Managing Assets After a Disability with Valerie Hogan

What's most important to you when it comes to choosing your financial advisor? Someone who's aligned with your biblical values. How about someone who will take the time to explain your options? Certified Kingdom Advisors are professionals who meet high standards in competence and integrity and have been trained to offer biblical financial advice. To find a Certified Kingdom Advisor in your area, visit faithfi.com and click Find a CKA. By wisdom, a house is built, and by understanding, it is established. By knowledge, the rooms are filled with all precious and pleasant riches.

Proverbs 24. Hi, I'm Rob West. Financial stewardship requires us to make wise financial decisions, manage and grow assets and protect our families from hardship. Are you ready if you're suddenly disabled or incapacitated? Valerie Hogan joins us with a checklist to prepare you for it. Then it's on to your calls at 800-525-7000.

This is faith and finance, biblical wisdom for your financial journey. Well we always look forward to having Valerie Hogan on the program because we always learn so much. She's an author, attorney, a certified financial planner, and a member of Kingdom Advisors. Valerie, great to have you back with us.

Rob, great to be on with you again. Now Valerie, I would think that one of the best ways to prepare for a disability or incapacitation would be to have disability insurance, is that right? It is. I think we need humility to realize we don't know what's coming in the future and then due diligence so that disability insurance protects us from loss of income if we're disabled in the future. And it is available publicly and through private programs. The cost is going to vary by the strictness to how you qualify for it. By your medical history, length of time the benefits are going to get paid, is this short or long term disability, and the length of time you have to wait before it kicks in. Yeah, and to some extent, I guess you could say that preparing for a disability is really basic estate planning, right?

It is. And that means you should consider a durable power of attorney for finance or health decisions, a will or revocable living trust, and a living will for when you can't make medical decisions on your own. Yeah, that's great advice. What else, Valerie, should we do to get organized in case we're suddenly incapacitated? Yeah, so to get organized, you definitely want to store your important papers in a place where you know where they are and the legal docs in one secure place. And you want to let someone you trust know that location when they need it and they may need it kind of quickly.

You want to talk to your spouse or family member about your advanced care wishes and permit your doctors and lawyers to speak with your caregiver, which may require a HIPAA release. Hmm. Okay. So before we talk about organizing important documents, I'd love for you to run through a list of what should be included. Okay, well, this will be quite the list. So here we go.

I'm ready. We're going to need birth, death, marriage certificates, we're going to need some phone numbers of close friends, relatives, doctors, lawyers, and financial advisors. Then for financial information, we're going to need things like our social security card order number, sources of income, any IRAs, 401ks we have, insurance information like life, long-term care, home, car, with policy numbers, maybe agents' names and phone numbers, bank account numbers, checking savings credit union, information on where we hold our investments like stocks, bonds, other property, and that broker's name and phone number.

And the list does go on. Just present income tax with her return would help. We'd like an up-to-date will or trust with original signature and witnessed. And that differs by state as to what you need, any liabilities you have and to whom you owe, and then maybe the deed or trust for your house and for your car. Then we go on to health.

We're not done yet. Okay. Any current prescriptions. If there's a living will, if there's a durable power of attorney for healthcare and any health information with policy. So for that insurance, the policy number and phone numbers, and then again, those HIPAA releases. That's a great list.

And by the way, all of those things will be in the show notes today if you missed that. But Valerie, how important is it to have an attorney help you draw up a will or trust and advise you on preparing for a disability or becoming incapacitated versus doing it online yourself? I believe it's worth it to make sure it's done properly. And that a licensed attorney that specializes in estate planning in your state is an excellent resource to get wisdom and advice in this area. Yeah. And I would imagine you would say that a godly estate planning attorney can help you think through whether the next steward is not only chosen, but also prepared. Is that right? Definitely.

I mean, one that's going to share your values and worldview is really going to help you walk toward when you usher and graduate into that next stage. No question about it. Valerie, we covered a lot of ground in a short period of time. We'll have to have you back, but thanks for stopping by. Glad to be with you, Rob. Thanks for having me on.

Absolutely. That's Valerie Hogan, attorney, certified financial planner and co-author with her mom Miriam Neff of Wise Women Managing Money, expert advice on debt, wealth, budgeting and more. Your calls are next, 800-525-7000. I'm Rob West and this is Faith in Finance.

We'll be right back. What's most important to you when it comes to choosing your financial advisor? Someone who's aligned with your biblical values? How about someone who will take the time to explain your options? Certified kingdom advisors are professionals who meet high standards in competence and integrity and have been trained to offer biblical financial advice.

