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 faithbuy. Have you ever noticed that the more pages your healthcare agreement has, the fewer choices you seem to have? Hi, I'm Rob West.
One reason that health plan guides are so long is because it takes a lot of ink to explain in-network versus out-of-network coverage and costs. I'll talk with Lauren Guidek today about how you can eliminate all that mumbo jumbo, and 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, there's no question that Lauren Guidek is one of our favorite guests here on the program, because she always brings important information that listeners need to know. She's vice president of communications and media at Christian Healthcare Ministries, an underwriter of this program. Lauren, great to have you back.
Thank you so much for having me back on the program, Rob. Absolutely. Now, I mentioned in-network versus out-of-network medical costs, and that's something that consumers really need to be aware of, isn't it? Yes, absolutely, and I would say even so much the more so during, you know, this is kind of the peak of the summer travel season, and, you know, you don't want to think about those sorts of things, but a medical incident can happen at any time, so there's a lot of pent-up demand, travel demand following the pandemic, and folks just need to be aware that, you know, if they're going to a hospital, you know, the emergency room will probably be considered in-network, but there's a lot of other charges that might occur that would not be considered in-network under an insurance plan, so just be aware, you know, you don't want to end up getting stuck with 20 or 30 percent of the bill. Yeah, no question about that.
We really need to be careful there. You know, one of the most popular topics you see these days on social media, Lauren, is what are known as life hacks, a better way to do something that people may not think of, and you've certainly got a life hack for healthcare, no networks. Tell us how that works. Sure, yeah, Christian Healthcare Ministries, we're not an insurance company, and for that reason, we are not bound to a list of healthcare providers that you have to see. We do share 100 percent of eligible medical bills, and what I mean by that is, as long as they're eligible, the treatment is eligible according to our guidelines, you have great freedom. You can go to any doctor or any hospital that you want to go to, you can keep your doctor, you know, you just have a lot of choices with Christian Healthcare Ministries versus a traditional plan. Well, and if that isn't amazing enough, when you become a member of Christian Healthcare Ministries, you get something even more valuable, don't you? Yes, I think the most important thing about CHM is that, you know, this is a ministry. We care about our members, the patients, you know, we pray with them. This is something that aligns with a biblical worldview, and you also know where your dollars are going, so what our model does is it allows you to understand what you're being charged for your healthcare, and in addition to that, we have very low administrative costs. Even for a non-profit organization, we are on the extreme low end at under 10 percent of your dollars going toward administrative costs, so you can feel really good about spending money in every month, because you know almost all of that money is going to help another Christian with a medical need.
Yeah, that's really important. Lauren, in the minute we have left, just give our listeners a brief explanation of how CHM works. Yeah, I'd be happy to do that. So this is a membership-based program, so you join CHM, and should you incur medical bills, what you do is you send them into the ministry. We'll work with your healthcare providers to see if we can get discounts on those bills, and then we'll do what we call share those bills. So we will send you a check, you the patient, and you pay your healthcare providers directly, and we've shared in our 40-plus year history, this has worked extremely well, we've shared nearly 10 billion, billion with a B, of medical bill costs. That's incredible, absolutely incredible, and what a lot of our listeners may not know is that CHM is really the longest serving organization in this space, right?
Yep, that's correct. Wow, incredible. Well folks, this could be the answer you've been looking for to cover your healthcare costs in a way that's not only budget-friendly, but with fellow believers encouraging and praying for you along the way. Lauren, thanks for stopping by.
Oh, my pleasure, thanks for having me. To learn more, go to chministries.org. That's chministries.org. All right, your calls are next. The number, 800-525-7000.
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This can be a unique form of worship. More information is available at investments.oneascent.com. That web address is investments.oneascent.com. 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. All right, back to the phones.
We go to Sheridan, Indiana. Hi, Judy. Go right ahead. Hello.
Thank you for taking my call. I'm a married woman. My husband and I reside separately. We own or are mortgaged. Each of us have a mortgage. We have IRAs, 401s. Each of us are beneficiaries on those.
Indiana does not require that, but we haven't signed off. And my question is, and we both have a credit card, my side is very little debt. If my husband passes without a will stating, my 401k money needs to be distributed in such and such a way, and I want this to happen to the house and whatever credit card debt he has, am I responsible for that?
And even vice versa. I've made a self-made will and had it notarized and witnessed. Yeah. And so you're wondering what would happen to the IRA or are you wondering who would pay the debts or what? I'm wondering who's responsible for taking care of his mortgage and home that is in his name, but we're legally married. And let's say any debt he has, does it just...
Yes. In the back of my mind, I think I as a legal wife would have to step in, but I don't know that. Right. Well, if there is no will, the probate court would step in. He would be dying in test date, and then it would be according to the laws of the state. And they have jurisdiction and competence to deal with the administration of estates. And all of the debts of the estate, that are in your husband's name, would be settled out of his assets. And then anything remaining would be split according to the laws, the intestate succession for the state of Indiana, which you'd want to check with an estate attorney to confirm. My team tells me, just generally speaking, that in Indiana, the rules for an intestate succession dictate that the spouse inherits half of the estate and the decedents from that marriage would then inherit the other half.
