The Treasure of Giving

This is Doug Hastings, Vice President of Moody Radio, and we're thankful for support from our listeners and businesses like United Faith Mortgage. Heading into spring, I've been spending a lot of time pondering, analyzing, and debating something extremely important to men, and even many women. And that's whether a new driver would improve my golf game.

I would say I'm somewhere between embarrassing and appalling at golf. But man, do I love it. And all my buddies show up with these epic flash, big maverick birther drivers, and I can't help but feel like they've got this massive advantage on me and my persimmons. It's Ryan, and our Faith and Family Mortgage team, we're proud to have a pretty special advantage ourselves, and one that can be a big deal for you. Our team is an arm of a bigger company who is a direct lender, which means our company uses its own money and makes its own decisions within its own walls. There's no middleman, and this advantage often allows us to get you a better rate, saving monthly and lifelong money on a refinance or new home purchase. We're much better at mortgages than I am at golf. We are United Faith Mortgage. Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, but treasures in heaven, for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Hi, I'm Rob West. Jesus makes it pretty clear in Matthew 6 that we can't serve both God and money. Today we'll talk about a way to make the decision easier, the treasure of giving. Then I'll take your calls at 800-525-7000.

That's 800-525-7000. Glad you're with us today for another edition of MoneyWise Live, where the Bible is our guide to financial freedom. So today we're unpacking the treasure principle, where your treasure is, there follows your heart.

And why is that so important to understand this? Well, because giving generously breaks the power that money has over us. Those words are mysterious and powerful, and they allow us to experience kingdom life more fully. Jesus tells us that wherever we collect treasures, our heart always follows. Our treasures go first, and our hearts follow, becoming more rooted and attached, where we've chosen to invest our material wealth. The treasure principle is real, and it's beautiful.

It points the way to an amazing adventure with God. You see, holding money with an open hand and allowing God to use it is the only way to get free of the grip money has on us, especially in America, where abundance causes us to tighten our grip on money. Jesus knew the correlation and told us how to break the connection when he taught that our heart follows our treasure. We see that in his encounter with the rich young ruler found in three of the four gospels. That man approached Jesus because he wanted to know how to inherit eternal life. From a place of love, Christ told the man to give his possessions to the poor and follow him so that he would have treasure in heaven. Jesus offered him the path to true freedom. The rich young man, though, was unwilling and walked away sad because he had many possessions.

He just couldn't do it. Now, Jesus wasn't saying that money is bad and the rich won't go to heaven. He was only showing how money gets in the way of surrendering our hearts fully to God. This story offers the powerful hope that God can break the power of money in our lives through our generosity. That's because biblical generosity is also powerful, and it allows you to discover the freedom it brings to your financial life and the blessing to others in the world around you.

When we allow God's grace to loosen the grip we have on our stuff, we have the privilege of being an agent of grace in others' lives. In his book Never Enough, financial author Ron Blue tells us how he once experienced this gift of grace through giving in a fast food restaurant. He was at a Chick-fil-A eating breakfast with his oldest son. They had come to know the woman who regularly took their order. Her name was Rachel.

She was friendly, always welcoming them with a smile. One day Ron thought, I wonder if Rachel takes tips. So Ron looked at the 20s in his wallet and thought, I'll give her a 20.

Just then, he says, the Holy Spirit interrupted his thoughts, calling him a cheapskate. You have plenty of 20s. Why not give her five of them? So instead of a single 20, Ron obediently folded five of them over so she couldn't see the amount, handed them to her, and walked out. He felt good about yielding to the Spirit's prompting.

But that was only half the story. The next week Ron was back for another breakfast when Rachel pulled him aside. She says, Thank you so much for the money.

I needed new tires and really thought I would use your gift to buy them. But that day my daughter came home from school and told me about a classmate who had lost everything in an apartment fire the night before. I knew that her family needed the money worse than I did, so I gave them the hundred instead. Naturally, Ron was surprised as Rachel went on to share more of her story.

