King Solomon on Money

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For all licensing information, go to nmlsconsumeraccess.org, corporate NMLS number 1330, equal housing lender, not licensed in Alaska, Hawaii, Georgia, Massachusetts, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Utah. It's always fun to see the secular world suddenly discover the wisdom of the Bible, even more so when the subject is money. Hi, I'm Rob West.

Such a case occurred recently in an article posted on the popular finance website, The Humble Dollar. I'll talk about that first today. Then take your calls and questions at 800-525-7000.

You can call that number 24-7, 800-525-7000. This is MoneyWise Live, where we're always discovering the wisdom of God's word on money. So this article at The Humble Dollar rightly focuses on several verses written by the one person described as both the wisest and the richest man in the Bible, if not in all of history, King Solomon. First on the list is Proverbs 13 16.

Every prudent man acts with knowledge, but a fool flaunts his folly. This verse could be about many things, but it certainly applies to managing money wisely. It implies we should have financial reserves so that we're ready for whatever lies ahead.

We can't predict the future, but we can prepare for it. This includes not only having an adequate emergency fund of three to six months living expenses in case of job loss or some other financial calamity. It also means we should invest long term for the day we can no longer work. The next verse in the article was Proverbs 10 4, which reads, a slack hand causes poverty, but the hand of the diligent makes rich.

We might be tempted to think that one's too obvious, but even the most diligent of us can get lazy once in a while. So it's a good reminder of the importance of working hard at everything we do. In his sermon titled The Use of Money, 18th century evangelist John Wesley said it like this, earn all you can, save all you can, and give all you can. And while God never promises to reward us financially, diligence usually pays off.

Now everyone should be able to see the truth in this next verse of Solomon's, whether they believe in the Bible or not. It's Proverbs 22 7, and you know it well, the rich rules over the poor and the borrower is the slave of the lender. When you borrow money from someone, you become their indentured servant. You will have to work a certain amount of time to earn the money to pay them back with interest.

Essentially, you're working to enrich someone else. Still, some forms of debt may be worth it if it gets you an education and a higher paying job or allows you to buy an appreciating asset like a house or to open a business that will provide an income stream. But consumer debt as in credit cards is never worth the financial bondage it brings and the time it takes to pay it off. It's like saying I'm going to eat, drink, and be married today, and then I'll spend the next month paying for it.

Not a wise trade-off. If you can't learn to live on less than you earn, you'll always be in financial bondage. And Solomon's next verse, quoted in the Humble Dollar article, puts an exclamation point on that idea. It's Proverbs 21 20, precious treasure and oil are in a wise man's dwelling, but a foolish man devours it. That means the wise person saves.

The only way to achieve financial freedom is to live on less than you earn and do it for a long time. Proverbs 21 5 wasn't listed in the article, but I'll read it anyway, because it certainly applies here. It reads steady plotting brings prosperity, hasty speculation brings poverty. Okay, this next one is a favorite of Christian investors, because it clearly points out the wisdom of diversifying your portfolio. It's Ecclesiastes 11 2, give a portion to seven or even to eight, for you do not know what disaster may happen on the earth. It's amazing that such specific advice given 3,000 years ago could still be a linchpin of prudent investing today, but it is.

If you don't diversify your holdings among stocks, bonds, commodities, cash, and perhaps real estate, your portfolio could suffer the full brunt of an economic downturn, but dividing it up among different asset classes will certainly lighten that blow. Now, the next verse warns about the danger of having a get rich quick mentality. It's Proverbs 13 11, wealth gained hastily will dwindle, but whoever gathers little by little will increase it. If you don't believe that one, I've got two words for you, lottery winner. How often do they go through that money quickly, often ruining their lives in the process? That's because if you haven't accumulated wealth slowly and with discipline, you can't appreciate how difficult it is to do it.

All right, time for one more. And I was delighted to see this verse of Solomon's listed in a secular article about money. It's Proverbs 22 9, the generous will themselves be blessed for they share their food with the poor.

It's a great reminder that God owns everything and he is our provider and we should share with others in need. All right, your calls are next 800-525-7000. That's 800-525-7000. This is MoneyWise Live. We'll be right back. We're delighted you're joining us today on MoneyWise Live.

I'm Rob West. We're taking your calls and questions in just a moment on anything financial. Here's the number 800-525-7000.

