The Greatest Impact for the Least of These with Brian Holtz

This faith and finance podcast is underwritten in part by Praxis Investment Management. Since 1994, Praxis has offered investment products designed to meet the practical needs of everyday investors while supporting positive change through impact strategies that go beyond screening. Guided by faith values, Praxis strives to make a positive impact on the world. Learn more at praxisinvests.com The King will reply, Truly I tell you, whatever you did for the least of these, brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.

Matthew 25, 40. Hi, I'm Rob West. Some exciting things are happening that will give you more ways to help the least of these in God's kingdom. Brian Holtz joins us today with details about how we can all have the greatest impact in helping those in need. And then we'll take your phone calls at 800-532.

800-525-7000. This is faith and finance biblical wisdom for your financial journey. Well, it's great to have Brian Holtz with us again. Brian is the CEO of Compass Financial Ministry. He's a great friend and partner and Brian, great to have you back.

It's my pleasure, Rob. When you were on the show a few months back, Brian, you introduced a powerful new resource, a small group video study called Making Ends Meet created to help struggling families move toward financial stability. You also shared some insights into the real challenges these families are facing.

It's been a while. So could you remind us of what Compass set out to accomplish with this project and how you approach the problem? Yeah, we and other ministries have generally focused on middle and upper income levels, largely because we're all a little puzzled when we work with someone who truly doesn't have the financial margin they need.

Not just that they're prioritizing poorly, but that they just don't have the income to meet their basic expenses. But the team at Compass felt God pushing us to address this. So we partnered with several organizations who specialize in this area of helping struggling families, and we learned what unique issues we needed to address from a biblical perspective.

Well, I'm so glad you did. This is such a vital conversation. So how can we truly help those in need? Is it as simple as giving money or is there a more effective, perhaps lasting way to serve them well? That certainly is the question.

And during the project, we learned some things that were both surprising and some things that were not surprising at all. To begin, I'll plant my flag firmly on what doesn't create lasting change. And that's just giving money to poor people in poor communities.

Now, that doesn't mean you shouldn't do it. In fact, the passage you opened with today encourages us to provide physically for the poor. It just means we shouldn't expect deep life transformation as a result of only financial assistance. It may provide relief, but it'll almost always be temporary.

Study after study, both from faith-based and secular research, continues to disprove the idea that simply injecting money into poverty solves the problem or even provides any lasting change at all. Yeah. So clearly we've uncovered what doesn't work here, but what are some better, perhaps more effective ways to respond? The better option is actually quite obvious. You provide not only financial assistance, but also relational assistance along with it. Think about it this way. Jesus didn't just go around helping people out of a jam and then leaving. He would invite them to follow him, to have their lives changed at a deeper level, far beyond physical relief. When we invest relationally in people, the change is more impactful and longer lasting.

Yeah, you're right. I mean, when you put it like that, it does seem pretty clear by walking alongside them on the journey to stability, you're really engaging in discipleship, aren't you? Absolutely. Because you've stepped up financially, you have stronger relational credibility. And because you have stronger relational credibility, you're able to help them better use the financial gift. Not as a mandate of I'll only give you money if, but from a heart of truly wanting what's best for them. Well, that's powerful, but I'm guessing there's a reason we don't turn to that right away.

There is. One of the biggest reasons is that poor communities are extremely interdependent. Like we see in the Church of Acts, these communities share their resources and belongings. And it's their community's culture to care for one another.

That, of course, is a great thing. But when someone in that community has the opportunity to get out of poverty, it actually carries with it a lot of anxiety. Think about it this way. If all of a sudden I have money and my friends still don't, will they accept me anymore?

If I lose my community, where will I fit in? These are real issues. And if we're trying to help someone navigate through them, we've got to be committed with our time and prayers for the long run. Yeah, that makes sense, Brian.

All right, we're about out of time. But before we go, how can listeners learn more? Absolutely. The Making Ends Meet study gives folks who are already investing in their communities an easy to follow plan. Visit us at compassfinancialministry.org to learn more. Folks, this is such an important study. It can help you serve those in your community that are in this place of need.

It's called Making Ends Meet. The study is available at compassfinancialministry.org. That's compassfinancialministry.org. Brian, thanks for your time today. Thanks for having me, Rob.

