Resolve to Pay Down Debt

Congratulations, you made it to 2021. Last year was tough for many people and we all could use a fresh start. So how about a New Year's resolution to pay down some debt? Think of it as a Christmas present to give yourself next December.

Paying off a credit card or maybe a car loan. Kingdom Advisors President Rob West has some great advice to get you started. Then it's your calls on anything money related. 800-525-7000.

800-525-7000. I'm Steve Moore. A New Year's resolution to get out of hock.

That's next on MoneyWise Live. So Rob, why do people make New Year's resolutions anyway? Why wait until the beginning of the New Year to start a good habit or maybe end a bad one? Well, if nothing else, it's a tradition, Steve. Actually going back centuries in many cultures.

Listen to what our team came up with. In the West, it could have roots in Watch Night services held at the end of the year by some Christian denominations. You see, these allow believers to reflect on the past year and perhaps resolve to do better in the one ahead. There's also data, Steve, to show that you're more likely to keep your resolutions if you make them in the New Year, right at the start as opposed to other times.

I suspect it's because choosing the first day of the year is like drawing a mental line in the sand, if you will, out with the old and with the new. People, of course, want to make a fresh start. That's right.

Okay. But do people actually keep their New Year's resolutions? Well, try Googling that and you'll probably find any percentage you like about how successful it is.

There are numbers all over the place, but here are some that seem reasonable to me. Three out of 10 people make resolutions each New Year, but by March, only 28% of them are still following them strictly. Long term, only about 10% of people keep their resolutions.

But you might increase your odds by being in that group, I guess, that 10%, by keeping your resolutions smart. Now, here's what that is. That's an acronym, S-M-A-R-T.

It's short for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timely. Oh, I can tell you've put some thought into this. I like it. All right, well, let's be smart about making and keeping a New Year's resolution to get out of debt. So how do we start that one? Well, I'd like to start with a word of encouragement.

For many people, the thought of getting out of debt is overwhelming, so they don't try, or they give up too easily. But don't think of it that way. Do you remember the old joke about how you eat an elephant?

Of course you do. Yeah, but eating is one of my resolutions, so I'd rather we just move on. Well, I'll remind you that one bite at a time is the way that goes. And getting out of debt works the same way. You see, one little bite at a time. We're just talking about consumer debt now, not your mortgage.

That's a subject for another day. So, if you can't envision being out of consumer debt by the end of the year, just think about making some amount of progress instead. The first thing you need to do is write down all of your debts and their amounts. Gather up all of your credit card statements, auto loans, outstanding bills, and then total it all up. Well, that could be a little depressing for some people. It certainly could, but it has to be done.

You have to know how big that elephant is, if you will. Now, after you've got your debt totaled up, make a plan to pay it off. Start by figuring out where you can trim spending from your budget to create what we call margin.

That's money left over after all necessary spending. If you're not on a budget, you'll need to draw one up, and we can help you do that at MoneyWise.org. You can download our brand new MoneyWise app based on the envelope system, all digital, of course.

You can access that in your app store or go to app.MoneyWise.org. Now you know how much money you have to attack your debt each month while still paying the minimum due on each debt. Take that surplus money, that margin, and put it toward the smallest debt each month. When that's paid off, take all the surplus money and start paying off the next smallest debt and so on. This is the snowball strategy.

It starts out slow, but it picks up speed, and as each debt is paid off, you have more and more money to apply to the remaining debt, so therefore it snowballs. And by the way, those emotional wins, every time you pay one off, keep you going. Alrighty. So that's it, pretty much?

Not quite. If you want this to be successful, you have to resolve not to take on any new debt, otherwise it'll just wipe out your progress. So don't choose your credit cards, or if you have to use them, cut them up. And one last thing, Steve.

Remember that smart acronym I said? Specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely? Well, choose an amount that you can reasonably expect to pay off in the next 12 months.

It may not be all your consumer debt, but at least pick a number that's realistic. Alright, he's Rob West, I'm Steve Moore, taking your calls right now, 800-525-7000. Give us a call, and we'll be right back. 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.

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A bunch of open lines right now, 800-525-7000. Bob, I heard through the Grapevine, the broadcast Grapevine, that a couple of people heard some of our reprise broadcasts we dug into the archives over the last week or so, so that we could take some time off, you know, return many of our gifts, take down the tree. And people wondered if we were still here doing the same thing on a daily basis. And indeed, we are here live, correct? We are here live, yes, in this brand new year, although it was nice to have a bit of a break, Steve, and enjoy some time with family and just slowing down a bit.

