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Click on Analyze My Investments on the homepage to tailor your portfolio to what truly matters to you. Luke 638. Hi, I'm Rob West. God makes certain promises about giving, to encourage us to be generous, to trust Him and not fear. Art Rayner is with us today to talk about the power of these promises. 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 journey. Well, our guest Art Rayner is the author of the brand new book, Money in the Light of Eternity, What the Bible Says About Your Financial Purpose. He's also a frequent contributor here at Faithfi and a good friend. Art, welcome back. Rob, it is always an honor.
Thanks for having me again. Absolutely, and Art, Money in the Light of Eternity is so deep and yet so easy to read. It reminds me of something Larry Burkett used to say, that every spending decision is a spiritual decision. Would you agree with that idea?
I would. I'm reminded of a couple of things when you ask that question. First, Jesus said, Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. The Bible makes it clear money management reflects heart management. Second, the Bible is obviously not silent on the topic of money. There are over 2,000 verses about it. So as believers, the question is whether we trust what God says regarding his promises and provision, and are we willing to surrender this area of our lives to him?
That's a powerful idea, one we all need to consider. Well, as you know, Art, we're going to dig into one of your chapters around giving. It's titled Giving as an Act of Trust, and you unpack God's promises about giving. So I want to go over those, the first of which is God promises he will provide.
Yeah, let's look at Malachi 3.10. It says, Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, so there will be enough food in my temple. If you do, says the Lord of heaven's armies, I will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won't have enough room to take it in. Try it.
Put me to the test. See, God doesn't tell us to give and then leaves us hanging. No, he ties a promise to our generosity. He promises to pour out an abundance of blessings on us, and he tells us to test him in this, to give him the opportunity to show that he will make good on his promise. Now, does this mean that giving generously to the church will finally get you that new red Lamborghini that you've always dreamed of?
Not necessarily. God's blessings can be financial and material, but they can also be spiritual. Maybe God gives you the contentment you have been chasing for years, the same contentment you once sought for money by becoming part of something far more significant than your own momentary life on earth. That's a powerful invitation the Lord gives us. Alright, this next promise that you unpack is that God promises he will multiply.
Yeah, right. In John 6, Jesus turns a small boy's five loaves and two fish into enough to feed 5,000 with 12 baskets full left over. Many of us can relate to this boy. We look at our meager resources and wonder what God could ever do with them in the face of such great need. What difference can our generosity make? John 6 shows us that God is a God of multiplication. God will take whatever you give and multiply your resources to accomplish his purposes. That is a promise from God, but it takes trust. Yeah, that's exactly right.
Alright, I think we have time for one more. I'd love for you to explain the promise that God will enrich. We all enjoy getting a good return on our investments, or ROI. You like a good ROI, I like a good ROI, and so does God. Therefore, God promises to enrich those who give. In 2 Corinthians 9-11, Paul writes to those who trust God with their money.
Yes, you will be enriched in every way so that you can always be generous. You see, God wants a good ROI. He gives so that we can give. He blesses so that we can bless others. God is looking for conduits of generosity, channels through which his blessings can flow. He is looking for men and women whom he can enrich so that others may be blessed. Yeah, and that's our incredible opportunity as stewards of God's resources.
Alright, so we've got just a few seconds left. Tie a bow on this for us, Art. Generosity is an act of trust. It shifts our hearts from reliance on ourselves and money to reliance on God. Generous giving visibly demonstrates our trust in God and his promises to provide. If you are a Christian, you already have trusted God with your soul.
It's time that you trust him with your money. Wow, that's a powerful idea and a great place for us to finish today. Art, thanks for stopping by, my friend.
Thanks for having me. That's FaithFi contributor, Art Raynor. Pick up a copy of his new book, Money in the Light of Eternity, what the Bible says about your financial purpose. Back with your questions after this.
Stick around. As a faithful listener of this program, you know that there's life-changing financial wisdom in God's word, and FaithFi is here to help you and millions of others learn to be good and faithful stewards. As a nonprofit organization, we rely on help from monthly FaithFi patrons, supporters of this mission, to help us continue and expand our outreach. Has God provided financial answers for you through this ministry? If so, consider becoming a monthly FaithFi patron.
