Bearing One Another’s Burdens

If you're like me, watching little kids do an Easter egg hunt is a pretty beautiful thing. But I always feel bad for the littlest of the pack.

It always seems so traumatizing to see that little one run for an egg she has her eye on, only to have a bigger kid sweep in and steal it at the last second. Hi, it's Doug Hastings with Moody Radio, and unfortunately this same kind of situation has become a traumatizing reality for families all across the country. Families are out searching and finding their dream home, only to have it pulled away by another hunter at the last second, which is why I'd really like you to meet my friends at United Faith Mortgage. Unfortunately, this faith- focused mortgage team can't scare off the other hunters, but they can very quickly get you pre- approved and make it look as good as possible to sellers. They've specifically made a commitment to this podcast and our listeners to do all they can to help you.

You can find the entire United Faith Mortgage story and especially read how their direct lender advantage can often save your family monthly and lifelong money at unitedfaithmortgage.com. Today's version of MoneyWise Live is pre-recorded, so our phone lines are not open. Have you ever been hit with a big doctor bill and prayed for a miracle, like maybe angels would appear and pay it for you?

Hi, I'm Rob West. That's sort of what happens when you sign up for a medical cost sharing plan. Lauren Gydeck with Christian Healthcare Ministries is here to talk about that today.

It's not really a miracle, but it sure feels like one. Then we have some great calls lined up, but please don't call in today because we're pre-recorded. This is MoneyWise Live, where God's word is the last word on our finances. Well, Lauren Gydeck is Vice President of Communications and Media at Christian Healthcare Ministries, and she's here today with some great stories about how CHM members share the financial burdens of healthcare, which everyone knows can be incredibly expensive. Lauren, welcome back. Oh, thank you so much, Rob, for having me back on the show. Always enjoy our time together, and Lauren, some folks may not be familiar with Christian Healthcare Ministries and cost sharing, so how does the program work in a nutshell?

Sure, I'd be glad to dive into that. So Christian Healthcare Ministries is a non-profit medical cost sharing ministry, and so we are, like I said, a non-profit. We are not an insurance company, which is a common misconception, but we're here to do the Lord's work and to enable Christians to share each other's medical bills.

So Christians from all over the nation, missionaries in other countries, people serving in full-time ministry will join the program and pool their resources together in order to help each other out in some of the most difficult times of our lives when we have medical incidents and medical expenses. Yes, and it's actually a biblical model, isn't it, Lauren? Yes. Our foundational verse is Galatians 6, 2, which says, carry each other's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. And that's what we want to do. We want to put our faith into action and to be able to come alongside people in their time of need so that no one's in need.

Yes. Let's perhaps start with a practical example for those who are unfamiliar. Let's say I'm a CHM member and I'm hit with a $20,000 bill or a series of bills for a medical procedure, which is not uncommon.

What happens then? Well, what happens then is you, as the patient, would collect your bills. You would send them into Christian healthcare ministries and then we would work on them as far as receiving discounts, working with the healthcare providers. And then what we would do is we would issue a check back to you for the eligible amount of those expenses and you, the patient, would pay your healthcare providers. Yeah, so it's actually considered self-pay, but with the assistance of CHM, how can folks be assured that this type of program actually works?

Well, you know, I like to point to our 40-year history. This is our 40th year of service and we have served hundreds of thousands of people with their medical bills. In addition to that, you know, we're a Better Business Bureau accredited charity and we've had that designation now for nine years. So, we know that the people are looking for something that is not only faith-based, but also is something that they can have confidence that they're going that they're going to come to us and actually receive help with their medical costs.

Yes, very good. It sounds somewhat too good to be true. Are there any drawbacks to Christian healthcare ministries? You know, I get that question a lot and I would say it's not so much about drawbacks. It's more so, you know, it can be difficult to understand the program. People are accustomed to thinking of their healthcare in a certain way and this works differently. You know, as we just talked about a few minutes ago, you know, the members of our ministry are self-pay patients, you know, so everything is filtered through the patient and actually the patient is put in control of their healthcare costs. So, you know, the model works differently. I like to say it works differently, but the end result is the same where your healthcare costs are taken care of. And at the end of the day, that's what really matters.

