Should Christian Couples Have Joint or Separate Bank Accounts?

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I am Rob West. Does becoming one extend to the checkbook? Put another way, should husband and wife have joint or separate checking accounts? I'll talk about that first 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. Regular listeners know that this is a question we get fairly often on the program and it's especially important for couples when they first get married. Usually they just set up joint checking and savings accounts and it's really not an issue but not always. Sometimes older folks may be getting married for the second time, want to keep their accounts separate or one spouse might enter into the marriage with a lot of debt or a bad credit rating. They think that by keeping separate accounts one spouse's bad history won't affect the other. That's because they've heard that when two people marry their credit histories are automatically merged into one by the credit reporting agencies, Experian, Equifax and TransUnion but that's not the case.

In fact, each spouse's credit history is tied only to that person's social security number. If one of them applies for credit and his or her name only, only that person's credit history is taken into account. Here's an example, newlyweds decide to buy a new car with a loan.

Usually not a good idea but that's another case. Now say one of the spouses has good credit, the other doesn't. If they take out a loan only in the name of the spouse with the good score, only that person's credit history comes into play. So you see that having joint or separate bank accounts has no effect on getting that loan but let's look at another situation. Many couples take a huge financial step within a few years of marriage and that's buying a house. Now the odds are because the payments will be so much more that they'll have to put both names on the loan application in order to meet income qualifications and of course that's when the other spouse's credit history will be taken into consideration.

If that spouse has a bad credit history it will have a negative effect on getting the mortgage approved. Now that that's cleared up, let's go back to the question of separate or joint bank accounts. The Bible doesn't tell us whether spouses should share one account because people didn't have bank accounts back then so we have to look at the bigger picture.

As Jesus said in Mark 10, marriage is about two people becoming one. Obviously they both remain individuals but marriage is a partnership that requires trust, openness, and communication. That's especially true when it comes to finances. Joint checking and savings accounts promote transparency and communication between spouses. It prevents spouses from developing a mine and yours mentality. It also promotes trust by ensuring that neither is making hidden purchases.

There are some other practical considerations as well. A joint account simplifies bookkeeping and tracking your spending. A lot of couples have trouble balancing one checking account.

Why double the problem with two? Having separate accounts can also create a cash flow problem. Are there enough available funds in one account to meet obligations?

If not, money has to be transferred from the other account. With a single checking account you don't have to worry about not having enough money to pay a bill or trying to track down the other checkbook. Now an argument that's often made for keeping separate accounts is that one spouse is only interested in say the grocery category in the budget and leaves everything else to the other spouse to be handled with a separate account. But that of course would leave the one spouse fairly clueless about the family finances if something should happen to the other.

Not a good idea. Both spouses should have a good understanding of the overall financial picture. Frequent money conversations can ensure that happens. Keeping open the lines of communication about money and making spending decisions together means one spouse won't be left in the dark. You know God's word contains the solution to every problem married couples face, including finances. In Ephesians 5 21 we read, submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.

And Amos 3 3 reminds us, do two walk together unless they have agreed to do so. It's safe to say that in most cases that would also apply to finances. Just like any other area of marriage it is so critical that couples strive for unity regarding their finances.

God's design for marriage is of course oneness and that includes how you both manage his resources. So maybe this is the month you should start your monthly money day to offer course corrections, no finger pointing, but to make sure you're on the same page with regard to your finances. I think it'll really help. All right, your calls are next, 800-525-7000.

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Great to have you with us today on Faith and Finance. All right, it's time to take your calls and questions today. 800-525-7000.

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The rest of the program is yours. 800-525-7000. You can call right now. Let's dive in today.

We're going to begin in Fort Myers today. Hi, David. Go ahead. Yes. Hi, Rob. Thanks for taking my call.

Yes, sir. So I'm wondering, is it really necessary to have life insurance? And I've been with the life insurance company for a few years now, paying about 100 bucks a month. I'm just wondering, you know, what's the good of it?

Yeah, yeah, it's a great question. You know, so for any insurance, you're offsetting the risk. So with your car insurance, what is the risk? Well, the risk is you could have an accident or somebody could hit you and damage your automobile and you need to get it fixed. And they're more expensive now than ever to repair because it's hard to get the parts in some cases.

