Wisdom Over Wealth: Idolizing Pleasure

I said in my heart, come now, I will test you with pleasure.

Enjoy yourself. But behold, this also was vanity. Ecclesiastes 2.1.

Hi, I'm Rob West. That verse kicks off one of the boldest experiments in all of scripture. The preacher in the book of Ecclesiastes sets out to discover whether pleasure could deliver lasting satisfaction. He pursued laughter, wine, work, wealth, every earthly delight you can imagine.

We'll talk about what he discovered next, and then it's on to your calls at 800-525-7000. This is faith and finance, biblical wisdom for your financial decisions. So what was his conclusion? Well, Ecclesiastes 1.14 puts it this way, behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind. Despite having unlimited resources and access to every pleasure imaginable, he found it all to be empty. And that's a message our culture desperately needs to hear, because today we're constantly bombarded with messages like treat yourself, follow your heart, and do what makes you happy. From the trips we plan to the gadgets we buy, the world tells us that joy is just one more experience or purchase away. But Ecclesiastes forces us to ask a harder question.

What if pleasure doesn't lead where we think it does? Let's paint a picture. Imagine a bag of old receipts. Each one represents a moment that once brought excitement, a nice dinner, a new gadget, a spontaneous splurge.

But now they're just scraps of paper. The feeling is gone. The thrill didn't last. Well, that's exactly what the preacher experienced only on a far greater scale. In the passage we started with today, the preacher says, come now, I will test you with pleasure. And tested he did. He pursued laughter and wine, built houses and planted vineyards. He created lush gardens, amassed wealth, hired singers.

He gathered servants and surrounded himself with every earthly comfort, even concubines. And they are careful to point out that this wasn't reckless living. This was a thoughtful calculated test. He says, whatever my eyes desired, I did not keep from them. In today's terms, it would be like saying, if it looked fun, I bought it. If it felt good, I did it.

He chased every high with purpose and still came up empty. Why? Because pleasure was never meant to carry the weight of our deepest longings. It promises fulfillment, but delivers only a momentary escape.

The author of Ecclesiastes says, it's like trying to hold smoke in your hands, real for a moment, then gone. Now, most of us don't live lavishly like this, much less have the ability to do so, but we do have our own versions. We grab a comfort snack. We scroll social media a little too long.

We click add to cart, hoping the package will brighten our week. And for a moment, it might, but that moment fades and the cycle starts again. This reminds me of Jesus' parable of the prodigal son. Here was a young man who took his inheritance and pursued a life of pleasure only to end up broken and broke.

But think about this. The preacher had everything the prodigal son wanted. He had wealth, freedom and opportunity, and yet he ended up just as empty. Different stories, same outcome. But here's the grace in his story. We don't have to repeat it. His experiment, his pain, his regret, it all serves as a warning. He turns around to tell us, there's nothing here. Don't waste your life chasing shadows.

That's a gift. It frees us to reflect. What am I turning to when I feel tired, discouraged or disconnected?

What quick fixes do I reach for without thinking? And more importantly, what would it look like to seek joy in God instead? That doesn't mean we need to stop enjoying life. God is a generous father who delights in giving good gifts. He created joy, but those gifts were never meant to replace him. When pleasure becomes the destination, we miss the giver.

We settle for the gift and forget the one who gives it. So the next time you reach for something to boost your mood, pause and ask, is this about joy or escape? Is this feeding my soul or just distracting it? Ecclesiastes doesn't just warn us. It points us back to what matters most. It helps us dethrone the idol of pleasure and place our trust in someone, not something.

And that someone will never fail. That's why we created Wisdom Over Wealth, our new Bible study based on Ecclesiastes. It's designed to help you explore themes like pleasure and wealth, contentment, and what it really means to live with God as your source of joy. This month, when you support FaithFi's ministry with a gift of $35 or more, we'd love to send you a copy as our way of saying thank you. Just visit faithfi.com slash wisdom to request your copy today. That's faithfi.com slash wisdom. All right, your calls are next 800-525-7000. I'm Rob West and we're just getting started.

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Start your journey today by going to kingdomadvisors.com slash get certified. Great to have you with us today on faith and finance. So thrilled to have you along with us today. And let's turn the corner though. We want to tackle whatever's on your mind today. We want to take your financial questions.

