We'll be right back. I'm Steve Moore. Workplace do's and don'ts.
Up first, today on MoneyWise Live. Unless you work in ministry, you're probably surrounded by non-believers, and you're representing Christ right there in your cubicle, perhaps. You could very well have opportunities to point others to their Savior. So, think about the workplace as a mission field, because it certainly is.
Yeah, good point. Okay, well, let's start with the don'ts. What shouldn't we do on the job?
Sure, and these aren't in any particular order of priority. The first is schmoozing with the boss beyond just being courteous and respectful. It's obvious when someone's trying to butter up a supervisor to gain personal advantage.
So, instead, just be nice and kind to everyone. All right, here's another one, and it's something many people fall into because work can be difficult and stressful. It's going negative and complaining about the boss or work conditions. Just don't do it. It might make you feel better, but it actually depresses your co-workers, even if they're going along with it. Yeah, that's a tough one.
Complaining about work is a national pastime of sorts, but believers shouldn't participate in this. Okay, what else? Well, this next one might sound trivial, but it's very important. Don't leave messes around the workplace for someone else to clean up. Keep your work area tidy, and if you really want to make a positive impression, clean up someone else's mess in the break room or the employee refrigerator, and we all know how those can get out of control quickly. Yeah, if you're warming up food in the microwave, clean up after yourself. Yeah, and maybe stay away from fish. Good one.
What else do you have for us? Well, don't ignore cubicle etiquette. Keep the noise down and don't splash on a lot of perfume or cologne.
It might smell good to you, but meanwhile, others are holding their noses. And one final don't, don't be standoffish. This one can be a little trickier, but it's important to let your co-workers know you're a part of their group. Unless something is obviously ungodly, it's okay to be part of the company culture. That means not dressing or talking in ways that make others feel uncomfortable, but of course, you should never use inappropriate language like swearing, even if others are. That's right, and never park in the employee of the month parking space if you're not that person.
Okay, let's move on to the do's. What can we do to represent Christ on the job? Yeah, well, one of the most important is showing a strong work ethic. That's the reason we're here in the first place.
Matthew 5 16, Jesus tells us, let your light shine before others so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. Well, that leads to some other do's. Do be helpful to others. Look for ways you can make your boss's or co-workers' lives easier. Perhaps volunteer to help with the Rush Project, even if it's just to get takeout for lunch. Little things can have a big impact, and you want to be part of the solution, not the problem.
That's right. Also, do let your boss know you're willing to take on extra work or responsibility. That's not only good for your Christian witness, it can also be helpful to your career goals, as are all of these do's. Okay, what else? Well, do let minor insults and discourtesy roll off your back. They happen in the workplace often unintentionally.
Forget about them. Again, in Matthew 5, Jesus says, if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And I think we can certainly apply that in a work context. That's right. A lot of these things that we've talked about do's and don'ts so far really have to do a lot with attitude, don't you think?
Well, that's exactly right. I think you need to remember who you're working for. In Colossians 3, the Apostle Paul says, whatever you do, work heartily as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord, you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ. And that should lead, Steve, to gratitude.
You know, Christ died for our sins, so we might know eternal joy with him in heaven. The least we can do is present a strong witness for him in the workplace. Great information. This is MoneyWise Live.
He's Rob West. I'm Steve Moore. We're pre-recorded today, so if you hear that phone number, please don't call, but do stick around. Lots of good information ahead.
And you can always email us too. The address is questions at moneywise.org, questions at moneywise.org. We're just getting started. This is MoneyWise Live. Do you know if you have enough? Enough money? Enough house?
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That's moodyjobs.org. 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. Hey, we're thankful for your presence today and every day, Monday through Friday. This quick reminder that today's broadcast is pre-recorded, so please don't try to call in, but we've lined up some folks in advance with some very interesting questions, so please stick around. Let's go to St.
Cloud, Minnesota first or next. Daryl, what's on your mind? Hi, guys. Thanks for taking my call. I'm a long-time listener.
I listen to you guys pretty much every afternoon on my way home from work. Yeah, not a problem. I'm 49 years old. I was divorced about eight years ago and I've been living in an apartment ever since and I'm ready to move into a house, but my credit was damaged and I've been repairing it.
