Does One Flesh Mean One Bank Account?

Today's version of BunnyWise Live is prerecorded, so our phone lines are not open. In Mark 10-7, Jesus tells us, A man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. But if you're of one flesh, why have separate bank accounts?

I am Rob West. It's a question we get here a lot. Should husband and wife have separate checking accounts? Maybe entirely separate finances?

Or should all of their money be merged? I'll talk about that first today. Then we'll have some great calls lined up.

But since we're not live today, please hold your calls until next time. This is BunnyWise Live, where all of our financial decisions are based on God's principles. Regular listeners know this is an oft-repeated question here on the program, and it's especially important for couples when they first get married. Usually, they just set up joint checking and savings accounts, and it's not really an issue.

But not always. Sometimes, older folks may be getting married for the second time, want to keep their accounts separate. Or one spouse might enter into the marriage with a lot of debt or a bad credit rating. They think that by keeping separate accounts, one spouse's bad history won't affect the other. That's because they've heard that when two people marry, their credit histories are automatically merged into one by the credit reporting agencies, Experian, Equifax and TransUnion.

But that's not the case. In fact, each spouse's credit history is tied only to that person's Social Security number. If one of them applies for credit in his or her name only, only that person's credit history is taken into account.

Here's an example. Newlyweds decide to buy a new car with a loan. Usually not a good idea, but that's another issue. Now say one of the spouses has good credit, the other doesn't. If they take out the loan only in the name of the spouse with a good score, only that person's credit history comes into play. So you see that having joint or separate bank accounts has no effect on getting that loan.

But let's look at another situation. Many couples take a huge financial step within a few years of marriage and that's buying a house. Now the odds are because the payments will be so much more that they'll have to put both names on the loan application in order to meet the income qualifications. And of course, that's when the other spouse's credit history will be taken into consideration.

If that spouse has a bad credit history, it will have a negative impact on getting the mortgage approved. Well, now that that's cleared up, let's go back to the question of separate or joint bank accounts. You know, the Bible doesn't tell us explicitly that spouses should share one account because people didn't have bank accounts back then.

So we have to look at the bigger picture. As Jesus said in Mark 10, marriage is about two people becoming one. Obviously, they both remain individuals, but marriage is a partnership that requires trust, openness, and communication. That's especially true when it comes to finances. Joint checking and savings accounts promote transparency and communication between spouses. It prevents spouses from developing a mine and yours mentality. It also promotes trust by ensuring that neither is making hidden purchases. There are some other practical considerations as well. A joint account simplifies bookkeeping and tracking your spending.

Think about it. Many couples have problems balancing a single checking account. Why double the problem with two accounts? Having separate accounts can also create a cash flow problem. Are there enough available funds in one account to meet obligations?

If not, money has to be transferred from the other account. With a single checking account, you don't have to worry about not having enough money to pay a bill or trying to track down the other checkbook. Now, one argument that's often made for keeping accounts separate is that one spouse is only interested in, say, the grocery category in the budget and leaves everything else to the other spouse to be handled with a separate account. But that, of course, would leave the one spouse fairly clueless about the family finances if something should happen to the other.

Not a good idea. Keeping open the lines of communication about money and making spending decisions together solves that problem, eliminating the need for separate accounts. You know, God's Word contains the solution to every problem married couples face, including finances. In Colossians 3, we read, wives, submit to your husbands as is fitting in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them. And in 1 Corinthians, it says, in the Lord, woman is not independent of man nor man of woman. Safe to say that in most cases that would apply to their checking account as well.

I hope this helps to clear that up and it fosters great communication in your marriage. You're listening to an encore presentation of MoneyWise Live. Today's broadcast is prerecorded, so please keep that in mind. We're going to pause now for a brief break, but then we'll be back with more MoneyWise Live. This is MoneyWise Live with Rob West.

Hey, if you hear a phone number mentioned today, please ignore that number and don't call us, because today's broadcast is a reprise edition. Thanks for being with us today on MoneyWise Live where God's Word intersects with your financial life. What's going on in your financial life?

Is it wrestling with a giving decision? Perhaps you're in the position that many of our listeners are related to our opening topic. You're just struggling to figure out the path forward as husband and wife as you manage your finances together. Recognizing you both come to the table, the marriage relationship with a different past, money was handled differently growing up. That's led to you forming your own habits and disciplines related to money, your views on handling money that perhaps are different from one another. Well, how do we form a path together in that and create a marriage that brings the finances under the Lordship of Christ as well? If you're struggling with that, we'd love to hear from you.

