How to Save on Gas

This is Doug Hastings, Vice President of Moody Radio, and we're thankful for support from our listeners and businesses like United Faith Mortgage. My best friend is blessed with three kids and a big house. All the kids have their own rooms, but recently life in that big old house has been different. In an effort to solve kid boredom, my friend bought one of those massive blue tarps and created a full room tent in the spare bedroom.

They put each of the kids' mattresses under the tent in the shape of a T, and every night for now five weeks the kids have slept with their heads feet apart instead of rooms apart. It's Ryan from United Faith Mortgage, and when I see a home, I can't help but see interest rates, escrows, and trying to help listeners pay the least amount possible. But for me, that story was a needed reminder that it doesn't matter whether our homes are big or small.

It only matters whether we're willing to enjoy the little things that God gave us today, like a tarp tent. If you happen to be looking for a new place to put up a tarp of your own, 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. With summer just around the corner, certain things are inevitable. The weather's getting warmer, days are getting longer, and gas prices, well, they're rising. If you've been to the gas pumps lately, you've seen it happening. A month ago, if it took $35 to fill up, now it's $40. Hi, I'm Rob West, and today I have some ways you can get more miles out of your tank and minutes onto your calls at 800-525-7000.

That's 800-525-7000. This is MoneyWise Live, where biblical wisdom meets today's financial decisions. So this time of year, it's a good idea to look at how much you've budgeted for gasoline and maybe make some adjustments as prices go up. The good news is, there are plenty of ways to make your gas dollars go further.

One way is to let your smartphone work for you. There are several apps that will help you find the cheapest gas in your area. GasBuddy and Waze, that's of course W-A-Z-E, to name a couple.

Look for links in today's show notes, by the way. And don't wait till you're on E to fill up. When you're forced to buy gas at the nearest station. On the other hand, don't drive to the next county just to save a few pennies, a gallon, well that'll end up costing you more money. You can also join a rewards program to save on fuel. Lots of station chains and grocery stores offer fuel rewards programs to keep you coming back. If you download the GasBuddy app, it actually has a feature called Pay with GasBuddy that could save you up to 25 cents a gallon at many of the national chains.

That adds up quickly. There's a paid version that costs about eight dollars a month that could save you up to 40 cents a gallon. So depending on how often you fill up, it could pay for itself and get you money ahead. Then again, you can simply use a credit card that offers cash back or rewards points when you buy gas. But make sure you pay those off every month or the interest will eat up your savings in a hurry.

Now this one is interesting. Did you know that when you fill up, you can affect the price you have to pay for gas? By filling up early in the week, you can save money. A recent study actually showed that gas prices are usually lowest on Mondays and Tuesdays. Avoid hitting the pump on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday if you can because that's when prices are the highest. It might save you only a few pennies a gallon, but it all adds up.

All right, these next few involve habits or behavior that can stretch your gas dollars. Of course, we'd have to start with carpooling. The longer your commute, the more you can save by sharing rides with co-workers.

And kids activities are starting to pick up again. I know they certainly are in my house and there's more opportunity to save there by organizing carpools with friends and neighbors to get the kids to their extracurricular activities. It'll save you a ton of time as well. You can also bundle your trips. So organize your shopping and errands so that you can do all or most of them in one trip. If you do that consistently, you might save a tank of gas or two over the course of a year.

Now, are you a jackrabbit driver? Rapid acceleration costs you money as well and brake pads if you have to jam on the brakes constantly. So take your foot off the gas sooner and glide more to a stop. And of course, always obey the speed limit, which will also save you money on speeding tickets and insurance premiums. Now, another way to avoid tickets and save on gas is to use cruise control when it's safe.

Staying at a steady speed reduces fuel consumption and anxiety when you go through a speed trap, as long as you're not cruising above the speed limit, of course. And as we head into the summer months, we always want to crank up the air conditioning, but you can actually make your gas dollars go further by cutting back on the AC. You can definitely cut fuel consumption by turning off the AC and opening the windows when you're driving around town, but there is evidence that open windows create enough drag at higher speeds that it's actually more fuel efficient to run the air conditioner and keep the windows rolled up when you're driving at highway speeds, interestingly.

