Best Work from Home Jobs in 2021

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Not licensed in Alaska, Hawaii, Georgia, Massachusetts, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Utah. The COVID shutdowns have forced companies to allow more employees to work from home, accelerating a trend that was already well underway. And now more than ever, employers are actively seeking workers who perform most or all of their duties without leaving the house. So today, Kingdom Advisors President, Rob West has a list of those jobs, and some may surprise you. Then it's your calls at 800-525-7000, 800-525-7000.

I'm Steve Moore. The best work from home jobs in 2021. That's next right here on MoneyWise Live. Rob, I'll go out on a limb here and guess that the majority of work from home jobs springing up this year will have something to do with old computers, maybe? Well, you're right about that.

Web and software developing and programming have led the way in work from home opportunities, but there are many professions moving in that direction that you probably wouldn't expect, actually. All right. Interesting. Well, let's get to some of those that we would expect. Get to those first.

What do you have for us? Well, they're probably respectable as well. Yeah, and these are coming, by the way, from a survey by Bankrate.com, and they're not just the fastest growing areas, but many are jobs that pay the best, actually. At the top of the list is web developer. They design websites for personal or commercial use, and with websites becoming more interactive and complex, I might add, you can imagine the growing need for skilled developers.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates those jobs will increase by 8% over the next decade, with a median salary of nearly $75,000. Now, next on the list is computer network specialists. These folks troubleshoot and evaluate network problems. They do some routine maintenance and performing backups. Employers have learned that these workers often don't need to be on site to do their work, and the median salary here is $65,000.

Okay, so so far no real surprises as long as you have a fast internet connection. You could probably do most of those jobs from virtually anywhere. Well, that's right, and speaking of virtual, Steve, the next fastest growing job is virtual assistant. You see, they provide administrative and technical services in a broad range of industries. You can go it alone with your own virtual assistance business or hire on with a company that makes your services available to clients. Salaries vary quite a bit depending on your skill set and how much assistance you can provide, but again, it's all done remotely. Okay, but you can't get the boss coffee that way. Sure you can, just have it delivered and you could even have a bagel delivered along with it.

Man, after my own heart. Okay, what else? Well, here's one that almost begs to be done remotely, and that is social media marketing specialist. They're in demand as more businesses require a strong presence on platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to promote their brand and products. Median wage is a bit lower around $38,000, but it's a profession where you can easily take on multiple clients. Okay, now how about some of those jobs that we wouldn't expect to go remote? Okay, how about paralegals and legal assistants? A lot of research from a legal standpoint and document preparation can be done online now, and there's projected 10% job growth for those positions by 2029. Median salary is $52,000, and here's one you probably would never have expected before COVID, marriage and family therapists. Thanks to Zoom and Skype, these counselors are increasingly visiting with patients without leaving home. Job growth is expected to be over 20% in the next decade, and median salary here around $50,000. Yeah, and you're right, I wouldn't have expected some of those who have been done remotely, but indeed the times they are changing.

Anything else? Well, since more and more business is done online these days, Steve, companies have realized that if customers aren't coming into the building, customer service reps don't have to be there either. A lot of companies are hiring independent contractors to answer questions, manage complaints, and process orders all from home, and here's one that COVID has had a huge impact on, and that is of course teachers and tutors. Schools at all levels have realized that offering classes online greatly reduces operating expenses, so those jobs are expected to keep growing even after COVID. Median salary for kindergarten and elementary around $60,000, a bit more for high school teachers.

At the college level, median salary $80,000. My kids' schools, the public ones at least, have said next year, all of next year, they're going to offer a virtual option, and they think it's here to stay. Well, okay, so there really is a new normal happening all around us. We'll come back and chat some more. You're tuned to Money Wise Live 800-525-7000 if you'd like to call in right now to speak with Rob West. All right, so you're saying to yourself, I'd like to speak with Rob West. I know Rob West is available. There's no charge to speak with Rob West, but Steve never gives the phone number.