She was a mother of five who moved here from Central America to give her children a chance for a better life. Although she certainly could have used that money, her heart was on the lookout for ways to bless others. As you might imagine, Ron was humbled and profoundly reminded of the power of generosity. He says he had given out of his abundance, but Rachel turned around and gave out of her poverty. You see, she had very little and really needed those tires, but took action to love her neighbor sacrificially.

Ron says he was stunned by the grace of the kingdom. Moving a little bit of treasure toward eternity had a huge impact on his heart. It reminded him again that giving breaks the power of money. So taking Jesus at face value and becoming more generous will move our hearts as well. This truth is beautiful and undeniable.

Giving always breaks the power of money, transforming our hearts in the process, and that's where we find true treasure, the kind that lasts for eternity. All right, your calls are next. 800-525-7000.

800-525-7000. 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.

So glad to have you along with us today. Phone lines are open. We're about to take your calls and questions here in just a moment. Here's the number. 800-525-7000.

800-525-7000. We'll look forward to speaking to you and hearing what's on your mind today. We had the chance to start today by talking about one of my favorite topics, biblical generosity. You know, as we think about this idea that money, the power of money, if you will, the grip that money can have over our lives is broken through generosity. It's a powerful concept.

I love what the author Paul David Tripp says in his book Redeeming Money. You know, he talks about the gospel being a generosity story for God so loved the world, he gave, right? We're created in the image of the ultimate giver, God himself. So we're most like him when we're giving. And Paul challenges us in this book Redeeming Money to think about the fact that we often start with the role of money being provisioned to provide for our families.

And clearly that's part of it. But Paul makes the case if we start there, we're going to end up with an endless list of needs and wants that perhaps we'll never get beyond. What if we were to start with the gospel being a generosity story and with our use of God's money that we should give first. And then once we address what God would have us to do in the generosity area, we can fully address the provision area as well.

Perhaps that simple change of how you view your money will change everything. In just a moment, as I said, we'll take your calls. We do have several lines open today.

Here's the number 800-525-7000. I'm looking forward to hearing from you. We did ask the question today on Facebook, can you share a time when you experienced the joy of giving?

We got some great responses. Lorraine said, I experience that joy every month. I give to the homeless shelter in my area. I'll never know the individuals who are helped by my care package, but I feel great every time I get it. I think that's what Jesus meant when he said it is more blessed to give than to receive.

Here's what Pamela said. She wrote, when I was in Uganda two years ago, I had surplus funds to give as God directed and the blessings I saw and received I will never forget. Christy says, I love to give. My favorite was sending cash in the mail to someone in need with an anonymous card. What a great idea. And Angela says, it's always great to pay for the car behind me in line at a drive through or ask the waiter or waitress for the bill of a nearby table in a restaurant. What a great way to share your generosity with somebody just on your path in the course of your day.

I love those ideas. Thanks for weighing in on Facebook. If you'd like to find us and engage with us, perhaps like us on Facebook, you can do that when you search for Money Wise Media. All right, let's dive into some phone calls today. Again, the number 800-525-7000.

We first go to Binghamton, New York. Jean, you're on the broadcast. How can we assist you? Hi, thank you for taking my call. I really appreciate your show.

Yes, ma'am. I'm frustrated with all the mail, political and everything else. I already do my church and Family Life Network and New York State Police and Samaritan's Purse, especially Operation Christmas Child in memory of my son, and Vietnam Memorial in memory of my husband.

And I also support two children through Compassion International and do 529s for my grandkids. I still have 35 other places listed and I have I got 25 pieces of mail yesterday. I am very frustrated with all of it. How do we know which ones are legit and which ones we should support?

Can you give me any insight? Yeah, and so you're not talking about junk mail specifically, credit card and refinancing solicitations. You're talking about solicitations for additional giving opportunities specifically?

