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Movement Mortgage LLC supports equal housing opportunity. An MLS number three nine one seven nine. For licensing information, visit NMLSConsumerAccess. dot org. What book of the Bible reminds us that life is short and that wisdom means making the most of the time God has given us?
What is it? I am Rob West. If you guessed Ecclesiastes, you're right. This remarkable book reminds us that life under the sun is fleeting, but what lies beyond it is eternal. Today, we'll explore what Ecclesiastes can teach us about money, meaning, and living with eternity.
And view, and then it's on to your calls at eight hundred five two five seven thousand. This is faith and finance: biblical wisdom for your financial journey.
Well, as we dive into Ecclesiastes, we'll discover a recurring theme that challenges us to think deeply about life's purpose. Let me give you a powerful illustration. Mount Everest is the highest mountain on Earth, rising to over 29,000 feet, or nearly the cruising height of a modern jet. Anyone standing at the top is higher than every other person alive on the face of our planet. The allure of the climb.
Attracts many climbers every year, but the trip is, of course, dangerous, expensive, and lengthy. No summit attempt was ever successful until the nineteen fifties. Life-giving air is notably absent at twenty-six thousand feet. Climbers are said to enter the death zone above. There is simply not enough oxygen to sustain human life, no matter how well trained the climber may be.
Oxygen bottles are typically required to survive long enough to. Summit and return for the final stage. The climber's body is fighting for life, and will lose that fight if enough time passes at such extreme altitudes. They generally have just five minutes or three hundred seconds.
So, how do you think a climber ought to spend that precious five minutes?
Well, you can imagine one climber complaining about their injured ankle, which still hurts, then mentioning that they hate this thin air. Another. Wiser climber faces the situation differently. They praise God for the beauty of creation and the rare chance to conquer something so huge, which climbers spent their moment the right way.
Well, Ecclesiastes teaches us that your life is like having five minutes on the summit. You just got here, and you aren't going to be here long. Many have come before you, and many will come after. But right now, you're here.
Sometimes your brief stay is blessed with sunshine. And calm. Other times, you'll face icy wind and cloud cover.
Sometimes, you're able to cherish the moment. Other times, conditions don't allow for it. You might feel great, or you may be nursing an aching injury. But in any case, you're alive. You're on the summit for five precious minutes, and you get this one chance to live.
Ecclesiastes reminds us to embrace every single moment we're given. Very soon, the expedition leader, God, is going to tap. Each of us on the shoulder and say, "I know you might want to stay here longer, but it's time to leave now." Ecclesiastes reaches out to grab our face with two hands, looks us in the eye, and urgently implores, "You have just five minutes. Stop wasting time. Stop being distracted by what doesn't matter.
Take it all in. Fear God, love others, enjoy this moment." In Ecclesiastes chapter twelve, Solomon writes in verse one, "Remember also your creation." In the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near, of which you will say, "I have no pleasure in them." And picking up at verse six, before the silver cord is snapped, or the golden bowl is broken, or the pitcher is shattered at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern, and the dust returns to the earth as it was, the spirit returns to God who gave it. Vanity of vanities, says the preacher, all is vanity. Ecclesiastes asks us to think about death honestly and carefully. Surprisingly, though, we are to remember death so that we can be more joyful in life.
If I know I have to leave the summit soon, I'm going to treasure every moment. If I know death is coming, I'll be thankful to be alive. The book continually reminds us that we will age, decline, and die. In fact, death is mentioned in eleven out of its twelve chapters. Have you ever considered that you will one day face the challenges of aging and dying?
Ecclesiastes reminds us of this with colorful, creative metaphors in the poem found in chapter twelve, verses one through eight. It describes with humor and realism how our bodies decline in their function as we approach the end of our time on Earth. The goal of this focus on our future decline is not to make us feel depressed, but rather to help us realize. That today is a gift. If you're alive and hearing these words, you are still enjoying your five minutes on the summit.
Well, we've only scratched the surface of the wisdom Ecclesiastes offers us about money, meaning, and what truly lasts. If you'd like to go deeper, check out our study "Wisdom Over Wealth: Twelve Lessons from Ecclesiastes on Money." You can pick up your copy or place a bulk order for your church or small group at FaithFi.com/shop. Back with more after this. If budgeting feels like a second job, the new FaithFi Pro was built just for you. It learns your spending patterns, categorizes your transactions, and helps you build a budget based on your real life.
