This Faith and Finance podcast is underwritten in part by The Good Investor, a book by Robin John. This Faith and Work memoir hopes to inspire readers to view their work and investments as opportunities to honor God and bring blessing to the world. You can learn more now at goodinvestor.com. That's goodinvestor.com. It's one of the hardest things to surrender and one of the clearest ways to trust God.
Hi, I'm Rob West. Money can so easily capture our hearts, but when we give, we're declaring our dependence on God, not our bank accounts. Today, Dr. Art Raynor joins us to explore how generosity becomes an act of trust that changes our hearts and deepens our faith. Then we'll take your calls at 800-525-7000.
This is Faith in Finance, biblical wisdom for your financial journey.
Well, our guest today is my friend Dr. Art Raynor, founder of the Institute for Christian Financial Health and Christian Money Solutions. He's also the author of Money in Light of Eternity: What the Bible Says About Your Financial Purpose, and a frequent contributor here on the program. Art, great to have you back. Rob, it is always an honor.
Thanks for having me again. Art, we've been deeply influenced by the work of Larry Burkette, who often said that every spending decision is a spiritual decision. And as we frequently say on this program, money issues are really heart issues. Wouldn't you agree with that? I would.
I'm reminded of a couple of things when you ask that question. First, Jesus said, where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. The Bible makes it clear money management reflects heart management. Second, the Bible is obviously not silent on the topic of money. There are over 2,000 verses about it.
So as believers, the question is whether we trust what God says regarding his promises and provision, and are we willing to surrender this area of our lives to him? That's a powerful idea, one we all need to consider. Art, you've written often about how giving is really an act of trust, a tangible expression of our faith in God's provision.
So let's dig into that a bit. You discussed several promises God makes about giving, and the first is that he promises he will provide. Yeah, let's look at Malachi 3.10. It says, bring all the tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in my temple. If you do, Says the Lord of heaven's armies, I will open the windows of heaven for you.
I will pour out a blessing so great, you won't have enough room to take it in. Try it, put me to the test. See, God doesn't tell us to give and then leave us hanging. No, he ties a promise to our generosity. He promises to pour out an abundance of blessings on us, and he tells us to test him in this, to give him the opportunity to show that he will make good on his promise.
Now, does this mean that giving generously to the church will finally get you that new red Lamborghini that you've always dreamed of? Not necessarily. God's blessings can be financial and material, but they can also be spiritual. Maybe God gives you the contentment you have been chasing for years, the same contentment you once sought from money by becoming part of something far more significant than your own momentary life on earth. Yeah, that's a powerful invitation the Lord gives us.
All right, this next promise. That you unpack is that God promises He will multiply. Yeah, right. In John 6, Jesus turns a small boy's five loaves and two fish into enough to feed 5,000 with 12 baskets full left over. Many of us can relate to this boy.
We look at our meager resources and wonder what God could ever do with them in the face of such great need. What difference can our generosity make? John 6 shows us that God is a God of multiplication. God will take whatever you give and multiply your resources to accomplish his purposes. That is a promise from God, but it takes trust.
Yeah, that's exactly Ryan. All right, I think we have time for one more. I'd love for you to explain the promise that God will enrich. We all enjoy getting a good return on our investments or ROI. You like a good ROI.
I like a good ROI. And so does God. Therefore, God promises to enrich those who give. In 2 Corinthians 9, 11, Paul writes to those who trust God with their money. Yes, you will be enriched in every way so that you can always be generous.
You see, God wants a good ROI. He gives so that we can give. He blesses so that we can bless others. God is looking for conduits of generosity, channels through which his blessings can flow. He is looking for men and women whom he can enrich so that others may be blessed.
Yeah, and that's our incredible opportunity as stewards of God's resources. All right, so we've got just a few seconds left. Tie a bow on this horse, Art. Generosity is an act of trust. It shifts our hearts from reliance on ourselves and money to reliance on God.
Generous giving visibly demonstrates our trust in God and his promises to provide. If you are a Christian, you already have trusted God with your soul. It's time that you trust him with your money. Wow, that's a powerful idea and a great place for us to finish today. Art, thanks for stopping by, my friend.
Thanks for having me. That's Dr. R. Rayner, founder of the Institute for Christian Financial Health and Christian Money Solutions. You can learn more about his work at ChristianMoneySolutions.com.
We'll be back with your questions right after this. Stay tuned. Are you a financial professional looking to grow your practice while offering advice that aligns with your Christian values? By becoming a certified kingdom advisor, you'll gain the biblical wisdom and professional credibility to serve clients who are seeking faith-based financial guidance. Each year, more than 75,000 people search for a certified kingdom advisor.