So you'd like to get in on the conversation. Now's the time to do that. We've got a few lines open, although the calls are coming in right now, but there's room for you at the moment. 800-525-7000.

That's 800-525-7000. You can call right now. Let's dive into your questions today. We're going to begin in Kansas. Margo, how can I help you?

Yes. Thank you so much for taking my call. My question is my husband is 68 years old and he just retired and I am 63 years old and I do not work and I have not worked outside the home except for substitute teaching. I'm teaching just very little while our kids were growing. And my question to you is we have about 300, a little over 350 to 380 in our 401k and we have about 80,000 to 90,000 invested in SMI. We have an emergency fund set up of about 17,000 to 18,000.

We have no debt and we've done a budget. We've practiced living on it of $48,000 a year. And so my question to you is, is it better to take Social Security at 68 for my husband and we'd be able to live, like I said, on 48,000 and his retirement right now, Social Security right now would be about 43,000 a year. So is it better to do that or to live on our 401k and wait two more years? And that would be us withdrawing about 96,000 out of the 401k to live on those two years at 48,000 each year. Yeah. So you said you've got 380,000 plus 90 in the advisory account.

So we put those together. That gives you about 470. So if you were to live on that, what amount would you need to pull from that account if you did not take Social Security? If we did not take Social Security, we would have to take probably about five or 6,000 a year. Got it. All right.

Yeah. So I mean, that would be well within what, you know, I would want you to take, because we would want you to limit that to no more than 4% a year, but that would be 18, that was almost 19,000 a year. And you're saying you would only need over the course of a year alongside other income sources, but without Social Security, you'd only need about five to 6,000? No, with Social Security, he would make $43,356 a year. And we don't have any other pension.

All we have it would be Social Security in our 401k. Yeah. Okay. So if you don't take Social Security and you wait a couple of years, for those two years, you'd have to take the full 45,000 or so from the 401k and the managed account? Yes. Each year, we have to withdraw that 45 to 48,000 a year. Yeah. Okay.

Yeah. So about 10% a year, obviously, you'd not want to sustain that for any length of time. And, you know, I think the question is, obviously, if you wait until age 70, you know, that's going to boost that check by about 8% a year for each year you wait. So let's say you wait, you know, three years, you could, you know, end up with a check about 21% higher than if you were to go ahead and take that at full retirement age.

The challenge is now we're, you know, dipping more significantly into those managed accounts. And then, of course, all of that is taxable, whereas with the Social Security, only a portion of it is taxable. So I would just say, you know, I would probably go the route of going ahead and taking Social Security, I wouldn't want you to take it early, but I think you taking it at full retirement age, although you wouldn't have that higher check for the rest of your life, you would lock in, you know, what you would get with your full benefit, and then you'd keep your withdrawal rate, you know, very low, which is great, you know, because you guys would basically be taking 1% a year, which should allow you to stay very conservative on that both of those investment accounts, and still see those grow over time. So you've got, you know, essentially the guaranteed income, you've still got growth in your 470,000. And if you needed to tap into that for long term care or something down the road, you would have it. That feels good to me. I mean, I don't think there would be anything wrong with you saying, you know what, we're comfortable taking as much as 10% a year for just two to three years knowing that we're going to lock in a check, you know, 21% higher, you would need to live or he would, you know, another 12 years at a minimum to be repaid for everything you gave up to be able to enjoy that higher check. But the question is in the near term, you know, you're pulling more out and especially when the markets likely to be under some pressure. I kind of like you taking less and leaving more invested. Does that make sense?

It does. Thank you so much for your time. Lord. All right. You too, Margo. Thanks for calling today.

800-525-7000 is the number to call to Oklahoma. Hi, Larry. Go ahead, sir.

Hey, Rob. Thanks for taking my call. Yes, sir. I have a nonprofit property I'm wanting to sell and given and I'm going to give it a course to another nonprofit or a 301 c three.

Is there any forms or anything I need to do or that taken care of at the closing of the sale? I'm pretty green when it comes to stuff like this. Right.

