Stories Of Hope From Zambia With Chikondi Phiri

This faith and finance podcast is underwritten in part by Hope for Zambia, empowered by Family Legacy. Hope for Zambia, empowered by Family Legacy, is a ministry providing holistic care for over 14,000 vulnerable and orphaned children spiritually, intellectually, physically and emotionally. Whether distributing five million meals each year to children and young adults, or by empowering students to graduate from high school and go on to pursue trade school or a university education, Hope for Zambia believes that when you educate a child, you transform their world. Go to HopeforZambia.com slash faith to give and change lives. Give justice to the weak and the fatherless. Maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute. Rescue the weak and the needy. Deliver them from the hand of the wicked. Hope for Zambia, your chosen Truth Network Podcast is playing now.

I'm delighted. It sounds like you're just next door and yet you're halfway across the world. How great is this technology? Well, I don't think, Chikandi, that most Americans understand how desperate many of Zambia's children are for basic things like food, shelter and education in a country with about six and a half million children. More than a million are orphaned due to AIDS and other factors. Now, of course, your ministry is having a huge impact and you've got some great stories to share. But first, tell us briefly why family legacy is so effective. Well, ultimately, our effectiveness and impact is because of the power of Christ at work. But we also implement a unique blend of holistic care. We equip children with literacy and numerous skills necessary for life. We also help students come to know Jesus Christ and live out the gospel through a well-structured curriculum, discipleship and Bible studies. Students also have opportunity to eat one hot and nutritious meal every day at school.

And for some students, this is the only meaningful meal they have in a day. We also provide medical care and have a well-worked out emotional care program underpinned by a biblical ethos. It's powerful.

I've had a chance to witness it firsthand and God is certainly at work. Now, I know, Chikandi, that you love telling people stories of hope. And your first one is about a student, now a young man named Kennedy.

Tell us about him. Yeah, Rob, you know, for most of the children, you know, graduating from high school is a far-fetched dream when they first enter our sponsorship program. I mean, Kennedy is a classic example. He's one among the 525 students that I shook hands with during high school graduation for Family Legacy students of 2022 class last year. You know, Kennedy lost his father when he was in the fourth grade.

His mother has never done formal education. And, generally speaking, Rob, there was no hope for him and the rest of the family. Kennedy was recruited in the program through what we call Camp Life.

That was, I think, 10 years ago. He struggled a lot because of the cardiovascular condition, which meant he had to spend several days in hospital missing out on class. Our Family Legacy health team cared for him and ensured he took medication and was on the mend again. Now, Kennedy is one of those children who are academically inclined. You know, most of the kids that I come across in our program are more inclined to take the trades route or the pathway than anything else. Now, prior to his graduation last year, Kennedy was honored with seven awards by a government school he was attending. He received awards for top performance in four subjects. He was an overall top performer, was an exemplary leader, and most disciplined pupil in the school. Now, Kennedy is now doing a one-year trade skills course to prepare him for college or university next year. He taught me a few hours ago that he looks forward to studying accounts for his first degree. Now, I need to mention this, that not all students end up like Kennedy, but our prayer is that every child who goes through our program is guided and empowered to live out their God-given potential, whatever that is. Some will end up being doctors or professors in universities. Others will be plumbers, electricians, politicians, or better still, podcasters like someone I have come to know.

Chikandi, what a powerful story. Now, I know caregivers are critical to all of this, aren't they? They are. And in fact, in partnership with Hope International, Family Legacy is empowering caregivers of students in our program. This empowerment is meant for them to have skin in the game.

Sometimes the caretakers feel they have nothing to offer, but we believe that everyone who is made in the image of God has dignity and can contribute to supporting their families financially. Wow, that's incredible. Chikandi, we're going to have to have you back real soon. Thanks for stopping by. Thank you so much. It's been my pleasure knowing you. Folks, if you want to get more information, go to HopeForZambia.com slash faith. That's HopeForZambia.com slash faith.

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. Have you downloaded the Faithfi 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 Faithfi app? Welcome back to Faith and Finance. I'm Rob West. We're taking your calls and questions today. We've got some lines open.

We'd love to hear from you. 800-525-7000. That's 800-525-7000. You can call right now. Let's head to St.