Well, that's exactly right. We actually have team members who have been on CHM for a long, long time and as you said, putting them in the driver's seat to work directly with their providers, but having CHM behind them and all of these Christians sharing their medical bills is just a huge opportunity. And did we mention it's budget friendly, which is enormous in these times. Well, we're going to continue to talk more about CHM, why Christians are drawn to this program and some practical stories, some examples of people just like you who have used it. Lauren Gidex with us today from Christian Healthcare Ministries, much more to come just around the corner. Today's program is prerecorded, so keep that in mind when you hear phone numbers. We're going to pause for a brief break now, but Rob West will be back in a moment with more MoneyWise Live.

Welcome back to MoneyWise Live. With us today is Lauren Gidex, Vice President of Communications and Media at Christian Healthcare Ministries, talking about a wonderful resource that's budget friendly to come alongside you as you navigate your medical life, the needs that you have, the costs that you have that seem to be rising all the time. Well, CHM is based on a biblical model and has been doing this for more than 40 years. And Lauren, if I'm not mistaken, last year alone CHM shared nearly half a billion dollars in members' medical bills. Is that right? Yeah, it was actually a little bit more than that.

We shared over $600 million last year in our members' medical expenses. Yeah, that is incredible. As we said before, Lauren, this is based on a biblical model, and I suspect that's one of the primary reasons that Christians are drawn to CHM. Would you agree? Oh, absolutely. Yeah, we take our cues from Acts Chapter 2 and 4, where it said all the believers, you know, were gathered together and they shared with each other. Obviously, I'm paraphrasing a little bit, but they pulled their resources together and shared what they had so that there was no one in need. And that's what we're trying to do here at Christian Healthcare Ministries in the area of healthcare costs.

Yes. I'd love for you to share some real-life examples of how CHM has made a difference in some of your members' lives. I know you all see your members almost as family, and your team gets to know them and their situations. And it's really exciting to hear some of the stories of the people behind the medical bills that are being shared. Tell us a few that come to mind.

Absolutely. I think of several off top of my head. One of them is, as you might suspect, we've had members who have contracted COVID-19 over the past year and a few months. And one of those folks is a gentleman from Illinois, and he wasn't feeling well and it wasn't going away. So, eventually he had mentioned it to one of his friends who was an EMT. And that gentleman said, you know, if you had called 911, I would have had you on oxygen already. And he said, you need to go to the hospital. So, this gentleman went to the hospital and, you know, the ER doctor rushed him back. And later, they told his wife that if he had not come in that day, he would not have made it through the night. Wow, incredible.

I know so many have struggled with this and it's resulted in significant medical bills and obviously having somebody behind you like CHM takes a huge burden off during an already difficult time. Perhaps another story? Yeah. Another one that I'm thinking of, it took place during this whole pandemic period as well. So, you know, there's a lot of information out there about the virus and this and that, but we have to remember that there are people going through other medical events all the time, regardless of that. And this particular one I'm thinking of is a lady in Florida, a young lady, who was in her 20s. And, you know, she was pregnant during that time last year. And, you know, she was diagnosed with preeclampsia. And because of that, you know, that's a very serious complication of pregnancy. She had to have her baby at 28 weeks.

Wow. And so, you know, that in and of itself is very challenging for a baby to be born that early. But also, you know, they feared for her life and they told her husband, you know, you know, you might not be going home with your wife after this baby is born. And thank God they both were okay. You know, the baby was in the NICU for a little while, but this dear family had over $600,000 in medical bills. And one of the hospital bills, just one bill was over $500,000. And, you know, they got some really wonderful discounts from their healthcare providers and then CHM was able to come alongside them and help them with the rest of those expenses during a very stressful time. But I'm just so happy to report that, you know, both the mom and baby are doing just fine today. It's an incredible story. And as I said before, you really see CHM and its members as a big family. What makes the CHM body of members different from the other options people may have? Yeah, that's a great question.

