Women and Generosity

First Timothy 5 tells us the elders who direct the affairs of the church well are worthy of double honor, especially those whose work is preaching and teaching.

Hi, I'm Rob West. That verse establishes the biblical principle that believers are to provide for those who preach the gospel. Some of the first disciples to obey it were women. Sharon Epps joins us today to talk about that. Then we'll take your calls at 800-525-7000. That's 800-525-7000.

This is MoneyWise Live, biblical wisdom for your financial journey. Well, it's always a delight to have Sharon Epps on the program. She's a good friend, but she's chief operating officer here at Kingdom Advisors.

And frankly, I don't know what I'd do without her. Sharon, welcome back to the program. Thank you, Rob.

It's great to have you. And I'm excited about this topic. I know it's one that you're particularly passionate about. And Sharon, you have some unique insights about this topic of women and generosity that you're going to share with us today. So where should we begin? Well, I think the best place to begin is in the Word of God.

So why don't we start there? You mentioned that Scripture records that women were among the first supporters of Jesus' ministry, and that's something I didn't know for many years. But when we look at the beginning passage of the parable of the sower in Luke 8, listen to what it says. After this, Jesus traveled from one town and village to another, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God. The 12 were with him and also some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases.

And quite frankly, I think I always stopped there and skipped ahead. But this is so important. Mary called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had come out, Joanna, the wife of Chuza, the manager of Herod's household, Susanna, and many others.

Here's the important part. These women were helping to support them out of their own means. Now, Mary Magdalene was one of the first patrons of the early church, Lydia, an industrious entrepreneur who strategically funded early missions. Women have historically been generous wealth creators and stewards. So year after year, research that's been conducted by the Women's Philanthropy Institute reveals that households headed by women at all levels of income and wealth are more likely to be generous. That's fascinating.

And I love that we've established that this began very early, that they were among the earliest of patrons. And now we see this fascinating research. Sharon, I know you've had the opportunity to drill down a bit into that research.

What else are you seeing? As you know, prior to Kingdom Advisors, I was privileged to be a co-founder of an organization called Women Doing Well. And we asked that very question. We wanted to understand the giving practices of Christian women. And so we commissioned Sagamore Institute Center on Faith and Communities and Baylor University's Institute for the Study of Religion to design and implement a generosity in women's study. We were hoping for 300 respondents, and you'll never guess, we were amazed. We had more than 7000 Christian women who participated in the research, giving us key insights into women and giving. In fact, our researcher told us that that was a finding in and of itself, that we had 7000 women who wanted to participate.

It's incredible. And with research, obviously, the bigger the sample size, the more confidence we can have in the data, right? Absolutely. Let me share a few key findings.

Let's just start with one or two. The first one is Christian women are more generous with their time and money than the general population, which intuitively you might think. But let me give you the numbers. They are 300% more generous with their money and 400% more generous with their time. Now, there's a big underlying cause for this, and we believe that discipleship plays a major role in shaping generosity among Christian women. Research revealed that the women that had a strong understanding of biblical teaching on stewardship gave higher percentages of their income away. And in fact, we found that 94% of these Christian women said they wanted to be able to give more than they currently give. So we've got this situation where we have women who are already very generous, and yet they're saying, we wish we could do more.

Well, that begs the question, how do they do more? So when we come back from the break, we'll talk about some common challenges that hold women back in their giving and how do they connect their passions to their giving? Sharon will help us unpack that as well. Sharon Epps joining us today, COO of Kingdom Advisors, much more to come on women and generosity just around the corner.

Stay with us. Welcome back to MoneyWise Live. I'm Rob West, your host. Joining me today, Sharon Epps, Chief Operating Officer of Kingdom Advisors, and we're talking about women and generosity. Sharon was sharing just before the break, a research study that she was involved in commissioned by Sagamore Institute and Baylor University to study women and their giving. And Sharon, you said that, amazingly, 7000 women of faith participated in the research, which was mind blowing in and of itself. But one of the stats that you uncovered as a part of the data was that 94% of women surveyed wanted to give more than they currently give.

So that begs the question, what is holding them back? I know it was interesting to us to see that these women were already generous and yet realized that they had not met their full potential. And so we found three common challenges that hindered them in giving more. And the first one we talk a lot about at Kingdom Advisors and MoneyWise, and that's the lack of financial planning.

