Giving: A Form of Worship

Hi, this is Doug Hastings, Vice President here at Moody Radio. And we have a unique sponsor for this podcast. It's United Faith Mortgage, the faith-focused mortgage team with a very specific advantage that can save families money.

Here are two things you need to know. Number one, United Faith Mortgage was started by a dad and his son and his wife, and they've grown into a team helping families all across the US. And number two, they have a unique advantage. It's the name of a bigger company, which is a direct lender, meaning there's no middleman. Their company uses its own money and makes its own lending decisions within its own walls.

Again, no middleman. And often, this allows them to get you a better rate on a new home purchase, refinance or cash out refinance, which could save you money over a lifetime. Check out the faith and family mortgage team at unitedfaithmortgage.com. For all licensing information, go to NMLSconsumeraccess.org. Corporate NMLS number 1330, equal housing lender.

Not licensed in Alaska, Hawaii, Georgia, Massachusetts, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Utah. Ascribe to the Lord the glory to his name. Bring an offering and come before him. Worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness. 1 Chronicles 16 reveals that giving is an act of worship.

We may forget that at times, and putting our tithes and offerings in the plate sometimes does become something of a routine. Today, Kingdom Advisors President Rob West shares the proper way to view our giving, then it's your calls and questions on anything financial at 800-525-7000. I'm Steve Moore, giving a form of worship.

That's next here on MoneyWise Live. Rob, I want to be thoroughly unprofessional here. I'm going to read the first line again just to prove that I can do it. Okay, so bear with me. Ascribe to the Lord the glory to his name.

Bring an offering and come before him. And there. How do you like that? I like it. It's very nicely done. Hey, Rob, we want to thank our friends at the National Christian Foundation today for a great article on today's topic, which is Giving is Worship, and we'll have a link for it in today's show notes. Oh, that's exactly right, and we'll hit some of the high points of that article, Steve.

A good place to start is with Jesus' words in Matthew 6 21, Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Good. I like that.

Okay. You know, the late Larry Burkett often paraphrased this by saying, Show me your checkbook register and I'll show you your spiritual condition. That's exactly right. I love that line, and it's so true. But let's point out that our purpose here isn't to chastise, but to inspire. And when we fully grasp that giving is, in fact, worship, I believe it has the power to change our hearts. Now, the article we mentioned opens with the story of the disciple Mary anointing Jesus' feet in Bethany. In John 12, we read, Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume. She poured it on Jesus' feet and wiped his feet with her hair, and the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. And if I'm not mistaken, this account is included in all four Gospels.

You are correct, and I believe that's evidence of its importance and how we should pay close attention to it. The oil or the ointment that Mary used to anoint Jesus' feet may have been the most expensive thing Mary ever owned, but she gave it freely in an act of utter worship, even going on to wipe Jesus' feet with her hair. Also note that Jesus defends Mary when Judas objects to the gift. That shows us that God recognizes our giving and knows when we're offering our best to Him and when we're offering our hearts to Him along with that. God doesn't need anything from us, of course, but He wants our hearts. So I believe we should recognize that giving and worship in general isn't really for God's benefit. Yes, our giving and worship glorifies Him, and that's right and good.

But He is already far more glorious than anything we could really add. So why does God command us to worship Him? Well, it's for our benefit. It defines our relationship with Him and aligns our will to His. Yeah, and giving is shown as a form of worship throughout the Bible, right?

Well, it is. Yeah, the Old Testament cites many examples of giving the firstborn of the flock, the firstfruits of the harvest. In the New Testament, we have the example of Christ praising a woman who gave her last two copper coins in the temple.

You'll know the story. Mark 12, 43 and 44, it says, Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth, but she out of her poverty put in everything, all she had to live on. So there again, we see that God recognizes our gifts and the condition of our hearts when we give. And that's also why we say that tithing is only the training wheels of giving. You know, when we give sacrificially and joyfully, God recognizes that our hearts are aligning with His. I like it. Okay. What else does our giving indicate about our relationship with God?

