Powerful Financial Tips

God's Word contains powerful financial teaching that can change your life.

Are you using it? I am Rob West. With more than 2300 verses on money and possessions, the Bible is a storehouse of powerful financial tips. Sharon Epps joins us today to talk about them.

Some you know, but some may surprise you. 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, Sharon Epps is in the co-pilot seat today, and that always makes for a smooth and informative flight. She's the president of Kingdom Advisors, our parent organization. And Sharon, we're delighted to have you back. You have had a long tenure in this space. And some of our listeners may not know that that goes all the way back to Larry Burkett.

It does. I had the privilege of being on the program from time to time, even back then. So it's such a joy to be here today.

Well, we're always thrilled. All right, I know it's on your heart today to talk about how God's Word contains powerful financial teaching that can have a dramatic impact in our lives. And we're going to talk about some of these powerful attributes we find in Scripture and give you some practical handles on how you can manage God's money well. And we'll begin today with the power of trust. What would you have us know here? Well, you might be surprised that trust is the first financial tip.

You might be expecting me to talk about money, first of all. But let's just go straight to the Word. Proverbs 3, 5 through 6 tells us to trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding in all your ways, submit to Him and He will make your path straight.

And I think actually, this is the most powerful tip of all. And that is to understand our role, and that we can trust Him to be our leader. And so as we talk about very often here on Faith and Finance, our role is that of steward, and he's the owner.

And the implications of that are enormous. It means that we've got freedom, we can look to him related to his plans for our money. And we don't have to worry about our own plans, because he's the one to be the guide. It's not dependent on me, it's not dependent on the government or even my employer, because God is my provider. Absolutely.

Yeah. Well, Sharon, what are the practical implications to that as we make daily spending decisions in this role of manager? Well, I think the practical implications are we're freed up to focus on what He would have for us. And in fact, that's actually the next powerful tip is that we want to be able to focus on one major goal at a time. I think a couple of Proverbs that help us there, Proverbs 425 says, Let your eyes look directly forward and your gaze be straight before you. Proverbs 16, three says, commit your work to the Lord and your plans will be established. And so this power of focus, I know we talk a lot about multitasking, but research has proven that none of us can really multitask, we have to focus on one thing at a time.

And anytime that I've talked with families who feel a little bit stuck in their finances, it's often because they're trying to accomplish so many goals at one time. And so the power of focus is to ask God, what's the next thing you would have me to do? And focus on that until you've made progress on it to the point that you feel like you're released to go to your next thing. We just can't spread ourselves too thin. I love that the power of focus is certainly underutilized in our lives. And even breaking those singular goals down into bite size pieces can often be helpful as well.

It absolutely can because sometimes it just feels like we're eating an elephant. So if we take it one step at a time, it's not so overwhelming. And I can begin to do that today. I don't have to wait until next month when I have 12 hours to dedicate to it.

We've got about 45 seconds until our break. Let's get one more of those powerful financial principles in. Well, it's the power of priorities.

And you won't be surprised. I'm going to mention live, give, grow and the pie there. Because as we set our priorities, we need to remember that the pie is limited. And one decision I make to spend in one area is going to impact the other area. And I think the order matters as well. We always want to make sure that we start with give first, then we want to grow, and then we look at owe and live.

I love that. The power of trust, the power of focus, the power of priorities. We're looking at God's word today with Sharon Epps and pulling out the powerful financial teaching that can be applied in your life as a steward of the King of Kings resources. When we come back, Sharon will have more of those powerful principles just around the corner. This is Faith and Finance Live.

We'll be right back. God is the owner. We're the steward, the manager of all that He's entrusted to us. And God's word is our source, our wisdom for managing that money. This is Faith and Finance Live.

I'm Rob West. With me today, Sharon Epps, president of Kingdom Advisors. And we're talking about some of the powerful financial teaching that we find in God's word. And Sharon, just before the break, you were talking about the power of priorities. And we can look at those priorities in light of a simple pie chart around living, giving, owing and growing God's money. But we can break some of those priorities down even further, right?

We can. So I'm often asked, well, if we have the live, give, owe, grow pie, how do I know where my pieces should be? And the answer is, ask God, because He has a different pie for each of us. At the same time, it's helpful to have a few templates or a few examples to know how people's pies often work well.

