This faith and finance podcast is underwritten in part by Christian Healthcare Ministries. Are you finding it increasingly challenging to find affordable healthcare? Christian Healthcare Ministries is a budget-friendly, biblical, and compassionate healthcare cost-sharing alternative that aligns with your Christian values.
And it's available in all 50 states and around the world. Learn more at chministries.org faith buy. Ecclesiastes 3-13 says, Every man who eats and drinks sees good in all his labor. It is the gift of God.
Hi, I'm Rob West. The Bible calls work a gift. But if you have to work more than one job, it might not feel like it. Today we'll offer a few practical and spiritual insights for working multiple jobs. And 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 decisions. God created us for work. Throughout the Bible, we see the importance of work for men and women, both for our own benefit and for God's glory. Right from the beginning, God put Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. Your idea of paradise might not include gardening, but the point here is that God gave Adam and Eve something to do, because they needed it. The work God gave Adam and Eve was a gift for another reason. It kept them in relationship with the Lord. God created the garden and everything in it. It was good, and he gave the good thing to Adam and Eve to look after. Their stewardship of Eden would have involved taking care of it for the Lord.
This would have required close communication with God. What does all this have to do with your job today? Well, obviously we're a long way out of paradise, and the curse of sin makes work a constant struggle for people.
Read Genesis 1-3 and you'll see why. In spite of sin, the desire for meaningful, satisfying work is still inside of us. Nowadays, when finances are tight for many folks, it's not unusual to find individuals working multiple jobs. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, more than 7.7 million workers are holding down two jobs. 400,000 of those are working two full-time jobs at the same time.
That data is from 2022, so the numbers are probably even higher today. We'll talk about the spiritual ramifications of working multiple jobs in a moment, but first let's get practical. Whether you're considering a second job to make ends meet or to beef up your savings, there are a few things to keep in mind. First, keep the job separate. Have a system for keeping track of the details, including job tasks, schedules, and contacts.
Whether you do this with an online app like Asana or Trello, or you keep track with a paper and pen day planner, it's important to stay organized. Next, communicate. Effective communication with your employers, co-workers, and customers is especially important if you're managing multiple jobs. That means check in with each employer and stay in touch with your team members about current projects and schedules.
Plus, expectations and deadlines need to be clearly stated in writing. Time management is the third element you'll need if you're working more than one job. Set boundaries for yourself so you get the jobs done without burning out. If you're working from home, set aside physical space for work and take appropriate breaks. Working multiple jobs doesn't have to be overwhelming. You can stay on top of it if you stay organized, communicate clearly, and manage your time. And don't forget to take care of yourself spiritually. Your relationship with the Lord shouldn't take a back seat just because you're busy. In fact, your relationship with the Lord should be in the front seat, especially when you're busy. Try to do it all yourself and you risk turning your need to work into an all-consuming idol.
An idol replaces the Lord in your mind and heart but has no power to satisfy you. Here are a few clues that your work might be an idol, whether you have one job or many. Your self-worth rises or falls based on meeting your income goals. You give up rest, family time, and church in order to put in extra work hours. You can't take your mind off of work tasks, emails, calls, and issues. You are stressed out, discouraged, and exhausted by working. You believe that financial security is the main reason for work. You are obsessed with productivity, success, income, and promotion. You believe your paycheck is your provider. And finally, a very telling indication, you make money, but you don't like to give money. If work is becoming an idol for you, rest and turn to Jesus instead.
Satisfying work isn't about you, it's about who. When you focus on Christ and follow biblical principles, your attitude towards work will change as well. You'll begin to see the opportunities God's giving you to reach others. You'll understand that difficult circumstances are sometimes God's way of helping you grow up as a Christian.
You'll recognize that God is your provider and you can trust him to lead you and take care of you. All right, your calls are next. The number 800-525-7000. I'm Rob West and this is Faith and Finance.
We'll be right back. Have you downloaded the Faith by app yet? You need to do that today because this is going to make your life easier. Yes, you can manage your money through the in-app envelope feature, but also plan out future goals.
