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Now, let's dive into the podcast. In his book, The Screwtape Letters, C.S. Lewis wrote: Prosperity knits a man to the world. He feels that he's finding his place in it, while really it's finding its place in him. Hi, I'm Rob West.
Prosperity can be a blessing from God, but it becomes dangerous when it begins to shape our identity. Today we'll look at the story of King Hezekiah and the subtle danger of using wealth to boast. And then we'll take your calls at 800-525-7000. This is Faith in Finance, biblical wisdom for your financial decisions. There is a unique temptation that comes with wealth.
It isn't always the temptation to spend too much or save too little.
Sometimes it's simply the urge to show it off. To let it speak for us, to let it say, look how successful I am, look how secure I am, look how important I've become. That temptation is not new. We see it in the life of King Hezekiah. Hezekiah was one of Judah's better kings.
Scripture says he trusted in the Lord, removed idols, and led the people back toward faithful worship. When Jerusalem was threatened by Assyria, Hezekiah prayed and God miraculously delivered the city. Around that same time he became gravely ill, and God mercifully extended his life by fifteen years.
So Hezekiah had much to testify about. He had seen God's mercy. He had experienced God's deliverance. He had literally been spared from death. But then came a test.
2 Kings chapter 20 tells us that envoys arrived from Babylon after hearing about Hezekiah's illness. They brought letters and a gift, and Hezekiah welcomed them. Verse 13 says, He showed them all his treasure house: the silver, the gold, the spices, the precious oil, his armory, all that was found in his storehouses. There was nothing in his house or in all his realm that Hezekiah did not show them. Think about that.
There was nothing he did not show them. Hezekiah had a golden opportunity to point these visitors to the God who had healed and delivered him. Instead, he opened his vault, he allowed his wealth to become his testimony. His failure wasn't having treasure. It was that he magnified what he owned rather than the God who gave it.
Later, the prophet Isaiah came to Hezekiah and asked a piercing question. What did these men see in your house? Hezekiah proudly answered, They have seen all that is in my house. There is nothing in my storehouses that I did not show them. Isaiah's response was sobering.
He told the king that the very wealth he just displayed would one day be carried off as plunder to Babylon. What a powerful warning for us. Isaiah's rebuke hits at the very heart of stewardship. Hezekiah boasted of his wealth as if it were his, completely forgetting the God who gave it to him. He treated God's miraculous provision as a monument to his own success.
It reminds us that wealth becomes spiritually toxic the moment we look at what we have and say, look what I built, instead of look what God did. Jeremiah 9:23 says, Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might. Let not the rich man boast in his riches. We are all tempted to boast in whatever makes us feel strong, whether it's our intelligence, our influence, or our net worth. But verse 24 continues, But let him who boasts boasts in this, that he understands and knows me.
That's the better boast. Not what we own, not what we've earned, not what we've built. Our only true boast is that we know the Lord, the God of steadfast love, justice, and righteousness.
So, what does this mean for us as modern-day stewards?
Well, first, we have to ask whether our wealth is creeping into our identity. There's nothing wrong with enjoying God's provision, but that provision should always lead us toward deep gratitude, never the self-righteous belief that we earned it. Second, we have to check what our possessions are pointing to. A home, a car, a vacation, or a lifestyle can easily become a subtle way of saying, look at me. Faithful stewardship flips the script and says, Everything I have has been entrusted to me by God.
And third, practice hidden faithfulness. In Matthew 6, Jesus warns against doing things to be praised by others, reminding us that faithfulness is about God being glorified, not us. The Apostle Paul brings all this into perspective in 1 Corinthians 4:7 when he asks, What do you have that you did not receive? It's a truth that keeps our hearts grounded. Wealth is a tool for God's kingdom, not a trophy for our ego.
It's a gift, but it is not our glory.
So if we're going to boast, may we boast in the one who gave it all to us. All right, your calls are next. Here's the number 800-525-7000. That's 800-525-7000. I'm Rob West, and we'll be right back.
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SMI provides step-by-step guidance for do-it-yourself investors, from those just getting started to those getting ready for retirement. More information, including a short video webinar on profit and peace of mind no matter what's happening in the market, is available at soundmindinvesting.org. Hey, great to have you with us today on Faith and Finance. We'd love to hear from you. 800-525-7000.
