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Deuteronomy 8, 17 and 18. I am Rob West. This passage powerfully reminds us that God owns everything, and we're merely stewards of what he has entrusted to us for a season. Today, Cody Hobleman joins us to discuss how you can establish your first financial finish line. And then it's on to your calls at 800-525-7,000.
That's 800-525-7,000. This is Faith in Finance, biblical wisdom for your financial journey. We're always glad to have Cody Hubbleman with us on the program. Cody is a certified financial planner and a certified kingdom advisor, and he also wrote a great article for the very first issue of our Faithful Steward magazine, which I'm excited to discuss today. He's also the co-founder, along with his brother Keelan, of an inspiring movement you can learn more about at FinishLinePledge.com.
Cody, it's great to have you with us. Thanks, Rob. I'm glad to be here. All right, Cody, your article is titled Setting Your First Finish Line, which I don't think many people do, but they should, because prosperity is challenging, to say the least. And we certainly experienced that living in the most prosperous nation in the history of the world.
But I love where you start this article because you point out this really isn't unique to us, is it? You know, Rob, it's really not. And in this passage that you kicked us off with from Deuteronomy, the Israelites have been wandering for 40 years in the desert. They're standing across the Jordan River from the promised land, their destination that they've been working towards this whole time. And Moses takes time to address the entire nation of Israel.
And he knew something about the promised land, and he wanted them to be prepared that as they enter in. They would be facing a challenge that was more difficult than hunger, disease, or even attacks from rival nations, and that. Is prosperity. Yes. You see, Moses knew they would be tempted to rely on their own strength and take credit for the abundance that God was about to give to this nation.
And he wanted to remind them that this is actually God's provision, it belongs to him, and we would only ever be stewards of that gift. That's right.
However, today, we face that same test. And I've faced it in my own life, I would say, at times, not very well. I'm learning. But in recent years, there's a tool that I was introduced to that has dramatically changed the way that I see finances, and that is a financial finish line.
Well, I appreciate your transparency on that and the great work you've done to encourage God's people to really lean into this idea. I want to dive into the nuts and bolts of the various approaches to giving first, though, because you provide a really helpful, what you call allocation framework in the article. Share these ideas around giving. Yeah, I'd love to.
So allocation simply refers to how do we answer the questions, how much should I give or how much should I keep? And we've seen five major ways that people answer these questions. It's spontaneous giving, a giving goal, percentage giving, incremental percentage giving. And a financial finish line. Spontaneous giving is exactly what it sounds like: it's giving without a whole lot of planning beforehand.
A giving goal is picking a number. I want to give X dollars this year, for example. Sure. Percentage giving, this is a pretty common one. You pick a percentage of whatever you earn, and that's what you give.
Incremental percentage giving builds some growth into that.
So you're increasing the percentage of your income that you give over time. And we've probably heard of many of these frameworks.
However, a financial finish line. flips everything on its head. This is where we define a maximum for our spending. Which forces you to recognize that this is all God's. We are stewards.
We only need so much of His provision for our own needs. and everything above that number can be used to build his kingdom. That is powerful. And I'm sure our listeners found themselves in one of those giving models that you unpack there. They're giving spontaneously, or they set their annual goal, or they say, you know what, 10% is that number, or maybe they get a little more advanced to say, all right, it's 10% this year, but next year it's going to be 11% and then 12% after that.
But this idea of a financial finish line, recognizing it's all gods, and then saying, How much are we going to keep? actually flips the whole paradigm upside down.
So when we come back here, Cody, I can't wait to walk through the mechanics of what this actually looks like. Folks, you might be able to set your very first financial finish line. Cody Hobelman's going to help you do just that. He's here today. He's a CFP and a certified kingdom advisor.
And we got a lot more to come just around the corner. You're not going to want to go anywhere. We'll be right back. 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.
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Thanks for joining us today on Faith and Finance. Have you ever thought about creating a financial finish line? What is it?
Well, we're going to help you understand that today. Cody Hobelman is here. Cody is a part of a movement called the Finish Line Pledge. You can check it out at finishlinepledge.com alongside his brother Keelan. He's also a certified kingdom advisor and a certified financial planner.
