Are the Rich Heartless?

Eat him, dawg.

In Mark 836, Jesus gives a clear warning to a crowd of followers about any who would choose well over him. He says four What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?

Well, this message may be especially troubling today, since we live in the wealthiest nation in history. First up, Kingdom advises President Rob West applies that verse to life in America. Then it's your financial calls on any topic at eight hundred five to five. Seven thousand eight hundred five to five 7000. I'm Steve Moore. Other rich heartless. We'll explore that question today right here on Moneywise Line.

All right, Rob, we should give credit first here to Dr. Lloyd Kim, coordinator of missions to the world for the PCH denomination, who wrote on this recently. And we reflected on his notes. Christians should do the occasional gut check about how we're using God's resources, don't you think?

Well, there's no question about that, Steve.

But at the same time, we need to point out that there's nothing inherently immoral about wealth. Money is simply a tool that can be used for good or evil. At the same time, there's nothing inherently virtuous about being poor. But we won't be judged on how much or how little money we have. But we will have to answer someday for how we used God's money. The idea behind stewardship, the danger is when we forget that it's all God's money and we are simply caretakers or managers.

Okay. But there does seem to be a prevailing prevailing theme in our culture today that the rich are somewhat heartless. It's pervasive in the entertainment media and elsewhere. What do you make of that?

Well, I think it's just another example of how the world's thinking differs from gods. Jesus talked about money a lot during his earthly ministry, but the only wealthy people he called out were those who came by riches dishonestly, such as the Pharisees who operated a corrupt system. Our resident economist, if you will, Jerry Boyer, points that out often when he joins us in his article, though, Dr. Kim rightly points out that being wealthy is not a sin and that having a lot of resources can be used to bless many who are less fortunate. But he also warns that wealth may cause us to go astray in very specific ways. Kim Sites First, Timothy six. Paul reveals two of these ways. He says he says wealth can make us prideful and it can cause us to put our faith in it rather than God. Pride certainly separates us from God, but it also separates us from our fellow man. It makes us think we're more important than others. And the proof is that we have more. We're richer, smarter and more favored than those around us. Perhaps we might believe throughout scripture, Steve. God warns us that earthly wealth is a fleeting thing. It can be here today and gone tomorrow. You see, we all long for peace and security, but looking to wealth to provide it instead of the Lord will only lead to bitter disappointment. To paraphrase Jesus, I would say all the money in the world can't save your soul.

Yeah, well, amen to that. So how do we avoid that temptation? Yeah.

Well, going back to Dr. Kim's article, he says, and I couldn't agree with him more. It's simply to put our hope in God, who is always faithful in his promise to meet our every need, not just here and now, but for all eternity. And God is the true source of our security, no matter how much money we have. But make no mistake, Steve. God wants us to enjoy his blessings. There's nothing wrong in that. But we must also recognize the real reason he entrust to us perhaps in abundance, and that's to glorify him, to draw others to him and to advance his kingdom. And that opportunity is not only for the wealthy. Remember the widow's mite, Luke, 21. Jesus looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the offering box, and he saw a poor widow who put in two small copper coins. And he said, Truly, I tell you, this widow has put in more than all of them. But there's no doubt that the wealth we enjoy in America gives us a unique opportunity to be generous and to further God's kingdom.

All right. So my question still is, are the rich heartless?

And I would say as a group, no, they're not. And we should point out that a culture that supposedly hates stereotype certainly uses a lot of them. Dr. Kim's article was in response to a book written by avowed socialist Christopher Ryan. The book is called Civilize to Death The Price of Progress. It argues stereotypically that wealthy people as a group are indifferent to the plight of others, even going as far as to say that people driving expensive cars won't stop to allow an elderly woman with a cane to cross the street.

Well, obviously, that's kind of silly and. Well, we'll come back and put a bow on this. But first, we have to pause and take a break. If you're just tuning in, it's moneywise.

