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Now let's dive into the podcast. Giving is supposed to be a source of great joy for God's people, but sometimes we act like it's just another pain in our wallet. I am Rob West. Christians are supposed to be generous, but maybe you're having trouble getting excited about the idea. Today we'll point you back to the radical joy of godly generosity, 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. Okay, it's time for some true confessions about your giving. Has your electronic donation at church every Sunday become a bit automatic? Or perhaps you're struggling financially right now, so you've reduced your giving and you're feeling a bit guilty. Then again, perhaps decisions about how much and where to give are causing tension in your marriage, so you end up dreading those conversations. There are so many ways our generosity can become stale and unjoyful.
If that's the case for you, it's time for a renewed perspective, and we're going to help you with that today. Let's begin by remembering that Christian generosity is different from the world's idea of generosity. Giving that honors God is not about showing off or improving our self-esteem or even getting buildings named after us. Ultimately, Christian generosity is different because we serve a different Master. As it says in Ephesians 5-1, be imitators of God as beloved children and walk in love as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
Because of love, Jesus gave his life on the cross for us, and we imitate him when we are radically, sacrificially, and joyfully generous. Another thing to remember about giving is that sometimes the action needs to precede the feeling. In other words, even if you don't feel joyful about giving sometimes, keep doing it anyway, because generosity pleases the Lord.
Ask Jesus to guide you as you give in faith, and the joy will come. Here's another way to renew your perspective on generosity. Cultivate a biblical attitude about your giving. God's Word says our giving should be secret, open-handed, cheerful, loving, and sacrificial.
Let's look at those attitudes more closely. First, giving should be secret, not showy. That way the glory goes to the Lord, not to the giver.
Jesus admonishes his followers in Matthew 6 to be careful not to do your acts of righteousness before men, not to be seen by them. But when you give to the needy, do not let your right hand know what your left hand is doing, so that your giving may be done in secret. Second, giving should be open-handed, not stingy. Second Corinthians 9, 6, and 7 says, whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously.
Remember, what we have is not our own. It all belongs to God, whether it's time, talent, or treasure. So, we can always afford to be generous because God is our provider. Third, giving should be cheerful, not reluctant. The passage in Second Corinthians goes on to say, each man should give as he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. Having a cheerful attitude about giving might be a challenge.
You might have to ask God to change your heart in this area. Believe me, he will do that because a cheerful attitude towards giving is his desire for you. Fourth, giving should come from love, not obligation. Giving that glorifies God springs from love for God and our neighbor.
That love isn't something you can produce. It's a work of the Holy Spirit in you. And finally, giving should be sacrificial, not necessarily convenient. Sacrificial giving makes us more like Christ.
Second Corinthians chapter 8, verse 9 says, For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich. Sacrificial giving is a testimony that we trust God to meet our needs while we meet the needs of others. So to recap here, giving that honors God and fills us with joy from the Holy Spirit will be secret, open-handed, cheerful, loving, and sacrificial. And believe me, there are spiritual benefits to cultivating these attitudes and actions.
Most importantly, God gets the glory. John 3 21 says, Whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God. You see, as Christ followers, we long to be more and more like our Lord Jesus as we walk with him each day.
But sometimes you may find yourself giving with a reluctant spirit or because you feel guilty or out of a desire to earn the admiration of others. If that's the case for you today, ask the Lord to change your heart. Pray for the Holy Spirit to guide you, knowing that God will provide for your needs and the needs of others through you. All right, we're ready to answer your financial questions today. So give us a call, 800-525-7000. I'm Rob West and we'll be right back on Faith and Finance.
Stay tuned. If you enjoy this radio program, you're going to love voices such as Randy Alcorn, Howard Dayton, Ron Blue, and our own Rob West. Grow in wisdom and knowledge by connecting with a community of thousands of Christians driving to be good and faithful stewards at faithfi.com or by downloading the FaithFi app. Faith and Finance is grateful for support from Soundmind Investing. If you have money in an investment account, you know sometimes the stock market can seem like a roller coaster, but it's possible to enjoy both profit and peace of mind as a do-it-yourself investor, no matter what's happening in the market. A short video webinar about that is available at soundmindinvesting.org. Financial wisdom for living well, soundmindinvesting.org. Thanks for joining us today on Faith and Finance.
