Does God Care Where We Give?

The Bible clearly says that Christians are to give, but is it always as clear about where we should give?

Hi, I'm Rob West. We all have to make decisions about where we will give from our limited resources. So a good question to ask is, does God care where we give? I'll talk about that today with David Wills, 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, our guest today is my friend David Wills, president emeritus of the National Christian Foundation, and he spent a lot of time helping hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of individuals and families decide not just how, but where to give. David, great to have you with us today. So good to be with you, Rob. Thanks for having me.

Absolutely. David, your article on the NCF website titled Does God Care Where We Give? caught my eye, and I invited you here just to unpack some of your thoughts about this really important topic with our listeners, because you point out that sometimes we have this backwards. Why don't you start there and tell us what you mean by that?

Well, Rob, let me back up and give some context so that people can understand what I'm saying. I think there's, you know, we often say there's three primary uses of financial resources. We give, save and spend. And when it comes to the give of those three, there's three questions that we ask. Why should I give? How do I give? And where should I give? So we're going to talk about the third question, the where to give question. And so one thing we need to be kind of clear about when we're thinking through the where to give question is that it is primarily a matter of the heart when it comes to our giving. So Jesus did command the widow, the history's most famous giver, whose name we don't even know, for giving to the best synagogue. He committed her for a sacrificial heart.

So the widow walked away that day having experienced what 1 Timothy 6 says was life that is truly life. Then the next question is when we're thinking about where to give, how do we get it backwards? And I'm very guilty of this, this thought process. And often I will ask myself and I'll even tell others, you know, what are you passionate about?

And then figure out what you're passionate about and then give there. And that's where I think we kind of get it backwards because I think our priority should be first asking the question, what is God passionate about? And then asking the question, is my giving aligned with his heart?

Wow, that's powerful. Yeah, and perhaps an entirely different approach to our giving than we've considered in the past. All right, so how do we determine that? Does God tell us where to give, David? I think you're kind of asking that as a rhetorical question. Absolutely.

So, yes, he does care and he does tell us. So let me take a stab at a framework. It's not perfect. No framework is perfect, but I think maybe it will help us think through this. And so imagine a three by three grid with nine boxes, kind of like a tic tac toe with a box around it. All right, so let's go the left side of this box and I'm going to kind of put together this framework that will help us think about this. And so what God, the places God cares about are in the three slots on the left side, and the passions that God cares about are on the three boxes along the top.

And then we'll see how they interact and ask us to ask the right questions. So the left side, the verse that really helps us here is Acts 1-8. And we're all familiar with this verse about being witnesses in all Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, and the ends of the earth. So each of us can decide for ourselves these geographies. So you might say in the upper left, the first one might be your community, then your country, then internationally. So that those three pieces of that framework are the kind of the starting point of this framework that I hope can help us think through what is it that God would have us do. So that's the first place that we need to think about. Does that make sense to you?

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, and it's a little bit, it's important for us to think through the two facets of this because we're going to have this grid. And when we get to the top in just a second, one of the first questions you will ask is, so at the local level, am I giving to these areas of what God is passionate about? And then we'll ask that question maybe for your country. Are you giving to areas in your country of these three things?

And you're not going to hit every box, but hopefully this will give a framework and then we'll get to the top here in just a second. I love this, David, and I think you're exactly right. Having a framework that allows us to think more intentionally about our giving in light of the heart of God that we see in Scripture, perhaps is going to change entirely the where piece of our giving. David Will is with us today, President Emeritus of the National Christian Foundation. Following this interview, your questions today at 800-525-7000. Stay with us.

We'll be right back. Welcome back to Faith and Finance Live. I'm Rob West, joining me today, my friend David Wills, President Emeritus of the National Christian Foundation. We're talking about a recent article that David wrote on NCF's website titled, Does God Care Where We Give? And David, just before the break, you were really setting up this perhaps grid or framework that we can think about in terms of the where of our giving. But does God's Word tell us who we should give to as well? Absolutely, it does. So it kind of, one of the great things about the Word of God is if we'll go there first, it'll really give us a picture.

