The Biggest Wealth Killers

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Not licensed in Alaska, Hawaii, Georgia, Massachusetts, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Utah. Today's version of MoneyWise Live is prerecorded, so our phone lines are not open. If you had to pick a single Bible verse to explain the financial condition of many American households today, it might be Proverbs 20-21. Precious treasure and oil are in a wise man's dwelling, but a foolish man devours it.

Hi, I'm Rob West. Of course, these days we define precious treasure and oil simply as money or wealth. Is something keeping you from storing it up? Today we'll look at some of the biggest reasons that might happen. Then we have some great calls lined up, but please don't call in today because we're prerecorded. This is MoneyWise Live, where biblical wisdom meets today's financial decisions. So the Twittersphere has been buzzing in recent days about the top five wealth killers in America.

Obviously not everyone agrees on what those might be, but there's some general consensus, and we'll go over the list so you can avoid them. Now, these aren't in any particular order, but a good place to start is probably credit card debt, you might have guessed. We're always hearing about low interest rates these days, but that certainly doesn't apply to credit cards. According to the credit bureau Experian, the average balance for folks carrying one is roughly $6,800 with an average interest rate of 16%. And looking at the nation as a whole, Americans have nearly $900 billion in credit card debt.

So if you're carrying a credit card balance, it's imperative that you get on a budget and make a plan to pay it off quickly. It's no wonder financial advisors say that credit card debt is hazardous to your wealth. It's also no wonder that student loan debt makes the list of greatest wealth killers. But there's actually something worse than just racking up a lot of college debt.

It's doing that but then not earning a degree. It's arguable that borrowing for education is an investment that in most cases will pay for itself with a higher future salary, but not if you don't stick with it and get the proverbial sheepskin. If you drop out of school, you're still stuck with the debt but likely in a lower paying job. The average debt for students who borrow is now almost $33,000. But 40% of students who borrow fail to get their degree.

If you're considering college, make a commitment to graduate before borrowing a penny. Otherwise, it's money down the drain. All right, next on the list of wealth killers is buying a home or car that's more than you can afford. Again, there's an argument to be made that a house will usually appreciate in value giving something like a return on the investment, but that certainly can't be said for buying a car that you can't afford. It's estimated that a vehicle depreciates up to 20% by just driving it off the teeler lot.

Financial author and teacher Ron Blue calls this driving to the poorhouse. If you're buying a house or car, don't let your pride and ego enter into the decision-making process. Make sure the payments fit comfortably in your budget.

Ideally, you want to pay cash for a car purchase so when your current car is paid off, keep making those payments into your savings account so you can make as big a down payment as possible for your next car. Eventually, you won't have to borrow at all. All right, next on the list of big wealth killers is no doubt the most controversial divorce. There's no question that God hates divorce. In Matthew 19-6, Jesus says spouses are no longer two but one flesh.

What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate. And while it's spiritually devastating, we also can't ignore the financial destruction caused by divorce. It splits assets, increases expenses, and reduces net income. The National Retirement Risk Index shows that most people would need a 30% increase in income to maintain the same lifestyle after divorce. And of course, one of the biggest reasons often cited for divorce is couples arguing about money. It's important that you and your spouse share the same financial goals. That makes saving and spending decisions much easier. To determine these goals, it's helpful to seek outside assistance from an advisor who shares your Christian values.

And you can do that, of course, by finding a Certified Kingdom Advisor near you. Just go to MoneyWiseLive.org and click Find a CKA. Now, our last big wealth killer is something the Twittersphere is calling personal lifestyle creep. It simply means that you spend more than you can afford, given your other goals and priorities. If your income increases, so does your spending, and you never get ahead. It's estimated that companies will spend nearly $250 billion this year to convince you that you're not satisfied with your home or car, clothes you wear, or the food you eat, and that you deserve more. But if you spend more than you make, you'll go into debt and rob yourself of the ability to save and invest for the future.

Well, there you have them, the wealth killers. Stay far away. Hey, we're going to pause for a brief break. We'll be back with much more.

Stay with us. Today's program is prerecorded, so keep that in mind when you hear phone numbers. Rob West will be back in a moment with more MoneyWise Live. Welcome back to MoneyWise Live. I'm Rob West. This is the program where God's Word intersects with your financial life. Thanks for being along with us today. Just ahead, we'll get to your calls and questions.