To find a certified kingdom advisor in your area, visit faithfi.com and click Find a CKA. We are grateful for support from Soundmind Investing in the Faith in Finance program. For more than 30 years, they've been helping Christians reach their financial goals with step-by-step guidance for investors at every stage, from those just getting started to those getting ready for retirement. Through scriptural principles and practical suggestions, SMI offers financial wisdom for living well.

More information, including the short video webinar on profit and peace of mind, no matter what's happening in the market, is available at soundmindinvesting.org. I'm so thankful to have you with us today on Faith in Finance. I'm Rob West. All right, it's time to take your calls and questions today. The number to call with lines open is 800-525-7000. Our call screener is Lynn today. She'll take good care of you, again, 800-525-7000. You can call right now. To Philadelphia. Hi, Susan.

How can I help? Hi, this is Susan. Yes, ma'am. The question that my husband and I have is we'd like to consider paying off the mortgage. Mortgage rate is considerably less than what we could get with keeping money invested in CDs. And the other part to that is with digital currency all over the country, is it coming to United States and do we have to worry about the government taking our home? Sure. So a couple of thoughts. Number one is I always love the idea of you paying off your house.

I think that's a good thing. Can you right now, with a near risk free investment, I say near risk free because nothing's risk free, but with a near risk free investment in a CD that's backed by the full faith and credit of the United States government, is it possible if you have one of those low interest rate mortgages to earn more than you're paying on your mortgage? Yeah, sure. You could get a 5% CD today. Maybe you're paying 3%. So you've got 2% net. Keep in mind, you are going to pay taxes on the interest. So you're not totally saving 2%. But you could do better. The challenge is that's temporary.

We know that those rates are going to start to come down in the next year. And so eventually, you're not going to be able to do that. You are going to have to take risk. And so, you know, I think ultimately, this is a conviction issue.

You need to pray it through. Even if on paper, you can do a little bit better in a CD, you could do maybe a little bit more in stocks and bonds, if you're willing to take on the risk. If you are going to get more peace of mind, or you have a conviction about being debt free, then I'd say go for it, pay off the mortgage. If you don't have that conviction, you're comfortable hanging on to it, you've got a low interest rate mortgage, I'm okay with that right now while you're in the CDs. And certainly if you want to move into stocks and bonds, I think you guys just need to think and pray through that.

But I don't think you'll ever look back if you pay it off. With regard to the digital currency, there's nothing that's happening anytime soon. We're in a research phase right now.

Here's where it comes down. The executive branch, the Treasury, neither of those have the authority to put a digital currency in place, it would take an act of Congress. Congress is deeply divided on it for good reason.

Because it would violate our privacy or have the potential to with regard to the Treasury knowing about every transaction and the possibility of putting social controls in place. I think it's way down the road. If it ever happens, would they be able to take your house?

No, there would be nothing in there that will allow them to take your house. Hopefully that helps you, Susan. Thanks for your call.

To Palm Beach we go, Trish. Thanks for calling. Go ahead. Hi. Thank you for the opportunity.

I have a question regarding Titan. I moved from California to Florida and opened my medical practice. It takes a while to build up but I am barely making it right now. I have overhead, a mortgage, utilities, I'm good with medical supplies so I don't spend much money on that. My question is, do I type from the growth that the practice is making or do I type from the net after everything is taken care of?

It's a great question, Trish. And you know, when you apply the guideline or the principle of the tithe, the idea behind the tithe, the word means a tenth and it's based on the increase, whatever that increase is. In the Bible times that would have been a harvest increase. You're talking about a financial increase. Now, the key to this when you're running your own business is to separate your personal finances from your business finances. And I realize that's hard to do when you've got a brand new business and so forth.

But even for tax purposes, I'd recommend that you keep things separate because you want to know, okay, what is truly a business expense so I can deduct all the expenses associated with that small business if you're renting a space for the practice and you've got marketing and business insurance and all those things. And then eventually you're going to have some profit. And then hopefully you get to the place where you pay yourself an income. That income that you pay yourself clearly, if you want to apply the principle of the tithe, you do that on a hundred percent of that, the first and the best that comes over. But when we're talking about your business, you wouldn't be able to tithe on the gross because depending on the business, some businesses wouldn't stay in business if they tithed on the gross. I mean, think about a grocery store. You know, when something passes across the register, they're keeping a very small percentage of the difference between what they bought it for and what they're selling it for. If they tithed on the gross amount of the revenues as the grocery store, they wouldn't be in a business very long.

And the same is true here. Your profit or your increase as a business is what's left over after all the bills have been paid. And so what you'd probably want to do is look at that.

