Praying for Our Daily Bread

In Matthew 6, Jesus tells us how we should pray and how not to. Do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Of course, Jesus then gives us the Lord's Prayer as an example of how we should bring our needs to God.

But are we skimming over part of it? Financial advisor and teacher Rob West shares that with us first today. Then we'll take your calls on anything at 800-525-7000. 800-525-7000. I'm Steve Moore, praying for our daily bread.

That's next on Money Wise Live. Well Rob, I guess I sort of gave that verse away there, the place in the Lord's Prayer where Jesus instructs his disciples, give us this day our daily bread. Well, it's a very important verse that we tend to take for granted, but we shouldn't. Jesus is, of course, teaching his disciples and us that God is our provider and we're to ask him to provide for our needs.

And the most basic physical need, of course, is food. And we want to thank Pastor David Platt for writing about this and reminding us that that verse is intended to destroy our pride. How often do we ask God to provide us with the food and water that we'll need today? And to thank him for doing so. When we say those words in the Lord's Prayer, do we really mean them, perhaps? Yeah, unfortunately sometimes we're just reciting the words.

Why do you think that is? Well, I think it's because we forget that only God can provide us with the food and water we need to survive. He owns everything. We may think that our actions, earning and saving money, provide those things, but that's never the case. Even our ability to make money comes from God. We're only reminded that God is our real provider when those things are taken from us and we begin to feel hunger and thirst. And this is more about than just, I mean, more than just about making money to buy food, don't you think?

Well, sure, it is. You know, we hunger for many other things in this world, peace, love, purpose, healthy relationships, you name it. The Lord's Prayer is an example of how we should pray for all of those things. You see, Jesus wants us to go before our Holy Father in prayer and ask for everything we need, humbly admitting that only he can provide them. And I suppose Give Us This Day, Our Daily Bread, had more impact two thousand years ago when famine was always a real possibility.

Well, no question about it. It seems like an odd request in today's culture for most. Living in the richest nation in history, most of us, of course, there are exceptions, but the vast majority of us never worry about where our next meal is going to come from. It seems especially odd when many of us actually need less food, not more. Yeah, and I think unfortunately the past few months, many Americans have come to realize that, or maybe they didn't before, and those of us who have plenty should probably be very cognizant of that and look for opportunities for ministry. But it's still important to pray for God's daily provision on every level, would you agree? Well, it absolutely is important to pray for our daily bread, even in America. David says that what Jesus is really telling us in that verse is, you need to pray because prayer will guard you against thinking that you can provide bread for yourself on your own apart from God.

In other words, it's a bulwark against prideful thinking that we or the things of this world provide what we need. Jesus knew that we're prone to that kind of thinking. That's why those words are in the Lord's Prayer, and that's why we should take them very seriously.

And this also underscores how dangerous materialism can be, doesn't it? Yes, and we should take a hard look at how much we're conforming to disturbing trends in even Western Christianity. Maybe we really believe that we can sustain our lives all on our own without God, and that's a reason many of us are so casual about prayer in general. In addition to warning about pride, Jesus is also telling us that our Father in Heaven wants to give us every good and perfect gift.

In fact, a few verses later in Matthew 6, he tells the disciples, seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. What that means is we don't really need bread or water or money. We need God, and prayer reminds us of that and of God's promise that he'll provide all of those things. Anything else we should pray for? Well, I can't say it any better than David Platt. In today's wealthy culture, we should ask God to deliver us from what he calls self-sustaining Christian lives. We have to acknowledge daily we can't sustain ourselves, and that begins by admitting that we need Christ as our Savior, but that has to extend into every area of our life that we need God to sustain us.

Amen to that. You're listening to MoneyWise Live. He's Rob West. I'm Steve Moore, 800-525-7000. Having 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. When it comes to investing guidance, you want advice grounded in God's Word. That's the approach offered by Sound Mind Investing. SMI has helped tens of thousands of Christians acquire investing wisdom and confidence. Regardless of your investing experience or how much you have to invest, you can learn to be a wise and faithful steward in the area of investing.

A short video webinar on profit and peace of mind is available now at SoundMindInvesting.org. And now, a discipleship moment. Here's Phil Downer. I screamed at my wife Sally, I made a bad investment, my septic tank backed up, I'm angry and discouraged, and I just don't know what's wrong. Well, my early morning call from Tom three days in a row were all about the same, desperate. Well, Tom, I said, you need to make two calls. Remember in Mark 1 35 where it says that in the early morning Jesus got up and went out to a lonely place and prayed?