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This institution is not federally insured. Yes. Oh. Hey, thanks for joining us today on Faith and Finance. I'm Rob West.
Glad you're along with us today. We're taking your calls and questions today. We've got a few lines open: 800-525-7000. You can call right now, 800-525-7000. We'd love to hear from you.
Let's go to Jane in Illinois. Jane, how can I help? Yes, thank you. I'm uh 69 and um I don't have any debt. I'm being advised to take out a ho whole life policy.
Um I was thinking I would take pay premiums for like 10 years. Uh for like a hundred thousand. Um I I want to pass quite a bit on to my kids. Is that a wise thing to do to get whole life at this time? I also have a term life insurance.
uh that runs out when I'm seventy-five.
Okay, got it. Uh and what is your age now?
Okay, I see. Yeah, in terms of the, I mean, first of all, I love that you're debt-free. That gives you a lot of flexibility. At this stage, whole life is usually not the best investment unless there's a very specific purpose for it. You know, so I mean, the only reason you'd do this would be if you wanted to cover final expenses or you were trying to leave a guaranteed inheritance.
I mean, a 10-pay policy where it's paid up in 10 years is going to be expensive. And, you know, because of your age, a large portion of that premium is going to go to insurance costs, not cash value.
So, if you're not necessarily looking for more insurance for dependents, Either a lifelong dependent where you needed a whole life policy, or if you owned a business and needed a guaranteed buy-sell agreement that you funded that with life insurance. Apart from that, it really doesn't make sense in my view to buy new whole life coverage at this point in your life just because it's going to be so costly. I'd rather you keep that money and invest it in traditional means. And if you want to take low risk, you could either do that through a diversified portfolio, or if you want to transfer the risk away from yourself and the markets, you could look at something like an annuity. But I want to give you a chance to give me your thoughts and further questions on that, Jane.
The only reason that it was suggested was that that would just be tax deferred and would go to my kids. Without tax. Yeah, that's right. But there really is no ta I mean, where is this money today? Is it in a taxable account or in a tax-deferred account?
Um it's just cash. Yeah, okay.
So it's after tax money, and there really, there is no federal inheritance tax. And so, therefore, you know, if you pass away and this money would go to your kids tax-free anyway.
So, there's not really any need necessarily to pay for an expensive life insurance policy to a sense, you know, replicate what you're already going to be able to leave behind. You know, and yes, you would pay it up over 10 years, but the amount of money that would go into that and the modest appreciation you'd have on that, you know, I would rather you keep that money, keep it invested on a compounded basis, and then have that pass to your kids tax-free as well.
Okay. And then the second thing is with the tax I have some money, about $28,000 in an annuity. my understanding now, there's different types of annuities, and so it's not doing well. It is at the end. There's no surrender charge now.
They suggested putting it a ten point thirty five exchange and putting it into an annuity that would get over seven years four point six five percent per year. Yeah, that's about the prevailing rate right now for a three to ten year annuity, somewhere between four and five percent on a guaranteed fixed basis.
So if you're looking for something that provides stable income or just if you don't need the income, just guaranteed growth. I mean, that's certainly an option. The other option is you would, you know, you could have an advisor manage all of this for you outside of an insurance product. But really, if your goal is to protect what you've got, grow it modestly with something that you can count on where you're not taking the risk of the market performance and things like that, then that's where an annuity can make sense. They're not all created equal.
Some, you know, have better rates of return. Others have, you know, certain surrender charges, and they vary depending on the commissions that are paid.
So I might get a second or third opinion before you do it, but I don't have any problem with you getting a guaranteed fixed annuity if that accomplishes your goals.
Okay. So far I've been putting a lot of my money just in C D's at four percent. Yeah. Um, I'm also considering like a high-yield savings account, yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, I think that's great.
Um, you know, high-yield savings accounts are going to fall as interest rates come down, and so we've already seen that happening. You know, today they're a lot lower than they were, you know, even six months ago. Um, you know, there are some great options out there, for instance, our friends at Christian Community Credit Union, which is the largest Christian banking institution, credit union in the country. They're offering a special right now for faith and finance listeners on their welcome CD of 5% plus up to a $400 bonus. But that's only on a certain amount, and then you know, it goes down once you get beyond that.
So, there are options out there. If you wanted to check that one out, you could go to faithfy.com/slash banking. But most of the high-yield savings accounts right now are paying about four and a quarter. There are some options out there if you're looking for an annuity, again, guaranteed growth that are. Offering more like five and a half percent, closer to six percent, but they don't pay all these high commissions.
