The Economics of Herod

Herod the Great played the role of villain in the story of Jesus' birth 2,000 years ago. But what do we really know about him and the economics that shaped his reign of treachery?

The Gospel of Matthew holds many clues if we know how to interpret them. Today host Rob West sits down with economist Jerry Boyer for a fresh look at the Christmas story. Then we'll take your calls and questions from all across the country. However, today's edition of the program is not live.

We are prerecorded. I'm Steve Moore, the economics of Herod the Great. That's next on MoneyWise Live. Rob, our friend Jerry Boyer is the chief economist at Vidant Financial, so he's always up on the latest market news. But he's also spent a great deal of time studying the economics of long ago Israel. And he's the author of The Maker vs. The Takers, what Jesus really said about social justice and economics.

Well, so who better to talk about the financial makeup of Israel at the time of Christ's birth. And this should be a fascinating discussion. Jerry, welcome back. Always a pleasure to be with you, gentlemen.

Well, it's our privilege as well to have you here today, Jerry, especially on this topic. You know, this is one that is so fascinating to me, and I appreciate the deep dive into Scripture that you've done. Perhaps sometimes we may skim over parts of the Christmas story in Matthew 2 to get to the good part, Jesus' birth and a host of angels telling shepherds that their Savior is born. But every single word in the Bible is important and there for a reason. So let's start with this detail that Herod was troubled by the birth of Jesus. Yeah, this is definitely one of those areas that's overlooked a lot.

I overlooked it for decades. Yeah. Herod is troubled by the birth of Jesus. It says in Matthew 2, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of Herod the king, behold Magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? So this is like super familiar for us, right?

Right. So how many Christmas pageants, how many little kids, you know, who dressed up as sheep, whatever. For we saw his star in the east and have come to worship him. And when Herod heard it, he was troubled and all Jerusalem with him.

I was probably a Christian for 20 years before I noticed that odd little bit at the end. Yeah, it is odd, but what can we glean from that? Well, I mean, first of all, you can kind of get at some level why Herod would be troubled, because he's a king and Jesus is good, the Messiah is going to be a king. So you can't have two kings. So Herod, you know, he might be concerned about job security, but all Jerusalem with him and Herod was famously paranoid about other claimants to the throne. And he was a false king. He didn't actually have a true claim to the throne. Herod was, quote unquote, king of the Jews, but he actually wasn't Jewish.

He pretended to be. But all Jerusalem was troubled with him. That's really kind of confusing, especially if you go back to the prophecy in the Old Testament that this conversation is based on. Micah 2 is the prophecy that tells us that Bethlehem, Ephrathah, too little among the clans of Judah, from you one will go forth for me to be a ruler in Israel. So that's a passage that apparently they're familiar with because they're talking about it.

But what does that mean? The Messiah will arise and shepherd his flock. That's Israel on the strength of the Lord and the majesty of the name of the Lord, his God. And they will remain because at that time he will be great to the ends of the earth. And this one will be our peace.

So this sounds like good news to me. He's going to shepherd Israel. Israel will remain, not be destroyed, because they had been destroyed a couple of times before. He'll be great to the ends of the earth, and not just great in the known world like Solomon was, but to the very ends of the earth. And he'll bring peace.

What's not to like? Well, what's not to like is that he'll bring justice and Herod and Jerusalem was a city that ran on economic exploitation and injustice. The state and the power of the state was used to extract wealth from people, to take from them. That's why my book is The Maker versus The Takers, to take from them. And if the Messiah is coming, or if the Messiah has come, well, that might be good news for all Israel just about, and for the world, but it's bad news for the people who are tyrants. Well, economic exploitation involved here as we get this news of the coming Messiah. We'll continue to unpack that right around the corner. Fascinating. We will indeed, Jerry Boyer, our guest today, as we get very, very close to Christmas.

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Great to have you with us today on MoneyWise Live. Our guest is one of our favorite guests. He's economist Jerry Boyer. And whenever we get to this time of year, Christmas, Jerry always helps us see the Christmas story and God's Word from a slightly different perspective.