Cody also wrote an article in the very first issue of our Faithful Steward magazine titled Setting Your First Finish Line. If you'd like to receive this incredible magazine in your mailbox each quarter, just visit faithfy.com and click give. Your support helps us reach more people with this message and ensures you receive each new issue moving forward. Today we're talking about finish lines. And Cody, before the break, you shared with us various allocation frameworks.
You called them like spontaneous giving or percentage giving. Giving, even an incremental percentage giving approach that allows you to increase that over time. But as we said, the financial finish line is really the only approach that says it all belongs to God, and I'm just going to decide how much I keep.
So, let's walk through the mechanics of what this actually looks like to set a finish line. You know, Rob, it really starts by building and maintaining a solid plan for your finances. And the way I see it, you can break down your personal finances into four categories. That's personal spending, Taxes. Planning for the future.
and kingdom building. Personal spending is is anything that you spend to maintain your current lifestyle. That's things like transportation, housing, clothing, food. These are things that we're used to budgeting for. Planning for the future involves savings for things That you're not spending on today.
So, this could be a car purchase you see coming up in the future. It could be your saving up for a home or some kind of real estate, or even retirement, for example. Sure. Taxes, we all know about taxes. I don't think I need to explain that one.
And then kingdom building is really anything that is focused on others.
So that's usually in the form of giving to a ministry or to an individual or some other kind of impact work that's not focused on yourself.
Okay. Yeah, that's helpful to put it into those buckets. And we're going to dial into personal spending or what we might call lifestyle spending. And we often say, Cody, on this program, that lifestyle is the primary determinant of financial success. And so this really is the area we need to zero in on, right?
Exactly. And that's why, in my own story and in our recommendations, we always say you should start with your lifestyle finish line because of the level of importance that that has for anyone on this journey.
So that looks like setting a maximum that you're willing to spend on your own lifestyle. And it's easy to think about that as a monthly amount.
So what this really accomplishes is it protects you against lifestyle creep or just the rising cost of your lifestyle when that's not what you intended. It keeps you aligned with God's purposes for your finances. And there are several ways that people arrive at how to set their spending finish line, but I want to give you three of the most common ways that people have done this from my own experience.
Okay. The first is a maintenance spending finish line. It's probably the simplest because it simply is locking in your current spending.
So, if you believe that your current spending on your lifestyle is appropriate and you don't intend for it to grow beyond what you intended, what you can do is say, I'm drawing a line that is your maintenance spending finish line, not going to increase from here. Yeah, and that's a big idea in and of itself, Cody, because as we know, our level of spending always rises to our level of income unless we protest to the contrary.
So drawing that line would ensure that additional increases in income would not just be gobbled up in more lifestyle spending, right? That's right.
Excellent. The second method, this is actually how Keelan and I set our own finish lines. And it's a somewhat popular method: to look at what is reasonable. And that's using census data. There's all kinds of ways to arrive at this, but we call it a benchmark spending finish line because you're not making this decision purely from your own opinion, you're looking out.
And trying to get objective data to help inform your decision of where to set a benchmark. And what we've done is actually created a website that you mentioned, finishlinepledge.com, on our website. You can find a calculator that we used when setting our own finish lines, and many people have found that to be a helpful tool as well. Yeah, and I would really encourage you to check that out. Finishlinepledge.com/slash calculator.
They've really taken the guesswork out of this. All right, you mentioned there was a third approach. There is, and this is what we call your prioritization spending finish line. And really, the long and short of it is. Once you have an idea of what you're currently spending, you can look at where that money is flowing and you can start to build out categories and decide which one of these are really aligned with my values and what God says is important.
And what is actually distracting me from that? And as you start to whittle away at the things that are not helping you align your heart with God's will for your life, you can zero in on a more targeted budget.
So it's working your way down, cutting the fat, and focusing your finish line on the things that are highest priority in your life. Yeah, that's really helpful.
Well, of course, to get started, folks can go to finishlinepledge.com/slash calculator. But I'd love for you just to talk about where they go from here beyond the website, because by virtue of the title of this article, Your First Finish Line, it means this is a living process that is going to happen over time.
So, where do they start? That's absolutely right. And it can feel like a really big decision. And honestly, for me, it felt like a sacrifice when I first heard of this concept.