Faith and freedom and other political things and this sort of thing. I just, you know, everybody gives out my name, I guess, when they give to one and then all of a sudden you're inundated with many. Yeah, sure. Well, you know, I think the thing to recognize, Gene, and I realize the mail can be overwhelming. In fact, I did a little exercise a few years ago where I decided I was going to keep credit card solicitations for six months.

I did it and the stack came up to my waist when I was done. So it can be overwhelming and clearly those asking for you to support for wonderful things is a part of that equation in so many cases. I think the starting point, Gene, is for you to realize that you can't do everything.

You know, I love what Andy Stanley says. He says, do for one what you wish you could do for everyone. And the idea there is that you can't help everyone.

You can't help every ministry or every cause. And so you need to, first of all, have a plan for yourself. Before the Lord, say, Lord, you've given me your resources. You've entrusted them to me.

And I realize part of that provision is to be a conduit where your provision doesn't stop with me, but I become a pipeline into your activity where you're at work. And develop a plan around how much you want to give, both systematically, so that would be around the principle of the tithe where you're giving a percentage of your increase, starting with your local church. But then beyond that, what do you want to give even sacrificially? How much on an annual basis is the Lord leading you to give in both of those areas, systematic and spontaneous or even sacrificial? And you'll realize quickly that as you allocate those resources, then I think you need to go through an exercise of aligning those dollars that the Lord directs you to give with what's on your heart. So begin to look at what really pricks your heart. Where is God at work that most aligns with how He's wired you?

And that's going to lead you to certain categories. Maybe it's the ministry of God's justice or the ministry of God's word, preaching and teaching and discipleship. It could be widows or the homeless or prisoners or proclaiming the gospel to the ends of the earth, reaching unreached people groups. I mean, whatever it is, each of us are going to our hearts, and this will change over time, we're going to be aligned in certain areas. Once you figure out where that is, then you need to do the work of saying, who's doing this work in the name of Jesus really effectively?

And I think there's a couple of resources you could avail yourself of to do some due diligence. One would be ministrywatch.org, where they rate these ministries just based on how effective they are, the percentage of dollars coming in that actually gets into the work that they're doing versus administrative costs. You could also connect with our friends at the National Christian Foundation, ncfgiving.com. They could assist you in aligning where your heart is with those ministries that are doing phenomenal work in the name of Jesus, perhaps in your local area or even outside the US. And as the Lord makes it clear, and you do your homework and find out where you're going, then I don't think you need to feel bad, Gene, when solicitation comes in for your support, and you decide to pass. Because it takes all of us working together to fund the places that God is at work, and you can't do everything, and that's okay. And I think as you get invested both personally with your time as well as with your giving dollars in some of these ministries that really just align with your heart. I heard you light up a little bit when you talk about Operation Christmas Child and some of the other things that you're supporting. That's great. And the fact that you can't support everything that comes in the mail, that's okay. And I think you need to recognize you don't need to feel guilty about that. God's going to use you and others to make sure His work is accomplished. Does that make sense?

Yes, it does. And it's very helpful. I just was so frustrated yesterday that I said, I've got to get some help. Very good. Well, I appreciate your call. If you have other questions along the way, don't hesitate to give us a call. And thanks for listening to the program. Let's head to Dalton, Georgia. Michael, you're next on MoneyWise Live. Go ahead.

Hey, Rob. I heard one guy once say to do your giving while you're living. So you're knowing where it's going. Yeah. So I'm 61 and I was going to give a significant sum to my church.

And what's the best way to do that? Yes. Well, the person you were talking about is one of my mentors, Ron Blue. He wrote that in his book, Splitting Airs, H-E-I-R-S. Do your giving while you're living so you're knowing where it's going. And I think it's a great principle to use as you think about your giving.

Ron goes as far as to say, I'm not sure you get credit when you give a death because you kind of have to. We'll leave that up to the Lord to decide. The bottom line is, I think as quickly as we can get God's money into circulation and God's economy, that's always a good thing. In terms of the best and most effective way to do that, I'll again mention my friends at the National Christian Foundation.

