Building Bigger Barns

If you're like me, watching little kids do an Easter egg hunt is a pretty beautiful thing. But I always feel bad for the littlest of the pack.

It always seems so traumatizing to see that little one run for an egg she has her eye on, only to have a bigger kid sweep in and steal it at the last second. Hi, it's Doug Hastings with Moody Radio, and unfortunately this same kind of situation has become a traumatizing reality for families all across the country. Families are out searching and finding their dream home, only to have it pulled away by another hunter at the last second, which is why I'd really like you to meet my friends at United Faith Mortgage. Unfortunately, this faith- focused mortgage team can't scare off the other hunters, but they can very quickly get you pre- approved and make it look as good as possible to sellers. They've specifically made a commitment to this podcast and our listeners to do all they can to help you.

You can find the entire United Faith Mortgage story and especially read how their direct lender advantage can often save your family monthly and lifelong money at unitedfaithmortgage.com. Today's version of Money Wives Live is pre-recorded so our phone lines are not open. One of my favorite passages is in Luke chapter 12, the parable of the rich fool. But do we still need to be concerned about the size of our barns?

I am Rob West, and the short answer is yes. While very few of us even have barns these days, Jesus' message in that parable is every bit as important for us today. I'll talk about that first.

Then we have some great calls lined up, but please don't call in today because we're pre-recorded. This is Money Wives Live, where biblical wisdom meets today's financial decisions. Okay, so let's look at the first part of the parable, Luke 12, 16 through 19. That's where Jesus says, The land of a rich man produced plentifully. And he thought to himself, What shall I do? For I have nowhere to store my crops. And he said, I will do this, I'll tear down my barns and build bigger ones. And there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years. Relax, eat, drink, be merry. Now, there are people in the world who might read that and think, Hey, that sounds like a solid practical solution. You've got too much stuff coming in, your barns aren't big enough, you need bigger barns.

What's wrong with that? Well, the rich man finds out what's wrong in the next two verses, which read, But God said to him, Fool, this night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be? So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.

If that theme sounds familiar to you, there's a good reason. Charles Dickens no doubt borrowed it when he wrote A Christmas Carol. Of course, there, Ebenezer Scrooge takes on the role of the rich fool obsessed with money and possessions. But unlike the rich fool, Ebenezer gets a second chance.

And we do too. That starts with understanding what rich toward God means. It's an unusual phrase, and God's word doesn't elaborate on it, but we can get an idea of its meaning by contrast. It's the opposite of building bigger barns or laying up earthly treasure for yourself. Being rich toward God is acknowledging that we're made for him, not for our own pleasure or possessions, that our abundance is in God, not in our bank accounts. Rich toward God means counting God as greater riches than anything on earth. And it means using earthly riches to show how much we value God.

How do we do that? By giving generously to his kingdom. Had the rich fool done that, he might have heard these words from Matthew 25. Come, you who are blessed by my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave me food. I was thirsty, and you gave me drink. I was a stranger, and you welcomed me. I was naked, and you clothed me. I was sick, and you visited me.

I was in prison, and you came to me. As you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me. But the rich fool did none of that. He thought only of himself, and when he died, he left his earthly treasure behind. Now, Jesus is not saying that our works save us. But he is saying that not doing the good works we were designed for will hurt our relationship with God. Jesus is teaching that money and possessions are dangerous because they can lure us out of love for God and keep us from treasuring him. Because of that, some might think that money is bad, but it's not.

It's really a powerful tool that can be used for good or bad. While the proper use of money can store up treasure in heaven for you, the improper use of money can be hazardous to your spiritual health, as it was in the case of the rich fool. The problem wasn't that he had become rich. The rich are no less godly than the poor. The problem was that the rich fool ceased to view God as his supreme treasure. If God had been his treasure, what would he have done differently? Instead of saying, soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years. Relax, eat, drink, and be merry.

He might have said something like this, God, this is all yours. You made my fields prosper. Show me how to express with my riches that you are my treasure and that riches are not.

