Financially Faithful in the Busyness of Life

Do you feel weighted down by financial stress?

You're not alone. Money worries touch all of us. But Jesus tells us we don't have to carry that burden. That's why we at Faithful have written Look at the Sparrows, a 21-day devotional from Faithful. Each day, you'll find scripture, reflection, and prayer to guide you through your journey toward peace. Visit faithful.com slash sparrows and start finding freedom from financial anxiety today with Look at the Sparrows.

That's faith by dot com slash sparrows. If then you have not been faithful in the unrighteous wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? Luke 16 11.

I am Rob West. We're called to be good stewards of God's resources. But being financially faithful amid the busyness of modern life isn't easy. Today, I'll tell you how to stay faithful in managing your money. 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, it's easy to feel overwhelmed these days and be tempted to take the path of least resistance with money.

Maybe it's easier to grab a cup of coffee on the way to work than to make it yourself or to hit a fast food drive through rather than making dinner for the family. But those expenses add up quickly. And before you know it, there isn't quite enough money left over at the end of the month to meet your obligations and you're charged a late fee.

It doesn't have to be that way. With preparation, you can avoid it. First, carve out some time each week for prayer. Ask God for wisdom in managing your money.

James 1-5 tells us if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God who gives generously to all without reproach and it will be given him. Next, you need a spending plan. It's essential for managing your money faithfully. If you're not living on a budget, download the free Faithfi app in your app store. It has three different ways to set up a budget with step-by-step instructions and help from our team. The Faithfi app will also track your expenses so you stay on budget. Developing your budget will show clearly whether you have enough income to meet your expenses.

If you don't, there are really only two options. You can either cut your expenses or look for ways to increase your income. Trimming the budget may be easier, so look at the categories where you spend a lot of money first. You may not be able to do much right away with your rent or mortgage, but what about food? Groceries and eating out can gobble up a big chunk of your budget, but planning can save you a lot of money.

Limit getting carry out to one to two times a month. Instead, draw a menu plan for the week. Make a list of the items you'll need to prepare those meals before you go to the store. Actually, shopping online for groceries can save you money because you're not tempted by impulse buying and you see the running tab of the items you choose. That will help you stay on budget by not overspending in your food category. Most of the bigger chains offer online shopping now, often at no charge. Then look for other ways to trim your spending.

Are you still subscribing to streaming services you're not using? Can you form a babysitting pool with other parents or maybe look for free activities in your community? Every little bit helps. Now, once your budget is balanced, ideally you'll have something left over. This is also essential. Unless you can learn to live below your means, you'll be running up debt every month.

More on that in a bit. Now, the next step in staying financially faithful is to take that leftover money, even if it's only a little, then begin saving up your emergency fund. You absolutely must have a reserve of cash to meet unexpected expenses. Things outside your budget, like a furnace needing repair or a medical bill. Start with a goal of $1,500, then keep going, adding bit by bit. You'll want to eventually save three to six months living expenses in your emergency fund. It may take a long time and you will no doubt have setbacks along the way, but the peace of mind you'll get once you have your emergency fund in place will be worth the effort. Okay, I mentioned debt earlier.

If you have it, you know firsthand that Proverbs 22 seven is true. The borrower is slave to the lender. Make a plan to get out of debt. You can split your leftover money, applying some to your emergency fund and the rest of paying down consumer debt.

Use the snowball method to speed this up. Pay all of your minimum payments, but more on the account with the smallest balance. When that's paid off, put your extra money on the next smallest balance. Rinse and repeat until the debt is gone. If you're having trouble meeting those minimum monthly payments, contact our friends at christiancreditcounselors.org to get on a debt management plan. They can get your interest rates reduced so that you can pay off your debt 80% faster. Once your consumer debt is paid off, you can turn to retirement savings. Strive to save 10 to 15% of your income in a tax advantage plan like an IRA or 401k.

If your employer offers matching contributions, you want to do this as quickly as possible to take full advantage of that free money. These things are all important, but a generous heart is at the core of financial faithfulness. Commit to giving consistently to your local church and look for opportunities to bless others through sacrificial giving.

We'll be right back. Replace your financial anxiety with peace today. Visit faithbuy.com slash sparrows and start your journey today. Do you feel like your hands are tied with debt, preventing you from serving God? If you have credit card debt, Christian Credit Counselors can help.

Through our debt management program, we can get you out of credit card debt about 80% faster while honoring your debt in full. For more information on how Christian Credit Counselors can help, visit christiancreditcounselors.org. That's christiancreditcounselors.org or call 800-557-1985. 800-557-1985.