Now, let's take a look at the car itself. Your vehicle's condition can actually affect how much gas you use. Studies show that under-inflated tires, for example, can cost you a penny a gallon. Your gas cap may also be costing you money, as well. If there's a bad seal, gas can actually evaporate from the tank. Also, junk in the trunk can cost you money. You'll want to take any items out that you don't need to get better gas mileage. Finally, make sure you're using the right grade of oil. The Energy Department says the wrong grade of oil could cost you as much as a nickel a gallon. There you have it.

Plenty of ways to take the sting out of this summer's high gas prices. Hey, your calls are next. 800-525-7000. I'm Rob West. This is MoneyWise Live, where God's word informs every financial decision. We'll be right back. Welcome back to MoneyWise Live.

I'm Rob West, your host. So glad that you're along with us today as we mind the scriptures. Yes, 2350 verses in God's word dealing with money and possessions and assets. And we want to apply those to your financial life.

The decisions, the choices, the things that you're wrestling with each day. Why so much in God's word about money? Well, I firmly believe it's because this area of our lives is most often the chief competitor to lordship. If something's going to dethrone God from his rightful place in first position in our lives, it's most often going to be money and the things that money can buy.

We certainly see that theme throughout scripture. It's not that money is the root of all evil, it's the love of money, but we've got to get it right. God owns it all. Money is a tool to accomplish his purposes. The question is, how do we navigate this life? Because we all spend money all day long, whether we do it actively or passively. The question is, does the way we allocate God's money reflect what's most important to us? It really is a barometer, not only of what we value, but our spiritual condition as well. And so we want to try to navigate that together and in community.

And one way we can do that is through your questions. So we look forward to hearing from you today, whatever's on your mind, whether it's related to giving or debt, perhaps it's saving for the future, investing, retirement, whatever it is, any topic is fair game today here on MoneyWise Live. Here's the number 800-525-7000.

800-525-7000. We have a number of lines open and we'll look forward to hearing from you today. Let's begin with a question that came in by email. We do take email questions, try to get to as many of them as we can. Many of these come right out of our MoneyWise app, which if you haven't downloaded is available in your app store today. And just click on the community tab, post away any questions or comments you have. And our MoneyWise coaches are in there responding to those questions in our MoneyWise community. And I drop by there periodically as well. We also grab several of these from the community and answer them on the air. So this one actually comes right out of our community.

This one comes from Sarah and she's in Coeur d'Alene. She says, Rob, any recommendations or ideas about buying a home in a seller's market? Well, we certainly are in a seller's market in just about every portion of the country I've looked at. In fact, I just sent an article over to our executive producer, Jim Henry, the other day about someone that put a home on the market, sold it within 24 hours. They got 88 offers in that 24 hour period. That is a seller's market. So what do you do, Sarah?

Well, I think a couple of things. Number one is when you're trying to buy in that type of environment, number one, you want to make your best offer first. This is not an environment where you want to try to lowball somebody and then work your way higher. You really want to go in with your best offer. Be ready to bid. You may have to go above asking price. Doesn't mean you should and you certainly need to count the cost and make sure it's in a range that you can afford because you don't want to buy too much house, which can be tempting in this kind of market.

You don't want to try to counter in many cases. You want to show strength vis-a-vis cash. So the extent to which you can put down a large down payment and be a cash buyer is going to put you in a stronger position. Look at non-price factors. So could you close quickly? Again, could you put down a larger down payment? Could you reduce the period of time where you have to do inspections down to five days instead of 14? Look at those types of options.

You might need to have money available if you get a low appraisal because you may need to come out of pocket more in order to satisfy the lender. And this is just a little trick. I've used it before. You may need to send a letter along with your offer. I know when Julie and I bought our last home, the home we were buying from, they had twins.

