3 Dimensions of Faith-Based Investing

We all like to see our portfolios grow, but do you know how your investments make money? Not just the rise of stock prices, but how the actual companies whose stock you own do business.

Hi, I'm Rob West. The fact is many companies are involved in ungodly practices from pornography to fetal tissue research. Today, Jason Meyer of Eventide explains three ways to approach this problem, that it's on to your calls and questions.

800-525-7000, that's 800-525-7000. This is MoneyWise Live, where God's word is the ultimate financial advisor. Well, Eventide is an investment company that's all about faith-based investing and a financial underwriter of this program. Our guest and my friend, Jason Meyer, spends his time teaching folks the importance of faith and values when we invest.

Yes, those two things can intersect and intersect very well. You know, it's an idea that's becoming a movement in the investment world. And Jason, delighted to have you back to the program to explain all of this. Thanks so much, Rob.

It's really great to be with you. Jason, faith-based investing may be a new idea to some of our listeners, despite the fact that it's growing. So why don't we start off with this question, and that is, what does faith have to do with investing? Yeah, it's a really great question.

I really like a quote from a person named Philip Yancy, who's a pastor, and some of you may know him. He says that the Bible asks three main questions about money. Number one, how did you get it? Righteously, justly, or exploitably? Number two, what are you doing with it? Are you indulging in needless luxuries, or do you have a mind to help the needy? And number three, what is it doing to you? So how is money affecting us, shaping our heart?

And many of Jesus's most trenchant parables and sayings go straight to the, quote, heart of the matter of money. So once again, how did you get it? What are you doing with it?

And what is it doing to you? And I think all three of these questions are relevant for us as Christians as we think about investing, but particularly that first question, right? So how are we getting our money in investing? How are we earning it? Where's the money coming from? What are the companies we own here? What are the products and the services and the business activities that are generating the returns that are funding our future? And how well aligned is all of that, or not aligned, with our faith, beliefs, values, and ethical commitments in this life?

Wow, that's powerful. You know, those are great questions. And I suspect many of us would have a hard time answering them. I mean, they really cut to the core of the purpose of money. And this third question that often we perhaps might stop short of, and that is, what is it doing to us?

Unpack this a bit more, because those are really poignant. Yeah, you know, I think if we think about our investments, most of us, if we're being honest, really lack this level of knowledge about our investments and where the profits are coming from. I think a lot of people feel pretty disconnected from their investment accounts. You know, we just put our money into some mutual funds or exchange traded fund in an IRA or 401k. We're thinking about retirement.

We're thinking about some future goal. We're not really thinking about what companies we own and what things we're profiting from. There's a Catholic professor at DePaul University who describes what it's like to be an investor. He says, retirement accounts tend to just go into mutual funds where, as an investor, not only do I not have any idea how the companies that I have stock in are being operated, I don't even know what companies I have stock in. And so that's part of the problem is just this lack of knowledge about where our money is going, what we're supporting, what we're profiting from. And then on top of that, many of the investment managers that run these investments have a single mandate, and that is to simply find profitable companies without much consideration about how those profits are earned.

So if you kind of put this together, we don't really know what we own. Most of the investment managers, the people we hire to manage our investments are really just looking for profitable companies. And so this is kind of a classic setup for having our investment life out of sync with those things that we hold most dear.

Well, that's exactly right. And we want to tackle that. You know, believers, I'm convinced, want to make sure that their money decisions, including their investments, align appropriately with their values and priorities.

And the good news, you can do that perhaps in a way that wasn't available even just a few years ago. So when we come back, we'll talk about faith-based investing and how it allows us to align our portfolios, those investments, those companies we own with our values. This is MoneyWise Live. Jason Meyer, our guest. Your calls after that, 800-525-7000.

Stay with us. Welcome back to MoneyWise Live. I'm Rob West. Jason Meyer from Eventide, our guest today. We're talking about faith-based investing, what it is and how you can align your portfolio with your values. Jason, let's pick up right there.

What does that look like? How can we align our portfolios with our faith? Faith-based investing is really a new innovation within the investment industry.

