This faith and finance podcast is underwritten in part by Praxis Mutual Funds. They are a leading faith-based family of mutual funds helping people integrate their finances with their values since 1994. With Praxis, your investments can make a difference for you and the world around you. Learn more at Praxismutualfunds.com. You've heard the identity theft protection ads for years, but do you really need it? Hi, I'm Rob West. Today, dozens of companies sell identity theft protection so people obviously buy it.
But what exactly are they getting and is it really worth it? We'll explore that today 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 journey. Well, first of all, let's be clear about something. Identity theft is a major problem that continues to grow, affecting millions of people every year. Identity thieves are active with credit card, insurance, and tax fraud schemes. It's no wonder that so many companies offer protection. Yet, we should always avoid letting fear dictate our financial decisions.
Paul writes in 2 Timothy 1-7, For God gave us a spirit, not of fear, but of power and love and of self-control. We can look at the facts and risks of any given situation, pray for guidance, and make an educated decision. So let's take a look at what's typically offered with these plans.
Of course, not every plan will have all of these features. Setting up access to your credit reports and your credit score. Monitoring your credit reports for suspicious activity and alerting you of it, like new accounts in your name. Helping you set up fraud alerts on your credit report.
Again, making it more difficult for thieves to open accounts. Monitoring the dark web for signs that your personal information is being misused. Helping you dispute fraudulent accounts and charges in your name. Monitoring for misuse of your social security number and alerting you if it's used in suspicious activity.
Various browser protection tools that protect your personal information when you go online, alerting you of unsafe sites. Finally, some companies offer insurance policies that cover certain costs associated with identity theft recovery. We're talking about legal fees and even lost wages. Okay, there's your list of typical features in an identity theft protection plan. And depending on how many of them a plan contains, you might pay anywhere from $7.50 to $70 a month for that protection. So the question is, is it really worth it?
Well, I would have to give you an unequivocal maybe. It all depends on your circumstances, which we'll get to in a minute. But first, let's look a little closer at each of the typical features. You'll notice that almost all of them are things you can do yourself. Setting up access to your credit reports. Just go online to Experian, TransUnion and Equifax for this or order your reports from all three at annualcreditreport.com. Monitoring your credit reports. Again, easy to do on your own.
Do it every six months for peace of mind. You can also set up fraud alerts on your own at the credit bureaus. Disputing fraudulent charges and accounts. Again, doing this yourself on the credit bureau sites is easier than you think. Safe browsing tools. All browsers like Safari and Chrome have these features.
You just need to activate them. Now, a couple of features that you probably can't do yourself are monitoring the dark web and monitoring specifically for misuse of your social security number. However, if you're doing the things already mentioned, such as monitoring your credit reports, adding fraud alerts and disputing fraudulent activity, you probably don't need much else. As for the insurance component to cover you for financial losses, again, you can dispute fraudulent activity on your credit reports.
It may take time to sort things out, but it's nothing you can't do on your own. There's something else to consider about these plans. They're called identity theft protection, not identity theft prevention. Almost every feature is about fixing something that's already happened and they really prevent very little. By far, the most powerful thing you can do to prevent identity theft is to freeze your credit at all three credit bureaus. It's free and you can freeze and unfreeze it at any time you want. Your credit should always be frozen unless you're applying for a loan or other new credit.
You would then temporarily unfreeze it. This prevents lenders from checking your credit so identity thieves can't open accounts in your name. Okay, does all of this mean you should never purchase an identity theft protection plan?
Not at all. If this is something you worry about and having a protection plan will give you a good night's sleep, by all means, go ahead. Just do your homework first as you would with any product and certainly if it's offered to you for free as a result of a recent data breach, don't hesitate to take it. All right, your calls are next. The number 800-525-7000. That's 800-525-7000. By the way, you can call that number 24-7. I'm Rob West and we're just getting started, so don't go anywhere. This is Faith and Finance, biblical wisdom for your financial decisions.
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Principal loss is possible. Foresight Fund Services LLC. Well, it's great to have you with us today on Faith and Finance. It's time to take your calls and questions today on anything financial. The number to call is 800-525-7000.
