Intentional Giving

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dot com slash give. That's faithfi. dot com slash give. Now let's dive into the podcast. Every day we make decisions about money, but not every decision is made on purpose.

Hi, I'm Rob West. When it comes to generosity, most of us struggle with where to give, how much to give, and whether it really makes a difference. Today, we'll explore why intentional giving isn't just another financial habit. It's an act of discipleship that connects our resources to God's redemptive work in the world. 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 Decisions. There are endless needs around us: local churches, global missions, ministries serving the poor, organizations strengthening families, and sharing the gospel. Faced with so many opportunities, it's easy to feel overwhelmed or to default to reactive giving when a need appears in front of us. But Scripture invites us into something deeper. Ephesians two ten reminds us: For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

That means generosity isn't random; it's part of the purpose God has written into our lives. We're not just managing money; we're participating in His mission. Intentional giving begins when we realize that our work and income aren't just about survival or success. They're about joining God in meeting needs and restoring the lives of others. And when we give this way, generosity becomes one of the most exciting things we do with our money.

The Apostle Paul writes in First Timothy six eighteen and nineteen that believers are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, storing up treasure that leads to that which is truly life. Generosity connects what we have now. To what lasts forever, every intentional gift, every dollar aligned with God's heart is a present tense glimpse of His kingdom breaking into this world.

So, how do we practice intentional giving? First, we start with our local church. God designed the church to reach communities, equip believers, and advance the gospel. Supporting it isn't just tradition; it's participation in His ongoing work. From there.

We look for additional opportunities to care for the vulnerable around us. Proverbs nineteen seventeen says, "Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the Lord." Whether through local outreaches, relief efforts, or helping a neighbor in need, these gifts reflect God's compassion in practical ways. We can also invest further in spreading the gospel. Romans ten fifteen reminds us how beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news. Every gift that helps.

Someone here about the hope of Christ carries eternal impact. When we give in this way, generosity becomes a testimony. Our finances begin to tell a story about what we love, what we value, and whom we trust. And here's what makes intentional giving so powerful: it flows from grace, not guilt. Scripture reminds us that giving isn't something we do to earn God's favor.

It's a response to the favor we've already received. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart. For God loves a cheerful giver. When grace takes root, open hands follow. In other words, we don't give to become generous people; we give because God has already been generous to us.

Jesus Himself modeled this. Though rich, He became poor so that we might share in His riches. That's the foundation of all generosity: the gospel. Intentional giving simply asks, "Where is God inviting me to participate? Who has He placed in my path?

What opportunity?" Has he prepared for me in advance? Because you've been uniquely positioned with your experiences, your relationships, and your resources to make a difference in ways no one else can. When generosity becomes intentional, it reshapes how we see our money. It's no longer just income or savings. It becomes a tool for kingdom impact.

It reminds us of something profound. Giving isn't just about changing someone else's life. It changes Is ours. It loosens our grip on money, strengthens our trust in God, and aligns our hearts with His purposes. In fact, this is a major theme I explore in my devotional, "Our Ultimate Treasure: A Twenty-One Day Journey to Faithful Stewardship." One of the days is devoted entirely to intentional giving, helping you see how your generosity fits into God's bigger story and how your finances can reflect His grace and purpose.

If you Want to grow in that mindset, seeing every dollar as an opportunity to participate in God's work? I'd encourage you to pick up a copy. It's designed to help you align your heart, your habits, and your money with what matters most. You can purchase your copy or place a bulk order for your church or small group at faithfi. dot com slash shop.

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dot com slash chm. Great to have you with us today on Faith and Finance. We've got some lines open. The calls are coming in quick, but we've got room for you at the moment. If you have a financial question, call right now eight hundred five two five seven thousand.

Let's go to Elgin, Illinois. Kim, how can I help you? Thank you for taking my call. I enjoy your show. Thank you.