If they don't have a plan, then it's very difficult to have confidence in giving because you're just not sure what that money is needed for. That's right. So the second one really surprised us. In fact, it was one that caused us to go a lot deeper and ask more questions. And that is they also said that if they didn't have clarity of their personal purpose or their passion for giving, they were held back from giving more. And we've seen many examples of this played out since. And then the third one is a lack of accountability partners. I may have a plan, but unless I have someone that holds me accountable to fulfill my plan, it's just easy to get distracted.

Yes. That's really fascinating because as you said, with financial planning and purpose and passion clarified and then accountability, that will perhaps unleash these women toward a greater sense of being able to live out their generosity calling. Has that been your experience as you've observed women and their generosity journey?

Oh, it definitely has. In fact, these women recognize they've got this greater capacity. And many of them said on a scale of one to five, I'm not even close to five. We only had 20 percent of the women who thought they were really giving at their maximum capacity. And we believe a lot of it goes back to that middle challenge that we talked about, the sense of calling and purpose.

And so we really looked at, pulled out this group. In fact, our researcher called them giving virtuosos, but this group of women that were giving in their strong sense of calling and purpose. And we found that women with the highest score on a personal sense of calling or purpose gave an average 13.7 percent of their income away, while women with the lowest score on this scale gave nine percent. Which, if you know, the national average isn't giving, nine percent is still really great. But with almost five percentage points more generosity, we wanted to understand how this purpose tied into this whole equation. That is incredible.

I'd love to dig a little deeper into that, because I know that doesn't even quite tell the whole story as impressive as those numbers are. That's so true. And really what I want to note is that when we talk about this word generosity, we're not just talking about money.

So if you're listening today and you think, wow, I'm the widow with just a little bit of oil, I don't know how this applies to me. Let me assure you that generosity includes all of life. It can be our labor, our influence.

It does include money, but also our expertise. And so every one of us has something that we can give. Now, I want to talk a little bit about this purpose and passion thing. And in fact, I feel like I need to define the word passion.

It's been hijacked a little bit. Let's talk about what that is. And that is a need that you see that you care about so deeply that you're willing to sacrifice to address it. The best example of passion is the passion of our Lord. Lord Jesus Christ was so passionate about us that he was willing to sacrifice his life for us. And so defining these passions is an important part of our giving journey as well. So while our purpose is permanent, God gives us our purpose, our passions often change over time and over seasons of life.

Most of the time they relate to something that we've experienced or that we've suffered or even a pain in our life. So as our relationship with God grows deeper, we believe that our passions also align more with God's passions. And when we learn about what God is passionate about, we understand that we can be interested or passionate about many of those same things.

Now, some of our friends, John Cortenez and Greg Balmer, wrote a book called True Riches. And in that book, I love how they captured this idea of passion and priorities of God. And they said throughout scripture, God reveals three top priorities, three big things that he's up to in the world. He invites us to help with each of these and we get to join our eternal dad in doing his work. As we take on these tasks, God grows our capacity to love, breaking us free from indifference. And so understanding what God cares about gives us much better direction for our areas of passion.

And we find that the three things that God cares most deeply about clearly from scripture are serving the poor, saving the lost and strengthening the fellow believers. I love that because as we look at these big themes that, as you said, Greg Balmer and John Cortenez uncovered, serving the poor, saving the lost and strengthening believers, it allows us to be directed toward what's on God's heart and then we can align our passions around that as well. And I know question asking, Sharon, is a great way to uncover those passions with more specificity. So give us some questions we can ask ourselves to perhaps identify our own passions.

I think these are helpful, by the way, not just for women, but also for men. So let me include everybody in the audience today. I think just some vision casting, thinking outside of my own immediate circumstances, questions will help reveal this. So a few of these questions are, what would I do if I knew I could not fail?

Second one, my friends would say that my soap box is, whenever I'm having conversations with other people, what is it that I keep coming back to? You know, that's probably an area of my passion. I think there are several stories I could tell here. But one of those is we had a woman that we were working with at Women Doing Well, and she had four or five different opportunities for giving and felt a burden for all of those things. But as we started talking to her, we learned that she had been adopted as a child.

