This Faith and Finance podcast is underwritten in part by Christian Healthcare Ministries. Are you finding it increasingly challenging to find affordable healthcare? Christian Healthcare Ministries is a budget-friendly, biblical, and compassionate healthcare cost-sharing alternative that aligns with your Christian values. And it's available in all 50 states and around the world. Learn more at chministries.org/slash/faithby.
Uh Many people say our healthcare system is broken, and maybe you felt that yourself. Hi, I'm Rob West. Rising costs, denied claims, and surprise bills have left millions of Americans buried in medical debt. But there's a better, biblical way to approach health care, one that has been serving Christians for more than 40 years. Lauren Guideck joins us today to tell us about it.
And then it's on to your calls at 800-525-7,000. That's 800-525-7,000. This is Faith in Finance, biblical wisdom for your financial decisions. Lauren Guideck serves as Senior Director of External Affairs for Christian Healthcare Ministries, the nation's longest-serving health cost-sharing ministry, and a valued underwriter of this program. Lauren, great to have you back.
Oh, thank you so much, Rob. It's always my pleasure. Lauren, I understand CHM is running an open enrollment campaign, but since enrollment is available year-round for you all, tell us what makes this campaign unique. Yeah, you've pointed out that CHM accepts new members throughout the entire year, which is true. But November 1st through January 15th is when health insurance open enrollment typically takes place with your employer or with the government health exchanges.
Yes, that's exactly right. And a great time to shine a light on CHM.
Now, you've mentioned that many people have had a negative experience with traditional insurance. Share what that often looks like and what kinds of challenges they faced. Yeah, I could go on about that for quite a while, but essentially, you know, there's a lot of folks out there who pay premiums into the system for a long, long time, only to find out that when they need help, it's not available because their claims have been denied. And then a lot of times what we hear is healthcare relationships are so complicated these days that you go to a healthcare provider that you think is in your network, but it turns out that they're not.
So that's really disheartening for patients and leaves believers wondering if maybe there's a better way to address that. No doubt.
Now you've noted that more than one hundred million Americans are burdened with medical debt. That's staggering and clearly points to a broken system.
So Lauren, how does CHM help Christians avoid becoming a part of that statistic? Yeah, that's actually part of our mission, Rob, is we share each other's medical expenses instead of paying into a profit-driven system because CHM is a nonprofit. It's faith-based. We've been around since 1981 and we've actually shared or satisfied more than $13 billion in medical bills.
So it's not like your experience with insurance where, you know, like we were just talking about the out-of-network experience or anything like that, because CHM does not have in-network providers. You can go to any doctor or any hospital you wish as long as the treatment falls within the CHM guidelines. Let's break this down really simply for somebody listening today who says, I don't understand what sets CHM apart from traditional insurance.
So will you explain that? Yeah, of course.
So, you know, we're not an insurance company. CHM is a biblical community. And again, like we just said, members have the freedom to choose their own healthcare providers. And we're focusing on Space. and affordability.
It's much more affordable than most insurance plans you're going to find out there. And stewardship, biblical stewardship of our members' resources.
So it's simple and affordable and obviously built on biblical principles. Yeah, that's right. And some of our team members even use CHM and have had a fabulous experience. Lauren, as folks weigh their options during this open enrollment season, what encouragement or guidance might you offer them?
Well, I would say keep an open mind. You know, don't feel like you have to be trapped within a broken insurance system because there's a proven cris-centered way to handle your healthcare. And I would love for your listeners to explore our website. There's a great cost comparison tool on there they can use. Plug in your own numbers and see how CHM can make healthcare much more affordable for you.
It's the perfect time to do it. Yeah, no doubt about that. Lauren, we have a lot in our listening audience who are in the retirement season of life, perhaps on Medicare. Is CHM helpful alongside Medicare? Yes, you can actually have that as what we call a compliment to Medicare, where, you know, whatever Medicare does not pay for, CHM can step in and help cover the rest of those expenses as long as they're eligible according to our guidelines.
Incredible.
Well, we're grateful for your partnership. It's been longstanding, and I know you've served so many of our listeners very, very well. Thanks for stopping by today. Oh, thank you again for having me on. I appreciate it.
Folks, you don't have to settle for a system that's broken with CHN. There's a biblical community-based way to manage healthcare costs. Just go to chministries.org slash faithfy. That's chministries.org slash faithfy. We'll be right back.
