What if managing your money could actually draw you closer to God? The FaithFi app helps you do more than budget. It helps you integrate your faith and financial decisions for the glory of God. With easy-to-use envelope features, top biblical financial content, and a supportive in-app community, you'll learn to steward God's resources wisely and grow in generosity. Download the FaithFi app today from your app store or visit FaithFi.com and click App.
Um Feeling the post-summer financial fog? You're not alone, but now's the perfect time to reset. I am Rob West. Summer is a season of rest, family, and fun, but it can also knock our financial habits off course. That's why fall is an ideal time to pause, reflect, and get back on track.
Today I'll share a few small but meaningful steps to help realign your finances with your goals and your faith. And then it's on to your calls at 800-525-7000. This is Faith in Finance, biblical wisdom for your financial decisions. Summer often brings looser schedules, and with them, it's easy for spending to drift. This happens to many of us.
The good news is that fall offers a natural moment to pause and ask: is it time for a reset? If your finances feel off-center, here are six steps to help you regain control and move forward in wisdom. First, review your summer spending. Before you make your next financial move, take a moment to reflect. Did your spending this summer reflect your values or just your impulses?
Whether it was vacations, eating out, or spontaneous purchases, reviewing where your money went can bring clarity and course correction. Think of it as an act of stewardship, learning from the past so you can plan better for the future. Second, revisit your budget. Seasons change, and so do your financial rhythms. Maybe back-to-school costs, higher grocery bills, or unexpected expenses have shifted your monthly cash flow.
Take a moment to revisit your budget and make sure it still reflects your values, generosity, saving, and wise spending. If you need help staying on track, the FaithFy app is an incredible tool. It can help you plan, track, and steward your money in a way that aligns with your faith.
So your budget becomes more than numbers on a spreadsheet. It becomes a daily reminder that every dollar belongs to God and He is your ultimate provider. Third, check for missed payments. Life gets busy and it's easy to let things slip through the cracks. Go back and check for any missed or late payments over the last few months.
Even one overlooked bill can result in fees or a negative impact on your credit. While you're at it, review your auto pay accounts to ensure everything's in good shape. A little attention here can prevent a lot of stress later.
Next, catch up on your giving.
Sometimes generosity takes a back seat during busy seasons. If that happened this summer, take time to prayerfully revisit your giving. Has God blessed you in a way that invites a new level of generosity? Whether it's giving to your local church, supporting a cause you're passionate about, or helping a neighbor in need, giving isn't merely a duty. It's an expression of trust in God as your provider.
Fifth, tackle that financial to-do. We all have one, that item on the financial to-do list that we keep pushing off. It might be reviewing your insurance, starting a will, or scheduling a meeting with your advisor. Don't let it hang over you. Take one small step today.
Stewardship often looks like taking that next right action, even if it's not exciting.
Next, look ahead. Fall is a season of preparation. Look at what's coming, school costs, open enrollment, holiday expenses, tax planning. Mark important dates, set reminders, and begin planning ahead. When you prepare now, you can avoid scrambling later.
Remember, why stewardship isn't reactive, it's proactive. You don't need to fix everything in one day. In fact, trying to overhaul your entire financial life overnight can often lead to frustration. What matters most is taking the next faithful step, then another. Over time, those small, consistent choices made in wisdom, covered in prayer, and rooted.
and trust lead to real lasting change. You've probably heard the saying, Rome wasn't built in a day, but it was built steadily. And that's exactly how financial health and spiritual maturity grow. Not through dramatic moments, but through quiet, faithful diligence. Whether it's reviewing your spending, realigning your budget, or recommitting to generosity, each small step is an act of stewardship, and every act of stewardship is an act of worship.
So wherever you're starting from today, whether you're catching up, starting over, or simply needing a reset, know that God meets you in the process, and he promises to walk with you every step of the way. If you believe in what we're doing here at FaithFi, equipping Christians to integrate their faith and financial decisions for the glory of God, we'd love to invite you to become a monthly partner. Your gift of $35 or more per month or $400 per year helps us continue this vital work. And as a thank you, you'll receive exclusive benefits, including our quarterly Faithful Steward Max. Magazine, pro access to the FaithFi app, and early access to our latest studies and devotionals.
You can learn more or become a partner today at faithfy.com/slash partner. That's faithfi.com/slash partner. All right, your calls are next. The number 800-525-7000. We'll be right back.
Managing money doesn't have to feel overwhelming or disconnected from your faith. The FaithFy app helps you budget with purpose, combining easy-to-use tools like digital envelopes with biblical wisdom and a Christ-centered community. Whether you're new to stewardship or looking to grow in generosity, the FaithFy app equips you to honor God with every financial decision. Join over 70,000 others and start today by downloading the app from your app store or by visiting FaithFi.com and clicking App. That's FaithFi.com and click app.