We just talked about the left side of this framework, this grid, if you will. And just one additional thought about this left side where we talk about giving locally, maybe giving to your country and then internationally, or whatever you think are the best three ones that kind of mirror Acts 1a. It probably is wise for us to think back just for a second on what did the disciples think when Jesus, or when Acts 1a was said? And so when they hear Jerusalem, they're thinking, well, this is where we live. This is our community. When they think Judea, they think, well, I know where that is.

It's a short journey, but it's not where I live. But what he had in Samaria, there was a little bit of a twist on that one, because that was a place that they probably would not have gone had Jesus not told him to go there. So when we think about our giving, there are times when we should think, are there places that God really is telling me to give that, you know, I just, I just have never thought about giving there before. And then, of course, the ends of the earth are, for the disciples were, that was way beyond anything that they would have ever imagined. But they ended up obeying Acts 1a. And today we are followers of Jesus because of their obedience. So now are we ready to go on to the top of the grid?

Absolutely. So let's move to the top of the grid and talk about who we give to. Yeah, so there are three, so the left side are the three places and the right side are the three passions that God cares about.

And of course, you know, it would take us a long time. There are dozens and dozens of verses that describe the passions that God has. But there are three biggies, if you will. In fact, you might call this framework, the great giving framework, because each of the top grids describes something that God's Word describes as great. So the first one at the top left is going to be the Great Commission, Matthew 28, 19 through 20. The verse we all know about making disciples, baptizing them, teaching them, going to the uttermost parts of the world. And you can see how all of these things intertwine. So this is not, they're dashed lines, if you will, of this grid.

In fact, the lines are probably not perfectly straight because the kingdom doesn't work that way. But it's helpful for us to think about. So there's a lot packed in that verse with regards to the, you know, who should we give to or the things that we should give to. So let's just say as an example in this column, there would be things like missions or evangelism, discipleship, maybe giving the scripture translation or Christian education.

Those are the kind of things that you hear about when you read the Great Commission. And of course, we all come up with our own specific things, but that's just kind of some examples. So in the middle box at the top, let's call it the greatest commandment, and that's found in Matthew 22. And that very famous verse is that we're to love the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our soul and all our mind.

So when we think about that one, that's the second column. And then the third one to the right, upper right, would be the second greatest commandment, which is in the next verse that says we are to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. So the types of things we want to give to are the things that are, you know, in the greatest commandment, you know, possibly could be preaching and teaching and cultural issues, things that are central to us loving the Lord our God with all our heart, soul and mind. And the third upper right box, those kind of things are the ones that are most often mentioned in Scripture, and there's really five big ones, but underneath there's lots of other ones. So widows and orphans, prisoners, the poor and needy, the sick, the oppressed.

God talks about basically giving to them over and over and over again. And we should be a little maybe more creative. So when you think of widows, maybe you also think about single moms, or when you think about orphans, you could think about foster care or adoption, you know. And so let's take the oppressed, for example. We're living in a world right now where there's a refugee crisis going on in so many places in the world. And of course, there's also issues of trafficking and slavery of all kinds.

Those are people that are oppressed, if you will, immigrants as well. And so we want to be a little creative here, but we do want to be biblical. We want to really stick to that top part are the passions of God. What is it that God is passionate about? And there's overlap, and all of us can kind of make our own grid, but I'm just kind of giving a framework out there to help us think through what is God passionate about, and then let that drive what I am passionate about giving to. This is really helpful, David, because I love that it involves intentionality, but it's rooted in Scripture. And so again, if we have this three by three, these nine boxes, down the left side we have our community and our country, and then international, and across the top we have the three greats, the great commission, the great commandment, and then the second greatest commandment. It gives us a framework to think about our giving.

Now, what does it look like for you, David, or you and your wife, as you think about your giving? How do you go about putting this together, let's say on an annual basis? Yeah, let's take the top one, the local. Most of the folks that I work with, by the way, Rob, they actually look at it kind of like concentric circles with regards to the places. So first they ask the question, how should I be engaged locally?

And then they ask, what's the next outer circle, and then the uttermost parts. So let's just take the local for example. When you talk about the great commission, the greatest commandment, really everything that we give to locally is going to intersect one of those three if we're following this framework. So let's just take an example, giving to my local church. If you looked at what I just talked about, you would see that giving to my local church clearly fits within what God's passion is. I live here in Waco, there's several organizations that we've given to that are ministering to the poor and needy. And so that fits in the upper right-hand box. And there are other organizations that we give to here that are educated, doing different types of education, especially some special needs-related things. And we give to a local organization here that's connected to our church that deals with trafficking. And so I know that what we're giving to these things, I can clearly put them just on that top row in the local.

