Fun Facts About Money

Money. We all need it.

We all use it. But if you had a dollar for everything you don't know about the currency you carry around, well, you'd have more than you think. The paper money and coins in circulation have an interesting history that reveals some quirks about our country. Today, Kingdom Advisors President Rob West fills us in on the background of our currency, and then we'll take your calls on any financial topic at 800-525-7000.

800-525-7000. I'm Steve Moore. Fun facts about money. Next on MoneyWise Live.

Hi, Rob. So today's first few minutes are going to be interesting and fun, I think. Did you know that they're trying to figure out what to call the money we'll use in space someday? Unfortunately, Starbucks is already taken. I see what you did there.

But unlike your puns, Steve, we're actually going to reveal some things about money that are actually true in this broadcast today. That's right. Most of them. No, all of them.

All of them. Okay, fine. Let's get started.

Then what's first? Well, let's start with busting the myth that the pyramid on the back of the one dollar bill is part of some grand Illuminati conspiracy. It's actually part of the U.S. capital or excuse me, the U.S. official seal and is supposed to represent permanency.

You see, the founders were hoping that the U.S. would be around for a while. Okay. All right. So no deep, dark secret about the pyramid there.

That's right. Another conspiracy theory bites the dust. I'm afraid so. And speaking of secret, a lot of people wonder why the Secret Service is a part of the Treasury Department and actually hunts down counterfeiters. And why is that, sir? Well, that's because that's what the Secret Service was first organized to do back in the 1860s.

It wasn't until the assassination of William McKinley in 1901 that Congress asked the Secret Service to also protect the president. I didn't know that. All right. Well, this is interesting and fun.

What's next? Well, would you believe that more monopoly money is printed each year than actual currency? No, that's a little hard to believe.

It's true. The U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing rolls out about nine hundred and seventy five million in new bills each year, mostly to replace old ones that have worn out. But according to Parker Brothers, the company that makes the popular board game, they print about 30 billion dollars a year in monopoly money.

And that's who the Secret Service needs to be checking into. Parker Brothers all along. Who knew?

What else? Well, the average paper currency can be folded roughly, get this, four thousand times before it tears down the middle and gets sent to the shredder. And surprisingly, it doesn't take long for that to happen. The average lifespan of a dollar bill is only 22 months. Isn't that interesting? I've known them to last far less time in my pocket, but let's not go there.

All right. What's next? Well, here's one that you probably haven't had in your pocket. There actually is a ten thousand dollar bill. Now, they're not printed anymore. The largest denomination printed these days is the one hundred dollar bill. But five hundred, a thousand, five thousand and ten thousand dollar notes were printed until 1969 when they were discontinued for lack of use. The good news, Steve, is that you can, well, if you get a ten thousand dollar bill in your change, it's still legal tender.

I'm going to start watching a lot closer. I'm surprised they discontinued the five hundred dollar bill. Not that I ever have need of one, but I don't know. You'd think somewhere out there some big spender might want it. But just the hundred dollar bill.

OK. All right. What's another fun fact? Well, how about a two dollar bill is actually worth.

Are you ready for this? Yep. Two dollars. Here's what some where some folks get confused. They're not what you'd call rare. But since they're less common than other denominations in circulation, people sometimes think they're collectible. Well, you can collect them all you want, but they're still just worth two dollars.

Actually, I have a couple and like lots of grandparents, they save them to pass them on to their grandchildren who will no doubt immediately try to spend them. OK. Any fun facts about coins? Sure.

Yeah. Have you ever wondered why some coins have smooth edges and others have ridges? Well, the technical term is reads, by the way. Once upon a time, dimes, quarters and 50 cent pieces were actually made with precious metals, but unscrupulous individuals would shave off the edges and collect the gold and silver. So the U.S. Mint started putting the ridges on the coin so you could tell if one had been shaved. Of course, today, coins are made with alloys and don't contain gold and silver, but they've kept the ridges on dimes, quarters and 50 cent pieces to aid the visually impaired most to tell pennies and dimes apart since they're roughly the same size.

