Decisions for Faithful Finance

This is Doug Hastings, Vice President of Moody Radio, and we're thankful for support from our listeners and businesses like United Faith Mortgage. Mortgage commercials are rarely exciting, so to make it slightly more interesting, here are my nieces to do it for me. So interest rates continue to drop like my sister's baby teeth. Come on, Uncle Ryan had to say the same thing last year.

That's true. Last year, it was rates are boring talk historically low. And now this year, there's somehow even more boring talk historically lower than the previous boring talk historically low.

Sounds boring. But for so many listeners who just haven't wanted to deal with it, refinancing right now could save you massive amounts of Lego sets. Rates have gotten that low. Some borrowers could potentially save hundreds monthly and tens and tens of thousands over the life of a loan. And if you didn't put 20% down before, some could even stop having to pay PMI.

Give Uncle Ryan a shot. We are United Faith Mortgage. 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. Do you ever feel overwhelmed and ill-equipped to deal with your personal finances? Well, take comfort in Matthew 1128.

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. If you feel you'll never experience financial freedom, maybe it's time to change the decisions you make. Today, host Rob West talks with financial advisor Emily Stroud about spending money on what really matters.

Then it's your calls at 800-525-7000, 800-525-7000. I'm Steve Moore, Decisions for Faithful Finance. That's next on MoneyWise Live. Well, Rob, our guest financial advisor Emily Stroud is a mom, entrepreneur, co-host of a brand new TV series, Faithful Finance Live, streaming on Pureflix, and author of Faithful Finance, 10 Secrets to Move from Fearful Insecurity to Confident Control. Well, that's exactly what we want to discuss today. Emily, delighted to have you on the program. Well, thank you for having me. This is a treat.

Well, we're looking forward to diving into this content. You know, in your years advising people how to manage money, I'm sure you've seen that money can be a great cause of stress, especially in marriage. The latest data that I've seen from our friend Shanti Feldhahn, a researcher and writer, is that 70% of married couples have conflict over money. Tell me, is that what prompted you to write Faithful Finance? Well, that's part of what prompted me to write the book. But really what happened was, when my children were small, my husband and I made the deliberate decision to move out of the city and to a farmhouse on eight acres.

Wow. We wanted our children to be able to play outside, and I wanted to office at home, and it was honestly a way to streamline our busy lives. And I knew that it might not be as convenient for people to come out to the farmhouse to meet with me as my clients, and I just hoped and prayed that the Lord would bless it.

And what I didn't expect is it wasn't that they wouldn't come out, it's that they wouldn't leave once they got there. So we would sit around my farm table and look out at my pond and drink coffee, and people began to pour their hearts out in ways that I had never seen before. Everybody has an issue with money. It's not just married couples. It is the top three reasons that people argue in divorce, but money represents our heart, it represents our hopes and our fears and our dreams and our children and our family.

And so as I sat there counseling people, I realized I can't have everybody out to the farmhouse to drink coffee and talk about their specific financial life. And so I wanted to get this information into the hands of as many people as possible, which is why I decided to write the book initially. And then now we've expanded it further, and I actually invite you into my home while watching my new series, Faithful Finance Live on Pureflix. I love that.

Well, I'm delighted you wrote the book, although I've got to tell you the farmhouse sounds delightful. But what you're describing is so in line with our hearts, and that is that money issues are in fact heart issues. And that's not our idea. As you know, Jesus said, where your treasure is there, your heart will be also. So when we talk about the practical ins and outs of managing money, we're really uncovering at its core heart issues.

But, you know, as you talk about these biblical principles of managing money, how have you seen that actually remove stress and worry in people's lives? Well, I believe having a plan is biblical. There is nothing wrong with sitting down and mapping out your future. Now, we have to realize that life is going to happen and God is still in control. And we're going to have to revisit those plans pretty frequently and adjust as need be. But if you don't have a plan, you really have no direction for your life. And I have found that automating savings, automating a lot of these financial decisions takes the stress out of all sorts of issues that come up with money.