We have twins. We did write a little letter about how excited we were to buy their home and how we thought it would be perfect for our family. And I will tell you, the seller made comment at closing about how much they appreciated the letter and it played a part in them selecting us as the buyer. So hopefully that's helpful to you, Sarah, but this is a challenging market. All right, let's go to the phones.

To Mississippi. Rick, your first up today on MoneyWise Live. Go ahead, sir. Okay, thank you for taking my call. I'm going to tell you real quickly about me.

I'm 64 years old. I basically live in the Philippines. I come back here to work, go over there on vacation, vacation about every year, year and a half. So I've been sending my money over there and my wife, we just put it in the Philippines National Bank.

It just lies there. You know, we're saving it. Because the reason I chose that is because our money goes so much farther over there. But is there anything I'm going to work about probably four more years and I'm a truck driver, make around 70 grand a year. Is there anything I can do with my saveable money to make it grow quicker over here or just continue to do what I'm doing? Yeah, how much are you... From $500 to $1,000 a week in the bank. Okay, that's your surplus, $500 to $1,000? Yeah, because I live in my truck when I'm here, no expenses, phone, bill and food.

And the expenses over there are super cheap, so... Yeah. So are you putting away somewhere between $2,000 and $4,000 a month? Yes. Okay. And what you're sending currently, if I understand you correctly, you're sending all of that down to the Philippines, is that right?

Yeah, yeah. Just putting it in our savings account over there. Okay. How much have you built up? We got right at 20 grand right now. Okay. Why is it not more than that? Is this savings a new thing?

Yeah, it's relatively new. Okay. Do you have any other retirement assets to speak of? No, I've not done very well in my life. Before I was a Christian, I blew it all on, you know, just being a typical non-believer, not knowing how to handle money.

And I'm still not super smart, but at least I'm saving now. Yes, sir. And I've got a lot of opportunities to do better.

Yeah. Well, here's the thing. You know, I think the starting point for all of us, Rick, is to recognize what's most important is that we've accepted Jesus as our Savior. Once we do that, it's about stewardship, managing God's resources, our time, our relationships, being a steward of God's Word, and yeah, being a steward of God's money as well. And, you know, no matter what mistakes any of us have made in the past, and we've all certainly made plenty of them, this is an opportunity for you to say, Lord, I want to do this your way, and I want to apply your principles to my life. I want to live simply. I want to live open-handed. I want to live open-handedly, which means I want to be generous. And yeah, I want to save some for the future and manage your money wisely. And I appreciate, even though you've made some mistakes in the past, as we all have, you're wanting to get on God's plan moving forward. I think the key for you, Rick, at this point, number one, is just to make sure you continue to live life modestly. I love the fact that you've got plenty of surplus right now.

I think you need to start socking this away diligently, and I would try to get this growing for you. You know, when you stop working, you said that could be four to five years. Do you have a sense of what your expenses might look like at that point? Do you plan to stay in the States, or do you think you'll head back to the Philippines? No, I'll definitely be in the Philippines.

Okay, all right. And would you expect to be receiving Social Security? Yes, and I just talked to a friend of mine that works for them, and he looked at my account, and I'll be getting around like $1,550 a month.

May affect it a little my next couple years, but probably not greatly. Okay, and are you married? Yes. Okay, and would your wife receive benefits as well?

No, she's never been to the U.S., and since she's not an American citizen, she won't be able to receive. Okay, and what do you expect your budget will look like at a minimum? What will you need to fund your lifestyle when you get to that point each month? If we had $2,000 a month to live on over there, would it live greatly? Good.

Okay, very good. Well, I think the key for you right now, you know, is to just try to sock away as much as you can. If you're self-employed, you'd probably be looking at a SEP I.R.A., S.E.P., or you could use an individual 401k, but the key is to get as much working for you as possible so that you can build up a nest egg. You know, if you had over the next five years, if you were able to build up, you know, ideally a couple hundred thousand dollars, you know, and you pulled five percent a year off of that, that'd be ten thousand dollars a year that you'd be pulling out. You know, you divide that by 12, that'd give you $800 a month, and after taxes, you know, you'd have your 500 easy.

