We chase money thinking it'll bring security. We seek success hoping it'll satisfy. But Ecclesiastes exposes the truth. Wealth alone never delivers. Lasting contentment isn't found in what we own, but in a personal relationship with wisdom himself.
Jesus. FaithFi study wisdom over wealth will help you break free from empty pursuits and discover what truly lasts. Purchase your copy today or place a bulk order at faithfy.com/slash shop. How do you live a life that truly flourishes, not just financially, but in every area God cares about? Hi, I'm Rob West.
Today we're talking about how to live with purpose, peace, and wisdom by following God's design for life. Ron Blue joins us to unpack biblical principles that lead to flourishing, not through formulas, but through faithfulness. And then it's on to your calls at 800-525-7000. That's 800-525-7,000. This is Faith in Finance, biblical wisdom for your financial journey.
Well, what a pleasure it is to welcome teacher and author and my good friend and mentor Ron Blue back to the program. Ron, great to see you. Oh, thank you, Rob. It's always good to talk to you and be with you. Thank you.
Ron, when we talk about flourishing as believers, what do we really mean? What does a life shaped by God's design actually look like? You know, as I was thinking about it, knowing what the topic was, I used to tell my staff that, you know, the Christian life is not better. It's different.
So it it doesn't look like the world um would envision the life. because it's totally different. And the other thing is, is that it is always unique to an individual.
So um my life to flourish It's got to follow Biblical wisdom in all of my thinking and actions. And I'll lead a life that flourishes because I am leading a life that was created for me by our Creator.
So it will be different. And as a matter of fact, there's some good things about that though, too, because it will be a life of contentment. Yes. No, I don't have to have money to be content. I don't have to have approval to be content because I'm loved by an Almighty God.
And he says, I'll never leave you nor forsake you.
So it's it's a different life. Yes, it sure is. And you talked about contentment. That's one of those cornerstones. What are a few others, as you look at God's word, that you think should be a hallmark of a faithful, flourishing life?
Well, I think a really good beginning point is stewardship in its broader meaning. And if God owns it all, and if God gives me everything I have comes from God. uh then I am a steward uh and not a Uh not an owner, I'm a manager.
So I'll reflect God's ownership and I use his resources, be they time, talent, treasure, relationships. Money, whatever it may be, for his glory, because I'm stewarding everything that's been given to me. And I think another characteristic And I've thought a lot about this one is uh a believer and a follower of Jesus will always be generous. They'll be generous with their time, they'll be generous with their money, they'll be generous with all of those things that they're entrusted with. And that is really countercultural.
Generosity. And so to become generous, we need to be transformed by God's word. Yes. And we've talked about contentment, but there's some other characteristics. And you know the word deceit is used in the Bible a lot and the word greed is used in the Bible a lot.
And I think that you'll see a believer living with integrity and honesty in all of their dealings. Proverbs is a great book, which gives guidance about. honesty, integrity, and deceit and all of those things that make a life a meaningful life. And I think uh additionally it's gonna be a life that's lived with purpose. Yes.
I'm here for a reason, for a purpose, and it's temporary. Uh because my home is eternity. Yes. And so what I'm doing here is living my life with the Objective And realizing that I get to spend eternity with our Lord Jesus and our Creator, God. And that's a big deal, too, because so many people, the purpose in life is to be entertainment or.
Uh many other things that compete. with God. But God's purpose for me is to live a life uh uh that has meaning. Because of what he puts into it.
So, those are some of the thoughts that come to my mind. I love that. And as you said, we live with an eternal perspective because we know we are sojourners on this earth and our true citizenship is in heaven.
Well, Ron, what would you leave our listeners with? Just about fifteen seconds left.
Well, just remember that God owns it all and I'm a steward and I get to use the resources entrusted to me for his glory. And what a privilege that is. Ron, thank you for that reminder today. We appreciate you being with us. Thank you for having me.
That's Ron Blue, author and teacher, and one of my mentors. We'll be right back with your questions after this. Stick around. 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.
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To the world. More information is available at goodinvestor.com. That's goodinvestor.com. Great to have you with us today on Faith and Finance.
Well, we're looking forward to taking your calls and questions today. The rest of the program is yours. You can call right now. The number 800-525-7000-that's 800-525-7,000. You know, as you think about managing God's money, we realize your goal.
