If you enjoy this podcast, you're going to love all the many different resources waiting for you at FaithFy.com and the Faith By app. You'll find powerful wisdom, free podcasts, articles, videos, and more from leading voices such as Randy Alcorn, Howard Dayton, Ron Blue, and our own Rob West. Grow in wisdom and knowledge by connecting with a community of thousands of Christians striving to be good and faithful stewards at faithby.com or by downloading the Faith By app. Gratitude is a natural response to God's goodness, but does it show up in the way we give? Hi, I'm Rob West.
Many pastors wish their congregation knew that giving isn't just about meeting a church budget. It's a vital part of growing as a disciple of Jesus. Today, Leo Sabo joins us to unpack three things your pastor wishes you knew about giving. And then it's on to your calls at 800-525-7000. That's 800-525-7000.
This is Faith in Finance, biblical wisdom for your financial journey.
Well, it's always a treat to have Leo Sabo on the broadcast. Leo's a FaithFi contributor and the president of the Christian Stewardship Network. Leo, great to have you back with us. Always a pleasure, Rob. Thanks for having me.
Leo, CSN recently posted a really intriguing article: Three Things Your Pastor Wishes You Knew About Giving.
Now, before we get into those things, why is it important to know our church leadership and have these conversations with them?
Well, that's because effective giving conversations are crucial for the health of the church, but also its members. You know, usually when we're talking about this, we're focusing on financial goals, but conversations can and should go beyond just the numbers. After all, because God owns everything and we are stewards, money decisions are not just practical. They're also spiritual, revealing our motives and our hearts. Yeah, there's no doubt about that.
All right, let's dive into these areas. What's the first thing you believe our pastors want us to know about giving, Leo? Yeah, the first is members need to hear more about the spiritual benefits of giving. Your church leaders are probably well aware of the connection between giving and discipleship. They also want you to know that learning to trust God with your money is a major component of your spiritual journey.
Once you grasp that, it changes the way you feel about giving. Pastors would like their people to know that there's a holistic approach to stewardship, comprising not just money, but time, talent, and treasure. Generosity is about conditioning of the heart and its willingness to help in all respects, not just with a dollar amount.
So they're still discussing spiritual benefits of giving.
Some people think that tithing is the only part of believers' money that God cares about, but your pastor wants you to know that a love-inspired steward sees everything he or she has as God's and gives him total authority over 100% of it. And your pastor also wants you to understand that giving is between you and God, not between you and the church. Giving to the church is not a membership fee. Our giving is to God through the church. But it's really giving to the church, but really we're giving to God, not to the church for its needs.
Yeah, that's so foundational what you just shared there: that our giving is an overflow of our gratitude to God, our recognition that He owns everything, and even an act of worship. All right, let's continue to move through this list, Leo. What's the second thing you believe pastors want us to know? Yeah, it's really important to understand stewardship, and pastors want members to understand its meaning. Stewardship is the responsible management of resources, including financial resources.
And many churches offer courses on responsible financial management. Pastors want their people to know that the financial programs and classes that they offer is for their benefit. The Bible provides wisdom for managing money through financial principles like saving, budgeting, and debt and investing. And also, Jesus talked a lot about money and possessions because he knew that how we interact with these has a lot to do with the condition of a person's heart. Stewardship is an important part of discipleship, and pastors want you to know that their motivation is to offer these to you from the right heart.
And also, faithful stewardship always leads to generosity. And that reinforces, of course, the first thing that your pastor wants you to know, and that is the gain of spiritual benefits for giving. Yeah, there's no doubt that stewardship is a key component of discipleship. All right, one final thing: what does your pastor want? you to know about giving.
It also concerns transparency and accountability regarding the gifts. The goal should always be that church leaders and those striving to achieve it want their members to know that it's a priority to them. It's important because it's becoming common for people to express concern about financial transparency and call for greater accountability in churches and nonprofits. They want to know that their donations are being used responsibly. And this gives the church both a responsibility and an opportunity to show that members themselves and the community are recipients of ministry resources, like good teaching, support, an environment to gather, worship, and serve, and a staff to manage all of that.
all of which are funded strictly by donor generosity.
Well, Leo, I know you talk to a lot of pastors, and so this comes from a place of understanding. And I know it's been an encouragement to our listeners today. If folks want to get connected with CSN to perhaps get help in starting a stewardship ministry in their church, Leo, where should they go? This should go to ChristianStewardshipNetwork.com. We'd love to help.