Pennies and nickels, by the way, Steve, never contained gold or silver, so they never needed the ridges. We'll be right back after this. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back.

We'll be right back. So that's my... So I was asking you kind of his question, but it's not the same. Yes. So specifically, the money you took from... You took it from your retirement account or you took it from an annuity at an insurance company? It's an IRA, but my understanding is that it's an annuity. Okay, so it's an insurance annuity that's also an IRA, and that's where you took the withdrawal from and you're looking at putting it back in, is that right? Yes.

And are you looking to move this money out of the annuity into an IRA that allows you to invest in other types of investments? No, never. Okay. I mean, how can I... You know, 2013, this is 21. $10,000, $25 a month, I just thought that was great, so somebody's handling it good because it's not me. But I just am afraid to kind of take it and I have enough money where I can put my money in the rock swab and my son and whoever, a professional, they could work it out for me because I'm 69. You know what I'm saying? I'm just... You always say we're going to live to be 85 when my daddy was 91, my mom was 90, but I'd like to... I think I've done pretty good with my money. It sounds like you have, Debbie. Well, I want to make sure I answer your question.

I would agree, go ahead and put that money back in because we don't want that to be taxable to you and let it just continue to grow as it has been. But specifically, what else were you looking to try to answer today? Basically, that was it. I didn't know how to... I haven't asked the post office to give me my TSP because I didn't know I was going to ask them, but what do you do? I call them and say, send my money to Michael Swab. I have the account number and everything. Yeah, so you can do what's called a direct rollover from the thrift savings plan to an IRA, and that's what you're going to want to do.

So you'll want to call the post office, tell them that as you retire, you're looking to do a direct rollover of the TSP to an IRA, and they'll tell you exactly how to do that, what paperwork is necessary, and then you just need to decide whether it's your son or somebody else who's going to give professional oversight to these assets to make sure that they're invested in a way that's appropriate for you so you can protect the money but also see some growth over time. Debbie, sounds like you're heading in the right direction, and we appreciate your phone call today and your many, many years of service to the U.S. Postal Service. You're listening to MoneyWise with Rob West. I'm Steve Moore, and we're here to take your calls and questions today. Anything financial, 800-525-7000.

It's a joy speaking with you, so give us a call right now. Music Many people adopt an attitude toward marriage and finances that it'll all work out somehow, but sadly, it often doesn't. Financial woes can devastate a marriage, but there is a better way, God's way. Money and Marriage God's Way by Howard Dayton will help you discover God's approach to growing your finances, strengthening your relationship with your mate, and cultivating Godly joy. Money and Marriage God's Way is available when you click the Store button at moneywiselive.org. 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. 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 think perhaps if we knew we were coming into a lesson on sanctification, if we understood a little of what the concept was about, we would not necessarily come running in here as we might to learn about Jehovah Hoseinu, the Lord our Maker. Something about the heavy burden of sanctification, we already know this is about to get in our business.

You understand what I'm saying to you? We already know it's going to have something to do with something that lives itself out in action. So it starts to make us nervous from the very beginning.

But I want you to see something from the onset. The very first mention of holiness is in the context of blessing. Please don't miss it.

Please don't miss it. Because he says, and God blessed the seventh day and he made it holy. That seventh day had a blessing on it the other days did not have. The blessing of the sanctification of that day.

And what I want to suggest to you is this. Before we embark on seeing all this could mean to us in the limited time we have today. You need to understand with me that even though it carries some pretty heavy duty responsibility, this is your blessing. This is your blessing.

The blessing that we are sanctified in him, those of us who know Christ as Savior, is our blessing. You've been listening to A Quick Word with Beth Moore. Beth is excited to announce now that faith has come, the study of Galatians is available as an online experience or as a printed workbook edition. Grab your copy today at BethMoore.org. Keep listening for another Quick Word with Beth Moore.

Good to have you aboard today. It's Money Wise Live. And if you'd like some basic help with your money and your finances, basic things like budgeting, developing a spending plan, getting out of debt, developing an emergency fund, giving, saving, things like that, you might want to connect with a certified budget coach and you can do that when you visit our website. It's MoneyWiseLive.org. Scroll to the bottom of the page and you'll see a line there that says connect with a coach and you can connect with someone who's well trained and certified by us and they can help you with some of these basic things.

