For Where Your Treasure Is With Chad Clark

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That's faithfi.com and click give. Are you storing up treasures on earth or in heaven? Are you focused on the temporal or the eternal? Hi, I'm Rob West. Jesus makes it clear in Matthew 6 that our hearts will always follow after what we treasure. Was he talking about money? Chad Clark shares his insights with us today, and then we'll take your calls at 800-525-7000.

That's 800-525-7000. This is Faith and Finance – biblical wisdom for your financial decisions. Well, Chad Clark, our FaithFi executive director, joins us again today, which always means something exciting is in the works. Chad, great to have you back with us.

Thanks for having me. So our team here at FaithFi has been spending some time in the Sermon on the Mount, specifically where Jesus talks about our hearts and what we treasure. And I'd like for us to talk about this idea today because it's really important for each of us to answer this question, and it's a central part of what we do here at FaithFi. Isn't that right?

Yeah, it absolutely is. Our vision here at FaithFi is that every Christian would see God as their ultimate treasure. And I want to unpack that a little bit today by looking at the Sermon on the Mount, specifically Matthew 6, 19-21.

And I'd love to read that if that's okay, Rob. It says, Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Yeah, that's such a powerful verse, and one we use a lot when talking about stewardship, because it challenges us to evaluate what we treasure most.

Yeah, it really does. We can see what is it that our heart is really desiring. And we can look at this literally and replace the word treasure with money. And so it's common for us to say where our money is, there our heart will be also. And we can use this sometimes to encourage generosity for people to look at their checkbook to see where their heart really is based on what their treasure is or where their treasure is going. But I think there's another way that we can look at this word treasure, which actually isn't specifically treasure physically, but more of this idea of what do we value or what are we devoted to? I love kind of the parallels here between this Matthew 6 verse and what we see in Matthew 13 44, where Jesus tells us the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field which a man found and covered up.

Then in his joy, he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. Now we see the word treasure here in both of these. But for this man in Matthew 13, there is nothing more important, more valuable or more glorious than this treasure that he has discovered.

Well, that's exactly right. And so when we say our vision here at Faithfi is for God to be our ultimate treasure, what we're saying is that he becomes our heart's desire. He is our devotion. And that's really foundational to the way we end up managing money, isn't it?

Yeah, it really is. And Jesus follows up this statement in Matthew 6. We see in Matthew 6 24, he says, No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. You see, money is a terrible master, Rob, but it is a useful tool.

I love how Paul David Tripp puts it. He says money is one of God's good creations, but a good thing becomes a bad thing when it becomes a ruling thing. So the question that I want us to wrestle with today is where is our treasure? Is our hope, joy, safety, satisfaction, our identity found in money and the things of this world, or in the person of Jesus?

Wow. Yeah, that's a powerful question. And as you even say that, it makes me think how sometimes we may look to money to do what only God can do for us. Only he can provide hope and joy and safety and satisfaction when he is the object of our abundance.

Absolutely, Rob. You mentioned how money is a terrible master, Chad, but it's a useful tool. So help explain how viewing God as our treasure impacts our usage of money in our remaining moments here. Yeah, I think when God's the treasure of our hearts, it completely changes the way that we view and use money. We come to see money as a tool for his glory and our desire is to just faithfully steward what he has entrusted to us. And that means that our financial decisions may look and probably should look very different from the rest of the world because we aren't here to build our kingdom, but his.

Well, it's an important message. It's central to what we do here at FaithFi. And folks, if you'd like to partner with us to help others on their stewardship journey, would you consider supporting FaithFi? A gift of any amount would go a long way to helping us bring this message to more people. In fact, a gift of $25 or more would allow us to send you a copy of our new study, Rich Toward God. Just go to faithfi.com.

We'll be right back. When you hear the phrase rich toward God, what comes to mind? Surely it doesn't mean making God rich. Is it about us becoming rich so we can give?

Or maybe it's an invitation to something much bigger. In the new Rich Toward God study, FaithFi has created a way for you to explore and reflect on a well-known biblical parable about a very rich man with a very big problem. Request a copy of the Rich Toward God study today with your gift of $25 or more by going to faithfi.com slash give. We are grateful for support from Soundmind Investing in the Faith and Finance Program. For more than 30 years, they've been helping Christians reach their financial goals with step-by-step guidance for investors at every stage, from those just getting started to those getting ready for retirement. Through scriptural principles and practical suggestions, SMI offers financial wisdom for living well.