But it's a well-researched perspective, hence Jerry's latest book. So, what do you know about Herod the Great? And, well, we're finding out details today. Well, Jerry, just before the break, you read an excerpt of Matthew 2, verses 1 through 3, which ends, And when Herod the king heard it, he was troubled and, this was key, all Jerusalem with him. A fascinating few words and yet significant implications, as you shared just before the break, Jerry.

This was good news. The coming Messiah, at least good for the cause of Judaism, for Israel, and for the world. But perhaps for Jerusalem, a city sustained by economic exploitation, this may not have been the best news. Take us back into that and give a little more explanation as to what the implications are here. Well, the implications are, and this becomes foundational for the rest of the Gospel account in Matthew, and it's very foundational in Luke as well, that Jesus is in a lot of conflict with the city of Jerusalem. He's killed in Jerusalem. The decision to kill him is made in Jerusalem. It's made for the preservation of the Jerusalem ruling class.

In fact, that's exactly the justification that the high priest Caiaphas gives. We don't want to lose our place. Jesus is stirring up trouble, he says, and then the Romans are going to come in to put down the trouble, and we'll lose our place, or we'll lose our position.

We'll lose our economic status and our social and political status and our power base. So Jesus is upending things just by being the Messiah, and they sense that. Herod senses that. Herod was very good at spotting enemies or possible other claimants to the throne. He even had members of his own family murdered.

He had his son murdered. It's interesting, Caesar had a joke. He knew that Herod wasn't really Jewish but was pretending to be, so Herod never ate any pork. Caesar also knew that Herod had his own son killed, so Caesar said it's safer to be Herod's sow than his son with a kind of sardonic twist of wit.

And the pun works in Latin as well. So the fact that Herod was hypersensitized, not so surprising, but if all Jerusalem is troubled with him at the birth of the Messiah, then Jerusalem as a city is corrupt and apostate. Well, and as you said, it's built on economic exploitation, and that usually accompanies a scarcity philosophy, right? It does, and you see that scarcity philosophy with Herod, you know, again, slaying the children, which makes him—we're supposed to be reminded of Pharaoh at that point.

There are so many parallels with Pharaoh, and Exodus is actually quoted a little later in that passage. Well, that's the idea of scarcity. If you have something, it must be taken from me. That's the way Herod thought. See, when my sons and daughters achieve and rise, I feel really good about that. But if you feel like there's only a certain amount of money and food and status and wealth to go around, that's always driven ideologies in the 20th century which end up committing genocide. If you believe in the zero-sum-growth philosophy, that God is stingy and not generous, and that for you to have is for me not to have, then you end up with murder, frequently at a mass scale.

Yeah. All right, Jerry, let's move along in Matthew 2, a few verses later, specifically 14 and 15. Why is it significant about the angel telling Joseph to take his family to Egypt to escape Herod's wrath? Yeah, and this kind of completes the thought that I just made, which is, this is Herod is like Pharaoh. Now, remember, Israel was enslaved, they were economic slaves in Egypt, and then you have the Exodus story, and they go to Israel, that's their sanctuary, away from being slaves in Egypt. But it's really fascinating. Again, you want to read carefully. And he arose and took the child, that's Joseph, and his mother by night, and departed for Egypt, and was there until the death of Herod that was spoken by the Lord through the prophet and might be fulfilled, saying, out of Egypt did I call my son.

See, isn't this fascinating? The prophecy, out of Egypt did I call my son, is associated with Joseph and Jesus and Mary, the holy family, as some people say, with the holy family leaving Israel and going to Egypt. I mean, if you think about it, what would make more sense is they go to Egypt, then they come out, and then Matthew says, out of Egypt did I call my son. So why are we quoting the Exodus passage when they're going into Egypt?

There's a kind of, again, a twist here. Israel was like Egypt. This was an exodus from Israel. Egypt was now the place of sanctuary from the murderous Pharaoh. Herod was acting like Pharaoh.

It had become a slave state, and they were enslaved there. So again, sometimes when the New Testament quotes the Old Testament, it's with a certain twist where you say, oh, yeah, that doesn't seem right. And then you look at it more carefully, and you say, oh, now I see, that's brilliant. And often that involves a certain amount of wit or satire.

