Teaching Kids the Value of Work

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Not licensed in Alaska, Hawaii, Georgia, Massachusetts, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Utah. Train up a child in the way he should go. Even when he is old, he will not depart from it. Proverbs 22 6. And no more valuable teaching could you give a child than to value work.

It doesn't come naturally. Children see something and want it, but earning it, well, that's something else again. Today host Rob West welcomes financial expert Ron Blue to talk about responsibilities and rewards. Then it's your calls at 800-525-7000.

800-525-7000. I'm Steve Moore, teaching kids the value of work. That's next on MoneyWise Live. Well, Rob, our guest Ron Blue is co-founder of Kingdom Advisors and a much sought after speaker and author on God's financial principles. Today we're taking a page from Raising Money Smart Kids, a book he wrote with his lovely wife, Judy, some years ago.

That's right, and we're especially looking at the chapter on teaching children about the importance of work, a really key principle as we train up our children. Ron, welcome back to the program. Well, thanks, Rob. And it's a privilege and a pleasure to be a part of it.

Looking forward to it. Well, we are as well. And Ron, we're looking forward to not only getting into the biblical foundation for work, but also some practical advice for parents who teach those principles to their kids.

So set the stage for us on this topic. Well, I think the idea of work is something that's difficult to teach. It's not necessarily something that is natural. And we all, my mentor, Dr. Howard Hendricks, used to say, he said, there's not a two year old alive that couldn't manipulate another hour at bedtime. So it's a lot that way with work too. And one of the things that happens is that children learn to manipulate. For example, maybe mom is more generous than dad, so they know who to ask for what and when. And with the credit card society that we have today, it is a sense that there's no limit to money and that money is dispensed with a credit card. So teaching people to work for money or teaching them even to work is, I think, more difficult today than when we raised our kids many years ago.

Although the terminology hasn't changed. My parents would say, do you believe money grows on trees? That's what I told my kids.

That's what my kids would probably tell their kids. I think I said that last week. This is such a big idea that we have limited resources, obviously that we're managers of God's money and we need to manage it wisely. But this idea that you can get something for nothing is really a fundamental flaw that we need to try to correct, right? Just with the rise of the lottery, we see that people really want something for nothing. My mother used to come home from shopping and she would say, I saved so many dollars today because I bought these things on sale.

Right. And so when she died, I expected a big inheritance from all the money she'd saved. It didn't work out that way. But that's the way that it's perceived is that we want something for nothing and what we don't know is that you have to trade time for money and how much time I'll trade is really dependent upon my own value system. So what we look for is something that we will value, but the value is in the mind of the beholder and the price merely reflects that value. So learning work and what you get in return for work is not easy.

It's a difficult thing. Well, these are big ideas and really important to instill in our kids early. We'll continue to unpack these principles you just shared with us. There's no free lunch. That's a big one.

We'll talk about some of the other principles as well as the biblical foundation for work that we can begin to instill in our kids at a very early age. So much more with Ron Blue around the corner. That's right. Our guest is Ron Blue today. Your host is Rob West.

I'm Steve Moore. We're talking about principles of raising money smart kids and no one better to discuss this than a man who's written several books on the subject. We'll be back with more with Ron Blue. Then we'll take some calls later in the program on any financial topic that's of interest to you.

Eight hundred five to five seven thousand and we'll be right back. If you have children or maybe grandchildren, you realize by now that teaching your kids the value of work and the value of a dollar is crucial to their upbringing and their adulthood. And here to help us with that today is Ron Blue, author of multiple books on the subject, including the one we're discussing today, Raising Money Smart Kids. Just before the break, Ron, you shared a key idea, a principle that there is no free lunch, and that's a critical one.

What comes after that? Well, I think the second thing is the idea that there's a tradeoff between time and effort or cost and money and rewards or benefit. So in reality, money doesn't grow on trees and every purchase costs the parents or children something in terms of labor. In addition to that, in providing economically, we work for two other really important reasons. One is we're commanded to work in scripture. And two, there's an intrinsic value in work. Ephesians 4-28 says, Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need. So we're commanded to work so we'll have the ability to give to others.