More information, including the short video webinar on profit and peace of mind, no matter what's happening in the market, is available at soundmindinvesting.org. Great to have you with us today on Faith and Finance. We're taking your calls and questions 800-525-7000. Looks like all the lines are full. If you get a busy signal, we'd love for you to try back. We'll get to as many calls as we can on the broadcast today. Let's go to Oregon. Hi, Lynn.

How can I help today? I have a question about a VA loan. I realize they're based on comps or comparables that are run. Does a VA loan have a different outcome, a different amount, because it is a VA loan versus a conventional VA appraisal versus a conventional appraisal? Yeah, it's a great question.

And the answer is yes. So VA loans, the reason they're attractive, if you have access to them, is because the requirements are less stringent than a conventional loan. So credit score, you can usually get down as low as 580, where a conventional may require 620. It doesn't require any down payment.

I don't advise it, but that's possible. You can have a debt to income ratio that's lower than a conventional loan. They don't require private mortgage insurance. So there are a lot of lenient qualifications there, or at least more lenient than conventional loans. With regard to the appraisal, it's very similar. The only difference might be that with a VA appraisal, they tend to focus more on comparable sales with VA mortgages. Doesn't mean they won't use non-VA conventional mortgages as comparables, but they tend to focus more on the VA mortgage comparables. And so because of that, it may take you a little longer to get scheduled and complete a VA appraisal and a conventional appraisal.

You'll certainly want to let them know it's for a VA loan. And then they also have something called an MPR, a minimum property requirement. And this just means that beyond the appraisal to establish the market value, they're going to look at, you know, whether it's, you know, it's in property is safe and sanitary and structurally sound. So they're going to establish some basic standards for the home and its contents, electrical and plumbing have to be in good condition and roofs have to be defect free and basements have to be dry.

So they have these additional requirements that, you know, may prohibit some homes like a fixer upper may not pass appraisal. And so again, you're going to want you're going to want them to know that it is for a VA. So at its core, it's the same idea in terms of the appraisal and its value and importance in the process. But there are some uniquenesses to an appraisal for a VA loan specifically. Does that make sense?

Yeah, it does. Is the value that they come up with, you know, at the end of the appraisal, is the value going to be different because it's a VA appraisal versus a conventional appraisal? It should be fairly close, it could be different. And the only reason would be is if again, they're focusing on comparable sales with VA mortgages, they may exclude some comparables with conventional mortgages. And obviously, the value is dependent upon their ability to find comparable properties to justify the value.

And if you're working on a limited population of sales, you just don't have as many closed sales at your disposal. And therefore that may, you know, perhaps, you know, influence the appraisal in one direction or the other. So it is it is possible that it could vary just based on what comparables they're using and which ones they're excluding. Okay, so not always higher, not always lower, just it could vary a little bit. That's exactly right.

Just depending upon whether those comparable sales that they're using to justify their market value for the appraisal work in your favor or against you. Okay, that sounds good. Thank you so much. All right. We appreciate your call today very much.

Let's see. Let's go to Tampa, Florida. Hi, Steve. Go ahead, sir. Hey, thanks for taking my call. Sure.

Yeah, I have a question. I'm 58 years old, and I'm looking to retire either 62, 65, if I can make it. I do have some savings and some investments. I have, let's say, Raymond James, the brokerage account.

It was inherited. I got about a half a million there. And I got a Charles Schwab IRA, Roth IRA, mostly invested in Nvidia, about 100,000 there. And then I have a condo that's paid for about 260. And I'm just wondering if it'd be a good idea to cash out what I have in the Raymond James, not necessarily the Charles Schwab, just to sit on it a little while and see what the markets do, because it feels like the stock markets are just really high right now.

And I would hate to go back down into that decrease and lose all the gains that I had made the last couple of years. Yeah, no, I can appreciate that, Steve, although I would counsel you against what you just described. We'll get to that in a second. Who's overseeing the half a million dollars at Raymond James? Is somebody managing that or is it just kind of parked there?

No, I do have a financial advisor. And yeah, there's a team. Okay, very good.

Actually, it was my aunt's brokerage account that I inherited from her. It's the same team in Chicago. I live in Tampa. They're pretty good. They're actually pretty good. Okay. You know, here's my take on it. I mean, is the market, you know, sky high right now?

