This episode of the Faith and Finance podcast is brought to you by Christian Community Credit Union. Christian Community Credit Union, now joined with Adelphi, a division of CCCU, brings together the best of Christian banking for Greater Kingdom Impact. FaithFi listeners can earn up to a $400 bonus when opening a qualifying high-yield checking, savings, or Visa cash bag card with code FAITHPI. CCCU also offers a new high-yield money market, providing a competitive high rate on balances up to $100,000, while your deposits help support churches, ministries, and Christian causes. Visit faithfy.com slash banking and use the code FAITHFY.
Membership eligibility required, accounts are privately insured up to $250,000 by American Share Insurance. This institution is not federally insured. What if your everyday banking could help fuel ministry without changing how you manage your money? Hi, I'm Rob West. Most of us think of banking as purely transactional, but what if it could become a tool for Kingdom Impact?
Aaron Cade joins us to share how a unique approach to banking is helping support churches, families, and ministries around the world. And that it's onto your phone calls at 800-525-7000. This is Faith in Finance, biblical wisdom for your financial decisions.
Well, our guest today is Aaron Cade with Adelphi and Christian Community Credit Union, where everyday banking is being used to support ministry and kingdom work. Aaron, great to have you back. It's great to be back again with you, Rob. Let's start with a quick update. Adelphi and Christian Community Credit Union officially came together late last year to form the largest faith-based credit union in the country.
As that integration continues and a unified brand rolls out this year, Aaron, what does this new chapter mean for our listeners? And how should they understand what's changing and what's staying the same? Oh, Rob, in just one month we will be united under one brand, Adelphi Christian Banking. We're one unified organization with a shared mission, but now we have greater resources to amplify kingdom impact. Our commitment to serving Christian individuals, families, businesses and ministries nationwide is unwavering.
I love that.
Now, most people don't think of their bank account as a ministry tool, but that's really what you're describing here, Aaron.
So, what makes this model different?
Well, as a not-for-profit member-owned credit union, our priority is to serve Christ's followers and ministries to faithfully steward God's resources to advance the gospel. This sets us apart not only from the big banks, but even from secular credit unions.
So our revenues go towards serving members and supporting ministry growth. And we tithe 10% of our earnings, giving to ministries doing the work of Christ in the world. We desire to transform everyday financial decisions into opportunities for Kingdom Impact. Aaron, it's powerful. I love the model.
I'd love for you to give our listeners an example of what that actually looks like in real life. Yeah, I've got one from Calvary Chapel, South O C.
Now during the pandemic lockdowns in California, they had to hold services outdoors. Eventually, they were filling the entire parking lot of a shopping mall. God's people were hungry for fellowship and worship, and the Church met that need abundantly. But as it grew throughout the pandemic it became clear that the church had outgrown its permanent space and needed larger facilities. We came alongside them with affordable financing to purchase a property.
It created a place for people to gather, grow in their faith, and stay connected. Mm, that is powerful because it's not just a transaction, it really is life change. Uh give us one more example of this kind of impact.
Well, we also partner with Christian Alliance for Orphans, which is an organization of over two hundred and fifty Christ centered ministries, all unified in their desire to help orphans and foster children around the world experience God's unfailing love. Through the generosity of our members, we've been able to financially contribute to their efforts over the last several years, and we've even been able to help families navigate the financial side of adoption. It's a tangible way to live out Christ's calling to care for the most vulnerable among us. That is powerful, and it really broadens the picture from the local church to truly global needs. Give us one more.
I know you all have partnered with Camp Agape as well, haven't you? Yeah, I love what they do. Camp Agape serves children who have one or both of their parents in prison. It's a place where those kids can hear the hope of the gospel. It gives them a place to experience community, encouragement, and the love of Christ.
We support the camp not only financially, but many of our staff members volunteer there each summer. Many of those kids come back later as adults to serve at Camp Agape and help the next generation of kids experience healing and hope. Incredible. You know, when you step back and look at it, everyday banking can truly become a way to participate in ministry in the name of Jesus, right? That's right.
It's the heart behind everything we do. Helping Christians steward God's gifts in a way that reflects their faith and advances his kingdom. Incredible. Aaron, such a treat to have you with us as always. Thanks for reminding us that when our finances align with our faith, even everyday decisions like where we bank can become opportunities for eternal impact.
Thank you, Rob. That was Aaron Cade with Adelphi and Christian Community Credit Union, soon-to-be Adelphi Christian Banking. When you bank with them, your money serves more than just your needs. It becomes a tool for God's kingdom. For just two more weeks, FaithFi listeners can earn up to a $400 bonus when opening a qualifying high-yield checking, savings, and cash awards visa credit account.