And so what we're about to talk about in these priorities are by no means boundary lines or fences that are set up for you. They are more stories or examples of what has worked well for others. So the first thing I would say in the big overall pie, I would encourage you to at least start with what we call the 10-10-80 principle. And basically that is give first 10%, set aside 10% for grow, and then use the remaining 80% for the owe and live. So give first, then to grow, and then owe and live.

So 10-10-80 is just a quick reminder, if I don't even know where to begin with my pie, that's a good place to start, to split it up that way. I think also that the live category often is where people get tripped up because it's the 80% after the debt. And so what we see is that there are basically three big categories within that overall live slice of the pie that make the biggest difference to your budget, housing, transportation, and food. And the bottom line is that if we have more than half of our take-home pay in those three parts of the live pie, it's very difficult to have a spending plan that's balanced. And so the thing that is a little bit troublesome in that is our housing and transportation decisions are usually longer term decisions.

When I buy a home, I'm typically not going to change that in a year. That's right. Yeah. And those big three we often talk about can often derail you. And if those get out of line, it's just so much more difficult to make everything else balanced. It absolutely is. And so Proverbs 27 23 there, know well the condition of your flux, give attention to your herds, tells us let's look at where we are in each of these areas and make sure that those big three aren't tripping us up because when those are out of sync, you can try to save money on going out to coffee or those kinds of things, but it's going to be hard to make a difference if you don't look at the big three.

Yeah. Lifestyle is the biggest determinant of whether you will be able to accomplish those other goals in the long term. All right, Sharon, what's the next powerful principle? Well, it's the power of planning. We want to encourage you and you hear this from us on Faith and Finance all the time. We want you to spend your money on purpose by making a plan on paper or digitally before each month begins. And I just have to say, Rob, for our family personally and others that I talk to and counsel with, the Faithfight app comes in so handy here because you can put your money in digital envelopes each month to make your plan before the expenses occur. We mentioned Larry Burkett in the first segment. You had the opportunity to work alongside Larry and he was the one who really popularized this envelope approach to managing money.

He did. And I think it still applies today. In fact, I was talking with a young couple just this last week and they are very digitally savvy and really love, in fact, the Faithfight app. And they said, you know, there are several of our categories that we've decided we're just going to go to cash because we just aren't keeping up with them very well. And we've decided we're going to put them in a cash envelope and do our spending that way for a few months to get back in control. It's so helpful. Julie and I use it literally every day and we can see exactly what's left in each envelope when we open the Faithfight app.

If you want to check it out and download it today, just head to faithfight.com and click app. All right, Sharon, there's actually power in cash. Tell us about that.

There is. And I think that's one of the best keys for making sure you know what you're spending, especially if you don't like to do a lot of record keeping. If I have cash in my hand, then I know what I have left over after I get changed when I check out. And I'll also say that research actually proves that the more we're aware, it's called saliency, the more we're aware of what we're spending, we actually spend less, which is why the credit card companies want us to put everything on the credit cards because we'll spend more.

Yeah, I mean, the data I've seen says we'll actually spend in some cases up to 30% more when we're not parting with that physical cash. So certainly be on your guard there. All right, Sharon, what is that last powerful principle? Well, it's the power of decision making. God's Word teaches us we can always go to Him and we're not sure what to do. I'm looping right back to the beginning, looking to God.

I love this verse, James 1-5, If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. So I thought as we close out, I might give you a flow chart kind of idea for this decision making. And these are just some key questions you can ask before you make decisions about your expenses. So first, is the expense essential for the family's survival? Will the purchase help my financial situation or will the purchase hurt my financial situation? Will this purchase move me toward meeting my financial goals or perhaps set me back? Can we wait to incur this expense?

And is there a less expensive alternative? And if you picture that sort of like a flow chart, as you go down that list of questions, if you answer no to any of those, you might just want to stop and reconsider and think about what I might do differently than make this intended upcoming purchase. Yeah, and it means in some cases, we have to slow down. I mean, in an age where, you know, this weekend, we were in the kitchen, Julie and I, we knew we needed an item for the house.

And by the afternoon, it was on the front porch. In that age, we can just operate so quickly. And that robs us of the opportunity to ask these questions.

