Kingdom Advisors equips Christian financial advisors to bring their faith into their practice with the industry-recognized Certified Kingdom Advisor designation. We bring those advisors together with other industry leaders to form a vibrant network. And through that network, we give them the resources, tools, and encouragement they need to serve clients like you, helping you align your values with your financial decisions and investments. To learn more, visit kingdomadvisors.com. The most generous people give something money can't buy, their time, their presence, and their love.
I am Rob West. Generosity reaches far beyond finances. It shapes hearts, strengthens families, and builds communities of grace. Today, Sharon Epps joins us to talk about the long-term impact of generous living. 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, I am delighted to have Sharon Epps with us today. She's passionate about helping believers see their finances through the lens of scripture and helping advisors do the same. She's president of Kingdom Advisors and a regular contributor here on the program. Sharon, great to have you. Good to be here.
Sharon, I understand you have a favorite question you often ask about generosity.
So I thought that might be a fun place to start. Share that with us.
Well, I've asked this in hundreds of settings and it never disappoints.
So I'm going to ask each of you to do this too. Close your eyes, unless you're driving, of course, and think about the most generous person you know. What does their countenance look like? What is their posture? Thinking about this makes generosity personal.
We picture real faces and feelings, not just ideas. And I found that we often light up when we're remembering someone special that's generous. And we often describe that person as joyful, peaceful, genuine, and not necessarily wealthy. It reminds us that generosity isn't about money, it's about heart and presence. Wow, I love that exercise.
I had someone pop into my mind immediately. As people describe the most generous person they know, I'm curious: have you seen a pattern emerge in who they talk about? I have. Most of the time, people name a grandparent, an aunt, or an uncle, someone that poured into them with love. These aren't people who gave away millions of dollars, but they gave time, laughter, and listening ears.
And their generosity came from a steady love and consistency. And it shows us that long-term generosity begins at home and it grows outward.
Well, I'm just curious. Who is one of those people for you? Oh, mine is my grandmother. Her name was Nana. She modeled generosity in really quiet and beautiful ways.
One of my favorites, she often slipped candy bars into my hand when my mom wasn't looking. She cooked meals, and that could be for three people or 30, depending on who my grandpa invited to lunch. And often she didn't know until right before. She lived her faith quietly, caring for her family and even loving her sister who had Down syndrome. Her life really embodied Romans 12:10: Be devoted to one another and love.
Honor one another above yourselves. That is powerful. You know, we said we were talking about long-term impact today. Clearly, your Nana had a long-term impact on you. But when we say that phrase, long-term impact, we normally think estate plans, maybe even endowments.
How do you help people see it as so much broader than that?
Well, let me be clear, estate plans and endowments are really wonderful tools, but they're just not the whole story. A true long-term impact happens when we invest our lives, not just our assets. And every day we can sow generosity through service, hospitality, and encouragement. And these seeds outlast financial gifts because they grow in people's hearts. There is no doubt about that.
Well, what encouragement might you offer to our listeners as they're people who yearn to leave a lasting legacy of generosity?
Well, start small. Choose one person that you can serve or encourage this week. Ask God to show you where you can be steady and intentional and practice generosity with your time, your words, and your listening. Over time, those habits will shape a life that others will remember as generous. Yeah.
Obviously, we're generous with our time. We're generous by pouring in and sowing seeds of faith as we share the gospel. But we can be generous with money. In fact, we can bring our children and grandchildren along in our giving. Have you seen some ways that that has worked well?
Yes, generosity as a lifestyle in a family has to be intentional and planned. And I would recommend you start when your children are young. Take them with you when you serve at a food pantry. Let them see how you give your time and your talents along with your money. Yeah, that's really good.
Have you seen a donor advised fund used effectively? Absolutely. That's a great way. A donor advised fund is basically a checking account for giving where you put your money there until you find the place to distribute it and then have the opportunity. opportunity to give to the causes you care about.
Yeah, maybe even get your kids involved in that. In fact, our friends at the National Christian Foundation call it a giving fund. It's quick and easy to open, less than five minutes. Just go to faithphy.com slash NCF.
Well, Sharon, thanks for reminding us today that generosity is way more than just The act of giving. It's good to be here as always. That was Sharon Epps. She's president of Kingdom Advisors. Remember, folks, lasting impact comes when our generosity flows toward people, not possessions.
Back with your questions after this. Stick around. What we do is very special and it's very unique. This is Bethany. She is a Certified Kingdom Advisor.
I became a CKA because we're not building bigger barns and we're not trying to figure out how can we just amass more and more and more. We're figuring out how much do you really need? What are your priorities? What has God called you to? And then how can we give it away?
