6 Saving Blunders

There are two kinds of people in this world, the fortunate ones who learn from the mistakes of others and the rest of us who have to be the others. If you don't want to be the others when it comes to saving money, you have to know when a deal is not a deal. Today, Kingdom Advisors President Rob West tells you how to learn from the saving mistakes of other people.

Then it's your calls at 800-525-7000, toll free 800-525-7000. I'm Steve Moore, Six Savings Blunders, next right here on MoneyWise Live. Really, Rob, how hard is it to know when you're getting a good deal on something? You buy it for less than the going rate, less than it was yesterday according to the sign, and you save some money. So what more is there to know?

A lot. It depends on how, when, and where you buy something that determines whether it's a good deal or not. And advertising, promotions, and coupon offers can make that pretty challenging.

Let me give you an example. Thinking that just because something's on sale, you're getting the best price would be your first mistake. Let's say a store is offering an item at 10% off. Well, that sounds good, but how do you know it's not 20 or 30% off somewhere else?

You know, these days it's pretty easy to find out. There are any number of free apps that will tell you the best price for an item in your area. Obviously, you'll want to use an app like that before buying something expensive, but also for cheaper items that you may want to buy in bulk.

Yeah, okay, good. And lots of people are buying in bulk these days. And you can go to your app store and download one of those comparison apps. That's kind of a no-brainer.

What else? Well, speaking of buying in bulk, there's a way some retailers make something look like a better deal than it really is. So an ad might say $25 off if you buy $10, $50 off if you buy $20. Well, if you do the math, you quickly see that the savings percentage remains the same. So it's just a way to get you to buy more with no advantage to you.

I knew I should have paid attention in the seventh grade area, but that is sneaky. You only think you're saving more money. Just don't depend on the truthfulness of those signs.

What else? Well, next is buying on the cheap. There's nothing wrong with checking out the clearance section of a store because sometimes you can get a deal there, but you can also get burned. In a clothing store, an item could be on the clearance rack because it's missing a button or has a loose stitch. In the grocery store, items could be nearing their expiration date, so you've got to check for that. If something's flawed or about to go bad, you perhaps are not really saving money. Yeah, that's a good one. Buyer beware.

All right, anything else? Well, this is a big one that millions of people fall for, Steve, getting a store credit card because they offer a discount on your first purchase or cash back on regular purchases. And why is that? Well, first of all, those discounts are probably less than the rewards you'd earn with a regular credit card. Second, unless you're incredibly disciplined, you'll end up carrying a balance, and store credit card interest rates are really high, usually much higher than bank-issued cards. But there's another option if you're planning to make a big purchase at a big box store. Instead of getting their credit card, see if they have an e-newsletter. Sometimes they'll offer a one-time discount of up to 25% on non-sale items just for signing up. In fact, I did this just the other day, Steve, while I was getting an oil change. I quickly Googled the company I was using.

I was able to get a text message with a coupon that I used before I checked out. Good man. Way to go. Way to go. And if you don't want that newsletter you mentioned after using the discount, just hit the unsubscribe button. I seem to be doing a lot of that these days. That's great. Yeah, you're exactly right.

All right, let's get on to the next one. That's loading up in your online shopping cart just to get free shipping. Sometimes the minimum order is as high as $100. That's no deal unless you really need the extra items. And always check out a few other online retailers first to compare prices and shipping rates.

You might find a bigger discount somewhere else and you might be able to save more without free shipping. Okay. Any final thoughts before we wrap this up today and then open the lines for any financial calls? By the way, that phone number again is 800-525-7000. Anything financial, even if you want to tell us about your Christmas shopping or get our sizes just in case. Anything else, Rob?

All right, one more. That would be falling for daily deals. Savvy shoppers know not to fall for hurry up, buy now. But all those daily deals really are just a pitch to get you to make the purchase so you don't miss out. In many cases, you'll find another store's regular price will match or beat the daily deal. And again, you can do that easily with a comparison app. So ignore daily deals. That's one app you can do from or delete from your phone, I should say.

All right. And of course, when you're shopping, try to have a budget before you dive in. Your calls next, 800-525-7000. And this is MoneyWise Live. Many people are experiencing financial challenges, such as credit card debt, downsizing, dead-end jobs, and depleted savings. In fact, more than half of all divorces are the result of financial pressures at home.

But there's hope. In Your Money Counts, biblical financial expert Howard Dayton shows that the Bible is a veritable blueprint for managing your finances, and you'll discover the profound impact it has on your relationship with God. Your Money Counts is available when you click the Store button at MoneyWiseLive.org. American Health Care Ministries enables believers to show love for one another by sharing each other's health costs. Through CHM's voluntary health cost-sharing programs, members uplift each other spiritually and financially. CHM is an eligible option under the Affordable Care Act and a Better Business Bureau-accredited charity.

