10 Fun and Free Things To Do This Summer

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Learn more at chministries.org slash faithbuy. Well summertime is here and while the kids are counting down the days until school's out, parents and grandparents might be counting something else, the cost. Hi, I'm Rob West. Keeping kids entertained during the summer doesn't have to break the bank. Today we're highlighting 10 fun, free things your family can do this summer, activities that build memories, not debt. Then it's on to your calls at 800-525-7000.

This is faith and finance, biblical wisdom for your financial journey. You know, it's tempting to spend your way into a good time. A movie out with popcorn and drinks could easily run $100 for a family of four. A trip to a major league ballpark could cost, are you ready, $250. Take me out to the ball game? These days it might mean take me out to the poor house. But here's the good news, some of the best memories don't come from expensive outings.

They come from creativity, time together, and just a little planning. So here are 10 fun, meaningful, and absolutely free things you can do this summer. First, go to the library. Today's libraries are more than just books. They often host reading challenges, puppet shows, craft days, and even Lego clubs, especially during the summer. Plus, a trip to the library builds lifelong learning habits and gives kids a break from screen time.

It's a win-win. Number two, have a themed movie marathon. Movie nights are a classic, but why not turn them into a theme night? Dress up like your favorite characters, make homemade popcorn, and watch movies you already own or can stream for free through your library. It's a cozy, low-cost way to enjoy time together.

Third, check your community calendar. Many towns and cities host summer concerts, community movie nights, or festivals, and they're often completely free. These events are not only fun, but a great way to connect with neighbors and experience community, something scripture encourages us to pursue. Number four, plan a backyard campout.

You don't need a mountain getaway to go camping. Pitch a tent, roast marshmallows, and tell stories under the stars. Take time to marvel at the night sky with your kids.

Psalm 8, 3, and 4 reminds us that when we consider the heavens, we're filled with awe at the God who made us and cares for us. Fifth, host a yard sale. Let the kids gather items, price them, and help run their own mini shop.

This is a chance to teach stewardship, contentment, and generosity, especially if they choose to give a portion of the proceeds to someone in need. Six, try geocaching. If your family enjoys a good treasure hunt, geocaching is a blast.

All you need is a smartphone and a free app, and you can start searching for small caches hidden all over your town. It's a great way to explore new places and bond as a family, and again, completely free. Seven, organize a neighborhood game day. Remember playing kickball or capture the flag? Sometimes the simplest games are the most fun. Reach out to other parents in your neighborhood and set up a recurring game day or water balloon battle. You can rotate houses and share the fun at no cost. Number eight, create a summer bucket list. Get the kids involved and write down a list of free or simple things they want to do this summer. Things like building a fort, catching fireflies, or learning a new skill.

Then check them off one by one. You'll build anticipation, stay organized, and of course make memories along the way. Number nine, explore local parks and trails. Nature is one of God's most accessible gifts. A walk through the woods, a bike ride, or a visit to a preserve can stir the soul and open the eyes to the beauty of God's creation. Psalm 19 one says, the heavens declare the glory of God, and so does every bird song and wildflower along the trail.

And number 10, finally, serve together as a family. Whether it's volunteering at a food pantry, visiting a nursing home, or baking treats for neighbors, these acts of service teach kids the joy of giving. Jesus said in Acts 20 35, it is more blessed to give than to receive. Serving others is one of the most meaningful things you can do as a family. It's easy to assume that fun comes with a price tag, but often the most meaningful moments cost nothing at all. This is a reminder that some of God's greatest gifts like laughter, love, and sunshine are freely given. So as you plan your summer, don't focus on how much you can spend.

Focus on how you can wisely steward the time God has given you with the ones you love and take it from me as a dad with one headed off to college and one already there. This time passes so quickly, so this is a great opportunity for you to invest, be present, and it doesn't have to break the bank. All right, your calls are next. That number, 800-525-7000. That's 800-525-7000. I'm Rob West, and this is Faith and Finance, biblical wisdom for your financial journey.

We'll be right back. Today, Fi is grateful for support from One Ascent. One Ascent believes that your values inspire why you invest and how they can inspire how you invest. One Ascent's goal is to provide solutions designed for every need and invest in businesses that bless the people and places God has made. They want to help investors do well by doing good to explore a new way of investing that aligns with your values.

