Money touches every part of our lives, our fears, our hopes, and the things that we trust most. That's why scripture speaks so often about it. In the devotional, Our Ultimate Treasure, Rob West guides you through a thoughtful 21-day journey into faithful stewardship, helping you move beyond budgets and balances to the heart behind your financial decisions. Each day includes scripture, reflection, and prayer, inviting you to see money not as something to cling to, but as a tool God uses to shape us, free us, and bless others. If you're looking for greater clarity, contentment, and purpose for how you steward what God has given you, this devotional is for you.
Our ultimate treasure, written by Rob West, is available now at faithfy.com slash shop. Uh To become like Christ is the only thing in the world worth caring for, the thing before which every ambition of man is folly and all lower achievement vain. Hi, I'm Rob West. Those words from Henry Drummond cut straight to the heart of how scripture defines success. In a culture that measures achievement by accumulation and applause, Jesus offers a very different scoreboard.
Today we're redefining success and exploring what truly matters to God. And then it's on to your calls at 800-525-7000. This is Faith in Finance, biblical wisdom for your financial journey. It's easy to think that if we could just reach a little higher, earn a little more, or move a little faster, then we'd finally arrive. We see that impulse right at the beginning of Scripture.
In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve weren't lacking anything, but they believed there was something better, something more, something God was holding back. And later, at the Tower of Babel, humanity declares in Genesis 11, let us make a name for ourselves. Success, in their minds, meant defining greatness on their own terms. That same impulse is still very much alive today. We measure success by paychecks and promotions, by titles, trophies, and the size of our homes or portfolios.
And in a world that equates success with accumulation, it's hard not to ask, Am I successful yet? Will more finally be enough? Jesus speaks directly into that tension. In Luke 12:15, he says, Take care, be on your guard against all covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions. Then, as he often does, he tells the story.
A wealthy man experiences an unusually abundant harvest. His land produces more than he can store, so he makes a plan, tear down the old barns, build bigger ones, and settle into a life of ease. He says to himself, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years. Relax, eat, drink, and be merry. On the surface, this sounds like success.
He planned ahead, he saved, he prepared for the future, but Jesus calls him a fool. Why? Listen to the man's language: my barns, my grain, my goods, my soul. There's no gratitude, no dependence on God, no concern for others. His definition of success was accumulation, and his confidence was rooted entirely in what he had stored up.
God's response is sobering. This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be? Jesus concludes, So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God. That story is meant to shake us awake. It exposes how easily we confuse preparation with control and wisdom with self reliance.
God isn't measuring success by what we store, he s measuring it by what we surrender. The Apostle Paul understood this well. By every cultural standard of his day, Paul had succeeded. Yet he writes in Philippians 3.8, I count everything as lost because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. Paul didn't lower the bar for success, he replaced it.
Scripture tells us God's goal for our lives plainly. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son. Romans eight twenty nine. That's the metric, not income, not influence, not recognition. Christlikeness.
So let me invite you to reflect for a moment. What scoreboard are you watching right now? Whose applause are you chasing? If your goals are rooted in impressing others or securing more for yourself, you'll never find true satisfaction. But if your goals are rooted in becoming more like Christ, you'll discover a kind of success that cannot be taken away.
Jesus invites us to measure progress differently. Instead of asking, did I win today? We can ask, did I look a little more like Jesus today? Success in God's economy is measured by obedience, not accumulation, by faithfulness, not fame. And God delights in what is done faithfully, even when no one else sees.
Jesus puts it plainly in Matthew sixteen twenty six For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? When all is said and done, it's not about bigger barns or better resumes. Real success isn't what you gain, it's who you become in Christ. This is precisely one of the reasons why I wrote my new 21-day devotional, Our Ultimate Treasure. Each day is designed to help you realign your heart and your financial decisions with God's purposes.
You can order your copy or place a bulk order for your church or small group at faithfi.com/slash shop. That's faithfi.com/slash shop. All right, your calls are next. The number 800-525-7000. That's 800-525-7000.
We look forward to encouraging you, equipping you, and pointing you back to scripture as we answer your financial questions today. I'm Rob West, and this is Faith and Finance. We'll be right back. As the leading advocate for the Christian financial industry, Kingdom Advisors serves the public by promoting the integration of a biblical worldview across every aspect of the financial services industry. And we serve a growing network of thousands of Christian financial professionals, equipping and empowering them to carry biblical financial wisdom to their clients, peers, and community.