Yeah, boy, it sure does. Really, really fascinating. Jerry, we referenced your book. And by the way, folks, if you haven't picked up a copy of The Maker vs.

The Takers, I would encourage you to do that. It's a deep dive into the themes and the ideas that Jerry's exploring here, but in much greater detail. In the book, Jerry, you talk about Mary's sense of what was happening at this time.

Talk to us about that. Well, Mary, in her little song or poem, you know, it's often called the Magnificat, because the first word is magnify. My soul doth magnify the Lord or, you know, magnify to make great. In other words, in my soul, God is great. I see God is great in my soul.

It actually has a lot of economics in it. It talks about how the rich will be sent away empty, and the poor will be exalted, and those who are proud will be deposed. So Mary had a sense that something was going on here more than just, you know, we'll have Jesus in our heart, that this would also involve the rise and fall of nations. So what's interesting is, in some ways, Mary and Herod understood aspects of the nativity story in a better way than a lot of we modern Christians do, in that we see it only as a personal salvation story. And thank God it is a personal salvation story. I don't want to go to hell.

I'm glad that Jesus saves my soul and that I'll be with him forever and be saved from wrath. But it's also the story about the rise and fall of nations. And Mary and Herod both saw that. The difference is that Herod saw it and hated it. Mary saw that the Messiah would bring disruption and justice and loved that.

Herod saw it and hated it. But they agreed the Messiah was not just going to change hearts. He was going to change nations.

Jerry, we've got just about 30 seconds remaining. Sum this up for us. Why is it important to understand the economics of the Christmas story? It's important to understand that because we already know that God saves us personally, that we'll go to heaven to be with him, that we'll be resurrected in the end, that our sins will be forgiven. But we might not know that this God of our hearts and our souls is also the God of the rise and fall of nations. We as Christians right now are fretting in our hearts about economics and about politics.

And understanding the gospels this way, including the economics, helps us understand that God has that stuff covered too. I love it. Jerry, so thankful for you, my friend. Thank you for stopping by and Merry Christmas to you and your family.

Merry Christmas to you and yours. And again, the title of Jerry's book, The Maker Versus The Taker, is what Jesus really said about social justice and economics, and available wherever you buy good books. This is MoneyWise Live, and we'll be right back after this. 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. Do you know if you have enough? Enough money? Enough house?

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You'll find it all in Master Your Money by Ron Blue, available when you click the store button at moneywiselive.org. 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. Any of us that have had a taste for the world, we are in this world, but we are not of this world. And where we have very acute tastes or very worldly things, we have to be in check constantly over and over again, because the thing about it is, it's very hard to do some nice things with some moderation when we've got the money to do so. It's very intoxicating, and we want it all, and we want more, and there's more of a taste for it.

Am I just speaking to anybody? It's just ungodly hedonism. And you know that I believe in a theology that says my greatest joy, my greatest happiness is found in the Lord Jesus Christ.

So I'm not talking about a no kind of theology. I'm talking about the greater yes of the peace and joy and fruit bearing of the Spirit of Christ in us. And I'm talking about what this world presses on us and puts before us continually is wildly intoxicating. That's why there are times that we're so frustrated that we can't just talk somebody out of a trap that they're in. Have you ever thought to yourself, they're drunk on it.

It may not be a substance at all, and yet we snort it. What we're looking for to get a worldly high. That is all the concept of Babylon, and boy, does it work. You've been listening to A Quick Word with Beth Moore. The study of Galatians is now available as an online experience. Sign up today at BethMoore.org or join Beth in January 2021 for the release of the printed workbook edition. Again, that's BethMoore.org. Merry Christmas from Beth Moore and the team at Living Proof Ministries. We're back with you on MoneyWise Live, taking calls today on any financial topic, anything that's concerning you financially.

Well, it concerns us, and more than likely, God's Word, the Bible, has something to say about it. So let's take a peek, shall we? Chicago, Illinois, again. We appreciate you holding. Sir, how can we help you? Hi.

