Grateful Living with Sharon Epps

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That's 800-525-7000. This is faith and finance, biblical wisdom for your financial journey. Well, if you're new to the program, Sharon Epps is a frequent contributor.

She's also president of Kingdom Advisors, the parent organization of FaithFi, and that means she oversees a network of more than 3600 Christian financial professionals across the country. Sharon, great to have you back with us. Good to be here. Thanks, Rob. Now, today we're talking about grateful living because it's something that's been, I know, on your heart, Sharon, and something you've really worked on, taught on for a long time.

So describe that for us. Well, for really my whole career, I've had the opportunity to work with advisors and churches and families with one overarching purpose, and that is to help them use their resources to further God's kingdom, or more practically, to help them live generously. So some of the most joyful moments that I've experienced have been seeing those aha times when people realize that generosity actually begins with gratitude, a sense of gratitude for time, talent, treasure, all the things God's given us. And gratitude is something that all believers can have all the time.

Yeah, that's right. And I think we need to establish that rhythm of gratitude. Let's unpack that a bit more, though, this sense of gratitude, Sharon, where do you think it comes from?

How do we get it? Gratitude comes from realizing that we're made in the image of God. Just stop and think about that for a minute. The image of an almighty God. And as those image bearers, we're hardwired with certain traits. Generosity is one of those, for example, but generosity is difficult without first being grateful. If we don't recognize what God has given us, it's difficult to be grateful for it. We should be grateful first for life itself, for our family and friends, and of course, for the resources that He's entrusted to us. But above all, we need to be exceedingly grateful for the priceless gift of His Son, Jesus Christ, who gave His life so that we can live for Him in eternity. So with that in mind, we certainly should be grateful. How do we cultivate that feeling of gratitude, though, Sharon, and maybe begin applying that to our lives daily? Well, there's a lot of practical ways to grow in gratitude and to express it back to Him. One of the things that I like to do is keep a gratitude journal.

In fact, that's very personal. It was a part of my journey, and it helped me through some pretty difficult times. Each day, I became committed to writing down three things I was grateful for before I went to bed. And some days, I'll be honest, it wasn't easy to do. But it was a very healing part of my journey. It was a turning point and helped me to grow. And in fact, I still continue that practice to this day.

I love that. Let's connect that then back to generosity. So how did expressing and recognizing the things you were grateful for then affect your generosity? Well, first of all, gratitude loosens my grip on everything when I realized that all I have comes from God. I can live open handedly knowing that God provides everything, and it's not rely on me. Gratitude also helps me see that money's not the only way I can be generous.

When I'm grateful for my home and understand that it's a gift from God, I can open my doors to be hospitable. When my gratitude for my skills increases, I can be more free to use them to help others. And then finally, gratitude leads to humility. As I live more humbly, I'm more mindful of the needs of others, and I want to help them.

Oh, that's so good. Well, let's finish today. We have just about a minute left by applying this to something that's right around the corner, and that is Thanksgiving. So how would you counsel our listeners to make sure they keep gratitude at the heart of Thanksgiving? Well, included in your family discussion, one simple thing is to go around and just have everyone say what they're thankful for. One of my favorite activities is what I call construction paper placemats.

That allows each family member to have a construction paper placemat with their name on it, and the other family members go around and say one thing on that placemat that they're grateful for the other person. Really practical ideas, Sharon. So thankful for you and your time today.

Glad to be here. That's Sharon Apps. She's president of Kingdom Advisors.

She's a frequent contributor here on faith and finance, and we are grateful for that. All right. Your calls are next. That number eight hundred five two five seven thousand eight hundred five two five seven thousand. We're just getting started.

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Thanks for joining us today on faith and finance for taking your calls and questions today. Eight hundred five to five. Seven thousand. That's eight hundred five to five.

Seven thousand. You can call right now. Let's go out to Texas. Hi, Brett.

How can I help you, sir? Well, my wife and I are about to kind of have a boon. We're going to inherit money.

We're middle class folks. We don't have a lot of long term savings. I think we probably have about one hundred and thirty thousand in long term savings currently. We're going to inherit fifty thousand cash, about two hundred something in stocks and about six hundred thousand in mutual funds.

I don't know. We do have an appointment with the CCA for next week. So how do we look at this, Rob? The only debt we really have is our car. We're really considering paying it off. We owe about nineteen on it.

