Living the Abundant Life

What's most important to you when it comes to choosing your financial advisor? Someone who's aligned with your biblical values. How about someone who will take the time to explain your options? Certified Kingdom Advisors are professionals who meet high standards in competence and integrity and have been trained to offer biblical financial advice.

To find a Certified Kingdom Advisor in your area, visit faithfi.com and click Find a CKA. Jesus said, I came that they may have life and have it abundantly, but he wasn't talking about money. Hi, I'm Rob West. Say the words abundant life and some people might think you mean material blessings. Today we'll explain why Jesus meant much, much more. 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 world's message is come, get stuff, achieve success, have it your way and be happy.

The call of Jesus is come, follow me and receive abundant life. Maybe you find yourself wavering between the two worldviews. Material success and accumulation are enticing. After all, we are physical as well as spiritual beings and we long to be comfortable, safe and happy. What people so often forget is that material things have a shelf life.

Stuff doesn't last. In light of eternity, human success means next to nothing. Human happiness is ambiguous. But abundance? That sounds good, doesn't it?

Who wouldn't want that? So let's look at what Jesus really means when he promises us abundance and why his way is so much better than anything we could ever ask or imagine. God made us for a relationship with himself and with each other as his people.

The problem right from the start was rebellion. Since Adam, people have chosen to live life without God, separating themselves from a holy God by a gulf of sin. But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. That is God's answer to the rebellion problem. In Christ, we exchange death for abundant life. In the Old Testament, the term abundance definitely has a more material spin. As God's people were entering Canaan, Moses told them in Deuteronomy 28, 11, the Lord will grant you abundant prosperity in the fruit of your womb, the young of your livestock and the crops of your ground, in the land he swore to your ancestors to give you.

Then in Psalm 31, 19, how abundant are the good things that you have stored up for those who fear you, that you bestow in the sight of all on those who take refuge in you? Many of those promises of abundance were conditional. The people had to be faithful followers of God. But like us, they just couldn't manage it, and they ended up losing their abundance over and over through disobedience.

And then Jesus changed everything. People on their own couldn't seem to live abundantly without slipping into greed or fear or idolatry. In Christ, abundance becomes real and permanent, because it's not about things anymore.

It's about a person. Look at Matthew 6 33, seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you. Material needs and desires can take a back seat when we have a relationship with God through Jesus. We have what we need materially and an abundant life in Christ in the bargain. It's the life in Christ that's most satisfying instead of the money or success or stuff. So here's the question. If what Jesus offers us is so much better, why do we settle for anything less than abundance?

Three reasons come to mind. First, we are self-centered by nature. We're so busy trying to justify our own desires and assumptions that we forget, this is not all about me. This is all about Jesus.

The second reason people miss the abundant life is lack of personal engagement. Sometimes our interaction with the Almighty is at arm's length, and our understanding of God's Word is secondhand. Podcasts, sermons, and devotionals are fine, but we need to read God's Word and pray ourselves in order to know God and mature in the faith. When we earnestly personally seek the Lord, our Good Shepherd will lead us in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Thirdly, we can miss out on true abundance because we're only going halfway with Jesus. We come to him to deal with our guilt, but not to be our Lord. Is salvation just fire insurance for you?

Submission is the second half of the equation, and that's a bit harder for some folks to swallow. We want Jesus to bail us out of our sin, but not to direct our path. The bottom line for abundance, then, the way Jesus meant it, is Jesus himself.

Money, success, and material possessions are poor masters. Work and family are God-ordained things, but even those are secondary. When Christ sits on the throne of your life, your life takes on a kingdom shine. You don't have to be a theological superstar, just an ordinary person who says yes to Jesus as Savior and Lord. Ultimately, when Jesus calls us to the abundant life, he's calling us back home. The life he promises is satisfying, joyful, safe, and eternal. Not just later, but starting right now. All right, your calls are next at 800-525-7000.

We'll be right back. What's most important to you when it comes to choosing your financial advisor? Someone who's aligned with your biblical values?