Thanks for joining us today on Faith and Finance. We're taking your calls and questions today. 800-525-7000. Again, that's 800-525-7000. Whatever's on your mind today, call right now. We've got lines open and we'd love to hear from you address your specific financial question.

Whether it's living on a budget, paying down debt, maybe it's investing for the future, or even getting that credit score up. Whatever it might be, lines are open again. 800-525-7000. Let's go to Amarillo, Texas. Tim, you'll be our first caller today.

Go ahead, sir. So my question is, my wife is retired. I am 59 and I'm wanting to retire next year. So our house is paid off, vehicles, we have some rent houses, they're almost paid off. When should we take or try to take our Social Security?

Yeah, it's a great question. I mean, I would definitely not take it before full retirement age. And so that's probably for you going to be 67 at this point. Reason being that you're going to have a reduction of about 8% a year for every year you take it early and doesn't sound like you need the income. I mean, you all have done a great job, you're living modestly, you've prioritized paying off debt. I love the fact that not only do you have, you know, completely debt free on the house and the cars, but even with your rental properties, it sounds like you're headed in that direction. So I suspect they're throwing off some good cash flow.

So here's the reality. If you're in good health, relatively speaking, and you don't need the money, and it sounds like you don't, then I just let that money grow as long as possible. So for instance, if you waited all the way until age 70, versus starting at age 67, let's say, you'd get a check that's about, well, with three years, about 24, 25% higher than you would have at full retirement age. Now, you would have given up those checks for three years. So it's going to take you about 12 years in the form of those higher checks, about 25% higher, it'll take about 12 years of checks to be paid back for what you gave up. But once you get to about age 82, on average, you will have been paid 100% of what you gave up between 67 and 70. And then you've got a check 25% higher for the rest of your life, that's a pretty good deal, you're going to get that roughly 8% a year added to that check guaranteed, you're not going to get that in the stock market. So that's why for folks who aren't kind of counting on this money and aren't desperate for it, you know, as soon as they can possibly get their hands on it, I generally advise folks who are in relatively good health to wait if you can, but give me your thoughts on all that. Yeah, that does make sense. And, you know, I'm just kind of semi-retired, so I'll still have a job, you know, and my wife was a school teacher, so she brings home, you know, about 2700 a month. So yeah, I just kind of wanted to get your thoughts on that. As far as our investment and pensions, do we need to roll that over into something other than what our companies have that in now? Yeah, I would.

And whether you do that now, because you've already separated, or if you haven't separated yet, and you've got to wait and do that a little bit down the road, I'd go ahead and get that person lined up that you're going to work with to manage that money. I'd recommend you interview two or three certified kingdom advisors. These are men and women who've met high standards and character and competence, and they've signed a statement of faith, and they've had a pastor and client reference and a regulatory review, and they've been trained and passed a university curriculum around integrating biblical wisdom into professional financial decision making. So you put all that together, and that's the CKA designation.

There's about 1600 men and women across the US and Canada that have earned it. You can head to our website, faithfi.com. That's faithfi.com. Right there at the top of the page, it'll say find a professional and you can do a zip code search. If you want to ensure that your investments are aligned with your values as well, so you'd want to screen for faith-based investments, you can't even indicate when you're searching for a CKA that you want a CKA who specifically works with faith-based investments, and it will limit the list accordingly.

But all of that available at faithfi.com. Just click find a professional at the top of the page, and what you'll do, Tim, is you'll decide who that person is, go ahead and establish that relationship, do the discovery, some of the planning around it, and then you'll be ready when you want to roll that money over for that advisor to take over the management right away. Thanks for your call, sir. God bless you. Thanks for your kind remarks about the program. 800-525-7000 is the number to call. Let's go to Georgia. Hi, Greg.

How can I help? Rob, thank you for taking my call. I just had a general question. I'm 50 years old, self-employed, and I max out a Roth IRA every year, but I had a question on Social Security. Do you, just in your personal opinion, foresee it being around in the next, you know, 20 years or so, or are you in the camp that, you know, somebody like me should be concerned? You know, I think it will be.

Here's the reality of it. Worst case scenario, Congress does nothing, and the trust fund runs out of money in 2034, so it's a bit of a moving target. At that point, with just current tax revenues, the Social Security Administration would still be able to pay about 75% of benefits at that point, even with the trust fund at zero. Now, is that going to happen? I don't think so, because lawmakers, although they're going to put off fixing this problem as long as they can, are eventually going to have to pass legislation to kind of shore up the trust fund.