Again, MoneyWiseLive.org. Scroll to the bottom middle of the page and you'll see connect with a coach. Sarah is in Texas and how can we help you, Sarah? Hi, thanks for taking my call. Hi, can you hear me? Yes, ma'am.

Okay, sorry. I was excited to hear that you'll have an app and I was wondering to get the most out of the Money Wise app, should you plan on being on the app daily, weekly, or would just monthly still be effective? Yeah, you know, Sarah, we've designed it so that it's not overly complicated, fairly simple to use, and it really can be adapted to whatever rhythm you want to establish. Now, you know, the extent to which an envelope system is going to be highly effective for you, I would expect you to be in it several times a month because you would be, in particular, checking the balances on your discretionary envelope. So I'm thinking things like, you know, whether it's gifts or eating out or groceries or, you know, clothes for certain members of the family. I mean, as you're out kind of doing your thing throughout the month, just being able to pull it up on your phone or your tablet and check it quickly to see where do I stand there.

And maybe we shouldn't be eating out this weekend like we had planned because we're out of money and so we'll, you know, buckle down at home and wait until next month kind of thing. I mean, that's where it's most effective. And then, you know, whether you have a weekly or a monthly money date with your spouse, I think pulling it out then would also be really helpful. But it doesn't need to, you know, be terribly time consuming.

It's not like you have to be in it every day. And the beautiful part, Sarah, is we've really designed it so that once it's set up, and by the way, there's a web app, too, so you can use your desktop to get it all set up rather than inputting everything on your phone, including all of your different envelopes. But we've set it up so that all of it gets automated if you're a MoneyWise Pro subscription. So basically, you'd connect it to your financial accounts. All of your transactions would be downloaded automatically. And the system will learn where certain transactions go, which envelopes. So as things are being downloaded all the time, they're automatically being placed into your envelopes. And then when you're funding your envelopes, that can be automated as well and timed to your paychecks.

So once all that's in place, it's just kind of doing its thing in the background. You're getting paid. Your envelopes are being funded. You're spending money on your credit card or debit card. Those transactions are coming down. It's taking that away from the envelope balances in each category. And so at any given time when you open it, you know exactly where you stand in each one of your envelopes.

But in terms of the frequency, that's really up to you in terms of how much you want to be in there and how closely you want to stay on top of these envelope balances. Does that make sense? Yes, it sure does. I'm excited to give it a try.

Good. Well, hey, every week we have some workshops that are free for you to jump in. And our team will teach you how to use it and answer your questions face to face using a Zoom meeting.

So make sure you take advantage of those workshops. And by the way, anybody listening who doesn't have the MoneyWise app, go get it now. It's in your app store. Just search for MoneyWise Biblical Finance when you go to the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store. Again, MoneyWise Biblical Finance in your app store or on the web at app.moneywise.org. Sarah, we're glad you called today.

We wish you the best with that. Thanks very much. So Rob, so that I understand better, there's the standard MoneyWise app and then there's the pro version, the big leagues version.

I mean, what's going on there? Yeah, the basic app allows you to do all of the things you want to do to get your envelope system set up and track it manually. It's just when you want to connect to your accounts, download it automatically and automatically fund your envelopes, plus create some new custom envelopes. That requires the pro subscription, which is only $5.99 a month.

Okay. You can find out more when you visit moneywiselive.org. More about who we are, what we do, the app and our other resources. 800-525-7000.

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The Treasure Principle is available when you click the Store button at moneywiselive.org. With SRN News, I'm John Scott. The House will try to push the Vice President and Cabinet to remove President Trump from office under the 25th Amendment. Meanwhile, impeachment proceedings are set for Wednesday. The FBI and Department of Justice addressing their law enforcement efforts in the wake of last week's deadly breach at the U.S. Capitol building, which claimed five lives. Law enforcement still asking for the public's help to identify those who participated in the breach. Former Michigan Governor Rick Snyder, his health director and other ex-officials have been told they're being charged after a new investigation of the Flint water scandal.