And so although she had all these many things that she could give to and she felt like a tug that she should. When we started talking about adoption, she got on her soapbox for this example, because she so personally had been impacted by adoption herself. And so that's when we said, you know what, your passion, God's shown you through your suffering is adoption.

That's what you should really focus on. Couple more just to help you, what brings me to tears or breaks my heart? And then I always dreamed I would impact the world by. And so I think the question here is just spending time with the Lord, asking him to reveal to you how he's used the circumstances, the experiences and most of all, the pain in your life where you might turn that and be generous to others. I love that connecting your passions to planning and accountability and relationships perhaps could be the key to unlocking even greater generosity for each of our listeners. Sharon, you've given us a lot to think about. Well, folks, we've asked Sharon to stick around to help answer some of your calls at 800-525-7000.

That's 800-525-7000. Much more to come on MoneyWiseLive after this brief break, so please stay tuned. Thanks for joining us on MoneyWiseLive. I'm Rob West, your host. Along with me today, Sharon Apps, Chief Operating Officer of Kingdom Advisors.

And I've asked Sharon to stick around for the rest of the broadcast, although she's passionate about women and generosity. Sharon, I know you've taught hundreds of workshops, counseled hundreds of families on a whole range of questions and issues related to money and God's word. In fact, this area is a passion of yours, isn't it?

Well, that's what I was about to say. If you check me out, my passion area is helping people make wise biblical financial decisions. That's why I'm part of Kingdom Advisors and MoneyWise. Well, it's great to have you here, and Sharon's going to be tag-teaming with me as we answer some of your questions today. So we'd love to hear from you, whether it's generosity or any financial topic. Here's the number, 800-525-7000.

We've got some lines open, whether it's saving or giving, perhaps improving that credit score or thinking about the future. We'd love to hear from you. Again, 800-525-7000. We're going to begin in Davenport, Iowa. Glory, thank you for calling today.

How can we help? My question is about taking my 401k and putting it in a Roth, because I turned 72 in October. I've been employed as a healthcare worker. I got my last check in November, but now I'm taking the winter off. So can I still take my 401k and put it in a Roth? Yeah. So, Glory, you're having to take your required minimum distribution for the first time this year, is that right?

Well, that's what I don't know. Do I still have to do that if I take the whole thing out? Yeah, you do with a traditional IRA. Now, even if you continue working past age 72, you are going to have to start taking the required minimum distribution, which used to kick in at 70 and a half. So you'll want to check with your tax preparer on that just to determine exactly when and how much you need to be taking out based on your age and the balance of the portfolio.

So there's a couple of issues here. Number one is for that portion that you need to pull out as a required minimum when that point comes, that will come out as taxable income. At that point, you could then make a contribution to a Roth IRA so long as you still have earned income. You can convert an amount beyond that to a Roth, pay tax on it, and Roth IRAs do not require a required minimum distribution, so that money could be invested and then continue to grow.

What is your primary objective in doing all this? Is it just to get it into a place where it can continue to grow tax-free or some other objective? Right, so I can take all of my 401k out and then taxes would be paid on that and then I can put the whole thing in a Roth. Yeah, it would be considered what's called a Roth conversion and the amount above any required minimum distribution would be the amount that you're converting. You would pay tax on it and it would go in and then begin growing tax-free at that point without a required minimum distribution moving forward. The amount that is subject to a required minimum this year would come out as income and that would have to go in as a new contribution so long as you have earned income, which sounds like you do.

What I would do, just kind of given all the moving parts here, the tax ramifications, you now turning age 72, I would seek the assistance of a tax professional who can really walk you through this to make sure that the timing and the dollars really all line up so that you're not caught off guard with any taxes that would come due and that you can satisfy the required minimum in full. So I would seek that out, especially this year given some of the changes that are coming down the pike for you. Let me just mention one other thing that might be of interest to you and it's called a qualified charitable distribution. It's essentially where you can satisfy that RMD required minimum through a direct contribution to a charity or ministry.

In doing so, you reduce your adjusted gross income by the amount that's given, you satisfy your RMD and the ministry is blessed by the full amount of the contribution that's transferred and that can be used to offset other giving you would have done directly out of cash. So something to consider there, but I think at the end of the day, I'd seek some professional counsel. We appreciate your call today and call us back if we can help along the way. Fort Myers, Florida. Hi, Jean.