So, what we recommend is try it out for three or six months. We've talked to several people who have done just that. And you know, Rob, I'm not sure I've seen anyone actually turn back after a trial run. And that's because there's a significant transformation that happens on a spiritual level once you actually put structures in to align your finances and submit it to God and say, What do you want for my life? And what have you given me to pursue that?
So that's why we use the language: set your first spending finish line, because. Nobody expects to master something the first time they try it.
So this is something that's meant to be dialed in and adjusted throughout time, and there are very legitimate reasons to do so. But it is so much better to start somewhere and adjust over time than to never start at all. Yeah, that's well said. Is this only for ultra high net worth clients, Cody? You know, Rob, when I set my first finish line, I was actually 26 years old.
My wife was in school working part-time. We were so far from what we thought was enough. And what happened in my own story is it actually radically broadened my view of what God had for my life because I saw I'm actually way closer to having enough than I ever thought. If you never define enough, you'll never reach it.
So, by actually having a number. where I could say, I don't need more than this, it allowed me to really. Explore what God had for my life.
So I believe there's a real spiritual significance to defining enough, even if you don't feel like you have enough today. That's well said. We've got just about 20 seconds left. Is this a conversation you should have with your advisor as well, Cody? I think it is because advisors, especially CKAs, will have training in how to do this.
They may even have a finish line themselves. And they're used to helping you implement something like this, not only for your income, but for your net worth as well. Wow, that's so good. We're gonna have to have you back, but I really appreciate these insights. Cody, thanks for stopping by.
Thanks, Rob. Folks, if you've ever wondered how much money is enough, we've created a brand new Faith Phi field guide called How Much Money is Enough. This new workbook is designed to help you answer that question both spiritually and practically. We're sending it to anyone who becomes a FaithFi partner by May 31st. To become a partner, visit faith5.com slash give.
That's faithfi.com/slash give. What happens when we never define enough? It becomes a moving target, always pushing us toward more. For a limited time, when you become a Faith Phi partner, you'll receive our first ever Faith Phi field guide: How Much Money is Enough. Your gift of $35 a month or $400 a year helps equip believers to manage God's money God's way.
Become a Faith Phi partner by May 31st to receive your field guide. Visit faith5.com/slash give. 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.
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Soundmindinvesting.org So glad to have you with us today on Faith and Finance. Really looking forward to hearing from you today at 800-525-7000. The calls have started to come in, but we've still got room for you at the moment.
So if you have a question today, go ahead and call right now. Again, that number, 800-525-7000. Let's go to Texas. Eileen, thanks for calling. How can I help?
Thank you. I have a question. I'm getting ready to start taking payments for my annuity. Yes. And I wanted to do the giving from the annuity.
If I do not reach the maximum Standard deduction. For a single person, which is like $14,000, do I get the tax benefits from taking that out of my annuity and paying it directly to? Um a charity. No, because when you take that money out of an annuity, you know, if this is a pre-tax annuity, so was this funded with before tax dollars? Meaning it's a qualified annuity?
It was out of a four hundred one.
Okay, yeah.
So, this is what's called a qualified annuity, which means that there was not any tax paid on the money that went into the 401k that's now in the annuity.
So, typically, what happens is when you take a distribution from an annuity, those are typically taxed as ordinary income. And then you can claim a charitable deduction if you turn around and give that money away, but only to the extent you give, and you acknowledge this, above the standard deduction.
So you have to give enough to be able to itemize for this year.
So that's only the only way to do it. You can't give directly.
Now, you could transfer the ownership of the annuity to a charitable organization, and then the charity could receive the future payments, and then you'd get a tax deduction for the fair market value of the annuity. But apart from that, you would have to take the money out. It would be taxable. And then it would only be a deduction if you can itemize and get above that standard deduction. Does that make sense?
Yes, it does. And that is perfect answer to my question. Excellent. Lord bless you, Eileen. Thanks for your generous heart.
We appreciate it. And call anytime. Let's go to Georgia. Karen, how can I help? Hey, Rob.
Yeah, second time caller. You hooked me up with the CKA last time and they offered a lot of good advice.
So highly recommend those guys. My situation now is my daughter recently became a life insurance agent.