Maybe it's your spending plan or your debt repayment. Whatever's on your mind today, we'd love to hear from you. Here's the number 800-525-7000. We've got some lines open.

800-525-7000 to Tennessee. Judy, thank you for your patience. How can we help you? Hi, I've been listening to your program for a few months now and I think it's wonderful and I have taken the money that the government has given me and I put it into Charles Schwab but I would like to know who I should talk to to invest this money for me. I don't trust people that aren't Christians because they're doing it to make money for themselves and I understand that and you know right now I'm in a real financial bind because I just went through a divorce and my ex-husband is a con artist. He stole all my ID's and everything and I'm having problems with that and I can't do anything online because if I do, he can go in there and he has the knowledge to do all this stuff.

He can change everything. So I just feel that God has told me to call you and ask for help here. Yeah, Judy, well I'm so sorry to hear about the situation you've gone through and you find yourself in today. I think there's a couple of things. Number one is, has the divorce already been completed?

Yes, it is. Alright, and so I think the next step is based on what you're describing with what your husband or ex-husband has done or is actively doing related to your finances just to make sure that you are taking steps to protect yourself and the resources you do have. Perhaps opening new accounts in your name only. I would freeze your credit reports. That's going to prevent any new loans from being taken out in your name without your authorization.

It's free to do. You'll just go to each of the credit bureaus, Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion, and tell them you want to put a credit freeze. You'll assign a PIN number and nobody will be able to access your credit without that PIN number that only you would know. That's going to prevent, again, any accounts being opened in your name without your knowledge because if they can't access your credit file, no lender is going to extend credit to anyone, whether they're you or somebody claiming to be you.

Beyond that, you're going to want to check your credit report and follow through on anything you don't recognize because if it's not yours and it's being reported, you're going to want to get that cleaned up. I think the key for you right now is not investing. The key is to get on a solid financial footing. What I mean by that is establishing a spending plan in a checking account that is in your name alone.

Perhaps, again, a new one. Establishing that spending plan in such a way that it balances the income minus the expenses and you have a little bit of margin left. We want to look at getting out of any credit card debt that you have and if you've got some, let's use that margin to pay that down. We want you to get an emergency fund set up of three to six months expenses. That's more important than long-term investments right now because if you don't have an emergency fund, Judy, if something unexpected comes and for all of us, the unexpected does come, then you need something to fall back on so you don't have to borrow for that. That money should not be in stocks. That money should be in a savings account with FDIC insurance that's liquid and available. We don't need to worry about the return on that money. We just need to worry about the safety of that money so we can access it. You can if you need it. That would be really important as a next step.

We can think about investing a bit further down the road. The other thing I want you to do is go to the FTC's website at ftc.gov. It's the Federal Trade Commission. They have some great helpful information on identity theft that I'd like for you to read. And then lastly, I'd like for you to connect with one of our MoneyWise coaches at moneywiselive.org.

At no cost, they'll walk with you to get that spending plan set up and talk to you about the things that I just mentioned. Again, it's the MoneyWise coaches at moneywiselive.org. We'll ask the MoneyWise Live community to be praying for you and we appreciate your call today. Folks, more to come just around the corner.

So please stick around. Thanks for joining us today on MoneyWise Live, where we apply God's wisdom to your financial life. No matter where you find yourself, perhaps you have an abundance. You're wondering how to be found faithful and what God has entrusted to you right now. Perhaps it's an opportunity to be more generous and look to meet the needs of others around you. Or maybe you're really struggling just to make ends meet and wondering what that path forward is. No matter where you find yourself today, God has a plan.

And here's the good news. God's Word has 2,300 verses dealing with money and possessions in the Bible. And as we begin to understand God's heart related to our money, meaning He owns it, we're the manager, that He is our provider. He will never abdicate that responsibility to anyone else and that money is a tool to accomplish His purposes. And there's principles we can apply that are transcendent. They transcend markets and tax codes and economies, and they're always right and relevant. And when we apply those to our situation, I think we can move forward with boldness and confidence, knowing we've put ourselves in a position to experience God's best. Now, He's not a cosmic vending machine. That means we're always going to be flush with financial resources.

But it does say at least we've been found faithful with what He has entrusted to us, and we can trust Him for the rest. Well, we want to apply that thinking to whatever's going on in your life today. In just a moment, we're going to be talking about long-term care.