I love to answer because, you know, it's just such a different experience. You have a supportive group of Christians who are loving on you, who are wanting to help you in your time of need. And I'm not just talking about financial help. You know, we have tens of thousands of people on social media who are regularly encouraging each other, praying for each other. You know, we have a prayer card ministry where our members will write each other, send them cards, they'll send emails.

You know, they'll just send Bible verses, all kinds of things. And some of our members have reported that, you know, receiving sometimes hundreds up to hundreds of cards in the mail has meant more to them even than the financial sharing component. So, you know, it is a true ministry and it's an extension of the local church if you think about it.

Yes, that's right. You all go out of your way not to compare yourselves to insurance because it's completely different. Why is that such an important distinction, Lauren? That's really important because, you know, for one thing, that's a different experience. We talked about that a little bit before earlier where, you know, health cost sharing puts you, the patient, in charge of your health care and you understand, you know, what your health care is actually costing you. You know, in other scenarios, sometimes you just have no idea. And, you know, that's a problem.

We're very big on transparency and health care pricing. And then again, you know, another key differentiator and another reason that this is a ministry is what we just talked about, you know, with the members praying for each other. And when people call in our offices and they're going through a really rough time, you know, maybe their child is sick or, you know, maybe they just had a big health scare themselves and they call in and they're kind of at, you know, they're at the bottom. They're kind of rock bottom sometimes and our staff will pray with them and help them answer all their questions, of course. But just hearing that compassionate voice on the other end of the phone is so meaningful.

Yes. Well, it's so key and I think just goes a long way to reassure folks. Lauren, who do you think CHM works best for as you think about the various people that are listening to us today? Yeah, I would say anyone who is a Christian living by biblical principles. So, you know, there's a lot of opportunity there in whatever walk of life you're in, whether you're a pastor, whether you're a teacher, whether you work in construction, you know, you're older, you're younger, male or female, you know, we do serve all of those folks as long as they espouse the Christian belief system. And that's the really wonderful thing about this ministry, in my opinion, is, you know, there is the diversity there of it doesn't matter the color of your skin.

It doesn't matter what, you know, where you've been working or what you've been doing in your occupation. CHM is there for believers and we're there to help them in their times of crisis. Yeah. Well, it's so key. Well, folks, if you want to get more information about Christian healthcare ministries or any topic related to healthcare transparency, call CHM today, 800-791-6225 or chministries.org. Lauren, thanks for stopping by. Oh, thank you so much, Rob.

That website again, chministries.org. Much more to come on MoneyWise Live. Stay with us.

This is MoneyWise Live, where God's Word intersects with your financial life. And we're going to head right to Nashville, Tennessee. Welcome Alex to the broadcast.

Alex, go right ahead. Hi, thank you for taking my call. I appreciate your great service.

Thank you. My question is, I'm right now 57 and turn to 58 on August. But unfortunately, I don't have any 401k. But I have wrote an array in Primerica.

It's not a lot of money, like $5,000. So 401k in the company where I work, they are offering me for the one they are matching on Tuesday, I'm going to sign. So can I transfer the one of the Roth IRA, which I have in Primerica, to 401k?

No, sir. Unfortunately, you can't. There's different tax treatment going on with the Roth IRA than even a traditional IRA. And even then, typically, they wouldn't accept those funds once it gets to an IRA. If you have, let's say, an old 401k, and you're moving to a new employer who also has a 401k, in many cases, they'll let you move that in, you have to verify that with the plan administrator.

But in this case, because it's already an IRA, and in addition to that, it's a Roth, which you didn't get the tax deduction, but that money is growing tax-free, you would not be able to transfer it into the traditional 401k. So what I would recommend, Alex, with that matching, I think you're making the right move here, in that, you know, beginning to contribute systematically to this 401k, take advantage of those matching dollars, which is free money, makes a lot of sense. Make sure you pick the right mix of investments inside the 401k that's appropriate for your age and objectives. If you need some help with that, you can seek that out. And then with the Roth IRA, I would probably suggest if there's not a whole lot of money in there, you do one of the two options I mentioned to the previous caller.

