Jesus and Economics, Part 2

If you faithfully read your Bible, you're well acquainted with Jesus' teaching during his earthly ministry. But did you ever wonder why he chose certain examples and parables?

Well, could the answer be economics? To better understand Jesus' teaching, you have to know the circumstances in which he spoke. You have to go to Jerry Boyer for another trip back in time to first century Israel. Then it's your calls later on anything at 800-525-7000.

800-525-7000. I'm Steve Moore. Jesus and economics, part two, right here on MoneyWise Live. Rob, regular listeners know that Jerry Boyer is chief economist at Vidin Financial and that he's always up to speed on today's economy, but they may not realize he's also an expert on the economy of ancient Israel. Wow, that's right, Steve.

And you'll discover it quickly when you read just a few pages even of his new book, The Maker vs. the Takers. What Jesus really said about social justice and economics. Jerry, welcome back to the program. Always a pleasure.

Thanks for having me back. Jerry, we just scratched the surface yesterday, but we did talk about how understanding the economics of ancient Israel really makes Jesus' teaching come alive, perhaps in a whole new way, including the role even geography played, which we unpacked yesterday. Today I want to continue that discussion and to get a clearer understanding of Jesus' teaching about wealth, let's start with the economic system of Jerusalem, which you call devourers of widows' houses. Why that title? Yeah, and I'm getting that from the master.

That's what he said. So why were they seen that way? Well, we know archaeologically and now we go back and read some of the original historical sources at the time, Josephus, for example, who was a historian just like one generation after Jesus. We understand that the temple, which was supposed to be the center of liberation, had become the center of economic exploitation and also religious and theological exploitation. Again, those aren't opposed to one another.

Those things go together. If I can convince you of works' righteousness and that you have to come to get to God, you have to come through me first, it's not going to be too long before I figure out that I can get your credit card number and exploit that financially. And that's what had happened with the temple. They were aligned closely with the power state of Herod. They were coercively taxing people, overtaxing people.

They were deeply involved in a swindle that involved a way of getting around the debt forgiveness law. The temple had become a bank, really literally a bank, 1.2 billion deposited there from the wealthy elite, but kind of a crooked bank that was involved with a scam. So it really was the center of exploitation and it really did offend Jesus. And we look at, you know, Jesus's life. We don't generally see Jesus kind of losing his temper, right? He's generally a calm and peaceful person.

When does he lose his temper? When does zeal for thy house have consumed me? It's when he confronts the economically exploitative system at the temple of the money changers. Economically exploitative.

How? Because when you took your money to the temple to pay your temple tax or do your offering, you had to exchange the money for the holy money of the temple. Except the holy money of the temple, the parity, the exchange rate was crooked. You had to give $100 to get 50 out in your exchange.

It was a 100% upsell, complete rip off of the people. And that's why he called it a den of robbers. And if we miss that, like if we read when Jesus, you know, said to Peter, go get a coin, then we don't look and say that's a starter to pay the temple tax.

And then look at how that translates. We miss the fact that the entire system was built on an ATM. You had to go to the ATM, and the ATM didn't charge you five bucks.

It charged you 100% extra in order to make the exchange. So if you don't get that part of the story, that basic economic background, you're not going to understand why Jesus was so offended by the temple and by the money changers. Yeah, fascinating. Well, Jerry, we have a lot more to cover today. When we come back, we're going to begin to look a bit more at even how the location but also the audience differences helped to illuminate what Jesus was communicating. We'll even explore the rich young ruler, which is often misinterpreted in your view in terms of Jesus' confrontation, and even Judas, the story of Judas being really an economic one.

That's all coming up right around the corner. Jerry Boyer with us today, Jesus economics, even geography, and the theology about money that comes from all of that. You're listening to MoneyWise Live.

He's Rob West. I'm Steve Moore, Jerry Boyer, our guest. We'll come back and take some calls later in the program, 800-525-7000.

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That's christiancreditcounselors.org, or call 800-557-1985. Welcome back to MoneyWise Live. Your host is Rob West.

I'm Steve Moore. Jerry Boyer is our guest. Jerry's new book is The Maker vs. The Takers, What Jesus Really Said About Social Justice and Economics.

Rob? Jerry, as we've said, the location has an impact on understanding what Jesus was communicating around economics, but also the audience. You write that the Sermon on the Mount and the lesser quoted Sermon on the Plain are often confused as the same event, but that they were actually different messages for different audiences.

