10 Important Financial Moves for 2024 With Mark Biller

This faith and finance podcast is underwritten in part by Soundmind Investing. For more than 30 years, do it yourself investors have relied on SMI for proven strategies and trustworthy guidance. SMI helps people build wealth so they can provide for their families, prepare for the future and give generously. Learn more at soundmindinvesting.org. You may have decided on your New Year's resolutions by now, but have you figured out what financial moves you need to make in 2024? Hi, I'm Rob West.

Only God knows what the future holds, but that doesn't mean we can't prepare for whatever may come. Mark Biller joins us today with some great suggestions to shore up your finances. 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 journey. Well, our friend Mark Biller is executive editor at Soundmind Investing, where they've been working extra shifts to finalize their annual list of financial moves you can make in the new year. And there are a number of them. Mark, great to have you back. Thanks, Rob.

Good to be back with you. Well, we're always impressed when you roll out this list every year. It's exhaustive.

And of course, we can't cover the whole of it on the program. But folks can find it at soundmindinvesting.org. It's simply titled your 10 most important financial moves for 2024.

Yeah, thanks for that, Rob. You know, everywhere you turn right now, you're seeing advice about the new year. And the problem with that is it's usually one size fits all. What we're trying to do with our list is help people choose the best 10 ideas that specifically fit their situation. So we discuss over 60 ideas in this article. But we encourage each reader to go through and select their personal top 10 list. And we've found over the years that people who go through this process of making a personal top 10 list and then follow through on those action steps, they become better stewards and make tangible progress toward their long term goals. Now, I should also mention we've got links to additional articles and resources for all of these suggestions on the SMI website if listeners want more information or they want to dig deeper on a particular topic.

Yeah, very good. Now, these suggestions are broken up into several categories. We'll go over a few in each category.

So let's dive in. The first category is spiritual and financial fundamentals. What would you point out here? Yeah, so we try to set the appropriate context before diving into the nitty gritty financial stuff. And that really begins with understanding what God says about us and about our money in Scripture. So a few highlights from this section include resting in God's love.

His love for us isn't based on our worth or merit. And if we start with an appropriate understanding of who we are in Christ, this whole exercise regarding our finances becomes so much easier and less stressful. And then along those same lines, a second very worthwhile step is to invest time studying what Scripture says about money and material possessions. You know, SMI has long said that the number one financial mistake that Christians make is ignoring biblical wisdom about financial matters and looking to secular advice instead.

And by allowing yourself to be guided by biblical teaching, you'll guard against imprudent and unwise choices that inflict financial harm. Yeah, that's helpful. Now, the next category is the world around you. And that, of course, covers a lot of stuff, right?

Yeah, it does. So here's some suggested moves from that section. You know, one is improve your understanding of the problems and the policies that are shaping today's economy. You know, we've written a ton about inflation and the potential for recession this past year. Having a working knowledge of these subjects is really helpful. Another big picture topic to understand relates to the rapidly expanding level of federal debt.

And Rob, honestly, I hate putting stuff like this on the list, because it's, to me, the sort of background noise that you and I have been hearing and talking about our whole careers. But this year, you know, we had to look at it and say the debt situation has escalated so dramatically in these last few years, that it's legitimately impacting interest rates, how markets are behaving, and so on. And investors just can't afford to be ignorant of those types of factors.

Yeah, there's no question about that. Now, after you deal with that one, you need to make sure you've got your fear in check and you've placed your trust in the Lord, because as you dive into these things, it can be concerning. But it is a good reminder that despite the uncertainty and the unrest, God is on the throne and we can trust him implicitly. Well, today we're talking with Mark Biller about your 10 financial moves in the new year. We've got a number of options for you to build your personal 10 so you can be a better, faithful steward of God's resources. Back with Mark Biller after this break. Stick around. As 2023 comes to a close, we are thankful for the generous and faithful supporters of Faith by who believe in the message of financial faithfulness found in God's word.