Either visit with our friends at soundmindinvesting.org to consider some mutual fund options that could be used for investing these dollars, or look at transferring that to one of the firms that offer more of an automated robo-advisor type solution like Schwab or Betterment or Wealthfront, and hopefully that'll help you today. And we appreciate your call very, very much. Let's stay in the state of Tennessee and welcome Teresa to the broadcast. Go right ahead. Thank you so much for taking my call.

Sure. I recently became an executor for a family member who has a retirement fund. It has both a Roth and a regular IRA in it, and it has designated beneficiaries.

My main question is just, I want to handle it responsibly as I contact them for that notification. Is there a way that unnecessary taxes and penalties can be avoided as that's dispersed? Is there a right way and a wrong way to go about doing that so that you don't, you know, incur unnecessary taxes or expenses by the way you handle it? Yeah, it's a great question, Teresa, and I appreciate you wanting to be a faithful steward of your dad's estate, especially as you've been named executor. You know, taxes really shouldn't be an issue. The taxes typically would be paid by the state, but given that the exemptions are so high, you know, there would probably not be any estate tax here. If you passed away in 2020, it's $11.5 million that you have to that you have to get above in terms of the total value of the estate before estate taxes kick in.

In 2021, it's $11.7 million, so we're talking a significant estate here. Beyond that, you know, with the will, that would pass according to the probate court, and they would direct you as to the process of distributing any funds and when that transfer can occur. With the beneficiary named accounts like an IRA where there are beneficiaries listed on the account, you would just provide the death certificate and information to the brokerage firms and, you know, those would pass directly to those that are inheriting those. And then the IRS provides the guidelines at that point as to how that money is distributed. So it will be taken out according to those schedules and often depending on whether it's a spousal IRA or it's an inherited IRA non-spouse, there'll be different methods by which you can take it out over expected life or over a 10-year period and then taxes are paid as that money is distributed. So I think you're doing the right things.

I don't think you have to be terribly concerned about doing something wrong because there really aren't going to be any tax implications here for most people just given how high that bar is for a state tax. And again, once it gets to the beneficiaries, they will handle that in terms of their own taxes moving forward with their CPA and we appreciate your call. Let me remind you, the MoneyWise app is available. If you've not downloaded it yet, we would encourage you to do that. You'll find it in your app story, the Apple or Google Play store, and it's the best digital envelope system I've ever used. Plus our community is there where you can ask questions and receive encouragement as a steward of God's money and all of our content in the Discover tab from the Leading Voices in Christian Finance.

Go download it today. Hey, before we go to a break, here's an email. This one comes from Patty in Chattanooga and Patty writes, my husband and I don't see eye to eye on our spending plan. How can we come together in this area?

And Patty, let me start by just encouraging you that this is not uncommon. You know, when you put two people together in marriage under Christ, we come together with different backgrounds, different personalities, and I would say different money personalities as well. One might be a saver, one might be a spender. We, in most cases, grew up with different economic status. Our parents handled money differently.

All that informs how we see money. The key is you all need to establish a common vision for how God has equipped you to handle the resources he's entrusted to you for his glory. So I'd start by praying. Ask the Lord to give you some wisdom and insight as you navigate this together. Ask your husband if you all can have a money date. Sit down and talk about what's most important to you, the values that you have, and how where God's leading can really be informed by and dictate how you allocate God's money. And then with those in mind, develop a brand new spending plan that starts with your priorities and allows you to make sacrifices each day when you cut back in certain areas of spending that allow you to accomplish the goals that you have together.

Start there and let's see if that doesn't change the conversation and if money doesn't become an instrument of peace in the marriage instead of discord. I appreciate your email questions at MoneyWise.org if you have one. We're going to pause. We'll be right back. Stay with us. This is MoneyWise Live.