Things are better. My question is, I have a 401k with about $100,000 in it and I'm about 12 years from retirement. I can get a VA loan, so I can get zero down on a mortgage. So my question is, should I pull out some and maybe put 10% down or something like that on a mortgage when I do eventually buy a house?
I'm hoping to do in the spring sometime. Yeah, Daryl, would you be borrowing this from your 401k or are you considering just taking a withdrawal? Just taking a withdrawal, probably. Yeah, and what is your age? You said 49? Yeah, that's correct.
Yeah. I'd really rather you not do that for a couple of reasons. Number one, it's going to be very expensive money to get your hands on in the sense that you're going to have a 10% penalty right off the top and then it's all going to be added to your taxable income for the year in which you take the withdrawal.
So we're talking 30 plus percent right off the top from this money, not to mention the fact that it's then no longer available to grow for the next 15 years or so until you retire so that you have an asset that can supplement your income. So I really don't like that idea. I also don't like the idea of you buying the home even though the VA loan allows you to go in with no down payment.
I don't recommend it. I'd prefer you to have 20%. I realize saving up 40 grand on a $200,000 home is going to take you a while, but I'd really rather you not go in without any equity. It's going to put you in a position where if the market were to take a dip and it does periodically. Keep in mind, we've been in the midst of probably the longest bull market in the housing market than we've ever seen.
Will it just continue to go up from here? It could, but also these cycles tend to roll over and I'd hate for you to be in a position where the housing market either nationally or in the area where you're at takes a dip and now all of a sudden you're locked into this home upside down. So I really would go back to that spending plan and see what you might be able to do to reorder things in such a way that you could begin to save and put some money away that you could use for this down payment.
I realize renting is not terribly appealing and it feels like you're throwing money away every month, but at the same time, getting into a massive financial obligation with all the other expenses that come along with home ownership, especially without the readiness financially in terms of the down payment and so forth. I just, you know, I don't love that option and again, tapping that 401k because of the associated cost with that, both in terms of the time value of money on its growth and the taxes and penalties is just not an attractive option to me. So it's probably not what you want to hear and I'm sorry for that, but I just don't want you to get in a tough spot and do something prematurely. Darrell, thank you for your phone call today and we'll pray that God gives you real wisdom and direction as you figure out what's the best road for you to take.
Thanks so much. To Ohio and Susan, you're having some issues with the house payment. How can we help you there? When we bought the house, the payment was 900. Well, since then with taxes and stuff changing and now it's a thousand and that's been very hard for us to pay. So our interest rate is four percent and with the lower interest rate, is it worth us to refinance to try to get our payment down?
It could be, Susan. Tell me this, how long have you had this mortgage? We've only had it for about, I think, four years. Okay and it's a 30-year mortgage?
Yeah, the longest one. Yeah. All right and you mentioned that you're having trouble making the payment. You don't have a variable rate. That's purely because the property taxes have been increasing, is that right? Yes. Okay and are you all kind of going underwater each month or you know if this payment was a hundred or so dollars lower, would you be okay in terms of covering all of your obligations?
Pretty good. Yeah, if you plan to stay in this home for a while and you know there's not an option to sell it and downsize which I realize has a cost associated with it as well. You know, going ahead and refinancing can make some sense.
You're going to have to reset this at a new 30 years. I'm not a huge fan of that but that's the only way you're going to get this payment down. Obviously, the reduction in interest rate to let's say you know two and three quarters depending upon what your credit looks like right now combined with a new 30-year mortgage is certainly going to take a little bit of that pressure off but I want you to really look hard at that monthly spending plan and make sure that even with this new payment, if you were to roll in the closing costs and so forth at the lower interest rate and plan to stay in this home for a long time, I want to be sure it really fits in your budget. Normally we would say that that principal interest taxes and insurance payment should not be more than 25% of your take-home pay and so you could do some quick math and say, okay, what do we bring home every month all in and 25% of that should cover the principal interest taxes and insurance, all of it. And then at that point, I would go out and get some quotes.
