Shoes Make Hope Shine

When you leave the house, one of the last things you do is something you take entirely for granted, putting on a pair of shoes. Hi, I'm Rob West.

That simple act isn't possible for millions of children in dozens of countries around the world because they have no shoes. Sean Spurrier joins us today to talk about how you can help. And then it's on to your calls at 800-525-7000.

That's 800-525-7000. This is Faith and Finance Live, biblical wisdom for your financial decisions. Well, we're delighted to have Sean Spurrier on the program for the first time. Sean is director of Buckner Shoes for Orphaned Souls, an underwriter of this program. And I'm so excited to share this ministry with you. Sean, great to have you on the program. It's great to be here.

Thank you so much. Sean, you have a wonderful ministry, but it's possible that some of our listeners haven't heard of it. So why don't you begin with a brief overview of the ministry and its mission? Absolutely. So Buckner Shoes for Orphaned Souls is the largest humanitarian aid project of Buckner International, where our mission is to follow the example of Jesus by serving vulnerable children, families and seniors. And one of the ways that we get to do that is through Buckner Shoes for Orphaned Souls, where we come alongside believers and churches and businesses and families throughout the U.S. to provide new shoes for children throughout the world.

I love that. Let's talk about how that works. I know shoes are critical for not only health, but education and even opportunity, especially in underdeveloped countries.

So explain how that works. Absolutely. So in many of the countries we work in, children can't go to school without having a pair of shoes. And so we're promoting education through providing that gift. Additionally, there are many footborne illnesses in some of the communities we work in that are entirely preventable from having a pair of shoes.

And so we get to promote health in that way. And finally, many of the shoes we distribute provide an opportunity for Buckner Ministries to meet and come alongside children and families in their community, providing redemptive ministry for them right there. I know that paves the way for sharing the gospel. What does that look like as you're providing these shoes? You know, well, again, every pair of shoes is an opportunity to directly connect the child and let them know that they're loved, they're cared for, and they're not forgotten by us or by God.

Additionally, every pair of shoes will have an encouraging note to them, often expressing the love of Christ for them. And then again, like I said, every pair of shoes is often a start of a relationship between the recipient and Buckner Ministries where Christ-centered redemptive ministry is being done. I'd love for you to share a story that might help our listeners connect how donations to Buckner Shoes for Orphaned Souls can actually change the lives of these kids around the globe. Yeah, you know, I think of Cynthia in Kenya, a little 12 year old that I just recently learned about. She lost both of her parents and was not only struggling with the emotional and relational trauma that comes with that, but also extreme poverty. She recently received a pair of shoes at her school, which is operated by Buckner, and that opened the door for our staff to learn more about her story and her needs. She's now in Buckner programming, she's thriving, growing in her confidence and her faith. And one fun component to this is that she's kind of emerged in her confidence and she just recently became the deputy president of her school, all because someone carried a burden for their neighbor by providing a pair of shoes.

Wow, that's incredible. Give us a picture of what the shoe distribution looks like. Take us on the ground and just kind of paint the picture for our listeners on how this happens. Yeah, so quite often on these distributions, sometimes they're happening on mission trips and volunteers will very regularly end up with a child, they will literally wash their feet or follow the example of Jesus in that way. Give them a new pair of shoes, a new pair of socks, and just spend time with them to let them know that they're loved and they're cared for. And again, often this is a moment to introduce them to programming that will continue to reinforce that message for them.

Sean, this is incredible. If our listeners want to get involved, what does it look like for them to put a pair of shoes on a vulnerable child's feet somewhere around the globe? You know, there are a variety of ways that you can get involved with Buckner Shoes, but I would encourage your listeners today to visit GiveShoesToday.org where they can provide health, education, hope, and opportunity through the gift of shoes right now. Every $15 will provide a pair of shoes for a child somewhere throughout the world. That's incredible. Folks, it's so simple to do. GiveShoesToday.org and you can be a part of this life-changing ministry where not only is hope and health and opportunity being provided, but the gospel of Jesus Christ is being provided alongside this new pair of shoes for a vulnerable child.

