Diligence Pays Off

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The hand of the diligent will rule while the slothful will be put to forced labor proverbs twelve 24 was a clear caution for the ancient Israelites. And it's just as true for us today.

Like much of proverbs, that verse is a lesson for handling our financial affairs, managing money wisely requires good habits. Today, host Rob West explores how to do that with financial expert over Dayton. And that's your calls on anything at 800 five to five seven thousand eight hundred five to five seven thousand. I'm Steve Moore. Diligence pays off today. Money wise, like.

Howard Dayton started Compass Finances, God's Way and also this very radio program money wise. And today we're in for a special treat because he's going to reveal a little bit of what makes him tick diligence.

And we've been looking forward to this day because he does, in fact, have some lessons for us all. Howard, great to have you back on moneywise.

Oh, it's just wonderful to be with you, Rob.

Well, thank you. The feeling is mutual. And you're one of the most disciplined people we know, Howard. I mean that seriously, and not just in the area of finances. Steven, I talk often about your daily exercise routine that would leave guys decades younger than you in the dust. Present company included. So what did you start by telling us what you do every morning? I think this will be an encouragement to our listeners or a discouragement to Linda. Perhaps, yes.

Yes. Well, I go for a four mile walk with my dear wife six days a week.

And then every other day I do five sets of 100 pushups for a total of five hundred push ups during the walk. But let me give you some history, L.K., on those push ups. I read an article on Strom Thurman, who was a senator from South Carolina, and Strom was an exercise guy. So on his nine first birthday, he did 91 pushups. And I thought to myself, you know what? Strom can do it. So can I. Well, when I started, I did five set and I was only able to do three pushups on each set for a total of 15. And I would add a pushup whenever it was easy for me to do one more. It took three and a half years to slowly work up to five sets at my age, which the time was 65. Then after a month of doing five sets of 65, I decided to work up to five sets of 100. It took me about a year and a half more. One of my favorite verses is Proverbs 21 five, which tells us steady, plodding, preach prosperity, safety speculation brings poverty and that steady, plodding principal Rob. I've applied that principle to just about every area of my life.

Yeah, well, it's such an encouragement, a four mile walk daily, six days a week, and then every other day. Five hundred pushups. Howard, what's going through your mind while you're exercising?

Well, I'm just counting those push ups. I can't wait till I get done. Sure.

But, you know, but the push ups really are a terrific exercise because they strengthen your arms, shoulders, chest back and even your your tummy. And that's that helps, you know, your entire body. Really? Yeah.

Well, we're going to apply this not only to our walk with Christ, but also do our finances in just a moment. But before our first break, Howard, tell me, does that discipline extend into your diet as well?

It does. And I will say this, Rob. It's a lot easier when you're married to a spouse who enjoys eating healthy food instead of junk food.

It really helps your if your mates are on the same page with your diet.

Yeah, absolutely. Howard, it's been my experience that when we practice discipline in an area like this, whether it's how we exercise, whether it's how we eat or even in our finances, it tends to have a ripple effect into other areas of our life, including our walk with the Lord.

Has that been your experience?

Absolutely. No. There's no question that this whole area of discipline has had a significant impact on every area of my life. And it really started to change because I was not in the habit of being disciplined at all when I was introduced to Christ. Way back in 1971.

Well, I want to hear that story as well as how you develop these habits will also apply it to our finances.

We come back in just a moment. With us today, author, teacher, former Mr. Olimpia, Howard Dayton. We'll be back with more on today's edition of Money Wise Live after this.

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And now a discipleship moment.

Here's Paul Donor and is a godly guy whom I hugely respect. And last Wednesday, we were catching up and he shared that he had recently gone through a breakdown. I had to cut way back. He said, and rely a lot on the help and encouragement of others. It's taught me so much about my need for Christ and for other people. My jaw almost dropped. Ed, have a breakdown. I couldn't believe it or that he would share it, but his gut level honesty meant so much to me. It said he was real and I could be real to friend. Are we willing, like Ed, to take off that religious mask we wear so often and reveal our struggles as Second Corinthians 11 30 says, let's learn to live authentically without masks by boasting not in our strength, but in our weakness.

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Nice to have you with us today also. Nice to have a good friend, Howard Dayton, with us. Howard's the founder of Compass Finances God's Way.

