Created for Good Works

This faith in finance podcast is underwritten in part by Guidestone. Guidestone envisions a world transformed by Christian investing.

Through screening, corporate engagement, and impact investing, our investment strategies allow investors to be more proactive with their investment dollars to make a meaningful difference in the world while preparing for their financial future. Learn more at guidestonefunds.com slash faith. You're probably familiar with the honeydew list, but did you ever get one from God? Hi, I'm Rob West.

There's always someone who has a list of chores for you, whether it's your spouse or your mom or your boss. But what about your heavenly father? Today, we'll find out what God wants from us in the way of good works. 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 the usual honeydew jobs are anything but sweet.

Get the oil changed, empty the dishwasher and take the dog to the vet are a few that come to mind. But if you think about it, these are ideally jobs we do because we love our family and we want things to go smoothly around the house. Of course, there is a financial angle to this and a spiritual angle too, because as believers, we are a part of the family of God. We each have responsibilities in the kingdom to help things run smoothly in God's house and to demonstrate God's love to a lost and broken world.

Now, let me be clear on this. You don't have to do good works to be saved, but it's evident from Scripture that good works are a necessary and joyful part of living for Christ. Let's look a little closer at the connection between good works and the Christian life.

In the book of James, we read that as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead. Life in Christ means commitment to God's kingdom program. This is what God intends because he's a generous father who made us and loves us and knows what we need. Our faith is meant to be acted out. God made us for a dynamic relationship with himself, fellowship with other believers, and good works that shine the light of Christ in the world. Ephesians 2 10 says, For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Apparently, God has already lined up good works for you to do. If you're in Christ, you already have your marching orders as far as generosity goes. The passage even says you were created in Christ on purpose for these specific good works. Knowing that God has prepared good works for you to do might seem a bit intimidating. How do you know what those good works are? Will you have the resources and energy you need to follow through? What if you don't obey?

Well, let me tackle those questions one at a time. First, how do you know what good works God has prepared for you? Well, Scripture tells us that God wants two things from his people, righteousness and relationship. We can't do the works of righteousness unless we have a relationship with Jesus. When we're in Christ, we can approach God in prayer and read his word, and the Holy Spirit will help us to understand what we need to do. In John 11 25, Jesus said, the work of God is this, to believe in the one he has sent. So if you want to know how to do God's work, start with believing in Christ.

He'll take care of the rest. The second concern you might have about following God's plan for good works is, will I have the time, money, and energy to follow through? Well, this is where faith comes in. Rest assured, when God calls, he also provides. Second Corinthians 9 8 says, and God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency and all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.

You see, God is enough. In him, we have all we need to do what he calls us to do. Finally, what happens if you don't obey God's call to do good works?

Well, if you are in Christ, your eternal future is secure. But if you choose not to do the good works God created for you, who knows what blessings you're missing? The great thing about generosity is that it's a three-way street. When we obey God's call to serve others, someone gets their needs met.

God gets the glory, and we experience joy. After all, Jesus said, it is more blessed to give than to receive. So, what good works has God prepared for you to do? Maybe there's a financial need you can meet, or a cause that needs your time and skills, or an opportunity to tell someone about the hope you have in Jesus. God will let you know. Just spend time in his word, talk to him in prayer, and look around you for opportunities to be generous.

I pray that we all will be eager to do the good works God has prepared for us. By the way, if you need help with a spending plan or getting out of debt or saving for the future, I hope you'll download the Faithfi app from your app store. You can also visit us online at faithfi.com.

That's faithfi.com. All right, your calls are next. The number, 800-525-7000. That's 800-525-7000.

I'm Rob West, and we'll be right back after this break. Stick around. We are grateful for support from One Ascent Investments on the Faith and Finance Program. They manage a comprehensive suite of value-based investment strategies designed to help Christian investors live aligned with what they value most. One Ascent believes that if your values inspire the way you live, they should also inspire the way you invest.

This can be a unique form of worship. More information is available at investments.oneascent.com. That web address is investments.oneascent.com. 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. You're listening to Faith and Finance, where we talk about how we handle God's resources. How are you using God's resources? We're talking about it, and the lines are open to take your calls and questions. 800-525-7000 is the number to call.