Hi. My question is, so I just started in the job market right now. I finished my school. I went to school. I got good grades. I finished medical school, but I didn't do it in the USA. So now I have to stay three years to get my license in America.

So I just came into America, started working. I have a $25 an hour job, and I'm trying to get a car and rent. And nobody wants to offer me rent because I have no credit history. And when I try to buy a car, everybody is giving me an APR of 30%. I don't know money.

I did everything correct. Why are you taking advantage of me? Yeah. Well, Lucian, first of all, congratulations on your hard work, and we're delighted you're here in the USA. Unfortunately, what you're experiencing is the way our credit system works. When we moved to a society where instead of a handshake and a personal relationship, we now rely on a scoring algorithm to determine how likely you are to repay as agreed. We found ourselves in this situation.

And it's all about a function of your repayment history and the time period over which you have been demonstrating that repayment history and whether that information is positive or negative. And so time or a lack thereof can be a real challenge as you're experiencing. I think the key for you is just to do what you can.

And really, there's two things you can do. Number one is save as much as you can so that as you go in, you have a strong position financially whenever you're trying to buy a car. A down payment, a larger down payment obviously speaks for itself.

Number two, your history will build itself over time. So every month it goes by that you've demonstrated employment, every month it goes by that you show more credit history, that's going to be really positive. I think, you know, you probably want to look to a secured credit card, which could be from your local bank.

I think Discover offers them. And for folks that have poor credit, which would be under a six hundred credit score, that's usually the way they need to go. You'd put a certain amount on deposit with your, let's say your bank, two or three hundred dollars. They'd give you a credit card attached to it.

You wouldn't be able to charge beyond it. But what you could do is put recurring budgeted expenses on that card. So if you have a certain amount you pay every month for a budgeted item, it goes on the card, you pay it off in full. Then every month that you pay that off, you are showing as an on time payer. And that is going to help your situation.

So I think there's not going to be a quick fix to this. But if you open that secured credit card and you just continue to do what you're doing, managing your money responsibly, staying employed and letting that time build up, you'll find that very soon, I suspect, you'll be able to get into that apartment and you'll be able to make that car purchase and just be careful not to let this credit as it builds allow you to get into debt. But is that helpful to you?

No, because I'm already doing all this. My question was, why are they giving me like 30 percent APR with no credit? So I didn't demonstrate if I'm good or bad, but they're giving me a person with like under 600 credit, better APR rates.

What makes you think that that's happening? Because when I check online on the calculator, the APR for bad credit score under 650 is around between 10 and 18. And they're giving me 30 percent when I go to the dealers and trying to get cards. OK, but keep in mind, those are two different types of credit. One is an installment loan and one is a revolving credit account. Number two, what you're seeing online may not actually materialize for somebody that actually goes through the process of trying to qualify. The rate that they come back with, despite what you see on these websites, may be considerably higher than what's quoted there. And so I think that's what you're seeing. It's the difference between the different types of credit revolving versus installment and what's actually offered to someone. If you have under a 600 credit score, you're going to have a really difficult time getting a credit card of any kind, let alone one with a decent rate. So I don't think perhaps you're seeing a situation where it's being, you know, there's different weights and measures here.

It's probably you're just getting bad information. But I think the bottom line is you just need to keep doing what you're doing. Try to save up as much as you can. And fairly soon you should be able to buy that car because you've got a healthy down payment. And each month it goes by, you're going to build some credit. But I'd get that secured credit card. I think that'll really help.

Lucian, don't get discouraged. And we'll pray that God opens some doors and windows for you, buddy. Thank you very much for calling. Linda is in Cleveland.

And Linda, we have just a short amount of time. What's what's your situation here? If someone is seeking a loan at a bank in which you already have money, your IRAs and such, what's the likelihood that they will negotiate the different fees that come with the loan, the closing fee, the notary fee, the title insurance, that kind of thing?

Yeah. Typically, you can't negotiate those. You will find that those are set fees. Now you can get the interest rate down by doing something called buying it down. And so there'd be a certain amount up front that you could pay to, quote unquote, buy down the rate. And if you have the ability to do that, you have the cash to do it, it can make sense for a lot of people, because remember, instead of just putting a little bit more down, assuming you already have a significant down payment, you're now paying a lower interest rate for the life of the loan.