He's the former host of this radio program, and he's a man who treats his body like his money and like God's word, which is a real focus on a daily basis, a true diligence. And that's from someone who's been around Howard for, oh, I don't know, 20 plus years. And Howard, I know you're a disciplined person, but it's something that you have to make a bit of an effort to do. It doesn't come naturally for most of us. And it doesn't necessarily come naturally for you, does it?

Oh, no. Far from it. I really that's all started to change because I was not a disciplined person way back in 1971 when I was first introduced to Christ as my savior. Before then, as I mentioned, I was on a lot less disciplined. And the more I've grown as a follower of Christ, the more disciplined I become. I once explained to a friend I was trying to give them a word picture of what had happened to me. And I told him that if I closed my eyes and describe what my life was before, no one Christ, he was like a kid. Game of pickup sticks. You know, you throw him off, he sticks down on the ground and they're all jumbled up and on top of one another. It's just a mess. But once I came to know Christ and began to grow in my relationship with him, it's as if the Lord has taken one stick at a time out of that jumbled mess and removed it and put it in in nice order. So I'm so thankful to the Lord for doing that.

Absolutely. And I know it has paid incredible dividends in your life and will do the same for anyone else who takes this seriously in terms of cultivating disciplines.

Howard, a lot of folks struggle with developing good habits, both for exercise and managing money. So what advice would you have for them based on your experience in this area?

Yeah, Rob, I think there are two things that are just crucial when it comes to developing good financial and exercising habits. And the first is pretty obvious to develop a written plan. Slowly begin to work that that plan. And here's the key. Every single day, whether it's your future, financial life is going to be should be on top of a budget. If it's your exercise life, you got to have it written down and and try to, you know, check it off at the end of the day. And then I think the single most important thing to do is to pray and ask the Lord to help you apply. Galatians five, twenty two and twenty three. And this passage describes the fruit of the Holy Spirit. In other words, it describes the characteristics that we experience when we're submitted to God's Holy Spirit and allowing him to live his life through us. Here's what it says. But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and get the last word on self control. So when we submit to God's Holy Spirit, inviting him to live his life through us, then develop a plan that we can follow. For most of us, we will experience an increased level of self-control, which for me was really the name of the game.

How do I develop that habit? And it gets down to self-control.

No question about it. Howard, I know accountability has been something important in your life, both you being a mentor to others as well as having your own accountability partners. How important is accountability when you're trying to develop virtuous habits?

It's huge. You know, my I was blessed to be able to do it with my first wife back then. And now that I'm remarried to Lynn and she goes on the walks with me, she does her own exercises. She does five sets of 50 sit ups. So it's enormously helpful when you have someone with you, whether it's your spouse or I have a dear friend named Tim Mader, and he helps hold me accountable on these things. It's really helpful to have a buddy, somebody that's going to encourage you and you don't feel like going out and walking or you don't feel like taking out the budget to see how you're doing. It really helps when you have that person who can encourage you. Yeah.

Howard, if somebody were to ask you what it looks like to live a disciplined life in this area of finances, specifically at a high level, 30000 foot view, describe what that means to you.

Well, it means to have a plan on where you want to spend your money, where you want save it, where you want to invest it, where you want to use a portion of it to get out of debt and then to put it down on paper or use or use electronic means, whatever works for you to be able to execute the plan and then to review it. And if you're married, I think it's really crucial, Rob, for the husband, wife to get together regularly. I like to call it the weekly money day. Not a very romantic thing, but it allows the husband and wife to take a look and see this is the money that came in. This is the money that went out. How we do it until married couples please don't use this as the opportunity to nag her or fight with each other. This is an opportunity for the husband. Wife can be on the same page because when they are, they make better financial decisions.

Howard, anyone who knows you knows that you live a well ordered, well disciplined life. In addition to the exercise we've talked about before. I know that each day you do a lot of scripture memory or try to. But I'm wondering about the habit of generosity, because now we're talking about something overtly financial here and how has the habit of generosity. I had a similar impact and effect on your life in the same way that exercise has.

Well, I think, again, Steve, it gets back to having a plan that's based on the scriptural priorities of our lives. And certainly generosity is, you know, up near the top when it comes to the financial side of our life and to be able to do that. Regularly, I think, is is really significant, it's a reminder to us that we're not the owners and then the Lord himself is the Elinor's and he has and trusted us. It's stewards or managers of our resources to handle the resources that he had trust to us his way. And that includes generosity. Yeah. So it's it's just a significant area for people in their walk with Christ.