Yeah, Tom said. Well, you need to number one, call on God in prayer. Read his word and listen for his voice. And number two, you need to call the septic tank repairman. Well, how long should I be in my quiet time? He asked.

Well, I said, until the bad stench leaves your home and your heart. Are you all backed up today, friend? Call the repairman. Call on God. Phil's book, Brave, Strong and Tender can help you help your friends through life's tough issues.

For full information, go to Downer dot org. If the heavy burden of debt is robbing you of freedom and peace of mind, Christian credit counselors can help. We're a nationwide nonprofit credit counseling organization that has helped over 300,000 individuals in the last 27 years get out of credit card debt 80% faster while honoring that debt in full. To learn how Christian credit counselors can help you visit Christian credit counselors dot org. That's Christian credit counselors dot org or call 800-557-1985. Great to have you aboard today.

It's Money Wise Live and you can reach us with a comment or a question of any kind at 800-525-7000. Let me tell you about the technical team in place today. We searched the country far and wide for the best four people who could come in and do it in a professional and a fervent committed way. And they are Dan, Amy, Clara and of course the man with two first names, Jim Henry. And it's a blessing they have here, don't you think, Rob?

Well, it sure is. We have an incredible team, as you know, Steve, that serves alongside us each day. And we couldn't do what we do without their capable work.

Yeah. And someday when we're on television, we'll post their pictures at the end of every program. But as long as we're here on radio, there's just not much more we can do other than give you their names. And we can go to Orlando, Florida, and say hi to Kim. And what's on your mind, Kim?

How can we help? Hi. Hi. Of course. It's nice to speak to you guys. I listen to you every day, even at work.

Thank you. I was calling because I got myself into a situation pretty young. Now I am $120,000 in debt. I have $90,000 in student loans.

I have gotten a master's degree at a private university. And then I have a vehicle that I'm still paying on that I owe like $21,300. I've paid off all my credit cards. So I owe nothing on any of my credit cards. I do have an open line of credit. It's just that it's there, but I'm paying it off every month. So if I spend 50, I don't spend a lot.

I just put gasoline and then pay it off like 50 bucks, gasoline, pay it off. And now I'm about to go through a divorce and I'm about to start the filing process. And here I am today and about to be a single mom. So I'm like, I don't want to be in a whole bunch of debt and be a single mom and going through the divorce. Yeah, well, I certainly understand, Kim.

You know, I think I'm encouraged by the fact, though, that you recognize this is a large number. You want to get out from under it and you don't have any credit card debt. And if you did in the past, you obviously exercise the discipline to be able to get that paid off in full.

Or if you haven't had it, you've at least guarded yourself against that. So, you know, college debt, especially a master's education at a private university, I realize how quickly that can rack up. I hope that left you with marketable skills and a job that pays such that you can get that paid off.

We'll talk about that in a second. Of course, having a vehicle loan is something that is there every month. You're going to want to get that paid off, but not the end of the world as long as we can fit that into the spending plan. But the fact that you don't have credit card debt, Kim tells me that you're living within your means. You're at least covering all of your obligations. You're only using that credit card for budgeted items. And then you're paying it off in full, which tells me you have the discipline to make sure you don't add any more debt. The question is, how do we create more margin in your financial life now and with some of these things that are changing so that you can apply that toward debt reduction, both on the car and the student loans? Because I know you want to get those paid off just as quickly as you can. So tell me about your spending plan in terms of when you pay the minimum on that student loans on those student loans, assuming they're not deferred and on the car and then all of your other recurring and non-recurring fixed and discretionary spending.

Do you have anything left over at the end of the month? Well, of course, I'm married. So I had a support system, of course, a spouse to assist me. So a lot of times I would just say, put my money into savings. And then essentially, if I needed something because I just had a baby eight months ago, I would just make sure I have whatever I needed for her. So I did have a savings.

I did, but now I'm no longer paying anymore. So right now, I did my calculations because I do have bonuses, but my base salary is $60,000 a year. And then, of course, I have a $1,300 monthly rent that I pay, of course. Okay.

