Crafting a Faithful Legacy for Future Generations with Jeanne McMains

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. A good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children. Proverbs 13 22.

Hi, I'm Rob West. That verse teaches that a life of faithful stewardship will enable you to leave something of great value to your heirs. How you do it can impact future generations. Jean McMains joins us today to talk about the Intentional Inheritance. 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 decisions. Well, our guest Jean McMains is Executive Vice President of Offerings and Marketing at the National Christian Foundation, a great partner of ours here at Faith and Finance for a long, long time. It's Jean's passion to help families leave a faithful legacy for future generations. Jean, what a treat to have you back.

Thank you, Rob. It is always a pleasure to explore this topic with you. Jean, as you know, you have an incredible article in the latest issue of our magazine Faithful Steward called Intentional Inheritance, crafting a faithful legacy for future generations. And I was so delighted for our readers to be able to take this in because I think this is such an important topic.

It just impacts so many of our listeners. I'd love for you to start by just describing what we mean by an intentional inheritance. Well, Rob, some of the most significant and lasting stewardship decisions we make are concerning this inheritance we're going to leave behind for our loved ones for generations to come. And so leaving a meaningful legacy goes way beyond the mere transfer of financial resources. It's going to encompass the how we do this with prayerful intentionality. So the inheritances will actually build values and faith and Christ-centered purpose that's foundational for wise stewardship.

Yeah, that's exactly right. We want to transfer wisdom before wealth. We want to leave a legacy of righteousness. And I love this idea that our their values and our faith needs to go first, even before the financial inheritance, or it could actually create some challenges. And we'll certainly get into that.

But Jean, how do we begin that process you just described? Oh, it's so critical to start with introspection, asking ourselves, what role does wealth play in our lives? And Rob, when I'm talking about wealth, right, it's all of the resources that are entrusted to our care, no matter the size. It's a stewardship entrustment that the Lord gives to us. And so the question really needs to start with our own view of our financial resources, not as an end for themselves, but as a means to help us pursue God's purposes in and through us.

Yeah, and we've got to lead with that. We, of course, have to model that and live that out so that we're equipping heirs for what they will ultimately receive. And that requires not only that introspection you're talking about, Jean, a lot of thought, but a lot of prayer too, doesn't it?

It absolutely does. Because financial resources can sometimes weave into that sense of identity and security that is really the central place where only Christ should reign. And it's not a one and done kind of laying it at the cross. It's, for many of us, it's a daily, seasonal, re-putting our attitudes about wealth and what our role is in relationship with them at the foot of the cross and asking the Lord to make sure identity and security firmly grounded in Him. And these resources that we want to take care of during our lifetime and leave to our loved ones are just that catalyst to be used by us to carry out His purposes. That's really helpful, Jean. And I know you share a couple of questions that can help to shape our thinking in this. And before the first break, I'd love for you to share that first question that folks can start with.

Absolutely. Each heir is created by God with unique strengths and challenges. And so intentional inheritance design starts with asking, how can this inheritance support God's ongoing work in their lives? Instead of equal distribution, I encourage people to aim for purposeful allocation that supports their loved ones' pursuit of their God-given potential. Rob, I go back to the study of Henry Blackaby experiencing God all those decades ago. And, you know, let's see where God's working and at work in their lives and design an inheritance that's going to join Him there.

I think that's the best place to start. Yeah, I couldn't agree more. And I think it goes back to what you said a moment ago. And that is that money, God's provision to us is a means to an end, not an end. And so it's this, as you said, this support of where God is taking us. And if we see that, then it gives a whole different perspective, I think, to the inheritance we're leaving as we prayerfully consider how much and to whom. And perhaps more importantly, how are we preparing them to steward that wealth? When we come back, we'll continue to unpack this.

How do you make those inheritance decisions? Jean McMaine's with us today. She's executive vice president of offerings and marketing at NCF. Stay with us.