Well, it does. And I'm sure y'all have never done what we've done. But sometimes we've gotten it off the front porch and then gone to a closet and realized we had something that would have met the need already. That's so true. Hey, let's finish with financial decision making as a couple. So how do we make sure we're on the same page as we're thinking about these? Well, you know, the most powerful tip I could give there is making sure you have intentional conversations. I even recommend a monthly money date night.

And that's a night that you literally go out as a couple. And your focus is on how did you do with your finances the past month? And then what do you have coming up the next month that you might need to be thinking about? And that intentional conversation away from the kids, away from distractions, gives you the opportunity to make sure that you're on the same page with your goals. And unity is way more important than the actual decision itself.

That's so good. And you said a moment ago, we want to spend money on purpose. But as a part of that, we want to have purpose at the core. What are our values that ultimately drive those decisions?

Right? Absolutely. And I think when we ask the Lord to direct us on those, the decision making becomes more clear. Oh, that's so good. Well, Sharon, this was so helpful today. I appreciate you taking us back to God's Word to look deeply into Scripture to pull out maybe some of the principles we haven't seen along the way. But I know these will be really helpful for our listeners. So thanks for stopping by.

Glad to be here. That's Sharon Epp. She's president of Kingdom Advisors, our parent organization.

She joins us frequently on this broadcast. And, you know, as we think about our role as stewards and managing God's money, it's really critical that we're in God's Word, renewing our mind, not taking the cues from this world as we take on this important role of being a faithful steward. Back with your questions after this, 800-525-7000. Stick around. 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. I'm so thankful to have you with us today on Faith and Finance Live here on Moody Radio. I'm Rob West. We're taking your calls and questions today. In fact, we just opened the phone lines now. 800-525-7000.

That's 800-525-7000. We'd love to hear from you today as you think about what it looks like to be a faithful steward in your financial life. I'm sure you have questions around how you manage your spending plan in light of high inflation.

What does it look like to save diligently for the short term and the long term, maximizing these high interest rates but also navigating the volatility that can come in the markets? What about paying down debt? What's the best way to do that or giving wisely?

Perhaps you need a plan for your giving so you can maximize your giving over time. Well, we'd love to talk about any of that. The number to call again is 800-525-7000. You can call right now. Let's go ahead and dive into those questions. We're going to begin today in Chicago and we'll go to Lee. Go right ahead, sir. Well, hi, Rob. Thank you for taking my call. Appreciate your ministry and the wisdom given. In 2022, I built a house down in the Nashville area.

I live up here in the Chicago area. I'm a high school teacher, but I built the house so that my firefighter son would have a place to live down there. He was listed as a co-borrower on the loan.

Now, this is exactly, and I'm sorry to say, how much thought went into that. The lender said, hey, why don't we list your son as a co-borrower? That way it's a primary residence and you get a better rate.

And that was the end of that conversation. I plan on paying that house off. I pay for the mortgage. I pay the taxes and everything. I plan on paying it off in the next two years because I don't want to have any debt. Can I, when I pay it off, do a quit claim deed and remove my son from the deed and only have myself on it? Because I have five kids and my intention is if I get hit by a bus, that the house goes to all five of my kids, not just one of them. Yeah. Now that makes sense, Lee.

Let me ask a question though. You mentioned the mortgage, that he was a co-borrower, and then you talked about the deed. So those are two separate things. So I understand you're both co-borrowers on the mortgage, but are you co-owners on the deed as well? Well, that's a good question because there is no deed because, I mean, there's a loan at the bank as far as I know. Well, there's a deed recorded in the county that the property is located.

So you need to go to the county records office and find out who's on the deed. If in fact, it's just that you're co-borrowers but you own the property, it's deeded to you only, then this is a non-issue because all that did by adding him to the loan was it gave the lender recourse against both of you. So if you didn't pay, they could go after you and they could go after him and vice versa because they don't know where the mortgage payment's coming from. So they'd rather have two borrowers to go after if the loan isn't satisfied versus one.

But you're covering that note every month. That's your, you're taking that responsibility and you're going to be paid off. And as soon as it is paid off, there's going to be a release of lien to both of you as co-borrowers.

So that's going to eventually become a non-issue. The question is, is he also on the deed of the property? If he's not, you're good because this is an asset that you own solely and therefore it would fold into your estate plan whether that's a basic will or you form a trust and put this home in the name of the trust. In either case, it would be a home in the name of the trust.