Now we have just about 30 seconds left for someone out there today who's really struggled in this area. Take just a moment and talk to them directly and encourage them about how they can pursue discipline in this area. Finance.

Well, I would memorize Galatians five, 22 and 23 and focus on that last fruit of the spirit, which is self-control. I would ask the Lord to help me become a self-control person. And also, I would be looking for that buddy who can. You've got a good relationship with the person. You can invite them into your financial life, into your exercising high, and invite them to hold you accountable. In all likelihood, they'll reciprocate, asking you to do the same.

Yeah, well, Howard, you've certainly motivated us to get more disciplined about establishing good habits. Thank you, my friend, for joining us today.

I love being with you. God bless you. Thanks so much, Howard. Howard Deighton, the founder of Compass Finances, Guides, where you'll find them online at compas one dot o r g. We'll be right back with more money wise live after this.

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So happy to have you with us today on Moneywise Live, finding God's plan for your financial life. And if we can help you with that, we'd love to try a hundred five to five 7000.

We have a number of open lines. So if ever there was a time to try to get through, this would be. Eight hundred. Five to five. 7000. We've been talking for the last few minutes with our good friend, the founder of Compass, author and teacher Howard Dayton. And, you know, I've been thinking about Howard's 400, 500 push ups. As you know, we were sitting through the ad and he was explaining what he does and how he does. I've just I've been thinking about that, getting in a lot of thought risk my friend of mine. Just think about it at some point, you have to take those thoughts and do something with them, right? Oh, who asked you? Okay, let's go. Let's go up to central New York. Hello. Jeff, thanks for your patience, my friend. What's on your mind?

Well, hey, thank you so much for taking my call today. I happen to be celebrating my 20th anniversary today. So this is an apropos time for me to ask a money question. Regulations?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So my situation is that I have four children ages eight to 14. My wife and I have always earned enough money that we've never had to budget and we've always sort of been dragging my feet on the subject. Well, about a year ago, we were given a large sum of money enough to pay off all of our debts if we wanted to. That money is sitting in a brokerage account right now, earning interest. And then on top of it, there's a potential for a large inheritance or money down the road. Now, the nest egg money has sort of become a source of disagreement and deciding how and if we should use the money now or how we should use it for the future. So I need help understanding in a situation where you always have enough money, kind of. The reason for budgeting when you have enough. But also we need help kind of figuring out some long term plans. And we're just at the base level with that.

Yeah. Yeah. Well, I appreciate that, Jeff.

And what you're experiencing is not uncommon. Meaning so many couples really face the same thing. We had our good friend Shanthi Felde on on the program not too long ago. Shauntay and her husband Jeff commissioned a three year study alongside Thrivent to really look at this issue and why there's such a breakdown in communication. This area of finances related to couples and what they found is 70 plus percent of married couples struggle to compute, communicate about money.

And there were some clear reasons why one of those that kind of bubbled up to the surface, though, was they didn't really connect their values to how they were using the money. And, you know, I think that's a really an important exercise is really to step back and not only recognize, okay, this is all God's not ours. We're his steward or money manager, but what are the values that drive us? What's most important to us? What do we feel like God is doing in our life now and in the future? And how can money as a tool be appropriately used to reflect those values? What's deeply held for us in terms of where we're going? And as you begin to process all of those issues related to what lifestyle has God causes called us to live now. How much should we be living on? Is it where we're at? Now, do we need to dial it back or what is. What does that look like? Where is he taking us? And therefore, what goals should we set to accomplish? What's most important to us? Do we want to live simply and what do we want to be able to do in the future? What about our giving goals now and in the future? What about savings goals? How much is enough? What is our financial finish line? I mean, all of these issues at their core have biblical principles, but at the end of the day, you've got to be on your knees together saying, Lord, what would you have us to do as stewards of your money? And as you begin to unpack your values, connecting those values to goals, I think it does then become clearer because the budget, the spending plan, which by the way, Jeff, I would say you need at any income and asset level, because if you don't control the flow of money in and out, regardless of how much you have, it's never going to be allocated the way you wish it would. There's gonna be some leeks in that bucket, if you will. But the budget becomes not only how you execute against those values and goals, but also it becomes an instrument of peace between husband and wife. Because now, you know, the budget is really just a picture of where God is taking us. And if we're sacrificing in the short run because there's important things we're accomplishing in the longer term, we know why. It's not just because we want to. You know, we don't want to enjoy life or enjoy what God has given us. We certainly want to build that in. But we also want to sacrifice because we know we have limited resources and there are other things that he wants us to accomplish. So I would encourage you to do a couple things. Number one, hold on the line. We're done here today. I want to send you a copy of that book, Thriving in Love and Money by Shanthi and Jeff Feldheim. I want you guys to read that together. Number two, I would put a budget in place and our money wise coaches would be delighted to walk alongside you guys to help you get that set up. So you have that spending plan with a control system, whether it's app based or on Vullo based or Excel based. Does it matter or whatever works for you? But they'll help you get that in place. And then I think longer term, it would be helpful for you all to have an investment adviser, a financial professional who's a third party, who can hear from both of you, who can ask both of you the hard questions, make sure you're being heard and she's being heard and that somebody is helping. Orchestrate a plan that reflects, again, both of you as husband and wife. The oneness that God desires in the marriage relationship. So I think that's where I would recommend you go from here. But tell me, does that all make sense to you?