GiveShoesToday.org. Sean, thanks for stopping by. Thank you so much for having me.

That's Sean Spurrier, Director of Buckner Shoes for Orphaned Souls. All right, folks, your calls are next, 800-525-7000. We'll be right back. The opinions offered during this program represent the personal or professional opinions of the participants given for informational purposes only.

Any information provided is not intended to replace advice from a financial, medical, legal, or other professional who understands your specific situation. Well, thanks for joining us today on Faith and Finance Live. I'm Rob West. What a joy to have my friend Sean Spurrier with Buckner Shoes for Orphaned Souls here today. You know, folks, we love to introduce you to giving opportunities. We talk about giving so often here on this program because I believe it's a part of God's plan for the resources he has entrusted to us. We want to be in part a pipeline where God's provision flows through us into God's activity.

Clearly, that's to the local church, but I think it's also beyond that to those things that are on the heart of God. Clearly, the ministry of God's mercy for widows and orphans would be included in that. What a simple and yet compelling ask with Buckner Shoes for Orphaned Souls today. 42,000 children in underdeveloped parts of the world around the globe are waiting for something you and I take for granted, socks and shoes. Every $15 given puts a pair of shoes, brand new shoes, on one of these children so they can be safe from disease and injury, go to school, but also to have the opportunity to hear about the love that God has for them through the shed blood of Jesus Christ. If you'd like to get involved, again, very simple to do and every $15 we'll put a pair of shoes on a child. Just head to GiveShoesToday.org.

That's GiveShoesToday.org. All right, we're ready to turn the corner today. We're going to spend the remainder of the broadcast taking your calls and questions on anything financial. We want to help you tackle those things in your financial life you're thinking about, praying about, you perhaps don't know the best next step.

We certainly can wrestle through those with you. We'll do that when you call 800-525-7000. We've got lines open and we're ready for you. 800-525-7000. You can call right now. Let's dive in. We're going to begin in Albuquerque, New Mexico today. Hi, Lola, go right ahead. Hi.

Thank you. So I have my mother. She lives with me. She has zero expenses and her retirement income. With her permission, I'm using some money to upgrade her farmhouse this summer. She's in her late 80s and I feel like I'm investing her money back into her property. One sibling disagrees with this path forward, at least portions of it. They don't want to spend money on certain aspects of the project.

So I'm wondering, do you think this is a good path forward for my mom's liquid money? Sure. You know, it's hard to say, but let's in the few moments we have together today to try to kind of wrestle through that a little bit. Clarify one thing for me. I think I heard you say she lives with you and then you said her farmhouse. So is this a parcel on your property or how does that work?

No, it's away from where she lives. Yeah, it's a farm. A farm, we live in the city. This is in the country. Okay, so who lives at the farm? Actually, nobody.

No one lives there. We go there on weekends. It's like a weekend home, you know, summer home. Okay, very good. And you're using a portion of your mother's savings to renovate the farm? Yes. Okay.

Yeah, it's already several years old, so we need to upgrade it, maintain it. And so it's really not for her benefit, it's for your use, is that right? Well, she goes there, you know, I take her there as much as we can. Yeah. Okay. It's not for my benefit.

I only go to take her and, you know, stuff like that. Yeah, but it's your property in terms of who owns it? No, it's her property.

Oh, it's hers. Okay, very good. Yeah, my mom's property. Yeah, everything belongs to my mom.

Okay, very good. So it's a part of her estate, naturally. And what kind of renovations are you doing? Are you doing just things that are more cosmetic? Is it maintenance? Yeah, it's maintenance. It's about, you know, 20 some years old, a new roof stucco, windows, doors. Yeah. Because it's already really old.

