Life Planning with Ron Anderson

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That's faithfi.com and click give. Psychologist and educator Fitzhugh Dodson wrote, without goals and plans to reach them, you're like a ship that has set sail with no destination. Hi, I'm Rob West. Of course, goals don't amount to much unless you have a plan to reach them. That planning should involve more than building your net worth. Ron Anderson joins us today to discuss life planning, what it is, how to do it, and why you should. And then it's onto your questions at 800-525-7000.

That's 800-525-7000. This is faith and finance, biblical wisdom for your financial journey. Well, my friend Ron Anderson is a certified kingdom advisor. He has 30 years experience helping folks across the country plan and set goals for financial affairs.

He's the founder and president of Plan A Wealth Management based in Lincoln, Nebraska. Ron, great to have you here. Hey, thanks, Rob.

It's great to be here. Ron, you've been a successful financial planner for a long time. You've helped a lot of folks, but it seems lately that the Lord has really burdened you with an additional passion that I'll call life planning.

Now, that sounds self-explanatory, but I suspect there's more to it, isn't there? Yeah, I would say the more to it is really thinking about what is your purpose. How are you going to make a contribution? You need to know what your financial goals are, but why do you want to be successful? What are you going to do with your time in your life if you're on track financially to make that bigger contribution that God put you here for?

Yeah, I love that. It's this big why. Let's build on that. So then what is really the purpose of life planning? I think the purpose is to ask yourself some really tough questions. You know, why do you want to be successful? Why do you want to reach your goals? And if God allows you to do that, what are you going to do with your time? How are you going to fulfill that unique purpose and contribution that God put you here to make?

How do you figure that out? What questions do you want to ask yourself to determine and narrow down? What makes me special and unique, and how can I use that to further God's kingdom? Yeah, it makes me think about that iceberg illustration that our friend Ron Blue talks about, that 10% above the waterline is the financial decisions, but it's the 90% below the why and your values and your faith that really matter. So Ron, how then can a financial planner help with life planning? I think a financial planner can really help someone set a reasonable lifestyle so that they know how much they can spend, helping them save enough for their future, which really frees them up if God nudges their heart to do something different with their time or with their energy or occupation.

They have the margin in their lives to be able to say, yes, Lord, I will follow, as opposed to I can't afford to do this. So it also gives you another person to think your confusion out loud with. As you're talking about your goals, you can also talk about, well, I feel like this is something I maybe am supposed to be a part of, and gives you somebody to bounce those ideas off. I think you actually figure out a lot by talking to somebody about what you're thinking.

You thinking it out loud helps clarify it in your mind. Oh, well, and perhaps even challenging you along the way. I love that you mentioned the reasonable lifestyle, because I know one of the things you do is help your clients to find enough so that they have the capacity to respond to the leading of the Lord, right?

Absolutely. And be able to give generously along the journey. Ron, take us into Scripture. What does Scripture say about life planning? You know, one of the favorite scriptures I have related to life planning is in Ephesians chapter five. And it basically says, Be careful how you live. Don't live like a fool, but like someone who's wise. Make the most of every opportunity. Don't act thoughtlessly, but understand what God wants you to do. And how do you understand what God wants you to do? You spend time with God, you think, you ask questions, and you try to listen to God's voice.

That's great. Ron, what have you seen play out in the lives of your clients as you've taken them through this process? One I can think of in particular, you know, they gave away a large gift, and they actually went overseas and translated the Bible undercover in Eastern Europe. And they were able to do that and fund their own ministry doing it that way. Then they came back to the States after they were done, and they bought a place to give others rest in Colorado. So they used the money that God had blessed them with. And now they're using that as a blessing to people that are in ministry to give them rest, because so many people are going so fast today. Wow, that's far more than the typical financial planning engagement.

Those are life changing kingdom building outcomes. I love it. Ron, thanks for stopping by today, my friend. Hey, thanks, Rob.

Great talking to you. If you want to learn more about Ron and Plan A, you can head to planawm.com. Again, that website, planawm.com. We're going to take a quick break back with your financial questions after this, 800-525-7000. Every day we hear life-changing stories from listeners just like you who see money and possessions as tools to invite more people into God's kingdom. Instead of chasing wealth, you've chosen to embrace God as your source of love and provision.