The U.S. government's plans to carry out the first execution of a female inmate in nearly seven decades are now on hold. Stocks shook off a midday slide and ended broadly higher. The Dow gained 60 points.

The Nasdaq ahead 36. This is SRN News. Welcome back to Money Wise Live.

Lest I confused you just before the break. Again, if you're wanting to check out the Money Wise app, you can visit Apple App, the Apple App Store, wherever you download any there, or Google Play. And then if you want to go directly to our website for the app, it's app.moneywise.org.

App.moneywise.org. Zion, Illinois, Sharnae, thanks for your long-suffering patience there. How can we help you?

Hi, guys. Listen, I'm calling because I'm 62 years old, approaching retirement, I guess, in the next five years. I own a home with two mortgages. I started out with that because it was a great program that had people with not that big of a price range to buy a house to enable them to buy one. So I have one at 4%, one at 5.25%. Since I have a home, I've not been able to pull equity out of nothing to do any improvements on my home.

So everything I've done, I've done with cash. I think towards retirement, I like to buy a two-family home where it would enable me to not have to pay a mortgage but rely on my tenant to pay it. Do you think this is a wise idea? Sell this house, get into something that will create some income, and I won't have to pay the mortgage?

Yeah. Let me ask you, I mean, I'm certainly not against that, and I like the idea of you diversifying into real estate and creating an income stream as long as you know what you're getting into, you're not overextending yourself financially, and you're willing to do the work that goes along with it to deal with the maintenance issues. That's helpful that it's right next door, but dealing with the maintenance issues, marketing it, making sure it stays rented.

Let's start with the financial side, Sharnae. How much do you think you could sell your current home for? Well, all about $82,000, and I think I can get $140,000 for it.

Okay. And have you done any research on what you would need to spend for this duplex? Well, about $200,000. About $200,000? Yes, where I'm at, $200,000, 250 tops. Okay. All right. So let's say you found something for $200,000, and you've got $60,000 in equity in this house, so you'd have a mortgage for $140,000.

Would you be able to cover that mortgage if there was no renter for a period of time on the other side of that duplex? Yes. What income sources do you have in retirement? Well, I got about $150,000 in IRAs at one job that I retired from, and I'm currently working for the federal government, and I'm trying to give them 10 years.

I've been there five so far. I don't know what I would get from there. I know when I contribute. I contribute 15%. Okay. Do you know what the balance is right now in that retirement account? I don't. I really don't.

All right. Well, I think that's the key is really having a good idea. I mean, we're talking potentially five years out or more before you get to retirement, assuming you're trying to stay there for at least 10, right? So I think the key is you know that based on today's income, you should be able to cover the mortgage, which would be a little bit more expensive than what you have now. You have an $82,000 mortgage right now.

We're talking about increasing that to from $82,000 to $140,000. Now, you'd be doing that at a lower interest rate, hopefully, but it would give you a nice down payment, and as long as you could cash flow that, and we use as a rule of thumb 25%. So the principal interest, taxes, and insurance, if it's less than 25% of your take-home pay, then you're in good shape. Now, the good news is if you can cover 100% of that mortgage without any renter, then obviously every month you have a renter in there, you know, you're in much better position.

That'd help you pay it off much quicker, and once it's paid off, would give you a nice income stream in retirement. The second question is, are you ready to be a landlord? Do you have any experience in this? Have you talked to folks who have done it?

Do you kind of understand what it takes? Do you feel like you have the ability and know-how to either maintain the property or get people in there that can do that? And do you have some reserves so that if there was a major repair or expense that you needed to cover, again, now it's not just you you're looking out for. You have to make sure that you keep this in good working order on behalf of your tenant, which means you need to be a little bit more timely in dealing with issues.

And you may need to get a, you know, a plumber out there in the middle of the night. And so, you know, do you have any reserves to fall back on, you know, that are outside of these retirement accounts? I have about 25 grand sitting in the bank. Okay.