You could probably get by with even a little less than that, maybe 175. So I think that's your target, which would then create an account that could be invested here in the U.S. very conservatively with a focus on income, your goal being to have enough of a nest egg so that when you pull out between four and five percent a year, totaling $500 a month or $6,000 a year, that you're not ever taking anything out of the principal. There would be a small portion, maybe 30 percent of that in stocks that would provide some growth, and the rest of it would be in fixed income. So I'd just be diligent in trying to sock away as much as you can between now and that point in a SEP I.R.A. or in an individual 401k. I'd probably look at Fidelity or Vanguard as a way to learn about, you know, where to open that account and then just be systematic in putting that money away and getting it invested. I want to send you a copy of the Sound Mind Investing Handbook because I think that'll give you not only some of these biblical principles, but really the how-tos of investing. And Rick, if you do that for the next five years consistently and faithfully, putting away the kind of money you're putting away, you'll have that nest egg that could supplement your social security.

You guys will have, sounds like, all that you need to cover your bills and ask God what is next for you in that season of life. And I hope that's helpful to you, friend. We appreciate your call today very much.

Hey, thanks for being along with us today. We've got a couple of open lines and plenty of time for more calls. Here's the number 800-525-7000.

800-525-7000. What's on your mind and your heart today? We'd love to tackle it as we apply God's principles to your financial decisions. A lot more to come on MoneyWise Live just around the corner. Stay with us. Thanks for tuning in today. I'm Rob Lass. This is MoneyWise Live. We're so glad you're along with us today.

A couple of lines open. 800-525-7000. Hey, have you downloaded the new MoneyWise app? If not, it's in your app store. One of the many things you can do in the app is listen to this program on the go. And so whether it's an archived episode that you want to search for or just the daily broadcast as you're on the treadmill or about town, whatever it is you're doing at work or at school, you can access all of our episodes and much, much more through the MoneyWise app. It's available as a free download in your app store today.

Just search for MoneyWise Biblical Finance. Back to the phones. We go to Dennis in Illinois. Dennis, thanks for your call today. Go right ahead, sir. Absolutely. Nice and quick question for you, sir. In the mail today, my stimulus check arrived. Do I tithe that money and would be excited to hear what you have to say?

Yeah. You know, it's a great question, Dennis. And here's my perspective on that. If we're going to apply the principle of the tithe, then I think that's a great starting point for any of us. We certainly see throughout the Council of Scripture, Old and New Testament, we should be givers.

We were created in the image of God. He's the ultimate giver. I believe we're most like him when we're giving. And I think there's something that calibrates our hearts to his when we're giving as well.

How should we give? Well, I think we should give systematically and proportionately. We certainly see that in the New Testament.

And we should start, I believe, with the local church. I think that's modeled throughout Scripture. Giving a tithe, which Randy Alcor and the author calls the training wheels of giving, is based on a tenth to or from your increase, I should say.

So the question is, what is your increase? And, you know, my view on that is really anything that passes into your hands. God is our provider. It all belongs to him. Provision comes from him.

He'll never delegate that responsibility to anyone or anything else. So I would see any provision coming your way as part of your increase. I think perhaps the only exception to that, if we were just to look at it with a perhaps a bit closer, would be maybe an insurance settlement where there was a loss that occurred and you're being compensated for that, recouping the expense that was incurred through that loss. That would not be a part of your increase. A tax refund, if you're tithing on your gross amount, you've already given on that. You just happen to give an interest-free loan to the government for a period of time. But just about anything else, and I would put life insurance in there, I'd put Social Security in there, and yeah, I'd put the stimulus payment in there, I would just say as an opportunity, and I think that's what it is, to say, Lord, thank you for this provision, and I want to give back. And again, I think that's the starting point, the tithe, not the ending point.

Does that make sense to you, though? Perfect sense. I appreciate it.

