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When it comes to our finances, we often wonder where God's provision ends and our responsibility begins. I am Rob West. Should we simply trust and wait on Him or get to work and provide for ourselves? Here's the beautiful truth. It's not either or.
God invites us to trust Him and to participate in His provision, not because He needs us, but because He delights in working through us. We'll talk about that today and then it's onto your calls at 800-525-7000. This is Faith in Finance, biblical wisdom for your financial journey. Have you ever heard the phrase, let go and let God? It sounds spiritual, but if we're not careful, it can lead to passivity.
On the flip side, some of us live like it's all up to us. We hustle, stress, and strive, as if everything depends on our efforts. But Scripture offers a better way. A life of faith doesn't ignore work, and a life of work doesn't ignore faith. Instead, God invites us to partner with Him, trusting in His sovereignty while participating in His provision.
In 2 Timothy 2:6, Paul writes, It is the hardworking farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops. That farmer can't control the weather or force seeds to grow, but he still tills, plants, and harvests. He works because he knows that while only God can bring growth, God often does it through our efforts. It's the same with our finances. We can't control the economy or every emergency, but we can make wise decisions.
We can live below our means, avoid debt, and give generously. In doing so, we're not trying to be our own provider. We're responding to the invitation to work with the one who is. Psalm 104, verse 14 says, You cause the grass to grow for the livestock, and plants for man to cultivate, that he may bring forth food from the earth. Did you catch that?
God causes the growth so that people can cultivate it. He provides and invites us to participate. Provision isn't just a transaction, it's a relationship, not a vending machine, but a partnership. We see this throughout Scripture. When Jesus fed the five thousand in John six, He didn't make fish fall from the sky.
He started with a boy's humble lunch. It wasn't about the size of the gift. It was about the willingness to offer it. God doesn't need our resources. He owns the cattle on a thousand hills.
But in His kindness, He chooses to use us, to bless others, build His kingdom, and provide for our families. It's a stunning privilege.
So, does trusting God mean we just sit back and wait? Not at all. Ephesians 4:28 urges us: let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. And in First Thessalonians 4, 11 and 12, Paul also says, Work with your hands, so that you may walk properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one. God's Word never promotes laziness, nor does it encourage frantic self reliance.
Instead, it calls us to wise diligence and response to God's faithfulness. He provides opportunities, but we're called to walk through the doors. This balance of responsibility and trust reflects the very heart of stewardship. We're not owners, we're managers. Everything belongs to God, and He entrusts it to us for a purpose to reflect His character and join in His work.
Here's another beautiful truth. God doesn't just work through us to provide for ourselves, He uses us to provide for others. In 2 Corinthians 9, 10, and 11, Paul writes: He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing. You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God. Did you hear that?
God enriches us, not so we can hoard, but so we can give. Every time you support a ministry, meet a need, or help a neighbor, you're stepping into the very heart of God's economy.
So, how do we live in this tension, trusting in God's provision while participating in it?
Well, we pray before we plan, inviting God into our financial goals. We work with diligence, not fear, resting in His faithfulness, not our performance. We give generously, not because God needs our money, but because He invites us to reflect His heart. And we rest confidently, knowing that when we sleep, he is still at work. At the end of the day, God delights in using ordinary people with ordinary means to display his extraordinary grace.
He's the provider, and we get the privilege of being the participants.
So let's live like it. Let's stop asking, is it all up to me or should I just wait on God and start living in the beautiful in-between, trusting Him, working faithfully, and joining Him in the joy of provision? Because in God's kingdom, provision is never just about the paycheck, it's about the partnership. All right, your calls are next: 800-525-7000. This is Faith in Finance.
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That's goodinvestor.com. Thanks for joining us today on Faith and Finance. I'm Rob West. We're taking your calls and questions today at 800-525-7000. Mike is driving in West Palm Beach.
Go ahead, sir. Hey Rob, how are you today? Good, thanks for calling.
Okay, so my wife and I inherited a house. from a family member. out of state And it's we would like to keep it. Can just use it for friends and family or whoever, people from churches, let whoever use it. We don't want to like rent it.
We don't want to do anything like that. And I didn't know What are your thoughts? were about that. General. Yeah.
