Most budgeting tools help you build a budget, but they rarely help you live it out. That's where the FaithFi app comes in. Every year, families begin with good intentions. But when life gets busy and motivation fades, the plan falls apart. That's why we built financial rhythms into the all-new FaithFi app.
Each day begins with a three-minute check-in. Review your spending, reflect on God's word, and listen to a short devotional that keeps your heart anchored in Christ. Each week gives you a snapshot of progress and one wise next step. And each month helps you look back, celebrate growth, realign your goals, and acknowledge God's provision. With FaithFi Pro, smart automation learns your spending habits, categorizes transactions, and saves you time while keeping you in control.
Try it free for 30 days and lock in 25% off by downloading the FaithFi app or visiting faithfy.com/slash app. Are you looking for tools that make stewardship clearer, simpler, and more anchored in God's wisdom each day? I am Rob West. The newly updated FaithFy app was built for exactly that, helping you create financial rhythms that bring peace, clarity, and Christ-centered focus. Today, Chad Clark joins us to walk through the biggest improvements and a preview of what's ahead.
And then it's on to your calls at 800-525-7000. That's 800-525-7000. This is Faith and Finance, biblical wisdom for your financial decisions.
Well, it's always fun to have Chad Clark in the studio. He's the chief technology officer here at Kingdom Advisors and FaithFi, and he's been leading the development of the Faith Phi app since day one. Chad, great to have you back. Thanks, Rob. Great to be here.
All right, take us back to those early days. Chad, what was the vision initially for the FaithFi app when it first launched? Yeah, the original vision was to create a biblical stewardship tool that was accessible and practical for real families. The early versions really focused on simple budgeting and cash flow management. And over the years, we expanded it to include an extensive content library of articles, podcasts, and videos, as well as a really robust community discussion board where users can help and encourage each other on their stewardship journeys.
Yeah, and it's been received really well, but we are so excited about the biggest update ever for the Faith Phi app.
So, walk us through what is new in this version that's available today. Yeah, I think one of the most important questions we can ask when building technology is: how can we make it simpler for the user? And money management can be complex. A lot of decisions are made every day, but that complexity gets compounded if your budgeting software is challenging to use, which can lead to frustration and wasted time. A lot of people give up on it if it becomes too difficult.
And this new update is designed to make it easier to get started with your budget, and more importantly, To help you stick with it, some of the key features include secure bank connections to import your balances and transactions, a brand new simplified budgeting capability that helps you create and maintain your budget with ease, and improved automated transaction categorizations to name a few. You see, our vision for this app is to help reduce the amount of time and energy you spend managing your budget so you can spend more time focusing on the why behind your financial decisions. That's exactly right. I mean, think of this as financial discipleship on your phone, ready to help you every day. And one of the standout features that I think is going to be a game changer in the brand new app is what we're calling rhythms.
What is it and why is it so important? Yeah, rhythms are structured daily, weekly, and monthly check-ins designed to help users slow down to reflect and not just react to money decisions. Daily rhythms include brief transaction overviews along with an encouraging and helpful devotional and a reflection question, which helps bridge the gap between the practical side of money management and the spiritual side of faithful stewardship. We also have weekly and monthly rhythms that show broader patterns in cash flow, goals, and habits with suggested adjustments for the upcoming week or month. And each of these rhythms include more in-depth reflection questions, again, to get to the heart of these financial decisions.
Yeah, if you can establish these habits through our new rhythms in the app, it'll be a game changer for you. Not only will you be able to stay on plan, but it'll really help you grow in your financial stewardship. And these rhythms can be used by couples as well, right? Yeah, I'm personally really excited about the weekly and monthly rhythms and how they can be used by couples. It's such an easy tool for a couple to sit down, review, and discuss their financial decisions together.
We're also excited that the FaithFi content is coming into the app in a beautiful way. Our Faithful Steward magazine article. Are going to have a beautiful mobile expression. And then eventually our studies and devotionals will come in through an in-app experience as well. You're going to love it.
Again, it's a part of this stewardship discipleship right in the app.
Now, I know we've made a step like so many others into AI, and that's a big piece of this. Just give us a quick overview of that. Yeah, we have integrated some AI features. They're entirely opt-in, and your data is never sent to third-party AI services. We do some self-hosting AI models, and we're only offering it in places we think it's really helpful.
We're still in the early stages of these features, but our goal in building this into the app is to help users automate and simplify the tedious side of money management. Again, because the goal is to not be focused so much on what we're doing with the money, but more importantly, why we're doing it and being obedient to what God is calling us to do with the resources He's entrusted to us. It's well said, folks, stewardship grows when we slow down, pay attention, and invite God into our financial rhythms. And the updated FaithFi app is built to help you do just that. We're out of time today, but Chad, thanks for stopping by.
