This Faith in Finance podcast is underwritten in part by Guidestone. Guidestone envisions a world transformed by Christian investing. Through screening, corporate engagement, and impact investing, our investment strategies allow investors to be more proactive with their investment dollars to make a meaningful difference in the world while preparing for their financial future. Learn more at guidestonefunds.com/slash faith. What if your generosity could be multiplied without giving another dollar?
Hi, I'm Rob West. Corporate matching programs distribute billions each year, yet many faith-based ministries don't qualify for those funds. What does that mean for believers who want their giving to have a greater impact? Will Laughlin joins us to explain how these programs work and why fairness matters. 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, we always gain valuable insight when Will Laughlin joins us. He's the managing director of faith-based investing at the Guidestone Funds, one of this program's longtime underwriters. Will, great to have you back. Thanks, Rob. It's good to be with you again.
Well, many companies offer charitable gift matching programs. How widespread are those across corporate America today?
Well, Rob, the data that we see shows that it's pretty common. About 65% of Fortune 500 companies offer matching programs that total about $2.86 billion a year in giving. But at the same time, there's about $4 to $7 billion annually that gets left on the table because employees either don't know those benefits exist or they don't complete the matching forms. Oh, wow.
Well, I'm glad we could shine a light on it today. But unfortunately, not every nonprofit is eligible.
So what kinds of restrictions do some programs place on specifically religious organizations? Yeah, absolutely.
Well, we see that a lot of these programs, I mean, they're very well-intentioned, and a lot of them have specific rules set up to guide how those matches happen. And what we've started to see out in the corporate world were some very stale policies that did have some prohibitions or hoops that people would have to jump through that disqualified a lot of religious organizations from those matches. You know, specifically, we found an aerospace and defense company that prohibited gifts for religious purposes or supporting religious activities.
So that excluded that. United Healthcare is one that has a list of religious organizations that don't qualify.
So there are a variety of things that stand in the way of some Christian ministries being able to be recipients of matched gifts. Yeah, and that, of course, then limits the ability to get those funds to openly Christian organizations doing incredible work in communities around the country and around the globe in the name of Jesus.
Now, you and the team at the Guidestone Funds have been actively engaging these kinds of policies.
So, talk to us about what that work involves right now. Yeah.
Well, a lot of these companies, I mean, they're companies we invest in within our funds, and they're companies that we look at and say, these are overall good businesses. They're run by people. People can make mistakes from time to time.
So, for us, it's really just coming with a good Christian heart and speaking to the companies and their leadership and trying to understand what they're looking to accomplish with these gift programs, how it serves as a benefit to their employees, and help them get an understanding of some of the unintended consequences of the rules around their programs. The example I gave of the aerospace company was actually Boeing. And Boeing was someone we went into, we spoke our heart on the issue, and they were very understanding and they were very collaborative. And this year, they adjusted their gift matching program to include religious organizations. And that's a company that matches a few hundred million dollars a year in gifts.
So, we're really trying to go in and unlock a meaningful amount of capital. For the Christian community, so that we can see expanded kingdom reach through these donation and gift match programs. Boy, what a powerful illustration of how effective corporate engagement can be. And, Will, if this continues, I mean, this could have a major impact on churches and ministries, right? Yeah, that's the end goal for this.
And that's kind of the heart of who we are and how we've historically served ministry organizations. We want to see them supported. We want to see them financially well and resilient. And so it's an opportunity for the rank and file Christian employee whose vocation is not specifically ministry, whose vocation might be engineering or finance to put money back into ministries they care about. Wow.
Well, I'm so glad you were here today, Will, to shine a light on this. And thanks for the great work you're doing through the Guidestone Funds to engage with these companies so we can unlock this incredible wave of generosity to Christian ministries. Thanks for your time, my friend. Thanks, Rob. I appreciate it.
Our guest has been Will Laughlin with Guidestone Funds, an underwriter of this program. To learn more about Guidestone's approach to investing guided by biblical values, go to guidestonefunds.com/slash faith. That's guidestonefunds.com/slash faith. We'll be right back. Imagine having biblical financial wisdom delivered to your inbox every week, helping you integrate your faith and financial decisions for the glory of God.