Interested? Learn more by calling 800-791-6225 or online at chministries.org. Moody Publishers invites your family to join them in unwrapping the names of Jesus this Christmas. This Moody Publishers exclusive begins with an interactive family devotional offering five daily reflections that focus on that week's name of Jesus and includes suggestions for fun-filled family activities and service projects. Focus on the birth and the character of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

More information about unwrapping the names of Jesus is available at moodypublishers.org. Retirement – What Comes to Mind? Yeah, that's right. But it may be that God has a greater purpose for your retirement than what you just imagined. In his book, An Uncommon Guide to Retirement, Jeff Hainan suggests that retirement needs to be viewed from both a biblical and practical perspective.

Redefine this next season from self-actualization to self-surrender. Retire in a way that's God-honoring, purpose-filled, restful, and truly biblical. Get your copy of An Uncommon Guide to Retirement at moodypublishers.com. Money and life run on the same track, but unfortunately, sometimes it seems like your money is heading in a different direction from your goals. In Never Enough – Three Keys to Financial Contentment, author Ron Blue helps you to break down all your financial options to a basic four and then shows you how to keep it all chugging along in the right direction on the same track. Never Enough – Three Keys to Financial Contentment, available when you click the store button at moneywiselive.org. So great to have you with us today. It's Money Wise Live.

He's Rob West. I'm Steve Moore. We're talking about Christmas shopping. Hopefully you've at least – well, if you haven't started it, maybe you've at least made a list and checked it twice, and if we're not there, that's okay.

But we'd love to chat with you one way or the other. So place that call, 800-525-7000. You know, Steve, speaking of gifts, let me just say a big thank you to Chris Brock in Colorado. So Chris is the operator of a Chick-fil-A out there. He became aware that we happen to frequent Chick-fil-A periodically, and not only is he a supporter of Money Wise, but he sent a bunch of free chicken sandwich coupons, which, you know, this time of year, any time of year, frankly, we're always happy to receive.

So a big thank you to Chris and Vicki out in Inglewood. I mean, I know you don't like licking stamps, but would it hurt you to throw a couple in a number 10 and send them this direction? I mean, that's all right. Coming your way, Steve Moore. Don't you worry. No, no, no. I'm not going to beg. I'm not going to beg.

I sure love those waffle fries, though. All right. 800-525-7000.

Rhinelander, Wisconsin. Sue, nice to have you with us today. What's on your mind?

Thank you very much. I'm calling just to say that when you have a business plan, and I know I've heard on Money Wise that you want to not forget about using social media as to promote your business. But I've had some bad experiences with people feeling like they've communicated with their customers by just going on Facebook and say, oh, we're here. And we were traveling. We don't care.

We don't have Facebook, Wi-Fi in your car. We've checked before we left that this place is open, that they're up to date and have all the COVID things, meaning they've changed their menu. They change their hours. But when we get there and in this case, my 49th wedding anniversary, we got to the door. The person was locking and coming out for our 49th wedding anniversary meal, coming out saying, we posted on Facebook that we're closing early.

It was very disappointing. I understand, Sue. I'll tell you, it's a great reminder, especially these days. It seems like everybody's hours are in flux.

People are adjusting and changing and moving. And the times that things would have normally closed, they're not open as long. And we're expecting certain things and it doesn't necessarily pan out. So, yeah, always a good idea to perhaps call before you go. And you're exactly right. Do you perhaps think your customers are up to date because you put it on social media? But in this case, it didn't work out. So maybe they need a little longer lead time when they're posting these changes in the schedule.

That's a good thought, though. We appreciate you checking in. Now, this might be your lucky day, Sue, because I don't know if you heard Rob a couple of minutes ago, but he has Chick-fil-A coupons. I do. What do you think? What do you think? Or have you already had that anniversary dinner?

You probably have already done that, huh? It's fine, but it wasn't what we were hoping, but I appreciate it. You're a sweetheart. God bless you and your husband. Hope you have a wonderful Merry Christmas this year, all right? It's to you.

Great programs. Thank you. Thanks. Thanks very much. All right.

Let's stay right here in the state of Georgia. Diana, what's your question for Rob West? Hi. How are you? Great. Thank you. Okay, great.

I've been listening to you guys, and I really enjoyed your program. I have a question. My husband brought a ThermLife almost 20 years ago, and they sent a letter to us saying that it's expired August 2021, and we will have to pay maybe $1,500 a month for the premium. So I'm wondering, when it expires, we have lost all that money because we have paid over $30,000 20 years ago. Yeah.

Yeah. Well, here's the thing to keep in mind on that, Diana. When you're buying term insurance, which is frankly what we recommend for most people, you're buying pure insurance, so you are simply paying with that premium every month the mortality cost. What that means is there's someone back there with a big calculator that's called an actuary, and they're determining based on your age and your health status when you take out the policy and the amount of coverage what it takes to cover you in terms of what that monthly premium is based on the likelihood that you're going to live to the end of the term, and you're paying the mortality cost, the cost that's been calculated based on them providing insurance on you for this period of time.