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More information, including a short video webinar on profit and peace of mind, no matter what's happening in the market, is available at soundmindinvesting.org. Well, thanks for joining us today on Faith and Finance. It's time to take your calls and questions today. We'd love to hear from you. We've got a few lines open already, 800-525-7000. That's 800-525-7000. You can call right now. Let's begin today with Jackie, our first caller. Go ahead.

Hi. Timing is everything, and I've been contemplating leaving my assets from a seem-to-be-settled divorce to my children, and they're in their 20s, and I'm just not sure I'm going to do that. All that said, I am very ill and have been around the world eight times trying to get well. The main question is, with Social Security Disability, how do income and assets affect Social Security Disability?

Yes, it's a great question. So, income can affect your eligibility for Social Security Disability benefits, SSDI. If you earn more than currently the level of $1,682 a month from work, it's considered substantial gainful activity, and then if you have that, you would generally not be eligible for SSDI. SSDI is, of course, for folks who have a work record and have paid into the system, but if you get over that limit, then you would be disqualified.

The earned income limits for Supplemental Security Income, SSI, is $914 a month for an individual, so that's basically the income limit. Does that make sense? Yes, yes. Thank you for clarifying before I do a lot of work to try to figure that out. You answered my question.

Okay, very good. You are very welcome. We appreciate your call today very much. Let's go out to Texas.

Hi, Katha. Thanks for calling. Go ahead.

I have a question. I have a life insurance policy that I've had for probably 20 years, and I'm 76, and it will expire unless I choose to pay a much higher premium when I'm 82. So I've only got about five years left on it, and I wanted to cash it in, for lack of the right word, but when I called the company, they said, no, we do not do that. You have a term life policy.

You can't do that. Well, I have seen a company called Coventry, I don't know the rest of their title, on TV, and I think what they do is sell life insurance policies to other people and give you the money. Can you explain?

I'm not saying all that right. Yeah, you're exactly right, and they are one of the biggest out there, and so a lot of folks will look into this option of selling a term policy. You know, typically, as long as you're over 65, and often it's done for reasons where you have a terminal or chronic illness, for you to then sell the policy, if in fact you need the cash now, and that doesn't create a hardship by you not having the death benefit for other loved ones, folks will do that.

Now, it doesn't necessarily require a terminal or chronic illness. The challenge is, in order for you to qualify with a term policy, it does have to be able to be converted to a permanent policy, and that's a feature that's not present with all term policies for this to even be applicable. But it is possible to sell it. It does require that you look at your situation, the features of the policy, your age and health status, and they would tell you what the value would be of that, and it does allow you potentially to recoup a part of your investment.

Do you know if your policy has a feature where it can be converted to a permanent policy? I do not know that. Okay, so that would be one question that you would want to explore. But, you know, Coventry Direct, I've never worked with them, I couldn't vouch for their service and so forth, but I do know that they're one of the most, one of the largest and most aggressive from a marketing standpoint.

So it's not surprising that you're familiar with that name. I think the key would just be, you know, typically with a term policy, it has served its purpose, meaning that it offset that risk, where at your passing, it may have created a hardship for a loved one, especially during working years, but when you get to a place where the term is running out, or it's no longer needed, meaning your passing would not create any kind of hardship for anybody else, and you have assets that you can pass on to ministry or heirs, then we let that policy go. And you could look at it and say, well, that money's lost. And that would be true for a homeowner's policy that you don't collect on or a car insurance policy, we get it to offset the risk, we hope we don't have to use it, it served its purpose. And so we just let it go. And it may be that, you know, that's exactly what you need to do here, because there's no reason why. And it was never intended that you would pay these much higher premiums when the term ends, you know, because, you know, the mortality expense would be dramatic.

And obviously, that's not that doesn't make sense. So typically, you would just let it go. But if you wanted to check with your insurance company, and or this company or others about a life settlement, you could certainly do that.

Well, thank you so much that has helped me and I will look at the policy to see if there's anything in there about converting to a permanent policy. Excellent. Well, thank you. If you have further questions, don't hesitate to reach back out to us. Catherine, thank you for being on the program today. Let's head to Kentucky. Hi, Dave, go ahead.

Hi, Rob. I'm in my early mid 70s and have a small to medium investment account. But you know, what I'm really wondering, well, I've got a very secure energy fund, you know, TSP.