In either case, it would pass according to your estate plan, your will or trust and that can be split of course among the five siblings or the five children of yours. If not, if you co-own that on the deed in addition to being co-borrowers, then you wouldn't quitclaim anything. He would quitclaim his portion to you. The IRS would see that as a gift. That portion, let's say he owns 50%, let's say it's worth $400,000, I have no idea, he would be making a $200,000 gift to you. That's not taxable but it would chip away at his lifetime gift exemption but that's $13 million today over his lifetime. Now that could change. That's what it is right now and so that would be a gift to you.

You would have the original cost basis and then at your death, according to your will, you could then distribute that asset as an inheritance to equally all five children if you wanted to and then they would enjoy that stepped up cost basis when they received it as their asset through inheritance and their percentage would be one-fifth of the total value. Does that make sense? Yes, yes, yeah. That's what I wanted to know.

Could I do a quitclaim deed and what you're saying to me is I wouldn't do the deed, he would do the deed and the house is about $400,000. Well, look at that. I mean, that was a good guess, I guess, huh?

Yeah, good guess. That's great. So anyway, I was just worried about creating a taxable event after I did it.

I thought, oh shoot, what did I do? There's nothing here that's really that it's a taxable event. Now, what I would do is check with your CPA and I would also get with a real estate attorney to write the quitclaim deed that your son would use to gift his interest in this real property to you and then the CPA would have to file the appropriate gift tax form with the IRS to let them know that this has been done. Again, that's not taxable and then you'd want to make sure that this property is effectively effectively represented in your estate plan along with your other assets in terms of your wishes on how it's distributed.

But I would check with the county records office first because what you may find is, although he's a co-borrower, he's not on the deed. And if that's the case, this is a non-issue. Hey, Lee, we appreciate your call today. Thanks for being a part of the program, sir.

Folks, we're going to take a quick break here. Lines are open 800-525-7000. Let me mention, if you want to support the broadcast, we'd certainly be grateful with a one-time gift of $25 or more. We'll send you our new four-week study rich toward God that you can use for your own edification or with a small group. Just go to faithfi.com and click give. Much more just around the corner.

Stay with us. Thanks for joining us today on Faith and Finance Live. Hey, if you're looking for a financial professional who aligns with your Christian values, just head to our website faithfi.com.

Right there at the top of the page, you can click find a professional and find a certified kingdom advisor in your area. You'll get a complete listing of those right around the corner from you. And we hope that that'll help you make professional investment and financial planning decisions aligned with your values as a believer. Again, faithfi.com is the place to go.

All right, back to the phones we go. By the way, we've got some lines open today. If you have a financial question today, we'd love to tackle it with you or perhaps a testimony. I just heard a testimony today of a listener who was impacted by this ministry. What an encouragement when we hear you applying God's timeless wisdom in your financial life.

Be sure to share that with us as you see the fruit of that over time. You can call right now 800-525-7000. We've got lines open for you. Let's go to Michigan. Hi, Patty. Go right ahead. Well, hi. Good afternoon. I'm so excited to be able to talk to you. Well, thank you.

I'm delighted to. I just received a new job. I'm 74, retired at 62.

We're both debt-free, my husband and I. This part-time job is just a greeter at the bank starting out at $11 an hour. I'll probably only work 12 hours a week, but they offer a 401k.

So they were like, I'm like, I'm not making that much. I'm kind of old to be contributed any length of time. Is this something I should invest in or at my age, should I just take the income? Yes, it's a great question.

I love that you're thinking about this. I think it's always wise to invest. I think the starting place is to look at what are your ultimate goals and objectives. And when you do that, I think you've got to prioritize based on what God has provided. And as you prayerfully consider where you're headed, what opportunities you have ahead of you. So you all are debt-free.

That's great. Do you have plenty of liquid savings somewhere between six and 12 months worth of expenses and savings? Yes, we do.

We do own a manufactured home, so we do have lot rent and utilities, but we have two cars, no debt. So I guess it's just extra income if we live very long. But when I think I'm 74, how long will I be able to do this? Two years?

Three years? Sure. Yeah, exactly. Well, the benefit, and you certainly can contribute to a 401k regardless of your age. So there's never a point where you can't so long as you have earned income. And in this case, it's through salary deferral, which is how you fund a 401k.

