3 Money Moves of Solomon With John Putnam

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That's faithfi.com and click give. Many think Solomon was the wisest man who ever lived, and much of his God-given wisdom is about managing money. Hi, I'm Rob West. John Putnam joins us today to talk about the three money moves of Solomon so you can be just as wise, and then it's on to your calls at 800-525-7000.

That's 800-525-7000, and you can call that 24 seven. This is faith and finance, biblical wisdom for your financial journey. Well, our guest today is my friend John Putnam. John is a strategic stewardship coach, a certified kingdom advisor, and founder of Money Made Faithful, a financial discipleship marketplace ministry. John, great to have you back. Rob, always good to be with you. John, Scripture makes it clear that King Solomon was wise, but I think we sometimes forget just how wise he truly was. Would you agree with that?

No question, Rob. I mean, Solomon prayed for wisdom, and in 1 Kings 4 it talks about what he actually received. It was incredible, and God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding beyond measure and breadth of mind like the sand on the seashore, so that Solomon's wisdom surpassed the wisdom of all the people of the east and all the wisdom of Egypt, for he was wiser than all other men. Yeah, I wouldn't want to match wits with King Solomon, but getting to the topic at hand today, John, what financial moves, money moves, did Solomon have in mind?

Yes, sir. Hey, Solomon didn't have our shortcomings, Rob. He was a smart, wise guy. The first move is to be disciplined. I love Proverbs 13-11 that reads, wealth gained hastily will dwindle, but whoever gathers little by little will increase it. Rob, so often we hear the word discipline, and images come to mind of doing the same thing over and over again and how it gets boring and mundane, but what it really does in this context is guide you to master the discipline of making little wise money choices that compound over long periods of time that lead to much larger long-term stewardship success.

And there is no doubt that is a key to financial success. All right, John, what about move number two? It's be denied. Rob, this one is not real popular to deny yourself.

I mean, seriously, who wants to do that? With all the conveniences around us as well, it's so easy to fall into the mindset of I want what I want, and I want it now. But one of the core behaviors around wise and faithful money stewardship is about the practice of denying yourself today. Proverbs 21-20 reads, precious treasure and oil are in a wise man's dwelling, but a foolish man devours it.

Rob, when you deny yourself, not only does it help you to be better prepared for tomorrow for the curve balls and what life throws at you, but it also protects you today and helps you be more present today and available and focused on God and the ministry opportunities that he will put in your path. Oh, that's so true, John. All right, so we're to be disciplined, we're to be denied, and now on to King Solomon's final money move. Yeah, such good wisdom here, to be determined. Proverbs 10-4-5 reads, a slack hand causes poverty, but the hand of the diligent makes rich. He who gathers in summer is a prudent son, but he who sleeps in harvest is the son who brings shame. Rob, I've said many times in my coaching, you will never drift to a destination of your own choosing.

That's right. Each of us, we need a vision for where we're going, we need a mission for how we're going to get there, and we need the values to define who you want to be on the journey. When you create that level of determination and focus, Rob, you just naturally position yourself for wise and faithful stewardship that not only will impact your life, but will send ripple effects through eternity, brother. John, this is so good. We're about out of time. Tie a bow on this for us. Yeah, look, the beauty of these moves, they apply to so much more than our money, and you never age out of these moves, Rob.

They're as true when you're 20 and 30 as they are when you're 60 and 70, and the best part about Traits of Wisdom is that it ages very, very well, so keep sharing it with others. Wow, John, we just scratched the surface. We're going to have to have you back real soon, but really appreciate you stopping by today. Great being with you, Rob. That's John Putnam, folks, founder of Money Made Faithful. Now, if you want to find out more about Money Made Faithful, just go to their website, moneymadefaithful.com.

Tune into the weekly Money Made Faithful podcast or follow at Money Made Faithful on Instagram and Facebook. All right, your calls are next. The number, 800-525-7000.

That's 800-525-7000. I'm Rob West, and this is Faith and Finance, biblical wisdom for your financial journey. Stick around.

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Great to have you with us today on Faith and Finance. All right, we're ready to take your phone calls. 800-525-7000 is the number to call. That's 800-525-7000. You can call right now.

Let's go to Naples, Florida. Hi, Susan. Go right ahead. Hi. Thank you for taking my call. Sure. I am looking at long-term care insurance for myself, and I'm in my late 50s.