More information is available at oneascent.com and by clicking Analyze My Investments. You're young. You don't go to the doctor that often, yet health insurance is still so expensive. If your health insurance costs too much, maybe you should switch to an affordable alternative. Take charge of your healthcare with Christian Healthcare Ministries. CHM offers programs starting under $100 per month.

Check off the affordable box on your list and get back to what you really love, running your business or caring for your kids and have peace of mind while doing it. Visit chministries.org slash FaithFi to enroll today. Thanks for joining us today on Faith and Finance for taking your calls and questions. We have a few lines open. You can call right now, 800-525-7000, that's 800-525-7000. Let's go to Florida. Hi, Ellen. Go ahead.

Hi there. So I'm looking into annuities and I know nothing about them, risks. And if they say it's 6% for three years, is that locked in? I looked up the rating, it's a B++ rating by AMBEST. So that's my main question, is the security of annuities.

Yeah, very good question. You know, I would say they are relatively safe. They do have oversight and ultimately it's backed by the insurer's financial strength. But that AMBEST rating, I think, is important. So that along with Moody's and S&P, I would just as a general rule of thumb, say I would stick with companies that are A rating or better, even A- would be fine. I would probably, if it were me, avoid a B rated company.

That's just my perspective on it. There are plenty of them out there. You know, I'm not going to make a specific recommendation, but I'll give you one example. You know, one company that has gotten a lot of attention lately, they're online only, but they're A- rated and have some phenomenal rates is Gainbridge. Gainbridge, you could look them up, but that would just be an example of the type of company that I would look at just to see what kind of rates I can find with a very highly rated company. Because again, those guarantees are only as good as the insurer. There's no principle guarantee there.

So that would be the direction I would go. In terms of annuities, just in general, I think they're complex. They do have some lockup periods, meaning often you might only be able to get to 10% of your money per year without penalties. So you just need to understand, you know, that with that floor and that guaranteed return comes some trade-offs, namely illiquidity. But I think for those that are risk averse, wanting to transfer that risk away from the market to an insurance company, they can be very good.

I think we also need to have good diversification. So it may be that you have a couple of different annuities with different companies just to spread your risk. But I would say in terms of the risk spectrum, they certainly are on the more conservative end. And I would say even the most conservative end, especially if we get a very strongly rated company.

So that's why I'd look for A or higher. Thanks for your call. Let's go to Cleveland. Hi, Barry. Go ahead.

Rob, how are you? Great. Thanks for calling. Okay. I'm calling about long-term insurance. Okay.

Yes. My wife and I took out a policy way back in 1999, Genworth Corporation or whatever they were called. At the time, it was reasonable we were paying about $1,500 to $2,000 a year. And history showed that they haven't had any increases in premiums for many years. But now, in the meantime, the premiums keep going up and up and up. Last year, it was $6,000 in sum. And this year, it's $11,000. Now we're wondering whether really it's worth continuing to keep it because we have gotten to the point now where we're about to be able to use it.

I'm 83 and a half, and my wife is 81 and a half. So we're getting close to being able to use it. But the company is pressuring policyholders and wanting to sell because we have a clause in there whereby if one of us dies, the other one will not have to pay any more premiums the rest of their life and so on. So it's getting costly.

And now I'm trying to figure out what we should do. Yeah. Yeah.

No, I appreciate that. And obviously, that's a dramatic increase. So do I understand that it's now $11,000 a year in premiums? Is that right? Yes, it is.

Yeah. Well, that's significant. You know, here's the reality is, ultimately, this is going to come down to your ability to continue to afford this. So talk to me about that piece of it. I mean, I realize it's a lot of money and you have to decide is it is it worth it for me to continue paying, although you've been paying it a long time. And, you know, now you're getting to those years where it's, you know, the likelihood of you actually collecting on this policy and being paid back for all the money you put in is, you know, much greater than ever, just as you age. So I'd be, you know, really hesitant to just drop it at this point in your 80s. At the same time, if it's creating a financial strain on you, you know, what you may need to do is consider even before dropping it, do we need to dial back some of the benefits just to make it more affordable? But how comfortably are you able to afford the premium at these levels? Right now we can.