We've got to take a quick break, but much more just around the corner. If you have a question today, call right now, 800-525-7000. That's 800-525-7000. I'm Rob West and this is Faith and Finance.

We'll be right back. 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. Hey, thanks for joining us today on Faith and Finance.

I'm Rob West. Looking forward to taking your calls and questions today. The number to get in on the conversation today, 800-525-7000. That's 800-525-7000. I know there's a lot of you out there that are wrestling with things in your financial life. While the calls are just starting to come in, this is your chance to get in the mix today.

I'll look forward to chatting with you. Again, that number, 800-525-7000. By the way, something that we've just introduced for our partners today, so those of you who are FaithFi partners, you help us get the word out and reach more people with the message here on Faith and Finance and the app and on the web, and you support us at $35 a month, and we're able to send you our new studies and devotionals as they come out. By the way, Wisdom Over Wealth, our new study on Ecclesiastes, comes out in April. We can't wait for you to get your hands on that. But you also just received our first issue of Faithful Steward, our magazine, and we've heard from many of you that have said, I love it. I can't wait to put in the hands of more people.

And how do I order them? Well, we are making them, we're not selling the magazine, but they are available for partners to buy at our cost. And so if you'd like to buy copies of Faithful Steward to give away for your church, or maybe you're an advisor, and you want to put them in the hands of your clients, or just somebody that wants to share this message of God's faithful stewardship with others, you are now able to do that. If you're a FaithFi partner, you can go to faithfi.com, click on shop, and for our partners, you're able to order issue one additional copies of Faithful Steward while supplies last. We have them back in stock, they won't last long, just based on the number of inquiries we're hearing.

But if you'd like to purchase one and you're a partner, you can do that at faithfi.com, just click shop. Okay, let's dive in. The calls are coming in quickly.

We're going to begin today in Virginia. Hi, James. Go ahead, sir. Thank you for taking my call. Sure.

I have a question. How do you get banks to produce your bank statements be further back than the seven year period that they usually are only required to keep records? If you need bank statements, and you don't have them 10 to 15 years ago, and you believe fraud or theft has occurred, and you need the bank statements, how can you get the banks to produce statements?

Yeah, it's a great question, James, and it's going to be challenging. Often, banks only keep that kind of record, the statements for seven to 10 years. I assume you've checked online, you're probably not going to have any luck there.

I'm seeing more and more, you know, they're just really limiting the amount of information you can get readily available online, you know, no more than 12 to 18 months, in some cases, it's less than that. I would go into your bank branch and ask there if you have one, you know, you can submit a written request for archived records, some banks will charge a retrieval fee for older statements, often they will keep them on what's called micro fish, which is a typical archival format. Again, they'll have to go back and pull that and that's where the the record charge will come in. But hopefully, especially if it's one of the big banks, they will have all of that stored on micro fish and, and can pull that for you. But that would be, you know, probably your best option. And so I would probably call the customer service number and just say, Listen, I realize you're not gonna have this readily available.

I realize I'm asking for something that's pretty dated, historically, I need it for, you know, legal purposes, and willing to pay for it. Can I talk to a department that could, you know, access longer term archives and just see what you can find. But that's unfortunately going to be your only option at this point. Okay, thank you for that advice. And you have a wonderful day. You too, James. I hope you're successful, sir. Thanks for calling. Let's go to Alabama. Hi, Susie. How can I help?

Hi, yes. My boyfriend of 10 years is 62. And he took an early retirement, construction work, just kind of wears the body down after a while. So he took an early retirement, and he's got profit sharing that he will be getting in about two more weeks. And he has no plans, other than just get this money and just put it in his checking account, or keep it in his man cave or in the house or something. I'm trying to get him to do something with the money, but I don't know how you know to go about getting anything lined up for him or what to tell him. And he just can't just do that with his money.

Sure. Well, you know, I think we've got to take a step back, because, you know, the way we handle money is ultimately symptomatic of our hearts, and what we value and where we place our trust. And so I think, you know, whenever we're setting financial goals, it's really important to start even before we start thinking about the specific goals with our values as Christ followers and say, Okay, what's most important to us? Where is God taking us as he enters this fourth quarter of life or, you know, this next season? You know, what is it that he feels like God is calling him to do? He's gonna have a little bit more time. God created us to be workers and to be productive with our hands.