Very good. Would you say the primary purpose for the renovations is just to maintain the integrity or is some of it more cosmetic just so it's, you know, more enjoyable and it's really not for maintenance purposes? How would you break down the scope of the project between maybe improvements for enjoyment versus maintenance and basic upkeep? I think it's maintenance and basic upkeep. Okay, the full scope of the project would really fit into that category in your view? In my view, yeah.

Yeah, okay. And so you say it's about $100,000. Now let's talk about just what kind of assets your mom has available. What does she have today? Well, she has her retirement and her social security income, and then she has a couple of IRAs. Okay, very good. And the total of her income is roughly what?

I guess like maybe $2,500, $3,000 a month, I guess. I'm not sure. Okay. All right. And did you say she lives with you and so that means she has very minimal expenses?

Yes. Okay. And so is some portion of that $2,500 going into savings every month or does she usually spend all of it? She spends none of it. She spends none of it. Okay. So she's building up more and more savings all the time. What is the balance on her savings account?

Oh, I would say it's about, you know, like $200,000 and some thousand. Okay. And so that's in addition to the IRAs that she has, correct? Yeah. Okay. And what does she have?

And I'm getting to the end of my questions here, but thanks for bearing with me. What is the amount she has roughly in total in her retirement assets like IRAs? Well, the one that is coming up due is like $130,000, I think.

And the other one is a smaller amount, like $50,000 or $60,000. I'm not sure. Okay. Exactly. Very good.

And then the plan is for her to live with you all for the rest of her life unless she needs skilled care, for instance. Is that right? Yeah.

Yeah. Okay. And then final question, I think, at this point is what do you think the total value of that farm property is?

I would say about $400,000. Okay. And so what is the main issue that your sister has?

She just feels like these are unnecessary expenses or why is she concerned about the renovations? Just, no, just push back on certain aspects of, you know, maybe I could do some but not all of them. I see. Yeah. And is your mom still able to make decisions for herself? Fairly well. She's fairly well.

I mean, she's a little forgetful, but she understands what's going on, you know, when she was there. And she's on board with the scope of the project as it stands today? Yeah. Okay. And has she given either you or your sister responsibility for making those decisions on her behalf, either now or in the future if she's unable to? She's probably given that to me.

Well, she lives with me, so I do everything for my mom. Yeah. Okay.

But do you have like, for instance, a power of attorney or a health care surrogate? Yes. Okay.

We have all her trust and everything is all the legal paperwork in place. Yes. And you're the named person that's responsible for all of that? Yes. Okay.

So it doesn't, nothing that you've said here to me, Lola, and obviously I'm just kind of dropping into this with just over a couple of minutes, but nothing you said to me seems out of line because number one, she's got plenty of margin. All of what is being provided to her as income is being saved. You're covering all of her expenses. She's got plenty of assets and you're just improving a property that's going to be a part of her estate. So you could question whether could we do it for 75 or 50 instead of a hundred. But at the end of the day, it's a part of her estate, which is ultimately going to be available for you and your sister based on her estate plan. So I don't see any problem with that whatsoever.

I think the big question is how do you approach that with your sister? Let's talk about that a bit more off the air. I've got to hit a break, but we'll be right back. Hey, great to have you with us today on Faith and Finance Live.

I'm Rob West. Before the break, we were talking to Lola in Albuquerque. She and I had a chance to visit a bit more off the air.

These issues are challenging. If you were listening before the break, you heard that she's caring for her mom. She has power of attorney.

Her mom's in her 80s. She's got plenty of assets. She's not spending a dime of her twenty five hundred a month in income that's coming in. All that's going into savings because Lola and her family are providing for her. She's living with them. She has another property, though, the farm property that requires some renovations, an older home. She's in the process of making those updates. And it's going to cost as much as one hundred thousand dollars.

There's some other siblings involved that are questioning the scope of that project. And let's just be honest, that's up for debate. I mean, you know, can we repair the roof instead of replacing it? Absolutely. In some cases, does it make sense to go ahead and replace it?