Explain that for us. Yeah, well, first of all, one's on a mountain, one's on a plain, right? And so some scholars have tended to say, oh, obviously, Matthew's Gospel conflicts with Luke's Gospel, because one has Jesus giving the Sermon on a mountain and the other has him giving the Sermon on the plain. Of course, the far more common sense answer is that they're different sermons, rather than go immediately to the Word of God contradicts itself. Another reason to believe they're different sermons is the audiences that are listed are different. When we're talking about the Sermon on the Mount, the geographical signs are very Galilean, very North, Assyrians, Decapolis, etc. But we're specifically told the Sermon on the Plain is Judeans and those from Tyre and Sidon, who are basically the Judean ruling classes, central bankers.

So that was the financial and political elite. The sermons are different. The Sermon on the Plain given to the ruling class is much harder on wealth. Blessed are the poor rather than blessed are the poor in spirit. And even more pointedly, he says, woe unto you who are rich. He doesn't say woe unto you who are rich when he's giving the Sermon on the Mount, which is a more northern and more general audience. In fact, at that point in the sermon, if you like, line up the two sermons next to one another. At that point, he says, ye are the salt of the earth. So there's the ye are the salt of the earth to one audience, and there's woe unto you who are rich to another audience. These are not contradictory Jesuses. This is a Jesus who's smarter than the scholars who are trying to find contradictions, who knows the different audiences and knows their different economic circumstances and is pointedly, as the prophets have always done, pointedly addressing social injustice by which people who are politically connected were extracting wealth by force and manipulation from the poor and middle class.

Fascinating. Jerry really does bring alive what he's communicating and I think helps to dispel some of the concerns people often have about the words of Jesus as we think about them in relation to wealth and economics and how we're to handle God's money. Let's go to the rich young ruler. This is a confrontation that Jesus has that you say is often misinterpreted.

How so? Well, one of the reasons it's misinterpreted, one of the ways it's misinterpreted is that people tend to leave out that he's a ruler. That's not an extraneous detail. I was talking to someone on a podcast recently and he said, you know, he's heard a sermon once where someone said, this man's kind of like Bill Gates of Microsoft. He's really rich and he's young.

No, no, I'm sorry. That's not the parallel. He is an Arcon senator, city council member, Sanhedrin member.

He's politically connected. They didn't have rich young entrepreneurs in first century Judea. That's not the way the economy worked. They didn't have tech.

They didn't have that kind of dynamism. If you were wealthy and rich and a Sanhedrin member, you inherited daddy's Senate seat and your money was gotten through exploitation, which I think is precisely the reason that when he's asked, when Jesus is asked about the commandments, Jesus recites, you know, the Ten Commandments, not all of them, the second table of the law, but he adds a commandment. Do not defraud. He says, don't commit adultery, don't murder, don't steal, don't bear false witness. And he adds, do not defraud. Why does he add do not defraud? It looks like a mistake. In fact, early copyists started to take that out because obviously it doesn't belong there. Jesus knew what he was doing.

It belongs there. He added defraud to the commandments precisely because the guy he was talking to was a defrauder. That's part of that class. How do we know that?

Well, first of all, we know it historically from seeing historical documents. But Jesus's brother James, when he writes a letter in which he decries the Jerusalem ruling class for ripping off the poor, he uses exactly the same Greek word for defraud. It was part of the nature of that class to be defrauders. So if we then go on and read the rest of that as though it's a general attack on wealth, as opposed to something that's focused on a social ill, then we're missing a big part of the message.

Yeah, so key. Jerry, I want to move quickly to one more story before we're out of time today. It's the story of Judas, and you say this is largely an economic one.

Explain that to us. Well, let's do the geography thing again. Jesus recruits almost all of his disciples from Galilee. There's only one disciple, one of the 12, that we have a reason to believe was not from Galilee, was in fact a Judean.

Who? Judas Ishkariot. Ish, man, kariot, a Judean city. Just based on his name and his father's name, there's good reason to believe he was a Judean, probably the only Judean. Because later on, after he's out of the 12, the angels address Jesus's followers and say, men of Galilee. So we have that Galilee Judea thing going on.

But there's something deeper. He was the keeper of the common purse for the poor. What had happened before Jesus's time is that the temple, under the Torah, the poor tithe was kept locally.

You'd keep it and share it in the city gates. The temple said, no, no, no, we want all of the tithe. We're going to take all of the tithe, bring it into a common purse, and then take care of the poor from there. Judas stole from that common purse. You know what? The Judean temple elite also stole from that common purse.

He is in one man the story of the Judean elite. Centralized power, centralized wealth. Do it in the name of the poor, but not actually give it to the poor.

Wet your own beak instead. Wow. Jerry, we're about out of time.