You're welcome. I have a question. I heard from somebody, and I don't have a lot of details. Just the fact that if if your beneficiary is disabled, and you have a trust like on your home, that you have to have a double trust because the person that you're leaving the property to is disabled. And I was wondering if you could tell me if you have any knowledge of that.

Yeah, I'm I'm not familiar with the term double trust, but perhaps this is what you're you're getting at. That's not a standard legal requirement. What you may be talking about is something called a special needs trust, and this is where someone is dependent heavily on what government benefits are available for the disabled person. And so, if a beneficiary receives what's called a means tested benefit. Like SSI or Medicaid, that's available only because of their financial situation.

Then, leaving a house or a significant asset or assets directly to that person could create benefit eligibility issues. And so, a properly drafted third-party special needs trust can allow someone else, like a parent or a relative or a homeowner, to leave assets for the disabled person's benefit. Without those trust assets generally becoming the beneficiaries' countable resources, and Social Security specifically recognizes special needs and pooled trusts as exceptions in trust rules.

So you know, there's two concepts that may be getting confused. The first is a special needs trust, you know, where someone is someone else is leaving their property to a disabled. Person, and then there's the first party special needs trust, where the the money or the property already belongs to the disabled individual.

So I would say being disabled doesn't automatically mean you need to trust. But if the beneficiary receives SSI or Medicaid, then you want an estate planning attorney who specializes in the special needs trust to review how the house is going to pass that pass. Before changing the deed or the will, if that makes sense, right? That's definitely what it is. The person is disabled on SSI and FDI, cannot work due to physical challenges.

There's just you know no way. And yet, I want to be able to leave my home to my son. That's what it's about, and there is no other, no other person to leave it to. My parents are are dead; they've passed a long time ago. I don't.

His father is in Mexico. I've been divorced from him for many, many years, so it's not somebody that I could trust to do anything like that. I don't really have anybody. Yeah, okay. But you are saying you the way you do it is getting a third party.

So that it doesn't go directly to that person. Yeah, well, just make sure there's a special needs trust.

So this is exactly the kind of situation where special needs planning matters.

So because your son receives SSI, you want to be careful about simply writing a will that says I leave my house to my son, because SSI has strict resource rules.

However, a home that is the SSI's recipient's principal residence is generally excluded as a resource.

So that doesn't automatically. Mean he loses SSI, but the bigger concern is the overall estate plan and what happens to the property and any other assets over time. And a common solution would be for you to establish a properly drafted third-party special needs trust for your son, and have your estate plan direct the house and any other assets into that trust when you die. And because these are your assets. You know, rather than already belonging to your son, this is different from a first-party special needs trust, where they already are his.

And so, this could allow him to own the house and live there. And then, when you pass away, the assets go into the special needs trust, which preserves his need-based government assistance, but still preserves these assets for his use down the road. Wow. That's a lot. Yeah, so here is the next step, just to try to simplify.

I would go visit with a an estate planning attorney who specializes in special needs trusts, and he can or she can explain exactly what it is. They can draft it for you, and then essentially that special needs trust would be what receives. Anything in your state at your death, it would be directed into that special needs trust, and the trust would be created in such a way that anything that goes into that special needs trust does not, in any way, jeopardize your son's need-based SSI or Medicaid. Wonderful! I'm glad to hear there is, you know, something that can be done because I didn't get a lot of information the person was telling me, and.

I had not ever heard of this before.

Okay. Yeah, it'd be a great thing to do. And any estate planning attorney, especially one who specializes in special needs trust, could walk you through it. There's also something called an able account, A B L E. A lot of times they're used together, and and certain special needs trust versus the able.

In some cases, you can use them for certain expenses and not others, and so that's why you often use them together. But that would be something I would visit with an estate planning attorney to. Discuss Kim. Thanks for your call today. We appreciate it.

Christine is in Illinois. Go ahead. Yes, my niece has a five twenty one plan where she's the beneficiary, and we were talking about rolling it over to a Roth IRA since she's not going to need it for college anymore. But we were told that she needed the owner of the account needed to be the owner for five years before it gets. Rolled over into an Roth IRA, and recently her mother had passed away, and the account changed ownership from her mother to me.

