Set Your Estate in Order

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Not licensed in Alaska, Hawaii, Georgia, Massachusetts, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Utah. Imagine a court freezing your assets, then combing through every detail of your finances for months or longer. Well, that's exactly what happens if you die without a will.

But fortunately, it's easy to spare your loved ones that burden and give them some comfort in your passing. Today, Kingdom Advisors President Rob West has a checklist of documents to get that job done. And it's your calls on anything financial at 800-525-7000.

800-525-7000. I'm Steve Moore. Set your estate in order. That's next right here on MoneyWise Live. All right, Rob, obviously we're talking about the need for a will. So I guess we should start right there, huh?

Right. And if jeopardy had a category of things people procrastinate about, making out a will would probably be at the top of the list. But it's essential if you want to avoid having your family go through the hardship of the probate court deciding how your assets will be distributed. The good news is, Steve, drafting a will is relatively inexpensive.

In fact, the fewer assets you have, the cheaper it is to draft a will. Now, what does a will do? Well, it's simply a document that clearly lays out how you want your possessions divided among family members or friends and charities or ministries. It can also specify who will get guardianship of your children in the event both parents should die.

This is a big one. It also names an individual or executor to oversee the process of distributing your assets and possessions. A will can also help eliminate family squabbles by bringing clarity to who gets what. Now, the average price range for a will is going to be between 300 and 1000 dollars, but well worth the cost. You can probably do a will online for as little as a hundred dollars, but I think it's worth the extra money to have an estate attorney draw it up. That will greatly reduce the risk that you'll miss something.

It does vary state to state and they can ask you really important questions. The cookie cutter will, Steve, that you find online probably won't take your personal situation into account. Certainly not quite as well. Okay. You know, a will is such an important document. It's a wonder that so many of us delay getting one.

Well, yes. And the younger you are, the more likely you are to put it off. A recent survey showed that fewer than one out of five adults between 18 and 34 have actually drawn up a will. It reminds me of, uh, uh, well, things like investing or life insurance when you're younger.

It just seems to be so far out. You know, why bother? Okay. So, uh, after you have your will drawn up, what's the next document you need to set your, set your estate in proper order? Yeah, that would be setting up a financial power of attorney and it can be very helpful while you're still alive. It allows you to name a trusted individual to make a financial decision or decisions for you.

Should you become incapacitated? In most cases, it would be your spouse, uh, to make decisions about, uh, assets that you don't own jointly, but it could also be a trusted friend or, uh, the family attorney. Granting a POA ensures that your finances will run smoothly when you're not able to do it. Okay. Power of attorney. Got it. Uh, we have that box checked.

And what's next? Well, next you want to set up a medical power of attorney. It gives someone the authority to make decisions about your healthcare. If again, you aren't able to make them for yourself, it's sometimes called a medical or healthcare proxy. And depending upon your state, a financial and medical power of attorney may be combined into one document. Okay.

Uh, but really what does it do? Yeah, basically a medical power of attorney gives the person you specify the authority to direct your doctor to administer or withhold medications and procedures. Uh, obviously this is something you'll want to discuss at length with that individual in advance.

So he or she knows your wishes. Uh, you may also want to include what's called an advance directive that specifies your wishes about being put on life support equipment in the event of a terminal illness. Uh, that document, again, may eliminate family arguments. Okay. Uh, as we moved on the list, medical power of attorney, uh, check anything else? Uh, yeah, just one more thing. You want to make sure you name beneficiaries for your retirement accounts and insurance policies.

Keep in mind that doing so, see, uh, supersedes anything you've laid out in your will assets and those accounts go directly to the named beneficiaries without going through a probate. Okay, good. All right. Good to know. Um, any final advice before we run out of time here?

Yeah. You know, we've listed several documents you need to put your estate in order and that task might seem daunting to some people, but if you hire a competent, godly estates attorney, someone who deals with this sort of thing, it'll make the process a lot easier and you'll probably get a break in cost if you do them all at once. If you don't have an attorney, you can find one by going to MoneyWise Live. Click on find a CKA and ask for a referral to a godly estate attorney. Okay, there you have it.

