Make Saving Fun

Everyone knows that saving money is good. It gives you peace of mind and prepares you for what lies ahead. But there's another thing about saving.

I mean, sometimes it's just not fun. To save, you have to deny yourself. You have to put off buying something until later, or maybe never.

But what if you could make saving more enjoyable? Today financial planner and teacher Rob West has some ways you can do just that. Then it's your calls on any financial topic at 800-525-7000.

800-525-7000. I'm Steve Moore, making saving fun. That's next, right here on MoneyWise Live. Well Rob, there's no question that some people do find saving enjoyable, and as a result, they're often pretty good at it. So what's their secret? Well Steve, it requires an attitude adjustment, and we'll get into that in a bit. But first, we have to realize that God owns everything. He owns us and our money, so our job then is to be good stewards, to manage it wisely according to his principles so that we glorify him. The 18th century preacher John Wesley said it best, he said, earn all you can, give all you can, save all you can. But to do that, you have to accept one undeniable, inescapable truth.

You must live on less than you earn. It's foundational. And if you don't, it may seem like fun now, but you're setting yourself up for misery and hardship, I can promise you that. Yeah, that's for sure. And I just feel the need to point out that Mr. Wesley did not live near the mall. But that's a topic for another day.

Some things are easier back then. Okay, so how do we make this fun? Well, we've already started by realizing that it's not our money. We're responsible for managing it, but it's God's money, not ours.

Deuteronomy 10 14 reads this, Behold, to the Lord your God belong heaven and the highest heavens, the earth and all that is in it. You see, that concept is actually liberating, I feel. You got to grasp it first, though. You see, you're responsible only for wisely managing the resources God entrusts to you. He's responsible for the outcome. And the money is just a tool to achieve those ends. We don't just save to save. True, we do it to achieve certain earthly goals. But first and foremost, we do it to honor our Lord. So we need to seek that sweet spot in the middle, if you will, between spending foolishly and worshipping our bank account or stock portfolio. I think both of those things, frivolous spending and hoarding, are covered actually in 1 Timothy 6 10. Here's what it says, For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.

Some people eager for money have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. Yeah, okay, good. So now we have, I hope, a fresh perspective on saving. We're doing it for the right reasons. Does that make it more enjoyable, more fun?

Well, I guess I would say it's a good start. But why don't we take it a step further? Our friend Ron Blue, the author, often talks about what he calls the consumptive lifestyle. You go through life acquiring things you can't afford to satisfy a yearning. The yearning is real, we all have it, but it can never be satisfied with money and possessions.

That only comes from deepening our relationship with Christ. So instead of thinking of yourself as a consumer, it's interesting that the world has given us that term. Instead, replace that word with steward.

That's your true calling. And you can make stewardship and saving fun. Here's what I would say, perhaps make it a game. One personal finance writer actually uses the term gamification for this. You see, in a video or a board game, you have certain challenges and you get rewarded when you overcome them. For example, one challenge could be finding ways to cut $100 from your monthly spending. You can do that any number of ways. You could bring your lunch to work, you could perhaps switch cell phone plans, or even the dreaded cutting of the cable could be another way.

The cutting of the cable sounds like a holiday or something. Alright, so where does the reward part come in? Well, in a board game, the reward isn't real. But when you start putting $100 a month in your savings account, the reward is very real because you have the satisfaction of knowing you've taken a positive step toward turning things around.

You also make the reward real by setting milestones along the way and celebrating when you reach them. So for instance, when you have $500 saved, let's say treat yourself, maybe dinner out as long as it's within your budget. Don't use that savings. And keep going with those milestones. Once you have $1500 saved, treat yourself again frugally.

Your ultimate goal is to have an emergency fund with three to six months living expenses in it. Once you have that, though, I guarantee you, life will, excuse me, will seem a lot more fun. Don't get all choked up over it. Yeah, I was there for a second, but no, I'm back. We'll come back and chat some more and take your calls too on anything, anything financial 800-525-7000. Stick around. Siri, I need some help.

What's up? Well, sometimes I feel like I can't get a handle on my money. I mean, where does it all go?

Hmm. It sounds like you need the MoneyWise app. It's a free app that will help you plan your budget and track your spending, like the $3 you spend every morning on coffee.

Well, not every morning. You'll also get access to free biblical financial advice. Sounds awesome. Let's do it.