Let's head to Indiana Whiting. Christian, go right ahead. I have owned my own home with a mortgage on it. It'll be paid off in 2039, and I can actually pay it off right now. I just recently had a trust done, and the attorney that drew up the trust said I should not pay it off. Yeah, and what was the reason he gave you, Christian, for not paying it off? It's just not a good idea to pay your home off.

Okay, all right. Yeah, I mean, you can look at this from a purely financial standpoint and just crunch the numbers, and you can obviously see the benefit of the interest you'll pay versus what else you might be doing with that money that could be generating income and appreciation that potentially could offset that. A lot of folks, especially with rates, if you've had this mortgage a while, and it sounds like you have, if you've got a low rate down in the threes, some folks even have them in the twos, that's where a lot of financial advisors will say, well, why would you want to deplete your cash, your liquid cash, when you could keep it and invest it and outpace the mortgage interest, and therefore you'd come out better in the end, and if you needed to tap into it along the way, you'd still have it. And I understand that, but there's another side to this, and that's the non-financial side, which just is if either you have a conviction of the Lord to be debt-free, if you just have the desire to have the peace of mind that comes from knowing you own your home, then I would say that really outweighs, in my view, the financial side, even if you could stand to make a little bit more money by investing it. Number one, you're taking risk to do that, and number two, it discounts the importance of you being able to accomplish this really important desire, I would almost call it a value, to be debt-free. And if that's really your strong conviction, I would say go right ahead and do that and don't look back. But let me drill down just a little bit further. You said you could pay it off, $29,000.

Where would that money come from? I drew it off of my 403b. Have you already done that, or you would do that? I already did that. Okay, and how long ago?

About two weeks ago. Okay, so you do have the ability to put that back in if you decided to. I'm not saying you should, but you have up to 60 days to put that back.

Now, that's going to be added to your taxable income, so we just don't want that to catch you by surprise. How much do you have total, if you don't mind me asking, Christian, in that 403b? I have another $30,000. Okay, so you had a total of roughly $60,000, correct?

Correct. Alright, and are you pulling any money out of that to cover your bills each month, or do you have other income sources? No, I've been very fortunate that my Social Security has covered all my expenses.

Okay, very good. And other than the $60,000 between the 403b and what you recently took out of it, what else do you have in terms of liquid reserves or other assets? I have a 401k. How much is in there? About $50k, and then I have savings. Alright, and how much is in the savings? About $40,000. Okay, and what do you think you spend on a monthly basis, roughly?

About $1,000. Okay, and so you have a little bit left over at the end of a typical month? Oh, I do. Yeah, okay. And do you plan to stay in your home as long as you can? I do.

Okay, yeah, very good. So I kind of like this idea of you paying it off. I mean, the other option is that money could continue to grow. I imagine you have a low interest rate, is that right? Five and three quarters. Okay, so it's not really that low, and so you'd have to make a good bit more than that to have that make sense.

Well, here's what I would say, Christian. Just given your desire to be debt-free, I would say you go for that, and I wouldn't look back. Yes, you're depleting some of that 403b. Yes, you have the potential for that to grow, and maybe it's down, and you had to sell some investments at a loss to take that distribution, and that money doesn't have the ability now to come back. But I really do think that's secondary to you just having this peace of mind to know that you own your home, number one. Number two, you're not at two or three percent interest.

You're at five and I think a half, you said, or five and a quarter. And so in order to really have something meaningful there, you're going to have to outpace that, and we're heading into a market that's probably going to be more sideways than up, if anything. And given that, and given your season of life, you're not wanting to take a whole lot of risk anyway. So I think you're probably better off just to go ahead and get out from under that five and a half percent, that $19,000 you'd spend over the next 16 years. So I'd say you go for it. Let's go ahead and pay it off. I don't think you'll look back other than to look back and say, I'm glad I now own my home. The only one thing I want you to do is I want you to talk to your CPA first and just make sure he or she is on the same page and that they can calculate the taxes that will be due on it because I don't want that to catch you by surprise. Let's go to Naples.