I'm Rob West. All right, it's time to turn the corner here in just a moment and begin taking your calls and questions. That means we've only got a program as long as you call in, so you can do that now. 800-525-7000. That's 800-525-7000.
I mean, I could just keep talking, I guess, but it's always more fun when we hear from you. 800-525-7000 is the number to call to get your financial question in the mix today. We'll promise to run it through Biblical principles and give you some practical suggestions. We're going to begin in Chicago.
Danelle, thank you for calling. Go ahead. My question is, I have $30,000 I'd like to put in an investment, but I don't know where to invest it, so I need your help.
Okay, let's put a timeline around it and just talk about your goals. So, I'll back up before the $30,000 for a moment and just ask a couple of questions. Do you have an emergency fund separate from these funds? Yes, I do. Okay, good. And you have somewhere around three to six months expenses at a minimum? Yes.
Okay, great. And when you think about this $30,000 that you have available, what kind of timeline would you attach to it in terms of when you might need it? Is this money you're thinking is pretty long term in nature, or do you have some other purpose for it shorter than that? No, it'd be long term.
Long term would be fine, yes. All right, and is it sitting in your checking or savings account right now? It's sitting in a savings account, yes.
Okay, great. And tell me about any retirement savings that you're doing at work or otherwise. I just recently retired.
I'm okay there. I've worked for an education and now I'm just at home. Okay, very good. And so are you living off of Social Security or a teacher's pension or both? Teacher retirement.
Teacher retirement. Okay. And so what's your security yet? Okay, very good. So the teacher retirement that you have is enough to cover your bills by itself? Yes, absolutely. I don't have a mortgage or car payments. Okay, great. And do you have any earned income at all right now?
Yes, I do. Okay, so one option if this truly is long term in nature is to the extent you have earned income, meaning not retirement income or anything like that, but actually income you're getting from independent contractor or wages, then you could put it in a Roth IRA. That's R-O-T-H, Roth IRA. That's after tax money, which it is because it's sitting in your savings. And what that just simply means is you could then invest it and it would grow tax free. And you would never have to pull it out because there's not even a required minimum on a Roth IRA.
And the beautiful part is you can always get back your original contributions if you ever need it. But the nice thing is if in fact you don't need it because you're living modestly and your teacher retirement's covering it and then at some point you'll, if you paid into the system and you don't have a windfall elimination, you might get social security on top of that and then maybe you've got even more disposable income. And so if this money can continue to grow, then you would be able to let it grow, but you wouldn't have any taxes on it. So what I'd probably do is open a Roth IRA, if that makes sense, and I'm not missing anything, at Fidelity or Schwab and then drop that money in there. You could put in $7,000 for this year and then put another $7,000 for next year. And then you could use either the Schwab Intelligent Portfolios, which is a pretty simple way with a robo advisor, or you could use one of the faith-based investing mutual funds. You could get a list of those mutual funds at faithandinvesting.com. But that would get you pointed in the right direction.
What you can't put in the Roth this year, you can invest in a taxable account right now as well. Thanks for your call, Danelle. God bless you. To Oklahoma. Hi, Sheila, go ahead.
Hi. My question is, my brother and sister have a trust together with three houses in it. My sister has since died.
My brother is still alive. And the trust has money in it already. He is thinking about selling one of the houses. Does the money have to go to the trust or can he keep the money?
Yeah. So who is the grand tour? Do you know of the trust? It's a financial institution. A financial institution has the money. Okay. He has money to begin with.
Okay. Well, they're the trustee. The grand tour is the one that created the trust. So was he the beneficiary, your brother, of his sister's trust?
Or were they both the grand tours? It was combined. Neither one were married. They had a lawyer that came in and created this trust for them through the church. And the money goes to a financial institution. Then income will be distributed to their nephews. Okay.
They never had children. After your brother passes away. Right, right.
Now he has not passed away. Okay, let me just give you some general counsel here. And then I would talk to an attorney because, you know, these get complicated.
I'm certainly not an attorney. But here's how this works. So a trust has a grand tour or multiple grand tours, if you have a joint trust.