Thanks so much. All right, folks, now's your time. Go get it. It's available in your app store. Just search for FaithFi or go to faithfi.com and click app.
That's faithfi.com and click app. Your calls are next: 800-525-7000. We'll be right back. Are you looking for a better way to align your faith with your finances? The Faith Phi app is here to help.
With tools to track your spending, plan your giving, and grow in wise stewardship. You'll learn to see money not as your security, but as a tool for God's glory. Rooted in biblical principles. FaithFi equips you to trust God more fully and steward his resources faithfully. Download the Faithfy app today from your app store or visit FaithFy.com and click App.
We are grateful for support from Praxis Investment Management. Since 1994, Praxis has offered investment products designed to meet practical needs for everyday investors seeking to steward their assets consistent with their desire to promote positive social and environmental impacts. Praxis aims to bring a faith-based approach to ETFs, mutual funds, multi-fund portfolio solutions, and money market accounts, reflecting their 500-year-old Anabaptist Christian faith tradition. More information is available at praxisinvest.com. Thanks for joining us today on Faith and Finance.
Hey, before we dive in today, let's take an email. These come into us all the time at askrob at faithfy.com. I try to bring them into the broadcast periodically. Jill writes to us: Is it better to continue putting the maximum amount toward my retirement? That's 200 a month for her going into an IRA, that my employer matches at 50%, or should we put that money toward paying off our debt?
I would ask first: just is this a simple IRA? If so, the maximum contribution your employer can make is three percent.
Now, if you said IRA and you meant 401k, then yeah, absolutely, your employer could match you up to 50% or even 100%. It's a tough question because you obviously want to pay down debt as quickly as possible to avoid interest. On the other hand, your employer's contributions are essentially free money. And if your employer is matching 50%, you can probably contribute enough to your 401k to come out ahead, even if you pay more interest on the debt. Because remember, we're putting money away now.
We get that 50% bonus, 50% return on your money immediately guaranteed. You're not going to get that anywhere else. That's higher than the interest on the debt, no doubt. And we keep that money in the tax-deferred environment between now and your retirement years. With that said, I want to get you out of debt as soon as you can.
So, what I Would do is not put $1 more than you're getting matched at 50% in the retirement plan. But as soon as you cap out that employer match, let's immediately go over to the debt and try to get that paid off, especially if that's high-interest credit card debt. I would really go after that and attack it as best you can.
So, hopefully, that helps you, Jill. We appreciate you writing to us at askrob at faithfield.com. All right, let's head to the phones. Akron, Ohio. Brian, go ahead.
All right, Rob, this is Brian. Thanks for your expertise. Appreciate it. Absolutely. Thank you.
I have an annuity that's going to mature in about a year or two. placed it with a bank for five years, and I'm wondering what to do with it. after it matures or what my options might be.
Okay. Yes, it's a great question.
So when an annuity matures, you've got several options, Brian. And the right one really depends on your goals for both income and safety as well as growth.
So, with about $150,000 coming out, and if you're debt-free, you're in a great position. And I think the first option would be to take the money as a lump sum, where you simply withdraw the full value.
Now, if it's what's called a non-qualified annuity, then any growth will be taxable as ordinary income. If it's a qualified annuity pre-tax, then the whole withdrawal is taxable, but you'd want to roll it to either another annuity or to an IRA, and that would keep it in a tax-deferred environment. Um, you know, obviously, you could always annuitize it as well, which means converting it to a lifetime income stream, which gives you the predictable income in retirement. But my preference generally, and you know, it's wise to do some planning if there's you know lots of different issues and you have other assets to consider. But my preference typically is for you to roll it out either into a taxable account if it's a non-qualified annuity or into an IRA if it's a qualified annuity.
And then you have access to the full amount at that point. And then you'd probably want to either move it to an advisor you've already got a relationship with or hire an advisor to begin managing it for you based on your goals and objectives. But those would be your options. What do you kind of lean in toward? All the money that was put in there originally was from.
a previous IRA.
Okay. all that would be taxed.
So it sounds like I'm going to maybe roll that in either into another annuity or An IRA. Yeah, I think that's right. I mean, those are really your options. And, you know, if you were to put it into another annuity, you'd have to choose: okay, do I want a fixed annuity for guaranteed growth? Do I want an indexed annuity where you've got some upside with no market losses or what's called a deferred income annuity?