Well, obviously, it's a blessing to be a recipient of a piece of property. I think you're right to consider in light of your values, not just the financial bottom line, but in light of your values as Christ followers, What is God leading you to? And it could, in fact, be exactly what you're describing. What a blessing to have a place like that for folks to use. I think as you think through that, a couple of thoughts come to mind for me.
Number one is, where is the property located? It's in Ohio.
Okay. And you're in Florida? Absolutely.
Okay, yeah.
So that's the first thing is just, do you have somebody on site in Ohio who could help you to or in fact oversee the property? Because if not, you're a long-distance landlord who doesn't receive rent because it's sitting there. I think the second thing is, you know, I appreciate your desire to let friends and family and even church members go stay there. But is that, you know, is the location and the property, you know, someplace that would be desirable for those folks where it would actually get used? We'll come back to that in a second.
And then thirdly, you know, it could prove, and I'm not saying this is a reason not to do it, but it could prove to be more of a headache than you might think because if it's unoccupied much of the time, it could be vandalized. If things go wrong and nobody's there to find them, if you have a water leak that goes on for weeks, obviously it can create significant damage and you don't know about it.
So that's where the damage comes from as it sits. I mean, sadly, these days it could even fall prey to squatters. I mean, that's happening more often than not.
So I think those are perhaps the things to think about. Who's going to oversee it? What about it being unoccupied a lot of the time and the challenges that come with that? And then, thirdly, despite What are your intentions? Are there really folks that would use it and get a lot of use out of it to make it worthwhile?
But give me your thoughts on those.
So I Almost exactly what you Said pretty much to the T. I was concerned about the location. It's in a, it is in a good area. It's not way, anyway, it's in a spot that I think people will use it to. It's going to be a little troublesome for us to use it a lot because of the distance.
It's like, oh, you have to fly, or do you drive? And it's So my wife and I talked about it and we thought that I said we were going to commit to one year. Let's commit to a year. And say, hey, if we're going to use it over that course of a year, if it gets used enough as far as the taking care of it, It's in a very small Little community where there are a few people that I've contacted and that have been contacting with me through there that would be. Able to do.
oversee it. They actually want me to keep it. They want us to Keep it. They don't want it to get sold. or anything for obviously selfish purposes, but Whatever they have, you know, the better, I think.
Yeah, yeah. Correct.
So I thought about all the things. pretty much like you thought. And I just wanted to see if you had any additional thoughts or something. Yeah.
Yeah, that's helpful and I I'm glad that we align there as well. I mean just Piggybacking up what you just said, a couple of things come to mind. Number one is: I love the idea of you having this kind of trial run because then you're not going through the hassle of selling it. You can always sell it a year from now. And who knows, maybe interest rates are a little bit lower.
And so it might even be a little bit more attractive to buyers at that point. You know, if we're in a better interest rate environment, and it gives you this one-year period to see: are we going to use it? Are friends going to use it? Family, you know, others from church. And you might find six months in or even a year, you look back and say, We didn't really use it.
And so we're paying the property taxes and we've got this additional kind of thing to occupy our time and attention. Even though it's out of state, it's still kind of in the back of our minds. I wonder what's going on with the house. And you just decide it's better to let go of it. I think the other thing is just to think through what's possible with that money.
I mean, you know, if you don't need it, maybe you sell it and give the money away. I mean, use it to fund a donor-advised fund, and you could do some really cool things, or maybe you. Buy a place that maybe is a little closer or in a more desirable location, someplace that you and the family would really use. You guys would be super excited about using it on a regular basis and maybe it's a little closer to home.
So, but I think giving yourself some time to figure all that out makes some sense. And then you avoid the transaction cost if you find out in the end, you're surprised at how much it does get used. Right. Right. Yeah, I I appreciate that.
That's exactly what I mean, and we thought exactly the same thing. Hey, did we sold that and bought something in this area that We can probably use a lot more.
So, you know, all of that's great. The thing is the value is not as high as Yeah. Great desirable areas.
So you'd, you know what I mean? No, we would be spending more to, you know what I mean? It's like, well, we really didn't save anything. Yeah, yeah, no, I get it. Totally.
Absolutely, Mike. All the best to you, my friend. Thanks for calling today. Kansas City is where we're headed next. Hi, Gary.
Go ahead. Thanks for taking my call, Rob. My wife and I are eighty, going on eighty two. Year years ago we stripped our Roth IRAs to pay off the home.