Yeah, I would say a couple of things. As the article points out, it shows our gratitude for the past and our trust in God for the future. Our gifts point to the past because they acknowledge that everything we have comes from God. Our gifts show our gratitude. But I also believe they point to the future, Steve, indicating our willingness to trust God in the days ahead.

We'll need money for as long as we're alive, but our decision to give up part of it shows that we trust God to provide. And as you well know, Steve, there's only one place in the Bible where God allows us to test Him. Malachi 3-10, bring the whole tithe into the storehouse so that there may be food in my house.

Test me in this and see if I will not open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it. I like it. We'll come back to sum this up and take your calls too at 800-525-7000. Call right now.

Welcome back to MoneyWise Live. We're here today taking your calls, your questions, your comments about anything financial that the Lord may have put on your heart. Give us a call. We'd love to chat.

800-525-7000. We were talking earlier in the program about giving and giving being a form of worship and what that really means to us. Anything else, any bow you want to put on this, Rob, because really it is vital in our relationship with Christ.

Well, there's no doubt about that. And I just think at the end of the day, Steve, we need to acknowledge that God provides everything we need and that we trust in his promise to take care of us in the future. And when we do that, we live with contentment and acknowledge God's provision and sufficiency, then I believe he sees us and will bless us in that. And not necessarily in a financial sense, but always spiritually in the future extends into eternity. You know, when we grasp that God has already given us his son, Jesus Christ, who died for our sins, what is the only appropriate way to respond to that? Well, I would say it's with our worship and that worship includes our giving. So when we hold what God has entrusted to us loosely, which means he can take it out with that open fist, but he can also put it in, I think that puts us in the right posture to experience God's best, whatever that is. And that doesn't mean there won't be seasons of trial or difficulty.

There absolutely will. That's why the apostle Paul said, I've learned to be content even in times of need. And he certainly went through some really difficult times. But learning that idea to trust in God and to say, you know what, I'm content because you said you will never leave me nor forsake me. That promise alone is enough reason for us just to say, you know what, God, I'm going to trust you implicitly and I want to be a conduit with your resources into your activity because I know that's going to bring me joy and great blessing. I love it. Yeah. Get your eyes off of circumstances and off of the temporal things and to the best of your ability, with God's help, put your eyes on him and what he's capable of.

I mean, the fact that Jesus designed the entire world and everything in the world, that should give you a positive feeling, at least. Hey, again, our phone number, 800-525-7000. Let's go to, let's see, how about Sandusky, Ohio? Hello, Karen, how can we help you?

Hi. Well, I am now going to a different church. I was searching out a new church because it's just too far for me to go now since I've moved.

Yes. And I became a member with the other church. Well, I've been going to this other church here in Sandusky a couple times now. Do I still tithe at my old church or can I tithe at this church?

Yeah, yeah. It's a great question, Karen. And I know the spirit behind this is really you just want to be faithful in honoring the Lord with your tithes and your offerings. And clearly, I love the idea of applying the first fruits tithe to our giving as a starting point to say, God, I want to be systematic.

I want to give proportionately from my increase. And we realize that everything that comes into us, with just a few exceptions, is in fact our increase. So returning a portion of that, starting with the local church where God has you planted, is a great idea for your giving. In terms of where that goes, you know, I think wherever God has you is the place where you're giving. It, I think, has less to do with the church membership and more to do with where God has planted you. And so if God has redirected you somewhere else for whatever reason, including proximity, and that's where he has you right now, even if he may not, you know, or may move you somewhere else, you know, before you actually settle on a new church home, I would say, where you're at now, go ahead and start your tithe there. And, you know, again, at some point, the Lord will make it clear to you where you need to plant yourself, invest yourself, get involved, and serve, and be a part of the body. And if that's at this place, great. But in the meantime, I would just say go ahead and redirect your storehouse giving right where he has you today. Karen, we hope that helps. Great question. Thank you very much.