Yeah, no problem. Help me with something, though. You said you I understand you want to sell it and give it the proceeds or give the property before the sale to a nonprofit. We could talk about that. But you said it's it's already a nonprofit property. What do you mean by that? Yeah, it's basically it's a nonprofit that has went basically just dried up and but with the property and the buildings are there. I'm going to sell that and take the proceeds and give it to a 501 c three organization. Okay. All right.

So that so it belongs essentially to the nonprofit that you already had. And you're closing that down. Is that right?

Oh, it's already closed down. Yes, sir. Okay. Got it. Yeah.

Makes sense. Yeah, that's an interesting one. I would certainly talk to your CPA about that, you know, because it's a little different in that it's already, you know, owned by a 501 c three under the IRS. So you know, it's going to be need to be sold, you know, at a market value to avoid what's called private and intermittent. But I think in this case, you know, it's less of an issue because you're wanting to give it away. Do you know of a nonprofit who will take the property itself? Are you wanting to get it sold first, you know, under the nonprofit and then just give the proceeds?

Well, the the church I'm wanting to give the proceeds to is a 501 c three. And, you know, because I haven't, I'm still just doing the legwork on all this right here. And like I said, I'm pretty green.

But I've been doing a lot of research and trying to make sure I do all the right things, you know? Yes. Okay. Yeah.

But that doesn't work. It's going to go was already a 501 c three. Yeah.

And have you talked to the church about that to let them know that that you want that to come their way? Yes. Well, okay.

And to but I like that I want to get my ducks in a row before I actually announce it, you know? Yeah, got it. Yeah. Got it.

Yeah. So the normally what would happen is the nonprofit's board would approve the dissolution, maybe that's already happened. And then the transfer of the property to the church. So you would want to have a board meeting, you document the decision in the minutes, and then pass a resolution. This is it sounds more formal than it is specifying the property transfer aligns with the mission. And then you could reach out to the church and let them know that that decision had been made by the nonprofit's board. And they can help you facilitate that direct transfer of that donated or that property that's being donated to the church via deed transfer.

You'd want to hire a real estate attorney to help you with that. So I think those are the steps. I've got to hit a break, stay on the line. We'll finish up off the air. We'll be right back. We work, we earn, we save.

But is that all there is? The book of Ecclesiastes gives us an entirely new perspective on money that impacts our day to day lives. Faith by study wisdom over wealth, unpacks life changing biblical truths about wealth, work and contentment. This resource will help you grow and how you handle wealth by deepening your trust in God.

Get your copy when you become a faith by partner with a gift of $35 a month or $400 a year at faith by dot com slash partner. Faith in finance is grateful for support from sound mind investing. If you have money in an investment account, you know, sometimes the stock market can seem like a roller coaster, but it's possible to enjoy both profit and peace of mind as a do it yourself investor, no matter what's happening in the market. A short video webinar about that is available at soundmindinvesting.org financial wisdom for living. Well, sound mind investing dot org Hey, great to have you with us today on faith and finance. Hey, if you'd like to support our work here at faith and finance as a listener supported ministry, we don't do this without you. The best way to do that is through what we call our partner program. These are the folks that support us monthly. And boy, that goes a long way to helping us reach more people with this message and continuing not only to produce this program, but all the resources we create on a monthly basis. If you'd like to become a partner, just head to our website, faith, fi.com, faith, fi.com, click give at the top of the page.

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If you want to become one, just head to our website, faith fi.com and click give at the top of the page. All right, we're going to head back to the phones here. We've got two lines open, you can call right now 800-525-7000.

Let's go to Arkansas. Lynn, thanks so much for your patience. Go right ahead.

Hi, thank you. Yeah, I wanted to know when you change insurance companies, I had a claim for a new roof, and my insurance went up quite a bit. And you are talking to a new company and you're, do they know like, do they research on the internet or something to see if you've had a claim and are your rates higher because of that? Interesting. Yeah. So you had a claim recently, is that right?

Yeah. And what was funny about it was that two roofers told me I didn't need a new roof, but I had a leak. And they came out and said, you need a new roof.

Anyway, so I got it. But then my rates went up. And they went up the month that I got my next payment, which was quite a bit.

I mean, like 170 over what I was paying, which was kind of a shock. Got it. Yeah, that makes sense.