Live with Rob West. I'm Steve Moore. Give us a call. And we wish you would. 800 555 seven thousand.

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Great to have you with us today. It's money wise live. That guy there, he's Rob West. I'm Steve Moore.

Here's our phone number. Eight hundred five five five 7000. If you have a financial question on any specific topic. Well, give us a call. That's why we're here. We're looking forward to hearing from you. Rob, our Facebook question of the day is related to our conversation here. How have you overcome temptation to seek wealth over faith? Sharon responded, responded, being content with what the Lord has given me. Sandy says, I've prayed and cried a lot. Patrick says, remaining aware that it's God's not mine and giving prayerfully giving as a proportion and increasing that percentage as income increases. And we would we would applaud all those responses as just getting people, getting Christians to actually give this concept. And this questions some serious thought. How should Christians really think about wealth, whether you have lots of it or don't have a whole lot of it? Oh, what is that answer, Rob? How should Christians think and view wealth?

Yeah. Well, it's got to start with this recognition that God owns it all and that we're his managers. We're his trustees or caretakers. And we all need to find ourselves on our knees saying, Lord, what would you have me to do with the resources you've entrusted to me? However, little or much remember, it's not money that's the root of all evil. It's the love of money. So it's about a heart condition. And are we using God's resources to glorify him? Because if that's our aim and objective and we see money as a tool to accomplish God's purposes, I think it's going to cause us to live differently than the world. It's not about raising our standard of living. It should be providing and living with contentment, enjoying, but then also looking to raise our standard of living so we can give back and meet the needs of those around us and act to actively participate in the work that God's doing around the world. I think we need to understand, Steve, that God's given us most of these resources for a reason, and that's beyond just supporting our families. It's to advance his kingdom. You know, the late Larry Birkhead often said that if all Christians in America only tithe, then I don't think that's the any ending point. I think it's the beginning point. But if they just tied, the great commission could be fulfilled. In short order. So I think the question for each of us to ask is what lifestyle has gone called me to. He doesn't tell us specifically in his word we should live on X percent of our income. He leaves that up to us to approach his throne prayerfully. And I think we should do that. But we need to be careful not to slip into greed. I love what Tim Keller, a pastor and author, says. He says he's had every sin confessed in his office, save one. And that's the sin of greed. And I think we have a tendency to attempt to try to redeem the sin of greed in the name of the American dream. Well, we're supposed to strive for more and bigger and better is the way it should be. And I don't think that's always the case. And so I think for each of us, we need to think deeply and prayerfully about what God has called us to. How should we live? And how do we hold everything we have loosely?

Well said, Rob. Thank you very much for that. And we all need to pray that prayer and give this serious consideration on a daily basis, because it's something that we all are capable of slipping into greed and not really knowing and understanding. Something else Larry Birkhead used to say a lot of. And that is every Christian should ask themselves at least once a year, how much is enough? Just because your storehouse is getting more full doesn't necessarily mean that you're to spend it on yourself. If God is continuing to bless you and give you more than you need, perhaps it's for a purpose, a purpose outside just your own household. Okay, here's our phone number. 800 five. Two. Five. 7000. Let's go to Forest. Indiana WGAN, our station there in Śiva. What's on your mind? How can we help you?

I'm just curious. Do you think God will judge America if we don't share our wealth, given that we're so wealthy and people in Africa are starving to death?

Yeah, well, you know, there's no question this nation has been blessed with an abundance. And we do have more than we need. And we all you know, most of people listening to this program right now, if they were to take a step back and say, am I rich?

And if we were to define rich by having an access, having more than we need, most of us would have to say we are.

Now, clearly, there's going to be some that are in a desperate situation right now, and I'm certainly not minimizing that.

But if we just look at it from that standpoint, do I have more than I absolutely need today?

And if so, then I have access. What do I need to do with it? And I would never presume upon the Lord as to whether he would judge a nation. But what I will say, and I think it's very clear in God's word, is that we will all stand to account.