Faith in Finance is grateful for support from Sound Mind Investing. For more than 30 years, they've offered financial wisdom for living well. SMI provides step-by-step guidance for do-it-yourself investors, from those just getting started to those getting ready for retirement. More information, including a short video webinar on profit and peace of mind no matter what's happening in the market, is available at soundmindinvesting.org. Great to have you with us today on Faith and Finance.
I'm Rob West, and this is the program where we help you live as a faithful steward of God's resources, helping you navigate your financial life, understanding money issues or heart issues. That's right, if you distill the counsel of scripture, and by the way, there's 2,300 verses that have some connection to money.
Now, it may just be that somebody bought a field and they used money, and that's one of the 2,300. Or it might be the idea that you cannot serve God and mammon. That's a much deeper teaching on money. But, you know, there's all these passages, and really they break down around the idea that God owns it all and therefore we're stewards. Secondly, that we have to understand that the way we handle money reveals what we value.
Where we've placed our trust, what is important to us? Are we living for the here and now, trying to find our significance and our security in the things of this world? Spoiler alert, it doesn't work. Or are we placing our trust in God and using money as a tool? That's the way God designed it.
So that's the second big idea. The third is that we're to live as a faithful steward and we find principles in God's word that we can pull out and apply to our everyday financial lives. And when we do that, it leads to human flourishing. We flourish, the people around us flourish because we're able to provide and enjoy and love our neighbors through our giving and invest strategically to solve big problems and to be a part of God's design in creation for investing the virtuous cycle that capital entrusted to us by a good God, good money put into businesses doing good things and serving people, create an economy. Economy that results in flourishing.
And that's part of God's design. And economic expansion results from that. And then, oh, yeah, we can give back to the God who created us and that calibrates our hearts to His. And, you know, that's the virtuous cycle that God intended.
Now, sin gets in the way, and money becomes an idol. And, You know, there's all kinds of struggle, and you know, we can have greed that creeps in, and you know, we can have discontent that creeps in, and you know, and as all these things come in, then you know, money tends to gravitate toward a place it was not ever intended to gravitate to, and that is an end rather than a means to an end.
So, on this program each day, we want to help you reset your thinking around a biblical worldview of money. We're talking to ourselves because we all need it all the time, and we want to tackle those very practical things that you're wrestling with in your financial life.
So, what is your question today? What do you have going on in your financial life? We'd love to talk about it: spending plans, paying off debt, saving for the future. Should you put some gold or even some crypto in that investment account? Let's talk about that.
I know you're trying to navigate that with your 401k.
So, any of those questions in play today, the only thing left is for you to call because our team is ready for you: 800-525-7000. That's 800-525-77777777777777777777 Five seven thousand. We'd love to hear from you. And maybe you have a testimony of God's faithfulness in your life or how you've applied one of these principles that we talk about. We'd love to hear that as well.
Again, that number, call right now: 800-500. 5257000. Let's dive in today. We're going to begin in Fort Myers today. Hi, David.
Go ahead. Yes, hi Rob, but thanks for taking my call. Yes, sir.
So I'm wondering, is it really necessary? to have life insurance and I've been with the life insurance company for a few years now, paying about a hundred bucks a month. I'm just wondering, you know, what's the good of it? Yeah. Yeah, it's a great question.
You know, so for any insurance, you're offsetting a risk.
So, with your car insurance, what is the risk?
Well, the risk is you could have an accident or somebody could hit you and damage your automobile and you'd need to get it fixed. And they're more expensive now than ever to repair because it's hard to get the parts in some cases. And you've got computer chips running these cars these days. And, you know, certainly I wouldn't wish this on anybody, but somebody could be injured. And then we have medical bills associated with it.
The goal is never to have to collect on that. You know, if you ended up owning that car and carrying car insurance on it and then Five years later, you sell that car to someone else and you move on, and you might say, Well, I just kind of threw that money away because I never got in an accident. You'd be okay with that. That's a good thing because the insurance was serving its purpose, and that is for you to know and have the peace of mind that if something happened, you'd have your insurance company that could step in and cover those medical bills or repair your automobile. And I think, in a similar way, that's true with life insurance.
What is the risk we're offsetting?
Well, the risk is a loss of income. This isn't the only thing, but the primary thing is a loss of income when a breadwinner dies. And so, if someone is depending upon your income, a spouse most often, or lifelong dependents, or minor children, and the Lord were to call you home and that income goes away, that could create a hardship for them. And so, the life insurance is intended to fill that gap and could be then that asset could be converted to an income stream to be able to maintain their lifestyle. And so, for that $100.
