The Path to True Riches

Imagine having biblical financial wisdom delivered to your inbox every week, helping you integrate your faith and financial decisions for the glory of God. At faithfi.com, you can join a community of over 70,000 people who are already receiving our weekly wisdom email filled with articles, videos, podcasts, and exclusive offers on resources that will deepen your understanding of biblical stewardship. Start your journey today by creating your Faithfi account at faithfi.com. Just click Sign Up. Now, let's dive into the podcast. Deepen that relationship, and then it's on to your calls at 800-525-7000.

That's 800-525-7000. This is faith and finance, biblical wisdom for your financial journey. Well, this is a program about finances, so you might be wondering, what does this have to do with our relationship with God?

It's a fair question, and the answer is a lot. In fact, the Bible gives us three key connections to help us understand its significance. First, God created everything, and therefore he owns everything. Colossians 1 16 says, For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things were created through him and for him. Second, God gave us everything we possess.

1 Peter 4 10 reads, Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God's grace in its various forms. So God owns everything, but he's temporarily given us resources to use as his stewards. Last, God is not distant and detached.

He wants a close relationship with you. James 4 8 says, Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. The Bible contains over 2300 verses about money and possessions, showing that God cares about how we steward what he's given us. He calls us to manage money according to his wisdom, not as a way to earn his favor, but as an expression of our trust in him. Our friend Howard Dayton points out that wisely managing money and the other resources God blesses us with deepens our fellowship with Christ. Having a close relationship with Jesus is another way to describe what the Bible calls true riches. In Luke 16 11, Jesus indicates that God uses money as a test. He says, If then you have not been faithful in the unrighteous wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches?

And we say in this program frequently, money issues are hard issues. If you handle it wisely and faithfully, according to biblical wisdom, it reveals a heart that trusts and honors God. But if you mismanage it or hold it too tightly, it can expose misplaced priorities and hinder your walk with him. biblical money management is a practical way to strengthen your spiritual life. But sometimes obstacles get in the way. The first is unintentional. It's simply neglecting to take control of your finances.

Life gets busy. And for some the idea of organizing finances, creating a budget or tracking spending feels overwhelming or unimportant. If you don't have a spending plan, we urge you to download the faith by app. It has three options for setting up a budget quickly and easily and then tracking your spending.

You can get it at faithfi.com or wherever you get your apps. So while some struggle with financial neglect, others face a different challenge, one that's more overt. For them, money and possessions can quietly take the place that belongs to Christ alone. Jesus spoke directly to this in Matthew 6 24.

No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. Someone might be disciplined in earning, budgeting, saving, and investing, yet still hold their finances with a tight grip, hesitant to fully trust God in this area. But when we surrender every part of our lives, including our money, to him, we experience the freedom and peace that comes from true financial stewardship. Maybe they struggle with generosity, hesitant to give to their local church or support causes that matter to God.

They have the resources, but giving feels like a sacrifice they're not ready to make. In the process, they miss out on opportunities to grow in trust, wisdom, and a deeper relationship with him. Then there's another person who isn't following biblical financial principles, but assumes their relationship with God is unaffected. To them, we might gently ask, what if you're missing something? You may not feel like money is interfering with your walk with Christ, but how would you know? What blessings, peace, or spiritual growth might you be overlooking? If any of these people sound like you, commit your finances to the Lord in earnest prayer, and then follow through with managing your money and possessions his way. To get started, download the FaithFi app.

It's way more than a budgeting tool. It connects you to the best Christian financial content and helps you to see God as your ultimate treasure as you integrate faith and financial decisions for his glory. All right, your calls are next.

The number 800-525-7000. We'll be right back. Jesus said, Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Today, put your heart into something that makes an eternal impact. Heart for Lebanon is sharing the gospel and protecting girls from early marriage, child labor, and violence. Your gift of $114 helps reach three at-risk girls with hope and a brighter future.

Give generously. Text faith to 98656. That's faith to 98656 or visit faithfi.com forward slash Lebanon. Well, great to have you with us today on Faith in Finance. I'm Rob West. Well, we're looking forward to taking your calls and questions today. That number to call 800-525-7000. We've got some lines open. We'd love to tackle whatever is on your mind today. 800-525-7000. We'll begin today in Georgia. Howard, go ahead, sir.