And I've given that counsel to a lot of adults that you've got the ability and the gift of earning some money, not for necessarily spending, but for giving. Proverbs 14-23 says, In all labor there is profit, but all idle chatter leads only to poverty. So working has intrinsic value and extrinsic value. It gives us monetary rewards, as well as satisfaction of knowing a job has been done and well completed.

You know, I helped my wife plant some flowers a couple weeks ago, and I had this sense of when it was done, I had a product. So I had traded some time for a product, and that product continues to bring pleasure today because of the beauty that it has. And it's the same thing with money. We trade time for something of value.

Yeah, there was so much there that you just shared. I mean, this idea that money is not an end, it's a means to an end. And that means to an end should be about something other than you is really where true joy is found as we manage God's money. The other thing is this idea between cost and benefit.

You know, my two boys have started refereeing games at the church, basketball games and soccer games. So they're starting to earn some money and we're teaching them to tithe and they've got their first checking accounts. But what's been interesting is to see them calculate how many hours they have to work to pay for certain things and all of a sudden it takes on a whole new meaning, doesn't it?

Oh, it really does. However, once you get that and you understand that money really has no value in and of itself, but it's only what it will provide you. And a lot of times we find wanting money, but it's not money that we really want.

We really want what money can do for us or buy for us. So that's where we need to train our children to realize that there's a trade-off between time and effort and money and rewards. Yes.

Yeah. Big idea. Ron, what about motivating children? It seems like so many of them just have expectations, perhaps you could call it entitlement, that things should be done for them. This value of hard work gets lost as we sometimes cater to their every whim. What have you found about motivation and work related to kids?

Well, I'll tell you how we did it. We trained our kids by using the envelope system so they could literally see how much money they had. And if they didn't have enough for whatever it was that they wanted, there was only one alternative and that was to work for it.

Yes. So teaching what your boys are doing is a terrific value because they're learning very, very early this idea of the trade-off between time and effort and money and reward. And they're learning probably the enjoyable aspect of working also.

They're working at something they enjoy. That's right. And what greater gift can you give them than the fact that it works, okay? And it works in my life.

Yes. Ron, at some point you and Judy must have realized that what's working with one child isn't necessarily working with the next child. You know, how do you deal with that kind of a scenario? Well, you know, we did. We had five children and what I learned as they grew up was their different values. I think the most classic was our two boys who were the two youngest. We had one son who would spend his clothes money to buy polo shirts. He loved the branded shirts. The other son, he was just as happy with some jeans or coveralls.

His sisters were really embarrassed by the way he dressed because clothes meant nothing to him. But that's okay because it's not one size fits all and we do work out our values. And one of the things that money is so important in terms of training is you see what your children value. And it gives you an opportunity then to work on that, to pray about that, to work with them depending on what they value. So we had a principle also, Steve, and that was that we didn't give them responsibility in terms of clothes for something they wouldn't take responsibility for because they saw no value in it.

For example, winter coats. They didn't see a real value in that. They didn't see necessarily value in Sunday shoes. And so things like that, we didn't give them responsibility for. We did provide for them for that. We also bought their underwear because they didn't see any benefit to that either.

And there you have the biblical principle that will always apply. Ron, we've got just about a minute and a half left. Talk quickly about how you and Judy handled allowances. Oh, that's a good one.

We could spend the whole program on that one. The bottom line, Rob, was that we had chores that they were responsible for around the house, like washing the dishes, making their bed, doing their homework, things that they needed to take responsibility for. And we never paid them for that. They did that because they were a member of the family. We gave them allowances for the fact that we would provide certain things. So they had a clothes allowance, for example, and had a spending allowance. They had a gift allowance and then a giving and saving allowance. And they could earn extra money for doing chores that were outside their normal duties. For example, maybe washing my car or something around the lawn or something. So it was the opportunity to earn some extra that was not a part of their allowance. Yeah. And then obviously the real training comes with how you teach them to handle it, to give, save, spend, beginning to think about limited resources, taking a portion of it to save for something they want down the road.

Modeling obviously is the big idea when it comes to parenting. Ron, you've given us some real gems here today as it relates to work and our kids and the biblical foundation and some real key principles. Thanks for stopping by, my friend. Always enjoyable, Rob. Thank you.