That might mean a change, because as you said, being in construction can take a toll on your body. But it also means he has incredible wisdom and experience to share with others and to be in community and to be one of those elders at the city gate that we see in Scripture. And so I think, you know, having a vision for this next season is really important. And then kind of marrying the resources, the financial resources to that vision, recognizing you and I and your boyfriend are all stewards of God's money. It all belongs to him.

It doesn't belong to us. Doesn't matter if it's coming to him by way of a profit sharing plan or social security. It's all God's 100% of it.

And so our charge is to be found faithful. And so perhaps it's a conversation, he may or may not be willing to engage you in this, but perhaps it's a conversation that starts with, Hey, let's talk about what this next season is going to look like. And let's talk about how this money that's coming in can be a tool to accomplish that. And to the extent it's unnecessary, because he has other means by which to cover lifestyle spending. Maybe the, you know, the thing to do is to, at very least, put it aside in a high yield savings account to earn some interest. Maybe it's to invest it, you know, and take a longer term perspective. Because even at 62, he needs to be thinking 30 years down the road in terms of, you know, how long this money needs to last. And that means in order to offset inflation, which we're all very well aware of lately, in order to offset inflation, we've got to have the money growing. And it's not going to grow, you know, sitting in his checking account or under his mattress. So, you know, I think perhaps it's the vision and value side first talking about his faith and the role we have as stewards and where God's leading him in this next season.

And then there's the practical pragmatic side, which is, you know what, that money in a coffee can or under the mattress is not going to offset inflation means it's losing value every month due to inflation. And therefore, maybe we ought to get it working for us. And perhaps those with some prayer ahead of time could be the beginning of a conversation that would ultimately cause him to say, you know what, maybe you're right, maybe we need to do some with this.

And perhaps better yet, he'd be willing to connect with a certified kingdom advisor there in Alabama, who has a third party, not you, but as a third party professional could, you know, give you all some things to think about, give him some things to think about, in terms of how this might be managed well. Think about that. And let's see what the Lord does as you engage your boyfriend. We appreciate your call today, Susie. I hope that helps. Well, folks, we're headed to our next break. We've got room for a few more questions today. So there's something on your mind financially, you'd love to make that decision with some wise counsel rooted in God's Word, not because it comes from me, but because we look to Scripture to pull these principles out.

Well, this is the place for you. We'd love for you to call right now at 800-525-7000. We've got room for a few more questions in our final segment today.

Again, that's 800-525-7000. This is Faith and Finance, biblical wisdom for your financial decisions. Back with much more just around the corner. Stick around. We'll be right back. Great to have you with us today on Faith and Finance. Here in our final segment today, we'll get to as many calls as we can. Let's go right back to the phones to Florida. Beth, go right ahead.

How can I help? Hi, how are you doing? Great. Thanks for your call.

I would like to send a charitable donation to my church directly from my IRA. And I have the forms, the RMD forms. When I looked at them, I'm like, I don't understand them. I don't know what to do by myself. I don't want to make a mistake. And I don't know who to ask.

Okay. Well, it's not terribly difficult in terms of making the contribution. I can give you the steps to use what's called the qualified charitable distribution. And then, you know, if you do your own taxes, you would report it appropriately on your taxes when you file your 2025 taxes next year.

Or you could get a CPA or accountant to help you with that. But in terms of making the qualified charitable distribution that also satisfies your required minimum that you probably received on a form from your custodian that tells you the amount that you need to take out. You would basically, first of all, make sure you're eligible for the qualified charitable distribution. You have to be 70 and a half or older.

And so I assume because you have an RMD, you are. And then once you confirm your eligibility, you would make sure you know what that required minimum amount is. And so that should be on that form that you got from your IRA custodian.

Whoever sends you your statements probably sent you a form that told you what that required minimum is based on the IRS's life expectancy table and the required minimum calculation. Then you would contact your custodian and tell them that you'd like to do a qualified charitable distribution. They may have an online form or you could request a paper form. But it would mean that you need to give them your charity's legal name, the mailing address and the EIN number, which the charity or your church can give you wherever you want this to go. And then you'll specify the amount, which could be the full required minimum distribution amount or it could be some amount higher than that.

And then you'll request from your custodian when you submit that form online or the paper form, they'll do the direct transfer to the charity's account or they'll send a check. And as long as you get that done before the end of this year, that will count toward your 2025 required minimum. And then when you file your 2025 taxes, you'll report the distribution. But then you'll also report that it was a qualified charitable distribution on line 4B and then that will offset it. So it will actually exclude it from your taxable income, which is the real benefit of the qualified charitable distribution.