Is that a good investment? That's going to be with Priscilla. Also, Sally has gotten remarried and wondering how to handle the distribution of assets in her new marriage. But first, let's head to Florida. Suzanna, I understand you have a Florida retirement system plan that you have questions about. Hi, thank you so much for your ministry.

I certainly appreciate listening in, and thank you guys so much. Yeah, I am considering—I haven't made the definite decision just yet—but my husband will be retiring in about seven years, and we have about 11 years between us, so he gets to that before I do. So I'm considering retiring with him. The house will be paid off. I have veterans' health insurance that will keep me until I reach Medicare and so forth.

And we should be pretty debt-free at that point. My question is, the Florida state retirement that I won't be able to access—it's an investment, it's not the pension plan—I won't be able to access that until I'm 59. What happens between now and then, or between the age of 50 and 59, with my investment in 403b? Yes. Well, you would just—assuming you're vested in that investment plan, do you know—have you been there long enough? I believe it was six years if you were enrolled prior to July 1 of 2011.

Yes, I have been. Okay, great. So if you're fully vested and you're in the FRS investment plan, you would likely just leave that balance there, and it would remain invested, and you've got a number of investments to choose from inside the plan. You could continue to make changes, and then you would be able to access that money after the age of 59 and a half. At that point, what most folks do would roll that balance out to an individual retirement account. What you would need to check on is whether you could do that prior to that age.

I don't believe you can. But in either case, you could still keep that money invested. It would just be frozen. Nothing else would be added to it. But you would be able to choose from among the investments inside the plan. So the idea would be that it would continue to grow until such time as you could begin to draw it out.

Does that make sense? Oh, absolutely. No, that's great. And of course, if I wanted to contribute to it, if I did a small business or anything of that thought process, I could contribute myself, right? Well, no, I don't believe so. Once you separate from service, you would want to open then a different retirement account to be able to contribute ongoing.

So you would want to look to an IRA or you could use a SEP IRA, something else that you would use in the interim to continue to accumulate retirement savings. Okay, great. Well, hey, thanks a bunch. I appreciate that. All right, Suzanne, I'm excited for this upcoming new chapter of your life for you and your husband and all that God will have for you then. And we appreciate you listening and calling today. God bless you.

Let's head to Wisconsin. Priscilla, I understand you want to know about long-term care insurance. How can I help you?

Hi. Yeah, I'm helping my mom with that on her side as she's needing to use it. And my husband's 56, I'm 48, second marriage, 21 years of marriage and started looking at getting some quotes, but we're told some companies stop selling long-term care because they were losing money. And just wondering if there's still good companies to get policies with, if we should do like a joint long-term care policy or separate ones.

Yes. Yeah, I think the key is you're right. There are some companies that exited this space over the last number of years as healthcare costs have been rising. When this 20 years ago was a fairly new product, folks were still learning how to price it and they were very difficult and some of the insurance companies said, you know, this is just not a space we want to be in and they've kind of gotten out of it. But there are some really committed carriers to long-term care insurance. And that's why I think it's important Priscilla as you look at this to make sure that you have an independent agent who perhaps is a long-term care insurance specialist that knows the various companies that are the key players in this space, has an understanding of your health status, you and your husband.

So he or she can shop it and find the company that would be the best fit for you all in terms of meeting the needs that you have, but also giving you the most beneficial pricing based on any health considerations. If something is going to erode your assets during the retirement season of life, it's most often going to be the need for long-term care. And so it can be set up to pay for long-term care medical services.

These could include a whole range of services, but also it can range from in-home care to nursing home or assisted living. It'll pay a daily amount for services based on those costs. And there are a number of triggering events that qualify you for the payout to begin. We say you typically want to look at securing this between 55 and 65 where your kids are off the payroll, hopefully, and freeze up some of your cash flow. It's the most effective time to get it from a cost standpoint. And it's not cheap. I mean, premiums can be several thousand dollars a year and they can change over time.

They can increase. So the key is you want to buy something that fits well within your budget so you don't have to drop it down the road. I say typically if someone has a net worth, not income, but a net worth between $300,000 and $3 million is probably the range where you'd want to look at this.

At least consider it. Below that, you would rely on government assistance. Above $3 million, you could self-insure. You want to probably have an inflation rider, so it's going to increase over time. You'll want to look for a three to five-year benefit period with a six-month waiting period.