Good to talk to you. See you later, Steve. God bless, Ron. Ron Blue has been our guest today.

We've been discussing his book, Raising Money Smart Kids. Your call's next at 800-525-7000. We'll be right back.

Hey, so glad you're with us today. It's MoneyWise Live. Your host is Rob West. I'm Steve Moore and this is a place where we do our very best to find God's wisdom for your finances and relay that to you if you have a question along those lines. And if you do have any sort of financial question today, well, now's a great time to call.

We have a number of open lines at 800-525-7000. A real pleasure to have Ron Blue with us. Any thoughts regarding what Ron said in raising children? I mean, there are always thoughts when it comes to raising children and you're still doing that, right, Rob? I am.

I've got four of them all still at home, although one is driving now, so he's home less than he used to be, that's for sure. You know, I think when it comes to these principles that we want to instill in our kids that come right out of God's Word, it's so critical that we teach with intentionality God's heart as it relates to money. No one else is going to teach them that God owns it all and that money is a tool and that there's 2,300 verses in God's Word that deal with money. And nobody's going to model it in a way that's going to be lasting in terms of shaping your kids other than you.

So you've got to have intentionality about it. But this principle of the value of hard work, that resources are limited, that money doesn't grow on trees is critical. And I think as we demonstrate that and as we bring our kids along in appreciating that, it goes a long way. You know, our Facebook question of the day today was, how did you teach your kids the value of hard work? And Charlotte reflected this exactly. She said, my parents always made sure us kids had a hand in the work, whether it was helping around the house or rehabbing rental homes or going on jobs with our dad. We knew what it took for them to get to where they were. And my husband and I are now striving to do the same. And that's great, Charlotte. And that's what we all need to be doing as we teach this really important principle.

That's right. You know, recently, Rob, I ran across an article from retired high school teachers and they were asking these high school teachers, well, number one, would you teach again if given the opportunity? Well, there were three questions. Number two, what subject as you reflect back did you wish your school or you had the opportunity to teach? And several of them mentioned basic money management. Now, actually, when I was in high school, they did teach that. And I, I took that class. It was called something different that I don't remember. But it's where I got my first checkbook.

It's where I applied for my Social Security card that I'm still carrying around in my wallet today. Things like that. And, you know, teachers can teach those things. And it's preferable that they teach them rather than no one teach them. But no one's going to teach it with the same love, if you will, and the same fervor as a parent. And that's really critical.

Well, it is. And I would draw one distinction, too, because even if your children are getting that, let's say there's a basic money management class being taught at the high school level or even at the college level, it's most often, if not exclusively, going to be financial literacy. And although that's important, that's entirely different than teaching the biblical perspective of money, understanding all that God has to say about how we should view money and having an eternal perspective and making heaven our home, not the temporal and really the role of money in our lives and the fact that our hearts are connected to our money. All of that is not going to be taught in a basic financial literacy class, which means that's our job to impart those really key principles.

That's right. And remember, as you're teaching your youngsters and my children are young adults now, but it doesn't have to be. How do I phrase this so that I don't make myself look bad? Just because your parents may have taught you some things by slapping your hand with a ruler, in a sense, you don't always have to teach that way. Sometimes teaching your children, in fact, every time teaching your children with encouragement and honesty and a positivity goes a long way. It doesn't have to be the old school way of again, slapping your hand with a ruler.

Well, that's right. And let me say one other thing and then we'll get to some calls. You know, one of the most foundational things that will shape how you handle money as an adult is how money was handled when you were at home as a child. And for us parents, that may be scary in some respects and other respects that may be encouraging because we're trying so hard to do things right.

But just remember that, that there is so much that we take away from our childhood that really affects how we view and handle money as adults, which means those formative years related to how we handle money, how we model that to our kids are really so very important. Finish this statement for me, Rob. When it comes to your children and parents, more is caught than taught. Absolutely. And taught. Amen.

What you see modeled goes much further than what you tell them they ought to do. Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to gently tell you that you should give us a call right now if you have a question for Rob today. Anything financial, a question, an encouragement, anything you're wondering about.