How about someone who will take the time to explain your options? Certified Kingdom Advisors are professionals who meet high standards in competence and integrity, and have been trained to offer biblical financial advice. To find a Certified Kingdom Advisor in your area, visit faithfi.com and click Find a CKA. If you enjoy this radio program, you're going to love all of the many different resources waiting for you at faithfi.com and the Faithfi app. You'll find powerful wisdom, free podcasts, articles, videos, and more from leading voices such as Randy Alcorn, Howard Dayton, Ron Blue, and our own Rob West. Throw in wisdom and knowledge by connecting with a community of thousands of Christians striving to be good and faithful stewards at faithfi.com or by downloading the Faithfi app. Welcome back to Faith and Finance.

I'm Rob West. This is the program where the 2300 verses on money and possessions found in God's Word intersect with today's financial decisions and choices. The number to get in on the conversation, 800-525-7000. That's 800-525-7000.

I'm standing by. I would love to hear from you today. We do have some lines open, and we'd love to tackle your financial issue or conundrum. Again, 800-525-7000, and we can deal with live, give, owe, or grow.

What is that? Well, those are the four categories for all of the things we do with God's money. It's the lifestyle that we lead, hopefully that we've prayed about and decided on in advance. That has to do with our spending plan. The key idea there is to spend less than you earn. Then there's your give.

Well, that should really come first. It's, I would say, the primary opportunity we have with God's resources. We want to give wisely because giving breaks the grip of money over our lives. We live, give, then we owe for debt and taxes. We want to minimize our borrowing, try to only borrow where the economic gain is going to be more than the economic cost. Think business or home. We want to minimize any borrowing for consumer lifestyle spending for sure.

And then grow. That's the amount we're putting away for initially short-term savings, our emergency fund of three to six months expenses. And then for the longer term, I think the key question there is how much is enough so you know what your saving goal is. You're not just involved in the mindless accumulation of wealth. And then all of that is wrapped in an internal perspective, recognizing that God owns it all and that money is a tool to accomplish his purposes, and that really we should align our goals with our values as believers, our priorities as Christ followers, looking forward to the world that is to come, not getting too anchored to this world. Because remember, we're just sojourners passing through.

But there are practical ideas we find in Scripture that can relate to every financial decision or question you have. So we want to help you make those decisions well, and we'll do that today with your phone calls. Let's dive in. We're going to go to Bradenton, Florida. Joanne, you'll be our first caller.

How can I help? Hi. I have a question about 401k. I had it with a previous employer that it was placed in Voya and one day I checked the balance and it went to zero, so I called them and they said that it probably was going to be transferred in a regular IRA, so it's not under the employer. And then the next time I talked to somebody, they said they were mailing me a check, and I asked how long it would take, and I had to transfer it to a regular IRA, and they said 60 days, and then I got a check for minus the federal withholding, and no one asked. So now it's no longer 401k. My accountant said it doesn't matter because I'm over 59 and a half, that I can recuperate it at the end of the year, but it's the best thing to do to put it on a CD or something like that. Well, the first question is what type of account it's in. So are they treating this as a distribution, so you've taken the money out, or is it being rolled over to an IRA from that 401k?

Yeah, I would have liked to roll it over, but they didn't ask me and they sent me a check. Okay. Well, you should be able to still initiate that. So this has all happened in a relatively short period of time. Is that right?

Yes, sir. It's been about three, four weeks. Yeah, I would contact the plan administrator and just say, listen, I'm within the 60-day window. My intention was not to take this as a distribution. I'd like to put it back in the account and have it rolled to an IRA.

Can you help me do that? You're right. After 59 and a half, you're not going to have a penalty, but it is going to be a taxable distribution. So you're going to add it to your taxable income. And then perhaps even more significant than that is the fact that now it's growing outside of that tax deferral, which if you don't need that money, I'd rather that money continue to grow inside a tax deferred vehicle. So I'd call the plan administrator and see if there's an option to get that into an IRA, even if you deposit it straight in the IRA and you'd have to work with your CPA on that. So I think that's really a conversation between you, the CPA, and your plan administrator. In terms of what to invest it in, what's the amount that you have available?

Now it's down to $643, with $1,600, that's gross. Okay. Yeah. And is this money you would like to invest and do you think you might need it in a shorter period of time or do you want to just let it grow?

I'd like to let it grow, but I'm not a risk taker, especially at my age. Yeah. Do you have some liquid savings apart from this? Yes, I do. Okay. Do you have at least three months worth of expenses?

