based investing or an exchange-traded fund.

Let me just mention three companies that I would start with. One is our friends at Eventide. You'll find them at Eventide if you do a Google search for them, eventidefunds.com. Second is Inspire and you'll find them. I mentioned that website, inspireinsight.com. And the third is called Praxis, P-R-A-X-I-S, praxismutualfunds.com. Any one of those three plus a number of others including Guidestone, our good friends there as well, offer screened mutual funds and exchange-traded funds and you'll know with any of those that you're going to have a portfolio that reflects appropriately your Christian values. Linda, were you able to jot some of those names down, Eventide Funds, Inspire, Insight? Yep, got them all. Okay, and then praxis.com.

Go right ahead, I'm sorry. Would you repeat that app? Was it MoneyWise Budget? Yeah, so in the app store you'll just want to type in MoneyWise Biblical Finance.

MoneyWise Biblical Finance. And that will be our digital envelope system. Okay? Alright, bye. Thank you very much, Linda. Great question on her part. Using your dollars that God provides wisely doesn't just extend to how much money you spend on a daily basis, but where are you putting your investment dollars to really maximize your investment and to do good in the world? And that's what these organizations do on a real regular basis, godly basis, following God's principles, right?

That's exactly right. Alright. Let's continue on.

Let's see, how about Indianapolis, Indiana? Hello, Brian. What's your investment question today?

Good afternoon, fellas. Thanks for taking my call. You bet. My question is with regards to a 401k that I have at work. So I have the option to do all pre-tax, all post-tax or Roth, or I have the option even to do a mixture of those. I maximize that contribution on the employee side every year, and so far have done only pre-tax. So I wondered what your guidance was on that.

Yeah. Well, Brian, you know, I like the idea of having both buckets available when you reach retirement because there's a number of things we don't know. What we know is that you may be at or near the top of your earning potential.

Maybe not. Maybe you're going to earn more down the road, but you're paying obviously taxes based on what you're earning right now. And so you're getting a deduction on the pre-tax money equivalent to your current tax effective tax rate. When we get to retirement, though, we don't know what the tax structure is going to look like. Are we going to have a higher tax environment?

That's a pretty good chance we will because we're at pretty low tax rates right now. So even if you're earning less in retirement, it could be a higher tax rate that you're, you know, pulling out of. And that's where the tax free money in the Roth 401k would serve you really well.

There's also a couple of other benefits in terms of even the required minimum distribution, which applies to the traditional 401k or IRA doesn't apply to the Roth 401k or IRA. So I think having both options available is actually a good thing. And then at that time you could pick and choose which is the most effective for you from a tax advantaged standpoint. So I like the idea of you splitting between the two. The only other thing I might mention is if you have a tax preparer, a professional that prepares your tax return, run this by him or her and get their take on it. But I don't think you can go wrong either way.

If it were me, I'd probably split it. Brian, we're glad you called today. Thanks very much. And thanks for listening to our friends at WGNR.

We'll be right back after this. Many people are experiencing financial challenges such as credit card debt, downsizing, dead end 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.

Your money counts is available when you click the store button at MoneyWiseLive.org. This is Barry McGuire. I'm a car guy here to help you understand God's purpose for your life through the eyes of a layman. Jesus told us everything depends on our loving him and loving our neighbors as ourselves, being as concerned for their redemption as for our own and knowing that this is the one thing that changes everything. He added his promise of Romans 828 to make everything in your life work together for good when you do that. In these 60 seconds we have here, I can tell you how to do all the things you're supposed to do automatically, like living your righteous life, studying his word and praying without ceasing. You see, when your priority is to lead everyone under your influence closer to God, living rightly and being in the word and on your knees every day is automatic and it's so easy and so much fun. Your job is to ignite revival outside the walls of your church by moving everyone every day closer to Jesus.

For help doing that, go to ROTW.com. Hi, I'm Bernie Darnit. Isn't it just amazing how we worship our sportsmen and sportswomen? But just a season or two later, those players that we've idolized, well, they can end up forgotten nobodies because we move on to the next one. What do we worship, you and I?

Do we worship people or things that are here today and gone tomorrow or do we bow our lives down to something or someone eternal, someone who loves us with the most amazing love, someone who cares about even the smallest details of our lives? Do you know Jesus, this Jesus who heals lepers, this Jesus who loves the poor, this Jesus who died for you and me, the Jesus who rose again? Do you know him, this Jesus who aches for you?

