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. The holiday season is fast approaching, a time of year when folks naturally look for ways to be more generous. Hi, I'm Rob West.
There's one way you can maximize your giving experience as we near the year's end, and that's by making it a family affair. Jeannie McMains joins us today to talk about that. 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, our guest Jeannie McMains is Executive Vice President of Offerings and Marketing at the National Christian Foundation. For more than 25 years, she's helped families create a fun and lasting giving experience. Jeannie, always great to have you on the program. Rob, it's a pleasure to be back. Well, I'm delighted, and this is a topic that I love. And I know you've got five great ways to bring the whole family into the giving process as we head into the end of year and holidays. So where do you want to start first?
Well, Rob, you're right. This is a topic near and dear to my heart as well. And the whole idea is really to make a thriving family giving culture and the habits and the activities we do together around generosity.
So to start that, one of the important things to keep in mind is really to right size the experience, Rob. Too often parents will want to, in their enthusiasm, get their children or grandchildren excited about the idea of giving and they overshoot the complexity or the time commitment in their enthusiasm. So we've all learned and experienced these types of things over the years. And so giving the family culture grace to grow and develop together is super important. A couple of stories come to mind to just emphasize that point. I remember working alongside a single mother years ago who had just a passion for giving and she was so excited. She wanted to do it well and prayerfully with a lot of wisdom and discernment. And so while she gave her daughter a monetary amount to give away, it also came with a three-page instruction list on how to do it wisely and what to research. And it was great advice, but her daughter was a young mother with children all in grade school and serving her pastor husband and managing a career of her own.
And so shocker, Rob, almost disappointed. Another important way to right size the experience is I can think of a father who had set up one Christmas as we're heading into the holidays and gave each child a monetary amount to go give away. And then, you know, the idea was, hey, report back to me on what you did. Great idea.
Great idea. I've seen families do this to bring about a lot of joy. However, this particular father gave an amount that he was, you know, a little a little sizable and he was concerned with the where the children gave to. He didn't feel like it was quite up to, you know, what he was hoping those dollars would go to.
And, you know, my advice to him, Rob, was right size, not only the time involved, but the amount so that your children can learn to fall in love with giving and the things they care about and not have it be frustrating to you that those dollars went to things that, you know, were up to maybe you're thinking on the best and highest use for those dollars. The goal is to really let them learn to fall in love with their own giving passions along the way. Yeah. Well, there's the best of intentions there, but the complexity can stifle the giving itself. Right. So I love that idea that we need to right size the experience along the way.
Of course, the idea there is to keep it simple. Jeannie, what else should we be thinking about here? I think it's important that we leave what I call both we and me space in the family giving context. Sometimes kind of like the story of the dad I just mentioned, you know, parents want their children to give to the things that the parents are excited about.
And believe me, the kids know that and feel that, right? It's allowing them the opportunity to have me space and being able to give amounts to the things that they're excited about. And then as a family, creating a collection of shared values that everybody can get excited about. So everybody can experience their own personal journey and their together journey in a way that builds family in the process. What has that looked like for families that you've worked with? How did they unpack those values?
Oh, great question. Well, some of the things that are fun to do is sometimes you can get interesting like card games. There's a lot of resources out there in the marketplace and make it fun to either talk about values or talk about charitable impact you want to have in the world. That's a great thing that families might want to check into this Christmas.
I love that idea. Well, we're just getting started. We're talking about how you can give as a family, keeping it simple, but really uncovering perhaps the joy of generosity for your kids this holiday season. We're talking with Jeannie McMains. She's Executive Vice-President of Offerings and Marketing, a National Christian Foundation, and much more to come just around the corner. This is Faith and Finance.
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I'm Rob West. Joining me today, Jeannie McMains. Jeannie's with the National Christian Foundation, and we're talking today about making giving a family affair. Just before the break, Jeannie shared two ideas that are really helpful.