CCCU also offers a high-yield money market account with a competitive rate on balances up to $100,000. Just go to faithfy.com slash banking and enter code FAITHFY. That's faithfi.com slash banking code FAITHFI. We'll be right back. I was in ministry full-time and I was always looking for a way to integrate my faith with this new industry around money and finances.
This is Mark. He is a certified kingdom advisor. As a CKA, one of the best things I offer my clients is trust in knowing that they're working with a professional that understands their values. And I think in all of the different challenges that clients go through, if we can go back to trusting in God, then He'll make the path straight. You can find an advisor like Mark at findaceka.com.
FaithFi's preferred banking partner is Christian Community Credit Union, now joined with Adelphi, a division of CCCU, bringing you the best in Christian banking for Greater Kingdom Impact. With high-yield checking, savings, Visa cash back cards, and a new competitive high-yield money market account, your everyday banking helps advance the gospel. Visit faithfy.com/slash banking and use the code FaithFi. Membership eligibility requires. Accounts are privately insured up to $250,000.
This institution is not federally insured. Uh So glad to have you with us today on Faith and Finance. We're looking forward to taking your questions today. If there's something happening in your financial life, this is the place to go today. 800-525-7000 is the number to call.
800-525-7000. We do have some lines open at the moment that will probably not last.
So, this is your chance to get right through, and we'll begin taking those calls here in just a moment. Again, that number: 800-525-7000. Let's start in California. Joe, go ahead. Hello, thank you.
I am seventy one years old. I'm self employed. I have been for quite a few years. I have no plans on quitting stop working. I want to work, Lord willing, as long as I can.
I enjoy what I'm doing. My question is, is Uh I'm taking my social security money and it's just in a bank acc a checking account at my bank. And I know I'm just a very uh financially literate. And so my question would be What I could do with this money that I have in the checking accounts is just sitting there and putting it in something where. I would at least earn keep up with inflation.
Yes. And that's what I was wondering. If you have any suggestions, yeah, I'd be happy to. A couple of questions for you. Number one is: do you have any kind of debt whatsoever?
Uh no, I own my home outright. And the only thing I have basically is just taxes and bills, utilities, stuff like that. don't have any car payments or really have no debt to speak of. All right. And do you already have an emergency fund somewhere between three and six months expenses separate from this amount you've been accumulating from Social Security?
No, I don't.
Well, I guess I guess in my I guess in my business checking account I would. I think I got about six, seven thousand dollars in there right now. Yeah. All right, great. Joe, I know you said in your self-employment, in your company, you've got some reserves, and that's great.
You know, every business needs reserves. I'd probably encourage you to have your own liquid reserves personally that's a little easier to access and where you've got a clear separation between your business and your personal finances, which is also important for tax purposes, just so you can really clearly document what's truly a business expense and what's personal. That just creates for better reporting and allows you to document anything you're claiming as a deduction on your taxes by having that separation. And for your personal reserves or your emergency fund, I'd recommend you have in this season of life probably six months' worth of expenses. What do you typically spend?
I know you're living modestly, but what are your total bills in a given month, typically? Oh, I'd say about four thousand. Oh, no, not that much. Um twenty five to three thousand dollars a month.
Okay.
So let's say it's $3,000. You know, six months would be $18,000.
So I think that might be a good initial goal. Where would you put that?
Well, I wouldn't keep that in your checking, you know, paying you virtually nothing. I'd look for a high-yield savings account. I mean, a lot of our listeners are using our friends at Christian Community Credit Union. They're the largest Christian credit union in the country. You can open the account digitally, link it up to your checking account electronically, and then just move the money back and forth as needed.
They would align with your values, and they're paying 4% a year in their money market up to $100,000.
So I think something like that would be a great option for that emergency fund where you're getting a good, you know, a nice yield on it, but you also have it safe and liquid. And then once you fully fund that, if you continue to have surplus beyond that, I think at that point, you might want to look at putting that in a Roth IRA. There's no age limit to a Roth. And this is a great option because you have to have earned income, which you do through your self-employed earnings. You could put in up to $8,000.
And the nice thing about the Roth is there's no required minimum distribution.
So if you wanted to actually invest it, maybe put it in a balanced mutual fund, a balance between stocks and bonds, and let it grow. It would grow tax-free, which would be an amazing blessing. And then, at any point, you know, down the road, it would have to be open at least five years. You can always take your original contributions back at any point, but to get the tax-free growth on the earnings, you would have to wait five years. But then at that point, you could take that out tax-free as well.
But give me your thoughts on all that. It sounds great.