Uh 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 findacka.com.
You're young. You don't go to the doctor that often. Yet health insurance is still so expensive. If your health insurance costs too much, maybe you should switch to an affordable alternative. Take charge of your healthcare with Christian Healthcare Ministries.
CHM offers programs starting under $100 per month. Check off the affordable box on your list and get back to what you really love, running your business or caring for your kids, and have peace of mind while doing it. Visit chministries.org/slash faithfy to enroll today. Yeah. Hey, thanks for joining us today on Faith and Finance.
Something going on in your financial life you want to talk about? Give us a call. We'll help you process it through the lens of scripture, but help you make a practical decision. Whether it's your lifestyle and your spending plan, reining in your spending, balancing that budget, maybe it's investing for the future, given all the uncertainty. How do you save effectively, build up that emergency fund, pay off debt?
Whatever it is, call right now, 800-525-7000. We've got a few lines open. Let's go to Louisiana Thomas. Thanks for your patience. Go ahead, sir.
Hey, a pastor friend of mine has been notified that he owes thirteen thousand dollars on his taxes, tax person Uh made a mistake. And he doesn't have it. He doesn't know where to get it. Um Can he get help from Someone there. Yeah.
Yeah, it's a good question. You know, the first thing you want to do, and I realize this can be a real concern. You know, we never like to get IRS letters, especially when they have demand notices in them. You know, you want to start by confirming the error.
So I would get a copy of the return, compare it to the IRS notice, and make sure the problem is exactly what they say it is. You know, sometimes the issue can be fixed with a documentation or an amended return. I'll tell you in my own life, I got a letter one time from the IRS saying I owed a tax bill. It was north of $100,000. And what it turned out to be was they put the decimal in the wrong spot when they were processing the return.
And it was quickly resolved. But you can imagine the concern.
Now, this may be a legitimate error, and he may, in fact, owe that $13,000. But it'd be important for him to confirm that. And then I think the next step is to reach out to the IRS, let them know that he can't pay in full. And the IRS would much rather set up a payment plan that pursue collection.
So he can often get a long-term installment agreement either online or over the phone. That's going to spread the payments out, usually three to five years, and avoid any kind of wage garnishment or liens as long as he stays current on that. You know, if it truly was the tax preparer's mistake, he can also go back to that preparer and ask if they carry any errors and omissions insurance. You know, reputable professionals will do that, and it may cover at least part of the cost or perhaps the penalties.
So don't overlook that. And then, you know, at the end of the day, there are options here in terms of an offer and compromise, but that would require that he have a lump sum available. But if he can demonstrate hardship, the IRS is more than willing to work with him. I would be happy to connect you, Thomas, to ultimately pass along to him a trusted source we have, a regular contributor here on this program, is a Christ follower. He's a CPA of 35 years, but his specialty is representing people before the IRS.
And he's just an amazing individual. And he's not looking for new clients, but when I direct them, his work. Way. He usually does it as a favor to me. Not that he wouldn't charge for it, but just in terms of taking it on.
But that's really what you need, whether it's this individual or somebody else. You need somebody who really has an expertise in IRS representation because there are options. And I think the key is don't run from it. You want to run to them, but with competent, wise counsel that can help you navigate it. Does that make sense?
Yes, it does.
Okay, very good.
So here's what I'm going to ask you to do, Thomas. You stay on the line. My team will give you the information you need to pass along to him. And when this person, when your friend reaches out, the pastor reaches out to the person we're going to provide to you, just have him reference my name and this program, and he will take care of him, okay?
Okay. Thanks a lot. All right. You're welcome, Thomas. Lord bless you.
Hang on the line. 800-525-7,000 is the number to call. Again, that's 800-525-7,000 with your financial questions today. We'd love to tackle those with you and help point you back to biblical wisdom. Let's do that now.
Virginia is where we're headed next. Kelly, go ahead. My question is, I'm a small business owner. I'm at LLC. And I'm confused on tithing.
Do I tithe Just as the individual from what pay I take. Or do I do like a lump sum at the end of the year out of profit, out of the business, or do I do both? Yeah, yeah, it's a good question. You know, when it's a sole proprietorship, your business income is essentially your income.
So most people, as they pay themselves, you know, they would just tithe on that proportionately to the income you receive.