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I'm Rob West with me today, my friend Jean McMaine. She's executive vice president of offerings and marketing at the National Christian Foundation, helping you be a wise giver as you are entrusted with much thinking about how do you give it away? But today we're talking about an intentional inheritance. How do you leave something of great value to your heirs and perhaps think about the impact that that money can have on future generations? And Jean, before the break, you were sharing with us that, you know, really that first question is, how can this inheritance support God's ongoing work in their lives, recognizing that this inheritance is really the fuel in the engine that's going to continue to propel them toward wherever they're already going, which can be a good thing or it can be concerning. And I think that's one of the reasons we need to give great thought and prayer to this. But I'd love for you to share some advice for making these inheritance decisions.

How do you do that? Oh, yeah. It's always good to break it down into pieces and parts because it can be very overwhelming when we're looking at it through decades of time. And so looking at, again, how the Lord's working in their lives right now is the most excellent starting point. And what I found over the years, Rob, is that helping families think in terms of three types of inheritances can help expand their thinking. And, you know, the first one would be the idea of an inheritance to spend, so to speak, resources to provide the training and opportunities, experience and possessions that will help our loved ones live productive and content lives.

Yeah, I love that. And I love the experiences part of that, which can be done, you know, before we pass away in terms of leveraging resources to build into the heirs. But obviously that can happen after as well. And, you know, we want them to live those productive lives, which recognizes, Jean, that depending upon their spiritual or financial maturity, we may determine they're not ready to handle that, to spend that wisely. How do we approach that?

That's a great question. I mean, there's a lot of excellent estate planning, trusts and wills and structures we can put in place. But rather than just handing over resources, providing them in a way that encourages, whether it was different types of classes or youth camps or different types of travel, I often say experiences are the soil with which character and learning and wisdom grow.

And so being really thoughtful about the types of experiences that could be meaningful to allow your loved one to intersect with God and the world in accordance with the gifts that he's wired within them. Yeah. And that really leads us to this second type of inheritance that you call an inheritance to shape. What do you mean by that?

Yes. Second inheritance is one to shape. So the first inheritance to spend is, again, more your traditional thinking.

What are the financial resources they're going to need to be launched in the world? An inheritance to shape is really what we were just speaking about, providing, whether it's mission trips or family retreats or service projects. Or I even worked with a family one year who had a family value of lifelong learning, and they designed a trust rob that would allow each beneficiary to go pursue an area of learning each year. And they would just celebrate that, whether it was learn a new language or learn how to cook or learn how to do A.I.

with greater proficiency. So it really comes alive. This idea of estate planning and inheritance planning comes alive when we can look at these resources as a way to help our family members flourish in character and values. Oh, that is so good, Jean. And it just comes back to this idea of intentionality. We can't take a cookie cutter approach. But if we lean into this, perhaps we can do something really unique and special. Take us to that third type of inheritance.

Absolutely. So we have inheritance to spend and inheritance to shape and an inheritance to share. We've heard it say, Rob, that we're blessed to be a blessing, but it's really true.

The Lord gives us resources for us to be his hands and feet, to point a world to him, his love and his glory. And so this idea of an inheritance to share that's set aside and funded to help loved ones pursue charitable endeavors, whether it's charitable giving and or service, mission trips and volunteerism. That's how I've designed my own estate plan, actually, right.

An inheritance for my children to have to spend, but also a giving fund, a donor advice fund for them to go share their blessings with the world in need in accordance with their passions. Yeah, I like that. That's well said. So it's this idea that we can really foster spiritual growth, family culture, and also a commitment to bless and serve others in our plans through our estate planning and wealth transfer.

All right, Jean, we've got just about three minutes left. Let's start to put this into action. And I'd love for you to unpack some of the really practical steps to crafting an intentional inheritance.

Absolutely. Rob, I tell folks there's four key kind of steps to help us successfully pursue this goal. And one is engage in open dialogue. Be sure we're initiating conversations with family members about values and the desired purposes for stewarding shared family resources.

If we're not addressing those heart conditions on what's our role with wealth and what's our opportunity to go serve others, leaving financial resources through a will or a trust without that firm foundation is not an intentional inheritance, Rob. Yeah, that's exactly right. And when you talk about open dialogue, Jean, often folks will immediately think, well, how much do I share? Like, do I actually give them the numbers? And what if they're not happy with some of the decisions I've made? How do you counsel givers in that, Jean? Absolutely. Well, first of all, we need to acknowledge it's going to be different for every family, right?

