Returning Stimulus Money?

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.

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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. United Faith Mortgage is a DBA of United Mortgage Corp, 25 Melville Park Road, Melville, New York. Licensed mortgage banker. 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. Millions of Americans have received two rounds of stimulus payments from the government, but with an operation that huge and done so quickly, the IRS was bound to make a few mistakes.

Well, maybe more than a few. A lot of folks are still waiting for the second stimulus payment, and the IRS says some people who weren't qualified received payments anyway. If either of those apply to you, Kingdom Advisors President Rob West has what you need to know. Then it's your calls on anything at 800-525-7000.

800-525-7000. I'm Steve Moore. This is MoneyWise Live. Rob, are we sending out any stimulus checks? I was just pondering. No, not that I'm aware of. No?

A few bucks here or there maybe? No. All right. Well, let's, in addition to that, let's get some other bad news out of the way. Some folks might have to return a stimulus payment if they received it in error. I hadn't heard all that much about this, but as I said, I guess that was to be expected, huh? That's right.

It's not like the IRS was going to let you keep the money that you weren't entitled to, and you shouldn't want to. As believers, of course, we always want to act with complete integrity. Okay. Just kidding. Just kidding. Okay. All right. So how do I know if I received a stimulus payment in error?

Yeah. Well, if any of these circumstances apply to you, you probably received the money by mistake. First, you received a check for someone who has died, or you don't have a social security number. If you're a non-resident alien without a US citizen spouse, your payment was probably in error, or if you're a non-citizen who files federal taxes. Then there are the income limits, Steve, for the second stimulus payment. If your adjusted gross income exceeds 87,000 for a single taxpayer or 174,000 for a couple, well, you'll have to return the money.

And then there's one final category. If you're claimed as a dependent on someone else's taxes, well, you weren't eligible for a stimulus payment. Okay.

All right. Well, let's say I did receive a payment in error. How do I return this money? Yeah, there are different ways depending upon your circumstance.

And not surprisingly, it gets a little complicated. The IRS has a way of doing that. First, if you received a payment for someone who was deceased in 2019 or earlier, you should return the entire payment.

But if the payment was made to joint filers and one spouse is still living, well, they should return half the payment. Okay. All right. Well, that makes sense.

Yep. But here's where it gets more complicated. If the check was issued in both your name and your deceased spouse's name, and because of that, you haven't been able to deposit the check, well, then you need to return it. The IRS says that after it processes the returned payment, it will then issue you a new check in the correct amount. Okay.

A bit of a leap of faith there, but all right. And how exactly do I return this check? Well, this applies whether the check was for a deceased spouse or any other reason you weren't eligible and haven't cashed it yet. You just simply write void in the endorsement section on the back of the check. Then on a separate piece of paper, let the IRS know why you're sending the check back. Then mail the check to the appropriate IRS location. That's going to depend upon your state, but it's the same place you send your tax return each year. Okay.

All right. And how do I return the money if I've already cashed it and that I, you know, the check that I haven't gotten, shouldn't have gotten in the first place? Yeah, you can use a personal check or money order made payable to the US Treasury. You also want to write 2020 EIP. That stands for economic impact payment on the memo line and include the social security number of the person whose name was on the check. Then on a separate sheet of paper, explain why you're returning the money.

Finally, mail the check and note to the appropriate IRS center. Interesting that they're suggesting notes because we have this tendency to believe that it's all machinery, but at some point, some place, actual people are seeing these notes, huh? That's exactly right.

All right. Well, I think we're done with the bad news. What's the good news? Well, the good news is Steve, if you were eligible to receive the second $600 stimulus check, but it hasn't arrived yet, you can claim it as a recovery credit rebate on your 2020 taxes. There's a special line on the 2020 return for that. And if you don't normally file a return, well, you can go to irs.gov and start a payment trace. So there are ways to get the money you're entitled to. You know, I'm thinking it would be great if there was a way to make all of this just a bit less complicated.

Yeah. And actually there is the main reason the IRS has put, uh, had to put many of these procedures in place is because some folks haven't signed up for direct deposit. That's why they use paper checks and e-cards. So this is a good time to sign up for direct deposit through the IRS.

All right. And this is also a great time to give us a call with your financial question. 800-525-7000. And welcome back to MoneyWise Live, finding God's plan for your financial life. And today for a couple of minutes, the COVID check you may have already received, or maybe you didn't receive it in the mail. You know, that's a question we get, Rob.