We hope you enjoy your new church. Fort Payne, Alabama. Mike, isn't there a musical group from that area somewhere? I'm not sure.

What am I thinking? Yeah. Yeah, the group Alabama. Randy, Katie, Jeff, and Martin. They're from Fort Payne. Who the fuck? Group Alabama.

I thought they were from Kansas. Well, what do I know? Hey, Mike, what's on your mind? That would be another group. Exactly right.

Hey, look at how he did that. I'm not as dumb as I look. What's your question, Mike? I listen as often as my work schedule lets me. I notice when y'all talk about insurance, a lot of times you seem to prefer term life over whole or universal. I was just wondering why.

Yeah, that's a great question, Mike. You know, for most people, and we're talking to the masses here on a radio broadcast, recognizing there's always going to be some exceptions. So when I talk about I prefer term insurance, it's really for the majority, if not almost all the people we're talking to, save some in unique situations. The reason is because most people are looking to replace their income over a certain period of time, typically during those years where you're working, raising your children, paying off your mortgage as you're pressing toward retirement. And so you need to cover that period of time between whatever age you are now and let's say 65, at least as a starting point, with the most affordable coverage possible where you can buy the proper amount of insurance, meaning at least 10 to 12 times your income. And then in some cases over and above that, you might want to add any debt you need to pay off or other major expenses like college.

But term is going to be the way that you do that most effectively. And you don't need permanent life insurance because you believe and I happen to believe that you can invest your money better, rather than giving it to an insurance company and entrusting them with it to invest it for you and give you a return on it, which that's what a permanent policy is. It's the pure insurance plus a savings vehicle. I believe that if you're systematic and diligent in your investing with a proper investment strategy that you can actually perform much better over time. So what are those cases where you might consider whole life insurance?

Well, again, they're minimal. You know, for some folks, it would be on estate taxes. But keep in mind, estate taxes, at least this year, don't kick in until nearly $12 million for an individual.

That's a pretty big estate. If you have a lifelong dependent, a child with a disability, that might be a situation where you'd need one. If you want to be able to spend down your retirement savings in full because you're just not sure if it's going to last and you want to leave a small inheritance or some money for final expenses like funeral costs, that would be a way to do it. Or if you had a closely held business, maybe a business that you started and were operating and you were going to leave that to one child. So you want to equalize the inheritance for the other children. That's where a permanent policy might come in.

But again, those are kind of few and far between. And the vast majority of people just need the most affordable coverage with the right amount of coverage during those working years. And then when they get to the period where they've self-insured because they've saved and they're living off of their retirement savings and their Social Security, they drop it. And there's no need to continue to pay for the death benefit during your retirement years because you don't have a need in that area.

If something were to happen to you, nobody's depending upon you for income because whatever assets are going to cover that retirement income are already in place. Does that make sense, Mike? It does. Even if the insurance agents I've talked to usually downsell the term because they say 90 percent of people never use it. Is that still? I mean, everything you said makes perfect sense, but is that still a good investment? I don't think so. And I don't want to insinuate that somebody is trying to get you to sell, you know, to buy something because the commissions are bigger. But that is true. There are bigger commissions on permanent policies. So you've got to look at is this person who's giving me this advice objective? And they may be.

I'm not saying they're automatically not. But are they being objective or is it in their best interest for me to buy one policy over another? I think the second thing is just where is the best place for you to save over the long term?

Is it inside an insurance product or is it on your own in a tax deferred vehicle that's properly invested? I prefer that. Now, this idea that the majority of term life insurance policies are not collected on. That's absolutely right. And that's a good thing. That means you're still alive. But it doesn't mean that you still don't need the coverage while you're living because we don't know our next breath. Right.

That's up to the Lord. And if something were to happen to you during those working years, I don't want your wife and your children to be left without a means to provide for themselves. So this is just to offset a risk that we hope never happens. And that's, in fact, exactly the way we've done it. Now, you're going to pay that mortality expense in either case. The question is just, do you want to add a savings vehicle on top of it through an insurance company?