I tithed the first time with it, and we'll be doing the same this time around. All right. God bless you, Dennis. We appreciate you listening, and thanks for your call today.

To Spokane, Washington, Lisa, you're next on MoneyWise Live. Go ahead. Hello. I have a question.

Hello. My husband in 2014, before I met him, he co-signed on some type of loan, and we've been together the last four years, and so last year I got a letter in the mail for wages and garnishments that would be taken off from his pay stubs, and so they did that. They took about $400 off, and the total amount was about $2,600. With the pandemic, they stopped, and I had my husband call them today to just settle the debt in full, and I've called them three times to check up on the process because I can't get a clear answer. They won't send a certified letter that will be paid in full, and here's the full amount, and so can you help me? How do I settle this in one day?

Yes. Well, I realize this could be frustrating, and certainly you want to honor this debt. I certainly appreciate that. It can be challenging as you navigate not only the legal process but the collection agency and try to get everybody on the same page as you settle this debt or attempt to.

It seems like it should be fairly simple, and I will concur that in many cases it's not. So I think the next step for you here is to do one of two things. One would be to contact a debt collection attorney just to get some counsel. That would be a great option for you.

Secondly, I think as you begin to attempt to negotiate this debt, you're going to want to look at other options. We'll be right back. Thanks for being with us today on MoneyWise Live. I'm Rob West, your host.

A few phone lines open, 800-525-7000. We've covered some ground today, but we're going to continue whatever's on your mind and your heart. Let's head to Montana. Dorothy, you're next up on the program. Go right ahead.

Hello. I would like to know the number that you can call. I haven't gotten any of the government monies after the first one, $600, and I've got no more since then.

So I was trying to locate the number to call about that. I'd be happy to give it to you, Dorothy. Let me ask you, do you receive Social Security? Dorothy, are you still there? Okay.

We lost you there for a second. Are you receiving Social Security? Yes.

Okay. There was a delay in checks going out to those receiving Social Security that was resolved recently and checks are in the process of going out. So it's not unexpected that you've had a delay, but I know you probably want some answers. The IRS has a website where you can check if you're comfortable online. If you go to IRS.gov and then click on get my payment, you can find out about this third round of economic impact payments in terms of the status. If you'd rather call, let me give you this number. If you have a pin handy, it's 800-919-9835. I'll say it again, 800-919-9835. And that's the IRS economic impact payment hotline. And you'll probably find a computer on the other end as opposed to a real live individual, but they do have an option to speak with a live representative as well.

So I suspect you'll get the information you need. We appreciate you listening and calling today. May the Lord bless you.

Let's head south to Bradenton, Florida. Kent, you're on the program. Go right ahead, sir. Yes. Hi.

Thank you for taking my call. We're in the process of selling our house currently and with the be fortunate to profit quite a bit. And with that money, we would it would enable us to purchase another home for cash, which would leave us with no house payment, which I think is a great idea. My wife, however, she thinks that it might be best to rent for a while and hope that the market declines, which would save us a little money on purchasing a house at this time.

So just kind of wondering, I know you don't have a crystal ball, but if you had any guidance or suggestions on this. Yeah. Well, you know, Kent, certainly there could be an argument to be made that we're in a really hot housing market right now.

There's no question about it. And folks are paying top dollar. We're seeing houses sold in a matter of hours as opposed to days with multiple offers, many of which are above asking price and beyond what the appraised or comparative market value would be. That said, it's still your home. It's the place that you live, which means, you know, although we would hope and pray that over time it would appreciate and most homes do if they're held for any length of time, you know, in my view, it's not truly an investment because by definition, an investment is sold when it accomplishes its purpose. And, you know, that's just typically not how we handle our homes. We may if we see it rise in value extensively if we're wanting to relocate. But typically, the non-financial side is the driver when it comes to our domicile because it is our home.

It's the place we live and have memories and in many cases raise our children. And until we're ready to downsize or as the family expands, perhaps buy something a little larger, you know, we typically don't sell. So I would say you need to look at both the financial and the non-financial side in terms of just the hassle of renting.