We will have to answer beyond salvation. The two questions. First, what did I do with Jesus? Did I accept him as my lord and my savior and for the forgiveness of sense? By asking him to be the Lord of my life and accepting his free gift. And then secondly, what did I do with what I've been given? I'm then a steward at that point of everything, and that includes my time and my relationships. I am a steward of God's word and I'm a steward of the resources that he's entrusted to me and we will stand to account. So I think it's a question we all need to be asking ourselves. Am I being found faithful with what the Lord given to me, including the needs of those around me in the immediate circles that I'm in? And to your point and those in other parts of the world that are living in extreme poverty and need Jesus desperately.

And so we need to answer the question for ourselves, what are we doing to that end? So I think it's a good question and I think it always needs to cause us to look inward, at least in my view, a rub.

The fact that Jesus said the poor you will have will. You always does. Does that mean something theologically to us that we we should be doing more or that we should just look the other way? Because it's, you know, the poor are never going to go away. Do you see that statement?

Yeah, well, I think there's no question that they have the heart of God and widows and orphans, the poor, the needy. I mean, we look at God's word. We see clear areas that we should be giving to.

We should give to the Ministry of God's word preaching, teaching and discipleship the ministry of God's justice, the oppressed prisoners, those that need Jesus in that area, and also the Ministry of God's mercy. And that would include the poor and those who really are in a desperate situation. So clearly, according to scripture, we will have those who are in need always.

And that's where those who of us who have more than we need should be asking the question, what is my role in reaching out?

We're glad you called today. Thank you very much. St. Petersburg, Florida. Catherine, what's on your mind?

Yes, hi. Thanks so much for taking my call. Sure question.

As my husband and I have a home that we own and we have about a little under 40000 left on our mortgage, and my interest rate right now is a little bit over four point eight, I believe. And with the mortgage rate dropping, I don't know if it makes sense for us to refinance or mortgage the way that we have planned our finances. We have probably another three and a half, maybe four years to pay off our balance. And the only other expense that we think we'll have coming up is my daughter's college tuition.

Okay. Yeah. I mean, obviously, that rate is considerably higher than what's available today. I mean, if you got a 10 year mortgage and then you worked out the payment schedule so you could pay beyond what that minimum payment was to sync up the term of the pay off with that same three or four years because we wouldn't want to extend that. You could probably drop that rate from four point six to probably two point six, because rates are so low right now, especially on a 10 year mortgage. So would that two percent reduction offset the cost of the refinance? And that would be the question that you would have to look into. Given that we've got this short time period, I absolutely wouldn't want you to extend the term beyond that three to four year payback. The question is simply, what is it going to cost you to refinance? Oftentimes it'll be one, maybe two percent. So that means, you know, you'd be looking on a forty thousand dollar note, you know, cost you about eight hundred dollars potentially, maybe a little bit more if you need to get an appraisal. Probably you could get a waiver on that, though, because you imagine you have quite a bit of equity. And so then it would be calculating the total cost of the refinance versus what you're going to save every month in interest, because we're not looking to reduce a monthly payment here. We're just looking to pay this off with less money going to interest. I suspect even though your rate is considerably higher, it's not going to be worth the hassle because this time period is so compressed. But if you wanted to look into it, that would be the question to ask it that that good faith estimate. The truth in lending statements are, you know, exactly what your costs are going to be, shop it around, bank rate, dot com to find the very best offer and then look at the actual interest that you'll pay given this extra amount you'd be paying every month to get the three to four year payback and see how much you'd actually save once you pay for the cost of the refinance. It's probably going to be negligible. And so for that reason, I'd probably just focus on trying to pay your existing mortgage office as soon as you can.

Catherine, we hope that helps you. And we're glad you called today. Thank you very much. All right. Here's our phone number one more time. Eight hundred five to five 7000. Here's some other information if you'd like to send Robb a brief e-mail to be answered on the air. We try to get to those on a pretty regular basis.