A month. You've got some death benefit there that could be a real blessing. It could really be the difference between them being able to maintain some quality of life and standard of living after your death and not being able to do that because they just lack the resources to be able to maintain their lifestyle. And so that's where life insurance comes in. The goal is not to have to collect because that means the Lord still has you here and you're serving whatever purposes He has for you, including providing for your family.
Now, a lot of times folks will, in addition to replacing that income, and typically we say you want 10 to 12 times your income in life insurance in order to offset that.
So if you're making $60,000 a year, you'd want somewhere between $600,000 and $720,000 in death benefit. And the best way to get that is through term insurance. And the idea behind term insurance, David, is that you buy it at the lowest cost possible.
So you're just paying. Paying the mortality expense. There's people called actuaries that are running fancy formulas to determine what is the true cost of insuring your life based on your age and your health primarily to determine the likelihood that you're going to pass away during the period of time that the insurance is there. And there's an associated monthly or annual premium that covers that cost of the death benefit. And the most effective way to get the amount of death benefit you need, that 10 to 12 times your income that I suggested, is buying pure insurance, which is term.
Now, some people will add to that maybe the cost of your mortgage, the value of your mortgage to pay that off, or the kids' college education.
So we know that's paid for if you were to pass away. And that obviously could all be added there. But another idea behind term insurance is that when you get to the end of your working years and you've built the assets, because now you've got Social Security and you've been funding your 401k. For 40 years, and you've got assets there to live on.
Well, there's no longer that risk. If the Lord calls you home, there's plenty of assets there for your wife to maintain her standard of living. And so that life insurance is no longer necessary. And so, ideally, you'd keep putting term policies in place, kind of stringing them together throughout your working years. And then, when you get to retirement, you drop it, you no longer need it, and that expense goes away, which is part of how most retirees live on 80% of their pre-retirement income, not 100, because there's certain expenses that come off the table.
And I would suggest for most people, one of those is life insurance. Does that help in answering that question, though? Yes, it does. Thank you very much. That was great.
Very good. I think the bottom line here, David, is that if you get to the end of the working years and you never collected on that life insurance, that means the Lord's not done with you. That's a good thing, but it doesn't mean that money was thrown away because that expense that you had every month was there to protect your family in the event of your untimely death. And just because it didn't happen doesn't mean it wasn't a worthwhile expense. I think that's part of our stewardship responsibility.
Thanks for your call today. Lines are open, folks. We'll be back with your questions at 800-525-7000 right after this. Call right now. We're grateful for support from Movement Mortgage, who provides residential home loans in all 50 states.
Guided by a mission to love and value people and a goal to redefine the mortgage process, Movement seeks to help others achieve their financial goals. You can find out more at movement.com slash faith. Movement Mortgage LLC supports Equal Housing Opportunity, NMLS, number 39179. For licensing information, please visit NMLSconsumerAccess.org. We are grateful for support from Timothy Plan.
Since 1994, Timothy Plan has shared good news with investors and advisors by offering faith-honoring mutual funds and exchange-traded funds. More information is at TimothyPlan.com. The investment objectives, risks, charges, and expenses are contained in the prospectus and summary prospectus available at timothyplan.com. Mutual funds distributed by Timothy Partners Limited and ETFs distributed by Foreside Funds Services LLC. Investing involves risks, including possible loss of principal.
Great to have you with us today on Faith and Finance. If you love the program, you listen regularly, and you'd like to help more people learn how to be a wise and faithful steward, we'd invite you to be a partner of Faith Phi. You can do that when you head to faithfi.com/slash partner. Partners support the ministry at $35 a month or more, or a total of $400 or more per year. And not only do you support the ministry and help us bring you this broadcast and all the resources, but we're able to say thanks and equip you and your stewardship journey with some wonderful things that we'll put in the mail to you each year, including four issues of our Faithful Steward magazine and the issue three for the current quarter just came out.
It's beautiful. You're going to love it.
Some really incredible content in there. We'll also mail you all of our new studies and devotionals when they come out pre-release, generally two per year, and you'll get pro access to the Faith Phi app.
So just head to our website, faithfy.com. Slash partner to learn more. That's faithfi.com slash partner. Let's head to Canada, northern Alberta. Hi, Christy.
Go ahead. Hi, Rob. A longtime listener, Larry Briquette, was very influential how we viewed. Finances and especially debt. It impacted how we taught our young family 33 plus years ago.
And this has made a huge difference in all of our lives, ourselves and our children. That are now adults and are giving. We're very, very grateful for your show. Oh, wow, Christy, that means a lot. Thank you for saying that.