That's 800-525-7000. Hey, do you consider yourself a part of the MoneyWise Live community? If so, we'd encourage you to consider a gift. We can only do what we do on the radio through our coaches, CKAs, through the MoneyWise app and on the web because of your generous support. Our MoneyWise family partners are those folks who come alongside us with a monthly or a one-time gift that allow us to sustain this ministry. We operate on a budget as you do and we can only meet that budget each month, especially during the summer months with your generous support. So beyond the giving to your local church, if you consider a gift, we'd certainly be grateful.

You can head over to our website moneywiselive.org. Just click the donate button to give quickly and securely. We appreciate it in advance. Again, phone lines are open today. We've got actually a number of lines available and ready for you. We'd love to hear from you with whatever you have on your mind today.

Saving or giving, perhaps it's investing for the long haul, whatever it might be, we'd love to know. 800-525-7000. We're going to begin today in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Georgeann, thank you for your call. How can I help you?

Thank you for taking my call. We'd like to add on to our breakfast look. And we have money saved. My husband said that if we borrowed the money, then we'd have deductions for our income tax.

And I'm just wondering if that would be a good move or not. Yeah. You know, I generally don't recommend doing anything specifically for a tax benefit because it's going to be minimal, if at all, that you would even be able to enjoy that. You know, 80% of taxpayers, Georgeann, are claiming the standard deduction, especially now that it's been doubled.

Do you know if you all itemize on your tax return? Yes, because we own a business. Okay. All right. So you would be borrowing money with a home equity loan of some sort? I'm thinking that's what he meant.

Okay. Now, obviously, if you use that to improve the house and you itemize, you potentially could get that deduction. But that's only going to be equivalent to what you would normally pay in taxes. So obviously, the majority, probably 80% or more of that expense, you'll have to realize yourself. I think the question really first and foremost is, number one, can you afford to do it? Do you have the funds there?

And I'd love for you to be able to save and do that out of cash. If you've got the equity in the home, and you've counted the cost, you've factored in what it would look like to add a home equity loan to your mortgage, unless you were planning to refinance, and I'd want to make sure that makes sense before you do that. That's obviously key, the financial consideration. And then you probably want to look at how long you plan to stay in the home.

If it's something you can afford, and it's truly for your own enjoyment, you plan to be there for a while, then I think there's nothing wrong with that. I would probably look to a home equity loan with a fixed rate as opposed to a line of credit. If it's a home you plan to sell, let's say in the next five years, you'd probably want to look a little deeper to make sure that this is something you can actually get your money back out of. And a breakfast nook at the most is probably going to allow you to recapture somewhere around the 60% to 70% of the cost with an increased sale value of the home. So you'll want to consider that.

But again, if this is a home you plan to be in for the long term, and this is something you think you can afford, then there's certainly nothing wrong with either taking a portion of what you've saved or home equity or both, and putting it back into investing in your home. I just wouldn't do it because of the tax benefits. So often we use that as a justification when the real benefit to that is minimal.

Does that make sense? Yeah, I think we have the cash, so we could pay for it. Okay.

But he did think about the tax deductions. Yes. Because we own our home free and clear. Okay. All right.

Very good. Well, again, I like the idea of paying for things out of cash if you have the ability to do so. I wouldn't use the tax deduction as a reason to justify the debt. The cost of the expense that you're going to pay in the form of interest is going to offset the benefit that you're going to gain by a tax deduction for the interest paid. Because again, you don't realize 100% of that, the interest that's paid that you would deduct, you're only going to get equivalent to whatever your effective tax rate is. So I would rather see you just keep the home owned free and clear, pay that out of your savings, as long as you're not going to drop your emergency savings below three months expenses, two at the most, then I would say just go ahead and pay for it out of cash, enjoy it, and over time that should increase the value of the home as well.

If not 100% of the cost, at least some portion of it you'll get back when you sell. We appreciate you checking in with us today. And if you decide to go forward, you guys enjoy that new breakfast nook.

Let's head along to Longview, Texas. Linda, thank you for calling today. How can I help you? Hi, I am 77 years old. And several years ago, I purchased a long term care policy that pretty much pays everything. And it's been increasing the last several years. And I just got a premium notice that it's going to go up 25% this year and 20% next year. And I'm just trying to figure out I'm in good health wondering what the wisdom is as to continuing to pay these rates. I know they don't even issue these policies now that pays everything.