Visit faithfi.com and click Give. Welcome back to Faith and Finance. I'm Rob West. All right, it's time for your calls and questions today. 800-525-7000. That's 800-525-7000. You can call right now.
Let's go to Montana and begin with Nicholas today. Go ahead, sir. Hey, thanks for taking my call today.
Sure. Yeah, and I was just curious. I have an outstanding balance on a credit card, and I was just wondering if there's any pros and cons. They gave me a settlement offer that's significantly less than the balance owed, either a one-time or a 12-month or a 24-month type of payment, and I was wondering if there's stuff to watch out for when they do that.
Yeah. So is this the actual creditor that's offering this to you, or has it been sold to a collection agency? It's the actual creditor. Okay. And are they offering just to give you a payment plan, or are they actually reducing the balance? Reducing the balance.
Okay. Yeah, so debt settlement, getting a forgiveness of a portion of that in exchange for a partial payment, can ease financial burden, so it's certainly helpful if you're in a difficult spot, but it does impact your credit. It will hurt your credit score. Not only is it a part of the credit scoring algorithm, the fact that you settled the debt for less than the outstanding balance, but it will be notated on the account that it was settled in full there on the credit report. Now, it will show as a zero balance, and all things being equal, it's important to get these paid off, and if you had the option to either just leave it outstanding because you couldn't pay it or to settle it in full, I would choose the settled in full option, but you do have to recognize there is going to be an impact on your credit score.
So despite the potential downside, I like the idea of you making that partial repayment and getting it to zero better than leaving it unpaid, but if you had the ability to pay it in full, I think honoring your obligations and protecting your credit is a better way to go. Does that make sense? Yeah, that definitely makes sense. And then how long does that usually impact a credit score for?
Yeah, there's no way to know. The longer something is in the past, the less it impacts you, so over time it will gradually come back up, especially if you have other accounts that are in good standing and that are being repaid monthly on time, so you're being shown as an on-time payer. That most recent information is going to impact you the most. There's such a wide disparity between how quickly it will come back, and a lot of that's going to have to do with how much good credit you actually have. So for instance, part of your credit score is your credit mix. Do you have installment accounts and revolving accounts that are all active and being paid on time? What does your credit utilization look like for your active accounts? Is your total utilization below 30% of the available credit? How much history do you have?
Was there one settlement or multiple settlements? So the bottom line is, again, let's get those to zero. I'd prefer you pay them in full. If you settle them in full, that's better than leaving them unpaid.
It's going to bring it down, but I think 12 months from now, you'll probably be back where you were before all of this happened, certainly 24 months from now, so long as you have other good credit that's replacing this negative information. Okay, that makes sense. I appreciate it. Absolutely, Nicholas. Thanks for your call today.
God bless you, sir. 800-525-7000 is the number to call. We've got some lines open today.
We'd love to hear from you. Again, 800-525-7000. You can call right now.
Let's go to Pflugerville, Texas. Hi, Ray. Go ahead, sir. Hi, Rob. Thank you for taking my call. The question that I'm having is I had a little phone call conference with a Fidelity representative earlier today. And he asked me about, he was asking me, one of the questions he asked me was about this, I have like $50,000 in a savings account. And he asked me if I would consider putting that in a high yield account.
And I said, well, you know, I've been thinking about doing that because I've heard it on this radio station that I listen to. And he was telling me that if identity offers a brokerage account, that it's the same thing. And he called it a money market account.
And I didn't know if that was the same thing as a high yield. Or they also offer this other account called cash management account. Yeah, the challenge is I want you to use something that has FDIC insurance. So yes, a money market account is very much like a high yield savings account. And usually if it's a money market account, not a money market mutual fund, you will often have that FDIC insurance.
But that's a question you would want to ask the person at Fidelity. And then you could go compare that to other options at bankrate.com. So for instance, you know, if you wanted to get a CD right now, you could get, you know, almost 6%, depending on which online bank you use. If you're looking for high yield savings, you know, there's some great options there for that as well. I think the highest you're going to find right now is just north of 5% with a five star rated online bank with FDIC insurance, probably 5.05, I think is the best I've seen. And then if you go to a certificate of deposit, and you're willing to lock it up, let's say for a year, you know, right now you could find, you know, perhaps as much as even 550, 5.5. So you know, I think that's your next step is, is really to compare the alternatives.