So we've lived debt free into our retirement years after seventy.
So we're in good shape there. We have income from uh from my school pension, I was a teacher, and Social Security, so we're able to take care of pretty much, except our cost of living, of course, is elevating massively quickly.
So I don't even know about that. But anyway, you'd talked a couple times earlier, I'd listened about utilizing a reverse mortgage. We paid off the Out a long time ago, and I'm thinking about well, we only have about since we got rid of the Roth, we only have about 250,000, but we're using all that comes off of that for charitable giving because we don't need it at this point. But I'm just looking toward the future, the way the cost escalation seems to be. You mentioned that reverse mortgages might be a tool to utilize since we've really piled our largest nest egg in the home.
Yeah, so I'm kind of wondering, it sounds very intricate to me. Yeah, and I'm a Well Yeah, that's great, Gary. And I appreciate all that background. And it sounds like you're enjoying the fruit of living debt-free and keeping your lifestyle at a minimum. To the extent you want to be able to stay in that home and you have the ability to keep up with the taxes and the insurance, then, yeah, I mean, you've got a couple of options.
The nice thing about that $250,000 is you're pulling out your required minimums.
Sounds like you're doing it through a qualified charitable distribution.
So that's not taxable. That's great. You're doing your giving there. You know, if you needed to supplement your income, I think I would be comfortable with you pulling $10,000 a year out of that, assuming it's invested. Maybe you've got 30% in stocks, 20% to 30% in stocks, 70% to 80% in bonds.
If you have an advisor managing that, that'd be great. If you're doing it yourself, that's fine too. But as long as it's invested and has the ability to grow, you could pull another $800 a month out of that and stay debt-free. And then you'd have 100% of the equity in the house to leave to your heirs or give away. Way.
The other option is let the IRA continue to grow. Don't take any money out and pay tax on it and pull the money from the home, which is not taxable. That's after tax money. There's expenses related to that. Right up front, there'd be a 2% fee that goes to the FHA to ensure that you never owe more than the house is worth.
And then you could either get a line of credit that you could tap at your leisure, and you'd never have a payment, or a monthly income stream for the rest of your life, and you'd never have a payment. And you could let the IRA grow, pull the equity out of the house, and then your heirs would have to pay it back upon selling it after your death. Let's talk more off the air. 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. Great to have you with us today on Faith and Finance Pier and our last segment today. Let's head right back to the phones. Illinois is where Linda is located.
Linda, go right ahead. Hello, Rob, and thank you very much for taking my call, and I really do appreciate your show. Um my my question is real quick. Uh if I have a living will and I should when I die, Would my assets have to still go through probate because I have this living will? Yeah.
Well, it it really depends on what you mean by that.
So a living will doesn't avoid probate. That outlines your medical wishes if you're incapacitated. Do you by chance mean a living trust? Uh Or just a last will and testament. Yeah, it's a living wheel, it's not a living truck.
But in the language, it does say all assets would go to upon my death would go to my uh beneficiary which is my son and he's my only my only child. Got it. Yes.
Okay, so let me just draw a little distinction here, and it's just one little word, but it's important just to make sure you're clear.
So, a living will says what medical care you want if you can't speak for yourself. It has to do with life support and feeding tubes and end-of-life decisions. A will without the word living in front of it, just a will, what's often called a last will and testament, that says who gets your stuff when you die: your property, your money, guardianship for kids, and so forth.
Now, with a will, versus a trust, let's say. Your personal property and the money and the other decisions will, even though you've said it all goes to your son, it will go through probate. Unless there's a beneficiary designation.
So, for instance, you might have a 401k or an IRA or an investment account, and you've named your trust, or excuse me, you've named your son as the beneficiary. That will go directly to your son. But anything that does not have a beneficiary, then your will is what. determines where it goes, but with a will it does through go through probate. Which just simply means there's going to be probate costs involved.
And there's going to take time while the probate court works with the executor to distribute the assets. It's not going to happen right away, which is why often people will put. A living trust in place because they don't want to go through probate. Does that answer your question, though? Yeah.
Yeah, it does.
So, but again, I want to just go. You said if everything I have, I have a beneficiary, and most of what I have is liquid.
So Uh my son is the The beneficiary on all of these vehicles that I have as far as my Roth, my IRA. And I have a couple of newer teams. Yes.