And that's the person that creates it. And as long as that trust is revocable, and not irrevocable, then the grand tour or grand tours during their life can make changes. And you can put property in a trust, you can put other assets, cash and other assets in the trust. So if there was multiple grand tours, one has passed away, you would have to read the provisions of the trust. But likely, what would be the case is that your brother as one of the grand tours would be able to sell a piece of property in that trust. And the proceeds could stay in the trust, or he could take it out of the trust because it's revocable, and he set it up.
And it would only go into effect after he dies. And then the trustee, whoever has been named as the trustee, it sounds like it's a corporate trustee, would then be responsible for distributing the assets of the trust to whoever the beneficiaries are, in whatever circumstances are named in the trust. So it may be, you know, as they reach certain ages, or graduate college, or you know, whatever the trust documents say. But if it's a revocable trust, he would likely be able to either leave the proceeds in the trust or take them out. The only complicating factor is, you'd have to understand what the trust language says with regard to his sister's passing, if that was the other person who was the other grand tour, as to what, you know, triggering events happened then. But generally speaking, with a revocable trust, while the grand tour is still living, he can basically do what he wants. And essentially, you're selling a property in the same way you would as if it was held in your name, as long as as long as he's alive.
Okay, well, you answered my question. He could put the money in there if he wants to, or he can take it out, whatever, but he's got control of it more or less. Potentially, I think, again, the only complicating factor is the other grand tour has passed away. And so I think that's where getting some legal counsel just to make sure that you're reading the trust properly and you understand the implications of that. So again, this is probably a good idea for him to check back in with the attorney that created it, if he has any questions about it, because both grand tours are not living any longer, only him. So I think that would be the only question that I would have, whether that has any bearing on this. But generally speaking, when a grand tour is still living, the grand tour can do what they want with the assets of a revocable trust, keep them in, take them out, make changes.
That's the purpose of the revocable trust. Thank you for calling Sheila. We appreciate you being on the program today. Before we head into our break, let me remind you, if you'd like to find a financial professional who shares your values and priorities, who's met high standards and character and competence, who's been trained to bring a biblical worldview of financial decision-making, well, we'd encourage you to look for a Certified Kingdom Advisor in your area.
There's more than 1,500 men and women who have earned CKA all across the US. You can find one at faithfi.com. Just click Find a Professional.
We'll be right back. Interact with a community of like-minded believers where you can ask questions, get answers, and share what you're learning. Go to faithfi.com and click the word app to get started. 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 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. Great to have you with us today on Faith in Finance. We're taking your calls and questions today 800-525-7000. Let's head right back to the phones to Newport, Tennessee.
Hi, Addie. Go ahead. Hi, I'm a retired widow now and when my husband was living we had just got another car and now that I don't have his income I am drawing some little bit of fits from him. I keep getting mail to refinance at a cheaper rate because I'm trying to build my credit. Will that hurt my credit if I get it refinanced?
Yeah, I'm so sorry to hear about your husband's passing. Let me ask you, what is your current interest rate on your car? Oh no, it's up because we had filed Chapter 13 at one point and it's only been about two years and we was building our credit back so now it is financed at a higher rate. Okay, do you remember what it is?
I don't know because I'm not. Okay, yeah, no problem. Well, we just want to make sure, I mean you're going to get all kinds of solicitations for all kinds of things and we want to make sure that it does make sense for you to do it and generally I would say, you know, you really want to be able to save at least a couple of percentage points in order to justify it and you want to make sure if at all possible, and I don't know kind of what your cash flow is looking like right now, we can talk about that in a moment, but if at all possible you want to keep the term the same length. So, you know, if you had 60 months and 9%, you know, even if you could get seven and you're two or three years into it, I would rather you not do another 60 months. You know, I'd rather you match the term on the refi to what you have remaining today, but I would love for you to save at least, you know, one and a half to two percent in order to justify it.
The challenge is, you know, car rates are high right now. I mean the national average as of last month I believe was, you know, right at about seven percent for new cars and about eleven for used cars and so, you know, with you being having a used automobile, you know, you may not find that you can save enough in order to make this worthwhile. Now, because you had that prior Chapter 13 bankruptcy, maybe it is dramatically higher and, you know, you could with improved credit get better rates and terms and get enough of a reduction in the interest in order to justify the time and the expense of switching.