We're so glad you're along with us today. I'm Rob West. Hey, let's take an email question. We take your emails and read as many of them as we can on the air periodically.

And if you have one you want to send along, we'd certainly love to receive it. Questions at MoneyWise.org or you can go to our website MoneyWiseLive.org and click ask a question and you'll get a personal response from one of our MoneyWise coaches. Today's email comes from Sally and she's calling from Eugene, Oregon. And Sally writes, should all of us have our accounts frozen with our credit bureaus? And what Sally is talking about is a credit freeze. Each of the bureaus, Experian, Equifax and TransUnion, all by law have to offer you the ability to freeze your credit report at no cost.

You will have to make that request either through their website or by calling them or through the mail. But essentially my recommendation there is typically, you can always choose to do it, typically I would say if you know your information has been compromised, which seems to happen often these days, or you know that you've been the victim of identity theft, you would absolutely want to freeze your credit. That's essentially going to place a PIN number on your credit report so that if anyone tries to open an account in your name, and this would be someone fraudulently trying to do that, they wouldn't be able to do so because there would be a PIN number that would need to be provided in order to allow the lender to access the credit report. And if they didn't have the PIN number, because that's something you only know, then that would stop them in their tracks.

So you could do it. It's going to add that extra layer of protection, but also an extra hassle factor, if you will, when you're trying to open a new account or seeking some credit. So I typically say if you know your account or identity has been compromised, go for it.

Otherwise it's really up to you. And we appreciate you all sending those questions in. Again, the email address is questions at MoneyWise.org. Let's go back to the phones to Indianapolis, Indiana. Bill, you're next up on MoneyWise Live. Go ahead, sir.

Okay, thank you for taking my call. I got a quick question for you. I had an uncle that he was a financial planner, but this is back in the day, where people would give him their paycheck and he would give them an allowance and he would pay their electric bill and department store bills and all that kind of stuff, you know, unheard of today. He believed it so much, he gave his check to his boss and his boss did the same thing for him. A piece of advice that he gave my dad, and I think my dad followed through with it because I remember I was a teenager, not paying attention to this stuff, but we had a mortgage burning party or something and we all went out to eat when I was like 17 and they had bought a 30-year mortgage house two or three years before I was born. My uncle told my dad, if I got this straight, take half of your payment for your house payment and send it in two weeks early. If your payment is $600 and it's due on the 1st, if you send 300 the 15th of the month prior and then 300 on the 1st, not to pay an extra penny, but you're just paying that off. He said you'll pay your mortgage in like 12 years less and therefore the 17 years my, you know, we had this burning party and all that. And did I misunderstand that or is that, you know, I think with paying an extra payment of 13 payments a month or something, you got to come up with that money to do that. But in his scenario, you're just paying, you know, early and you don't have to pay anything extra.

And if I'm wrong, I want to know. Okay, Bill. First of all, I love the idea of burning that mortgage once you pay it off. And by the way, I do encourage folks to really press into paying off your mortgage. There'd be some financial professionals, financial professionals that would say, no, hang on to that quote unquote tax deduction and put that money to work in a higher interest or return environment and continue to keep your mortgage. I'd say no. If you have the ability beyond an emergency fund, beyond the giving that the Lord's led you to do, beyond providing for your family and short term savings goals, if you have the ability to pay down that mortgage early, you go for it.

You won't look back. Now, this idea of the 13th payment, it's you probably have it slightly wrong, Bill, because if you just pay the same amount, but you do it on the 1st and the 15th, instead of doing it all in one payment, it's probably going to be received by the mortgage company, the mortgage servicer, and applied as one payment, even though it was two half payments on two different days of the month, which if you don't get any additional money going to principal, is really not going to help you. And typically they, you know, it's going to go to the scheduled monthly payment anyway. Which means you're going to stay right on that same amortization schedule than you were given when you started. Where folks typically when they talk about 13 payments are going is what's called a biweekly mortgage payment, which don't pay anybody to do this.