They're incredibly skilled at that. But tell me what you're considering because, you know, there's ways to get money into the kingdom out of an IRA that can be effective. I like non-cash giving, appreciated stocks, business interests, real estate, art.

You know, what are the various options on the table for you, Michael? I was going to give it over my IRA. Okay. You know, with an IRA... Sorry, my 401k.

Go ahead. My 401k. Sorry, not my IRA. Okay.

Yeah. And that's going to be just a bit more challenging because you're not in that season of life yet at 61 where you need to do a required minimum distribution. So you're going to have to realize that income and then transfer it. When you get to 72, you can do a qualified charitable distribution, which is going to satisfy your RMD and get that money to the ministry without any kind of tax consequences.

Right now, I'd be looking for other ways. Keep in mind, 90% of giving is done out of cash, but we only have 10% of our wealth in the form of cash. So your greatest opportunity to give the most is going to be out of your balance sheet as opposed to your cash flow. So if you have stocks outside of retirement plans that are appreciated, that would be a great opportunity to give a stock gift. If you have other assets that you want to give prior to the sale where they would be taxable, that's another opportunity. Apart from that, I think right now it's just a matter of maximizing the flow of income to your church and other ministries, whether that's an IRA distribution. But just keep in mind, you're going to create a taxable event there, so you just need to recognize that and plan for it.

And again, when you get to 72, that QCD will be a great option for you. But connect with our friends again at ncfgiving.com, and they can look at your situation, help you develop a giving strategy and plan that makes sense for you. Folks, thanks for being along with us today. Much more to come right around the corner. Stay with us. Welcome back to MoneyWise Live.

I'm Rob West. Are you looking for a biblical and budget-friendly answer to medical bills? Well, Christian Healthcare Ministries brings faith and community together to provide health cost sharing. You can find out more at chministries.org, and we're grateful that CH Ministries, Christian Healthcare Ministries, is an underwriter of MoneyWise Live.

So glad to have you along with us today. Looking forward to taking more of your calls and questions as we apply God's truth to your financial situation. We have lines open. Here's the number, 800-525-7000. That's 800-525-7000.

Let's head to Pennsylvania's next up. Jackie, you're on MoneyWise Live. Go ahead. Hi.

Thank you for taking my call. I am going to be retiring, and I have to say, I have to say, and I have a conscience, and I also will be able to be taking Social Security. I really don't know anything about investing in that. I would like to know more if you could recommend a source. But my question is, because I don't know anything, should I take the whole amount that I could retire, I mean, that I could bring rollover?

I've heard you mention 60-40, 40-60. I'm just not sure because I'm not really knowledgeable about investing, and I'm a little frightened and seeking your advice. Yeah, very good, Jackie.

Well, excited about this next season of life and what the Lord might have in store for you. As you look at the two options, are you given the option to either rollover a lump sum or take a monthly check? Is that what's been presented? Yes, I can do that. I can get a monthly check, and then I have an amount that I can rollover, or I can specify that if I didn't want all that, I could specify, you know, like let's just say 100,000, or I could take, you know, the whole amount, whatever they're offering me.

Yes. And do you know those offhand, the monthly check or the lump sum amount? 2019 I got an estimate, and I think it was like about 100,000, I'm going to round it, 190,000 could be rolled over, and that would have given me like even like maybe 4,500 a month all call.

Okay. It would give you 4,500 on top of the 190,000 that you're rolling over. That is correct.