And we were talking before about some of the problems of traditional investments where the priority is only on finding profitable companies. So what sets faith-based investing apart is it has that mandate, but it actually has the dual mandate, not just to find profitable companies, but to actually examine the sources of those profits and to make sure that those sources are well aligned with our Christian convictions. And so this is a way for Christian investors to experience the pride in knowing that their money is not just with successful companies, but companies whose returns flow from activities that we believe harmonize well with faith values and commitments. Let's get a bit more specific even than that and talk about the distinctives of faith-based investing. Jason, what sets faith-based investing apart from, let's say, traditional investments? Yeah, there are, we believe, really kind of three dimensions that you can think about with faith-based investing.

So the first dimension is what is called a void. So as we were talking before the break, there are a whole host of problem areas that we can come into as investors. And so these are things like profits from tobacco or gambling, profits from abortion or pornography. There's a whole host of problems. At my company Eventide, for example, we've actually identified around 267 of these problem areas. Now, many of those are different facets of larger issues, but still the problem can be quite extensive. And so this first avoid dimension is about helping Christian investors to not profit from sources like those that I mentioned. Yeah, and that's really important.

That's fascinating that you've actually identified these problem areas, which means you can get very tactical about how you screen them out, which I know is a big part of what you do. But faith-based investing doesn't stop at the avoiding problem areas. It moves beyond that. Explain that.

Yeah, so this brings us into our second dimension. You know, Christian faith isn't just about avoiding sin. It should be something positive, right? Christianity presents a positive way for us to live. And this, in many ways, is the exciting side of faith-based investing. Faith-based investing can be a way for us to positively express our desire to love our neighbors and to honor God in the way that we use our money.

And so this second dimension is called embrace. So after you've avoided, you then want to seek out and positively embrace companies whose products and activities we believe are well aligned with God's heart and his desires for work, business, and investing in the world today. And we have to remember that business and investing are not just the site of problems, but they can be something truly positive, where our capital is actually seeking to advance, really, foretaste of God's kingdom in our present world. Well, I know your team at Eventide absolutely loves this aspect of investing, as you embrace companies that are making an impact in the world. And I'd love for you to share, as we've done before, perhaps another example of what this embrace dimension can look like.

Yeah, yeah, I'd love to. I love sharing these stories. So back a few years ago, we invested in a small specialty pharmaceutical company that we believed really had the potential to end the opioid epidemic. So as the listeners, I'm sure, are aware, opioids are a very powerful pain medicine that's given to people who are experiencing excruciating pain. So if you have some gruesome injury and you are in excruciating pain, you're given an opioid to deal with that pain. And opioids work very quickly, and you experience this rapid on-ramp of relief. And as the medicine is ramping up in the body, it's often accompanied by the feeling of feeling good and experiencing a high.

And people will get hooked on that and find ways to continue to take this opioid long after the pain subsides. And so this is a pill, so you can crush it into a fine powder, and people will often snort it. They will take that powder and they'll inject it. They'll put that powder into a beer and then chug it, all to manipulate and to experience that same initial high. And they have to continue to find ways to manipulate it.

So this has caused a lot of devastation in communities across the country, and I'm sure it's touched the lives of many of those that are listening. So the company we invested in found a way to develop a new technology that encapsulates that fine powder in these microscopic spheres of wax. And so what happens is you take this coated version of the opioid, and the body breaks down that lipid layer, that fat layer in the stomach, and you experience a nice gradual on-ramp of pain relief. But you can't abuse it. If you try to crush it, it turns into this kind of waxy smear, and it would be like trying to snort a candle or trying to inject candle wax.

Or you could put that waxy smear into a beer and chug it, but you might get a buzz from the beer, but you're not going to be able to get a buzz or a high from the opioid itself. And so this is an example, I think, of a company that's bringing innovation to a big problem that exists in our world and has the potential to bless the lives of many as they avoid the trap of falling into an addiction like that. Wow. Well, as you all like to say, that is truly investing that makes the world rejoice. All right, Jason, just a couple of minutes left. There's one more dimension that we haven't covered.

What is it? Yeah. After you've avoided and embraced, there's still the opportunity to engage with the companies that you do finally end up owning and to engage them toward even higher levels of value creation in the world. And this engaged dimension is something that many faith-based managers have the opportunity to do on behalf of their investors.

This is something we do at my company. And this means that you're working closely with these companies, and if you see opportunities to help them improve, you take that, and you try to improve the company in some way. So just to give you a very brief example on this, we invested in a large retailer. And as a part of our fundamental research, we were examining their customer finance arm.