How can we be more generous? You can find an advisor like Bethany at findaceka.com. Faith in Finance is grateful for support from Soundmind Investing. If you have money in an investment account, you know sometimes the stock market can seem like a roller coaster. But it's possible to enjoy both profit and peace of mind as a do-it-yourself investor, no matter what's happening in the market.
A short video webinar about that is available at soundmindinvesting.org. Financial Wisdom for Living Well.
Soundmindinvesting.org Great to have you with us today on Faith and Finance. Time to take your calls and questions today on anything financial. We'd love to hear from you. The number to call 800-525-7000. That's right, we've got some lines open today.
We'd love to dive into your financial questions. Again, that's 800-525-7000. You can call right now. Let's go to Aurora, Illinois. Hi, Jeremy.
Go ahead, sir. Hello, how are you? Doing great, thanks. I know uh we you know, we very need to be generous with our money and which is what I want to do with God's money.
So I I was looking into uh a Saint Jude's Hospital and also my local church.
So I just wanted to know if I should do both or if I should just double down and donate it to. My local church. Yeah, yeah, very good. You know, I love a generous heart, and I think you should give to the things that align with your passions and God's heart. When we look at scripture, we clearly see the local church as God's plan A.
And so I think we should be giving systematically and proportionately first to the local church to support the work of the local church. But I don't think we should stop there. I think we should give beyond that. In terms of my own giving, I like to align that with the things I'm passionate about, but also in my search of the scriptures, I think we should prioritize those things that are on the heart of God as well.
So that would be the ministry of God's word, preaching and teaching and discipleship, the ministry of God's justice, where you might give to areas like human trafficking or other areas that would align with that area in scripture, perhaps the ministry of God's mercy for the oppressed and widows and orphans, people like that.
So I think. As we consider our giving, I would kind of lean toward first the local church, second to the things done that we see in scripture. But I don't think it's wrong at all to give beyond that, even to what you might consider more secular causes that are creating human flourishing and meeting real needs, even the medical needs of those around us. I would just make sure you're giving to the church first before you consider those other things. Does that make sense, though?
It does, thank you.
Okay, thanks for calling Jeremy. Carolyn is in St. Charles. Carolyn, how can I help? Yes.
Thanks. I called before about Q C D's and you explained them very well. But they still don't make sense at age seventy, which is what I'm able The sig. Um you lose the interest or any earnings on that money. and you can't deduct a contribution to your taxes.
So why would anybody do a Q C D at seventy? Yeah, it's a good question.
So you're right. At 73, when you've got to take the required minimum, it's a no-brainer because you've got to take it out anyway, so you might as well get it out without paying the taxes. Here's why you do it at 70. If you're already giving to a charity Most people do that out of cash.
So you might write a check to a ministry or your church out of checking or savings. And so, what a lot of people will do is say, wait a minute, instead of writing that check out of checking or savings after tax money, I'm going to give the same amount from my IRA, and that's going to allow me to get it out of there without paying any tax on it, which there's no other way of doing that. You see, that money went in without any tax being paid because you got the deduction. And then every other way you get it out, whether it's you taking it out or your heirs taking it out when you pass it down, they're going to add it to their taxable income or you are. But the QCD offers the only way to get the money out without it ever being taxable to anybody.
And so, this is a way to essentially take the money out of the IRA bucket instead of the after-tax bucket, give the same amount to the charity or the ministry, but never pay any tax on it. Does that make sense? Yes, it does. Then it wouldn't make sense to take it out of a um Roth IRA.
Okay.
Well, you certainly could. I mean, I think at the end of the day, it comes down to, you know, if the Lord is leading you to give generously to whatever ministry, you know, or church you're talking about, you know, so often we only think of our giving in terms of the cash. But here's the reality: 90% of our wealth is held in non-cash assets, IRAs, and investments, and our home, and, you know, other types of illiquid assets. Only 10% of our wealth is held in the form of cash. And yet, 90% of our giving happens in the form of cash.
So our greatest opportunity for giving as the Lord leads is on our balance sheet. And one of those assets sitting on your balance sheet is your IRA. And so, if you wanted to do some, you know, some significant giving from your balance sheet, now, because you're 70 and a half or older, you're able to do that without having any tax liability added to it.
So it's a powerful. Powerful giving vehicle, especially if you've overaccumulated. I talk to a lot of people on this program, Carolyn. I'm not sure if you're in this situation or not, but they have more than they'll ever need. You know, they I talked to a lady a few weeks ago.