Cloud, Minnesota. Hi, Tom. You'll be next on the program, sir. Go ahead. Yeah, hi. I have a question for you about TSP.

Okay. My question is, I separated from the company because I'm no longer working for them and I get my disability. I read on the internet that once you hit 55, you won't be penalized for withdrawing that because you're separated from the company and no longer working. Is that true? You have to leave service in the year you turn 55 or later to be able to use the rule of 55 to take that TSP withdrawal without penalty.

Is that true for you? Yeah, I'm going to be 55 in September. Okay. And when did you separate from service?

Like two years ago. Okay. Yeah, so the IRS rule says you have to leave service in the year you turn age 55 or later. You left service prior to the year in which you turned age 55, so this rule would not apply in your situation. Okay.

What if I started a job at the VA and then turned around and left again? Yeah, that's a good question. I don't know about that.

You could check with your CPA on that, but I just know the current rule is you have to separate from service in the year you turn 55 and I'm not sure whether there's any other way around that, but currently based on the way the rule reads, you wouldn't qualify and therefore you'd have to wait to 59 and a half to pull it out without the 10% penalty. Okay. All right. All right. Thank you for calling, Tom. God bless you, my friend.

We appreciate it. 800-525-7000. We've got some lines open today here on faith and finance.

Whatever you're thinking about today, we'd love to tackle it with you. Again, 800-525-7000. You can call right now.

To Grand Rapids, Michigan. Hi, Roger. Go ahead, sir. Hi, Rob. I'm a great Burkett boy. All right. We always love hearing from faithful Larry Burkett listeners back in the day.

I have never called in all the years I've been listening, but I've taken a lot of your advice and it's all worked out great for me. Well, I'm delighted to hear that. What did you, what do you remember about Larry's teaching back in the day? Honesty. You could bet on what he told you. That's so true, isn't it?

Yep, that's exactly right. Well, Larry's Homegoing, we celebrated 20 years yesterday, if you'll believe it. It's been, feels like just yesterday and the way folks still reference Larry, the impact of Larry on their lives. It feels like it was yesterday and yet it's been 20 years.

Hard to believe. Roger, how can I help you today, sir? I have my girlfriend and she wants to invest five hundred, four to five hundred thousand dollars into cryptocurrency. Oh, wow. And I told her I was going to check with you guys before she does anything. Well, I suspect you know what I'm going to say, but let me ask you a question first. What would this half a million dollars represent of the total investable assets? I don't know.

OK, all right. Well, I would stay away from crypto as an investment. The technology behind crypto, in my view, is here to stay. I mean, it's a form of digital assets based on a network that's distributed across a large number of computers. It has a decentralized structure, which means it exists outside of the control of governments and central authorities.

Some of the advantages include that it's cheaper and faster. And of course, the decentralized system ensures that there's not a collapse at a single point of failure. And the technology behind it, the block chain technology, has far reaching implications beyond even digital currency. So crypto is not going anywhere. But as an investment, I would put it in a highly speculative category.

Here's why. Number one, it has incredible volatility. I mean, so it's not uncommon to see 50% increases or declines in a one year period or more. So you've just got incredible volatility. Second, there's a lot of risk in it because a lot of the cryptos, you know, are going to ultimately end up worthless.

And this shouldn't be a shock. We saw tons of internet companies disappear 20 years ago as the internet was going mainstream. And the same winnowing process is likely to occur in the crypto space over the next several years.

We've already seen it happen with a few of them that collapsed. Now, she could say, well, I'm just going to stay in Bitcoin. And I would say that is the biggest and, you know, at least today, that's going to be the biggest that is the biggest and, you know, at least today, the one that we, you know, don't think is going anywhere. But if you're investing across the crypto space, there's certainly are going to be a lot more, you know, losers to come. And then the third and perhaps one of the biggest risks, in my opinion, is how governments are going to react as Bitcoin or any of these other cryptos threaten their stranglehold over money.

You know, governments get a lot of benefits from controlling their currencies and giving people a way to opt out of the official money via something like Bitcoin is, well, it's ruffling a lot of feathers, not to mention that any big bank or other entrenched financial interest isn't going to be keen on having a new, better alternative that takes their business away. So we're probably going to see a lot more in the way of regulation in the days ahead. That's, of course, going to have an effect on how these cryptos perform. So if you were to go into any speculative type investment, like crypto or something else, and there's plenty of them, I would say, first, you have to have the ability to lose it all. Number two, you'd probably want to never, you know, commit more than 10 percent of your investable assets if you could afford, you know, to lose it. But bottom line is, I'd stay away from it as an investment for the reasons I mentioned.