The variable that's probably the largest is there may not be family available to care for me, so I'm looking for peace of mind and any guidance that comes to your financial planning expertise. All right. Well, I think you're right in looking for this. Have you started to price it out yet with anybody? Yes. Yes, we just started pricing it out with our financial advisory company, and they offered two plans, one being a traditional and one being a hybrid, and that's our starting point. But we're looking to shop other ones and to get any guidance that we can.

Yeah, very good. I like this a lot because this is going to step in and cover the high cost of healthcare, and especially given that you don't have a plan B already in place, moving in with a family member or something, you want to be able to maintain your quality of life and be able to choose a facility that you would go into if you need skilled care without having to rely on that being a Medicaid-approved facility. That's where long-term care insurance is going to be helpful. Now, with the premiums that you were quoted, how does that fit into your retirement budget? We can do that, and we can start making the payments. And I think, well, we had sticker shock, but we kind of preliminary explored that maybe that's something that we set aside and plan for outside of long-term care insurance.

But I don't know, we're still exploring. Yeah, yeah. Well, you know, I think the just the cost of this over time, even though the I understand the sticker shock is high, and these premiums can go up and do go up, but I think, you know, the insurance is typically the better route to go. What do you all have in the way of retirement assets currently? About $3 million. Okay.

All right. So you're, you know, kind of in the position where you could self-insure. I mean, I typically recommend long-term care insurance for people with assets of between $200,000 and $2 million. When you get up into the $3 million plus, you're in pretty good shape in the sense that, you know, you should be able to self-insure. And, you know, given how long people tend to need long-term care, normally, you don't get into a long-term care facility and stay there for 10 years. I mean, usually you're only needing that for somewhere between two and four years on average.

So I think for you, given that you're, you know, a million dollars beyond kind of that threshold, you could go either way. Looking at a hybrid policy, you know, is another way to go, because these reduce people's fear of wasting premiums by offering two exit strategies. The first is that after the surrender charge period, usually 10 years, you can get most of your premiums back if you decide to cancel the policy. And then secondly, a death benefit is paid to your heirs when you die. So, you know, obviously leaving an inheritance is important to a lot of people. And so they like knowing that some of the money paid in premiums to the hybrid policy would be given to the kids.

And then the last major advantage is that the benefits are guaranteed. So, you know, if you pay your premiums, usually 10 years or less, you'll have a contractually guaranteed death benefit, and then a guaranteed amount of long term care coverage. So that can be, you know, definitely an option to look at, you just need to compare the illustrations and make sure that it you have, I would recommend the long term care insurance specialist as an agent, somebody who really understands these policies, maybe this is almost exclusively the area that they work in. So they can kind of walk you through all of the, you know, implications here of either type of policy.

But, you know, there are so many different pieces and parts to this that I think it would be, you know, you worth looking, taking a look at. Do you have recommendations from your website on people that are strictly long term care agent specialists? I would wish I did. Unfortunately, I don't. But here's what I would do, Susan, is reach out to an advisor there in Naples, a certified kingdom advisor, and ask for a referral.

Typically, you know, those who work in wealth management, because often they do work with so many who are in this season of life, they'll typically have an agent that they work with, that hopefully specializes in long term care. And if you ask for that, I suspect they should be able to make that connection for you may need to call two or three. But that would probably be my next, next best approach. So you just go to faithfi.com right there at the top of the page that says find a professional, and you can ask for a referral. All right, I appreciate your help. All right, Susan, God bless you. And thanks for being on the program today. We appreciate it. Let's go to Miami.

Hi, Connie, how can I help? Hi, yeah, quick question. If I wanted to buy a gift certificate, like as if I were going to Macy's to buy a gift certificate for someone so that they could go into Macy's and buy what they wanted. Can I do that with the stocks? Can I go into a broker and just buy a gift certificate of money for someone to take that money and apply it to whatever stock they want to?

Yes, you can do that. And there is a particular website that I've seen folks use for this pretty effectively. It's called stockpile, s t o c k p i l e stockpile.com. And they do now is this for a child or for an adult? It's for an adult. Oh, it is. Okay.