First, right-size the experience. Don't make it too complicated and miss the opportunity to actually dive in and begin enjoying the fruit of giving as a family. Second, make space for we and me. The idea is make sure there's room for your kids to actually give in a way that's aligned with their passions alongside the opportunities the family may give together. And Jeannie, I know that idea of making space for we and me really leads into the next one, doesn't it?
It really does. And while we mentioned before the break, you can do interesting card games and lots of conversation helps to find out what each individual in the family's passions are. Another important thing to keep in mind, Rob, is use a framework. It's really helpful when everybody knows when they're coming into a conversation, all right, what are the guidelines and the expectations so I can show up with my full self?
A couple of examples, I mean, the frameworks can get pretty involved. In fact, one of them was, I can think of outside the family context, was in an employer company environment where the employer was doing a dollar match program. And sometimes you'll find parents wanting to do a dollar match in what their children want to give as well.
It's a great way to ignite enthusiasm for generosity. But in this case, the employer, he wanted to put a framework so he didn't have hundreds of employees making grant requests or giving requests to causes that the company wouldn't be thrilled in supporting. And they didn't want to be the policeman of that, right, in their company culture.
It's supposed to be positive. So similarly, what they did is they said, you know what, we want to put some loose parameters about what we're for. Let's agree about what we're for. And then each employee or family member, by comparison here, can suggest the charities that is their individual expression or passion within that framework. So what they were for was improving the lives of people in their community.
So it didn't go all the giving requests didn't go out into left field and all these different directions. It gave a focus point for the we giving that everybody could show up and bring, you know, their ideas and passions. And so I think that part of the framework is is really important. I love that because then it gives them an opportunity to take these ideas that are coming in and weigh them against the parameters that they set up, but keep it really positive.
Absolutely, absolutely. So that's a that's a good idea on the we space. But what about the me space? Yeah, allowing each people to kind of each individual to walk through and explore their own passions. And it it reminds me of when my kids were little and Rob, you can do this with little children, you can do it with adult children, and multiple generations in the room. But I just came up with a three step question with my own kids.
Again, that's just one of many, many ways you can approach it. But for our family, Rob, it was to guide them from when they were elementary school age on through three questions. And we did this around Thanksgiving as we were giving thanks to the Lord for the abundant blessings in our lives and, and asking him to use us to be a blessing to others. And those three questions were, okay, what people group or need has God put on your heart?
And do you really care about? And so fun when my kids were little, you know, they might say, I have a little girl in my first grade class whose dad's in prison, and I want to help family members who you know, so you know, there are a lot of ministries out there Christian ministries who have prison ministry in mind, or one year, my son had seen a movie. Remember that pursuit a happiness movie with Will Smith?
Yeah. And he's like, I care about the homeless. So we gave to the local Christian homeless shelter. But the three questions were what people group or need is on your heart, too.
What organizations are out there doing that work well, and they might need our help to drive some internet search if they're really young, but the key is to let them pick and do the choosing here. And then I learned years ago to help narrow the funnel and give that framework. As I said, you know, how does this people group share the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ where they're serving that need?
And that was the filter. Three steps. Anybody can do it right size to any age. Yeah, that's really simple. And I think so helpful to get them pointed in the right direction. And these are critical questions to help shape that. You mentioned Thanksgiving, did you all actually go around the table and do that as a part of the Thanksgiving meal? We did.
It was after or before. And we would also read some good books like The Treasure Principle and others leading up to it and did some devotions on stewardship along the way. And then we could keep those grants over the years and just see the pathway upon the patience on how the kids have developed over the years. Oh, this is so good, Jeannie.
So simple and effective. All right, let's continue to move through this. What's the next way to enhance the family giving experience? I think it's important that we share the responsibility. Many times the planning, the meetings, the tracking, the dollars and the how to are all coming from one generation down to another. But keeping in mind our prior principles here of right sizing the experience and letting it, you know, be something that's tailored to them and their interests.