It sure does. Depending on your ability to continue to maintain it and upkeep, you know, number two, often a repair over and over again, especially if it's resulting in damage to the property, can be more costly than just a full replacement. I think in this case, her mom has the assets and this is just going to improve the property that's ultimately going to be a part of the estate. I think this comes down to number one. Can we preserve the relationship? Can we sit down and have a meeting of the minds coming into this parade up and saying, hey, let's work together? Maybe we make some compromises because I'm not looking to spend money unnecessarily. And yet I've been tasked with making this decision. At the end of the day, there needs to be one decision maker based on her mom's wishes. I think the key is, can you sit down, hear them out, make sure they've been heard. They have your mom's best interest at heart, Lola, and perhaps consider some compromises, maybe get a couple of different contractors in there and get them to weigh in and see if there's another way to go that's less costly.

You could get a realtor in there to look at this from a sales standpoint to say, OK, if we were selling this property tomorrow, what would we like to have done and what do we not need to do because we may not get the value of those renovations out? Those are the kinds of things you can look at with a critical eye to try to preserve the relationship, but more importantly, do the best thing that's in the thing that's in the best interest of the family member, in this case, Lola's mom. So those are not easy. I would just approach it with a humble spirit and with humility. I think I would approach it making it a matter of prayer, making sure that the siblings feel heard and being willing to compromise and look at somebody else's perspective. I think ultimately relying on professionals that can bring a rational and thoughtful, even a professional opinion to the table. And then once you've done all of that, you've just got to make the decision because your mom has tasked you with that responsibility. Doesn't mean it's easy.

Doesn't mean it's going to work out without hard feelings. But I think there are steps you can take to at least do the things you should do before you ultimately have to make that call. We'll ask our Faith and Finance Live community to be praying for you. Thank you for your call today. Let's go to Georgia. Hi, Chris.

How can I help? Hello, Rob. I was wondering, is it better to invest in gold now or CDs?

That's what we call a binary trap, Chris. Should I do this or that? Well, what about the 18 other alternatives that are there? But I understand your question and let's kind of talk through that. I think it always comes down when we look at investment decisions. Do I do this or that or something else to what are my goals? What is my time horizon? And what is my overall financial situation? So describe the money that you're talking about putting in either gold, silver or CDs. And how does that fit with the rest of your assets?

Well, I have several CDs come and do in the next couple of months. One is a $20,000 CD. And the increased value of the interest of the CDs or if it were to be gold, the increased value of the gold is going to my charities. And I want to maximize it for my charity's sake. At your death, Chris, is that what you're talking about or before your death? Within the next year. OK, you're planning to give this money this money away to your a charity or your church in the next year?

The interest or the increased value of the gold? Yes. OK, yeah. So you said you had a $20,000 CD coming due. Is there more that you're talking about here or is that the extent of it? No, there's a couple of more CDs that less value come and do. OK, what do you think the total of all the CDs together?

About, let's say about $35,000. All right. Now, what?

Forgetting this for a second, set that aside. What other assets do you have in savings or stocks or other investments? I have in my raw power a $360,000 and I just bought $10,000 my savings account for silver and gold, silver 60%, gold 40%. All right.

And with a $10,000 savings? Yes, sir. OK, very good. You know, given that you've got and that's the let me just ask, that's the extent of the assets that you have that are liquid? Yes.

OK, great. So given what you just described, $360,000 of Roth and then $10,000 split between gold and silver, I think given that you've got this $35,000 roughly coming due and multiple CDs, I wouldn't put that back in the precious metals. Number one, you're trying to give the interest away and gold doesn't, precious metals don't generate interest. I realize you said you could give the gain, but depending on how you buy that, that's going to be difficult to do. If you buy the physical metal, it's, you know, you're going to have the markup on every time you buy or they sell.

If you buy the tracking stock, you could do that. But I would, you know, that's going to be a bit more challenging and you're highly concentrated. So what I would probably do, given that you already have a good bit in gold and silver and given your desire to give this away, I'd probably just put it in a high yield savings or put it into a new CD for maybe one or two years and then you could give the interest away as it comes due.