Well, if you're listening to this program, it's probably around the idea of living as a faithful steward. That is, understanding you're accountable to God for everything entrusted to your care. He owns it all. We're his money managers, and we're to be found faithful. And we do that by understanding his heart articulated in scripture and through the power of the Holy Spirit to manage money, a good gift for our delight, not to satisfy, only God can satisfy, but for our delight and enjoyment, so that we can glorify God with it and use it as a tool to accomplish God's purposes, including providing.
Including giving to those in need and those things on the heart of God that we clearly see in scripture, whether that's Christian workers or the poor and the needy, you know, maybe it's other causes on our heart or helping a friend or a family member. All those things I think make the Lord smile. It could also be used to bring God glory and accomplish His purposes through our investments. You know, when we deploy capital, especially now with the creation of the faith-based investing industry, we have the ability to deploy capital in a way that is going to fund businesses that really are making the world rejoice, that are allowing goods and services to flow in a way that promotes human flourishing and even promotes a kingdom impact, ultimately avoiding those companies that are misaligned with our values. That's possible today, and it wasn't in the past.
But we also realize you have day-to-day questions: things like: how do I get out of debt and improve that credit score and live within my means and save for a college? Education or retirement, and what about giving? How do I do that wisely in all seasons of life, including in retirement? And when I have a required minimum distribution, what are the ways to give there? And what about a donor-advised fund?
Those are all the types of things we tackle on this program each day.
So now is the time to call. We would love for you to get in the mix today. The lines will fill up, but you can get right through at the moment. 800-525-7,000. Again, that number, 800-525-7,000.
You can call right now. Let's begin today in Ohio. Hi, Rome. How can I help? Hey, thanks for taking the call.
I have a quick question. Do you see a lot of opportunities to take like zero percent financing if you pay something off in twelve or eighteen months, whatever it might be? If you can budget for it, are you better off financially to just pay it all off in one lump sum and be out that? hundreds or thousands, whatever it might be? Or are you better off to take that offer and pay off in twelve increments over the twelve month period or eighteen months, whatever it might be?
Yeah. Yeah, it's a good question. I mean, from a technical sense, is it possible to earn a few dollars if you keep the money in saving and pay in increments if there's a zero interest being charged? Sure. But, you know, the challenge is these offers come with rather harsh penalties if you don't pay off the entire loan in time.
You could have a big amount of interest added to your balance covering the entire term of the loan as if there had been a very high interest rate the whole time. I think the other factor is you're going to have to, you know, have that hard inquiry on your credit report, which means that, you know, if you're in the short term at least looking to qualify for a loan of some kind, you're out there shopping for a mortgage or you're going to buy a car or something like that, you'd want to be very aware of that because you probably would not want to have that hard inquiry hit your credit report. Although if you're not doing anything anytime soon, you know, that impact will be minimal and you should fully recover from that just within a couple of months.
So I think. The big issue is one, is there going to be, is that going to cause you in some way to be, you know, use that money for some other purpose just because it's sitting there and kind of burning a hole in your pocket and therefore you can't, you know, pay it off in full? And if not, if the money is there, you know, is there really any benefit to waiting, especially given, you know, the possibilities of what could go wrong and the fact that you're just not going to make a whole lot in interest, you know, for the typical appliance purchase or something like that.
So I would say all things being equal, I'd love for you just to go ahead and you got the money for it. You obviously saved for it. You're buying something you can afford. Let's just go ahead and pay for it and be done with it. That would be my recommendation.
Okay, well thank you so much, I appreciate it. All right. We appreciate your call, Rome. God bless you, my friend. 800-525-7000 is the number to call to Iowa.
Hi, Rebecca. How can I help you? Hi, Rob. I just had a quick question. Is it right to take maternity leave from a comp like paid paternity leave from a company that you're not even returning to?
Like, could you help me understand that? Like, I don't even understand. Like, I don't feel good about that. Like, I'm not pregnant right now, but just kind of looking into the future, it's just kind of like. I don't understand that completely.
Yeah. Yeah. It's a good question. And, you know, I think there's an integrity issue here, a clear communication issue, but then also a conviction matter. And let's take those one at a time.
You know, I think from, you know, legally, you would be entitled to take maternity leave under laws like the Family and Medical Leave Act, or if you qualify, or perhaps in a smaller company, just because it's a benefit made available to you, you've worked there enough time to earn that benefit, you're in the right to take it. And there would not generally be any kind of commitment to return. You know, life circumstances can change during a leave. It happens. I would say, from an ethical standpoint, in terms of integrity, if you already know you're not returning, I think it's respectful to your employer to be up front.