Yes, Rob, it's good to talk to you and just need a little help. We have a CD that is to be renewed, and we have a loan that is due to be renewed. As far as a home loan, it's not a mortgage. We borrowed against the CD. It was a $300,000 CD. We borrowed against our own money to build our home.

I don't know if that's a good idea or not, but we did it. As I say, the CD is up for renewal. It's a $220,000 CD. It's only gaining 0.6 percent interest. To renew the loan, it was at 2.9 percent interest, but they say it's going to 4.4 to 6 percent interest when we renew it. My question is, should we take that money and just go ahead and pay off the loan completely and be done with it? Or maybe should we take half of the money in the CD, put it towards the loan?

I think it would reduce it down to about seven or eight years. I just don't see renewing it at the interest rates being so different. So let me just make sure I understand, because you can borrow against a certificate of deposit.

It's a pretty straightforward process where the CD is collateral for the loan, so it's like a secured personal loan, which would be typically where we see this. But you're saying that the home is also collateral for it? Is that right?

No, sir. What you said the first one is correct. We use the CD as collateral for the home loan. Okay, got it. All right, so the home is not the collateral for the loan at all. You took the loan against the CD with the CD being collateral, and then you borrowed that money to build the home from scratch? Is that right? Yes, sir, that's correct.

Okay, got it. All right, so now what's currently the situation? How much do you owe on the loan?

We owe $214,000. Okay, and the CD is coming due, so they're going to make you essentially re-up for this, and what are the terms on the new loan? The new, it would just, everything would just re-up on the certificate, and the loan would be renewed, but the interest rate would go from a 2.9 percent to a four to six percent interest rate.

Yeah, and what are they paying you on the new CD? No, the same. It wouldn't go up.

It'd still be 0.6 percent. Okay, yeah, all right, very good. Yeah, and so I think the question is would you be better served at this point, you know, to put a new mortgage in place, essentially cashing out through the new mortgage, allowing you to pay off the existing mortgage. Is there a balloon on this that's tied to the maturation of the CD? No, sir, not that I'm aware of. I'm pretty sure there's not.

No, sir. Okay, all right, because right now, you know, 30-year interest rates, if you were to go out and get a new mortgage to basically pay off the existing loan that's collateralized by the CD, you know, they're right now, I mean, they've been coming down, let's call it, you know, 6.7 percent. You know, it sounds like that's at the high end of this range that you would be looking at for the new loan collateralized by the CD.

You're only, you know, earning a little bit on it. But, you know, that's beside the point in the sense that, you know, if you were to, you know, pull the new mortgage out, let's say it's at 6.7, you know, you would be able to repurpose that, you know, the CD into something paying much more than that. I mean, you could invest it and take some risk and try to offset the whole thing. You know, the other option would be you just take the CD and pay off the mortgage, you know, or you take the CD and, you know, you earn four and, you know, you've got the spread between the two.

Have you thought about just paying off the mortgage with the proceeds of the CD rather than getting a new mortgage? Yes, that's what I'm thinking because we, you know, we pay $1,500 a month payment and that would free up $1,500 to put it back into and start growing and building, you know. I like that a lot. And then we would be, and the, you know, the house would be totally paid for. Exactly. I think that's the way to go. I mean, that's a guaranteed return equal to that interest rate.

You're not going to get that anywhere else. And I love you being debt-free. All right, let's head along here today to Daniel. Hi there. Hello. First time caller, long time listener.

Excellent. Question about endowments versus just a cash contribution. Kind of looked at this and, you know, if you put, let's say you have $5,000 you want to contribute to an organization, you can give them $5,000 cash or put in an endowment and they'll get a few hundred dollars a year. What are your thoughts on endowments versus go ahead and just give them the cash money to use right now? Yeah, it's a great question, Daniel, and I appreciate you asking it.

You know, here's what I would say. First of all, scripture doesn't explicitly condemn the concept of an endowment fund. The term endowment is not found in the Bible, but I think there are principles and examples that we can pull from that might provide some insight into a biblical view on the topic. I think, first of all, maybe the first principle is that God provides resources to meet future needs, and we see that clearly in scripture.

I mean, in the Old Testament, in Genesis, God gave plants and trees yielding seed as a renewable provision for humanity's needs. Joseph was inspired to store grain during the years of abundance to provide for the future years of famine. So, I think these examples and others will illustrate the principle of setting aside resources from times of abundance to meet future needs, which is the essence of an endowment. But there are potential concerns, and I think that would be another principle we see in scripture, which is this idea of hoarding wealth instead of meeting current needs.