How can I help you, sir? Hi, I'm building a house in Cape Coral and I'm thinking about moving to another state. So my question is, should it be better if I sell the house after I do the closing and everything or should I just rent the house?

OK, let me just clarify a bit. So you're building a house in Cape Coral and then you're moving. So you've already started construction and do you ever plan to occupy that home? No, because probably I might move in the next two, three months and the house would be ready by probably February. OK, so you're building this home, you're going to go ahead and move.

And at that point, once it's completed, you would have the option to either sell it or rent it out as a new construction home. Is that right? Yes. OK. And have you already located the home that you're going to be moving to in Georgia?

Not yet. OK. And tell us just a little bit about your financial situation. Are you using a construction loan to finance the existing home and then would you have a mortgage on this new home as well?

Yes, I'm using like a construction company. I'm financing the whole loan and probably once I move, I might get an apartment and settle down and then I will start looking for a home. OK. And do you have any other debt?

No. OK. And what kind of savings do you have currently? I have 41K. I think I have about $21,000 in it. And I started computing to rent IRA. I think I have $500 in it. And I have probably $11,000 in my savings. OK. Very good. $11,000 in your savings and you're planning to rent.

At some point in Georgia, you'd like to buy a home. Is that right? Yes. All right.

Last question for me and then we'll get Sharon to weigh in. When the home is completed, how much do you think, based on everything you know today, it would sell for and what would be the mortgage balance? I think the financing is like $240 from what they're telling me.

It might be worth around $280, $275, $280. OK. Very good. All right. Let's do this. We're going to pause for a brief break and then when we come back, Sharon's going to give you her thoughts.

I'll weigh in as well and we'll give you some counsel so you can move forward with confidence. This is MoneyWise Live. We're delighted you've joined us today for MoneyWise Live, biblical wisdom for your financial decisions.

I'm Rob West. Joining me today, Sharon Epps, financial teacher and speaker, also chief operating officer here at Kingdom Advisors. Just before the break, Sharon and I were delighted to hear from Gene.

Gene's still on the line with us. He was sharing that he's about to complete a new construction home that he's financed. He believes he'll have somewhere around $35,000 or so in equity when the home's complete, but he's moving to Georgia.

The home's in Florida and when he gets there, he'll have about $11,000 in emergency savings, perhaps about $30,000 in retirement accounts. Sharon, how would you counsel Gene as he thinks about this decision? Well, Gene, I had just one more question for you. Do you have experience with rental homes? No.

Okay. Well, based on what you're telling us today, one of the things we always like to think about is that as we have investments, that they be areas that we have experience in, and I think that combined with the fact that you're not going to be local with the home. So if you think about it, if the pipes break or something like that, you would be trying to manage it out of state. It sounds like there may be some other ways that you could take that equity and use it. So thanks for asking the question today. I think that it would be wise in this market where the prices have gone up to take that equity and use it other ways. Gene, we appreciate your call today. I think you'll be glad to have that extra money so when you do find your new home in Georgia, that you're ready to buy that with at least 20% down. God bless you, sir. On to Glen Ellen, Illinois.

Hi, Sharon, how can we help you? Hi, I just wanted to ask, I don't have any debts. We've paid off all our debts except for our home, and we just refinanced to a smaller APR. And we have some extra money. We also have our 401ks and everything, but I don't have a full time job. My husband does have a full time job, but we have some extra money and we don't know whether do we keep it in the bank for now because we don't know what the future holds with the market going up and down or do we put it in the stock market or do we put it in crypto? We don't know.

Yeah. How much would you say you have in margin that's your surplus on a monthly basis over and above your bills and any predetermined contributions you're making to retirement accounts, things like that? So that's the thing, because I'm not contributing right now to my 401k. My previous 401k is just sitting there. We're not touching it. My husband is still contributing to his own 401k.

So I don't know. Should we put the cash that we have on it? It's in the bank right now, but should we put that somewhere else, either in 401k or? Yeah.

So let's define that just a bit. So we're not talking about a surplus that you have that's coming in over and above your expenses. We're talking about cash that you have as a reserve that you're wondering about investing?