Now, because you own the business and businesses have profits, you know, you can approach that as an additional step. As a Christian business owner, a lot of believers will take their business and, you know, it's very clear when you're paying yourself that, okay, this is my income and I'm going to give proportionately. But when the business has profits, you could look at that on a regular schedule. Typically, folks will do that annually when they're preparing their corporate return or in the case of an S-Corp, you don't have a corporate return because it flows through, but you can at least identify where there's profits either paid to yourself as distributions or retained in the business. Again, we're looking at after expenses.
What is truly the increase that is held withheld in the business? And then you could give a gift to your local church or giving that flows from that annual profit calculation that you hold in the business. And I think that's a wonderful way to honor God with his provision and a powerful testimony of stewardship.
So there's not a formula here for this, but I think it's just a recognition that as a sole proprietor, my business is totally mine. You do want to look at an after-expenses calculation.
So after you pay suppliers and employees and other costs that are not your personal income, you'd want to look at that annual amount and then you could give accordingly. Does that make sense? Yes, it does.
Thank you. You're welcome. I will say, some people decide, and again, there's not a right or wrong approach here, but some people that we've worked with and heard from over the years actually give a portion of their business away. And it just basically creates an engine for giving. And, you know, we've talked a lot about on this program, our friends at the National Christian Foundation, started by Larry Briquette and Ron Blue and Terry Parker decades ago.
More than $20 billion has flowed through NCF. They are our trusted source for donor-advised funds, which is like a charitable checking account. And you can learn more at faithfy.com/slash NCF. I love it. But here's one of the benefits as a business owner, and I'm not saying you need to do this.
You could just do that annual calculation I described. But some people, what they do is they'll actually give a portion of their business to their donor-advised fund. And so you would say, okay, I'm going to give 10% of my business to my donor advised fund. And so now 10% of the profits automatically just flow into my donor advised fund. And, you know, there's real tax advantages for that.
And then as that happens, that money in the donor advised fund, you know, at your discretion, then gets granted out to ministries and charities. And that can be another great way to think about your giving. You may not decide to take it to that level, but it is something worth considering. But for those of you listening today that aren't familiar with the donor advised fund, what NCF calls a giving fund, you need to check it out. It is a fabulous way to give.
And especially if you want to do some appreciated stock giving, go ahead and go to faithfy.com/slash NCF, open your giving fund, and then rather than giving the stock directly to the ministry or your church, give it to your donor advised fund. NCF makes it quick and easy. They'll convert it to cash. And then you get that full deduction. No capital gains, and then you get to go in and with a couple of clicks of a button, give it out to your favorite ministry, faithfy.com/slash ncf.
We'll be right back. 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. 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. Our goal each day is to encourage you as you manage God's money to come alongside you, to point you back to God's word, to be there to be a sounding board of wise counsel. And so, if you have a financial question today, we want to help you live as a faithful steward, just call 800-525-7000 to Arkansas. We go.
Hi, Luke. Go ahead. Uh, so I've got a uh I'm I'm pastor of church. in Arkansas and I have a saint that has come to me with a a pretty good concern. Um his father passed away pretty tragically a couple years ago.
In the meantime, his estate has kind of been uh liquefied and uh which put him on the street Basically. Um however He hasn't been able to, well, not been able, but just hasn't filed for any taxes, and he does have some tax debt. Yeah. And so he has come to me and asked me, you know, the best way to go about it. I suggested maybe going to a a CPA, but I've been listening to your show.
And I've gotten all kinds of great advice from you all. And so I just was. Just was calling to see what the best way could be, you know, would be to kind of tackle this.
Well, typically what happens is you want to really lean into this. As I shared with the previous caller today, the last thing you want to do is just ignore it. And normally what most CPAs will advise is that you file the current year. And demonstrate to the IRS, I want to be in compliance. And I'm going to start with the most recent year.
So, whatever that current year is, even if there's years you haven't filed, go ahead and get that current one filed, which shows good faith. In being in compliance with the IRS, and then once you do that, start working on those back years. And even if there's some debt there and an inability to pay, again, the IRS would rather work with you than have to pursue collections through other means, especially if you're trying to engage and you can demonstrate a hardship financially. You can often get on track. In some cases, they'll even forgive some of the debt, depending upon the situation and the hardship.