How would they do that? Well, they've got a number of levers to pull. One is raising FICA taxes. One is increasing full retirement age, so maybe instead of 67, it's 78 or 79. I mean, there's a number of things that they can do, and, you know, legislators are not going to want to have this on their backs because they don't want to ever see benefits being reduced.

That's a terrible move if you're an elected official. So, you know, I think what we've, you know, what we will see happen is we will just kind of continue on this current track, and then as we get closer to 2034, you're going to see some changes that will result in them kind of shoring up, you know, Social Security, because nobody's going to let that go away. Does moving the full retirement age up later in life affect or draw on Social Security early for some folks, if that were to happen? You know, there's a decrease in the benefit equal to, you know, how early you take it.

So, yeah, if you took it, assuming you're still allowed to take it at 62, if the full retirement age is pushed out to, let's say, instead of 67, 68, what it's going to mean is a bigger reduction equal to about an additional 8% on that early check because you're taking it an extra year sooner, if that makes sense. Yeah, I understand what you're saying. It does. Okay, well, thank you for taking my call. Y'all have a blessed weekend.

All right, and you as well. Thanks for your call today. Well, folks, we're just getting started here today.

We've got room for a lot more questions, although many are coming in now. The question, or excuse me, the number is 800-525-7000. By the way, here at Faith and Finance, we want to not only give you a godly counsel on this program each day, but we want to help you find a community of godly folks who can come alongside you because we realize that part of your stewardship journey is seeking that wise counsel along the way.

That can come in many forms. If you're in credit card debt, reaching out to our Friends of Christian Credit Counselors. If you need help with, you know, making sure you have offset the cost of healthcare, and you can do that in a way that's affordable, Christian Healthcare Ministries can be a great resource. If you're looking for a professional advisor, think financial planning, investment management, accounting, insurance, estate planning, and you want somebody who shares your values, who's met high standards in character and competency, they've had a pastoral reference and a client reference and a regulatory review. Well, that's the Certified Kingdom Advisor designation. It's our go-to here for godly professionals that can serve you.

You can find a CKA in your area when you go to faithfi.com and click find a professional. We're going to take a quick break, come back with more questions just around the corner. Again, a few lines remaining open, 800-525-7000.

We'll be right back. Imagine having biblical financial wisdom delivered to your inbox every week, helping you integrate your faith and financial decisions for the glory of God. At faithfi.com, you can join a community of over 70,000 people who are already receiving our weekly wisdom email filled with articles, videos, podcasts, and exclusive offers on resources that will deepen your understanding of biblical stewardship. Start your journey today by creating your Faithfi account at faithfi.com.

Just click sign up. Investments involve risk. Principal loss is possible. Foresight Fund Services, LLC. Great to have you with us today on Faith in Finance. We're taking your calls and questions today.

Let's go to Cleveland, Ohio, WCRF. Ms. P, go right ahead. Hello. How are you? Thank you for taking my call.

Yes, ma'am. I have a universal life insurance. I'm worth about $10,500. And I want to know, they just updated the premiums I need to pay until 2031, $50 a month. So I'm wondering, I don't need it necessarily.

I donated my body to my hospital for no funeral and all that. And what I want to do is maybe put it in the bank, get a cash value, put it in the bank, and then put that $50 in the bank instead of paying it on the policy. I want to know, is that a good idea or not? Yeah. I mean, if you don't need the death benefit, then cashing it out and investing may be the better long-term option.

And that's generally what we see. Now, the reason why you wouldn't want to do that and you'd want to keep it is if there was high surrender charges, so you'd want to check the fees. If you still needed insurance coverage for estate planning, most people don't because the threshold for estate taxes is so high, $13 million, or if you needed it for lifelong dependence, or if you were using it for tax advantages. But apart from that, if the surrender charges are low, there's no major tax penalties, you know, the investment returns would likely be higher than the policy growth, especially given that, you know, you're going to have to pay the mortality expense for insurance that you don't need. So I would say, you know, as long as you understand the tax consequences, and you understand what the policy's cash value is, and you've explored any surrender charges, then yes, you probably could do better elsewhere over the long haul. Okay, I'm 80 now, so shouldn't be any taxes. You know, you just need to understand, you know, what are the tax consequences? Have you looked into that? Do you know, you know what that would be? No, I need some help with that.

Okay. Yeah, so it depends on whether you have a gain in the policy and, and how you withdraw the funds. So if the cash value on your policy is greater than the total premiums you paid, which is called the cost basis, then you'll owe ordinary income tax, you probably it's probably not. I mean, you've probably paid more in premiums over the years, then you're going to be able to get out as the cash value. And if that's the case, then you don't owe any taxes. And so then the only other question would be, are there surrender charges?