Absolutely. Thank you for communicating about the values portion of it and how we should be using it as a tool. That's definitely something we have not been doing. And yet I just feel like I've been dragging my feet for a long time and, you know, wanting to take big steps now and not really knowing where to start. So I appreciate what you've shared.

Absolutely, Jeff. And let me just mention one other thing. If you go to our Web site Moneywise Live, Dawg, and you sign up for our E magazine, if you haven't done that already, one of the tools that we're gonna be sending out the next 30 days is a couples planning or goal setting worksheet with a whole list of questions that you guys can use to get this conversation started.

So you can sign up right now, moneywise live, dawg.

It's absolutely free. And Jeff, God bless you and your wife. And happy 20th anniversary. We hope you have a great remainder of today and 20 more.

At least you're listening to money wise. Was Rob last time, Steve. More now. Here's our phone number. If you'd like to chat about anything financial, whether it's your anniversary or not.

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Thank you for tuning in today. It's money wise. Live with Rob West. And I'm Steve Moore. And again, our phone number is 800 five Q5.

7000. And just before the break, Rob, we were chatting with who was Jeff? And he was mentioning a problem that occasionally we hear about not all that often, but essentially my wife and I have enough money and looking forward into the future. We think that will probably be the case either because of their careers or because of some money in the family. Money does not really look to be a real issue. So if that's the case, then why worry about it? Why have a plan? Why really have a budget? If you find yourself not in debt or not overspending. I mean, is that just wasted time or do you think?

Well, I think, Steve, as believers, we have to take it to a whole nother level and recognize that we're stewards where managers have God's money. So we really don't have the option just to go it alone and not approach this without diligence, without a plan, without prayer, without being a proper steward. And that's going to look different for each of us, which is why we need to ask the Lord what he would have us to do. But I don't feel like as believers, we have the option just to put it on autopilot and say, well, I've got enough. So I'm just going to spend without a plan, without giving careful consideration to what God is calling me to and without a control mechanism, which really is that spending plan or that budget.

So I don't mean to over ize it. And yet, if it's not yours in the first place, then you have another level of responsibility and you've got to ask the owner what he would have you to do.

And you're missing out on an opportunity to get even closer to your spouse because you really won't get to know one another any greater at any greater level than when you have to sit down and talk about money and finances. It really. I mean, I understand totally that there may be moments when you wish you weren't talking about money and finances, but when you can communicate about that issue, then you'll find you can communicate about just about any issue.

Well, I would really agree with that, Steve. I think this is one of those areas, to my earlier point about Shanthi and Jeff Felton's work, you know, 77 percent of married couples struggle in this area.

So we can get this right. I believe that really will have a ripple effect into communication in so many other areas.

Okay. Let's continue on Joliet, Illinois. Hello, John. Thanks for holding. And what's your question for Rob West?

Hi. My question is, I'm 73 years old.

And I have a mortgage, which you would take me 50 more years to pay off my house.

Yeah, right now the total amount of that mortgage is about.

It's about eighty five thousand dollars. And in that mortgage, some time ago, I had got a loan modification.