So at this point, you've started to work up your new budget, but there's still some questions as to child support and any other additional money you would see coming in following the divorce. Is that correct? That is correct. Okay. All right.

Well, I think, okay, I think that's going to be the key is really to start thinking through what that budget looks like. Are those federal loans such that you have some flexible repayment options available to you on the student loans? Yeah, they're all federal. I didn't take out any private loans, thank God. Okay.

All right. So that's going to give you the income-based repayment options if you need them. And I think the key right now is just to stay really focused on that spending plan as things are changing. So you get a good feel for what income sources are you going to have, the ones you can count on now, your base salary plus your bonuses, anything coming from your husband once all of this has been finalized, and then really working through the budget at that point to determine do you need to make any drastic changes, meaning do you need to exercise an income-based repayment option to reduce what you're paying toward the student loans? Do you need to sell that car and buy something a little bit less expensive just because the budget doesn't work? Are there other changes you need to make? You mentioned $1,300 in rent.

That certainly doesn't sound out of line for Orlando, Florida. It sounds fairly modest, but you may get into a situation where you need to look to spend a little bit less than that. So the budget is going to be key. And then obviously, once you get the budget in place such that you have, you know, some margin left over apart from having an emergency fund of three months expenses, I would just really start snowballing this going after the car first, because if you can pay off that car, then obviously that's going to free up that monthly payment for you then to apply all of that toward the student loans as you're able to.

And I've counseled with enough single moms to know how challenging that is and single dads. And so, you know, we're just going to make this an exercise of faith, trust the Lord that he'll provide and do your part, which is to follow his principles of spending less than you earn and avoiding the use of debt and continuing to be faithful in your giving and having some margin or some excess in your spending plan and setting long-term goals. And as you do that and follow these biblical principles, I'm confident the Lord will provide. I'd like to do two things, Kim, as we wrap up here today. Number one, I'd like to give you six months of our MoneyWise Pro subscription for the MoneyWise app, which will allow you to get that budget set up and get everything being downloaded from your credit cards so you can use an envelope system to track really closely your income and expenses. The second thing is I'd like to recommend that you connect with one of our money, help you as you put that new budget together and walk alongside you.

And you can do that at MoneyWiseLive.org. Kim, thank you very much. We wish you the very best. And I trust that the information we're sending out to you will help you and bless you as you go forward. Thanks very much. Buffalo, New York. Hey, Matthew, what's on your mind? How you doing? Pleasure to be on.

Thanks for having me. I was just wondering during the Christmas season, I'm doing a lot of shopping. And I was wondering, when you go to the checkout at the big department stores, they offer you a credit card, and they give you a large discount. Does getting a credit card from a bunch of different stores affect your credit score at all?

It will, Matthew. Yeah, I'm not a big fan of this for a couple of reasons. Number one, every time you open one of those cards, they're going to do an inquiry into your credit because they're going to want to make sure that you qualify to have this additional credit extended to you. And based on your credit score, determine the likelihood you are to repay what they extend to you in the form of an unsecured credit limit. And every time they do one of those inquiries, that's going to pull your score down. And so that could be, you know, between 20 and 30 points.

So that's kind of the first piece. The second piece is, this is just another line that's open to you that could be compromised. Because if you don't plan to use it, it's just sitting out there, let's say somebody, there's a breach somewhere, and somebody accesses this information, or some other way this account is compromised, and they charge it fraudulently, you're going to need to stay on top of this every month just to monitor that zero balance to make sure there's no charges on it. It's also going to be a credit that's available to you, which will be factored into the total amount of credit that's been extended to you. So as you go to get perhaps an additional loan, you go to get a mortgage or borrow for a car, they're going to look at all of the credit, even the unused credit that's been extended to you, and recognize that you at any time could charge that up to the limit. So they're going to have to factor that into the ratios that they generate for you. The last reason I don't like these cards is they have really sky high interest rates typically. And so that obviously is something you don't ever want to carry a balance on.

So for that reason, I would look for other ways to take advantage of discounts, you know, look online, you know, look at the various, you know, online websites that offer coupons, go to the particular, you know, company's website that you're shopping at, look for coupons there, try to time your purchases around when they're offering discounts, those are going to be far more effective than you just opening a credit card every time you walk into one of these stores. Yeah, great advice, Rob. Matt, we're glad you called today. And I'm originally born and raised in Rochester, so whenever I hear someone from Buffalo takes me home. We're glad you called.