Certainly. I mean, we just hit an all time high not too long ago. And it's kind of priced in a, you know, a near perfect situation. And the world is everything but perfect right now, geopolitically and, and otherwise. So is there room for some downside here, especially if we hit a recession?

Absolutely. The challenge is, and all the studies back this up, Steve, the moment you try to pick the entry and exit point of the market, number one, that's really not the biblical model for investing, which is steady plotting. And number two, the data just says that's a losing proposition, that you can't pick the entry and exit points that you're going to react emotionally, and undoubtedly, you will enter at the wrong time and exit at the wrong time. Even if you get out now, and we do have a recession, and the market pulls back, when do you get back in? And you know, you're going to second guess yourself all day, and for good reason, because there's no way for you to determine that even the best investors and economists on Wall Street don't know what the market's going to do in the short run.

But they do know and are counting on the long run. And so if you're properly diversified, I mean, here's the thing, you're 50. I mean, even once you hit retirement, which is still a decade and a half away, let's say, if you the Lord Terry's, and you're in good health, I mean, you could live well into your 90s. So you potentially have, you know, four or five decades of investing ahead of you. So I think, you know, my counsel to you just, and again, I appreciate everything you're saying, my counsel to you would be to say, let's take a step back, let's make sure you're not overly concentrated in one stock, let's make sure you have the right mix of assets, which for somebody at 50 years old is probably at least 60% in stocks, maybe more in the balance, and maybe some gold and fixed income, which will do well as interest rates head down. And then as long as you're properly diversified with with good investment advisors overseeing it, then you kind of take the long term perspective, even when we hit the recession. Because you know, those people that got out right at the beginning of the pandemic, as the market was headed down, they missed the fastest rise to a bull market in history.

And that's just a case in point on how you can't pick the entry and the exit points. Instead, you properly diversify, you take the long view, and you stay invested. That's my best counsel. You know, at the end of the day, you're the steward, and you've got to make that call. Does that make sense, though?

Yeah, it does make sense. Actually, I am 58. So I'm looking to retire a bit sooner than a decade and a half. But you still got, you know, three to four decades, Lord willing, until he calls you home and could be tomorrow.

But with longevity on your side, you know, it could be when you're 100 too. So, you know, I think that's the at least the key to think about, but I appreciate your call today. Well, we're going to take a quick break, but we'll be back with much more just around the corner as we apply God's wisdom to your financial decisions and choices.

More calls right around the corner. This is Faith and Finance, and we'll be right back. 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 faithfind.com and clicking Give. We are grateful for support from the Eventide Center for Faith and Investing.

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That's faithandinvesting.com. Great to have you with us today on Faith and Finance. I'm Rob West. We're taking your calls and questions today. I've got lines open.

Perhaps you have questions, and we'll try to give you some answers. Give us a call. 800-525-7000. Again, that's 800-525-7000. You can call right now.

We'll head to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Hi, Chris. Go ahead.

Hello. Thank you for taking my call. I have a situation that I think a lot of people might be going through right now, and I've been talking to some people and doing some research, and I just can't find a good solution to it. I was wondering if you could give me some advice. My wife and I are currently separated. There's a divorce settlement agreement out there. As I'm looking through the agreement, I noticed that I'm going to be able to keep the house, but I'm going to need to provide $35,000 to her, which I don't have on hand. In order to do that and also take my wife's name off the mortgage, I'm going to have to refinance. The bad part about that, obviously, is I have a really good low rate right now, and the rates for refinancing currently are not very good. I was just wondering if there's any other strategies out there that I could be thinking about, whether that be dipping into my 401k or anything else like that, because I really do want to stay in the house.

Yeah, I can appreciate that. Chris, I'm so sorry to hear what you're dealing with here, and we'll certainly be praying that the Lord restores your marriage. You know, normally, and this isn't always the case, but this is most often the case, is that lenders will allow, once this process is finalized in court, and once there's a marital settlement agreement in place, they will allow the spouse who's receiving the home to assume the mortgage. And therefore, you would take one spouse off, and the other spouse would be the sole person on that mortgage. And so you would be able to retain your great loan rate that you have right now, and I can understand why you wouldn't want to get that up. And then on the heels of that, you would need to, and I realize the timing of all this may be an issue because that assumption process doesn't always happen quickly. But on the heels of that, potentially, you could take out a second mortgage just for the 35,000. So you're increasing the overall amount that you owe by 35,000.