I received this check. We weren't planning on it. Didn't really have it budgeted.

What should I do with it? You want to weigh in on that one? Well, yeah. You know, I think anytime we receive provision from the Lord, and that's what I would see this as, including any other source of compensation or income that we receive, we want to weigh it against our God-given priorities, goals, and objectives. So remember, if our starting place is God owns it all, and we recognize that we're given to, I think, first give back and then provide. I don't think we should start with provision because we may never get beyond that. Then we ought to think of that in light of our goals and objectives. What is God calling us to? And what principles can we extract from his word that give us a priority order for the use of his resources? So I would say very practically that would start with, do you have some reserves?

Because the unexpected is going to have. Are you giving systematically? Do you have any debt? And if so, let's use this as a means to get rid of it, starting with high-interest consumer debt, namely credit cards. Beyond that, I think we should be funding the long term. So I think we should always look at it in light of those God-given goals, priorities, objectives, and then decide prayerfully how to use the money in light of that. Well said, Rob. And if none of those options work for you for some reason, you've thought hard about it.

There's always our default position, Rob, which is an extra large pizza, and always, always no anchovies, of course. Right, for sure. Yes, there you go. Okay, 800-525-7000, State College, Pennsylvania. Hello, Steve, what's on your mind today, sir?

Hi, thank you for taking my call and my question. I'm a member of a small church in State College, which is a university town. Before COVID, we were averaging about 60 people worshiping in person.

Now with COVID, we're at about 30 in person with others watching a live stream. Half of our members are over 50, the rest are younger with young children. And giving is currently through cash or check.

And we were blessed that giving last year didn't drop off. So we're looking, considering online giving programs and have looked, there are a number that look interesting, including Banco, Titally, and PushPay, among a bunch of others. Some have a small monthly fee. It looks like they all charge anywhere between two and three quarters and 3% for using debit and credit cards and 1% for ACH donations. And it looks like most of them provide the option for members to cover those fees. So looking for any advice or thoughts that you might have about these online giving programs. Yeah, well, I like this idea, Steve, that you all would add this ability to give electronically to your website, make this available to your members.

Any number of online donation platforms will allow you to take gifts directly on the church website without having to send visitors off the site. You will expect to pay generally about, you know, for the type of volume you'd be looking at 3% in transaction fees for credit cards, probably less for debit cards. And you could look at any number of them. Some of the more popular ones to look at would be Stripe, S-T-R-I-P-E. WePay would be another one. Of course, PayPal is one that's more commonly known and then Fundly, F-U-N-D-L-Y. I think those would all be ones to look at. Stripe is growing in popularity very quickly and has a really easy to use user interface. So I would look at those four, the three you mentioned, I think would be good as well. But I think the bottom line is what can be integrated seamlessly, what has some of the fees on the lower end in terms of both the per transaction percentage that's taken as well as any ongoing monthly fees.

And this is going to be a real convenience to folks. I think you will want to make it clear to folks that there is an extra charge to the church just so they are aware of that because given that information, some may choose to continue to send a monthly check just to make sure that as much as possible is getting to the church for use in all the church's activities. But I do a bit of research there. One other place I might direct you to is a good friend of ours who's a contributor to this program periodically is a gentleman by the name of Art Rainer and you can find him at artrainer.com. He talks about these issues pretty regularly and probably has some other suggestions so you could look at that. But I appreciate you all thinking outside the box here and trying to create some more convenient ways for folks to give.

Steve, great question. Thank you very much. We appreciate that. Let's go to beautiful Athena, Georgia. Hello, George. What's on your mind today, sir?

A little bit different as far as what you just said. We're Athena, Oregon, not Georgia. Oh, Athena, Oregon. Oh, my goodness. I'm sorry.

I've had eye surgery. I just can't read at all today. Hey, buddy, how can we help you, sir? Okay, my wife and I live separately and we finally return separately.

You know, we get along just fine that way. But she received a stimulus check but I did not receive one and I was wondering is there a number I can call to find out if I'm going to get one or just not going to get one? Yeah, the IRS has a get my payment portal, George, that I think would be helpful in this case. So you just simply want to go to IRS.gov and type get my payment into the search box. There's also a link at IRS.gov for the recovery rebate credit, which you can claim if you haven't received your payment yet and you're entitled to, which would just simply take it off your taxes as an alternate approach. Claiming that credit would just simply reduce your tax bill by the amount of the stimulus you were due but haven't received. So you could go one of those two ways, either trying to track the payment and get more information on a payment that may be forthcoming or just simply claim it as a credit on your tax return. In either case, you would get the benefit of the stimulus payment you were due.