Thanks very much. When we come back, what to do with some double E bonds? And then Ben wants to know about rolling over $2 million. We'll talk about both those and more 800-525-7000. Have you ever taken a wrong turn when it comes to money?

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And when he comes to fight in our behalf, he holds up the standard. And I can assure you that out in the heavenly realms, the commanders begin to panic. Now I want you to see something else. I'm going to have you turn to numbers 21 and then I want to explain something to you. Now remember that God has already told them, I'm going to blot out the Amalekites. I'm going to blot them out. And yet almost in the very same breath he said, the Lord will war against them from generation to generation. Well, okay. Is he going to keep warring against them from generation to generation or are they going to be blotted out?

Because indeed they were blotted out. But what in the world does that mean? It means that from generation to generation tells us that what started as a, as a very, very literal opponent then becomes figurative of something else from generation to generation.

I've pitched out this question to you. What does Amalek represent? Amalek represents opposing and attacking forces against God's people.

In other words, the concept behind it, that he will fight the opposing attacking forces against his children from one generation to the next. You've been listening to a quick word with Beth Moore. We have two ways to experience now that faith has come, a study of Galatians. The online experience is now available at Beth Moore.org.

The workbook edition will release in January, 2021. Either way, Beth would love to have you in Bible study. Keep listening for another quick word with Beth Moore. 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 MoneyWiseLive.org. So glad you're with us today.

It's MoneyWise Live where God's timeless wisdom meets today's financial choices and decisions. And we'd love to help you with that. You'll have to make that call first, however, 800-525-7000. I suppose we could call first, Rob. Just kind of throw some numbers at it and see who picks up the phone. What do you think? You mean we call people instead of letting them call us?

Is that what you think? Just call some numbers. Just dial them up and say, Hey, what's your name? Tony. Hey, Tony, can we help you? You got any money problems? You know, something like that. Yeah, I'm sure that'll go just stellar. Okay, so much for that.

Chicago, Illinois, WMBI, of course. And June, what's your question for Rob? Yes, I have accumulated some 8 double E bonds, government bonds since 1997. And I'm wondering what to do with them because we're in our 80s now. And it's a 30-year deal, I guess, but they do have some value. They're $100 bills. So I'm wondering what's the best thing to do to keep them and just give them away. Yeah, yeah.

Well, June, I can appreciate that. You know, a lot of folks are sitting on these bonds, many of them double E like you have that they've had for quite a while. $100 double E bond bought probably for $50 in 97, reached full maturity in 2017.

So it's now worth probably about $110. And it's going to continue to earn interest until 2027. The challenge is the interest rate is so low. I mean, you're talking, I think, 0.1% right now, which is a lot less than you could do even just in a high-yield savings account with an online bank. And so I would recommend that you go ahead and cash those in. TreasuryDirect.gov, if you use the internet, TreasuryDirect.gov is the Treasury's website, US government, Treasury Department's website for bonds of this nature.

And you could actually type in the QSIP numbers and it would tell you exactly what they're worth and give you instructions on how you could redeem them if you're looking for that. But then you could take that money and depending on what the intention was behind it, whether this was savings for a family member or just for yourself, you can either make that gift or you could go ahead and redeploy that into something that's going to get a little bit more interest. And depending on whether you want to take some risk with this, meaning you invested in stocks and bonds, you could certainly do that if you have a 10-year time horizon. Or you could just stick it in savings. As I mentioned, whether you use Ally Bank or Capital One 360 or Marcus, three that I like, I believe they're paying right now about 0.6%, so six times better than what you're going to get here on these EE bonds. And there's no fees, no minimums. It's a great option for savings that's liquid FDIC insured, so backed by the full faith and credit of the United States government. And you could link it right up to your checking account, which means you'd have access to it if you ever needed it. So I think this probably is the time to go ahead and redeem those just because the interest is so low and then you can make a decision on where you want to go from here.

June, again, that website, treasurydirect.gov, and I'm confident they'll provide you all the information you need and thanks so much on that. I have to chuckle a little bit, Rob. She's making 0.10% and yet you pointed her in a direction where she could make 0.6%, which she goes from being average to being rich, pretty much. I mean, six times better, that's for sure. Yeah, that's right. All right. Cleveland, Ohio. Was it Cleveland?