Yeah, exactly. And how much do you have set aside? Oh, it's not that much. It's like 50 grand. 50,000. And does that include what I would call your emergency savings or is that over and above your reserves?

That is over and above our reserves. Okay. So you have an emergency savings separate from? Go ahead.

We have a six month emergency savings. Okay, great. That's a helpful description. Sharon, what are your thoughts? Well, Sharon, let me ask you this. First of all, love the name.

I love finding somebody else that shares my name. Tell me a little bit about your husband and your goals. Do you have goals or things that you're saving for in particular for the future?

Yes. So we have a child that we're saving for as well. And in 10 years, we should be retiring as well. So those are two things that we are planning to save for either our retirement or our son's college.

He's only in fifth grade right now. Well, this is a great time to begin thinking about saving for his college. If you haven't done so already, that would be a wonderful use of the funds. But really, before you lock up those funds in a retirement account, I would encourage you to sit down with your husband and really map out your goals over the next three to five years. Are there things that you that are important to you to do and make sure that you're funding those as well as your retirement? We don't want to get so far out on looking at our long term goals that we forget about the things that we need to do in the next three to five years or so. Yeah, I think that's great advice, Sharon. So perhaps you and your husband have a money date to begin to unpack that. Think about your goals alongside your values.

What's God doing in your family in the short term, medium term and long term and then match those funds up with a commensurate investment strategy, whether that's a specific account like a 529 for college or retirement savings. And we appreciate your call today. Quickly to Becker, Minnesota. Hi, Chris. How can we help you?

Oh, thanks for making my call. I have a question about starting a business. I had an idea. I had some access to some design software, a 3D printer and have designed a product that I would like to start to sell. I have owned a business in the past and I made the mistake of starting that on a credit card and that hurt me pretty bad. But I was able to recover from it and my wife and I are all debt free and I'm out of that business and I'm now teaching that subject at a college. So life is pretty good there. We do have some emergency savings built up, but we agree that we would not touch that because if there's an idea, not an emergency.

So we're going to leave that be. But I'm kind of wondering how to start and fund this business. And I'm looking at an investment in some equipment, mainly a 3D printer. And my mom has offered to help me with some of that, but I'm wondering if there's some better ideas or just better ways to start this out to have some capital to grow it and market and do some other things with it. Yeah, that's really helpful.

Sharon. Well, it sounds like you've done a lot of things right. And doesn't God use our mistakes in the past to help us in the future?

In fact, I always know that the Lord's working on me in some area if he calls me to teach on it. So it sounds like you've been in that place as well. You know, generally, I think getting a loan to start a business is like the credit card question. It actually you don't have a certain way to repay. And that's what we really look at when we look at borrowing.

You have a certain way to repay. And the other thing I think is that loans between family members often become a source subject. In fact, I really encourage family members, if they really do feel like they want to give money to someone, do it that way rather than a loan. And I know your mom is sounding like she's very generous and wants to help in that way.

But I would caution you in thinking about taking out a loan from a family member or really anyone else. I guess my question would be, are there potentially any assets that you might have that you might sell to find the funding for the 3D printer? How much does the printer cost? Do you know?

About twelve thousand dollars for the whole setup. OK. All right. Well, I think I would encourage you to find ways other than borrowing to finance that startup and then you'll be free to go. Very good. Chris, thank you for calling. All the best to you in these new endeavors. Perhaps waiting for God to provide the resources to buy this equipment with cash is just the confirmation you need to proceed. But it sounds like an exciting endeavor.

And I'm glad to hear you have your bills covered through your day job. Hey, keep us posted along the way. We've got some lines open. Rob West, Sharon Epps, along with you today. Eight hundred five two five seven thousand.

That's eight hundred five two five seven thousand. Much more to come on Money Wise Live. Stay with us. Thanks for tuning in to Money Wise Live.