Hi, Becky, go ahead. My question is, we have, or I have a Disney credit card that's issued through Chase Bank, and I've had it for quite some time. My husband and I also have another credit card that's through Chase Bank, but it's with a different reward program. There is a $45 annual fee for the Disney and until probably right before the COVID hit, I was, we were people who went to Disney regularly living in Florida, but there's been so much uncovered and so much things that I don't like about that company any longer. And I had a substantial amount of points, but you can only use the points for either Disney purchases or for airlines. And we have not been flying the past couple of years.

We've been driving to our destinations. I'm thinking about closing it, but I know that when you close an account that you've had for a long time, that it could possibly have a negative impact on your credit score. My husband and I have very strong credit or should I just continue to pay the $45 and I think I use it like that credit card just for the dog's food because I've got that stored in the company, the Petco website.

Yeah, very good. Are you guys looking to take on any additional credit anytime soon? Would you be buying a new house where you need a mortgage or a car where you need a loan? We might possibly be looking at a new vehicle because mine's four years old. It's totally paid off, has been for well over a year. We're not willing to pay exorbitant.

My husband's quite a wheeler and dealer with automobile loans, and so we would take on something like that, but we do have very strong credit score. Good. Yeah.

So you're north of 800, let's say? Yes. Okay. Yeah.

Yeah. I don't think this is an issue, Becky, if you're not using the card any longer, and I can certainly understand why you have an objection to that from a values perspective, I would just close it. Could it result taking this out of the history in you having a temporary reduction in your credit score?

Potentially, it's probably going to be 30 or 40 points and it's going to bounce back in no time, but the bottom line is any credit you would be seeking, you're still going to be so far ahead of the minimum threshold to qualify for the very best rates and terms that it really doesn't matter. So just having one more account to keep up with, one more potential annual fee, I would say it's just not worth it. You don't plan to use it. You don't plan to take advantage of the reward points and you have a strong conviction about that, and I can understand why.

So I'd say close it. Don't look back. It's not going to have any effect on you.

If it does, it's temporary, but even that reduction wouldn't prevent you from qualifying for the top tier rates. Okay. Thank you so much. Have a blessed day. All right, Becky, you too. Thanks for your call today.

We'll be right back. We are grateful for support from sound mind investing in the faith and finance program. If you have money in a retirement account or just a general investing account, you know the stock market can sometimes seem like a roller coaster, but it is possible to enjoy both profit and peace of mind and 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. My grocery bill went up 11% this year. Gas, utilities, rent, all went up, but my paycheck the same. I also pay for my own healthcare, a huge expense. A friend recommended Christian Healthcare Ministries as an option to insurance, and CHM helps pay for medical needs while allowing some breathing room in my budget. Open enrollment is here, so make the switch today with potential cost savings up to 40%. Christian Healthcare Ministries at chministries.org slash faith buy. Welcome back.

This is Faith and Finance. I'm Rob West. We're taking your calls today. 800-525-7000. That's 800-525-7000. Let's head out to Buffalo, New York. Hi, Marie. Go right ahead.

I really need some good advice from you for the best way to protect a principal. I'm trying to invest and grow some money. All right. I'm going to do the best I can. Give it to me.

Okay. So I have life savings of $175,000 that I would like to invest and grow. I'm a 60-year-old single woman that has three minor children that I'm the sole provider for. I own my own house.

It's all paid off, and I work per damn, but I would like to invest some money to make it work for me. Yeah. Wow. God bless you for what you're doing here, raising these three little ones.

What a gift that is to them. And I understand about you wanting to invest. Now, beyond this $175,000, Marie, do you have what I would call an emergency savings? Well, God has really blessed me to work hard over my life, and I have $40,000 put away in a nest egg for emergencies, and I have another $88,000 in another account that we're living off of right now because it's hard for me to work full time and have the kids. And that should last for at least two more years, but right now I don't have any income coming in because I'm only working per damn.

Yeah. Well, what's going to change in 20 months when that runs out? Do you have a plan for how you can right size the budget? Well, that's why I'm calling you about the investment.

I was hoping that I could make this $175,000 work and build a little bit over the next two years, or I could even do without it for five years or so. Yeah. And how old are the kids? Oh, boy.

They're three, four, and seventeen. Wow. Wow.