That's going to keep the costs down. But I think the key is to make sure that you have that independent agent who understands it, can help explain all the different types of long-term care insurance, whether it's coupled with life insurance or whether it's standalone, and then all these riders that are out there that you may or may not need and all add cost. So I would connect with somebody in your area.

If you don't know someone there in your area, you could connect with a certified Kingdom advisor and ask for a referral to an independent insurance agent who specializes in long-term care insurance. I think you'll find exactly what you need. All the best to you. Well, folks, this is MoneyWise Live where God's work is applied to your financial situation. We're going to pause when we come back. We have some great questions lined up.

We'll continue to unpack God's truth related to their financial situations. Hey, this is a reminder that we're not live today, but we do have lots of great information coming up in the rest of the program, so please stick around. Welcome back to MoneyWise Live.

Thanks for being along with us today. Hey, have you checked out the new MoneyWise app? We'd love for you to download it. It's available as a free download in your app store, whether that's the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store. Just search for MoneyWise biblical finance.

You'll find archives of all of our broadcasts. You'll find our Discover tab with all the best content, blogs, and podcasts in biblical finance all in one place. Our community where you can post a question and get responses from others in the MoneyWise community as well as our MoneyWise coaches. And then our digital envelope system where you can manage your spending on a monthly basis, connecting to all your institutions, automatically downloading your transactions, and using the tried and true envelope system in a beautiful digital interface to manage God's money well and stay on the same page with your spouse. It's all found in the MoneyWise app, again in your app store.

Just search for MoneyWise biblical finance, and you can download it today. To Cleveland, Ohio, Sally, how can I assist you? Hi, I'm recently newlywed, and we are in our 60s. It's my second marriage.

It's his third marriage. And I'm struggling with the part about putting your husband first with the finances. I do have children.

He does not, but he has, you know, he has other family. And the money that I have is in a trust for me. But there's money that I get off of that to support us and to put aside. And how I have set it up is that if something happens to me first, it'll go into a trust.

And the same with his money. It'll go into a trust, and we are allowed to use that money, you know, with the discretion of, you know, the bank and somebody else has to approve it. But I'm feeling like I should just leave something directly to my kids. But at the same time, I feel torn because I feel like your maid is supposed to come first, not your children.

Yeah. Well, you know, I can certainly appreciate where you're coming from, and this is a challenging situation. You obviously want to honor your spouse and God's Word, and yet we recognize that when wealth was created in a prior marriage, especially where there's children from a prior marriage, that, you know, we can approach that differently as long as there's a shared vision for why and how that's being done. It's not for a lack of trust.

It's not for lack of unity. But it's just a recognition that with the assets that were created prior to the marriage relationship, and especially with children, that, you know, the children are going to be taken care of out of that. And, you know, I think it's perfectly appropriate again in the context of an open and honest communication and a shared vision as husband and wife to design the estate that way so that the inheritance is passed appropriately after both of your needs are met throughout this life, that, you know, when both of you pass that money could be absolutely directed to one set of children or another based on, you know, the wealth that was created prior to the marriage.

I would say perhaps what, you know, happens from this point forward, I think as husband and wife, you would give careful consideration to how to handle that, perhaps separately from what you had coming into the marriage. But I think all of that needs to be done in the right way and in a God-honoring way. I want to send you a book, Sally, that I think will help with this. Our friend Ron Deal at Family Life Blended is one of the foremost experts on this from a godly perspective. He's written a book called The Smart Step Family Guide to Financial Planning, Money Management Before and After You Blend a Family.

He's written it with his good friend Greg Pettis, who's a financial advisor, and we have Ron on the program periodically. But I think this will help you kind of process through this. He talks about something in the book that he calls a togetherness agreement, where you do just what I'm describing. You really build relational trust. You develop a shared vision for how you care for all family members throughout your life. But recognizing that the way you do that is not necessarily a one-size-fits-all. And there's room for you to build a plan that takes into account when the resources were created and what your desired outcome is for various portions of what God has entrusted to you. And then that togetherness agreement is actually just the document, whether it's legal, drafted by an attorney or not, that just defines all of that. And of course, you know, much of that would require legal instruments to actually carry out. But it's the process that I think is really important. So you don't, you know, in any way erode trust, but you actually come together, I think, in a really unified and powerful way in even drafting it. Does all that make sense, though?

It does. I just actually the money that is there, it was created after we were together. We had a couple of members of my family passed away that left me money.

