Hoarding: Fear, Envy or Greed?

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That's faithfi.com slash give. Now let's dive into the podcast. The human instinct is to hoard things in times of economic stress. Let's look at what the Bible has to say about that. Hi, I'm Rob West. Hoarding is the over-the-top collection of stuff you can't rationally use in a reasonable time. Today we'll talk about the root causes of this temptation and how to avoid it. 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 journey. Well, people hoard at different levels and in some tragic cases to the point of mental illness.

That's not the focus of our conversation here. Today we'll talk about the kind of hoarding that most of us are tempted to do at one time or another, usually in response to circumstances. Hoarding can be triggered by the fear of not having enough.

Do you remember what happened with toilet paper and hand sanitizer during the pandemic? Even if there's no shortage, hoarding can happen because of envy, when you want what someone else has. So you stock up on the latest hot product just because everyone else is buying it. The temptation to hoard can also come from a selfish desire for more.

Some people even use frugality as an excuse for buying too much of something because it's on sale. If a heart attitude of fear, envy, or greed is causing you to hoard things, you can turn to God's Word for a way out. Take fear for instance. Fear demonstrates a lack of trust in God's provision. So if you're afraid of not having enough, take another look at Philippians 4.19. My God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

That's reassuring news. Well what about envy? Envy focuses on our own desires and destroys our peace. That's why Proverbs 14.30 says, A tranquil heart gives life to the flesh, but envy makes the bones rot. The cure for envy is contentment.

As it says in 1 Timothy 6.6, godliness with contentment is great gain. Then there's the problem of greed. Greed turns possessions into idols.

In Luke 12.15 Jesus says, Watch out, be on your guard against all kinds of greed. Life does not consist in an abundance of possessions. Again, being content with what you already have helps you avoid the temptation to hoard. Another problem with a hoarding mindset is that it cancels out generosity. If you're buying extra stuff for yourself and your family just in case, you're probably not thinking about those in need.

You might still be tempted to stock up on stuff when there's so much news about shortages and higher prices. Before you do, here are a few principles to consider. First, God doesn't want you to fear the future. He wants you to trust that he holds the future in his hands and will care for his children. On the other hand, wise preparation is biblical.

Go to the ant, O sluggard. Consider her ways and be wise. Without having any chief, officer, or ruler, she prepares her bread in summer and gathers her food in harvest. That passage in Proverbs 6, 6-8 tells us that it's sensible to prepare in advance, in times of plenty, to ensure you have food in the future. But there is no need for a frantic, fearful, greedy attitude. Godly planning is a matter of stewardship and should include a plan for generosity. A spirit of hoarding results in spiritual harm, while a spirit of stewardship and generosity results in blessing.

Finally, no matter how much or little you have today, the principles are the same. Everything belongs to the Lord. God loves you and has important kingdom work for you to do. So don't let a spirit of hoarding turn you away from his plan. If you're a teenager, God may be pointing you towards college and a career where you can influence others for the kingdom.

Put your resources in his hands and follow his call. If you're a mom or dad, God has given you unique opportunities to raise your children to follow the Lord. Teach them to hold their possessions lightly and demonstrate godly financial principles. If you're working, do it with all your heart as though you're working for the Lord. Trust him to provide for you and your family. If you're retired or nearing retirement, ask the Lord how he would use you and your resources to advance the kingdom and serve those around you.

God wants you to retire to something just as much as you're retiring from something. I hope today's conversation about hoarding has been an encouragement to you as you reject the messages of this world and you lean into God as your ultimate treasure, realizing that you are just a brief sojourner in this world and ultimately your home is in heaven. All right, your calls are next. The number 800-525-7000.

That's 800-525-7000 and you can call that 24-7. I'm Rob West and this is Faith and Finance. Biblical wisdom for your financial journey. When you hear the phrase rich toward God, what comes to mind? Surely it doesn't mean making God rich. Is it about us becoming rich so we can give?

Or maybe it's an invitation to something much bigger. In the new Rich Toward God Study, FaithFi has created a way for you to explore and reflect on a well-known biblical parable about a very rich man with a very big problem. Request a copy of the Rich Toward God Study today with your gift of $25 or more by going to faithfi.com slash give. Frustrated by your health insurance? Confused by the network restrictions and increasing premiums?