So she's pushing life insurance on everybody that she can get because she's trying to pay her mortgage. I, on the other hand, don't have a mortgage. I'm 62. My husband's 60. We don't have any 401k, no real big savings.
However, we invested about 10 years ago. We started investing in precious metals. We have gold and silver. We invested 30,000 10 years ago. It's over 100,000 now.
So we've got some good, we think, investment in precious metals. We also have about a $200,000 property that's paid for. We owe a family member sixty thousand for some of the land, but he's getting ready to inherit one hundred thousand, so that's going to wipe out that debt. And we'll even have a little bit of cash left over. My daughter is freaking out a little bit because we don't have life insurance, but with $100,000 in precious metals, And two hundred thousand dollars potentially probably we're hoping by today actually that house will sell and each of the siblings will get about one hundred thousand.
I'll pay off that debt. We don't have credit card debt. We don't have I got a ten thousand dollar car payment car debt, but we'll pay that off with the inheritance too.
So with no debt, thirty thousand dollars cash in the bank, Some good precious metals, some good equity, and a $200,000. Do I really? Yeah. She's got me hooked up with a life insurance policy that pays out $50,000 because she's worried about inheritance. You know, scripture says inheritance.
And I said, no, no, that's different inheritance, girl. There's a lot of things going on here, and I would agree with you about that last comment. We'll get to that.
So, question: Are either of you or your husband working? Working is a relative term. I am a contractor. I have all of my revenue that I make on a twenty nine hour a week commitment that I make to serve. I do get compensated.
About $4,500 a month.
So I have that super healthy, both of us, super healthy. I don't have any intentions of stopping work. You know, scripture doesn't say that whole lot about retirement. And I don't plan, I don't want to stop working, if you will. What are you living?
What are you all living on? How are you paying your bills? all of our bills are paid by my revenue, my income, if you will. I don't call it income, but yes.
So I bring home four thousand four hundred. Most of it pays unless we do something crazy. Um my husband is an electrician. He does handiwork on the side. Most of the bills that we pay are paid by me.
So we're I mean, right, if anything happens to me, then he's out, but he's only out half of that because I'm the other half. Right.
Okay. And the home that you were describing.
So tell me whose home that is and where those proceeds are going when it sells. The home is in a trust that's in my husband and I's name. And when we die, the proceeds are going to go to. You were talking about selling the home when you passed away, but this is your primary residence. This isn't an investment.
Correct. Primary residence. When we die, uh the kids get or the second of us, whoever dies. When we die, they're going to get the, as it stands, $300,000 in inheritance.
So, why do I need a life insurance to pay $50,000? Yeah, I would be less concerned about that because I would agree with you. The purpose here is for you all to be able to maintain your lifestyle, steward what God has entrusted to you, not pay for a life insurance policy to fund an inheritance.
Now, some people choose to do that, but that wouldn't be the approach I would take. I think the purpose of life insurance is to offset a risk, namely the loss of income and the ability to pay off debts or provide for dependents, which you don't, you have adult children now. You don't have any dependents. And I would agree with you. That passage about leaving an inheritance to our children's children, if you look at it in the full context, was really more about a spiritual inheritance than anything else.
And so it's not that you have an obligation to leave a financial inheritance to your kids. The only thing I'm hearing in your situation that causes me any pause. Is just you're very illiquid. I mean, the gold is illiquid. The home is illiquid, unless you were to do a reverse mortgage, which you could do to start pulling money out of that.
But if your income went away, my question would be: how would your husband pay the bills? And I'm assuming he would just dial up his handyman work until he could take Social Security and then just continue living modestly. Is that right? Correct. Yeah, so I mean, I think that's the key here.
So, I don't really see a need for life insurance. I mean, maybe a small policy to get you until the place, you know, you all stop working. But as long as you have a plan to cover your income, if either of you pass away, I wouldn't be paying and adding an additional expense on top of everything else for an expensive life insurance policy at this point.
So, I'd say I would agree with you. Not needed. Stay on the light. We'll talk a bit more. Thanks to Lisa, Jim, Dan, Anthony.
Certainly couldn't do this without them. Have a great weekend. We'll see you next week. Bye-bye. Faith in Finance is provided by Faith Phi and listeners like you.