For more information, visit kingdomadvisors.com. That's kingdomadvisors.com. Faith in Finance is grateful for support from Sound Mind 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. Hey, thanks for joining us today on Faith and Finance. We're taking your calls and questions, 800-525-7000. Let's head to Florida.
Craig, go ahead. Thank you for taking my call. My question is. Do we tithe off of our business gross income or only the salary take from our business? Yeah.
It's a great question.
So there isn't one biblically mandated formula. I would say faithfulness and clarity matter more than math.
So in scripture, the tithe is described as the first fruits of increase, Proverbs 3:9, which leads some business owners to tithe on gross income before expenses and taxes or payroll and seeing it as an act of trust and worship. Depending on your business, that may or may not be possible. I mean, think about a grocery store, for instance. I mean, they have a very slim margin on everything that comes across that register. If they were to tithe on the gross amount, they'd probably go out of business.
And so if we look at true increase, That would be for a business at least on the net income, what remains after legitimate business expenses and payroll and other expenses that it takes to run the business, viewing that your true increase would be what's left over. And so I think it's important to distinguish, though, between what is truly an increase and what is needed to run the business.
Now, a lot of people will put themselves on a salary And then you'll tithe on that as you receive it, almost like it's just your regular income and your personal finances. But then you'll either have retained profit or you might have distributions that come out. And that would be as a business where you could say, okay, at a certain time a year, maybe once a year when you prepare your business tax return, you could say, based on the operations of the last 12 months, what is truly the profit that has stayed with the business? Over and above all the expenses, and then you could calculate a tithe and then make a gift out of the business.
So, often that's what folks will do. You know, whatever's coming to you as wages or compensation, you handle that as a personal gift. And then, whatever's left in the business, whether or not it flows to your tax return because it's an S-Corp or not, you could view that profit, whether it's paid to you or kept in the business as something that you would also tithe on. Does that make sense? Perfect sense.
Thank you so much. All right. Thanks, Craig. Appreciate your call today. Let's stay in Florida.
Betty, go ahead. Yes, Rob, thanks for taking my call. I have a nineteen-year-old niece that I want to put in the first initial $1,000 to and So, I think that's the only thing that I'm going to do. For her to start learning budgeting and a few facts of life.
So the question is. What direction should I reach out to a kingdom advisor or just go with like a fidelity company or? A nationwide Yeah, yeah, it's a great question, Betty. I love the idea that you want to seed this account. She does have earned income, is that right?
She's working a part-time job going to school.
So it's not really a job that will take money out and deposit it into an IRA for her. We would, you know, have to take between her tithing and taking a little bit of money out and applying it to an IRA. I'm just trying to get it started. Sure. Yeah.
And you could put that money in for her. She wouldn't have to put it in out of her wages, but she would need to have at least, if you were going to put in $1,000, she would need to have at least $1,000 in wages during the year in order to qualify, even if you were the one making the deposit. But it sounds like she would have enough to cover that, correct? That is correct.
Okay, great. And so that would allow you to fund that IRA on her behalf. I would probably recommend a Roth IRA just because she's young and you're going to get some really powerful benefits from that tax-free growth over the next, let's say, 40 plus years.
So that's amazing. And so I love that idea. Terms of the mutual fund or the investments, you know, unless she was wanting to, you know, have some fun in the sense that, you know, she wanted to pick a company that was a business that she likes or a brand that she likes, and she wants to kind of follow the company and track it, you know, which often will mean she's not properly diversified. But when you're just starting out, it's kind of a fun way to get acquainted with investing. You know, if she wanted to do that, then she'd buy, you know, pick a couple of stocks that she knows and maybe just follow it through.
A better approach, though, is for her to get properly diversified. And that's why I like either the mutual fund or the exchange traded fund option, because with a small amount of money, that would give her a wide exposure to a number of companies, make sure she doesn't have all of her eggs in one basket, and just watch it grow over time. In terms of which, you know, how to select the mutual fund, I'll give you a couple of options. Option one would be you could go. Go to our friends at soundmindinvesting.org.
And the Soundmind Investing newsletter has a strategy called Just the Basics. And they will actually recommend which mutual funds to buy. And an account, an IRA at Fidelity or Schwab, would have access to all the mutual funds they're going to recommend.
So you'd open the IRA at Fidelity or Schwab, you'd deposit the $1,000, and then you could go to Soundmind Investing, just the basics, and pick those mutual funds, a couple of growth mutual funds, or maybe one, and then put that money in it and just let it go. The other option is what's called a robo-advisor, where essentially it uses indexes just to capture the broad moves of the stock market. And you could use a robo-advisor. And if you did that, I would go to the Schwab Intelligent Portfolios.