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That's chministries.org slash faithfi. Great to have you with us today on faith and finance. We know there's things in your financial life that you're wrestling with. Well, we'd love to talk about those with you and help you process those decisions in light of biblical wisdom. Recognizing that God is our ultimate treasure, which really then changes everything about how we manage God's money. Because God owns it all and we're his stewards, money is then a tool to accomplish his purposes. One of his good creations that we might give generously and provide for ourselves and our families and even enjoy what God has entrusted to us.

But when we see it as a tool, not an end, a means to an end to accomplish God's purposes, well, it changes everything. Now, when we go about it from that perspective and counteract the message of this world that says that money will allow us to find purpose and meaning, even significance, even fulfill our longings for abundance that are hardwired into us by creator God. When we counteract those messages and replace God's way instead of that world's way that's coming at us, well, it allows us then to approach our money decisions through that eternal perspective.

We want to help you do that each day. We're grateful for the opportunity to be invited into your stories and your questions around money management at a very practical level. And we would invite you to call even now with those questions at 800-525-7000, whether it's balancing that budget or investing for the future. Maybe it's considering alternative investments. Perhaps you're struggling with some of these ads you're hearing about the need to overweight in gold and precious metals. You want to talk about that.

Maybe it's getting that credit score up or paying down debt. Whatever it might be, we'd love to tackle those questions with you. The number to call today with lines open, we're ready for you. Pat standing by to take your calls is 800-525-7000.

That's 800-525-7000. We'll look forward to hearing from you. We're going to dive in here in just a moment, but first, in the news today, fewer Americans are seeing college as a guarantee for a brighter financial future. Well, that's the finding of the new Gallup poll that shows only 36% of adults say they have a great deal or quite a lot of confidence that a college degree will translate into a better life. That number has steadily declined, interestingly, since 2015 when 57% of respondents viewed higher education as positive. Experts say this is leading to lower enrollment rates, and that doesn't bode well for many fields that require at least an undergraduate degree, such as healthcare and information technology. The major reasons given for declining positive attitudes about higher education are its ever-increasing costs and subsequent student loan debt. While around 75% of students graduating with a college degree go on to earn more than those with only high school diplomas, that benefit is reduced when student debt is factored in.

None of this should be a surprise, of course. It just shows the importance of choosing a major that gives you training and skills that employers want, borrowing as little as possible, and, of course, graduating. Now, these trends in terms of the perception of college and its value, alongside the changing demographics, this kind of cliff that we have coming where there's a fall-off as we're having fewer babies, obviously that means less students available for tuition and for enrollment, that's obviously going to pose some challenges, especially for smaller and oftentimes smaller faith-based institutions who are having to deal with this looming crisis at hand. It's going to be interesting to watch how this all changes, especially in light of more readily available online education, but I think the big idea here that I said right at the end of this bit of information was, number one, make sure that you're thoughtful about how God has wired you, what is that career track you're pursuing, is there a job waiting for you on the other side of that degree that allows you to be employable, and if you're borrowing, and we would strongly discourage that if at all possible, if you're borrowing, that that job gives you the ability to pay that back in a reasonable time period, I would say that reasonable time period, I typically use that 10-year payback mark. If you can get it paid back in 10 years, then you're still early in your career, we're not stringing this out over a long period of time, so just try to use that as a gauge.

But again, if you can avoid it through grants and scholarships by working hard and getting good grades, by working perhaps during the summers or even having a job on campus, perhaps you're a resident assistant like I was that's going to cover your room and board, I mean, get creative and just don't accept the fact that easy availability of student funds makes it an automatic borrowing opportunity. So be on your guard there, hope that helps. All right, we're going to dive into your questions here in just a moment. We've got lines open. This is your time to call with your financial questions right now at 800-525-7000. We'd love to help you think about those and make a confident decision. Again, 800-525-7000, you can call right now. Let's go to Georgia. Hi, John, how can I help?

Hey, yeah, really appreciate taking my call. I'm in a situation where, you know, I owe 160,000 on my home, and the interest rate is like in the eight, eight point something. And so we just financed it this year, and we had interest rate eight and a half percent.

The payments are around $1,500 a month for, you know, the house and insurance. So I have the money in the bank that would let me pay off the house, but then I would not have any real savings. So I was thinking I had the opportunity to get a $40,000 loan, personal loan at seven point four nine percent. And I was thinking, OK, I take out that loan as backup money in case, you know, we have something go wrong. And then I pay the house off and then I just spend six years paying off that personal loan or or pay it off sooner because I'm still working.