When you do that, that gives you an exchange, the peace of mind to know that if something happens to you or if something happens to your husband during that season of life where you're counting on each other for income or there would be an additional financial burden placed on one of you with the other ones passing, that that's taken care of because you'd get this large payout in the form of life insurance death benefits that would come your way that then you could convert into an income stream. So there's a cost to that, and you've run to the end of that. Now, with term insurance, there's not an intention or shouldn't be to continue to pay it beyond the level term period.

It's going to be sky high, and you wouldn't want to pay those numbers. What you'd want to do at that point is replace it with another term policy that's going to be a little more expensive because you're obviously a good bit older, but hopefully for a shorter period of time because remember, we want to get to the place where you don't need life insurance at all because you're beyond your working years. You've saved. You have other assets that are going to support you, and if the Lord calls one of you home, the other one has what he or she needs to sustain their lifestyle and other financial means. So you need to look at it as you've been paying for something that was really important in your financial well-being to provide you stability. It was a lot less expensive though than what you would call a whole life policy where there's a savings vehicle attached to it. So even though it's a considerable sum of money, it's still the most cost-effective way to offset what is the largest risk for most people, and that is one of the breadwinners in the family dying during the working years which would create a real financial burden for the rest of the family. Diana, does that make sense to you?

You understand that? Yes, it does make sense, meaning that if I can't afford the higher premium, we will lose that money then. Oh yes, yeah, and it's not a matter of, I want to be clear about this Diana, I wouldn't, even if you could afford it, I wouldn't want you to pay that higher premium. When you get to the end of the term for term life insurance, it's going to be way too expensive. So you're going to want to now, before you get to the end of the term, find a life insurance agent that can go out and quote a new term policy for you that's going to be much more reasonable, but you are correct. You've been paying for the death benefit, the mortality expense associated with the risk the insurance company was taking that you might die during this period, and there's a cost to that, but in exchange you have the peace of mind to know that that money is there. Just real quick, what is the death benefit?

Do you know? It's about $100,000 or $200,000. Okay, and how far are you from retirement? Next year.

Okay, so what you want to do is you want to determine do you still need this policy or not, and it could be that you don't any longer. Stay on the line. We'll talk a bit more off the air.

We'll be right back. 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 christiancreditcounselors.org. That's christiancreditcounselors.org, or call 800-557-1985. 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. People's 4 12 says, for the word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two edged sword. Here's Beth Moore with a quick word. I want to read you Ecclesiastes three, one through 11, and I want you to feel every single word of it. Ecclesiastes three, there is a time for everything and a season for every activity under heaven, a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain, a time to search and a time to give up. It's hard for us sometimes to realize that the time has come to simply give up the search, a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.

The writer of Ecclesiastes says in verse nine, what does the worker gain from his toil? I've seen the burden God has laid on men. Verse 11, he has made everything beautiful in its time. I want you guys to read that with me aloud. He has made everything beautiful in its time, in its time, in its time, in its own separate time, not in our time, in its time. You've been listening to A Quick Word with Beth Moore.

Maybe you're like me, always on the go. The free living proof app is a perfect tool to help you stay connected, encouraged and in his word with Beth. Download the free app today. Just search for Beth Moore in the app store. Thanks for listening to A Quick Word with Beth Moore.

I love it and we love being here with you today. If we can help you with anything financial, something you've been wondering about, a situation or a problem you have, let's talk about it and let's see how God's word applies. Eight hundred, five, two, five, seven thousand. That's our number and we happen to have open lines.

Eight hundred, five, two, five, seven thousand. Now Rob, before the break, we were chatting with Diana and she said something once maybe twice that a lot of people feel that if they've purchased term insurance for twenty or twenty five years and they've put quite a bit of money into it, they feel as though and then the policy comes to an end and they might feel as though they've wasted that money. Not so, but help us understand that and to get our feelings in line with reality.

Yeah, it's a great question. The first thing I would say, Steve, is the idea behind life insurance, I think it comes right out of scripture in that first Timothy is very clear that we need to provide for our families. So how do we provide? Well, I think one way is offsetting to the ability we have to do it, offsetting risk. And one of the largest risks we have is during our working years, if one of the spouses dies, in particular a working spouse, prior to saving enough for retirement, then it would create a real hardship for the family because that income is gone. And now the remaining spouse, especially if they're small children, but even if they're not, perhaps they can't make that up, which would require a significant shift in lifestyle. So to offset that risk and provide for your family, you buy life insurance with a specific death benefit that's commensurate to the amount of income you're bringing into the household.

Okay, well, the best way, the most cost effective way to do that is with term insurance. You're not adding a savings vehicle to it. You're just simply paying the mortality costs, the expense associated with the amount of coverage for the length of time based on your age and health. Now you get to the end and to your question, Steve, you could feel like, well, I've just thrown all that money out the door because nobody died.