And that can add up to a significant amount of money. But in terms of you going in and negotiating the stated fees for appraisals and closing costs and those types of things, typically, you're not going to find people readily willing to negotiate those. You may if you're going through a broker. But if you're going direct to the lender, probably not. I think what's your better option is shopping different lenders, not going with the first one. We did a show not too long ago, Linda, that talked about the fact that people often take the first loan they get without shopping it, because I think in most cases they're just tired of shopping for the house and selling and all the things that go with buying a home. They're just like, yeah, I'll take it as soon as they're prequalified.

And I think spending some time going to bankrate.com, looking at online lenders, going to your local bank and really shopping, not only the rate, but also the closing costs and fees would really serve you well. Linda, we're going to have to run, I'm afraid, but thanks for your call. We wish you the best. This is MoneyWise Live.

More right after this. 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.

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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.

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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.

With SRN News, I'm John Scott. President Trump has vetoed the annual defense policy bill following through on threats to veto a measure that had broad bipartisan support in Congress and potentially setting up the first override vote of his presidency. President Trump does not like the pandemic relief package. He's demanding changes like a huge jump in the $600 payments plan for most Americans. The president says the bill would deliver too much money to foreign countries, but not enough to Americans.

Billions of Americans traveling ahead of Christmas and New Year's, despite pleas from public health experts that they stay home to avoid fueling the raging pandemic that has killed more than 320,000 nationwide. The stocks finishing mix, the Dow gained 114 points, the NASDAQ lost 36, and the S&P was up two points. This is SRN News. Hey, thanks very much for tuning in today.

You're listening to MoneyWise Live with Rob West. I'm Steve Moore. And our next caller is Mary Lou from Birmingham, Alabama.

And thank you for your patience, Mary Lou. What's the question? I am 74 years old and retired. I have a pension and my Social Security. All of my money I have put in CDs. I have an IRA and then a few more small CDs.

And they're doing absolutely nothing. And I wonder what might be a better investment for me. Mary Lou, I appreciate that question very much. Between your pension and your Social Security, are your monthly expenses covered? Yes. Yes. Okay. So this is not money that you need to pull anything out of apart from a required minimum distribution? No, the only time I ever pull money out is when I'm traveling. And that's okay.

Very good. And how do you feel about taking risk with this? I mean, if if you were to open your statement one quarter and it was down 10 percent instead of 90,000, it was 81,000. Would that give you a lot of concern?

Would it cause you some sleepless nights? Probably. Yeah.

And that's understandable. And I think that's really the starting point is determine what is it's a term that's called risk tolerance. And it's a you know, it's what you have to think through, because even if we were to say, let's take and put 70 percent of this money in fixed income investments, that would be probably high grade corporate bonds and maybe some Treasury bonds, bills and notes, and then maybe take 10 or 20 or 30 percent, put it in some stocks. You could have a period where the portfolio declines in value. But the idea would be that over time.

And remember, if the Lord tarries and your health is good, you could still be needing to potentially access this money for medical expenses or travel 20 years from now. And so I think, you know, the idea is if we have some risk element to it, although very small, you have the potential to see a little bit more growth. But with the potential for growth comes the risk of it losing principle as well. And so I think that's the decision you've got to make first and foremost is do I want to be guaranteed that this is never going to lose value?

And if so, then you need to stay right where you are. Or if you're willing to add just a little bit more risk, I think I'd begin moving into some bonds and I'd use an investment professional to do it. And then perhaps the third level would be bonds plus some percentage allocation to stocks. But the idea would be if those stocks were ever down, you'd never sell them. You wouldn't pull anything out of them.

It'd be a paper loss. You'd wait for them to rebound or recover, which historically speaking they always do on a broad scale and move to higher ground. And then at that point, you might reposition the investments to sell out of the stocks or move into bonds, perhaps just hold them and let them do what they do. So I think that's what you need to begin to think and pray through. Regardless of what you do, Mary Lou, I would connect with an investment professional who can help you process this decision and then ultimately be the one if you decide to move out of CDs, ultimately be the one to make the decision on what types of investments go into the portfolio based on the agreements you and this professional have come to. Does that sound like that makes sense though?