So let me recap. You've got the amount you need to call your custodian, whoever sent you that form and say, I want to do a qualified charitable distribution. You can do it over the phone, online or a paper. You give them the charity's name, EIN, mailing address. They'll get the money sent. They'll give you a 1099 reflecting that.

And then you'll just report it on on your taxes when you file next year. Does that make sense? That all makes sense. But I have the forms in front of me and I'm having trouble filling them out properly. My apologies.

No, I get that. OK, so I thought that was just the RMD form and you hadn't yet contacted them about the QCD. OK, so you've got a couple of options there. One would be you could you know, I'd suggest you just call and get somebody from customer support line on the phone from your custodian, whoever sent you the form, and just say, I need you to walk me through this step by step. And, you know, as long as you have the information handy that I mentioned, which is the name of the charity, their EIN number and their mailing address and the required minimum distribution amount that you need to send for this year. And if you don't know it, the custodian should be able to give it to you with that information. They should be able to tell you how to fill out that form. If all else fails, you could if there's a local branch, you could go in and and sit with somebody face to face. If not, you could contact a certified kingdom adviser and ask them just to, you know, help you with an hour of their time to walk you through it.

But I'd probably start with the custodian. Have you attempted that yet? No, but that's a good idea. Okay. Yeah, they they do this all the time and they should as long as you have the information for your charity, they should be able to walk you through it step by step.

And I'm sure they'd be happy to do it. If if that doesn't work, though, Beth, you call me back. All right. All right. Thank you. All right. Take care.

Let's go to Florida. Hi, Doyle. Thanks for calling. Go ahead. Hey, how are you doing? Great. Thanks for your call. Yeah. Okay. So I'm I'm trying to pull out some equity out of my house. And I'm wondering, what do you think of a HELOC or an AGI?

Yeah. So I normally like the home equity loan with the fixed rate. But in this environment where rates are elevated, we don't see them going much higher and we think the long term trend is down. I kind of like the home equity line of credit because with that variable rate, you're going to see that rate fall as interest rates fall. Now, the key will be once it falls enough, you know, are you close to paying it off?

Great. Ride it out. If not, you know, you could consider refinancing and locking it in. But I think just given where rates are, the home equity line of credit makes sense. Now, the nice thing about the home equity line of credit, if you're looking to do renovations is you don't you know, you'd only pull the money as you need it. So you're not paying interest on it because you got a big check at closing when you may spend it over a 12 month period of time. So that's one of the upsides that the downside is it's a line and it's available and it can be tempting. So you just don't want to tap into that home equity, you know, without being really thoughtful about why you're pulling it out.

And I would probably, if it were me, limit it only to home renovations, not, you know, trips and things like that, just because the goal is for you to get out of debt, not just continue to add to your, you know, your home loan. But is that helpful? Yes, that's what my wife and I are trying to do. OK, good. So is it renovations that you're doing, Doyle? Yes. And you're paying off some things on our credit report. Yeah.

OK. Yeah. I mean, I would encourage you not to do that just because you're taking what's unsecured and now you're securing it to your house. And so if something happens and you can't make that payment, you're putting your house in jeopardy. Not only that, but I realize the interest rate may be high on some of the stuff you're trying to clean up, but you're also now paying this over a much longer payback period with the HELOC. So if it were me, I would try to limit the HELOC to things that are actually going to add value to the home and will ultimately appreciate in value. I would not use it to pay consumer debt just because for the reasons I mentioned, I really don't want that attached to your house. So for that portion, I would probably either just kind of dial back your lifestyle and try to pay out of current cash flow. Or if it's credit card debt, use something like a debt management program with our friends at ChristianCreditCounselors.org, where they can leave it right where it is with the existing creditors and get the interest rate down. I'd try to stay away from that HELOC.

But for renovations and things that will improve the value of your home, that would be the way to go. Hopefully that helps. We appreciate your call, sir.

Call anytime. Thanks for being along with us today. Big thanks to my team today, Sandy Dickinson, of course, Jim Henry and Devin Patrick, my producer, and everybody here at Faithfi. We'll see you next time. Bye bye. Faith and Finance is provided by Faithfi and listeners like you.