But none of that happens without you engaging. And I think, secondly, in addition to getting in current compliance and then leaning in, having somebody who really specializes in representing taxpayers before the IRS, whether that's an enrolled agent or a CPA who has some experience with that, I think is just really helpful because this is something the IRS is really willing to do, but having somebody who understands kind of the various mechanisms by which You can engage the IRS is really helpful.
So I'd be happy to pass along to you, Luke, the same name we gave to our previous caller today. And again, he's not taking on new clients generally, but as a favor to our program, this is a Christ follower who regularly works with our listeners and would be happy to take this case on if it would be helpful to you and to him, okay? Yes, sir. Will, I greatly appreciate that. Thanks for your call, Luke.
God bless you. Let's go to Ohio. Hi, Alan. How can I help you? I am calling about debt management.
Okay. that process. We have a couple of concerns as far as our questions that we want to ask Is will it report negative on our credit report? And also, would we keep one card open for emergencies. Yes.
Those are good questions, Alan.
So, yeah, let me just back up and then I'll get to those specific ones here. Debt management is my preferred way for you to pay off credit card debt, especially if it's debt that is in excess of $4,000. It's not that that's a magic number, but I've just found under that number, you can typically manage it yourself by snowballing it, you know, smallest to largest balance, pay all the minimums, go back to work on the budget, free up monthly margin, and then attack that smallest balance. And then, as you pay them off, move right down the line. But if it's more than that, then I like debt management.
Our friends at ChristianCreditCounselors.org, we've been working with them for literally a couple of decades, and they're just amazing. They love Jesus. They love helping God's people get out of debt. And that program is the best way to do it, to your point, just because you keep the debt right where it is. You're not taking out a new loan like you do with loan consolidation.
You get the benefit of the credit counseling rate, which Each creditor has, Chase and Citi, and Bank of America and Discover and all the rest. Usually, instead of 22% plus, it's between 0% and 10% on average. Depends on the creditor. But the combination of that level monthly payment through the debt management company to the creditors and that lower interest rate allows, on average, you to pay it back 80% faster and ultimately pay it in full. And so that's why we love that program.
It also takes time, but that's good. We don't want a quick fix here because we want you to solve the problem that got you into the debt in the first place.
So once you get out, we don't ever go back there.
Now, to your specific questions: how does it affect your credit score? It does not damage your score in the sense that there is no part of the credit scoring algorithm that factors in credit counseling or debt management. It's not a part of the formula.
Now, what could affect it?
Well, when the pro when the The account is in the program. It does get suspended. or closed. Even though you're still paying on it, it's not an active account. And any time you close an account, that can temporarily affect your credit utilization ratio, which can slightly lower your score.
But most people in debt management see gradual improvements as the on-time payments build consistency.
So, you being in the program, does that affect your credit score? No, but the accounts being closed could. But here's my perspective on that. I'm far more interested, Alan, in you all getting out of debt once and for all and saving thousands of dollars in interest than I am about a temporary reduction in your credit score, especially because I'm hopeful that you're not really needing to leverage that score anytime soon. Because if you are, that means you're out there looking for new loans and I'd rather you not do that.
But I also understand you wanting to keep your good credit rating, and I think you can on this program without a doubt. Can you keep a card open to use for budgeted items where you pay it off in full? Yes. Any card that doesn't go into the program remains active. It's just that the ones that you put into the debt management program are the ones that are either closed or suspended.
But I've thrown a lot at you there. Does that all make sense? It certainly does and very helpful. God bless you, Alan. Thanks for your call today.
Thanks for being a listener of the program as well. Lord bless you. Well, folks, that's going to do it for us. Big thanks to my team today. Devin Patrick, grateful for Pat Montague on our phones today.
Taylor Standrich supporting me with great research today. Taylor's an amazing part of our team, one of our key writers, and he's our production manager here of the program as well.
So thankful for him and everybody here at Faith Fi. Couple of things we mentioned today. I would point you as next steps. ChristianCreditCounselors.org, if you need help with debt management, we talked about opening a donor-advised fund today, one of my favorite giving tools. Think about it like a charitable checking account.
Go to faithfy.com slash NCF. That stands for National Christian Foundation. FaithFy.com/slash NCF. You can open your giving fund in less than three minutes. And then finally, if you want to support our work and become a FaithFi partner to be sure you get the next issue of Faithful Stewart, go to faithfy.com/slash partner.
Lord bless you. Thanks for being with us today. Come back and see us tomorrow. We'll talk to you. Bye-bye.
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