I didn't collect anything. I'm going to drop the policy. And so now it's all gone. Yeah, but you were paying for the peace of mind that comes to know that if something happened to one of you, that that money would have been there. And thank the Lord you didn't need it. It's kind of like having a car insurance. You drive around knowing that you're covered and you're not upset if you don't get in an accident.

You're thankful, right? But if you do, you know that you can pay for the medical bills and you can repair the car and all those kinds of things. So I think that's a shift in thinking perhaps for some of us, but still very worthwhile to care for our families. Well said. Well said. Thank you, Rob. All right. Back to our phone line in Chicago, Illinois.

John, thanks for holding my friend. What's on your mind? Well, I have a concern because I have owned three weeks of vacation timeshare for 30 years and they've been paid for for a long time. But my concern is the maintenance fees every year. I have to continue to pay maintenance fees and they continue to go up. And this year for 2021, my fees for $2,000 for three weeks. Now, I've gone to some of those timeshare exit programs.

Yes. And each time that I go, they want to charge anywhere from $5,000 to $7,000 per week for me to get out of it. And you're talking $20,000 to $21,000, which I feel is a ripoff. And since I own the vacation timeshare and my concern is I'm 73 years old and I'm on a limited income and I don't travel as much as I used to in the past.

So my concern is what options do I have? Yeah. Well, John, I appreciate so much your call. And, you know, we don't partner with any timeshare exit organizations or companies. It's not that there may not be some good ones out there. I've just never felt terribly comfortable with any strategy to get out from a timeshare apart from what you can do on your own.

And even then, it's very, very difficult. You know, the challenge is there's so many people who feel exactly the way you do now. Maybe there was a season of your life where you like these timeshares. And if so, that's great. I've been doing this a while. Steve's been doing it a little bit longer than I have. And Steve, have you ever gotten a call from somebody who says, I love my timeshare?

No. I mean, they may be out there, but it doesn't happen very often. And so I only say that to say just if you don't have one and you're thinking about it, make sure you go in with your eyes wide open. But the problem, John, is there's so many people looking to unload them that there's more inventory, if you will, than there is buyers.

So it frankly just makes it very difficult. So where do you go from here? Well, obviously, you'd want to call the management company, see if they can help. In most cases, they can't because they're trying to sell their own.

But you might as well place the call. Now, beyond that, there is a website, a user's group on the website, if you've not on the web, if you've not been there, I'd check it out. It's at TUG2, the number two dotnet, T-U-G, the number two dotnet. And TUG stands for timeshare users group. And there's a lot of great information about selling a timeshare. There's even a marketplace to help you do it. That could be a secondary market that perhaps you could utilize to unload this.

But again, because there's low demand and often a lot of supply, it makes it real challenging. You could advertise it locally, you could advertise through social media, you could consider renting it out. I don't recommend, some suggest offering it to charity.

But then they're responsible for the maintenance fees. So at the end of the day, we just don't have a real good solution because I don't think there is one apart from just doing the legwork and seeing if you can find somebody who would genuinely be interested in taking this over. John, we wish you the best with that.

Thanks very much. Our producer today, a gentleman who's been with us for a long, long time, his name is Rich, and he and his wife have had a timeshare for quite a while. While they've enjoyed it, Rich informs me that they would never ever do it again.

So, you know, at least they've enjoyed the time they have had there. But be thoughtful and careful before you make any long term decisions like this. Rob, we have a quick email.

This is from Kennedy. And we have an income that varies every month, making it challenging to stick to a budget. Any advice for us? We understand that. Yeah, absolutely. A variable income can make it challenging. Here's what I would do. I would look back over the last 12 months, Kennedy, and I would take the average income that you have per month, and I would base your budget on that average. And then the key is to have a separate savings account so that as you have the months where your income is higher than that average, you can park that in the savings, which is just an ACH transfer away, an electronic transfer away from your checking. And then in the lean months, you transfer it back, but you want to try to live on a consistent amount, if possible. The key to that is making sure that budget is based on that smaller conservative average. And by the way, our new MoneyWise app can help with this. Go to your app store on Google Play or the Apple App Store. Search for MoneyWise Biblical Finance.

It's a digital envelope system, the best one we've ever used, and you can download it today. And if you have an email question for Rob, make it brief. Keep it short. Send it along to questions at moneywise.org, and MoneyWise returns after this. 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 the 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 investeventide.com. That's investeventide.com. If you're investing for retirement or any other goal, you may be wondering if it's possible to enjoy both profit and peace of mind, no matter what's happening in the market. SoundMind Investing has a short video webinar on that topic at soundmindinvesting.org. SMI has helped tens of thousands of Christians learn to be wise and faithful stewards in the area of investing.