Everything you need to set your estate in order. Your call's next. Call right now.

Open lines at 800-525-7000. Great to have you with us today. Well, it is Friday. It's finally arrived and we always like Fridays. There's always something a little special.

Speaking of a little special, coming up, well, maybe in the next 15-20 minutes, I want to tell you something about this specific Friday, but I'm not going to go into it just yet. Now, I haven't run this past Rob, but that's what makes it fun. Um, Rob, uh, your son, uh, was here just a couple of days ago and a friend of his, and they were trying to raise some money, uh, and it was for an organization that I've, I don't have in front of me now. Leukemia society, uh, something along those lines. Yes, that's right. Yeah. He stopped by on a program we did about gen Y and generosity and Tim Elmore was here as well.

And so many of you were so kind to call in and say, uh, how impressed you were with Colby and Kate and they, uh, they had a lot of fun. Today's a big day though in his life. He's a, you know, he was 16 when he joined us here on the broadcast on Wednesday. Well, today is when he passed his driver's test. So I now have another driver in the house and, um, you know, it's a different age because you know, I'm, I'm a bit of a techie, Steve.

Yeah. And so of course I've got an app where I can see where all my kids are at all times. So as we're talking here, I'm literally watching him drive around Marietta and I can see his speed and whether or not he breaks hard and every turn he makes love that and then you can text him and say, Hey, slow down, buddy, slow down.

Although he can't text and drive, so he better not respond. Well, congratulations to him and our prayers for you and your lovely wife as the kids continue to grow up in spite of, well, in spite of, I don't know what, if you keep feeding them, they're going to do that. Uh, Hey again, if we can help you today with anything financial, you have us a call 800-525-7000 Grand Rapids, Michigan, WGNB. Hi, Mary. How can we help you?

Thank you for taking my call. Yes. Uh, we, we already have a trust, but, um, are wondering if we can just eliminate the trust and put everything in a TOD. Some of our investments, our TOD makes it real simple. And then, um, if we can do that, um, can we just even put our house as that transfer on death to our children?

Yes. Uh, you know, I, I would encourage you to visit, uh, within a state attorney just to talk about, um, what you might, you know, be giving up, you know, there are benefits, uh, to the trust beyond just the expediency of the transfer happening outside of probate. Um, you know, with a living trust, uh, you're going to have things pass outside of the public record. Uh, you know, there are other benefits in terms of it goes into effect prior to death. And so if you wanted to be able to have a trustee make decisions on your behalf, uh, for the assets in the trust, because you're incapacitated, if you wanted the ability to control how the assets are distributed, uh, beyond your life. So if there's certain triggering events where inheritances occur, or you wanted to be able to, uh, you know, allow that money to, uh, you know, be distributed over time, that's one of the benefits. Um, I will say some states do allow you to set up what's called a TOD or a transfer on death, uh, deed for a property, not everyone. So that's again, what you'd want to check on. So I think you just need to compare, uh, you know, why you have the trust, especially now that you've spent the call, you know, the time and the money to establish it and whether you would be giving up any benefits by letting it go, uh, versus just having a simple will and named beneficiaries along with TOD accounts, which again, are just going to, you know, allow you to pass your estate efficiently.

So, uh, if you don't have an attorney, you probably do the person who drafted it, but if you've moved or something like that, you could certainly connect with a certified kingdom advisor there in Grand Rapids to see, um, whether or not you could let this go and, uh, perhaps operate outside of it. Does that help? Absolutely. God bless you. Thanks very much. We'll contact the CKA.

Thank you so much. Yes. Yes, ma'am. Thank you, Mary. And again, Rob, a CKA certified kingdom advisor, and we have those people all over the country.