I'd go to bankrate.com, find some online lenders, maybe check with your local bank and depending on your income and depending on your credit score, if you could qualify for one of these very low rates right now that are available between two and a half and two and three quarters percent, you probably if you reset this at 30 years would see that payment come down a bit and that would take some pressure off but I don't want you to go through this exercise if it really doesn't fit into the budget and really what's needed is for you to sell this property and look for something a bit less expensive. Do you follow all that though? Yes. Susan, we wish you the best on that. Thank you very much. Rob, here's an email from Erica. As you suggested, Rob, we have saved up a thousand dollars for emergencies. We live on one irregular income. We received an inheritance and we aren't sure if we should pay down our debt or build up our savings to cover six months worth of expenses.
What do you think? So I would start by saying when you say, Erica, pay down your debt. If you have credit cards, I'd put another $500 with that thousand and I'd focus on paying off those credit cards but don't do it until you have a spending plan that you're confident you can live by because what I don't want to see is you take this inheritance, take care of the credit cards but then you're still living beyond your means if in fact you are and the credit card debt comes right back over the next 12 months. So get the spending plan in place, add $500 to your emergency fund and then pay off the credit cards. If you don't have credit cards, we're talking about a house payment or a car payment, then I would go ahead and boost that emergency savings all the way up to the six months and then take the balance and look at where you might want to put it for the long term, saving for college, maybe retirement savings, other investments, those types of things.
Most likely that inheritance will only happen once in your life so you want to use it carefully and prayerfully. We appreciate that email. Send us an email if you'd like, questions at moneywise.org, questions at moneywise.org.
We'll be back with more MoneyWise right after this. 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. Hebrews 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 wonder when the last time was it you might have said this whole world's gone mad. This entire world has gone nuts.
It would, for most of us, it would have been the last week. Do you ever just sit and look at the, have you ever just looked at five minutes of Fear Factor and gone, what? Why? Why? Anybody but me just sit there in amazement and think, what in the world are we watching?
And not just that, everywhere we turn, just when a tree has more value than an infant. What in the world? What in the world?
And when was the last time you did it? It's just a duh. But the world does not get that. You see, this cannot be. Just, I mean, think rationally. Think rationally. When you're thinking rational thoughts, you cannot possibly think that.
But here's what we're talking about. Babylon has a way of intoxicating until we just go crazy. And that's where the world is.
When the media tries to put forth an image that we literally kill ourselves trying to be, that is a lie. That is the whole concept of Babylon. The whole concept of Babylon says if you just had more of this, you would be fulfilled.
You would be happy. Beth would love for you to tune in each Tuesday night for Bible study. Classes begin at 9 30 p.m. Eastern, 8 30 Central on TBN.
Maybe you had to miss a Tuesday. No problem. Go to Bethmore.org. That's Bethmore.org.
You can watch the latest episode of the television program and more. Merry Christmas from Bethmore and the team at Living Proof Ministries. We're Money Wise Live and we talk about our telephone number often, usually because we're live. But today we're prerecorded. So if you hear a mention of the phone number, please don't call us. But you can find us online at MoneyWiseLive.org.
It's Money Wise Live. Rob West taking your phone calls, your questions on any financial topic. Rob, I think you had something you wanted to share with our listeners. Well, you know, Steve, we hear from so many listeners each day, really, so many of them talking about how long they've listened, some of them just finding us recently, all just so encouraging about the chance we have together to learn God's way of handling money. And so just appreciate so much those of you who tune in each day and would like to invite you to participate with us, perhaps to partner with us to keep this program on the air. We have a wonderful team here and look forward each day to bringing you God's truth as it relates to money. And if it's beyond your tithe, you have the ability to give a gift to Money Wise Media, we would be incredibly grateful whether that's a monthly gift and you want to partner with us as a Money Wise patron or give a one time gift, however little or however much you would be able to bless the ministry with, we would be grateful. And so I just want to thank you in advance for those of you who are already partnering with us and those maybe for the first time you want to step up and give a gift, want to say thanks.
Yeah, thank you very much. Let's continue on up to Ohio. Curtis, we appreciate your patience buddy. What's on your mind? What do you have to share with us?