But always nice to get back in the studio and sit across the table from you and talk to our wonderful listeners. And if you would go out of your way, because I hate to broach the subject, it's kind of cheeky, but if you'd ask me my sizes every year, and I've mentioned this before, then I wouldn't have to return everything that you send me. Ah, okay.

Yeah, well just go ahead and text me those and then I'll save them for next year. Okay, thank you for taking this question. It's just a hypothetical question. I've heard of someone who had, was going to need nursing care, 24 hour nursing care, and they were going to have to apply for Medicaid. And then when they did that, they found that the Medicaid, they would go back five years to look at their donations and gifts to children and things like that, and that that would have to be paid back before, you know, they would even look at this Medicaid application.

Yes. So, and I understand that people, you know, try to hide money and get rid of money, but I just now in this COVID time want to donate more than I have been, be more generous, and because the need is so great, but I don't want to get caught in this situation. Do you have any ideas on that? You know, I think the key here is, you're right, in that there's what's called a look-back period when you apply for Medicaid. It is 60 months in all states except California where it's half that, 30 months. When you apply for long-term care under Medicaid, whether that's for services in your home or a nursing home, there's an asset limit to be eligible determined by the states. So Medicaid's look-back period has really meant, Marjorie, to prevent applicants from giving away assets or selling them in such a way that it would be to get under that asset limit, if you will. So in some cases, people will give things away or they may sell assets at less than fair market value. And if you are found to violate that rule, then you have a period of ineligibility that's established because those assets could have been used to pay for your long-term care as opposed to the government services. So you just need to find out based on where you're at, what those asset levels are and whether there's any need to be concerned about that. But that look-back period is something that's very real and it's intended for folks not to give away assets that they could have otherwise used to provide for their own care and cover expenses in that way. So I would check into that just a bit more so you're up to speed on what the rules are there in Nebraska.

But it sounds like you were given appropriate information there. Well, is there any way to have your, you know, when you don't know the future, to have your donations be able to donate freely? And if those assets are given away that could have otherwise been used to cover your care, you know, that would create potentially some ineligibility here. And so I think you just need to get the specific rules and regs understood for your state so you know what those thresholds are and then you would be able to give knowing what the implications might be based on that look-back period.

We appreciate your call today. I'd reach out to a Certified Kingdom Advisor there in your area. You can do that on our website, MoneyWiseLive.org.

Perhaps ask for a referral to a Godly estate planning attorney, somebody who could really fill you in on the details. Rob, I would think that if someone was actually trying to hide money or give money away that they could then ask for, ask back four or five or six years down the road, that you wouldn't do it by giving money to ministries as opposed to family members. Right. But again, you know, if those assets could have been used to pay the bills that Medicaid is then stepping in to pay, that's really the intention here.

It's giving money away that could have been used to pay for these services. All right. All right.

Well said and understood. Thanks very much. And thank you again, Marjorie.

800-525-7000, West Palm Beach, Florida. Julie, what's your question today for Rob? Oh, Judy, I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Judy. I mispronounced your name.

I apologize. Yes. I thought I heard the other day, do we not have to claim inheritance money for our taxes? And what about the stimulus check or have a deferred annuity? Are they all you don't have to claim on taxes?

Yeah. Let me try to break that down just with some generalities here, Judy. And then if you need specific information based on your situation, I'd reach out to a professional tax preparer. Let's start with the inheritance. The estate, not the heir, pays federal tax on inheritance. Now, there are six states that impose an inheritance on beneficiaries.

None of those are the state of Florida where you're calling from. So you would in the state of Florida not be expected to pay any kind of inheritance tax. Again, it would only apply to the estate prior to you receiving the money as the beneficiary. Stimulus checks are not taxable by law, so the money does not have to be paid back.

That doesn't apply to what's known as the PPP, the Payroll Protection Program loans. But just those stimulus checks that were sent out to individual taxpayers, that is not taxable. And then annuities are tax deferred. So taxes are not due until you receive income payments from your annuity. Withdrawals and lump sum distributions from an annuity are taxed as ordinary income. They don't receive the benefit of being taxed as capital gains.

So typically as you pull the money out on a tax deferred annuity, then you would pay on that just like ordinary income federal and state taxes. So again, based on your specific situation, I would reach out to a CPA, accountant, a professional tax preparer. You can find a Certified Kingdom Advisor in the tax area by going to our website, MoneyWiseLive.org. Just put in your zip code when you click find a CKA. But Judy, I hope that's helpful to you.