I want to buy a house in five years and I'm on track to do that. Here's also what I like. You can connect with people around the country. It's like social media, but better. Ask a question, get an answer and share what you're learning about money and investing. So why don't you grab your phone right now and download the Faith by app? 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. Welcome back to Faith and Finance. I'm Rob West. We're taking your calls and questions now on anything financial. The number to call is 800-525-7000. We've got some lines open today. We'd love to tackle whatever you're thinking about here on the program. 800-525-7000. Let's begin today in Georgia. Sharon, you'll be our first caller. Go ahead.
Hi, thanks for taking my call. My parents want to put their house in my name and we want to get it all taken care of before anything majorly happens. They even paid off all my debt to make my credit good where they can do this. How do we go about doing it? What is it they're trying to accomplish, Sharon? Just put the house in my name and not theirs. Yeah, and why is that though? They're leaving the house to me.
Okay. Yeah, it would actually be better if you inherited this house as opposed to receiving it as a gift. They could very easily quit claim deed the home over to you while they're still alive. They would fill out a quit claim deed and you can find them online.
Better yet, I'd go to a real estate attorney and have someone do that and then that would be recorded in the county where the home is and your name would be placed on the deed and they would fill out a gift tax form because that would be a gift. There wouldn't be any taxes on it but they would have essentially gifted it to you so you're now the owner of the property. The problem with that is that when you receive a property as a gift, you're going to keep their cost basis which just is the purchase price that they paid for it. So, if you were to turn around and sell it down the road, you would pay capital gains tax on the profit between your selling price and their original purchase price. If you receive it from them as an inheritance, you enjoy what's called a stepped up cost basis. At that point, the basis to the property increases to the market value as of the date of death and then if you were to turn around and sell it right away, you wouldn't have any capital gains because you would be selling it for essentially the same price as the cost basis was which again was reset or stepped up as of the date of death.
So, that would be a reason that they would want to give it to you either through a will, a trust, or what's called a transfer on death deed which is a way they can transfer it to you outside of the probate court again at death but to do it very efficiently. You're in the state of Georgia, is that right? Yes, sir. Okay. Is that where the property is located? Yes, sir. We've had the property for almost 52 years.
Okay. Yeah, so this would be really important here because their cost basis is going to be very low and if you turn around and sell it, you're going to have a pretty significant profit between your selling price and their original cost basis that would be taxable. If you receive it through inheritance, that's not going to be the case. In Georgia, there's something called a TOD deed which stands for transfer on death. It's also known as a beneficiary deed. Essentially, once this is put in place, this allows the property owner, your parents, to designate you as the beneficiary and you would automatically inherit the property upon their death and it would avoid probate which slows it down and adds additional expense and you would also receive that stepped up cost basis at the same time so you'd have no tax, no capital gain tax if you turned around and sold it. Okay, so a TOD deed? It's called a TOD deed which stands for transfer on death. It's also known as a beneficiary deed. I would contact a real estate attorney in your area there and they can very easily craft one of these and tell you how you need to file it in the county so that it's on record and then when your parents pass away, the second one of the two pass away, the property would automatically come to you outside of probate. Yeah, that's what we were scared of but I never plan on selling it.
I was born there, raised there, still am there. I don't ever plan on selling it. We were just scared on how to do it because we were scared if both of them passed away that it would automatically be turned over and I wouldn't be able to get it. Yeah, well as long as they had a will, it would come to you. It would just take a little time to work its way through the probate court. This TOD deed or the beneficiary deed would ensure that it automatically passes to you outside of probate so it's efficient, it's quick, it's private, it's not happening as a part of the public record but it's also allowing you to get that stepped up cost basis.
So I think that's what you're looking for Sharon and I would give a real estate attorney a call there in your area. God bless you. Thanks for being on the program today. We appreciate it. To Kansas. Hey Joe, thanks for calling sir. Go ahead.
Yes sir. Well my situation is I'm a retired public servant. I draw a pension from the state of Missouri. I got bad tax information from my tax preparer who assumed that my tax burden would also be the same in Kansas.
