Banking On Eternal Rewards With Aaron Caid

Have you heard about the change happening across the U.S.? Learn more at JoinChristianCommunity.com. That's JoinChristianCommunity.com. Membership eligibility required. Each account is insured up to $250,000.

This institution is not federally insured. I'm Rob West. Put another way, that means right now counts forever, and that certainly includes our financial decisions. Are you banking in a way that honors God? Aaron Cade joins us today to talk about it. Then it's on to your calls at 800-525-7000.

That's 800-525-7000. This is Faith and Finance, biblical wisdom for your financial decisions. Well, Aaron Cade joins us again today. Aaron's the chief marketing officer at Christian Community Credit Union and underwriter of this program. And Aaron, it's great to have you back. Thank you.

It's great to be back, Rob. Aaron, I think most Christians have had knowledge of stewardship using God's resources for kingdom work, but they sometimes miss opportunities to incorporate that into daily living. Would you agree with that?

I would. And in fact, we recently did some research on this very topic. We surveyed over 250 Christians on stewardship, and we found that respondents had a good conceptual knowledge of stewardship, but they really didn't feel like they knew how to apply it to their daily lives. So some things we learned included, you know, over 80 percent believe that applying the principles of stewardship to their life would have a very positive impact. Over half of them wanted to learn more about the basics of stewardship. A third of them would like to learn how they can use their financial blessings in a God-honoring way. I mean, essentially, they wanted to learn more about the practical ways that they can manage God's financial gifts in a way that honors Him.

I'm delighted to hear that. And of course, this is something that Christian Community Credit Union does on a daily basis, helping to further God's kingdom. I'd love for you to tell us about House of Refuge Sunnyslope, because it's a great story. Yeah, you know, they're a ministry in Phoenix that has been providing transitional housing for over 35 years. And what I love is they intervene at that moment to catch people who are tumbling toward homelessness, and they help them get back on their feet. And they see their mission not only as providing an earthly shelter, but also sharing the promise of their eternal home with God, that Christ brings restoration and new life. So they surround the residents with love, they provide them housing and nourishment, and they try to equip them to live the life God intended for them.

I love that. That's powerful. So how exactly did Christian Community Credit Union help this ministry there in the Phoenix area? So they had a great opportunity to acquire housing and land adjacent to their existing property. And this is something they had dreamt of for years, they had a chance to double the size of their single moms program. So it was a prayer answered, but they had to move quickly or they'd lose it.

They had to close the deal within a timeframe other financial institutions told them was not possible. Then they turned to Christian Community Credit Union. We were able to move quickly, we were able to help solve problems rapidly, and we were able to provide the affordable financing they needed on the timeframe they needed to acquire those properties and greatly expand the number of families they're able to serve. And House of Refuges CEO Julie Suppley even remarked, CCCU was so flexible, so responsible, and they prayed for us. Hmm.

Wow, that's powerful. Now, when someone joins CCCU, how do they participate in this kingdom work, Aaron? Essentially, what we said, storing up treasures in heaven. Well, CCCU is unapologetically Christian. So when you join our family, you're joining a financial institution that's guided by Scripture. The resources you entrust with us are invested into ministries that spread the gospel, combat human trafficking, and protect vulnerable children. So the deposits you entrust with the credit union help provide affordable financing to build new churches and help ministries grow. And our products not only benefit our members, but they also give back to God's kingdom.

They work in those two ways. So for example, the cash rewards visa card. Members earn 1.5% cash back for themselves, and we give a portion of every swipe to Christian charities. That's incredible. And that's going, Aaron, to thousands of Christian ministries across the country?

Exactly. And to date, we've given over $6 million to Christian ministries, to missions operating both domestically and abroad. That's incredible. Well, that's how we come full circle, because, folks, that's how you can align your values with, in this case, your banking partner at Christian Community Credit Union. Aaron, we're out of time, but thanks for joining us today. Thank you so much, Rob.

It was great to be with you. Folks, if you want to learn more, just head to joinchristiancommunity.com. That's joinchristiancommunity.com.