Yeah. Other than that, we really don't have any debt. You know, so currently it's with one investment company. Obviously, we'll move it.

You know, should I go with the CCA or should I just open a swab account or something like that or, you know, kind of give me some hints? Yeah, I'd be happy to, Brad. First of all, how do you look at it? As a blessing from the Lord. And you're now the steward of this money. It all belongs to God. And he has made you the steward, the manager.

The Greek word in the New Testament for steward means household manager. And so nothing we have that is entrusted to us belongs to us rather than rights, which is what the owner has. We have responsibility. And our responsibility is to be found faithful in stewarding or managing these resources.

And so that now has been entrusted to you and your bride. And I think you're doing the right thing, which is also affirmed in scripture, and that is seeking wise counsel. Because to your point, this is more than you've ever had in terms of liquid assets.

You're in great shape. You've obviously been heeding biblical wisdom with regard to how you've managed your finances, which is why you're virtually debt free except for a small loan. And, you know, you're living modestly.

And now you're going to be sitting on, you know, 800,000 plus nearly $900,000 in cash, stocks and mutual funds. And so I think this is the right approach because there's several things you're going to want to think about. Number one is, well, let's just stop and back up and say, in light of our values and priorities as Christ followers, how do we want to use God's money? How do we want to allocate these resources? Is there a portion we want to give away right now?

Is there debt we want to pay off because we want to be debt free? You know, how do we invest this for the future? So we've got it available as an inheritance or to do more giving down the road, you know, whatever those values are, because the way we allocate this ultimately says what's most important to us. And I think getting some wise counsel who can not only manage this for you in terms of evaluating the current mutual funds and stocks that are in this portfolio, but also helping you to make the changes to get it positioned properly so that it's not invested for whoever the prior steward was. But it's invested for you and your wife as now the new stewards.

How much risk do you want to take? Do you want to screen the investments that you own based on your values? Are there companies in these portfolios that are misaligned with your values?

Maybe it's a pharmaceutical that makes, you know, abortion pills, or maybe it's an alcohol or tobacco company. You may not want those in your portfolio. And that's where an advisor could help, you know, align this portfolio with your values. There may be too much risk here. But I think the idea that you'd have somebody giving active management to this, in light of your goals and objectives is really the key.

And what you don't want to do is just put it on autopilot. I mean, this is a lot of money that you're now responsible for. And so just kind of sticking it in a Schwab account and just letting it go I don't think is the right approach. The other benefit of having a CKA to walk alongside you here, Brett, is all of the work that needs to be done before you make those investment decisions, which is really kind of a values inventory and a discovery process for the advisor to go through to figure out kind of what's on your heart you and your wife about where God might be leading you in the future. And how does that help you dictate what you want to do with this money? What is your financial finish line? Meaning how much are you trying to accumulate?

And if you're already there, could you accelerate your giving right now? I mean, these are the kinds of questions I think that a CKA can help you answer in addition to giving oversight to the investment portfolio. Does that all make sense, though? It makes perfect sense. I will say the stock that there's only three stocks there and things that are not part of our value system. They've done very well for my in-laws.

They've done extremely well, obviously. But, you know, it's Warner Brothers, AT&T, it's some things like that that we're not necessarily interested in. Yeah. Yeah.

So I think that's a great starting point is to say, what does it look like to take a pretty hard look at what's here? Think about the tax implications. Now, the nice thing is, if you've inherited this, all the cost basis are reset or stepped up to the date of death, if that's what occurred here.

And so you don't really have to think about capital gains. It's really a matter of you saying, OK, what is the right portfolio that matches our risk tolerance, that matches our goals and objectives? And this is where I think a Christian advisor can help you, a CKA, and aligns with our values in the same way you just described.

Here in Temple, Texas, there's an ad you guys have for Mark Price. That's one of the ads that, you know, so we're going to be meeting with his group. OK, should we consider like with moving all of that to the CKA? In other words, the mutual funds that are there? Well, here's what I would say about that, Brad.