Yes, Cleveland, Ohio. Agatha, what's on your mind? Hi. Hi.

Oh, Agatha, I think you'll have to turn your radio down for us, okay? I just did. I just did. There you go. Thank you. I'm 69 years old trying to retire from the United States Postal Service.

Hi. I have been working since I was 15. I took my Social Security at 66. I thought it was recommended 70, but I said, oh, I know I'm a little bit upset.

My mom was 91 and my dad was 91. I have an IRA with primary care life insurance that I've been sending $25 to every month for about five years. It has $11,000 in it.

Wanted to put $10,000 of it in my house and he took his money and put the down payment on it. Also, because I was sick this year, I lost 50 pounds. That's why I'm retiring. Let's do this, Agatha. We've got to hit a break here, unfortunately, but I want to hear your question and be able to give you an answer. I also want you to get hopefully to a better place in your home where maybe we have a little better connection. So let's work on that during the break and we'll talk to you in just a moment. We certainly will. This is Money Wise Live.

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The NASDAQ up 156 points today. The S&P tacked on 40. This is SRN News.

Welcome back to MoneyWise Live. Just before the break, we were speaking with Agatha and Rob. She had some retirement issues and questions.

That's right. Agatha has served faithfully for a long time as the in the US Postal Service preparing to retire and has been contributing systematically to a traditional IRA. Agatha, that IRA, what is it you're considering doing at this point with that money? Well, the IRA, I want to borrow from, but my savings plan, which is my IRA in my job with the government, I want to roll that over into a Roth IRA, pay the taxes going in. And and because I listen to you all the time. So I know you talk about Vanguard and Fidelity.

My son is with Schwab. I didn't want to be, you know, so I'm asking you. Yeah. You know, so he's with and I don't want to be taking risk because I'm an old lady. But whatever I have when I leave, he'll get it. So that's my main question. How do you you go to your employer? You know, you just inform them that you're taking it out. I don't know how to do that.

Let's talk about each of these. So let's take the IRA first. You say you wanted to borrow from it. You actually can't borrow from it. You could take a withdrawal.

You're 69, so you wouldn't have any penalties, but it would all be taxable as income in the year that you make the withdrawal. So you're looking to take that money and put it as a down payment on a house. Is that right? Because the thing about it is I was sick this year, so I usually make sixty five thousand dollars.

I made 19. This is the time to take it if I'm going to take it because I can pay the taxes on that. Yes, ma'am. OK, very good. Well, certainly you just have to recognize that's money that's no longer going to be available to continue to grow for the future. But I realize you have the TSP.

So you're right. This could be a great year to go ahead and take that money out. Now, tell me what you've built up in the TSP. I have ninety thousand in it, but I receive but I get Social Security. So I'll have an annuity from the post office as well as my Social Security, which is more than my take home pay for a month working with taxes and everything. OK, and the annuity is separate from the 90K and the TSP or that's that's the same thing? I'm sorry.

I didn't understand. Yeah. You said you're going to have a monthly payout from the Postal Service in addition to the TSP. Is that right? Yes. Yes. The TSP is the money that I've saved. That's like my very good IRA. Yes.

OK, very good. So as long as you've done the budget and to your point, the monthly income you're going to get in retirement from the Postal Service plus Social Security is more than you had been receiving. So you should be able to live well within your means on that money. I think the only consideration is whether or not it makes sense to convert all of this TSP once it's rolled to a traditional IRA to a Roth. The benefit is it would obviously be able to grow tax free after you've paid the tax. Secondly, you'd no longer be subject when you reach age 72 to a required minimum distribution, given that you don't need the money once it's in the Roth.

It could continue to grow without you having to take it out. I think the key would just be how quickly you move that over in terms of not pushing yourself up into a higher tax bracket by converting it all at once. But then the second issue is just does that make sense for you, given the fact that you're going to be paying the tax now? And as you said, you don't want to take a lot of risk and you don't need to.

So I would agree with that. But given that you're not going to see significant growth in that, I don't know that there's enough benefit of you going ahead and paying the tax and converting it to the Roth apart from not having to pay the required minimum distribution. So talk to me about why that's so important to you making that Roth conversion. It's not important to me.

I listen to you all every day and I just try to determine what is important. And I read that not too long ago that the Roth is not all things to all people. So you kind of explained to me like what is with the Roth?