And you've got computer chips running these cars these days. And, you know, certainly I wouldn't wish this on anybody, but somebody could be injured. And then we have medical bills associated with it. The goal is never to have to collect on that. You know, if you ended up owning that car and carrying car insurance on it, and then five years later, you sell that car to someone else and you move on and you might say, well, I just kind of threw that money away because I never got in an accident.

You'd be okay with that. That's a good thing because the insurance was serving its purpose. And that is for you to know and have the peace of mind that if something happened, you'd have your insurance company that could step in and cover those medical bills or repair your automobile. And I think in a similar way, that's true with life insurance.

What is the risk we're offsetting? Well, the risk is a loss of income. This isn't the only thing, but the primary thing is a loss of income when a breadwinner dies. And so if someone is depending upon your income, a spouse most often or lifelong dependents or minor children, and the Lord were to call you home and that income goes away, that could create a hardship for them. And so the life insurance is intended to fill that gap and could be then that asset could be converted to an income stream to be able to maintain their lifestyle. And so for that $100 a month, you've got, you know, some death benefit there that could be a real blessing and could really be the difference between them being able to maintain some quality of life and standard of living after your death and not being able to do that because they just lack the resources to be able to maintain their lifestyle. And so that's where life insurance comes in.

The goal is not to have to collect because that means the Lord still has you here and you're serving whatever purposes he has for you, including providing for your family. Now, a lot of times folks will in addition to replacing that income. And typically we say you want 10 to 12 times your income in life insurance in order to offset that. So if you're making $60,000 a year, you'd want somewhere between $600,000 and $720,000 in death benefit. And the best way to get that is through term insurance. And the idea behind term insurance, David, is that you have it at, you buy it at the lowest cost possible. So you're just paying the mortality expense. There's people called actuaries that are running fancy formulas to determine what is the true cost of insuring your life based on your age and your health, primarily to determine the likelihood that you're going to pass away during the period of time that the insurance is there. And there's an associated monthly or annual premium that covers that cost of the death benefit. And the most effective way to get the amount of death benefit you need, that 10 to 12 times your income that I suggested is buying pure insurance, which is term. Now, some people will add to that, maybe the cost of your mortgage, the value of your mortgage to pay that off or the kid's college education. So we know that's paid for if you were to pass away.

And that obviously could all be added there. But another idea behind term insurance is that when you get to the end of your working years, and you've built the assets, because now you've got social security, and you've been funding your 401k for 40 years, and you've got assets there to live on, well, there's no longer that risk. If the Lord calls you home, there's plenty of assets there for your wife to maintain her standard of living. And so that life insurance is no longer necessary.

And so ideally, you'd, you'd keep putting term policies in place, kind of stringing them together throughout your working years. And then when you get to retirement, you drop it, you no longer need it. And that expense goes away, which is part of how, you know, most retirees live on 80% of their pre retirement income, not 100. Because there are certain expenses that come off the table.

And I would suggest for most people, one of those is life insurance. Does that help in answering that question, though? Yes, it does. Thank you very much. That was great.

Very good. I think the bottom line here, David, is that if you get to the end of the the year working years, and you never collected on that life insurance, that means the Lord's not done with you. That's a good thing. But it doesn't mean that money was thrown away, because that that expense that you had every month was there to protect your family in the event of your untimely death.

And just because it didn't happen doesn't mean it wasn't a worthwhile expense. I think that's part of our stewardship responsibility. Thanks for your call today. Let's go to Illinois and welcome Rod to the broadcast. Rod, go ahead. I just want to say thank you for your biblical financial advice. I really appreciate your show.

Oh, wow. Well, that means a lot, Rod. I'll tell you, you know, you do this each day, kind of talking out there into, you know, the world, and I get to talk to some amazing callers, but you always wonder, you know, to some degree whether the message is resonating, and so your encouragement means a lot.

Yeah, your advice on CKA, your listeners really need to take that serious. I was able to retire at 54 years old, and using a certified kingdom advisor, they did more for me than any financial people have in my life, and it's biblical-based. The company I was working for for 32 years as an industrial electrician, some of the value started going kind of bad from the corporate level, and I decided it was time to get out, and now I volunteer with Eight Days of Hope. I've been out for about a little over a year now, and I love it. I get to glorify God and be his hands and feet due to your advice.