Yes, it does. And I was in mutual bonds before I got scared and pulled everything out. Okay. Well, and I think that's the key is you need to really be honest with yourself about whether or not you're willing for this to lose any value because the last thing you'd want to do is go into the market, so to speak, bonds or stocks, and then something comes out of left field, you get nervous. And then what happens is we act emotionally and we sell at the wrong time because usually you're going to be selling after the market is at a major decline and then you're going to miss the recovery. Think about the folks that got out of the stock market in March of this year and they missed all of the recovery, ultimately moving recently to all time highs. And that's just the reaction that happens so often. And it's just not a prudent investment strategy.

So if that was going to be the case and you felt like that's probably going to be me, then I'd probably stay right where you are, even though you're giving up some on the upside. Where I'd go next, Mary Lou, is connect with a certified kingdom advisor there in Birmingham. I know we have some wonderful CKAs there probably in your neck of the woods. You just want to go to our website, MoneyWiseLive.org.

Click Find a CKA and you can put in your zip code. Mary Lou, God bless you. Thank you very, very much.

Cleveland, Ohio. Herman, what's on your mind today, sir? Good evening.

Thank you for taking my call. Sure. I've been retired since 2013 and my money is actually in the rough IRA, which locked in to CD couple of years or three years. The first one that I have right now has matured yesterday. It's automatically supposed to be locked into the same amount of year, but I have another bank institution that is giving more interest into this current one right now. Can I move, can I take out that rough IRA since it's matured yesterday and then transfer it into another bank institution that gives more CD and lock it in as rough IRA? Yes, you sure can, Herman.

Absolutely. So you can transfer a Roth at any point to another institution. Now, if the investments or the securities inside the Roth can't be transferred, such as a CD from one bank to another, then you would have to wait until they mature, which is what's just happened in your case, or you'd have to pull out of that CD prior to moving the Roth. But at that point, you could transfer the assets, in this case, cash from one Roth to another Roth at another institution. And you'd never take possession of the funds.

It would happen directly from your current custodian to your new custodian, a new bank. And then at that point, you could then make the decision to buy a new CD at a higher rate. So there shouldn't be any penalties because this CD has already matured.

The key will be that you make sure that you let them know that's your intention. So there's not any kind of automatic reinvestment or rollover into a new CD that would have you locked up for a new period of time. But if there's not, then you can absolutely move those funds over to another Roth IRA.

And there shouldn't be any cost other than probably a very nominal transfer fee. Rob, because no one knows the future and things seem to be a little squirrely these days for a lot of different reasons, how far out would you put your money in a CD these days? Yeah, I'd stay on the short end of CDs, Steve, just because the interest rates are so low. And so I would say probably no more than two years, probably one year would be even my preference at this point because again, we're at historically low interest rates.

So there's no reason for you to lock your money up at this low, low interest rate when in fact, we may see higher rates down the road, and you'd be able to take advantage of those whereas if your money's locked up, you wouldn't. Okay, good. Herman, we're glad that you called today. We wish you the best. Sounds like you're moving in the right direction.

God bless you. You're listening to MoneyWise Live with Rob West. If you haven't visited our website in a while, I'd urge you to consider doing that. There you'll find links to lots of free resources, things like budget templates, our radio archives are there, how to find a certified kingdom advisor in your area is there, also links to connecting with a budget coach.

That and more when you visit moneywiselive.org, moneywiselive.org. We're going to pause for a brief break. We'll be back.

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Get your copy of The Unsaved Christian at moodypublishers.com. Great to have you back for the final segment of today's program. Please remember that today's broadcast is prerecorded. Don't try to call in, but we have some folks all lined up in advance, so let's get right to them.

Alison in Strongsville, Ohio. What's in your mind? How can we help?