Um, so for instance, one of them that's fairly popular right now is called Gain Bridge, G-A-I-N Bridge. You could go to you could look it up on the web. They're offering right now 5.6%. In a guaranteed product for basically anywhere between three and ten years. And there's a both a tax deferred option as well as one that where you pay taxes along the way.
But that would be, I think, a great option where you could get a really attractive rate of return guaranteed by the insurance company. And you'd do quite a bit better than you'd do, maybe even more than 2% better than you'd find in a high-yield savings. I see.
Okay. And that's so that's Gainbridge, the annuity. And then the other the Christian Yeah, if you just go to faithfi dot com slash banking, you'll learn more about uh Christian Community Credit Union.
Okay. Very good. All right. Thank you so much for calling, Jane. Absolutely.
Call anytime. Lord bless you. Let's go to Chicago. Hi, Frank. Go ahead.
Hi, how are you? I'm doing well, sir. Thank you for your call. I'm calling on behalf of my in laws. They're about eighty, and they have some savings bonds that are well matured.
And the last time they used some of them to do some upgrades around the house when they did their taxes, they got hit with quite a bit.
So is there anything they can do to like laterally move any of them? No, unfortunately, you're not able to go directly from the savings bond into an IRA or a Roth IRA.
So, what they would need to do is they can, you know, if they want to transfer ownership, they could gift them, you know, to someone else. If they want to simply put the money into the IRA because they're looking to reduce their overall taxes, they'd have to redeem them first, which they would do if they're electronic at treasurydirect.gov. If they're paper, they'd probably want to do that through their financial institution, perhaps their bank, even though fewer of them these days, you know, are willing to do that. You would typically want to have an established relationship. The only implication there is they're going to have to recognize that when they redeem these, that interest, it will be credited and it will be taxable, but then they could turn around and make that contribution to an IRA so long as they have earned income.
And then that would reduce their federal taxes. I've got to hit a break, but let's talk more off the air. We'll be right back. If you love what you hear on this program, there's even more waiting for you at FaithFi.com. Explore podcasts, videos, articles, Bible studies, and devotionals, all designed to help you see God as your ultimate treasure and money as a tool to advance his kingdom.
Pursue wisdom, practice generosity, and steward God's resources in a community with others who share your faith. Visit FaithFi.com to take the next step in your faith and financial journey today. That's faithfi.com. Faith in Finance is thankful for support from The Good Investor, a book by Robin John. In his book, Robin shares his journey from an immigrant child struggling in school to co-founder and CEO of Eventide Asset Management, a faith-based investment firm.
This Faith and Work memoir seeks to inspire readers to view their work and investments as opportunities to honor God and bring blessing to the world. More information is available at goodinvestor.com. That's goodinvestor.com. Hey, some really good news. We have some incredible friends of the ministry here at Faith Phi that love what we do and want to help us reach more people.
And they just recently told us they're going to put up here at year end a dollar-for-dollar match for every gift to Faith Phi up to $175,000, which is really significant because it'll allow us to close out the year, meet our giving goals as a listener-supported ministry, and prepare for all the incredible things we have ahead, including my new devotional that's coming out early January. It's called Our Ultimate Treasure. I can't wait for you to get your hands on it. You know, I've really thought about what I believe every listener needs to know, those 21 bottom lines, really these key foundational formation ideas that we see in scripture around being a faithful steward of God's resources.
Well, that's just one of the things we have coming out.
Next year, a brand new FaithFi app with new features and functionality, but also our new digital studies and content. We've just had some incredible things on the roadmap, and your giving between now and December 31st will help make all of that possible.
So, if you love the program, you listen regularly, maybe you've been able to apply something you've heard in your financial life.
Well, any gift starting right now through December 31st will be doubled up to $175,000.
So, if you would head to faithfi.com/slash give, you will see a tracker there. You can follow along with us and see how we're progressing toward that goal. You can also read more about my new devotional that's coming out and some of the other great offerings that we have from FaithFi. Again, it's faithfi.com/slash give. Head there today, and any gift is doubled between now and December 31st.
All right, back to the phones we go. We got a lot of phone calls, so let's make some progress here. Minnesota is where Justin's. Located. Go ahead, sir.
Real quick, I just, there's a gentleman that I take care of that was part of a lawsuit and now. He's going to be getting a substantial amount. He got his first check. And It's going to be annual checks all the way up until the twenty thirty six or until the funds run out that were allocated for the Gold Star families and nine eleven survivors. He wants to set up a trust.