And that's your emergency fund, is that right? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. All right. And what is your take-home pay every month, roughly? I make about $54,000 a year with no overtime.

Okay. So you've got about six months worth of expenses in the bank, which is great. Maybe a little bit more than six months.

So that's good. So I think I would just count the cost and really understand how much more you're going to have each month in the form of a, you know, mortgage payment. I would also start looking out to retirement to say, what can I expect if I work 10 years in my retirement account? And beyond that, what could this $150,000 grow to and generate an income?

And would I still be okay? And as long as you feel good about all of that, you're willing to take on this role of landlord, then I think you should be in good shape. Sharnay. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. All right. I appreciate it. Thank you, sir. Yes, sir. Yes, ma'am. God bless. Well, I hope she has an opportunity to work through that, think through that, lots of numbers there.

Sounds like she's in pretty good shape. But being a landlord is not anything you want to enter into quickly and without all the details. All right. 800-525-7000 Brandon, Florida. Is it Brandon, Michelle, or is it Bradenton? Help me out here. It's Brandon.

It's Brandon. Okay. Happy New Year. Happy New Year to you. I understand your kids want to do something creative with their Christmas money. What's going on there?

Yes. I have twins. They just turned 13 five days after Christmas, so Christmas and, you know, right there together. And, you know, they are so blessed, and I just have to tell you, just honestly just blessed, and they got so much stuff. It's like, Mom, what do we do with our presents? And I'm like, okay, you can give your stuff away. They get gift cards.

They get cash. And so my oldest son, he lives in California. I'm retired Air Force 26 years. So I'm like, okay, you know, what do you do?

And he used to be in Air Force as well. So he says, Mom, let's get them to invest in Netflix. And, of course, I know nothing about this. And, you know, their college is paid for, and we just have money. And, you know, people want them to buy toys. I'm like, look, they have all the toys they could ever get.

They don't even want toys. So I want them, you know, you got gift cards and you got cash. Gift cards, gift certificates, what can you do with them? I'm all ears. You know, and cash.

What do you do? They have a savings account as well. So they are taught 10% every month or whatever.

Well, this is great. I mean, I love that this is the way you're guiding and leading them, Michelle, and this is exactly the way you should be talking to them. I think the first idea is you want to teach them God's perspective of money, that he owns it all and that they're the managers or stewards of what he's entrusted to them.

That means they're taking on a pretty big responsibility as God's money manager. Second is modeling is everything. You want to model the right behaviors, living within your means, living simply, living with a spending plan, recognizing that with limited resources, it's all about priorities. I think beyond that, you want to teach give, save, spend in terms of that when money comes in, there's a portion we should give away right off the top.

You've done that. There's a portion we should save for the future. And then there's a portion we should spend. Now, with XS, I like the idea of teaching about investing. So if you'll hold the line when we come back, I'll tell you how you can get them started in that, too.

We'll do that, Michelle. You hang on more money wise 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 money wise dot org slash NCS. 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 money wise live dot 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, people rarely come to the Lord in one conversation. When I first learned that sharing my faith is not an option, I did everything wrong that I could do wrong and still had good results. My biggest mistake and biggest frustration was thinking I failed every time the discussion ended without a decision. I get upset with myself, even God, and even with the person I was trying to lead to the Lord.

How bad is that? Until I learned God's timing, which is not our time. Everyone's on a spiritual journey and only God knows or any individual is on that journey. This is where our sensitivity to the Holy Spirit is so precious. The Holy Spirit is always there before us ready to use our willing hearts to change the hearts of others. Your job is to ignite revival outside the walls of your church by moving everyone every day closer to Jesus.

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Check it out at Moody publishers dot com. Hey, we're talking with Michelle. She's calling us from Brandon, Florida. Apparently her children got full stockings for Christmas. They've got lots of stuff. Not quite sure what to do with the money side of things.