Okay. Searching for MoneyWise on the App Store. Learn more at app.moneywise.org. If you have money in a retirement account or just a general investing account, you know the stock market can sometimes be like a roller coaster.

But it is possible to enjoy both profit and peace of mind in investing, no matter what's happening in the market. You can see a short video webinar on that topic at soundmindinvesting.org. Since 1990, Soundmind Investing has sought to offer financial wisdom for living well.

soundmindinvesting.org. I'm amazed how the wise words of a long ago saint can have such relevance today. Hi, I'm Joni Eareckson Tada, and recently I was battling a war against worry, given my recent pain levels. I happened to read these words by Francis of Assisi, written hundreds of years ago.

He said, Be at peace. Do not look forward in fear to the changes of life. Rather, look to them with full hope as they arise. God, whose very own you are, will deliver you out of them. He has kept you in the past and will lead you safely through all things. And when you cannot stand it, God will bury you in his arms. As it concerns tomorrow, he will either shield you from suffering or will give you unfailing strength to bear it.

That's good advice. And I have no doubt God inspired Francis of Assisi to write those words. After all, it was Jesus who originally said, Peace be with you.

And peace be with you today as well, friend. 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 percent faster while honoring that debt in full. To learn how Christian Credit Counselors can help you, visit christiancreditcounselors.org. That's christiancreditcounselors.org. Or call 800-557-1985. Good to have you lurking out there. This is MoneyWise Live, working on this side of the phone.

Well, that's Rob West. I'm Steve Moore, and we're here taking your phone calls today on any financial topic at 800-525-7000. Jot that down. Give us a call.

800-525-7000. We're talking about some fun ways to save money. The only thing I could come up with, Rob, was maybe putting peanut butter and jelly in your wallet.

And then every time you reach in there for a 20, well, who doesn't like peanut butter and jelly? What in the world? That's, yeah, interesting. That's what Marsha said. She said, What is the stain on your jeans?

And I said it's a long story. All right, any thoughts for us before we go to our Facebook question of the day? Well, perhaps maybe a few more practical suggestions on making saving fun. Don't count on yourself to actually do it. You know, if you have to consciously, consciously, I should say, move money from your checking account to savings, you'll come up with lots of reasons not to do it.

So here's my advice. Make it automatic. Set it up with your bank to make an auto transfer from checking to savings every month.

I like the idea out of sight, out of mind. It'll just happen in the background. And next thing you know, you'll have built up quite a nest egg there of emergency funds.

So automate it. And then the other one is sign up for our brand new MoneyWise app. If you haven't downloaded it, do it today. Perhaps you can even stop right now.

If you're driving, pull over. If you're at home or the office, pull out that smartphone. Go to your app store, whether it's the Apple App Store, the Google Play Store. Type in this.

Type in MoneyWise Biblical Finance. Once you download it, here's what you're going to find. What I believe to be the very best digital envelope system I've ever used. I couldn't find everything I wanted and all the other products out there.

So our team spent eight months. World-class developers, they built it. It's everything I've always wanted in a digital envelope system. All your transactions downloaded automatically. You track everything. You can plan ahead.

It's all there and it's all automated for you. But the other thing that's great about it, Steve, not only can you listen to this broadcast and all of the archives, but the community tab is a great way for you to engage with other MoneyWise listeners. And I'm in there periodically responding to your questions, our MoneyWise community sharing ideas with each other, including ways to save. So check it out today.

It's the MoneyWise app and you can find it in your app store. You know, the community thing, I like the community thing. Do you meet other people there? Here's where I'm going. Might it be some kind of a dating app?

No, no. He likes MoneyWise Live. She likes MoneyWise Live. You know? You got where I'm going? It's really, I do, but that's not what it's for.

It's all about asking questions, sharing ideas, encouraging one another to be biblical stewards. But we know a girl named Melissa. She lives on the West Coast. She's 24.

She just got out of college. I'm going to let it go there. All right. Our Facebook question of the day is, What tricks have you learned to save money? And Laureen says, I save an amount after tithe, but before paying bills and giving to my favorite charities. I also save my change from purchases, and I purposefully save the discounted amounts from using coupons. It all adds up and helps my savings to grow.

What do you have? Well, let's see. Susan said, I ask myself when I see something I want, will that really change my life for the better?

The answer is almost always negative. And then Scott had a great idea. Steve, you see that one? Yeah. I see that. Yeah.