Now, the Christian Community Credit Union, said I get a Roth IRA through them. They don't do Roth IRAs, I don't believe, but you could use Fidelity or Schwab. Those would probably be the two that I would recommend. And you could open it. Yeah, Fidelity or Schwab, either one would be fine.
You could open it in a few minutes electronically. And then you could set up either a systematic contribution, like you're putting in, you know, $200 or $300 a month. And then you'd pick a good, high-quality mutual fund. And if you needed some suggestions on that, you know, our friends at SoundMind Investing could help with that, soundmindinvesting.org.
So I know I'm throwing a lot at you here, but I think just to simplify it, if you wanted to open a high-yield savings account, you could do that locally if you found one. Or if you wanted to check out Christian Community Credit Union, go to faithfi.com/slash banking. And you'll see that right there on the page you get to. And then for the Roth IRA, Fidelity or Schwab would be great. And then soundmindinvesting.org would be able to help with the mutual funds that you would pick.
To make it really simple and very low cost. And then, whatever you put in that Roth every month, you just automatically invest it in whatever mutual fund you pick. I see. I'm writing all this down. And what I was, I'm 71, as I mentioned.
But I'm a very health conscious person. My parents lived to be in their late 80s, and I'm a lot more sound very health conscious.
So I'm planning on Lord willing to work, you know, who knows. How long should the point be with that Roth IRA? You said it. you'd want it to be invested at at least five years, which goes by pretty quick. And I my I was looking for something like this, was thinking that even at my age, I could have it in there again, Lord willing, easily 10, 15 years, whatever.
Yeah. Uh yeah. Because I can I'm going to continue working. I like the work. I've written everything down that you've given me, too.
I wanted to have a pen and pencil ready.
Well, listen, I guess that about does it, but I really appreciate your help. And I just wanted to mention one other thing real quick. I think it's really nice the way you and your team help people out in the body of Christ because that really glorifies the Lord.
Well, I appreciate you saying that, Joe. It's a blessing to be able to serve God's people every day. You're right. They are amazing, the team that I get to work with. And it's our privilege to be able to come alongside you and help you along the way because we're all just trying to be found faithful.
And, you know, in this particular broadcast, it's faithful in our money management, handling God's money.
So listen, all the best to you, my friend. If any other questions come up along the way, don't hesitate to reach out. Call anytime. Lord bless you.
Well, folks, we're up against our next break here. We come back. We've got some great questions coming up. We do have some lines open. We'd love to hear from you.
That number, 800-525-7000. You can call right now. By the way, if you count on this broadcast, it's been an encouragement to you. Maybe you've learned something along the way. We'd invite you to be a Faith Phi partner.
All the details on supporting our ministry at faithphy.com/slash give. You can check that out today. We'll be right back. 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 Foreside Funds Services LLC. Investing involves risks, including possible loss of principal. Is health insurance eating up your budget for 2026?
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Thanks for joining us today on Faith and Finance. Taking your calls and questions today at 800-525-7000. That's 800-525-7,000. Let's go to Missouri. Hi, Mary.
Go ahead. Hi, I unwisely had a bankruptcy. I wouldn't do that today, but that's what happened ten years ago. And I know that has affected my credit rating. I was wondering, do you know when you go look for an apartment, if they of course they're going to run your credit report.
If you had a job and went to the credit card companies and tried to pay them back, do you think that can change your credit score for the better? Yeah. Yeah, so a bankruptcy on a credit report stays on for a chapter seven, 10 years, for a chapter 13, 7 years. Which type of bankruptcy did you have? It was just personal.
Okay, was it a chapter seven or did you have a payment where you Had to pay back some of it. It was, I didn't have to pay back anything. Yeah, so chapter seven.
So that's on their 10 years. And then during that time, while it's on the report for 10 years, it's going to weigh less and less as the years pass. And then once it drops off, it no longer affects the score at all.
So if yours was 10 years ago, it may already be falling off or about to fall off, which is good news.
Now, does paying off your cards after bankruptcy help? Not in the way most people think. I mean, generally, you can't quote pay off debts that were discharged. If you pay old discharge debts, that doesn't remove the bankruptcy or retroactively improve that part of the record.
However, what does help your score is. On-time payment since the bankruptcy. That's going to be the biggest factor. Keeping your balance low on any active accounts you have, ideally under 10% of the limit. The length of post-bankruptcy credit history.
So now that you're at 10 years plus, you're going to be in pretty good shape. And then the mix of credit. You also want to make sure you have no new negative marks. And so I think those are the key. You may want to go to annualcreditreport.com, pull a copy of each of the three reports and see what you may find is just given the length of time that it's been, that it's already fallen off.