And then I want to ask the same questions about the middle two boxes. Am I doing this in my country? And am I doing this in the uttermost parts of the world? We've been very involved in what's going on in Afghanistan and Ukraine, for example.

And it's just easy to see there's refugee issues there, there's poor and needy issues, there's healing, and you can see how they all intersect so you can really be confident. If I'm giving to those things that God is passionate about, then I'm definitely going in the right direction. That's so helpful, David. All right, we're almost out of time. Tie a bow on this for us. Well, just as we're closing up, I would ask one more question. What if my passions don't align with God's passions?

Well, the answer to that is give to the things that God is passionate about, and where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. I love it. David, thanks for stopping by, my friend.

Thanks for having me, Rob. Really appreciate it. That was David Wills, President Emeritus of the National Christian Foundation. You can read this article at our website, faithfi.com. We've got to take a quick break, but much more just around the corner. If you have a question today, call right now, 800-525-7000. This is Faith and Finance Live, and we'll be right back. Music Well, it's great to have you with us today on Faith and Finance Live.

I'm Rob West. We're ready to take your calls and questions today. By the way, I always love having David Wills here. What a great thought as we're thinking about being strategic in our giving, not just our investments. You know, so often we'll have an investment policy statement, or maybe your advisor will. You'll have a very detailed and thoughtful approach to how you're investing, deploying God's capital. But what about your giving? Are you thoughtful in the giving as well? Are you thinking about what it looks like to give in Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth? Are you looking at giving to the three greats, the Great Commission, and loving your neighbor and loving God with your heart, soul, mind, and strength? What about your passions, and how does that intersect with the things that are on the heart of God?

Perhaps we should be more thoughtful and intentional about the giving that we're doing as well. I hope that challenged you. I know it did for me today. Well, I'm looking forward to tackling whatever is on your mind today. Financially speaking, we've got lines open, although the calls are coming in quickly. That number is 800-525-7000.

You can call right now. Let's see, we're going to begin in Kent, Ohio today. Hi, Susan.

How can I help? Hi, Susan. Are you with us? All right, I'm not hearing Susan, so we're going to see if we can work on that, and we'll get you back on here hopefully in just a moment.

Let's go to Illinois. Hi, Carolyn. How can I help you? Hi. Can you hear me okay? Yes, ma'am.

I sure can. Okay, that's good. Well, the reason for my call, it's, I guess, sort of a two-part question, but I also wanted to express, when I went to the bank, I was offered an opportunity to have a HELOC. I don't need it, but they have a promotion going, and there are no fees and this and that, but one of the things that I want to point out is that when I was going through the paperwork, it was because of this program that I was able to understand much better what I was reading and go back today and ask questions.

I was able to ask questions about the index in terms of what you're going to pay in interest, the index, and then the margin that they add on, and then the APR, and all those things were very clear to me in terms of being able to ask intelligent questions and understand what they were saying. So I just wanted to let you know that it was because I listened to this program that I was able to comprehend that and ask questions. I'm so glad to hear that. That's great. Well, I'm delighted we could have been a resource for you. It's always helpful when you go in somewhere and you have a little bit of a knowledge base to build on and ask the right questions, so that thrills me to no end, Carolyn.

Well, specifically related to that HELOC, what are you thinking about? Okay, well, again, I don't need the thing, and they were offering it, and if you have anything that you want to say about them, that's fine. The nature of my question was that I noticed with this HELOC, and I've noticed in the past, like, for instance, if you're buying a car, when they do a hard check on your credit, what they come back with seems to be significantly different than what the consumer products offer. So, for example, I never fall below 800 when I'm checking online. But, for example, today Equifax showed 780 when the information that I got in the mail from the bank. Now, when I go online with the consumer resources and I check Equifax, it says 804. And even if you do a hard check, generally, you know, it's not going to be a 20-plus spread difference, and it wouldn't bounce back that quickly. So my initial question is, why is there such a significant difference between what the consumer has access to versus, you know, corporate or whatever?