Let us hear from you. Eight hundred five to five. Seven thousand. Let's begin.

Pompano Beach, Florida. Hello, Joe. What's on your mind today? Hi, I'm just checking when it comes to you know, we're not too far away from retirement and we've probably got about two hundred to two hundred fifty thousand dollars worth of IRAs between my wife and I in various target funds. Is that something that should just be left there or should I be talking to a specific financial adviser to do some more different things with that or what? Yeah.

Yeah. Joe, I appreciate your question and I'm going to go with you connecting with a financial adviser. And here's why. You know, you've amassed a lot of money. You've obviously worked very hard. You've been diligent in saving.

Now you're sitting on roughly a quarter of a million dollars. Sounds like you still have a few working years left, but that time is shortening and you're going to be in retirement in that additional season before you know it. I think the challenge is that you don't want to put that on autopilot. You know, I like target date funds in the sense that they have allowed folks to really automate in some cases the rebalancing of their funds in an appropriate way so they get more conservative near retirement. But often they can be too conservative, because remember, when you hit retirement, if the Lord tarries and you have good health, you're going to need that money to last potentially for a couple of decades or more.

And therefore you need a growth component to it. So I'd connect with a certified kingdom adviser there in Pompano. I know it well.

It's right near where I grew up. Just go to MoneyWiseLive.org and click find a CKA. Joe, God bless you.

Thanks so much. More MoneyWise Live after this. Welcome back to MoneyWise Live. Taking your calls today and any financial concerns or questions you might be wondering about at 800-525-7000. Toll free 800-525-7000. We have some open lines, so now's a great time to call. Let's go down to Florida. Anthony, I understand you've had a horrible thing happen to you. What's going on, sir? Hello?

Yes, go right ahead, Anthony. Yes, well today my business was robbed. They pretty much took all my equipment. I have a landscaping business. Wow. What city are you in, Anthony, if you don't mind me asking?

I'm in Florida. Please excuse my voice. I got sick and I lost my voice. Yeah.

Anthony, I'm so sorry to hear what's happening. So I understand a landscaping business, so you had equipment that was stolen. Is that right? Yes. Yeah.

Wow. Tell me where you're at. Where does that leave you? Are you able to continue to work? Where do you plan to go from here? Well, I'm not continuing to work. They took all of my equipment, so at this point I'm pretty much just...honestly I don't even know what to do next.

Yeah. Anthony, let me ask you, just in terms of your financial condition personally, do you have some reserves? Do you have an emergency savings account with some number of months expenses that you can draw from?

Where are you at right now financially? Actually, I don't. I was pretty much at a point where my business was starting to grow again, and I actually got a call this morning to go service about four or five new properties, and I got up this morning to go to work, and when I got out my trailer was gone. Wow. Have you reported this to the police yet, Anthony? Yes, I did.

Okay. And do you happen to have...I'm sure you have a description of each of the stolen items. Is there any chance that you registered these items with the manufacturer to take advantage of any kind of warranty such that you'd be able to get the serial numbers from the manufacturer? Well, I've been in business for about three years now, so I do have a couple of stuff that's registered, but the insurance companies that I have, they do not cover my equipment. Yeah, yeah.

Which is unfortunate, obviously. I suspect color how you proceed moving forward with small business insurance. So important that you have beyond general liability, but you have business interruption coverage and coverage for your property and equipment in a business like this that's so dependent upon it. Obviously, that's not going to help right now.

I would contact the manufacturer, see if you can get the serial numbers and add that to the police report so that if this equipment is located, let's pray that it will be, they would be able to identify that and get it back to you as the rightful owner. I think moving forward, we just need to go into what we call a May Day budget mode where we really understand what is necessary to keep your family operating. Obviously, your housing is most important, rent or a mortgage, keeping food on the table, keeping gas in the car so you can move about and keeping the utilities paid.