But I probably wouldn't go the precious metals route with this particular portion of your investable assets, given your desire to give. So I hope that helps, Chris. We appreciate your call today. God bless you.

Back with much more just after this. Stay with us. Hey, great to have you with us today. Hey, have you found something along the way that's been helpful to you on the program? Maybe you've been able to apply something in your financial life or you've just been encouraged by the broadcast. Well, as a listener supported ministry, we'd like to invite you to support our work with a gift one time of $25 or more. We'd love to send you a copy of our brand new Faithfy study, Rich Toward God, a study on the parable of the rich fool as our gift to you. You can just head to faithfy.com and click give. You can also learn how you might become a Faithfy partner. That's those who support the ministry at $35 a month or more. And we provide exclusive quarterly ministry updates, early release copies of all of our Faithfy studies, including our new one coming out this summer that I'm so excited about.

It's called Look at the Sparrow. It's a 21 day devotion on fear and anxiety related to money. We even provide discounts on Faithfy Pro if you use the app. You can learn more about all of it.

Again, faithfy.com slash give. All right, we've got some lines open today. We'd love to hear from you at 800-525-7000. Let's go to St. Louis.

Hi, Pam. Go right ahead. Hi, I'm calling to just get some advice on retirement funds and reinvest and investing those. Currently, I have a couple plans with it from companies that I no longer work at the ones with the same company.

The other one I had rolled into a Wells Fargo plan on my own and had heard on the radio Christian radio about this company that helps you invest in where it keeps your nest egg safe by using call options. And I'm just wondering about that option versus annuities versus some other option and what makes sense? Yeah, well, you know, my general rule is, if you can't explain it, don't invest in it. And you know, calls get kind of complicated and they have unusual risks with them. So in my view, I would not go that direction. I think that's a little bit more complicated and potentially, and I realize some people will say, no, we're doing it in a way that eliminates the risk. Well, you know, the complexity of the options contracts make them risky.

And so you have to actually know how to use them really well. And so I would just stay away from that. What do you have in these retirement accounts in total, Pam? About $207,000. Okay. And are you retired currently?

No, I probably retire sometime next five to seven years or so. Okay. And are the assets with previous employers retirement plans or your current employer? Oh, I have another probably $11,000 with my current employer.

So this is most of it's with a previous employer, but one I just rolled into my own separate account. Got it. Okay.

But it's still in a tax deferred environment, like in an IRA or something? Right. Right. Okay.

Yeah, very good. And the total is a little over $200,000. Tell me why it is you're thinking about a guaranteed product. You know, what is it about, you know, the safety that really is concerning you? Actually, my husband told me about this program he heard about. So they date on the radio. So they talk about keeping your money safe. And I went to a seminar with him. And so they it's so, you know, that didn't get you thinking, well, I'm not that far from retirement.

I need to keep my money. Yeah, no problem. And I can certainly understand that. You know, I think the idea is we want to invest for the long haul. And as we get closer and closer to retirement, you know, even though I think retirement should look differently for the believer than the non believer, I mean, this is not about your calling expiring or there being a date where you, you know, just cease productive activity, we're in disservice to the Lord, to cultivate the earth for as long as we're here and have breath, asking the Lord what context that is, and it's going to change over time and may involve you stepping away even from paid work. So you can even devote more time.

So I love that idea. But I think alongside that, we need to think about how do we take the assets we've accumulated and use them protect them, trusting the Lord, but growing them wisely so that they're there either to provide a source of income, perhaps alongside Social Security, you know, or growing so that it could be given away, perhaps even left as an inheritance. And those are all very appropriate things to think about. But I will say that, you know, just because people are living longer, and obviously we don't know whether we'll have another breath, only the Lord knows that. But we have to assume that if the Lord tarries and you're in good health, you know, even at 65, you need to be thinking in terms of this money lasting for three decades or more, you know, out to age 95, which gives you even in retirement, even well into your retirement, still a long term perspective.