So about five years ago I bought a house in Kansas or seven years ago and then three years later I got a note from the state of Kansas saying that they do not exempt my tax from state income tax so or my pension from state income tax so I've been paying state income tax all this time. I'm just right now got a 2.87 percent interest rate home and I'm kind of looking okay at what point am I am I better off to go ahead and sell and move back to Missouri to keep from having to pay that income tax. Yeah well I think you need to get a CPA perhaps not the one that gave you the bad advice but another one just look at your situation and get do an analysis on how much more are you actually paying and whether or not you know what the financial benefit would be to you establishing residence in another state and then determine you're going to have to weigh that financial expense against where you want to live which is not all financial in nature. I mean it has to do with who you're near and work situations and just the lifestyle you want to lead and so forth so but I think having that data on the actual cost annually for you to live in a state with income tax state income tax versus another gives you the information you need to then pray through and decide you know where you want to live ultimately. Right the my son actually they've moved from Kansas they lived with us for a while they're they've moved to Missouri which we're in Kansas City so it's like you know I can be in Missouri and basically be in the same geographical area. The big thing is the to me is right now the interest rates if I could I'll have to buy a home and have a mortgage unfortunately if this because of the cost so that's that's kind of I appreciate that I have tried to put a a price on what this is going to cost and just at this point I think it's it's just there's some point I should probably go ahead and move I guess. Yeah potentially I mean I think it'd be interesting for you to have that data and just to do some tax planning to see what is this actually costing me and to make sure that you do actually owe what you think you owe.
I mean if you were paying income tax in another state you wouldn't be liable for income tax in two different states so you need to make sure you understand that but then secondly what is the actual cost going forward to you residing in Kansas and I think once you have that planning done then you can make a decision as to ultimately where you might want to live. Now if you need help with a godly CPA you can contact a certified kingdom advisor in your area. Do a search for a CKA on our website at faithfi.com that's faithfi.com just click find a CKA.
Thanks for your call Joe. Back with more of your questions just around the corner 800-525-7000. If the heavy burden of debt is robbing you of freedom and peace of mind Christian credit counselors can help. We're a nationwide non-profit 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. We are grateful for support from Praxis Mutual Funds. Praxis Mutual Funds has seven impact strategies that are designed to create positive real world change. More information is available at praxismutualfunds.com. The fund's investment objectives, risks, charges, and expenses are contained in the prospectus and summary prospectus. This and other information is available at praxismutualfunds.com. Investments involve risk.
Principal loss is possible. Foresight Fund Services LLC. Welcome back to Faith and Finance. I'm Rob West. We're taking your calls and questions. We have a few lines open here in our final segment 800-525-7000 to Jamestown, Indiana. Hi Darlene, thanks for calling. Go ahead.
Hi Rob, this is Darlene. I have a question about my 401k at work. Right now I have 100% of it in the money market account. Now I was wondering if now was a good time to change the allocation of it. I have a personal IRA account and my advisor for that account suggested splitting it up and putting it like 70% in one account and 30% in another and I didn't know if now was a good time to do that or if I should wait. Yeah, I definitely would love for this to be invested and the data says that when you're out of the market regardless of why you ended up getting out of the market and we can talk about that if you want. I'd try to avoid doing that in the future where even if the market looks rocky trying to time the market just doesn't work in your favor because often like we've seen this year we miss the recovery by the time we get in and it just doesn't work out you know in terms of the long-term return but regardless of how we got here the data says that when you're ready to go back into the market doing it all at once is you know makes the most sense as opposed to trying to stagger it so I would say yes let's go back into the market but do it with an allocation that makes sense based on your goals, your age, your risk tolerance, your proximity to retirement, those kinds of things. Tell me though the second part of that question I'm not sure I totally understood about the 70-30.