You know, is that going to require some storage? And, you know, rental prices right now are very high, higher than they have been historically. And so you're going to pay more perhaps than you would have just in terms of rent. You know, not to mention the fact that you're kind of in a waiting game that we have no idea how long this is going to continue. You know, given the recovery that we're in right now that could extend for some period of time on top of all the incredible stimulus and monetary fiscal policy that's out there on the part of the government, I could see this economy continuing to grow and expand for quite some time. Does that mean that we won't turn over and see the economy dip down and the housing market go with it in the next couple of years? No, that's very reasonable given how far into this we are and kind of the looming debt situation we have in this country.

But I just think it's really challenging for you to try to time that with any degree of certainty or expectation. And I think you may grow frustrated, kind of putting your life on hold to rent in hopes that something turns down when, in fact, it may continue to climb for the next couple of years. So even when that downturn comes, it may just get back to where it is today.

We just don't know. So I think, you know, in my view, if you can find a home that fits your budget, especially one you can buy with cash, that you plan to stay in for a long time, even if you buy it in a hot market at top dollar, you know, it should do well over time. The good news is you'll have 100% equity in it, which is a great place to be. And given where rental prices are at right now, I just don't think that's a bad move at all. That's my take. There's be plenty of people that might argue the other side of that. And I wouldn't say they were necessarily wrong. That's just my view on it. Tell me your thoughts, though. I agree.

I agree with what you're saying completely. Because my concern is about the rents, you know, rents are high around around where we are. And we're trying to relocate closer to her place of work. And one of the other issues I'm worried about is, I don't know this to be a fact, but don't capital gains come into play after a year to where we'd have to pay tax on that if we just have it in the bank somewhere? Well, you would have a half a million dollars worth of exemption on your gain as a married couple if you lived in that home too out of the last five years. So as long as your gain is not more than that, you won't have any taxes on that.

If you went and deployed it, though, and began to invest it, then obviously you would have to, you know, pay capital gains either short term or long term on any profits from those investments moving forward, but not as a result of the sale of the home. So I think the two of you just need to come back together, talk it through, pray it through, perhaps seek some independent counsel. Maybe you connect with a Certified Kingdom Advisor and and look at your overall financial plan, this being one piece of it, and then see if you can have a meeting of the minds and make a decision to proceed. So we'll certainly be praying for you that the Lord will give you all some unity as you make this decision. We appreciate your call today. Let's quickly head to St.

Cloud, Minnesota. Lisa, we have just a couple of minutes. Go ahead. Hello. Hi. Go right ahead. Thank you for taking my call.

Yeah. My question is, to make it quick, we are at the tail end of our careers, my husband and I, and we do have a 401k saved up. He is planning on working until he's full social at 66.4. So we have some life insurance policies that I believe are no longer needed because our house is paid off and our children are, we got them through college, the weddings are done. So my question is, is if we cash out the cash value of those life insurance policies, number one, is there any tax penalty? Do we have to pay taxes on it? And number two, is it better to keep it liquid?

Because we don't have any like liquid savings, so to speak. Sure. Let's do this. I'm going to ask you to hold. We're going to take a quick break.

When we come back, we'll tackle both of these, the tax side of it, and what to do moving forward. You're listening to Money Wise Live, where God's word intersects with your financial decisions. We're going to pause, but we'll be right back. Stay with us. Welcome back to Money Wise Live, where God's word intersects with your financial decisions. Choices.

So glad you're along with us today. Just before the break, Lisa was sharing with us that she's looking for some counsel related to a life insurance policy she believes they no longer need in this season of life and the tax implications related to pulling out the cash value as well as where to put that money once she does. And Lisa, if you pull money out of your insurance policy, the cash value, generally you're not taxed on the entire surrender value. You'd only be taxed on the amount you receive minus what's called the policy basis. So this taxable amount reflects the investment gains that you took out. But with any tax question, I would always, especially if it's a situation that's unusual, and this would certainly be the case, you don't pull money out of insurance policies every year, I would use this as an opportunity to seek out some tax advice just to make sure that you understand the implications before you do it so that you can make sure that that amount is set aside, paid in on a timely basis so you don't ever have any taxes or, excuse me, penalties or interest. But yeah, there will likely be some tax due on at least a portion of it.