We're going to head out to Texas. Brett, go ahead. Yes, hey, thanks for taking my close. Might be a kind of a broad question. I'm just kind of looking for some guidance.
My situation is my mom, eighty eight years old. My dad's been dead for over a decade. They've had a financial advisor for decades that my dad was very actively engaged with And since my dad's passing, my mom. It's not anywhere near. or anything like that.
However, she just signs things. And uh So I have this concern Not just MP concern, there's been a few things which I won't take time. describe But I'm just kind of looking for some guidance on how to monitor that. Uh danger signs. to look for and that kind of thing in in terms of what I can do or what I can't do.
So. Yeah, yeah, I'd be happy to weigh in on that. I'm delighted to hear you're walking alongside your mom in this. What is it? What are those red flags that you're seeing?
I could talk about just some general ones, but what is it that's giving you pause?
Well, there were some general ones. One was she was reviewing the will. And at the last minute, she firewalled myself and my younger brother, which are the only two children she has remaining. Uh the condition from I think it was the financial advisor saying that They also, after my dad passed away, tried to get her involved in this long-term disability thing. And my dad left her a good amount of money.
She's in a nice. assisted care type of place. Uh, now, so there was no reason for it. In fact, my dad kind of pushed against it: said, I left you, I left money, you don't need to do that kind of thing.
So, they were pushing that.
So it's just there's been enough things and there's there's a few more like that. It's brought me uh some concern.
So Just need uh some help on how to deal with that. Yeah, yeah. And have you raised this with your mom at this point? Have you had this conversation with her at all? Yeah, I have, and she's basically saying that I can see any of the information.
However, when I go to approach them, I'm getting pushback So I think I have some inroads. I'm still working that. But uh I gotta believe There's a lot of people dealing with this. Yeah. There's some danger signs and things like that.
I just want to get a little bit more wise and what to look for, and that kind of thing. Oh, that's great. I think this is really helpful. Here's what I would look for. I mean, these are not small issues, last-minute will changes, excluding family, unnecessary products, emotional influence.
So I would be looking for changes that benefit the advisor.
So, is the advisor or someone connected to them named in the will, receiving gifts or control? Are the assets being moved into products with high commissions, either insurance or annuities? Are there sudden or secretive changes?
So, you're describing a bit of that, but documents change quickly or under pressure. She doesn't understand what she's signing. She's discouraged from talking to you or getting a second opinion. Any isolation tactics, so the advisor becomes the only voice she trusts. You know, if there's messages like, and you may not know this is happening, but your family doesn't understand or this is urgent, you need to act now.
If there's a mismatch between needs and recommendations, so you know, long-term care can make sense if it fits, but again, certain insurance products may not be necessary and are just to generate commissions. And if there's lack of clarity, so I would stay relational, don't accuse, but invite conversation. Would try to get visibility, ask to review will and estate docs and account statements and insurance or annuity contracts. And then I think bring in a fiduciary advisor who's a neutral third party, just a set of eyes for peace of mind, is the way it could be positioned. I think, if possible, if your mom would be willing, attend a meeting, sit in with the advisor, ask direct but calm questions.
How does this benefit mom at this age? What are the fees and commissions? And then I think, you know, if you find any of those things going on, then you need to escalate by either talking to the firm's compliance department or, you know, your state's securities regulator, any of those. But the goal is to protect her and ensure her true wishes are honored. And that may require you to be firm, but of course, respectful and act with some urgency here.
Does that make sense? Yes, it makes a lot of sense. And I had looked at the update to the will, and there were some really crazy things in there where a lawyer is involved and a lot of pages of the will were just related to him and how money would flow and all that, and it would have to go through him. for the estate. And so that was one of those kind of odd changes that really didn't I couldn't understand any kind of strategy with it.
And wh when I saw that change, my mom said, You know, I described some of those. I wasn't saying, What did you do this for? I was saying, Did you realize it was this way? No, I didn't know it was that way.
Well, did is that the way you want it? No, I don't want it that way. I don't And that was the discussion on the will update that I was my brother and I was firewalled off from. Otherwise, we would have been there and heard that and said, well, okay, and I'm very calm. I say, okay, well there you must have some strategy in mind.