And an easy way to find one near you is to visit our website money wise, live.org, uh, scroll to the bottom of the page a little bit, and you'll find a little window that says, uh, contact or find a CKA. Now I have to ask you the primary question. Whenever we discuss this, uh, the, uh, without going into a ton of detail, uh, the difference between a will and a trust rub. Uh, yeah, a will is a document that basically expresses your wishes on how you want your estate to be passed, um, at your death. It's only going into effect at death and it gives the probate court and the personal representative the instructions on how to pass your estate. It also gives you the ability to name the guardian for minor children in the event both parents die. Uh, that's different from a living, uh, excuse me, well, living trust or revocable trust where that can go into effect prior to death and does add these other benefits for any assets that are titled in the name of the trust. And that is passing outside of probate, uh, keeping it anonymous, allowing you to, um, express your wishes to have it pass over time based on triggering events.

There are certain legal protections as well, so they are different entirely and you need to just understand which tool is going to be best for you or both based on your situation. Okay. Well, we were speaking about children just a couple of moments ago, uh, to Atlanta, Georgia. Mary, you have a question about, uh, helping your child, right?

I do. Um, in a nutshell, we are trying to help her manage her money better in her twenties than we did in our twenties. We didn't do such a great job.

So thankfully since then, we've learned a lot. Um, I'm trying to just give her like, um, a simple way to understand compounding interest. And, um, instead of one of the times that she had sat a couple of times a week, we were thinking if we could show her what a $10 meal, like put towards some type of an account, how it would, um, grow.

But when I look for something online, I get so overwhelmed. I'd like get off on a thousand sidetracks. So I didn't know if you all might have an idea of a, like a simple formula that we could plug that in just to give her an idea. Yes. Well, it's a great idea, Mary, because as you point out, you know, it's hard to grasp the opportunity cost, uh, related to spending money now that could be saved for the future, especially when that amount saved and properly invested can compound over time. And I think, um, you know, a couple of thoughts come to mind. Number one, if you send me an email, just send it to questions at money wise.org.

Just recap what we talked about here. I'll reply myself with a couple of articles and even a YouTube video or two that you could show her to explain this concept, but any number of compound interest calculators that you could find, uh, just by Googling that term would allow you to say, okay, if we were to take whatever that amount is, if she's eating out twice a week and she's spending $12 a meal, $24 a week times 52 weeks invested at 8%, uh, you know, uh, systematically over the next five years, you'll show her what she could have. And I think, you know, as she begins to relate those, uh, amounts that she could be depositing to the actual spending that's occurring now and what that could turn into down the road, it will begin to make the point. And I think, you know, beginning to have those conversations now, um, as money's beginning to have some meaning because she's spending her own money and understanding, you know, what things cost and so forth. This is a really valuable lesson, uh, because the other opportunity here is to begin to equate if she has a job, um, the amount of hours it takes her to earn, uh, you know, that, uh, amount that she's spending on that meal. So if she's, you know, my son's refereeing games at the church this weekend, he'll be making $12 an hour. He goes out with his friends, uh, to dinner or something and spends $20. And all of a sudden he realizes, wait a minute, you mean I have to work two hours just to pay for that meal? And, you know, I'm going to tithe on that and I've got to pay a little tax, depending on how much I earn and wait a minute, you know, maybe I want to think twice about that.

Maybe I'll just eat at home. And then, you know, we can do something after. So, you know, teaching these lessons are really important. So I would start with a simple compound interest calculator to begin to show her that.

And then if you send me that email, I'll reply with a couple of articles that I think she'll really enjoy. Mary, we're glad you called today. Thank you very much for that. Uh, you're listening to MoneyWise Live with your host, Rob West. I'm Steve Moore. When we come back, yes, we have yet another Mary, three Marys in a row, with some questions she wants to know about putting their house in a trust.

That and more when MoneyWise Live continues. Hey, we hope you're having a wonderful day wherever you are. Maybe you're shoveling snow in upstate New York. Maybe you're lounging in the sun in West Palm Beach, whatever. We're glad you're listening today.