All right, here it is again. 800-525-7000. 800-525-7000. If you have a question or a comment, anything along, if you were a former classmate of Rob's and you'd like your pencils back, anything along those lines, give us a call right now and we will put you on the air. What's the number again?

It's 800-525-7000. Now, Rob, we were chatting about any new jobs, any new careers that COVID has started or that with or without COVID, careers that are going to continue to be out there, even though they may may morph just a little bit. Anything else for us that we didn't talk about? Yeah, you know, here's another one that COVID has had a big impact on, Steve, and that is loan officers. People are touring houses online, so you may have seen if you've been shopping for a house, you can actually take a walk through in 3D with virtual reality where you don't even have to show up. Well, if you can do that, why not shop for a mortgage that way? This is likely to be the new normal and job growth for loan officers is expected to increase steadily throughout the decade.

Median salary there, 65,000. So, you know, Steve, this has changed so much and although we will return back to some sort of normal post-pandemic, there are a lot of things that I think will stay with us in what you're calling the new normal. But one of the things we know is that a lot of the trends that were already in place, I've heard many say that they've been fast-forwarded, that, you know, things have moved forward maybe two or three years quicker than they would have previously. So some of these things that were already going to be new realities like moving increasingly to shopping online, you know, having meetings virtually, less travel, at least for business purposes, working remote, all that was underway. Changes in higher education and so we've hit the accelerator button on some of that and I think we are going to see a lot of changes that will stick with us that hopefully will improve the quality of life for a lot of folks as they have more flexibility in their work.

Yeah, and I'll tell you a couple I like. First of all, everyone is saying these days that the traffic is much lighter than it used to be on the interstates and even where traffic is picking up, it's more spread out. So the highways have become a bit less congested and all of us can say hooray for that. And then finally, just about all of the doctors that I see are now doing it online and I love that I don't have to drive 30, 40, 50 miles to see my doctor. It's quick for them, it's quick for me, it's hard to take my blood pressure that way but everything else seems to be working well. Well, and probably not for long, seriously, because with all the advances in health, you know, if you have an Apple Watch, it's keeping your EKG and your heart rate and blood ox level. So it's probably only a matter of time before there's a Bluetooth connection that will allow you to take just that and that is your your blood pressure. So it's all coming and a lot of it's already here. All right, how about open and say ah, will we be able to do that remotely?

You just put your mouth up to the camera and let them take a look. Yeah, I'll give that some serious thought. 800-525-7000.

Let's begin Tampa, Florida. Hi Jeanette, thanks for holding What's On Your Mind. Hi, I'm going to retire soon as soon as they can get someone to replace me. I think it's going to be maybe mid-May and I have some questions about withdrawing from retirement funds. So okay, I've read about the four percent rule. So one thing I want to know is does that include the dividends that the stocks would pay? Would that be included in the four percent? And the other thing I want to know is what's the difference between choosing, I'm going to put my money in index funds, but what's the difference between choosing the ones that would pay higher dividends or lower dividends? Does one appreciate less than the other? Yes, yeah, good questions Jeanette.

Let me ask you first, are you using a financial advisor, an investment professional to build out this portfolio or do you plan to do it yourself? No, I haven't. I haven't found anybody. I'm very untrusting of people. Everybody that I've talked to in that line has wanted to sell me something, usually an annuity, so I've just been reading a lot. Yeah, well I think that's good and I wouldn't give up though. I would keep interviewing and if you haven't already, I would seek out a couple of certified kingdom advisors to interview with as well.