What were you speaking about there? I have a personal IRA account and my advisor for that account is the one that suggested that I she told me two different funds to put in that I have a bet with a 401k and she suggested putting 70% in one account and 30% in another one and I and I can't find my paper right now of which accounts those are. Yeah very good so it was maybe 70% in in one particular mutual fund and 30 in another or something like that? Okay yeah what is do you mind me asking your age? 61. Okay and how long do you plan to continue to work Darlene? As long as possible I'd like to work at least until 70. Okay great. If I'm physically able yeah. Yeah so at 61 I mean you know what we would typically say is that you would probably want your investments to be 50-50 between bonds and stocks because even though maybe you're less than 10 years out of retirement you still have once you retire if the Lord tarries and you're in good health you need this money to last decades so we want it to continue to grow although we do want to get more conservative as you get closer and closer to that period where you would need to start converting this to an income stream so you move from capital appreciation to capital preservation and income and we do that by getting more and more out of stocks and into fixed income but even at this point you know at 61 I would say you probably want to be about 50-50 if you want to be a little more conservative you could be let's say 40% stocks 60% bonds fixed income type investments and you're going to have those kinds of options available to you in your 401k so I would say yeah let's get this back into the market with an allocation that makes sense somewhere between 40 and 50 percent in stocks the rest in bonds and if you need some help you could maybe contact your plan administrator see if they have somebody that can help you pick those investments inside the 401k you could use one of the target date or lifecycle funds where you'd you know pick the target date to when you think you might retire so you know let's say that's 10 years from now so you might pick a 2033 target date fund that's automatically going to get more and more conservative as you get closer to retirement or you could hire an advisor to look over the menu of the investment options you have and help you select those but bottom line is yeah I would definitely move back into the market okay all right thanks for calling Darlene uh to Tampa hi Judy thanks for calling go right ahead hi Rob thanks for taking my call my question is quick um we are looking to pay off our home so what we did we paid half in February which is over $100,000 and we used our um we're myself on 68 and my husband 71 so whatever money we took out we didn't pay any taxes on because I believe it was the Roth RIA and the um okay so then so what we did we only paid that amount and then come September we're looking to pay $65,000 to pay it off but for that we actually took $50,000 from savings put it into a CD which will earn us $1,200 by September and then we'll get we have money in savings we have at least $60,000 more so we'll we will complete the money that we owe so my question is I mean is that a great idea we don't have any bills yeah but we do have six months savings if we need money yeah very good this is you're in great shape I mean you're you're going to be completely debt-free including your home uh you know you you'll have plenty of surplus on a monthly basis you've got long-term care insurance covered you got six months of emergency funds so here here's where you get to so you remember we talk about there's only four things you can do with money live give owe and grow well you're eliminating those four along the way so you're eliminating the lifestyle budget because once you define enough for your lifestyle meaning your monthly expenses and you say you know what we're not going to buy a bigger house we're not going to buy fancier cars we're not going to spend more eating out so you've capped your lifestyle spending so that bucket in a sense as long as you're happy with it and your spending plan that one goes away because we don't want to add more to it and then we let's skip give for a second oh goes away because you know you don't owe anything in fact you're going to be out of your mortgage and you'll still continue to pay taxes but as you give more your taxes will actually decrease and then you're left ultimately would just give or grow i mean those are really the only two decisions you have to make so with this you know surplus you have on a monthly basis you're in a really exciting place to say okay do we really want to continue to save or perhaps have we already accumulated enough and therefore we're just going to do some have some fun giving it away and really take some time to think about the passions that you have and how that aligns with the the things that are on the heart of god the ministry of god's mercy and the god's justice and the ministry of god's word preaching teaching and discipleship i mean and really thinking about how do we accelerate our giving to be a blessing to those around us or you may decide we want to do that plus we've got some other giving goals we i mean savings goals we'd like to you know continue to accrue wealth to pass it on to a particular heir or something like that but essentially you're in a great spot just to really think deeply about how to use this surplus but apart from that i would say you guys are making all the right decisions trying by the grace of god well you're doing it and i appreciate you calling maybe you need to host this program tomorrow judy hey great work tell your husband congratulations and hey really give some careful thought and prayer to what giving he might have for you in the days ahead god bless you hey we're almost out of time but i wanted to let you know that you don't ever have to miss a program just download our faithfi app for your mobile device and take us with you anywhere thanks for joining us today i look forward to talking with you again next time on faith and finance faith and finance is provided by faithfi and listeners like you