Here's what I'd like to finish with today. Take all of this research you did that I think further illuminates what Jesus was trying to teach related to money and possessions, helping us understand how we should view God's wealth that we are stewards over, and apply it to us today. What have you taken away that was new as a result of your research? What I've taken away that's new is although anybody can be greedy and anybody can be an idolater of wealth, most Christians are marketplace people, not professional clergy or politicians. People have used these statements from Jesus to make you feel guilty for being economically productive and being in the marketplace.

And they are reversing the order. Yes, anybody can be greedy, but people who are in the marketplace should not consider their wealth guilty until proven innocent, whereas politicians and people who are part of church hierarchies, well, they're not subject to greed. We're all subject to it. And I think for the entrepreneurial or marketplace participating soul, this is an affirmation. Jesus gets you because he was like you, and he hung around with people like you, and you should not feel guilty at all for being a marketplace person. You should feel affirmed. But that doesn't in any way cause us to not look deeply at our hearts and whether the resources we have are competing with our devotion for the Lord, clearly. Anybody can be a money idolater, but it's interesting that it is specifically the leaders that Jesus said were lovers of money.

So everyone should examine their heart, but people who are leaders maybe should stop using these verses as weapons against people who are entrepreneurs and understand that it applies to all of us. Well, Jerry, so thankful for you. This has been fabulous. We're going to have to have you back to do some more on this. But thanks for joining us the last couple of days. Jerry Boyer has been with us for the last couple of days, and boy, have we learned a lot.

The title of his brand new book, The Maker vs. the Takers, is available at Amazon. And we'll be right back after this. I'm going to suggest to you under that first bullet point you can love people who are very unlike you. I want to remind you of a second bullet point. You don't have to rely on your own resource. You don't have to rely on your own resource.

Love gets easier when you realize that you don't have to rely on your own resource. We've already had this lesson, but boy, do I want to remind you of it before we close this thing down and close down the study of Romans. I'm just going to remind you. I'm going to read Romans 5, 5 to you, and I pray it will become just a lifelong prayer of ours. It says, And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit whom He has given us. His love. And when I'm at the end of it, I have another resource. My own fleshly love is going to run out, and it's going to run out quick, and it's going to be based on convenience.

It's going to be based on preferences and partialities. But God's resource, He pours His own love into our hearts by way of the Holy Spirit. And I've got to know, love gets a whole lot easier when I know that is my resource, not just this thing ticking inside of me.

That's my resource. I can always go to God and go, you've got to give me something I don't have. You've been listening to A Quick Word with Beth Moore. The online experience is now available at BethMoore.org. Come join Beth for Now That Faith Has Come, a study of Galatians, at BethMoore.org.

See you next time for another Quick Word with Beth Moore. The financial wealth you leave behind could be the best thing that ever happened to your loved ones, or the worst. In Splitting Heirs, giving your money and things to your children without ruining their lives, Ron Blue explains why it's important to make these decisions now, instead of forcing your heirs to do it later.

Splitting Heirs will foster a real appreciation for the precious resources that God has entrusted to you. And it's available when you click the store button at MoneyWiseLive.org. Great to have you with us today. It's MoneyWise Live, and guess what? We have a bunch.

It's a highly technical broadcast term. We have a bunch of open lines. So if you've been thinking of calling Rob and thinking, well, maybe I can't get in and maybe they'll put me on hold forever, not the case today. Open lines at 800-525-7000, anything financial that is concerning to you, something you've been wondering about, something overtly biblical, or maybe you just can't figure out how to live and get on a budget. Let's talk about those things and more.

800-525-7000. Here's a question that came in, Rob, over the last few minutes. My daughter wants to know how much she should be saving while she is still paying off student loans. Living at home, $38,000 in student loans, paying to pay them off in two years. She's making $47,000 as a first-year teacher.

That's good. How much does she need to set aside for savings over the next couple of years to be ready to live on her own? And again, the student loan amount is $38,000. Well, what's impressive about what you just read there, Steve, is that she's got $38,000 in student loans, and she's planning to have that paid off in two years, making $47,000 a year. So obviously she is living perhaps at home, but keeping her lifestyle at a minimum, taking the majority of what she's bringing in, and using it to pay off debt.

That's great. I would just want to make sure that she has an emergency fund. So she needs probably three months expenses, and so I would perhaps back slightly off of the payback of the student loans just until she gets that emergency fund in place. The other thing she'll want to do is make sure that if she is living at home and she's perhaps going to go out and get an apartment, that she knows what she needs to turn on the utilities and first and last and security and probably have a separate savings account for that amount. But apart from that, man, she is on the right track, really focused on getting this debt paid off. And imagine, once that's gone, she'll have that sense of accomplishment, she'll have no debt underneath her, and she can really start to then think about perhaps increasing her giving, saving for a down payment on a home someday, even starting a company-sponsored retirement plan, but I like what I'm hearing. Okay, why worry about having three or six months in an emergency fund when she's actually paying interest on a student loan?