I know there's a number of them in the Tampa area. These are folks who have significant experience. They've met high standards in terms of character and a regulatory review, but also they've been specially trained to bring biblically wise financial counsel at a professional level and certainly that's going to make sure that you all are starting from the right place and that is right at God's word. In terms of the four percent rule, that's obviously been around for quite a while. The gentleman who actually came up with that recently revised it and he said because he did that based on the worst possible scenarios, meaning you bought at the very top of the market and it went straight down from there and a whole bunch of other scenarios, he's actually recently revised that and said you should be able to pull out five percent a year, but let's say you stay conservative and stay four percent a year. The idea is that all in the dividends, the interest, the appreciation, so both the income and the growth side, which would certainly include those dividends, gets repaid into the account so that you're replenishing what you're pulling out. So that portion that's in dividend paying stocks, those would be income type stocks as opposed to growth, meaning they're not keeping the profits in the company to grow at a faster pace. They're paying it out in the form of income. Usually those companies, although this doesn't always hold true, grow, at least at the stock price, would tend to grow a bit slower than a growth stock where everything's being reinvested so they can grow a bit quicker and the stock price should usually go along with that.

So you have the combination of the two. You should have some appreciation, but you should also see some income there. And typically the higher paying dividend stocks would be a little bit more slow growing, flat, but obviously you have the dividend income on top of whatever appreciation you might see. And all of that goes back into the portfolio to offset what you're pulling out in the form of income. The key is really finding the right balance or mix of investments to recognize the fact that this money needs to last potentially for decades. So you want a growth component to it, but also that you have a real need for income now and you want it to be more stable. So if the market were down 35% in a real recession, your portfolio, at least the stock portion, you know, would, might be down that much, but overall the portfolio might be down 10%, but you're not going to touch the stocks. You're going to let them rebound while you pull from the cash or the fixed income portion. But all of that, you know, goes back into the portfolio to offset what you're pulling out in the form of income. And that 4% number is a good rule of thumb.

Does that make sense though? Yes, that was very helpful. Thank you. Okay.

Very good. Well, listen, if you want to connect with a certified Kingdom advisor there in Tampa, Jeanette, just go to our website, moneywiselive.org, click find a CKA and I'd interview at least two to three. Find the one that's the best fit for you. I do want to underscore the importance though. You've worked your entire life to build up this money. Find somebody you can trust that can really take a responsibility for managing this money alongside you.

Not, not communicating with you still in constant communication, but really doing the heavy lifting on the portfolio. Jeanette, thank you. 800-525-7000. Give us a call right now. It's MoneyWise Live.

He's Rob West. I'm Steve Moore. And we'd love to say hi to you today. You'll have to place that call first because we don't know your number, but here's ours. 800-525-7000. 800-525-7000.

Let's go to Palm Beach, Florida. Hello, Heidi. What's your question?

Hi. Thank you for considering my question. My husband and I and we have zero debt. We have a good amount of say for 20% down on a home. And we're just struggling with trying to make a decision of whether we buy now when things are just so highly inflated or do we continue renting. We'll be going into year three of renting and it's awfully expensive to rent where we live.

So we just kind of, we're just looking for advice of maybe what maybe we haven't considered. Do we bite the bullet and pay the higher price tag for the home and higher taxes and all that goes with it? Or is it better to perhaps let the market correct itself and keep renting? Yeah, yeah.

Well, I can certainly understand where you're coming from, Heidi. Obviously, if you're selling a home, which I realize you're not because you're renting and have been for several years, but if you're selling a home, it kind of normalizes everything, right? Because on the sale, you're getting top dollar so that you can buy at top dollar and kind of everything works itself out. The opposite is true when the housing market is a bit depressed, meaning you're not going to get quite as much when you sell your home, but you get a good deal when you buy the home.

So everything kind of works out. You're in a different spot because you're renting and so you're buying in without the, you know, privilege, the benefit of enjoying that top dollar sale on a home that you already own. With that said, I'm less inclined for you to try to quote unquote time the market given that this is your home. And the reality is rental prices are very high right now and you're not, you know, enjoying any benefit of building any equity over time. So the only thing that would really slow me down is if you said, A, you know, we don't have an emergency fund. B, in addition to that emergency fund, you know, we don't have a down payment of at least 20 percent.