It just genuinely is. But I try to relieve the pressure. You don't have to share the dollars and zeros that are involved in how much. It's more the purpose of the why and the attitude with which we want to receive and steward these blessings.

So I try to take that pressure off folks. It might not be the detail on how much is coming and when, but what the opportunities are once received and what we need to do to prepare for those. And, you know, your advisors, I think a second point is you're having faith aligned advisors is critical. I've been an estate attorney for almost three decades now. And it really matters when you're working with clients and clients are working with advisors that share their biblical world view and that these types of important decisions make sense to them and they're supportive of that.

So seeking help from financial and legal professionals to assure that your plan aligns with your Christian worldview is important. Yeah, no doubt about that. All right. Two steps remaining.

Jean, take us into those. Third, we really need to prepare our heirs. And so providing our beneficiaries with financial literacy education and even right sized activities during their lifetime to allow them to learn, stumble, pick up the pieces and learn. I mean, no matter what we do, we need an opportunity to live that out and learn the skills during lifetime before we receive this inheritance. And then finally, I think it's important to use strategic giving in estate planning vehicles. You can wisely use wills and trust.

All these concepts, Rob, transfer in the terms of the provisions you put in those legal documents. Donor advice funds, charitable trusts, all of these things can help facilitate ongoing generosity that reflect our commitment to generous living and giving. Wow, that's incredible. Well, Jean, we're so thankful for this council today. Folks, you need to check out ncfgiving.com. Over 21 billion dollars has been granted out to charities since 1982.

They have offices nationwide and they just want to come alongside you to encourage you to be intentional in your giving and your inheritances and also to help you build that strategy that's right for your family. Again, ncfgiving.com. Jean, thanks for being here today. Thank you, Rob.

It's been fun. That's Jean McMains with the National Christian Foundation. By the way, if you want to read this article in Faithful Steward, become a FaithFi partner at faithfi.com slash give.

That's faithfi.com slash give. All right, your calls are next. The number 800-525-7000.

That's 800-525-7000. I'm Rob West and this is Faith and Finance. Biblical wisdom for your financial decisions.

We'll be right back. To find a certified kingdom advisor in your area, visit faithfi.com and click Find a CKA. We're grateful for support from Eventide Investments on the Faith and Finance program. Eventide's approach to values based investing is grounded in the belief that humankind was created in the image of God with intrinsic dignity, value and worth. Eventide calls this investing that makes the world rejoice. More information is available at eventideinvestments.com.

That's eventideinvestments.com. Great to have you with us today on Faith and Finance. I'm Rob West. We're taking your calls and questions today. That number 800-525-7000. We've got lines open. We're ready for you. 800-525-7000. You can call right now. To Ohio, Melinda, I understand you're driving. You be careful.

How can I help? Hi, I am retiring in the next year and a half and I have a 457 with my retirement account. I work for the state of Ohio. My question is, I'm nervous about the economy and retiring. I'm pretty diversified in all the areas, large, mid-cap, international and I have some in stable value. But I was wondering if I should put it all into stable value just while the economy is really in flux and then just kind of shore up what I've got and I'll still put into it till I retire. But just kind of save what I've got, I guess.

Yeah, very good. I appreciate that question and I certainly understand your concern as you're thinking, I just can't imagine this isn't going to continue for a period of time and maybe I should make some changes. The challenge is that it's nearly impossible to predict the market consistently. Trying to time the market, trying to buy low and sell high or trying to decide when we move in and out of stocks just ends up being, for all investors, a flawed strategy because we just don't know. COVID was just a classic example of this where we saw the quickest fall to a bear market ever and then those people that said, well, I can kind of see the handwriting on the wall, I'm going to get out and go to all bonds or whatever it was as the market was falling, then obviously they likely missed what was the fastest recovery ever in history and it just kind of underscores the need to just keep the long-term perspective, making sure we're always asking ourselves, and this is very appropriate, am I in the best diversified portfolio for me given my age, given my risk tolerance, given my goals and objectives? And if the answer is no, then that's where a change is in order and I'd be thoughtful about how quickly and when you make that change to get your asset allocation in line. But if it is appropriate for your age and risk tolerance, you're just concerned about kind of a short-term market action, that's where I would just be careful on kind of playing into the emotional cell when the market is dropping because so often we're locking in losses and then we buy back after a rally and we end up paying a premium.