But again, this is where a lawyer could tell you exactly, based on the laws of the state and your specific situation, exactly how this would go down. Right. We don't have children together.
We have children, but not with each other. I see. Okay.
Well, I kind of thought so. And I've had a self-made will made and notarized and witnessed and just saying my IRAs are to just be distributed in such a way. If my house, there's a mortgage, my children can deal, they can deal with it, they can decide. So, okay. Well, let me just, you're welcome.
But let me encourage you, Judy, a couple of things. Number one is the easiest way to handle the IRAs is through what's called a beneficiary designation, which would allow it to pass directly any of your retirement accounts, IRAs, things like that, directly to your heir of choice based on that beneficiary designation. And that would happen outside of the probate process and therefore not even subject to your will.
It would pass directly. So, I would contact the plan administrator or the custodian of any of those accounts and tell them you want to update your beneficiary designation. And that's by account. That's not for all of your assets.
It's individual to each account. And then that would create a lot of efficiencies there. So, it wouldn't be delayed and going through the estate process. The second thing is I would, I'm glad you have something in place because none of us know the day or the hour that the Lord might call us home. But beyond that, I would go see an attorney and have a will drawn up where he or she can do it the right way according to the laws of the state, ask you a series of questions, making sure that you've thought through all of this. And at the same time, deal with some other documents that are equally as important, like a healthcare surrogate, somebody to make decisions from a healthcare standpoint if you're incapacitated, a living will, end of life decisions, a durable power of attorney so someone can act on your behalf with regard to financial matters if you're incapacitated. All of those things I think would be important for you to have.
It'll cost you several hundred dollars, but I think it'll be worth it to make sure that it's done right and legal and enforceable and that you haven't left anything out. That's just my suggestion for you to consider, okay? One thing in Indiana and then I'll let you go. Sure.
Regarding IRAs, it has to be the spouse or as the beneficiary or they have to sign off saying I agree with whomever else and he doesn't want to do that. I see. Yes, ma'am. Okay. Yeah, and that's an important distinction and of course each state is a little bit different.
So again, that's why I think some legal counsel would be helpful, but I certainly understand that could be problematic. So that's where your will would be very important. We appreciate it, Judy. Thanks for being on the program today. God bless you. Renata, thank you for being on with us today in Wheaton, Illinois. Go ahead. Thank you so much, Robert.
It's been amazing listening to you. I have a question on a trust. Me and my husband going through all the putting together legal documents, living trust and power of attorney, it all makes sense. I have a question on the trust.
If we, and we have some retirement money, some rental properties, if we put everything in trust and I want to buy a car next year, how do I get the money out of there? Yeah. So this is a revocable trust, is that right? Correct. Correct. Yeah. Okay.
Yeah. So you can withdraw money from your own trust if you're the trustee, since you have an interest in the trust. So that shouldn't be an issue. It's really a matter of after your death, that would be according to the trust documents that the trustee who's named the successor trustee would then be in charge of distributing that assets prior or excuse me, according to your wishes laid out in the trust document. But prior to your death, it's a revocable trust, so you can disband it at any time if you want. And that also includes you taking money out as you need to. Okay.
Sounds good. I was not sure. I thought I told my husband, just let 50,000 keep in a different account.
Don't put it there if we need to. But I guess it works. I understand it now. Okay.
Very good. It's as easy as just transfer it somewhere, right? That's right. You can move assets in and out of the trust as you wish if you're the trustee of your own trust during your life.
And so now that would be different with an irrevocable trust, but with a revocable trust, which is what most folks have in this situation, you can pull the money out as needed. So there's no problem there. Thanks for calling today. We appreciate you being on the program.
We do have some lines open today. So if you have a financial question, feel free to give us a call. The number 800-525-7000.
Again, that's 800-525-7000. We'd love for you to get in on the conversation today and we can weigh in on whatever you're thinking about. A quick email.
This one comes to us from Renee. She writes, I just started a job last month. They gave me the option for a 401k, both traditional and Roth.
What should I do? I'm 23 Renee at 23. I would encourage you to take full advantage of the Roth 401k option. Now this year you can put in up to 22,500. It's going to grow tax free. So that's after tax money. And you've got potentially 40 or more years for this to grow.
And as it grows, there's no taxes on the growth and no taxes as it comes out. So this is a wonderful tool for you to save a great bit of money that you can access down the road. Thanks for writing to us. I'm Rob West. You're listening to faith and finance, and we'll have more of your calls and questions on the other side of this break. The number to call is 800-525-7000.
We'll be right back. My name is Kent and I'm a member of Christian Healthcare Ministries. I have a friend who actually has great insurance and she recently had a life threatening experience and she was laying in the hospital bed afraid, not afraid for her life, but afraid of what her insurance would or would not cover. And as a CHM member, I can honestly say, I just never have that fear.
I can't tell you the peace of mind that provides. Learn more about Christian Healthcare Ministries biblical cost sharing at chministries.org. 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. Forsyde Fund Services, LLC. 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. All right, I'm ready to dive in if you are. Let's go to St. Louis and Ann.