Yeah, you know, I think the key there is to establish the right disciplines. So if you've got that emergency fund, what that does is it says, I recognize that the unexpected will come. Now, I don't mean the unexpected that we should expect, right?

We should expect the tires are going to eventually need to be replaced on the car and brakes. I'm talking about the things that come out of left field, you know, it would be a transmission going out or a deductible for a hospital stay that we didn't plan on that was $1,000 or something like that. Those things come, we can't necessarily plan for them, so we have an emergency fund there.

And what that does, Steve, is it makes sure that if a major expense comes that's unexpected, she's not running to a credit card to borrow that money and it says right up front that I'm going to have margin that I can count on and I'm not going to live on debt, I'm going to live on my own resources and if I use a credit card, it's because it's for a budgeted item and it's going to get paid off at the end of the month. Okay, well said. All right, again, our phone number, if you'd like to chat today with Rob West, call right now, 800-525-7000.

Canton, Ohio. Hi, Kathy, what's on your mind today? Yes, and I thank you for taking my call. What I'm wondering about is I've got a son who is looking to buy a house in the next probably, you know, maybe two to four or five months, but you were saying a few days ago that you expect the interest rates for mortgage loans to be going up. Is there any way to lock in an interest rate now on a mortgage loan that you're going to be using in a few months and does it cost money to lock it in and what are the, you know, can this be done?

Yeah, Kathy, it's a great question. You know, let me say though, I don't expect interest rates to go up anytime soon. The Fed Chairman Powell has said, as the Federal Reserve goes, we're not even thinking about raising rates at this point.

Now, could that change? Certainly, and that's what the Fed does. The Federal Open Market Committee, as they're considering rates, they're going to look at all factors, including how the economy is performing and what does unemployment look like and all of that is, you know, changing all the time because we're still in the midst of a pandemic, but I don't see rates going up anytime soon.

Keep in mind though, we're at historic lows and so really the only direction they can go is up. The question is when and I would say that sometime next year. Now, in terms of a rate lock, that is something you can do, but it's not something you can do just to lock it in without the intention of going forward with it in the near future. Typically, a rate lock requires first of all you to go through an application process, so you have to be serious about it. That's going to involve a credit check and then once you are kind of approved at the first level for that, prior to underwriting, they would typically give you about 60 days in the form of a lock. It could go out as far as 120 days and some may offer a free rate lock for a stated period of time. But you're not going to get it more than generally 60 to 120 days. And again, you're going to have to go through that application process and they're typically going to want you to start the underwriting process of going through all the finer points, evaluating the home either through an appraisal or perhaps some other method if you have quite a bit of equity, looking at your income, doing verification, asking for tax returns or at least the ability to request them if they choose.

All of those things. So that's not for somebody, Kathy, who's saying, I just want to kind of lock in this rate and at some point in the future, I'm going to take advantage of this. It really doesn't work like that. But if you're thinking you want to move forward sometime in the next two to four months, you know, especially if it's two months, then you could say to a lender, yeah, I want to go ahead and apply.

I want to walk a rate in and I'm planning on moving forward with this purchase or refinance. Does that make sense? It does. And I do. Yeah, I totally understand.

So it makes real good sense. So thank you so much. You're welcome. Thanks for calling today. God bless you.

Yeah. Thanks so much, Kathy. We appreciate that. And thank you for listening. If you're a listener right now, but if you're thinking of becoming a caller, there are still some open lines available.

Eight hundred five to five, seven thousand. When we come back, we'll speak with Sue, who's wondering about some student loan debt that her daughter has. Also, Debbie wants to know about finishing a basement to rent it out.

We'll talk about those construction and related things and anything else that you'd like to chat about when you dial eight hundred five to five, seven thousand. This is Money Wise Live. That guy over there, the good looking one. He's Rob West. I'm Steve Moore. Just plain old Steve Moore.

We'll be right back. Investing is more than just returns. It's an expression of who you are and what you value. Does the way you invest your money reflect your identity as a Christian? At Eventide, we design investments for performance and a better world. So you can invest with a confidence to reach your financial goals while remaining true to your Christian values and commitments. We call this investing that makes the world rejoice. More is available at invest eventide dot com.

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That's Moody publishers dot com. God cares a great deal more about our money than most of us imagine. In fact, Jesus says more about our use of money and possessions than about anything else, including both heaven and hell in managing God's money. Author Randy Alcorn breaks it all down in a simple, easy to follow format that makes it the perfect reference tool.