I'm Rob West. With me today, Sharon Epps, chief operating officer of Kingdom Advisors. She's also a financial teacher and writer, and she's joining me today to not only speak about women and generosity where we began today, but also to take your calls and questions before we head back to the phones. Let me just mention, as we head toward year end, Money Wise Live and Money Wise Media is entirely listener supported. And so if you would consider us beyond the giving to your local church as you prayerfully consider where to align your passions with your giving here at year end, we would certainly be grateful. Everything we do on the air and through our coaches in the Money Wise app and even on the Money Wise website is as a direct result of your financial support. You can give quickly and securely online Money Wise Live dot org.

Just click the donate button and thanks in advance. Sharon, just before the break, we were talking about borrowing from family members. You said be careful. And I couldn't agree more. You know, excuse me, borrowing changes the relationship, doesn't it? It really does. Suddenly you're wondering about expectations. You can even hear into innocent things people say and wonder if it's innuendo about not paying back.

It just creates a whole level of complexity that we like to avoid. Yeah, that's exactly right. Wise Council. Let's head back to the phones.

Houston, Texas. Rahul, thank you for holding. And how can we help you? Hi, this is Rahul. So can you hear me? Yes, sir.

Yeah. Hi, Rob. So so so I have been finished my studies and then I have been working since, you know, three years. And, you know, recently last month I came out of my debt. I mean, I get around six thousand eight hundred of salary and then out of which four thousand goes into all my expenses with my monthly rent or, you know, car, car. And then and then my 12 percent to the church. And then so that's also I left with I'll be left with twenty eight hundred. So my question to you is I need an advice on, you know, how how effectively can I manage that twenty eight hundred?

Yes. Well, first of all, congratulations, Raul. It sounds like you're making a lot of great decisions. I heard that you're giving regularly and that you're living well below your means. You've paid off some debt.

That means you're living modestly and giving careful attention to your stewardship of God's resources. And Sharon, with a margin, a surplus of about twenty eight hundred dollars with Raul just getting started, how should he think about using that? Well, let's talk first about your savings, Rahul. How how are you saving? Effectively saving. And since I just give that money in my account, that's it. I don't have any other option.

I mean, I mean, you know, I'm thinking, how can I what are my enrichment options or how can I grow? That's my question. So have you started what we call an emergency fund, which would represent three to six months of your expenses? Yes. Yes. Yes. I have like three months of expenses that I saved in the account.

Like I have saved like almost fifteen thousand. Yes. Wonderful.

Great. So not only have you paid off your debt, you're also well on your way of getting that emergency fund established. We always want you to have that emergency fund in place before using your money for other things.

So when we look at that, we think in terms of your goals, your saving goals for the short term and for the long term. And let me ask, have you started any retirement savings? Nothing.

I'm just on the plain ground, zero ground, ground zero. Yes. Yes.

All right. Well, that might be something to consider, as well as thinking in terms of your goals over the next three to five years. The things that you hope that you can accomplish. Can you put money aside each month towards those goals? And you have a great amount to start with.

Yeah, that's exactly right. I think Sharon's right on in the sense that as you look at those short to medium term goals, Rahul, you may be looking at wanting to buy a home. Well, we're going to want you to have at least 20% for the down payment on that house. So that may be a place to direct a portion of this to sync that with when you might like to make that purchase. Maybe that's 12 months from now or longer for you to build that up.

Well, that could take a portion of this 2800. And then the rest at a minimum, if you have a 401k with matching at work, maybe you start there and then beyond that, fund a Roth IRA. So I think as you begin to clarify these goals, it will become clear how you should allocate that money in terms of retirement savings or other goals that perhaps are going to happen a bit quicker. I would love for you to connect with one of our MoneyWise coaches.

You can do that on our website, MoneyWiseLive.org. They'd be happy to walk with you in making some of these decisions and perhaps get into the finer details. But we appreciate you checking in with us. Keep up the good work. You're making some great decisions and well on your way to a strong financial future. And we appreciate your call.

Chicago, Illinois, WMBI. Hi, Tammy. Thanks for calling.

How can we help? Hi. Thank you. My question is, I have the opportunity to buy a car and it's at a better rate. My rate right now, my interest rate is about 9.3, which is a little high. And the interest rate that I would refinance at is 5.9. But it would spread out over a year longer than the terms that I have right now. So the payment would decrease from 419 to like 344 a month. Would that be a reasonable thing to do or should I just continue with the payments that I have now?

Yeah. How do you process this decision, Sharon? Well, Tammy, we would want to talk about other obligations that you have.