The address is a question said money wise, that orig questions at money wise that o r g. Back with more right after this. Please stick around.

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Hebrews for twelve says for the word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two edged sword.

Here's Beth Moore with a quick way to be more than conquerers in everything. And IBD said every kind of circumstance, a every kind of what a who can get behind everything you can imagine. We look at famine and we think, well, you know, what's that to us? Whatever we're going through, separation from a loved one, miscarriage. I can think of so many things. Any circumstance, any what? No matter who is trying to capitalize on it, we can be more than Concours, more than be on the conquest. All right. I want you to picture something with me, because conquest always speaks Joshua language. I want you to picture that Joshua is over here on this side of the Jordan River. He's got all the children of Israel, though, all the the faithless ones. That generation is now there. Their caucuses have fallen in the wilderness. And Josh was here on the edge of the river, Godsmack Park, that river and San Joshua through it. Conquest is when Joshua comes over. In other words, God says, everywhere you step, your feet will give you that land, but you can't put your feet on it.

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That's more John. That's Mordaunt. You can watch the latest episode of her television program. Again, that's what's more. Dawn.

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Just scroll to the bottom of the page and look for connect with a coach. Eight hundred five to five 7000 to speak with Rob West today, Kent, Ohio. And Daniel, what's what's on your mind?

Hey, Daniel, you're with us.

Okay, I'm thinking, Daniel, maybe put us on hold. So we'll try to come back to him. Daniel, one more time. No. Okay, down to Florida. Norma, how are you today?

Yes. Thank you, Andy. Thank you for taking my call. I have just a testimony. Twenty two years ago, I got cancer. And God does not waste saying I see God use it to change my heart. I left my job, dedicated my life to orphans. I started a ministry in my own apartment without a husband, without a job, without medical insurance. But that doesn't matter. I just have God. I spent hundreds thousand dollars savings and retirement. I gave it all back to God. That's 22 years ago. I started the Ministry for Orphans. It's called Restored a Child for All of You. Now I have five thousand children in 10 countries and I have these 21 schools and homes. And Bob Hope that gives them, but mostly teach them about Jesus.

Wow. When when you give to God, that gives back to you. Yeah.

Lama, I am so thankful for your testimony today. What an incredible story and journey God has had you on. And you know, this goes right to what we were talking about at the open of the program today. And that is why would God entrust us along the way with in some cases more than we need. And when you surrendered that to the Lord and said, Lord, I'm going to give this back to you and use it for something that's on your heart. And that is the orphans. And then to see what God has done with that, Natalie.

And in your life, but in all these sweet, precious children all over the world, we can see clearly why why God would ever entrust us with more than we need if we're willing to be found faithful and to trust him and to surrender to him. Norma, where do you go from here? Where is the Lord leading you as you continue to serve in this way?

I want you know, I used to work. I'm not, but I'm now 77. But, you know, I've been doing it for 22 years alone in my apartment, but God has blessed us. Now we have a small office here in Florida. But I wanted to say is that that they shit you were talking about rich people that Bonchek to give. I don't know, maybe some.

I have met many millionaires who would not give a penny, but if it were not for the rich I wouldn't be able to do all this work that it would give a hundred thousand two hundred thousand three hundred thousand. Listen we appreciate even five dollars. I appreciate this. But that rich people are the ones who really support the work of God and we can grow and do more to for him and build more souls to the kingdom. And that's right. And I'm like, all right.

Let me ask you. Let me ask you one more question before we have to hit our next break here. I know you. You had no job through this when you made this decision. You turned over all of your savings to the Lord as you started this ministry without any health insurance. You had health problems. Norma, was there ever a day where you didn't know where your next meal was going to come from or did God provide for you every step of the way?

No. Then it was okay. However, there needs to be some months of some years. I almost said nothing like maybe a thousand dollars for at home and the 5000 kids. But when I pray for God. Lord, if you want me to continue, you've got to show. I need some help. And then within a week or two, I would get 200000 or 300000. Can you believe it?