Wow, yeah, that's tremendous. Well, I think you need to get into those specifics and get an update on what options are available to you if you take the full amount of the full lump sum rollover versus only the check and whether there's survivor's benefits if you're married, because you want to make sure that, you know, doesn't just stop with you, perhaps. And then the second option is if you take a partial rollover and then, you know, a partial monthly check. The key is, and this is where a financial professional could help you both with the plan and that decision, as well as ultimately the investment strategy for whatever you were to be rolling over into probably an IRA. Because you're going to want to look at what's called the internal rate of return on what's possible with that lump sum rollover versus what they're guaranteeing for you on that monthly pension payout to see which one makes the most sense. So there's the financial calculation as to which one you prefer, and then there's the risk side of it. You know, are you looking for greater peace of mind to know that you've got a check for life no matter what happens? You're not in the market, even though you'd be hiring somebody to make those decisions.

Ultimately, that principle would be at risk, and so you'd have to be comfortable with that. If you are willing to assume, again, a modest amount of risk based on a conservative investment strategy, I like the lump sum option, assuming that you confirm that it's a good payout based on the calculations that would be done because you have the ability to generate an income stream at the same time you have access to the funds. If you needed them in that season of life or a major medical event, you needed long term healthcare, something like that, you have access to the funds, not just the monthly income stream or the hybrid of the two. So I'd head over to our website, MoneyWiseLive.org, click find a CKA and try to connect with two or three certified kingdom advisors there in Pennsylvania.

Find the one that's the best fit for both the planning and the investments. Stay on the line. We'll talk a little bit more off the air. This is MoneyWise Live, where God's word intersects with your finances. We'll be right back. Welcome back to MoneyWise Live. I'm Rob West.

Glad to have you along with us today. We have some lines open. Looking forward to taking your calls and questions on anything financial. Is it giving or saving? Perhaps your retirement investments or your credit score?

Getting out of debt? We'd love to hear from you. Here's the number.

800-525-7000. Hey, do you want to take MoneyWise Live on the go with you? Well, you can do that through the new MoneyWise app. It's available in your app store today. Just head there, whether it's the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store. Just search for MoneyWise Biblical Finance.

You can download it free and all the episodes are there. You can search by topic. We also have in our Discover tab the best content in Christian finance from folks like the National Christian Foundation and Compass and the Christian Stewardship Network and Generous Giving and Gospel Patrons. It's all there in one place. You can read, listen to some great podcasts.

You can watch some wonderful videos. Again, it's all in the MoneyWise app. Go get it today.

Just search for MoneyWise Biblical Finance in your app store. All right, back to the phones to Indiana. Jean Ann, so glad to have you with us today. How can I assist you?

Oh, thank you very much. I'm in my 80s and I am working on finalizing my will. A few years ago, well, I've already checked with you on my mortgage, my mortgage rate of 389, yes, 389, 3.89, and my monthly payment of 369, and you said that was okay. But I needed to have some repairs done on this house.

And I like the ladies who are in charge at our local bank. And the manager talked me into Truly Simple and then later it was called Flexline Loan. They changed the numbers on it every few months and I've got all the paperwork, but I just stuffed the paperwork in files and I'm trying to sort them out now. And the amount that I paid each month has now for quite a few months come to $151 a month, and that added up to like $700 from December of last year to the present. And so when I called her, I requested that she do a printout of everything that I had charged to. It was supposed to be minimum, real minimum percentage on each time, but when it came to that amount per month and I looked at the 700 and some dollars, I thought for my executor, I should have this all printed out very specific as to who the money went to, the date, and so on. When I called her and discussed this with her, she said, no, we don't do that. She said, and I told her I wanted to start making payments on this loan that has become number 3156, and so she said the monthly percentage would be 7.52%. Is that legal?

Well, you know, as long as they disclose it in the paperwork, they can charge whatever they want. What bank are you with, Jean Ann? I did not want to mention the name because I like the people working there.

Is it a national bank or a local bank? I do not know, sir. Okay, no worries.

You know, there's a credit card that's offered by one of the big banks with that name, Truly Simple, and the interest rate is going to be a lot higher than what you're describing, and that's my concern is that that's what this might be. We need to get into the details, and we can't do that on the air here, but I want to make sure you get proper assistance. So what I'm going to do, Jean Ann, is I'd like for you to hold the line.