I love it. Well, it's right in line with what we teach, as you know, here on MoneyWise Live. And I'm looking forward to beginning to unpack these secrets that you talk about in your book. We'll get really practical, but I know it's all rooted in biblical truth, which is what we're so excited about. So, Steve, much more to come just around the corner with Emily Stroud. Indeed, Emily is involved in lots of things, including a brand new TV series. We'll have a chance a bit later on to discuss that.

She also has a big farmhouse, eight acres, a pond, and drinks lots of coffee. That and much more when we return. We're going to take some calls later in the program on any financial topic that's of interest to you.

800-525-7000. You're listening to MoneyWise Live, and we'll be right back. Good to have you with us today. It's MoneyWise Live. Your host is Rob West.

I'm Steve Moore. And today we're talking with Emily Stroud. Emily is an author. She's also the host of a brand new TV program, Faithful Finance Live, streaming on Pureflix. And you can find that on your own.

You can Google it, I'm sure. Again, Faithful Finance Live. Emily Stroud, our guest today. Emily, just before the break, we were talking about the fact that our heart follows our money, which really sets the stage for how we manage money God's way, recognizing he has principles that we can apply in the very practical decisions we make in handling money each day. I want to begin to dive into these secrets you describe in the book, starting with this idea that we need a plan and really seeking out a financial advisor to help us do that. What would you say to listeners who have yet to meet with a financial professional?

I think one of the biggest objections is people think it's too expensive and they cannot afford it. And what I would say is they cannot afford the mistakes that they are going to make without someone who is an expert in this field. There are many different disciplines, your physicians, your dentists, your architects, they are experts in their field. You wouldn't build a house without an architect and you wouldn't do heart surgery without a cardiologist. So why are you trying to manage your money without an expert in financial planning? Yeah, somebody who can help you navigate these critical decisions and do that, preferably from a biblical worldview as well. All right, as we get into some of the practical steps, I love that you begin with a place that we start often, and that is the need for a spending plan and an emergency fund.

Talk about the importance of those. The first step to achieving financial freedom is to have a budget in place. The number one objection to this task is creating the budget.

It's overwhelming to a lot of people. They don't know where to start. They don't know what to include. So I have taken all of the objections away and created a free, very detailed budget worksheet that I give away on my website, faithfulfinance.com. All you have to do is enter your email address and I will personally send you a free budget worksheet. So this way you have a practical tool that you can use to figure out how much you're spending every month. Most of us are not aware of exactly how much we spend because a lot of us are swiping credit cards. Even if we're being disciplined and paying them off every month, it's hard to keep track of all of those miscellaneous expenses. And so in order to achieve financial freedom, the first step is you have to be aware of how much income is coming into your household and how much you're spending. And there cannot be a deficit on a regular basis or you will never achieve financial freedom.

Yeah. Well, that's so important to be able to know how God's money is being allocated to do that within the provision that he has for you. And one of the first things that we need to build into that spending plan is our systematic giving. Unlike a lot of financial advisors, you encourage people to be generous, to really build in your giving right there on the front end.

So what advice do you have about this? Well, another objection to giving is people hear that a tithe is 10 percent, and that may seem overwhelming initially if you've never given anything to anyone. And so what I tell people is start where you are. Just give something to somebody today. Start small and see how God blesses it. I think you'll be surprised. And I'm not preaching a health, wealth and prosperity gospel, but I do believe that the Lord blesses generosity.

And it may look different for everybody. Those blessings, whether it's an emotional blessing that you receive, it's been proven scientifically that our depression and anxiety, it is relieved when we become more outwardly and upwardly focused rather than focusing on all of our own selfish desires and needs. So just start where you are and then continue to see how the Lord blesses it and how he leads you to continue on your path of being generous to others. Let's talk about debt for just a second, because you talk about it a lot, Emily, and not just things like consumer debt, but mortgage debt as well. What's your advice for folks about managing this properly? Now, consumer debt would be your credit card debt.