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Soundmindinvesting.org. I'm so glad to have you with us today on Faith and Finance, helping you see God as your ultimate treasure and money a tool to accomplish God's purposes. Do you have a question today in your financial life?
Well, we've got lines open. We're ready for you. We'd love to take your call at 800-525-7000. We've got, it looks like four lines open right now: 800-525-7,000. Whatever is on your mind today, whether it's your lifestyle and your budget, maybe it's the best way to pay off debt.
Maybe you're struggling with that credit score. You're getting ready to buy a house or get a car loan and it's concerning you. Maybe you want to give wisely, especially this time of year. And maybe you want to do a qualified charitable distribution out of your IRA.
Well, any of those topics and more, we'd love to chat with you about. The number 800-525-7000, you can call right now. And we're going to begin in Alabama. Gordon, go ahead. Hey, Rob.
Thanks for taking my call. Love your show. Listen to it all the time. Appreciate that. I'm going to throw some stuff at you real quick.
So, my wife and I were both 59 to be 60 this year, and she was going to be a little bit more. She's retired. She has been for a few years now. Um I retired also about seven years ago From the state, and then went back to work with a federal job so that I could continue to draw my. My state retirement check.
So I have an income of about $75 in the job I'm in now, and then I get just an average. state retirement and her one less than mine.
So while she was working, she put into a TSP, her amount's around 450K in her TSP. And we haven't touched it. She's at age to draw it all out. And really the question is, obviously, she's not contributing to it anymore, but it has been gaining interest, you know, and we see some great increases in it over the last year.
So our question is Um should we I know we have the option of taking it out as a lump sum, paying taxes on it. We could let it ride and continue to try to draw interest, or we could also draw like a recurring monthly payment to supplement our income. And we're just wondering, should we let it ride? Because it has made some gains, but we've seen it drop a few times and come back up. It just makes it a little at risk.
Sure. No, I I totally get that.
So what's the value of this account?
So our TSP is four hundred and fifty.
Okay. And what is the total of your other retirement assets? You mean like our monthly income to combine? No, do you have other retirement accounts that you're saving in, investment accounts? Oh, no, that's it.
This is it. I have a TSP with my federal job that I've been putting in for about five years that's at $50,000. Got it.
Okay. And you're continuing to work and you plan to for the foreseeable future, correct?
Well, I I was hoping to stop at sixty two, which would be, you know. in a little over two and a half years. Got it.
All right. And in terms of the income sources you'll have, just kind of run through those for me when when you retire.
Okay. Well, when I retire, I'll because I've only I will have only worked seven years with the federal government, it'll just be a you know, minimum amount. Um also I'll have um my state retirement, which I'm already drawing and continue to draw. And then she has her retirement and then whatever we get off the TSP.
Okay, so she has a retirement that she'll get as a monthly check in addition to the $450,000. She she does now, yeah, as we speak.
Okay. And the the combination of those retirement uh incomes separate from the four fifty is enough, you believe, to cover your retirement budget? Yes, we don't owe anything. Awesome. All right.
You know, Gordon, I would say, I mean, you know, a lot of people don't realize just how attractive that TSP is. Just because there's a very low expense ratio inside that plan. I mean, you know, it's built really well, and the performance has been stellar.
So, you know, leaving it there is often a good choice just because of the simplicity and the low costs. The only decision you would have to make is what allocation to go for. And I think, you know, a lot of that would have to do with how conservative you want to be. You know, if you were to put it in, let's say, the L fund, the 2030 L fund, which is for somebody who's retiring in 2030, so you know, four years from now, which is a little further out than your time horizon, it would be about a you know, a 60-40 portfolio, 60 stocks, 40 bonds. And so you could, you know, take that allocation, and you know, I'd probably put.
You know, the maybe two-thirds of that allocation in the C fund, and then split the balance of that 60% between the small cap, the S, and the I, the international. And then you could put the balance in the fixed income, the F fund. If you wanted to be more conservative, maybe you go something like 50-50 with the same mix, but with more toward fixed income. You know, that would be, I think, a great way to go. And it would give you, again, a low-cost solution with what has been stellar performance and just let that thing continue to ride here because your biggest risk at this point is just the effects of inflation over time kind of eroding your purchasing power.