I mean, I'm hearing that you you have zero debt. You've got the 20 percent down. We didn't talk about the emergency fund, but hopefully in addition to that 20 percent down, you've got at least three months expenses.

If not, I'd wait and build that up. But if those things are true and it sounds like they are, as long as you're planning on buying a home that you can stay in for five to seven years, then I'm OK with it. Because even if we were to have, you know, the market, let's say the housing market continues to climb this economy, you know, we expect based on the economists I talk to that are godly men and women who've been doing this a long, long time, really good at what they do think that U.S. GDP will grow the fastest it has in 20 years this year. Now, does that mean next year, the year after, we couldn't have a two or three year recession? No, the economy is cyclical. We've been, you know, growing in the stock market's been leading the way for 12 plus years now. And so we're due for, you know, this cycle to roll over. But that's why I'm saying five to seven years, because if you can wait it out and even if we were to have a dip, you probably build up a little equity over the next couple of years.

If the housing market were to cool for a couple of years, you know, we're in the recovery. And now, you know, you're starting to think about your next home that's maybe a little bigger. So from that standpoint, I'd say as long as you can check those boxes in terms of your financial foundation, I'd say go ahead and make that purchase. But, and here's a big one, make sure that you don't buy anything that overextends you. Make sure that the principal interest taxes and insurance payment is no more than 25 percent of your household income on a monthly basis.

So reflect on everything I've just shared, because I've thrown a lot at you. Well, yeah, we have, we're able to check those boxes off. We have a pretty hardy 401k. We have a strong emergency fund set aside. And we're conservative by nature.

So we wouldn't be biting off too much, you know, that we can't chew. It's just that it's just so hard not to feel like we're making a mistake, because in 2006, we purchased when the market was high. And then we ended up unbeknown.

I mean, we didn't know at the time we planned on making that our permanent home. But with some family members becoming sick, we sort of had to take our, you know, revise things in our, in our lives, and we had to sell and it happened, we had to sell it for less than what we purchased. And so it feels like, oh, no, are we going to be making the same mistake? Because it's just such an inflated, you know, market right now. And, and I feel like, you know, the government keeps kicking the can down the road. And I don't know if that means that we're just, you know, going to be purchasing something that might hold not hold its value.

But it was, it was comforting to hear what you're saying as far as talking to godly advisors, and you know, what they what they think. So yeah, well, the other thing I would add to that, just based on what you just said, Heidi is keep in mind, you know, the timing of what you described in 2006, versus when you sold in 2008, because of an unforeseen family situation that required you to sell was very unfortunate timing, because keep in mind, you know, you bought at the top. And then in 2008, we literally hit a financial crisis, driven by the fact that the housing market was in a bubble. So it was kind of the perfect storm that you all found yourself in where you had to sell in two years, right at the same time. You know, we had a major financial systemic problem in our economy that had to work its way through, you know, that's a once in 100 year type of event doesn't mean it couldn't happen again. You know, we keep our trust in the Lord and nothing else.

But I think, you know, the odds of that happening again, are very low. The other thing is, keep in mind, one of the benefits of you buying now, even though the market is very high, is we have very low interest rates. So on the 80% of the value of this home that you're going to be borrowing for, we're talking historic low interest rates, I mean, you could buy under 3% in the form of interest, which is going to help to offset, you know, even if the housing market were to cool off in the next couple of years, you're going to be borrowing money likely at a significantly higher interest rate, at least a percentage point, you know, or more, we would expect. So I think all of that should be comforting. It sounds like you all are following biblical principles and you have for a long, long time. That's good. You're trusting in the Lord. If you're giving, you're doing everything right. I would just proceed prayerfully.

And if the Lord confirms this, then I have no problem with you buying that house. Heidi, we wish you the very best. We appreciate your phone call today.

Thanks so much. We're going to take a brief break. When we come back, we'll say hi to Priscilla and Kelly and perhaps you, 800-525-7000.