Well, this has been going on for almost a year now. I have a 31 year old daughter living in a house that we own and hasn't paid rent and want to object but wife is totally against it with a four month old baby and significant other living there and not knowing what to do, asking the Lord your wisdom. Yeah, well, you certainly need that James 1-5.
If you lack wisdom, let him ask. And certainly this is an area where you need great wisdom because clearly on one hand, you don't want to enable bad behavior and almost reward someone who's not following God's plan with regard to their finances and honoring their parents. On the other hand, we realize you want to provide for your family and we've got a little one in the equation here as you have not only your daughter but her baby.
And so I think this is very challenging. As you just assess her ability to care for herself and the baby, what is your assessment at this point of her situation? Well, six days after having the baby, she had a brain bleed and went to ICU. So she's lucky to be alive and she's a miracle that she's alive. But she hasn't been released to go back to work. And but this not paying rent was previous to having the baby. So.
Okay. Well, I think the first thing is, again, for you and your wife to make this a matter of prayer. Second thing is to make sure that you both are on the same page about the plan moving forward. And that's going to take open and intentional communication. So you are of one mind with regard to how you approach the situation, whether you decide to exercise tough love or whether this is a time to be lavish in your generosity towards your daughter.
I think, you know, one step I would certainly take is to sit down with her face to face and say, listen, we love you. We want to support you and we want to support you and your baby, your child, our granddaughter. And we need to come up with a plan here. And so part of our continued assistance in this situation is going to be predicated on several things happening. One, you learning God's way of handling money.
Two, you progressing in your demonstrating. You understand how to handle your finances, which includes you getting on a plan, showing that to us, beginning to manage your money wisely, including some rent in that plan and making good on that. And to the extent you're not willing to take these steps while we continue to provide assistance, there are going to be consequences and then lay out those consequences, whatever those might be. But again, I think you all have to have that plan going into it. A couple of additional thoughts. One is you could involve a third party if you feel like that would be more helpful. And so you could say part of this plan is you getting with a MoneyWise Live coach who is going to walk with you and over the next month is going to help you put a plan together that you're going to present back to us. And so it gets you out of the details of that. But it does have someone who's godly who can help put a plan in place, walk alongside her.
That would be one option. The second option is you give her a period of time where you say we're going to be willing to help for X number of months. And at that point, our support is going to stop unless we see the following things. And so I realize it's difficult, especially when there's a child involved. And so this is a time for you all to be prayerful. And as husband and wife communicating very clearly as you develop this plan, and we'll certainly ask the MoneyWise Live community to be praying for you in that.
Yeah, Curtis, thank you very much. I like your advice there, Rob, obviously, the baby does complicate things. The other question you have to ask yourself, husband and wife is, is it a situation where they won't pay or that they can't pay? And you're right, sitting down and trying to work out a budget, having a conversation with them. As parents, sometimes the dynamics make that difficult. So involving a third party, perhaps a budget coach would be a good thing there. And again, you can find out how to contact a budget coach when you visit our website, Curtis, which is MoneyWiseLive.org.
And there's no charge for that. And perhaps that would help the situation. We're glad you called and we'll pray that God works that out. Thanks very much.
Indianapolis, Indiana. Hey, Terry, what's on your mind today? Well, first, let me say I really appreciate your program and biblical wisdom that you share on a regular basis. Secondly, the reason I called, I've been a general contractor for over 30 years, done work for many wonderful people. However, it's been my life experience that some claiming to be Christians simply don't feel any responsibility to pay their bills. And case in point, one particular individual I did work for $5,000 worth of work. They never had the money, yet they were able to buy three new cars, take their family on great vacation and go out to dinner on a weekly basis. But they just never had the money to pay the bill. Totally happy with the work.
No complaints. I'm just curious how you feel that situation like that should be handled. Well, I think you've got two situations going on. One is where we give to someone and the other is where we're in business with someone. In the case of giving, we just have to be prayerful and decide as the steward of the money whether the Lord is leading us to do the giving. And then we've got to leave the rest to Him regardless of what they do with it or how they're living their lifestyle.
