Have you ever stopped to ask yourself this question, how much money is enough? Most of us never really define it. And when enough is unclear, it quietly becomes a moving target, shaping our decisions, fueling anxiety, and keeping us chasing more without ever finding rest. At FaithFy, we believe God offers a better way. That's why we created our very first FaithFy field guide, How Much Money Is Enough?
An interactive scripture-centered resource designed to help believers explore this question through biblical wisdom, guided reflection, and real-life application. When you support our ministry by becoming a Faith by Partner before May 31st, you'll receive this field guide as our way of saying thank you. Your gift of $35 a month or $400 a year helps equip believers to manage God's money God's way and find freedom rooted in contentment, not comparison. To become a partner today, visit faithfi.com slash give. That's faithfi.com slash give.
What if debt isn't just a financial issue, but a discipleship one? Hi, I'm Rob West. We often view borrowing through a financial lens, rates, payments, and timelines. But scripture invites us to see the spiritual implications too. Debt can shape our freedom, our generosity, and our ability to respond when God calls.
Today, we'll explore a more biblical perspective on borrowing and why it matters. And then we'll take your phone calls at 800-525-7000. That's 800-525-7000. This is Faith and Finance, biblical wisdom for your financial decisions. Borrowing can feel normal.
sometimes even necessary. Credit cards, student loans, mortgages, and business financing are all a part of modern life. And scripture doesn't label debt itself a sin, but it consistently warns us of the weight it carries. Proverbs 22.7 reminds us, the rich rules over the poor and the borrower is the slave of the lender. In the ancient world, that wasn't just a metaphor.
It was often literal. A person who couldn't repay a debt could be forced into servitude until it was settled. While that's certainly not the case today, the spiritual principle still holds. Debt creates obligations that can limit our freedom, shape our decisions, and sometimes hinder our ability to live, give, and respond when God calls. The reality is, debt mortgages the future.
It not only shapes our budgets, but also limits our availability to participate in the kingdom. And that's the deeper issue. Debt becomes a discipleship concern when it shapes how available we are to follow the Lord. Imagine wanting to step into a ministry opportunity, help someone in need or give generously, but feeling held back because your future income is already spoken for. Paul writes in Romans 13, 8, Let no debt remain outstanding except the continuing debt to love one another.
While he's speaking primarily of relational debts, the principle still carries weight. Don't let financial obligations eclipse the greater call to love and give. Of course, this doesn't mean all borrowing is unwise. A modest mortgage or a carefully planned business loan may be appropriate. But Scripture invites us to ask a better question.
Not simply, am I allowed to do this, but will this enable me to love more freely, or will it diminish my ability to do so? As Paul reminds us in 1 Corinthians 10, 23, all things are lawful, but not all things are helpful. Not all things build up.
Sometimes the debt we carry isn't driven by necessity, but by impatience, comparison, or cultural pressure. When we're constantly mortgaging the future, we may miss God's invitation to partner with him today.
So what do we do if we're already carrying debt?
Well, first, don't despair. The gospel always begins with grace. On the cross, Jesus declared, it is finished. The word he used, tetelestai, was often written on receipts to show a debt had been paid in full. We owed a debt we could never repay, and Christ paid it completely.
That truth shapes how we think about financial obligations. We pursue repayment not out of guilt, but out of gratitude and a desire to walk in freedom. From there, the question isn't, how fast can I eliminate every loan? It becomes, what's my next faithful step? That might begin with an honest look at your obligations, not just the numbers, but how they're affecting your ability to live out God's call in your life.
It could mean building a budget, creating a repayment plan, and realigning your finances with His priorities. Psalm 3721 reminds us, Charles Spurgeon once warned that That's the heart of this conversation. Freedom from borrowing isn't about legalism. It's about availability. It's about being ready, like Isaiah, to say, Here I am, send me.
And that's the invitation today. Take one step, seek wisdom, build margin, and walk in grace. Because when God calls, the goal isn't to say, maybe someday. It's to say, yes, Lord, I'm ready. This is something I explore in my new devotional, Our Ultimate Treasure, a 21-day journey to faithful stewardship.
It's available now at faithfi.com slash shop, where you can pick up your copy. And if you'd like to go through it with your church or small group, We offer discounted pricing for bulk orders. Again, that's faithfi.com slash shop. All right, your calls are next, 800-525-7000. That's 800-525-7000.