Profit and peace of mind, no matter what's happening in the market, at soundmindinvesting.org. How do you reach people who call themselves Christian but don't know Jesus? Find out by reading The Unsaved Christian. Dean Ansera was a cultural Christian. Today, he pastors a thriving church, and he wrote this book to offer starting points that lead to deeper conversations. You'll be equipped to confront cultural Christianity and lovingly share the gospel to the cultural Christians in your life. Cultural Christianity is a huge mission field in desperate need of missionaries.

Get your copy of The Unsaved Christian at moodypublishers.com. If you're feeling that it's time to make a change in where you work, maybe you should investigate the possibility of a position with Moody Bible Institute. Moody Bible Institute is looking to fill a number of full and part-time positions in education at Moody Publishers and Moody Radio. You'll find positions in management, clerical, professional, and non-skilled labor. It may be worth your time to take a look at the more than 40 position openings available now. You'll find each job description online at moodyjobs.org.

That's moodyjobs.org. How did you feel the last time you made a not-so-good decision? As Pastor Andy Stanley points out... Our decisions are like the steering wheel of our life, and so you get decision-making and you get life right. In his new book, Better Decisions, Fewer Regrets, you'll learn five critical questions to apply to every decision you make so you can feel confident you're getting it right.

Request your copy with any gift to MoneyWise of $25 or more at moneywiselive.org. With SRN News, I'm John Scott. Commissioner Stephen Hahn says today's meeting of the FDA advisory panel is an important day for all of America. He says he hopes it will lead to the beginning of the end of the pandemic. President Trump announcing that Israel and Morocco will normalize relations. It's the latest diplomatic coup for President Trump as he continues to seek Arab-Israeli peace. The President says Israel and Morocco will restore diplomatic and other ties. Morocco, the fourth Arab nation to recognize Israel under President Trump's Abraham Accords framework.

And consumer prices edging up two-tenths percent in November as a rise in energy costs and a variety of other items offset a drop in food costs according to the Labor Department. Stocks finishing mixed, the Dow lost 69 points, the NASDAQ gained 66. This is SRN News. Hey, kudos to our technical crew today doing all things technical. That would be Amy and Deb and Rich and who we mentioned earlier and of course Gabby T. with us today. It's Thursday. That T stands for twinkling as in your tree and in her personality. Higgins, Pennsylvania.

Alan, what's on your mind, sir? Yes, thank you. I have invested some money a few years ago in a real estate investment fund. And they told me at the time I put it in, I had put it in for five years to get 8.5% interest rate. And they told me that I could add to that at any time. So here about six, seven months ago, I got some inheritance and did most of that to the fund and it was no problem.

Now I have been liquidating collectibles and stuff. I have accumulated some more money and I wanted to put that into that fund. I called them up and was trying to arrange it and then they told me that I couldn't do that. That the only way I could put it in is if I took the whole fund and put it in again at 7% interest. And I don't think that's right. I mean, it was put in for five years and they told me I could add to it at any time.

So is there anything I can do about that? Do you happen to know what type of investment this is, Alan? It's not obviously publicly traded. So is this what's called a private placement?

Do you know? I guess it would be. Now they have different levels. I got in at the safest level because they could pay up to like 10 to 12% interest, but it would be at higher risk.

They told me that this was the lowest risk level that I would be least likely to lose money if any were happened. Okay. And have you been receiving the eight and a half percent payable monthly or quarterly or is that just accruing, quote unquote, inside the fund for you? It's just been accumulating.

I've been getting it, but it's just I've just been adding it to it. Okay. And is it do you get a statement quarterly or something like that? I get a monthly statement. Monthly statement.

Okay. Well, you know, it's not surprising that this type of investment would be fully subscribed and therefore you would not be able to add money to it. Oftentimes there's a stated amount of money that they're taking into the fund or the private placement.

Once they fully subscribe it, then it's closed at that point and then they might open another one or something like that. These tend to be very illiquid. There is a good bit of risk associated with them, but, you know, it varies obviously depending upon what is it, you know, what types of properties are inside the fund and how much debt do they have and, you know, is there the risk, you know, is this a commercial real estate, which, you know, is obviously not doing as well right now versus, you know, single family, you know, townhomes.

I mean, it's all over the map in terms of what's here. But to your point or question, I'm not surprised that it would reach a point where you would no longer be able to add money to it. So I think the questions I would ask you would be first, do you want to add more in the sense that, you know, you don't want to be too highly concentrated in any one investment? It sounds like you've been putting a good bit of money here. And I like the idea that you'd be diversified, perhaps away from this investment, maybe into another asset class altogether like stocks and bonds. Because if something were to happen in this particular fund, you know, I don't want you to have so much of your money allocated here that it would create a real hardship for you. So I don't know that it's a bad thing that you can't add any more, especially since you haven't been getting any payouts, and it's all been accruing. But where you'd want to go to really understand the details, the finer points is you'd want to ask them for the prospectus.