What is it? And there's no way my mom even remembers if there was a strategy discussed But it's those kinds of things that are kind of bringing and bringing up that, you know, second. Third party Educated third party that the fiduciary can look at. I think that's a great idea. That's probably something I really need to do.
Well, especially if your mom is on board with this and not kind of pushing back and saying, no, this is either none of your business or this is what I want. I mean, the fact that she's saying, no, I didn't understand that. No, that's not what I want. That means, you know, there's some confusion here. You know, perhaps, you know, they're pushing for things she doesn't understand or doesn't need.
And that's where hopefully you can get an inroad with your mom to say, hey, it never hurts to get a second opinion here. Can we just have somebody who would be sitting on the same side of the table as you, who'd be legally bound to always act in your best interest, to just review these things and make sure that this is, in fact, the way it needs to be? And if not, why? And that may be just there is a misunderstanding or a difference of strategy, or it may be something far more serious. And obviously, we need to know the answer to that.
Yep, great. Great advice. Appreciate that. Brad, we appreciate your call. You sound like a great son.
And I know your mom, even if she doesn't fully understand it today, hopefully will over time with you getting more involved here. God bless you, my friend. To Virginia we go. Hi, Vicki. How can I help?
Hi, thank you for taking my call. We have a HELOC, and it matures about two years after our mortgage will be paid off. And we had to recently use it and the people at the bank said, Best case scenario is to always hold on open a HELOC at least after you pay off your house. And that will be a red flag in case someone tries to use your house or get a loan off of your house in a fraudulent situation. Would you recommend that?
Or do you agree with that? Or is it just the bank trying to make us spend more money? Yeah, you know, I wouldn't leave a HELOC open for that reason. I mean, if you're concerned about a fraudulent title transfer, which we're hearing more about lately just because there's companies that offer, quote, title lock insurance, even though it's a misnomer, there is no such thing as insurance against fraud. And so what I would say is if you're concerned about that, I'd call your county records office and see if you can put an alert on your title that would allow them to notify you if there was any changes or any request for changes.
But with regard to that HELOC, if it's paid off and you're not planning on using it, I don't see any reason. To keep that open, it's probably just sitting there as an enticement for you all to spend money, which I wouldn't want you to do unless you'd really thought through it and prayed through how you're going to use it.
So, I would say if you're ready to close that down because you don't have a use for it, I would do it without looking back. And I certainly wouldn't leave it open just because it will prevent somebody from trying to steal your title.
Okay, okay. Thank you so much. All right, Vicki, thanks for your call today. Back with more questions after this. Stick around.
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NMLS number 39179. For licensing information, visit NMLSconsumerAccess.org. 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. Call right now. You can get right through.
800-525-7,000. We'll probably have room for two or three more questions before we round out the broadcast today. Again, 800-525-7,000. You can call right now. Let's go to North Carolina, Deborah.
How can I help? Yes, sir. Thanks for taking my call. I just needed to know about a trust fund. Um if I get a million dollar life insurance, and put into the trust fund, let's say like I pay $200 a month.
And then I borrow from the trust fund. Is this a possibility? How do the trust fund work? And also, how to go about getting a trust fund. Yeah.
So let's make sure we're describing clearly what we're talking about, because a life insurance policy and a trust are two different things.
So life insurance pays a death benefit when you pass away. A trust is a legal structure that holds and distributes assets.
Now you can combine them, but they serve different roles.
So you may be referring to what's called an irrevocable life insurance trust. Which the trust owns the life insurance policy, and the death benefit goes into the trust when you pass away, and then it gets distributed to heirs. You know, can you take money out? Usually, no, if it's set up correctly, if it's in fact what's called an eyelet, this irrevocable life insurance trust. But let me just try to clarify: could that be what you're referring to, or are you thinking something else?
No, I'm thinking something else about. But I think you answered my question as far as a trust fund. A trust fund, you can't do that with the trust fund, correct? Yeah, so if it's a revocable trust, you know, that is a different, you know, tool altogether. I mean, that's a legal structure that holds your assets during your lifetime and passes them on after death, but you keep full control.
So you can change it, you can revoke it, you can use the money. Can you take money out of it? Yes, absolutely. If it's a revocable trust, you would be the trustee.
So you're in control and you're also the beneficiary. You use the money.