I'm going to ask Amy, my producer, to grab your information, and I'm going to have one of our coaches call you or email you and set up a time to talk by phone where you all can walk through the details together, and our coach can help you with a game plan on where you need to go from here so that you get all the information you need, you understand what you have, and there's no longer any confusion. But we've got to do a little bit of legwork there, so you hold the line, we'll get your information, we'll get somebody to give you a call, and we'll sort all of this out. You're super sweet, and we appreciate you calling today and listening. God bless you, Jean Ann. Let's go to Youngstown, Ohio.

Lisa, you're next on the broadcast. Hi, thanks for taking my call. Just a quick question. My son and I, my adult son, I should say, and I recently have been talking about some investing opportunities, and he is researching Bitcoin. I've heard other financial experts recommend against Bitcoin.

I just wondered what your take on it is. Yeah, as an investment, I'm not a fan. There's just too much volatility. You know, these are unregulated securities. There's no central bank that's governing these, you know, Bitcoin and the other cryptocurrencies. Because of, you know, various things related to them, they're just going to continue to be a lot, I think, of volatility.

Yes, they've gotten a lot of press lately, and many of them have had huge run-ups, and I recognize that. But I would put this, Lisa, in the more speculative investment category, which I don't think is a prudent place for, you know, long-term investment dollars as we manage God's money. And anything that's more short-term in nature, that has the kind of volatility that we would see with the cryptocurrency, I think is just not the best place for you to be investing. So I would stay away. I'd take a more kind of vanilla flavored approach, if you will, where you're investing in a diversified basis without taking a lot of speculation, a little bit more tried and true and steady. It's what the Bible calls steady plotting, I think is going to serve you quite well.

So I'd probably just say, you know what, I'm going to respectfully pass and do your investing another way. We appreciate your call today. To Akron, Ohio, Ron, you're next on the program.

Go ahead. Hi, Rob. Thanks for taking my call. You get a hold of Steve. Tell him we miss him.

I will do that. Talk to him just the other day. I'm sure he's enjoying retirement.

He sure is. Hey, so in 2020, they took the penalty off of withdrawing from your 401k, and I pulled a bunch of money out to pay off bills not knowing what the future holds for our jobs and stuff. And I guess by doing that, I went over the $160,000 limit for getting this last check from the government. Is that I mean, this was just like a savings if I pulled it out of savings, but they counted it as income.

Is there any way to Yeah, that's a great question. You know, no, it does become taxable income when you take a withdrawal and that very well could have pushed you above it of that income threshold for receiving it. I'd probably check with your tax preparer. If you don't have one, you could connect with one who's got a CKA there in Akron and just ask if there's anything you can do. Obviously, you could file an amended return.

But bottom line is, if it's taxable income, it's going to be calculated as taxable income, and that absolutely could push you right above the threshold and put you in a situation where you don't qualify. And unfortunately, it's probably one of those unintended consequences. We appreciate your call today, though, Ron, and thanks for your kind remarks about Steve. We're going to take a quick break and then much more on MoneyWise Live. Stay with us. Welcome back to MoneyWise Live.

So glad to have you along with us today. Would you like to connect with somebody who's been trained to assist you with your spending plan or your debt repayment plan, repayment plan, or perhaps your giving plan? Well, our MoneyWise coaches would be happy to help you. They're trained.

They're ready to go. They'd love to teach you these principles we talk about here on MoneyWise Live and walk with you as you address whatever your financial concerns are. The only cost is a small amount, $25 one time for the digital workbook that they'll use. But beyond that, the coaching is free.

It's a ministry of MoneyWise Media. They'll walk with you for six to eight weeks, meeting each week virtually and addressing whatever concerns you have. Just head over to our website, MoneyWiseLive.org, click connect with a coach, and we'll see if we can't get you connected to someone today. We're looking forward to taking more of your calls just ahead, an equity loan on a rental property, how to improve that and the difference between a will and a trust.