Thank you, Judy. And not only can you find a Certified Kingdom Advisor when you visit our website, it's also a way that you can connect with a coach. Scroll about halfway down the page there if you're looking for someone to help you with some basic things like budgeting, giving, saving, getting out of debt. And you'd like to actually speak with someone face to face online or using a phone anywhere in the United States. We have people all trained who love doing what they're doing, which is helping you. And that's easily accessible for you.

Again, when you visit MoneyWiseLive.org, just click connect with a coach and that'll give you all the information you need. And we wish you the very best with that. And we wish that you'd hang around. We have open lines and we have lots of time to take your calls and questions about anything money related today. It's MoneyWise Live with Rob West. I'm Steve Moore.

Eight hundred, six, eight hundred, five, two, five, seven thousand. 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 three hundred thousand individuals in the last twenty seven years get out of credit card debt 80 percent faster while honoring that debt in full. To learn how Christian credit counselors can help you visit Christian credit counselors dot org.

That's Christian credit counselors dot org or call eight hundred five five seven one nine eight five. You probably have a strategy for your finances, your career, even your retirement. But do you have a strategy for your giving at the National Christian Foundation? We can help you create a giving strategy to inspire your family, maximize your resources and leave a lasting legacy of faith.

To learn how visit money wise dot org slash NCF. And powerful and sharper than any two edged sword. Here's Beth Moore with a quick word. Psalm 33. It says in verse six, Psalm 33, by the word of the Lord were the heavens made their starry host by the breath of his mouth, by the word of the Lord were the heavens made. In other words, he spoke them in to being. And he says the starry host. Now we're talking about the stars, the heavenly bodies throughout the universe, the starry host by the breath of his mouth.

I love that thought. Do you think he just said B and there were? And that very well could be because that's exactly what is indicated in Genesis one and Genesis two in creation, that when he cast them into the sky, when he cast them into the into their positions in the universe, he spoke them into existence and they were there. But one of the interesting things about the word of God is that we're told that he also knows them by name.

He would know when one of them was missing. And so it's the most marvelous thought to me. And I don't believe that he at that moment said every single one of those names. But I'm going to tell you something he could have as he called them into being. And by his very breath, the starry host came into being that as he spoke and his voice spoke, his breath breathed and there became life. Now, I say all this to you to make this point where God is concerned.

There's no difference between animate and inanimate objects. You've been listening to a quick word with Beth Moore. Beth is excited to announce now that faith has come, a study of Galatians is available as an online experience or as a printed workbook edition.

Grab your copy today at Beth Moore.org. Glad you could join us for a quick word with Beth Moore. Really nice to have you with us today. It's MoneyWise Live with Rob West.

It's a brand new year and perhaps you're driving, having returned from putting your tree in the chipper, whatever. Good to have you with us today and maybe we can help you with something financial. If so, give us a call.

800-525-7000, Austin, Texas. Hello, Paul. What's on your mind? Hello.

Thank you for taking my call. Yes, I have a piece of real estate that I bought some 20 years ago. I have very, very, very little money and it looks like the sale price is going to be around three quarters of a million dollars. I'm trying to see if there's any way to lessen my tax burden and once I pay the taxes on it, what I can do, best way to invest it.

I have lost probably over my lifetime $50,000 in the stock market and I don't care to do that again. I just wonder if there's a safe place to park it that we could get some monthly income off of and it'd be safe and again about the tax burden. Yeah, let's deal with both of those, Paul, and I realize Austin, Texas, the real estate there has just gone through the roof. So you have a very, very low basis and it sounds like a whole lot of gain and this was not a property you occupied as your primary residence, correct? Correct.

Okay. Yeah, so obviously there is going to be some capital gains burden on that. For most folks, that rate is 15%.

If your taxable income is between $78,000 and a little less than a half a million dollars, it would go up from there if it's beyond that. So you would be subject to that long-term capital gains rate. In terms of what you can do about it, the most common approach there if you plan to roll the proceeds into another investment property would be a 1031 exchange. Are you looking, though, to get out of the real estate asset class, though, as you reinvest this? I think my wife and I both, like I say, I have quite a few other pieces of real estate and I need to start selling them off and I think we're both at the age we want to retire. So I was just thinking about, I didn't know about a family trust, if that was some kind of a trust and option, but you can still draw money out of it.