Yeah, it's a great question, and you're exactly right. They can vary pretty significantly, and it comes down to the difference between consumers and lenders using different formulas that weight information differently. So, for example, lenders may use different versions of a FICO score that's industry-specific for certain types of loans.

And so that means it's a different algorithm, and it places weight on different factors versus the consumer version of that that might use a completely different formula that results in a higher score. So they should be, of course, in the ballpark, but it's not unusual for them to be different by any means, and that's why a lender is always going to want to pull their own credit report. Even if you were to say, yeah, I just pulled this the other day.

Here it is. They're not going to accept it because they want to run it through their own formulas because they know that they're using certain, you know, formulas with certain weightings for a specific type of loan that you're seeking. So that's usually the difference there. With regard to that HELOC, you know, some folks will say, well, I ought to go ahead and get it even if I'm not going to use it because what if I needed it in the future and I couldn't qualify for it? And as long as I don't borrow against it, I'm not having to pay anything.

And I would just challenge that a little bit. Even if there's not upfront fees, which usually there are some costs, closing costs and so forth, but even if they're saying, listen, we won't charge any of that, then often there are other expenses. There might be an inactivity charge. There may be, you know, other kind of monthly charges that they impose upon you that, you know, will cost you something over time. You also have the impact to your credit because that's another loan that's outstanding. Even if you're not using it, that's credit that's available to you, which will be factored in. So I think I would just make sure you have a purpose for it and if you don't, I'd probably be inclined not to. There might be some that would say as long as there's no fees and you'd want to double check that, that it's worth getting just to have access to it if you needed it down the road, I would probably opt not to.

The last reason is often there's a temptation to use it because it's there even when you don't really need it. So anyway, I hope those things are helpful. Thanks for your kind remarks about the program, Carolyn. We appreciate you being on today. Folks, we're going to take a quick break here when we come back. We'll talk to Anita in New York and then we'll get back to Susan there in Kent, Ohio. This is Faith and Finance Live.

Stay with us. I'm so glad to have you with us today on Faith and Finance Live. I'm Rob West. We've got a few lines open today for your calls and questions. That number, 800-525-7000. You can call right now, 800-525-7000. Let's go out to New York. Hi, Anita. How can I help you?

Hi, Rob. I recently borrowed on my life insurance. I'm just basically wanting to know if I'm going to have to declare that on my income taxes next year.

No. A loan from a life insurance policy is not taxable. The exception to that would be if the policy terminates before you repaid the loan. Why would a policy terminate? Well, if it was canceled or if you surrendered it or if you didn't pay the premiums, then if you had an outstanding loan, then that would become taxable in most cases.

But the loan itself, while the policy is still in force, is not taxable. Okay. Well, that's terrific. Terrific. Terrific. Thank you very much. Enjoy your program. Well, thank you. I have learned so much. I listen to you all the time. I'm delighted to hear that. That's very kind of you.

Will you call any time? Now, we're in New York. Are you located in the southern tier?

Okay. Well, I bet it's beautiful there this time of year and probably near Atlanta. Oh, it's just beautiful.

I can only imagine. Well, listen, Anita, God bless you. And if I can help you further in the future, please call us back. Let's go back out to Ohio. Susan, hopefully we have you now.

Go ahead. Yes, my husband and I work with two local financial planners. And what we are wanting to understand is a long term report. When we visit with them, we get a short term report of how things have done over the past year. But the best I can understand with one, we're averaging two and a half percent over the last 16 years.

And the other one, maybe one percent over three years after their fees. So we're just wondering, is it reasonable to expect a long term report? And at what point to where our goal was to average four to five percent a year?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's very reasonable to expect a long term report. In fact, I would ask for you know, I don't I think it's completely appropriate for you to go in and just ask the same question you're asking to me and just saying, you know, this seems low. So will you explain to me, first of all, am I understanding this correctly in terms of the average annual return since inception? And if it is, in fact, somewhere between one and two percent, why is that? I mean, for the S&P 500, for example, has increased by twenty five percent over the last three years.

Now, that's certainly not the only measurement. And that may not even be the appropriate index based on what your investing strategy is. They may have been using largely a fixed income strategy because they were trying to be risk averse and and preserve your capital. And we just came through a unique period where bonds, if you were largely invested in bonds, have done very poorly because as the interest rates were rising and have been have gone so high to deal with inflation, the bond prices were falling. And so whereas bonds would normally be that stable portion of the portfolio, they've actually lost a good bit of value.