Does that affect this, where we have to reset the clock to go another five years? Yeah, so here's the key requirements. There's a lot of moving pieces here, and it has changed recently. But Secure Act 2.0, the the law change a few years ago, is what's made it possible to roll the unused 529 funds into a Roth.

Now, the 529 itself has to have been open for at least fifteen years. The Roth has to be in the name of the beneficiary. In this case, your niece. The rollovers. Are limited to the annual Roth IRA contribution limit each year, and the beneficiary has to have earned income in order to be able to do it.

And then there's a lifetime cap of thirty five thousand, and then contributions made within the last five years would not be eligible to be rolled over.

So yes, we do have this fifteen year requirement. We've got the five year requirement, and then we've also Got the thirty-five thousand dollar cap and the earned income test.

Now, regarding the ownership change, changing the account owner from your from her mother to you generally should not prevent the rollover. The more important questions are whether the account itself has met the fifteen year requirement and whether your niece is still the beneficiary. There's still a few questions that remain on all of this, and so you're probably going to want to check with a CPA. PA, but also you know make sure you meet that five year rule as well. Stay on the line.

We'll go over that a bit more.

Well, folks, a quick break and back with more faith and finance just around the corner. Eight hundred five two five seven thousand is the number to call. Just a couple of lines open, but we still got a lot more to come right around the corner. Stay with us. At FaithFi, we believe that money is a tool to advance God's kingdom.

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Soundmindinvesting.org. Hey, thanks for joining us today on Faith in Finance. I'm Rob West. We're taking your calls and questions today eight hundred five two five seven thousand. You can call right now.

Let's see. Let's go to Chicago, Louise. How can I help? Yes. Hi.

Thanks for taking my call. I have I recently retired in December, and I was prepared for retirement.

However, when I Turned 65, I and retired. I had to get Part B.

Now I I have some medical conditions, and I am getting hit with copayments, co-insurance that I've never heard of, and all of these expenses that are eroding my my my savings. And so I am looking desperately for a strategy on how I can at least get ahead or try to plan for these expenses. Yes. Yes, I know this can add up quickly, and and the fact that it caught you by surprise is big part of the challenge. And this is very common, by the way, Louise.

In the first year of retirement, people budget for the Medicare premium, but they don't anticipate all the other healthcare costs, deductibles, and copays, and prescriptions, and dental and vision.

So I think there's two steps here. First, figure out whether your Medicare coverage is the right setup, and then And build healthcare into the retirement budget.

So, you know, you'd want to know, you know, what you have first. Do you have just original Medicare only, or do you have Medicare plus Medigap or Medicare Advantage? I have Advantage. That's through my former employer.

Okay, you have the Medicare Advantage. Correct.

Okay. Yeah.

So the copays you're experiencing aren't necessarily a sign that something's wrong. That's largely how Medicare Advantage is structured.

So instead of paying a higher premium for more comprehensive supplemental coverage, those plans have lower premiums, but they require the copays or the coinsurance as the medical services are used. The good news is that it it has an annual out of pocket, you know, a Limit on the out-of-pocket costs for Part A and Part B services, and once you reach the limit, it's going to cover a hundred percent for the rest of the calendar year. But you got to reach the limit first.

So there's really two steps here, Louise. Step one is plan for the out-of-pocket costs now.

So look at now that you've got eight months of history, you know what you've actually spent on healthcare since retiring, and all the the the things. Copays and prescriptions and premiums and dental and vision. Use that to come up with an average monthly healthcare number and build it into your retirement budget. I realize that's easier said than done. Then find out what your Medicare Advantage plan's annual maximum out-of-pocket amount is, and then keep a separate emergency cushion so that if you have a really challenging medical year, you don't go onto the credit card.