Again, that number is 800-525-7000. We've got some lines open today. We're ready to dive into your financial questions today. Whatever's on your mind today financially speaking, we'd love to look at it, help you with it through the lens of biblical wisdom. All right, let's dive in today. We're going to begin in Missouri. Hi, Virginia. Go right ahead. Hi there.
Thank you for answering my call. A lot of people, and myself especially right now, there are so many needs. And it would be nice to go to websites that would help me to decide on how to spend my money, how to give. I mean, there's a great organization, I think, maybe, Tunnel to Towers. It's a veterans organization.
There's Paralyzed Veterans of America, and there's several other veteran organizations. But, you know, what are you going to do? Give $10 to each? Or, you know, it's just decisions, decisions, decisions. And it would be nice to go to websites to see how the various organizations spend their money, and I would like that information.
Yes, very good. Well, Virginia, I think, you know, it is incumbent upon us as stewards of God's resources to use God's money wisely. Clearly, generosity is on the heart of God. We see that throughout the Old and the New Testament, that we are to be givers. Remember, Jesus celebrated the most famous giver in the New Testament, who gave out of her poverty to the local church treasury, her two copper coins.
We don't know her name, we just know she was a widow. And, you know, we also see areas that are on the heart of God. I had a friend recently, David Wills, who is the president emeritus of the National Christian Foundation, just give a framework for that. He said, you know, I think we need to think about the where of our giving, and we might think of Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth as kind of a model, giving locally, starting with our local church, giving perhaps in our state or domestically, and then thinking beyond that, so geographically. But then, in terms of the where of our giving, you know, you might think in terms of the three greats, the Great Commission, so we want to spread the gospel, we want to think of the great commandment, love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself. And so how do we do that? Well, we do that through the ministry of God's word and the ministry of God's mercy, you know, widows and orphans, the ministry of God's justice, the oppressed. So I think we need to be strategic about our giving in terms of the where. But we also need to be looking at who are wise stewards of those resources, which organizations are using those funds wisely.
And let me direct you to a couple of places to go to begin that process. Number one is an organization called ECFA, the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability, because you made mention of something very specific, how they use their money. And really the role of ECFA through the ECFA certification or seal of approval, if you will, is that those organizations that are ECFA certified, ECFA, and you can find more information at ECFA.org, it means that they've simply met high standards with regard to transparency and accountability. They have audited financial statements from an audit, you know, an independent audit from a tax or an audit firm, you know, they have met certain leadership requirements. And so that would be I think, a starting point, a second place to go would be a website called charitynavigator.org charity navigator, I just put in tunnel to towers, and it popped right up the foundation and it gave a four star rating, which is their highest rating around their fiscal or financial responsibility.
But you could read through all of the decisions that went into giving them a four star rating. But I think those two ECFA, do they have that certification and then charity navigator, which has a very easy to use search tool at charitynavigator.org could get you pointed in the right direction. Is that helpful, though? Very helpful.
Good. charitynavigators.org and ECFA.org or ECFA.org, you can get all kinds of charities like everything, right? Yeah, so ECFA.org will is what you're looking for, is that the ministry or the charity has attained the ECFA stamp of approval, their certification, if you will, and they have very high standards.
And you know, the organization has to join it, and then they have to not only reach those standards, but then they have to comply with them every year, and then every year, they're recertified. So you could just ask the charity, are you ECFA certified ECFA charity navigator puts out a rating up to four stars. And that's available through a search tool on their website. Let me just mention one other thing before we wrap up here is National Christian Foundation is a wonderful resource with your giving as well. And what you could do there is say, is call NCF or go on their website, ncfgiving.com, ncfgiving.com. And you could say, here are the ministries or here's the category of giving area that is on my heart. Maybe it's, you know, spreading the gospel, maybe it's caring for orphaned children in underdeveloped countries. I mean, you give them a category, providing water to those who don't have access to clean water, and then they could give you a list of some charities that they've vetted in those categories. And their website is ncfgiving.com.