And I think there's better ways to do it. Mike, we're glad you called today. God bless you, brother. Thanks very much. This is MoneyWise Live.

He's Rob West. I'm Steve Moore. We can talk about insurance if you'd like. Giving, saving, marriage, getting out of debt, whatever's on your mind today, give us a call. Maybe we can help. 800-525-7000. Remembering that God owns it all, this is MoneyWise Live. Rob West taking your calls today at 800-525-7000. I'm Steve Moore.

And to Illinois. Hi, Reggie. We appreciate your patience. What's on your mind?

Hi. Well, I just sold over 5,000 shares of a stock today that made a profit of over a million dollars. And it's something that I am going to really owe a lot of taxes on, for one.

And I'm very, I'm not sure if I pay the IRS upfront. 37 cents per. Sure. Yeah. How long did you own these shares of stock, Reggie, that you liquidated? They were bought 2019 and 18. So they've been over a year. Okay, great.

Yeah. So you'll pay a long-term capital gain, which is a good thing. You know, depending upon the amount, and obviously this is a significant amount of gain, you typically want to pay the capital gain you expect to owe before the due date for payments that apply to the quarter of the sale. So, you know, the next quarterly due date for 2021 would be April 15 and then June 15, September 15 and January 15. So if you sold it after January 15, you know, the next quarterly due date would be April 15. And I would go ahead and connect with your tax preparer.

If you don't have one, start looking for one so that they can go ahead and send that amount in that you owe prior to that quarterly due date. So that there's never a question as to whether or not, you know, because of the amount we're talking about, that they might add interest or something to it. So that's always going to be the safe approach. And I think given, you know, what you've got here, obviously, I think it would be good to get some tax advice just to make sure you're doing things properly. You know, in the future, it would be great for you to always be thinking about investing for the long term. It sounds like you did that to at least get past the threshold on the capital gain.

You want to try to always invest the best you can inside retirement plans. So the taxes are not an issue. You want to use capital losses to offset capital gains.

And then you would like I'd love for you to think about in the future if this happens again, perhaps making charitable contributions out of the gains prior to the sale, because then you get the deduction on the full amount of the gift. You don't have to pay the gain. The ministry or your church doesn't pay the gain. So everybody wins because you get a bigger deduction.

They get more money to use for whatever great work they're doing at the nonprofit. And, you know, that will offset some tax liability. So I think those are things to think about in the future. But for the time being, I think step one is connect with a tax prepare professional.

And number two, think in terms of paying this estimated payment prior to April 15. Reggie, does that work for you? Does that help a little bit?

Is there a kingdom advisor that you can, a financial advisor? Because I really would have liked some help prior to all this. Yeah, absolutely. And, you know, I think the key is learn from it. And, you know, this is Lord willing, you'll be in this predicament again in the future. And, you know, you can have somebody walking alongside you.

Absolutely. I would go to our website, Reggie, just go to MoneyWiseLive.org, MoneyWiseLive.org, and you're going to see a button that says Find a CKA. That stands for Certified Kingdom Advisor, put in your city and state or zip code. And I would interview two or three and find one that's going to be the best fit for you. Reggie, we're glad you called today. I wish you the very best. And if you have to be in a predicament, I guess that's the kind of predicament to be in, right?

Not bad. No, that's God's money and look for great ways to use it. Indianapolis, Indiana, Rosemary, you're on MoneyWise Live.

And what's your question for Rob? Actually, I have two. My first question is about Social Security. I will be 70 in March and I've applied for Social Security.

I'll get my first check in April. Because of a loophole, we've been advised to have my husband apply under a restricted application because he was born before January 1, 1954. He will not be 70 for another almost three years yet. However, he lost his job about six months ago and he's not been able to find anything else. And so that's why we've been advised to have him apply and he would get half of my Social Security under a restricted application. I was wondering, will that affect, because he's lost his job and obviously our income is considerably lower, is that going to affect the amount that he will receive for Social Security because our income, his, has gone way down now? You mean the loss of the job? Is that going to affect it?