And that will give you all the details as to how much was originally available to be subscribed and the status of it and, you know, all the inner workings of it. But at the end of the day, it's not necessarily something wrong that you can't put more in. That's typical. And I think I would really question whether you're properly diversified and ask you to consider maybe moving into other asset classes, even though you've been enjoying this eight and a half percent return. Yeah. Alan, perhaps I wasn't paying attention. Did you say anything about wanting to take your money out? No, not reinvested, but you don't you don't want to take it out. Is that what you're saying?

No, it's going to take out another like a year before the five years is up. Okay. Okay. All right.

Yeah, it would raise a red flag if you tried to take money out and you thought you could and they pushed back on that. But if that's not what they're saying, then you want to pay attention to Rob. Certainly not me.

I guess I've been watching too much television recently, but that does happen. Alan, God bless you. Thank you very much. We trust that helps you down to South Florida. Lisa, welcome to Money Wise. What's on your heart? Thank you.

Thank you for taking my call. My husband and I are trying to make a decision on a big repair on our property. And we just don't know exactly how to go about it. We live in South Florida. And of course, we have storms and hurricanes. And so we might have to replace the entire roof on our property before next summer. And that would take most of our savings, if not all of it. So we're thinking about maybe financing part of it or just paying all of it.

And we not have any savings left. Yeah. Yeah. How long has that roof been on the house, Lisa? 20, almost 25 years. Okay.

Yeah. You know, the challenge is that I'm from South Florida and, you know, those asphalt shingles typically are only expected to last 10 to 12 years. If you have the higher quality architectural shingles, often the lifespan on those is 15 to 20.

But given that you're 20 years plus, you know, it probably doesn't make a lot of sense. Again, I obviously have not inspected the home and nor would I be competent to do so. I'm just telling you kind of useful life here for the average home with the type of roof that you have there in South Florida. You know, I would say you're at the end of the useful life. So, you know, continuing to repair it, especially with a significant fire. And you're right.

You're thinking about hurricane season. And that's a reality down there. It probably makes sense for you to go ahead and think and thinking about replacing it. Now, the question is, how do you go about doing that? When I hear you say use all of our savings, that causes me some red flags, depending on the stability of your income. I'd be comfortable with you going down to a couple of months worth of income and savings, but probably not below that, because I wouldn't want you to be in a position where you're completely out of savings. And therefore, you know, you have to really rely on credit cards if something were to come unexpected. So I think I would be careful. You could use some savings, but keep some margin.

And then if you need to borrow to do it, assuming it fits in the budget, I'd be looking at a home equity loan at that point. Okay, Lisa, credit card. Okay. All right. Thank you. Thank you.

Appreciate it. Rob, you would know about this being a South Florida boy. I mean, right here in Georgia, our roofs don't last as long because of the hot summer weather. But down in Florida, obviously, an even greater situation. And then you have to be concerned about things like hurricanes. Yeah. And it's because of that heat. It's a totally different style of roof with the asphalt shingles and then the architectural shingles that are often made of other things altogether.

Completely different than what we have here in Georgia and other parts of the country. They can be expensive, that's for sure. Okay. Hey, you're listening to MoneyWise Live. When we come back, we'll speak with Sue in Indianapolis.

Her son is in his 20s, wants some advice to build credit for eventually buying a home. And then Marty and Carol are after them or after her. We'll be right back after this. Have you ever taken a wrong turn when it comes to money?

We all have. And while you can't undo past mistakes, you can steer clear of the financial potholes ahead. This month's issue of the MoneyWise e-magazine is all about helping you make MoneyWise decisions with exclusive podcasts and articles to steer you in the right direction. Your free e-magazine subscription is waiting for you right now at MoneyWise.org slash sign up. 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? 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. This is Barry Maguire. I'm a car guy here to help you understand God's purpose for your life through the eyes of a layman. Would you make a commitment to move everyone you're with today closer to Jesus, from your spouse to your boss, to the clerk in the store, the stranger on the street and the operator in the phone? You can do it without quoting a single scripture. They'll know you're his disciple by your love.

You don't need any training to love one people, and 100% of the people you're with today are desperately seeking love, mostly in all the wrong places. And you'll be amazed how quickly thoughtful acts of concern can change the entire demeanor of people. 90% of all face-sharing opportunities are spontaneous acts of kindness, ending with a simple God bless you to let them know you're a Christian. If nothing else, they'll see you as a nice person because you're a Christian and you just move them closer to Jesus. Your job is to ignite revival outside the walls of your church by moving everyone every day closer to Jesus.

For help doing that, go to ROTW.com. What you reading, Josh? Oh, Today in the Weeds helps me grow weeds. But weeds grow by themselves.

I suppose. What are you reading? Today in the Word, because Christians don't grow by ourselves. I mean, we need the Word of God daily. Maybe I should get out of the weeds and into the Word. A fresh passage of Scripture and a devotional that helps you live it out. Best Today in the Word in print, podcast or email.