So what is the right mix? Well, we used to say you'd take the number 100, you subtract your age, that would be how much you'd want in stocks, because people are living longer now we do 110. So if you take 110 minus your age, let's call it 65. I realize you're still a couple of years from that, that would say that, okay, we should probably have somewhere around 45% in stocks.

Where's the rest? Well, that other 55% would be in bonds and fixed income type investments. So government bonds, corporate bonds, maybe some CDs and money market. And the idea there would be that that growth component, the stock portion, yes, it's going to have more volatility. I mean, even though we just hit all times highs in the last few weeks, we could be in a recession next year, maybe it's down 20%. But again, we're taking a 123 decade approach. So we're saying, I'm not concerned about that. I'm not pulling that money out anytime soon. Even if I needed to start drawing an income from it, I could leave it alone, because I could pull, you know, the 4% a year or so that I'm taken out of that to supplement Social Security from the fixed income interest. And so I don't have to touch the stocks. And what that does is it keeps a component in there that's growing that even though it has more volatility, and yes, some risk allows that portfolio to offset the effects of inflation, which have been very apparent as of late, a basket of groceries is 21% higher over the last three and a half years.

And so that's real. So because of that, you know, what I would say to the average person is let's stay invested throughout your whole life. But let's just get more conservative over time. And unless you have the time, the training, the expertise to do that yourself, you'd hire an advisor to manage that for you. And he or she could take discretion over that couple of hundred thousand and manage it with your goals and risk tolerance in mind. Now, other folks will say, nope, I don't want to take any risk, I want to transfer that risk to an insurance company. And even though there's nothing that's risk free, that dramatically reduces the risk.

Now, what do you give up for that? Well, you give up access to the money, because now you have surrender charges and penalties if you needed to get to larger sums of the money, you also give up some of the upside. And that's how they give you that downside protection is they make it up by taking back some of the upside, the potential gains.

And so that's why I'd rather you keep full access to the money and just manage the risk with the investment allocation and not go into one of these guaranteed products and certainly not into a complicated option strategy. But give me your thoughts on that. Well, that makes sense to me. Yeah.

So I think what they were saying, I guess is, I don't know, it's, it's a, like some kind of a group, they put it in together with a bunch of others who are doing these call options. So they take care of that part of it. But still, yeah. Yeah, I just got to tell you that just doesn't sit terribly well with me.

Just because I've been around this space a long time. And again, it just, that's a very complicated strategy. And so you're just going to have to trust somebody that you heard on the radio.

And I'm not saying don't trust people listen that you hear on the radio because we're talking on the radio right now. But at the same time, I would just stay with a more simple strategy. If you said, I want to get rid of the risk, I'd say an annuity can make some sense. Other than that, I'd hire an advisor to manage it. Perhaps that's your next step. I'd love for you and your husband to sit down with a certified kingdom advisor.

You'll find some at faithfi.com I'd interview two or three. I hope that helps you think through this, Pam. God bless you. We'll be right back. Hey, great to have you with us today on faith and finance live.

I'm Rob West. Before we head back to the phones here in our final segment, let's get an update on the markets and the economy. To do that is our good friend Bob Dahl. He's chief executive officer at Crossmark Global Investments, where investments and values intersect. And Bob, I'm just glad given the seesaw in the markets that I don't have to manage people's money. You don't know anybody who does that for a living, do you? Never met them.

Wouldn't know who they are. How do you navigate this, Bob? I mean, it's such a seesaw.

Yeah, it is. And I think we'll get more of that given all the crosscurrents. How do you manage it? You keep a longer term focus in mind. And these perturbations are just opportunities to add when they're down and trim when they're up.