And that might be why. And so you would need to compare the portfolio strategy against the appropriate benchmark. And in my example, it might be a bond benchmark, but I have no idea. You know, so you'd want to know what was my strategy?

How did we do compared to the appropriate benchmark based on how we were invested? And you could talk about whether or not that was the right investment strategy. But nevertheless, you just want to know how you did versus that.

And then there's, of course, a whole host of other factors. But I think to your other point here, Susan, is I think it would be appropriate to establish a consistent reporting methodology. So you might want to say, you know, every time we meet, I don't want to look at different slices of the data, so to speak.

I always want to see a sense inception performance. I always want to see the trailing five years and I always want to see the trailing one year. And I want to see that same report, you know, regardless of when we meet. And that way you're looking at consistent data. You're not just looking at the best cut of the data that makes the returns look the most effective. And I'm not saying they're manipulating anything, but I just think that consistency is important.

But give me your thoughts on all that. Yes. I feel like we're getting honest reports like, oh, this has been a poorly performing year.

This has been a great performing year. But I don't feel like I'm getting the long-term picture that's needed. Yes. And that's not inappropriate for you to ask for.

Okay. And then if you get acceptable answers, it's a relationship you can sustain. And if not, perhaps you need to try a different advisor?

I think that's right. I mean, you know, there's more to the relationship clearly than just the returns, but you're hiring them to manage the money. And if there's not a satisfactory answer as to why we dramatically underperformed the market. And again, you've got to be dealing with apples to apples in terms of how did a strategy that's similar to yours in the broad market perform versus your specific strategy. And to the extent you underperformed, why? And, you know, I don't think it's inappropriate for you to say, you know, one or two percent a year after fees is not, you know, that's not acceptable. And so if you're not satisfied with those, it may be time for you to make a change. So I think the next step is to ask for both things. Can you give me an understanding of not just the last year, but what is the longer term performance since inception? Perhaps five and 10 years as well, if the counts go back that far. And then how did we do?

And can you explain to me why you believe we did the way we did? OK, very helpful. Thank you to you. And your team was very persistent with me and I appreciate it. Thanks. Oh, I have an amazing team. So I appreciate you calling them out.

Thanks for saying that. Let's go down to Florida. Hi, Tim. Go ahead. Hi, Rob.

How are you doing today? Thanks for taking my call. Absolutely. I just want to thank you for picking up the torch with Larry Burkett. I used to listen to him a long time ago, too. In fact, I've even got his his green envelope system that he has.

I still have it here. I love that. Yeah. Yes. My question is, is that down here in Florida, you know, a lot of us have the 55 deep restriction homes. And there's a lot of fees involved with these and quite a few of them have gone up. My question is that the particular one that I have that we signed up when we came in there is the recreation and fitness membership. And it's deeded to the house.

And I want to find out two things. Is there any way that we can be able to contain these fees or the second thing is possibly get out of something like this? Yeah. You know, those deed restrictions are typically harder to change than the HOA rules because they're they're tied to the property deed itself. Whereas the HOA governance process can change the HOA rules. And so, you know, it's a complex process.

Normally, you need to have consent from a majority of the property owners and potentially even other parties like mortgage lenders, because, again, it involves a deed. Have you raised this with the board or any other homeowners? Yeah, a lot of us have complained about it, but we can't get anywhere. They just tell us if we don't like it. You know, you know, move. That's basically what it's been.

Yeah, unfortunately, it's it's not an uncommon occurrence here. But, you know, I think the key is the HOA should represent the homeowners. And so I'd probably kind of talk this up with your neighbors and see if there's others who share your opinion. And if you can get enough of you that, you know, want to head in this direction, I think then approaching the board to say, listen, this group of us would like to explore this further. We realize it's not simple and yet it's important to us. And so perhaps, you know, we need to make this a priority moving forward.

That would be the approach. You know, there's when you speak in numbers, you usually can get a little further than when you're on your own. Thanks for calling today. We'll be right back on Faith and Finance Live. Hey, great to have you with us today on Faith and Finance Live here in our final segment.