But through the assumption, you're keeping the first mortgage intact with that great interest rate, and you're just paying the higher interest rate on a second. Have you looked at that option or considered that? I have.

I've gone to the bank where I currently have my mortgage and asked them about assumption, and they pretty much said that's something that they don't do. Okay. Have you, yeah, have you talked to your attorney about that? I mean, I don't know legally if there's any recourse to that. I think it could be that it's up to each individual bank, but this is a very common thing, and I might push that a little bit further before you just accept that at face value.

Sure. Now, you were mentioning about the divorce having to go through and be finalized before the assumption could take place? That's right, yeah. It does require, you know, you have to have that finalized in court before you'd then apply for that assumption process. And so, most lenders will require that divorce decree before you can even start working through the assumption process. But I would still think that they would be able to tell you that if they're going to allow it to say, no, you can't do it today, but once that divorce decree is in place, then yes, you can start the assumption process. But if they're saying, no, we just won't do that period, well, that's an entirely different thing.

But I would make sure you get to the right department and thoroughly vet that conversation before I just accepted that, no, they don't do that, because perhaps you're talking to somebody that doesn't know that or doesn't understand, you know, that process following a divorce decree. Okay, that's helpful. Thank you. You're very welcome, Chris. We appreciate your call and all the best to you, my friend.

Let's go to Chicago. Hi, Robert. How can we help? I have a problem with a law firm that I reached out to renegotiate some credit card and get the interest rates down. But they haven't done anything.

They've been taking $1,500 a month. And now I have two lawsuits outstanding. Yeah.

I'm so sorry, Robert. If you would have called before you told me you were doing that, I would have said stay away from those. Unfortunately, there is just a lot of bad actors in that space.

I'm not saying that this one is, although I don't like what I'm hearing. You know, what we recommend, and this is perhaps as a separate issue, the first issue is kind of getting your money back for non performance, because it sounds like you paid a lot of money, they haven't done anything for it. And so hopefully, that lawsuit will help you rectify that situation and get them at the very least to reimburse you and cover your court costs. But separate from that, you still have the debt. And what I would have told you then, and I'll tell you now is the best way to take care of that piece of it is what's called debt management, not debt settlement, where you pay an attorney to kind of come in and negotiate a lower payoff and let these get delinquent and all that debt management is where you keep the balances current.

It never goes into a default or collection status. They drop the interest rates because of the debt management program that's available, usually half or more, those interest rates will come down. And at that point, then you would, you know, just make one level monthly payment with the lower interest rate. And by doing that, you'll pay that back on average 80% faster.

So where I would head next while you're trying to resolve the the lawsuits that you have against this attorney who has not performed the way you paid them to do so is separately contact christiancreditcounselors.org. That's christiancreditcounselors.org. And what they'll help you do is slide you into one of these programs for debt management. They'll tell you based on who your creditors are exactly what that reduced interest rate is that you'll be paying. They'll calculate your new monthly payment, which you'll pay through them, and then they'll distribute it each month to each of your creditors.

So again, those accounts don't get paid off in full and you create a new debt, they stay right where they are, you're just now paying through the nonprofit credit counseling agency, which is what allows you to have access to those lower interest rates. And then I would go to work on your budget and really try to trim your spending because even with those lower rates, I'd still love for you to send, you know, above and beyond that scheduled monthly payment so we can get that principal balance coming down as quickly as possible. So I know you're going through a lot here, Robert, so we'll wish you all the best and certainly be praying that the Lord would allow you to see this through and get this rectified. God bless you, sir. Thanks for calling today.

Well, we covered a lot of ground today. Hey, before I let you go, let me remind you, if you're looking for an advisor that shares your values, we recommend the Certified Kingdom Advisor designation. 1,500 men and women across the country have met the high standards in character and competence, but they've also been trained to bring a biblical worldview of financial decision making to their professional advice. They've also had pastor and client references. You can find a CKA in your city when you head to faithfi.com and click find a professional.

That's faithfi.com and click find a professional. Well, on behalf of my entire team, Taylor, Jim, and Devin, I'm Rob West. We're so glad you were with us today. I hope you'll come back and join us next time for another edition of Faith and Finance. God bless you. Faith and Finance is provided by Faithfi and listeners like you.