I already have enough. I don't need more luxury and leisure. Then the rich fool might have gone on to say, I do indeed want to make merry, but not with self-indulgent peers. I want to share your blessings and make merry with the people who have been helped by my generosity.

I want the fullest blessing of giving while giving all glory to you. Had he said that, the rich man wouldn't have been a fool at all. He would have been a very wise man who was rich toward God. He would have believed that, as Jesus says in Acts 20 35, it is more blessed to give than to receive. The rich fool learned that the hard way, but we don't have to.

We can take God's Word for it. And we're going to pause for a brief break. This is MoneyWise Live, where biblical wisdom meets today's financial decisions. You're listening to an encore presentation of MoneyWise Live. Today's broadcast is prerecorded, so please keep that in mind. Welcome back to the program.

I'm Rob West. So glad you're along with us today. Today's program is prerecorded, so I would encourage you not to call in, but I will tell you we have some wonderful calls all lined up in advance that I know you will enjoy. In fact, let's go to one of them now, to Chicago, Illinois. And Georgiana, thanks for calling.

How can we help? Hi. I have about fifty, fifty-five thousand dollars in debt. I've been able to pay every month without fail.

Never been late. And these are all credit card debt. I have a home that may have about fifty, fifty-five thousand dollars in equity. And I wasn't so sure if I should, well, I also want to do some work in my home.

I'm not so sure if I should refinance my home to pay off the debt, and also include some work to be done. Yeah. What is the home worth?

Perhaps maybe about two hundred thousand dollars. Okay. And you owe roughly one forty-five on it?

Yes, one forty-five. All right. Very good. You know, I'm not a fan of that. Georgiana, I just don't like paying off debt with home equity for a number of reasons. Number one is we're taking what is unsecured debt, meaning it's not collateralized by anything, and we're securing it to your home.

So I'm delighted to hear that you've been in a position where you've been able to make those payments on time every month. But if something happened and you were unable to, in the case of the credit cards, they could file a judgment and, you know, in court. And, you know, you would have to acknowledge that you owe the debt, which you certainly would. And then, you know, over time you could work on a repayment plan of that debt. But there's limited recourse as opposed to you transferring that debt to your home, something happening and you being unable to make the payment, which is now higher because you've got a mortgage of nearly two hundred thousand or one hundred percent of the equity. And now your home is at risk. They can foreclose on it.

And so I just don't like that. Number two, you know, you've got a decent amount of equity in this house right now. I would typically say we, if at all possible, never want to go below 20 percent in terms of the equity that we have in the home. And on a two hundred thousand dollar home, that's forty thousand. So I would not want that mortgage to go above one hundred and sixty thousand just because, you know, that's going to bring in private mortgage insurance, which is going to add an additional cost to you.

And that does nothing for you. That's just for the benefit of the lender. And it's an added expense. Not to mention, if we were to see the housing market take a downturn, you know, if you are financed at one hundred percent or close to it, you could find yourself upside down where you actually owe more than the house is worth or than you've been able to sell it for, which would obviously be a really challenging situation and limit your flexibility. I think the third thing is that even though the interest rate would be much lower, it's going to string this prepayment out over a much longer period of time. Let's say you go get a new 20 or 25 or 30 year mortgage, even though it's a lower interest rate, that interest over that three decades is going to end up being a lot of money. And then, you know, lastly, there is a cost to refinancing and it can be a sizable cost. So I think the key for you right now is to make sure that you're living on a spending plan, a balanced budget, and that you are able to stick to that every month so you're not continuing to add debt.

If you're not, that's great. But I would just really dial back into that budget and look for ways to cut back, have a spending plan where you're tracking the flow of money in and out to be sure that you're, you know, staying on budget every month. And our MoneyWise app can help with that.

In fact, when we're done here today, hang on the line and I'll give you a six month subscription that you can download your transactions into the app to stay on top of it. So where do you go with this debt? Well, if you haven't already, I would look at a credit counseling program. Our friends at Christian Credit Counselors do a wonderful job.