I did use it for my husband and it was perfect. Yes. Linda, talk to me about how these increases will impact your ability to continue to fund this out of your current cash flow. It's not going to be a burden at this point. Okay.

So that's kind of been my baseline, you know. But I don't know if it continues to go up, it's going to be $4,000 next year. Wow.

Yeah. Well, keep in mind that even though that's quite a bit of money, if you have to use it, and you I'm sure you experienced this with your husband, it could be very costly. If something's going to erode your assets in this season of life, it's going to be long term care. And what we know is that 70 plus percent of Americans who reach age 65 will need some sort of care for 18 months to 3 years. So even though $4,000 is a lot of money, keep in mind, given your age and given the kind of policy you're describing that is no longer available, I think it's well worth the expense so long as you can continue to afford it. Obviously, we'll have to see what future years hold.

A lot of these policies have been adjusting just because of the rising costs of health care. Hopefully, a lot of that is already going to be priced in after the next couple of years, and you won't see the dramatic increases. But if it's not a burden, I think the benefit of having it offsetting that major risk moving forward is something that you will really enjoy if you need it. And I realize it's hard to write a check for something that you don't know if you're going to use. But just keep in mind, having that peace of mind to know that those bills will be covered if and when they're needed is a big deal.

And hopefully what you'll see, Linda, is that in the future, we won't see the increases quite so dramatic. So if it were me, I'd probably stay with it. Know that you have something that will be incredibly valuable to you if you need it down the road. Does that make sense?

Yes, it does. They're giving me lots of options. But of course, the options I would be less, but it would not be that cover everything. So I guess really continue to stay with it. I think I would not get it anymore.

That's exactly right. Do you have a long term care insurance agent that you could go back to who could perhaps help you run some analysis on the options that you have available to you? I had purchased this through the suggestion of Edward Edward Jones. So I guess I could talk to somebody there. I probably would. And you know, if you feel better about just keeping the full benefits, I'd probably do that. But it doesn't hurt to have somebody just walk through the options with you to see if perhaps by taking a slightly reduced benefit, you could save quite a bit of money, especially become if it becomes cost prohibitive. And that were the only option you had versus dropping the policy in its entirety. Certainly, you could dial it back at some point if you need to.

But I think at this point, stick with it. You'll be glad you have it down the road if you need it. We appreciate you thinking of us and calling today, Linda. May the Lord bless you. Folks, thanks for being along with us today.

Much more to come on MoneyWise Live, including your questions. What's on your mind today? We'd love to hear from you. Here's the number 800, 600, excuse me, 800-525-7000. I almost gave the share-a-thon number. 800-525-7000. Give us a call right now. We'll be right back.

We're delighted you've joined us today for MoneyWise Live, where we apply God's word to your financial decisions. Taking your calls and questions today, here's the number 800-525-7000. That's 800-525-7000. Let's go right back to the phones. Indianapolis, Indiana. David, thank you for your call today.

How can I help you, sir? Hi, I've got nine years left on a 15-year mortgage. And we're at a 3.375% rate. And we could save a point, but we would add a year if we refinanced. What are your thoughts on that? Well, you could very easily turn that 10-year back into a nine-year, and you could ask the mortgage company to run that amortization schedule to tell you exactly how much extra you'd need to send over and above the monthly payment in order to do that.

So that would put you at an even playing field in terms of the term, but then you'd enjoy that lower rate for the entire mortgage, which would mean less interest paid. One of the big questions, though, David, is always the expense. Do you know or do you have a feel for what the costs are going to be on this refi? No, not yet. No, I don't. Okay. All right. That's going to be a big piece of this. What's the remaining balance on the mortgage? About a little over 107,000.

Okay. So I'd be looking for you to spend no more than two to three percent of the loan value in expenses. So that'd be two to three thousand dollars at the most. That's going to keep your costs down, which means that that monthly savings that you would have in terms of whatever interest savings you're experiencing with the lower rate would go to offset that. The idea being that after two or three years, you paid that off and then the remainder of the mortgage, you enjoy that lower interest rate and thereby total interest paid would be down over the life of the loan. So I think the key would be to make sure that you get that full percentage point savings, make sure that you don't spend more than two to three percent to refi, make sure you plan to stay in that home for at least five to seven years. And then I think at that point, you're going to want to look to what can you send extra each month or each year in order to match that existing term. So we don't lengthen that term at all, you know, beyond what you're currently at today. Does that make sense? Absolutely. Okay, well listen, all the best to you. I think you're on the right track here.