Everything else is really subject to being eliminated from the budget, at least for now, and then we need to start to rebuild. I would do a couple of things in addition to adding to that police report. Number one, pray, ask the Lord to intervene here miraculously and that this equipment would be found, that that trailer would be uncovered and that the police would be able to locate that. Number two, if you're connected to a local church, hopefully you are there in Florida, let them know. There may be some folks that would want to help. Third thing is, I'd like to put it out to the MoneyWise Live community. A brand new part of this ministry that we're just rolling out is something we call the MoneyWise Helping Hands Fund, which is for this purpose. If you're hearing Anthony's story and you want to be of help, we have a way to do that where we have a team of people that will look into each of these cases and once they get to understand a bit more about what's going on, can take the resources provided by our audience and direct them to specific needs, not in the form of cash payments, but to utilities or to rent payments or things during a crisis period to keep the family operating. And in this case, if you want to help Anthony, we'd be happy to facilitate that through the MoneyWise Helping Hands Fund. I want to pray for you in just a moment, but we're going to trust that through your church and through the MoneyWise community, and hopefully you have some friends maybe in the area that are also in the landscaping business that would come alongside you. I'd be reaching out to those folks so you can let them know what's happened because I suspect you'd do the same for them if you had a friend in the business who was in the situation you're in. And if that's the case, let them know.

They may be able to lend some equipment while you're getting through this period in the evenings or on the weekends if it's unused, where you can get some of those jobs done, get some income coming in and start to rebuild one piece at a time. So don't be afraid in this time of need to reach out to others and let them know what's going on here, Anthony. And I want to pray for you as we wrap up here today.

Father, this didn't catch you by surprise. And so we're going to ask, Lord, that you would intervene miraculously, that this equipment would be found in working order, that Anthony would in the midst of a season and a time where he's discouraged, that you'd encourage him, that you'd be near to him, Lord, that he'd see an outpouring of people from his church family, friends in the business, even the MoneyWise live community who want to rally around him, that that would be an encouragement and a testimony to your provision and presence in his life. So we're going to put this right at the foot of the cross and just ask that you would intervene, Lord. And we're just going to thank you in advance for what you're going to do with Anthony and his family and how on the other side of this, he'll be able to give testimony as to your grace in his life during this season.

And we thank you in advance. In Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. And, Anthony, just give God a chance to work in this situation. Don't use your credit card to run right out and buy a lot of equipment. I know that probably is a thought that's crossed your mind.

But give God an opportunity to work and let's see what might happen here. Now, I've never done this before. Rob will probably slap my hands after the program today, but we have a lot of listeners in the state of Florida.

I mean, a lot of listeners. Is there any way of recognizing your trailer? Is there anything that sets it apart or I mean, is it painted bright orange or does it have your name on the side of it?

Anything like that at all? It doesn't pretty much. It has Lowe's. I bought it from Lowe's. So it has the Lowe's symbol on it. The back mesh on the gate is messed up.

You know, dented in from use. So it's not a box trailer. It's an open trailer. It's an open trailer.

All right, buddy. Well, obviously, if you're on Facebook, let your Facebook friends know about it. Keep an eye on things like Craigslist. You might even want to notify your current customers as to why you're not servicing them. And, you know, you never know what might happen in that regard. Also mention this to your church. Ask your church if they'll pray with you about this and and help you through this time. And we'll continue to pray for you.

And I pray you'll let us know how it works out. OK. All right. Appreciate it. Thank you.

All right. But to the Money Wise Live community, if you want to help in this case, just send us an email. Questions at money wise dot org.

Questions at money wise dot org. Reference Anthony's call today on March 5th and we'll get you looped in to be able to help. We will indeed. Anthony, God bless you, sir. That's a tragic situation. A situation when something like this happens. Thanks.

You're listening to Money Wise Live. We'd be happy to take your call. Take your question if you'll give us a call right now. We have open lines at eight hundred five to five. Seven thousand eight hundred five to five. Seven thousand. This is Money Wise Live, where we remember that God owns it all.

We'll be right. Proverbs 15, 22 reminds us without consultation, plans are frustrated, but with many counselors, they succeed. Well, there's not many of us here. It's just the two of us, Rob and myself.

But we do have a copy of God's word. So maybe we can help you if you're wondering about something today, something financial we'd like to help. Eight hundred five to five.