We're going to take a quick break. Back with your questions just after this. 800-525-7000. That's 800-525-7000.

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I'm Rob West. We've got some lines open for your financial questions today. 800-525-7000. Again, 800-525-7000.

Let's head to Miami. Hi, Hugo. How can I help you? How are you, Rob? I'm doing well. Doing great. Thank you. How are you today?

Pretty good, pretty good. I just wanted to know your thoughts on internet banks. For what I've seen, they give the highest rates, savings and CDs, over 5%.

But I just wanted to know your opinion about that. Yeah, I'm comfortable with you using online banks. I mean, you're probably already doing business online anyway. So with regard to the safety of the bank itself, as long as there's FDIC insurance, then if the bank were to fail, they're going to protect the depositors and make sure that you're made whole and that you have liquidity, access to your funds. So that's the most important thing that you'd want to look for with an online bank is the FDIC insurance. Now, beyond that, you could go to another level just for your own peace of mind to determine how effective are they at customer service and how strong is the bank in terms of the size and so forth. But at the end of the day, the safety comes in the form of the FDIC insurance. So I have no problem with online banking.

In fact, it's a great way for you to get a far more attractive yield in this environment with your liquid reserves. Hey, thanks for your call, Hugo. We appreciate you being on the program. Let's go back to the phones.

Riverview, Florida. Hi, Rebecca. Go right ahead. Hello.

Yes, I just have a quick question. I am 76 years old. I am retired, of course. I have, of course, my Social Security.

I have two annuity accounts, a cash account, a money market account, and just wondering if there is any other financial avenue for me to consider at this point in my life. Yeah. So the annuities, are they still in the accumulation phase and growing or have you annuitized them and you're taking a monthly payout?

What's the status? Okay. One of those I am doing a monthly payout on. And the other one, I've got another year and a half before that one comes in. All right.

And what is that growing at? Is it a guaranteed fixed annuity? It's a guaranteed fixed, yes. Okay. Very good.

And then the one annuity that's paying you out monthly plus Social Security, is that enough to cover your expenses? Yes. Okay.

So the other one, once that starts to pay out, if that's what you do, then that would all be surplus? Yes. Uh-huh. Okay. Great. And then do you have any long-term care insurance or anything like that? I did. And the premiums on that rascal started going crazy on me from like 200 a month to like 600 and 700 a month. So I froze everything.

The money that I invested all the years that I had it is there for me to use if I need it. Oh, great. Okay. So I'm okay with that, yes.

Yeah. Excellent. And then what other assets do you have besides the two annuities?

The cash account. Okay. And how much is in there?

About 650. Okay. And that's all in what, CDs, savings?

What is it? It's in what they call an asset market. It's just a cash account where I can take that money out if I need to. Okay.

And what is it earning, do you know? I do not know that right now. Okay. Yeah.

And you said that's 650,000? Yes. Okay. Yeah.

I mean, that would be the thing I would check on. It sounds like you're in great shape here, Rebecca. You've got that accumulation on the long-term care if you need it. You've got all your bills covered a year and a half from now. Arguably, you could have even more monthly income, all of which you don't need because you're obviously living modestly.

That's going to give even greater surplus. You got plenty of cash. With 650,000 in savings, I think you'd just want to check on that and make sure that it is safe. I'd probably spread that across multiple accounts unless it has a sweep function. Do you know if all of that has FDIC insurance or is it beyond the FDIC and coverage in one account?

I will find that out. Like I said, I have another appointment set up with my financial guy to find out all that information. Rather than you going out and opening accounts at three different banks, there is a way that one institution can actually parse the money out and using multiple banks with one account so you still have the FDIC insurance on the whole thing even though you're beyond the 250,000 in coverage. I would make sure that you do have the full amount covered by FDIC insurance.