If you're interested in gaining a solid biblical understanding of money, possessions and eternity, managing God's money is available when you click the store button at Money Wise Live dot org. Well, that's our news. I'm John Scott. C-SPAN has suspended its political editor Steve Scully indefinitely after he admitted to lying about having his Twitter account hacked a week ago when Scully was questioned about a message he had sent to former Trump aide Anthony Scaramucci seeking advice. Scully claimed that someone had gotten into his account in Senate, but he admitted this week to his bosses that he had lied. President Trump and challenger Joe Biden competing for TV audiences. It'll be in dueling town halls tonight instead of meeting face to face for their second debate, as originally planned. The two will take questions in different cities on different networks tonight.

The president on NBC from Miami, Biden on ABC from Philadelphia. Stocks ending lower today. The Dow lost 19 points.

The Nasdaq was down 54 and the S&P dropped five. This is S.R.N. News. Hey, before you make that choice, that decision, maybe even that purchase, remember what First Corinthians 612 tells us.

All things are lawful to me, but not all things are profitable. Let's go back to our phone lines. Bonners Ferry, Idaho, KMBI, our great station in that area. And Debbie, what's on your mind? Hi, Steve. Thanks so much. I love your show.

I listen to it every day. I am semi-retired. I live alone. I'm in a home that's too big for me now, but it's paid off as of two months ago and I love my home.

And I if I I've kind of looked to see if there's something smaller, more affordable, but I mean, well, now it's affordable because it doesn't cost me to I don't have a mortgage, but it's just for what I have. I don't think I could get anything less. It's well, let me just move on. So I'm not very good about thinking off the top of my head. No problem, Debbie. You're doing great.

Go right ahead. So the Lord has sent me borders temporarily, like a few times. I've had people that need a safe place to be or like some P.A. students that would need a place to rent during their five weeks of rotation here in our town.

So I've had a lot of people in and out of here, some some even as long as eight months. But I have this basement which has its own bathroom. And there's like a little kitchenette area because that was where the people that bought the built the house originally lived before they added on to it.

And it's not finished. And I'm thinking about finishing it to rent out of the studio apartment. We have a dearth of rentals in this county. So I probably if I wasn't too picky about who rented, I probably already always have a renter in there.

But that's part of my question about is this wise to do for a 66 year old lady? And also there would be some disadvantages as far as my firewood access would be. I heat with a wood furnace and I've always brought in the wood from the basement, which is where the furnaces that the door that, you know, keep my wood stacked up there.

So if I had somebody using that, I would have to truck the firewood all the way through the house instead of doing it that way. Just little things like that. I guess I'm just nervous about it, but I see the benefits of having that extra income. Sure. Yeah. So a couple of things here. Number one would be, do you have to make any renovations or improvements in order for the basement to be ready to take on a renter?

Yes, it doesn't. I would need to put insulation in the ceiling, put a ceiling on. Have you gotten any prices? Have you had a contractor come out and look at that and give you any kind of bids?

I have not, just because of the season. They've been so busy, but I do have two contractors in my search that I would probably, one of them asked to do that. And it would be minimal for a while. We were thinking, I was thinking of, well, my nephew was helping me take this through, moving like either, I have a gas furnace too. So both of the wood furnace and the gas furnace take up quite a bit of room. So they were thinking, well, if we move that into the storage area, you know, to give them more room. Here's, I think, the considerations you need to take into account.

One is exactly what you're talking about. I think you need to really get an accurate estimate from a contractor. Perhaps I would encourage even a couple of them to give you a true picture of what it's going to take to do the necessary improvements so you're ready to take somebody in. What is that going to cost? And then financially, where is that going to come from? Do you have savings for that? Or is that going to require you to take out a loan, perhaps a home equity loan, where you could absorb that into your budget, and that would be key. And then over time, you could pay that off, hopefully out of the rent that's coming in, so that 100% perhaps of what you're bringing in, you know, would be able to go toward paying that off as quickly as possible.

Now you have an improved basement and you've got this income on top of it. You're also going to want to set some money aside from that so you can do any kind of repairs because, you know, if you have somebody coming and going and then figure out how to handle the utility portion of the allocation as well. Beyond that, you need to really think about the safety side of it and who are you going to be renting this to? Perhaps as a part of exploring what the improvements are going to cost, you ought to call your local church or a few churches in the area to say, do you all have need for something like this?

Do you have a board where, you know, I could find people like this? Do you have missionaries coming and going that might need, you know, while they're stateside for six months or a year, a place to live? Because you're obviously going to want to feel very comfortable about who you're bringing into your home and really think through that. And then I think one other consideration is just one impact that's going to have on your life and whether you're willing for that to be the case and what insurance do you need for that? Depending on whether this is short term or long term, you know, you may not need additional homeowners coverage, although I'd certainly ask, but you're going to want to add probably some additional liability coverage.