So at large retailers, as you may know, they'll often offer a branded credit card, which will enable customers to make purchases and earn discounts and rewards. Problem was if we were looking at this interest rate on this credit card, it was very high. So high, in fact, that we began to do some soul searching and asking questions around what is the fair and ethical interest rate to charge customers.

And we ultimately decided that this was too high and that it was something like a pit that customers could fall into that would be very difficult to climb out of. And so we engaged the company. We approached them with the posture of partnership.

And through a series of conversations, we ended up eventually persuading the company of our view, and they ended up terminating the relationship with this third-party credit card vendor and opening a new relationship with a new vendor who's interest rates were well within the bounds of the fair and ethical. And so I think these engagements can be a way to affect the world in positive ways as well. I love that. Well, we have clearly heard how you can align your faith and your values with your investments.

As you avoid, you embrace and you engage and allow your values to be known and make a positive impact on a company as an owner, because that's what you are when you're an investor. Jason, so grateful for your partnership at Eventide and want to say thanks for being along with us today. My pleasure. Thanks so much for having me.

All right. That was Jason Meyer with Eventide. You can learn more about Eventide and faith-based investing at investeventide.com. Straight ahead, your calls on any financial topic. Here's the number, 800-525-7000.

That's 800-525-7000. This is MoneyWise Live, where God's word intersects with your financial life. Stay with us. We'll be right back.

So glad you're along with us. This is MoneyWise Live. I'm your host, Rob West.

We're unpacking your financial questions today, applying scripture to them and helping you move forward with confidence and joy as you live with contentment. And that's what we do each day here on the program. We have some lines open. Looking forward to hearing from you. 800-525-7000.

The number again, 800-525-7000. A little later in the broadcast, we'll hear from Bob Dahl, good friend, industry veteran, frequent contributor on CNBC and Fox Business, also a passionate follower of Christ. Bob will check in with our market commentary today and give you a snapshot of where the market and the economy is this week, so you can understand in the bigger picture of what God's doing in your life, how your investments fit into that, and where all of this is headed. We'll look forward to that a little later. And just around the corner as well, Judy's calling, asking about some extra money she's come into, what to do with it and how do you invest in a way that honors the Lord. But first, Sarah, you're wanting to ask about how to honor the Lord in marriage.

You're next on MoneyWise Live. Go ahead. Yeah.

Hey, thanks for taking my call. So yeah, my question really here is, how can a married couple best honor God with their finances? And does God really care if our finances are combined?

Yeah. Well, it's a great question, Sarah. And it is, I really believe, so on the heart of God. You know, when we take a step back and we look at the themes throughout Scripture, clearly, we see that money, our finances are important to the Lord. And I believe that's because, at least in my purview, you know, your financial journey is one of the key ways God shapes your spiritual journey. I think that's why he talks about money so much, more than twenty three hundred verses in the Bible dealing with money and possessions and the things that money can buy. And, you know, there's this competition between our hearts and the world's things and the things that that we use money to fund.

And that's why I believe we have to get it right. We have to put money in the proper context, understanding that God owns it all and that we're a steward and money is a tool to accomplish God's purposes. Now, when we put that in the midst of a marriage relationship, we also have to recognize that what's on the heart of God is his design for marriage to become one one flesh. And that includes every facet of our financial lives, including, yes, our finances. And so I believe we can honor the Lord in this area of a married couple by putting everything under the lordship of Christ, but also recognizing that this is an area where we have to join forces and recognize that to become one flesh in this area.

Also, what does that look like on a daily basis? Well, I think it starts before we get married and just really beginning to dialogue about our views on money. How was money handled when we were younger?

How has that shaped how we handle it today? And then develop a vision together based on your values, your convictions, where you think God is taking you as a couple, recognizing that money then becomes a tool to accomplish all of that in your marriage. And ultimately, if the Lord blesses in your family. And I think keeping those separate, Sarah, makes it really challenging because it becomes mine and yours. And it has a tendency to create some division or drive some wedges in the marriage relationship, as opposed to saying whatever we bring to the marriage, whatever debt we bring to the marriage, whatever assets, whatever past history we have with money and our money personalities and how God has wired us, we're going to put all that at the foot of the cross.