Do you know him? 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, if it would be helpful for you to connect with one of our budget coaches, if you're struggling a bit with the basic things, budgeting, giving, saving, getting out of debt, things like that and you'd like to have a virtual back and forth with a coach, a person who's been well trained in this particular area and they serve hundreds of people all across the country because we have hundreds of coaches, you can find all that information when you visit our website, MoneyWiseLive.org.

Go down halfway down the front page and you'll see connect with a coach, MoneyWiseLive.org, Lantana, Florida. Cynthia, we appreciate you holding on the line and what's on your mind? Thank you for taking my call. My question is, I am a 67, well, I will be in a couple of days and so I'm fully able to take Social Security but I'm working full-time. I'm trying to catch up on my bills and get those paid off before I actually do retire. What I was wondering is, is it possible to continue to work full-time and take a partial payment on my Social Security or will they lock that price in and that be all that I get after I fully retire?

It's a good question, Cynthia. So you can't take a partial benefit. So you either have to start taking your benefits or not. Now, if you continue to work, you continue to replace years perhaps early in your working career where you earned less and so that amount will continue to grow if in fact you're earning more today than you did with some of the credits you were receiving early many years ago. So from that standpoint, that plus any cost of living adjustments will cause your benefit to continue to rise. What you will miss out on by going ahead and taking your benefits now at full retirement age is any increases that you would have gotten as a result of waiting. So every year you wait to claim your Social Security between full retirement age and age 70, you'll get an 8% increase that will stay with your benefit for the remainder of your life. You will miss out on that if you go ahead and lock it in. But you can work as much as you want and you can work to replace lower credits which will increase your payment and you can get cost of living adjustments.

It's just that you can't take that partial payment and if you have the ability to wait, I think that guaranteed increase of 8% a year if you're healthy is a good thing because every year that you wait, you'll add that to your check moving forward once you start claiming your benefits. Does that make sense? Yeah, yeah. I was just trying to think of a way to catch up on my bills before I actually had to just rely on my Social Security because I don't have anything other than that once I retire. I see, yeah. So you'll probably… I don't want to keep working until I drop. Right. Well, so continuing to work now and waiting is going to make sure that that Social Security benefit is as high as it can possibly be which is going to go a long way toward helping to make sure that you can in fact cover those bills.

So given that you've got your health and you're working, you're covering your bills with your pay even though perhaps it's not enough to get caught up, I still think if you can do it, it's in your best interest to hold off. Cynthia, glad you called today. Thank you very much. Have a great weekend.

Fort Lauderdale. Hey, Kathy, what's your question for Rob West? Hi. I also want to thank you guys for what you do.

Such valuable information you offer. But my situation is I'm about to turn 59 and a half. I've been contributing to my 403Bs for many, many years and I have a CKA advisor and I was just wondering, they have recommended that I take the 403B money and give it to them to invest. Is that a wise step and also with the change in the government coming up, is now the time to do it or should I wait or what? Yeah. So you've separated from your employer where the 403B is? No, I'm still contributing and they said I can still contribute and take out once I'm 59 and a half. Okay. So are we talking about a rollover to an IRA or just a withdrawal? I believe they're talking about a withdrawal. Yeah.

I would be surprised, Kathy. That would not be in your best interest. I think perhaps there's some confusion about what's being recommended here. Once you separate from your employer, then I would totally concur that you should roll the money out to an IRA and that it should be managed there. And because this is the bulk of your life savings, probably, I think having professional management is a good thing. An investment advisor making those decisions on your behalf with your goals and objectives in mind. And I love the fact that you have a CKA.

That's great. But you wouldn't want to take a withdrawal from the 403B because even though you wouldn't have a penalty at 59 and a half, it would all be taxable to you. And then if it was reinvested in a taxable account, then the taxes are going to have to be paid as you make buy and sell or they make buy and sell decisions and have profits.

And that's going to be very expensive. So I think the best thing is for perhaps them to look over the investment options inside your 403B to make sure that you're allocating your 403B investments appropriately among the choices that are available in your plan, given your age and risk tolerance, what you're trying to accomplish. They could provide some counsel there. You'd ultimately have to make those decisions by logging into your account, but they could help you make them.