Thank you very much for that. And if you have a question today for Rob West, anything financial or sunburn related, uh, 800-525-7000. We haven't done, uh, we haven't done a, uh, a topic in that regard in a while, Rob, a sunscreen, the importance of it, uh, good value in sunscreens.

Maybe we could put our, our team on that. What do you think the value of sunscreen? Yeah. I'm a big fan of sunscreen.

You know, I grew up in South Florida and so certainly, certainly know the value of sunscreen. I'm also happy to report, Steve, you know, we're talking about my son got his license today and I've been tracking him as he's driving. He made it home. He made it home safely. So first trip success.

Check the box. Did he stop at Chick-fil-A? Can you know? I think he went to Wendy's.

You need to sit down and speak to that boy. All right. 800-525-7000.

Uh, let's see. How about our third Mary today? Calling from Odessa, Florida. Uh, let's say hi, Mary. We're so glad you called today.

How can we help you? Hello? I don't feel very special anymore. You're special to us, Mary. Oh, why thank you. Um, just a quick question. We've been getting our affairs in order.

I'm, I'll be 60 next week. Yikes. And, um, we got a trust formed a few years back, but then the attorney we used for all of that has kind of disappeared. So we've not done anything with it. I don't know exactly how to put your physical house in a trust. We own two businesses. We have private mortgages for our children and, you know, savings accounts.

Those all have our POD. So we're good there, but what exactly should I be putting into the trust and how exactly do you do that? Yes, you certainly can. And it would probably be a time to go ahead and visit with a new estate planning attorney. If you no longer have a relationship with the one that set this up in the first place, just to see if there is something that needs to be updated. But essentially, you know, you determine what type of deed you want to use. There's various types of property deeds you could use to transfer your home into a trust.

You prepare and sign the deed. It gets recorded with the county and essentially it becomes then an asset of the trust. At that point, you want to make sure the trustee knows the property is inside the trust. And this is going to allow the home along with anything else that's titled in the name of the trust to, you know, pass not outside of probate, essentially. And according to the directives inside the trust that the trustee will carry out, you know, some folks will use it to decrease their taxable estate, although with the taxes the way they are now, it's typically not an issue because it's so high. But still a good idea if you've taken the time to put a trust in place. No reason not to put all of the assets that make sense into it. So again, I would connect with a godly estate attorney, have he or she look over what you have, talk about anything that needs to be updated.

And then you could proceed if they agree in preparing the deed to record with the county the trust, excuse me, the home being in the name of the trust as opposed to your own name. Mary, thank you very much for that great question today. Hope that helps.

Let's go to Muncie, Indiana. And Don, how can we help you, sir? Thank you for taking my call. My wife just passed away in January and I'm filling out my taxes while I've got them done. And I just realized, what do I put where the spouse's signature is, where her signature goes?

Well, Don, I'm so sorry to hear about your wife's passing. You can still use the married filing jointly with your deceased spouse for the year of death, unless you remarry during that year. If you remarry in the year of your spouse's death, you can't file jointly with your deceased spouse. But, you know, again, you can use the married filing jointly with the new spouse. So in your case, if you haven't remarried, you absolutely can still married filing jointly. And then on that line to your question, you would just simply put deceased. And if you have other questions related to your taxable situation, I'd always encourage you, especially in a year where some things are changing, to connect with a professional, a tax preparer, accountant who can really look over your situation and make sure things are done properly.

But at the end of the day, you can still proceed in the year of the death, married filing jointly and just make that notation on the signature line. Don, God bless you, brother. We appreciate your call today and we wish you the very best.

Coming up, we're going to get to Susie and then Susan in Indiana. But before we do that, Rob, I mentioned I had something special for us today because today is a special day. Today is Lost Penny Day, nationally, of course. The first US penny was designed by Benjamin Franklin, minted in 1787. In 1909, the penny became the first coin to have a president's image and it was first released on February 12th, 1909 to commemorate Abraham Lincoln's 100th birthday.