Let's get to as many calls as we can out to Oklahoma. Hi, Keisha. How can I help you? Hi. Thank you for taking my call. Sure. I have been challenged at our church, a small church, less than 100 members finding a good church management software program just to kind of keep track of our members giving, you know, those type of things.

Yeah, yeah, very good. Let me throw out a few names that you could maybe use to do your research. The other thing I might offer is if there's some churches in your area that maybe you're just a little bit bigger than you guys are and you feel like are pretty well run, you could always reach out to their business office and just do some research that way. There's a lot of options in this space. One that you might look at is called Church Center, and it's also called Planning Center, and they have different functions, but a lot of churches use Planning Center and Church Center to manage their, you know, accounting and coordinate events and communicate with the team and the congregation. So Planning Center is pretty popular. Another one is called Shelby Systems, S-H-E-L-B-Y, and then I'll mention one called Power Church. Now, in terms of the giving platforms directly, there's three that come to mind there. One is called Push Pay, one word, another called Tithely, it's tithe.ly, and then one more called Secure Give. So I think between those, you should perhaps get going in the right direction, Planning Center and Church Center, Power Church, Shelby Systems, and then Push Pay, Tithely, and Secure Give.

So give those a shot, okay? Great. Thank you so much. I love the show. Thank you very much.

Appreciate your call. Let's go down to beautiful West Palm Beach. Hi, Pauline. Go ahead. Hi, Bob. How are you? I'm doing great. Thank you for calling. Yeah, I'm so excited to get through. Okay.

Yeah, I tried Friday, but I wouldn't be able to get through. Oh, well, I'm glad you did. This is great.

Yeah, me too. So I have a 401k. It's not a lot in there. There's like $8,000 in there. I have it from my previous employer. Back in 2022, I had some more money in there, and I did borrow like $9,000 out of it as a loan to be paid by a car for my daughter when she was going off to college.

I'm no longer with that employer, you know, since moved. So my question is, do I, do I pay continue? I am paying back the loan.

I'm paying like $2,000 a month. Do I continue to pay the loan or just not pay the loan back? And I know that they set out to do that 10% because I'm not 59 and a half years old, but I have to pay that, they'll put it as income and then I have to pay that penalty 10%. So I'm like, it's because it's not like a whole lot, I'm debating, or should I just go ahead and just pay it off one lump sum or not pay it off? And the other question is, should I let it stay with my former employer or should I move it? Yeah, so let's deal with the loan first.

Most cases, they expect immediate repayment when you separate from service when you leave your job, or it's a distribution. Are you understanding that they're going to allow you to keep the loan in place even though you're no longer there? Yes, this is as long as I have over $7,000 in there. Yeah, I could keep it there.

Okay. Yeah, I do think you want to pay it back. You know, normally you only have five years to pay it back anyway. And again, when you separate, normally you have to do it immediately.

It sounds like that's not the case here. But the idea that you would get that money back in and let it continue to grow, and I would probably recommend that you either roll it to your new employer if you can, and you have a 401k there, or roll it to an IRA. Because the key is we want to keep it in that tax deferred environment so it can grow for the future. So that would be my next step. But where would you have to pull those funds from to pay that back if you did so? Well, from my income, because I'm not afraid of having a 401k, the 403b is what I have there.

And then my new employee, with the government, I can't roll it over to them. So what I'm paying back from my income, you know, from my job, from my paycheck is what I'm using to pay back the loan. And I did borrow, over the course of time as well, I did borrow, like just withdraw from that 403b a couple times, like $5,000 at one point, and then $6,000 at another point that I needed for, you know, I had moved and I needed that to help financially. So I did just withdraw that. And I know I paid the 20% taxes and they said that I guess at the end of the year I have to pay that 10% penalty as well. So that I'm aware of.

Yeah. And so I think for that reason, I would try to avoid doing this. So I just pay it back in whatever ability you have to do that, whether that's over time or, you know, in one lump sum.

But I would make a goal to get that paid back and not take that as an early distribution because with the tax plus the penalty, that's pretty expensive money, and it's no longer available to grow for the future. So I think that would be the direction I would head. I'm so glad you got through today. Thanks for being on the program, Pauline. All the best to you. Let's go to Ohio. Hi, Stephanie, how can I help?

Hi, I enjoy your program, Rob. I just had a question. My son is starting college this fall and I wondered, is it wise for us as parents to co-sign on loan for him? And also, where do you recommend we look for loans with the best interest rates?