I'm Rob West, and this is Faith and Finance, biblical wisdom for your financial journey. Stay with us. We just getting started If budgeting feels like a second job the new Faithfy Pro was started from your app store or at faithfi.com slash app. That's faithfi.com slash app. We are grateful for support from Movement Mortgage, who provides residential home loans and reverse mortgage options in all 50 states.
Guided by a mission to love and value people, Movement seeks to help individuals and families make informed financial decisions from buying a home to planning for retirement. More information is available at faithfi.com slash movement. Movement Mortgage LLC supports equal housing opportunity. NMLS number 39179. For licensing information, visit nmlsconsumeraccess.org.
Thanks for joining us today on Faith and Finance. Let's take your phone calls. The number to call 800-525-7000. That's 800-525-7000. You can call right now.
Let's begin in Chicago. Herman, go ahead. Thank you for taking my call. Quick question. Is it better for me and my wife to file together or separately?
Yeah, it's a great question. Generally, it's better to file married filing jointly. And here's why. There's joint filers usually reach higher income thresholds before hitting the higher rates.
So we're in a graduated tax rate system.
So when you reach a certain threshold of your income, you go into the next bracket and then that portion of your income is at a higher rate until you get to the next bracket. And then the portion beyond that's at an even higher rate.
Well, those thresholds for when those higher rates occur for joint filers are higher thresholds. Also, there's credits only available if you file jointly.
So you get bigger deductions and credits. You also have simplicity because there's just one return, one set of numbers. And if you're paying a CPA, there's only one return you have to pay the CPA for. And so as a result of that, 90 plus percent of married couples file jointly.
Now, where you might see is, you know, if you have, there needs to be liability protection. You know, there's no income separation, maybe a high risk situation where, you know, you're owning a business or you have unresolved tax problems, something like that. But generally speaking, for the vast majority of people, filing married filing jointly is going to be your most cost effective way.
okay uh now with this new with with the big beautiful bill that was passed uh singles can get 75 up to 75 000 and they'll get an extra 6 000 now me and my wife together earn about 185 grand i'll make most of that money so dealing with that big beautiful bill i don't believe my wife thresh is gonna get 75 000 even with we even with the social security So would that make it better for her to file separate? No, I don't think so. I think you guys are still going to be in a better place to go ahead and file jointly overall. We're both over 70 years old.
So, okay.
So you say it's better to file jointly.
Okay. Yep, absolutely. Thanks for your call, Herman. Call anytime. 800-525-7000 is the number to call.
If you have a financial question today, go ahead and call right now. Our team is standing by. We've got some lines open. 800-525-7000. Any financial topics in play today.
Let's go to Indianapolis. Dan, go ahead. Thank you for taking my call, Rob. I'm calling because I have three CDs. They're all 100,000 each.
I've just been rolling them over as they've matured right now. The months are like three months, five months, that type of thing because of how the market is in terms of interest rates.
So looking for some other possibilities or any thoughts you might have in terms of other options for this money, perhaps besides the CD. Yeah, very good. And I would assume you want to stay on the most conservative end of that spectrum. Is that right? Oh, I'm willing to venture out a little bit.
OK. Yeah. I mean, if you want to stay on the very safe side, yeah, I mean, you could go back into some additional CDs. I mean, for instance, you know, our friends at Christian Community Credit Union, the largest Christian credit union in the country, they're paying 4% right now, up to $100,000 for 12 months. And that's a pretty exceptional rate.
And then for FaithFi listeners, there's a bonus of up to $400 when you open a new account. You could learn more there at faithfi.com slash banking. But high yield savings, money market right now, even a one year CD about the best you're going to find for all three of those is right at about four percent, which is still a very attractive rate, historically speaking, and going to keep you on the most conservative end of the spectrum. If you wanted to begin to kind of move up that risk ladder, if you will, still on the very conservative side, you could start looking at things like, you know, maybe corporate bonds, a short or medium term corporate bond fund. Or, you know, certainly you could put treasuries in there on the very conservative end.
Then I think, you know, you could start looking at maybe adding some dividend paying stocks through a mutual fund or something like that. but only that portion where you could say, I've got at least a 10-year time horizon. And if the market were down significantly, I could leave it alone. Does that make sense? Yes, that makes sense.