Welcome back to MoneyWise Live. Eva, Kelly, and Tim, we see you out there hanging with us. But first it's Priscilla in Naples. And what's your situation Priscilla?

Hi, how are you? Thank you for taking my question. I am 65. I had gone through a divorce at 60. And so we had a division of marital assets. We were both self-employed with no 401s or retirement. Basically, we had lived the Dave Ramsey kind of lifestyle. Everything we owned was paid for.

So, you know, that was my husband's plan for our future. Anyways, to make a long story short, I went through a divorce. I own my home.

I owe no debt. And in 2018, I was involved in a bad car accident. And I did receive this past year a personal injury settlement. And at that time, I did have a little nest egg put away. And I do live a pretty frugal life. And like I said, I'm out of debt.

I have a modest home that's paid for. And so I'm trying to figure out my social security is, and I am still working part-time. My social security is not large. And so the money that I received, I need to somehow make some income off of it. But I also, since I am turning 65, I don't want to risk anything. I'm afraid to lose it because I don't have my earning potential is obviously going down. So I'm struggling. I did contact online because I do listen to your program a lot. I did contact to try to find a kingdom financial advisor near me.

And the closest one is two and a half hours away. And I'm really not that comfortable with that. But I just don't know what to do. I do know the stock market, I think is we've got a crash coming. I do believe that.

And so I just don't know how to invest this money to have some kind of income coming in that can supplement my income through, you know, the next 25 years of my life. Yeah, and that's helpful. Priscilla, I appreciate that background. A couple of things when we're done here today, I want you to stay on the line so we can get your information. We'll see if we can connect you to somebody closer.

There are some CKAs there in Naples, if that's where you are, there should be some much closer than two and a half hours. But secondly, I would just say, well, let me ask this, are you comfortable sharing the amount that you'll be receiving? I've already received it. It's about $350,000. Okay, and you mentioned it was due to an accident. Are there ongoing medical costs that you'll have where this money needs to be available for that?

No, it does not need. There are ongoing health issues. I was hit by head on by a commercial health issue.

I was hit by a head-on by a commercial truck. Wow. So yeah, there's, yeah, and I'm grateful to even be walking and alive.

But anyways, that's a miracle and a testimony on itself. So based on the income you have right now, you expect that your bills will be covered for the rest of your life just based on your modest lifestyle, and therefore this money would just be available as excess if you needed it for long-term care or something like that? Or do you need a portion of this to supplement? No, no. Yeah, I will need about $12,000 a year to supplement my income.

Okay, all right. And that's guaranteed income or that's based on your working right now? No, that's what I need in addition to what I, my Social Security and where my life is now. In other words, if I didn't get this money, I would have to continue to work to supplement my Social Security. I wasn't working because of the car accident, so I had to start collecting at 62, and now I'm able to go back to work part-time.

Very good. Well, the good news is that that Social Security obviously is going to continue the rest of your life, and if all you need is another $12,000 a year, that's also good news because, you know, as we shared with the previous caller, Mr. Bingen, who was the one who came up with the four percent rule, who now says you can probably go to five percent, you know, that's a pretty good rule of thumb. And four percent of $350,000 is $14,000, which would account for, you know, you covering any taxes that should be needing to be paid out of that and still give you about a thousand a month to supplement your income on a very conservative basis.

But I do think, Priscilla, it will require that you have a portfolio managed by somebody you trust that has at least a portion, albeit less than half, I would say probably around 30-35 percent exposed to the stock market. And the idea would be that with that portion, because people are living longer, if the Lord tarries and you're in good health, as you said, this money needs to last potentially the next 25 years or more. And if that's the case, that's why we add this stock component even in retirement, because it gives you a growth component. But the idea is that if we were to, and let's say you're right, let's say the stock market has a major pullback, you use the word crash in the next couple of years. You know, we've seen historically over the last hundred years, every time we get into a major problem, whether it was the dot-com bubble or the housing financial crisis in 2008, you know, all of them, the market does recover. We work systemically through those issues, and we have certain levers that the Federal Reserve and the U.S. government can pull, and we can work our way out of it. Now, I think long-term we're gonna have to deal with this debt issue, and I think we will.