They'll be able to come up with a payment for you that'll hopefully fit right into your budget, get those interest rates down, and people in credit counseling pay off their credit card debts 80% faster because of the consistent payment and the lower interest rates. But I've thrown a lot at you there. Give me your thoughts. Yeah. Well, I sort of kind of agree with what you said the first time I just needed support. The other thing that I was thinking about is to maybe borrow from my 401k, which is also a lower, you know, gives me a lower rate so that I can pay it off. But if the forensic program can help me better, that sounds like a better idea.

Yeah, I would start there. If anything, you might want to temporarily suspend new contributions to your 401k, which would allow you to have more take home income that you could then redirect toward debt reduction. I wouldn't borrow from the 401k because if something happened and you had to separate from your job, that would all become taxable to you as income plus a 10% penalty if you're if you're under 59 and a half. So I just don't like the idea of borrowing from the 401k.

So I'd leave that alone. And I'd contact Christian Credit Counselors at christiancreditcounselors.org. And if anything, you know, reduce temporarily your new 401k contribution so you can get more going to debt reduction each month through credit counseling.

So give our friends a call there or contact them online christiancreditcounselors.org. And I think that'll be a real help to you. You stay on the line. We'll get your information and get you that MoneyWise app subscription. We appreciate your call.

Let's move on to DeKalb, Illinois. Nicole, you're next on the program. Go ahead.

Hi there. I am looking to see if I should change from a term life insurance to a whole life insurance. The reason for this would be, I have run into some health issues.

I'm 42 years old. And the last thing that the geneticist told me prior to getting these tests was make sure that you have your life insurance in order because depending upon what these tests say, it could prevent you from expanding your life insurance or making any changes to it in the future. Yes. Yeah.

Well, I certainly understand that. I think the key is, though, you know, is there really a need for permanent insurance? You know, typically, I only recommend permanent insurance if you have a lifelong dependent, if you need to do it for estate planning purposes, you know, if you need based on health challenges, which is obviously potentially the situation, you'd want to, you know, have something in place to offset a risk that would be incurred if something happened to you, the Lord calls you home and there's somebody here that's relying on your income or there's an added expense that's created like ongoing child care or something like that as a result of your passing.

Would that be the situation here? And is there really a need for life insurance beyond a term insurance policy that you already have? I don't necessarily know that there is a need other than, you know, if I pass before my husband, then he would definitely need something. I don't have any, my concern is really, I don't have anything to pass on to my children. So I don't have, I've been a stay-at-home mom my entire life.

Yeah. So there's no 401k, IRAs, there's nothing like that pension for my kids from me should I pass. And my husband is, it's a second marriage, so he is their stepfather. So I, you know, I feel a strong responsibility to make sure that my kids are taken care of.

My youngest is 14, so. Yeah. What I would be looking at, Nicole, is a, is a new term policy, if anything. I mean, you could get a 30-year term policy that would cover the next 30 years. So if the Lord called you home, there'd be a payout. But for you to lock in a whole life policy, it's going to be very costly.

And I'd rather see you go get a new term policy, shop it around with an independent agent who's going to get you the very best price for your age and health condition right now before you do this, and then lock in that policy. It'll be there for the next 30 years. If the Lord takes you home, it'll pay out to your beneficiaries.

And if you have good health and the Lord tarries, it'll be around for a long time, then it'll expire, but you'd be saving all along the way. I hope that helps. We appreciate your call. We'll be right back. Welcome back to MoneyWise Live. I'm Rob West, your host. We are not live today. We actually have the day off, so don't call in. But we do have some great calls all lined up for you to enjoy.

And one of those comes from Las Cruces, New Mexico. Elliot, you're next on MoneyWise Live. Go ahead. Hi, I have a question about title lock insurance. So what's your opinion of it?