This is inventive. I take $20, $50, or $100 bill each paycheck. I put it in an envelope and put it in the safe. I now have $7,800 in my safe that's available, yet as that number grows, I am less inclined to spend it. Yeah, that's great. And then Mike took my advice here, and obviously he implemented this before I suggested it, but he's automated his savings.

I love it. So he uses payroll deductions for retirement savings, of course, an automatic deposit and automatic bill payments. That allows him to invest every paycheck while never having to pay a late fee or any credit card interest whatsoever. So automating is the key there for Mike. And then finally, Lisa, she says, automatic withdrawal from my checkings to savings monthly as well as company matches to the 401k.

She maxes it out. So these are great ideas. I think the theme here is be intentional, be well planned, and automate, automate, automate. Yeah, and no one lost sleep at night worrying about the money they saved. You know, lots of us lose sleep at night worrying about the money we've spent or invested poorly, but no one has lost any sleep worrying about the money they saved. So thanks so much for contacting us today in regards to your suggestions about creative ways to save. And if you have any more, please feel free to put them up on the MoneyWise site.

And if we have a chance, we'll read some more today. All right, here's our phone number, 800-525-7000. We begin by going to Omaha, Nebraska. And John, what's on your mind today, sir? I recently got a car back in March. It's my first auto loan, and I've been harassed through different means of, you know, extending your warranty, but now I'm getting asked, do you want to refinance to a company that's out of California? And I'm like, I would like to lower the question, and I'd like to lower APR, but it's like I don't want to have another credit being either. So I'm very suspicious when you get these weird letters and everything that pop out of nowhere, going, uh, okay.

Yeah, no, I hear you, John. And you certainly don't want to jump at the first option that's provided to you, whether that's somebody soliciting you for a credit card or to replace your mortgage or whatever that might be. That's usually not going to be, in almost every case, the very best that you can do.

But it doesn't mean that that prompting, if you will, isn't a good incentive for you to go out and look to see if you can improve your situation. What is your current interest rate on that car, and what is your credit score, do you know? It's around the 600s for my score.

I'm working on it really hard trying to get lowered, or not lowered, but higher for this credit score. But I think the APR is 16.11, 16.11%. 16%, did you say, for the car? Yeah. Wow, yeah, that's really high. And how long do you have left?

What is the term? How many months remaining on the payoff? I mean, the payoff I have probably until it's going to be, because I just started, it's probably going to be another four years or so.

Okay. Well, that interest rate is really high. I mean, that's higher than the average credit card right now. So you are going to want to take a look at an opportunity to improve your situation.

But I wouldn't go with that unsolicited offer that came in the mail. So I think the first thing you need to do, John, is continue to focus on trying to get your credit score up. That's obviously going to come by paying down debt as quickly as you can. Being an on-time payer every month is the most important thing. Not authorizing additional credit pulls, not the ones you initiate because you're checking your score or pulling your credit report, but the ones you authorize a lender to pull for the purposes of determining whether or not to extend you credit. You're going to want to get your credit utilization down, meaning the balance owed versus the credit that's available.

Those types of things are automatically, over time, going to improve your situation. Now, as that score begins to tick up, the place I would go to shop for a better rate, I don't want you to increase the term. I want you to match or decrease the payback period. But you can certainly look for a better interest rate, much better than 16%. You'll want to go to bankrate.com, bankrate.com. Just click on Auto Loans and you'll see the lenders, probably many of them online lenders, that are the ones that are offering the most competitive interest rates right now for used cars. And then go ahead and check those out.

Before they even pull your credit, they should be able to tell you what credit score you need to qualify for the most competitive rate. John, thank you very much. We wish you the best with that.

Quickly, Orlando, Florida. I'll tell you what, Randy. We'll come back and chat with you in just a second. I know you have a question about owning gold, and we'll come back and chat with you about that. Mary in Florida, you've got some debt. We're going to talk to you about that, so don't go away. And then Lisa, you're up after that. This is MoneyWise Live with Rob West.

We'll be back with more after this brief break. If we could truly understand the miraculous, brilliant nature of the Word of God and the way He has written it in all the genius of the language, and we will have that revealed to us one day when we just come into complete knowledge and realize what we were holding in our hands and the way, because He is the Word, we are told, the logos, He is the Word, how He can turn a word. The Word of God is literally written in art, the Hebrew language and the Greek language.