I mean, the downside to the going with another annuity is you're locking up the money, so you're going to have surrender periods and you can't get to it. Secondly, because you're kind of locking yourself in at a lower rate of return, there is some inflation risk there in that although you're getting the guarantees and a more conservative approach without the risk of the losses from the market, you do have a lesser return than you could get with a properly diversified stock and bond portfolio. And so with people living longer, I mean, once you hit 65, if you're in good health, it's kind of a coin toss in terms of whether or not you'll live into your 90s. I mean, you very well likely could live well into your 90s. And then we have longevity risk, which is where a lot of times getting it out of the annuity and have a little bit more potential for return.
but with the downside possibility as well, is where most people end up unless you're just looking for that safety and peace of mind. And then the annuity may be the right thing for you.
Well, that's why I took it out of the market because the group that I had it with Be four, which will be unnamed. It did not seem like they were doing anything with it. And as far as uh Growth. potential Sure. It seemed like it just leveled off and stayed there forever and That was not real happy and I thought, well, this would be better than What they're doing.
Yeah, and I think the key there is we don't want to get into a binary trap, the old advisor or an annuity, one or the other. I mean, what about that third option? And I think that's where, if you are going to go outside of another annuity product, which would typically be my approach, unless somebody is just completely risk averse, then I would say, you know, I'd interview two or three certified kingdom advisors there in Akron, see if you can find the one that's the better fit for you. And obviously, as a part of that interview process, you're talking about: okay, what would the investment strategy look like? Where, you know, what have other clients seen who have had a similar strategy for me?
But, you know, that's going to give you ultimate flexibility, the potential for better returns. But at the end of the day, it's ultimately about that advisor and those investments that are being selected for you.
Okay, great.
Sounds like some good considerations. Yeah, if you want to find somebody there in Ohio, Brian, I would just head to findacka.com and you could do a zip code search and connect with a few of the folks there in that area.
So we appreciate your call today. Thanks for being on the program. Lord bless you. Let's stay in Ohio. CJ, how can I help?
Oh yes. Hi. Thank you for your ministry. Sure. Thank you.
But I was wondering if you have a supplemental Medigap policy Do you need Medicare A and B or do you just need A?
Now, to have the Medigap, the supplemental, you have to have both A and B.
So, that's how Medigap works. It fills in the gaps in original Medicare, and original Medicare is A plus B.
So, A covers the hospital care, B covers the doctor's visits and outpatient care, and then Medigap covers the deductibles, the co-pays, the co-insurance that's left over from A and B. If you drop B, your Medigap plan can't be used because there's nothing for it to supplement.
So, you know, that would be the way you would need to go on that.
Okay, well that answers my question because I didn't know if I needed both or not.
Okay, excellent. I need those.
Okay, thank you so much. You're welcome. I'm glad we could clear it up. Thanks for your call today. We'll take a quick break and then come back with much more.
Here's our goal: to be an encouragement to you, to point you back to God's word and help you live as a wise and faithful steward. Thanks for being with us. More to come right after this. 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. Join our community and share your expertise with clients looking for someone who shares their faith and values. Start your journey today by going to kingdomadvisors.com/slash get certified. We're grateful for support from Movement Mortgage, who provides residential home loans in all 50 states. Guided by a mission to love and value people and a goal to redefine the mortgage process, Movement seeks to help others achieve their financial goals.
You can find out more at movement.com slash faith. Movement Mortgage LLC supports Equal Housing Opportunity, NMLS number 39179. For licensing information, please visit NMLSconsumerAccess.org. Uh Hey, thanks for joining us today on Faith and Finance. We've got time for more questions today.
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, improve that credit score?
Whatever it is, call right now: 800-525-7,000. We've got a few lines open. Let's go to Texas. Hi, Brett. Go ahead.
Uh yeah, so this is probably like a one hundred one. The economy question, but I've never understood it. I'm a tech guy, so maybe you could help give some explanation. It makes sense. And it's based on kind of back what ever since I was growing up, it was like, oh, I remember when a loaf of bread costs this much.
And so it's it's this idea that why don't these prices stabilize? Because your prices Throughout the years, they just keep ratcheting. It's like a game of ratcheting up. Prices of things go up, and then your salary goes up.
So, maybe you could kind of explain that. I've asked that question a number of times. I never got a real clear answer, or at least one that I understood.
So, I'll let you take it from there and I'll awesome.
Well, I appreciate that question. And, you know, the idea of why prices rise is a good one, and it kind of goes back to economics 101. I mean, what you will may remember from economics is this idea of supply and demand.
So, at the most basic level, prices rise when demand exceeds supply.
So, if more people want houses and cars or eggs than are available, sellers can charge more. And then, when supply catches up, like when new homes or crops are produced, then prices can fall again. And this tug of war never ends, which is why the economy doesn't, you know, quote, settle into one steady price level. And then, when you got inflation and the money supply, I mean, that's the other factor here.