Yeah. And what I was really curious the most about is I know the market said an all time high, it's had a good run this year. But this is an election year. And historically, you've probably researched this, I have not in an election year, do you feel the market is probably on a good trend to keep going up, I'd like to convert a lot of my G or some good percentage of it to the C fund TSP. And that's the S&P 500. I didn't know what your outlook on the S&P 500 is for the remainder of the year. Yeah, you know, Dave, I mean, I think I understand, you know, you want to be thoughtful about your entry point, because you're in the G fund.

And for the benefit of our listening audience with the thrift savings plan, the G fund is the government money market, essentially. So he's in a basically equivalent of a government account, when is the entry point back to the market? And I would say, trying to pick that entry point is just a losing proposition.

I mean, yes, we can look at history and say that usually September and October are lower months, but they do tend to do better in an election year. But there's just 1000 scenarios that could go sideways that could change all of that geopolitically, with a probably the tumultuous election we've had in the last four weeks ever in the history of this country, between an assassination attempt and a candidate that stepped down. I mean, you know, you just can't even imagine the things that are going on here and how that will affect the market and what the Federal Reserve tries to do.

I mean, it's just a losing proposition to try to figure that out. So how do you approach it? Well, I think the way you approach it is, once you know, you're ready to invest, regardless of what's happening in the market, you do it, but you do it in a way that makes sense for your age goals and objectives. And so did you say you're 70 years old?

73. Okay, so I mean, I would say you probably wanted 73, you probably want 35% to 40% in the stock fund. And so that could be the C or the S, you know, you and you could add some of the international as well, you probably want 55 to 60% in the fixed income fund, the bond fund, just to be more stable, which will do the which will do well as interest rates come down. And I think that approach I'm not saying is this the right time to jump into stocks? But is this the right time to be invested for the long haul in an allocation that makes sense for me?

The answer is always yes. And I think you go ahead. And you know, you take the long view. That's just my take on it.

I hope that helps. So Dave, a quick break and back with much more on faith and finance. You all stay with us. We'll continue to apply God's wisdom to your financial decisions and choices just around the corner.

Grow in wisdom and knowledge by connecting with a community of thousands of Christians striving to be good and faithful stewards at faithfi.com or by downloading the Faithfi app. 19. That's how many pairs of shoes the average American has in their closet.

One. That's how many pairs of shoes it takes to share health, education, opportunity, and the love of Christ to a child in need in the world. You can play a part in changing the life of a child today through Buckner Shoes for Orphaned Souls. Visit giveshoestoday.org and find out how you can provide shoes for a child in need. That's giveshoestoday.org. Great to have you with us today on faith and finance for taking your calls and questions. We might have room for one more in addition to those that are holding before we round out the broadcast today. 800-525-7000.

Let's go to South Carolina. Hi, Jim. How can I help you? A few months ago, my mom passed away and I was told I needed to go to probate court. And I was told at the courthouse to bring different documents and so forth.

I was giving a list of those things. And so I took those to the courthouse to the probate office. And after about three or four minutes of looking at these things, one of which was the title to my mom's house and property, they said, oh, the way this is set up, you have something called a life estate here. So you don't need to go to probate, which conflicts with the original statement that they gave me. And they said it has to have rights of survival.

And it did not have that. So anyway, this is my question. I'm a little confused on do I need to go to probate?

Or do I not? Yeah, it's a great, it's a great question. You know, we would say, you know, generally, you do want to go through probate either way. And a life estate can have rights of survivorship. So let's deal with the title of the home first. And then we'll just talk about generally, and what you would want to do in terms of probate for your mom's estate. You are correct in that, depending upon the title of the home. And by the way, I'm not an attorney.

So let's just talk generally here. But, you know, to get specific advice on your situation, you'd need to contact an attorney or work through the probate court and take their guidance here. But given that the fact that different types of titles or deeds have different, you know, aspects of survivorship, and so with that life estate, it can have that right of survivorship, which is essentially legal joint ownership of the property, which gives the owner the right to the property for their lifetime. So when one of the owner dies, it passes to survivors without probate. And so I think that's what they're referring to at the probate court, specifically related to this particular title on the deed. Now, there are going to be no doubt other elements of the estate at the very least personal property. And that's where, you know, generally, you'd still need to go through the probate court, although it should be relatively simple. And, you know, fairly inexpensive, if it's not a complex situation, and there's very little there. But I believe just based on what you're saying that that would be true in the sense that the home itself would, if that's the way it's titled, then it would likely not need to go through probate at all.