So I would take one of those two approaches. Well, okay, you don't have just a regular phone number I could call, do you? You know, nobody uses the phone anymore.

No, I'm just kidding. You could call the IRS directly, their phone number you'd find at IRS.gov, and you'll get into the phone tree there, which if you are okay using the internet, I think you can get the information you're looking for just a bit more quickly. But if you go to IRS.gov, you'll absolutely find a toll-free number there, George, and one of the first options is related to stimulus because as you might imagine, they're getting so many calls on this right now.

I just think if you're comfortable using the internet, you have a computer with internet access, you'll get the information a bit more quickly. If you don't have access, stay on the line and we'll give you that phone number. Our producer will give you that number before you go today. George, we appreciate that call. Thank you very much.

Sorry for misidentifying your state, but we hope that works out for you. And well with that, I think maybe we need to pause and take a break. You're listening to Money Wise Live. I'm Steve Moore.

He's Rob West. When we come back, we'll chat with, let's see, Steven Anderson, Indiana, then Chanel in Chicago, and perhaps you as well. Again, here's our phone number 800-525-7000. Nice to have you with us today. It's a joy and a blessing to always join you at this time, Monday through Friday.

Tell a friend and we'll be right back. Welcome back to Money Wise Live. If you've never checked us out online, you might want to do that. It's moneywiselive.org. You'll find links to free resources, personal finance tools, things like budget templates, also archives of past radio programs, and easy ways to find a CKA, a Certified Kingdom Advisor in your area, and also a budget coach. That and more when you visit moneywiselive.org. Also, the donate tab at the top of the page. Without your prayers, without your financial assistance, we'd have a tough time being here each day. So if you enjoy the program, if you've ever come away with something helpful and useful and you'd like to help us out, we'd be honored. Again, moneywiselive.org. Click the donate tab at the top of the page. Let's continue on. Anderson, Indiana. Hello, Steve.

How can we help you today? Yeah, I started a radio a while ago about the stimulus checks. Meanwhile, we got the 600 and 1200 and we've been hearing a lot on the radio about they're going to issue another check here for 1400. Are we still entitled or how does that go?

How does that work? Yeah, Steve, you know, if you were entitled to get the last one, you're likely going to get the next one. You know, they will change periodically the qualifications just based on the income that's there.

So as long as you fall underneath the combined income limitation as husband and wife and nothing has changed in your situation, then you should receive the next one. It would just be a matter of, you know, when that actually gets to you. I would encourage you and the rest of our listeners to be signed up for direct deposit. That's going to be the most efficient way to get that check.

But apart from that, you know, shouldn't be anything that's changed. You know, if you fall under that income limitation and that check should be on the way to you. God bless. God bless with that, Steve. We appreciate that. Thank you, Alex in Tampa. What's your question for Rob West? Thank you for taking my call.

I really love your show. Thank you. And what's your question? Curiosity.

Curiosity here. So we always telling our fellow believers to stay out of debt. You know, stay away from credit cards if it's possible. Buy a used car, buy a new car. So I'm just wondering if everybody follow biblical principle to handle money, how the economy we handle it that way? Because I have to make a lot of people working for the dealership, the banking industry, you know, I don't know how to play out. Yes.

Yeah. Well, Alex, I think, you know, it's a great question to ask. And what we recognize is that the economy does function largely based on consumers being healthy, having disposable income, discretionary income to spend and enjoy God's provision, as well as to be a conduit of his provision back to those who are in need. You know, and if we all handled money that way, we said starting as a starting place, we recognize God owns it all and then took our role as stewards. And we said we want to take a part of God's provision and return it to those who are in need.

We would have a lot more people that wouldn't be in a desperate and dire situation financially because we'd be sharing generously. And then if we said we were going to live well within our means on the rest, you're right, that might have an impact on lenders, notably, but it would mean that the consumer would be in a much stronger, more financially healthy situation. And you won't find us saying you shouldn't ever buy a new car. In fact, we often say when we talk about buying used, if nobody bought new cars, there eventually wouldn't be any used cars, right?

Because they'd all wear out. So the key is to make sure that we're not getting overextended, you know, that we're saving to buy, hopefully with cash, and doing it in a way that fits well within our budget. The problem is so often we buy more car than we can afford using debt to fund the purchase with money that we don't really have.