Yeah, Michelle. So beyond really modeling the right behaviors, teaching them about God's principles and managing money, and really implanting this idea of give, save, spend and the idea of limited resources. You know, if you want to get them started with investing, I like that idea. I'm a little hesitant, though, to go into individual stocks. You know, it's possible today, whereas it hasn't been in the past through something called fractional shares. So whether you use an app like Stockpile or use something like the Robinhood investment accounts, you can go in and buy a share of a stock that previously would have been unobtainable because of the price. I mean, you know, a single share of a high flying tech stock, I won't name specific ones, could be several thousand dollars. But through fractional shares, you can go in and buy a very small percentage of one share and basically get started with very little money. The problem with that is we're teaching we're not teaching the principle of diversification. And so you're all at the risk of one particular company. So although it's fun to kind of get them involved in researching and following a company and, you know, having some vested interest when, you know, if it's a brick and mortar operation, when you drive by them and you see that company, you go, hey, I'm invested in that.

I'm glad the drive through is full, you know, that kind of thing. You know, there's some lessons that can be taught there, but I don't like the idea that we're not teaching to be properly diversified. So I think what would be better is to open an account in your name, but earmarked for them, where you begin to do some either index investing, like buying them the S&P 500, where they can follow the overall move of the market. But you're teaching them the importance of not having all of your eggs in one basket. You mentioned, you know, a Netflix, I think, to my producer as something they would be interested in investing in.

And although, you know, that gets a lot of press right now and there's a lot of reasons not to be invested in Netflix, one of those is just simply, you know, the issue related to a particular program they had that was just awful that resulted in a surge of cancellations because they were just dealing with subject matter they never should have dealt with, not to mention a lot of the other programs, shows and movies that are on Netflix. So I think we've, you know, we've got to think about that side of it, too. In addition to index investing, the other option, Michelle, is to begin to teach them about faith-based investing. So get them to look at a mutual fund like, you know, one offered by Eventide or an ETF from Inspire, where they're investing in companies that make the world rejoice and really are having a social and a kingdom impact as a result of their investments, but also with a great return on investment at the same time.

So if I were you, I would either looking at index investing through something like Betterment or the Schwab Intelligent Portfolios, or if you want to introduce them in faith-based investing, check out our friends at Inspire Funds or EventideFunds.com to get more information. And I hope that's helpful to you. Michelle, God bless you and your children as you move forward on this.

Thanks so much. Ann, in Missouri, what's your question today for Rob West? Yes. Hi. You're hearing me okay, correct? Perfect. Yes. My name is Ann, and I'm inquiring of the lady before me kind of answered the question a little bit, because I, too, am looking to invest in something that we can get a return, that I can get a return on my investment.

I am retired now, but in this retirement, I didn't get to get any retirement check for my job. And so, but I do have a little bit of money, and I wanted to be able to use it in a way that it could give me a return on it. I wanted to invest in something. Also, the second part of my question, I've been hearing a lot about Bitcoin, and I'm wondering if you are familiar with Bitcoin and what it is and how it works.

Yeah, absolutely. Let's deal with the first part first here. Ann, you asked specifically about investing in retirement. Talk to me about how much per month you have as a surplus that you're looking to put to work and what the purpose of it is in terms of when you might want to be able to access it.

Well, actually, it's not monthly income. It's just something that I came into. Okay. All right. Roughly how much are we talking about?

About $25,000. Okay. And do you have your income sources covered so your bills are met in retirement? Yes.

All right. And what are your income sources? Social security and what else? Yes.

Social security and I take care of my daughter and mother. Okay. All right.

Very good. And then do you have outside of this $25,000 you came into, do you have any emergency reserves? Just about $8,000. Okay. And what are your monthly expenses each month roughly?

Everything is paid just my basic rent which is like $850 and then whatever the utilities are for the month. Okay. Do you think all in everything you're spending is maybe $2,000 a month? No.

Not even that much? No. Okay. All right. Very good.