In a business situation, we have to know our customer. We've got to be prudent. We're stewards of the business in addition to the resources that God has entrusted to us. And part of that is making wise decisions. Now, we may decide to be gracious and give or not collect in certain situations because we want to bless someone.
But in other cases, we have to collect in the right way. And Terry, with that, we're going to have to say goodbye because we're up against the break. We appreciate your call and wish you the very best in that regard. Thanks.
We're going to pause briefly and then we'll be back. This is MoneyWise Live. If you have money in a retirement account or just a general investing account, you know the stock market can sometimes be like a rollercoaster. 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. 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. 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. That's Today in the Word, in print, podcast, or email.
Bring it todayintheword.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 right, 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. President-elect Joe Biden receiving his first dose of the coronavirus vaccine on live television is part of a growing effort to convince the American public the inoculations are safe. The President-elect took a dose of Pfizer vaccine at a hospital not far from his Delaware home just hours after his wife Jill Biden did the same. A new COVID-19 relief bill shaping up in Congress including individual payments reaching $600 for most Americans and an extra $300 a week in unemployment benefits.
Votes on the bill in the House and Senate expected today. Stocks ending mixed on Wall Street as a new potentially more infectious strain of the coronavirus as countries around the world restricting travel to the United Kingdom. The Dow gained 37 points. The Nasdaq was off 13 and the S&P dropped 14. This is SRN News. You're listening to MoneyWise Live. Find us on the web at MoneyWiseLive.org but today we're not live so if you hear that phone number please don't call but do stick around.
Lots of good information ahead. This indeed is MoneyWise Live with Rob West. I'm Steve Moore and we go to Rapid City, South Dakota. Hey, Alan. We appreciate your stick-to-it-ness and your patience, sir.
How can we help you? Well, I'm 61 years old and self-employed professional. We have grandkids in another town, Oklahoma City. That's a big magnet for us.
We've looked at buying a second home there and want to transition there. Eventually, I was wondering about the advisability of taking some money out of my 401k to try to pay a greater proportion of the principal down on that house, that second home, so that we could save interest. I wondered what you would think about that. Yeah. Alan, were you looking at taking a loan from the 401k or just a distribution? Well, I thought I could probably take a distribution without a penalty but I would have to pay the tax on that money, right? You would and what is your age?
61. Okay, yeah. So, you would not have a penalty but you would have to pay the tax on it.
So, tell me about that. How much were you looking to pull out? Well, we're looking at homes in the 400 range so we would pull out about a hundred thousand.
I have about a hundred thousand cash that I could put down. Okay, so you'd put down 50 percent loan to value. A hundred of it would come from the 401k, a hundred in other savings, is that right?
That's correct. Okay, and what is the total value of the 401k? The 401k is probably only worth about 200 and I have a second investment account that has about 200 in it. Okay, and is that the extent of your retirement savings about 400,000?
That is, yes. Okay, and as you look at retirement down the road, have you done some planning and some projections just to say based on what we know today and what we feel God has called us to and our lifestyle and expenses and how long we want to work and how we're going to serve him and be near family which I realize is part of the reason for the second home. Tell me how you feel like you're doing just in terms of the overall savings goal you have, what you've been able to put away to this point, what you intend to put away in the future. Do you feel like you're on track ahead or behind?
I feel like I'm behind some of my peers but I think that's okay. We've taken time out to do some missions work. I took two months out last year out of my job and was in Africa doing work and I'm happy about the fact that our business income actually we made $50 more this past year than we did the prior year and that's with me being gone for two months.