And then secondly, to ask him on this money market account, if there's FDIC insurance, and if so, then I would say you could consider that alongside the other options. Okay, well, thank you, Rob, for that info and that advice. Thank you, sir.
All right. You're welcome, Ray. We appreciate your call today, sir. God bless you.
Louise is in Chicago. Hi there. Hi, Rob. Thanks for taking my call and for your ministry. Very grateful.
Thank you. Hey, so my question was, I took out on a loan for my 401k. That loan is paid for it's, it's, it's paid in full. But I pay some interest to it. My question is, who does that interest goes to? I mean, am I into my funds or it goes somewhere else?
Yeah, it's a great question. Louis, that you benefited from the interest you paid on your 401k loan. So essentially, you took the money out of one of your pockets and you put it into another.
Now the plan administrator may have charged a 50 or $100 origination fee for processing the loan, but that that loan repayment, including the interest that you paid on it, went right back into the account. So at the time of my retirement, when I withdraw the funds, that interest will be included into that, into that figure. That's exactly right. And then you'll pay tax on it as it comes out. Yeah, it's, it was a taxable income. Yes, that was my question. And because I was concerned, somebody had told me that no, you don't pay tax interest to yourself that goes, they say that they go somewhere else, you know, the government or I don't know what they told me. I was just, I was just wanted to clear that out. Yes, no problem. No, it's a good question.
A lot of folks are confused by that because it is confusing that you think about paying a loan to yourself and yet that's how it works with a 401k. So we appreciate you asking that. Well, folks, we're going to take our quick break.
When we come back, we have some lines open as well. 800-525-7000. If you have a financial question today, here's my heart. My desire is for you to be encouraged and equipped to be that wise and faithful steward living according to biblical wisdom in your financial life. And we want to help you do that. Give us a call today. We'll do that together. Stay with us.
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Give now at faithfi.com slash Lebanon or call 888-201-5577. But it is possible to enjoy both profit and peace of mind in investing, no matter what's happening in the market. You can see a short video webinar on that topic at soundmindinvesting.org. Since 1990, Soundmind Investing has sought to offer financial wisdom for living well. Soundmindinvesting.org. Welcome back to Faith and Finance. I'm Rob West. We're taking your calls and questions here in our final segment today. Let's go right back to the phones to Chattanooga. Hi, Lisa.
How can I help? So my question real quick is that my husband and I sat down with some people last night to discuss getting a roof put on the house, and they wanted $25,000 for it. Our house, we're out of debt. Our house is paid for. Our cars are paid for. And we had an emergency fund, but we used it to repair some cars.
So that kind of dwindled down to not much. But I can actually make payments on that roof for probably a couple thousand every month. So is it wiser to wait and save all the money I can and then maybe take out a very small amount of money? Or go ahead and get – and I don't even know what kind of loan to get. I think you said before don't do home equity loans because they put a lien on your house, so do something else. So that was the other part of the question. If I did do it, what kind of loan would you recommend?
I think I told you it was $25,000. So we're kind of confused. I'm torn out. I don't want to get in debt again.
I do not want to. Yeah. Well, that's a good feeling because that means, Lisa, if you have to take out a loan because this is something you can't wait on either now or in the future, then you're going to have a lot of incentive to get it paid off as quick as you can, and that's a good thing. So a couple of thoughts. Number one is that's an expensive roof. Now, I'm not saying roofs don't cost $25,000 to replace. They do, and prices are up all over the place, including construction and certainly with what it takes to replace a roof. But I would just simply say, let's make sure you get at least three bids and get folks competing for your business just because when you're talking about a spend like this, you want to make sure that you are getting a fair price.