When we went to his lawyer, the lawyer was like, No, just put it in your. Savings account: You don't need a trust while you're still alive, but he wants to start the trust now.
So there's three families. Um, that can be taken care of. They told the law firm for the government told him if he sets up a trust after his death. then the funds would continue to go into the trust. that's what he wants.
Interesting. Yeah. Unfortunately, I mean, I'm not an attorney, and this gets pretty specific. And so I think your next step really is to, and it sounds like maybe you've gotten conflicting advice, but you're going to want to meet with an attorney who specializes in estate and trust law, particularly one who specializes or is experienced in elder care, because that attorney can help you determine what type of trust fits his goals, whether that's a revocable living trust for flexibility and avoiding probate, or perhaps an irrevocable trust, which has asset protection and tax benefits. And so I think you've got to start by clarifying the purpose.
It's the goal to manage the income wisely and protect assets from future incapacity. To provide for heirs, to reduce taxes, you know, what are we solving for? And then the attorney can design the trust around those priorities. And then once that's determined, then it's going to be important to choose the right trustee. You know, either a professional trustee like a bank or a trust company or an individual like you or somebody else, especially if significant sums are involved and ongoing management is needed.
And then, you know, once the trust is drafted, the funds, including those annual checks, would then be titled in the name of the trust. And that would ensure that the money is managed according to the trust terms. And you're going to want to work with a financial advisor that can help with the investment management inside the trust and then a CPA to do the trust tax reporting each year. But I think that first step is really to consult an estate attorney with some experience in elder care.
Okay, thank you. That's what I just need to be pointed in the right direction. Thank you so much. All right, Justin. Lord bless you, my friend.
Thanks for calling. To Michigan. Hi, Lori. How can I help? Jane's question kind of earlier caller kind of helped me out with mine.
I have been trying to figure out what to do with my cash, and it's currently in a high yield. And as you stated, it is going down. I'm debt-free. I just have this money that I need to either invest or. Find a way of protecting it.
So I'm kind of in the same boat as Jane, I guess. Yes. Well, I'm glad you didn't rush into anything. And, you know, I think the first step here, Laurie, as you're really getting at, is to always clarify the purpose. What do we want this money to do?
Is it for income? Is it for long-term growth? Is it to pass on? Is it really just there in case you need it down the road? And then, second, we want to build that safety net first.
We trust God for everything, but part of prudent stewardship is to set aside a portion of what we have. You know, Joseph did that in the Bible. The wisdom of Proverbs tells us that.
So we like to think about that in terms of, at least in your season of life, probably six to 12 months worth of living expenses that you would put in either a high-yield savings account or a combination of a high-yield savings account and maybe some short-term CDs. But that provides peace of mind and flexibility. If you need the money for any specific purpose, especially one that's unforeseen, you don't have any debt, so that's great. And then, so I would say the next thing, other than any giving you want to do, is really to invest the rest with a plan. And so, once you've got that foundation in place, then it's a diversified portfolio that matches your risk tolerance.
And typically, for most people, I'd recommend a mix of stocks and bond mutual funds managed by an advisor, like a certified kingdom advisor. But if you wanted something, you know, more secure that was more guaranteed, nothing's guaranteed, but closer to it, where you're getting the risk over to an insurance company or to the U.S. government, you know, you could put a CD ladder together or a fixed annuity, and that would give you the guaranteed returns. But, you know, I think connecting with a certified kingdom advisor perhaps could be a great next step.
Somebody that could be a trusted source of wisdom that understands the heart of God in scripture and, you know, can bring the skills and expertise to help you make these decisions. But that's kind of maybe a high-level outline of the steps I would take. Is that helpful? It is helpful.
Okay, perfect. Awesome.
Well, if you want to find a CKA there, Lori, in Michigan, I would go to findacka.com. We tried to make it really simple. Findacka.com. You could do a zip code search there. But otherwise, you know, I think you could start leaning into these steps that I mentioned.
And I want to send you a book. It's our gift to you for calling today. It's called Wise Women Managing Money. And it was written by a wonderful lady when her husband passed. Her name is Miriam Neff.
But she wrote this book for women who now find themselves in the position of being just like you are, stewards of what God has entrusted to them. And I think it'll be an encouragement and give you some practical thoughts around kind of what God has next for you.
So stay on the line. We're going to get your information. We'll send you wise women managing money. And it's our gift to you for calling today, Lori. May the Lord bless you.
Call anytime if I can be of help to you. Big thanks to my team today, Dev and Robert and Taylor. We'll see you next time. Bye-bye. Faith in Finance is provided by FaithFi and listeners like you.