So, inflation happens when the purchasing power of money declines. In other words, each dollar buys a little bit less than it used to. And that usually happens when there's more money circulating in the economy than there are goods and services to buy. And the Federal Reserve controls the money supply and the interest rates. And they've just kind of been on this endless cycle of money creation.
And so then you've got more money just kind of sloshing around in the system. And they don't actually physically run the printing presses. They actually do it by buying and selling on their balance sheet.
So it's literally, you know, a couple of entries on a computer where they'll buy or sell to create more money that the banks ultimately buy. And that just kind of puts it into the system. And, you know, so you take COVID, the stimulus there would be a great example, or what they've called quantitative easing, but it's essentially the expansion of the money supply by the Federal Reserve, which we could talk for hours about the role of the Fed and how they've misused that and mismanaged it and that they shouldn't be manipulating the market like they are. And that really there should be no inflation, to your point. But because they've continued to expand the money supply, prices have been rising across the board because there's more money circulating in the economy than there are goods and services to buy.
And prices also rise when the cost of making things goes up.
So, you know, you've got labor costs, meaning higher wages and benefits, energy costs, oil and gas and electricity, materials and shipping costs.
So when businesses face higher expenses, they usually pass those on to consumers. And then finally, there's expectations and behavior.
So sometimes inflation feeds on itself. If people expect prices to keep rising, then they buy sooner or demand higher wages, and that pushes prices even higher. And then finally, I would say you've got global factors like wars and pandemics and trade disruptions that affect global supply chains. And when you have fewer goods coming in or higher shipping costs, that means prices rise at home.
So there's a lot of factors that go into it. And the economy is always moving because our economy is made up of millions of daily decisions, right? People buying and selling and hiring and investing. And prices and wages are constantly adjusting based on that supply and demand factor. But I think at the end of the day, what we're experiencing here, this inflation that's just become the norm, which again is really not the base case, not the way it should be.
But at the end of the day, it's really all a function of our Federal Reserve and just this constant expansion of the money supply, which has caused prices to go up. And you know, it's really not the way it should be. And if we were on the gold standard, you know, that would that would rectify a lot of this. And again, you know, that's uh there's there's a lot more that we could talk about behind that. But hopefully, that's a helpful explanation of kind of what's going on behind the scenes as these prices change.
And you know, the one who's the best on this topic is our resident economist, Jerry Boyer. And maybe the next time we have Jerry on, we can have him do kind of a deeper dive on why should we not have inflation? And if that's the way it should be, Why is that not the reality? What is the role of the Fed in that? And what would it take for us to get back to that place where we just didn't always see prices rising?
Let me see if we can get Jerry to kind of unpack that in greater detail next time we have him on. Hey, thanks for your call today. We appreciate it. Let's see. We'll go up to Texas and welcome Glenn.
Go ahead. Hi, Rob. Thank you for all that you do. I really appreciate your show and all the advice you give to everybody. And it's a great podcast to listen to each day.
Thank you so much.
So a couple of weeks ago, and I'm not sure I got all this correct, but a couple of weeks ago, you were talking about the opportunity that students have now for getting on the track for CKA. And I wanted to find out more about that and how a university might be able to embark on that and have an offering that would allow students to get on that track. Yeah, I'm so glad you asked about that. It's one of the most exciting things that's going on right now in what we call the industry of Christian financial advice. Let me do this.
If you, I'm going to give you two next steps because we're now up to 10 universities that are offering CFP and CK training undergraduate students. Be ready to sit for the certified financial planner and the certified kingdom advisor coming out of their program. And our kingdom advisors, the 4,000 that we serve, are hiring them as fast as they graduate. It's amazing. And these students are being prepared to enter the business with God's word and impact on their minds from day one.
I mean, I could talk for hours about how exciting this is.
So, if you have a school that wants to know more, two things: one, go to kingdomadvisors.com, click at the top on industry leader and then universities, kingdomadvisors.com, industry leader and universities. All the programs are listed there.
So, you'll see Taylor and Mount Vernon and Liberty and Indiana Wesley and Charleston Southern Viola. They're all there at kingdomadvisors.com. The second thing is, I'm going to ask you to hold. My team will get your information, and I'll get our director of universities in touch with you. And she can tell you exactly what you need to know if you want to introduce this idea to a Christian school that you're connected to.
Glenn, thanks for asking the question. A great one. Hey, thanks for being along with us today, folks. Remember, we want God to be your ultimate treasure and money, the tool to accomplish His purposes. On behalf of my team today, Jim Henry, Devin Patrick, and Robert Youngblood, I'm Rob West.
We're so thankful you were with us today. Come back and join us next time. We'll see you then. Bye-bye. Faith in Finance is provided by FaithFy and listeners like you.