Yeah, great. Well, it sounds like you've prioritized serving the Lord and certainly it's not all about the amounts in our accounts and I wasn't saying that at all and I'm grateful to hear the work that you've done. I think the key though is that we recognize that saving is affirmed in the Bible and although we shouldn't adopt the cultural view of retirement in the sense that we accumulate as much as we can during our working years to retire to a life of leisure, nothing wrong with leisure but we realize that our calling is throughout our entire lives which you know full well as evidenced by your service to the Lord and so we save but we save primarily because we want to be able to focus our energy during that season on whatever God has for us and there may come a day will likely come a day for all of us where we can't work and so we want to have the ability to provide for our families ourselves and a spouse and the other dependents during that season. So I think the key here is if you can afford the debt service on this second property if you feel like clearly the Lord's leading you to take on this second property then I'd rather you keep the money there invested for the long term and not pay the tax now and not give up the growth the tax deferred growth that you can have over time. That's assuming that you can cover the debt service on this second property and continue to do the things you need to do with additional retirement savings and giving and things like that. If you can't I think you've got a decision to make on do we really feel like this is where we need to go with this second property and if so we just realize that by taking this money out not only are we going to have a big tax liability perhaps you could spread it over two tax years that may make some sense but also we're going to have less that's growing for us and working for the future and we're going to have all these additional expenses from this second property, property taxes and maintenance and upkeep and those kinds of things. So I think those are the decisions you need to make but my first choice would be if you feel like this is the direction you want to go let's try to leave the money there and let it work for you and see if you can fund this additional home out of current cash flow. Yeah that's probably doable I suppose I'm giving away the fact that I'm a bit of a bear with respect to the current market and so my 401k investments are tied to the market.
Sure well hopefully you've been rewarded over the last decade in your 401k and you know I think that the stock market has been over the last hundred years the very best place for us to be with greater than nine percent average annual return going back that long so time is on your side you're still young for all intents and purposes even though you should be getting more conservative now but I think the key is really praying through and thinking through that decision. Alan we hope that helps you thank you very much for calling in today keep us posted we'd love to know how God works that out for you thanks. Rob what do you say we try to do a couple of emails here all right? That sounds good. All right let's begin with a one from Skip he says, Dear Rob and Steve I have 125,000 in cash how can I invest it in a CD a bank or vanguard?
Yeah he's probably been listening to the program. Skip you can invest this in a CD very easily in fact over 25,000 going into a CD you're going to get the very best rates. I would start by going to bankrate.com bankrate.com and put in the amount of the CD the duration you're looking for you're looking for 18 months two years three years five years and then see which banks with FDIC insurance are offering the most attractive rates you'll find a number of them and shouldn't be any problem linking that new bank probably an online bank to your checking account you'll be able to just ACH transfer the money in initiate the CD set up your online account and you are off to the races. Now he has an interesting follow-up here he says won't depositing 125,000 in cash create Homeland Security questions? Well there are some new rules that came out several years ago actually a number of years ago now related to know your client where when you're making certain deposits they have to ask questions but it's not these questions aren't going to be voluminous and it won't create any problems you'll just have normal questions that any financial institution would ask when you're opening an account. Okay next email is from Kim she says we just sold our house and paid off all our debt when we tithe the profit from the sale does it all go to our church or can we quote spread it around?
Yeah Kim great question the key is here the profit from the sale when we're talking about a house make sure you're looking at the true profit after the expenses of course subtract out the initial purchase price and any improvements but then I would see this as your increase so I'd treat it just like any other income you get and tithe 10% to your local church. Okay sounds good to me hey you're listening to MoneyWise Live with Rob West today's broadcast is pre-recorded so we won't be taking any calls but we have some calls lined up and some great information coming your way that I think you'll find usable at the very very least this is Money Wise Live I'm Steve Moore we'll be right back. God cares a great deal more about our money than most of us imagine in fact Jesus says more about our use of money and possessions than about anything else including both heaven and hell in managing God's money author Randy Alcorn breaks it all down in a simple easy to follow format that makes it the perfect reference tool if you're interested in gaining a solid biblical understanding of money possessions and eternity managing God's money is available when you click the store button at moneywiselive.org. Siri I need some advice what's up I have questions about planning for retirement long-term care insurance I don't know where to start it sounds like you need the MoneyWise app it's a free app that will help you find those answers and more really sure thing