Incredible. Well, thank you for taking the time to call today.

What an incredible story. Give us the Web site of the ministry again for those who might want to learn more.

Please. It still a child that or are you.

Very good. Thank you for coming today. Lord bless you.

Yeah. Thank you very much, Nora. That's quite a testimony. You're listening to Moneywise Lie when we come back. Well, we have a full, full lineup of calls here. We're going to try to get to those just as quickly as we can and maybe even want to check out this Web site we just talked about restore a child. That ought to be real honest with you. We just heard about it when you heard about it. So we don't know a whole lot about the ministry and what they've done.

Now, the Web site looks very interesting, to say the least. So you might want to check that out or you might want to give us a call with any questions you have regarding your personal finances. Eight hundred five to five. 7000. We'll be right back.

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Good to have you with us today. It's moneywise live with Rob West and today, well, we're remembering that God owns it all.

And then if he gives us an abundant smell, it might be for a brand new Lamborghini, but it might be for something else that's between you and God. I haven't gotten my Lamborghini yet, but. You never know. I mean, you can't tell Ohio. Hey, Daniel, are you there? My friend.

Yes, I know. Oh. All right. Please jump right in, sir.

Well, to make a long story short, I am of retirement age and I have enough years in my work. Government work to retire now got started kind of late in life saving money.

I do have enough money to pay off my house. And I'm wondering if I should pay off my house. Or they are, you know, credit cards and all that other stuff and just luckily pay off my house.

Yeah. Yeah.

Daniel, I appreciate that. Tell me you said you have enough years that you could retire. But tell me what your plans are at this point. Do you plan to continue to work for some time?

Not not very long. I'm talking maybe the end of the year and beginning of next year.

OK. So you'd plan to retire sometime next year. What do you own your home?

Fifty. Forty something.

OK, let's call it fifty thousand, what do you have in other consumer debt?

Just a couple of credit cards and two cars that I'm currently playing on.

All right. What do you owe on the car, on the credit cards combined, roughly, and then the cars.

I would say I owed about eight thousand in the credit cards and my check is 23. Probably about 30, 35, combined with the two cars.

All right. And do you live on a budget? Daniel, do you have a spending plan that you track monthly?

No, I do not.

OK. What would you say you think you have left over at the end of the month, if anything, once all the bills are paid, including the car payments and the minimum payments on the credit cards? Do you have anything left over?

Yes. I would say I'd have between those six on your.

A thousand depends on what goes on. I work a lot of overtime. So, yeah, there's a very good come in.

All right. Last question. Tell me about your savings. First of all, any liquid savings like emergency funds that might be in a savings account? And then tell me the total roughly of all of your longer term retirement savings.

Liquid, probably only about it probably is less than ten thousand dollars. I know that accountably.

What was the other question?

Long term savings, retirement accounts altogether.

Oh, OK.

I would say 60, 60000, maybe.

All right. Very good. And when you retire, are you expecting, other than Social Security, a pension of some kind or what are your income sources going to be in retirement next year?

Yes, I will have. I still have my B.A. as long as I'm breathing. And a pension from some from the work, from my job.

OK. And so when you put Social Security and your pension, your V.A. benefits altogether, you have you believe you should be able to cover all of your expenses.

Oh, yeah, yes, yeah, yeah.

OK. Very good. Well, here's the thing.