I didn't know how it worked. Well, I think it really just depends on your intention. So if you plan to keep access to the funds and then just redeploy them in a more conservative, more stable investment that doesn't require the overhead and the maintenance, if you will, of a rental property, something that's what we call passive income. Looking at a very high quality stock and bond portfolio would typically be the default there, Paul. I realize you said you've not had a great experience.

Perhaps having a professional help you with that, perhaps this time around taking a little different approach because you're in a different season of life. You're not looking for capital appreciation. You're looking for capital preservation and income, which would result in an entirely different portfolio, typically one that really is more heavily focused on fixed income type investments that are very passive. But we're talking about high quality corporate and government bonds. We could look at some preferred stocks. These are stocks that are income producing, very high quality and dividend paying stocks, those types of things. CDs are not very helpful these days with the interest rates being so low because we're locking our money up and you're earning very little in the way of a return.

So you'd be better off waiting for interest rates to rise in a high yield savings account where you can earn at least a half a point right now, even though that's not a whole lot to write home about. You're there in Texas. A lot of folks in Texas look at oil and gas royalties for a portion of their investments. It's what a lot of Texans call mailbox money because when you invest in the oil and gas royalties, you're not waiting for them to find oil. You're talking about oil and gas royalties that are already in the ground where you're taking a percentage ownership and then based on the price of the underlying commodity, then you are earning a royalty check every month and you just walk out to the mailbox and collect the check.

But it does fluctuate with the price of oil or natural gas or whatever happens to be in the ground. So I think the other option here is if you have any charitable intent with this, prior to selling the piece of property, there could be some things done to create funds that you could give away, but on a tax-advantaged basis where you would get the full value of the real estate before any taxes are paid in the form of a contribution to something like a donor-advised fund. Then you could give the money away to charities or your church, perhaps places you had already planned to give to that would reduce the overall tax burden.

So it would be a way to get more money into the kingdom and you have less money going out in the form of taxes. That would be an option. But at the end of the day, if you're looking just to turn this into an income stream, I think looking at finding the right investment professional to walk alongside you and build the right type of passive investment portfolio, again of a small percentage of stocks, a much larger percentage of fixed income type instruments would be the way to go. The last thing I would mention, which I would be very careful about just because they can be very costly and I don't want you to get into something that's complicated and expensive, but an insurance product could be another way to alleviate some of the tax burden and get a guaranteed rate of return through an annuity. But they're not all created equal and so you'd have to have a competent professional who's not looking to sell you something to earn a large commission, but somebody who could really help you navigate the right tool for you in terms of the right annuity contract. So here's what I'm going to recommend, Paul. We have some wonderful Certified Kingdom Advisors there in Austin. These are men and women who are competent professionals who understand the Council of Scripture and can really give you godly financial advice, both on the charitable side as well as the investment side and looking at the various opportunities you have prior to the sale to minimize taxes, maximize any giving and then create a sustainable income portfolio for you.

Moving forward into the future. The way you'd find one of those professionals is just go into our website, MoneyWiseLive.org. Click find a CKA and I hope some of the things I've shared today will be helpful to you. Paul, I'll tell you what, if you'll stay on the line for us for just a moment, we'd like to share something with you and we appreciate your phone call today. Wish you the best as you make these decisions down the road. Thanks so much. This is MoneyWise Live with Rob West and we're taking your calls today, but you'll have to make the first move.

Give us a call, 800-525-7000. That's the approach offered by Sound Mind Investing. SMI has helped tens of thousands of Christians acquire investing wisdom and confidence. Regardless of your investment strategy, SMI has helped thousands of Christians acquire investing wisdom and confidence. Regardless of your investing experience or how much you have to invest, you can learn to be a wise and faithful steward in the area of investing.

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It's not a pep talk or a try harder speech. Parents Rising offers real help for real problems that every parent faces. Parents Rising, check it out at moodypublishers.com. Americans seem wealthier but not happier. Loneliness and depression are on the rise and wealth is doing nothing to make us feel whole. In their newest book, Becoming Whole, authors Brian Fickert and Kelly M. Capik argue that we've Christianized the American dream and it's tearing us apart. This captivating book, Becoming Whole, demonstrates what it means to be whole, revealing how we project our own brokenness onto the people we're trying to help.

Get your copy of Becoming Whole at moodypublishers.com. Many people are experiencing financial challenges such as credit card debt, downsizing, debt in 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 MoneyWise Live. With SRN News, I'm John Scott. Vice President Pence was in Milner, Georgia today campaigning for Republican Senators David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, a day ahead of Tuesday's special runoff elections in Georgia. Speaking at an afternoon rally, Mr. Pence expressed confidence that residents would send the incumbents back to Washington, D.C. President Trump will hold a rally for the two senators tonight in Dalton, Georgia.