OK. So the principal balance on that loan is forty five thousand five hundred and seventy seven dollars in the deferred balance is thirty nine thousand seven hundred eighty nine, which you had both of those up. And you get a total of eighty five thousand dollars. Yeah. So I have been saving money toward trying to pay it off in the interest rate on this is three point seventy five percent. And so I looked at it like this.

I don't want to have to be eighty eight years old by the time if I, if I live to be 88, I don't want to have to be eighty eight years old, try to pay off the mortgage in fifteen years.

Right.

So my, my I was thinking that since I'm saving the money and by the first of the year I might be in a position to pay it all. Completely. But by paying it off completely. That would deplete all of my savings.

But then again, then again, once it's paid off my retirement money that I get per month. I could probably biehl that. That's my savings back up. Yes. Or after it's paid off. So. Sure.

Yeah, I think I follow your question for sure. So here's my follow up to that. And that would be what is six months worth of expenses for you if you were to say, I'm going to take my savings. I'm going to set aside six months of my expenses on a monthly basis. And then what would you have left?

You mean at this point right now what it would be?

Well, or at the beginning of the year when you expected to be able to pay it off in full?

OK. Well, the only thing I'll have to worry about is basically paying for paying for utilities, gas, and and when you total those up roughly over a 30 day period, what do you guess that is?

So I would think that would be I would say on average of, say, 30.

Okay. Yeah. You know, and obviously you're living very modestly. I would just push back on that a little bit and say, just make sure you're counting all the expenses. So the not only the fixed expenses, but the discretionary, those things perhaps you don't get a bill for but comes up semiannually or even those things you just maybe spend cash for on a monthly basis. So I'd track it pretty closely for 30 or 60 days. But whatever that number is, let's say it's a thousand if you carve out six thousand dollars. I'd be comfortable with you really taking this saved him out as long as you had six months worth of runway and paying off that mortgage as quick as you can and then recouping or recapturing that monthly payment or the equivalent of that monthly payment to rebuild your savings, which is obviously going to further reduce your expenses at that point and allow you to live well on the retirement income stream you have with a very modest lifestyle, which gives you ultimate flexibility. So I think that's a good plan, John. I think it'll give you a lot of peace of mind, but I wouldn't do it. Even though you're going to get rid of this major expense, probably your largest expense. I wouldn't deplete everything. I'd keep that six month runway even if it took you a few extra months before you paid it off.

John, thank you very much. Good to take your question today. Hope that helps you. Des Plaines, Illinois. Hello, Mike. We have two minutes. Let's see if we can squeeze it in.

All right. Thanks for taking my call. I got. I want to retire early as 63 and I can't get a straight answer from Social Security. I have two pensions, about 40 grand, and I can't get a straight answer if they will penalize me, if that's earned income or not, because I can make, what, 18 grand?

You know, being penalized. But yes, for an answer, I have no security.

Well, it's it's a little complicated, Mike, and I'm not a CPA, so I would pursue this a bit further. Let me tell you generally how this works. In the vast majority of cases, pension income will not affect your Social Security benefits. The issue, though, that will make that determination is whether the pension is from an employer that withheld Social Security taxes from your paycheck. If that's the case, then you're in the clear. If there were no FICA withholdings, though, you might be subject to what's called the windfall elimination provision, which covers people who earned pensions from jobs that did not withhold Social Security taxes, but who also qualify for Social Security due to other work. In that event, Social Security uses a modified formula to calculate the full retirement age benefit that you would receive if you're under that WCP provision. But again, for most people, assuming the Social Security taxes were withheld, that that pension income will not affect your benefits.

Does that make sense to Mike?

Also, my friend, transfer from once the military and one from a union. So they were both out.

Okay. Yeah. So then you should be fine on that. And hopefully that gives you the clarity you're looking for.

Mike, thank you very much. We appreciate that. You're listening to Moneywise Live again, our phone number eight hundred five to five seven thousand. If you'd like to join us today with a question or a comment. We'd love to hear from you. 805 to five 7000. Now, when we come back. We have questions about home title insurance. Don't think we've taken that question are coming in a long time.

Also, a question about our M.D. calculations. That and much more when moneywise live returns.

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If I may. Let me take just a moment to number one, thank you for your prayers, Andrew. Generous financial support that allows us to come to you each day.