So you're going to want to visit with your insurance agent to see what changes you're going to need to make to your various policies, starting with homeowners so that you have the proper coverages. So I think that's the due diligence you need to go through next. How much is it going to cost? Where is that going to come from? Can I absorb that financially? Where am I going to find my renters and am I comfortable with that and the impact on my life?

And then finally, what do I need to do from an insurance standpoint? So why don't you start with those things and as you have questions, feel free to give us a call back. Debbie, God bless. Thanks so much for calling today. We hope that helps you.

Let's quickly go to Florida. Miguel, I understand you have some sort of retirement question for us, huh? Yes.

Hi. Long story short, I'm sure you guys have heard of Dave Ramsey. He recommends one of the things he recommends for retirement is to get a growth.

I think it's growth stock mutual fund in a Roth IRA. And hey, you know, the way he when he explains it and I looked it up, it seems great. So basically, my question is, how does one get started in that? Because I have no idea. Yeah, that's a great question. And Dave's a good friend.

In fact, he's going to be on the program here in just a few weeks. And I would concur wholeheartedly, Miguel, with what he is saying. And that is that we need, you know, once we have an emergency fund in place, once our consumer debt is paid off, particularly credit cards, we need to be systematically contributing long term. Assuming we have a budget, we're taking care of our basic needs and expenses, and we're giving systematically, we need to be putting something away for the long term. And really, our goal for that monthly contribution to that retirement plan should be 10 to 15 percent of our take home pay.

Now, where do we put that? Well, if you have matching available through your 401K or 403B, I'd start there because that's free money. If they're matching you dollar for dollar, you get an immediate 100 percent return on your money that you're not going to get anywhere else.

But if they don't offer that or if you've already maxed out the matching, then I love what you're describing from Dave's recommendation. I love the Roth IRA. Senator Roth did a wonderful thing when this came into being because now you can put in after tax dollars, but you can see tax free growth over however many years you're going to contribute between that time and retirement when you'd start pulling this out. And when you do, you pay no tax on all of the gains. You could open a Roth IRA, any number of brokerage firms, banks, mutual fund companies. So you could look at Vanguard, you could open it at Charles Schwab, you could use one of the robo advisors like Betterment.

I mean, there's an unlimited number of choices there. And what Dave is describing with a stock growth mutual fund, basically that's just a basket of investments that's focused on growth, meaning it's taking a little bit more risk. But growth oriented companies tend to outperform the alternative, which is value companies. And so if you have time on your side, which you're young and you do, then it's a great opportunity for you to get a lot of money growing for you over a long period of time. So let's do this. Stay on the line.

We're going to send you the sound mind investing handbook, which will be helpful to you. And then if you have other questions along the way, don't hesitate to give us a call. We appreciate your phone call today. Stay with us, Miguel.

We'll be right back. This is MoneyWise Live. Buying a home is the largest, most nerve wracking purchase most of us ever make. It doesn't help that you're entering a maze of unfamiliar words and confusing options that can leave you intimidated, frustrated and afraid you've been taken advantage of. Navigating the mortgage maze by Dale Vermilion helps you clear up the confusion, unrack your nerves and make the best mortgage decisions possible with confidence navigating the mortgage maze available when you click the store button at MoneyWiseLive.org.

Hi, I'm Barry Maguire. I'm here to help you understand how urgent and how fun it is to share your faith at every opportunity through the eyes of a layman. And it's even more important if you're a patriot. Almost 80 percent of Americans are living outside the influence of the church and are blinded to the truth. We need more God loving citizens who elect God loving politicians who restore us into being one nation under God. The essence of America is our freedom that's founded in faith. Our founders warned us that a republic will only last as long as we remain a religious and virtuous people. They saw us then more clearly than we see ourselves today as we've turned our back on God and lost our virtue and are suffering the consequences. God help us. If you're a Christian and a patriot, the most patriotic thing you can do is to lead as many people as possible to Jesus. And by using the Bible as our voters guide, we can make America Christian again. There is nothing more exciting than knowing God is using you to move people closer to him.

Join us at IgniteAmerica.com. Do you remember that old ad from the 1970s for Clayton's? It's the drink you have when you're not having a drink.

Hi, I'm Bernie Dymett. Clayton's has become part of our language. A Clayton's drink looks as though it's alcoholic, but really it isn't. A Clayton's anything is something that looks real, but isn't. Question, is it possible to have a Clayton's person?