We've got a cushion. Beyond what you're expecting, up to the max for the year, and then the second step I think is to review the plan each year during open enrollment from October fifteenth to December seventh. You're going to want to look at your current Medicare Advantage plan and compare it with the other options, and don't just compare the premiums. You want to look at the doctor and hospital network, prescription coverage, copays, deductibles, the max out-of-pocket limit. And really use that period every year to make sure your Medicare plan is still the best fit.

But at the end of the day, you know, I think the key here is we can't eliminate medical or healthcare expenses in retirement, but we can make them predictable, and that's what we're trying to do.

Okay, that sounds good.

Now, when you talked about making comparison to other plans. The Medicaid is from my employer, so I can't switch.

Okay, yeah, right, but but that won't always be the case, right?

So at some point down the road, you'd be able to have the flexibility. I don't think so.

Okay, well, if it's through your, so it's through your former employer, is that right? Yes, it is.

Okay. Yeah, you're right.

So if if you switch that, you could lose that employer benefit.

So then, in that case, you would not want to shop around because you didn't go out and and get it on the open market. And so, you know, I mean, what you could do is is figure out, you know, go back to and and try to look at the real monthly healthcare cost, try to average it out, build it in, prepare for that bad medical year up to the max, and then call. Your employer benefits office before open enrollment and say, "What choices do I have within my retiree medical coverage? Can I change plans without losing the employer benefit? If the answer is no, then yeah, you're going to need to stay right there.

But there may be other options. Oh, this is perfect! Thank you, thank you, thank you so much. Appreciation. Good information.

All right, you're welcome, Louise. God bless you. Thanks for calling. To Nebraska, hey Mike, how can I help you? Hey, thank you.

Yeah, just curious about distributing inheritance for five kids, and some of which have more needs than others, and so we tend to try to take that into consideration. And just kind of looking for a little advice from a biblical perspective on that. Yeah, well, it's a great question, and you know, I think one of the principles that Ron Blue says in his book "Splitting Errors," which, by the way, I'll send you a copy. I think it's the best book on this topic from a biblical perspective, and that'll be our gift to you. But he says, if you love your children equally, you will treat them uniquely, and that doesn't mean that we always need to, you know, have differing amounts.

Some people. You know, decide to split it up equally, and that's fine. But others will say, "Listen, understanding that an inheritance is the fuel that's going to propel the the child, or even the adult child, in the direction they're already going, is just a reality that may cause you to think about what is going to be the impact of the money on the kids, just based on where they're at in terms of their own financial and spiritual maturity beyond." That we recognize they have differing needs. You know, a single mom who's a teacher is a lot different than a married couple. You know, that's an attorney or something like that.

I'm just making that up, but you know, there are different needs that exist, and I think you take all of that into account along with, you know, what your own giving desires are. Because I think, you know, the idea that you would give a portion of this to God's kingdom if that's the way the Lord leads you is very appropriate. Doesn't all have to go to the kids, and so kind of working through that and developing a philosophy of of where we're going to leave the money and how much to each, based on some of those factors that I mentioned, and then even what can we do as an inheritance to shape? You know, maybe there's money that goes into you know a college fund for the grandkids. Maybe you're funding a donor advised fund right now to do some family giving.

Even before death, where you get the kids and/or the grandkids involved in that, so I think there's a lot of ways to go, and we don't just need to default to one strategy or another. Does that all make sense, though? Yeah, very good. Thank you very much. And that sounds like that book would be very helpful too.

Yeah, I think it'll really hit on what you're looking at here, Mike.

So let me send you a copy. It's called Splitting Ears, and if you hold on the line, my team will get your information. We'll get it right out to you. And once you read it, if If you have any other questions you want to talk through it further, don't hesitate to give me a call back.

Okay? All right. Thank you. All right, Mike. We appreciate it.

Big thanks to my team today, Jim, Devin, and Sandy. We'll see you next time. Bye bye. Faith in finances provided by Faith by and listeners like you.