So you mentioned high yield and what were the other ones? Yeah, high yield savings, money market, treasuries, U.S. government treasuries, bills, bonds, and notes. You could buy those at treasurydirect.gov. And then a mutual fund of corporate bonds would work And then after that you start getting into stocks at that point probably a stock mutual fund Dan I hope that helps Thanks for your call Let go to Georgia Hi, Tripp.
Go ahead. Quick question. So I went to file my taxes and my initial return got rejected saying that I needed to add a 1095 to it for marketplace insurance. I do not carry marketplace insurance.
So is there a way to get the 1095 took off? Is there a particular form that I can file? That's a good question. I mean, that's not a typical situation, but it doesn't necessarily mean you did anything wrong. Does that have to do with the Affordable Care Act?
Yes. Yeah. So the marketplace insurance, the 1095A, I'm just looking at this here, is only if you bought insurance on healthcare.gov, but you're saying you did not? No. And I have reached out to healthcare.gov and they have filed, I guess, like two tickets to get that took off.
Okay. But I don't know if they're going to send me another 1095.
So I didn't know if there was a special tax form I could file, you know, to maybe get that took off because it initially looked like I would get a refund. And with that 1095 added, it's, you know, going to be owing a lot. Yeah. So what I would do is go back in.
So you did this yourself in tax software? Yes. Okay. So I'd go back into that software and just find the health insurance, affordable care act section and just make sure you clearly answered, you know, did you have marketplace insurance? No.
And then that should remove the placeholder for the 1095A and then you could resubmit the return.
Okay. Thank you so much. All right. We appreciate your call. Thanks for being on the show today.
By the way, we do have a few lines open still today. We are taking your calls and questions on anything financial, 800-525-7000. Let me take this opportunity before we hit that next break to remind you that, you know, one of the most common questions we're getting right now is from folks saying, I just can't make the budget work. In fact, what our coaches are telling us, we have certified Christian financial counselors that are a part of our team that work with a lot of our listeners free of charge, just as a part of our ministry. And they're telling us they're even seeing a rise in the number of families that are buying homes together because of the dramatic rise in housing prices.
That's the only way they can make the numbers work. They're actually going in saying, well, we'll divide, you know, we'll use the kitchen together. Maybe we'll take the top floor, you take the bottom floor and let's go. You know, it's just really difficult out there right now.
Well, one of the ways to stay on budget if you're struggling is to have a spending plan and a system to control the flow of money. I would recommend that you check out the FaithFi app. You'll find it at faithfi.com. It's based on the tried and true envelope system right there on your smartphone. Julie and I use it every day, and there's no way we'd know what was left in eating out or in my girl's clothing fun without the FaithFi app.
So download it today from your app store. Just search for FaithFi. We'll be right back. 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. There's war in the Middle East, but the opportunity to reach people with the gospel has never been greater. Here's Dawood from Heart for Lebanon. Families are terrified.
Even when the ground is shaking, our hope is in Christ. Our mission is to lead people away from despair and toward the hope of Jesus. Bring emergency aid and the hope of the gospel to a family impacted by the war. Text the word FAITH to 98656 or visit faithfly.com slash Lebanon. Great to have you with us today on Faith and Finance.
Here in our final segment, I've got room for perhaps one or two additional questions. That number to call to be on the program today, 800-525-7000. Whatever you're thinking about in your financial life, we'd love to tackle it with you. 800-525-7000. Let's head to Mississippi.
Hi, Dan. Go ahead. Hi. I'm retired at age 62. I just turned 65.
My retirement age is 66 and 10 months. And I'm drawing Social Security. I pastor two rural churches, and they are paying into a retirement plan about a total of $300 a month. And I was considering maybe seeing if it's okay to give money into a Roth IRA or some other type retirement plan also. Yeah.
Even though I'm drawing close to you. Oh, no doubt. As long as you have earned income, Dan, up to the amount you contribute and not beyond the annual contribution limit, you absolutely could continue to contribute to an IRA. There is no age limit so long as you have earned income up to the amount you're contributing.
Okay, that's great. All right, that's what I needed to know. Excellent.
Well, thank you for your service to the Lord. I'm sure you're a real blessing to those rural churches, and we appreciate you being on the program today. May the Lord bless you. Let's go to St. Louis.
Hi, Peggy. Go ahead. Hi, I have a question for you. I had to take Social Security early, and at that point, they told me I owed a late enrollment penalty. I had no idea what that was, and they told me I'll have to pay it forever.