But then when that time comes that you're retiring, you separate from the company, then that's where I'd roll it to an IRA and let them take over. So perhaps we need to just get a little bit of clarity. And if you want to call back once you do that, I'd love to weigh in again, or you could send us an email. How would she send you an email, Rob? Yes, she could just send it to questions at MoneyWise.org and just reference our conversation here today.

And the team will make sure that I see it. Okay, Kathy, we're running out of time. But if you do want to pursue this further, if you're still a bit confused, feel free to touch base with us and we will work with you to get this sorted out. God bless you.

Thank you so much. Indianapolis once again. Hey, Ed, what's your question for Rob West? Excuse me, Rob West.

Good afternoon, gentlemen. Quick question. Is it greedy to want more money? Or should we be content, like the Bible says in all our situations?

Yeah, it's a great question. And I think it starts first of all with your heart motivation. What is your motivation for wanting more money? And is it out of a place of greed because you're not content with what God has provided? There's nothing wrong with wanting to improve your situation, wanting to work hard, wanting to earn more money so that you can do more things.

But I think the question is, to what end? And I think if your desire is just to be able to spend more and increase your lifestyle only, I might step back and just say, is that the right motivation? Again, there's nothing wrong with wanting to improve your situation, including perhaps increases in your lifestyle. But do you have an equal desire to want to take part of what is coming in and return it to God's kingdom? And so I think the extent to which you're a generous giver, you know, could also be a part or should be a part of your motivation to be able to earn more. Because as more is coming in, there's more potentially that's available to be put into circulation into God's economy. And so I think for all of us, there's not a right or wrong decision about lifestyle. You know, it'd be very easy if God said, Well, you should live on 68.2% of your income and give the rest away.

He doesn't. And so I think we all need to be on our knees saying, Lord, what would you have me to do? And realize that our spending, our allocation of God's money is a reflection of our hearts, right? Where your treasure is there, your heart will be also. So our heart follows our money. And it's really the most tangible expression of what's important to us, what we value. You give me your checkbook and I can tell you what you value. And so I think our desire to perhaps earn more in the future by advances in our career or our small business or whatever that might be, as the ability to provide for our families to do more Kingdom Giving, perhaps even to, you know, add to some increases in lifestyle as well along the way.

There's nothing wrong with that. But it's all got to be driven by a heart motivation that's a reflection of your role as a steward, reflecting what God would have you to do, and ultimately bringing him glory through the allocation of his resources. Interesting question, Ed, that lots of people have asked themselves.

And it's a great one to ask yourself as you move forward as a young man. I'll tell you what, stay on the line. We'd like to send you a book, a complimentary book, to help you work through this kind of situation. And we'll get it right out to you.

It's called The Treasure Principle. And we hope you enjoy reading it. Thank you very, very much. Dan, in Cadillac, Michigan, we have a little bit of time. Can we be quick?

Sure. My wife and I are retired, but we both work part time. We have more monthly income that comes in than our expenses. And we have about a year or so of savings for emergencies. We have about $400,000 in various mutual investments that obviously those mutual funds have done well this last year.

I'm wondering, in lieu of the political and economic unknowns right now, would it be wiser to move those funds into more of a guaranteed return than keep them in mutual funds where there's more unknowns? Yeah, yeah. Well, Dan, that was, first of all, about as succinct a question as I've ever heard asked. So congratulations on that. Just a quick follow up.

You said that you have more than you need coming in. What are your income sources today? Social Security, pension and part time income. Got it. So this truly is... First time employment, excuse me. Okay. So the $400,000, if you were to stop working in that part time job, would you need to then convert that into an income stream or would the pension and Social Security cover it?

No, our other income will cover it. Okay. Very good.

Yeah. So you're in a situation here where you have, God's obviously entrusted you with much. You've managed his money well. You don't have a need to take a risk. And so the question is, what is the appropriate level of risk for your situation? The biggest risk for you right now is probably medically related, where you could have some major expenses down the road. But this is also a season, given where you're at, that there's not any reason why you should have to take a risk beyond what you're comfortable with.

So looking at guaranteed options I think would be a great option for you at this time. Stay on the line. We'll talk a little bit more off the air. We will indeed. MoneyWise Live is a partnership between Moody Radio and MoneyWise Media. Thanks so much for listening. God bless. Have a wonderful weekend. And then we'll be back Monday. Hope you will too for another edition of MoneyWise Live.