This season, we want to get back to you for your support. We'll send you the book leverage using temporal wealth for eternal gain for just a few more days. You can request your copy with your gift of any amount at faith by dot com. Start the new year by aligning God's purposes with your finances. That's faith f i.com. Great to have you with us today on faith and finance with me today, my good friend Mark Biller. He's executive editor at Sound Mind Investing. We're talking about a new article at soundmindinvesting.org. It's titled Your 10 Most Important Financial Moves for 2024. Now the keyword in that is your because we're going to help you build your 10 most important financial moves from a list of about 60 potential financial moves broken up in categories. Now we covered the first couple of categories, spiritual and financial fundamentals, the world around you. Now we're going to move into the next category and that is strengthening your foundation.

So what do you have for folks here? Yeah, laying a strong financial foundation is so critical. So a few of the items here include building an adequate emergency fund before risking money in the markets and we discuss how to go about doing that. Second item is invest time creating and following a budget. Now this is probably the least popular suggestion, but in all seriousness, it's probably the most powerful single step that a lot of people can take to make real financial progress in the year ahead. You know, I just really can't put it any more bluntly than to say creating and living on a budget is often the difference between financial success versus financial failure for a lot of people. And I should put in a shameless plug here for the FaithFi app as that's one of the best tools out there to help people figure out and implement a workable budget. Another point from this section, another idea, would be committing to giving generously even if you're still paying off debt. You know, getting out of consumer debt is crucial for long term financial stability, but debt repayment shouldn't take precedence over still giving generously during that process. That can be kind of counterintuitive, but giving is a sign of trust.

It's a concrete expression that you believe God knows your needs and is going to provide for you. That's great, Mark. Now I think we're ready for the next section and that is developing your investing plan. So what would you share with our listeners? Yeah, so of course, we've got a lot of suggestions here.

This is our bread and butter section, if you will. But one there is face your fears, overcome your inertia and start investing in a lot of people are waiting for the perfect time to get started. But really, for most people, now is the best time to start and making regular investments over a long period of time, ignoring what the market's doing today is going to help you to build a healthy nest egg down the road. Now a second step here for relatively new investors is to become a dollar cost averaging investor, and ideally automate that process so that it's out of sight and out of mind. Now dollar cost average simply means you're investing the same amount of money at regular intervals. So for example, you're investing $300 every month or $100 every pay period. And often the best way to do that is through a workplace retirement plan. But if you don't have a workplace retirement plan, you can still set up automatic monthly investments into an IRA. That's a very achievable step and it's definitely worth the effort of setting that up.

Yeah, that's really helpful. Now, let's build on that first category on developing your investing plan. And let's move into broadening your portfolio.

Yeah, so this is kind of the next level, a little bit more advanced. And the first item here would be to become a diversified investor. And this includes starting to learn about different types of stocks, different types of bonds, how to combine them in a portfolio. As you might expect, this is the sort of thing that we spend a lot of time discussing in our SMI material. And once you've got a handle on those basics, you'll find there other ways to diversify to alternatives like commodities, real estate and gold. This is also the section where a person would start thinking more closely about retirement taxes and the best way to utilize traditional and Roth accounts. Rob, you and I just spoke recently on the program about how blending these two account types can be a good move for a lot of people. Yeah, that's right. And of course, for the gold bugs out there, we've got a separate action item about gold investing.

You know who you are. We've got lots of resources that discuss the tactical process that SMI uses for investing in gold. Yeah, that's so helpful. We're talking with Mark Biller today at Soundmind Investing. We're specifically referencing this article at soundmindinvesting.org. It's titled Your 10 Most Important Financial Moves for 2024.