That is bad. And one of the chapters in my book, as I say that not all debt is bad. Now, not everyone is going to agree with me, but from a practical standpoint, most people cannot afford to pay cash to purchase a new home. And so a mortgage is a way and a means to do that. However, you once again, you need a budget and know how much you can easily afford before you ever start shopping for a new home. Otherwise, you're going to be picturing your children playing in the backyard and justify a home that you just can't afford. But if you never purchase a home, then you will always be renting and technically you will always be a slave to the landlord. So I like my clients to be debt free when they are about to retire.

And that includes owning their home free and clear. So that's one of our goals. When do you want to retire and what do we need to do to make sure that you're a homeowner without debt when you retire?

Yeah, I love that. So we've got to recognize money issues are hard issues. We've got to get our spending plan in place and our emergency fund. We want to certainly pay off consumer debt, manage properly debt for appreciating assets like our home.

What about saving and investing, Emily? Well, the first step is you need to have a proper emergency fund, as you said, or what I call a cash reserve account. If your income is stable and you are not self-employed or working on commission, then I say at least three months of living expenses in cash.

And that number is going to be different for everybody because however much it costs you to live each month, which you will know if you've completed the budget worksheet, you multiply that number by three to get three months. If you are working on commission or you're in an industry where you're concerned about layoffs, you're self-employed, there's volatility in your income, then I want you to have six months of living expenses in cash. And after you have a proper emergency fund, then we start talking about the next savings goal, whether that's for a down payment on a home, sending your children to college, retirement, a vacation home. There is no wrong answer, but the first step is we need to make sure we have a proper emergency fund before we start funding those other savings goals.

Yeah, that's really helpful. Let's finish today by talking about estate planning. Emily, as you know, folks often put that off. Why is it important to include that early in financial planning? Well, for parents that have young children, this is very important. They need to name a guardian for their children.

And the number one reason why people don't get a will or estate plan is they cannot agree on who the guardian should be for their children. So I want to encourage people to take care of this. It's part of being an adult. If you are a parent, take care of it.

It doesn't have to be a super morbid conversation and then know that it's taken care of and you never have to think about it again. But you do not want your children to be in jeopardy of living with the wrong people. If something happens to you, God forbid. Yeah. Just a few seconds left, Emily. Tell us about your exciting new TV series, Faithful Finance Live. We are streaming on Pureflix. We have four episodes that you can watch now. We interview some really interesting guests that have inspired me.

They're using their time, talents and resources to change the world. And we also educate you on how to achieve financial freedom in a very fun environment. And I invite you into my home. I hope you'll join me on that journey. I love it.

You'll even get to visit the farm. Emily, thanks for being with us today. Thanks so much for having me.

It was a pleasure. Emily Stroud, our guest today. You can find your book, Faithful Finance, wherever you buy books online or check out her website. Where else? FaithfulFinance.com. We'll be right back with more after this.

And if you're just tuning in, you missed the beginning of the program, perhaps. Who are those guys? Well, that guy over there, the good looking one, he's Rob West, taking your calls on anything financial today. Right now, open lines, lots of them at 800-525-7000.

800-525-7000. I'm Steve Moore. And Rob, with your permission, sir, we'll jump right in, okay?

That sounds great. All right, Sherry is calling from southern Minnesota, where, Sherry, because it's southern Minnesota, like, are we talking palm trees, things like that? Funny.

It's raining. I'm sorry. But it's good. It's almost as good as palm trees because it isn't snow. There you go.

You don't have to shovel rain, at least. Right. So, hey, how can we help you, Sherry? Well, I got a call yesterday morning, and the telephone showed it was from Honolulu, Hawaii. And this man said, what would you do if you won a lot of money? And I said, I'd probably give it away to a charity or something. And he said, well, he had good news for me, I'd won 17 million dollars.

Wow. And I didn't believe that. I said, yeah, sure I did. And he said, oh, yes, you only, do you have a Walgreens, I think it was Walgreens, close to you?

And I said, well, not real close, it's a few miles away. Well, he said, if you will go to the Walgreens and get a green card and sign something, I don't know what that was, and bring that back to your house, and with that green card and your identification, some identification, they would come to my home and give me the 17 million dollars. Well, I said, that sounds too good to be true.