That was founded by Ron Blue and Larry Burkett, among others. So hopefully that's given you some things to think about, Virginia. God bless you for your generous art. We appreciate you calling today. All right, let's head to Akron. Hi, Joy, how can I help you?
Hi, Rob. I have a question about an inherited IRA. My husband inherited two IRAs from his mom who died in 2020. We haven't taken any distributions yet. And I know that secure act, you know, is now you're required to withdraw it all within 10 years.
Right. And so my question is, are there advantages to starting to withdraw it? Or is it better to just wait and do like a lump sum withdrawal?
Yeah, it's a good question. And you know, I like the idea that you'd leave it in there as long as you can. Because if you guys don't need this money, I'd rather it stay in the tax deferred environment.
And you take out as little as necessary. And you could talk to your CPA about what that is. You are correct about the secure act, mandating that non spousal beneficiaries, which you and your husband, of course, are have to be withdrawn from the inherited IRA within 10 years. But in that tax deferred environment, especially with it invested, I'd love for you to keep that money growing for you, and then just take it out as you need to. And then at that point, we've got to figure out kind of where to put it, you're going to have to pay the tax on it. So now it would be after tax dollars. And then you could turn around and continue to invest it in a taxable environment, where you're paying capital gains each time you have an appreciated stock that or bond that's sold.
Or you could try to, you know, funnel it into a Roth IRA or you know, some other vehicle. But I think to answer your question, I try to leave it there as long as you can. Okay. All right. You're welcome. Thanks for your call today.
We appreciate it. 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 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 1500 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. Are you overwhelmed by financial fear and anxiety? You're not alone at faith by we hear it every day. People weighed down by worries related to wealth and money. But financial anxiety isn't about the size of your bank account.
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Please consider becoming a monthly partner by visiting faithfi.com and clicking give. Great to have you with us today on faith and finance. We're taking your calls and questions today. Looks like we have two lines open. That's 800-525-7000. That's 800-525-7000. You can call right now.
Let's head back to the phones to Texas to lean. Thank you for calling. Go ahead. I am trying to find out about a debt deed. Okay. What can I help you with on that? Well, my mother has purchased this land a couple of years ago.
She has three small houses on it and it's like three acres. And I went and filed at the courthouse a debt deed that I printed off the internet and filed it and everything went through okay. But I'm now wondering if that is a good thing to do.
How does that affect me as far as taxes goes? Yeah. All right. So this is your mom's property. Is that right? Yes. Okay. And you put a transfer on death deed, which is available in Texas. And who is going to be receiving that? Is it one heir or multiple? Me.
It would just be me. Okay. It's coming to you. All right. Yeah. So I mean, that's a good thing in the sense that it's going to get you out of probate. And so the TOD deed allows that to pass directly to you, which bypasses the cost and the involvement of the probate court.
So it's less expensive. Your mom's going to retain control of the property until her death. And it's a way that she can pass it to you very efficiently and quickly at her death.
So I think, you know, that's certainly a good thing. There's no tax implications to that that are different from you inheriting it by way of a will through probate. And currently, the state laws are such that, you know, if there's, you know, in a state of less than $13 million, there are no estate taxes, and at least federally, and then you don't have any inheritance tax. So you would essentially inherit that property, you'd get a step up in basis equal to the market value as of the date of death, which means if you turn around and sell it, you have no taxes. And you know, if you hold on to it, then obviously, you'd be responsible for capital gains beyond that point. So I think this is a good move. I think the only question is just, you know, you've got it in a form off the internet and you filed it.
It's you said it was successful and has been updated accordingly by the county records office. I think the only, you know, potential issue is just whenever we're involving estate planning decisions and documents, I prefer to consult with an estate planning lawyer just so we don't make any legal mistakes that could, you know, nullify this. It's pretty straightforward. So some would argue it's just not necessary. It's an added expense. I just think with certain things like this, I'd rather have an attorney look it over and just make sure I haven't missed anything. But apart from that, I don't take any issue with the approach that your mom has taken here. Okay.
All right. And also, since I'm inheriting that upon her death, does that include everything on the land and in the house or not? Is that separate? Everything that is related to that deed.