Yeah, you know, I'm not a big fan. You know, folks often get this confused with title insurance, which is obviously different. And it's generally, unless it's an owner's policy, it protects the mortgage company from claims against your title. Title theft insurance is a completely different product and essentially just monitors whether your deed has been transferred out of your name at the county records office. Now that might be helpful if you're able to react in time and challenge the deed transfer before the scammer takes out a new loan, but that's a pretty big if. Also, no matter what you hear in those ads, there's really no way to actually lock a property title in any state, at least not yet. There's nothing to stop a scammer from forging your signature and transferring a deed out of your name. And by the way, you can monitor whether a fraudulent transfer has occurred by yourself. Many counties now allow you to view the status of your deed online.

Some even allow you to sign up for automated alerts. And the, you know, the challenge here is in terms of protecting yourself from home title theft, you really don't need protection against it because it's fraud. So if someone forges your signature and transfers your deed, it's still fraud. At the end of the day, the con artist didn't legally own your property. So the new lender doesn't legally have a claim to it.

So if they tried to foreclose on it, it would be wrongful foreclosure. So I just think, you know, these products obviously are getting some attention as of late, but there's just not a whole lot behind them. So I would encourage you to pass. Does that make sense though, Elliot? Yes. I just wanted to see what the risk was involved. And if I had to challenge a title change, I would have to get an attorney to do that. But ultimately I would not be at, you know, at risk for anything except attorney fees. Is that correct?

Yeah. I mean, that would pretty much be the case because again, it would be done fraudulently. So there wouldn't be anybody that would have a legitimate claim to that property other than you, which again is different than title insurance, which was protecting you or protecting the lender unless you get an owner's title insurance policy, which I would encourage you to do from somebody who has a rightful claim to the title. But if there's a clear title on it, then anything else we're talking about would be fraud. And that would be really something that, you know, you would just have to be able to demonstrate to your legitimate ownership. But beyond that, a policy is not going to protect you from that.

I think that's going to be the court's job. So we appreciate your call today. Hopefully that's helpful to you, sir. Let's head now to South Carolina. Mike, you're next up on the program.

Go right ahead. Yes, sir. My question is this. My mother has heard that XRP is a great investment. And I was wondering what your take on that was because I've done a little bit of research on it and, you know, I'm not a financial advisor myself, but from what I see, it's not that great of an investment. Yeah.

Well, let me just say first, Mike, we don't actually give specific recommendations. So I wouldn't be able to give an up or down vote on any particular investment. But XRP is the stock symbol for Ripple, which is a technology that acts as a cryptocurrency and a digital payment network for financial transactions. They offer an alternative platform as well that facilitates cross-border payments. And that's kind of their place in this cryptocurrency space, if you will. You know, the challenge with the cryptocurrencies, they're obviously getting a lot of attention.

I think the technology behind the cryptocurrencies is here to stay in our global digital economy, where we want instantaneous and secure, you know, transactions even cross-border, but they tend to be quite volatile. And the only investing I would encourage any of us to do, including myself, is investing that's long-term, that's properly diversified, that's not speculative, you know, trying to capitalize on the short-term moves of a particular investment. That's just too much risk with God's money, from my viewpoint. So I'd rather you be across multiple asset classes with a properly diversified portfolio that's long-term. It's not going to be as exciting, perhaps, because you won't necessarily, you know, have a concentrated position in something that can be a high-flying stock. But again, I don't think that's the prudent investment strategy for us as believers. So I would just respectfully say that, Mom, I believe this is a little too volatile, you know, for prudent investing and see if you can move along at that point. But we appreciate your call very much today.

Hey, let's take a quick email before we head to our next break. This email comes from Kathy and Jim, and they write, Hey, Rob, we're looking to refinance our property. We're wondering what the rules are to determine whether or not refinancing right now makes sense.

And Kathy and Jim, a lot of people are looking at this right now. We have historically low interest rates. And my rules are simply this. Number one, you want to try to save at least a point and a half on the interest rate. A point and a quarter would work.

A point and a half is better. You want to make sure you're going to stay in the home for at least five to seven years. I'd want you to match your remaining term or shorter.