And we're going to say, Lord, we want to move forward together with this. We want to make joint decisions, even though we may have one bookkeeper, and we want to allow your resources to be handled in our marriage in a way that's going to take us together as a couple toward what you have for us. And I just think the very best way to do that is through combined accounts, through open and honest dialogue and communication. You might want to consider a weekly money date where you make course corrections and have some of these conversations. But again, there's probably one bookkeeper, whoever is more aligned with the details, God's wired you to be more administrative, whether that's the husband or the wife, but all of the decisions made together jointly.

Tell me your thoughts though. Does that make sense? Yeah, you know, I think that really does make sense. I think we just, I want to be at a place where I'm honoring the Lord with our finances, but also maintaining that respect for my husband.

And yeah, so I think this is really helpful for me. Well, I think one of the keys here, Sarah, and I appreciate you say you want to honor your husband and obviously we each have roles in the marriage relationship and he's to love you as Christ loved the church and laid himself down for the church. So we have our roles, but when it comes to this area of money, I think that the spending plan is really critical and here's why. It becomes the instrument of peace in the marriage, not division, because it recognizes that we have shared goals based on where God is taking us as a couple or as a family.

The money then supports that. We're allocating our resources in a way that drives us toward God's vision and heart for us, but it still allows us to have our own identity and our own hobbies and desires, right? So we can build right into the spending plan something for you to do what you most enjoy doing and something for him to do what he most enjoys doing. So there's freedom and flexibility to be who God's created each of you to be individually within that spending plan, but it's all in the context of open communication and dialogue and I think that's going to create for the most healthy environment and really set you all up for success as you move forward.

Hey, I'd love to send you a gift. It's a book called Money and Marriage God's Way. It's by our good friend Howard Dayton and Sarah, if you hold the line, we'll get your information. We'll get it right out to you and I'd love to challenge you and your husband to take some time to perhaps read through it. I'll send you actually two copies and if you all will agree to maybe sit down together once a week just to talk about it.

I think it'll get a lot of these issues on the table allow you to really process them and perhaps get started in a way that's going to honor the Lord and allow this to be a really delightful area of your marriage as opposed to an area of conflict, which unfortunately is the case for all too many folks. We appreciate your call today. Hey, so much more coming up on Money Wise Live.

I hope you'll stay with us. We're looking forward to unpacking your questions today and applying God's truth to those as well. Phone lines open 800-525-7000. Welcome back to Money Wise Live.

I'm Rob West. Did you know you can connect with a financial professional offering financial advice that aligns with your values and your priorities as a Christian? Well, just look for a certified Kingdom advisor in your area when you visit MoneyWiseLive.org. We're taking your calls today 800-525-7000 and just around the corner we're going to hear from Kim. Kim wants to know how much money you need to have before you start investing. Tensai is asking about whether or not the current offer he has to refinance his mortgage is a good one and Randall is wondering about real estate investment.

But first, let's go to Kansas. Judy, what's on your mind? Hi, thank you for taking my call. I recently came into some money by way of one was inheritance. My mom died and three weeks later my husband died suddenly of COVID and I got benefits from him that I had never expected. And so I have all of a sudden large amounts of money and after I get my bills all paid, the house paid off, the car paid off, we had small amounts of credit card debt. I'm still going to have over $200,000 that I don't want to just leave sitting in a savings account, the low income. I have no idea how to invest, what to invest, never been in this much money. And so I need some assistance and some advice of how to look for and find the right kind of investment. Yes.

Yes. Well, Judy, I so appreciate your call today. First of all, I'm very sorry to hear about your husband's passing.

I'm happy to hear though that he's providing for you not only in his life but after his passing, after the Lord has taken him home and you're wanting to be a faithful steward of what the Lord has entrusted to you despite the fact that you didn't even know you'd have these resources. And I think clearly what you've done is the right move in the sense that you want to make sure those bills are paid. If you need help kind of setting up that spending plan and tracking everything, we have some coaches that would love to walk alongside you, Judy.

They do this very often for folks where a spouse passes away and perhaps the spouse was the one that handled the finances. So something as simple as just developing that spending plan and making sure that there's a system to pay the bills on time that can seem overwhelming if you've not done that for ever or a long period of time. And so our coaches would love to walk alongside you if that's of interest. I can tell you how to do that. Beyond that, I think the next key is to let a season of time go by before you make any significant changes.

Just allow the Lord to help you with the vision for this next season and chapter of your life. Financially speaking, I think managing these resources well is key so that it's there for you if you need it down the road. Let me just ask though first, is your income covered apart from this roughly $200,000 you have in investable assets?