Bring it todayintheword.org. Is there a place for you in heaven? Find out when you read Heaven and the Afterlife, a one-volume set of Erwin Lutzer's hallmark works on eternity. Heaven and the Afterlife lifts the veil on eternity and reminds us that this world isn't all there is. This book will challenge you to seek what cannot be lost before it's too late. Heaven and the Afterlife, available online or at your favorite Christian retailer.

For more, visit moodypublishers.com. Nice to have you with us today. It's MoneyWise Live. And in the same way that The Last Caller was concerned about the roof and having enough money to pay it off, sure sounded like they had a budget. Well, we have a budget here at this ministry, Rob, and we know exactly how much money we have to pay the bills next year. And it's vitally important that we occasionally hear from our listeners, right?

Well, that's exactly right. And we're trying to close out what has been for everyone a really interesting year. We're trying to close that out strong. And you can help us do that. We still have a little ground to make up as we finish this year and prepare for all the ministry we're going to be able to do next year.

And let me just tell you, we have some exciting things coming on a lot of fronts that I can't wait to tell you about in the next couple of weeks. But if you would consider a gift here as we head toward year end, between now and twelve thirty one, we had a generous donor who's so excited about the work of MoneyWise that they said, I want to double every dollar that's given between now and the December the 31st. And so if you want to double your impact, you can do that by giving to MoneyWise Media. There's a couple of ways to do that.

First, let me encourage you to head over to our Web site, MoneyWiseLive.org and just click the donate button, MoneyWiseLive.org and click the donate button. Or if you want to text to give, here's what's going to happen. Just text the word GIVEWISE to 28950. So if you type in, just like you would put in a phone number instead, put in 28950 and then text the word GIVEWISE to 28950. Text the word GIVEWISE. You'll get a link back where you can quickly and easily give. Every dollar will be matched. And we want to thank you in advance for your support. Amen to that.

Thanks, Rob. You know, I have to chuckle over the years. I had more than a few people say to me, you know, you guys talk about money so much. I just assumed you had all you needed. We budget.

So typically we have all we need, but it's not a bottomless savings account. And we need you. We need your prayers. We need your financial support if God touches you in that way. So thank you so much in advance and thank you for your help and support in the past as well.

Indianapolis. Sue, I understand your son is in his 20s and what kind of help or advice is he looking for? Yeah, thanks so much for taking my call. He just graduated college in the spring and he's just getting started with everything, got his first job and so on. And after quite a search and he's looking ahead probably a couple of years down the line to when he would want to buy a home. And he asked my husband and I if there are things that he should be doing, you know, kind of towards that to build his credit. You know, kind of what considerations or what he should look to do to prepare for that.

Yeah, absolutely. Well, Sue, I'm delighted to hear you're asking this question and you're walking alongside your son as he's preparing for kind of his own financial journey as an adult. A couple of things. Number one is when we're done here today, I want you to hold the line. Deb will get your information and I want to send you a copy of Howard Dayton's book, Your Money Counts. And I want you to give that to him for Christmas.

And I want you to tell him it's from Rob and Steve and put a really nice bow on the top of it when you do that. But we want him to read that because that's going to give him God's perspective on managing money. It's going to give him all the key principles, starting with the fact that God owns it all and that he's a manager or steward and money is a tool and that he should give generously. And yeah, he needs a spending plan and a budget. By the way, he also needs to manage debt wisely as well.

It's all in the book. With regard to credit, I think really the key for building credit and it's not unexpected that a young man starting out is going to suffer from a lack of credit. The key is to start building your history as an on-time payer. And one of the best ways to do that is either through an unsecured credit card, which are readily available these days, as long as he's willing to commit to not to carrying a balance month to month and living on a spending plan. If he just puts an automatic charge on there, something he's paying for anyway, you know, every month, it could be just a few dollars and then he pays it off. That's going to be reported to the bureau that he's an on-time payer every month. And that by itself is going to begin to establish his credit. If he doesn't want the unsecured card or you think he's not ready for it, he could do a secured credit card as well at his bank where he'd put a couple hundred dollars on deposit. They'd issue a credit card. He could use it up to that amount, pay it off every month. And again, that would be reported to the bureau, but he wouldn't be able to get into debt because the most he could charge would be what's on deposit at the bank. But in either case, that's really probably his next best step. And I want you to encourage him to set up a spending plan or a budget. And I think our MoneyWise app could help with that as well. So maybe you ought to check that out. So a great question. You guys sound like concerned and loving parents and we'll get that book right out so you can place it just so under the tree.

Austin Texas. Hey Marty, how can we help you today? Hi, thank you for taking my call. Um, I am a widow about four years and I have four kids, three boys and a girl and uh, I have five houses. I'm thinking I would like to give one to each kid. Is that why?