I like the idea of you being debt free, but I like even more than that the idea that you would be on a budget that you'd have as an emergency reserve of at least three to six months expenses, preferably six months as you head into retirement. And I like the idea that you would, you know, pay off these credit cards and then the car, the cars before the house. So I would I would just keep paying the minimum on the house right now. And let's start with a budget. If you want help with that or money wise, coaches would be delighted to come alongside you and help get you on a plan where you can track the flow of money coming in and out and capture what you need to be setting aside every month for your non-recurring expenses, those discretionary expenses, plus those things that only come around quarterly or even annually. So you just go to our Web site money wise, Livedoor, click on Connect with the coach. Once you have that budget in place, I want you to really focus on getting that those credit cards paid off first with that extra six hundred to a thousand dollars a month. And I'd look for ways to cut back to free that up even more. Because if you don't have a budget right now, I guarantee you there's some ways that you could recapture some money. You don't even realize you're spending. Once the credit cards are paid off and you have the emergency fund in place, then I would be looking at trying to get those cars paid off after that. As you head into retirement, I'd like for you to be debt free except for your home, and then you can take any access that you have, you know, beyond what you need to cover your expenses and perhaps some of that 60000 and look to accelerate paying off the mortgage, just not right now. So let's do those things first. And if you have questions along the way, don't hesitate to give us a call.

Dan, we're glad you called in today and we're glad we finally connected. Thank you very much, sir. To Illinois and Mary, give us the high points here. Let's squeeze you in. Okay.

Well, Chimera, you have a lot of money because I listen to you guys for years and years and years. Done.

Thank you. That bet I was a single mother with no child support. And things were really hard in those beginning days. But I did what you said. I hear from them. Fifty thousand dollars in a retirement account. And I lost my job. We can't maybe eliminate amortization.

And so roll that over some Sodality into this other company. And they're charging me 4000 dollars a quarter to manage this money.

And, you know, when it was at work, I never saw the fee. It was sort of hidden. I think I knew there was something. But this seems strange. And I wanted to ask you what you signed.

Yeah. Did you say, just so I can be clear here, Mary, did you say you had 450000 in investable assets?

Well, it's a total value. Net investment.

Yeah, 450. Okay. Yeah. And you said you're you think you're paying 4000 a quarter, so you're paying sixteen thousand a year. Is that right?

Yeah. OK. And we just turned it over in January. The first deal I thought was just to manage it and figure it out. Now the next one came. So I called the company and they said, well, that's their fee. So I thought the initial thought was, you know, four percent or whatever, 10 percent. But now this is what it is. I'm wondering if I should move on to something else.

Well, the first thing I would do is just make sure you understand what's going on. Something's not right there. I mean, you would expect to pay if somebody is doing discretionary management, meaning they're making the buying and selling decisions on a roughly half a million dollar portfolio. You'd would be expecting to pay somewhere around one percent, maybe one and a half percent. So one and a half percent on 450000 is less than seven thousand dollars a year. So if you're paying 4000 a quarter, something's not right now. It wouldn't be out of question to think that they may have new would know if they did some significant planning on the front end. There was a kind of a separate planning engagement where they looked at all of your your insurance and looked at your retirement projections and helped you with cash flow and, you know, analyzing everything. There may be a separate financial planning fee, but that would be a one time thing. Certainly, you wouldn't be thinking about paying 16000 a year on 450000. Something's not right.

So I would call after the program here today or tomorrow and just say I need a breakdown of what am I paying and what are my ongoing fees going to be everything all in. And if it's anywhere close to that beyond one, maybe one and a half percent, then I would look around, you could interview, I would say three certified Kingdome advisors by going to our Web site moneywise live dot org.

Find a C.K.. Mary, thank you very much. We'll be right back.

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Hope you're having a good day wherever you are. Joe, we know you're in Illinois. Dennis, we know that you're in Ohio and we're coming in your direction. So hang in there with us. But first, we go to Columbia, Tennessee. Hello, Joy. What's your question?

Hi. Hi. Thanks for taking my call. I appreciate your program so much. I know this is an unusual question. It's based on an experience I had yesterday. But I'll give you my bottom line. Question is, if someone has the first digit, you have your Social Security number in the state you were born in. And your last name. Could they do anything with that information? That would be intrusive or worrisome?