Yeah. Well, you know, it's going to be based on the highest amount of income he had over the quarters that apply. And so he won't be replacing lower income quarters with higher ones, but he shouldn't necessarily see a decline if he's been working for a long, long time.

The restricted application makes a lot of sense, though, to collect spousal benefits only and allow the other spouse to continue to defer and get a higher payout in the future. So I think this makes a lot of sense, what you're doing. I'd say stay the course. And we'll be back for question number two after this. It's a pleasure and an honor to have you tuned in today.

It's MoneyWise Live with Rob West. Let's go back to our phones. Indianapolis Rosemary, I understand you. You're thinking of selling your house, right?

What's what's the question that we can help you with here? Yes, we would like to sell our house to downsize. And since we're getting older, go from a two story home to just, you know, one level.

There are a few things, not not major, but a few things that probably should be fixed up with the house. But we don't have the money to do that and we aren't able to do it ourselves. But I've been told that we could probably sell our home and have enough money out of it that we could pay cash for another house.

A little bit smaller one than what we have now. So if we were to do that. We would not have to apply for a mortgage or be pre-approved for a mortgage, correct?

That's correct. Yeah. If you were going to pay cash, as long as you were going to wait for the sale of the first home to go through and actually close on it and receive the proceeds and then either have a simultaneous closing or rent back your current property while you purchase that second property.

Or if you have a family member or some other place to go in the interim. Yeah. As long as you can sell the first property, get to the closing table, get the proceeds, have them clear the bank, and then be able to go buy that next property with cash and have the funds ready at that closing to buy it in full. Then yeah, you would not have to qualify for a mortgage because there would be no mortgage and that would be great. Okay. And then also, since no money would change hands technically, we would not have to pay any taxes or capital gains or anything like that on the home, is that correct? Well, this is your personal residence that you've lived in two out of the last five years, is that right?

Oh yes, we've been there for 29 years. Okay. And what do you think you have in profit?

Is it more than half a million dollars? Oh no. Okay. All right.

Yeah. So then there is money that's going to change hands, but you would be exempt from any capital gains because it's your primary residence that you've lived in for the last two out of five years. And so, you know, with husband and wife, you'd have plenty of room there for the gain on the exemption and that would allow you then to take the proceeds. They wouldn't be taxable and then you could put those right into the next property. Rob, why did you ask if the gains were over a million dollar or half a million dollars?

What would be the concern there? Well, yeah, we're talking about the homestead exemption for being able to get out of capital gains on the sale of your primary residence. And if you're married, you have up to a half a million dollars worth of gains that are exempt. I didn't mean homestead exemption. That typically applies to county taxes.

But you're exempt from capital gains on the first $250,000 if you're single, $500,000 if you're married, and you can use that once every two years. All right. Good to know. Rosemary, God bless you. Thanks so much. Mentor Ohio, WCRF, our station in that area.

And Judy, you're on with Rob West. Thank you. Yes, ma'am.

Go right ahead. I have a question. I have a question about a charitable, qualified charitable distribution.

I heard that on your program and it sounds really good. And I have an RMD for about sixteen hundred. I want to know if I can divide it up and give like five hundred to three different places. Or do I have to give it to just one place?

No, you could you could give it multiple places. So what you want to do is you'd want to contact your plan or not your plan administrator, but the custodian of your IRA. Is that what you have, an individual retirement account?

Yes. OK. And who sends you your statements every month or every quarter? Who is your custodian? I live in Florida. So he's in Florida.

I'm in Ohio. OK. So it's a financial advisor. Yeah, I mentioned it to him, but he he said, I don't know about those. You have to contact somebody else.

OK, well, that's not encouraging. I would I would go back to this is your investment professional. You know, not only would I want that person to be familiar with this, I would hope that they would be ready and willing to walk alongside you to get all the information and even facilitate the transfer for you. But yeah, it can doesn't have to go to a single place and it could absolutely be for as much as you have the qualified distribution for. In fact, it can go all the way up to one hundred thousand dollars and you decide where it goes. You'd have to alert those ministries that it's coming and you'd work with the custodian. So the adviser that you're working with has the money custody that an institution.