Yes, I do. Okay. Well, if you don't want to take any risk with it, I mean, you mentioned a CD and that would be a great option. You can get a decent interest rate right now at about five and a half percent. If you wanted to take a little bit of risk, you could put it in maybe a bond mutual fund, which is just a basket of bonds. I'd stay on the short end duration of those bonds, where you're buying a basket of bonds. It's going to be corporate and government bonds, 10 years or less.

With interest rates coming down, probably next year, they'll do well and they won't be as volatile as stocks, especially now that we've seen most of the interest rate hikes are behind us. Our friends at soundmindinvesting.org could help you with that, but I think one of those options would be good. I think the first question is just trying to figure out, can I get that into an IRA or do I have to take that as a distribution? If you are taking it as a distribution, the taxes have already been withheld and if you want something ultra safe, I think a CD could in fact work for you. Did I see you had another question or does that cover it?

Yeah, I have a couple more. The Roth IRA, I have a Roth IRA, I cannot take this out and put it in a CD since I'm again over 59 and a half. Take money out of a Roth? You can invest in a CD inside the Roth. So if you don't need the money, don't take it out of the retirement account. Let's leave it right there and then you could buy a CD inside the Roth IRA. Okay, I'll do that.

And can I ask one more question? It's about title insurance. I know you mentioned before that if we purchased title insurance when we bought the house that we're safe, but I've had it about close to 30 years and I don't have a mortgage, so do I need title insurance?

Yeah. Well, the title insurance is purchased before you purchase your home, it could have gone through several ownership changes and this is just protecting you and the lender and in this case there's no lender to make sure that you have, in fact, the right claim to your property. So that would have been done at the purchase. Lock insurance is what's often being sold these days and that's not something we recommend. It actually doesn't lock your deed from fraud as the name implies. It's really just an expensive way to be notified if somebody tries something fraudulent with your deed like tries to transfer it into their name so they can take out a loan against it. You can check your deed status for free at any time with the county.

A lot of the counties are now offering even a free alert option, so I would say it's not worth the money. I hope that helps you, Joanne. Thanks for being on the program today. We appreciate you calling. We do have a few lines open, 800-525-7000.

Donna, quickly to Riverview, Florida. Go ahead. Hi. How are you, Rob?

I'm great, thank you. My question is, most of my debt, actually all of my debt is in collections and I want to know how to rebuild it. Rebuild your credit score?

Should I do whatever to get it? Okay. Yeah. Well, the first thing is going to be to get that debt paid off. Do you have the ability to start a payment plan or to go in and settle it? Yes. They're reaching, I've been reaching out to them, but I don't reach out to them too early because I want to at least have the money when I do do it.

Yeah, that's a great idea. All right. Let's do this, Donna. We've got to take a quick break. When we come back, I'll give you some thoughts on best practices to negotiate those payoffs and then secondly, how you can start rebuilding your credit after you get those paid off. Donna, you stay right there. Back with more on faith and finance.

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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. Before the break, we were talking to Donna in Riverview, all of her credits in collection.

She's had some financial difficulty in the past and she's wanting to get that cleared up, paid off, but also improve her credit score along the way. Now, you made a statement before the breakdown of that I think is really important. You said, you know, I want to contact them, but I'm waiting until I have the money. Now, assuming that you are going to be able to collect enough, I would say equal to 50%, probably at a minimum of each of the current balances, then at that point, you'd want to start trying to get a settlement agreement in place. And so you would make a list of all your outstanding debts, you'd contact each of them, and then either ask them to put you on a payment plan or better yet, accept a settlement, a reduced amount to close the account as paid in full. You would want to get that agreement in writing.

You really want to see that in writing. And then once you make the payment, after you get it in writing, you're going to want to check your credit report to make sure that those particular creditors have updated the balance to zero. It might say settled in full, and you probably will get a 1099 at the end of the year because the portion between what you owe and what they accept as a settlement is actually taxable to you. But at that point, then once everything's zeroed out, you know, keep in mind, the older that is, the less it will affect you, and the key is to now replace that with positive credit. So you want to be an on-time payer moving forward. And maybe, you know, if you have really bad credit, maybe you need to go open a secured credit card at the bank where maybe you put two or three or $400 on deposit, they give you a credit card against that with a limit of whatever you have on deposit.