With regard to where to put it, tell me what you're considering. We don't have short-term liquid money. Yeah.

Just a little bit, but not very much. The other option that we are thinking is to just push it into the 401k that we have. Okay. Yeah, so the 401k wouldn't be an option in terms of a direct contribution. You could put it into an IRA, assuming you have earned income. You could put it into an IRA, assuming you have earned income, up to the limit. Assuming, you know, with a traditional IRA, it would either be deductible if you're under the income limits or non-deductible.

In either case, you can make that contribution. And then you could put it into a Roth IRA, depending upon how much money you earn, if you're under those limits. But the 401k is through a salary deferral. And so you would have to tell your employer or HR department, whoever handles your salary, to increase the deferral, the amount going into the 401k from your paycheck, thereby reducing the amount of income you're receiving. And then perhaps you could use this cash value that you pull out to offset that if you were counting on that income to cover your expenses.

But beyond that, you know, you wouldn't be able to make a direct contribution to a 401k. I do like though, Lisa, this idea of shoring up your emergency fund. I think that's a really critical foundation to your financial life. We tend to recommend three to six months expenses to have in there to fall back on in the event of the unexpected and the unexpected will come. So I think that's probably the best option for you. Again, up to six months expenses.

And if you have more than that that's available, I think that's the opportunity to look at perhaps pushing that into a traditional IRA or a Roth. And we appreciate your call very much today. Let's head to Ohio. Terry, you're next up on the program.

Go right ahead. Hi there. I have a mom that will be 95 years old this fall. And there are five of us siblings, but she has put just one of us siblings on to POD. Excuse me, when she passes away, it will, and these are all bank accounts that she has. He is the only one that's POD on all these bank accounts.

And there's five siblings. And I'm just wondering if if all of us can be put on as POD and the other question I have with this, he is, he is a non-believer and she just listens to him. Yeah. Well, is that creating some challenges here just with regard to her handling her finances and even preparing for how she might ultimately transfer them? What issues are arising as a result of that? OK, I'm not quite following you on your question.

Yeah. Well, you said the second, we'll get to the POD in a second, but you said one of the challenges is she's essentially taking his counsel only. Is that resulting in some challenges in her financial situation?

And what are they? What are we trying to solve for? Well, she's quite sound in her finances. She's, she's, she's she's much better off than she wants to let on. But the question in my mind is when she does passes, it'll, it'll all go to him in his own account. And I don't trust him that all of us will get an equal fair share when she does pass away.

Yeah, I'm following you. So I think clearly there's the planning side of this, looking at her estate and making sure she's clear in her wishes and intentions with regard to what God has entrusted to her, and then making sure that those wishes are carried out through the legal instruments that are in place, both a current will that allows all of her personal property and assets to pass according to her wishes, as well as any beneficiary designations. Now, you mentioned a TOD, which is a transfer on death, and you absolutely can name multiple beneficiaries and design, divide assets any way you like with a TOD. Basically, it allows the assets to pass, you know, outside of the will based on that beneficiary designation.

And, you know, most brokerage and bank accounts will have that. So I think it could very easily be updated to reflect her intention to divide the assets equally, if that's in fact what she's looking to do. But clearly, now is the time to do that. And so I think, perhaps starting with your brother or talking to her directly, just to say, you know what, Mom, we need to get everything in order so that the way you desire your assets to be left in whatever way you want, whether that's equally divided among the children, a portion of it going to ministry or charity, whatever that is, is appropriately memorialized. And then it's a very simple matter to just update both the will and the TODs and beneficiary designations to reflect that. Now, I realize that might be challenging to the extent she's not willing to take counsel from anyone other than him, and he's not necessarily going to encourage her to do that because that, you know, causes him to lose some of the control in this situation in that he would no longer be the sole recipient of these assets to do with as he pleases. But clearly, that's the way to do it, both the conversation you need to have with her and then the resulting decisions that need to be made and documents to be updated.