I'd also make sure that you have a competitive rate there. There's not any reason that you shouldn't be getting close to 5% a year on that and all that money just getting reinvested. The only other question would just be, do you want to try to grow that a little quicker by putting some of it at risk in, let's say, a bond portfolio with maybe a small allocation to stocks? Or if you've already reached your finish line and you don't want to take any unnecessary risk, then I think you just stay the course with what you have. The two annuities, plenty of income, long-term care insurance accumulation, and plenty of money in your cash account. Then I think at that point, the question is, you don't owe anything, you're not looking to increase your lifestyle, you're done growing your money apart from just being wise and taking advantage of yield. Then the only thing left is giving and just looking at what do I want to give away now, what do I want to give away at death, and how do I make sure the next steward is chosen and prepared, including your heirs. What do you need to do to start investing in the next generation with regard to even doing some giving while you're alive with your heirs if you wanted to do that? I mean, those are the kinds of things I would be thinking about because I think from a purely financial standpoint, you're in really good shape here.

Yeah, that's all I wanted to know. I appreciate your advice. All right, Rebecca, God bless you and thanks for calling there from Riverview today. We appreciate it. 800-525-7000 is the number to call.

Let's go to Cleveland. Hi, Colleen, how can we help? Hi, how are you today?

Doing great, thanks. My question is both my husband and I were completely debt-free and we're in our 50s and we're looking to move to Florida. We've been looking to move to Florida since 2009 and we know what city and everything we want to live in.

We've already picked out our church. The property in 2009 was about $60,000 for five acres and we don't want to move down to Florida in debt, so we were saving up cash to buy a piece of property. Well, the properties went from $60,000 to $175,000 to $200,000 now. We have probably about $125,000 saved up in cash to buy a piece of property, but it's fallen short. It's been sitting in the bank now for over 10 years and we just have it in a regular money market savings account. We haven't done anything with it because we want the money available in case a piece of property does come up to purchase. But I feel bad that it's been sitting there that long, not really doing anything. What are you earning on it now, do you know?

I think it's got to be less than 4%. We have it with Christian Community Credit Union. Okay, yeah, that's great.

So what I would do is just reach out to them and make sure that it's in the highest yield offering that they have available. Let's do this. I've got to take a quick break, Colleen, but if you can hold, we'll talk about this further on the other side of the break. Stay with us. We'll be right back. at kingdomadvisors.com slash get certified.

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I'm Rob West. We've got two lines open, 800-525-7000. Before the break, we were talking to Colleen in Cleveland, and they've got $125,000 that they've been adding to to try to buy a piece of property in Florida. Unfortunately, Florida real estate has been going through the roof, so that property a few years ago at $60,000 is now $200,000 today. They'd like to be able to buy something when it becomes available, and so they want to just earn an appropriate rate of return on this money while it's waiting, but they need liquid access to it. You said, Colleen, you're with Christian Community Credit Union. I think that's a great option in terms of a banking partner that shares your values. Clearly, you just want to make sure that you're in their very best liquid option with FDIC insurance, or in this case it would be NCUA insurance, and that they are giving you the best possible rate.

If rate was your primary concern, you could look elsewhere and look at other options, but I think the key here is you're in a great spot, you're getting probably a great rate of return at CCCU, and you're ready to make that move whenever that property becomes available, which could be any time, and so you probably don't really want to do anything much different than what you already are today. Okay. Yeah, we're waiting on God to call us there, too. We're only going to borrow money for about four or five years and pay it off. Yes, yes. My husband says we're only going to borrow a little bit of money for about four or five years, then pay it off. Great. Yeah, he's a union plumber, and so he can't build our house down there. Colleen, you guys are doing it right, I'll tell you.

I love that, that you're living honestly, you're saving diligently. I suspect you all are givers as well. So I imagine whatever he builds is going to have at least one really large garage, huh? Maybe a few of them?

Yes, it's bigger than our house. I can imagine. Wow, that's incredible. Well, hey, thanks for calling.

All the best to you and your husband, Colleen, and we'll pray the Lord has just the right thing picked out for you in whatever timing makes sense. Thanks for being on the program today. Let's head to Texas. Hi, Hector. Go ahead, sir. Hi.