And there was a little perk about that was that you had to pay them $500 for the green card. And he didn't say how in, you know, I said, well, I don't have $500 to give you. And he just kept talking and, oh, well, you wouldn't want to pass this up and you know how they are. And I said, well, I don't think I'm interested. And so I hung up. Well, he called back and he called back several, several times.

I don't know how I didn't keep track. And I even gave the phone to my husband, let him talk to them a little bit. He didn't believe it either. But he just kept calling to try and to get me in. And so I finally just took the phone off the hook so he couldn't get through. And also I asked him, I said, how do I find out if you're on the up and up? Well, he could give me a phone. He gave me a phone number for the Better Business Bureau. And I had his name, which was something Peterson, I don't remember. And I could call them and check and then call him back. And, you know, he wouldn't let me go. Well, I just hung up and said, this is too good. Well, and since then, I'm thinking, gee, 17 million dollars.

That's a lot of money. Does everybody get these calls? I mean, I know we get a lot of crazy calls. And usually I don't even answer them if it's a strange, you know, from someplace. But this was from Hawaii.

And of course, I don't know why. Yeah, you're intrigued, got the best of you. Well, Sherry, let me just go ahead and confirm to you, you're not missing out on anything, because it's a scam. And next time, I wouldn't even give this gentleman or anybody else calling with this type of information, the benefit of a conversation, because the longer they can keep you on the phone, the more they can try to convince you of certain things or get you to take certain actions or give them certain pieces of information that they'll actually use fraudulently, perhaps to even assume your identity and it can get really bad.

And the fact that you entertained the conversation gave him the encouragement to continue to call back to try to get you back on the phone. So in the future, as sweet as you are, and as much as you want to engage these folks in conversation, I'd cut these conversations real short because the Federal Trade Commission says really a lot of people unfortunately are getting taken by these giveaway gift card scams. You know, here's what you need to know any legitimate sweepstakes doesn't make you pay a fee to get your prize.

That includes paying what they call taxes, shipping and handling charges, processing fees, all of that is a telltale sign. This is a scam. There's no reason to give anybody your checking account information, a credit card number, and you certainly don't want to go buy anybody a gift card. As soon as you hear anything related to a gift card or giving out your personal information over the telephone, you can immediately be confident that this is not something you should be involved in, and it's a scam. Don't trust your caller ID because scammers can make any name or number show up on your caller ID. They might use official sounding names like Publishers Clearing House or Readers Digest as it relates to sweepstakes. And, you know, as you move forward here in these situations, you also need to know that any number they would give you to perhaps verify their legitimacy is probably a fraud as well. There's probably somebody that's going to answer the phone, impersonate the Better Business Bureau, and try to garner confidence that is ill-placed.

So you didn't miss out on anything. I'm glad you didn't follow through on it, and I appreciate you calling because now we have the chance to tell our entire MoneyWise Live community that these are scams, they're real, they're happening all the time, and don't be taken by them. Sherry, God bless you. Thanks for calling. If he does call back, give him our number. We'd love to talk to you. It would be a call unlike any we've had in the past, and that might be interesting. That would be fun. Mary in Chicago, how can we help you?

Hi. So I have no emergency fund, and I have a lot of debt, and I have some money coming in, and I was wondering if it would be recommended that I put that money towards emergency fund, towards debt reduction, or split it, or something else? Yeah, that's a great question, Mary. You know, anytime we receive money, whether it's through a paycheck, or a gift, or an inheritance, or a settlement, you know, it's all about how do we take and prioritize God's money, because all of this provision comes from the Lord.

We're the stewards or managers, and the good news is the Bible gives us great principles and counsel on how, in fact, we should prioritize the use of God's money. One quick question for you, Mary, is what type of debt do you have? Is this high-interest credit card debt or some other type of debt? Credit card debt, 15%.