you can ask your questions within the app and access helpful articles and MoneyWise podcasts. Sounds great Siri download the MoneyWise app. Okay searching for MoneyWise on the app store learn more at app.moneywise.org This is Barry McGuire I'm a car guy here to help you understand God's purpose for your life through the eyes of a layman the sights and sounds of Christmas are like a soothing salve on the open sores of America being torn apart with hatred and anger and violence the antithesis of the message of Christmas no one has clean hands that's why God sent his only son Jesus to manifest his love among us and to sacrifice his life for us so that we might receive his gift of eternal life regardless of what we've done simply by asking his forgiveness and recognizing him as almighty God the creator of everything that exists who's not desperate to have God's gift of love and peace in our hearts and in our world this Christmas season and for those of us who have that joy peace upon us every day of our lives our mission is to always share his love with everyone in every possible way 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 how do you reach people who call themselves Christian but don't know Jesus find out by reading the unsaved Christian dean and Sarah 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 moody publishers.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 hey thanks so much for joining us today i'm money wise live with rob west i'm steve moore uh today's broadcast pre-recorded i think we mentioned that earlier so don't try to call in but we do have some interesting calls all lined up and they might even be asking the same question you have so let's try tampa florida hello paul what's going on yes sir i am about to turn 62 and be eligible for social security and i know everybody always says that i should wait until i'm as old as i can be to get it but i'm wanting to cut back my work hours and possibly do more volunteering and other things of that nature my wife has an income and i was wondering what your thoughts are on that yes uh it's a great question paul and uh you know i think you need to see it as a resource that god has provided to accomplish his purposes so you know just the fact that you're going to take probably around a 25 haircut if you will on that monthly payout when you take it at 62 versus full retirement age i think that needs to be weighed in with your other goals and objectives what is god doing in your life and as you said you want to be able to volunteer and go do other things so you can essentially lock in this income stream yes at a reduced rate but you could start it now which would free you up to be able to go do the things that you feel like the lord is calling you to do i can't argue with that i think that's a good thing and so we don't always need to look only at the financial implications of something we've got to weigh the financial with the other piece of this which is i think what you're driving at so just recognize kind of the reality of it that you're giving up you know every year you don't wait until you're closer to full retirement age you're giving up that higher payout for life but if you've done the math on it you've got your budget set you feel like this will meet your needs now and into the future with the minimal cost of living adjustments and it'll give you the freedom to pursue what god has for you then i would say go for it tell me your thoughts though no no that's what i know that sounds great that's exactly what i've been thinking but like i said every time i look something up listen to you guys talk to anybody it's don't take social security until you have to but you know i've got a pension coming which i didn't think i was coming which is going to start also at 62 so i will have and like my wife works full-time for the federal government so we'll have her income and we'll have her insurance that's what i was thinking i just wanted to bounce it off somebody that knew what they were talking about more than me paul is there any is there any chance that you could move from 50 to 60 hours a week and cut that down to well at least 40 if if not a little less and then hang in there a little bit longer that way is it would your employer be open to that well i'm i'm a gig employee so i have to work take the work that's there and in those types of jobs it tends to tie up a lot of your time even when you're not working gotcha because you have to be available so when i'm looking you know i work six days a week sometimes so i can take sundays off and spend more time volunteering at the church rather than feeling the pressure to go out and work so i love it will you say go do it paul okay all right buddy god bless the gig economy boy i don't think we talked about that a couple of years ago all of a sudden we've got a whole new uh a whole new terminology when it comes to working interesting huh yeah we've got googles and gigs and all kinds of things going on that we didn't have years ago let's go over to alabama and mary what's on your mind today hi um i just recently um after doing some long hard research into a couple of insurance policies that we had with a major insurance company for many years um realized that some of the things y'all have been talked about been talking about today and wanted to get out of those policies um they were costing more and more and well i just needed to get out of them and so um i have recently um with withdrawn the cash balances in those policies and and immediately putting that money into new insurance policies with another major company now i know that i'm responsible we're responsible for the taxes on that for the federal taxes but i was wondering if that worked like a um anything uh like a 401k if we're immediately taking that money and putting it into another policy would we still be responsible for federal taxes and if so or if not what do i need to do to make sure everything happens the way it should yeah it's a great question and and if you are rolling this into another policy mary you do need to consider and i would talk to a tax professional