And you try not to let them get to you. But that's what we've seen. And given all the crosscurrents to repeat, I think we're going to see more of that. We were covered with yesterday and today's gain about a third of what we lost from the high a couple of weeks ago. Bob, if you were advising the Fed, I mean, how would you counsel them to navigate this dual mandate, this kind of push and pull on, you know, trying to stay the course and get inflation down as close to that 2 percent target as possible and the prospect of recession and economic slowdowns? So I counsel them by first starting to say, don't talk so much. Prior to the big problems of the 080 to 2010 period, the Fed didn't talk much. You had the Fed chair talk from time to time.

Now they all talk every day. It seems it gets very confusing for them and obviously for us. Now, in terms of policy, you know, their goal of 2 percent, I think will prove to be elusive as long as the economy is OK. We won't get to 2 percent inflation unless we have a recession.

So they're going to have some tough choices to make as we go down down the path. Inflation, as you know, has been disappointing three months in a row. We'll see if that's a new trend or whether it can go back down. Our view is we will get some more relief on inflation, but get nowhere close to two and that the economy will continue to show weakness. And that's when the Fed will begin to struggle.

What do they do? And eventually they will cut rates. But later than all of us thought, not that long ago.

Yeah. Bob, what if we do get stuck somewhere closer to three than two? What are the implications of that? And what can we draw from historical trends where we didn't live in a 2 percent inflation era? Yeah, the 2 percent inflation world of the last decade really was anomalous.

That's not the norm for the United States. A collection of technology and demographics and foreign trade gave us that below normal inflation. My view is that three is the old two, if you will. And that is to say, the Fed will have to find a way to get its arms around. Three is not all bad. And as long as we don't have lifts to the upside, like that 9 percent inflation we saw not that long ago.

So three is not awful unless you were expecting two. As you've heard me say, different implications for interest rates if inflation is three or two. Different implications for the stock market and the PE ratio you put on those stocks. Above 20 PE where we are today, Rob, is consistent with a 2 percent inflation rate.

If it's going to be three instead of two, PEs have to come down some. Yeah. And there's implications for the consumer as well, as you well know.

And you had a comment about that in this week's commentary. Just looking at a grocery basket during the Biden presidency versus Trump. This isn't a political statement, just a pure data based observation.

Share that with us. You know, the U.S. consumer grocery basket under President Biden is up 21 percent. And of course, that's in a little more than three years. In the four years of the Trump administration, that same basket was up only 7 percent. So consumers are still experiencing some sticker shock, as you know, Rob.

Yeah. Bob, is this a time to buy bonds? I mean, what about that person that's listening, that's starting to allocate more heavily to bonds as they near retirement?

Obviously, the last several years have been really rough. What are we heading into moving forward? Yeah, as we all know, the 10-year Treasury yield is around 4.6 percent. Our view is there could be a little more risk to the upside on the yield. Call it five. So if you don't have many bonds and you need some, begin buying some here.

You don't have to be a hero. But I think we'll look back and say 4.6 is not a bad place to purchase some bonds. Yeah. And what does that mean for the average consumer? I mean, really break that down in terms of if they're buying individual bonds, they're going to get that coupon for the next 10 years and then the price is going to move underneath it with interest rates. Explain that.

Yeah. So if I if I buy a 10-year Treasury today at a 4.6 percent yield, I'm going to get my 4.6 percent each and every year. And that bond is going to go up and down and frustrate me if I watch it every day. But at the end of the period, at the end of 10 years, I'm going to get $100 for every 100 I've invested. So that's the beauty of bonds.

You know what the maturity is going to look like. Yeah. And obviously, if you want to sell it before the 10 years, that's where you're going to have a profit or a loss.

And that's largely driven by interest rates, right? For sure. For sure.

Absolutely. All right, Bob, we appreciate your stopping by. We'll look forward to having you back next week. Buy low, sell high in the meantime, my friend. I'll do it. Hey, buckle up, my friend. Hey, if you would like to get Bob's investment commentary delivered to your inbox, just go to CrossmarkGlobal.com.

You can learn how investments and values intersect. All right. Let's head back to the phones to Lee in Pittsburgh. Hi, Lee. Thanks for calling.