Oh, hi there, dear brothers. It's been floating in my mind about this is the first time I've been selfless this year, and I'm making well over $100,000 for at least with my small precious, and I need to build up a piece of my retirement. Although I qualify, I just turned 66 for retirement. And so I'm trying to do several things to, I don't know what the percentages are, what the recommended, but I do need to invest in some pieces of equipment for the office. We, and I understand I have a, I was told for a 401k and also I could start taking retirement and I, with the next of all of this, I'm not sure how to blend it. If one will negate the other, if I can still, you know, investment 401k while I'm working and still take and honor the social security.

Any recommendations that you might have? I really don't have a whole lot on retirement right now. I've got almost $100,000. Okay. You know, I think the key here is, first of all, you said, Allison, you're a small business owner, so you a sole proprietor or do you have employees? Yes, I'm a LLC sole proprietor. Okay.

All right. So you probably wouldn't open a 401k then. What you'd be want to look at is a couple of things. One would be in what's called an individual 401k, which is for this purpose for a solo owner there, it's also called a solo K in some cases. And that would allow you to put away money into a 401k plan, but where you don't have to have employees.

The other option is what's called a SEP, I R A S E P. And that's going to give you other options as well. You know, with a simple method to contribute toward your retirement. And if you had some employees, you could add to theirs as well, depending upon what type of plan you have. And it gives you the ability to put more away than you would be able to in like a traditional or a Roth IRA.

So it's going to give you a little bit more upside, which is important, making sure that you have enough going in each month to get to where you need for your savings goals. You know, that's what I would look at next, Allison, as you explore these options. Do you have a financial advisor that you work with? I, I'm looking for one. So I have my brother who does, but he's in, he's in Colorado. I'm in Ohio, and he's very busy.

And I was looking for someone locally, but I don't know. Do you have any recommendations? Well, yeah, we recommend the Certified Kingdom Advisor designation and there's probably some advisors that have earned CKA in your area.

So I would go to our website, MoneyWiseLive.org, click find a CKA, and then you could do a zip code search. I'd interview two or three, find the one that's a good fit for you. These are going to be investing professionals who've also met strict character and integrity requirements, plus have been trained to bring biblically wise financial advice. And so you're going to be aligned with your values. But I think the key is you'll want to look at kind of what your profitability is of the business. What are your personal financial needs? What is your ability to fund the retirement account? And what is your goal? What are you trying to put away between now and retirement? So you know what your objective is in terms of being able to have that much available when you get to that point.

These are all things that can be considered and then that account can be open and even managed for you so that you have the right investment mix given your age and risk tolerance. So I'd start there. If you have other questions along the way, don't hesitate to give us a call back.

But again, go to MoneyWiseLive.org and just click find a CKA. Allison, God bless you. Thank you so much.

Let's go out to Washington State and Leo. How can we help you, sir? Yes. Hello.

Thanks for taking my call. I would like your advice on tithing as it relates to receding Social Security since my employer and I funded it. Should I be tithing on half of what I'm getting? Hmm.

Yeah. You know, in terms of looking at Social Security, I mean, my view, Leo, is that, you know, we we give based on systematically in proportion to what we've received. And so, you know, when we apply the principle of the tithe a tenth on our increase, then we have to say, OK, what is that increase? And, you know, from my perspective, anything that's coming in that's for our provision, not an insurance payment that's used to kind of replace something that was damaged or lost, but anything else that's really our provision. And I would include Social Security in that, even though you could say a portion of what we're receiving, we paid into the system. But I'd still see that as part of God's provision for you. So I think the simple way to calculate your increase is just to say what has come in this week or this month that is my increase. And then you take a tenth of that if you want to apply the principle of the tithe and you'd make a gift.

And so I think that's kind of the simple way to do it. And, you know, some may disagree with that approach specifically related to Social Security, but I would just see it as part of God's overall provision to you. Does that make sense to you? Well, it does, except my portion I put in on my gross had been already taxed. And so, you know, I've already paid on it. Do you follow me? Yeah, go ahead. My portion of the Social Security that I'm getting back, I've already paid taxes on it and tithed on it because I tithed on my gross. Sure, sure. Yeah. And I think, you know, keep in mind, you're not what you receive in Social Security is not in direct proportion to what you paid in coming out in your Social Security tax. There's obviously a factor there in terms of what the growth element is.