But the thing about it is this. We share it, both my wife and I share it, if one of us use it alone, we can use it for four years. If not, we can split it. One have two years, the other one have the other two years and so forth. They have proposals each year now when they renew the policy, you know, they have propositions of how you can reduce it and so forth and so forth. I wanted to choose one of them, but then they have a pro forma policy that they show you and there are a few variations of wording in there that we are not comfortable with because we think if we go ahead and take that, we'll lose that protection if one dies, the other one doesn't have to pay anymore. That's the thing we're trying to protect and I'm not certain if the pro forma still has that in there. Yeah.

No, no. That's really helpful. And you know, the clause that you're talking about really is a game changer and most joint policies, which is what you likely have just based in your description, do in fact drop the premiums after the first death, you know, while covering the survivor's care. So that's a big incentive to hang on, especially in your 80s when the odds of needing care, you know, think nursing home or in home help shoot up a year in a nursing home could run you 90 to a hundred thousand a year or more. And if one of you needs it even for a couple of years, then the policy could pay for itself and then some, and to your point, it sounds like you could have up to four years of this policy paying out, which could, you know, run $400,000. And so, you know, it really is all going to come down to your daily benefit, but let's say it's $200 a day for four years.

You know, that's, that's a good bit of money, you know, that's going to be $73,000 a year times four. I mean, that's almost 300 grand and, you know, double that if you both use it compared to the premiums you'd pay before one of you passes away. So, you know, ultimately it comes down to just your health status and, you know, ultimately whether or not you can afford this, but to the extent it gives you peace of mind, knowing that you've got it.

And then again, we've got this clause that kicks in. If one of you were to pass away, you know, can be, I think a real benefit to hanging on with this thing, especially if we don't see continued dramatic increases, but we won't know that until we, you know, each year, you know, you'll find that out. So I would be inclined to say at least for right now, hang on to it. Of course, what you could do would be to connect with an advisor who could evaluate this for you in light of your overall financial condition and even run some pro formas for you just to see how would this and any other increases impact your cash flow into the future. Because if you can hang on to it, you know, I think you'll be glad you did, but you know, the extent to which it becomes a real financial burden, you know, that could be problematic.

And it may mean that you need to start looking at ways to cut the premium, which means starting to drop some of the benefits. Thanks for your call today. Before we head into our break, let me remind you, if you'd like to find a financial professional who shares your values and priorities, who's met high standards and character and competence, who's been trained to bring a biblical worldview of financial decision making, well, we'd encourage you to look for a certified kingdom advisor in your area.

There's more than 1500 men and women who have earned CKA all across the US. You can find one at faithfi.com. Just click find a professional. We'll be right back. 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.

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This is faith and finance. We're going to tackle your questions today. All the lines are full, so let's get right back to the phones. We'll head out to Kansas next. Ron, you'll be next up on the program, sir. Go ahead. I appreciate you taking this call and appreciate everything you guys do. God bless you all.

Thank you, Ron. I'm 60 years old. I've worked at the same job for 40 years and become chemical sensitive to the products we make in there, and I can no longer work there anymore. In the profession I do, it's very physical labor and my body is not capable of doing that anymore, so I'm basically at retirement before retirement. I have all bills paid, house paid off, no payments whatsoever, I'm single, I can live on $25,000 a year. I have $500,000 saved up in CDs.

I have $60,000 in the bank for myself, and I'm thinking of doing half of the $500,000 in a lifetime mutual fund, and I don't know if that's a wise thing to do and just trying to see for sure what I should do. And then do you have any income sources? I assume you didn't take Social Security early. I have one rental house. I receive $6.25 a month on, and I will be turning that house over to the renter when I turn 65. Okay, you'll be selling it to him or some other renter? No, no, it's a rent-to-own, he's a really good gentleman, his family has special needs, so I've made a deal with him, he's very honest and helps me a lot.

So you won't have...He's been renting from me for like 30 years almost. Okay, so there's not a lump sum, a balloon coming at the end, he'll just continue to pay out the $6.25 and then eventually own it? Right, it was kind of set up to where would I retire at 65. Okay, so there's five more years on that?