Yes, yes. I do have an income of around $1,700 a month. That's, you know, just to cover utilities and food, car insurance, home insurance.

Yes, ma'am. And does that generally cover it or are you finding that you have more expenses than you have resources available on a monthly basis? That pretty well covers it with maybe, you know, just a minimal residue over that. And so, you know, it's not spending the whole amount, but it's, you know, it's sufficient and just a little bit, which I don't need a lot, you know, to have in excess. So maybe two or $300 a month over, you know, my bills that I'd have left. Yes.

Okay. Well, the good news is that it sounds like the bulk of your bills are covered. You know, with $200,000, we would typically think in terms of that being invested in such a way where we'd have a focus on preserving the capital to protect what you have, but have a small portion of it allocated to stocks. So there could be a growth component to it that if the market was down, you wouldn't touch. But in the case where the market is up, which in more years than not it is, it would provide a little extra growth over and above the income type investments you have in there, whether that's CDs, which are paying a whole lot right now, or bonds, corporate or government bonds, things like that. And the total of the portfolio with that smaller amount toward stocks and the larger amount toward what are called fixed income type investments should be able to throw off annualized enough for you to pull three or 4% a year out of that account and never see the principal decline. So that would give you, you know, roughly $600 a month or a little bit more than that, you know, for you to supplement your income.

And if you didn't need all of that, then you just, you know, you can only take what you need. But it sounds like that should more than cover it. You know, I would encourage you, Judy, to connect with a certified kingdom advisor in the investment area. This is going to be a godly man or woman who has real experience in helping folks professionally with their financial affairs. Somebody who's met significant training and experience requirements, character requirements, but also has been trained to bring a biblical worldview of financial decision making to their advice and counsel. So I'd go to our website, if you have access to a computer and you're comfortable surfing the web, go to MoneyWiseLive.org, click Find a CKA, which stands for Certified Kingdom Advisor. And I'd interview two or three, perhaps if there's a trusted family member or friend that helps you navigate these things, maybe you take that person along and find someone who you find a real good match with who can deploy an investment strategy like I described with your goals and objectives in mind, not trying to sell you something, but really helping you just steward these resources well. Because I believe that in order for you to have a lot of peace of mind here and a lot of confidence, bringing somebody who's especially trained, but also knows God's heart as it relates to money to help you make these decisions.

And in the case of this 200,000, even manage it for you, I think will make a world of difference. So you're not trying to educate yourself and make all these decisions on your own. Does that make sense, though?

Yes, it does. I just need to write down all that website again, because I'm on the road and I'm sitting beside the road and I'm trying to write this down. Well, I don't want you to do that. So let me do this. I'm going to put you on hold. My producer is going to get your information and we'll reach back out to you once you get to a place where you can talk and write a little easier. I don't want you to do that while you're driving.

So you stay on the line. And we're so thankful for your call today. We'll get your information and we'll get right back in touch with you. And may the Lord bless you. We appreciate it.

Let's quickly go to Citrus Hills, Florida, WKES. Randall, you're on Money Wise Live. How can we help you, sir? Hey, gentlemen, how are you? Very well.

I've had a question for about six months and it's come to a hand. I'm so glad to get through. I have some money. I retired early at fifty nine, moved down to Florida. No debt whatsoever. The home I've been I've had for 17 years and it tripled in value. And I owed exactly what I owed on it 17 years ago, the refinancing and lodging and things like that. So bottom line, I was left with a lot of cash. I did purchase a new home three weeks, four bucks from my mom.

Three weeks later, she suddenly died at 87. Wonderful life, though. But I traveled 40 minutes to teach. I sat around getting 20 pounds and I knew God had other stuff for me to do. So I'm at a unbelievable public school, 40 miles away near Ocala. And I don't want to stop. I'm turning 61 in May.

I really want to teach. So this year I've been leasing a room with the English department. We were in a brand new house a mile from the school. Talk about a blog post. So I just stay from Monday night to Thursday night, 400 a month. Great situation.

Great people. But an opportunity to come up to get a condo. OK. Watch you pause right there. And we'll pick up with that condo right after this break. And then I'll give you my thoughts on where we go from here. This is MoneyWiseLive. More to come right around the corner.