A British judge has rejected a request by the United States to extradite WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to face espionage charges saying it would be oppressive because of his mental health. And the Commerce Department reports spending on U.S. construction projects increased nine-tenths percent in November. Stocks closing lower today, the Dow dropped 382 points, the NASDAQ off 189, and the S&P fell 55. This is SRN News. You're listening to MoneyWise, I'm Steve Moore, that guy over there with all the answers, he's Rob West.

Rob, with the last caller, you mentioned something that confused me a bit. You mentioned mailbox money. Now, are you saying that – How did I know?

How did I know we were going to be coming back to this? Are you saying mailbox money is not investing in the manufacture and distribution of mailboxes? No, it's not. Really? It's really the activity of walking from your den out to the mailbox, collecting the check and walking back in. That's how you get mailbox money. Well, if we could move this along because I need to call my broker.

Not to confuse the issue, but okay. Pilger, Nebraska. Hi, Tim, what's on your mind today, sir? My wife and I are getting ready to build a new house. We live on a farm here in Nebraska, and we're looking at getting a mortgage on it, and the mortgage rates are really low right now.

So our question is, with the economy and the uncertainty and what's going on around the world, should a guy take some of his retirement account to help fund part of the house or something like that? Yeah, Tim, I appreciate this question. What do you farm, if you don't mind me asking?

Well, we've got cattle, we've got hogs, we've got a cow-calf operation, we've got corn and soybeans and alfalfa. I love it. Wow, you're a busy guy. That's great. I'm actually sitting in the tractor right now watching the hay grinder grind hay. Man, I'll just tell you, you know, I don't know about you, Steve, but some days I wouldn't mind just being right where Tim is right now, just sitting on a tractor, and that just sounds fabulous.

Gazing off into the sunset, wondering about the purchase of a new hay grinder. Right. I like it. Although, go ahead, Tim.

I'll buy the plane tickets and trade places with you today. I suspect it's a lot of work. I get that. Well, here, let me ask you a couple of questions related to this, because I appreciate kind of where you're going with this. Do you all have a mortgage on the current property you're in, the current home? No, we've got our farm paid off. Okay, and so you're looking to stay right there on the farm, but just build a new residence.

Right, and that's part of the deal. We're not spring chickens anymore. We're getting up there in our 60s, so we're thinking this is a little bit stretching us a little bit.

I don't know how long we'll be here, but anyhow. Sure, and what would you expect to spend on the construction of this new home? Well, we're trying to keep it down there, but the way it looks, it's going to be right around $400,000. Yeah, well, it adds up quick. I know that, and construction prices have been going up significantly. What do you have that you could put down on this without tapping any retirement funds that are in retirement accounts?

Well, that's a good question. We've just kind of run our farm off of an operating loan, and so we just kind of take in and out of it as we need. We do have a little bit in savings off to the side besides our retirement account, but not very much. Most of it we move into retirement accounts. Yeah, well, and if you were to look at perhaps delaying this a bit with the goal of trying to get to 20%, $80,000, how long do you think that would take you if you were really diligent?

Oh, probably six months. Okay, and then do you think you could cash flow without any trouble a mortgage at a low interest rate at $320,000? I think we could, yeah. Yeah, you know, I think that would be my preference. I mean, rather than you tapping retirement funds, I mean, obviously you could do that, or you all are over 59 and a half, is that right?

I am. My wife's a little bit younger, so yeah. Okay, so any funds you pulled out of your retirement accounts that were in your accounts you wouldn't have any penalties on, but it's still expensive money because it's all taxable. Now, you could spread that out over a couple of tax years, but that would extend this a bit, but I wouldn't want you to push that up into a higher bracket because you're taking it out all at once. The good news is the money is still there, and so it could continue to grow. Make sure you are investing in it in a way that's appropriate for your age and risk tolerance. I get that you're saying we don't know what the future holds, and we certainly don't. Most economists, godly economists that I trust, I was talking to one earlier today who's managing literally tens of billions of dollars on Wall Street, and he's expecting a pretty good year this year, all things considered. Does that mean it'll always be that way?

No, not necessarily. The economy certainly ebbs and flows. We never would have thought we would come through what we came through last year with the market doing what it did, but there could be an extended time of two or three years even where we were in a bear market because we hit a real recession. That typically happens every 10 years or so.