And if not, if it's been 10 years, you can dispute it and have it taken off. I hope that helps. Marie is in Florida. Go ahead. Yes, thank you for taking my call.
Of course. I'm 82 years old, retired. at a four hundred one K with my previous employer. It's not a lot of money, it's a lot of money to me because It is. Anyway, uh, Fidelity sent me a letter.
They are no longer gonna service my four hundred one K. They moved out of the whole corporation. And I don't know what to do with that money. I have to move it somewhere, another IRA or C D's. I have um high interest savings.
Already. And I don't know what to do with this extra money. I have to do something. Got it.
So given that they're not going to service your workplace plan anymore, you should be able to roll it to or just move it to an IRA on the retail side of Fidelity. Have they given you that option? Yes, they have.
Okay.
Are you wanting to exit Fidelity or are you comfortable staying? It I'm okay with them. I just want to do what's best for me. Yeah. I did consult another investment friend, just a friend, and she said that I should put in into C D's, like short-term, six-year, a year.
Yeah. Yeah. Sure. Yeah. And what is the balance in this account?
How much do you have, roughly? Around fifty.
Okay, yeah. And you don't have any plans to touch this for the foreseeable future, is that right? Right, correct. Yeah, yeah. You know, Fidelity would be a fine choice.
You've got plenty of flexibility there in terms of what investments you might select. And there's not going to be any transfer costs, which you may have if you move it out to another institution.
So I'd probably just allow it to slide over to the retail side at Fidelity. And they give you plenty of availability of investment options. I think at that point, you just need to decide kind of how much risk you want to take versus the return you're looking for. Because you have your emergency fund, you know, I think, I mean, even at 82, I would be comfortable with you having, you know, 20 to 30 percent and maybe a stock mutual fund, and then maybe the balance, you know, 70 to 80 percent in fixed income.
So you could use a bond mutual fund. You could use maybe a CD, like you said, you can use brokered CDs inside that Fidelity account, and then you could even use the Fidelity. government money market for part of it. But the idea would be that through the mixture of all three of those, that smaller portion in a stock mutual fund, and then the much larger portion of the 50,000 in maybe those brokered CDs, the money market, and maybe a short-term bond mutual fund, I think that could give you a little bit better return or yield on the money, let it grow a little bit to outpace inflation. And then if you ever need it, it's fully accessible.
But if you wanted to stay out of stocks altogether, then it would just be a matter of, again, inside that fidelity IRA, which is better because it doesn't become taxable, which would be the case if you pulled it out. You could put it all in brokered CDs or money market and stay on the most conservative end of the risk spectrum. But I think in either case, leaving it there would allow you to accomplish any of that.
Okay.
But a nice Yeah, I'm gonna have to give it some thoughts. Yeah, of course. I think that's right. And the key is: you know, there's not a right or wrong answer here. It's ultimately what is going to give you peace of mind and meet your objectives.
It sounds like your objectives are: you know, you're living modestly, you've got, you know, you've got your emergency reserves, and then you've got this 50,000. And you don't want that to erode in purchasing power because of inflation, you know, every month. And so we want to make this work for you, but we also don't want to take unnecessary risk. And so I think that's the key.
So, does that mean just 100% CDs? It could. But do you add some other things to it, like some bonds or even, you know, a very small portion in stocks? Again, with a basket of investments like a mutual fund or exchange traded funds, I think that could work for you and work quite well. But at the end of the day, you're the steward and you need to feel good about what you're doing.
But I think for the time being, just sliding it over to the retail side, at least, you know, get. It out from under the 401k side or the retirement plan side and gives you options, and then you can take your time and think through it at that point, okay?
Okay, thank you, Rob. All right, Marie, thanks for calling. And if I can help further, don't hesitate to reach out. May the Lord bless you.
Well, that's going to do it for us today, folks. Really appreciate you being along with us. We did cover a lot of ground today. You know, ultimately, what it comes down to is. How do I pursue faithfulness with what passes through my hands, however little or however much?
You may hear somebody on this broadcast that says, You know, I have millions of dollars in a retirement account. You may hear somebody else saying, I'm in a desperate situation and You know, I don't know how I'm going to pay these bills. And in both cases, It's really what is the next faithful decision. It's not what should I do with my money? It's Lord, what would you have me to do with your money?
And whether you're in a season of plenty or a season of need, we can trust God as our provider. We can live with contentment, we can live with open hands. He will never leave us or forsake us. If He's going to provide for the birds of the air, He's certainly going to provide for you and I, His child. It's relational more than financial.
Josh, Taylor, Tahira, Omar, and everybody here at Faith Five making all this possible. We'll see you tomorrow. Faith in Finance is provided by Faith Buy and listeners like you.