I'm glad you're counting the cost. One final thing, make sure you get at least two to three competitive bids before you select the mortgage that you're going to use for the refi. I'd go to bankrate.com. A lot of the online banks, depending upon who has more money to lend at any given time, will offer some of the most competitive terms and rates available.

So bankrate.com would be a great place for you to find a couple of lenders to also entertain an offer for you as you look to refi, and we wish you all the best in the days ahead. To Spokane, Washington, Lisa, thank you for your call today. How can I help you? Well, I just got divorced. Hi, hello.

How are you? I just got divorced. I'm 57 years old. I've got few savings, few IRAs, but not haven't prepared for retirement. How can I start with saving for retirement now that I will have a full-time job?

Yes. Sorry to hear about your divorce, Lisa. I think the key for you as you think about your financial future moving forward is to recognize God is the owner, you're the manager. The question is, what does it look like to be found faithful?

And God's word has a lot to say on this topic. I want to send you a copy of a book called Your Money Counts from my good friend, Howard Dayton, that will really give you just a strong understanding of not only God's truths and his promises that we can depend on because he is our provider, but also the practical how-tos based on scripture of how we can manage money. The idea that we should live on less than we earn, we should avoid the use of debt and what it looks like to have margin in our financial life or savings, that we should have some long-term goals and that we should give generously.

And if we do those five things and live simply and hold God's resources loosely, it's amazing what he will do if we're faithful. I think the key for you as you think about putting money away for retirement is obviously to start with that spending plan. You've got to be able to live on or well within your means and do it in such a way that you have margin so that you can begin contributing for the long term. Do you have a retirement plan available at work that you could use? Yes, but it'll be available to me after a year. Okay.

So they will have a 401k. So I'd like to be aggressive about savings because I need to do that. Yes. And how close are you to being able to contribute? How far into that year are you right now? Well, I just got the full-time job.

I see. Because I just got, my divorce just finalized this year in March. And you don't have the option to contribute.

It's not just that you're waiting for some matching. You can't contribute at all until the year is over. The matching will be after a year. The 401k after 90 days. I gotcha.

Okay. So I would start there. Set a goal to put away 10 to 15% of your pay into that account. Do that every month. And I would check with the planned administrator to give you some advice on the best investment options for you to choose from based on your age, goals, and objectives. There's probably a lifestyle fund that will match the investments to your age and your retirement time horizon. The key is just to get that money going in systematically every month.

So I'd start that right away and get that salary deferral going. And then you hang on the line, we'll get your information and get that book, Your Money Counts from our date now to you. We appreciate your call, Lisa. We'll be right back.

Stay with us. We're so thankful you're joining us today for MoneyWise Live, where God's Word is applied to today's financial decisions and choices. This is the program where we recognize God owns it all and therefore we're stewards or managers and money then becomes a tool to accomplish God's purposes.

Here's the big idea. Money is a means to an end. It's not an end in and of itself, but when we recognize that it's most effective when it's a means to something other than ourselves, meaning we become generous and hold God's money loosely while we experience the real joy and blessing of being found faithful and being a conduit into God's activity. You know, money in my experience over many years I've found is one of the key ways or finances are one of the key ways that God shapes our spiritual journey. You know, the late Larry Burkett used to say money is the clearest indicator or the way we handle it is the clearest indicator into what's going on in our lives spiritually. It's a barometer of sorts that says where we've placed our trust and what we value.

The question is what story does your money tell and if you need to make a change what changes are those? Well, we want to do that together based on God's word and the principles we find in scripture. We'll do that together when you call 800-525-7000. Let's go right back to the phones Palm Beach, Florida. Hello Suzanne. Thank you for your call today.

Oh, hi Rob. It's such a pleasure speaking to you. Just want to thank you for your godly wisdom. Such a blessing to many lives. So thank you for that. Well, you're very kind. Thank you. It's true.