We're a little bit beyond that now, and so we're essentially due for a correction. But again, as long as you have a long time horizon, and what I mean by that is even once you reach retirement, Tim, if the Lord tarries and your health is good, this money needs to last you for 20 years or more. So as long as you have the right allocation to stocks, even a temporary recession down market, as long as you're not having to pull that money out for cash flow, you could let that ride.

It's just an unrealized loss, and then at least historically speaking, it will move to higher ground. So again, if you can cash flow it, if you're patient to save up the money, put a good down payment on it of around $80,000 to $100,000, and then you could lock in a low interest rate on a construction to permanent loan for this new home. As long as you all feel good about that and you run the numbers, I think that's the way I would go.

If you wanted to, you could always pay it off with retirement funds down the road, but I would do that ever so slightly as opposed to doing it all at once up front. Tim, thank you very much for calling today. We wish you and your wife and your family the very best out there, doing great work for the rest of the country, and we know it's tough work as well. So God bless you, Tim. Thanks.

Crown Point, Indiana. Hello, Mike. We have just a couple of minutes here.

What's on your heart today? Hey, guys, so I have multiple investment types. One is a landscape company. I have apartment buildings. I've got money in the stock market. Well, Mike, we lost you there first. I heard you say you've got the real estate, you've got the investment account. We lost you there for a second. Let's try this to give me the tail end of what those investments are. Sure. So landscape company, stock market, cryptocurrency and apartment buildings. I only formally only formally take a paycheck from my landscape company and therefore I only tithe off of that income.

I don't technically pocket the return to the profits from the other assets. I just want to hear your guys' thoughts on that. If I should be, what is the best, the wisest, most God-honoring way to approach that? Yeah.

Yeah. Well, I appreciate that, Mike. And I think the spirit of this is to really be able to give back to the Lord systematically and proportionately on the increase. The question is, what is your increase? And I would add to that, in most cases, we're talking about a realized increase as opposed to an unrealized increase. So once you realize an increase, meaning you've liquidated an asset, you sold a stock, you sold an apartment building, you know, whatever that might be. You've sold some cryptocurrency and you've taken profits. Now you've got a realized increase.

And it's very easy to say, OK, I want to give systematically and proportionately to the Lord's work on this. If it's not realized and it's unrealized, you know, that gets a little more tricky because in the case of the apartment building, obviously, you'd want to not be tithing on money unless the Lord asks you to give beyond the tithe. But for the tithe's sake, you're not giving on money that is going to be used for marketing and operating expenses and maintenance, those kinds of things. So you'd have to wait and realize what is your true profit. And you may want to do that on a six month basis or a 12 month basis. So I think those are the things you need to be looking at as you think and pray about where the Lord is leading. We've got to hit a break here.

Let's talk a little bit more off the air about this. This is MoneyWise Live, and we'll be right back with more thoughts. The financial wealth you leave behind could be the best thing that ever happened to your loved ones or the worst in splitting heirs, giving your money and things to your children without ruining their lives. Ron Blue explains why it's important to make these decisions now instead of forcing your heirs to do it later.

Splitting heirs will foster a real appreciation for the precious resources that God has entrusted to you. And it's available when you click the store button at MoneyWiseLive.org. Do you know if you have enough? Enough money? Enough house?

Do you know how much is enough? If not, Ron Blue can help with his book Master Your Money, a step by step plan for experiencing financial contentment. Learn how to save, invest and give wisely, how to create a long term financial plan and how to get out of debt.

You'll find it all in Master Your Money by Ron Blue, available when you click the store button at MoneyWiseLive.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. You know, it's so easy to live just beyond his perfect will for our lives, having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof. Wondering where God is in the midst of all the problems we brought on ourselves. In spite of all the things that can change our lives forever at any moment without our consent, most of us want to believe we're in control of our lives and we don't want to give up the facade of that control to anyone, not even God. The polar opposite of this is allowing God to turn everything that's happening to you right now into good, which is his purpose to those who love him and live their lives for his purpose and not their own. Enjoying a life that is exceedingly abundantly above anything you could ever ask for or imagine. 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. Hospitality. Dustin Willis and Brandon Clemens say it's the simplest way to change the world. Gospel-centered hospitality makes a powerful witnessing statement as we open our lives and homes to others. The simplest way to change the world will show you how you can be hospitable even if you don't have the space for it. Most people are more likely to step into a living room than a sanctuary, so why not read The Simplest Way to Change the World?