Yeah. Whoever you decide on as an advisor, whether it's the CKA you're meeting with or somebody else, I would find one advisor that can be your trusted advisor that can manage this money. And I would, in fact, move everything over there. There's just not enough here for you to have multiple advisors. It's a significant sum of money, don't get me wrong. But as soon as you have multiple advisors, now you might have overlapping investment strategies that don't, you know, align properly with your goals when you put them together. Now you've got two advisors to keep up with, you got two sets of statements, it makes taxes more complicated. So I'd find that one advisor that you feel like you have a good rapport with, you know, is a good match in terms of temperament, how he or she's going to communicate with you. You know, you understand how they're going to invest it, you feel good about it, aligns with your values, takes into account the fees, you understand how they're getting paid. Once you've kind of solved for all of that, then yes, I'd move 100% to that advisor. Okay, that's that's really one of the big questions we had.

We're great. Do you think taking that some of that cash and paying her costs is a good idea? I love that idea. Absolutely. I think anytime we can simplify our financial life, get out of debt, so you're unencumbered, which lowers your expenses to keep, you know, your your lifestyle spending is even less. I think that makes all the sense in the world. Yes, that will save us about four and a quarter a month. Yeah, that's great. Yeah, now you've got more to put back into savings, give more to the church, you know, give to other causes on your heart.

I mean, I think that's a great opportunity. Okay, we're good. Well, that helps a lot, Rob, and good. I just want to say I appreciate your ministry. It's been a great blessing to me, even though I haven't had a lot of money to move around with, but I've learned a lot from you, and I'm very grateful to you. Well, to whom much is given much is required, my friend, and you've been faithful with a little and now the Lord is putting you in charge of much.

And we see that right there in God's Word. You are the steward of this money and sounds like you are up to the task, my friend. And so I think you're headed in the right direction. If I can serve you in any other way in the future, give us a call. God bless you. Hey, before we head to this break, let me mention, folks, if you're struggling to stay on budget and maybe trying to figure out how do you balance everything?

It was working four years ago, but now with everything 25% higher, it's not working quite as well. Well, that spending plan is essential for you to be able to stay on track and make sure that the way you're handling God's money truly reflects what's most important to you. The FaithFi app could be just what you need to get your budget set up, but also to manage it well and stay on budget every month.

So check it out today. You'll just head to our website, faithfi.com, click app. We'll be right back.

Stay with us. If you enjoy this radio program, you're going to love all of the many different resources waiting for you at faithfi.com and the FaithFi app. You'll find powerful wisdom, free podcasts, articles, videos, and more from leading voices such as Randy Alcorn, Howard Dayton, Ron Blue, and our own Rob West.

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That's kingdomadvisors.com. Hey, great to have you with us today on faith and finance. Hey, do you find yourself in the midst of the financial uncertainty with some financial fear and anxiety? Well, that's precisely why we wrote and published the brand new 21 Day Devotion, Look at the Sparrows, because we were hearing from so many of God's people that were saying, Listen, I'm just living in some fear and general anxiousness around my finances. And we'd love to just encourage you by redirecting you away from your present circumstances on the goodness of God and the fact that he can be trusted, that he is our ultimate treasure, and that we should maintain an eternal perspective, replacing fear with faith. That's what happens over a three week period 21 days, we'll take you into Scripture each day, you'll read that you'll consider a prayer, read some Scripture, even have a way to apply it right there each day. It's a quick read. It could be a great way to start your day as you refocus on God's promises in this area of financial stewardship. Check it out today. It's available for you at faithfi.com slash sparrows.

That's faithfi.com slash sparrows. Let's head back to the phones in the meantime to Chicago. Hi, Bobby, how can I help? Oh, thank you for taking my call. I've heard you talk about this before. And I'm sorry, I don't remember what exactly you said. I'm looking for CD rates that are comparable along with my Christian belief. And I believe you gave a name. Is it bank rates.com?

I'm not sure. Yeah, I love that you're thinking about aligning your banking products, Bobby with your faith values as a believer, bankrate.com would be a great search engine just to find those banking institutions or credit unions paying the very best rates right now. But they may or may not align with your values. That's just going to be looking at any bank or credit union across the US. So beyond that, I would recommend perhaps the starting point is to check with our friends at Christian Community Credit Union, you'll find them on the web at join Christian community.com. The nice thing about using Christian Community Credit Union would be, you know, this is specifically a credit union that serves the Christian community. And so not only will you know that they are specifically there to serve you as a believer, but they take a part of the profits that come into the credit union. And they give it away, they've given nearly $6 million to ministry projects worldwide. And so it's just a great option to be aligned with your faith values. And, you know, help you not only do well on the money that you're putting with them, but but also know that you have a great partner in that. They have something called a welcome CD, which could be a great option for you, as you look at setting up a certificate of deposit, because it's paying a fairly attractive rate right now.