And then, of course, coming up this coming Monday after Valentine's Day, which is Sunday, but on Monday is President's Day. So you see how all that works together? Look at that.

It just kind of fits together like a big puzzle. And here's some things you can do with a penny. Here's some things you can't do. You can't buy penny candy anymore. It's used to when I was a boy, but it's like a nickel, at least. Now, you can use a penny to teach a child about money and how it works and the value of money. You could with your child or your grandchild, I have a couple, you could start a penny collection, something kind of fun.

Maybe the very beginnings of their investment portfolio, who knows? But there you have it. It's Lost Penny Day. Enjoy. All right, we'll be right back. Good to have you aboard today.

It's MoneyWise Live, where God's timeless wisdom meets today's financial choices and decisions. Here's our phone number. Jot it down. Better yet, give it a call. We have several open lines. We'd love to say hi to you today. 800-525-7000. Up to Ohio and Susie, we know you've been patiently waiting. Thank you for that. What's your question?

It's really a two-fold question. A family member in 2020 began paying two family members for providing personal care so that this person could remain in her own home. She paid them directly. My question for 2020 would be, do the caregivers need to do anything besides simply add that amount to the line where they report the wages earned? And does the person receiving the care need to do anything extra other than what was already done, which is pay these people? And for 2021, looking ahead, assuming this care is continuing then, do the caregivers need to file a self-employed and pay estimated taxes quarterly, or can it be done more as it was done? You just simply add it to your wages earned during the year.

Right. Well, let me just tell you generally, and unfortunately there are some exceptions, and so I don't think it's a bad idea, again, in a situation where something new is taking place, there's a change in your financial life that results in income, just to get some competent professional counsel looking at all the details and being able to provide some advice. But generally speaking, Susie, if you're the primary caregiver for an elderly family member and you don't run a home care business in addition to that care, you would typically not be required to pay self-employment taxes. You would just put that income as other income on your tax return, and that's going to spare you from the FICA tax. There is some information that you'll find on IRS.gov about caring for family members. You could certainly check that out. Or again, this may be the year that you just want, if they haven't previously, that you want to get a competent tax professional to prepare the return so you can bounce these ideas off of them and perhaps look at other ways to add new deductions and ways to save in taxes because of the care that they're providing.

So I would check that out, but just generally speaking, you're right, this would come in as other income, not self-employment income in most cases. Susie, thank you very much for that. We hope that helps. Let me give the phone number one more time because we do have a couple of open lines we'd like to chat. 800-525-7000. 800-525-7000. Rob, how about an email or two? All right.

We have a new one that just came in from Rachel. We're putting money into a 529 plan for our daughter's college education, but what if she doesn't want to go to college? Are savings bonds a better tax-free option? That way she could buy a car or use it as a down payment on a house or a business, right?

We appreciate your thoughts. Yeah, you know, I'm not a big fan of savings bonds just because the interest rate is so low, but I totally get what you're saying. You know, you may want to be able to provide some assistance to her for uses other than college. For that portion that you want to go or that may go toward college, you can't beat the 529 just because you're going to get that tax-free growth. Not the deduction going in federally, but you get the tax-free growth. There are ways to move it out. Namely, you can take it out on a pro rata basis for scholarship awards. You can also transfer it to yourself or another child for the purpose of higher education. But if in fact it just goes unused, you will have to pay taxes on the gains and there will be a penalty for it coming out. And so that is something to be aware of. I think really the only other option if you don't want it earmarked for college specifically, I wouldn't use a custodial account because that then becomes the child's asset at the age of majority to do whatever he or she wants with it and they may may not be making good decisions at that point. You may not want them to have access to it.