You can do this yourself. And it's this idea that you would send a half payment every two weeks, which means you're going to end up sending 26 half payments or 13 full payments. So in doing that payment every two weeks, not 1st and 15th, but every two weeks, you're going to end up sending those 26 half payments or 13 full payments, which means, of course, one extra payment a year. Now, where is that one extra payment going? Well, every time you get to a place where you're making an extra half payment beyond the scheduled monthly payment, that's going directly to principal. If you're paying that in properly and the mortgage servicer is applying it properly and that 13 payments a year is going to take a 30-year mortgage and cut it down on average to about 25 years. So that's knocking five years off that 30-year mortgage by just you sending that one extra payment a year and doing that every two weeks.

A half a payment does for many folks kind of smooth that out and make it very palatable from a budget standpoint. Does that make sense though, Bill? Sure.

Sure, it does. Yeah. Okay. Very good. Well, thank you. Thank you. Yes, sir. I hope that clears it up and we appreciate your call very much.

Let's go south to Florida. Rose, you're next up on MoneyWise Live. Go ahead.

Hi, thank you for taking my question. Yes, I am eligible to retire from my job and my options are to take a lower annual pension along with a lump sum or take a higher annual pension with no lump sum. And this is proving to be a really difficult decision in part because it sort of gets into guessing at your life expectancy to see which option is going to give you the most money over the longest time. And I was just wondering if there is a biblical perspective that might help me discern, you know, the better way to go which would be most biblical and are there any scriptures that touch on any aspects of this decision?

Yeah, yeah. Well, I appreciate that question, Rose, because clearly you want to honor the Lord with your decision which is why you want to make sure scripture aligns with this decision. And I would say specifically from my vantage point related to the nuance of do I want to take the full lump sum with lesser payment or partial with the larger, you know, you won't find anything specifically in God's Word to that end. I think the idea here is to recognize everything you have is from the Lord. He is your provider. He will never abdicate that to anyone else. And it's all His, right?

Everything we receive is His. So we want to be a careful steward of that. I think at the end of the day, you know, this really is a financial computation equation first. And then secondly, it's an issue around, you know, what gives me the most peace of mind and really frees me up to do what God has called me to do. I would want you to visit with a financial professional, Rose, to make this decision. They're going to look at the internal rate of return to determine which is more convenient for you. They're also going to look at your needs from a lifestyle standpoint to make sure whatever you do shores up your income so you know that your obligations are met.

And then finally, with the lump sum, make sure that you still have some money left over for things that come down the road. Hey, we appreciate your call today. If you'd like to post a question in our community, in our MoneyWise app, we'd love to have you do that. Our coaches stop by. I'm in there periodically as well. Just download our app in your app store today.

Search for MoneyWise Biblical Finance, and then you can post your question. Hey, we're going to pause for a brief break. We'll be back with much more. Stay with us.

This is our final segment of a broadcast we previously recorded. Thanks so much for being with us today, and we hope you'll stick around and enjoy the rest of today's program. Matthew 6 21 says, For where your treasure is there, your heart will be also. In other words, your heart follows your money. And as we deal with your questions and comments today here on MoneyWise Live, we recognize that money issues are ultimately about your heart.

What matters most to you? And we want to make sure that our money is a reflection of what God is doing in our lives, that our goals are based on really honoring and glorifying Him with what He's entrusted to us. That's our aim and objective here each day as we tackle your financial issues from a biblical perspective. Hey, do you need help with your spending plan, getting out of debt, developing a giving plan? Well, we have MoneyWise coaches that would be delighted to come alongside you at no cost.

They'll meet with you virtually, properly, socially distanced because you're just gathering between two computers, right? And they'd love to walk alongside you, encourage you, help you set up a spending plan, and teach you some of these principles we talk about here on the radio each day. You can connect with a coach when you visit our website, MoneyWise Live. Just click the button that indicates that, MoneyWiseLive.org, and we'll get one of those coaches connected with you. All right, let's go to Escondido, California, and Sonja. You're next up on MoneyWise Live. Go ahead.