I lost you there for a second. Were you about to say 15,000? No, no, 15%. Okay, 15% interest, and how much do you have in the way of debt? About, it's about almost 60 grand. It's about 58,000. Okay, and what do you have coming in? I think it's going to be about five grand.

About 5,000. Okay, here's what I'd like for you to do. I'd like for you to start with a $1,500 emergency fund, because that's going to get you out of the cycle of charging. We ultimately want to get to three months expenses.

We can't do that now, and then I want you to call Christian credit counselors before you pay anything other than the minimum payments, and let's talk to them about getting you on a credit counseling program that gets the interest rates weighed down. Stay on the line. We'll talk more off the air, and we'll be right back. Welcome back to MoneyWise Live with your host, Rob West, a place where faith and finances meet, and if we can help you today with anything you might be wondering about, a situation that's come up, you're not quite sure if the Bible addresses it or not. Well, let's talk about it.

800-525-7000. Out to Washington State next, and Marcus, what's on your mind? I was wondering, my wife and I just moved into her mom's house, and we're doing a rent-to-own type deal where she's got five years left on her mortgage with the bank, at which point we will buy the house at the appraised value minus the amount of money we've given her. So my question is, do we need to do something now to protect against a capital gain?

Is there a way that the bank would look at us buying the house for less than its appraised value, and seeing that amount as a capital gain that we have to communicate is not actually a capital gain, but we've paid that ahead of time? Or is that something that doesn't need to be dealt with now? Yeah, it's not.

I mean, whenever you're dealing with these situations, it's always good to get professional counsel. Let me just tell you generally, though, I think what you're talking about is gift tax, which really shouldn't be an issue here. You know, keep in mind, if you buy something from a family member, like a piece of property, and you're paying less than what would be considered market rate within reason, then the IRS is going to look at that and say, okay, the fact that your family member gave it to you under market, that portion between what you paid and what the market value is, is a gift.

But keep in mind, although you get $50,000, you get $15,000 per year, as a gift per person, you know, from a family member without it, accounting toward the lifetime gift exclusion, the lifetime amount is in excess of $11 million. So even if it is considered a gift, because you're able to buy it considerably lower, you know, that is not going to be a factor. Now, when she sells it, given this is her property, she's on the deed. And given the fact that perhaps she hasn't been listed or living in the property, two out of the last five years, you'd have to tell me whether she was or what, but since you're living there, I'm thinking perhaps she hasn't been there, two out of the last five years, then she wouldn't get the exclusion as it being her primary residence. And she would owe capital gains on any profit that was made. But there may not be much of that either.

So tell me your thoughts. Yeah, so part of the deal is we're renovating above the garage for her to live in as an apartment, so she would still be on the property as her primary residence. Okay, well, then she would have to have more than $250,000 in profit above her basis, her original purchase price plus any improvements.

She'd have to have more than a quarter of a million dollars in profit before there'd be any capital gains, as long as she lived in it as her primary residence for two out of five years. So that's not an issue for her. And your issue is not anything, frankly. The other issue is also related to her, which would be it being, you know, considered a gift. So I think, you know, everybody's in the clear here. And it sounds like, you know, you guys are making some good decisions. I would get some counsel from a tax accountant or a CPA, just because anytime we have a major, you know, change in our financial life, and certainly buying a piece of property from a family member, especially under market value, you just want to make sure you do everything properly in terms of filing and, you know, acknowledging the transaction appropriately.

So there's never any penalties or interest on something down the road that wasn't handled properly. So connect with a CPA in your area just to run all this by that professional and make sure everything was done properly. Marcus, thank you very much, sir.

Round Rock, Texas. Sylvia, we appreciate you holding and your patience today. What's your question? Hi, I just want to say, first of all, that I like and love your program. It's a lot of it's a lot of help for all the public.

I appreciate that. My question is, we recently refinanced our home in cash out to pay up our credit card debt. I have three credit cards, and they total up to $20,000. The cash out amount was $23,000. So my question is, is there a way where I can talk to the credit creditors to see they can lower the payoff amount and I can just pay them up before I pay that full amount?