Yeah, I mean, I would look online. You know, there's a lot of search engines specifically for auto loans that would help you dial into who might have the most attractive rates right now. Obviously, you're going to get a better loan if you guys are on it. The Bible, you know, really talks against co-signing.

It's pretty it's pretty clear on that one. And it's just generally because, you know, it's it has the ability to affect the relationship. The Federal Trade Commission tells us 50% of the time the person who co-signs has to step in. Now, if you said to me, Rob, we're ready, willing and able to step in and pay the loan if our son is unable to, and that won't affect the relationship. We're going into it with our eyes wide open. We're glad, you know, we're willing to do that. If that comes down to it, then, you know, certainly that's your decision on whether or not you do that. And it could improve the terms that you get. I would just probably look for other options if at all possible.

And if there's not one or it's just going to end up costing you more. Again, I would have clear expectations going into it, you know, clear communication about who's responsible for what and in what timing, whether he has the ability to pay the monthly payments. And if he doesn't, what happens?

And again, as to not damage the relationship that you all are ready, willing and able to step in if he can. Does that make sense, though? It does. It does. Yeah, it's just it's a case where he's starting college without any credit history. So I didn't with that factored into it.

Yeah, I mean, it's definitely going to be, you know, it would it would cause his terms to not be as attractive by any means just because he doesn't have the history, the credit score, the income, all of that. In terms of where you might want to go, you could look at NerdWallet, nerdwallet.com. They have the best auto loan rates every month.

They republish that list. You could do the same at Bankrate. You could also go to LendingTree.com. That would be another Web site that could help you search for who has the best rates.

And I think if you you do that, plus your own bank or anybody else you already have a relationship with, that'll get you pointed in the right direction. Thank you for your call, Stephanie. We appreciate you being on. Let's finish up today in Nashville. Hi, Betty.

Go ahead. I have received some Wal-Mart stock, 10 percent of my sister's, which didn't amount to much like fifty two hundred dollars. But the attorney sent me cash. So how do I pay taxes on that?

Does the attorney send me a ten ninety nine or I just turn in the fifty two hundred dollars? Well, where did it come from? Was it an inheritance, Betty? It was an inheritance. Yes. OK.

So she passed away and then it was paid to you out of her estate as an inheritance? Yes. OK. And who sold the shares of stock?

Do you know? It was Wal-Mart. Right. But but who actually placed the trade? So did the that the shares were in the estate and then the personal representative liquidated the shares? So I was the one that represented everybody and they wanted to cash it out. OK. So you sold it pretty shortly after. I'm sorry. You sold the shares of stock in Wal-Mart pretty soon after her passing?

Well, no, it was like two and a half years later because we didn't realize it was there. OK. Yeah. So you're going to want do you normally file your own taxes or do you have a CPA? I usually file my own.

OK. So what would happen is the shares of stock, the cost basis on those would be reset to the market value of the shares as of the date of her death. And then any gain in those shares would be a capital gain from the date of death until the day you sell it. And then obviously whatever portion of that was yours, you would be responsible for the gain on your portion. And so you don't it's not taxable income. It's just the difference between the selling price minus the value of those shares as of the date of death is the gain. And then you would pay capital gains according to the capital gains tax.

Does that make sense? So how would I go about finding out that? Well, are you do you file taxes as a single person or married?

Married. OK. And so if you're married, filing jointly for 2024 is your income, your combined income, not the gain, but your income is less than ninety four thousand. Yes, we're OK. OK. Then it would be a zero percent capital gain rate. So you should not have any taxes that you owe on that. OK. No taxes. And there's no way that I need to show proof or anything. No, it's an inheritance. So you wouldn't have to worry about that.

And yeah, as long as you don't have any capital gains due, then you can justify that all day long. So we appreciate your call. And unfortunately, I'm out of time. God bless you, though, Betty. That's going to do it for us today, folks. Hey, this week before June the 30th, every gift doubled the faith fine. It's an important week because it's the end of our fiscal year. Thirty thousand dollars away from reaching our goal. Every gift doubled right now at faith.com. Just click give. Big thanks to my team today, Amy and Dan and Gabby. Faith and Finance lives, a partnership between Moody Radio and Faith. Goodbye. See you tomorrow.