Plus, scripture readings and biblical devotionals help you manage God's money, God's way. Try FaithFi Pro free for thirty days and lock in twenty five percent off a pro subscription. Download the FaithFi app from your app store or at faithfi.com. That's faithfi.com/app. 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. Available at praxisinvest.com. Thanks for joining us today on Faith in Finance.
All right, we're ready to turn the corner today. Here is what we have for the rest of the program. We're of course going to be taking your questions. If you have something on your mind, financially speaking, we'd love to hear from you. That number eight hundred five two five seven thousand again, eight hundred five two five seven thousand.
Our team is standing by, and you can call right now. All right, let's jump into your questions today. Martha from Illinois, go right ahead. Hi Rob, thanks for taking my call. Sure, I'm hoping you can point me in the right direction here.
I'll certainly try. Thank you. I've just had a vision to develop a small housing community for people who are in my community who are struggling with being underhoused or homeless, and I I really feel like God's calling me to look more into it and how I can do that.
So I've done some research, and I realize I probably need to raise about five million dollars to purchase land and about twenty-five to thirty small homes to to help people in this area. I live in a very affluent area. I think it's I think it's possible to raise that kind of Money, but I don't know where to start or how to get started.
So I'm I'm hoping you can give me some direction about that. Like I don't do I start a 501c3? Can I ask my church to use their 501? Like I'm just like, what are my options? Yes, it's a great question.
First of all, I love the vision. I think this idea that you want to serve those that are in this a particular area of need is is remarkable, and it would likely be a nonprofit.
So you would have to form a five hundred one c three public charity. That's not for the faint of heart, but it doesn't shouldn't discourage you in any way. I would also just given what you're seeking to do. I would reach out to the Chalmers Institute. Chalmers is probably the leader in thinking through how you work with and address poverty, and certainly homelessness goes kind of along with that.
And taking a relational approach and really dealing with the whole person and how you come alongside them in a way that's respectful and leads to lasting change. I think the Chalmers Institute has done the deepest work. On that, they have curriculum that's available for churches, and they're just doing some really great thinking in that area.
So I would check that out. You'll find it with a quick Google search. You know, if this is going to become a permanent independent ministry or an organization with its own staff, programs, property, fundraising, yeah, establishing a separate nonprofit makes sense.
So that means forming the nonprofit corporation under state law.
So you'd have to establish a board. The governing documents form the corporation, file the articles of incorporation, get the EIN number, and then you would have to apply to the IRS for recognition under the 501c3, which is Form 1023, and you know that would allow someone to make contributions to the organization and get a tax deduction.
Now, I would strongly recommend you use a nonprofit attorney or a CPA with extensive Experience in this, because you know, getting that form ten twenty three filled out properly, somebody who has experience in that area is a game changer. We just recently formed a new nonprofit entity here at Kingdom Advisors for a separate purpose. We were able to get it through in five weeks, but we used an attorney who really specializes in this area.
So, give me your thoughts on all that, Martha. No, it sounds great, and it's definitely some direction that I've needed. I've wondered about that because I know it requires some work on the on the back end, and I do happen to have a lot of experience working in this field, and is I I'm encouraged that there are other communities doing similar things. And one of the things I I wanted to like my long longer term plan was to be able to develop a template or a model for other communities who would like to do something similar. But I do have another question.
You, if you have time, sure, go ahead.
So, you know, in considering the avenues that I would have to appeal to donors, um. I just wanted to know your thoughts about how to appeal to donors for large portions of maybe their income that they need to avoid being in higher tax brackets. That like, where could I go to find people who need to get rid of money so they can be in lower tax brackets? You know, yeah. Here, here's what I would say to that.
Although it's it's nice to be able to get a tax incentive with our giving, people don't give for tax incentives. They give based on their vision, and it's ultimately based on their vision, especially for Christ followers, in a way that intersects with with your passions, the deep needs of the world, and the heart of God. And so, I think you know the very best thing you can do is create a really clear. Vision for the problem that this ministry will solve, and how you will do that in a thoughtful way that leads to real life change and tangible outcomes. How you will steward the money well.