And that's where people get into trouble. But if we've saved and we've handled our money well and wisely, there's no problem with buying a new car again, as long as it fits within the goals and objectives that I have given to me by the Lord, and that I'm able to do the other things, including providing for my family and giving generously and saving for the future. So, you know, I think you make a good point. But I actually believe that if we all lived according to God's principles, not only would we be stronger financially, but our nation would as well, because we'd have far less debt, and we would be able to operate well within God's provision. So I appreciate the question. It does raise a really fascinating and interesting point. But I think the news is all good if we handle money God's way.

That's right. We've never said that. I mean, we don't want to tell you what God's lifestyle is for you.

We've never said that all credit cards are bad, new cars, new houses, boats. We still feel strongly about anchovies. However, we're still recommending no anchovies on your pizza. But Alex, God bless you. Thank you very much. Let's go. Well, let's stay right here in Georgia. Hey, Victoria, how can we help you today? What's on your mind? Hello.

I just have a question. My husband and I, we're both 30. We have one child. And in 2019, we bought a house, but we are planning to have more children. And we decided to go ahead and start building house this year, maybe later this summer. I just want to ask if this is a good time to sell and build the economy that the country is right now. Yes.

You know, Victoria, I don't think there's anything wrong with that. It is a seller's market in the sense that there's typically around the country right now, the housing market has been very strong, there's tends to be low inventory. What that means is as quickly as people are putting them on the market, because there's not enough houses out there for sale, they're being bought up very, very quickly and at top dollar. So it is a good time to sell in terms of unless you're in an unusual situation, or there's a particular problem with the home, you should be able to maximize the value on the sale. The question whenever it, you know, we're considering building just always comes down to number one, do you have the, you know, a proper understanding of what it's going to take to build the home in terms of the cost?

Do you have the reserves? Where are you going to live while it's under construction? So if you're going to sell, and then you're going to start building, you know, where are you going to go in the meantime? Are you going to rent?

And if so, that's fine. But you know, do you have the staying power in terms of your, your budget? Will it accommodate that rent payment where you're going to live while you're carrying a construction loan and servicing that debt? And then what if it takes six months longer than the general contractor says it's going to?

Is that going to put a damper? And what if, you know, the prices end up increasing on you as they have so often lately with the price of the raw materials going up, because so much construction is happening. So you just need to think through all that and make sure you have a good, strong financial foundation under you.

But if you have, there's no wrong, nothing wrong with you doing that at this time, by any means. Victoria, God bless you and your husband as you make this choice. We'll be right back. Welcome back to the broadcast, Rob West and Steve Moore, along with you today, taking your questions and comments.

We do have a few open lines, 800-525-7000, 800-525-7000. Let's go right back to the phones and welcome Mike. We're so glad you've called today. How can we help you, sir?

How are you doing guys? I enjoy your program very much. Thank you for taking my call. I would like to find out, I'm living in the Chicago land area of, I'd like to find a Kingdom advisor in my area. Can you help me with that please, Rob?

Yeah, we sure can, Mike. You know, when you talk about a certified Kingdom advisor, it's a designation and it's exclusively for those who have really become specialists in biblically wise financial advice. So that's evidenced by a 50-hour university training program, as well as meeting a whole bunch of other requirements, both in the technical side, as well as integrity, competency, and even a regulatory review. They also have pastor and client references that have to be sent in as well. So once somebody achieves the CKA designation, it just simply means they really have purposed themselves to be, you know, excellent in giving biblically wise financial advice. Now we try to make it really easy to find a CKA in your area. The best way, Mike, is just simply to go to our website at MoneyWiseLive.org and just click find a CKA.

You'll put in your zip code or your city and state. You'll get a big long list and really everyone on that list has the designation and we typically recommend that you'd interview at least two or three. Keep in mind they don't work for us.

They've just achieved the designation that really is the gold standard for biblical financial advice at a professional level. So they're going to have different ways that they charge for what they do. They'll have different backgrounds and experience. They'll be at different firms. They may be independent or with one of the big wire houses.

So you really need to find the person that is the right fit for you. So I'd head over to the website, do that search, find some that are nearby you and then start interviewing and see who's the best fit. Again, the website MoneyWiseLive.org and we appreciate your call so much today. Let's head down to Palm Beach County next and welcome Ray to the broadcast. Ray, good afternoon. Hey, good afternoon. I do listen to you a few times. I'm unable to do that every day, but you seem to be having a lot of people. I wanted you to give in. Yeah, you're breaking up just a little bit.