You know, ideally you'd have these two things separate. You'd cover all your business expenses. You'd pay yourself a monthly salary. And then at the end of the year, you'd say, how much profit do we still have in the business that I didn't pay out to myself? And then because this is your business and it's really you, if you wanted to honor the Lord with a tithe on that, you could absolutely do that.

But it would be based on the increase or the profit at the end of a period of time, not the gross receipts of the business. Now, you can't outgive God. So if you decided to do a reverse tithe like, you know, R.G. Lauterno where he tithed 90 percent and kept 10, well, you could do that.

But you know, the principle of the tithe, the 10th would be on the increase, if that makes sense. Yeah. I don't.

I'm not even making enough money to pay myself a salary, which is the ultimate goal. I had it all going in California, but I couldn't stay in that place one more day. So I just started calls here. Could I ask you one more question quickly? Sure. Yeah.

If I bought a house in Florida, it's pay off, no mortgage. I just got engaged to someone who is Christian as well. That's incredible.

The Lord called me to be fully yoked. That's great. Yeah. And I want to be, so the plan is to add him to the deed, even though the house is mine. What will be the tough consequences for him and what will be the general consequences of doing a quick planning deed?

Yeah. It really nothing because you're married. And so there really wouldn't be any implications there. I mean, you'd may want to check with your CPA just to see, you know, normally when you quit claim deed, a property to someone else, it's a gift and anything over the annual gift limit of 18,000, which is the 2024 number would have to be, you know, you fill out IRS form seven Oh nine and it would come against your lifetime exclusion, which today is $13 million. That's set to come way down if that expires in 2025, but that's the way that would work and it would be considered a gift. What you'd want to ask the attorney about is because we're married, it's probably not going to even be considered a gift.

You would just be able to add him because you're in your, you know, it's marital property now, but you're going to want to check with an attorney who would be the one to draft that quick claim deed anyway to see about adding your husband to the deed. Okay. So he's not my husband. He's a fiance. Okay.

Well, when that time comes, I mean, if you did it now, it clearly would be a gift, but I'd wait till you get married. Oh, okay. All right.

That sounds good. All right. All right. Thank you so much. Appreciate it. You're welcome, Trish. Hey, do me a favor.

Stay on the line. I'm going to send you a gift. My friend Howard Dayton wrote the book money and marriage God's way, and we'd love to send it to you.

Maybe you and your fiance as you're going through your premarital counseling, perhaps you guys read this book together and talk about it over the next couple of months. Okay. Yeah. Sounds great. Thank you so much.

You're welcome. Stay right there. Our team will get your information and we'll get it right out to you. God bless you.

Trish. We appreciate your call. All right, folks. So we're just getting started today.

Plenty more time for your questions on anything financial. We'll help you apply the wisdom from God's word to those decisions and choices you're making. Call right now.

I've got a few lines open. 800-525-7000. By the way, if you want some help in your financial life, maybe it's a professional you need. You can find a certified kingdom advisor on our website at faithfi.com, or maybe it's budgeting or communicating with your spouse. That's where a certified Christian financial counselor comes in. Just go to faithfi.com and click Find a Professional. Back with more after this.

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For licensing information, please visit nmlsconsumeraccess.org. Let's have you with us today on Faith and Finance for taking your calls and questions today. The number to call, 800-525-7000. One of the other ways we receive questions from you other than you calling the broadcast each day is by email. Let's tackle a couple of those emails now.

This one comes to us from Tamara. She writes, hi Rob, my husband and I plan to retire in five years and I will soon be receiving an inheritance of $200,000. How can we save or invest this money given our retirement timeframe? What I would say to you Tamara, for you and your husband is number one, I would think about whether number one, you want to manage this yourself or you want to hire an advisor to manage it for you.

Oftentimes for somebody who's especially in the prime of their working years, I mean, you still got five years left before retirement. The last thing you want to be doing is making a decision on how to invest a couple of hundred thousand dollars. So what I would do as a next step would be reach out to a few certified kingdom advisors in your area. You can do that on our website at faithfi.com. Just click find a professional and I'd interview two or three CKAs in your town.

Find the one that you feel is the best fit. And then what would happen is you would actually move that money into an account that they're managing and making the buy and sell decisions on your behalf. You will also be able to look as a part of that conversation at how you might get some of this into a tax deferred environment, whether that's, you know, perhaps maxing out your company sponsored retirement contributions and supplementing some of your income from this account. So thereby kind of transferring it into your tax deferred environment.