Because each one is about $6,000 each credit card. Okay, I'd love to tackle that. Let me just make sure I understand what happened here. When you said cash out, did you sell the property or refinance? Refinance.

Okay. And so what is the value of the home? $243.

All right. And what did you what was the total amount of the mortgage once you refinanced? $1,800. No, no, the value of the mortgage do you how much do you owe on the on the mortgage after the refinance? $194,000. 194. And how much did you get out of in the form of cash?

$23,000. Okay. And have you already closed on that new mortgage?

Yes, we closed on Monday. They gave me the approval that everything went through. Okay. So they already signed the docs and you're just waiting for the money?

Yes, we already got the money on Monday evening. I see. Okay. And what do you owe in credit card debt? $20,000.

$20,000. Okay. And do you have was there another purpose that you pulled this money out other than paying off debt? No, that was the only purpose to pay off the credit cards because that's all we have for you know. All right. Tell me this, Sylvia, are you living on a budget right now? Yes.

Okay. So here's my concern. And if you would have called me last week and said, Should I do this, I would have probably discouraged you from taking this home, this money out of your home to pay off your credit cards. I understand on paper, it makes sense because you're lowering the interest rate. But you're doing a couple of things, though you're taking unsecured debt, and you're securing it to your house. So if you ever can't make the payment on the mortgage for the amount you had previously, plus this new $23,000, now your home is at risk. You know, secondly, you you're even though it's at a much lower interest rate, I'm assuming you took a new 30 year mortgage, so you're extending it out over 30 years as opposed to, you know, what I would have hoped that we could have paid off this credit card debt in, you know, five to 10 years through something like a credit counseling program. It sounds like it's done.

And if it's done, then let's just make the best decisions we can moving forward. The last thing I'd want you to do is to take this money, wipe out this credit card debt, and then a year from now you call me and you say, Rob, the credit card debt is back. And now we've got $194,000 mortgage that we've barely put a dent in. And the reason that would happen, which it typically does, is because the problem that got you into debt in the first place was just consistent overspending without a family budget. And so before you pay anything off, I want to make sure I'd really love for you to live on a budget that's balanced, where you can prove to yourself that you can, you know, cover all of your obligations and have some surplus left over at the end of the month for at least three months.

But that's going to be key. So now to your question, can you get the these creditors to take less? Yeah, you could ask for a settlement, but they're likely going to ask you to show a detailed financial statement showing a financial hardship, which you may or may not be able to do. And keep in mind, that's going to be noted that it was settled on your credit report, the IRS may consider the forgiven amount taxable income. And if you have the ability to make the payment because the money's sitting there, I'm inclined to say you should take the full amount, because it's really the amount that you owe.

You could certainly ask the question if they agree to it, then I think, you know, at that point, it's legitimate. Let's do this. Sylvia, I'm going to give you six months of pro access to our MoneyWise app, because I really want you to start managing your money very closely and the envelope system is the best way to do it. So you stay on the line, we'll get your information. Thank you very much, Sylvia. God bless you. This is MoneyWise Live 800-525-7000.

And at the top of the page, you'll find the donate tab and thank you in advance for your help and generosity. To Ocala, Florida. Hello, Kevin. What's your question today for Rob West?

Yeah. Hi, gentlemen. Thank you for taking my call. I appreciate it.

I love what you guys do. It's kind of a two-fold thing. I'm 66 in two months now. And I've just recently become a semi worker. I've cut down my hours and I've like reduced my monthly salary by about a half. So on the first thing I'm looking at is whether I should start thinking now within this year of taking, you know, start to take my social security payment. And, you know, because I know as I've reduced my salary, that's going to reduce the benefit that I'm going to get.

I had originally planned on, you know, work until 70, but just different things have come about and have changed my thought. Have no debt. Mortgages all paid off. And then the other part of it is, is where I stand financially, I have between a 401K, which is mutual funds that I have. I've got about 350,000 in that. And then in stocks and for your stocks and some mutual funds in my 401K and my Roth, I've got about 100,000 going back and forth in there with the fluctuation in the stock. So, one, I'm thinking, should I start drawing my social security now as opposed to making it, causing it to be reduced? And the other one is how does it look like I'm sitting financially for retirement? Yeah.