You don't make direct contributions. You do it out of your paycheck and you'd let your employer know typically what percent, but it could be the dollar amount that you want them to put in out of each paycheck. And so what that would do is, especially now while you're continuing to work, to the extent you are paying taxes because you all have earned enough over and above Social Security to pay taxes, that contribution of that 401k would reduce that. Now, you are going to have required minimum distributions at some point. If they offered a Roth 401k, that may be another option to consider. Have they presented that option to you? Yes, the formula is 100% of the elective pre-tax and or Roth 401k contributions on the first 3% of your salary that you contribute to the plan and 50% of the elective pre-tax and or Roth 401k contribution on the next 2% that you contribute to the plan. I don't know if that makes no sense to me.

Yeah. So what they're going to do is, yeah, it sounds like so they're going to give you free money here, which is always a good thing. So to the extent you put in up to 3% of your compensation in the 401k and they're giving the option of a Roth 401k too, and I'll explain that in a moment, they're going to match it. So you put in $10, you put in the 10 from your salary, they're going to match it with $10 up to 3% of your salary. And then the next 3%, they're going to give you 50 cents on every dollar that you put in.

So that's great. You're not going to get that in the stock market. So I would, if you have the ability, you know, up to what you can, I'd go ahead and try to take full advantage of at least that 3%, if not the full 6%. Because that would just ensure that you get, you know, that free money coming to you. And if you do it in a Roth 401k, then you don't have the required minimum distribution. And so you don't have to and so you don't have a beyond a certain age where you have to start taking money out with the Roth, you could leave it in there, let it continue to grow. And that way, if you guys needed it down the road for, let's say, long term care, or you wanted to pass it on as an inheritance, it could continue to stay in there and grow, you know, forever until the Lord calls you home. And then, you know, you could give it away or leave it to your heirs.

So I like that a lot, especially because of that matching portion, Patty. Okay, so if I can, if we can afford because we only have our social security, and a small retirement from the school district, I was a secretary, my husband was a custodian, so we weren't on the high end of the pay scale. But if I can afford to give 50% to 100% of my pay, would that be wise?

I would do it if you could, absolutely. Because, you know, keep in mind, the other thing here, if you use the traditional IRA, which gives you the tax break, you know, is, while you're working, you are, you know, not required to take that required minimum distribution from your employer. So it wouldn't be until you stop working there. So you could continue to sock away on a pre tax basis in the traditional 401k. And then you could put in, you know, in the Roth IRA or 401k, you could put in after tax money.

But yeah, if you all could sock away the whole paycheck and just use that as kind of a savings account for yourself, I love that. Okay, I just I wasn't sure because my this was just presented to me yesterday. And I thought, Oh, how am I gonna figure this out?

And I thought, Oh, I'm too old. Then I'm listening, of course, to your program. And I got right in. So we are going to do this.

I like so glad. I'm so glad I got ahold of you because I was not going to. So thank you so much for your wisdom. You're welcome, Patty. I appreciate your call. Thanks for your kind remarks about the program as well. I appreciate that a lot. That's very meaningful.

Listen, all the best to you and your husband and call anytime. Well, folks, we're just getting cranked up here. We've still got another segment to go. And we're going to tackle some emails today. That's right.

We love it. When you send us emails, you do that at moody radio.org slash finance. There's a form there for you to submit those questions. And we take those and we try to get them on the air each Wednesday.

Greg, I know you've been holding there as well in Indianapolis and Yvonne in Chicago. We're going to tackle your questions in our final segment as well. You know, folks, as we think about our role in managing God's money, it's a high calling. And there are principles we can pull out of Scripture. Here's five basic principles when we think about managing God's money. And these are going to sound simple.

They're harder to do, but they're all rooted in Scripture. Live within your means. That's a self-discipline issue. So often we live beyond our means. We've got to reign in spending to live within God's provision. Avoid the use of debt.

It's not a sin, but there are clear warnings in Scripture. And let's only use it for appreciating assets and certainly where we have spousal unity. Third, have some margin or some liquidity, meaning you're living below your means.

You've got some surplus. That's how you fund those goals. More giving, paying down debt, saving for the future. By the way, cushion or margin is also key in the studies to overcoming conflict in marriage over money. Fourth, set long-term goals.