I think it's important that we share the responsibility. So depending, you know, upon ages or talents or interests, you could have them raise some money on their own to contribute. You could have them research potential causes. As my kids got older, they would research their own causes. You can have them be the hands and feet in developing relationships with the charities. At one point, I had my daughter reach out to the charity that was having mental health ministry from a Christian standpoint in public high schools.
She was our point of contact. Maybe the event planning, like the family meeting. Don't forget the party.
I think giving should always have a party and celebrate the work that God's doing in and through us through our giving. Yeah, that is so good. All right. So we're going to get short on time here in a minute. What about our fifth and final tip? Don't forget the fruit. And what I mean by that, of course, is the fruit of the Spirit.
Great segue from party. This whole experience of giving, while it is modeled and directed to us throughout the scriptures to be generous with what's been given to us, it should be an outpouring of the fruits of the Spirit. If we find in our families that the conversation of giving has lost the predominant qualities of experiencing love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, and self-control in the way we're shepherding and sharing the blessings God given to us, we really need to rethink, are we building a thriving family culture around generosity? Because where the Spirit's moving, these are the fruit. And I think we should be intentional about calling them out, pursuing them, and celebrating them in our family-giving culture.
Oh, Jeannie, that is so good. So when we right-size the experience, don't make it overcomplicated. When we create space for not only we, but also me, so everyone gets their giving expression, use a simple framework, share the responsibilities, and then don't forget the fruit. We can truly experience the joy of family-giving. Now, Jeannie, before we wrap up today, how can NCF come alongside families who want to experience giving in this way?
Oh, thanks for asking, Rob. You know, our ministry is to help people see lives transformed through biblical generosity. And so we have a giving strategy that we would love. Just feel free to call NCF.
You can find us at ncfgiving.com, and we also have local offices all around the country to connect with you and your family as you'd like to explore greater joy, greater purpose, and greater effectiveness in your charitable giving, individually or as a family. Yeah. And Jeannie, for someone saying, I don't know that I have enough money. Maybe I have to be a multimillionaire to work with NCF. What would you say to them?
I would say absolutely not. God measures the value of our gifts by the heart we put behind it. I love that. Well, Jeannie, unfortunately, we're out of time, but this has been so good. Thanks for stopping by today. Thank you, Rob. That's Jeannie McMains with the National Christian Foundation. Folks, check it out today, ncfgiving.com. Make your giving strategy at ncfgiving.com.
I'm Rob West. This is Faith and Finance. The number to call is 800-525-7000.
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Welcome back to Faith and Finance. I'm your host, Rob West. The number to call is 800-525-7000. I'm looking forward to hearing from you as we take your calls and questions from across the country. Our first caller will come from West Palm Beach, Florida, June. How can I serve you?
Oh, thank you for taking my call. I have over 14,000 and it's in the bank, but it's doing nothing. I get nothing on it. What can I do with it?
Yeah. You've got options now, especially with interest rates up where they are, but let me just ask, is this money earmarked for any certain purpose June? Would this be what I would call your emergency fund or is it set aside for a specific expense down the road? Tell me what you're thinking. Well, I've only sort of just come into this country, so we're thinking of buying a property, so it could, you know, if we saw something really cheap, maybe.
Yeah, very good. So just a couple of thoughts on that and then I'll give you some specific direction here on where you go next. I would love for you to have, if you don't have separate from this and this is the extent of your savings, I'd love for you to have a goal of setting aside three to six months worth of expenses. So you total up all your expenses.
Hopefully you have a spending plan where this is documented, but if you don't, let's work toward that. But whatever your total expenses are for the month, I'd love for you to have three times that or as much as six times that in an online savings account earning some interest, so that when the unexpected comes, you've got a place to turn. Beyond that, I'd love for you to have a separate account where you're saving for that home purchase and your goal there is a 20% down payment based on the purchase price.
Now, I know just based on what's going on with real estate, especially if you're trying to buy there in South Florida, that's going to take you a while. Houses are expensive and I don't want you to stretch necessarily and just because the mortgage company will give you a loan doesn't mean you should try to go in with much less than 20%. I'd try to save up for that 20% down payment and avoid what's called private mortgage insurance, which doesn't do you any good.
