Millions of people are asking questions about their finances, like, how do I stop worrying about my money? What does true success look like? And how much money is enough? But perhaps what they're really asking is, what really lasts? Hi, I'm Rob West, and this integration of biblical teaching with financial wisdom is the entire reason I've written my brand new devotional, Our Ultimate Treasure.
It's designed to help you align your heart and your money with what really lasts. When you support our ministry through a generous one-time donation of $400 or more, or $35 or more a month, you'll become a FaithPhy partner. That means you'll receive year-long benefits, including Our Ultimate Treasure, four issues of Faithful Steward, our magazine, helpful money management tools in the FaithPhy app, and more. Just head to faithphy.com slash give.
Now, onto the podcast. Happy Thanksgiving! We hope you're enjoying the day with family and friends and thanking God for his many blessings. Hi, I'm Rob West. You know, gratitude was certainly on the minds of those at the first Thanksgiving in 1621, but who were those on hand for that celebration in Plymouth Colony some 400 years ago?
Why were they there and just what were they celebrating? We'll find out today, and 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. Most of us remember from grade school that the Plymouth colony in present-day Massachusetts was founded in 1620 by a group we know as the Pilgrims.
Also called Separatists, these settlers sought to break away entirely from the Church of England, which they felt had strayed from biblical teaching. Their journey is one of remarkable faith and courage as they pursued the freedom to worship as their conscience dictated. In contrast, the Puritans, who settled nearby in Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1630, shared some beliefs but followed a different approach. Unlike the Separatists, Puritans wanted to remain within the Church of England, hoping to reform it from within. This earned them the name Nonseparatists, as they wanted to purify, not abandon, the church.
Although their paths differed, both groups' stories remain deeply intertwined in the early history of America. The pilgrims faced intense persecution in England for worshiping outside the established church and holding the Bible as their final authority. In sixteen oh nine they fled to Leiden, Holland, hoping to worship freely.
However, even in Holland, they encountered challenges and some were arrested and brought back to England. Realizing that their aspirations for freedom wouldn't be fully realized in Europe, they made the significant decision to sail to the New World, where they hoped to live according to their beliefs. Around 120 men, women, and children boarded the Mayflower, embarking on an uncertain voyage across the Atlantic. Not everyone was driven by faith.
Some known as adventurers joined for financial opportunities, though such opportunities would prove difficult to come by. For the pilgrims, the journey was primarily about worshiping freely, escaping religious oppression, and starting a new life rooted in faith. Today, Thanksgiving is often a celebration of gratitude for God's provision. For the pilgrims, however, Thanksgiving came out of struggle and sacrifice for religious freedom, a reminder of the resilience required to secure that right. Their journey is a significant part of our heritage and something to remember as we give thanks.
The voyage to the New World was challenging. They faced delays, and the Atlantic crossing was rough, so they arrived in November instead of summer, leaving them no time to plant crops. This led to what became known as the starving time, where disease and lack of food took a heavy toll. Nearly half of their group didn't survive that brutal first winter. Despite mistakes in planning, the pilgrims established a positive relationship with some of the Native Americans in the area.
One Native American named Squanto, who had previously learned English, was especially instrumental. Acting as their interpreter, he taught the pilgrims vital survival skills, like how to plant corn and where to fish, helping them learn to sustain themselves in a foreign land. With Squanto's guidance, they planted crops in the spring of 1621 and were able to reap a modest but vital harvest that fall. to honor God for His provision, they invited their Native American neighbors to a Thanksgiving feast. By then, only twenty two men, four married women and twenty five teenagers and children remained from the original group.
The Native Americans who joined them brought food, nearly doubling the gathering size and marking one of America's first potluck celebrations. Together they celebrated survival, provision, and friendship, a testimony to faith and resilience. Years later, William Bradford, Plymouth Colony's longtime governor, wrote about this journey in his book of Plymouth Plantation, quoting Hebrews 11:13 through 16, to describe the faith of those who endured. The passage reads, All these people were still living by faith when they died, admitting they were foreigners and strangers on earth. They were looking for a country of their own, longing for a better country, a heavenly one.
Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them. Bradford and the Pilgrims saw this verse as capturing the heart of their journey, knowing that their true home was with God. As we gather for Thanksgiving this year, may we remember the story of their courage, faith, and gratitude for the freedom to worship as we choose. From all of us here at Faith Phi, we wish you a happy and peaceful Thanksgiving. Imagine having biblical financial wisdom delivered to your inbox every week, helping you integrate your faith and financial decisions for the glory of God.