Yeah. So this is typically used for children where you can essentially buy a gift certificate and give it to them and then they would take it to stockpile and they could pick out the stock essentially, that they wanted to make the purchase that they wanted to buy the shares in. If it's if it's an adult, I would probably reach out to Charles Schwab or Fidelity, either one of those and I believe they offer this I'm not certain again, I've been more familiar with this in the parents and kids or grandparents and grandchildren category. And that's where stockpile.com has been really helpful. I believe that the Schwab and Fidelity offer something similar. And so I would probably reach out to one of those two. What about Vanguard?

I'm not sure about Vanguard, but I don't think it'd be hard for you to just click on their website and call that 800 number and and ask them they may have something similar. I'm just not familiar with it if they do. Yeah, I just want to I didn't know something like that even actually existed. Okay, it does. Yeah, it absolutely does.

So you're thinking right here, Connie. And essentially, what you're doing is kind of seeding, if you will, the start of their portfolio, right? Is that is that what you're trying to accomplish? Well, actually, actually, they have a really great big portfolio, but I need to give them money.

And they don't want to accept the money. So I figure, okay, I'm going to get them gift certificates. You certainly could do that. And yeah, I see what you're getting at here. You're trying to kind of get around the system, if you will, with your kids, you know, the other approach would be to buy, you know, a bond that they could redeem as well, you could do that at treasury direct.gov.

But give one of those firms a call and just see if they have something like a gift certificate, they'll be able to tell you pretty quickly. But it does exist. And that's the case. And thanks for your call. All right, folks, we're just getting started today. Plenty more time for your questions on anything financial will help you apply the wisdom from God's Word to those decisions and choices you're making and call right now. I've got a few lines open 800-525-7000. By the way, if you want some help in your financial life, maybe it's a professional you need. You can find a certified kingdom advisor on our website at faithfi.com.

Or maybe it's budgeting or communicating with your spouse. That's where a certified Christian financial counselor comes in. You can find a cert CFC on our site as well. Just go to faithfi.com and click find a professional.

Back with more after this. Stick around. . As a faithful listener of the Faith and Finance program, you know that there is life-changing financial wisdom in God's Word to meet all your needs. More than anything, Faithfi is here to help you and millions of others see God as your ultimate treasure. As a nonprofit, we're grateful for our partners that help expand our outreach every month with their generosity. Has God provided financial answers for you through this ministry? Please consider becoming a monthly partner by visiting faithfi.com and clicking give. Investments involve risk.

Principal loss is possible. Foresight Fund Services, LLC. Helping you see God as your ultimate treasure and money a tool to accomplish God's purposes. I'm Rob West.

This is Faith and Finance. We're going to be headed back to the phones. We've got a few lines open for your calls and questions today. Call right now, 800-525-7000. Alan will be coming your way in Texas, but first to Arkansas. Ken, you'll be our next caller.

Go ahead, sir. Appreciate all your common sense and your knowledge you're sharing with us. I appreciate that very much. I listen to you nearly every morning, but I really, really like what you're sharing.

God's words and touching our hearts and, again, helping us live our life and share with others as we do. I'm 75. I'm still working. I'm having to take money for my hour each year, and I'm just curious to know, is there a best time to take that? Do you take it in the early part of the year, the middle part of the year, the end of the year?

What's your recommendation? Yeah, it's a great question, Ken. Thank you for your kind remarks about the program as well, sir. You know, many advisors will tell you to wait until late in the year to take that RMD for a few reasons. Number one, it allows you to delay the income tax due on the distribution as long as possible because you may want to be sending it, you know, throughout the year if you're taking it starting at the beginning of the year. Number two, it maximizes the deferred return inside the retirement account. Obviously, a lot of that comes down to market performance, but all things being equal, the market is, you know, gaining some ground over the course of the year. Having that continued, you know, deferred return where the taxes are not impacting it and it's free to continue to grow is a good thing. And then, you know, on occasion there might be new deals that arise for RMDs during the year, and you could take advantage of those, but it generally comes down to the first two points I mentioned.

So I think all things being equal, I'd probably wait till later in the year. Now, the question then begs the idea that you don't need you don't need the money. Is that right, Ken?

You're not living on this? You're just taking it because the IRS is requiring it? Yeah, that's correct. That's correct. And really, I'm directing it directly to my church. So it's not like I'm, you know, I've heard you talk about that and I did it last year and it worked out real well.

And I'm gonna do it again this year. Okay, great. So you're using the qualified charitable distribution? Yes, sir. Okay, great.