But a TOD can absolutely reflect all of the beneficiaries, and it would be a very simple process to get it done. So hopefully that's helpful to you, Terry. We'll certainly be praying for you as you have those conversations because I know they can be challenging. Let's head south quickly to Miami. Robert, you're next on MoneyWise Live. Go ahead.

Hi, yes, this will be quick. I was talking to a co-worker of mine in the conversation. I told him, you know, I'm about I want to pay my home. I owe $69,000 and I can pay it off and I'm fine. He said, Oh, no, no, you don't want to do that.

You want to have something until you retire. So it just blew me off. I said, wait a second.

You know, I'm thinking inside of me. I thought you were one to do away with that. So I just want to hear what, you know, what would you what's your opinion on that? Yeah, Robert, I can tell you in all the years I've been doing this, I've never gotten a call from someone that said I paid off my mortgage and I absolutely regret it. I just you don't get that call because, you know, both with the financial side being unencumbered as well as the non-financial side, the peace of mind, the flexibility that comes with owing no man anything is phenomenal.

And so I would absolutely encourage you if you have the ability to do so, assuming it doesn't deplete you entirely of your reserves to pay off the home, especially as you're heading toward retirement and looking to keep your lifestyle and expenses as lean as possible, this is a great opportunity to pay all of your debts, including your home mortgage, be absolutely free and clear and then enjoy the benefits that come from that. So I would line up with you every day of the week, Robert. Okay, thank you very much. All right, Lord bless you, sir. Jonathan, you're going to be our final caller today in Orlando, Florida. Go right ahead.

I appreciate it. So yeah, I just had a question. I'm a first-time home buyer, been saving up for a few years and looking at buying, but with the market the way it is, just what are your recommendations on just waiting and keep on renting and try to save up a little more versus, you know, trying to just bite the bullet, so to speak, and settle in?

Yeah, yeah. How much are you looking to spend as you kind of think through this and price it out, given your budget? Yeah, I mean, we're hoping to get something for 250, but just, I mean, like a year ago we looked at a home and it was like we could have got somewhere about like 210, but now it's like houses not even in as good a condition are going for 250, like in rougher neighborhoods, so it's just, I don't know. And how much have you saved?

We've got about 50 total in the bank. We don't have any debt, no carpet or anything. And then we have our 401k, so no, I'd heard sometimes you can take like a withdrawal, like for a first-time home buying.

Yes, yeah. Well, you know, what I would love for you to do is to put down 20%. Unfortunately, that would deplete 100% of your savings, and so I'm not terribly excited about that. But, you know, as long as you were to keep three months expenses in the bank, I think the goal would be to find something where you could put down 20%, still have at least three months in the bank. If you wanted to temporarily reduce your long-term savings, i.e. your 401k, you know, to build that three months back up, that would be another way to go because I think, you know, having that is going to be really important. But I don't like the idea of you continuing to wait just to hope that the market turns down because we may see this go for another couple of years and you may be buying at $2.75, the house you would have bought for $2.10.

So I think as long as you're going to buy something that fits your budget with 20% down where you still have some of your reserves, you want that principal and interest payment to be no more than 25% of your take-home pay and then stay there for a long, long time, I think that's the best bet. Thanks for your call today, Jonathan. Thank you for listening. This is MoneyWise Live. I'm Rob West. Thanks to my team today, Amy, Dan, Rich, and Eric.

MoneyWise Live is a partnership between Moody Radio and MoneyWise Media. We hope you'll come back and join us tomorrow. We'll be here as we continue to unpack God's principles and apply them to your financial life. May the Lord bless you. We'll see you tomorrow. Bye-bye.