I'll go as quick as I can. I'm a 76-year-old single woman. Single woman, fairly newly single. Own a house, very low house payments. I'm in a situation right now where I'm able to put between three and four thousand dollars a month in savings, but it kind of disturbs me to put it there and just see it sitting. I don't need to pay off my house early because I'll never get it paid off anyway. I have three kids and they are financially exceedingly comfortable.

Okay. So I just don't know what to do with that money. I mean, I know I need to hold on to it, but is there something that I can do other than leaving it in savings? I did just buy some silver, but not much.

Do you have suggestions? Yeah, let me ask just a couple of questions if you don't mind. What do you have currently in that savings account that you've been adding to all these months? $33,000 and it hasn't been very long that I've been adding because I bought a very nice car, a used car, and had to buy my ex-husband out of my home. So I've just been now kind of starting about the last year, starting to be able to save. Yes, and do you have other assets like investments available, Sonya? I had to turn those over to my ex-husband in the house. I do, however, have Social Security, retirement from my work, and alimony. I see. Okay, very good.

Well, last question. What would be the total of your monthly expenses, roughly? With or without my social and my retirement? Yeah, set the income aside for a second. When you total up all the bills, and the obligations that you have, both fixed and discretionary, all the spending that happens in a typical month, what would you say that number is, roughly? Around $3,000. I just replied, so my house payment is low.

Okay, very good. It takes me about $3,000. Yeah, well, you know, I like in your position where you've got your income covered, you've kept your lifestyle at a minimum. As you said, you're living modestly, you don't have a lot in the way of assets to tap into, you know, down the road if you were to need them. I like the idea that you would have a year's worth of expenses, you know, in a liquid account that's safe and accessible, I'd probably put that in a high-yield savings account.

And then beyond that, which one month from now, if you're saving $3,000 a month, you'll be there at $36,000. Then, if you want beyond that to put this to work, are you comfortable taking a little bit of risk with this money, meaning that you're looking for a higher return but it could lose value, or are you more concerned with it being protected? I'm pretty conservative, I am.

Actually, very conservative. Okay, so then you probably don't want it in the stock market. You know, one of the challenges that you have right now is that you could put this into longer-term bonds or a diversified bond portfolio, but you'd have to recognize, even then, as interest rates head up, the prices of the bonds would move down, so you'd want to be investing on a dollar-cost average basis, which as $3,000 a month is available, you know, that's going to be something that you'll be doing. So as you buy in, you're buying the bonds or the bond mutual fund at different prices based on where interest rates are, but you're locking in that return that's going to be better than you might find in a CD or a savings account. It's going to be more stable than a stock portfolio, especially if we were to get into a recession and the stock market were to head down, and it's going to give you a little bit more return so you'd see some growth on that. I would visit with our friend Sonia at Soundmind Investing at soundmindinvesting.org. You know, they would have some wonderful recommendations for you on how you could begin systematically investing in some bond mutual funds that would be high-quality bonds that would, again, give you some of that stability but also a little bit better return than you're seeing right now. And I would really focus on keeping that $36,000, that one year's worth of expenses, stable, liquid, secure, but also, you know, right now earning the prevailing high-yield rates, which if you, again, go to Marcus or Capital One or Ally, you're going to get about a half of 1% a year, and as interest rates move up over time, we'll see that number increase. So I think you're in a great spot.

I think the key right now is for you to continue to build up what you have each month so that if you need it down the road for long-term care or some major expense, then that would be available. Also, don't neglect any giving opportunities. The Lord may bring your way as you have some access to contribute to those in need. So hopefully that's helpful to you. We appreciate your call very much today. Let's head to Chicago, Illinois, and welcome Kathy to the broadcast. Go right ahead.