At faithfi.com, you can join a community of over 70,000 people who are already receiving our weekly wisdom email, filled with articles, videos, podcasts, and exclusive offers on resources that will deepen your understanding of biblical stewardship. Start your journey today by creating your FaithFi account at faithfy.com. Just click sign up. Are you looking to maximize your charitable impact this season? The National Christian Foundation has a smart solution.
It's called a Giving Fund, and it helps you give more strategically, grow your balance tax-free, and amplify your charitable impact. If you want a donor-advised fund that aligns with your values, open a giving fund today and start making a bigger difference for the causes you love. Learn how at faithfi.com forward slash NCF. Hey, great to have you with us today on Faith and Finance. We're so glad you're joining us.
If you'd like to be a part of the program, you have a financial question, call right now, 800-525-7,000. That's 800-525-7000. Let's go to Illinois Caprice. How can I help you? Uh my question is um about this dollar two point oh Um and this new law is S dot 1582.
How will it affect like our currency? I'm just, I'm retired and I'm concerned about, you know, the money that I do have saved. Yeah. Do you have any crypto assets? No, I do not have any symptoms.
So you're just mainly concerned about where money and payments are headed? Is that right? Yes. Yeah. Yeah.
I mean, it's a sign that Washington is getting serious about regulating digital money. And so, you know, for somebody who's, you know, in the fourth quarter of life, you're invested in stocks and bonds and traditional retirement income, this new law really isn't something you need to be concerned about. It's a law on what are called stable coins. And you might say, well, what in the world is that?
Well, a stable coin is a type of cryptocurrency. That's designed to stay the same value. That's why they call it a stable coin.
So it's usually pegged to the US dollar.
So, unlike Bitcoin, which goes up and down, one stable coin is meant to always be worth about one dollar.
So, if you buy a hundred dollars worth of a stable coin, you get a hundred digital tokens backed by real dollars or short-term treasuries held by the issuer, and then you can use them for payments or transfers, or you can use them just to hold digital cash. But the goal is stability, not speculation.
So, why would somebody have a stable coin?
Well, its value isn't making money, it's moving money.
So, it's like digital cash. It can travel instantly 24-7 anywhere in the world without going through banks.
So, people use them because it's fast and cheap to transfer money across borders in seconds, often with lower fees. For access, you know, they let people who don't have bank accounts use digital dollars through apps or wallets, trading and payments, programmable money so they can use them in digital contracts or apps to make instant payments or provide rewards.
So that's how it's being used. What is the challenge with it? You know, as stablecoins become more integrated into payments. Financial, what you might call innovation, may shift how money moves. Again, faster payments, digital wallets, and that's eventually going to affect how people transact or hold funds.
And then, indirectly, greater regulation of digital assets might increase trust in certain crypto systems, which could benefit investors in that space. But I think the big idea here is that the Trump administration has been very clear that they do not want, even though they're pro-crypto. And that's why you're seeing some of these regulations, including this one you just referenced on the Stable Coins Act. They have been very clear they don't want, and I think for good reason, a central bank digital currency. This idea that we would eventually get rid of paper dollars completely and that every transaction would flow through the U.S.
Treasury, which would give visibility and perhaps control. Over how we use our money, and that's not a good thing. And President Trump has been very clear on that.
So I don't think this is necessarily a stepping stone in that direction, at least based on the perspective of current lawmakers. Does that make sense? Oh. Yes, a little bit. Is there a resource, an additional resource that you can share with me that I can kind of get some more information?
Yes, it's a good question. You know, I don't have anything right offhand. I mean, there is so much out there. You know, we perhaps this is a topic we could go do a deeper dive in with Mark Biller from Sound to Mind Investing. I'd love to hear his take, you know, on where this is all headed with digital currency.
But unfortunately, I don't have a resource for you at the moment. But I'll make a commitment to you that we'll make it a part of one of our topics that opens the program here in the near future, okay? Oh, that sounds wonderful. And you did help me. I have a little bit more understanding.
Thank you. And you have a wonderful day. You too, Caprice. Lord bless you. Thanks for calling today.
800-525-7000 is the number to call. Let's go to Ohio. Hi, Carol. How can I help you? Hi, um my dad passed away recently and he left me and my sibling some money in an IRA.
And We are being told that we need to get an inheritance IRA to. transfer that money to. And I just wanted to Here which if you would explain what an inheritance IRA is. And if that's our only option or the best option. Just kind of explain it.
Yeah, happy to. Yeah, so when you inherit an IRA, you don't take the money out directly. you open what's called an inherited IRA in your name.
So, you can move the funds safely and then avoid unnecessary taxes or penalties.