I mean, we see plenty of examples of that. We've talked a lot recently about the story of the rich fool in Luke 12, which warns against hoarding wealth selfishly instead of being rich toward God. James 5, 1-6, condemns the hoarding of wealth while neglecting the needs of others. So, I think these passages and others certainly cause caution, or should cause caution, against stockpiling resources excessively while ignoring present needs. And so, I think you've got to be careful, you know, in that regard, and you've got to then manage an endowment with wisdom and generosity at the forefront. So, I think, you know, there's also this case to be made that large endowments can lead organizations to stray from their original gospel-centered purpose over time. We certainly see that with some organizations.

I could point to a number of examples there. And so, I think at the bottom line, we've got to use discernment. We've got to, you know, pray and ask the Lord to give us wisdom there. And I think, in summary, I would say, while Scripture doesn't directly address endowments, it provides these principles that can guide the establishment and the management in a way that honors God through wise stewardship and generosity. But there are risks, notably mission drift of an organization, one, and number two, neglecting current needs and taking God's resources and getting into circulation in God's economy now versus later, which for such a time as this, the fields are ripe under harvest. So, wouldn't we want to get God's money into the kingdom as soon as possible?

But does that help at all, Daniel? That's great insight. I appreciate those examples, and I think that's very good wisdom. You know, some of these companies, they, like you say, they get the endowments and then they're not depending on God. That's right.

You're exactly right. I've got to head to a break. Lines are open. We've got room for you today, taking your calls and questions on anything financial. Here's our goal. Help you see God as your ultimate treasure.

Apply God's wisdom to your financial decisions and choices. We'll be right back with much more after this. Stick around. ... ... Great to have you with us today on Faith and Finance. Looks like all the lines are filling up. We've got some great questions coming up, so let's dive right back in.

Nashville, Tennessee. Hi, Timothy. Go ahead. Yes, sir. Hi.

I have a quick question. I am a retired military. I currently receive my military retirement, my VA disability, my Social Security, as well as a partial state retirement.

My annual income is about $117,000 per year. My question is, if my wife is the longest-liver, to ensure that she has enough money to cover her, should we increase her 401k, or should we use some other mechanism for investments for her? Yeah, I like that. I mean, the only thing you may want to consider, as long as you're taking full advantage, Timothy, of any matching that she gets in that 401k, and I assume you are. Is that right? We are. That is correct.

Yeah. So then the only thing to think about, other than just continuing to boost those 401k contributions, which is never a bad idea, that's going to reduce your taxable income and get that money in a tax-deferred environment. And assuming you're periodically checking those investments and optimizing your investment mix, so it's appropriate for your age and risk tolerance and growing at a reasonable rate of return, that's a good thing. But if you don't have any in a tax-free bucket, and I'm talking about a Roth IRA, that would be the other option, where with the 401k, it's growing tax-deferred, which means when you take it out, you're going to pay the tax on it. I think there's an argument to be made that, well, we don't know what the tax structure is going to look like when you get to that place, and you're starting to draw on it. And therefore, the idea that we'd go and pay some tax on it now, and then put it into a Roth, let it grow tax-free, and then we'd have the choice to take it out whenever we want without paying any tax on the gains, that's where the Roth really shines.

But if you'd rather keep things simple and keep everything in one place, I think just boosting those 401k contributions through salary deferral can make a lot of sense as well. Is that helpful, though? Yes, sir. Extremely helpful. I appreciate that, sir. All right, Timothy. God bless you, my friend. Thanks for calling today. And hey, hang on the line. We'll send you a gift. I want to send you a copy of our magazine, Faithful Steward. I think you'll enjoy it.

Let's go to Chicago. Teresa, how can we help? Hi, I have a two flat property, and taxes increased since 2024. So I went from $2,200 per month of mortgage to $3,300 for the last two months. And then they sent me a notification that they are going to increase my taxes from $7,000 per year to almost $12,000. So I'm going to be paying almost $6,000 of mortgage per month, which is impossible for me to pay. I'd like to know what are my options? Is there an organization that can help me?