So if you have 25 years left, I wouldn't go more than 25 years on the new loan if you could drop it to 20 and still allow that payment to fit into your budget even better. I get three bids. Don't just settle for the first one from your bank. I'd get three bids, and I'd probably get two of those from at least, at least two of those from online lenders. And then I would want to make sure that the cost to refinance is not more than 2% of the loan. If you find it's higher than that, they may be asking you to buy the rate down.

And that's going to add up quickly. And in this low interest rate environment, you shouldn't have to do that. So hopefully that's helpful to you, Kathy and Jim. Thanks for writing in today. And if you'd like to post a question in our community, in our MoneyWise app, we'd love to have you do that. Our coaches stop by. I'm in there periodically as well. Just download our app in your app store today.

Search for MoneyWise Biblical Finance, and then you can post your question. Hey, we're going to pause for a brief break. We'll be back with much more.

Stay with us. Welcome back to MoneyWise Live. I'm Rob West. Hey, we're prerecorded today. We have the day off, so don't call in, but we have some great calls all lined up, like this one in Fort Lauderdale from Nadine.

You're on MoneyWise Live. Go right ahead. Thank you, Rob. I appreciate you taking my call.

Yes, ma'am. I have a Medicaid question. I will be turning 65 in May, this May, and I was told that I need to sign up for Medicaid, and I was wondering why, because that's something that I would not be using, because I have insurance through my husband's job, and I've always had insurance through his job. Yeah, and do you think you possibly mean Medicare instead of Medicaid? I'm sorry, yes, it's probably Medicare. Okay, yeah, no problem, no problem.

Well, here's the thing. You don't have to sign up for Medicare if you choose not to, but kind of the big if there is if you want to later, you could incur some penalties. The exception is, and this may be what exactly applies to you based on what you just said, if you have group health insurance from an employer for which you or your spouse actively work after 65, then you can in fact delay enrolling in Medicare until the employment ends or the coverage stops, and in that case, you would not incur any late penalty. When the employer-tied coverage ends, then you're entitled to a special enrollment period of up to eight months, Nadine, to go ahead and sign up for Medicare. So you can't delay Medicare enrollment without a penalty if your employer-sponsored coverage comes from retiree benefits or COBRA, which don't count as active employment, but if you're actively employed, then you should be all set in delaying.

Does that make sense? Yeah, so does my husband's employer, can they make me sign up or can they drop me or anything when I turn 65 or I'm just still covered? I just wanted to know that. Yeah, you would need to check with the company just to make sure that you are going to continue to have active group health covered based on your husband's employment, and as long as that is continuing, then you don't need to enroll in Medicare because you're covered under another policy, and as long as there's no lapse or disruption in that, and that would be a question you'd want to pose to them, then you should be all set. You could delay it, and again, when that ends or that ceases to be available, then you would have a special enrollment period of up to eight months to sign up for Medicare. So we hope that's helpful to you, Nadine. We appreciate your call very, very much today, and let's head next to Indiana and welcome Abby to the broadcast. Abby, you're on MoneyWise Live. Hi, thanks so much for taking my call.

Sure, thank you. My husband and I are, we're a farming family, and we're to the point where we're well invested in the stock market, and our savings is starting to just kind of grow, and it just bothers me that it's not doing anything, but we're kind of at the mercy of something coming up for sale, something to invest in. So I was calling to ask, what options should we consider as far as using our money wisely in the waiting? Yes, what's the time frame on this money, Abby, and how much do you have sitting there parked? The time frame is basically when something would come up for sale.

There is no time frame, and hopefully soon, but we've been waiting eight years. And at this point, we're talking about 300,000. Okay, and where is that money parked currently? It's in a specialized money market. Yeah. Do you know what you're earning on that right now? Right at 1%.

Oh, you are getting 1%. Okay. Well, that's great. Okay.