It could be Charles Schwab or Ameritrade or Raymond James. I mean, I could rattle off a dozen of them and all of them would have the paperwork and help you initiate this qualified charitable distribution. If you feel like you don't have that relationship where you can have these conversations and somebody is going to jump on it and help you facilitate it, or you have somebody that's not coming to you with these kinds of opportunities. It might be time to consider whether a move is in order to another adviser who is going to be perhaps a little more proactive just based on what I'm hearing.

So at any rate, you should be able to do it to more than one place. And I think it'd be a great idea for you, Judy. Judy, God bless you. Thank you so much.

Port Richey, Florida. Valerie, we have a couple of minutes before the break here. So how can we help you? Hi, I'm calling because I know that you have said in the past about the advantages and disadvantages of annuities and praise God for your program. We are products of your program as well as the Lord.

And we have now retired from the world system, so we'll be going into full-time ministry. And we have different plans, including annuities, structural annuities, et cetera. So what I want to find out is we're up for a renewal on one of our annuities, you know, it's maturing, and we have to decide about looking at that again or different plans.

And I just, we really want to have this right before we go see our adviser. Yeah. Well, I think the idea, Valerie, is that, you know, annuities, the reason they're not my favorite is they limit your access to your funds. So, you know, they typically have a surrender penalty or a period where you can't withdraw the money, or if you do, you have some hefty fees.

They tend to be complex. And so you have to understand what it is you're getting into with this contract with this insurance company. You know, they can have hefty fees, and I mentioned the penalties, the way they're taxed isn't always in your best interest. So those would be the disadvantages, but there certainly are some advantages. You know, folks who are not wanting to bear the risk of having their hard-earned retirement assets invested, where the market could go down and they could lose, you know, principal. Even if it's unrealized, meaning it wasn't sold, there is risk there, and they'd rather transfer that to an insurance company for a, quote-unquote, guaranteed return. You know, giving them some protection from what we call market volatility. Or you want to convert a lump sum to an income stream for life, where you know that maybe there's a shortfall between what you're getting in Social Security and what it's going to take for you to fund your lifestyle for the rest of your life. And you'd rather an insurance company say, yeah, we'll take this amount of money and we'll guarantee X amount, you know, per month for life, and that's going to make up that shortfall, and that gives you some peace of mind. So again, there are some benefits. I just think for most folks, because of the complexity, the cost, the limited access to your funds, I'd rather see you move toward a traditional investment strategy with an advisor who can invest the money for you. You know, turn it into an income stream, but you still have access to the money.

It's a little more, you know, understandable and less complex and often less expensive. Valerie, we're going to have to run here, but I hope that information helps you. God bless you and your husband as you move forward. When we come back, we'll say hi to Enoch, who wants to help his adult child manage a large sum of money. That and more after this.

It's really great to have you along today. It's MoneyWise Live. No, I'm not Rob West.

I'll try that tomorrow. I'm working on my impression. He's Rob West. Who am I? Oh, I'm Steve Moore.

And I used to be the co-host. By tomorrow, there's no chance of knowing if I'll be here or not. But I was going to say, I think that it's a pleasure to have you with us today. Also, it's a pleasure to hear from you in regard to, well, keeping this ministry on the air without your prayer support and without your financial support.

We just wouldn't be here each day because, to be real honest with you, there are bills to pay. And as a ministry, we depend greatly upon the people that love us, that listen to us and support us. And you can make a gift of any size when you visit our website, MoneyWiseLive.org, and click the donate tab right there at the top of the page. And we thank you for that in advance. MoneyWiseLive.org. Just click the donate tab at the top of the page. Portage, Indiana.