Let me ask you, I missed you. I heard you say you had 100,000 in that second retirement account. Did you say 300,000 in the first? It's about 350,000 in the 401K. Okay, very good.

So about 450 all in. Well, a couple of things here. Number one is, you know, I love where you're at. And, you know, I think I would be really thinking and praying, asking the Lord what he has for you in this next season of life as you think about everything from where you're going to live to the lifestyle you want to maintain. You know, what perhaps new assignments the Lord might have for you as you lean into, you know, a season where you have the most experience and wisdom to offer in your service to the Lord. And then with that comes the financial side. But money is a tool to accomplish God's purposes. So we want to align your money with what's most important to you and where God is leading. And, you know, part of that is going to be Kevin establishing a budget that just simply says, okay, once I'm done working, whatever that looks like for me in that season as I serve the Lord, what is it going to take to fund that? And it may be very similar to what it is today in terms of the total expenses.

It may be quite a bit different. You know, typically we'd be talking in terms of 70 to 80 percent of your pre-retirement expenses just because you're no longer saving for retirement. You know, typically the kids are off the payroll and, you know, you can drop some insurances if you're, you know, you don't perhaps need life insurance because there wouldn't be any hardship placed on anybody if you were, you know, to pass away. Nobody's depending upon you apart from maybe your wife. But, you know, she would have the same assets you have that would fund her expenses if you were gone. So it's not like she'd be losing your income if you're married.

So, you know, there are going to be some reductions, but getting that budget established is key because that's going to determine what you actually need coming in every month. Then we start comparing that against what income sources we have. Now, the first income source you mentioned is social security. That is going to be determined based on the average indexed monthly earnings during the 35 years in which you earn the most. So if you already have 35 years on the books and your income goes down, you're not going to replace any of those lower years with a higher earning amount, therefore making it go up. But you're probably not going to lose anything because those 35 years are what they are. And if this happens to be one that's lower, it's just not going to replace any of the others. So you're essentially not penalizing yourself by continuing to work at a reduced amount.

You're just not going to increase anything. Where you're going to see the increases is if you could delay taking it until, you know, well, for every year you delay, eight percent is going to be added to that monthly amount up to age 70. So that's the first question is, do you want to just continue to work and let that eight percent at be added every year to that monthly amount that you'd get for the rest of your life? You know, I think that's a financial question as well as a quality of life question in terms of do you want to continue to work or is God, you know, redirecting you to something else in terms of, you know, is that four hundred and fifty thousand enough to fund your lifestyle?

That's again going to come down to the budget. When you look at your total needs and you subtract the Social Security payment, the question is then what is the shortfall if anything? You know, we would typically look at a four percent rate of return on the four hundred and fifty thousand.

If you could only take that, that would be ideal. That would throw off 18,000 a year that you would add to the Social Security. And if that could cover your expenses, then that's great. You should be able to, with the help of a professional, build an income generating portfolio that allows you to pull out that four percent a year and hopefully over time never impact the principal and still maintain it, if not grow it a little bit. If you can't, if you need more than 18,000 based on your bills and what you're going to get from Social Security, you know, then obviously you may need to be a little bit more aggressive or you're just going to have to recognize you're eating into the principal every month. And that may be a reason if you're healthy and you can continue to work, you would in fact want to delay Social Security to get that check as high as possible. So when you do retire, you can take less from the retirement accounts. I've thrown a lot at you there.

Tell me your thoughts. Well, yeah, I mean, it's like I said, I didn't know on that factor that if I had already been in for thirty five because I thought if any time that I did that, it was just going to throw those lower years back in on top of the other one. So I'm glad to know that, you know, because I mean, like I say right now, the way we sit, I mean, my wife is younger than me.