There's been a lot of studies on this, I think one of the more well-known is Dalbar who did an analysis of investor behavior over 30 years and they showed that those who kind of tried to time the market just on average failed miserably versus those who just kept invested, again, assuming the investment allocation is appropriate for your age and risk tolerance. So I would advise you against that but let's talk about just kind of where your position today. So tell me just some specifics, what is your age and where are you in proximity to retirement?

I'm 60 and I am going to retire either at the end of this year or the end of next year, so a year and a half, that's the longest. Okay, and what do you have in retirement investment assets? Well, I had about $340,000 but I think I've lost like $30,000 so I think I might get $310,000 but I will get a pension. Yeah, okay, and as you look at your budget, your retirement budget and maybe you haven't gone through that exercise yet and if you haven't, I would encourage you to do that where you begin to actually put your retirement budget together.

It may look largely the same. Most people end up spending somewhere around 70% to 80% of their pre-retirement income because A, they're no longer saving for retirement so that's a big number that comes out of the monthly allocation and then hopefully you're out of debt or at least close to it so you're not servicing debt, maybe the kids are off the payroll, a little bit less in the way of clothing budget or eating out, those kinds of things. So you might want to take a fresh look at what you would call your retirement budget. Based on what you know today, do you feel like your pension will cover that or were you planning on pulling something on a monthly basis out of the retirement account? I feel like the pension will cover it. Okay, so that's great news. Except for vacations and things like that.

Good, okay. So that's great news in the sense that you're still looking long-term with this money because even once you hit retirement, most people need to be planning for really all of us and only the Lord knows when he'll call us home but people are living longer and so even at 60, you need to be thinking in terms of a three-decade time horizon into your 90s which means that this is money that still stays invested and so that's why because people are living longer, what we would typically say is if you take the number 110 minus your age of 60, that equals 50 and that's the portion you would put in stocks and then the balance you'd put in bonds and this is just a rule of thumb, it's all it is. It doesn't mean it's perfect and it doesn't even mean it's right for you. You may decide you want to be more conservative than this but by using that rule of thumb, we would say, okay, with your 340 now 310 but remember that's just on paper, I would expect this to recover and it could be sooner rather than later or it could be a little bit further down the road but I think your ideal allocation at least as a starting point would be 50% stocks, 50% fixed income and if you had that kind of allocation and then over time, over the decades, you shift more and more to fixed income you should be able to have a growth component of this that will grow over time and allow this, especially since you're not planning to draw much from it except for kind of some of those extra expenses, hopefully this recovers and by the time you're needing to tap into this for let's say long-term care or something like that maybe this is a half million dollar portfolio because you didn't touch it and you just let it grow. So I would still be looking long-term.

Now, if you said to me, yeah, Rob, but today I'm 80% stocks or 100% stocks well, okay, then we over the next year need to be moving toward a larger fixed income allocation but I wouldn't cut out altogether stocks and try to time the market for the reasons that I mentioned but does that all make sense? Yes, it does. Thank you so much. Okay, you're welcome. I think I'm just emotional. Yeah, I get it. I'm just emotional.

Well, and that's not uncommon. We are wired for that and we're just prone to sell when we see situations like we're seeing right now play out and especially given your proximity to retirement, that emotional reaction is heightened and you just need to recognize that for what it is. I think the other piece that could help you is an advisor, Melinda knowing that there's somebody who's overseeing this who's not emotional, who's taking more of a rules-based approach to the investments and perhaps this is the time for you to engage an advisor who could walk alongside you and I'd recommend you connect with a Certified Kingdom Advisor on our website at faithfi.com and perhaps as you separate from employment, you roll this out and have that advisor manage this with your goals in mind. I hope that helps. Big thanks to my team today, Jim, Devin and Sandy. We'll see you next time. Bye-bye. Faith and Finance is provided by Faith Buy and listeners like you.