And that's where the clear communication comes in because they're expecting to just cover for you for that period of time. And obviously, if then they're hit at the other end of that with the understanding that now you're not returning, well, that's just going to put them in. A difficult spot from a staffing standpoint. And so I think you want to be honest. I think you want to, you know, leave your employer in a position to plan well for your absence, whether that's short-term or long-term.
And then I think the final issue is just if you have a real conviction about that from the Lord, I would listen to that and perhaps, you know, let them know up front what's going on and let them make the decision as to whether you can do that. And that would honor that conviction. I think perhaps the Lord has given you. Nashville, Tennessee is where we're headed next. Hi, Jeff.
Go ahead. Appreciate the heart of your ministry. And several years ago, my son and his wife needed some money to build a tiny house. They built it themselves. And we put about six thousand five hundred dollars into the project for them.
And now they're selling it for a loss for their uh third parties buying it. Uh he took a loan out and basically um the money they received, they're paying us back for the loan that we gave them. There's a net loss of about 3,000.
So, my two questions were: one, is there any type of sales tax event that we need to pay anybody? on either end and the second is is there any Personal tax ramification for my son, who's giving us the money back, or for us receiving it. Is it just an investment loss, or is it something different? Yeah, yeah, got it. No, there should not be any sales tax due on the property.
It just that doesn't apply here unless it's classified as a vehicle. You know, so if the tiny home is on wheels or titled as an RV or a trailer, the DMV could charge sales tax. But, you know, if it's on land and treated as real estate, then, you know, there's no sales tax in that typical sense. With regard to income tax, the only thing that could possibly be is capital gain. But in this case, we've got a $2,000 loss.
So there would be no tax due because it's a personal use property. He doesn't get to deduct that. But the bottom line is it doesn't sound like there'd be any tax due on this whatsoever. Awesome.
So tiny house, tiny loft. Yeah, unfortunately. Hopefully, it served its purpose, though, and maybe now they can move on to something better. Absolutely, maybe I did. Thank you, Rob.
Well, and you as well, Jeff, and thanks for your kind remarks about the program, sir. God bless you. Hey, much more around the corner. We'll be right back. FaithFi is grateful for support from One Ascent.
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CHM is the original faith-based way of taking care of your medical bill costs. Learn more at chministries.org/slash faithfi. I'm so glad you've joined us today on Faith and Finance. Hey, before we head back to the phones, let me remind you: there's a program we call Partners. FaithFi Partners are those that support us on a monthly basis.
And as a listener-supported ministry, we can only bring you this broadcast and our magazine and our devotionals and our app and all the great resources we provide to encourage you in your stewardship journey as a result of those that support the ministry. And so, if you love the program, maybe you listen regularly, you've called in, you've gotten some helpful advice, and you'd like to support our work, we'd certainly be grateful. Just head to faithfy.com/slash give. That's faithfi.com/slash give. Partners support the ministry at $35 a month or more.
And we say thank you in part by sending you four copies of our magazine, Faithful Steward, each quarter. Any new study and devotional, including our brand new study called Wisdom Over Wealth, a study on the book of Ecclesiastes. And we give you a pro subscription to the FaithFi app. You can learn more again at faithfy.com/slash give. All right, let's head back to the phones to Indianapolis.
Leslie, how can I help you? Hi, yes. My question is, we are wanting to update our kitchen by painting the cabinets and painting the interior of our home. And I'm trying to figure out if a HELOC or a home equity loan would be good to do or should we just borrow from our own investment savings. We're planning to pay it off within six months to a year, and I know there are some penalties if you pay off those loans early.
So just trying to figure out which would be best. Yeah. Well, you would be able to find a HELOC without an early termination penalty, but there would absolutely be expenses associated with you taking out that loan.
So I would say if you have the ability and you can really see a pathway to getting this paid off in six months, I would say let's just try to pull it out of savings. If you did that, would you still have an emergency reserve to fall back on? Yes. Okay, and how many months roughly of expenses would you have in emergency savings? We would be fine.
Okay. Yeah. So I would say that makes this an investment savings account where it would be to make investments based on what's happening in the market. I see.
Okay. Yeah. I mean, I think just given that we're talking a six-month period of time, you've got the money sitting in money market. It's probably not earning a whole lot and it's probably earning less than what you would be paying on that HELOC, especially with the prime rate where it is. I mean, you'll probably be paying 7% or more on that money.