You know, a person who's not really a person. A baby in its mother's womb, is that a Clayton's person? Or maybe the street people we walk around on the footpath.

They're almost always smelly. Are they Clayton's people? Or maybe those workers in the factories across Asia who make the toys our kids play with and the clothes we wear. All for a few cents an hour. Are they Clayton's people? Jesus said, I've come to bring good news to the poor and to set the captives free. I wonder when he looks around, whether he sees any Clayton's people on this earth.

I wonder. Most couples can't talk about money, yet most money books expect them to. But how can you create a budget or pay down debt if you can't even talk about spending or saving with your mate? If you get tense about money or just plain avoid money conversations altogether, Thriving in Love and Money by Shanti and Jeff Feldhahn is for you. And it's yours free when you donate $25 or more to MoneyWiseLive.org.

Thriving in love and money for a better relationship, not just a better budget. Hey, don't forget, you can always visit us and like us on Facebook. Just look for Money Wise Media.

You can check out our question of the day and even leave us some suggestions for what topics you'd like to hear discussed on the program. Again, it's on Facebook. Actually, we're on all the social media platforms. Look for us.

MoneyWise Media. Let's go to Pembroke Pines, Florida. Ingrid, is this Ingrid? Hello.

Yes. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday, dear Ingrid. Happy birthday to you.

Wow. Ingrid, you got him to sing on the radio. I want cake. Ingrid, I want cake.

I want a piece of cake before the day is out, okay? Alrighty, okay. I just want to say God bless you all.

You do a phenomenal job, you guys. Thank you so much. I have a question regarding, I have a United States savings bond, the EE series for my daughter. She's in college right now. She's 22.

She's in her last year. I don't know what to do with this thing. What do I do with it?

Well, I would cash it in because there's better places to put that money that are going to give you a better return. Is it an electronic bond, Ingrid, or is it a paper bond? Paper bond.

Paper bond, okay. Well, the quickest way to get access to your money to cash in a bond is to, if it's a paper bond, is to go to a local financial institution like a bank and they can help you with that. If you're trying to figure out how much it's, what the value is today, the website for that is treasurydirect.gov.

That's the government website for all the various treasury bonds, bills, and notes. And savings bonds would be there and there's a savings bond calculator that would allow you to put in the actual information related to that particular bond and they'll tell you exactly what it's worth. And then if you decide you want to cash it in and repurpose it, you know, if it's long-term money, go ahead and invest it. If it's not, it's going to be used in the near term for paying off debt or for living expenses. You could put it in a high-yield savings account. But the bottom line is you're not going to get a whole lot from this EE bond and so it's probably better to reposition it elsewhere. So I'd start by determining the value.

Again, treasurydirect.gov and then if you decide to cash it in, any financial institution should be able to help you with that. Is that working? Thank you so much. You're welcome.

I appreciate your call. Have a great day. Thank you. And you too. Thanks very much.

Carleton, Pennsylvania. Hello, Sue. Do you have a question for Rob?

I sure do. My question is about passing investments to the next generation when the Lord calls us home, of course. My husband and I have no major health issues at this time. We are both retired. We have Social Security plus other pensions. But then in addition to that, we have about $300,000 in 401k and an annuity. I just want to give you a basis about our situation.

We don't have to touch that $300,000 other than the required minimum distribution and our home is paid off. We have one daughter who's in her 30s. She's fairly frugal. We have no grandchildren and that may change, you know, as God may bring someone in her life. But she has considerable student loan debt.

We're going to we are providing her with a little assistance along the way that she doesn't need much of that. Right now we have her named as the beneficiary on our investment accounts. But a friend has told us that lending companies can lay claim to her inheritance if she has outstanding student loan debt. In other words, sort of file against what would be her inheritance and that we should instead set up a trust. And then she could apply to the trustee for living expenses and so forth. I'm kind of reluctant to do that because setting up a trustee or a situation requires additional expense.

It's complicated. There's ongoing costs with that. But if indeed a student loan company can kind of step in and say, oh, no, this isn't yours after all, we may want to rethink that.

So I'm just wondering if you ever heard of a risk like that and what you know, what guidance you might have. Yeah, well, the any kind of judgment against an individual has the ability to attach property and assets. So your creditors, if they seek a judgment and are awarded a judgment, can ask the court for wage garnishment or bank account garnishment, place a lien on real property. And, you know, that would obviously tap assets, including inherited assets. So one way to protect against that would be to have a trust, whether that's a lifetime asset trust or what's called a spendthrift trust, which is another type of irrevocable trust where the trust maintains ownership of the assets. But it allows the person who created the trust, the trustor, to put restrictions on withdrawals and then create an income flow to the beneficiary, the trustee. And then, you know, there's other various types of protection instruments that you can apply here.

