Credit Scores and Car Loans

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Not licensed in Alaska, Hawaii, Georgia, Massachusetts, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Utah. Do you know the number one reason why it's good to have a high credit score? Here's a hint. It's not about bragging rights or feeling superior, although some folks might view it that way. Hi, I'm Rob West. No, the number one reason you want to have a good credit score is that it makes sense, dollars and cents. A high score saves you money. I'll talk about that first today, then it's on to your calls.

At 800-525-7000, that's 800-525-7000, call 24 seven. This is MoneyWise Live, where biblical truth guides our financial decisions. So we often get calls from folks who are concerned about their credit scores. Other times, we hear from people financing a car and they want to know if they've been offered a good interest rate.

What they may not realize is how closely those things are related. When a lender approves you for a loan, the interest rate they offer isn't something they just picked out of a hat. The first thing they do is check your credit score, often from more than one source. The higher your score, the lower the interest rate they'll offer you.

And over the term of the car loan, a lower rate will add up to big bucks in your pocket. But that still leaves the question, what exactly is a good credit score? Well, FICO is just one company providing credit scores to lenders and consumers, but their scoring range is typical of most. Your FICO score will always be a single number between 300 and 850.

Now, keep in mind what that number really means. It's based on your credit reports, which show your past performance in handling credit. That is, how well you've kept your word to pay back money that you owe on time. Since lenders don't know you personally, they need a tool like a credit score to determine the risk factor in lending you money. And while the good range, which will get you a decent interest rate, is anything from 670 to 740, some lenders may give you a car loan with a score as low as 450. Why would they do that?

Well, it's not because they like you. Since a higher percentage of folks with credit scores that low will likely default on their loans, lenders need a way to make up for their losses. And they do that by charging higher interest rates to folks with lower scores. So, with a credit score of 450 to 500, you'll be offered the very highest rates. Now, as I said, the higher your score, the lower your interest rate and the lower your monthly payment.

How much lower? Well, consumer expert Clark Howard ran some numbers on an all-too-typical 48-month new car loan for $25,000, and the results are eye-opening. Keep in mind that it's always better to pay cash for a car, but if you have to borrow, keep saving until you can pay cash for the next one. Now, let's say you have a FICO score in the top range from 720 to 850, and let's say that gets you an interest rate of 3.9%. Your monthly payment would be $560, and over the life of the loan, you'd pay a total of just over $2,000 in interest. Let's compare that to a poor FICO score from 500 to 600. It's hard to imagine lenders would still give you money, but apparently some will. For the same new car loan, $25,000 for 48 months, but with the low credit score, now the only rate you're offered is a whopping 15%.

That's a long way from 3.9. So, now your monthly payment is over $700, and you'll pay, are you ready for this? Well over $9,000 in interest over the life of the loan.

Granted, those are extreme examples, but they illustrate the point. The difference between the highest and lowest credit score is more than $7,000, and that's just for one relatively short-term loan. Imagine how that would play out with a 30-year mortgage. The bottom line is, a high credit score is worth untold thousands of dollars over your lifetime. If you're worried that your credit score is too low, the process for raising it is relatively simple. It starts with checking your credit reports for errors that might be dragging down your score.

Order free reports online at annualcreditreport.com and dispute any errors you find. If you have balances and arrears, bring them all up to date, then commit to making all of your payments on time. Finally, work to pay off as much debt as you can. Ideally, you don't want any balance on a credit card, but never have a balance of more than 30% of your available credit because that will drag down your score. If you have if you start doing all of those things, your score will gradually begin to rise.

It'll take time. But now that you know how much money a good credit score will save you, you've got plenty of incentive to get started. If you need help, sign up with a volunteer coach at moneywiselive.org. We can help you get on a budget and set up a plan to get the process started. And remember that a good credit score is really just the result of doing what you promised to pay back what you owe.

As followers of Christ, that should always be our priority. Your calls are next, 800-525-7000. Stay with us, much more to come. Today's version of MoneyWise Live is prerecorded, so our phone lines are not open. 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, 800-525-7000. 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. Laureen 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. And 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 MoneyWise 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. 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. 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, Jean, 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, Jean, 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, you know, 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, you know, proclaiming the gospel to the ends of the earth, reaching unreached people groups. I mean, whatever it is, you know, 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, you know, 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, you know, administrative costs. You can 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 U.S. 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 and 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 gotta 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 a guy once say to do your giving while you're living, so you're knowing where it's going. 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 Heirs. 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 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.

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. 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, you know, 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. Today's version of MoneyWise Live is prerecorded so our phone lines are not open. 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 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, you know, 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 roll over?