She said, Rob, I'm going to die at some point when the Lord calls me home, and I'll probably have north of $6 million in my trust. Why am I not giving high? Hundreds of thousands of dollars away right now. And I'll say, Yeah, I agree. Why let it sit there when it can get into the kingdom?
And so, this is a way to do that. Um now to your question about the Roth. Either one can be great. Again, the reason why you may want to prioritize the. The traditional IRA over the Roth is It's this unique opportunity that you have of getting that money out without it being taxable, which.
It would be for you or again your heirs if it doesn't come out by way of a QCD.
Okay.
Is there a certain level? Uh um tax or income level would it not make sense. Um, it's really not a matter of an income level. I mean, in in 2025, you could give $108,000 from your IRA as a qualified charitable distribution. And you can even do some of that into a charitable gift annuity if you wanted to.
But basically, you can do up to $108,000. And there are no phase-outs on that in terms of your income level.
So I like this as a way of getting that money out of that account and getting it into kingdom-building activities without it adding one penny to your taxable income, which is a real plus.
Okay.
Okay.
Thank you.
Okay.
All right. You're welcome. Thanks for your call. Lord bless you. Hey, stay on the line.
I'm going to send you a copy of our magazine just so you can read through some of the articles in there. I think you'll enjoy it. God bless you. Let's see. Let's go to Chicago.
Brandon, you're next up, sir. Go ahead. Hi, Rob. I was just wondering, how do we balance stewarding our money well and living radically generously? Hmm.
I love that question. Yeah, you know, I mean, this is the tension, right? Because if we understand that God owns it all and we're stewards, you know, those are both very appropriate objectives. Yes, we're stewards, so that's the starting point. God owns it all, and I need to be a faithful manager of God's resources.
And so then the question is, you know, how much do I give? Or perhaps we flip it around and say, how much do I keep? You know, I recorded an interview just yesterday with Paul David Tripp. He's the author of, you know, more than 30 books on Christian living and parenting. But his book on money, which if you haven't read it, I'd highly recommend Redeeming Money.
You know, he makes the case that, you know, and he backs it up with scripture, that perhaps the primary objective of What God has entrusted to us is so we should give and partner with God where He's at work and be about blessing and loving others through our generosity.
So, what if we flip that conversation? And instead of asking the question, How much should I give? We're asking the question, How much should I keep? And I think the big idea there is we're studying the heart of God and the scriptures. We're on our knees before the Lord asking what is What's right for me, and what should my lifestyle be?
And perhaps asking that question: not just how much should I give, but how much should I keep could be a great option. Checking out Paul David Tripp's book on redeeming money, I think, could help as well. Brandon, thanks for your call. Back with more questions right after this. Stay with us.
As the leading advocate for the Christian financial industry, Kingdom Advisors serves the public by promoting the integration of a biblical worldview across every aspect of the financial services industry. And we serve a growing network of thousands of Christian financial professionals, equipping and empowering them to carry biblical financial wisdom to their clients, peers, and community. For more information, visit kingdomadvisors.com. That's kingdomadvisors.com. We're grateful for support from Guidestone, whose diversified suite of investment solutions align with Christian values to create positive change in the world.
More information is available at guidestonefunds.com slash faith. Investing involves risk, including potential loss of principal. Carefully consider the investment objectives, risks, charges, and expenses of Guidestone Funds before investing. They're distributed by Forside Funds Distributors LLC, which is not an advisory affiliate, a registered investment advisor, nor do they provide investment advice. Great to have you with us today on Faith and Finance.
For taking your calls and questions today, we've got lines open for you. 800-525-655. 7,000. Pembroke Pines, Florida. WRMB, Gill, go right ahead.
Yes, uh thank you for the for taking my call. Yeah, I have a rule of $100,000. I want to investor it between the SP 500. the NASDAQ and the DAO. And I'm not sure if too much risks there, maybe maybe if I can put everything on the SMP five hundred to take the risk one and what what what do you take on that?
Yeah. The only challenge with that, Gil, is that you're going to be highly concentrated in, first of all, all stocks, no bonds. But secondly, the three indexes you just mentioned are all comprised of basically large and mega cap stocks.
So the Dow Jones is the 30 largest companies in the U.S. The S ⁇ P 500 is the 500 largest companies. And then the NASDAQ is just littered with mega cap, if you will, meaning very large tech companies.
So you're very highly concentrated in the U.S. and in the large capitalization companies, which have done well. And doesn't mean they won't continue to do well. It's just that you're not going to be very well diversified, meaning you're not going to have any other categorization of companies in there. You're not going to have mid and small cap companies.
You're not going to have any international exposure. And then when we move beyond the stocks, you're not going to have any exposure to bonds and or precious metals. I mean, gold is up significantly.