Stay with us. Welcome back to MoneyWiseLive. We began today talking about faith based investing. This is a growing and exciting area of investments continuing to flourish as you can align your values with your investments. If you'd like to learn more about faith based investing, head over to our Web site, MoneyWise.org. We just posted an article from our friends at Eventide called Investing Courageously. We'd love for you to check it out.

Hey, I also want to let you know MoneyWise and MoneyWise Media is listener supported. We can only do what we do through your generous support. If you'd consider partnering with us in prayer and your financial assistance, we'd be grateful whether that's one time or monthly.

You can do that. MoneyWiseLive.org. Just click the donate button and we would appreciate it.

Let's go back to our phones. Just before the break, Randall was sharing with us. He's got about $60,000 from the sale of a home. He's teaching.

His debt has been retired completely and his retirement, he believes, is funded. Randall, you mentioned you were thinking about a condo. Now, would this be for you to live in or would this be for an investment? Well, initially to live in, it's a smaller one around 700 square feet, 12 miles from the school. One of the other teachers will need a place.

One of the other teachers is getting married. So I literally, a sleeper sofa is perfect for me. Just those four nights. I'm usually a school 12 to 15 hours a day.

So this just popped up. The value, it's about 10%, maybe 12% under the Zillow value, which is real conservative. Garage, one bedroom, about 700 square feet. So in cash, I do have a residence in Citrus Hill, but I owe under half what it's worth, well under what it's worth, half of it. So I have the only expenses are that house payment insurance taxes, which are about 480 a month. And I bring home 1300 in retirement. And then I've got right now I'm bringing home well, 2500 a month teaching 500 goes straight to retirement automatically. So I'm not spending three quarters of what I bring home.

I'm putting in savings each month. Great. Okay. So I just Yeah, but I don't want to I don't know if I want to be a landlord because it happened one time and the tenant did 30,000 damage with a management company.

And that was just four years ago. Yeah. So you would use this obviously as to have a place to land a little closer to school.

And it would be assumed something temporary in the sense that once you fully retired, you'd probably sell it and then move back into your home, which hopefully at that point, it would be paid off or close to it, right? Yes, yes. And then I'm down weekends.

I love being near Crystal River. So I don't want to leave that place when I'm really retired, have time on my hands. Very good. Well, I think the key in the five years. Yeah, sure. Well, I think the key is, yeah, if you feel like you're getting a good price for it. If your retirement is on track, you've got your debt completely retired. That's great. As long as you'd still be left with three to six months in reserves, Randall, then I don't see a reason not to proceed.

It's obviously a long way away. You'd like to have a place of your own. You're doing a lot of working there at the school and sounds like the Lord's really using you.

And I suspect this is something that five years down the road you could sell for at least what you put into it, if not make a little money on it. So I'm on board with everything I'm hearing, my friend, and we appreciate your call today very, very much. May the Lord bless you. Hey, before we take our next call, in fact, we'll be talking to Tinsai in just a moment about refinancing. We have a brand new segment here on Money Wise Live on Mondays, an opportunity to hear what's happening in the markets and the economy, taking the pulse of what's going on around us with our good friend Bob Doll.

He's an industry veteran, a mutual fund manager, managing literally billions of dollars, frequent contributor on CNBC. And he stops by every Monday with our Money Wise Market commentary. And here's this week's installment. Thanks, Rob.

Glad to be here. U.S. stocks finished higher last week with the S&P 500 up 1.4 percent, completing its first four week winning streak since last August. The focus over the next few weeks is likely to be first quarter earnings. Wall Street is now looking for earnings growth of 25 percent, and that was only up 16 percent as recently as the start of the quarter on April 1st. We believe improving prospects for a period of sustained, strong and more synchronized global growth bode well for equity markets. The risk of a short term correction in equities due to overstretched technical conditions and already elevated earnings expectations has eased somewhat because the uptrend in Treasury yields has paused. So far, stocks have shrugged off the threat of higher U.S. corporate and individual taxes, although it is unclear whether that reflects expectations that the hikes won't pass Congress or that they just won't dent profits enough in a solid economic growth pattern. While the U.S. economy will lead the pack, the relative beneficiaries should be those equity markets and currencies that offer greater exposure to strengthening global trade. And that's this week's Money Wise live market commentary.