And if you never made a contribution to our ministry and you'd like to consider that, you can find out much more about who we are and what we do. And you can even make a donation quickly and safely when you click the donate tab at the top of the page at our Web site. Moneywise live dot. Or it can moneywise live dot o r g. So we as a ministry, Rob West would agree. I know. Not to mention the radio station you're listening to right now. Nothing is free. There is always a cost to something. And so the question is, who's going to pay the cost or help pay the cost? And in the case of of ministry, we do depend you depend upon you as a listener to help us when a God puts puts that on your heart. So, again, if you'd like to visit us online, it's moneywise live dot o r g. OK. Lincoln, Nebraska. Bob, I know you've been holding. Thanks for that. And what's your question?

Yeah, I've been seeing on TV advertised some kind of a title protection insurance, and maybe they call it title lock. I can't remember, but it's basically they're advertising that. People can sell the title of your home out from under you and leave you basically homeless.

Is that something that we need to worry about? Is that just the kind of a money gimmick thing or is that a real thing?

Well, it's a real thing, but it's got to be pretty rare if it happens at all. But again, anyone can sell your property without you knowing it. It's called fraud. So paid services like this usually offer to monitor the legal status of your property title and then alert you if something changes. The problem is alerting you isn't the same as protecting you. So if you by owners title insurance and you always should, it will cover your legal costs if your title is challenged and make you whole should you lose ownership for a covered reason.

So in my view, this title lock is not something that's necessary and it would just be an added expense that you really don't need.

I mean, like I own my home, so I have the title in my possession. How could somebody sell that out from under me?

Well, they'd have to commit fraud. So they'd have to attempt to sell it, even though they don't have the title to it and and do that fraudulently. And that's what title insurance is all about. So normally it protects the lender veha if they're the ones holding the title in this case, it's protecting you because you own your home free and clear. So it couldn't happen apart from somebody doing something that they shouldn't. That's illegal and that's where title insurance kicks in. And again, it's so rare if, if it even happens at all. That's why in my view, something like this title walk is not worth the expense.

Does that help a title?

It is. When and when does somebody get this title insurance? Is that when you just purchase? Yeah.

Marty It is, yeah. Typically when you buy it, you know, it would be required when you take out the mortgage, but the you know, you would get that at the time of purchase for sure.

Bob, thank you very much. God bless you. Hope that never happens to you, sir. Let's go up near the Chattanooga area. And Rick, how can we help you?

Hey, thanks for taking my call. Just a question about the orenda, how it's calculated. Is it change seats here? I know, you know, I know about the, you know, not having to do it on 72 this year, this time. And do you guys have you guys heard anything about it going back like next year, back to 70 or no.

Yeah, no, no. The change I mean, unless the law were to change, that New Year is 72 and this year actually it's been waived because of the Keres Act due to the Cobbett 19 pandemic. But basically to your question here, Rick, you're already the required minimum distribution. It's calculated by dividing your tax deferred retirement account balance as of the last day of the previous year. December thirty first by your life expectancy factor. And you might say, well, what is that? Well, that's taken from what's called the IRS uniform lifetime table. So if you go to just Google and you Google IRS uniform lifetime table, you'll find the IRS IRS calculation for that and the table that tells you what your life expectancy factor is based on any age from 70 all the way to, well, all the way on up 115 and older is even the hair on the table. And that will basically give you the amount that you would need to take out each year. If you use a tax preparer, I'd have them just kind of verify that amount with you. So you make sure that you're doing what you need to do and you don't get hit with any penalties. But at the end of the day, it's it's based on this factor and table from the IRS. And that's where you need to go for more information.

OK, Rick, thank you very much for that. Only you, Rob West, off the top of your head, could respond to the IRS uniform lifetime table.

I don't know the table. I know there is one. I couldn't tell you what those factors are. You can look that up with three clicks, though.

Do I have to? Maybe two, maybe. OK. All right. Let's go to my stay right here in Georgia. Chickamauga, Georgia. Hello. Darlene, I'm I'm hearing that you are thinking about buying a home and. Well, I'm not going to mention your age because I don't know if you gave us permission to do that. So I'll let you make that decision. But how can we help you?

Well, I just wonder, is there, A, that he should not say shit? But to our depression, all I'm going to find.

Yes. And are you asking specifically related to taking out a mortgage? And is there an age at which you ought to own it free and clear? Is that what you're asking?

Could take out more. Yeah. Actually, I want my eyes.

Yeah. Well, you can buy a home at any time.