Why don't you try to move slightly if you can to somewhere with a better signal and try that again. Oh, okay. I think we've got you now. Yes, sir. Okay.

All right. So I'm sort of on the job while I talk to you, but anyway, I kind of messed up with my financing and I'm just starting to see the light. I'm managing my money, but I'm in a position where I really don't have a lot of investment. What I want to do, I work with the Florida retirement system and I understand I can take a lump sum and roll it over into an IRA.

Yes, sir. Would that be the best option for somebody without saying, I'm not worried about investment right now. I just want to pay off my debts and my major debt is my home. And I can use this money based on what they're giving me, approximately 200,000. I can pay off my house with that. Yeah.

Tell me what you're going to do next, Ray. Have you separated from the work that allowed you to be in the Florida retirement system? No, not as yet. I plan to do so, but I'm not going to do it unless I can pay off my debt. My credit cards and all that stuff I am managing now is considered for me, maybe a lot, but by normal standards financing, I don't owe a lot of debt. Okay. Very good.

Yeah. You know, I think the key here, Ray, is to do some financial planning, to really understand fully what's going on in your financial life. You know, I love the idea of you being debt-free over time. And in fact, it's what we tell folks we want them to pursue with a goal of at least being debt-free, if possible, by the time they retire, including your home, because that's going to give you the most flexibility.

It's going to reduce what the need is for your lifestyle on a monthly basis. It's going to give you a lifestyle on a monthly basis and therefore take, you know, as much pressure as possible off your savings, your retirement savings, in terms of your ability to convert that into an income stream. But, you know, I don't want you to do that prematurely, because keep in mind, if you're still working, you're not quite in retirement yet, you know, there's a benefit to being debt-free, including your home. But I also like the idea that we would keep that retirement savings, that which you've been building up in the Florida retirement system, working for you over the long haul. And my preference would be that you let that continue to grow and that you dial your lifestyle or your spending back in such a way that you can take excess cash flow beyond what you need to build up an emergency fund and beyond what's going to credit cards. And you would use that to pay down the house as opposed to, you know, paying it off early out of your retirement, because there's going to be a penalty if you're under 59 and a half, plus it will also be taxable to you. So that tends to be expensive money. So my preference is you let that continue to grow at the appropriate time.

You either convert it to an income stream or you take through the drop program, a lump-sum distribution into an IRA. And we may accelerate the mortgage payoff at, you know, at or near retirement out of those funds. But again, I'd rather you do that out of free cash flow. And if you have credit card debt, that would absolutely be my priority at this point. So let me recommend that you schedule an appointment with a Certified Kingdom Advisor to do some financial planning. It sounds like you've got a lot of moving parts here. And I think somebody who could give an objective view of that and really help you understand what your best next step is would be well worth the time and any cost to that.

You can find somebody right there in South Florida at MoneyWiseLive.org. Bill, rather, Ray, thank you very much. We appreciate that.

Rob, we have a question from a listener. There was a difficulty with their phone line, but they wanted to know if these stimulus checks are taxable. I know. Yeah, I do know. And they're not. The IRS has made it very clear that there is no tax going to be due on these stimulus checks.

So that is not taxable income that is being paid out to you. So that will not be something you'll have to be concerned with. Okay, good. Good information and good news.

Palm Beach County, Florida. Hello, Ray. What's your question? We have just a little bit of time here.

Yeah, it is warm and long. You just spoke to me, but I neglected to tell you I am of full retirement age. Okay, very good. That's it.

Okay. Yeah, no, so that's good to know, Ray. So just kind of circling back to this particular question here, if you are full retirement age, you'll miss the penalty. So that will not be a factor, but it will be taxable to you. So adding all of that money that you're then taking out and using to pay down the house is going to create quite a bit of a tax bill there as taxable income to you when you make that withdrawal. So that's why I like the idea of you doing that over time. So perhaps you spread that out over two, three years, something like that.

And so visiting with your tax professional to really understand the implications of that and developing a strategy to get that paid off in full, but in a way that doesn't create unnecessary tax liability will be key in that decision. And again, Ray, we're glad that you called today. Thanks very much. When we come back, we have Lily in line, also Chanel from Chicago has a question about student loans and government proposals that are currently under consideration. We'll take those calls and maybe yours as well. 800-525-7000.