Okay, that sounds great. If you look at Los Angeles, is there money, a kingdom advisor there? Oh, yeah. Yeah, not quite as many on the West Coast, but there are certainly some there. She may just have to widen her search a bit. But in L.A., absolutely, plenty of certified kingdom advisors. So just head to our website, Roger, or have her head there, faithfi.com, and just click find to see K. Faithfi.com. Faithfi.com.

That's it, faithfi.com, and you'll see the button at the top of the page. Okay, thank you very much for your help, and people are just getting in your mind all the time. Absolutely. Thank you for calling, sir. We appreciate it. May the Lord bless you. Well, folks, we're going to continue to take your calls just around the corner at 800-525-7000.

We'd love to hear from you today. You know, as we think about how we manage God's money, let me remind you, if you don't have a spending plan, if you're not giving every dollar a name, it's going to be tough, especially in light of inflation, for you to stay on track, really allowing your money to be used in a way that reflects what's truly most important to you, your values and priorities as a believer. The only way to do that is to have a plan. And one of the best ways to have a plan for your money is to use a budgeting system. The Faithfi app could be just what you're looking for.

It's simple, easy to use with a beautiful interface, and it's built on Larry Burkett's tried and true envelope system. You can check it out today on our website, faithfi.com. Just click the app button. You'll also find it in your app store. Just search for Faithfi.

That's Faith-F-I. We'd love for you to check it out. Let us know what you think. Hey, we've got phone lines open. Room for your questions at 800-525-7000. Call right now.

We'll be right back. Hope for Zambia, empowered by Family Legacy, is a ministry providing hope to vulnerable and orphaned children in Zambia by investing into their spiritual, intellectual, physical and emotional growth and well-being. Whether distributing five million meals each year to students or empowering them to graduate from high school and go on to pursue post-secondary education, we believe that when you educate a child, you change their world. Go to hopeforzambia.com slash faith to transform a life. We're grateful for support from Eventide Investments on the Faith and Finance Program. Eventide's approach to values-based investing is grounded in the belief that humankind was created in the image of God with intrinsic dignity, value and worth. Eventide calls this investing that makes the world rejoice. More information is available at eventideinvestments.com. That's eventideinvestments.com. Welcome back to Faith and Finance. I'm your host, Rob West. The number to call is 800-525-7000.

To northwest Georgia. Hi, Caroline. Go right ahead. Hi there.

Thanks so much. We are looking at our daughter is 20 and boyfriend, same age. Neither have debt. They're looking to get married maybe in the next year.

What are some tips to encourage them? Again, no debt, no school debt. Should they be at a certain place financially before? What does that kind of financial readiness look like for very young aged young people getting ready to get married?

Sure. Well, the first thing is, I would say, don't start joining your finances until you're married. Two become one in marriage, but not before. So even though they're on this track, and perhaps expect this is what God has in mind for them, I wouldn't take that step of buying cars together and merging accounts and things like that until such time as they are in fact married.

But this is a great time to do two things. Number one is to get their own financial houses in order, and we can talk about that. And then second to start talking about money. You know, there's a reason that 70% of couples have conflict over money. And it's often because of, first of all, a lack of communication, where they're not on the same page, they're not communicating and talking about it. A lot of that happens prior to marriage.

And then secondly, one of the keys to overcoming conflict is to have margin. So it's really not a matter of your income as much as it is the fact that you're living below it, the study say, will really be one of the keys to helping you overcome that. Now, what about financial readiness? Well, as 20 year olds, I think the key is, you know, you want to minimize debt, they've done that.

That's great. You want to have three to six months living expenses in an emergency fund. You know, that can be one of the things they're working on. I would say once the emergency fund is there, then they need to be looking to take at least advantage of any matching they have through their employer's retirement plan. And, you know, fully subscribe that beyond that, I would say put away 10 to 15% of their income if they have that ability. And then, you know, perhaps beyond the retirement piece is starting to fund any short term goals.