So, I would probably do a little bit of research on your own. You asked about your credit score. Yeah, anytime you authorize what's called a hard inquiry on your credit, it is going to temporarily reduce your score. I wouldn't be concerned about that. You're probably not out looking for other loans and any inquiries on your credit for the same type of loan in a two-week period are just going to be considered one, which gives you the ability to shop around.
Now, you wouldn't want to string this out over several months. I mean, if you're going to get to the place where you're seriously considering a refi, I would try to do it all, you know, within a couple of weeks period if you're going to get maybe two or three or four lenders to give you, you know, their best rate to see, you know, what options you would have. Now, in terms of where to go to look at this, you may want to consider going to nerdwallet.com. You could go to bankrate.com. There are several credit unions and online banks that have kind of, you know, some more attractive rates right now for used cars than others. Do you happen to know is your score above a 660? Yes.
Okay, good. So that means, you know, you may qualify for some of the better rates and terms that are out there. So I'd probably start there and go to bankrate.com or nerdwallet.com, find which lenders are offering the very best rates for used car refinance loans.
And, you know, you could look and see what the minimum credit score is to qualify and then see whether you can get that two point, at least two percentage points lower to make this worthwhile. Now, have you worked through a budget? Do you feel like you have a good handle on your income and your expenses?
I did, until I started helping my granddaughter. So now my name's on another car. Oh boy. Yeah. And I thought, okay, I'm just gonna have to get back out there and go to work. I do believe it.
Yeah. Boy, I know how that could be. And you sound like a generous grandmother, but yeah, be careful on that because, you know, we can get ourselves into a real difficult situation just out of your desire to help. And keep in mind, even though you're wanting to help, you know, you stepping in is not always even the best thing for her, just because, you know, she may need to learn some, you know, how to manage things on her own. You know, we don't want to circumvent what the Lord may be teaching her, both a financial and or a spiritual lesson.
So just use discernment with regard to when and how you step in, especially if you're co-signing, because the Bible is pretty clear that we should stay away from that. I think if you are going to do it, you need to be ready, willing, and able to pay it off because the last thing we'd want is a damaged relationship over her being unable to make good on it, despite her best intentions and you not being, you know, financially able to cover it. So just keep all those things in mind. But anyway, I like the idea of refinancing only if you can save at least a couple of percentage points.
Let's do this, Addie. I'm going to send you a book that I think might be helpful to you. It's called Wise Women Managing Money, and it was written for widows who find themselves in this position.
I think it'll be an encouragement to you and give you some really practical thoughts and ideas on managing God's money moving forward. So I hope that's helpful to you. We appreciate your call today very much. Lord bless you. Quickly to Miami Springs.
Carlos, I have just a minute left. I understand you're looking to leave money to a charity and you want to do that through your required minimum distributions. Is that right? Yes, correct.
How much can I leave and actually have enough money left for long-term care? Ah, yeah, that's really a planning conversation. I mean, there is a way to satisfy your RMD if your money's in an IRA. Is it in an IRA? Yes.
Okay, yeah. So you can do a qualified charitable distribution. As long as you're 70 and a half, you can do a qualified charitable distribution for 2024. You could do up to $105,000.
You don't have to do that much, but you can. And that would go straight from your IRA to the charity. You would not have to recognize that as income. And every bit of that QCD would go against your qualified or your required minimum distribution.
So that's a tool you need to look into. Again, it's called a qualified charitable distribution. Apart from that, you know, what I would say is I would connect with a certified kingdom advisor to do some planning for you to determine really what is your financial finish line to cover everything you might need, including long-term care, so that anything beyond that, you can accelerate your giving and you can find a CKA at faithfi.com. Folks, we so appreciate you being along with us each day, and we look forward to taking your questions and hearing your stories and being invited into your stewardship journey. It's our privilege to come alongside you. I couldn't do this without an amazing team behind me each day, certainly contributing to today's broadcast. Mr. Devon Patrick, our producer, handling our phone calls today. Pat Montague, we're so thankful for Pat, and also Mr. Jim Henry on research, plus the entire cast and crew here at FaithFi. It's an amazing group of men and women committed to equipping you as wise stewards of God's resources. If you want to check out our work, you can learn more at faithfi.com, where you can give and download the app and check out some great content as well. Have a wonderful weekend, and we'll see you next week. Bye-bye. Faith and Finance is provided by FaithFi and listeners like you.
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