So I would just simply open a taxable account in your name or jointly with your spouse and separate it from everything else so you know that it's earmarked for the child and then just invest it in a prudent way consistent with the time horizon goals and objectives and just know that as that money grows, yes, you'll eventually have to pay some capital gains tax on the gains that you have but it'll still be there to be used at your discretion for the benefit of the child for any purpose, not specifically for college. Okay, good. Rachel, we appreciate that. One more quick one, Rob, I think it'll be quick. It's from Dawn. She says, Dear Rob, should we save our stimulus check or put it toward our credit card bills?

Ah, yeah. You know, anytime we receive income, anytime we have an increase, we want to put that into the mix with everything that we're looking at in terms of our overall priorities and objectives. So whether that's a paycheck or a stimulus check, as it's coming in for the regular income we're counting on, we should of course have a spending plan and know how that money is going to be allocated in advance.

If we get something on top of that unexpected, like a stimulus check, I think at that point we should be looking at, okay, what is the next priority for us as we consider our total goals and objectives? I would start with, do I have my emergency fund funded? If the answer is no, then that's your answer. That's what to do with it. Save it. If the answer is yes, then yeah. If you've got credit card debt, I would go ahead and attack that right away.

If you've got, you know, no emergency savings and credit cards, I'd probably only save in the emergency up to $1,500 and then pivot over to the credit cards just because that high interest rate is so costly. Once the credit cards are down or paid off, then we can flip back to the other dollars. All right, and a related question I'm throwing in because we get it a lot. People often wonder if they're going to have to pay taxes on their stimulus checks and I'm going out on the proverbial limb and say, no, you will not. And you're exactly right. Yeah, the government has made that very clear. No taxes on the stimulus money. See, now I get my own parking space. Maybe, maybe not. Indiana, Linda, can we squeeze it in here?

How can we help you? Hi, I am getting ready to refinance my mortgage and I'm actually wanting to take out $30,000 to replace my roof and windows and I hear you say many times that if you're not going to remain in the home for five to seven years, it might not be wise to refinance. I can save probably two and a half percent.

Right now, I've got 5.35 or something and can go down to 2.75 in the percentage rate. So I was just curious as to if something happens and I wanted to sell before the five years. Do you expect that you would sell, Linda, here in the next couple of years? No, not necessarily because really, to find in a place cheaper to live, I wouldn't know where to go.

Okay, very good. You know, as long as you don't have any plans to move and you think that if everything plays out the way you expect and obviously things can change, that you would stay in the home, then I would say, yeah, you're saving a significant amount on interest. Just make sure you don't extend the term. So if you have 25 years left, get a 25-year mortgage. You have 20 years left, get a 20-year mortgage. Don't go for a new 30 and reset it. But the combination of the reduced interest rate and the ability to take care of this needed expense with the roof that will put you in a position to sell it if you had to, I think is going to be enough reason to go ahead and proceed, unless you just feel like this is likely. And if that's the case, then I would pass on it.

Otherwise, I think you're in good shape to refinance. Linda, thank you very much. Nice to hear from you today when we come back from the break. It's Mary in St. Louis.

Please stick around. Hey, it's a wonderful day in the neighborhood, at least in our neighborhood. We hope it is where you are. And of course, we always do our best when we remember that God owns it all. All right, let's go to St. Louis now. And Mary, thanks for your patience. What's your situation there? Hi there.

Thanks for your program. I just wanted some guidance or your thoughts on my situation. I've been blessed to accumulate a pretty comfortable amount of assets for retirement and then retired currently in the last year or so. And I've always tithed or done even more sometimes, but when it's no longer taking a look at your income on a monthly or annual basis and saying, okay, I want to give 10 or 15 or whatever percent, now you're just looking at taking money out of your nest eggs. I just want to continue to be a good steward and be generous because it's all God's anyway, but yet trying to temper that with being judicious and not really knowing what's enough but not too much in terms of how you determine what you're giving is.