Mine is not a whole lot of money but the man that I was talking to said there people that have to pay like over Do you is that and they said it never goes away Is that correct Yeah. What that's probably referring to is not Social Security, but Medicare Part B, a late enrollment penalty. Does that sound right? It does. It's been so many years.
I'm 76 right now. Got it. Yeah. Yeah. People often hear about it when they claim Social Security early, because that's when Medicare decisions come into play.
But essentially, Medicare Part B works like insurance risk pooling.
So it was designed to prevent people from skipping premiums while they're healthy and then signing up when they get sick.
So it penalizes late enrollment to keep the system funded.
So the way it works is if you delay Part B without having qualifying coverage, meaning you have an employer plan and your company has more than 20 employees where you're covered. If you don't have that, then your premium increases 10% for every full 12-month period you delay. And so that increase lasts as long as you have Part B.
So if you delayed it by two years, you'd have a 20% higher premium.
So if your Part B is, you know, $175 a month, now all of a sudden it's, you know, $210 a month. And yes, it stays that way for the rest of your life.
So that is typically what people encounter in this situation. Oh, it's just sad. But like I said, mine, I just went a few months that I didn't have coverage. Yes. And I wasn't, I thought, was this something that when, you know, when people were getting subsidies, And is this something that now, since you were not under the Obama things with the subsidies, is this something that they could possibly get rid of in time?
Yeah, unfortunately not. No, these Medicare Part B premium increases for filing late, unfortunately, stick with you for the duration.
Okay. I just wish, like I said, I never even heard about it.
So is that something that is very well known? I mean, I didn't know about it until I filed. Yeah, it's a great point. And, you know, a lot of people, this catches them by surprise. We talk about it often here.
But essentially what happens is, you know, when you turn 65, unless you have qualifying coverage, you have to go ahead and apply for Medicare. You have a three-month window before you turn 65, including your birth month, and then three months after your birth month.
So a total seven-month window. And if you don't enroll in Medicare Part B during that window, then that's when those penalties start kicking in every month.
Okay, yeah, mine was just for a few months that I didn't have coverage. But like I said, mine's less than $50. But I mean, it keeps going up just a few dollars every year. But I thought the sad part is when he told me that there's people paying over $100, that just made me sick.
Okay. All right. Well, thank you so much for your time, sir. Thank you for your call today. God bless you.
Let's go to Ohio. Becky, go ahead.
So my question is, after I realized when I was doing online tax preparation, I always try and go to see whether I need to do a married filing joint or married filing separate. I made an error, but I didn't catch it until after I filed my federal for myself married filing separate. I have not done any other tax preparation. I haven't filed state. I've done nothing for my husband, can I fix things for this tax season for 2025?
Can I go back on TurboTax to rectify things? And if so, how do I do that? Yeah, yeah, it's a great question. The short answer is yes, you can absolutely do that. You do not need to wait until next year.
You can go ahead and do that right away. And so, you know, essentially what happens is you would just provide an amended return.
So you can change from married filing separately to married filing jointly. And, you know, the IRS allows you to amend a return as soon as it's been filed and accepted. There's no waiting period. You don't have to wait till the next year or a refund or an IRS notice. You can go ahead and do it right now.
So essentially that return is called a 1040X. That's the most common approach, and that's an amendment. And when you file the 1040X, you would change the filing status to married filing jointly, and then you would just add in your husband's full income, withholding, deductions, credits. You'd both sign it, and that would replace your original separate return. And what do I need to account for if I've already received the refund?
It came in a week.
Okay, yeah.
So what you would do is, you know, as you're filing, that doesn't change anything. That doesn't prevent you from amending the return. The IRS will recalculate the tax as if you'd filed jointly. And, you know, the refund you've already received would be credited. And then one of two things will happen.
Either an additional refund will be issued or you'll owe the difference back. there's no penalties you know just for fixing it so you'll acknowledge that refund in the return and then they'll figure out you know whether anything's owed what you may find is and a lot of people are finding this certainly for 2025 is you might get more back and then they'll just send you the difference okay thank you so much all right thanks for your call today folks that's going to do it for us big thanks to my team today devin taylor sandy pat couldn't do it without him and everybody here at FaithFy. Enjoy the rest of your day and come back and join us tomorrow. We'll see you then. Bye-bye.
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