Uh, well obviously, yeah, a lot going on here, Marty. I'm so sorry to hear about your husband's passing and I love your generous heart that you want to bless your kids with. I guess the only thing I'm thinking is number one is, um, in either case, I think, uh, you know, perhaps downsizing, uh, taking some of the complexity out of your financial life would be a good thing because I can imagine managing five homes is probably taking up a good bit of your time.

Um, so I think that would be one benefit here. Um, but I think the question you have to wrestle with is would it be better to just sell the homes and then start gifting money now to the kids? You can do that 15,000 a year without impacting any of the gift tax based on the current gift tax exclusions and you could start blessing them with some amount, uh, again, 15,000 per child. Um, and then at some point give them an inheritance if that's the way the Lord is leading, but it would allow you to do it in a much more equitable way and in a way where you could pray through what is the right amount for each child.

Because remember, although you might want to give them the exact same amount, uh, one of the principles Ron Blue talks about in his book, splitting heirs is if you love your children equally, you will treat them uniquely. And what he means by that is depending upon where they're at in their life stage and how much money they're earning and whether they're married and whether they have children and maybe one of them is a single parent and, uh, you know, they may have different needs and, uh, you may not give them the same amount. Again, you want to do that prayerfully, but the challenge with giving them each a home is they're going to vary significantly and, uh, location and value. And, and, and I just think that may be more complicated, um, than you might want to deal with. Um, and not to mention the relational side of that, that could create some challenges as you make the decision as to who gets what. So first thing you want to do is be on your knees, asking the Lord to give you wisdom. Second thing is you probably, if you don't have one, I'd encourage you to connect with a certified kingdom advisor who could help you wrestle through these and give you some wise counsel. But then thirdly, I might consider what it would do for you just to go ahead and sell these homes and then allow you to begin to systematically give this money to the kids, uh, over the years, ultimately give them an inheritance.

And if you're somebody who likes to give, perhaps take a portion of, um, each home sale and put it into what we call a donor advised fund where you, uh, could have them start to give some of this money away to charity or ministry. So a lot there to think about. And, um, why don't you do this?

Why don't you hold the line as well? And we'll send you a copy of that book I mentioned splitting errors. And I think as you read that, perhaps that will give you some other ideas. Marty, thank you very much. And after the holidays, if you're still a bit confused about what to do, feel free to give us a call back. Let's try to squeeze in Carol West Lafayette, Indiana. Carol, just a couple of minutes. What's the scenario there? Hi. Yeah, quickly.

Thanks so much. Um, my husband and I are both 69. We're contemplating selling our business. Um, we started to talk to some people, um, to help us, not just with the sale of the business, but managing our investments, our real estate, how to be sure our trust is set up right. Um, dealing with taxes. I want to know some good questions that we should be asking, um, the companies that we're considering working with.

Uh, yeah. You know, I think the first thing you've got to wrestle with Carol is just what professionals do you need as you navigate this. Clearly you need an investment advisor if you don't have one to manage any investable assets. Obviously tax advisors, I suspect with the complexity in your financial life, you probably have those folks.

A godly estate planning attorney would be another one to make sure that you know where there's trust needed and so forth, that those are in place. And perhaps one piece of advice you haven't thought of is giving advice. You're in West Lafayette, which is about an hour, if I'm not mistaken from Indianapolis. There in Indianapolis is one of the local offices of the National Christian Foundation.

And I'd encourage you to visit with my friends at the, at NCF there in Indianapolis, because what they might be able to do is help you think in advance about any giving you want to do out of the business, which if it's done prior to the sale can really help you save a ton on taxes and get a lot of money into ministry and charity or perhaps even to your local church in a very tax efficient way. And so as you consider that, I might connect with the folks at NCF there in Indy. But then beyond that, I would start interviewing certified kingdom advisors there in your area. You can find those folks at MoneyWiseLive.org.

Just click Find a CKA. And you're going to want to begin asking them, you know, what competencies they have, what they believe you need to be thinking about as you prepare for all of the transitions that are going on in your financial life where money is going to be in motion, which is where planning is required. And you're going to want to know that they're going to ask you lots of questions about what God is doing in your life.

Of course, the standard stuff as well. How do they get compensated? How much experience do they have? How you will fall into the rest of their client base so you know kind of where you stand versus the other folks that they serve?

All of those are things that you're going to want to be asking. But that would be the next place that I would go. I'd find a CKA or at least a couple of them to interview in your area. And then I'd connect with our good friends at the National Christian Foundation, either nationally or in the Indianapolis office. And their website is ncfgiving.com. Ncfgiving.com. Yes, a wonderful, wonderful organization.

They've given away billions of dollars. Carol, we appreciate your phone call today. Thanks so much. Money Wise Live, this program is a partnership between Moody Radio and Money Wise Media. Thanks so much for your prayers and your financial support. I hope you'll join us again tomorrow.