So if their expenses are lower right now, maybe one of them is still living at home. Or if not, just continue to keep lifestyle at a minimum, so they can start socking money away, you know, for that first apartment, first last insecurity, or ultimately, the down payment on a house. I think beyond that, the conversations that need to be happening are around, you know, what was money like growing up, often our earliest memories of money have a key, you know, ability to shape our thinking about money today. And so maybe one grew up with, you know, excess or an abundance, one grew up where money was a little more tight, that can, you know, lead to how we think about money, whether we hold it with a clenched fist or an open palm.

What is their thought about giving and, you know, what is that going to look like? Does one have more of a tendency toward a saver and one more toward a spender? You know, also just around, you know, the desire to save and, and have a plan, a spending plan. So, you know, all of these things can be discussed early.

And I think a lot of that conversation that will uncover some of, you know, how they think about money is going to be really key to how they, you know, make a plan moving forward once they're married. So give me your thoughts. That's great. I think it's good. They both have, seem to be savvy and have had that upbringing of financial responsibility and, and have been taught well. And that they are looking already to doing a lot of that.

They each have their own savings and, you know, are looking into already that tithing mentality for sure, or in that practice already as well. So I think it's great. I just will jot those things down and pass them along. I appreciate it so much. Well, you're welcome. Listen, all the best to them. And I would say, you know, if they do nothing else, but just enter marriage as healthy and with as solid a foundation as they can individually, giving, saving, minimizing debt and having a spending plan.

And then they do a lot of, you know, conversation and discussion before marriage about the things that I mentioned, and they will be well ahead of most, uh, as they enter this next season. So thanks for calling today, Caroline. May God bless you to Ohio. Hey Marty, go right ahead. Hey, how are you today?

Doing well. Hey, I have a question on my wife and I both have whole life policies, life insurance policies. Uh, we also have term insurance policies through our individual employers and we have a kitchen remodel we need to do due to some water damage. So I was just wondering if instead of borrowing money, uh, could, would it be better just to cash in those whole life policies?

Uh, possibly. I mean, I'm not a big fan of whole life. If you listen to this program, you know that, um, I like to keep the insurance and savings and investments separate.

Uh, I just think you do better that way. I'd rather you buy pure insurance, which is what you have through the term policies where you're just paying the mortality expense to offset that risk. If one of you were to die before the other and leave a hardship for the one that is facing now a loss of income and then do your investing outside of an insurance policy, you know, in company sponsored retirement plans or Roth IRAs with stocks and bonds where you get the full upside, not some percentage of the upside, and you don't have the complexity and the fees that go along with it. Now, before I'd be canceling that policy though, I would want to make sure that you do have an, in fact, enough death benefit through those term policies. So as a starting point, you would typically say if you're trying to replace income, you need 10 to 12 times the income that would go away upon one, uh, you know, person's death, uh, in the form of a term life insurance policy. And then you can add on top of that, if you wanted to pay off debt, that would be on. In addition, if you wanted to pay off a mortgage, that would be an addition. If you wanted to fund a college education, that would be an addition.

Uh, but at a minimum, you need 10 to 12 times. So I want you to have enough death benefit before you go cancel in that policy. But if you do have enough death benefit on the term policies, I like that a lot. As long as you don't know about a preexisting condition, that's going to, you know, prevent you from getting a new policy at some point down the road so that you've got a policy in place until you retire. And then absolutely you could cancel that policy, take the cash value, uh, perhaps to use that for this renovation. And then, you know, just make sure you're saving, uh, at an appropriate level, you know, outside of now this insurance policy in company sponsored retirement plans, things like that.

Does that make sense? Yeah, we're doing all that. We're both 60 years old. We don't have any bills, uh, other than the car payments or mortgages off paid off.

We don't have any credit card bills other than our, just our, uh, monthly bills. Great. So we're, we've got a 401k.

She's got a Roth. Um, so we're, we're doing pretty good that way. Okay. So I think you've got that term policy. If that's going to cover you until you guys get to retirement, it sounds like you're living modestly. You don't have a lot in the way of debt. That's great. Um, then yeah, this could be a great source of funds for you to tap into that.

Um, you know, make sure you understand the tax implications if there are any, but other than that, I think you guys are in a great spot. Thanks for calling me. 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 faith by 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 faith buy and listeners like you.