Yeah. Joy, I wouldn't be terribly concerned about the situation you just described. The first digit of your Social Security number is. No, that's not particularly private. I think if you said they had the last four of your social, I'd be a little bit more concerned because those are truly random and unique. The first five numbers actually represent when and where your Social Security card was issued. So I think given the criteria you're describing, especially in the day in which we live, where information is compromised, it seems like every few months we're hearing about another major breach somewhere where personal information was stolen. We just all need to be on guard. And I think the situation you're describing wouldn't raise the concern beyond what we all should have in terms of just being diligent about protecting our personal information. So here's a couple of thoughts on that. No one is always make sure you keep that information private. You would never want to give out your Social Security number unless it's your employer, perhaps a bank or a lender or an investment brokerage company or firm that needs it to open an account and needs it for privacy reasons. You would want to make sure that you also don't use your last four of your social as a PIN number. Some people have have done that. That's just not a good idea to be using that regularly. I think if you are concerned about somebody compromising your identity and perhaps trying to open accounts fraudulently in your name, you can put a freeze on your credit with the three credit bureaus, which is now, as of last year, completely free to do.

You would need to do it with each of the three bureaus, Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. You can do it online or you can call them. Basically, that's going to require that you put a PIN number in place.

And if anybody wants to access your credit for the purpose of opening a new account and they don't have that PIN number, then they're not going to be able to access your credit. And that's going to prevent them from opening an account in your name. And then, of course, you always want to monitor all of your active accounts, credit cards, bank statements, investment accounts, just to make sure of all the activity looks good and nobody's compromised your information or used it fraudulently. But I don't think you have any reason for concern beyond just what we should all do to be prudent in this day and age, given the situation you're in.

Joy, you can't be too careful. We're glad you called today. God bless you. Thanks so much. Now to Illinois. W MBI and Joe, what's your question for Rob West?

Thank you for taking my call. I have some money invested in what they call a total return return bond fund.

And what they're going to do is they're doing a reverse stock split, which according this means the number of shares in the account decreases while the price price per share increases. They're going to shareholders receive one share for every four shares. Does that seem. Should I worry about that or are concerned? It seems kind of a drastic models.

Yeah, no, it happens more than you might think. A lot of a lot of times it's to satisfy a particular stock exchange's minimum share price.

They may want to reduce the number of shareholders in both stock splits and reverse splits just to bring the overall price up. A lot of times when a particular security is trading at too low of a value, add it. You know, might cause some investors to stay away because it just seems like it's, you know, perhaps not valuable enough.

So there are a variety of reasons why companies will do a reverse split. But, you know, it's very common. You'll obviously have a reduction in the number of shares, but you'll see a commensurate increase in the price of the share price per share to give you roughly the same amount. And the idea would be moving forward that, you know, it would hopefully do. The reason they're. It is for long term appreciation so that the the price of the security actually increases at a faster rate as a result of the reverse split. So that in and of itself is not a cause for concern for me. I would you know, my main issue would just be is the right that the right investment for you in terms of overall performance, overall risk and how it fits in to your overall investment strategy. But the reverse stock split itself for me is not a particular cause for concern.

Joe, thank you very much. Cleveland, Ohio. Hi, Rick. We're going to try to get you in here today before we run out of time. So what's on your mind?

Yes, I worked for a bank for 25 years, had two parts of retirement, one for one K plan, which is being hampered by. So they will be now and in funds. I like the other part. It was in a employer funded pension fund which they retained and making very little money on that every year at like 81 percent dividend. Maybe about a year. What are my options as far as being let me move that into something that would give me a little more money towards retirement.

Yeah. With that is I assume that's a qualified pension, is that right? Well, it was tax deferred going in. Correct. Yeah. And are you still with the company?

No, actually, I left there. I left there six years ago and I left my retirement there. Okay.

All right. Well, yeah. If it's a qualified employee pension plan, meaning your contributions were tax deferred and you've separated from the company, the only other reason would be if the employer closed down the plan.