I don't know if you do take this type of question, but I went to Las Vegas, and unfortunately, I got tricked into buying this timeshare, and now I owe $18,000, and they didn't even tell me that I had a recession period, and of course, it passed it now. And I've been trying all the ways, trying to get rid of it, but I can't seem to do that. Is there such a way that I can do that? Because it doesn't seem like it really is. Yeah, it's really difficult, Hector. I wish I had better news for you. I mean, once you get beyond the rescission period, which varies by state, usually somewhere between three and 15 days, you're really in a tight spot. You know, you can do a timeshare deed back, which is also a buyback program where the timeshare companies buys your share back from you. Not all resorts, I would say most timeshare developers don't offer this option, but if they do, it's obviously a great one. You could try to resell it on the resale market, and a good website for this is the timeshare users group. Hector, if you go to the web address TUG, and then the number two.com, that is the timeshare users group, you'll have to join with an annual subscription of like $15. But then you would be able to advertise your timeshare there, and there is a marketplace for buyers and sellers. Unfortunately, there's more sellers than buyers, but it is an option.

Those are usually the best things. Obviously, if you could find somebody that you could gift this to, who would be willing to take on the annual maintenance and fees moving forward, and you were currently paid up, and your timeshare company allowed you to do that, then that would be one option. I would just make sure you have some representation before you do that, because you want to make sure, number one, the timeshare developer is going to allow you to do it, and secondly, that you're not still on the hook and responsible for the maintenance expenses. Because the last thing you'd want would be, you think you've sold it or given it away, and you find out years later it's in arrears, and they're coming after you, the original purchaser, to be made whole.

You'd want to make sure that you do, in fact, legally transfer it to the other party, and they're now responsible from that point forward. Unfortunately, there's not an easy way to go. There are some companies out there that tell you they'll get you out of these. I've just never found one I was comfortable with. Doesn't mean there's not some out there.

I've just never found them. So that's about the best advice I have for you today, my friend, and I wish I had better news, but I think Tug2 might be a great place to go, and then calling the timeshare developer to see if they have a deed-back option available to you. Thanks for your call today. All the best to you. Let's go to Alabama. Hi, Mike.

Hey, glad to talk to you today, Rob. I am 61. I am 61. My wife is 63. We built our house 30 years ago.

It's paid for. We're doing some renovations, so we won't have to worry about doing it when we're 80. We're looking to do some flooring and updating some bathrooms. So what's the best way to go about that, finance it? We've got a heatlock that we use for a campground we built.

Several years ago. It is a subprime heatlock. It's one minus prime. We've got some money we can get out of there if we wanted to. That's the only thing that's tied to the house. What is the line of credit on that that's available, Mike? Probably about $60,000, because we got it for $80,000, and I think there's like $20,000 left on it or something on the original. Let me ask you, do you have some surplus on a monthly basis right now? Yeah, we do. We're putting that away in our emergency fund. I think we have like an eight, nine-month emergency fund. So we could use part of that and maybe finance part of it, or we could maybe, you know... Yeah. How much do you have on a monthly basis, do you think, extra? Probably close to $1,000.

Okay. Yeah, I mean, I might find kind of a happy middle here. I mean, the nice thing is you've got this heatlock, which normally I wouldn't recommend, especially in a low-rate environment. Now it's probably the best option, because at least with it being variable as rates come down, maybe next year or certainly by the following year, you'll ride that back down.

The nice thing is you've got a great rate on that prime minus one, so that's at seven and a half, which is right on par with what you'd get for a first mortgage today, so that's great. But given that you guys are kind of overfunded, if you will, I mean, you're not, but you're more than six months expenses. So I would say, you know, what if you were to draw that down to six months expenses and then throw $1,000 a month at this thing? By the time you get all the contractor in place and get it all worked out, you know, maybe you're only pulling $5 to $10 at the most, and you get the other $10 out of savings and monthly cash flow.

I'd just borrow as little as possible, but I'd use that heatlock for the difference. Well, that does it for us today. I'm Rob West. Thanks to our amazing production team and to you for listening. I hope you'll join us again next time right here on Faith and Finance. Faith and Finance is provided by Faithfi and listeners like you.