Now, obviously, you want somebody who's reputable, who's licensed, who has great reviews, hopefully, who's personally recommended, but I think getting more than one bid for an expense like this is very wise. Secondly, in terms of how you pay for it, I mean, obviously, if you can put this off, if it's not necessary, it's not going to cause any damage to the home by waiting. You delaying this and just taking whatever you have that you'd be paying toward the debt and starting to set it aside in a savings account for this purpose would be great because that would do a couple of things. Number one is it would allow you to borrow as little as possible because you'd be saving and then secondly, we're seeing some improvements in construction costs and then thirdly, you'd give it some time for interest rates to come down. Now, once you decide you can't wait anymore, I do think, at least in this environment, a home equity line of credit makes sense. Why? Well, normally, I don't like home equity lines of credit because they're a variable rate, but with rates up as high as they are now, that would actually work in your favor because as rates come down, that variable rate, which is usually prime plus something, as the fed funds rate drops, then that rate on that home equity line of credit would come down with the rates that are being dropped by the Federal Reserve.
So even though you are putting your home up as collateral, it's a very small loan, as long as you feel like you have high confidence that it fits in your budget, then that's going to be the cheapest source of funds for you to access. Does all that make sense though? All of it does, yeah, and my struggle was, you know, I can hear Dave Ramsey saying, don't do it, don't do it. And from his class that we took, he said, if you don't have the cash to pay for something, you don't get, but what if, you know, what if damage does come to the house, then you got a bigger problem that's going to cost more to fix in the end.
Yeah, well, I mean, I would, I would echo what you're saying about Dave. I mean, I would say if you don't have to do it, don't do it and let's save and pay with cash. But when it comes to a roof, you may not have that choice.
Now, that's where getting I think a couple of maybe two, even three reputable roofing contractors in there to tell you, you know, can we do a small patch job on a portion of the roof that's damaged and wait it out? Do we even need to do that? Maybe it's fine the way it is.
You've got got any leaks? Well, maybe this is just more cosmetic or you just know it's nearing the end of its useful life, but you don't have any issues with it. Well, if that's the case, then wait. There's no reason to borrow when you don't have to. But if you've got, you know, a situation where it's letting water in or it's going to cause damage to the home, then you just don't have a choice because you waiting and not borrowing could result in tens of thousands of dollars in repairs because of damage with water. So you just have to be wise about it.
And that's why getting a couple of, you know, two to three contractors in there to help you make that decision, I think will be helpful. Okay. All right. Well, thank you for your time, sir. You're welcome, Lisa. Thanks for listening to the program and calling today. We appreciate it.
Let's see. We're going to quickly go to Coral Springs, Florida. I know it well. Hi, Erica.
How can I help? Hi. Good afternoon.
Thank you for taking my call. I have a lease and it's up next month. And if I decided to buy it, I have to pay 18,000 on it. It has 36,000 miles. And I was wondering, is that a good investment?
We're trying to have kids, me and my husband. And it's a Jeep. It's, you know, fair size. And then I just also don't want to have any more payments. I don't want to do the payments. I was just thinking about just paying it outright. What do you think?
Yeah, it's a good question. Do you expect to go over your allotted mileage for the lease, Erica? No. Okay.
All right. So I think if you don't and you're not going to have any fees, then you just need to look at what is the true value of the car and whether or not you could do better elsewhere by just turning it in and then purchasing a car outright. The value of used cars has decreased this year. So you, you know, you might be happy with the current residual value that you pay.
You might not be. And so I think you just need to find out exactly what is going to be the total cost out the door of you buying this outright with, you know, 36,000 miles or less versus what it would cost for you to go out and buy a similar car. Perhaps the exact make and model if you were happy with it and see whether that residual value is at market, above market or below market. Now, if it's anywhere close to market, the added benefit of you going ahead and buying it as long as it's been a good car and it's been reliable is you know that it's been taken care of because you've been driving it versus buying another, you know, car that's three years old where you can get it checked out by an independent mechanic. But you don't really have a good feel for how well did they take care of it? Did they change the oil? Did they run it hard?
So I would check Edmunds and kbb.com Kelly Blue Book, put in the condition, the make the model and just find out how the private sale value of a used car on the open market compares to what the dealership is going to charge you. And then you could also use that as a source of negotiation. I hope that helps, Erica. Thanks for being on the program today. We appreciate it. Well, folks, that's going to do it for us. Thank you to Robert, Gabby T., Dan and Amy.
Couldn't do it without them. I'm Rob West. Thanks for listening and sharing. And I hope you'll come back and join us again next time for another edition of Faith and Finance. Faith and Finance is provided by Faithfi and listeners like you.