Enoch, thank you, sir, for your patience. And how can we help you? Yeah, I've got about a million dollars in life insurance. And the way the beneficiary is set up right now is if I died, my wife would get it. And then if my wife and I died together, our oldest daughter would be the beneficiary. And I'm wondering if we have any way to direct what happens with that money. Like, I know with our assets, we can direct on our will, but I didn't know about a life insurance payout. Yeah, the question would be, Enoch, how you want to handle that in terms of whether or not you want control on when the money is dispersed.

If it's at death, obviously your will could make that determination. But if in the event you and your wife passed away and your daughter was still a minor, let's say, and you wanted control over under what conditions or ages the money is then dispersed and to whom for her benefit, that would be where a trust would come into place. A revocable trust.

It probably cost you somewhere around $1,500 to set up. And it's, you know, if you want a certain amount of money to go to your kids' care when they're minors, you can structure the trust to pay out to cover those costs. And then if you want them to receive the funds that remain, let's say when they turn 18, you can create a stipulation that gives them the remainder of your life insurance benefit of that time. The flexibility here is key for young and growing families because you can adjust the revocable trust in an ongoing capacity as your kids get older, your financial needs and wishes change. So that would really be the tool by which you do that, you know, to make sure that it's handled appropriately and according to your wishes. So what I would encourage you to do is to connect there in Indiana with an estate planning attorney, somebody who specializes in this, who could really help advise you on how to set that up, what the costs would be. If you don't know someone, connect with a certified Kingdom advisor in your area and ask for a referral.

Every advisor will have access to an estate planning attorney. Enoch, God bless you, brother. Thanks for calling in today. Let's go to Illinois, Rob, and see if we can help Joe.

Joe, thanks for calling today. How can we help you? Hi, I have a question about mortgages. We have some debt and want to get rid of that and wanted to know is a mortgage, a home equity loan or a HELOC, which is the better of the three options?

What should I do? Yeah, what type of debt is it, Joe? A credit card. Okay, and what do you owe roughly? About 70.

Okay, about 70,000. Yeah, and was the situation that led to the debt in the first place, has that been resolved? Is this result of a medical event, a failed business? Is it just kind of overspending and it's built up over time? Tell me how you got to this point. Loss of job multiple times and just sitting there accruing, never being able to kind of make ends meet, just slowly building up equity and then losing a job. Got it.

Makes sense. Tell me about your home that you have now. What is it worth and what is the current mortgage you have in place? Worth about $240. We're down to about $140. Okay, and what's your interest rate? 4%. Okay, and do you have a good credit score? $740, why $750.

Alright, that's really helpful. So, here's my thought on this. Would I rush out and get a mortgage and roll all this unsecured debt and secure it to your house? I wouldn't. Now, I realize on paper this could make a lot of sense because if you've got a $740 credit score and you've found employment, and we didn't talk about that, but let's say you have and you document your income, it's probably not a bad idea as long as you don't extend the term for you to refinance that mortgage. Get that down to let's say 2.6%. If you've been paying on that 10 years, I'd look at a 20-year mortgage, not a 30. If you've been paying on a 15, I'd get a 15-year mortgage. I don't want you to increase the term, but you could save a bundle in interest by refinancing, but it would be very tempting to cash out, roll that debt in and say, well, we're going from an average of 14%.

I just made that up. Let's say it's 14% interest on the credit cards. It might be higher. We're going from average of that down to 2.6%, 2.75%, whatever it is. Why wouldn't we do that? Well, the reason is, again, we're making unsecured debt secured to your house, so if something happens and you can't pay, now you've lost your home.

The second reason is often we're treating the symptom and not the underlying issue. The underlying issue is we've got to be able to have a spending plan that balances even in the difficult times. Sometimes we have to go to a May Day budget where we say we're just going to keep the lights on, the mortgage paid, food on the table, and gas in the car, and everything else goes to the extent it can, and we're going to dial back our spending and we're not taking on any debt. The problem is as soon as you take all that pressure off, you roll this into the house, it's like, okay, we can breathe again. Now we just extended the payout for 15 or 20 years, and all of a sudden, you call me a year from now and you say, Rob, I've got $10,000 in credit card debt.