Thanks so much, Bob. We appreciate you checking in. That really gives us a pulse on what's happening around us in the markets and the economy. Twenty five percent growth in gross domestic product. Folks, we still have a very, very strong economy going on all around us as we reopen and emerge from this pandemic and as we continue to see strong corporate earnings. The jury's out, obviously, longer term. But the good news is, as long as we're investing based on biblical principles with a long view, properly diversified, we should always just stay the course and stick to our plan. Let's go back to the phones.

Tinsai in Minnesota. How can we help you today? Yeah, thank you for taking my conference to phone. I do have 15 years fixed at two point eight seven five. And the remaining balance on it is for 12 years.

Now I got two persons which will increase my monthly payment by 50 dollars. Is that worth it to refinance? Yeah.

So Tinsai, you're looking at taking what is essentially a remaining 12 year mortgage because you've been paying on the 15 year mortgage three years, reducing it to a 10 year mortgage, raising your payment slightly, but but only saving about, well, less than one percent. Is that right? Yeah.

And what are the costs involved in this? Of course, it's about forty eight hundred when they roll into the loan. It's going to increase my monthly payment by 50 dollars. Yeah, yeah.

You know, I don't think this is I mean, it's right on the edge. So if you wanted to do the math and you could get them to run you an amortization schedule so you could see exactly what you will pay in interest over the life of this new 10 year loan, compare that to the interest that's remaining on the existing loan. And you could do that through the amortization schedule. And then you'll have to add to the savings the cost because you're increasing the mortgage by about five thousand dollars to cover the cost. I think it's going to be a wash in the sense that it probably doesn't make sense for you to go through the hassle of doing this. Instead, what I would do is just stick with what is already a great mortgage at less than three percent, only 12 years remaining. And if you just focus on paying as much as you can toward principal while still honoring your other goals, your giving goals and your saving goals for the future, I think you'll probably come out, if not better, at least about the same. But if if you really want to understand whether it makes sense on paper, you know, I would just compare those two amortization schedules factoring in the additional cost of the refi and just see which one comes out. But I'm going to guess it's probably not worth it. Does that make sense? Yeah, but my point is the reason is the reason I'm trying to bring down to 10 years is maybe I'll retire in about five years from now. Yes. So I don't know from that perspective. I don't know if it is worth it or not.

Well, here's the thing. You can turn your existing 12 year mortgage into a 10 year payback by just paying extra. So what I would do is I would call your existing mortgage company and just ask them what you would need to send them every month in order to take that 12 year mortgage and pay it off in 10 years. Or if you wanted to match it to your retirement date, see what it would take to pay it off in five. You could also do that online with any number of the financial calculators that are out there.

Just search for a mortgage payoff calculator and you'll find many, many of them at your disposal. We appreciate your call today. Next to Nashville, Tennessee. Michael, how can we help you? Thanks, Rob, for taking my call.

I enjoy the show. The company that I work for, uh, has a 401k plan that pays, uh, or that they offer or add three and a half percent to ever to the 6% that I put in as well as a portable pension that gets interest quarterly with compensation credits at the end of the fiscal year. They are currently, um, moving the portable pension to any new hires all over to 401k. Uh, they're not gonna offer that to any new hires and, but the, what they will be offering them is 8% to the 6% that they put in. They are going to offer that to us, but we don't have to do it. We can stay with the portable pension.

We just don't get the 8%. I'm trying to decide which would be best to go ahead and stop it and get the 8% or continue with the portable pension. Yeah. So the only benefit to the portable pension is you'd be able to roll it out after, as opposed to the current new hires would just get a monthly check. Is that right? Uh, well, no, they're not even offering portable pension to the new hires.

The only, go ahead. The only retirement they're offering them is a 401k with an 8% match to their 6%. Oh, it's a 401k. I see. I see.

Uh, yeah. And you're putting in three and a half and getting six, correct? I'm putting in six and getting three and a half.

Oh, putting in six, getting three and a half. Got it. Um, you know, there's more details here than I, uh, then we're going to be able to unpack in the next 30 seconds. So do this, stay on the line and, uh, let's do the math together and then we'll let our listeners know how we came out tomorrow.

You hold on the line, Michael. Folks, thanks for stopping by today. We've had so much fun talking, exploring your questions and comments. Hey, let me say to my, thank you to my team, Deb, Dan, Jim, and Aaron. We'll be back tomorrow with much more. Another edition of MoneyWise Live. I hope you'll join us. May the Lord bless you. We'll see you then. Bye-bye.