800-525-7000. He's Rob West. I'm Steve Moore. This is MoneyWise Live. Now we're talking about your money, talking about your finances.

If we can help you with something in that regard, whether it's straight financial or biblical, what does God say when it comes to things like tax returns? Let's kick it around. Give us a call first. 800-525-7000.

Let's go west a bit to Iowa. Lily, thank you for your patience. What's your question? Thanks for taking my call.

Happy to. My question is, my mother bought a house a while back and put it in her kids' names. And when she went to sell the house then, the money had to go to all the children. And then we just basically signed over the check and gave it back to her because it was her money. My question is, do I claim this money as income? Do I get a form for taxes? Yeah.

Well, Lily, I think a couple of things here. Number one is, given the complexity of the situation, you'd always be wise to get some professional tax advice. But in general, no, it's not going to be income, but there could be, was there a gain on the property in terms of what it was sold for versus what the cost basis was, the original purchase price plus any improvements? It was pretty much the same. Okay.

All right. So there probably shouldn't be much there. If there was a gain, then that's going to be divvied up on a pro rata basis based on the ownership. So if she lived there two out of the last five years, she would have the exclusion where she wouldn't have to pay any capital gains on any gain that was there, up to a quarter of a million dollars. But the other individuals who were also owners who did not live there, it was not their primary residence, they would then be responsible for capital gains, regardless of what you did with the money after the fact. So you'll want to just understand what are the capital gains, if any, that each of you as kids owe based on your ownership in this property that you didn't live in.

Beyond that, no, there's not any income there, and you have the ability to make a gift of up to $15,000 annually to an individual without counting it against your lifetime exclusion for gifts of 11 and a half million, just where it stands today. So, you know, there's not anything that you would have to worry about from that standpoint, but, you know, on the income side, so I think, you know, you should be in fairly good shape as long as you understand the capital gain side. And I would just recommend anytime there's major changes, kind of a, an unusual situation that's different from the norm, it's always a good time to check in with a tax professional.

If you don't regularly have your taxes prepared just to make sure you're doing everything properly, there's no surprises that might result in penalties or some sort of interest down the road. So go ahead and get some professional counsel on this, but it sounds like you should be in pretty good shape. Thank you very much for your call today, Lily. Chicago and Chanel, you have a student loan question for us, huh?

Yes, hi. I wanted to call and check with you guys and say, with all the things that, you know, going on with legislation and all that, you know, going on with legislation and with Biden's student loan forgiveness and talk to, you know, the possible pardon for up to $10,000 in student loans. I just want to know, should I be still making payments towards my student loans since I'm currently just under the 10,000 mark that I have remaining left to pay?

Yeah, no, I appreciate that, Chanel. You should certainly continue making your student loan payments because you've agreed to do that under the current system. You are correct, though. The Biden administration is proposing and that's all it is, is a proposal forgiveness of up to $10,000 in loans per borrower by executive order. Now, the president himself said he doesn't think he has the authority to write off as much as $50,000 per borrower, which some are proposing. But as of right now, again, it's only a proposal. The White House would rather this be done with legislation, so they're still talking with congressional leaders about this.

But in the meantime, I would just continue making those payments as agreed and we'll see what happens in the days ahead. Chanel, thank you very much for that. 800-525-7000.

Canton, Ohio. Madeline, what's your question today for Rob West? Yes, my friend's 98 and she got her a stimulus by e-card and she thought that it was junk mail or a credit card and she shredded it and all the information that came with it. Yes. Unfortunately, Madeline, this is a pretty common occurrence because, you know, we've heard so much lately, especially about fraud related to gift cards and e-cards. And so when that comes in the mail claiming to be what it is, oftentimes folks will just assume that it's not legitimate. And so they'll just get rid of it by shredding it often. Unfortunately, this is a very popular way for the IRS for those who don't have electronic payment information on file with the IRS.

They're not only using checks, they are using these e-cards put out by Medibank. So if you've destroyed or thrown out your stimulus eip card, you can get it replaced. So you'll want to tell her to call the eip customer service line. I'll give you the number and she'll ask for a replacement. It's 800-240-8100.

Let me say that again. It's toll free. 800-240-8100. Tell them she's destroyed it. She'd like a replacement. If she's comfortable using the internet, she may not be. I know you mentioned she's 98, although you'd be surprised how many 98 year olds are on the internet. She could do that at eipcard.com.