Seven thousand out to Indianapolis. Hello, Pam. Thanks for your patience. What's your question for Rob? Hi, Pam. Hello, Pam. All right. We're going to try Pam in a few minutes. Let's go to Del Rico, Florida.

Hi, Laurie. You with us? Yes, I am. Great. Go right ahead.

We are in. My husband is 67. I am 63 this year. He is working and we have paid off our house in 2017, but we do have some debt. And he has just started collecting his Social Security while he's continuing to work. And our total debt between a small, small home equity and vehicle payment is probably forty five thousand is what we owe in debt. And so we're wondering, should we take his whole Social Security check and get rid of that debt or should we invest it? What should we do with that Social Security?

We we realize it's going to put us at a higher tax bracket that we have to pay tax on that. Sure. Sure. Well, Evelyn, I like this plan, actually. I would encourage you to really focus on paying off that debt. And here's why. You've got this period of time where excuse me, Laurie, you've got this period of time where you're he's still working.

And so this is going to be excess. There will come a time, I suspect, down the road where this amount will be necessary to be used for your living expenses because he will have transitioned out of paid work to whatever his next assignment is from the Lord. So right now is the time for you to get in a position where you get your expenses as low as possible.

So when you truly are both in retirement, your monthly need is as low as possible. And the best way to do that is to eradicate all of your debt, including this small equity loan and the and the car loan, because that's going to get the monthly expenses down as low as possible. So I think this is a particularly unique season of time for you to really focus on debt reduction.

You know, if you were to invest that money anyway, given your financial situation and the proximity to retirement, you'd have to be so conservative in your investments that it probably wouldn't make sense anyway, given the interest rates you're paying on these two loans. Let me ask you, though, the only other thing I might want you to do before you do that would be to replenish or build up your emergency fund. Do you have some emergency savings, Laurie, that's set aside in a liquid form? Yeah, we have probably, oh, maybe $8,000, $9,000. Okay, and how many months expenses would that represent roughly? Well, what our expenses are, that would probably be good five months. Okay, great.

Yeah, I think that's a good question. I mean, if anything, you know, in this season, I'd love for you to be at a full six months expenses. So you may want to take one or two months and take that Social Security and drop it right into savings. But as soon as you hit that number, or even now, if you felt compelled, rather than investing it, let's focus on getting rid of all of that debt. And it'd be great, Laurie, if we could time the payoff of that debt at the most to when he plans to fully retire, if you could have it all taken care of at that point, I think you'd be in really good shape. And we appreciate your call today. Yeah, Laurie, thank you very much. Out to Indianapolis. Evelyn, you're thinking of maybe refinancing, huh?

What's the situation? Yes, we purchased a house like two years ago, and I we're trying we have the percentage of the mortgage is 4.75. And we were wanted to pay off the house in five years. So we put like a $2,000 each month to the principal. But somebody was telling me to refinance the house right now that is 2.9. But I don't know if it is worth it for me to do it. Because what how much money I'm going to spend again with the whole refinancing thing and everything.

So I just like Absolutely. So you said you've only been in this home a couple of years Evelyn. Was it a 30 year mortgage when you bought it? Yes.

Okay, so there's maybe 28 years or so remaining. Yeah, but we lower down to we've been paying like a 50,000 already. Wow, that's great. So you're adding.

Do I see here a couple of thousand dollars extra every month? Yes. Okay, excellent. Well, way to go. Let me ask you, based on everything you know, today, do you plan to stay in this home indefinitely? Yes, we can say yeah, that is our plan for now.

Okay, so it wouldn't be unreasonable for you to think that 10 years from now, you'd still be in this house. Yeah, yeah. Okay, very good. And you have a good credit score? Yes, I think I have 7.6, I think. 760, perhaps? Yeah. Okay, very good.