And there are some other challenges we have, but keep in mind we're one of the biggest economies in the world, you know, still growing at a very good clip, and I think we could weather a storm like that. But there would be perhaps a year or two where you wouldn't want to touch the stock portion of that portfolio. But by design, you'd be able to do that, because you'd want to let those stocks recover.

You know, a 35% pullback in the market, which would be a major pullback, you know, would still mean that the, you know, the 70% of your portfolio that's in fixed income and gold and cash and, you know, other type income type investments would be very stable to offset what's being pulled back in the market. That's where you would draw that $12,000 a year from, and you'd let the rest recover. But I wouldn't try to do that alone. I would get a trusted professional to help you with that.

So let's do this. Why don't you hold the line, we'll get your information, we'll connect you with a couple of CKAs, hopefully much closer than you think. Let's see if you find somebody who you think's a good fit, and talk through that. Not somebody who's trying to sell you something, but somebody who could really help you build that kind of portfolio that would give you peace of mind to sleep at night, where your trust is in the Lord, but you have, you know, you're being a careful and wise steward of what he's entrusted to you with this significant amount of money. Priscilla, stay on the line, we'll get some additional information to you.

Thank you very much for that. You know, it sounds like Priscilla is the kind of person who really lives on a budget, and we applaud that. But we also live on a budget here at MoneyWise, and it's important that we let our listeners know, at least on occasion, Rob, that we do have needs and that this ministry and this radio program wouldn't exist without their generosity.

Well, that's exactly right, Steve. You know, we are listener supported. So we do what we do on the radio every day in partnership with Moody Radio because of your generous support to MoneyWise. And so we do ask from time to time that if you benefit from this program, you consider yourself a part of the MoneyWise family, you're here by appointment on the way home or at work or, you know, wherever it is as you're getting ready to cook dinner. If you would consider investing in this ministry, we'd certainly be grateful. It's quick and easy to do. Just head over to our website, MoneyWiseLive.org. There's a button that's there that says donate, and you can become a monthly contributor.

You can give one time and we would certainly be grateful. Rob, you mentioned earlier in the program that people we know and respect think that the next year or so we're going to be pretty good on as far as the market is concerned. Should we expect that even though there's been big changes at the White House? Yeah, you know, there's no reason to believe this economy won't rebound as we come out of the pandemic and grow at a good clip, and I think the market will follow suit. All right, we shall see.

And God's in control. We'll be right back. In Forrest, Indiana, Eva listens to us over WGNR. And Eva, what's your question for Rob? Eva, are you with us? Yes, I am.

All right, go right ahead, please. Okay, well, my parents are in their 70s, mid-70s, and they're thinking they're going to buy a house and they want to put my name and my brother's name on the mortgage. And is that necessary? They're thinking if they pass away, that'll make things easier for us somehow. Yeah, Eva, you know, often folks will put their home in their children's names or add them to the title to avoid the property going through probate. But there's not really a big enough reason to do this. And there are some downsides.

You know, in terms of the downsides, there's the loss of control. So when this is done, you're essentially giving up control of the property, making someone else the legal co-owner with you, or instead of you, to the extent they're replacing you and they're not going to put themselves on it, it creates, you know, an inheritance issue potentially. So if the child were to die before the parents, their interest, the child's interest, could pass to someone else, which is not according to the wishes of the parents. So they're, you know, putting this name on there prematurely. And they may want it to go to a child, but they may not want it to go beyond that.