A longer term in your perspective to better your decision today. And finally, give generously. Giving breaks the grip of money over your lives.

Those are simple, hard to do. They're biblical, though. This is Faith and Finance Live. Stay with us. Much more to come in our final segment.

Great to have you with us today on Faith and Finance Live. I'm Rob West. Let's go right back to the phones. Greg has been waiting patiently there in Indy. Go right ahead, sir. Yeah, Rob, this is Greg.

Hi, how can I help? Yeah, I'm going to get a couple homes that eventually we're going to sell. One that we'd like to sell first, then about a year or so. It was purchased in 2003, moved out in October of 22. I didn't know, I was trying to avoid losing a lot of capital gains.

Is there a timeline on that that needs to be sold? Yeah, you've got to meet the rule around it being your principal residence for two years out of the five-year period ending on the date of the sale. So here's the language straight from the IRS. If you used and owned the property as your principal residence for an aggregated two years out of the five-year period ending on the date of the sale, so you take the date of the sale and you go five years back, if you used the property as your principal residence for an aggregated two years out of that five-year period, you have met the ownership and use tests for exclusion. And exclusion means that you could have up to $250,000 if you're filing single that is of gains that's excluded from capital gains tax.

If you're married, up to $500,000 in gains excluded from capital gains tax. So under that definition, Greg, would you meet that requirement? I believe so from understanding what I said. I had had it built in 2003 and I lived there up until October of 2022, so just about 20 years, and then have been living in another residence ever since October of 2022 and just been renting the home that I had moved out of. Yeah, so if we can establish, have you sold it yet? No, that's what was kind of in the process and I didn't know if there was like a time frame of it. Yeah, so that's where whenever you sell it, that date of sale, okay, that's the key date.

So let's say you sold it today, I realize you're not going to sell it today, you haven't even listed it yet, but let's say you did. We'd go back from today, April 24th, five years and if you had used the property for an aggregated two out of that five-year period from today backwards, then yes, you would meet that use test for exclusion. Now, if you don't sell it and quick enough such that going five years back from the date of sale, you can demonstrate that you used it as your principal residence for two out of those five years, then you would no longer be able to take that.

So I think it's really just coming down to when do you actually sell it, when is that date of sale, go back five years, and then see if you owned it at least two out of those five years. Okay, actually living in another home because it's a little bit larger. Any difference on that as she's been living here herself since 2016?

I again only moved here in 22. When we sell this existing home here, so we can buy it together home, is there any type of a time limit since we're still living here? Would be up till the time of sale. Yeah, so the question would be, you know, how many times can you take this in what period of time?

In what period of time? And the answer to that is two years. So you're only allowed to exclude gain on the sale of a home once every two years. And so if you excluded it this year, you'd have to wait two more years before you could take that exclusion again. So the first test is for the home you're considering selling that you no longer live in date of sale back five years, you've got to live in it two out of those five. Now you've taken that exclusion and you've got to wait two years from that point forward before you can use it up again. You can only do it once out of every two-year period. That's very helpful.

I appreciate that. Yeah. Does it on when you get there perhaps or is there any way to avoid being the taxes or extra taxes if you immediately put it into an IRA or some type of a boom?

No, sir. The only way you can defer, and this isn't excluding your capital gains, you're deferring them, is if you take the money from a rental property and you roll it into another rental property through what's called a 1031 exchange. That just kicks the can down the road so you end up paying the capital gains later and you can put all the money into the next property. But what you do with it after the sale has no bearing on the taxes that you'll pay for capital gains unless you put it into a similar property through a 1031. The only other exception to that is if you were going to do some giving and you wanted to give away a portion of the property prior to the sale through let's say a donor advised fund, then that portion will be excluded. But otherwise you putting it in some other vehicle doesn't have any bearing on the capital gains. Now if you put it in an IRA you may get a tax deduction but that's different and separate from the capital gains that you would pay.

Okay. Does it make any difference on what tax bracket that we fall into say this year or whenever we sell? Well the capital gains tax is based on your income and so for 2024 you know the capital gains long-term capital gains as long as you've owned it for a year says that if you're married filing jointly up to 94,000 in income not gain but income for that year you have zero capital gains. When you go from 94,000 to 583,000 in income that's when you get into the 15% rate and then beyond that the 20% rate. Okay now we're talking like gross and not after okay.