So it would be very difficult to determine what's actually a return of what you've paid in versus what hasn't been. And I think, you know, at the end of the day, Leo, this is between you and the Lord. It's not a matter of checking a box or being legalistic about it. It's a matter of saying, God, I want to be faithful and systematic in my giving. I recognize your provision in my life. I give as an expression of my gratitude for all you've given me, beginning with salvation. Right. And then on down from there. And every dollar belongs to the Lord.

We're his manager. And so I think how you then respond in terms of your giving systematically to the local church and beyond that, to the needs around you being a conduit into God's activity, I think is ultimately between you and the Lord. I don't think anyone can tell you here's exactly what you need to give or what you need to give on. I think that's completely up to you. And if there's a portion that you say, you know what, I'm not going to quote unquote tithe on this amount because I believe I've already done that, but I'm going to give on whatever's left.

I think, again, that's your choice. And the other thing I would say is that tithing, I would really see as a beginning point, not an ending point. And so I think we need to be looking for ways that we can do even more because giving, I think, clearly reflects the heart of God. We're most like him when we're giving because he's the ultimate giver. Right. But how that plays out for us in terms of what is our lifestyle and how much giving are we doing both now and in the future is really something we need to take to the Lord in prayer. Interesting question, Leo. We're glad that you got through today.

Thank you very much for that. Columbus, Ohio. Vicki, you're our final caller for the day. And what's going on in your life?

Well, I just have a question. My husband and I have lived paycheck to paycheck, basically. We own a home and we have some nice equity in our home. And we are 60 years old and we're thinking about retirement age not being too far away. We're due to get an inheritance of about one hundred thousand dollars to. So we were thinking, would it be wiser to sell our home, take our inheritance and our equity and buy another smaller home that we have no mortgage on?

Or would it be wiser to invest the money, the the inheritance that we're getting and sell our home and buy a lesser home and have a mortgage? Yeah. Yeah. Well, so it sounds like, Vicki, if I understand correctly, in either case, you're planning on selling this home and buying something smaller. Is that right? Well, yes, we would like to do that.

OK. Yeah. So I think that's where you've got to start is saying, you know, in prayer as husband and wife, Lord, what are you calling us to? What lifestyle do you want us to live? Where are we living? What you want us to do in this next season of life? How do we serve you faithfully?

And what does that look like? And if it's a season where you say, you know what, there's no reason for us to have the home that we have, perhaps it's too much or too much upkeep or we just don't need this space. I think the idea of downsizing makes a lot of sense. And then the question is, do we want to be debt free or are we OK having a mortgage because we have the income to cover it? It's not excessive. It's not creating a challenge in our monthly expenses. And therefore, we have the opportunity to invest. For me, I like the idea of you living in this retirement season debt free.

So my preference and this is just personal. It's not that this is the right approach necessarily. My preference would be that when you downsize, you pay it off and then you take what you would have been paying toward the mortgage and perhaps you invest that for the future. But if you all don't have a conviction about being debt free and you all are comfortable carrying a mortgage and you have the income to do it and you'd rather put this money to work, I don't think anybody can fault you for that. It's not that that's a bad decision. I just know that after doing this for a long time, when people pay it off, the peace of mind that comes, we never get calls from people saying, man, I really regret paying off my house.

You know, we just don't get those calls. And so, again, I think that's something you and your husband need to pray through. But my preference would be you enter this season completely debt free with ultimate flexibility to be able to respond to wherever the Lord leads in this next season. Vicki, we wish you and your husband the very best as you pray about this.

I'm sure God will reveal himself to you as you are determined to follow his will in this matter. Thank you very, very much. And with that, Rob, we, sir, are, excuse me, out of time and I am out of breath. I get all emotional.

Sometimes your advice just moves me to the core and I get all emotional. I noticed that tear right in the corner of your eye. I was wondering what that was. I thought it was pollen.

That was pollen. That's what that was. Thanks for listening to Money Wise Live. We're a partnership between Moody Radio and Money Wise Media. God bless. Thanks for listening. Join us again next time.