Because like you say, I might be gone. I'm 69 and I had to pay no taxes. And my son would have to pay taxes anyway because it would be my money.

So I didn't know. I'm going to recommend you don't do that. You could sit with a financial advisor there in Cleveland and you could connect with a certified kingdom advisor in your area. Just go to our website, MoneyWiseLive.org.

Put in Cleveland, Ohio and you'll find a big long list that you could interview several of them. But the bottom line is I don't think at your age and stage of life, your goals and objectives and how this money would be invested that the Roth is going to serve you well. That would be if you were a lot younger and you had a lot of years for this money to grow. I think right now you need to roll that TSP out to the traditional IRA. Find somebody to manage that for you in a way that's consistent with your age, your risk tolerance, your goals and objectives, and let it just continue to grow on a tax deferred basis. And then when you reach 72 and you need to pull some money out based on the IRS's table, you could use that money to do some giving through a qualified charitable distribution or something like that.

So I think you're on the right track, but I don't think the Roth conversion is necessarily the direction for you to go. Agatha, we have to let you go so we can take another call, but you have a standing invitation to join us anytime you want. You are so savvy and progressive in the ways you're thinking and the things that you were doing. If we can help you anytime you feel able to call back anytime you want. Thanks so much. Indianapolis, Corey, what's on your heart, sir? Yes, sir. Thank you. Hi, Mr. Moore. Hi, Mr. West.

I just wanted to get thanks to you for your ministry. You may not know this, but on July 16th this year, you aired a program and shared about the workout regimen of Mr. Howard Dayton doing 500 pushups. On that particular day, I was sad and down because I could only do 70 and I felt like I was getting weaker and I just thought, what am I going to do?

I'm fading away. And when I heard you say that on the radio and I looked at Mr. Dayton and found out that, you know, his age and everything, I said, I have no excuse. I need to get to it and get debated. I'm here to tell you that as of today, I did 300 pushups back to back, a hundred, a hundred, a hundred because of Mr. Dayton's inspiration and because you mentioned on the radio. That is incredible. He is going to be so thrilled to hear this testimony. I'm going to call him as soon as the program's over today. Hey, let me share a couple of things. This makes me think of number one, as you said, you were discouraged when you first heard that story.

And by the way, for the benefit of our audience. So Howard Dayton, he wouldn't mind me sharing this is 77 years old. A number of years ago, he decided he wanted to be in better shape. So he started doing pushups.

Now here's the thing, Corey, when he first started and it was because somebody else had spurred him on as well. He could only do 25. That was his max and he was done, but he stayed after it day after day after day. And now a five out of seven days a week, he does a hundred pushups. He walks four miles and during the four miles, he stops five times and does a hundred pushups for a total of 500 pushups. And if you're ever with him and you grab his arm, it's like a rock.

It's amazing. He is in phenomenal shape, but he started at 25. And you know, as you said, you could only do 75 initially, but the key is in little increments, faithfully, we can build up our strength, whether it's workouts or financial discipline, paying off debt or saving or whatever it is. And I think that idea from God's word on steady plotting is a, is such a, an encouragement here in this area, but I'm so thrilled you called today to share this story. I know Howard will be really encouraged to hear what your journey has been.

Corey, I'm doing my math here. You're 42, but the time you get to Howard's age, you should be doing 1200 a day. You may not have time for all that, but you know, it's a goal.

We all have to have a goal. Brother, we're glad you called. God bless you.

Thanks so very, very much. You're listening to Money Wise Live. This program used to be hosted by none other than Howard Dayton, whose theme song is let's get physical or let's get physical. Take your choice.

We'll be right back. You probably have a strategy for your finances, your career, even your retirement, but do you have a strategy for your giving at the national Christian foundation? We can help you create a giving strategy to inspire your family, maximize your resources and leave a lasting legacy of faith to learn how visit money wise.org slash NCF.

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Hi, I'm Bernie Diamond. There's something about watching kids play. Maybe you're a mum or a dad and you know, when you watch the kids, it kind of focuses the mind. The dreams we have for them help us sort the wheat from the chaff. It's amazing how we can wander through life thinking things and doing things that are okay but not brilliant, not the best.

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The reason is that most parents want the best for their kids, the very best. What if God's like that? What if God looks at us and sees some of the rubbish that goes on in our lives and he just aches? What if God's like any dad?