Hi. My husband's a pastor, and as you know, pastors get a parsonage allowance, and that can continue into retirement if they're part of a denomination and their retirement's in the proper place. So with that said, should we, if we have just recently inherited some money, should we pay off our mortgage? In which case, we would lose the parsonage allowance. We have about $50,000 still we owe on our house mortgage. I see.

All right, so the parsonage allowance is only until the home is paid off, and then at that point, could it be used for other expenses related to maintaining the home or no? I don't know. Yeah, we're just trying to decide if we should wait and not pay off our house. You know, we have about four years left.

Yeah. Okay, very good. The other question I guess I would have is, I mean, we don't want to not pay it off simply to just continue to receive that offset, given that that's for the home. But at the same time, you can make a very good case, Kathy, that there could be a better use for that money. So tell me about the rest of your financial life in terms of your investments. Do you feel like you're on track with retirement savings? Do you have a fully funded emergency fund? What other considerations might you have for this inheritance?

Well, I really wish you could talk to my husband. But we're not on a good retirement right now. I mean, we've been in the ministry about 28, 29 years at a church, and we're in our early 60s. So yes, we could use this money I've inherited toward our retirement, or we could pay off our house and then use that money we would pay off every month for our mortgage towards our retirement. So those are the big things right now.

Yeah. Well, I could really make a strong case that you're already on track. I mean, let's set the parsonage payment aside for a second and just look at this from a financial planning standpoint. I would want you to have that home paid off by the time you reach retirement. And arguably, you're already on track to do that with that home being paying it off in four years, and you're 60, roughly.

So I think taking this money that the Lord has provided through this inheritance and putting it to work, and seeing that as money that, you know, is to be used at least 10 years down the road, you know, and having a properly diversified yet conservative portfolio given the proximity to retirement would make a lot of sense as opposed to just dropping that on the house right now, even though you'd free up that monthly payment, you know, you would have the ability to go and invest the full amount today. So I think that's the direction I'd go. But I think you all could benefit Kathy from some time spent with an investment or financial planning professional just to look at kind of where you're at. Are you on track ahead or behind? What do you need to consider and begin to think about that retirement season of life to make sure you do have a plan that syncs with your lifestyle and the financial needs that you're going to have and what will be available to you down the road? So that's my best advice. And I would encourage you to perfectly consider seeking out a financial professional. We appreciate your call today.

Let's go quickly to Lavonda in Illinois. Go right ahead. Hi, it's a very simple question. I have received an offer. If I spend $500 on a new credit card, they'll give me 200. I already have three credit cards.

I already I pay them off monthly. Is there a catch answer? Should I not do it just because that might hit cause some other problems? Yeah, no, I don't see a problem necessarily. That sounds a bit rich in terms of the benefit that they're describing here. I mean, clearly, if you pay five, if you spend $500, even if you pay it off, they're going to get the merchant rebate. And clearly, they're hoping that you'll continue to use the card and at some point, run a balance and they're going to start earning fees off of the interest in addition to the merchant rebate. And if you were to get behind, then all the other things that come with that sounds like you're responsible. So if you've read the fine print, and that's what you in fact would get, there may be a slight dip to your credit score temporarily because you'd have an inquiry on there. So I would just go back and read the fine print.

But there's nothing inherently wrong other than that slight dip temporarily in your credit score with you opening this account, assuming you've managed your credit wisely, and you're not going to get into debt over this. So hopefully that's helpful to you, Lavonda. We appreciate your call very, very much. Well, folks, we are about out of time today, but we appreciate so much all of your calls. Here's what we want to do each day on this broadcast. We want to understand God's heart as it relates to our money, because we know there's 2,300 verses in God's word that deal with money and possessions.

And the reason for that is because there's so much to say about our money and our hearts and ultimately our walk with the Lord. Hey, let me say thank you to my amazing team today, Deb Solomon producing, Jim Henry on research, Amy Rios engineering, and Gabby T answering our phones today. MoneyWise Live is a partnership between Moody Radio and MoneyWise Media. Would you come back and join us tomorrow? We'll be here for another edition of MoneyWise Live. God bless.