More at moodypublishers.com. Do you feel stuck? Are you tired of going through the motions of faith? Do you want to make real progress in your life but not know where to start? How to Grow is a book to help you grow spiritually and help others grow as well.

We often see the gospel as the starting point of the Christian life rather than the main point of all life. How to Grow, a new book by Daryl Dash, available at moodypublishers.org. That's moodypublishers.org. Hey, we hope you're having a great 2021 so far. We're taking your phone calls today with Rob West. I'm Steve Moore. Another Steve from Idaho is on hold.

He's 62, wondering about the best way to get debt-free. But before we say hi to Steve, first it's Sarah in Crystal Lake, Illinois. Sarah, thanks for holding and for calling today.

How can we help? Hi. I and two other family members have received notices from the Illinois Department of Employment Security saying that we filed for unemployment. And none of us have.

None of us ever have. I was denied benefits. They knew my employer. They must have known my social security number. My husband received a debit card. My father, who is 89, received a debit card. He hasn't worked in many, many years.

And it was a it was a made up company that he apparently, you know, was filing from. So I'm wondering, you know, they tell you call the IDES. All you can do is leave a message. And if they call you back, they say nothing except keep an eye on your credit report. Who do I call? Who do I trust?

What do I have to worry about? Yeah. Yeah.

Well, a couple of things. Number one is this type of fraud. And that's exactly what it is.

It has gone through the roof because of the pandemic. It is just another form, Sarah, of identity theft. And many states are experiencing this fraudulent activity. It's definitely true in Illinois, where the Department of Employment Security that you just referenced issued actually a warning about this specific situation.

And typically it appears in the form of what you've described. You receive a debit card or an unemployment insurance letter and you haven't filed for benefits. But obviously it says that you have. You're notified by your employer that a claim for benefits has been filed when you haven't separated from employment. That would obviously be another clue. You attempt to file a claim online.

One already exists. Or you receive correspondence from the IRS regarding unreported unemployment insurance benefits. All of those would be indicators that this is going on in your situation. So what do you do? Well, you do exactly what you just described. Unfortunately, there are in many cases overwhelmed with these. But you have to report the fraudulent claim to your state unemployment office. In your case, it's the IDES.

What else? Well, don't obviously activate that debit card if one was mailed to you. In your case, it was. You don't want to contact the bank that issued the debit card. You do want to request your free credit report and monitor it. You could go to annualcreditreport.com to do that. Look for other fraudulent activities.

You also might try writing a letter to the state office with copies of any documents you've received just to go on record with them. But I think it sounds like, Sarah, you've identified it for what it is. You've made the appropriate call.

You've left the message. As long as you don't activate that debit card, don't contact the bank and monitor your credit report. Unfortunately, that's about all you can do. If at some point you see something going on beyond this, you could look at one of the LifeLock or one of those that helps with identity theft protection moving forward.

But I think at this point, as long as you monitor it, that's what most people are going to do just to make sure that it doesn't get taken any further than this. Yeah, Sarah, we're glad that you caught that and didn't get any deeper in that scam. Rob, I myself in the last couple of weeks have received a fake debit card in the mail. Not just a notification, but an actual card. I also received two notifications, very official-looking notifications from Amazon telling me my account had been compromised. They were shutting down my account, that it was no longer active. I shouldn't try to buy anything.

I passed all that on and heard back from Amazon telling me that it was something ongoing they were aware of. So you just don't know. Although, are you sure that debit card wasn't my Christmas gift to you? Well, it's never been like you before to actually send me anything of value, so I just never assumed.

You just assumed immediately. I got that Starbucks card one year. I thought it was good for a scone. Just the scone.

No lattes, though. Just the scone. Got it. All right. Where are we now? Oh, yes.

Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. Hello, Steve. Thanks for holding my friend.

What's on your mind? Oh, you guys are very funny. I just want to thank the Lord for your guys' ministry. You're brilliant. I love listening to you. Thank you, Steve.

I'm looking for a neutral opinion. I think I'm too close to my situation and I can't afford it my age to make a bad decision. One year ago, my wife of 17 years left with a married man and they moved to Vegas, which is about 1100 miles away. They were both married and they just left together, got a place together and then hashing it out later. Obviously, I had to file for divorce. In the decree from divorce, I did everything I could to keep the kids, which I have two children. They were 10 and 14, a boy and a girl, the older.