What do I do? And it's because we haven't solved the underlying issue, which is we've got to live on a spending plan. Now, I realize there are oftentimes things just out of our control, especially right now with COVID and people losing jobs. I don't want to minimize that. I don't want to make this sound like it's easy.

It's not. It can be very difficult when we're talking about losses of jobs and medical events and all of those things. But I'm just not excited about you taking this and attaching it to the house and running that roughly $100,000 worth of equity you have up to where all of a sudden, you've got $30,000 in equity. So what would I do instead? My starting point, Joe, would be to call Christian Credit Counselors or go to their website, christiancreditcounselors.org, and let's see if we can't get you out of debt 80% faster by getting the interest rate down to between 2 and 12% instead of 12 to 22%. And get you one monthly payment that fits into the budget, do the hard work, get out of debt, get on a spending plan, stick to it, and have a story to tell a few years down the road that you did this, and you still have the equity in your house and you've learned from it. And you're not going to, you know, repeat this down the road.

So I don't like a home equity line of credit because it's a variable rate. And, you know, that would be my best advice right now. So I hope that makes sense. And I really do appreciate your call today. Yeah, thank you, Joe. And that's christiancreditcounselors.org, a great place to start. God bless you, Joe.

Chicago, Illinois. Trish, you're our final caller today on MoneyWise Live. What's on your mind? How do I make a decision on all the requests that I get through the mail after years ago I've, you know, sent in?

And how do I know which is the really safe and true request, you know, for feeding the children and so many others? Very good. Well, you know, I think there's a couple of thoughts here, Trish. Number one, I appreciate your giving heart, which is you want to be giving to ministries that are meeting real needs in the name of Christ.

That's great. And you should be doing that. And I would say secondly, just because somebody asks doesn't mean you have to give, right? So I think the starting point is on your knees saying, Lord, what would you have me to do? How much should I be giving out of what you've entrusted to me?

And then once you know that amount or you've decided what it is, at least for a period of time, let's say the next calendar year, then you say, OK, where am I going to give it? And I'd start with what are the things that align with my heart and God's heart? You know, what are those things, whether it's the ministry of God's word or the ministry of God's mercy or the ministry of God's justice and all the different issues that fall under those three broad categories? Which ones are the ones that, you know, really prick my heart and keep me up at night thinking about people in these areas? And then which ministries are doing the best work in the name of Jesus?

And I realize that's what you're asking about. And in terms of where I would go to evaluate that first is I'd say wherever you can give to where you're personally involved and you know the leaders or you're able to experience some of the work that this ministry is doing, that's always better. Number two, you can go to a website called Charity Navigator and they will give you information about those ministries. You can look for the ECFA logo, E-C-F-A, Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability, to know that they're handling God's money, that they've been entrusted well. And you could check with our friends at the National Christian Foundation, ncfgiving.com, and ask them for a recommendation for ministries doing great work responsibly and effectively in an area that you're passionate about and I know they'd love to help you. So again, Charity Navigator, look for the ECFA logo, E-C-F-A, and then call our friends at National Christian Foundation or go to ncfgiving.com. And typically, Trish, you might want to check your mail a little closer, but typically if it's an email, there will be at the very bottom of the page an opportunity for you to opt out of future emails, fundraising emails. And even if it's paper mail, typically somewhere on the card or the letter, there will be an opportunity for you to do that as well or a phone number. So look a little closer and look for those opportunities, but we appreciate your phone call today and we can understand where that's coming from.

So many of us do give meaning to only give once or twice and ten years later we're still getting those mailings. We're glad you called. Thanks so much. MoneyWise Live is a partnership between Moody Radio and MoneyWise Media. Thanks so much for tuning in and for listening today. Our technical crew composed of Amy, Aaron, Deb, and of course the inevitable, inimitable, he's a good guy, Jim Henry. Join us again tomorrow. We'll be back with another edition of MoneyWise Live.