I'm still employed. And so I was wondering if you think that's a good idea. Yeah. So you'd get the personal loan at seven point four nine and there's no collateral related to that, is that right?

Yeah, that's right. There's no collateral. And what are the terms of that loan? It's six years. You know, I can get it at six years or five years where it has to be paid off in six years. And it's like eight hundred a month, something like that. So it would be a total interest payment of six thousand.

Whereas right now I'm paying fifteen hundred dollars a month and only about one hundred and fifty is going to principle on my house. The rest is all interest. Yeah. No, that makes sense.

I think the key would be. So in this case, you'd be paying, you know, you said six hundred a month for six years. And so I'm sorry, eight hundred a month for six hundred.

Okay. Yeah, that makes more sense. And then obviously you'd still have the taxes and insurance on top of it. But you would be dropping at least the mortgage payment on that, at least the principal and interest portion. And so you could kind of essentially swap those. But now you no longer have the mortgage there on that property.

Yeah. I mean, you certainly could do that. I'd be a little surprised if you could do that at seven for nine. But but if you could, I mean, obviously you're taking secure debt and you're replacing it with unsecured debt. You also have to, you know, just recognize you've got to do the apples to apples comparison and make sure that when you add the taxes and insurance, you can still cover that note on a monthly basis. But at the end of the day, if you're going to pay less interest over the next six years versus what you would pay on the mortgage, then, you know, I think that's a good deal. I am concerned about you getting, you know, depleting your cash. And so I would want to make sure that you feel like, you know, you can go ahead with this because what we don't want to do is is have you get down where you don't have enough emergency savings. But if you can have that emergency savings, this, you know, the terms are correct and you've read all the fine print. You can cover it out of cash flow, meaning your outlay on the debt service is not going up significantly, which could create a hardship for you.

And you're going to pay less interest over time. I can get on board with it. Thanks for your call, John.

We'll be right back. Are you looking for a financial professional who aligns with your biblical values? Certified Kingdom Advisors are trusted financial, legal or accounting professionals who have completed a rigorous certification program to ensure they provide biblically wise financial advice as part of their practice.

You can find a local C.K.A. professional in your area by going to faithbuy.com and clicking Find a C.K.A. If the heavy burden of debt is robbing you of freedom and peace of mind, Christian Credit Counselors can help. We're a nationwide nonprofit credit counseling organization that has helped over 300000 individuals in the last 27 years get out of credit card debt 80 percent 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. Great to have you with us today on faith and finance for taking your calls and questions today. 800-525-7000. That's 800-525-7000 you can call right now. Alright, let's head back to the phones to Missouri. Jim, thanks for calling.

Go ahead. Yeah, thanks for taking my call. We've had some commercial solar companies inquire us about putting up a solar farm and we were trying to find out if there's any pitfalls that we should be aware of.

We have about 40 acres of farmland that would be, that this would turn into a solar farm and just trying to find out more information. Yeah, absolutely. You know, I think this is, I'm glad you're taking your time to kind of do some due diligence here. The developer has approached you on this.

Is that right? Yes, but we have spoken to our local attorney. There was like three different companies that were initially talking to us and we're just relying on our attorney's advice right now.

He's working with them with the contract, but I asked the attorney just the other day, I said, is there anybody else here locally that has this happening? Because I would love to talk to them after the fact and say, hey, is there anything that you guys missed? And that's, that's really what I'm looking for.

Yeah, I think that'd be a good idea. I mean, just kind of generally when these deals come up, I think it's always good to start with your own goals and priorities and really just clarifying your objectives. You know, what is it you want out of the deal? Are you looking for a lump sum payment?

Are you looking for long term income? Are you wanting to retain some control over the development? I mean, I think those are the kind of big overarching questions you need to answer first. And then depending on the answer to that, it will lead you into whether or not this is even something to consider. I think you also need to understand and assess your land's value.

And so getting an independent appraisal to understand the fair market value of your land is going to be an important part of this process. I think secondly would be the due diligence on the developer. Who is this developer? What is their reputation? Do they have past projects that they've worked on?