I believe it's currently at four and three quarters for five months, and four and a half for 10 months. Okay. And that's welcome CD? That's what it's called. That's the specific product.

But the website for Christian Community Credit Union is joinChristiancommunity.com. Oh, I gotcha. Okay. Okay. Okay.

Well, great. Thanks. God bless you. You've helped me and so many people that I know. You are such a blessing to all many people. Well, thank you for giving your time to all of us. Thank you and God bless you. And you too, Babby and appreciate those kind remarks. Thank you.

Let's go to Ohio. Hi, Samantha, go ahead. Hi, I'm a single mom of three children, and I have limited income, but I was wondering how I can get my credit score up. Yeah, you know, Samantha, being a single parent is no is challenging.

And I get that I've counseled with hundreds of single families over the years, single moms and dads and, and I know how difficult that can be. And so I think, you know, the key is, with regard to a credit score, you know, ultimately, what it comes down to is the very best thing you can do. And I know this is going to sound obvious, but I think it just goes without saying is paying your bills on time. So to the extent you can be an on time payer every month, that is by far the most important because payment history accounts for the largest percentage of your score 35%. So always make at least the minimum payments on any loans that you have second, and this is easier said than done, I get that. But just over time, try to reduce any credit card balances. And if you're carrying credit card debt beyond what you're paying off every month, you may want to check with our friends at Christian credit counselors.org to try to get the interest rates down to get them paid off sooner, because the credit utilization ratio fancy term for basically just how much of your available credit you're using.

That's what that means. That makes up 30% of your score. And you'd really want to keep those balances under 30% of the available limit. So getting it down below 30% is really going to impact your score positively. I would say avoid closing older accounts. So try to keep those older accounts in place, because that shows a good, you know, long credit history and that boosts your score limit new credit applications. So new credit inquiries, which constitute what's called a hard inquiry where you've asked a lender to evaluate your credit for the purpose of extending your you alone, that accounts for 10% of your score.

And then finally, and this is this was a little more challenging to do. And I certainly wouldn't want you to take on a loan and pay interest for just for this purpose. But I'll mention it just so you know that it's a factor. That final factor is your credit mix. And so your credit scoring algorithm wants to see that you have a variety of credit types. So credit cards would be one type installment loans, like a car loan would be another type of mortgage would be a third type, having a nice credit mix positively impacts your score. But again, not worth taking on debt and paying interest just to boost your credit score. I just want you to know that's a factor.

So I think those are the primary ones. Maybe one additional kind of bonus tip is make sure you're pulling your credit report at least three times a year, an annual credit report.com. And the reason is you're going to want to look for inaccuracies, or fraudulent activity from accounts that are not yours, and dispute those to get those off if they're there, because those would obviously be pulling your score down. But is that helpful to you, Samantha? Yeah, what was the name of that place you mentioned that could help me with my debt? Credit card?

Sure. Yeah, it's Christian credit counselors.org. Christian credit counselors.org.

They've worked with literally 1000s of our listeners Samantha over the years. They're wonderful, godly folks that just want to help God's people get out of debt. And what will happen is if you have credit card debt, they're going to get that into a credit counseling program, which just basically means you're going to get those interest rates reduced because every creditor has a credit counseling rate predetermined. So if you slide into a credit counseling program through Christian credit counselors, all of a sudden that interest rate is dropped.

And now that one level monthly payment that you pay through them, a lot more is going to principle so you can get it paid off 80% faster. Hey, listen, you hang in there. Great to hear from you today. And if we can serve you in any other way in the future, don't hesitate to call.

That's going to do it for us. Big thanks to my team today. Man, just so thankful for Devin Patrick, my producer for Autumn, our call screener today. Really thankful for Taylor as well and his research and all the things he does and being our production manager here at Faithfi. We're so grateful you were here as well. Hope you have a great day and come back and join us tomorrow. Bye bye. Faith and Finance is provided by Faithfi and listeners like you.