about 1035 so section 1035 of the tax code allows you to roll over a cash value tax-free to either a new cash value policy or to an annuity and basically just carry over your tax basis and then that would just continue growing in that new policy so that would be what you'd want to do but again you'd want to get professional counsel on that so i would connect with a cpa if you don't have one you could find one there in alabama by going to our website moneywiselive.org just click find a cka and you're going to want to look for one in the tax accounting area if there's not one uh in the tax and accounting space you'll want to contact another certified kingdom advisor there in alabama and then ask for a referral to a godly cpa or accountant that can help you so you want to do this right but if you do i think you will accomplish the exact purpose you're describing here we appreciate your call today yeah thanks very much mary i think we have time for one more randall is in anderson indiana rump hey randall we're so glad you called today how could we help well thanks for taking my call i'm just wondering about term life insurance over 35 years ago we signed on to a term life policy that had about 50,000 on me and 25 on my wife and then there were other things on the children however they've grown up and left the home we still work for the same organization that are based here in indiana and the the term life that started out at around 17 a month has steadily grown to where it's knocking at a hundred dollars a month and that just seems kind of high priced when i'm about two years out from retirement and we do have a retirement with the organization they have insurance on us it's just a forty thousand dollar policy on my wife and i and i'm just i'm just wondering if if this thing has priced itself out to where i need to really just drop it yeah yeah no i think that's exactly right i mean we want to get to the place where we no longer have a need for insurance we can take that expense out of the family budget i think the question is just would there be a hardship if either one of you were to pass away during this interim between now and when you plan to retire but if not if the assets are there and that retirement could kick in then yeah essentially if you don't have any dependent children or anyone you know other than you and your spouse that are counting on each other and you've got provision for those assets that would replace any income then you no longer have a need for it and especially given that it's getting more and more expensive this would be a real opportunity for you just to drop that death benefit yeah that's uh that's helpful i you know being two years from retirement um then i would have access to the some of the retirement funds at least right now they're kind of locked away and um don't have a lot of extra you know uh savings set aside for in the event that something would happen uh so i don't know maybe hanging on to it for just a little bit longer until um i have access to those other funds but yeah that just i think that would give you some peace of mind i mean the other thing you could look at would be just to see if if the term has reached its end and it's now in the in you know the level term portion has run out and it's starting to increase you may be able to get a new like 10-year policy level term policy on your life and your wife's for less money for the same amount of money you may not but it'd be worth looking at but if not then i think just continuing this until the point where it is no longer necessary and can be dropped would make sure that you're protecting your family you and your wife in the event of either of your death and at the same time not spending unnecessarily you know rob there's such a thing as being a house poor meaning typically that your house payment is so large that you can't afford to pay your other bills or it's just you know it's it's it's tilting to the wrong side uh is is there a possibility that one could be insurance poor that you have so much life insurance on yourself or another family member that you really can't afford some other important things and it just doesn't make sense oh absolutely yeah and so i think we're always balancing offsetting a risk with what fits into our budget uh on a monthly basis and we've got to always be looking at those things making sure we have the right coverages and uh it's got to fit within the context of limited resources that we have in an overall budget that's accomplishing our goals and objectives over time so yeah you bring up a great point there steve you know thinking back a couple of years i don't remember the exact time and date but i can remember getting calls from listeners uh where the death benefit was in the millions of dollars and the question always was well why why does uh your spouse need millions of dollars if you if you pass away and and there were lots of different answers one was i want to be generous one was i want to help her one was well i don't have any anything else to leave this person but i'm not sure it's always the wisest best thing to do and i guess you just have to pray about it and get godly advice well i think that's right but you also want to make sure that you have the proper coverage so you know we will say as a rule of thumb have 10 to 12 times your income so think about somebody who's making eighty thousand dollars a year they're going to need a million dollars in coverage now that might sound like a lot and why do they need that much well the question is what does it need what do you need to have so that it could be invested in such a way that you convert that into the same income stream without depleting that money prematurely and it takes a lot of money unfortunately always great information rob thanks very much and with that we're going to have to bid you adieu for another day uh money wise live is a partnership between moody radio and money wise media visit us online if you haven't had a chance it's money wise live dot o-r-g thanks join us again next time you
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