And probably not since you've had it, because normally those go away after the first 10 years, maybe 15 at the most, but you'd want to check on that. And then just verify that that is in fact true that your your cost basis, you know, is higher than the the cash value that you'll be pulling out. And if that's the case, then there's no taxes. So then the only other question is just, okay, what am I going to do with the money? And I would have a plan for that, or get an advisor who can help you make those decisions.

Okay, can I help? Can I get an advisor at FAFI? You can, yeah, we don't employ them, but they earn our designation at Kingdom Advisors called Certified Kingdom Advisor. There's about 1600 of them around the country that have met all of our requirements that allows them to call themselves Certified Kingdom Advisor. They've met an experience requirement and a pastor reference and client references. And they've gone through training and a code of ethics.

And I mean, there's a whole list, we made it really hard to get for good reason. But yeah, you could go if you're comfortable, Miss P, go into the web and go into faithfi.com. You could click find a professional and do a zip code search there in Cleveland.

There's some great CKs there in Cleveland. If you're not comfortable on the web, I could have somebody call you and help you do that search. Have somebody call me. All right, let's do this. No problem. Stay on the line. My team will get your information and somebody from Kingdom Advisors will call you.

She'll do your zip code search or he will and give you a list of advisors that you can contact. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. All right.

Lord bless you. Thank you for calling. Yes, ma'am.

We're going to stay right there in Cleveland. Hi, Cindy. Go ahead. Hi, Rob. I hope he can help me.

I'm calling for my son. Right now, he's in about $10,000 worth of credit card debt. And he did call the Christian credit counselors and they could help him with that.

But he's $30,000 in debt to payday cash loans, who are charging him 300% interest. Wow. Yeah. Is there any avenue that he can, like I said, they'll help with the credit cards, but they will not be able to help them with these payday cash loans?

Yeah. Boy, I mean, it should just be illegal because that is, you know, a financial crisis, as you well know. And, you know, I think the key is, you got to stop the payday loan cycle immediately, not taking out new loans, new payday loans to cover old ones. And this goes without saying, but just cut any unnecessary spending. I mean, I would, he needs to go toward the the May Day budget, which means we, you know, we keep a roof over our head, we keep the utilities paid, we keep food on the table and gas in the car to get to work.

But everything else is, you know, subject to being eliminated. And we need to try to avoid the overdrafts to prevent more fees from the payday lenders. So I think, you know, the first question is, are the loans legal, some states limit payday loan interest rates, or outright ban them? If they exceed the state limits, and you may not have to repay all of it. So you could check out the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The next is to call the payday lenders and ask for a lower settlement or an extended payment plan. Some will offer, even though these are predatory, some will offer hardship programs.

And, you know, and I think the next thing is, you know, just to see if there's any other way possible. I mean, is his situation improving at all in terms of being able to increase his income or, you know, find another way to, you know, take out another loan to pay those off? That would be, you know, more of a conventional loan from a bank or a credit union? No, he's tried that. No, he doesn't have, he doesn't really, he doesn't have the best credit score. And that's where the last resort here is bankruptcy, just, you know, and you won't find that in the Bible.

I mean, what, what is in the Bible is an absolute commitment to repay, but he can only do what he can do. And, you know, he's, whatever decisions have been made in the past, that's what they are. The question is, how do we move forward? And so at this point, it's really a matter of what I said, no more payday loans, no rollovers, look for state violations and dispute illegal loans, if there are any, try to negotiate lower payments or settlements, slash the budget. And, you know, let's just get as much going toward paying that off as quickly as possible.

And this is going to be a hard season right now, but it is what it is. I'd be happy to offer one of our certified Christian financial counselors, Cindy, to walk alongside him to help, you know, just look at the budget and bring some advice and some encouragement and some prayer. This is a trained financial counselor who just is really committed to biblical stewardship. Would that be helpful?

Oh, it sure would be, Rob. Thank you. All right. Listen, I'm going to have that person connect with you and you can make the handoff. We're going to pay for it and cover the cost of that, Cindy, to get your son back on track here. Stay on the line.

We'll get your information and get a certified Christian financial counselor in touch with you. Thanks for your call. Boy, what a great program today. So appreciate your questions and your calls. Thanks for being along with us today. I hope we've encouraged you in your role as being a faithful steward and managing God's money. I couldn't do this without my team, Sandy Dickinson, Taylor Stanrich, and Devin Patrick. Everybody here at Faith By have a great weekend. We'll see you next time. Bye-bye. Faith and Finance is provided by Faith By and listeners like you.