Yeah, that's an excellent score. So you'll qualify for the very best programs, assuming you have income that can be documented, you've got good equity in the house, you're primed for a refinance Evelyn, I realized it's going to cost some money. I mean, it wouldn't be unreasonable to think you could spend one or 2% of the mortgage. So, you know, that could be a couple of thousand dollars on $100,000 mortgage or, or more, obviously. I think the key is, as long as you're planning to stay in the home, and you're going to save at least a point on the interest rate, and you know, anything under 3%, I mean, you're going to save a point and three quarters, which is significant. So with the reduction in interest rate, you know, if you go with a 25 year mortgage, that'd be great. But even at a 30 year mortgage, given how quickly you're paying this down, I'd be okay with you taking a 28 year mortgage and refiying at a 30. As long as you continue to prepay it, you're going to get a great rate, and you're going to save a bundle between now and when it's paid off, you will repay all of the expenses of the refi out of the interest savings. And you could ask the mortgage company to calculate that for you, I suspect in, you know, at least in three years, if not sooner, you would have with just the savings and interest all of the cost of the refinance saved and recouped. And at that point, you'd be quote in the money. In terms of your savings every month. So I would say go for it. Make sure you get at least three offers. And at least two of those, I would look at online lenders.

And you could go to bankrate.com to find who has the best programs right now. Evelyn, we're happy to hear that you guys are doing so well. Thank you very much for calling today.

Greenwood, Indiana, we're going to stay in the state of Indiana. And Scott, how can we help you? Hi, I'm six, six years old. I'm drawing Social Security about three months ago, I have a total net assets around $575,000. I don't know a dime to anybody, house is paid off, is it all paid off, and I'd like to retire and do something else. And just a little uneasy about making the right decision because I've never been unemployed in my entire life. I do have a pension from the army, and to be a disability pension and Social Security, which is about 48 grand a year. But last year, I made 130. So it's a big jump.

I just want to get a second opinion. Well, first of all, thank you for your service. And I appreciate this question very much. Have you done a budget, Scott? I mean, it sounds like you're living modestly.

As you said, you don't owe anything to anyone. Do you have a sense of what it takes for you to cover your expenses on a monthly basis? Yes, we would be we would be under budget if I went to my went to the strikes of my pensions.

Okay, with just the pensions only, even if you don't touch the 575,000. Right. Okay.

Right. Very good. And what are you thinking of doing? Are you thinking of doing something that would involve pay or volunteer or what do you have in mind?

Well, I would do volunteer work. I'm going to do some work at church and I've got my strongest who is writing, I want to write. I love it. Yeah, like to sell a Humor column, write down on Humor column stuff. Okay. And do some storytelling and things like that. I like it.

I want to probably get the gospel and things like that. So I could go on for an hour, but you have a short show. Well, no problem. Here's what I love about this, Scott, is you see, when we live by God's principles, that puts us in a position to be able to do exactly what you're talking about. You see, you've kept your lifestyle at a minimum. You've been a diligent saver, a hard worker. Now you're able to live well within your means of your pension only, not even counting the nearly $600,000 in savings that you've built up, which means that can continue to grow. And it allows you to say, I don't even have to earn a paycheck. I can be free to live or die, give or go, ask the Lord what his next assignment is and use your gifts and abilities for his glory and to bring people to us the saving knowledge of Jesus.

I love it. I mean, that's exactly what this is all about. So I would say you're poised to do exactly that. I would, if you haven't already, hire an investment professional to manage the nearly $600,000. The great news is it can be managed very conservatively. You don't have to take a lot of risk, but you could still seek a return through an investment professional that would allow it to continue to grow. So if you ever need it and you don't right now, it'd be there. You could even at some point start giving a portion of it away. You could leave it as an inheritance, whatever you like. So I think I'm very encouraged by what you're describing. I'd say go for it. And I would be sure to connect with a certified kingdom advisor to walk alongside you if you don't already have an investment and financial planning professional that you work with. And you could connect with someone.

Just go to our website, MoneyWiseLive.org and click find a CKA. But Scott, I think you're ready to go for whatever the Lord has in store here. Scott, God bless you. Thanks so much for calling today. We do appreciate that and wish you the very best.

Well, Rob, about a minute left here today. I know it's vital for us to not only hear from our listeners, but to hear from our listeners. I mean, the reason we're able to be here each day is because of the prayer, hard work and generosity of lots of people in past years. And today we'd like to hear from some more of our listeners. Most of most listeners only make a donation about 10 percent of the time.

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