We'd love for you to check it out today. Alright, this next batch of suggestions, Mark, is around retirement. So what do you have for us here? Yeah, one big one, Rob, is to start thinking through your later life decisions, ideally when you're in your 50s. Now, most people put this off until later, but research really suggests that it's wise to think this through earlier. And this can include creating or updating a will or other estate planning documents could also include the possibility of hiring a financial professional to help guide you through the crucial financial decisions that come with aging and retirement. Another item in this section, you know, there are lots of tangible retirement items relating to Medicare, how to optimize Social Security benefits, those types of things. Another bigger picture item here is to seek the Lord about how he wants to use you during your retirement years. You know, you may be retiring from a specific job, but that definitely doesn't mean that the Lord is done with you. You know, he may have a new capacity, a new vocation, new ideas for you and a new season of life. And it's a good idea to spend time asking him about that.

Those are really good, Mark. Now, as we begin to wrap up today, one more category and you might call it everything else. I know it includes children, work, college technology and insurance. So share a few suggestions from this one.

Yeah. So for parents and grandparents, a good one here is be intentional about training your children to be wise and faithful stewards. You know, our consumer culture just screams at us constantly that the key to happiness is to have more, more money, more material goods. And Christian parents and grandparents play a key role in presenting a different narrative on this subject.

Specifically, we want to teach our kids that God owns everything and we're called to be productive with whatever he entrusts to us. Some other items in this section include insurance items. One that stands out is making sure that you have enough liability insurance coverage. That's a big one because the default liability coverage in a lot of homeowner and auto policies is on the low side.

And you might be able to bring that up by simply adjusting the levels within the policies you already have or by adding an umbrella policy, umbrella liability policy, which picks up when those policies leave off. Disability insurance is another topic to consider here. And of course, for those with young children, the topic of saving for college is always of particular interest.

So spending some time learning about the best ways to approach that is going to be time well spent for those folks. Wow. And that's just a sampling, folks, of the many great suggestions in the SMI article, Your 10 Most Important Financial Moves for 2024. You can read it at soundmindinvesting.org and build your personal list for the new year. Mark, thanks for stopping by. Thanks, Rob.

Always a pleasure. That's Mark Biller, executive editor at Sound Mind Investing. Again, learn more soundmindinvesting.org. Your calls are next, 800-525-7000.

Stick around. We are grateful for support from Sound Mind 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. If the heavy burden of debt is robbing you of freedom and peace of mind, Christian Credit Counselors can help. We're a nationwide nonprofit credit counseling organization that has helped over 300,000 individuals in the last 27 years get out of credit card debt 80% faster while honoring that debt in full. To learn how Christian Credit Counselors can help you, visit christiancreditcounselors.org. That's christiancreditcounselors.org or call 800-557-1985. Welcome back to faith and finance.

I'm Rob West. This is the time when we take your calls and questions on anything financial. The number to call with lines open is 800-525-7000. Again, that's 800-525-7000. The calls will begin to build quickly. So if you have a question, we'd love for you to get in the queue. 800-525-7000.

We're going to begin today in Baltimore, Maryland. Alan, thanks for your call, sir. Go ahead. Yes.

Rob, glad to speak to you. I've got a question. I don't know for sure, but in my neighborhood, different houses are getting solo. There's a panel on the roof, and some say it's pros and cons. I don't know how familiar you are with that. What do you think? They talk about how good the elected bills is not bad, but Alan said that's not a good idea.

What is your view on that? You know, I could go either way, and it really just depends upon your area and how high your electricity rates are, combined with how much sunshine you're going to get, both in the form of your locale, so how many days of sun per year on average does your city get there in Baltimore, but also your particular home. How much sun do you get based on where your home is positioned?