But based on that child passing, that may happen. Exposure to creditors. So if your child has a tax lien or some other judgment, it's a taxable gift. So potentially you'd have to file a federal gift tax form, although there's pretty massive exclusions that would make sure that there's not any tax that would have to be paid, but you'd still have to file it. And then there's tax issues as well. So the basis for the property, for the home, for the home would be what your parents paid, not the market value at the time that the property was transferred to you, you know, at death potentially, potentially down the road. And so it would create some capital gains issues that wouldn't be there if it was passing as an inheritance with a stepped up basis. So I think there's enough reason not to, but this is something where we get into these type issues where you'd want to consult with an estate planning attorney. So I'd look for one in your area just to talk through all of these kinds of things. One of the things that could be done is there could be a trust created and then the home could be titled in the name of the trust, which would allow it to pass efficiently and according to their wishes outside of probate, but not prematurely until either they're incapacitated or they pass away. So there are other ways to do it that wouldn't create some of these challenges that I just mentioned by just adding you all or instead of them adding you to the title.

So if you don't have an estate planning attorney there in Indiana, connect with a certified kingdom advisor on our website MoneyWiseLive.org and ask for a referral to a godly estate planning attorney who can help perhaps your parents and maybe you with them. Maybe you visit together, think through all these issues. Eva, great question. Thank you very much.

Out to Warren, Ohio. Hello, Tim. How can we help you today, sir? Well, first of all, we've never really lived on a budget and Lord really put on my heart to use the CCA to help us set up a budget and the man that helped us, he not only helped us do that, but we formed a friendship and I'd like to mention his name if it's okay. He was just such a blessing.

I mean, just how he helped us so much and we're related and we formed a friendship which is going to last forever. Oh, that's awesome, Tim. Well, I appreciate you mentioning that. Yeah, you know, often, I mean, obviously as a financial professional, typically working on a spending plan would be outside of the normal course of business, but because these folks are, you know, they're kingdom-oriented, kingdom-minded, they want to help God's people. Many of them will allocate a little bit of time to do this type of thing just as a service or a ministry, so I'm delighted to hear about that. I will say for those folks in our listening audience who want help with a spending plan, we do have a group of godly men and women who are trained and volunteered just for that. They're called our MoneyWise Coaches and you can find them at MoneyWiseLive.org, but Tim, I appreciate you giving that shout out to Jeff. That's awesome to hear.

Hey, how can we help you today? Are you familiar with or what do you think about investing in tax liens and deeds? You know, I'm not a big fan. I wouldn't call myself an expert in this by any means. You can get a decent return, but it can also be quite risky, so for the benefit of our audience, this is basically when somebody doesn't pay their property taxes rather than starting foreclosure, the municipality or the county can put a lien on it and then later sell that lien at auction to a private investor and then when you buy that lien, essentially, you're risking your money. You're hoping that the taxes will eventually be paid plus interest to you, you know, and you could earn that interest rate of three to seven percent. If not, you'd have to start foreclosure on your own. You know, the benefits are that it doesn't require a huge investment, so you can diversify by buying several different liens for different properties and locations and get a decent rate of return if everything goes right. I will say, though, on the downside, sometimes homeowners fail to bring their taxes up to date. Your lien may also expire and you're not able to collect anything. Now, tax deed investing is different. With tax deed investing, the investor receives the deed to the property and, you know, for, you know, the cost of the back taxes, you could own the property outright, but you'll most likely pay far more than just the taxes because tax deeds are auctions off to the highest bidder, so where you have competitive investors, these bids can almost near the real market value of the property. But then if you get one, you'd hold the property long enough to get a better price than what you paid.

You might have to rehab it. At that point, you'd kind of consider it a flip. But I think both of these, Tim, are kind of risky real estate investing options. You'd have to really know what you're doing or you can lose a lot of money. So for me, although I like real estate as another investing asset class, I'd start with something that's more passive, like stock and bond investing. But if you, you know, you're maxing out your 401k and you're giving at the level you want, you feel like you want to diversify into real estate, I'd probably, you know, hook up with somebody who's done some real estate investing the traditional way where you'd typically, you know, buy a property or buy into a REIT where you've got good rental income.