I've never heard of anything like CKA, and they've done an amazing job here in Illinois for me. Man, Rod, what an encouragement, my friend. I appreciate you weighing in on that. Boy, there's so much that I love what you just said.

You're right. I mean, these certified kingdom advisors are amazing. There's 1,600 of them now across the country, and you know what's great is that they've met all these standards to be really skilled at what they do as financial professionals, but they truly want to bring their faith into their advice in a way that's meaningful, but I also love that you're volunteering for Eight Days of Hope. What a great opportunity. Have you been in South Georgia as a part of that work? I have not, no.

I've been in Ohio and Louisiana, and hopefully I'll get to go out yet to either Georgia or South Carolina and stuff, North Carolina. Wow, incredible. So you're fully retired and now just volunteering because you've got the assets to do that, is that right? Yes, and it ain't a lot, Rod, but that's okay. It's enough. I love what I do.

It's enough to get by, and I think that's what makes the ladies so special that do this stuff for me. We was trying to find a pastor, and they're at our level. They prayed, and that day we had an interview with a pastor, a scheduled interview with the pastor. He's currently our pastor right now, but that meant a lot to me, just having biblical-based financial advice like that that will pray with you.

Incredible. Well listen, Rod, all the best to you, my friend. I love that you are pursuing God's call on your life. He's obviously using you in immense ways, and I'm so thrilled that you've connected with a CKA that's walking alongside you and managing your financial affairs. God bless you, my friend. Thanks for being a part of the program. Thanks, Rob. All right, 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 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. Faithfi is grateful for support from One Ascent. One Ascent believes that your values inspire why you invest and how they can inspire how you invest. One Ascent's goal is to provide solutions designed for every need and invest in businesses that bless the people and places God has made. They want to help investors do well by doing good, to explore a new way of investing that aligns with your values. More information is available at oneascent.com and by clicking Analyze My Investments.

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This institution is not federally insured. Great to have you with us today on Faith and Finance. I'm Rob West. We're taking your calls and questions today. Lines are filling up, but we've got room for a few more. 800-525-7000. You can call right now. Let's head right back to the phones to Chicago. Hi, Mark. How can I help you?

Hey, thanks for taking my call. I have a situation I just need some help overcoming, and let me preface it by saying this. This really started in April. April started and I started having some severe health issues.

I was suffering from depression, anxiety, some PTSD, just some stuff that's been happening over my life. And over the course of the summer, I ended up missing roughly three months of work because of the time off that I had. Now that I'm back to work and doing a little bit of overtime here and there, whenever they ask me, I'm starting to think to myself, how do I make up that money that I lost during the time I was off?

And I'm just having a hard time with that. I know that that money is gone. I'll never be able to make it up, no matter how much overtime I make.

It won't cover it, but it's also, well, you'd have had this overtime anyway with it. So I'm really having a tough time trying to get to myself saying, it's gone, don't think about it, move forward and we'll go from here. And I also do want to say that God did provide during that time that we didn't have my paycheck coming in, never missed a meal, never missed a mortgage payment or anything. Wow.

Yeah. Well, Mark, I appreciate that. You know, I think we have to take a step back and realize that every dollar we have, everything we have, including our bodies, our very life is a gift from God. Paul, the apostle Paul asked the question when he's writing to the church at Corinth, what do you have that you weren't given? And I think the idea is the obvious answer is nothing because everything belongs to God, including us. And so our responsibility is to faithfulness, faithfulness to opportunity, faithfulness to whatever passes through our hands, whatever the Lord gives us. And that includes faithfulness in those seasons where there's a lack. And to your point, I mean, you had to, you had some health issues, you had to take some time off.

There was lost income there. But I think ultimately when we recognize that God is our provider, and I appreciate you giving testimony to God's faithfulness, even when it didn't make sense, even through a difficult season where income dries up, you didn't miss any payments. And I think, you know, that's a direct evidence of God's provision and faithfulness in your life. And so I think trying to, you know, move that concern around what was lost and what I gave up to gratitude for God as your provider, because remember, it's not your employer's, not your provider, not the US government, not anyone or anything else, but God himself.