Leo, this has been incredibly helpful, and I know our listeners appreciate your heart and the insight you've shared. Thanks so much for being with us today. My pleasure, Rob. Thanks. All right, your calls are next at 800-525-7000.
I'm Rob West, and this is Faith in Finance. 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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So glad you're with us today on Faith and Finance. We're taking your calls and questions. We do have a few lines open. If you'd like to be a part of the program today, call right now, 800-525-7000. Again, that number, 800-525-7000.
Let's go to Oklahoma. Antoinette, how can I serve you? Yes, and God bless you and your mission. I have a question. I have a son that he's a teenager.
He's been not 20. He's 22, 23 years old. But he's graduating from college this year and he'll be starting his job next year. But I just have a question regarding like a planned retirement for him. What can I advise him on?
maybe having his own private investment in that besides whatever he will have from whatever he'll be working. Yes.
Well, there's no doubt that the best retirement account for a young adult is going to be a Roth IRA, R-O-T-H IRA.
So long as he has earned income, meaning income from a job, then he can open up and contribute to a Roth up to $7,000 as long as he has at least $7,000 in earned income for the year. The reason the Roth IRA is so attractive is he's going to earn the money. He's going to pay tax on it, and then he's going to make his contribution to his Roth IRA anytime before he files his 2025 return.
So up as late as April of 2026, he can make the contribution for 2025. That's after tax dollars going in.
So he doesn't get a deduction, but the amount that he deposits and then invests is able to grow over the next, let's say, 40 years until retirement, however long that is. And all that growth from the Investments is going to be taken out as a withdrawal in retirement whenever he wants, 100% tax-free. And that is a significant opportunity. The other thing is, because he's putting in after-tax dollars, it's more powerful even for teens and young adults because they're likely to be in a low tax bracket because they're in the very early part of their working life and therefore they don't have as much income as maybe they would have in their 40s and 50s.
So they pay little or no tax now. They get all this tax-free growth between now and retirement, and then they pull it out tax-free. Also, the contributions, not the earnings, but the contributions can be withdrawn at any time for any reason without penalty. And you can use a portion of it up to $10,000 for a first home purchase or education, even emergencies.
So there's real opportunities there. And they're very easy to open. I would probably open it at Charles Schwab or Fidelity. Both get very high ratings on customer service, wonderful access to a wide range of investments. And I think that could be exactly what you're looking for.
Is that helpful, Antoinette? Yes, but my other question, what about if his income will be exceeding like thirty five, forty thousand a year? That's okay. Yeah.
So are you talking about the the income cap for a Roth IRA? No, no, no, I'm saying his actual earnings. And she's gonna be a a nurse so, you know, they get pretty good.
Okay. But that's not going to stand in the way of him contributing to a Roth IRA. He wouldn't lose his ability to contribute to a Roth as long as he has income of less than $146,000 for the year. As long as he's under $146,000, he can contribute to that Roth up to $7,000.
Okay. But then if there's something that he does contribute by with deduct from his earnings, then that would be helping him. Yeah, he could instead put the money into a traditional IRA. He doesn't have a retirement plan available at work.
Well, he's not starting until next year, so because he's not joining this area. Yeah, I mean, he could certainly put it in a traditional IRA and then he would get a deduction. But I would submit, Antoinette, that even though he doesn't get the deduction, because of his age, because he's so young, he will benefit far more in the long run from an after-tax contribution to a Roth because of the tax-free growth than he will benefit from the current year tax deduction right now.
So even though he's not going to get the deduction for the Roth, I would still recommend that he do the Roth just because of the reasons I mentioned. But if really the focus was getting a deduction in addition to putting the money away for retirement, then he could choose the traditional IRA instead. Yeah, so you're saying with the Rob, it would be a when he wants to withdraw, it won't be um You won't have to pay any taxes on it if you don't. Right. He would have already paid the tax on the original contribution, but all of the growth.
So if it compounds because you invested or he invested in some high-quality stock mutual funds and they grow for the next 40 years, let's say it grows an average of 8% a year, all that growth, which is compounding, it's growth on top of growth, on top of growth, all that growth is going to be taken out tax-free in retirement. Yeah, you won't have to pay taxes that come from from the growth. That's right. Yes, yeah, yeah, I understand. Yeah, very good.