Now, will it keep going? Nobody knows, but it's a great way to diversify.
So let's back up just for a moment and talk about how this $100,000 fits alongside the other investments. Investments and assets that you have. Let me start with your age, if you don't mind me asking. Uh seventy-six. Yes, okay.
Got it.
So, typically, for somebody who's 76, I would say you might wanna think about 30 to 40% in stocks. And then put the rest 60 to 70 percent in bonds.
Now, do you have any other investments to speak of? Yeah, I have a A hundred and seventy thousand on uh I had him in the um European market with the S P. But the European market didn't do no good. I didn't make a penny. I only made the S and P I made like six, six thousand And Mm-hmm.
Change, so that's why we want to get out of the European America because actually we're all but I have those in. In this annuity for five years, with one year I saw it, I got four more years ago. But what I did, I was able to. Changed to everything on the SP 500 because the European wasn't doing good. And the SP 500 did good last year.
I had a ten percent cap, which I I I was I did a ten percent cap.
So you are in an insurance product? Is it like an annuity? Yeah, yeah.
Okay, so that's where the cap comes in. But with the hundred thousand, you're not looking to put it into an annuity, you're going to invest it directly. I was thinking about what was the best Yeah. without that much risk. Yeah, I think that's the key is, you know, are you looking at taking too much risk by putting 100% of your investable assets in basically mega cap and large cap U.S.
stocks? And although you're right, the European markets have not done well. The U.S. has been the place to invest, and we've seen dramatic increases. We're bumping up against new all-time highs every day on most of the U.S.
indexes. It doesn't mean that's always going to be the case. In fact, many would argue that despite the challenges we've got economically, you know, with a slowing labor market, you know, we've got some inflation that's sticking around, you know, that on top of these rich valuations, meaning stocks are priced very high right now, that you are taking a pretty significant amount of risk by putting 100% of that in stocks and especially in those specific category of stocks. And so if the market was down 20 or 30 percent, the question is at 76. Would you be able to weather that?
Or, you know, would that. Derail your financial life in such a way that it would be problematic. And if so, I would say, let's get back to a normal diversification approach for you in terms of asset allocation, where instead of 100% in stocks, maybe you think about 30 to 40 percent in stocks and put the rest in bonds. Better yet, Gil, I would probably recommend you connect with an advisor who could look at the 175 and the 100 and help you put together a well-thought-out investment strategy that balances risk with an appropriate rate of return, your income needs and your tax efficiency, and manages the portfolio for you. The challenge is when you try to do it yourself, you could end up chasing returns and inadvertently be adding a whole lot of risk and then end up paying the penalty for it if this market turns down, which it normally does in cycles.
We haven't had one in Quite a while, but that could really hurt you financially. Does that make sense? Yeah, uh the only thing is about I I can afford it to uh weather, you know. I mean, if it's a six months or a year or whatever. I can wait uh I can wait till the top market comes down and wait till they go come back up again.
I'm I can do that. I can pay my bills and uh in process only a small investment. that I can you know, Iraqi Muharram. But I but I'm listening to you wha what you talk about.
So when you write it thirty percent to forty percent in stock, Another one bonds. What w yes. What kind of bonds are that? Government is that government bonds or? Yeah, basically, probably largely medium term and short term government bonds and then, you know, maybe through a bron a bond index fund or a managed bond fund.
So, you know, if I were you, Gil, I would connect with a Certified Kingdom Advisor there in Pembroke Pines and just have somebody look over your whole strategy, build you a plan, and then manage the money with the stocks and the bonds, maybe a little Precious metals alongside it.
So, if I were you, I'd head to our website at findaceka.com. Findacka.com. Thanks for your call. Lord bless you. Yeah, folks, as we finish out the program today, let me just invite you to partner with us here at Faith and Finance.
This program is brought to you only because of our underwriters and your financial support. As a listener-supported ministry, your ability to partner with us as a monthly Faith Phi partner or a one-time Giver is absolutely critical. And so, if you've been blessed by the ministry, maybe you listen regularly. We often hear from people saying, You know what, I've been listening for a long time and I've been able to not only be encouraged, but put some things I've learned along the way to work.
Well, we would just say thank you and invite you to be a part of keeping this on the air so we can encourage and equip more of God's stewards. In order to do that, just head to our website: it's faithfi.com. That's faithfi.com. Right there at the top of the page, you can click give. That's faithfi.com.
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We hope you have a great rest of your day and come back and join us tomorrow. We'll see you then. Bye-bye. Faith in Finance is provided by FaithFy and listeners like you.