You know, if you don't have any experience with tax deed investing or tax liens, then I would be careful. Tim, we hope that information helps you. Thanks very much. And again, thanks for the nice words about one of our Certified Kingdom Advisors in your area. We're able or we're glad that he was able to help you. Tampa, Florida. Candice, what's your question for Rob West?

I'm just trying to decide. My husband and I are, we've been in our house for 25 years. And so we've, we financed and refi and then we had a HELOC. And so when we were getting out of a HELOC and refi-ing again, but now everything needs to be redone. So at one point, do you just say, I mean, we kind of heard that, like that show on HGTV, I want to list it and he wants to stay and redo everything. So at one point, you know, who can you recommend me to talk to that would, or can you tell me, you know, at what point do you just throw in a towel and put a sign on it and, you know, go somewhere else?

Yeah, I mean, I think I appreciate that question, Candice. And I think the first issue is recognizing there's the financial side and then the non-financial side. So if you're just looking at how can we maximize this as an asset in terms of getting the most out of it, you know, you'd want to evaluate where is this home in terms of its, you know, market price today based on comparables, based on, you know, how it's been upgraded and so forth, and are the things that you could do, probably not much because you wouldn't want to do a major renovation expecting to get full value out of it when you sell it. There's only certain things you would want to do, mainly repairs and curb appeal, maybe paint and, you know, carpet that are going to allow you to maximize the sale. But renovations, you're typically not going to get, you know, at the most, you're going to get 80% back.

And oftentimes, certain things you'd get even less than that. So if it's purely a financial question, you know, you'd approach it entirely differently than this is our home. And, you know, we love this home, and we want to stay in it, we want to enjoy it, we want to continue to improve it.

And, you know, that's really a decision that you and he are going to have to pray through just in terms of your lifestyle. And is this what you need? And is it too much? And where do you want to live, you know, in the next season of life?

Is this the right location? So we don't have a lot of time left. But just kind of give me a breakdown on is this a financial issue? Or is it a non-financial issue in terms of you all making this decision?

It's pretty much both. I mean, we're on water. So obviously, he wants to stay. But I just see it as being too much to too much to do. As far as you know, we're getting older, and I don't want to live through a bunch of renovations. And that's what needs to be done. Yeah. Have you all had those conversations where, you know, you sit down and talk about the reality? I mean, you've been through this before. So the two of you coming together just saying, is this really what we want to take on? I have some concerns. You know, I want to hear you out. Have you have you had those conversations?

And are you kind of at odds on this? Yes. Okay.

All right. Well, you know, I think you just need to and it's going to sound simple, and I know it's not, but I think you are going to just have to make this a matter of prayer. And at some point decide, you know, what is our vision for this next season of life for us? You know, what is God calling us to? Where do we want to live? What do we want our lifestyle to be? Do we want more time available for church and to volunteer and to do, you know, whatever He has for you?

And is this the right season for us to take on a major renovation? I mean, for your husband, it may be a hobby. For you, you're looking toward other things. But I think coming together and creating that vision first around what are our values and what's most important to us and where is God taking us? Those are the conversations I think you need to start with. And that's way before you even get to, okay, so now what are we going to do with the house? That's a vision for the next season of your life as a married couple. And then we say, okay, based on that vision of where God is taking us now, do we want to stay in the home and take on a major renovation? Do we want to stay in the home and just be happy with it?

Or do we want to sell and downside and buy something we don't have to touch so we can just enjoy those things? So I'd pray first, approach him about that and maybe take a weekend together and see if you can cast a vision for this next season. Candace, God bless you. Thank you so much for calling in today. We wish you and your husband the best. MoneyWise Live is a partnership between Moody Radio and MoneyWise Media. Thanks for listening. Join us again tomorrow.