Right. Alright, and that $75,000, is that a part of the $25,000 a year that you need to live, or is that $25,000 after you bring in the $7,500 in rental income? My bills, health insurance, everything comes to about $25,000 a year, no house payment, no car payments. Okay, so with the $7,500 you're bringing in from rental income, you only need $17,500 for the next five years, am I doing that math right?

Yeah, that would be correct. Okay, very good, alright, and where is that coming from right now, are you pulling that from the retirement account? No, I'm not pulling anything out, right now I'm collecting interest on CDs, I get about 22 off the CDs a year. Okay, alright, so you're living off the CD interest as they pay that out, plus the rental income and that's covering your bills, and you're wondering what to do moving forward, when are those CDs laddered, like stacked up with different maturities, or are they all with the same maturity?

No, actually one matures here in six days, and the other one matures on 11-1. Okay, and how many total CDs do you have? Two, both of them are $250,000. Alright, got it, and when you said the lifetime mutual fund, are you basically talking about a life cycle fund that's target date fund that's tied to your retirement date? This, from what I understand, is a $6.5 that I would receive basically for the rest of my life. Okay, so this is an annuity? I'd put at $260,000 I would receive $17,500 a year for the rest of my life. So this is an insurance product, is that right? Right, yes.

Okay, got it. Yeah, I mean, so here you are, you're in obviously a really good spot, you're living very modestly, you've accumulated some assets, I love that you've got $60,000 in that emergency fund, you got another half million on top of it, you've been very conservative with that. You need basically 5% a year once that rental income goes away on the $500,000 just to be able to pay your bills. That's a little higher than I'd like, I'd love to get that down to 4%, but CDs over the long haul are not going to get that done. So that's the only risk that you have because CDs are, even though the rates have been more attractive right now, right now you can get between 4 and 5%, I suspect that's what you've got on your high yield CDs right now, typically they're going to struggle to outpace inflation with normal rates. And so with inflation running 2 to 3%, you're barely going to keep up with inflation if you have all this money in CDs in order to cover your lifestyle expenses. So that's why we would typically have it at the age of 60, maybe a 50-50 portfolio, 50% in probably high quality bonds like government bonds that are paying a little bit more. And then the other 50% in a conservative stock allocation and then the blend of the two should absolutely allow you to pull that 4 to 5% a year and never dip down into the principal. Now you have market risk, both on the bond and the stock side. So clearly it could go down, but historically you should do well because you'd be fairly conservatively invested. You're in the strongest and biggest economy in the world. Yeah, we're going through a little bit of a downturn right now, the economy's slowing. That's typical.

It hasn't happened in a long time. In fact, we're overdue, but I would say long-term, I think the US economy does well. And I think in terms of you outpacing inflation, being able to pull a modest income from this savings that you have to fund your lifestyle and never run out of money, even if you need long-term care for a couple of years, I think that's the best option in my view. But you would need to be willing to take on some risk and I would do it with an advisor.

But if you said, Rob, I just don't have peace of mind around that. I really like to stay on the most conservative end of the risk spectrum. Well, that would be continuing probably, you know, something like you have now with the combination of the CDs and probably an insurance product. I typically don't, you know, make insurance products my first option because even though you can get some of those more attractive yields, like you talked about where it's guaranteed as a fixed annuity where you can pull an income stream for life based on your life expectancy. The downside is you give up access to the money without significant penalties. So there's just, you're adding a lot of complexity and then, you know, you've got the taxes to go along with it. So do I think that's a bad option?

No, not if you said, Rob. My top priority is safety and risk aversion. I would say, well, then banking products and something like what you're describing on an annuity could work for you.

I would just probably say before I lock that in, I'd get with a few certified kingdom advisors and see if you can't come up with a better option that gives you the income you need with a very modest amount of risk, but still gives you access to the money if you needed larger chunks of it, namely for health related issues down the road. So think and pray on that, Ron. Hopefully that gives you a few other thoughts. Well, that's going to do it for us today. We say a big thanks to my team today, Tahira, Amy, Jim, and Anthony. Couldn't do it without them. And everybody here at Faithfi, if you'd like to support our work, help us reach more people, become a Faithfi partner at faithfi.com. Just click give. We'll see you next week. Bye bye. Faith in Finance is provided by Faithfi and listeners like you.