And if we could see, if we could read it like it is, we would be so blown away to see what God is doing. And this is a place where He switches under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit that He's given to Jeremiah. Jeremiah is switching a word. He's using one word and then he's switching it around the other way and using it as a code word. So the word that means heart of adversaries is turned around.

It's a code word that also means child in. So in other words, you switch it the other way, you turn it into the opposite letters in the Hebrew alphabet and that's what you got. So I don't know if you care a thing about that, but I love to see the kind of way that God will use, will write it, not just to give us information, but to show us the miraculous nature of the word itself. You've been listening to Beth Moore with a quick word. We have two ways to experience, now that faith has come, a study of Galatians. The online experience is now available at BethMoore.org.

The workbook edition will release in January 2021. Either way, Beth would love to have you in Bible study. See you next time for another quick word with Beth Moore. 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 MoneyWise.org slash NCF. Welcome back to MoneyWise Live with Rob West and we're taking your calls and questions today on anything financial, whether it's investing, or saving, or giving to the kids, or maybe it's Christmas shopping. Let's chat about it.

800-525-7000, Orlando, Florida. Randy, what are you wondering about today, sir? Hey, how you both doing today?

Great, Randy. I'm doing good. We've got a cold front here in central Florida. It dropped to 70 degrees, so I've got to put my jacket on.

I'm zipping up right now. But anyway, I've got a question. So if you could explain, I've got a couple of people listening to this program and listening to your answer, but gold, what are the advantages and the disadvantages of investing in the gold? I know everybody thinks that gold, just buy gold and you'll never have a problem. But if you could explain the advantages and the disadvantages of it, and when somebody does want to invest in gold, we're talking about what bars, we're talking about gold bars, we're talking about gold coins. Kind of the best way that just a layperson can kind of invest into gold.

Yeah, absolutely. Well, precious metals like gold and silver have been used as what's called a store of value for hundreds of years. The value of gold doesn't depend on the currency or government or a company. So buying gold is a way to protect or what's called hedge against losses on other investments like real estate, stocks, bonds, even the effects of inflation. So investing in a physical form, in the form of bullion coins, does have disadvantages and advantages. The other option would be investing in like a tracking stock. So for instance, there's ETFs, exchange traded funds that track the movement of the price of the precious metal, in this case gold. So an example would be the ETF GLD. You could buy into that ETF and basically the idea is that it moves with the price of gold as it moves up and down. But it's very, very liquid as opposed to taking physical possession of gold because you can sell it anytime the stock market is open. You can place a trade and liquidate your position, which obviously is not, you know, gold is somewhat illiquid in the sense that you've got to find a dealer in most cases, which may involve a premium that increases the cost of it above the actual market price.

When you're buying or selling, you may get less than it's actually worth because of the dealer that's actually placing the trade for you. You know, it doesn't have a great historical return. You know, if you look at stocks and bonds over the last 100 years, you compare that to gold, gold's going to be more volatile and you'll have less overall return, even though in periods like we've been in like this year where we're in the midst of a global pandemic and all that comes with that, obviously the price of gold has gone up dramatically.

But just if you look over the long haul, it's not going to do as well. In fact, Rich, who's providing research today, pulled an example where over the last 200 years, a long time, you put 10,000 in gold, 10,000 in bonds, 10,000 in stocks, the gold would only be, according to this study, 26,000, whereas the bonds would be 8 million and the stocks would be 5.6 billion. Now, that's obviously a dramatic example, but I think the idea is, depending on what long-term time period you're looking at, you're going to see that gold will not do as well as a well-diversified stock and bond portfolio. I think the other challenge you've got in addition to the physical storage and the safety is, you know, gold only earns money when you sell it, so it's not like an investment that can generate an income for you, like a dividend-paying stock or a bond while you hold it. Even real estate can generate income if you have an income-producing property, whereas gold, you only benefit when you sell it, if, in fact, you can sell it for more than you bought it for.

And then there's the tax treatment, which is not terribly favorable. So I think for all of those reasons, I'm not a big fan of over-weighting in gold. I would say for the average person, I'd look at a 5% allocation of gold. I'd look at an allocation of gold in a well-diversified portfolio, and I would do it not by owning a mining company or even taking physical possession.