It says even the power to create wealth comes from God. And so I think, you know, the idea that we need to shift toward is toward the goodness of God. His promises are true. He will never leave us or forsake us.

Look at the birds of the air. If he's going to provide for them, how much more would he not provide for you, his child? And so once we've surrendered our lives to him as Lord and Savior, then it's a matter of leaning into our responsibility of stewardship. And even those difficult seasons that when they come, we say, I will trust the Lord. Perhaps there's a shift that needs to occur.

And I'm talking to myself at the same time in our minds away from not what did I lose or what did I give up or what did I miss out on? But God, thank you that you can be trusted as my provider. And now, what can I do moving forward to be that wise and faithful steward, as I see your provision coming in, to save for the future, to continue to give generously, to live within my means, but also to continue recognizing that God owns it all. And with that means I need to accept my role as steward. And there are implications to stewardship.

You don't have ownership rights and neither do I. We have a responsibility. We need to be faithful in a little as well as faithful in much. We need to give generously because giving causes us to hold everything with an open hand and recognize God as our provider. All of these ideas, I think, are implications to God, you know, ultimately being the one who is our provider above anything else. But is that helpful at all?

Yeah, actually it is. You know, throughout this whole time that I was off, my wife kept on reminding me, we're going to get through this. We've been through this before with your, you know, with your foot surgery seven years ago. We went through this before, you know, and God always provided for us.

He's not going to stop now. And I'm like, yeah, you're right. And the biggest thing I learned through all this is to rely more on God, just in everything, and not rely more on man. Even though I went through a man-made program at the hospital, what God was trying to tell me is, yeah, that program will give you a little bit, but I'll give you what you really need. And that's the thing that I really learned through this whole journey.

Yes. God's Word is full of promises for His people who put their complete trust in the Lord. Isaiah 41, 10. Fear not, for I am with you. Do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you.

I will help you. I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. So we need to recognize God's plans don't always match ours. The Bible acknowledges that life will have its worries and troubles.

You've experienced them. I have as well. However, faith means trusting in God's sovereignty even if we struggle. Let's do this, Mark. We just produced a brand new 21-day devotional called Look at the Sparrows.

I'd love for you to go on that journey over the next three weeks as you start each day with a different passage of Scripture, a short devotional, some Scripture memory, and a few exercises just to remind yourself to transfer your sights away from your present circumstances, put them back on God as your ultimate treasure. I want to send that to you as our gift. I'd love for you to go through it and then call us at the end. Hang on the line. We'll get your information and get Look at the Sparrows out to you. Quickly to Miami, Alejandra. We have just about a minute left. How can I help you? Hi, how are you? Thank you for your program.

It's a blessing to everyone. I have a question. We have a property, an investment property that we paid off, or we have the cash to pay it off. What we owed already, and we were debating if keeping the property or selling the property and being able to roll it over to a retirement plan, if that is possible or exists, because that's all we have for retirement and we're like 65.

Yeah, very good. No, unfortunately there's not a way to roll an investment property unless you owned it in what's called a self-directed IRA, so it's already in a retirement plan. You can't just roll it into a retirement plan to avoid the taxes because retirement plans, number one, they have contribution limits. Depending on what type of retirement plan it is, you can only contribute up to a certain amount in any given year.

Number two, they have to take straight contributions. It can't be appreciated assets. The only way you could save on taxes and the sale of this property would be number one, if you wanted to be charitable with a portion of it, you could give away a portion of the property prior to the sale to like a donor advised fund, but that money would have to be given to a nonprofit. You couldn't use that for yourself. The second way is if you want to stay in real estate, you could use a 1031 exchange and roll the proceeds of property one into another property and then push that down the road.

Apart from that, you're going to have to sell it, pay the capital gains, and then you can look at putting it into an annuity or a retirement plan. Thanks for your call today. Hey, big thanks to my team today, Taylor, Devin, and Sandy. Couldn't do it without them. We'll see you next time. Bye-bye. Faith and Finance is provided by FaithFi and listeners like you.