What about financial stability? Can you find reviews or any past legal issues? Those should be pretty readily available with just a quick internet search. And then I think to your point, speaking with other landowners who have dealt with this developer, and perhaps that's where the internet can help also. I think in terms of hiring the professionals, that's going to be another key part of this, engaging a real estate attorney and a financial advisor to kind of help you review the deal, the legal aspect, but also the financial aspect as well to make sure that your interests are protected. And then understanding the tax consequences of the deal as well. And so you'll probably want to talk to a CPA to be able to look at that. And then there's some other aspects of this. Of course, there's the deal structure itself.

How is that being put together? Is that coming to you as a lump sum or installment payments or a percentage of profits? What is the fine print on this?

What is their plan for the land? Those types of things are always important to make sure that your interests are protected. And then obviously, at that point, we get into all the zoning and regulatory compliance. And that's where the attorneys will have to make sure that everything's done properly.

So, you know, I think at the end of the day, you always need to be prepared to walk away. You always need to have everything in writing. But starting with your goals, making sure you have competent professionals to walk alongside you to help you understand all the implications of this. And then to help you with the deal structure as well as the negotiation is probably the biggest things for you to consider. Okay. All right. I'll definitely look into that product training goals and trying to find out. I would love, I wish they would create like a pool of people that have done this and then they could maybe perhaps on Facebook or something like that. I can research that as well. Absolutely.

Yeah, I think that would be time well spent, especially if you can find some activity from this developer with others so you can find out, you know, what their experience was like in working with this developer and what is their strength and longevity. How long have they been around? What kind of financial strength do they have? All those things will need to play into this. But we'll ask the Lord to give you some wisdom on this. Jim, we appreciate your call today, sir.

Let's go out to Texas. Homaro, thank you for calling. Go ahead.

Yes, sir. I'm calling because I just recently retired about two months ago. And now I'm waiting for my first Social Security check to Ken Ken. I'm 66 years old.

And I have through my job, I accumulated $500,000. And I don't know, under TSP? Yes. Safe plan. Right. And either I start drawing it or do I invest it? I'm not sure what to do with it.

It's a great question. And well done, sir, on you working hard and obviously living modestly and being able to accumulate a nest egg there. Have you put together your retirement budget, Homaro? Basically what I mean by that is, often as we transition into the next season of life and whatever God has for you next, it will change not only our income but our expenses.

Most people in retirement, depending on what they're doing, will live on between 70 and 80 percent of their pre-retirement income. Maybe you're out of debt now. You're not eating out during the day as much with work lunches.

And it changes your clothing budget. Maybe you drop your life insurance because you don't need that anymore. Have you worked up a budget?

And if you have, what kind of gap will exist between what you need every month and what you're expecting to receive from Social Security, if any? Well, between my wife and I, we'll be getting $4,300 a month. Our house just got paid off, so that's good. Congratulations.

Thank you. So we need maybe like $3,500, so we have a little bit to spare. And like you said, now we're not even out and just stay in decent living. Yes. But out of $500,000, I can start withdrawing it, but I'm not sure if it's the right thing or not. Yeah, I don't think so.

I mean, what I'm hearing is, just on Social Security alone, you guys will have as much as maybe $1,000 or more extra every month. Is that right? Correct, yes.

Yeah. So unless the Lord leads you otherwise to do some giving or something like that, I'd just leave that money right there and let it continue to grow. And here's the reality. You may need it for something else down the road, and you want it to be there if you do. Most often, what's going to happen in this season of life is you might need some sort of long-term care. You know, 70% of Americans 65 years and older will need long-term care at some point in their lives, and it can be very expensive. And if you don't have a long-term care insurance policy, which is also very expensive, but if you don't have one of those to kick in and pay for that, you could be coming out of pocket for that. And full nursing care could run $10,000 a month. So, you know, having this nest egg continue to grow and be there if you need it down the road, I think is a good thing. The key is how is it managed? It's been in the TSP, so what I'd recommend is you interview and select a certified Kingdom advisor to not only work up a financial plan for you, but to take over the management of the TSP, but rolled into an IRA.

And then he or she can deploy an investment strategy that's very conservative to first protect it, but then to grow it. And the way you'd find a CKA on our website is just going to faithfi.com and clicking Find a Professional. That's going to do it for us today. A big thanks to my team today, Jim Henry, Adam Suddath, and Robert Youngblood. Have a great day and come back and join us on Monday. We'll see you then. Bye-bye. Faith and Finance is provided by Faithfi and listeners like you.