Yeah. Unfortunately, when you switch homeowners insurance companies, the new insurer will usually access your claim history. There's a national database called clue, which is sort of short for the comprehensive loss underwriting exchange. And through that, they can usually claim your claims history.

I think that goes back five to seven years. So if this was recent, your roof claim would likely show up with the date and the details and the fact that it was from storm damage and so forth. A single roof claim, especially for an unavoidable weather damage like hail or wind or something like that, would likely not drastically raise your rates. Those are seen as less risky than frequent or maybe preventable claims.

You know, there could be an increase. Obviously, you saw one with your previous employer, and it would be it could be factored in here. But I think, you know, the key for you is to shop around, really comparing quotes from multiple insurers. Now, remember, the price is not the only issue to look at, because you want to make sure you're with somebody that gets good reviews with regard to, you know, customer service and that they will follow through quickly on your claim and, you know, give you a good comprehensive coverage. If you want to get a copy of your clue report, you can actually get a free copy annually just to see what the insurers will see. And I can give you that phone number if you're interested. But the other option I would throw out at you is, you know, higher deductibles obviously can lower those premiums, that's going to mean more out of pocket costs. So you're going to want to have that money in your emergency fund.

But if you did, and you don't have claims often, then you know that that could save you some money over the long haul. But yeah, let me give you that phone number. Do you have a pen handy? Yes.

All right. It's 866-312-8076. 866-312-8076. And you can request that report. And what is the report called? CLUE, the CLUE report, which stands for Comprehensive Loss Underwriting Exchange.

And you can get, my understanding is, my team is saying you can get one of those free annually. Okay, great. Thank you very much. All right. Thank you, Lynn. We appreciate your call. God bless you. Let's go to Tennessee. Hi, Jody.

How can I help? Hi, Rob. I have some money in a credit union that I need to move somewhere where it can draw some interest. I have a Fidelity account that I thought about, I just recently found out that I could use to invest in or through, but I thought about putting it over there.

I think it's drawn about 4%. So I was wondering about the difference between either putting it there or an online bank and what would be the benefit of doing one or the other? Yeah. Well, what kind of product, is it just their money market or something? Yeah, I have an account over there that would just move it over into cash. And I think that they're paying about a little over 4%. Okay.

Yeah. Money market accounts are generally safe and are FDIC insured. So from a safety standpoint, there shouldn't be any difference between what you're getting there at Fidelity and what you'd get at an online bank.

The rates have pulled back. So you might be able to find nationally at an online bank, something 4.25 to 4.4%. So could you get a little, squeak a little more yield out of it by moving to an online bank? Yes, but not a whole lot more. And so I think probably just the simplicity of moving it into an account you've already got, if they're giving you something that's competitive and I would say 4% certainly is, then I think the hassle factor of you not having to add one more account that requires opening it and maintaining it and keeping up with it is probably not worth the extra yield you would get on this money.

So I think all things being equal, I'd probably just stick with what you got. Perfect. All right. That's what I was wondering. I just recently found out that I could use that and they actually have a way that you can use it as a checking account as well. So there you go.

I just didn't know about that until recently. Yeah, I think that's a great option. I think that'll work well for you.

And again, you know, there's something to be said about just simplifying your financial life and having everything in one place. Thanks Rob. Appreciate it.

Absolutely Jody. Thanks for your call, sir. We appreciate you folks. I'm so thankful to come alongside you each day. Thank you for inviting us into your story, for allowing us to serve you and in above all else, lift the name of Jesus high as we go into God's word and uncover those truths, those principles, those passages that really speak to our role as stewards and managing God's money. It's an important calling we've been given and our goal well done. Good and faithful servant. Let me say thanks to my team today.

I certainly couldn't do this without them. The amazing Devin Patrick, my producer, Sandy Dickinson, managing our phones so well, Jim Henry providing great research today and the entire team here at Faithfi just do an incredible work to reach more people, to help them be wise and faithful stewards. If you'd like to learn more about what we do here at Faithfi, just head to our website, faithfi.com. Enjoy your day. Come back and join us tomorrow. Lord willing. We'll do it all over again. We'll see you then. Bye bye. Faith in Finance is provided by Faithfi and listeners like you.