Yeah, no, it's a great question, Mary, and I can certainly appreciate how you're wrestling with this. You want to be found faithful in managing God's resources, which means we want to hold it loosely and open-handedly, allowing ourselves to be a conduit into God's activity, not just keeping it all for ourselves because we realize that at some point we have to define enough. And I think that includes both lifestyle, how much is enough, as well as assets, how much is enough. You could say how much is enough income do I want to live on, and how much is enough in terms of my balance sheet or my accumulation. And we have to define that in both areas, and I think we have to do that prayerfully, recognizing that we should be a conduit of blessing to others around us that are in need with part of God's provision, and perhaps that's why he's entrusted much to us. But nobody can tell you what that right amount is.

Nobody can define the appropriate lifestyle for a Christian. I think you need to do that before the Lord and allow him to really inform that. I think the other thing that I'd love for you to do, we had our friends with the National Christian Foundation on with us just the other day, and they put together a fabulous 10-day devotional called 10 Days of Biblical Generosity, illuminating how God can use generosity in your life. I would love to challenge you, Mary, to take 10 days and go through this, excuse me, this study. I think as you do that, and they're very short, I think you'll be encouraged by them, and really just getting into the scripture to see God's design for generosity, what he has for us, his desire that it's for our best, and that it truly is, as Jesus said, more blessed to give than to receive, and perhaps even as a part of that give you a vision for what your generosity could look like.

Because again, I don't think I can tell you what that proper amount is. Here's where you could go to get that. If you go to our website, moneywise.org slash ncf, moneywise.org slash ncf, you'll see the latest entry there from January, and you'll see the PDF, 10 Days of Biblical Generosity. And if you just take some time just to read through that over the next 10 days and ask the Lord to give you some clarity, I think perhaps you will come away, at least this will be my prayer, with a real vision on what the Lord has for you in this season of life, recognizing you've accumulated much, God has been very gracious to you in that area, and trying to figure out what should I keep for me and to pass on to others someday and to live on, and what portion should I put into God's activity. And let's see what he does, and if you wouldn't mind, I'd love for you to call us back at the end of that process and tell us what he told you. How's that sound Mary? Yes, appreciate that very much. Thank you. God bless you.

And Rob, that's a situation that all of us, or most of us, will have to face. You know, the balance between generous giving and planning for the future, having our faith in God, not our checkbook, and I believe the Bible says yes to all those things. So, you know, finding that balance is something that each of us has to do personally if you're married, hopefully with your spouse, but you know, it doesn't mean that you're not a strong Christian if you ask these questions. No, it doesn't, and the intent here is not to make anyone feel guilty for having much, because we realize, you know, God entrusts much to some and little to others, and we're to be found faithful with what God has given to us. And there's nothing wrong with wealth, because it can be a blessing not only to our families as we provide, but also to others and meeting needs around us, and many have the gift of making money. The question is, to what end? And you know, what we realize is that money is not an end in and of itself. Money is a means to an end, and here's what's most powerful about that means to an end. It's most powerful when it's a means to an end, and that end is something other than you. And as we begin to understand that and experience it, I think that's where real joy comes from.

Yeah, assembling lots of dollars shouldn't be the goal, but finding out what God wants you to do with it, and then investing those in the kingdom, that's the much better approach. Tanya in Port St. Lucie, what's on your mind today? Yes, hi, I just wanted to find, hi, I just wanted to find out, my mom is experiencing memory loss. I think she has a touch of dementia for several years now, but it's just gotten worse. So I just kind of wanted to know, is there anything that I can do for her as far as the Medicare and supplement, as far as like long term, like if she has to go into like a facility for Alzheimer's, something that would assist with that financially? I do have power of attorney over her, but I just don't know if there's anything else I need to do to help her in the long run. Yes, well, clearly there are programs and depending on her financial condition that would provide assistance, Medicaid being one of them, you know, throughout the rest of her life. I'm glad to hear you do have the proper legal documents in place, which is always important. You know, make sure you do have that medical power of attorney so you can make those decisions around her health care and be able to direct her doctors to administer or withhold medications and procedures. You want to obviously discuss that with her in depth, but I think understanding more about the financial assistance that could be provided throughout the rest of her life based on her specific financial condition is really important.