Go ahead. Hey Rob, thanks for taking my call. My husband and I are looking to do some kind of educational account for our grandchildren.
We have four, the youngest are two, and the oldest is about 10. And so we have a financial advisor, but he wasn't real familiar with educational stuff. And so I thought, well, I might just call Rob and see, you know, what he says is a good option for us maybe to look into. Well, I'm glad you did, Ann.
And I'm glad you're thinking about this. What a blessing it will be to your grandkids and their parents as they near college. As a dad of a high school graduate, as of this past Tuesday, he's graduated from high school. I know the importance and the cost of college that you can help to offset here. You know, my favorite tool is what's called a 529 education savings plan. There's a couple of flavors of the 529. There's the prepaid college, which not all states have, but then there's the 529 education savings, which all states do have. I think it's your best option. You can choose from any state.
You don't have to go to yours and you can use it at any school in any state. So there is great flexibility. And you should look for the one that has the features you like best. In fact, the best website to help you evaluate and select the 529 for you considering their prior investment performance returns, as well as any tax benefits you may have coming, state tax benefits, is savingforcollege.com. Savingforcollege.com.
You'll actually run through a series of questions and it will recommend the top three 529 plans for you. They're even more attractive now because of some recent legislation, Ann, that is going to allow you to put up to $35,000 of this money or for it to be rolled into the recipients, your grandchild's Roth IRA, after 15 years, if it's not used for education expenses. So one of the downsides of these plans, you could always get the money out for scholarships or grants on a pro rata basis.
So that's not a concern. But if they didn't go to college, maybe they, you know, decide to go directly into the workforce or something else. Now there's going to be an option down the road once the money's been in there 15 years. Or at least it's been open for 15 years for you to roll it into a Roth IRA so they could convert it to a retirement account. But you can contribute to it.
It does not penalize them from a financial aid eligibility standpoint, if there's a chance that their parents would qualify for need based aid, very flexible, you get tax free growth on the money, as long as it's used for qualified educational expenses. And you can basically put in an unlimited amount of money so you could set it up yourself with the child as the, of course, the recipient, you would be the owner or their parents, and then you would contribute to it. And you could do that monthly if you wanted to, or as a lump sum. So I think that's going to be your best resource. How does that sound, though?
That sounds great. And you had answered my second question, because I wanted to make sure and ask, if they weren't going to use it for educational purposes, could it be used for something else? Because I didn't want to put that money in and then them not be able to use it if they needed it. But yeah, that's good.
That's right. So your options there would be to transfer it to another grandchild, or to go ahead and roll it out to this Roth IRA, subject to the limits, they'd have to only convert it up to the annual limit each year. But they could, you know, if there was another grandchild that needed it, you could just move it over, or they could get it into that Roth IRA.
So some great options that don't involve penalties and taxes, if the money is not needed for qualified educational expenses. So, and I hope that helps you. We appreciate you calling and listening. And thanks for being a part of the program today. We're grateful.
A quick email from Jay A. Jay A writes, I'm an avid listener to your program. I've had a Roth IRA for almost 10 years. Is there a way to roll it to fund a new SEP IRA? And bottom line, Jay A is there is no minimum required income to qualify for a Roth. Unfortunately, a Roth though, or any retirement account that's funded with after tax money cannot be rolled into a SEP IRA. Any pre tax retirement account can be rolled into a SEP IRA, but a Roth is after tax money.
So that would not be able to be rolled over. So we appreciate you checking with us. If you have a question you'd like read on the air, you can send it along.
Ask Rob at faithfi.com. All right, back to the phones to Ocala, Florida. Hi, Bunny. Thank you for your patience. Go ahead. Hi, thank you so much.
Two quick questions, I hope. First of all, I opened a new charge account thinking I would be using it to get certain perks. I've decided I'm not going to use it. I did not even get the card used, you know, I didn't get it working. So how do I, do I worry about it? Just leave it alone?
Or what do I do with it? No, I would notify the notify the company handling the account that you would like to close it. Often this won't be the store itself, but a third party company that handles their credit card. There should be if you still have that a phone number on the back of the card, call customer service, tell them to close the account. It's not a bad idea to follow up with the letter in writing, but they should take care of it from your phone call.
And then to verify that you could pull your credit report at annual credit report.com here in 30 or 60 days to make sure it's been closed. But those would be the steps since you don't plan to use it. There's no reason to keep it active. It's just one more account that could potentially be compromised. Right.
Okay. My other question, I went to the doctor several months ago for a simple question or problem while I was there. Evidently they performed a brief emotional behavior assessment for $12 when, and then I went back for a follow up on that same issue. They did that brief emotional behavioral assessment again for another $12. Medicare does not cover it and my really good insurance does not cover it.
And I don't think I should pay it. So what do I do? Well, have you called them to tell them that? Yes, I did. I called. Yes, I did.
Okay. You know, generally we don't see these, especially at that level show up on a credit report, but if it does and you pay it, they have to take it off. So it's probably nothing's going to come of it.
But I would continue to check your credit report along the way or just pay the bill and kind of chalk it up to a learning experience. Sorry to hear that, buddy. Thanks for calling today. Mike, sorry we didn't get to you. 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.