Yeah well so that's your adjusted gross income yes sir. Unfortunately I'm gonna have to move on to some other callers but I hope that's helpful Greg thank you for being on the program today we appreciate it. Quickly to Chicago Yvonne thanks for calling how can I help? Oh we lost Yvonne. You know it's here on a Wednesday an opportunity for us to take some emails we were moving through those quickly but we also wanted to reserve some time to tackle some of those questions you've been sending to us and to help me do that is my producer Amy Rios and Amy I understand you have some good ones today. I do Rob.

Thank you for letting me do this with you each Wednesday. So first of all Julie writes I am 64 and I'm thinking of taking my social security. I've heard you suggest that people should wait as long as possible before collecting social security so they can get a higher payment but wouldn't it be wiser to take it earlier and save it or just use it to pay down my mortgage rather than letting the government keep it?

Yeah that's a good question Julie. First of all I wouldn't say that it's an automatic that everyone should delay until age 70. It really comes down to do you need the money? Now if you don't need the money because you're either continuing to work or you're using other vehicles maybe you've got retirement income that's enough to cover your bills then that's where we have the option to let it continue to grow. Now let's look at taking it versus the other things you mentioned either saving it or putting it against the mortgage. Well that check is going to grow by eight percent a year and so let's say let's assume you're going to live at least 12 years more beyond age 70 which is how long you'd need to live to be paid back for everything you gave up and have a 25 higher check for life. Okay so if we're assuming you're going to live at least 12 years then would we rather get the guaranteed eight percent increase from the government or would we rather get four percent in a savings account? Well that eight percent's better. Would we rather get eight percent from the government or we'd rather get the return equal to the interest rate on the mortgage which let's say that's three percent or four percent. I'd rather add the eight percent. So that's where when we compare the two a guaranteed eight percent return from social security on that check assuming you're going to live long enough to be repaid for everything you gave up does typically win in terms of the math equation so long as you can afford to wait and it doesn't create a problem elsewhere.

Okay perfect answer. I'm glad always to be reminded of that because we're kind of going through all that with my husband right now who recently retired and I think we've told you that we're trying to decide if we're gonna you know kind of hold off on his social security. So it can be a hard decision and you know it's so it's important to arm yourself with the facts and then look at your specific situation which I know you guys are doing.

Yeah definitely. Okay so next Jennifer is wondering if it's biblical to use her tithe funds to support her parents who are in financial need. Yeah well the Bible is clear that we're to give and I think we're to give systematically and we're to give I think first to the local church. I think that's modeled throughout scripture. We're also to support our family members specifically our parents. Jesus talks about that that's clearly affirmed in God's word Old and New Testament.

So how do we reconcile that? Well ultimately that's between you and the Lord. I would say though Jennifer I'd love for you to find a way to continue to give faithfully to the Lord systematically on your increase starting with the local church and support your parents and that may mean making some hard decisions in other areas of your financial life as to whether or not you can quote use tithe money for your parents. I mean again I think that's between you and the Lord New Testament giving is about giving freely and sacrificially. I think we are to give proportionately and I do think we clearly see the role of the local church and that we're to support that. So I'd have a hard time saying absolutely just take that money and do what you want with it as much as I love the idea of you supporting your parents. So I'd say A let's try to find that support in other places in the budget. B make it a matter of prayer and then see how the Lord leads and I'm confident he'll give you some wisdom there. Okay and finally Tina writes what is the difference between a loan modification and declaring bankruptcy?

Yeah good question. So a loan modification is where you reach an agreement and this is the key an agreement with the lender usually to extend the term of the loan or lower the payment or possibly even lower the interest rate because of a hardship. Whereas a bankruptcy is actually if it's a chapter seven you're having the debts discharged and that would include your home. Now I think we're you know God's word is clear we have an absolute commitment to repay and so if you're forced into bankruptcy I think you should still look for a way to repay it.

That's just legal protection but they're very different and bankruptcy will harm you much more in terms of your credit than a loan modification even though there are negative implications for a loan modification but they are two completely different things. Okay thanks Rob. All right that's Amy Rios my producer and so let me say thanks to Amy and to Dan and to our entire team including Jim and our call screener today. Faith in Finance Live is a partnership between Moody Radio and FaithFi. We'll see you tomorrow. God bless you.