So I would inquire with the Social Security Administration, Medicare office and get a bit more information, perhaps set up a virtual meeting, which they're doing during the pandemic, just to describe in detail what's going on and be as knowledgeable as possible before you need that assistance so you're well equipped going in. Tanya, thank you very much. I hope that helps you. Sorry to hear about your mom.

We wish you and her the very best. Rob, before we take one more last call today, clue us in on the Money Wise app. I know it's a it's kind of a moving thing. Every week or so, some new aspect of it shows up and we're excited about it.

Well, we sure are, Steve. Yeah, you can find it in your app store. Just search for Money Wise Biblical Finance. Three big pieces to the Money Wise app. And by the way, it's free to download. There's a digital envelope system, the best we've ever used.

We built it the way we always wanted it to be. And so you can connect it to your institutions, download your transactions, have them automatically categorized to your various envelopes, and then you or you and your spouse always know what's left in each of those envelopes. Beyond that, there's a community section where you can interact with others on the journey and we even pop in there from time to time to respond. And then our new Discover tab comes out next week with all the best content from Biblical Finance, from the best content providers throughout the land in one place, articles, podcasts, videos.

It's going to be incredible. So go download it today. Money Wise Biblical Finance. And those communicators from across the land, they come directly to your home.

Is that what it is? Right in your pocket because it's on your app. Beverly in Ohio, you are our final caller today. How can we help you there?

Yes, thank you so much for your program. My dad had bought me a Series EE savings bond in 1991. And I asked the bank if they could cash it in and they said no.

I'm sure it's mature by now. And I just wondered how to cash it in. Yeah, the best website for that to understand what you have, what the value is, and what the next steps are, is the government's website for bonds. It's treasurydirect.gov. Treasurydirect.gov.

You should be able to type in the QSIP number, find out exactly what it's worth today, how much interest has accumulated, and then where you need to go as a next step to get it redeemed. So treasurydirect.gov, Beverly, I think is the place you're going to want to go. Could it be, Rob, that all banks don't handle savings bonds like that? Very possible, Steve. I mean, most banks do.

I'm kind of surprised. So I would just kind of keep asking around. For a EE bond, banks in general should take them. Clearly, it's reached its maturity, so it's ready to be cashed.

And I think, you know, visiting this website to find out the value, but then finding a bank that will go ahead and redeem it would be the next step. Rob, in 30 seconds, how is the West family doing these days when it comes to this whole COVID thing? I mean, everything good there?

Yeah, well, everybody's healthy, Steve. We're certainly grateful for that. We're certainly doing what we need to do to mask up and social distance. And our team, as you know, has been working remotely since March. So apart from coming in to do the broadcast each day, everybody's doing their hard work from their homes. You know, we're in Georgia, so a little bit more open than some parts of the country. My kids just finished basketball seasons, and we're still doing some limited church activities. Can't wait to do more, but grateful to be well, and certainly praying for all those affected, both financially and from a health standpoint.

That's right. We appreciate that, Rob. Thanks so much. Hope you and yours have a wonderful weekend, and we'll be back. I'll be here Monday, and I'd like to invite you to join me. Okay, I'll do that. Thanks.

And we'd like to invite you to join us as well. Remember, if you'd like to send Rob just a brief email, just a couple of lines rather than calling, you can do that. The address is questions at moneywise.org, questions at moneywise.org. My thanks to our technical staff today, pushing all the buttons, pulling all the levers, helping us get off the ground. That would be Clara, Amy, Dan, and Jim. MoneyWise Live, this program is a partnership between Moody Radio and MoneyWise Media. We hope you have a great weekend, and then don't forget, we'll be back Monday, same time, same place, with another edition of MoneyWise Live.