But let me just tell you on the surface with this opportunity. I might suggest that you refinance, but consider going ahead to keep your current payment. If you do that, you'll actually pay off your car sooner. Now, that's without knowing about your other debts and savings situation. But taking advantage of refinancing a car loan is always helpful.

There are not prepayment penalties. So getting that lower interest rate would be good, but you can always pay ahead. And so we would encourage you to think about paying ahead and not extending the length of the loan out longer.

I couldn't agree more. Make sure you check a few offers before you make a final decision if you are going to refinance. And I couldn't agree more with Sharon about continuing your current payment. Don't take advantage of that lower payment just because it's available. Let's continue to pay at that higher amount, but at a lower rate, paying it off quicker. TammyBankRate.com or NerdWallet.com could be a great resource to find the very best loan programs. And if your credit score has improved, perhaps you've got a little more credit history now to allow you to qualify for some of those lower rates. That could be a real benefit, especially with that high auto loan rate up near 10%.

I think refinancing makes a lot of sense. We appreciate your call. We're going to finish today in Ohio. Lisa, thank you for your patience. How can we help you? Well, thank you all for actually taking my call.

I'm actually calling. I was working for a company for about three to four years when I was in my 20s, and now I'm in my 40s, and I had opened up and signed up when I applied for the job with a 401K. Well, over the years when I actually left that particular job, I knew that what was said to me was that the 401K would actually follow me. But with that being said, the company actually closed. And when the company closed because they got bought out by another company, I never actually got the information for the 401K in regards to that. And so I'm trying to find out now, how can I retrieve that information?

Yeah. Do you have an old statement, Lisa, from your old 401K that might list the plan administrator, who the custodian was of this 401K? At this time, no, I don't. I do know the name of the company. The name of the company was Reliance Personal Insurance. And at that time, I believe they got purchased or bought out by Progressives.

Okay. I would confirm that. And then once you do, I'd contact the HR department at Progressive and just let them know you're an employee of the former company that was purchased, and you're trying to locate your old 401K, and they'll be able to research who the plan administrator was, whether it was Fidelity or Vanguard or any number of other custodians. You'll then be able to call, and with your name and social security number, I suspect you'll be able to nail that down. If all of that fails, the Department of Labor may be a source for you as well. The plans are required to file an annual tax return called a 5500. And by searching for that particular plan through your former employer's name, you might be able to chase it down that way.

But I'd probably start with the new employer and see if you can't go through the HR department because they'll have all those historical records from the company that they purchased and can probably help you nail that down. Does that make sense? Yes, it does. And I want to thank you all for your time, and you all enjoy the rest of your evening. Okay, Lisa, we appreciate your call today.

God bless you. Sharon, it was a lot of fun having you here with us today. You know, we started today talking about generosity, and I know one of the things we talk a lot about, and you mentioned this, is that you need to uncover your passions as it relates to your giving. You need to have a plan, but you also need to have relationships, people that are encouraging you to lean into your generosity opportunity.

What's been your experience there? That's absolutely true. When I am excited about my giving and can share it with others, it gives me encouragement along the way. It also helps me to see the difference that I'm making in the lives of the people that I'm helping.

So it's great to find a friend that has a common passion with you. And let me remind you, you don't have to have a lot of money to be generous. And so perhaps during this season, you can even find a way to volunteer in an area that you're passionate about to help define where you want to focus. Well, it's a great observation because I think, yeah, especially at this time of year, this is something we want to be thinking about and get your family involved in those giving opportunities as well. By the way, if you visit our website, MoneyWiseLive.org, there's a featured article there that we've posted recently called Seven Ways to Avoid Christmas Spending Stress. And in it, you'll find a link to a great resource we just published, 25 Acts of Generosity that you and your family can get involved in this Christmas season.

Check it out with some very practical ideas. And Sharon, thanks for being here today. It's been fun. Thank you.

MoneyWise Live is a partnership between Moody Radio and MoneyWise Media. I want to say thank you to my team today. Deb Solomon was here today, Amy Rios producing, Jim Henry on research. I want to say thank you to Melody as well for her excellent call screening. Thank you for being here. We'll look for you tomorrow. God bless you. Bye bye.