So I think either of those options could work well for you, Betty. Does that make sense? Yes, it does. It's all coming to mind now. I couldn't quite remember from past.
Radio shows that you'd had, but that now I'm in agreement.
So, thank you. Excellent, open that account, deposit the money, and then either soundmindinvesting.org. Subscribe to the newsletter, use just the basics or the Schwab Intelligent portfolios. Either of those is kind of a turnkey solution. They'll be very low cost.
And man, your niece is going to be thrilled, not only now, but down the road when she's got quite a nest egg. This will be a real blessing. Betty, thanks for your call today. Lord bless you. Let's go down to Ocala, Florida.
Hi, bunny. How can I serve you? Hi. My husband had a TIAA that he took out when he was a adjunct professor at the local community college. It's just a small amount.
And because I'm 76, I've been having to require to take a certain amount out each year. I would like to give this to my son now so that those amounts can stay in there and start accruing interest. Can I do that? No, unfortunately, you would not be able to do that.
So you inherited this because you were the beneficiary on that account, and that's now your account. And you can't just transfer it as a retirement account to someone else, even a family member. What you would have to do would be to take the full amount out, which would all be taxable. It would be a taxable distribution.
So, you'd probably, if you did that, want to withhold the portion of the proceeds when they write you a check to be able to pay the tax bill. And then you could make a gift to your son of that amount, but you wouldn't be able to give him the retirement account without taking the money out as a taxable distribution. Does that make sense? Yes, yes.
Okay.
Now you could name him as your beneficiary so that if you passed away, he would get it as an inheritance and then he would have to continue to take the money out over time on a scheduled basis. But in terms of you being alive, the only way to get it to him would be to take it out, pay the taxes and then hand the money over to him. Right, thank you. He is already my beneficiary.
Okay, very good. Yeah, excellent.
Well, thank you for calling, bunny. All the best to you. Back after this. Stay with us. Money touches nearly every part of our lives, but scripture tells us it also reveals our hearts.
Hi, I'm Rob West. In my 21-day devotional Our Ultimate Treasure, I invite you on a journey of scripture, reflection, and prayer to rediscover what faithful stewardship really looks like, not just in your finances, but in your heart. You can get your copy of Our Ultimate Treasure at faithfi.com slash shop. That's faithfi.com/slash shop. We're grateful for support from Guidestone, whose diversified suite of investment solutions align with Christian values to create positive change in the world.
More information is available at guidestonefunds.com slash faith. Investing involves risk, including potential loss of principal. Carefully consider the investment objectives, risks, charges, and expenses of Guidestone Funds before investing. They're distributed by Forside Funds Distributors LLC, which is not an advisory affiliate, a registered investment advisor, nor do they provide investment advice. Great to have you with us today on Faith and Finance.
It's our final segment. We're taking your calls and questions today on anything financial, helping you apply the wisdom from God's Word, the principles and passages that we see on money. By the way, there's 2,300 of them to your financial decisions very practically. And so, if you have a question today, we actually do have some lines open now. We didn't earlier in the broadcast.
So, if you're going to call right now, you can get right through 800-525-7000. We'll probably have room for two or three more questions before we round out the broadcast today. Let's see. Let's head to Maryland and Rich. Go ahead.
Hi, Rob. Thanks so much for your ministry. I just wanted to ask. My wife and I are both in our 70s, and we are. Talking about how to divide our estate, and particularly amongst we have three children.
And then we just began at a new church and also a couple of ministries that we support. And I know it's probably very individualized and it's for each person, but Can you give us any guidelines on that or any resources about how to make How to make a logical decision about That and percentages and so forth. Yeah. Well, it's a great question. I love that you're thinking about this.
And the big idea here is we want to make sure the next steward is chosen and prepared. And that preparedness idea is a key one. And the big idea there is we want to pass wisdom before wealth. Right. Because as Ecclesiastes tells us, wisdom preserves, wealth does not, even though both are good or they can be.
And so understanding, you know, whether the next steward is prepared for this and that the money can be the fuel to propel them in whatever direction they're going, whether that's to the Lord or away from it. And you just need to think through, you know, what's the worst thing that can happen if I leave the money.