So you can withdraw it at any time. You can use it for anything you want. And the reason people use these trusts is. to avoid probate. To manage your assets.
Your trustee, your successor trustee would manage your assets. If you became incapacitated, you had not passed away, but you were incapacitated, somebody could step in and manage.
So they can be very effective to have both anonymity and effective wealth transfer outside of the cost and time that comes with probate. And yes, you can put money in and take it out at will. You know, so if that's what you're talking about, yes, that could serve the purpose you're describing.
Okay. But the life insurance will not be beneficial to get a life insurance. Just For the purpose. putting it in the trust fund and try to borrow from it, correct? No, yes.
So typically what would happen is a revocable trust is named as the beneficiary of a life insurance policy. but it doesn't create any income during your lifetime. The death benefit of the life insurance only pays after you pass away, and it goes to the trust to then be distributed according to the trust documents.
Sounds great. Thank you so kind.
Okay, you're welcome. Thank you for calling, Deborah. Let's go out to Texas. Philip, how can I help? How's it going?
Quick question. I am fifty years old. I have no four hundred one, so to speak. I'm in a company right now. I'm matching their six percent.
I have a small amount in a Roth from a different company. Yeah, some bad choices, bad things happen when you're young. Uh I have roughly about $200 extra each month. I have five, six thousand dollars in an emergency fund right now. Where should I be putting this 200?
Should I be putting in an emergency fund? Should I try in the stock market? Try to start, you know. getting some some capital gains so I can Create a retirement plan or spread for the lottery. It's a good.
No, I wouldn't go with that last option.
So, you have a 401k, and you said your company offers a generous 6% match. Is that right? Yes, and I am matching that. And you are matching that.
Okay, so that's great.
So if you're putting in 6% and getting up a 6% match, you've got 12% going into retirement. And although I understand that you feel like you're behind, and you may be, just in terms of where you ultimately want to be when you transition away from paid work down the road, 12% is a pretty good amount for you to have going into your retirement.
So that's a good thing. I'd stay consistent there. You said you have a $5,000 to $6,000 emergency phone. What are your expenses on a monthly basis? Uh 800 for a truck payment that I have uh a warranty for one hundred fifty thousand miles for ten years, so I'm good with that.
And other than that, just insurance. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. So if you put it all together, food and miscellaneous and utilities and all of it, how much do you think you're spending?
$2,000, $3,000 a month, more than that? About $2,000, $2,200, somewhere in there. Yeah. All right. Let's say it's $2,500.
I mean, I'd love for you to have at a minimum three months' worth of emergency savings.
So that's going to be $7,500.
So if you're at $5,000 to $6,000, I think for now, I would take that $200 a month and keep plowing it away until you get to $7,500. Then beyond that, I think once you've, you know, now that you've fully maxed out your 401k, I like the idea of you alongside that trying to fully fund your Roth, especially once your emergency fund is in place. But I would start with the emergency fund now until you get to somewhere between $700 and $7,500, and then maybe pivot back to the Roth at that point with that surplus up to the annual contribution limit each year. Does that make sense? Okay, yeah, is that at one time, like save until the end of the year, or is that each month I can pay into a raw?
Oh, you can do it whatever you want. You can do up to the annual contribution limit, which is $7,500 for this year. If you're 50 and older, you can do an extra $1,100. And you can do that however you want. You can do that monthly, you can do it weekly, you can do it one-time.
It just, you can only go up to the limit, and it has to be done by the time you file that year's taxes. But they don't care how frequently you put that in.
Okay. All right. Thank you for your information. I appreciate it. All right.
Absolutely.
Well, folks, that's going to do it for us. We covered a lot of ground today. I'm so thankful for the opportunity to come alongside you to talk about our role as stewards, to look to God's word, to encourage one another and realize that as we see God as our ultimate and true treasure, well, money changes its entire focus. It becomes a means to an end to accomplish God's purposes. And that's what we want to encourage you in as we gather together on this program each day.
Hey, check out the Faith Buy app. You can download it today and set up your spending plan. FaithBy.com. Just click app on behalf of my team, Jim Henry, Devin Patrick, or Robert Youngblood. I'm Rob West.
This has been Faith and Finance. Come back and join us tomorrow. We'll see you then. Bye-bye. Faith in Finance is provided by Faith By and listeners like you.
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