Yeah. So you're not even having to add this to your taxable income, which is excellent. So really, the only benefit there is just maximizing the deferred return. Now, obviously, that works against you in a year where the market happens to be up in the first part of the year and down in the second. And that may, in fact, be the case this year is, you know, we've got this market that's sky high. And we'll talk about this with Alan in a moment because he wants to ask why the market has been performing so well. But just a preview to coming attractions, I think it's largely driven by corporate profits, and we're counting on those continuing to be high. But we're already seeing some chinks in that armor, just because of the fact that, you know, we're seeing the effects of this sticky inflation and these high interest rates. So, you know, you don't want to time the market at the same time, you know, just given where we are with the market, and the fact that you're not having any impact with taxes using that qualified charitable distribution, you may want to think about, you know, doing it before we get into the last quarter of the year, just because, you know, we're starting to see signs that the consumer is, you know, losing some steam and corporate profits, I think are going to begin to trend down.

So that would probably be the only reason why you may want to take it sooner than later. Ken, it was a great question. Thanks for being on the program, sir. God bless you.

Let's go to Texas. Alan, go ahead with your question. Yes, I was just wondering, my investment portfolio is sky high. I mean, it's up 35% in the past three years, and I was just wondering what you thought was driving this bull market, and do you think our grandkids' grandkids will ever be able to pay their way out of a $7.8 trillion national deficit?

Yeah, well, a couple of things you're hitting on there. Number one is why the strength in the market. And, you know, it really comes down to, I mean, the bull case rests on solid continued solid earnings growth for corporations. And, you know, we're still seeing that now, even though this is a lagging indicator, because we're looking backwards when we see companies' profits and quarterly earnings, because it's for the previous quarter. But 59% of companies are still exceeding their revenue estimates. And, you know, 80% have reported earnings.

And when they did, 77% of the S&P 500 that have reported are exceeding their earnings per share estimates. So we just have a lot of strength with regard to corporations and what they're doing. We also have a strong consumer that is held up quite resiliently, even in the midst of these high interest rates, we're starting to see some cracks there with rising debt levels. But nevertheless, at least to this point, we've had, you know, consumers holding up quite well. And so that earnings growth, the belief that inflation is contained, has been a lot of the driver of this market that remains to be seen for sure.

It's been ticking up as of late. And I think the big idea here that's a big driver of this market clearly, is this longer term, artificial intelligence, secular growth theme. So it's this idea that AI is going to be a boon for the economy. And, you know, it's going to drive productivity and innovation, like we've never seen before.

And I think there's a lot to be said about that. I was, you know, listening to an interview just last week with a billionaire investor who's highly respected on Wall Street. And he said, we're in a period right now, which is some of the most exciting that we've ever seen, for innovation and productivity. And, you know, what the opportunities are here in America for the future, which have far reaching implications for our economy.

The question is whether we're going to stifle that with higher taxes and higher reg, you know, more regulations, which make it harder for businesses to do business and unrestrained. And you hit on this as well, with regard to our our fiscal situation. I mean, we're at a $1.8 trillion budget deficit. I mean, it's just staggering to think that we'd have that kind of deficit in the midst of, you know, incredibly low unemployment. And, you know, just at a full workforce, essentially, to be running these kinds of deficits are just it's mind boggling to think that we'd be in that situation.

And yet we are. And yet, you know, and at the same time, and you hit on this, we've got national debt that that's running away. So, you know, I think there is to be case to be made for why the market has done what it's done.

The question is, where does it go from here? And I think if we're starting to see corporate profits, you know, not be as strong, and we're already starting to see some early signs of that, if inflation tends to be stickier than we expected, and settles in, you know, at three plus percent instead of the Fed's target of two, you know, and we hit that recession, and they have to start lowering interest rates. And so that becomes the new norm. If that's the case, then we're probably going to see a market that doesn't perform as well as it has over the last two decades in the coming decades. How do we deal with the debt? Well, it's going to require significant budget fiscal restraint, and it's going to require that our economy continue to perform. We have all the makings for it.

We just need to get out of the government out of the way and let it run. That's going to do it for us today, folks. Hey, check out our website, support our work there when you click Give at faithbuy.com, and we'll see you tomorrow. Announcer Faith and Finance is provided by Faith Buy and listeners like you.