Yeah, well, I've never called, but I've thought and praised God for you for many years. And so I'm glad that you're carrying the torch. My husband and I are believers and in our mid-sixties. We're dual citizens of the US and Canada, and half of our working income was gained in each country. We own and operate a farm and have for forty years.
Um there's no successor in view right now. We want to continue to farm as long as our health allows. But we have no retirement accounts or plans for retirement. but we are completely debt free. That's been our main drive.
So we're not sure if we should start with an accountant or a lawyer or another place Just wondering if there is a certified kingdom helper that would be familiar with agriculture. Qualified in both the U.S. and Canada in retirement planning, or where do we start? Yeah, excellent.
Well, first of all, thank you for your kind remarks. I'm so delighted to hear of your testimony about your faithfulness in serving the Lord, his faithfulness to you, and the impact of the late Larry Briquette. I share your sentiment, and it's amazing to me how many people still to this day reference Larry and his impact on their lives. Countless millions have been touched by his work going back all the way to the late 70s. And so I appreciate that.
It sounds like you all have done quite well. You're hard workers. I love the fact that you're debt-free. I love that you've prioritized generous giving to the Lord. And I realize perhaps you're wondering about your readiness for retirement, just given that you don't have a lot saved up.
And yet, I think there is some planning to be done here. God is your provider, and that's what we need to certainly rely on. You mentioned that your income comes from both the U.S. and Canada. Will you be receiving the Canadian pension program?
Yes, I I'm just Starting to sign up for those, and so we'll have the Canadian pension plan. For some, and then we moved up here about 29 years ago.
So, the first part of our work years was in the US farming. And so, I also, we both also have to sign up for the Social Security as well. Yeah. So if you make the meet the basic requirements under each country's system, then you can certainly be eligible for benefits from both countries. As long as you have enough Social Security credits, then you'll get that as well.
So I think that's the first step is just to compare the benefits that you'll be receiving, hopefully from both the U.S. and Canada against your income or excuse me, against your lifestyle spending so that you understand once you are unable to continue to farm, you know, what that looks like, whether or not that will be enough to maintain your lifestyle or whether there'd be a gap of any kind there. And then putting together a retirement budget, which, you know, most folks live on 70 to 80 percent of their pre-retirement income because they're debt-free, kind of like you are. The kids are off the payroll if there are kids. You know, you're not saving for retirement anymore.
So your expenses come down and hopefully. The income that you have from the U.S. and Canada would match that. In terms of a certified kingdom advisor, Christy, there absolutely are CKAs there in Canada. And you're welcome to head to our website at faith5.com and just put in your province there and do a search.
You may have, you know, just because of how large geographically and dispersed Canada is, you know, you may have to work virtually with a CKA who's not right in your backyard. Lord willing, there will be somebody close by. But I'd interview two or three and in particular, look for one that is familiar with both U.S. and Canada, just given the fact that you've resided and worked in both. But I think that is the next step.
I think it would be well worth the time and cost to visit with an advisor who could help you develop a comprehensive plan and help you chart the course for the future.
Okay, and would it be good to check with an accountant too starting place? Yeah, and I would let the advisor coordinate that. Perhaps he or she has a CPA that they work with, hopefully one that is able to work both in the U.S. and Canada. You may have to engage a CPA from each country.
And that search engine there at faith5.com would allow you to put in your city of choice, and then you could expand that search radius and find someone who's perhaps one that resides in the U.S. as well as one in Canada. And that way they would be familiar with each system.
Okay, well perfect.
Well, I appreciate all the other information you give about signing up for Social Security and guarding your credit and all that. You guys are a real blessing, and I thank you so very much.
Well, thank you, Christy. That's very kind of you. And may the Lord bless you. Tell your husband we're delighted for you and he as you head into this next chapter of your lives. Hey, I want to send you a gift just as a way of saying thanks for being a part of the program and for your call today.
It's called an uncommon guide to retirement. And I think it'll be a blessing for you. You know, it takes into account listening for God's voice regarding your calling in retirement, helping you to think through family systems and leaving a legacy, even the idea of sabbatical rest in the early part of retirement.
So I think it'll be an encouragement to you. It's by my friend Jeff Hainan, and it's subtitled Finding God's Purpose for the Next Season of Life.
So you stay on the line. And if we can, Christy, we'll send it right out to you. But thanks for your call today. That was great to have you on the program.
Well, that's going to do it for us today. Big thanks to my team today.
So thankful for our call screener today, as well as Dan and Amy and Jim. Couldn't do them without them. Hope you'll come back and join us next time. we'll do it all over again. Until then, God bless you.
Bye-bye. Faith in Finance is provided by Faith By and listeners like you.