Why you are an expert, or you can surround yourself with experts in doing this. How you're going to report the results that you're going to see, and why you're going to be able to do it in the name of Jesus in a way that furthers the the gospel. And and you know, kingdom, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
So, I don't think you appealing to someone to kind of help them out from a tax standpoint is going to do it. I think it's really about the mission and the measurable impact and the trustworthy stewardship in a way that that lines up with God's heart in Scripture. That really is going to be the driver. Yeah, well, that makes absolute sense. I would just need to get the word out there and just see who God brings on board.
If he's, he'll be the one who's doing this. There's going to be nothing in me. I think that's right, and perhaps start with a board of directors. You know, there's different types of boards of directors. There's, you know, I've been on boards before that are what you would call wisdom boards, where you know that's a fully functioning ministry and it has you know figured out its business model and and you know revenue generation and so forth, and the board is really just there to provide wisdom.
You have worker boards where you know they're in the mission with you, doing the tangible. Work on a day-to-day basis, and then you have funding boards, which are boards that have caught the vision, that have financial capacity, and they're willing as a part of their role on the board to come alongside you and provide significant funding because they believe in you as the leader, they believe in the the vision of the organization, and perhaps starting with that core group that would catch this vision, that would be willing and have the ability to write some big checks, who could also you know potentially. Come onto your board now. You need to make sure that the right board members that aren't just trying to control the organization through their giving. They have a real heart for it.
They're willing to, you know, stay in their lane because boards really aren't supposed to dip down into operations. But you know that might be a good starting place with a core group of donors that could come alongside you. And perhaps you start praying that God would make that, you know, clear that there is a group of people who are willing to support this as one evidence. That you should take the next step. That sounds amazing.
I'm so grateful for your input. I had a lot to think about. Absolutely. In the meantime, and and perhaps you've done this because you said you have some experience, but you know maybe a starting point is to be a part of an organization who's already doing this well in your area, where you could you know get in, get you you know get into some of this ministry work, and you know maybe they want to expand. Maybe you could you know just lend.
Your support to what they're already doing without having to form a new organization.
Now, at the end of the day, maybe the Lord absolutely leads you to start something new, and I wouldn't for a moment say that that's not where He's leading. But I would just go slow and let Him confirm that along the way. Martha, we appreciate your call today. May the Lord bless you. All right, a quick break, and then back with your questions: eight hundred five two five seven thousand.
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Now let's go back to the phones. Carol is in Michigan. Carol, how can I help you? Hi. Thanks for taking my call.
I'm 60, and my husband is 63. And right now we are living in, I guess what I call a money pit, and we feel like we're being forced to move out. And we're going to be going into an apartment. The issue is we have not a lot of money. We have about 3,600 dollars between the two of us.
I get Social Security disability, and and then also my husband's income. Our apartment would be something like 1,100 dollars a month. When we sell our house, if we decide to do that, we'd be getting probably two hundred and forty thousand dollars after realtor expenses and all that. And I guess I'm wondering a couple things. Wondering about an annuity, if that's a good idea, and also I talked to a fiduciary advisor, who said he would charge like a one point two five percent fee per year to help us come up with a plan.
So I'm just kind of wondering if either one of these things are a good idea or what we should do. Yeah.
Well, I appreciate that, and and the nice thing is when you get out of the house, you're calling the money pit, and I understand how frustrating that can be and how expensive it is. You know, it's a great time for you to take a breath and formulate that plan moving forward as to what does your financial foundation look like. How do we make sure we have enough in emergency savings? How do we make sure we have a budget where we're living within our means so you're not taking on any debt, but we're also prioritizing things like in addition. Just the monthly bills, you know.
Are we able to give regularly at a level that we're happy with? Are we saving for the future? Maybe you have a company plan at work, or you could form your own retirement plan if you don't already have one. But are you putting something into it? And then with the two hundred forty thousand that you would have net, I would probably not do anything right away until you know what your future plans hold to the best of your ability.
Because, for instance, you know, if you all. Decided, let's say in the next three years you'd like to buy a home.
Well, that's going to dramatically change what we do with the two hundred and forty thousand. Versus you saying, no, we don't have any plans to buy another house in the next five plus years. You know, one of the downsides to the annuity is the money becomes illiquid. Meaning that you can't access it without some significant surrender charges, at least in the early years of that annuity.