Thank you for your help. All right, Antoinette. Thank you for your call today. Hey, I want to send you a book that I think will be helpful to either your son or your grandson. I can't remember which, but it's called the Sound Mind Investing Handbook, and it really will give him a good understanding of investing, but from a biblical worldview.
So, you stay on the line, Antoinette. We're going to send you that as our gift today. You pass it along to him and tell him we said we're proud of him for thinking about investing early in his working career. Thanks for your call. Let's see.
We're going to head to Indianapolis next. Hi, James. Go ahead. Yes, hey, thanks so much. I love the show and thanks for being there for you.
God bless you. Real quick, I'll be I'll be brief.
So I do you agree with me that you feel that the housing market is getting ready to turn in two thousand eight? And the reason why I say that is in Indiana alone, The houses are being developed, even right next to me, in a pretty good neighborhood, but they're being developed by five to ten thousand more houses. In the next six months, Already have the numbers and the people building them, but only 10% of Indiana Hoosiers make over $100,000 a year.
So we have all these houses being built. The ones that are built right now, the people are moving into, they don't have furniture, they have no windows in the back, and it just feels like. we're headed in the wrong direction. And I'm not a person who sees the sky fall, but I was a mortgage broker in two thousand eight. I saw firsthand and I feel with people don't understand that there's a high number of foreclosures right now and a high number of repossessions right now.
And I don't know why the alarm's not being sounded. Am I off track or do you agree? I don't agree with the premise nationally. I mean, that doesn't mean there wouldn't be pockets in the country where there could be a certain phenomenon going on. But the bottom line is overall inventory nationally remains historically low, which is going to continue to keep that upward pressure on prices in most areas.
Now, more listings are coming, which is improved buyer leverage, especially in newer, higher inventory regions, and you may be one of those. But pretty much all economists are saying they expect continued modest growth into 25 and 26. No one's really calling for a crash. You know, what we saw with the Great Recession in 2008, 2009, that was a systemic problem with the banking and credit industry, with credit standards and reserve requirements and lending practices that were out of what. That has all been resolved.
The banks are in a much different place. The lending standards have changed.
So, just given the fact that even though interest rates are still high, pretty much no one is calling for a crash by any means, perhaps a slowdown, but even this, I think it's still a modest increase going forward.
Well, folks, we're just about halfway in, which means we've got room for more questions today. We've got some great ones coming up, but perhaps room for one or two more: 800-525-7,000. You can call right now. We'll be right back. FaithFi is grateful for support from OneAcent.
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Check off the affordable box on your list and get back to what you're doing. 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. Great to have you with us today on Faith and Finance. Here in our final segment today, we're taking your calls and questions on anything financial.
We've got room for a few more, 800-525-7,000. You can call right now. By the way, we did have a caller who was not able to hold, who's listening with some coworkers at work, Tina. She's 61. She has 300,000 in a thrift savings plan.
She's about a year, year and a half out from retirement. And she's wondering, should I make any changes? Should I move it? What do I need to know moving forward? And I would just say, bottom line is, you know, you don't need to rush.
The TSP is a solid place to keep your money, even after retirement. The reason you would roll it out when that time comes, Tina, and you separate from service would be if you want more investment options, you want easier access to the money or tax flexibility, a rollover might make sense. But I would just be cautious about the fees. Make sure you have a plan for who's going to select those investments after you roll it over. Perhaps you could reach out to a certified kingdom advisor on our website, faithfy.com.
Click find a professional. But if you decided to stay there, because as I mentioned, the thrift savings plan is a solid option. It has low fees. The investment options are very simple and they have solid performance. And so, as you probably are aware, the investment funds in the TSP, the core offerings are, you know, they're by the letter.
So G, F, C, S, and I.
So let me break that down.
So basically, the G is the government securities. Think about that like a money market or a savings account. And then you've got the bond option, which there's only one. It's the F fund. F stands for fixed income.
So those are moderate risk, U.S. investment-grade bonds, and they're sensitive to interest rates, but I think that could be a core holding. And then there's, of the five, the remaining three are stock-related.
So you've got the CE, which is the common stock fund, which is basically the SP 500. Then you have the S. S stands for small, small and mid-cap stocks. And then you've got I, which is international. What I'd probably do, you know, at your age at 60, you know, generally the rule of thumb we use is we take the number 110, you subtract your age.
It used to be 100, but people are living longer now.
So now we do 110 minus your age.
So 110 minus 60, that's 50. And so that, the resulting number, when you do the math, is what you put in stocks.