Well, that's great. You know, as much as I hate to say this, you know, the key for this money because you want to be able to move quickly, and you don't want it at risk, meaning, you know, if you were to put it in any kind of marketable securities, you were to put it into stocks, even very high quality conservative stocks, or you to put it into bonds as interest rates head up, those over the next year, those bond prices are going to fall, you know, you could lose principle, and you certainly don't want to do that. Because even though it's been eight years, the Lord may provide the right property a week or a month or six months from now. So I think just given the nature of this money, the first thing that's key is, it's about the return of your money, not the return on your money, meaning you want it protected, you want it safe. And yes, as a good steward, you want to learn a little bit of interest. And you're certainly doing that. I mean, the prevailing, you know, rates right now, high yield savings, is around point five, perhaps even point 6%, to a little better than one half of 1%.

At 1%, if that's in fact, you know, what they're paying you in the money is completely liquid, and you have FDIC insurance, which you may or may not, depending on what kind of money market it is, then that's a great thing. Because, you know, you're at least, you know, getting a good bit of money every year for that 300,000 as it sits there, and not as much as you could. And I realize that can be frustrating. But I think the key is you just want to make sure you're ready to move. Because in a market like this, you know, I realize this isn't a single family home you're looking for, you're looking for a farming land.

But I suspect given the fact that you all haven't found anything in eight years, others haven't either. So the ability to be able to move quickly, with the money being readily available, and not having it at the risk of principal loss is really key. So I'd probably just stay right where you're at. Does that make sense, though? Yeah, it absolutely does. It absolutely does. We're currently FDIC, and our credit union has been bought out by another institution that'll be like in a year or something.

And our credit union I'm afraid that that rate is gonna fall and that the security will still be there. But yes, that does make sense. Yeah, yeah.

Okay. Yeah, I think that's exactly the way you need to approach this, just recognizing that as much as you'd like to be making some more money, just having the peace of mind to know that that money is there, it's safe, it's ready to go. And then it's just up to the Lord's timing.

So I'm sure you have already, but you and your husband just make this a matter of prayer and ask the Lord to give you the right decision and the right wisdom to know when to move when that right thing comes. And we appreciate you calling in today very, very much. Hey, let's take a quick email before we head into our next break. This one goes to Sally, and Sally is in Atlanta, Georgia, and she asks, when I have credit cards that are open but unused, how do I know if I should close them? And it's a great question. It's one that a lot of people have regularly, especially when we get caught into that trap of opening store cards, because we're getting that 10% discount that they promised us, which we get, but we can end up with a bunch of open accounts.

And here's the thing. I'd like for you to close those probably no more than two every six months. But over time, I'd like you to close those unused accounts and pare it back to something that's more manageable and more simple.

Why you ask? Well, if there's a zero balance, it's not affecting your credit utilization. And it's not affecting your repayment history, because the bottom line is there's no payment being made with a zero balance.

But it is open and active. And therefore, if it was compromised in any way, and somebody charged something on that account, without your permission, that's fraud. But it still be a real hassle if you didn't call catch it. Because if you don't report it in time, you could be responsible for it. And when it goes unpaid, which it would if you didn't know about it, that's going to be reported to the credit bureau.

And it's going to take you quite a bit of work to get that all cleaned up. So how do you go about closing those cards? Well, first of all, I just call the customer service number on the back of the card, and let them know that you'd like to close it, I'd follow up with something in writing.

And then 30 to 60 days later, I would check your credit report at annualcreditreport.com to make sure that they followed through on it. Hey, do you have the MoneyWise app? If not, it's the best digital envelope system out there, plus a community of believers and the best content on biblical advice.

You can find it in your app store today, search for MoneyWise biblical finance. I'm Rob West on MoneyWise Live. We'll be right back after this. Stay with us. Welcome back to MoneyWise Live. I'm Rob West.

This is where God's word intersects with your financial life. So glad to have you along with us today. Hey, our team is taking some time off today. This program is pre recorded. So don't call in today, wait till we're live in the studio. But we do have some great calls all lined up ready for you today.

I'm sure you'll enjoy them. We're going to be covering how you find a stock certificate if you've been perhaps inherited some stocks, but you don't have the certificates. How do you claim those? We'll also talk about non traded REITs. What's that?