And so, you know, I mean, and and literally, I mean, you know, we have no mortgage, we have no car payments, you know, not saying we won't have any in the future or whatever, but opening it, you know, there by because, you know, we've we have we've gone back and forth. And it's like you said, get on the budget. I know I need to I've been there and I need to get back on to it. So definitely that, you know, and as I listen, I, you know, I think because you have those counselors that are there and I'm a little gun shy because I've had two Christian counselors and things turned out not to be very good. I lost a lot of money on one of them. But, you know, it's like so I'm taking a look at, you know, I need to do that. I need to have somebody because I'm a nurse. I'm not I'm not a you know, you know, I'm not an accountant.

I don't do those kind of things. And so, you know, so this is the season where you need to do it, Kevin, because you and your wife have worked a long, long time to amass the wealth that you have. It's what God has entrusted to you want to be a careful steward of it. And getting professional counsel is going to be really key. So let's do two things.

Number one, connect with a couple of certified kingdom advisors in Ocala, go to our website, MoneyWiseLive.org, click find a CKA interview two or three of them, find the one that's the best fit as potentially the ones that would manage that money moving forward once you retire. Secondly, hold the line, we'll get your information. I want to give you six months to the pro subscription to the MoneyWise app so you can connect to your institutions, set up your budget automatically download everything, get the envelope system going so you can track your expenses every month. I think it'll be a real blessing to you and your wife. So thanks for calling today. Hang on the line. We'll get your information and we'll get you that subscription free of charge.

We will indeed. Thank you Kevin very much. Uh, time for one more.

I believe Cleveland, Ohio. Sharonda, do you have, you have something for us, huh? Some information, a testimony, something like that. Well, yes, I just wanted to thank you both because of you. Uh, I just got an immediate raise because I just paid off my car note today. I had a seven year loan and I paid it off in five. Oh, wow.

Sharonda, that's incredible. Now you said because of you and obviously it's because of God's principles, but tell me, what did you do as a result of hearing God's financial principles on MoneyWise that allowed you to pay this car off early? Well, I've listened to you, uh, for years and I, I heard, uh, you say even with, um, house payments or car payments, if you put extra money on the payments, you, um, you can, you know, pay it off that much, uh, sooner and, um, you'll, it's, it's a windfall.

Yes, yes, exactly right. So that's what I started to do. And, um, and now today, uh, I just paid off my last payment and so I wanted to thank you. Well, you are welcome. Welcome. Thank you for listening. Thank you for being faithful to the Lord and applying his principles.

And now you're going to experience the blessing as a result of that. Let me ask you a quick question. How old is this car? What, what a year is it?

It's a 2013. Okay. All right. And how is it doing? Is it in pretty good shape? Oh, it runs.

It runs like a dream. Okay. Here's what I want you to do. I want you to keep making that unless you've already decide you want to increase your giving or you've got some other debt to pay off. I'd love for you to keep making that payment every month instead of sending it to the bank. I'd love for you to put it into savings. So when it's time to replace this vehicle, you can do it with cash. And when you do that and you buy the car with cash, I want you to call us back and tell us about it. Okay. I will do that.

Yeah. I, I've been wondering what I'm going to do with the extra money. I definitely want to, uh, give more, um, uh, above and beyond in my, in my giving, uh, to the church.

Um, and in the, um, in the mission that, um, that I support, uh, but I, I'm just wondering what other things I could do, but that's a good idea to just keep it aside. Well, Sean Sharonda, I'm glad that you thought of us as you made that payment today. And, uh, we're delighted that you listened and we're delighted that you called and Steve, you know, that's what it's all about. I heard from another listener earlier today, as I was sharing with you guys during the break, he started listening four years ago. He just in the last two weeks paid off his last payment, $75,000 in student loan debt. And, uh, he feels great. His wife does too. And that's so.

Yeah. When you follow God's principles and it works well for you, be sure to let us know about it because it makes us feel almost as good as you feel as well. So thank you Sharonda for that. And thank you for tuning in and listening today. Money wise live is a partnership between Moody radio and money wise media for that guy, Rob West. I'm this guy, Steve Moore. Join us again tomorrow.