It's just for the lender and it can run you 1% of that mortgage balance or more annually. So let's try to avoid that by going in with 20% down if you can. Now, where are you going to put this savings, that emergency savings and then that savings that you're building up for that down payment? I really like online bank accounts.
So here's the deal. A bank which is federally insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation can either exist in a brick and mortar fashion, meaning they have branches down the street that you could walk into or they exist only in cyberspace. They don't have the brick and mortar branches. They're still a bank and they're still federally insured, but they're able to take that savings by not having the brick and mortar operations and less staff and pass that on to you in the form of higher interest rates. That's what I would recommend. And then you can take that online savings account, which by the way should be fee-free, meaning you're not going to have any maintenance fees. Hopefully you don't have any minimum deposit requirements or even a minimum number of transactions. You'll move the savings, that $14,000 into that account, but you're going to link it electronically to your checking account, your main funding account that you pay your bills out of.
Maybe that's at a brick and mortar bank in case you want to walk in and see a teller face to face. But the great thing is that through the ACH system, you should be able to transfer that money back and forth within a day or two at the most and there shouldn't be any cost to that. I like the fact that it would be separate from your checking account because it makes it a little harder to get to, which is actually a good thing because we really only want to use that money for unexpected expenses. So the place to go to select that online bank account, I would direct you to a website called bankrate.com.
You'll be able to click the button that says show me all the high yield savings accounts and it will sort them for you and show you those that are the highest rated and the ones that are paying the best interest rates, which right now that's going to be more than 4% a year. It's not a ton, but it's something. On $14,000 over the next 12 months, you can make more than $550. Well, that's great.
We'll take it. So that would be the direction I would go June. Does that all make sense? It does, but because that money is in the savings that I don't touch that money and then because I'm retired, so the money I get, I take my savings out, put it into the savings account, and then now that you've suggested putting it in one of these high yield things, I will start saving again in that savings account, a sort of emergency fund, I guess. How long in those savings accounts that you're talking about, what is the length of time? You have to keep the money in there for about a year or so?
No, no. What you're talking about is a certificate of deposit and that would require you locking the money up for a period of time. You might buy a six-month CD or a 12-month CD. 12-month CDs, you could get as much as 5.5% right now. What I'm talking about is a straight savings account. It's just an online savings account. The benefit of that is you're still getting more than 4% a year, but it's completely liquid.
You can transfer the money in and out as much as you want. Okay. That's good. Yeah, that sounds good. Very good. Well, thank you for calling today, June. We're delighted you're here in the United States. If I can serve you in any way in the future, please don't hesitate to reach out. Let's head to Peoria.
Tracy, go right ahead. I was unemployed for a while this year and earlier this year. A few weeks ago, I did start a new job.
The thing is, as a result, it has been a tremendous struggle to pay rent and also keep up on my basic bills like utilities and so forth. The only thing I have that I'm considering selling is my car. Okay. I'm sorry. That's okay. Tracy, if you sold the car, how would you get to work?
I do have access to public transportation. Okay. Okay. Do you know how much the car is worth? Have you looked into it? No. When I bought it, I paid a little over $5,100 for it. I haven't had it for, I would even say a year.
It's been maybe eight months or so. Okay. All right. Very good. Is it debt that you would be paying off with it or it's past due rent and utilities, right?
Past due rent and utilities and some debt. Okay. I don't know. Let's do this because I'm open. That's okay. I know you've got a lot weighing on you right now and so we're going to pray for you, but I want to make sure that selling the car is actually going to rectify the situation and that you can get on a balanced budget that makes sense. We're not just putting a temporary bandaid on it and then we're going to be right back in the same spot except now you don't have a car anymore. So I'm going to connect you with one of our certified Christian financial counselors that's going to go over your budget with you and help you make this decision. So stay on the line. We'll get your information. Thanks for listening. 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 By and listeners like you.