Well, it's a real estate investment trust. We'll talk about that with Randy. First, we're going to head to DeKalb, Illinois. Wendy, what's on your mind today? Hi, thanks for taking my call.

Sure. I work in the auto industry. And we were down long when COVID because we weren't considered essential workers. And now we're down again, because all the shortages, the foam that make the seeds, the chips that are in the cars.

And then I have a part two to this, actually. I was wondering, I just received COBRA papers, and I know there's COBRA, like, for insurance. Yes. Something that the President just passed.

Yes. Okay, well, let's tackle the economy first. You know, obviously, you know, the economy is recovering quite strongly as it reopens. We're expecting gross domestic product to be stronger than it's been in 20 years, as we move forward, and as we see a general reopening, but that's, of course, relative, you know, many factors determine how well the economy is doing in hold, is doing as a whole. And in various regions of the country, we're going to see significant differences, especially when we look at individual sectors, auto industry would be one, hospitality would be another, you know, there's just certain industries that have been affected more significantly than others. And we've also got continued COVID shutdowns, we've got supply chain interruptions, we've got weaker worker shortages in some areas.

So, you know, it's really hit or miss. And extended unemployment benefits, frankly, have made it difficult for some businesses, especially restaurants to stay open as much as they'd like. So I think all in the key here, Wendy is, you know, just to stay the course in terms of if you're looking for additional employment, being diligent in doing that. The good news is we are seeing the economy rebound quite well, as long as you're in, you know, the right sectors of the economy. And it's always going to come down to how are you managing what God's entrusted to you and during a season where it's lean, especially if you're out of work, you know, starting with the bare minimum, going back to that spending plan and looking at what we call the big four, you want to keep food on the table and keep a roof over your head, keep the mortgage or the rent paid, keep the utilities on and keep gas in the car so you can get to work. But, you know, beyond that, everything's described as discretionary and on the table to be cut so that you can manage through a difficult season. So I think we've got certainly, you know, a stronger economy ahead.

And we're seeing good signs right now in terms of the economic data that's coming. But you've got to stay the core. So hopefully that's an encouragement to you as you look forward to the years ahead in your area and in your industry. With regard to the insurance, you know, I think the key is, you know, just to keep that insurance in place. COBRA is a great way to do that so that you make sure, you know, that you don't go without any protection because that could be a huge risk for you financially. You know, moving forward, if you lose that protection altogether and COBRA as a stopgap is a great way to handle that. I would also look if you need to, if that's not going to work for your budget because you're having to assume that cost fully, I'd look at Christian Healthcare Ministries as a health sharing alternative that's affordable, where you can make sure that you have some coverage in place in terms of, you know, you not having to come out of pocket per incident beyond, let's say, $500 and where Christians, literally tens of thousands of thousands of them, share one another's medical bills in a way that really is cost effective.

You can find out more at chministries.org if the COBRA plan is not going to work for you and we appreciate your call today. Let's head to Indiana next. Colleen, you're on the broadcast.

How can we help you? Yes, sir. I had a brother and he bought stocks and Apple in 1983. He showed me the stock certificates.

He bought $100 for himself, $100 for my grandmother and $50 for each of his nieces, my daughter and my sister's daughter. He passed away in 1985. My grandmother passed away shortly after, and then my mother passed away and I have no clue where to find those stock certificates or how to get ahold of them. Yeah. Well, you know, if you, as a stock owner, if you lose a certificate, you still own the stock.

So that's the good news. Paper certificates are rare these days, but they can be replaced and it really does vary by company. But first thing you do is you have to describe the loss and any facts surrounding it through an affidavit.

You may be required to purchase what's called an indemnity bond. This is to protect the corporation and the agent in the case that the law certificate is somehow redeemed by another party. So in your case, you'll probably have to prove that you inherited the stock, which you can do, you know, once the will is probated, if it hasn't been already. And you know, the bottom line is my next move would be to call the company's investors relations department. Investor relations handles these types of things, and they'll tell you how you contact the transfer agent to be able to reissue the new certificate. So investor relations will be on the website of any publicly traded company, get the phone number, give them a call, let them know what's going on.