So, basically, an inherited IRA, or sometimes it's called a beneficiary IRA, is a special account that receives the money from the original owner's IRA after they pass. And then the funds stay tax-deferred, which means you don't owe money taxes on them right away, which is important. and you're required to open this new account in your own name. You know, so it might be Jane Smith, I'm just making this up, comma, beneficiary of John Smith's IRA. And so that allows especially when there's multiple beneficiaries like you're describing here with the siblings, that allows everybody to have their own inherited IRA that's in their name with the portion of the account that was left to them.
And then you have certain rules as to how you need to take it out. And those have changed recently.
So, where do you go from here? What do you need to do?
Well, I would contact the financial institution that holds your dad's IRA. And if you haven't already, tell them you're a beneficiary and you want to open an inherited IRA. And then transfer the funds directly. Don't take a check payable to you personally. That would trigger taxes.
And then once the new account is set up, the custodian, the company that the financial institution you call, will guide you through the withdrawal options.
Now, under Secure Act 2.0, which is the most recent law, the current law that governs this. If your dad passed after 2019 and you're not his spouse, clearly you're not, then you'd likely have to withdraw all the funds within 10 years.
Now, you don't have to take the money every year, but it all has to be withdrawn by the end of year 10. And then every time you take a withdrawal, it becomes taxable to you in that year. And that's often why you want to spread it out, because depending on how much we're talking about, you may not want all of that taxable in one year because it could push it up into a higher tax bracket.
So that's basically kind of how it all works. Is that helpful though? Um, yes. Does it cost anything to set one up? No, it shouldn't.
You know, who is his custodian? Do you know where the IRA is? He may have it in Edward Jones.
Okay. Yeah, great. Edward Jones is a great broker dealer. It's just that you're less with 10,000 or somewhere around that number, you're going to be less than what you would need to have an advisor who could oversee it. And so you're probably going to need to make these decisions yourself.
Now, if Edward Jones has a retail solution where you can do it yourself, that's great. If not, you'd probably want to transfer it to, let's say, Charles Schwab and then put it in the Schwab intelligent portfolios, which you can do. You can move it from one inherited IRA to another. That's not a taxable event and shouldn't really cost you anything.
Okay, thank you so much. All right. Lord bless you. Thanks for calling today. Folks, we do have room for perhaps one or two more questions before we round out the broadcast today.
The number to call 800-525-7000. If you have a financial question, 800-525-7,000. This is Faith in Finance. We'll be right back. What does your money say about what you truly treasure?
Hi, I'm Rob West, and I want to invite you into a 21-day journey through God's Word in my new devotional entitled, Our Ultimate Treasure. It'll help you align your heart and your money with what really lasts. With your generous one-time gift of $400 or more, or $35 a month before December 31st, we'll send you an early copy as our thank you. Just head to faithfy.com slash give. We are grateful for support from Timothy Plan.
Since 1994, Timothy Plan has shared good news with investors and advisors by offering faith-honoring mutual funds and exchange-traded funds. More information is at TimothyPlan.com. The investment objectives, risks, charges, and expenses are contained in the prospectus and summary prospectus available at timothyplan.com. Mutual funds distributed by Timothy Partners Limited and ETFs distributed by Forside Funds Services LLC. Investing involves risks, including possible loss of principal.
Thanks for joining us today on Faith and Finance. Hey, some really exciting news here at Faith Phi.
Some of our friends, some supporters of the ministry that love what we do here at Faith Phi to help Christians see God as their ultimate treasure to manage and steward God's money, God's way, have come alongside us here at year end. They know this is a critical time of year as we press toward December the 31st, and they have offered to double every gift given between now and December 31st up to $175,000. This is huge because this is going to allow us to finish out the year strong and prepare for all the new things that are coming in 2026. A brand new Faith Phi app. I can't wait for you to get your hands on it.
My new devotional, our ultimate treasure, with really the 21 daily readings that allow you. To explore each of the topics that I think is critical for you to understand how to put Christ first in your finances and in your life. I think you're going to love it. We've been working really hard on it, and it comes out early next year. All of those things and so much more.
Every gift between now and December 31st being doubled here when you make a gift to FaithFi up to $175,000. If you'd like to learn more about it and perhaps jump in, maybe you love the program, you've found something helpful, or you listen regularly and you'd like to be a part of supporting our work, this would be a great time because not only is it year end, which is just a really important time for us to hear from you, but with this dollar for dollar match on the table up to $175,000, your gift is going to go further. And that's huge for us as we close out the year.
So here's where you can learn all the details. You can learn more about the devotional, which by the way, every gift. Given between now and December 31st, we'll ensure that you get a copy of our ultimate treasure, my new devotional, when it comes out early next year. Just head to faithfi.com/slash give. That's faithfi.com/slash give.