That's from Claudio. But first, we're going to head to Alabama. John, what's on your mind today? Hey there, thank you for taking my call.

Yes, sir. My wife's been retired for a few years, and I just retired, and my question is about some life insurance. I took out a small policy on her when we were young, and it's just enough basically to bury her is what we did. And my life insurance policy is more than that, but there's about $23,000 in the policy now, and it decreases every year of the cash value that I can get out. And my question is, would I be wise just to take that out because it's going to be gone and I'll have this actual insurance itself, and I really don't know that we would actually need that or she would actually need that if I passed away first. Yes, and I think that's the key is understanding whether that's life insurance that's actually necessary. You know, when you get to this season of life, ideally you don't have any insurance, life insurance that is, because you've saved throughout your working years, and if something happened to you, there'd be no additional hardship placed on her. She'd still have the same income sources, be it Social Security, either her own or a spousal benefit. She'd have any other retirement assets you all have accumulated, and she'd just carry on with whatever God had in store for her, and the opposite would be true for you if the Lord called her home. And so, you know, as you acknowledged here, John, you know, it's getting more and more expensive every year as you age, just as it is with everyone, for them to cover the mortality expense of carrying that death benefit, and that's going to chew up your cash value.

What is the death benefit on that policy with the cash value of $23,000? It's $100,000. Okay. All right. And, you know, like I say, if something were to happen, this is on your life payable to her, is that right?

That's correct. Okay. And if something were to happen to you, she has what she needs to carry on and cover her lifestyle? Yes, she would, first of all, we don't owe anything.

We've even done pre-need funerals and burial, the whole thing's already paid for. We have no debt, have a home that's paid for, and we've got, I think, a pretty good amount in savings, plus we have some property, and she'll get half of my retirement, and then she would get, I suppose, my Social Security because it's more than hers. I don't know how that works, but she would have her retirement, half of my retirement, and then my Social Security because it's more than hers, and with what we've got in savings, of course, you never know how long anybody's going to live, but I just, I believe that would be wise to take that $23,000, but I just really wanted to get somebody's opinion that was much smarter on that. Well, I appreciate your call and thinking of us.

Yeah, I would concur with that, John. It sounds like she has everything in line where you've provided for her, and she may have contributed to these assets as well, but if the Lord calls you home, she has what she needs. And so you taking this money and deploying it now by investing it or using it for additional money to do some more giving would put it to good use, and you're not going to continue to eat away at paying for a death benefit that's going to get more and more costly as you age that really is not even necessary in your overall plan.

So I like the idea. You just need to understand the tax implications when you cash it in and pull that cash value out, whether there is any tax due on that. I'd check with your CPA or accountant to be sure you've set that aside if there is something there. But apart from that, I don't see any reason why you'd want to continue to hang on to this policy.

I like the idea of you pulling the cash value out. We appreciate your call today. To Chicago, Illinois, Claudio, how can we assist you?

Hi, thank you for taking my call. I had a difficult discussion with my parents. My dad just turned 70 and he said that he would like to either write a will or a trust.

And I was talking with my brother and we need to get this going soon later because they don't have anything. I've done some research and it seems that trust costs more to do than a will. I don't really understand the difference between them. If you can kind of clarify that for me, I'd appreciate it.

Yeah, absolutely. You know, the main difference between a will and a trust is that a will goes into effect only after you die. Well, a trust takes effect as soon as you create it, once assets are retitled in the name of the trust. A will is a document that directs who will receive your property at your death and it appoints a legal representative to carry out your wishes. But everything goes through probate, through the probate court. And the will is the document that really governs that process. By contrast, a trust can be used to begin distributing property both at death, but also prior to death or afterwards. You name a person or an institution or bank called a trustee and then the trust holds legal title to the property for the beneficiary. And then there's two types of beneficiaries, one that receives income from the trust during their lives or another that receives whatever is left over and perhaps based on stated criteria. You're right, a trust is going to be more expensive because it's a little bit more complicated to draw up, but it does allow you some benefits. You're bypassing the probate court.