Listen to you periodically. My question is related to velocity banking. I was just looking at YouTube and saw this presentation by a couple of people and I just wanted to know what your thoughts are on it. It was about borrowing money based on your credit card line of equity and paying down your mortgage using that or using a home equity loan. They're doing this math and showing you how you can actually borrow a certain amount of money and pay down this mortgage within a certain time like five years.

Versus paying more in principle. So I just wanted to know what your thoughts are on that. I found it to be interesting. I'd never heard anything like that. Yes.

Well, I appreciate your kind remarks on the program and I appreciate you asking this question because this is something that's becoming quite popular, especially on the internet. You'll see a lot of YouTube videos about it. Velocity banking. Basically, it's a strategy where you use a line of equity to buy a home equity loan, a line of credit as your primary account, and you use lump sums to pay off the loan, usually a mortgage. So the ideas behind this is that using a line of credit will help you use your cash flow, your income, and any extra money that you have sitting in your accounts to cover your expenses, but also go toward paying off your mortgage.

I'm not a big fan. I just don't pay off debt to pay off debt makes a lot of sense. Number one, number two, it often involves expensive software on the front end. So you have quite a bit of an investment. There's a good bit of risk in it in that you've got to have a good bit of free cash flow to make it all work. And if you were to have a blip in the radar in terms of a loss of a job or an income reduction, it could create a real hardship. I think it's more complicated just in terms of keeping track of it, which is why you need the expensive software in the first place.

I like to keep things simple. I think that, you know, often you'll be encouraged to use up all of your emergency funds. And yes, you can borrow it back. But keep in mind the bank lines can close or be reduced based on what the bank wants to do. And so I think, you know, if it were me, I would encourage you just to stay with the traditional mortgage. We've got very, very low interest rates right now. And if you have free cash flow above your emergency savings, let's use that to prepay the mortgage.

Perhaps get on a biweekly plan where you make a half payment every two weeks, which will result in one full extra payment a year or just try to send a few hundred dollars extra each month. Those kinds of things can dramatically reduce the overall length of the mortgage without you having to go through some sort of complicated process like this velocity banking. So if it were me, because of the complexity, the cost, because of some of the inherent risks of what it takes to keep this going once you start it, I just think it's not for me and I'd encourage you to pass. Does that make sense though? It makes a lot of sense. Thank you so much for being so wise. Appreciate it and you have a blessed day. Well, you're sweet, Suzanne, and may the Lord bless you. Bye-bye. We appreciate your call today.

On to DePlains, Illinois. Peggy, thank you for your patience. How can I help you? Hi, thanks so much.

I just love you guys. But my question is, I recently changed a job. I'm 63 and I've been here three years.

I recently also widowed. So they opened a TIAA at work. They just did it automatically. They match an amount that is put in, pulled out of my check.

I didn't set that, they did. And so I was thinking with it, I had a new increase in pay. If I divide that and if I could add to that TIAA, do they add to it or is that just something that's already set?

Yes. Well, this is a great option that you have with this salary deferral into a retirement account at TIAA-CREF. You should be able to adjust that at any time. It's probably a fixed amount that's going in.

It could be a percentage, which would obviously increase as your pay increases, but it is likely a fixed amount. So I would just contact your HR department, tell them that you'd like to increase the salary deferral going into your retirement account. And as a goal, apart from some planning with a competent financial planning professional who could run some analysis on your current retirement savings versus what your ultimate goal should be that would give you a very specific target, I would be looking to put away 10 to 15 percent, Peggy, of your take-home pay into this TIAA-CREF account if you can. That would just be a goal for you to perhaps look toward. But again, if you'd want greater peace of mind where you understand how are you doing versus what you're ultimately going to need to cover your expenses in retirement, I'd encourage you to connect with a certified kingdom advisor there in Illinois, somebody who can run some analysis, look at what your expenses are, what they're projected to be in retirement, what you might expect from social security, how much you're on track to save in this TIAA-CREF account, look at any other retirement assets that you'll have, and do an analysis on what your income might be in that season of life. And then you can compare that to the current trajectory, which will tell you whether you're on track, ahead, or behind, and I think give you some peace of mind to know you have a plan and you know ultimately what that target is. If you don't have a financial planning professional like that, you could go to our website moneywiselive.org, just click find a CKA, and I think you could get connected there.