All the details are there. A preview of the new devotional, a tracker, so you can follow us through between now and December 31st and see how we're doing on this dollar-for-dollar match and so much more. You can even get details on our FaithFi partner program. Again, that website, faithfi.com/slash give. All right, to the phones we go.
Cody is in Arkansas. Go ahead, sir. Yes, sir. Thanks for taking my call. Of course.
So, my question is. I own a construction company. And I'm wondering if I am the organizer of a nonprofit organization. Can I pay myself a salary from that organization and Can I hire my construction company to do work for the nonprofit? Yes, to both with some caveats, and I'll walk you through those.
Let me just ask those.
So, this is a 501c3 not-for-profit organization, correct? Correct.
Okay, and you have a board of directors and it and that meets regularly? Nothing is in place yet. This is a hypothetical.
Okay, yeah.
So you would need to put all of those pieces in. Nothing is in place.
Okay, yeah, but once the nonprofit is officially, you know, receives its not-for-profit status from the IRS, which can take some time and having somebody that understands how to do that walk you through that process. And then you have your bylaws and you have your board of directors in place that's meeting regularly with minutes and all the things that you need to do to have a legitimate not-for-profit, then let's get to your two questions. Yes, the nonprofit can pay you a salary that's completely appropriate if you're doing legitimate work for the organization. The key is that the compensation has to be reasonable and commensurate with the work performed. It can't be excessive.
It can't be tied to profits. It's got to be reasonable, and you got to be able to justify it before the IRS.
Now, secondly, If you own a for-profit business and the nonprofit wants to hire your company, that can be allowed too. But it does raise conflict of interest questions.
So, the nonprofit's board, the board of directors that you'll have to put in place, a part of you know, with the bylaws and a process to remove, you know, replace the board of directors over time, and you know, all the things that come with that. The board of directors would need to make sure that the arrangement, the hiring of your for-profit, is in the nonprofit's best interest. That the terms are fair and competitive. And really, you're going to want to make sure you have other bids or market rates that are documented in the meeting minutes.
So you can say, Yeah, you know, we looked at other companies, or we at least compared the bid of this for-profit that we hired to market rates to determine that it, you know, it is fair and in line. And you can't be a part, you personally can't be a part of that board decision. To approve your own company's contract.
So even if you're on the board, you would need to recuse yourself from that decision.
So, yes, it's legal, but it's got to be handled transparently. It's got to be documented properly because you don't want any appearance of self-dealing here. Does that make sense? Yes, sir. Yes, sir.
Thank you very much.
Okay, you're welcome. This is, you know, it sounds like a lot, but it's important to do this right. And that's why I think, you know, I'd find a CPA or an attorney who specializes in not-for-profits. If you haven't gone through the process of putting all the paperwork in place to get the IRS to approve it as the 501c3, they can help you with that. But the other piece beyond the approval is all the other things you need to put in place: the bylaws and, you know, the electing the board of directors and the regular meetings and the meeting minutes and all the things that need to happen.
So this is a legitimate, above-board, not-for-profit organization. And then you can do some of the things you're talking about. But, you know, the key is you're going to really want to protect yourself and the ministry by making sure you do this right. And anything that benefits you, you're out of the equation. And the board of directors is making those decisions and it's all documented.
So if anybody ever challenged it, you could pull it. Out and show that the decision was made above board. At the end of the day, not-for-profits exist to serve the public interest. And you're taking donations. And so you just need to be really careful.
And I'm confident you wanna do that, but those are the ways you'd do it. Thanks for your call.
Well folks, we're getting near the end of the program today. You know, our role as stewards has significant implications. You see, we have responsibilities, not rights. We're to manage God's resources according to His will, not our own desires. And so that means making decisions based on what pleases God and what aligns with His Word.
We're accountable. We're going to stand before the judgment seat and give an account. We're to live with an eternal perspective. We should be faithful in the small things. We want to hold God's money loosely and give generously.
And, you know, that's one of the keys to I think our role as a steward is to live that generous life with an open-hand posture, ready to receive and know that's a blessing from the Lord, but ready to give it away as well. I hope this program will encourage you in that each day. Listen, I couldn't do this without my team today. My producer, Devin Patrick, on our phones today, Sandy Dickinson doing an amazing job, and Mr. Taylor Stanrich providing great research and support today.
Folks, I hope you'll come back and join us tomorrow. It's been a pleasure to be along with you today. May the Lord bless you, and we'll see you next time. Bye-bye. Faith in Finance is provided by FaithFi and listeners like you.
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