I'd do it by owning one of these tracking stocks or exchange-traded funds that moves with the price of gold very liquid but still provides that hedge against the falling dollar, uncertainty in the market or in the world, and against inflation as well. Randy, we hope that helps you and that your friends heard that, and maybe kick it around a little bit. We're not the end-all and the be-all of gold expertise here, but we've both been involved in watching it over the last 30-plus years, and that's kind of what we've seen, and we think it's a reasonable position to take. And again, we're glad that you called today.

Thanks very, very much. And for those, Rob, who are really concerned about the markets, typically people move toward gold because they're really concerned, and they want something that's ultra-safe, then what would be your recommendation? Well, I think when it comes to the markets, long time horizons are always going to win. The Bible talks about steady plotting, so we should be diversified, like we read about in Ecclesiastes, and we should take a long view. We should also keep it simple, in my view, and not invest in things we don't understand or can't explain to a family member or friend. And when it comes to gold, I would just not overweight. Don't get caught up in the mailers and the things you're seeing online and even on the television.

I would say take a proper allocation, 5%, and keep it in your portfolio for the long haul. All right, makes sense to me. Here's our phone number, 800-525-7000. If you'd like to know more about who we are, what we do, what we provide, you can visit us online. Of course, it's MoneyWiseLive.org, MoneyWiseLive.org.

It's a way you can connect with a coach in your area, also how to connect with a kingdom advisor in your area. That and much, much more when you visit MoneyWiseLive.org. Thanks for being there today.

Don't go away. We have lots more coming up. This is MoneyWise Live. How should we as Christians think about investing? What if we could invest our money in a way that aligns with what we believe? At Eventide, we believe it is possible to love God and love our neighbor in the very practice of investing. We design investments for a performance and a better world so you can invest for the future with a sense of wholeness and purpose. We call this investing that makes the world rejoice.

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And members aren't fined under the law for not having health insurance. Christian Healthcare Ministries might be your health cost solution. Call 800-791-6225 or visit chministries.org All Christian parents want what is spiritually best for their children. Knowing how to pray for them can often be as challenging as knowing what to pray.

I'm Drew Dick, host of Moody Publishers' Reading for a Change podcast. Erwin Lutzer's new book, A Practical Guide for Praying Parents, challenges you to become more guided in the prayers for your children. Learn how to pray more effectively for your children, even those with hardened hearts, and those who can't. Pick up your copy of A Practical Guide for Praying Parents by Erwin Lutzer at moodypublishers.com. And follow a 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. With SRN News, I'm John Scott. Powerful gusts pushed flames from a wildfire through southern California canyons today, one of several blazes that has burned near homes and forced residents to flee. That's amid the risk for most of the region that prompted utilities to turn off power to hundreds of thousands of people.

The biggest blaze began late Wednesday as a house fire in Orange County's Silverado Canyon, gusts there topping 70 miles per hour. Capitol Hill's top leaders have spoken about COVID-19 relief for the first time in months. The conversation between House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell adds to tentative optimism that an aid package might also break free.

Stock's finishing mix that allocated 85 points, the S&P dropped two. This is SRN News. You're listening to MoneyWise Live, where your checkbook and God's book meet to hopefully have an impact on your life and the lives around you. 800-525-7000 is our number.

Let's go to Florida once again. Hi, Mary, thanks for your patience. And what's your situation?

Hi. My situation is, we, my husband had a baby. Hi, my situation is, we, my husband has about $400,000 in a 401K through his employer. I have about $7,000, and we have about, we owe about $71,000 on our home.

We have two kids in college, one that still lives at home, the other one will be home briefly, but will be leaving again to go back to college. But we have about $30,000 in credit card debt. My husband had started a business, and it failed, and he took out credit cards in his name, and so it all falls on us. But my question is, should we take money out of the 401K to pay those credit card bills? Yeah. Let me ask you, Mary, have you all kind of rectified the challenge that got you into this credit card debt? Are you living within your means right now? Yes, we do. Yeah, we do, and we always have. And we have a, my husband and our son, one of our boys has a lot of medical issues, and actually I'm facing some new medical issues. So we really, over the years, we've learned to really be really tight with our money, to the point where we really, things that should be done to our home we haven't done, because we're always, you know, we know that something could happen, and we may need the money. And what are your ages?

I'm 50, and my husband is 52. Okay. And are you able to send anything beyond the minimum payment on these credit cards right now?

Yes, and we do. We've made a really, really big dent in them in the last six months. And what would you say over the last six months, on average, you're sending over and above the minimums? Probably at least $100 extra on each.