This would be somebody you would pay just for their time, not an ongoing expense, to do that planning for you. Does that make sense? Okay, very good. But that 10 to 15 target, 10 to 15 percent target should be a great number for you to think about in the near term, apart from you doing some more detailed planning, and we appreciate your call today. Well folks, we're going to take one more break. When we come back, we'll have time for a few more calls. We'll talk to Roland in Hanover Park, Illinois. We'll talk to Melinda in Muncie, Indiana, and Deb in Crosby, Minnesota.

That, and perhaps your call, 800-525-7000. This is MoneyWise Live, where God's word intersects with your financial life. I'm Rob West, so glad you're along with us. Stay with us, or to come just after this break.

We'll be right back. We're so grateful you've joined us today for MoneyWise Live. I'm Rob West, taking your calls and questions. We'll head right back to the phones here in just a moment, but first let me remind you, if you haven't downloaded the MoneyWise app, you can do so as a free download in your app store. Just head to the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store. There's also a web app at app.moneywise.org. Just search for MoneyWise Biblical Finance, and you can take this show with you on the go. You can track your expenses, read our great content, articles, podcasts, and videos. You can also connect with the MoneyWise community, where you'll get answers to your questions from MoneyWise coaches. It's all in the MoneyWise app.

Just search for MoneyWise Biblical Finance in your app store. In just a moment, we'll talk to Deb and Roland, but first to Muncie, Indiana. Hello, Melinda. Thank you for your patience. I believe you have a comment on a previous caller.

I do. The lady that phoned in at the four thousand dollars for the life care, I'm not sure if she said that was a month or a year, but at the yearly cost, it is very reasonable. We just had both of my in-laws in extended care for over two years, and that averaged five to six thousand dollars a month minimum. So if that was a good cost, I wish we had had that available for them.

Well, I think that's a good word, Melinda. And she had been through it with her husband, so she knows how expensive it can be. I mean, as you know, it can be, you know, 70, 80, 90 thousand dollars a year, depending upon the level of care that you need to have assisted living or in-home care and to be able to spend 4000 a year. It's a lot of money, but if you can fit it into the budget to be able to have that cost offset, it makes a lot of sense, I think, for many folks. And this was certainly our caller's case. Seeing those increases can be alarming just to think, you know, if it's going to go up 25 percent a year, is this something that's actually sustainable? So we've got to monitor that. You know, one rule of thumb that I believe the National Association of Insurance Commissioners suggests is that you target perhaps no more than seven percent of your income on premiums like this. So that would be a rule of thumb. But at the end of the day, if you can fit it in the budget, clearly you're offsetting what could be and would most likely be one of the largest expenses you'll have that could absolutely erode your assets in this season of life.

So if you can afford it and you've got a good policy that has good coverage, I would say absolutely, Melinda, stick with it, and we appreciate you affirming that today and weighing in with your personal experience. Thanks for your call. To Hanover Park, Illinois, Roland, thank you for your patience, sir. How can I help you?

Thank you for your program. I want to remodel my bathroom, but it needs remodeling. I've lived in I've lived in the house 30 years and it shows it for its worth. I'm not planning on moving anytime soon, but the price tag is $4,000 plus. That's just the labor. It's up to us to get all the hardware for the bathroom.

So how much of my reserve would you recommend taking? Oh, we're not going to use it. We're not going to finance it. We're just going to draw it out of our available cash and yes and pay for it.

Very good. Well, the cost certainly sounds reasonable given what you're describing here. Are you going to hire a laborer to do this for you or are you going to try to do some of it yourself? This is a contractor.

He's going to do it all. Very good. And you said $4,000 plus the cost of the actual hardware and fixtures and so forth. Tell me about the savings that you have, Roland.

Would this be coming out of your emergency savings and if so, how much have you saved up? There is $22,000 and it's there. It's there. It's there.

It's there. Designated as an emergency and that's where my go-to funds are for whatever happens in life. I'll give you one thing that has happened is $13,000 in dental that we have put on a two-year zero percent care credit card. And are you paying on that monthly? Yes.

Okay, very good. So is that coming out of the $22,000 or are you paying that monthly out of cash flow? No. That's out of cash flow. Okay. And when you get to the point where that zero percent runs out, will you have it paid off on your current trajectory?

It will be paid off on the current trajectory. Okay, very good. And what do you estimate your total monthly expenses to be, Roland? I know that's a loaded question, but give me your best guess.