Here's the number, lines available 800-525-7000. Just before the break, we were talking about the wealth killers, and you know, here's the big idea. Why are we talking about wealth killers? Is it so that we can build bigger barns so we can have a bigger stock portfolio or more resources in our savings account?

No, that's not it at all. You see, we are stewards of God's resources. It all belongs to Him. That makes us the money manager of the creator of the universe's resources.

That's a high calling. And then money becomes a tool to accomplish God's purposes. The question is, what are those purposes? Well, that's where we go to our knees and say, Lord, what would you have us to do? What lifestyle have you called us to?

What are our deeply held values and convictions? How can we align your resources with where you're taking us in the future? And can we manage money in such a way that it actually draws us into a more intimate relationship with you, beginning with our giving, sharing with others? And that's why we want to be careful stewards of God's resources.

Yeah, we should set aside a portion of what we receive today for the future, but we should also be willing to live very simply. We should be listening all the time to the Father and we should be givers. We should give systematically. We should even give sacrificially. Perhaps that savings account you've been accumulating, the Lord will direct you to give it away. That's great, as long as you are asking Him what He would have you to do. Well, that's the big idea here. And so we want to be faithful and careful managers of God's money, but we want to do it in a way that honors Him, not just to accumulate more stuff.

That doesn't satisfy. Well, today we're going to apply these principles, 2350 verses in God's word on money and possessions, to what's going on in your life. We're going to start today in New Orleans and we welcome Matt to the broadcast.

Matt, what's on your mind? Hey, thank you for taking my call. So last week I was listening, you were talking about stagflation and it really caught my attention because we're actually looking at building a home. So as it applies to the building industry, last fall, my wife and I were going to build a small house for our parents and the estimates went from 80 to 150,000 within a few months.

So we abandoned that idea just because of the cost of how that was. And at present, we're actually designing a home that would accommodate everybody, but those costs are soaring too, you know, over 500,000 for a 3,000 square foot house. And we own the property that we build on.

So it's kind of driving me crazy there. And the quotes are only good for 30 days because building materials costs are going up. Yes.

Like every week. So obviously no big pay increases for anybody in the last year. So my question is twofold. Is stagflation already here?

And number two, even if we could afford to build a home right now, is it smart to do so? Yeah. Just a quick definition. I mean, essentially, stagflation is where we have high inflation combined with high unemployment and a stagnant demand in the country's economy. That's not what we're experiencing right now. I mean, clearly, as we open back up, we have some supply constraints in this country because many of the manufacturers of resources and goods in this country were operating at minimal capacity just because of the COVID shutdowns, workers not being available. That's led to a tight constraint in various resources, including for the home builders, the biggest of which is lumber. That is combined with the fact that we are seeing a tick up in inflation.

But we're not, we're certainly not in a situation where we have stagflation, the economy is going to grow, largely because we had a self induced recession and shutdown. It's going to grow at the fastest pace we've seen in 20 years this year. And certainly as we open back up as a country, a lot of these supply constraints will work their way through the system. But you're exactly right, Matt, the skyrocketing cost of lumber and other materials have estimated, I just read the other day, about $35,000 as an additional amount than the cost of the average new home.

And depending on the size of the home, it goes up from there. You know, that obviously is, you know, going to create a situation where you're going to spend a bit more than you would have previously. Most experts say the price of building materials will go down because they always do. As I said, supply chain issues will eventually recover. We just don't know how quickly that's going to work its way through the system. A year from now, things could look quite different. And if you can wait that long, you may well be money ahead. But I think the issue is, you know, when we talk about our living situation, it's more than just, you know, the financial equation.

There's the non-financial side too. And that's why we talk often about the fact that our home isn't an investment per se. Yes, it should increase in value over time if we buy right and we stay there for a long period of time. But the definition of an investment is we will sell it when it accomplishes purpose. And that's typically not how we approach our home.

We don't value it regularly. And when we see it go up, we might, you know, move out of it and move on to something else because it's where we live. So I think you've got to look at the current situation in light of kind of what your needs are in terms of your own housing situation. Yes, waiting could involve you getting a better deal.