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The Treasure Principle is available when you click the store button at MoneyWiseLive.org. Wonderful to have you with us on MoneyWiseLive, taking your calls today, talking about everything from taxes to Wall Street to Social Security. Now, there's a confusing one. Let's go to Chicago. Gladys, what's your situation and how can we help you? Well, hi MoneyWise family. Thank you all for just being part of the Moody family and part of my family.

Oh, amen. Thank you. I appreciate your wisdom. So my question is, I have approached retirement age. I will retire in January of 2021. I reached out to Social Security to start receiving my benefits, which would start in February. At the time, the clerk from Social Security said, well, you can get retroactive benefits for six months. My full retirement age was 66, and that would be approximately two years ago. So my question is, what would have been the best way to access Social Security benefits, since now it seems like I'll have access to six months of those benefits, but not the previous 18 months? Yeah.

Gladys, unfortunately, this is the situation. You know, the maximum retroactive payment will cover only up to six months worth of benefits. And you can either take that one time payment. Unfortunately, though, my understanding is that if you opt for that lump sum payment, it will reduce what's paid out to you in terms of the increases that you have been receiving for the length of your check moving forward for the rest of your life. Did they go over that in terms of the impact of this lump sum payment on future checks vis-a-vis the increases you had been receiving?

No, they did mention that there's a cost of living increase every December. Okay. All right. That's certainly true.

Okay. I would ask about that. This does get confusing pretty quickly, but the bottom line is, unfortunately, anything beyond the six months of retroactive payments would be forfeited just based on the way the IRS operates in terms of the Social Security program. But what I want you to check on is whether or not there's any impact moving forward in the amount of your check if you take that lump sum payment versus if you don't. Because I want to make sure that you don't have a reduced check moving forward just based on you taking this amount. If it's not going to affect it, then take the full amount of everything you're entitled, which is going to be that six months.

Unfortunately, it's not two years, not 24 months, but obviously you want to get everything that you can. Have you set an appointment to go in and visit with them or did you do this over the phone? How did you get this information? This is over the phone. They're not doing in-person visits. Because of COVID. Yeah, sure.

Okay. That makes sense. Well, unfortunately, the six months is right, but I would place that call just to double check, see if there's any impact on the amount of your checks moving forward. If not, take the full amount that you can.

And unfortunately, the rest is going to be forfeited. You know, Rob, I can't say and I've visited many government offices in my lifetime and I can't say enough about how well I was treated when I visited my local Social Security office. They explained things to me. They reexplained. It's like you, Rob. They told me and then they told me again and then there was a great sigh and then they told me a third time and by then I was able to get it. Just like when I talk with you. And they were really kind and I came away knowing exactly what I needed to know. I think it's the, usually with me, it's the second time that I sigh, not the third. Gladys, God bless you.

Thanks so very much. Out to Iowa. Hello, Nancy. How can we help you? Well, I got a problem. Too much money.

No, not really. My husband is 71 and I'm 68 and we've just gotten our debts paid off. And he had a settlement from an accident.

It was somebody else's fault. And we have $300,000 and we're not sure what to do with that. Should we be investing it?

He wants to invest in some land, but I mean, we're talking big money there. Yeah. Well, Nancy, I'm sorry to hear about the accident. Everybody okay? Oh, yeah.

Several years ago now. Okay. Very good. Well, obviously when you're coming into a significant sum of money and $300,000 is absolutely a significant sum of money, you just want to be really thoughtful about how you proceed with God's money, which is why you're calling today.

So I love that. You know, certainly you could look at land. I'm not a big fan of land investments. Now, there's going to be plenty of people out there that are hearing my voice right now saying, Rob, I've done phenomenal in land and you're missing out. And that certainly could be true.

I just think the challenge is, you know, if you've not done it before, land can be a little tricky. You know, you're not earning an income on it because it's sitting there waiting to be developed. There's a number of variables with regard to the infrastructure.

Is there water? And what about roads? And are they planning to put in a development?

And does it get delayed? And, you know, just a whole easements and, you know, what is the county going to do? And so all of these issues that relate to how quickly a piece of property will appreciate. And while you're waiting to find all that out, your capital is tied up.