Now, in your case, it's going to be 50-50.
So you'd put 50% in bonds, 50% in stocks.
So here's what I might think about doing: put 50% in the F fund, the bond fund. And then among the other 50%, you'd want to have that in the three stock funds. What I would do is I'd do half in the common stock, the C, half of that 50%, so 25%. And then with the remaining 25%, I'd split that down the middle and do half in the S, half in the I.
So I know. That's a lot.
So let me go back over that.
So I'd have a 50-50 portfolio, 50% in the F, among the other 50%, put half in the C, so that's 25%, and then split the remaining 25% between the S and the I. And I think that would give you a nice, diversified portfolio, fairly conservative because you're still, you know, you're nearing retirement. And then when you get to retirement, remember, even though you're retiring and asking God what's next for you, you You still have a long time horizon. I mean, if you're in good health, we need this money to last three decades or more. And so, because you can still have that long time horizon, you may decide just to leave this money right there in the TSP.
Again, great performance, simple investments, low fees. Or you could start looking now for an advisor who could journey with you during this next season of life, who perhaps could also take over management of this as well. And, you know, that's, I think, the decision you would need to make here is: do you want to just leave it there or do you want to find an advisor? And then at that point, you would roll it out.
So, I know there's a lot there. Hopefully, that helps you as you just kind of think through and prepare for what's next. But we appreciate your call today. Let's go to Florida. Hi, James.
Go ahead. Yes, I'm called in. I've got a unique situation. I'm sixty-six. My wife is 60.
And we're trying to get back to we want to speed up the process and move from Florida to Colorado, where she was where she's from. And we want to speed up because I don't want to wait ten or twelve years in order to Get it all put together. We've got land in Colorado, but I don't want to wait until I'm seventy two to get it all put together. And then we've got some various investments. we've taken our retirement funds to invest in a Christian women's Network Which is a pretty neat little thing, and now we're a little bit overextended.
I'm trying to figure out how to put it all together. I own a home in Jacksonville. I had my own home. valued at about three hundred sixty and then I owe about three hundred on it. Are those two different homes, the home you're living in and the home in Jacksonville?
Is that two different homes or one and the same? Two different homes.
Okay. Now the other homes probably valued at about two sixty And I think I owe about two hundred on that.
Okay. So we've got two homes there. And then, of course, I've got the Christian network that my wife got involved in. with Christian Women's Network. Is that like an investment club?
It is like an investment club, correct.
Okay, and how much do you have there? Um we put uh right at eighty thousand dollars.
Okay. All right. From my retirement. retirement that I had in place.
Okay. Funds. And what other assets do you have besides the homes and then the Christian Investment Club? How then just uh We've got a few knick knack things that are we've got a vehicle that we have, but I I still owe money on that.
So Yeah.
Okay. So what are you going to do in Colorado? Are you going to build or buy? what we're gonna build. We've already bought the land.
Right. Okay. So, what do you need? How much are you going to need to spend to build the home that you'd live in out there? probably about one hundred thousand dollars.
Okay, and that sounds low, but you've got a good bid on that. You feel like that's reasonable? It's called the barnuminium. Yeah, okay.
Okay, cool. Yeah, you know, so I mean, I think the key is you just got to work out all the financing on this. I mean, the investment club is something that kind of piques my interest. I'd love to know more about that. I mean, we don't have time today, but I just want to make sure that you, you know, that that's sound and that it's liquid.
But I would imagine, you know, you're going to need that to generate some income. What are going to be your income sources in Colorado? Just Social Security or something else?
Well, my wife works from home now. She's at computer IT and it's uh really uh she's about to lose her mind on the company that she works for.
Okay. But here's what I'm going to recommend, James, because you've got a lot of moving parts here. You've got these two properties. You've got this investment club, which I think somebody needs to look at and just make sure that that's a good thing to do and that you've got some liquidity there. You're going to have to figure out your income source.
You're going to have to kind of figure out the construction financing. I would, unfortunately, there's more here than we have time to cover on the radio. I'm gonna recommend you connect with a Certified Kingdom Advisor there in Florida. Just go to our website, faithfi.com, and click find a professional. There's just too many moving pieces, and I want you to get some really wise counsel and take a deep dive into this.
Thanks for your call, my friend. If you have other questions along the way, don't hesitate to reach back out. Big thanks to my team today, Devin, Sandy, and Jim. Have a great weekend. We'll see you next time.
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