No, okay. Probably around two or less than zero percent cards. This is not including the zero percent and I make that plural. I got three zero percent cards. And they all will be paid off before they lapse, before the zero percent offers are lapsed. The other two are used to help family members. We are probably somewhere in the neighborhood of, let me say, are you including giving in that expense?

Yeah, let's put the giving in there. Let's say somewhere in the neighborhood of around $5,000. Okay, so you've got about four months worth of expenses saved up at this point and how much over and above the $4,000 in labor costs do you think you'll need to spend on the bathroom? $1,500. Okay, so let's say it ends up costing you $6,000 and so you're going to have to pay $6,000 out of the $22,000 which would leave you $16,000. You'd still have three months expenses after all this was said and done and ideally you should be able to replenish that over time. Are you adding anything to savings only in a given month right now? I want to say sort of kinder.

Why do I say sort of kinder? Okay, specifically, I have my GA check which I guess monthly that is being directly sent to Edward Jones and out of that comes my monthly giving and so whatever remains stays in Edward Jones. Okay, well here's my best advice then and I appreciate all that background. I think number one you're doing a great job. I love the fact that you've said you're giving to family members. I love the fact that you're prioritizing your giving to the Lord. I love the fact that you want to invest in your home and you want to do it out of cash flow or out of savings as opposed to borrowing.

You're doing a lot of things right. I would just encourage you to do a couple of things. Number one, really dial into that spending plan and let's try to get out of the habit of using those zero percent credit cards and let's fund things out of current cash flow. Number two, I think as long as you don't dip below three months worth of expenses in that emergency fund, I would absolutely proceed with the bathroom. If you're going to plan to stay in this home, you can enjoy this. It's something that you've said is needed to be done for a long time.

You have the ability to fund it and then I think the key would be really make a focus to try to replenish what you pull out over time as you're able. But you sound like a wonderful man, Roland. I think you and your wife are doing a great job and I would say it makes sense to me for you to proceed based on the plan you just described. So thank you for your call today for all that background. May the Lord bless you.

Let's head to Crosby, Minnesota. Deb, thanks for your patience. How can I help you?

Thank you for taking my call and I do enjoy your program. My question is should I invest in a trust? Yeah, tell me a little bit about your situation. Do you have significant real estate assets or do you have any specific instructions on how and when you want your estate to be distributed among your heirs that might require a trust for that to be done not just at death but perhaps extended over time beyond your life based on certain triggering factors?

Do you have anything like that going on? No, basically I'm thinking about the trust. It's kind of a selfish motive. If my husband were to die then I'm left alone and if something happens to me then I want to protect the house is what I want to do. Okay, how do you want the house to be passed after you and your husband pass away? Well, my main thought is or to the children but my main thought is if I have to go into a nursing home then I would lose that asset. I see, so you're wanting to do it just from a Medicaid standpoint in terms of being able to get assistance? Yes, my husband's a hundred percent disabled veteran and I'm on CHAMPVA the rest of my life and so I have that but it's still I'm just concerned because they talk about you know as you age you may need to go into a nursing home.

Yes, okay. What I would do, Deb, do you have an estate planning attorney that you trust, a godly man or woman who has some understanding of elder care and estate planning that could walk you through all of this? Yes, we just spoke with one. Okay, and did you get the advice you were looking for? Yeah, it was a seminar we went to when he gave us just different scenarios of what could happen and for your future and how you want to handle your estate. We don't have, we just have a home which is paid for and we have no debt, we're tied and we pay as we go. Okay, well I would schedule an in-person visit with either this estate planning attorney or perhaps you could connect with a certified kingdom advisor in your area and ask for a referral.

I think the key is that you really need somebody to help you navigate and understand what's going to happen after death, make sure you have the right documents in place so your wishes are carried out and understand if your husband pre-deceases you the implications of you going into an assisted living or a nursing home. All of that can be explained and I think it would be well worth the time and expense so I'd schedule that visit. We appreciate your call today. Let us know how it turns out.

MoneyWise Live is a partnership between Moody Radio and MoneyWise Media. Unfortunately, we're all out of time today but we'll be back to do it again tomorrow. I hope you'll join us. May the Lord bless you. We'll see you then. Bye-bye.