All right. So you've got a guaranteed income source with social security plus you're caring for some family members and that's helping to either offset expenses or bring in some additional income. You've got $8,000 in savings and so that would be equivalent to perhaps six months worth of expenses, maybe less, maybe five. So you've got a good little buffer there and you want to know what to do with this $25,000. As long as you feel like you could leave this money for at least five years, preferably ten, then I would say you could start to dollar cost average it into the market. But I would again be very well diversified. I'd be looking at a high quality mutual fund or an index fund. So you could look at Betterment or the Schwab Intelligent Portfolios which would go through a series of questions and answers and based on your risk tolerance, your age and objectives, they would help you put together a very low cost, very highly diversified portfolio of stocks and bonds that would just move with the market over time and you wouldn't be looking to make a bunch of money in one, six or twelve months. You'd be looking at a ten year period where over time you should average 7% plus if the history repeats itself, which it always has.

And that would be a good thing because you can't get that anywhere else. You have to realize that at any point along the way, depending on how much you have in stocks, you could hit a bump in the road and see anywhere from a ten to, if you were fully invested in stocks, a 35% decline. That's what we experienced last year with the pandemic. But again, as long as you're not selling and you're letting it ride out and you're waiting for the market to rebound, which it always has, then you let it move to higher ground.

You don't react emotionally. That would be, I think, the best approach in terms of where you're going from here. I wouldn't try to pick individual stocks.

There's just too much risk when you're highly concentrated. And that's where I'll finish today with Bitcoin. I would just say, you know, it's getting a lot of press because it's been on a tear on the upside, but it hit a big bump in the road in the last five days where it went from $40,000 per dollar down to $35,000. So that's a $5,000 decline, which I have no idea whether it's going down from here or up from here.

It doesn't matter. There's just too much volatility in it. I'd stay away from it as an investment.

The technology behind it's not going anywhere as we get more and more digital and global in our economy and our currencies. And thank you for your call today. We appreciate that. Rachel in Sarasota, we have just a couple of minutes. Can we be quick about this, please? Wonderful.

I hope so. Thank you for taking my call. So my husband and I, we are 31 and we have paid off all of our personal debt and have saved up a down payment on a home. We're toying with the idea of paying full price for the home, you know, putting cash 100 percent down for a home. Just kind of trying to see your thoughts if that's unwise or if you see any downfall to that. We would, you know, we're putting our retirement on hold and putting in to retirement for this purchase.

So we're just trying to figure out where there might be holds that we're we're not seeing or, you know, things like that. Yeah. Well, there's two sides of this, Rachel. First of all, congratulations. You guys are young. You're doing this right. You're making some really wise decisions. And I appreciate how thoughtful you've been in even this particular decision. I want to press into that retirement conversation just for a second.

So tell me what this looks like. How much do you have saved up and how far do you have to go to buy the whole thing with cash? Yeah. So we have about thirty five to forty thousand roughly after this month and we are hoping to hit two twenty five total. And so we're we're probably about three years out. I think is where we've when we've done a cost analysis and timeline. That's where we're at.

So basically what I'm hearing is if you didn't put anything in retirement and you just saved like crazy for the house, then in three years you could buy it for cash. Yes. OK. All right. And do you as you all think and pray about this, do you have a real conviction from the Lord that you that he's asking you to be debt free completely? You know, I think that's kind of the point we're at. We're not sure.

We haven't heard clearly either way. We worked so hard to get out of debt the first time. We just got out of, you know, about seventy five thousand dollars of debt. And so we're we kind of just feel that weight almost still paying rent. Well, I can hear it in your voice or hat. Yeah, I could hear it in your voice a little bit when you said, you know, we're debt free.

And there was kind of a, you know, an excitement in your voice. So I can understand getting back into debt, especially a large debt like a mortgage, you know, may be something you're just not comfortable with. If you feel like and I would encourage you guys to not do anything right now and just continue to pray about this. If you feel like the Lord is leading you to be debt free, then do it.

Don't worry about anything else. Apart from that, I would say just from a pure financial standpoint, I would say I'd rather you start systematically funding retirement. As long as you don't take on too much mortgage that you can't afford.

I'd rather you get the mortgage and compound that money in a tax deferred account for your future. Unless the Lord is just closing that door. Unfortunately, we're up against a break. So let's talk more off the air, but I appreciate your call today. Money Wise Live is a partnership between Moody Radio and Money Wise Media. God bless. Thanks for listening.