And they'll tell you exactly what the steps are to both prove that you're the owner that through the inheritance as well as how you can have these reissued again, it's called the investor relations department. And I would place that call next. All right on to Chicago, Illinois. Randy, you're next on the program.

How can we help you, sir? Hi, Rob, thanks for taking my call. Yeah, I have an IRA and part of it is invested in real estate investment trusts. Two of I have actually three REITs. And one of them is actually traded now.

And two of them are not. And I'm just wondering what my options may be. I don't want to obviously incur any significant penalties if I, you know, get out of these somehow if there's a way or if I should just kind of hang on to them, let this thing ride out. Yeah.

Well, the first thing to do is find out what options you have. I mean, just for the benefit of our listeners, a non traded REIT is basically a real estate investment that's designed to provide returns based on real estate that's purchased inside the trust. But it doesn't trade on a securities exchange.

And because of this, it can be illiquid for a long period of time. There's also typically some front end fees. I think the key for you, Randy, is to go back to the documents that describe exactly what you have and find out what their buyback plan is if they have one. You know, periodically, some REITs will tender for shares.

And that's a great time to exit at a discount, no doubt, but at least you can get out. So you'd want to check the REITs website to see if they've provided any announcements and then go back to those original documents that were provided to you when you got into this, just to find out what liquidity provisions were in there, and how you and how you go about valuing it and then getting out if it can be done. Each one is going to be a bit different. And so it's going to require some legwork on your end. Do you have the original docs on this? Oh, yeah, I believe I do.

I don't have them in front of me. But I believe I do. And I do have somebody that I worked with to actually obtain these REITs. So I could always get a hold of him as well.

Yeah. And I plan on doing that. Okay, I think that's your next step just to find out what options you have. So you could begin to move in that direction. Because that's really going to be the key.

I mean, there's not any kind of one size fits all on this, it's really coming down to what provisions were made possible for the investors as a part of the real estate investment trust. And each one is going to be a little different. So if you have any questions, once you read that, give us a call back. We appreciate your call today. Very, very much, sir. Let's do an email today.

Actually, we try to get to as many of these as we can. If you want to send an email to us, here's the email address questions at money wise.org questions at money wise.org. We recently heard from Christy and Jeff. And here's what you asked Christy and Jeff, you said you want to pay off credit card debt and fund your emergency fund. You're just having trouble figuring out which one comes first. And I can certainly understand the predicament there.

Let me give you my thoughts. You know, when it comes to the priority order of managing God's money, we realize we have simultaneous priorities. We want to be givers, right? We want to be debt free. We want to provide for our families and cover our expenses. We want to save for the future.

How do we do all of that? Well, the good news is there are some great principles that we can apply from God's Word about the priority use of God's resources. You know, from my standpoint, I think we should be givers first. Now, you may not be giving at the level you ultimately want to give, but I would start somewhere.

Begin to exercise that muscle and give systematically right off the top. That's between you and the Lord, how much you give, but I think proportionate giving right up front is going to break the grip of money over your life and get you in the habit of beginning to give, starting with your local church. Then, I'd love for you to have some reserves, but if you have high-interest credit card debt, I'd limit the amount that you're saving for your emergency fund to $1,500.

It's not a magic number. I think it's just a number that's going to give you something to fall back on if you have a major unexpected expense and hopefully break the cycle of you having to put money on those credit cards. Once you have $1,500, let's go after the credit card debt in the snowball method, smallest balance to highest. Dial into that spending plan, create as much margin as you can each month, and let's tackle the smallest one until it's paid off and then move right on down the line.

Once the credit cards are paid off, go back to the emergency fund with a goal of three to six months expenses. Christy and Jeff, thanks for emailing us. If you have a question, again, questions at moneywise.org is the email address we'd love to hear from you. Well, folks, that's going to do it for us today. Thanks for listening. MoneyWise Live is a partnership between Moody Radio and MoneyWise Media. This is where God's word intersects with your financial life. Come back and join us next time, will you? God bless you.