And then you've just got to crunch the numbers. Solar panel investments can go as high as $40,000, and so you'll need to look at what the benefit will be to you in terms of what percent of your electricity usage will be generated in kilowatts, and then compare the 20-year benefits of that to the upfront costs after incentives. There's something called Google Project Sunroof. So Google, if you just go into your search engine and type in Google solar panel, you'll find Google Project Sunroof, and basically it's a free tool that allows you to put in your address of your home, and it will tell you, based on your actual home, how many hours of usable sunlight you'll get per year, and that's based on a day-to-day analysis of weather patterns. And then it'll look at how many square feet you have available for solar panels based on a 3D model of your home, and then you tell it what your electric bill is. It will tell you how much you can generate in terms of kilowatts that can be used for electricity usage. And then it'll help you determine whether you're buying, leasing, or getting a loan, how long it'll take for this to pay for itself, and I think that's really the exercise you need to go through, because you may find that there's just not enough cost-benefit there for you to go through the hassle of putting it in, and not to mention the cost associated with acquiring these panels. Does that make sense? Yeah, I'll just call and see what your opinion is.

I know you deal with all this kind of stuff. Yeah, and in my perspective, and I appreciate that Alan, my perspective is it's not an automatic yes or an automatic no. It really does require, like so many other things, further analysis just so you know how much you're getting into, what could you reasonably expect to generate in terms of electricity that can be used for offsetting your current electric bill, and does it make sense? Will it pay over time? So I'd do some further analysis.

I'd take advantage of Google Project Sunroof and see what you can find as you crunch the numbers with the actual cost of installation and acquiring the panels themselves based on who your neighbors have used, and I think it'll become obvious whether it makes sense or not, but I certainly wouldn't do it without looking into it further. God bless you, sir. Thanks for being on the program today.

To Grand Rapids, Michigan. Hi, Kristin. Go ahead. Hi.

Oh, Kristin, we don't have a clear line. Let's try one more time. Can you hear me now? I sure can. Yes, ma'am. Go ahead.

Okay, I was kind of in a valley there. No problem. My husband, and I'm going to pull over just so I know I can hear you well, my husband was the senior pastor for 30 years, and he would have been retiring in 2024, and he suddenly passed unexpectedly in July. He did not have a pension per se, because we are a small church, but they were putting a certain amount of money every month for the last probably six years into a 401KB, I believe is what it's called. 403B.

403B, thank you. And so they have sent me some email communication saying that they would like to give me some money that they would have given him as a gift. I don't know what that dollar amount is, but they said that they really don't know the best way to do that without me being penalized, and I'm not smart when it comes to this stuff at all, so I'm calling you. Yes.

So, well, first of all, I'm so sorry to hear about your husband's passing, and I'm so thankful that they want to support you in this way, and that's a real blessing, obviously. So what they're talking about here is essentially making a love offering, it sounds like to you, which you would have to report as taxable income on your tax return, and then the 403B could be rolled over to an IRA and managed by an advisor, and potentially you could draw some income from that. What are your income sources now? I have a part-time job, I have not went back to my full-time job, but the Church is paying me his salary for the rest of the year.

Okay. And when that goes away, what will be the shortfall, if any, between your monthly expenses and what you'll be generating with the work that you're doing? Yeah, it would be a couple thousand dollars shy, I would definitely have to use about $150,000 in the money market. Okay, and how much is in the 403B? I'm going to say $100,000, not a whole lot. All right. And then how much are they wanting to give you just as a cash gift?

They have not given me a number, but one of the elders that I spoke to had made a very light statement about maybe $20,000 to $30,000. Okay, all right. Yeah, that's helpful. I think the thing I want to do is get you set up on a track that is sustainable for the long term. You know, with $250,000, let's say that became your emergency fund plus the other savings that you have.

With $250,000, the $150,000 plus, let's say, another $100,000 from the 403B, that would generate about $10,000 a year. At the most, I'd only want you to pull, you know, $1,000 a month. So it sounds like we are going to be short there. Let's do this. I'm going to have one of our certified Christian financial counselors call you to work through your budget and help you make some of these decisions.

And then if needed, they could get a certified kingdom advisor involved. We're going to pay for that. Stay on the line. We'll talk a bit more off the air. I hope you'll make plans to join us again next time for another edition of Faith & Finance. Faith & Finance is provided by Faithfi and listeners like you.