And so if those, which they do, if those have up-to-date beneficiaries and your son is named as beneficiaries, all those investment accounts you just mentioned, and perhaps life insurance, things like that, that would go outside of probate directly to your son. The big one that is going to go through probate, which is going to take some time. Unless you have a will or some other mechanism in place, is your home. Your home would pass according to your will, and that would have to run through probate before your hus before your son had access to it. Oh, okay.
Well I I I rent. Matter of fact, I rent for my son. He owns property.
Well, there you go.
So it doesn't sound like as much of an issue there. Right. Okay. All right, Rob.
Well, I appreciate you taking the time to answer my question. God bless. And have a nice time. Yes, ma'am. You too.
Call anytime. Let's go to Miami, Florida. Hi, Angela. Go ahead. Oh, thank you so much, Rob, for taking my call.
I have a question here. I have a long-term policy. I've had it since 2018. And the premium is like $12,000 a year. I'm paying into it.
And the last time I talked to my uh advisor, They told me I had four hundred and like four hundred thousand ballpark figure. But what I didn't know, she's telling me it doesn't go in effect until after I'm six months Yeah. which I think is a long time.
So I'm trying to see if I should get rid of this policy and get another policy or is that the norm of the most long term care policy? Yes.
Well, what you're describing is pretty customary, but it is on the longer end of what's called the elimination period.
So that six month wait is what's called an elimination period. And basically, it's like a deductible.
So it's a waiting period before the benefits kick in, and that waiting period is usually between 30 and 180 days. And in your case, it's 180. Which again is on the kind of the longer end of that typical range.
So during that time, you have to pay for your care out of pocket. even though you're eligible for $400,000 in benefits, you can't get to it until you get past essentially your deductible, which is that six month waiting period.
Now the reason why you want that, perhaps, is because that helps to keep your premiums lower. Because if you have a much smaller waiting period where it kicks in much sooner, you're probably going to have much higher premiums right now while you're paying into this policy.
So, the key for you with a longer waiting period is to make sure you have the staying power in other assets.
So let's say full nursing care, which is probably the most extreme. Situation that in terms of cost, let's say it's going to run you $100,000 a year in round numbers.
So you're going to have to be able to wait. Six months, which could cost you 50 grand. But if you've already got that 50,000 in investments or in a savings account or somewhere else and you could fund that out of pocket, and then all of a sudden your policy kicks in and it'll pay for years until the Lord calls you home up to $400,000.
Well, that's not bad, especially if it allows you to keep this policy in force because the premiums are not cost prohibitive, which, by the way, premiums on long-term care policies have been increasing as the cost of health care increases. And so a lot of people are having to drop them because they can't afford them anymore. And perhaps this longer waiting period is what's making yours able to something you can continue to afford, if that makes sense. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That makes sense.
I don't know that most of them are like from 30 to 180 days, though. Oh, okay.
And if I go get a 30-day one that kicks in. are probably paying a higher premium.
Well that's right. Plus you're older now. How how old are you? I am sixty seven and a half quarter. Yeah, and when did you get this policy?
in twenty eighteen. Yeah, see so you typically want to get it between 55 and 65. And you're beyond that now, so you'd kind of have a double whammy in the sense that you'd be shortening the elimination period, and you know, now you're seven years older, and so the premium would be quite a bit higher. to the point where you might say either it's not worth it or i can't afford it All right.
Well, thank you so much. I guess I'm going to end up keeping it then. All right. Yeah.
Yeah.
And I think the key is just plan on the fact that you're going to need to fund that first six months so you don't get caught off guard on that. And that's going to come by way of your savings or your investments. Angela, thanks for your call today. Folks, we're so glad to have you along with us today. We covered a lot of ground, but always look forward to being invited into your stories and taking you back to God's word and helping you consider your financial decisions in light of.
Sound biblical wisdom. Let me say thanks to my team today. Certainly couldn't do this without them. Jim Henry, Devin Patrick, and Robert Youngblood handling our phones today. Here at Faith and Finance, we want to bring you God's wisdom for managing your financial decisions.
You can learn more and listen to our broadcast archives when you head to faithfi.com. In the meantime, may the Lord bless you, and we'll see you next time. Bye-bye. Faith in Finance is provided by FaithCly and listeners like you.