There's really only three credit cards, and one of them I was able to transfer to a 0% interest, but that has about six more months, and that one has $9,000 on it. Okay. Well, I'm glad to hear that this isn't just a consistent pattern of overspending. I mean, obviously, medical issues are real. They can be very costly. You've learned to adapt to that, knowing that there could be additional major expenses on the horizon. And you've also learned to live frugally, which is going to be key. Having a spending plan is important for anyone, but certainly in your situation, it's going to be critical to have a written plan that has all of your fixed and discretionary spending in it, that's well thought out, that even accounts for those things that are non-recurring and comes a few times a year. And then having a system to control the flow of money in and out.

I love the envelope system, whether it's on paper with physical envelopes or digital like our new MoneyWise app. But having a system to control the flow of money is really key so that you can free up margin over and above the bills and the discretionary spending that you can use first to fund an emergency fund if you don't have one, getting that up to at least $1,500, $2,000 so you've got something to fall back on. But then taking really the bulk of it beyond that, if not all of your margin, and really attacking these credit cards to try to get them coming down quickly. I don't like the idea of pulling out of a 401k.

It's just very expensive money. You'll both have 10% penalties on anything you take out of a 401k because you're under $59.5, and then it's all going to be taxable. So you could have a 30-35% haircut on anything you take out right off the top, and that's just a lot of money, not to mention it's no longer there working for your future. Now, I realize the credit card interest is significant when you're not playing the balance transfer game, so I don't take that lightly, but I just would like to see a 401k as a real last resort.

So where do you go from here? Well, other than really focusing in on that spending plan and doing everything you can to try to free up more margin, I'd really prefer you consider as a next alternative, if you haven't already, Mary, a credit counseling program. Basically, these are predetermined lower interest rates that your credit cards would be reduced to.

One fixed monthly payment that fits in the budget, it doesn't decline with the balances, so the lower interest rates plus the consistent payment every month is going to allow you to pay these off 80% faster. The fact that you're in credit score or credit counseling does not factor into your credit score, and I have a wonderful organization that we partner with called Christian Credit Counselors that I would go next. So I would check in with them. They're wonderful, godly people. You'll find them at christiancreditcounselors.org.

Check out their website, read the reviews, give them a call. They'll help you set up that budget, and then they'll talk to you about the benefits of credit counseling for this debt. Mary, thank you very much. We wish you guys the very best. 800-525-7000. Actually, all of our lines are full right now, but nonetheless, now you have the number.

Maybe for next time around. Chicago, Illinois. Lisa, how can we help? Hi.

Thank you for taking my call, and God bless. I'm trying to figure out when the optimum time is to apply for Social Security. I'll be 64 in May. My full retirement age is 66 and a half. I've got furloughed in March and have been drawing unemployment ever since then. So I need to understand if it is a help or a hurt if I start to take Social Security now. Well, there's not going to be any impact, Lisa, on your unemployment. Collecting unemployment insurance doesn't prevent you from receiving Social Security retirement benefits or vice versa. The same holds true for a spousal or survivor's benefits you claim on the earnings record of a retired or deceased worker. And so receiving both benefits won't affect either amount, with just a minor exception in Minnesota. So really, the question for you is whether or not now is the opportune time to take it. And that's really going to come down to, number one, do you need the money?

It sounds like you might. Now, getting to full retirement age is going to get that full check for the rest of your life as opposed to it being decreased. And then every year beyond full retirement age that you wait, it's going to increase by 8 percent. And if you lock that in up to age 70, that 8 percent increase every year, you'll lock that in for the rest of your life.

And that's always just a function of math, right? If the Lord tarries, then the question is, how is your health? And based on your life expectancy, which once you reach age 65, as a woman, you have a life expectancy of about 83. So it increases once you reach age 65, again, on average. So you've got to look at your own health, and I would start with what is your financial need? Do you need that money? And if you do, I'd say take it and start using that for the purpose for which it was intended, to really offset your expenses in this season of life. But if you don't, you have other means where you can delay it. Obviously, the longer you live, the more you'll benefit from having that higher check paid out to you, growing by 8 percent a year for every year you wait.

So I think those are the considerations you need to ponder right now, but good news is it won't have any impact on the unemployment. Lisa, thank you very much. We're glad that you called in today. Laura in Hawaii, we're coming to you next.