That's incredible. Pray for me. Pray for me. Yes.

I absolutely will, but I'm so thankful that you're doing this. Are they with you permanently, Marie? Oh, yes. They are. Okay. All right. Yeah.

So the challenge I'm seeing is, and I suspect the reason you're doing the per diem work is because you've got a full time job at home just caring for them. Is that right? Yes, sir.

Yeah. Because here's the reality is, yes, we've got this $88,000 and that's great, but that's going to last 20 months and I don't want to rely on the $40,000 because then we're all of a sudden going to be out of cash completely. I agree with you. You could take the $175,000 and invest it and that's probably not a bad idea. But keep in mind, we're heading right into what most economists expect to be a full blown recession. We're seeing the handwriting on the wall for that. We're probably going to have more of a down and then a sideways market for a while. So the S&P 500, the largest 500 companies in the United States over the last hundred years have averaged about 10%. If you adjust that for inflation, maybe 7% a year. But I'm not expecting that for the next decade.

I'm thinking maybe we're going to see, well, most market analysts will say maybe 5 or 6% annualized a year. And so if you were to pull out 4% a year, let's say 20 months from now, because that $88,000 is in, that 4% would throw off about $7,000 a year. That's only going to give you about $600 a month.

And if you need $4,000 to live on, we're going to be short $3,400 a month, which means you're going to either have to work part time or full time to generate the income you need because I don't want you to run out of money and I don't want you to run through the $175,000 and try to buy yourself four more years and then everything's gone. Now we're trusting the Lord. God will provide, and He may provide in unexpected ways. There may be somebody that comes alongside you that wants to help support you in this amazing work that you're doing, and let's trust the Lord for that. But at the same time, we're trusting Him as your provider. We want to be wise and prudent in our planning with what He's entrusted to you. So I think the best case scenario would be you to try to not pull anything out of this for as long as possible and hopefully dial back your expenses such that you could go out and begin working maybe part time enough to generate the income that you need until such time as you begin taking Social Security and maybe that begins to offset ultimately what you need to earn in terms of part time work. Does that make sense?

It does make sense. I've been talking to some bank financial advisors. What they're telling me is that right now you could put down an annuity or even a CD, but the annuity has a longer writing of drawing money out, and you could get a 5.5% income from that right now.

Yeah, I don't like the annuity option, but I think the CD could make a lot of sense because you're exactly right. You could get 5.5% right now. Do you own your home? I do. Okay, and what is your home worth?

Maybe about $2.75. Okay, so that's the other option. I don't use this in every case, but in some cases it does make sense to do what's called a reverse mortgage. You could look at slowly pulling the equity out of that house through a reverse mortgage where basically they would send you a monthly check for the rest of your life and then whatever the balance was at your death would be paid for out of the proceeds of the house by the estate, and that would be another way to supplement your income. So at some point you'd have the $175,000. Let's say we're pulling $7,000 a year out of that.

You've got your Social Security at some point down the road, and then the reverse mortgage could be three sources of income. Does that make sense? Oh, it does.

It does. God bless you, Marie. Thanks for calling. Yes, sir. To Zach in Texas.

Zach, go ahead. Yes, sir. My question for you is, is there a way to locate your previous 401Ks? Yeah, is the company still in existence? It is, but when I called they said that they switched their 401K company that they were investing in. For my question, is there a way to locate it?

Yeah, that shouldn't be a problem. I'd call back to the company and just tell them you would like the current planned administrator's contact information, and they should be able to tell you who that planned administrator is, what company they're with, and they should be able to then, when you reach out to them, help you access the 401K account online. So I'd go back to the company. I mean, there are ways to find old 401Ks, but they're not easy and they're laborious and time consuming.

Your best option to get the information you need the quickest is through your previous employer, the HR department, just saying, listen, I need the contact information for the current planned administrator of the 401K, because that 401K of yours, despite the fact that you're no longer there, would move over to the new planned administrator. All right. Yes, sir. Okay. Okay. So you check that out. I think that'll give you the information you need, Zach, and all the best to you as you chase that down. Thanks for calling today. I hope you'll make plans to join us again next time for another edition of Faith and Finance. Faith and Finance is provided by Faith Buy and listeners like you.