Okay. This was the only property that my mom owned was the house and the lot that the house set on. And that was pretty much it. And they did ask if she had a bank account, which she did.

My name was on that. I was listed as power of attorney. And so that was the reason for my name being on that account with her at the bank. That bank account usually had less than $500 in it. And she did have some investments prior to that, that was quickly absorbed when she had to go to the nursing home.

And so she, after she passed away, she was probably left with maybe less than $500 in that checking account, and zero investments, only the house and the lot. That was it. Okay.

Yeah. So it doesn't sound like there's a whole lot there. So it could be that you don't even have to go through probate at all.

Going back to the property for a moment, I mean, typically what would happen when you have that life estate, you would essentially have prepare and file with the real estate recording office, just a simple affidavit of survivorship. And that should cover it. And again, if you need counsel on that, that's where an attorney would come in.

But it sounds like you may be able to avoid this altogether. But we hope that's helpful to you, Jim. Very helpful. Thank you so much for your time. We appreciate it. Absolutely. God bless you, sir. Let's head to Oklahoma. Hi, Jamie.

Oh, hi there. I was wondering, I had heard about a couple of months ago, social security benefits and so forth, you know, in the age of 60 range, when you can start taking it. I visited the social security office last week. I asked, why is it the surviving spouse is penalized for, you know, the death of the spouse? Because I explained, I feel like I'm losing my social security benefit, even though I worked all these years for it, just because I only have to take survivor benefits for my husband if he was to pass before me. And he couldn't explain the reason why they do that. So my question is, how can one person go about, you know, seeing if they'll change that rule?

Because I don't understand the purpose for it. Yeah. So your husband's benefit would be the higher of the two. Is that right? Probably, yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. And unfortunately, just the way that the law is set up that governs social security, you can only take one or the other. And I understand you're saying, well, wait a minute, you know, I've worked all my life. And, you know, I theoretically have to leave mine behind. I mean, you could continue to earn yours and stay right where you are on your benefit, the Social Security Administration, based on the law will allow you to switch from your benefit over to his to take the higher amount of survivors benefits, those are two different pools of benefits. And I think their argument would be, well, you know, he's passed, and so his benefit goes away. And so we could just make you stay on your own work record and collect on what you've paid into the system throughout your working years. But we're going to give you the added benefit of choosing, do you want to stay with yours? Or do you want to move over to his as survivors benefits and actually increase your check? And you might say, well, we both paid in, and shouldn't I be able to, as a married couple, get both checks throughout my life, even if he's passed, and they would say, No, that's just not the way it works.

So, in effect, don't have to leave yours behind, you could stay with yours, but you have the option to switch over to his now, obviously, this creates a challenge, where, as a married couple, if your budget is based on both checks, and one of them goes away, even if you get to keep the higher of the two, it's still going to be a net loss in the overall income to the home that you have to make up, either by reduced lifestyle spending or other income sources, part time work or something like that. And I realized that can be a challenge in terms of the way to change that the only way would be through the legislative process. So just, you know, make sure you understand who you're voting for and show up and express your civic duty at the ballot box.

But apart from that, there really is no way to see any changes in that. We appreciate your call today, though, Jamie, all the best to you. And if we can serve you in any way in the future, don't hesitate to give us a call. We covered a lot of ground today. You know, as I think about our role in managing God's money, there are an unlimited number of decisions we make every day around our finances. And yet we can boil them down.

We can simplify them into really just four big categories, the money we live on, the money we give, the money we owe, and the money that we grow. But the big idea over it all is that God owns it all. And our goal is to be faithful stewards, looking to God's word for counsel and wisdom to apply to our financial decision-making. And when we do that, I believe it draws us closer to the heart of God.

It ultimately draws us into a more intimate relationship with Him when we handle His money according to His ways. I hope you found something today helpful and encouraging. I want to say a big thanks to my team today. On behalf of Taylor and Pat and Devin, I'm Rob West. I hope you'll come back and join us next time for another edition of Faith and Finance. May the Lord bless you. Faith and Finance is provided by Faith Buy and listeners like you.