So, although it can provide some guaranteed income and some guaranteed returns, there's always a cost to guarantees, and the cost is going to come in the form of either illiquid illiquidity, meaning you can't get to the money, as I just said, or secondly, you're going to have to give up some of the upside. On the other hand, the fiduciary that you talked about, which just simply means he's an advisor or she is that is legally obligated to put your interests above his or her own in terms of how they manage the money or the products they recommend. Could manage this money for you, help you grow it, but also make sure you have access to it.
However, if you think you want to get to this money in the next five years to buy a home, we don't want to invest it. We probably want to put it in things like money market and CDs, because what if four and a half years from now the market heads down because we're in a recession and that portfolio that fiduciary is managing for you is down thirty percent, and now all of a sudden you're trying. To sell the stocks to buy a home, you could take a pretty significant loss, and so that's why we need to match the investments to the time horizon.
So, let me stop there and just kind of get your thoughts on maybe what the next three to five years holds in your mind.
Well, we wouldn't be looking to buy another home because the house we have right now is quite old, and a couple realtors have already told us that if we bought anything smaller, or I don't know, we'd have double taxes from what we have now because I've lived here so long, which we couldn't afford. Because once the realtors' fees are taken out, we're going to have to buy a smaller home or less expensive, I should say.
So we're not wanting to do that again because that would be more problems. We're pretty much planning on staying in an apartment. Just because of the stress, and I'm on disability, and I, my husband's not what you would call a handyman, so I've been doing it. I've been hurting myself doing it, and the stress of it's killing me.
So, I just feel like we have to get out. I can't take it anymore.
Okay. All right.
Well, I certainly appreciate that, and and I guess you know, given what you're describing here, I mean, I want to make sure we don't get in what we call a binary trap, where we say, you know, apartment or home that's dilapidated and needs a lot of work. You know, maybe there's a third option. Maybe there's a a townhouse that you buy that's a little newer, maybe a little smaller, but allows you to buy something that you could own, you know, that you would have a little more control over, and you're not. You know, at the whim of whatever happens with the rent from your landlord, and you could have something that appreciates over time.
So, I just want to make sure that yeah, I think it sounds like you need to get out of this home. You all need to take a deep breath, get your financial footing under you, and you know you've got some stress that's built up. And you know, I realize there's a little bit of lingering effect to what you've been experiencing, but you know, let's say. You get to a better place, and you are ready to buy something that you own. Again, maybe it's not a single-family home, maybe it's a townhome.
You know, I just want to make sure that the investment strategy matches the possible plans you might have over the next five years, and that we don't get locked into something that could limit the decisions you can make in the future.
So, I think connecting with a certified kingdom advisor makes sense to do some planning. Figure out what your income sources are going to be in retirement. Figure out how to manage this two hundred and forty thousand between now and whenever you know you decide if, in fact, apartment living is your long term plan. You know, then this could be managed in such a way that maybe it becomes an income stream for you over time. I mean, I I could see us reasonably pulling out five percent a year, you know, which is a thousand a month from the two hundred forty thousand.
That could supplement your disability or Social Security, and that could be a real blessing. And that's very possible with the right money manager, who's prioritizing safety and income, but could also generate a reasonable rate of return for you.
So, I think you're right. I think the advisor is the next step. I just wouldn't lock this up in an insurance product, given some of the uncertainties of what the future may hold.
Okay, so kind of wait and thinking about an annuity and maybe invest in other things. Then I think that's right, and I think as a part of the planning process to determine what are your income sources in the future, what does your budget look like? Where are you guys ultimately going to settle? Is it something that you might buy that's smaller, a townhome? Is it apartment living for the foreseeable future?
Then I think you can determine what investments to buy in the meantime. I'd probably stay with things like CDs. And money market. The good news is those things are paying four and five percent right now. That's a blessing.
So you can have a high degree of safety, have predictable liquidity, still get a reasonable rate of return, and buy yourself some time.
So over the next twelve months, maybe you make that decision as to where you think the Lord may be leading you. All you know, longer term, five to ten years plus, and that's where an advisor could really shine. Perhaps it's the one you know. Maybe you find another to consider at findacka dot com. But I think in either case, getting some professional counsel makes a lot of sense, and they can help you in managing the money.
Carol, thanks for your call today. Big thanks to my team today: Josh, Jim, Omar, Tahira. If you want to support us, become a partner at faithfi dot com slash partner. We'll see you tomorrow. Faith in finance is provided by Faith by and listeners like you.