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 roll over 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 roll over 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 gonna round it, $190,000 could be rolled over and that would have given me like even $4,500 a month also. Okay, it would give you a $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 survivors 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 can 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, you know, 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, you know, health care, something like that. You've had 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. Today's version of MoneyWise Live is prerecorded so our phone lines are not open. 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, your 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, 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 my on finalizing my will. And a few years ago, well, I've already checked with my 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 150. Let's see 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 was requested that she do a printout of everything that I had charged to say 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, if you're and I told her I wanted to start making payments on this loan that has become number 3156.

And so she said, the percentage, 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 in? 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, it 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 what this 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 and as 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. And 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 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 they've 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 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 vesting another way. And 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, tell him we miss him. I will do that. Talk to him. Just enjoy in retirement.

But 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. 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. 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 Welcome back to MoneyWise Live.

I'm Rob West, fresh off of vacation. I was enjoying some time away with my family and came back to some phone lines that weren't working very well. Our phone company alerted us earlier today that they were having some challenges. We thought they were resolved.

And unfortunately, they persisted into this program. And so if you've heard a few segments that sounded a bit off, it's because we've had to pivot and replace some of these live segments with some pre-recorded segments on the fly. So I apologize for that. I know we had some great calls we were able to share with you today.

So I'm sure you were encouraged by that. But we are back live for this final segment. So thanks for hanging in with us. And to kick this segment off, I want to So thanks for hanging in with us. And to kick this segment off, I'm delighted to welcome my good friend Bob Dahl, who's Chief Investment Officer at Crossmark Global Investments. And Bob, great to have you with us on a Tuesday. Good afternoon.

Thank you, sir. Great to be here. Bob, in your deliberations this week, it seems like this trend that you started talking about, well, a couple of months ago, is continuing. And that is that there's a lot of good news priced into this market and for good reason, because earnings in the economy have been red hot. But there's probably not much more upside in the near term. Isn't that right?

I think that's correct, Rob. This great economy, great earnings have been widely telegraphed. It's among the reasons why stocks have done so well, really, since the pandemic low some 15 plus months ago. And at these levels, it's saying the news better be good. Yes, yes. Well, that's right. And we're about to hit quarter two earnings season.

So preview that for us. Yeah, this quarter will be aside from a quarter in 2010 off the 09 recession, the best quarter in most people that are listening to lifetime. Earnings are likely to get more than 60%. And a lot of that is because they were so depressed in the second quarter of last year, not to take anything away from a 60% increase. And to repeat, Rob, but the market knows it. You know, if I told you 60%, wow, I better run out and buy stocks. Well, that's why you should have bought stocks, you know, nine, nine months ago, because the market knew we were going to have an amazing recovery. So the great news is great earnings now. But markets like acceleration, not deceleration, and it's going to be hard to top 60. In fact, in the third and fourth quarters, analysts are guessing any earnings will be up 20 and 15%, respectively. Not bad numbers in their own right. Just they look puny after 60.

Yes. So where do we stand in the PE ratio, Bob, price to earnings or price to sales, in terms of the levels we're at now versus a historical average? Well, on all those measures, price to earnings, price to sales, price to book, it's rarely higher than where we have been recently. Price earnings on trailing earnings are about 30 times on forward earnings in the 22-23 area. Price to sales, you know, double the historic average, the highest in modern history.

Price to book has only been exceeded in the dot-com bubble. So expensive markets do not mean you have to run out and sell. It just means there's higher risk and the news has to be good to sustain it. So as we said in this program week by week, if you've been fully invested in equities and have great gains and want to take a little off the table, we're not going to fight you, Rob. Yeah, yeah, makes sense.

Bob, last question. Drawing from history, if we look at periods like we're in now, I mean, obviously they're all different and this one certainly is because we're coming off of a global pandemic, but if we just look at periods where, you know, we have seen an incredibly strong market that we feel like is about to roll over, you know, what does that look like as we evaluate other periods perhaps like this where we believe we're at the end of a cycle? Yeah, so we would argue there is more economic growth to come just at a slower pace. Therefore, more earnings to come just at a slower pace. So that generally generally means markets turn choppier, Rob, meaning it's not straight up. We'll have some up days, we'll have some down days, but the trend while the economy and earnings are still okay, even though they're decelerating, is still to the upside for the market. So I'm expecting choppier, probably up, but some days it won't feel that way. Yeah, yeah, very good.

I said last question, but I'm gonna throw in one more before we wrap today. Bob, we talk often about the fact that the U.S. stock market and international investments with a properly diversified stock and bond portfolio is the very best place to build wealth over the long haul if you're appropriately diversified. But there are some saying, wait a minute, you know, we've got the U.S. dollar potentially is seeing some declines. We've got, you know, unprecedented debt levels in this country. I mean, we've got real problems ahead and we should exit the stock market.