You could be contributing to IRAs, you and your husband could each put in $8,000 this year if you're over age 50. But I think the big idea is to have somebody managing it for you that, you know, can take responsibility for it with great communication to you and make those decisions at the end of the day. By the way, folks, if you have a question you'd like to send along at any point, just email them along.

Ask Rob at faithfi.com. All right, let's head back to the phones. Here in our final segment, we'll get to as many calls as we can. And Dena, I understand you have a testimony there in Chattanooga. Share that with us.

Yes. Due to life situations and circumstances, my husband and I had gotten behind in our tiding and our 10% to where we were being spiritually fed, plus the other ministries that we supported. And we were challenged to get those things caught up. We had put our house on the market and just taken a huge leap of faith and had moved to Florida to be full-time caregivers for my mother. And we dipped into some savings, went ahead and got everything caught up, put the giving checks in the mail, delivered the check to our church, the tithe check to our church.

That day we had a cash offer on the house and we sold the house in two weeks. Wow. Yeah, I mean, crank it through your calculator and it doesn't always make sense. And yet in God's economy, somehow it does. And he's not a cosmic vending machine, Dena, but you know, when we just surrender our hearts to him, things happen. They may be, you know, spiritual in nature. They're certainly not always going to be financial, but we know that we should be givers and we can't out give God.

And I like the sacrificial giving, you know, even when we can't totally explain it and maybe we're doing it as a little bit of a leap of faith, God just moves in those situations. It sounds like that's been your experience, huh? It has.

It has. He's been very faithful. Yeah. No doubt about it. Thank you. Well, thank you for taking a minute to share that with us today. I know that's been an encouragement to somebody out there listening today. May the Lord bless you. Let's go to Muskegon, Michigan. Hi, Sharon.

How can I help? Hi. Hello.

First of all, God is good. Yes, he is. Yes, I am a widow. I'm 73 and I have my house paid off because of when my father passed and he told me to sell his house and pay my not. So my big question is I'm on Medicare and Medicaid and I have been told because of that they could take my house. And I've heard that from people and I want the legalities of it.

And because of that, would I have to do a trust, which I prefer not to. But I just need some legal advice on that and then where to start. Yes.

Very good. Yeah. I mean, I think it would be good for you to talk to an attorney, specifically an elder care attorney. You know, Medicaid generally cannot take one's home or force a sale. And so what would generally happen is that upon your death, then the Medicaid estate recovery would kick in and they could recapture a portion of or up to all of what was paid out for your care from your estate, which would include the proceeds of your home sale. And that would then reduce what is available for your heirs. And so there are certain state limits in terms of what that home equity can be. And so you would need to check with an estate attorney or elder care attorney in your state. But just kind of all things being equal. Generally speaking, you know, they're not going to make you sell the home.

This is not going to affect you during your life. But it will involve Medicaid recovery by your estate after your death. Does that make sense? It will?

Yes. That the home sale will be available. And again, this varies state by state, but the Medicaid estate recovery can pursue the entire estate, including the home proceeds, you know, at your death. OK, so what I would want to do is seek a lawyer and do something to secure that. There really isn't any way around that. I mean, I think the first is it's a conviction matter where you just need to, you know, take a step back and just say, is it right for me not to have my estate pay back what was paid for my care?

I think that's the first issue. The second issue is how you'd go back about that mechanically. And the only way you could do that would be through an irrevocable trust. And that would require that you essentially, you know, you lose control over those assets. They're completely removed from your estate. It's expensive. There's also a five year look back period.

So any time in five years, even with you doing that, the Medicaid could recoup those assets. But all of this gets into, you know, some legal questions that you'd ultimately need to talk to an estate attorney about. If you need a godly estate attorney, Sharon, I would contact one of our certified kingdom advisers. Just go to our website at faithfi.com and then click find a C.K.

Any of them can refer you. Well, folks, we are about out of time today. You know what?

Step back. Everything we do here at FaithFi is pointed in the direction of you seeing and I seeing God as our ultimate treasure. We want to be about kingdom building activities. We want to handle God's money in a way that it's evident that God is our ultimate treasure and not the things of this world. We don't want to build up those 10 story idols that King Nebuchadnezzar asked Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego to bow down to.

We only want to worship the one true God. And that means holding God's money loosely, seeing it as a tool to accomplish God's purposes. Let's look for ways not just to give a death. How can we give right now setting a financial finish line and participating in God's activity? Think about that.

Pray about it. Come back and join us tomorrow. Thank you to Gabby T, Dan, Amy and Jim. Couldn't do it without them. We'll see you next time. Bye bye. Faith and Finance is provided by Faith Buy and listeners like you.