So I don't know if that makes a difference or not. Well, you know, slightly. But I think, again, just the fact that there are children from a prior marriage, you know, is is part of the equation. And I think the key is, you know, where is your husband at in all of this? And can you all talk openly and honestly about the path forward together and come to one mind and heart about that in a way that brings you together, but, you know, reflects the fact that you may handle inheritances differently, you know, for each of your children.

And that's not a bad thing, again, as long as it's done in the right way. So let me send you a copy of this book. I want you to read through it. Perhaps you guys read through it together or you could do it yourself and then pray through that conversation that you all can have about how your estate planning should be constructed.

So you stay on the line. We'll get your information and get that right out to you, Sally. And I'm confident the Lord will give you some wisdom as you move forward.

Let's head south to Florida. Marvie, thank you for your patience today. How can I assist you?

Hi, I'm enjoying your show. I'm a senior. I am divorced of many years and I have two sons.

They're doing fine. Now I'm concerned about how the money that the government is issuing out. And I do have a 401k from the original. Then I have one that I transferred over to an IRA. And then I have savings and I have some property.

My question though is that I have maybe $10,000 that I could just free up and it wouldn't bother me. And I was wondering, should I take, should I invest in gold? What do you think gold versus what? I've always heard gold is pretty secure. So you give me your thoughts now.

Yeah, I'd be happy to, Marvie. You know, I'm not a big fan of concentrated positions in gold. And for most folks, I would say don't take physical possession. If you want to have a gold allocation in your portfolio, do that through a mutual fund or an exchange traded fund that would be a tracker investment that tracks the price of gold. You don't want to buy the refiners or, you know, some of the other companies involved in the process of manufacturing the gold or mining it because, you know, they're based on their own quarters and how they do as a company, that's going to affect the price of the stock. And what you're looking to do is take the, you know, follow the price of gold per ounce. Now, the truth is gold is usually less of an investment.

It's more speculative in my view. It trades on fear. And so as far as a hedge against inflation, in some cases it's worked. In other cases it hasn't. Four out of the past nine decades, it's kept up with inflation, the 30s, 70s, the 2000s and 2010s.

But it didn't keep up with inflation in six of the past nine. And I think because, yes, it's a store of value, so you actually don't want it to go up because in a sense when it is, that means there's a lot that's going wrong around us. But even then, I think just based on the volatility and the overall long term performance, the data is just not on its side saying that it makes sense for you to put a highly concentrated position, a large percentage of your investments in gold just because of the overall performance. So what I would do is stick to the five to ten percent rule, meaning no more than five to ten percent of your investable assets in gold. And again, I wouldn't buy physical gold if it were me.

I would buy it through an exchange traded fund that tracks the price of gold. So that's just my perspective. And I think that will serve you well over time just based on historical data. We appreciate your call today. We're going to finish today in Florida. Eddie, how can we help you?

Hi, Mr. West. Okay, I have a couple of questions. One of them is that I just sold a rental property and the proceeding, there's another property being sold maybe next month. So I was going to buy, you know, to reinvest it. But my question is, how much time do we have? Years ago used to be like you had 18 months to time to reinvest before, you know, be subject to. Okay, very good. Unfortunately, we're short on time.

Let me give you my thoughts on that. You can do something, Eddie, called a 1031 exchange, long as it's a like property, a similar property, meaning you go from investment property to investment property, even though, you know, you may go from single family to multifamily or something like that, as long as it remains an investment. You can do a 1031 exchange that's going to push the capital gains tax out.

Here's the rule on that. You have to nominate the potential replacement property within 45 days of the closing. And then within 180 days of closing, you have to acquire the replacement property. So I'd connect with your tax preparer just to make sure you do that properly because you don't want to get caught off guard. We appreciate your call. Well, before we wrap up today, let me remind you here at year end, we could certainly use your financial assistance. MoneyWise Media is entirely listener supported, which means we rely on your gifts, your tax deductible donations to fund the work that we do here. And at year end, it's now more meaningful than ever as we plan for our ministry activities next year.

We have some exciting plans, but we need to hear from you in order to fulfill them. You can give quickly and easily online. Just head to our website, MoneyWiseLive.org and click the donate button and thanks in advance.

MoneyWise Live is a partnership between Moody Radio and MoneyWise Media. Let me say thank you to my team today. I want to say thank you to Deb and Dan, Jim Henry. Also thank you to Gabby T, who's manning our phones today. And thank you for being along with us as well. I hope you'll come back and join us next time for another edition of MoneyWise Live, biblical wisdom for your financial decisions.