And so I would say let's just pay it out of your investment account, assuming that's not a retirement account where you're going to have a taxable event, and then just try to replenish that money when you can. Yes. Okay, great. Thank you so much. All right, thanks for your call today.
Danville, Indiana is where we're headed next. Hi, Pam. How can I help you? Hi, Rob. Thanks for taking my call.
I just am confused about something. I've heard you say many times that if a person has a trust set up, That their property will not go through probate. But I was looking on Google and it said that Tess Cemetery Trust. will go through probate. That's what we have, a testamentary trust.
So call their quarters office at the courthouse. And they s they were saying that, yeah, we would it would go through probate. I'm not worried about our bank accounts or brokerage, I'm just worried about our house. Got it. Yes, you are correct.
So the testamentary trust is a little different. That's created by your will. And so it only goes into effect after you pass away. And your will goes through probate. That's different than what we were talking about, which is essentially a living trust.
The testamentary trust does not avoid probate. The living trust does. The living trust would go into effect as soon as it's created, and it would allow you to retitle assets in the name of the living trust. And then the trustee has the ability to manage those assets prior to your death, if you're incapacitated, let's say, at your death, or even beyond your life based on the trust documents. But that testamentary trust created by the will would, in fact, involve probate.
Oh, all right. The wording clears it up because on Google it said if you have a living will, It won't go through probate, and I thought living will meant with the health care part, but that's just a different type of trust for property. I see, I'm gonna see what you're seeing. Yeah, and you are correct. There's a distinction there.
So the living will is that legal document that spells out your wishes for medical care. If you're unable to speak for yourself, especially about end-of-life decisions, life support, and those kinds of things. A living trust is a type of trust that goes into effect right away once assets are placed in the trust, and therefore it does bypass probate.
So you've got three things going on here. We've got the testamentary trust, which is what you've got, does go through probate. The living trust, which goes into effect right away and avoids probate, and then the living will, which is that legal document for medical care wishes. Oh, I see.
Okay. Well, that clears that up. Thank you so much. All right. You're welcome.
Thanks for your call. Let's finish up with Debbie in Florida. Debbie, go ahead. Hi. I'm looking for some of the advantages of a dynasty trust in that I'd like my heirs to only be able to access the interest on the principal and leave the principal for the next generation.
But I also like the idea of a charitable remainder trust in case I want to cash out something that will create a big capital gains tax in the same tax year. Is there a combination of the two? Yeah, you know, it's a good question.
So, essentially, a dynasty trust keeps the wealth in your family for multiple generations. And so, it protects from assets from estate taxes. The challenge there is you've got to have a pretty big estate. I mean, I think the new bill that was just passed raises the, you know, where the estate taxes don't kick in until you get over $15 million.
So, for most people, estate taxes are not an issue.
Now, it can protect from creditors and divorces and things like that, but there's no charitable benefit and it requires pretty careful management. The charitable remainder trust pays you or someone else income for life or for a set term and then leaves what's left to charity.
So, you get the income for life, you get the immediate tax deduction, and then you support a cause you care about. Two different things. You know, I think perhaps the next step for you is to visit with an advisor who can just understand a little bit more about your goals and objectives, perhaps work in partnership. Partnership with an estate planning attorney because these get pretty complex. And I'd want you to think through all the different aspects of it.
If you want to find a CK, just go to faith5.com. Thanks for your call, Debbie.
Well, folks, we're about out of time today. We covered a lot of ground. You know what? I love being invited into your stories each day. It's an incredible privilege.
It's the thing I most look forward to when I wake up every morning is just talking to our listeners because you want to be found faithful. You realize God is incredible. And boy, what a gracious gift He's given us. Starting with salvation before even the first dollar, we are rich. We have an abundance.
But then beyond that, he gives graciously, differing amounts. But our charge is just to be found faithful, to enjoy what he's given us, and to manage it wisely and to give it generously and to help others in need along the way. I mean, what a privilege it is.
Well, the whole goal of this program each day is just to help you do that, come alongside you and say, You got this, you can do it. Maybe we've made some mistakes in the past. Past, but going forward, let's make those wise decisions that align with the heart of God and the counsel of scripture. I hope that's been true about this program for you today, and I hope you'll come back and join us tomorrow. We'll do it all over again on behalf of my team today: Adam Sunneth, Pat Montague, Devin Patrick, Jim Henry, and the rest of the team here at FaithFi.
I'm Rob West. Hope you have a great day, and we'll look for you back here again tomorrow. Faith in Finance is provided by FaithFy and listeners like you. I don't know.