Also Luke in Chicago and Andy in Huntley, Illinois. All these folks lined up, we'll come back and chat with them in just one moment. Thanks for listening to MoneyWise Live. We'll be right back. Please stick around. The app and access helpful articles and MoneyWise podcasts.

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The Treasure Principle is available when you click the Store button at MoneyWiseLive.org. Good to have you with us today. It's MoneyWise Live, and let's go right back to our phones, the Big Island of Hawaii. And hi, Laura. Thank you so much for holding as long as you have. How can we help you? Oh, hi. Thanks for taking my call. Sure.

Okay, a little background. I'm 70 years old, a real estate agent, and I would like to retire. I just sold my principal residence, and so I have about $170,000 from that. I moved into my rental house, which I owe about $106,000 on, and I'm staying here for about six months while I fix it up, and then I'm going to sell that and move to my condo on the other side of the island, which I owe about $104,000 on. So my question is, I was going to take the money, most of it, and put it in like an Edward Jones account or something like that, because I'm going to need monthly income. I have Social Security and a tiny little pension, so all of that comes to only about $2,000 a month. So I'm going to need to draw like $1,500 a month.

So my question is, do I pay off one of these properties, or do I just keep the house while I'm working on it, then sell it, pay it off, and just deal with the condo, or do I take the money and pay the mortgage off on the condo? Sure. So give me a rundown. I know that's a lot. No, that's okay.

I think I followed you. Tell me what the proceeds were on the home sale. $170,000. $170,000. And what do you owe on the condo? $106,000. Sorry, $104,000, and I owe $106,000 on the house I'm in. All right. And what do you think you'll sell the home you're in right now for?

About $225,000. Okay. So you'll end up with another $80,000 to add to the $170,000, so you'll have a quarter of a million dollars available. And once that home is sold, you'll have your condo, which you plan to live in during this next season of life, correct? That's correct.

Okay. So if you were to pay off the condo at that point, that would still leave you $150,000, roughly, and you'd be debt-free at that point, which means you then no longer have that mortgage that you're paying on that $104,000. The challenge is that, you know, at $150,000, if we look at 4% a year, even 5%, that's only $7,500. So that'd be $625 a month that I'd be comfortable with you pulling out with a well-diversified bond portfolio with probably a small allocation to stocks that's going to be very stable, focused on generating income. And the idea would be that you'd try to offset this 5% a year so you never impact the principal. That $150,000 remains the same, and you're pulling out 5% a year, $625. The challenge is that's not going to quite get it done unless paying off the mortgage of the condo is going to bring your expenses down such that $625 or somewhere near there could cover it.

Do you see what I'm saying? Yes, I still have a $455 a month condo fee too. Oh, okay, but at least you'd get rid of the mortgage.

So I think that's the challenge. I'd like for you to enter kind of this next season of life, Laura, completely debt-free because it just gives you ultimate flexibility. It brings down your overall expenses, which just means you need less each month to cover it. But I also recognize it's going to take a significant chunk out of that roughly $250,000 you have. So I think my first choice would be we just put that money in the bank. We go ahead and work on selling this home, take the proceeds of the home once it's sold, and I'd wait for that, and then pay off the condo, and then take the $150,000 and connect with the advisor you mentioned and deploy that into a well-diversified stock and bond portfolio with a focus on income and get your expenses way down, get into a position where you're completely debt-free, and then build your budget around what you have coming in, the small pension, the Social Security, and the small amount you draw as income off of that roughly $150,000 and anything you can save between now and then moving forward.

That would be my kind of ultimate objective. Now, if you'd rather take the quarter of a million and invest the whole thing and continue paying on the mortgage, you could, I just don't think it makes a lot of sense because I think your return objectives are going to be fairly conservative in this season of life, and that compared to the mortgage that's probably a little bit higher in terms of interest rate because it wasn't your primary residence is probably not going to make sense over the long haul. I think you'd be better off just paying off the mortgage if it were me. Laura, I think that's some great advice that Rob gave you, and I hope that makes sense and works out well for you. Thank you so very much. If she wants to get additional information as she works through this process, what's the best way for her to do that, Rob?

Yeah, I think a couple of things. One is if you wanted to keep the mortgage, Laura, you could look at refinancing if you can save at least a point, and that would be a way to better yourself. I'd go to bankrate.com. If you want just to bounce some ideas off someone or get help putting your spending plan together, connect with one of our MoneyWise coaches at moneywiselive.org. Thanks again, Laura. I appreciate that. Chicago, Luke, what's your situation? I understand you work at a church, or perhaps you're the pastor, Luke.