Maybe you set up an automatic, very small monthly budgeted item that hits that card every month, could be less than $10. You pay it off, and that's going to be reported to the bureau every month with you as an on-time payer. And the combination of those old charge-offs that are now zeroed out, becoming further and further in the past, and that good new credit being reported to your report every month will over time, you know, cause your credit score to rise. It's not a quick fix, but it will rise over time. But I've thrown a lot at you there.

Give me your questions. If the debts are closed or charged off, do I still, should I still pay them? Are they showing a balance on your credit report? It shows charged off. Some of them show charged off. Some of them does say have a balance.

Yeah, so the ones that have a balance, that's the key. I would call them and say, listen, I want this updated to show that it's been paid off in full or settled in full, and I'd like to make good on this obligation. I think you can do the same thing with the ones that are showing charged off, too.

That's really just your, you know, between you and the creditor, you know, based on your own convictions, but I think certainly any ones that are showing a balance, you want to get those to zero, and the best way to do that is to settle with them with a lump sum payment. Okay. All right. I greatly appreciate that. I listen to you guys every day on my way home from work. Well, I'm delighted, Donna. Thank you for being a part of the program. We appreciate it.

To Spokane, we're going really far west. Hi, Joanne. Go ahead. Yes, thank you. I have $65,000 that I'm just not knowing what to do with, and I was hoping you would give me some ideas. I have $50,000 in an Ally Bank savings at 5%, $10,000 in an I bond, and $5,000 at a credit union for 5%, but I have to make 12 debit charges to get that kind of rate, so I don't know if CDs are a good thing to do or just have backup funds.

Yeah. Well, first thing we want to do is make sure that you keep at least, I would say, six months, probably in this season of life, in liquid savings, and so I think, you know, Ally's as good as any. You're in an online bank paying a really good interest rate at nearly 5%, or I think you did say 5%, and so having at least six months there, it probably makes some sense. What do you guess your monthly expenses are total? I don't know. I'm pretty conservative.

I get $12.90 a month for Social Security, and then I have an IRA of about $2,000 that I have to take out on it, and it pays, I don't know what it's, I have to take out this year, but I'm thinking about $7,000 to $8,000. Okay. Does that sound reasonable?

Sure. It just depends on the balance. Do you know what you have in that IRA, how much?

About $200,000, maybe a little more than that. But is the $12.90 enough to cover your bills? No. Okay. So how much would you think you need per month above the $12.90? I don't know.

I've never done this. Okay. Yeah, I would put a budget together. In fact, let's do this. I would like to connect one of our certified Christian financial counselors with you. There won't be any cost to you for this. We're going to cover the cost, just as our gift to you, but this will be somebody who can help you put that budget together to understand exactly what it takes for you to spend what you need every month to cover your bills and help you put a budget together.

Would you be open to talking to a Christian financial counselor? That would be great. Good. Okay. Stay on the line. Let's see. Quickly to Maureen.

We'll finish in Edwardsville, Illinois. Go ahead. I have an HSA account that's been frozen since I went on Medicare. I'm 70 years old. I'm still working and it's bugging me that this money, it's not a lot of money. It's only about $16,000 is all I have in there, but it's not really gaining anything but really small interest. I want to know how I can invest it outside of the bank where it is. If I can just withdraw money from it and do my own investing. You would want to leave it in there and invest it inside the HSA because there are benefits to having that HSA money. Past age 65, you have some additional options with regard to how that money can be used.

Really, if you use that for healthcare expenses down the road, it could be a great resource to you with obviously a lot of tax advantages. If your bank that's holding that HSA doesn't offer the ability to invest it, I would just look at transferring it to an HSA with another institution like HSA Bank or any number. You could go to nerdwallet.com or just do an internet search for the best HSA providers and you'll see a list of them.

There are some great ones out there and they offer a lot of flexibilities in terms of your investment options. And then once you pick that HSA provider, you transfer the HSA over and then at that point you could start investing it and let that thing grow and it will be a great tool to supplement your retirement assets specifically for healthcare. So that's where I would go.

I just get it out of where you currently have it. Thanks for your call, Maureen. I hope that's helpful. We appreciate you calling today. Well, folks, on behalf of my amazing team, Amy Rios, our producer, and Tahira, who is also producing today, as well as Lynn and Jim, couldn't do it without them. Have a great rest of your day and I'll see you again next time for another edition of Faith and Finance. Faith and Finance is provided by Faith Buy and listeners like you.