But if you've separated from the company, you should be able to do a direct rollover to an IRA. So what you'd want to do, Rick, is decide where you want this, these assets to reside, who you want your custodian to be. And that really would be driven by not only is it a reputable company in consideration of the fees, but also how do you want it managed? Is that something you're going to do yourself or is that something you want to hire an investment professional to do? If you're doing it yourself, you could go to Vanguard or Schwab or, you know, any number of high quality, low cost investment brokerages, open the IRA and just do the direct rollover into the IRA. If you were going to hire an investment professional, I would wait. Do those interviews make that decision? Because often you well, you will need to use the custodian that that particular investment professional uses. And there may be multiple lot of times a registered investment advisor, for instance, will have, you know, able to house accounts at Fidelity and Schwab in a number of other institutions. But they would open that account for you and handle all of the paperwork. So, yes, you can roll it out. Yes, you could then be have much more control over the investment performance. I think you just need to make some decisions as to how you want it managed and then proceed from there.

Thank you, Rick. We're glad you made it through today. We appreciate that very much. Akron, Ohio. Lori, your question today for Rob West is what?

Well, we try to be really good about tithing and then. But how much, I guess, can we look at how the the tithing of the church has been a good steward of it? Is it all going toward salaries and benefits? You know, is it normal to have benefits like car allowance? Our housing allowance is an Nundah outreach or should that there be benchmarks on certain percentages toward different categories?

Yeah, it's a great question, Larry.

I mean, I think clearly we should be, in my view, supporting the work of the local church where God has us. And I think, you know, as we look to the principle of the time we give off of the increase, the first and the best, I would say that would go to the local church and use that to meet the needs of the church. And then we give beyond that, as the Lord leads in terms of how the church uses that, those funds. Oftentimes there's a variety of approaches. But I would hope that, first of all, it's a Bible believing church. Secondly, that there is some transparency for those who are either regular attenders or members.

If you have a membership at your church where there's a quarterly business meeting, you know, typically where annually the budget is shared and not in detail, but in broad categories showing what percentage is for the ministries of the church. What percentages for salaries and outreach and missions and, you know, benevolence and all those kinds of things. Are there guidelines? Sure, yeah. I mean, I wouldn't want to give out a certain percentage, you know, that should be going to various categories. But I would say if you have an interest in it and there's no reason why you shouldn't, I think to you know, at the appropriate time in the year where budgets are being considered and perhaps while these meetings are going on oftentimes and I would hope this is happening here, there will be made available opportunities to talk to those in leadership, often lay leadership or certainly a pastor to be able to understand and ask questions. And how is the money of the church being used and what is the debt percentage? And are there you know, are they actively giving to missions? And what about benevolence and all the questions that you have? And I would hope there'd be quite a bit of transparency around that. So I think asking those questions is good. Leaning into those opportunities that are made available for you to know more and explore further is a good thing because God has entrusted these resources to you. You're the steward of them and certainly giving back to the local church, which I absolutely affirm. So I would lean into that and begin to ask some questions and get to know better what your churches are doing.

Laurie, thank you very much for your phone call today. We wish you the very best. And with that, Rob, we're going to have to put a bow on it. We are pretty much out of time. Any final words? Obviously, we continue as a nation to struggle a bit. This whole pandemic thing has got people concerned. But as as Christians, as people who follow Christ in his word and his promises. Any final thoughts for us today?

Well, I would just say, Steve. You know, we started today by talking about having more than we need. And I think for each of us, we have to make sure that we, first of all, are recognizing that God owns it all and that we're a steward.

And we need to ask how does how I'm using my resources that goes entrusted to me. How does that reveal where I've placed my trust?

And is it in the right place or my hope is my hope in the Lord or in my things and use that as a barometer to see if we're on the right track. Thank you, Ralph.

Money wise, Live is a partnership between moody radio and money wise media. My thanks to our technical crew today doing a fantastic job. That includes Amy Dabb, Gabby TI and Jim Henry for Rob West. I'm Steve Moore, hoping you have a wonderful weekend. And join us again Monday. We'll be back with a new edition of Moneywise Live.