It's not generating a return. And it's somewhat illiquid, depending upon how those things play out. Obviously, you could go into real estate, but then you're becoming a landlord if you want to try to turn a piece of property into an income generator.

And so you just have to be prepared that you're taking on a part time job and keeping it rented and the maintenance and what happens when, you know, there's a plumbing issue in the middle of the night and those kinds of things. So, again, it's something you can do well in. I just prefer the more passive types of investments, which for me would be, you know, you find a godly investment professional. You know, this is somebody who would deploy these funds in a well-diversified stock and bond portfolio and just let this money grow. And you could monitor it, you know, and you'd have quite a nest egg both now and in the future as it continues to grow on a fairly conservative basis. And you wouldn't be taking on some of these other elements that I'm describing here with both land as well as income generating real estate.

So if it were me, Nancy, right there in Iowa, I'd contact a certified kingdom advisor. I'd interview two or three and I'd hire somebody to deploy these assets in an investment strategy that fit with my goals and objectives in terms of your age, your risk tolerance, what you're trying to do. The other thing is the liquidity of this money would allow you to do some giving. So as you have appreciated stocks or mutual funds, you could give some of that away to your church or a charity or ministry that's on your heart. And you could do that in a tax advantaged way where you wouldn't pay any taxes on it and you could do a lot more giving than you'd be able to do otherwise. So I think there's a lot of benefits to that. Nancy, thank you very much and God bless you. It's a nice problem to have.

Sioux City, Iowa. Craig, what's your situation, sir? Hi, how are you doing? Wonderful, thanks. Well, I just got done doing 22,000 mental pushups and man, my mind is tired. Make sure you take a shower when you get home, Craig, okay?

Right, yes. So thank you for taking my call. So I just kind of wanted to get an independent opinion on what I've got going on. I'm 58 years old. I've put a bunch of money in with a broker and two annuities and such. I've got a whole portfolio of different things.

I think right now it's worth somewhere around $850,000. I am self-employed, so I don't have any guaranteed retirement funds. And obviously I cannot touch any of this until I'm 59 and a half without penalty and after 59 and a half I can start getting to this, which I really won't need to do at 59 and a half. But I know that you could give me a thousand scenarios where we could have a market crash and suddenly $850,000 is only $250,000. And I guess my thought is I don't want to risk that money at 59 and a half if it's, you know, hopefully, God willing, it's still up there in a year and a half.

So that's my concern is just simply how do I get to it and know that it is going to be there. I'm not concerned about future growth if I had that much money there. Yeah.

Well, I think that's the key, Craig. Keep in mind, you don't have to take any more risk than you're comfortable taking now or in the future. You could perhaps roll this to another qualified annuity. You could roll it out to an IRA. You'd have to understand the implications of that.

Are there any surrender charges or penalties in doing that? But the bottom line is you should be able to match up your risk tolerance and what you're trying to achieve with the level of, you know, with the investment strategy so that you're not taking unnecessary risk. I think the key is trying to find a balance between recognizing if the Lord tarries and your health is good, you need this money to last you for the next potentially 30 years or more at 58 years old. And so the question is, what's the right mix of investments for you in an insurance product like an annuity? It could be at some point, you know, if it's a variable annuity, the question is what type of annuity and is there a floor to it that prevents it from going down? Are you going to get a portion of the upside?

If so, then you're protected. You're not going to lose any money. If it's if you decide to annuitize, then you're going to convert that to an income stream for life. Or if you were to roll that out to an IRA, you could you or an investment professional, which is what I'd recommend with nearly a million dollars, would deploy that in a stock and bond portfolio where the majority of it that 60 years old, probably 40 to 50%, if not more, would be in fixed income type investments, bonds and, and CDs, not as much now, but more bonds and preferred stocks with a smaller portion in high quality, probably dividend paying stocks. One piece is going to give you a growth engine so that if the market's down for even a sustained period of time, like two to three years, you'd have the ability to let that go, let it ride, wait for it to come back without pulling anything out. And then you'd take an income off of the fixed income portion.

So you've got options. I think your next step is to connect with a certified kingdom advisor there in Sioux City, which you can do so at MoneyWiseLive.org. Just click find a CKA. Craig, God bless you. We appreciate your call today. Thanks so much. MoneyWiseLive is a partnership between Moody Radio and MoneyWise Media. Thanks so much for listening. Please tell a friend about us and join us again tomorrow.