Talk to that person with your thoughts on that. So to take some money off the table, repeat, given a lot of good news in, I'm not going to fight you. But to whole scale get out because of, let's take the debt. People are saying, you know, because of, let's take the debt. People have been crying to sander about the debt for, not years, decades, and it keeps accumulating. Now, I'm not saying we should ignore it. We are borrowing from the future, but just because there's debt out there does not mean the stock market goes down.

We would need rising interest rates to a significant degree in my view for that debt problem to be triggered, if you will. So be careful what negatives you pick on and how you react to it. Yeah, very good. Bob, always enjoy having you stop by with some analysis and biblical underpinning under everything you talk about. And we'll look forward to seeing you next week. God bless. All right. Bye bye.

Well, Bob Doll, chief investment officer at Crossmark Global Investments, always appreciate his insights, each typically Monday on the broadcast, joining us on Tuesday this week, of course. All right. We're going to round out the program today and try to get to a few phone calls here. Our phone lines are working, perhaps temporarily, but we understand they're working now.

So we're going to go to Chicago, Illinois. And Sue, thank you for your patience today. How may I help you? Hi, Sue, are you there? All right, let's try Steve in Indianapolis and give that one a shot. Steve, can you hear me? All right. Well, we hope they're working.

It's oh, there he is. All right. You were able to get through, Steve. Thank you. Go right ahead, sir. Sure.

I just had a question. I was thinking about I don't have a lot of money, but I was thinking about should I get try to get a house? Maybe I just am renting a house now. And I'm thinking about, you know, should I try to get a house by the fall or wait till, you know, winter or spring? And because the low interest rates are great and I'm renting right now. And I should I just stay in there for a year or if I get if I got the approval for a low interest rate house and I can put down, you know, five percent or something? What do you think as I'm 46 years old and trying to invest towards the house in the future? Yes.

Well, I certainly understand your question, Steve. You know, here's my take on it. I want to make sure you don't try to buy a home until you're ready to buy a home. This is an unusually high real estate market right now, which means you're going to be buying into a red hot market with prices in most parts of the country above market values. The national estimate right now is somewhere around five to six percent overvalued. Now, it's one thing if you're selling a piece of property at top dollar and then you can take those profits and roll it into a piece of property that you're buying at top dollar. If you're renting and you're not enjoying, you know, being able to sell a piece of property first, it's not the best time to buy a home just because of the reasons that I mentioned.

There's low inventory, there's high demand. We do have low interest rates, but I don't see those interest rates going up anytime soon. In fact, the Federal Reserve has said, Chairman Powell said, he's not going to start thinking about raising interest rates until later this year or early next year.

And even then, it's going to be a slow build. So I think you're going to enjoy this low interest rate environment for the foreseeable future. I think we could see a rise in housing inventory as we get into the fall and early next year.

I don't think we're in a bubble situation with the housing market, but I do think we could see a cooling, perhaps a dip in housing prices as the inventory builds. And what's most important for me in your situation is that you go into this home with the right parameters, meaning I'd really love for you to have 20 percent down, not five percent down. I'd love for you to buy a home where the resulting mortgage payment is not more than 25 percent of your take-home pay. And I want to make sure you're going to stay not for five years, but probably seven to ten years because of where the housing market is today. And I wouldn't want you to try to sell when this market cools off and find, especially with only a five percent down payment, that you're upside down.

So I'd probably wait it out. Let's see if the housing market cools off just a bit as we head into the fall and early next year, which gives you time to continue to save and hopefully get that down payment up a bit higher. Does that all make sense, Steve?

Yeah, it makes sense. The best way to save your money. Do you recommend any place to put it? Well, if it's a high-yield savings account is going to be the place to go. You don't want to try to invest it. You just don't have the time horizon for it and you're not going to want to put that money at risk. So the key with this type of savings account is it needs to be absolutely 100 percent secure. So I'd use probably one of the online banks, Marcus, Ally, Capital One 360. You're going to get about a half a percent in an FDIC insured savings account. I understand it's not a lot of money, but it's something. There's not going to be any fees. The key, though, will be when you need that money, it's going to be there because it's backed by the full faith and credit of the United States government.

So pare your lifestyle back and save, save, save, and you'll be ready to buy that house sooner than you expect, I imagine. Thanks for your call today. Well, folks, thanks for your patience today with some of our technical challenges. We appreciate you stopping by. We'll be back tomorrow to do it all over again, Lord willing. I want to say thank you to my team, Dan and Amy and Rich and Robert, and thank you for being here today. MoneyWise Live is a partnership between Moody Radio and MoneyWise Media. We'll look forward to seeing you tomorrow, and until then, may the Lord bless you. Bye-bye.