And so that would give you the ability to not be as volatile as the market. But you'd have that inflation protection and the ability to get some growth so that if you all needed this down the road for long-term care expenses, or at the very least, just to give later or leave it as an inheritance, you'd have it there to fall back on. It'd be very liquid, but you could get some growth in the meantime. But what are your thoughts on that? I like that, and that's kind of what we had been leaning towards doing.
Based on a little selfish for me, but I was thinking maybe in the next uh you know, six months or so, maybe um quitting this job, resigning from this job, because I won't draw much of a retirement from it anyway. I I will only have effectively six or seven years when or seven or eight years when I when I stop at sixty two.
So it would be a minimal retirement from it. But I had kind of thought about If I was to resign from this job to take a recurring payment off that $450 to supplement my income, and then I've been pretty good at supplementing it in other ways once I was home.
So that was kind of a thought. That may not be the best idea. I don't know. We were just kind of weighing that out. What do you think about recurring and how much do they tax them?
Well, yeah, everything you take out would be added to your taxable income for the year.
So I was thinking apart from the $450, even once you retired, you all could balance the budget with your retirement income streams, but you're still going to need a little bit more to supplement? Yes, a little bit more, yes.
Okay. What do you think? How much per month would you need to balance the budget? I would say 2500.
Okay, yeah. Which, you know, is a little more than I would love for you to take. I mean, even at a half million, if we kind of look at both of these accounts together, you know, we would generally say let's try to take no more than a 4% withdrawal rate, which is 20,000, you know, basically $1,600 a month.
So you're talking about taking an extra thousand.
So I would say that really just kind of underscores the need to keep this invested, you know, if not. You know, I'd probably go more with the 60-40, 60 stocks, 40 bonds, and let this thing continue to grow and hopefully offset that as much as you can. You know, the key would be: if you know, the longer you can wait and let this continue to grow and not start drawing from it, you know, would be the best case scenario because we'd want to try to preserve this so you can, you know, this can last as long as possible. And, you know, the goal would be that if you could limit it to 4% a year, you know, you should be able to let this account just continue to maintain its principal balance indefinitely. If you get up into five, six, you know, 7% withdrawal rates, then you're probably going to just see a slow erosion over time.
Okay, very good. All right. But I do like the TSP a lot, so I think that's a great option to leave it there. And then the only question is just: you know, what is that investment mix?
So, Gordon, appreciate your call today, my friend. Thanks for being on the program. All right, a quick break and back with much more, including your questions. Call right now with a financial question: 800-525-7000. We'll be right back.
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That's chministries.org slash faithfi. Great to have you with us today on Faith and Finance. We're taking your calls at 800-525-7000. Let's head to Arkansas. Hey, Ann, go ahead.
Thank you for your ministry, Bob. Yes, ma'am. In a previous program, mention was made of some new limitations for the 2026 tax year I think it was either on charitable contributions Or overall deductions. Could you clarify that for me? I'd be happy to.
It's actually both, but the rules apply differently.
So the limitation you likely heard about regarding charitable donations is this new 0.5% floor.
So starting in 2026, if you itemize, meaning you don't take the standard deduction, you can deduct charitable contributions only to the extent they exceed 0.5% of your adjusted gross income.
So if your adjusted gross income is $300,000, it's a lot of money. The first $1,500 won't count, only the amount over that. And you know, we can do the math there depending on what that is.
So, that just means that small donations in relation to income may not be deductible for itemizers, whereas under prior rules, all qualified contributions were deductible subject to percentage limits. But this now kind of puts that floor of 0.5% in place.
Now, the other change is something that was there temporarily, it's now permanent, and it's the charitable write-off for non-itemizers.
So, if you take the standard deduction, you don't itemize, there's a new deduction that allows up to $1,000 of cash donations for single-filers or up to $2,000 for married filing jointly. Um you know In terms of the other deductions, the 2026 tax law changes affect state and local tax, so the SALT deduction, so that cap was temporarily increased to $40,000. And then there's a standard deduction increase as well for 2026.
So for single person, it's $16,100. Married filing jointly, that's now all the way up at 32,200, which is why now 90% of tax filers take that standard deduction. But does that cover it, Ann? Boy, that's a lot. Yeah, there is.