What's going on there? Yeah, I'm actually the pastor of a church. We are about 100 people, and about 10 years ago we saw God save a neighbor who had been drug addicted and homeless for about 40 years, and it's just been great to see him grow, become grounded in Christ, and now he's on staff part-time as a janitor at our church. However, he's 69 now and did not work for all those years, and so has very little saved in Social Security, has no retirement, and so I just wanted to hear your thoughts. What might be the best creative way that we as a congregation can continue supporting him because he just can't physically keep working too much longer? So I wanted to hear your thoughts. Yeah, Luke, it's an interesting situation.

Unfortunately, as you said, it doesn't sound like he's going to have the backing of Social Security, which could provide at least a modest income, but if he doesn't meet the requirement in terms of the number of quarters that he paid into that, obviously there's not going to be anything there for him. So I think at this point, I'm delighted to hear you all have taken him on. You're employing him to the extent he has the ability to work. That's great. Do you all have a retirement plan at that church? Well, we do. It's usually for full-time people, but we could start one, I think.

Okay. I think that would be the first thing to look into, is see whether there's an option without kind of disrupting what you have in place, because obviously anything you make available to one person you have to make available to everyone in terms of if this were made available to someone on a part-time basis who meets a minimum number of hours a week. But that would be the very best way to support him, is to kick something into retirement for him on a regular basis that's going to go in pre-tax and continue to build for as many years as he can work. Obviously, I love the idea of making his need known as the members of the congregation get to know him and his story and begins to see his heart and his work ethic. Perhaps some of them would want to give individually, give gifts to this person. Obviously, they wouldn't get tax benefits, but there wouldn't be any tax consequences for him as well. So whether that's through a GoFundMe or something like that, obviously folks could begin to help and assist. And then obviously anything you all can do to set money aside, whether it's on a pre- or approach-tax basis, to be able to allow him to build up his nest egg moving forward would be ideal. I think this is a great example of where the body of Christ vis-à-vis what you're even asking here today can really rally around this gentleman and be an encouragement to him, and also be a resource in terms of helping him out financially.

So I would check, see what options there are with the current retirement plan that you have today, and then secondly, see what creative ways you might be able to come up with making his needs known to the body, just to see how folks might be led to respond. Luke, would you please hold for just a moment? Our producers have some information they would like to pass on to you in the church, and we're really glad you called today. And keep us posted. We'd love to know how that works out with this gentleman. And God bless you.

Hauntley, Illinois. Andy, we're going to have to make this real quick. We understand from our notes that you're 80 years old. You're concerned about the price of things and maybe pending inflation. Is that kind of it? That's it, exactly. All right.

All right, Andy. Yeah, well, here's what I would say. The good news is inflation really has been fairly tame just because of a lot of the tools and strategies that the Federal Reserve has at its disposal. The Federal Open Market Committee, in terms of adjusting interest rates to keep interest rates low, but keep inflation in check. You actually have to go back quite a ways to find inflation in the 4% range.

I think you've got to get all the way back to the early 90s to see anything with a 4 handle on it. Beyond 91, inflation has been in the 3s or less, and last year in 2019, less than 2%, just over 2% the couple of years before that, and basically flat in 2015. I'm encouraged that we have a Federal Reserve that has demonstrated over a long period of time their willingness to really keep inflation in check, even though some areas of the economy have grown faster than others, certainly in the healthcare space. College tuition would be another one.

You mentioned cars here in your notes, and we've certainly seen some of that. So I think the key is to always try to live on less than you make so you can keep your money working for you, because purchasing power is key in terms of as inflation, even modest inflation, is applied year after year, the spending power of a dollar declines, which is why we need it working for us, and that can be challenging in this low interest rate environment. But the bottom line is, I think as long as you're following biblical principles, recognizing your role as a steward and doing everything you can do to manage God's money, we leave the rest up to him, because it's out of our control. Andy, God bless you. We're glad you got through today. Thank you very, very much for listening, and thank you for listening, all of our MoneyWise listeners coast to coast. This program is a partnership between Moody Radio and MoneyWise Media. Have a great remainder of your day. Say something nice to someone, and then join us again tomorrow.