Perhaps she has a friend like you or a family member that could help her. And if you'd rather do that electronically, eipcard.com. And you might be surprised to know how many 48 year olds have shredded that card as well.

Yes. We've had more than a few calls. So I don't know, maybe the next time around the government could figure out a way, maybe put something on the outside of the envelope or something to alert people. Might be a nice ministry for you in your local church if you have some people around the church that seem to be not all that on top of the latest technologies. Maybe you could look out for those folks and tell them what might be coming in the mail.

Madeline, we're glad that you called today. Hey Rob, quickly, how about some information about the new app? It seems like every week or so there's something new with the app and we'd like to let people know about it.

Absolutely, we would Steve. A couple of things that are new. Steve's talking about our MoneyWise app, which you can find in your app store. Just Google or when you get into the app store, just search for, I should say, MoneyWise biblical finance. We released last week, Steve, our new Discover tab. So in the app is the digital envelope system and the community where you can post questions and get responses from me and other MoneyWise coaches and certified kingdom advisors. But our new Discover tab is the place inside the app where all the best content in biblical money management feeds in in one place. So there's content from MoneyWise and Compass and the National Christian Foundation and Randy Alcorn and you name it, it's all there.

We're so excited about it. You can read articles, listen to podcasts, really grow in your understanding of God's heart as it relates to managing your money. And did I mention it's free? There's absolutely no cost for it. So go download it today.

Again, you'll find it in your app store, whether that's Google Play or Apple. Just search for MoneyWise biblical finance, check it out and let us know what you think. All right. Thank you, Rob.

Twin Lakes, Wisconsin. Mike, welcome to the program and what's your situation? You have three sons and trying to figure out a 529 approach, huh? Yeah, I have about 30 bucks a month that I can put away in savings towards it. So I don't know if I should open up a 529 or just put it in a savings account. And if I should do a 529, do you have any advice, recommendations for who I should do that through?

Yeah, Mike, it's a great question. And the 529 is my favorite tool for saving for college. Just simply because you get the great tax treatment like a Roth IRA, you don't get the deduction when you put it in, but you do get tax free growth from a federal income and capital gain standpoint, as long as the money is used in the end for qualified educational educational expenses for your kids or you. And you can move it around based on who needs it once you get to that point. The other reason I like it is if you were in a position where you thought you might qualify for financial aid, at that point, it's going to be treated as your asset, which is a much lower percentage of the expected family contribution than if it was treated as an asset of the child like a custodial account. And it's a really simple way where you can set up an automatic deposit directly into the 529.

So the what you're describing with having a monthly amount available could be set up very easily, and they have investment options inside kind of like a 401k. In terms of which one is best for you, each state has their own plan, and they all use different custodians, which means they have different investment options inside the plan. So I would look based on what state you're in, the Wisconsin plan, and how that's treated from a state income tax standpoint versus what might be better performance by another state's 529 that lets out of state participants into the program. Here's the best way to make all those determinations. There's a website savingforcollege.com that has a fabulous question and answer tutorial. And so basically, you'll put in the information at savingforcollege.com for your kids, their ages, how much you're trying to save, where you live. It'll take all that information and then it'll make recommendations as to which state's plan is going to be best for you considering all the information you provided.

And then you can make a decision at that point. So savingforcollege.com is the place to go. And I think the 529 is in fact the tool you're looking for. Yeah. And Mike, you know, some people might think, well, $30 a month.

I mean, that's going to take forever. That's not a lot of money. I love that you're doing something with $30 a month. Can't tell you how many people we've heard from that are able to get out of debt and do really positive long-term things with 20 bucks a month, $25 a month, $30 a month. And the earlier you get started, obviously the better you're going to be able to do in the long run because all of your money will compound. So it's a wonderful thing you're doing for your three sons. And as God prospers you, perhaps that 30 can be upped a little bit to 40 or 50.

But if you're looking for something really productive and helpful for your family, a 529 for educational purposes is a great way to begin that. And we're glad that you called today. Thanks, Rob. Thanks very much, sir. We'll come back and do it tomorrow. Okay. I'll look forward to it, Steve. Thank you. MoneyWise Live is a partnership between Moody Radio and MoneyWise Media. My thanks to our control team today, Amy and Dan and Erin and Jim, and our thanks to you for listening. Again, if you enjoy the program, please tell a friend and visit us online at moneywiselive.org.