Go right ahead. Hi. I want to make this precise. General recommendations to me. I'm a 75 widow. Own a house that's probably worth, paid all, $350,000 to $400,000. I heard you talk about high yield accounts without locking your money into a CD or something like that.

I want to ask about that. Okay. It was recently sent to me because it wasn't $5,000. I paid $902 taxes when I put it. And I think all told, I have everything about $175,000 with CDs, cash and whatever. Okay.

Yeah, very good. Yeah, you heard me talk about high yield savings. And so, given what Bob Doll was just talking about, where interest rates are at, we have a unique opportunity right now that we had not experienced for a decade or two before just kind of what's been going on recently, where because we had those 11 consecutive interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve in their attempt to fight inflation, interest rates are very high right now, relatively speaking, that hurts us when we borrow, it helps us when we save. So, right now, if you were to look at some of these online banks, and we can talk about what that means, you will see that with high yield savings, with FDIC insurance, so backed by the full faith and credit of the United States government with an online bank that's very highly rated, nearly five out of five stars that you can get 5% or more annualized, you know, on your liquid savings without any fees, and you have complete access to the money. Now, if you want to tie it up in another CD, you can actually even do better than that with some of the online banks. And so, you know, you'll but but not a whole lot more, actually, which is really interesting just because the environment that we're in right now, where rates are going to start heading down, but you might be able to get, you know, perhaps as much as 5.3 5.5%.

But there's not a whole lot of reason to do that at this point, other than just to lock it in. In terms of what, you know, the implications of it being an online bank, it just means that number one, there are no brick and mortar locations if it's an online only bank. So you access them through either the internet, or through probably a network of ATM machines, you do everything through the phone, the computer or the you know, through the mail if you have to. But because they don't pay the expenses associated with those brick and mortar buildings and as much staff as you need to maintain that kind of operation, they're able to pass that along in the form of no or low fees, and much higher interest rates, which is how you get the 5% plus on the savings account with FDIC insurance.

So I think, you know, with that kind of money, I mean, that's serious, because if you're talking about $170,000 at you know, 5.1, I mean, you're talking about $8,600 over the next year, and that money is completely liquid and backed by the US government. Is that helpful though, Lee? That is helpful. There is a credit union. I'm having a 5.9 CD, but now they're just down to five period.

Okay, yeah. Most CDs I have right now are five. The bond with the government treasury, I have 10,000 there. I heard you heard somebody say 4.6.

Would you recommend putting anything more than that? Yeah, you know, I think you could begin buying some treasuries. The nice thing is that, you know, as Bob was saying, the 10 year Treasury today is paying 4.6. He thinks it could go as high as 5%. But as long as you hold it to maturity, so in this case, it's 10 years, you're going to get, you know, on $100 investment, you're going to get $100 back, and you're going to get 4.6% annualized for those 10 years. That's not bad with a US, you know, Treasury, a 10 year Treasury. So I think that's a great option. A lot of folks, you know, are not comfortable buying individual bonds, and so they have an advisor do it for them. But you know, if you understand it, and you can buy it, I think that makes a lot of sense. Because again, we're in an elevated environment right now.

You don't get much safer than the US government. And that's a pretty attractive yield. When I have you have to hold it for a year before you can take it back out. So it may be something different. Well, that is that a CD? You know, I'm not good at that.

Okay, yeah. Well, I think just given the assets that you have, Lee, perhaps your next step is to sit down with a Certified Kingdom Advisor and just get some professional advice, perhaps even have them manage it for you. Because this is a big nest egg, you've worked a long time to build it up. We want to take care of it, get a good return on it, but also have wise counsel. So if you'd like to find a Certified Kingdom Advisor in your area, just head to our website, faithfi.com.

Click find a professional at the top of the page. Thanks for your call today. Faith and Finance Live is a partnership between Moody Radio and Faithfi. So thankful for my team today, Taylor, Gabby T, Dan and Amy. Couldn't do it without them. We'll see you tomorrow. Bye-bye.