I had a lawyer last year, he didn't do nothing. So I'd like to know if you can help me. You know, Teresa, I wish I had kind of a silver bullet answer here.

And I don't unfortunately. And I totally get what you're saying. I mean, those do sound like dramatic increases. And property values have been increasing.

And so I'm not surprised, although those seem like a bit more than than you would expect. Here's what I would say that, you know, the really the first step is just to verify the accuracy of the assessment. So it's based on your home's assessed value. So I would start by checking your local tax assessor's website to confirm that the listed square footage, bedrooms, lot size, all that are correct. And then compare your home's assessed value to similar properties in the area.

Those are referred to in the industry as comps comparables. And then the second step is to file an appeal. So you can protest the property tax if you believe it's too high. And you'd you'd gather that comparable sales data from recent sales of similar homes, get a home appraisal, and then look for errors in the assessment, submit the formal appeal within the deadline, usually it's somewhere between 30 and 90 days after you get the notice. And then you know, at that point, you would wait to hear back, depending on your state and the situation, you may qualify for some property tax reduction reductions or exemption.

So the most common would be what's called the homestead exemption, where it lowers the taxable value for a primary residence. And then beyond that, it could be senior citizen or veterans or low income, you know, so I think, you know, that would be the next steps for you. You could request a payment plan. If you need to spread it out, because you know, you just can't afford the increases where you're at.

But unfortunately, there's not a whole lot else you can do, except work through the normal channels with the county. Okay, I understand. Thank you. All right, Teresa, you hang in there.

I know this is discouraging and, and really challenging, just given how everything else is more expensive at the same time. So let us know if you're able to get this going in the other direction. We're going to stay in Chicago and head to Sharon. Go right ahead. Hi, thank you, Rob, for taking my call. How are you? Sure. I'm doing great. Thanks for being on the program.

Hi, I just have a question. I have like an extra 20 extra, but I have $2,500 that I was trying to pay on some credit cards. It's roughly $5,000. And I have one is 200, and two is 1000. And then the one is 2700. I was trying to see what it'd be wise for me to pay the three, the two $1,000 ones and the $200 ones and get those out the way and then just work on the $2,700 like spend the extra money that I would pay on those to the $2,700.

Yeah, yeah, I like that. I mean, the other option is you'd you'd because you have a fixed amount of money. The other option is you just look and see which one has the higher interest rate. Do you know out of the 200 the 2027 it's the $2,700 one with the highest interest. It has the highest interest rate.

Okay. So that that might be the better option is just go ahead and pay the 2500 toward the 27. Hopefully within a month or two, you make up the other $200 and you get that paid off in full. And then now we take what you were sending to the woman 2700. And we're sending that to the one with the, you know, probably I'd go ahead and wipe out the $200 ones next. And then you're down to the one with 2000. And you just stay laser focused on that. But at that point, all the others are gone.

And you've you've taken care of the higher interest rate first, which is going to save you money in the long run. Okay, good. Sounds good to me.

I was like, oh, cuz I was thinking I get rid of those three and then I just work on the big one. But that sounds good. Yeah, I just you know, because you have a fixed amount of money. I mean, we talked about the snowball method being more attractive, where you focused on the smallest balance first, because it's going to keep your incentive high because you get that psychological win of paying it off quickly. But in this case, it's less about that because you've got to fix some of money that's already available. So let's just go ahead and knock out that high interest, or get close to knocking it out.

And then maybe in a month or two, get the rest of it taken care of. And then you're moving right down the line from there. So it's a great question, though, Sharon, thanks for calling and being on the program today. We appreciate it. Folks, thanks for being along with us today.

Man, we covered a lot of ground today, a lot of great questions. I really appreciate so many of you talking about how the program has blessed you. And if that's the case, and you want to be one of our partners to help us get this message of faithful stewardship to more people, I would invite you to be a faith by partner, it'd be a real blessing to us. And part of the way we say thank you for being a faith by partner at $35 a month is we'll send you four issues of our new magazine, Faithful Steward.

You'll love it. And pre-release copies of all of our studies and devotionals. Our next one coming out in the next 30 days on the book of Ecclesiastes. Just go to faithfi.com and click, yeah, faithfi.com. Big thanks to my team today, Sandy, Jim, Devin, and everybody here at FaithFi. We'll see you tomorrow. Bye-bye. Faith and Finance is provided by FaithFi and listeners like you.