But I think the key is to recognize she'd have to be in default. A judgment have to would have to be sought. And then, you know, at that point, this asset, this inherited asset in the form of stocks and bonds could be accessed. So, you know, it's something if you're concerned about it, you could certainly talk to an estate planning attorney.

I'm not one. And so you'd want to get professional counsel just to advise you on what's possible. What are the scenarios under which an inheritance could be tapped by a creditor? And is it worth, given what we understand about those scenarios, is it worth spending the time and the money to put a trust in place or an irrevocable trust? And what you'll probably find is that it's not, you know, that the odds are she's going to continue to pay on this.

These are federal loans. Even if she got into hard times, there would be various based income based repayment options that would allow her to pay this on over time as she's able based on the income she has. And she'd keep it in good order and current.

And therefore, there would be no judgment ever where somebody could access her inheritance. Does that make sense? It does. It makes perfectly good sense. And I should have mentioned we are not cosigners on that. And she is maintaining communication with the student loan companies and, you know, has had to put them on to deferral once in a while because of employment situations. But that's very helpful.

Good. Well, if you need some help there, you're welcome to go to our website, Sue, MoneyWiseLive.org. Click find to CKA and ask for a referral to a godly estate planning attorney who could give you some additional counsel and perhaps talk you through the various options. But hopefully that gives you a starting point and we appreciate your call. Sue, God bless you. Thank you so much.

Quickly, let's stay right here in the state of Georgia, Rob, up to Rome, Georgia. And Marsha, what's your question? My question is, my husband is 70 and I am 66. And I thought I had heard that he might need life insurance, may not. Yeah, well, the question whenever we're talking about life insurance, Marsha, is what is the purpose of it? So if we're going to put policy on his life paid to a beneficiary, somebody, perhaps you or some other dependent, there would need to be a good reason for it. And that would typically be that in the event of his untimely death, there would be a burden placed on a loved one or a dependent in the form of lost income or added expense. If though you're living off of Social Security and you'd receive his because it's higher or you're living off of other retirement assets that would just continue because they're held jointly or they would be paid to you following his death, then you have no risk of your lifestyle and your expenses at his passing because you've already accumulated. You guys are beyond your working years. If though there is a real need at 70, you could get a policy.

It's going to be obviously somewhat costly. You could look at like, let's say, a 10 year term policy. But the whole idea of life insurance is that there comes a point where we no longer need it because we've done our saving. We're no longer working and we're living off of saved assets, retirement, Social Security, pensions, things like that. So given that, do you feel like there's a real need to have a policy on his life that would be paid to you or not?

No. I mean, we're living off of Social Security and our investments. We already have the policy, but we're still paying like $5,000 a year for it. And so we wanted to know about discontinuing it. Yeah, and I would say it doesn't sound like, and you'd obviously want to think through this and perhaps even talk to a financial planner, doesn't sound like there's a real need for it because you're paying $5,000 a year for coverage that you don't really need because if something happens to him, you still have your retirement assets. You still have your Social Security and you just continue on until the Lord calls you home. But to continue to pay on this policy for a windfall that really is not necessary to maintain your lifestyle, I just think at this point is unneeded.

And so I'd probably consider letting it go. Hey Marcia, we're glad that you called in today and we wish you and your husband the best as you work through this and make the right decision. Thank you very, very much. And Rob, the new MoneyWise e-magazine, if I'm not mistaken, has been released this week. Do you remember what's in the mag, sir? Oh yeah, and it was released today, Steve. Oh, today?

So this is the day. Here's how you can go access it. Just go to MoneyWiseLive.org and you'll see a green band there that says subscribe. We'd love for you to subscribe. We'll immediately send that newsletter out to you. The new newsletter is all about decision-making. We want to help you make wise, biblical financial decisions with the decision-making process, a whole host of helpful articles in there, the four commandments of money, the seven-day financial makeover, how you establish a financial finish line, some savings ideas. And you'll even learn more about the brand new MoneyWise app, which is available today with a digital envelope system and our community and access to the broadcast archives.

That you can find when you go to app.MoneyWise.org. But yeah, go get the latest edition of the e-magazine. And is there, forgive me, I can't remember, is there a special podcast in this edition of the magazine?

There is, yeah. And you participated in it, Steve Moore. So Steve and I welcomed Ron Blue to talk about his decision-making process, Ron Blue.

And you'll find it fascinating. So yeah, the podcast is right there in the latest edition of the magazine. All right, Rob, thanks. MoneyWise Live is a partnership between Moody Radio and MoneyWise Media. Thanks so much for listening today. Please tell a friend and join us again tomorrow.