You can do things anonymously. And again, there can be triggering events that put a trust in place prior to death. So if you're incapacitated or your dad is, it could allow the trustee to begin to handle his assets according to the provisions in the trust itself. So I think it's worth, uh, Claudio talking to an estate planning attorney just to understand, you know, a bit more about your dad's estate, what his desires are and whether a trust is necessary, because it could be that a simple will is all he needs based on, you know, what he has. And you're right, you're going to save a good bit of money.

Average trust is probably going to run you around fifteen hundred dollars, maybe two thousand, whereas a will, you know, three to five hundred dollars, maybe a little bit more so you could save a thousand dollars. And again, it may not be necessary. So hopefully that clears it up. Is there anybody that I can that you would recommend that I talk to, like you said, an attorney? Sure.

Yeah. Let me give you two options. One is if you go to our website, MoneyWiseLive.org, click find a C.K. Any one of the C.K.s there in Chicago could refer you to a godly estate planning attorney. You know, these financial advisors all have estate planning attorneys that they work with and they'll get you connected with one. The other option is you could call your local church and just say, you know, I need somebody in the church who is an estate planning attorney. They would likely be able to refer you.

But a C.K. could take care of that for you. And hopefully that helps. Appreciate you walking alongside your dad in these issues. Let's head to Indiana. Ed, you're next on the program. How can we help you, sir?

Hi Rob. I appreciate you taking my call. I was working to get out of debt and I got an opportunity to get a deal on a rental property and I had to close on it quickly. So I took out a home equity loan and bought the rental property. So now I would like to put that debt off of my home and put it on the rental property. But when I go to the banks, they tell me that this is a cash out loan.

I'm getting a really high interest rate and I don't know how to get around this. Yeah, so the home equity loan is against your primary residence that you currently live in when you use the money to buy the rental property? Right. Okay. And you're looking to get a mortgage on the rental property directly or are you looking to refinance your primary residence? I get a mortgage on the rental property directly.

Okay. And when you do that, are you just going to pay off the equity loan and keep the existing mortgage or are you looking to refinance your existing home's mortgage? No, I would take the money from the mortgage that I got on the rental property and pay off my loan on my primary residence. Yep. And you'd keep the primary loan on your primary residence in place.

Is that right? Or you don't have one? No, I don't have a primary. I didn't have a primary loan on my primary residence. Okay. You owned it free and clear. I see.

Yeah, I took a home equity loan and bought the rental property. Got it. Got it. That makes sense. I thought it was a second mortgage, the home equity loan, but I'm tracking with you now. Yeah, you're right.

I mean, so you've got a couple of things working against you, Ed. Number one is that this is not your primary residence. It's a rental property, which is automatically going to push the rates up slightly. And then the second thing you're doing is, because you're not trying to buy the property, you're taking cash out even though it's to pay off the other debt that was used to buy this property in the first place. It's still considered a cash out, which is going to be just a little bit higher in terms of the interest rate.

So those are the factors. I still like the idea of you getting this off of your primary residence, moving it over to the rental property and kind of keeping that separate from your main finances and keeping your current home unencumbered. So I just continue to shop around, see if you can find the very best rate. If you haven't already, go to bankrate.com.

They're going to offer the lenders with the best programs right now, even those for rental property mortgages. I think you're headed in the right direction, though, and I'm not surprised by what you're hearing. We appreciate your call. Folks, thanks for being along with us today.

MoneyWise Live is a partnership between Moody Radio and MoneyWise Media. Let me say thanks to my team. Producing today, Deb Solomon. Engineering, Amy Rios. Providing research and all the great work he does, Jim Henry.

And our call screener is Gabby T. today. Hey, thanks for being with us. Come back and join us tomorrow, will you? May God bless you in the meantime. We'll see you then.