So if that includes the land and whatever dwellings are on it, then all of that would be included. But again, I would probably get with the estate planning attorney just to look at the overall estate and make sure everything's in order. Does she have a valid durable power attorney and healthcare surrogate, all of that? I believe she does. She's very limited on her finances, so I don't really know.
I guess that's something I need to ask her. I know right now, anytime she has to go to the doctor or anything, they go through me for questions and bills and stuff like that. I take care of all that. Okay.
Yeah. You just want to make sure that the healthcare surrogate is going to give you the ability to officially and legally make healthcare decisions on her behalf if she's unable to do so. The durable power of attorney is the same, but for financial and legal matters. And then there's a living will, which is end of life decisions that she would be able to make prior to that point.
So those are important documents. And then a will obviously is going to be the catch all for anything that's not under the TOD deed, which is the property or anything that doesn't have a beneficiary on it like a financial account. It's going to cover all the rest of her personal property and assets. Okay. So even her car on the property, that would go to me too then?
No, an automobile would not be included in that TOD deed. That would come under her will, last will and testament. Okay. Okay. All right.
Yeah, she don't have a will at all that I'm aware of. Yeah. And I think that would be important. I mean, you said it's a pretty simple situation. And apart from that, she would die in test date, which just basically means the court would decide who gets what. And it could end up being fairly simple.
It's just that with a simple will, either one that you all fill out yourself and record with a notary or something like that, or through visiting with an attorney and as a part of an overall package of state planning documents, that would be important to have just to make sure that she's not going to have to go to court. And it would be important to have just to make sure that everything is handled efficiently. Okay. Okay.
All right. I sure appreciate you. And thank you for your ministry. Well, thank you. I appreciate that, Twylene. Thank you for calling today. Lord bless you.
Let's finish up in Ohio. Pam, how can I help? Thank you so much. I appreciate your ministry.
I listen, try to listen to it every day. I am looking at, I just learned this year about, or understood, I guess, about the qualified charitable contributions. And I do have a couple of accounts, several accounts, I guess, that I will get an RMD at the end of the year, which of course I have to claim on my taxes. How do I go about getting that set up so that that is paid directly to my church?
Yeah, it's a great question. I'm so glad you brought this up, Pam, because this is one of my favorite tools, this qualified charitable distribution. And it's the only way that you can get money out of an IRA without paying tax on it, while at the same time satisfying your required minimum.
And especially for folks who don't need the required minimum, they're not counting on that as income to live on. This is a wonderful opportunity to do some additional giving and everybody wins because you satisfy your RMD. You don't increase your taxes by a penny. And the ministry gets the full amount. In this case, your church gets the full amount to use for ministry purposes. So you would just contact your IRA custodian and just let them know that you'd like to do a qualified charitable distribution. Your custodian is whoever you get your statements from that holds the IRA and just let them know that you want to do that. They will cut a check or do an electronic transfer and you'll need to contact your church to get the account information.
You may want to start with the custodian first and just say, is there a form or something that gives me the information I need to get from my church? And it could be they just send a check in the mail and then you'll just want to make sure that you get that contribution receipt because you want to be able to defend before the IRS, if you're ever questioned, that this did in fact go to your church directly. It didn't come to you first, which is what allows it to be considered a qualified charitable distribution. But there's not anything special you need to do other than making sure the money goes straight to your church. In fact, some people have check writing privileges on their IRA and they literally just write a check to their church. And that's a qualified charitable distribution. Does that make sense, though?
Absolutely, it does. I appreciate very much what you're saying. OK, Lord bless you, Pam. Yeah, you can do up to one hundred and five thousand this year.
You got plenty of room there to give as much as you want, as long as you're over 70 and a half. Thanks for your call today. Well, that's going to do it for us today. A big thanks to my team today. So thankful for our call screener today, as well as Dan and Amy and Jim.
Couldn't do them without them. Hope you'll come back and join us next time and we'll do it all over again. Until then, God bless you. Bye bye. Faith and Finance is provided by Faith Buy and listeners like you.
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