Difficult ages. So, I lost about $100,000 during that transaction. One car, $15,000 cash, $40,000 of credit card had paid off and I lost $40,000 in a job.

I was on a job in Seattle. So, but I did anything I could to not have to uproot the kids, change their schools. I wanted everything I could to keep stable in their life. That was me and their house and their school having lost their mom. So here now, the last thing I have to deal with in the decree is I have to get her off the banknote of the, she's already signed over and she doesn't have any power of attorney or anything on the house.

But part of the decree, which was to get her off of that banknote so she's not responsible for any of that. I got the house and the kids basically is how it goes. And so, and she just, so what I'm wondering is I have, I'm sitting on a pile of equity as my realtor tells me about $200,000 maybe. But I owe $45,000 on a car, which I've tried to sell, but I would lose like $15,000 if I did sell it.

I can't get any offers there within 15 or $20,000. I would lose 10 to 15,000 easy. I've got about $8,000 in credit card debt. My question is, at this point, I've been struggling to keep everything together. Yeah. And always, always has been since the divorce, the easiest thing to do would be to sell. However, for the, at least for the first year, I didn't want to upgrade some children.

Yeah. But now it's getting harder for me to, I'm a worker bee. I've been a builder for years. But it is getting harder for me to work construction every day. And with the pandemic, I have to drop both kids off at different schools from 730 to nine and pick them up. Doesn't leave much of a workday for me.

Yeah. I've got about $3,000 coming in between my social security and for the kids and only $250 a month on child support. I have the kids full time. I make another two or $2,000 a month. You know, at the time I bought that Maserati, I was making two grand a week and everything was fine.

And then everything went south. Do you think it'd be smarter to just sell the house, pay $50,000 off in debt, be absolutely debt free and have $150,000 to maybe put down on a different house? Yeah. You know, Steve, first of all, let me just back up and say how much I appreciate your transparency here today and just what you've described and you obviously placing your kids' stability above your own interests and really doing what you needed to do as a dad to step up in a very difficult season to say, I want to be here for you guys. And I want to make sure that in the midst of all of this change and everything going on that's incredibly difficult, that there are some constants. And I'm confident the Lord will honor that and the role that you have played and continue to play in their lives.

I also know that the stress that comes from just having financial bondage, if you will, and the overhead that comes from you not being able to keep up each month necessarily or struggling to keep up with the bills is also going to impact your ability to be the dad you need to be and make sure your own relationship with the Lord comes first and just invest in yourself and the people around you that you care for. And so I like the idea that now that we're a little bit beyond some of the dramatic changes that have taken place, you really thinking and praying about selling this property to get out of debt, to take some of that pressure off so that you can be free and unencumbered to continue to provide for your family, to be there for your kids and continue to invest in them without some of this extra burden hanging over you financially. You feel like you've exhausted every option though on the automobile because the other consideration, and you probably know this better than I do, is just the maintenance and upkeep there of that asset. So would you look at selling that as a part of this just to get out from under that very expensive for an automobile?

I would love to. I mean, I really would. Within the first year, I put it on the market and realized that I lost $20,000 dropping and driving it off the lot. And that's why I haven't sold it yet. I would, and I had even thought of if I sold it and still owed the bank 10 grand, that would be okay.

Just paid that off on my own if they would agree to that. And I bought this house without even seeing the inside because we had looked at 50 homes when everything was okay with my wife and I. I worked in the oil field for three years to get the down payment. We were buying our first house together. And when I walked around the outside just looking at it, I felt like the Lord said, this is the one grab it.

And I realized now why he did. And there's been struggles, but I literally made $250,000 on it over the last five years just because the area that the Lord led me to was so desirable, which I didn't know at the time. But if I didn't have the car loan, mind you, I'm paying $850 a month on the car payment and my insurance went up $130 a month.

So that's $1,000 a month taxing me. Then that is my biggest. If it wasn't for that car, I wouldn't have a problem. Unfortunately, we're out of time.

We've got the end of the program is upon us. So let me just say this. I would really put that back on the market. And let's just pray that the Lord will bring the right buyer, because if you can get out from under that, that changes things. But then I would begin prayerfully to consider selling the home and I'd talk to the kids every step of the way.

Make sure you really communicate as to why you have waited, but why now you're considering doing that. We're going to be praying for you, Steve. Thanks for your call today. Thank you, Steve. This reminder of Money Wise Live is a partnership between Moody Radio and Money Wise Media. Great to start a brand new year with you. Thanks for listening. Tell a friend. Join us again next time.