Now, if they're both, you know, in a situation where they're demonstrating financial responsibility and spiritual maturity, and you're really just wanting to include the ministries on your heart, including your local church in your estate, one very simple way to do it is just to treat the giving category, the ministry category, as a child. And so if you have three kids, you'd add essentially a fourth child, which would be, you know, this kind of giving category, and you split it four ways. And that fourth case. Fourth portion, the 25%, you know, could be allocated to your church and another ministry in whatever percentages you want.
So that's kind of a simple way to do it. I mean, beyond that, you know, I think you could step back and just say, what do we feel like is the appropriate amount to leave to our kids? And that's ultimately a call you need to make. Do we treat them all equally? And I think one of the principles Ron Blue teaches is if you love your kids equally, you will treat them uniquely.
And a lot of people struggle with that because it just doesn't seem fair. But it's the idea that some kids may be in a situation where they need more than others just based on life circumstances and a whole variety of things. But in terms of the percentages, just allocating with the ministry component being a fourth child is a really simple way to do it. But give me your thoughts on all that. Yeah, that's something I hadn't really thought about.
That sounds good. And then The new church that we're going to, you would do that as another child, I think you said also?
Well, you could, or you could just say this fourth piece of the inheritance. I mean, if you were to divide it into four, you know, one. a fourth to each child, and then that fourth component is your giving component, and then you would have to decide how to split that fourth among your church and another ministry. Or you could divide it five ways. I mean, that would be up to you.
Let me do this. I want to send you the best book to help you just kind of think and process through these decisions is a book by one of my mentors, Ron Blue. It's called Splitting Heirs. And it's less about the technical side of estate planning and more about the decisions that go into wealth transfer from a biblical perspective. And I think if you and your wife kind of read through this book, it might give you some other ideas, okay?
Okay, that sounds good. Awesome. You hang on the line, and we'll get your information, and we'll send that out as our gift to you, okay?
Okay, thanks so much, Rob. All right, take care. Call anytime. Let's quickly go to Indiana. Hi, Nancy.
Go ahead. Hey, how are you, Hunt? I want to know how to bring my Mortgage down. I have a payment now of $1,254, and I'd like to reduce that. The amount that I owe is $89,000.
I have a 3.5%. I do have cash that I could put onto my principal, would that bring the mortgage down Depending on what it is. It it wouldn't, unfortunately. It wouldn't bring the payment down. It would save you a bundle in interest because every dollar you put toward principal is going to save you interest on that money over the life of the loan.
The problem with an amortized mortgage is that the payment schedule is set in advance. And although you can prepay the mortgage until you pay it off in full, they don't ever re-amortize the payment.
So if you pay it if you put 50,000 on it and you pay it down from 89,000 to 39,000, your payment's still going to be $1,254 a month until you pay it off and you don't want to refinance it because you double your interest rate. uh or almost double.
So I like the idea of you prepaying it. It's just not going to help you bring that mortgage payment down because that's just not how an amortized mortgage works. Yeah, yeah. Because it has gone up because of taxes. And the value of the house.
So, you know, it goes that way. It just doesn't go the other way. That's exactly right. Although you may find that this is the year I just got my property tax bill, and for the first year in the last four, R escrows are going down because home valuations have started to come down a little bit. And so you may find that this is that first year where you get a little bit of a reprieve, at least for property taxes, maybe not homeowners' insurance.
Okay.
So would you recommend maybe putting having a separate account just to put extra money in it each month in case my mortgage payment starts to rise? It's not a bad idea, yeah, because you wouldn't want to be, if you're on a fixed income, you wouldn't want to be caught off guard. And I think that's one of the roles of the emergency fund. And so maybe you just try to get that emergency fund fully funded, which I would consider to be at least six months' worth of expenses. And then you, if you had to, you could supplement your mortgage payment, you know, out of your emergency fund.
Maybe your goal is to try to get that up to a year's worth of expenses. And, you know, it covers not only things that are unexpected, but potentially a rise in housing prices. But I think we're going to level off, if not continue to pull back just slightly given how red hot this housing market has been.
So I think you're probably at the top end for a while of what you will be paying on that taxes and insurance portion of your payment, okay?
Okay, thank you so much. All right, thanks for your call, Nancy. Lord bless you. Well, that's gonna do it for us today, folks. I have an amazing team that does an incredible job each day of making sure.
We can bring you this broadcast and do it with excellence. Dan, Tahira, our call screeners today, couldn't do it without him. Plus, Taylor and everybody here at FaithFi. We'll see you next time. Bye-bye.
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