Could you clarify on the ones over 0.5% of the income Is that each deduction or the total of all the charitable deductions? Total of all charitable deductions. Yes. You just don't get credit until you get above 0.05%.
Okay. So if you have a lot of smaller ones, you can still add them up. That's right. Yes. When you total them together and I said zero five, it's zero point five percent, so one half of one percent.
Okay. Yeah.
All right. Oh, things are getting more complicated every day. It seems like they are. I totally agree with you, Ann. But hopefully, we'll settle into a new normal now that the one big beautiful bill is the law of the land.
But if we can help further along the way, don't hesitate to reach out. Thanks for being on the program today. Let's head up to Texas. Leo, go ahead.
Okay, thank you for taking my call. Sure. My question is alone. What are the factors that determine when to start taking Social Security payments? Yeah, I mean and it's most simple Kind of decision making, I would say if you need income and you have health concerns.
I would consider taking it earlier. If you're working, your income is covered, and especially if one of you, if you're married, is a high earner, I would consider waiting. And if you're unsure, then I would say full retirement age, which is usually around sixty seven, is often a solid middle ground, meaning don't take it early, but don't wait until age seventy. But if you're clearly in one of those two camps where either you're saying, listen, I just need the income. Or you have health concerns, then it's probably better to go ahead and take it early.
But if you've got longevity, especially if you're working, your income's covered, that guaranteed 8% increase is not something you're going to find in the market. And even if you wait all the way till age 70, as long as you live past 82, typically you're going to be paid back for everything you didn't get. Uh, between full retirement age and age 70, and then you're going to have a check that's about 25% higher for the rest of your life, which for a lot of people could be a game changer, especially because your future cost of living adjustments are based on that higher benefit amount.
So, if you know, if they give you a 3% cost of living adjustment, now it's based on a base benefit that's 25% higher than what you would have gotten if you took it at full retirement age, for example.
So, let me stop there. Is that helpful? Yes. Let me add some conditions. What if both of you retired?
One is sixty five, one is sixty four. Um, you're living off a pension? of about seven thousand after tax a month. no liabilities, so you don't feel like you necessarily have to have it.
Now you could maybe wait until you reach the retirement age of six to seven. Yeah.
Does that change the final? Yeah, I mean, I would say in that, as long as you're in good health, I would say in that case, I'd probably wait as long as you can because you've got your income in place. You don't need this money.
So, what would you do with it?
Well, you could give it away, and that's great. I would never stand in the way of that. But if all you're going to do is drop it into a high-yield savings or even invest it, you're not going to get a guaranteed 8% return on the money.
So the idea that you could let that check continue to grow. and take it later all the way up until age 70. You know, because your bills are covered, I kind of like that.
Now, some people will say, Well, there's no guarantee you're going to live to 82, and that's true.
So, you know, there is always that risk. But if you're fairly healthy, especially if you have longevity in your family, I would say, in somebody's like your situation where your bills are covered, I kind of like that letting that check continue to grow. Because if you need it down the road, you're probably going to need it for major expenses you didn't expect, namely long-term care. And so, getting that check up as high as possible is something you may appreciate, you know, a few years from now.
Okay, last question. The guaranteed eight percent That's saying that the value uh the amount of payment is going to go up by eight percent each year. That's exactly right. Yeah, actually, one twelfth of eight percent every month you wait. Is the check is going to increase.
Now, You're also not collecting while you're waiting. And so, what that means is. You know, there it takes time for you to be paid back for what you didn't receive by waiting in the form of a higher check. And that's why I was saying 82. It typically, you know, if you look at what you would have received between ages 67 and 70.
based on your normal benefit. You didn't get that.
So, in order for you to make that up, it's going to take about 12 years of that check that's 25% higher for you to not only collect what you would have gotten, but be paid back for the three years you waited. And from that point, you've now been fully repaid. And now you've got a check that's 25% higher for the rest of your life.
Okay, thank you.
Okay, thanks, Leo. Appreciate your call today.
Well, folks, that's going to do it for us today. A big thanks to my team today, Mr. Jim Henry, Devin Patrick, and Robert Youngblood, and for everybody here at FaithFi, thanks for tuning in. May the Lord bless you, and we'll see you tomorrow. Bye-bye.
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