The question is, are are you taking out a mortgage? And does that does that fit into your budget?

You know, you can get a mortgage, you know, as long as you can document your income and show that you have a means by which to pay it back. They'll give you a mortgage, you know, that lasts pretty well into your retirement years. You know, I don't think you'd have any problem at 55 getting a 30 year mortgage. I think the question is, what would it look like for you to get out of debt before that? You know, we always encourage folks to try to have a plan that allows you to be debt free by retirement. So if you're targeting 62 or 65, whatever that might be, for you to perhaps redirect your time and energy to whatever the Lord has you for you in that season. It's great if you can be completely out of debt at that point. It gives you more freedom, more flexibility. And not having that significant mortgage payment just reduces the income any that you have. So your retirement dollars, whether that's a pension or Social Security or savings that you've built up, obviously there's a much less need for income on a monthly basis, but as long as you have a plan to pay it off. You know, I think there's no problem with it. I would just get a short term mortgage, as you can, probably if you're looking at 55 to get a mortgage, I'd probably try to avoid taking out a 30 year mortgage and look at perhaps a 15 or 20 year mortgage, even though the mortgage payment will be higher, that may Styria toward a less expensive home. So nothing wrong with it. You can absolutely qualify for it. I would just make sure you go into it with a plan to eventually be debt free.

And, Rob, what what would be the maximum percentage of her income that she should be paying on a mortgage or a home?

Yeah, we recommend no more than 25 percent of your take home pay allocated to principal interest taxes and insurance. So the PTI 25 percent, which leaves obviously 75 percent for your savings and giving goals as well as your lifestyle and fixed expenses.

Okay. Yes, somewhere in that in that vicinity, Darlene, so that ultimately you don't become stressed or maxed out should something unforeseen happen in your budget or your lifestyle. Thanks. We're glad you called today. Let's try to squeeze in one more. Lakeland, Florida, Florida. And Harriet, how can we help?

Hello. My question. All right. Can you hear me? Go ahead. Go right ahead. Hi.

OK. I have a retirement question. OK, well, if I qualify for a disability, but I haven't taken it because I want to get 30 years on my job, I'll get 30 percent of my high three. Okay. And I figure now that would be like six hundred dollars a month. If I make it 30 years, well, next year and you large, you have 30 years.

Now apply for my disability before I put in for my retirement.

Yeah, that's a great question, Harriet. And it does get into some nuances of disability. You know what? I'm going to not weigh in on this right now just because there are a number of factors at work here.

And I don't want to steer you wrong. Here's what I would love to do, though. I would love to take your information down. Let us connect you directly with a coach who can explore your specific situation, your age, what you're trying to accomplish here with disability, your ability to continue to work. And you know what you're trying to do in terms of qualifying for maximizing your Social Security down the road and then give you a more complete answer than we would be able to do here in just a couple of minutes on the radio. So stay on the line. We'll get your information and we'll have a coach get in touch with you.

We will have you you stand alone. Let's make sure we get everything we need to get back in touch with you. And we will hook you up with someone that can give you all the specifics you need. And we're glad you got through today. Thank you very, very much. Obviously, rap. We've got a couple of retirement questions, retirement related questions. This really is key. But don't wait until you're 60 years old. To start thinking about retirement obviously would be better to start thinking about these kinds of things in your 20s. But virtually no one does that, right?

Well, that's exactly right. The earlier you can start, the better. That's where compounding works in your favor. Steve, let me just mention one other thing before we wrap today. I know time is short. I want to say thank you to Jeff, who called in a listener here money wise live. Heard our previous call about tidal locks and he said you can contact the county recorder who can put you on a list to contact you of any documents are recorded, accessed or altered with or without your knowledge. So check that out. Call the county recorder and see if you can add your name to the list. And we appreciate you for weighing in.

Well, and obviously we never appreciate any scammers are crooks, but you have to admit, it's kind of bold and cheeky for someone to try to sell your house without your permission. I don't know if I would agree with that statement for sure. All right. Hey. Thank you so much for tuning in today and for listening.

Do us a big favor if you enjoy the program. If you've ever heard something that you were able to apply to your own personal finances, do us a favor and let a friend know. Because money wise, live is a partnership between movie radio and money wise media. My thanks today to Judy, Amy Courtney and Jim Handby. Have a great remainder of your day. Join us again tomorrow.