But the idea is, you know, how does that fit with what's going on in your family in terms of your needs and where you ultimately want to be? So if I were to say, you know, a lot of this perhaps could work its way through the system in the next 12 months, does that give you any pause? Yeah, absolutely. I'd wait. Okay. Yeah. And obviously, we don't know what we don't know.

So there's no way, you know, to take that to the bank, so to speak. But I think we could see an easing in some of this as, again, some of these supply constraints work their way out. And I think you've just got to make this a matter of prayer, we got to continue to crunch the numbers, make sure you don't get ahead of yourself. But realize this is a unique time right now, where we know that housing prices are about five and a half percent overvalued right now. I don't expect to see any kind of major decline, we don't have any systemic problems like we had in 2008. But I think we'll see a cooling of the housing market for sure.

As interest rates tick up and as you know, we deal with some of the other issues going on, I think we'll see the same thing with lumber. So I would probably consider waiting since you're in a pretty good spot to do that. But continue to ask the Lord what he would have you to do and give you wisdom there. And I'm confident you'll make the right decision. We appreciate your call today. Let's head south to Orlando, Florida.

Randy listening on WKES. How can we help you, sir? Hey, good afternoon. Thanks for taking my call.

Yeah, quick question. I don't want to take it too long. And I don't want you to use up a lot of your time. But I have a few people who are listening, and they are going to listen to your answer. But people who are new to to investing new to stock, there's so many platforms out there, right? You have TD America, you know, you have the funder, you have Robin Hood, you got things like you fool and you there's so many things that are thrown at you through your, whether it's your Facebook, your Twitter, your algorithms, and you know, you look things up.

My question is, and I guess I don't want you to go through every platform, but what would be a good start for a person who says, Okay, you know what, I'd like to invest, I'd like to make a portfolio kind of where something long term, something maybe a little bit more aggressive, maybe startup companies through wefunder. And does the kingdom advisors also would somebody would be connected to one of them? Would they be also maybe a person who would be able to walk people through the steps of early investment? Or how does that work?

Yeah, it's a great question, Randy. I mean, it's a real dilemma in terms of how do you get started, recognizing that many professional money managers or investment professionals will have many times asset minimums where they can actually take over and begin making decisions where you delegate the management responsibilities, of course, with your goals and objectives in mind, a lot of times that would start at 100,000 or more depending upon the advisor. So what do you do about that? Well, the good news is, you know, these days with fintech, exploding, some wonderful new online solutions, online banks, as well as a lot of these new robo advisor type investing solutions, both from some of the traditional brokerages like Charles Schwab and Vanguard, as well as some of the new fintech upstarts like Wealthfront and Betterment, there are a number of great solutions, you're also in an environment where the costs are coming down. So we're seeing fee compression across the board.

I mean, Fidelity made news last year with free ETFs. And so we're seeing, you know, where you can get into the market on a properly diversified basis, with just a very small, you know, percentage being charged for, you know, the, the insights through the algorithms of the robo advisors. So I think in terms of how you approach this, you always want to back up and say, okay, let me look at my total financial life and make sure that I'm in, this is capital that should be invested. So I would start by saying, do I have an emergency fund? Am I, you know, have I paid off my credit card debt if I had any, you know, am I on track to pay off consumer debt, like cars and student loans, then I should be starting and prioritizing investing in a retirement account where I'm getting some matching.

But then beyond that, if you have a surplus and you're giving regularly and systematically, and you want to do more, yeah, you can invest outside of that either through an IRA or a Roth or a traditional or even a taxable account. In terms of that money, you want to make sure you have at least a 10 year time horizon. And I don't think you want to be too speculative with God's money. We're not trying to jump in and out of high flying stocks that are getting a lot of press lately. We want to make sure we're going into companies and investing in a way that, again, is for the long haul where we're properly diversified.

Ecclesiastes talks plainly about that. I think Betterment and Wealthfront or the Schwab Intelligent Portfolios would be great options there or check out soundmindinvesting.org and I hope that helps. You're listening to MoneyWise Live with Rob West. Today's broadcast is prerecorded, and that means we're not taking any calls. But we've got some calls lined up and great information coming your way that we think you'll find helpful. So stick around for more MoneyWise Live after this brief break. Welcome back to MoneyWise Live at the intersection of faith and finance. Hi, I'm Rob West.

So glad to have you along with us today. We've got some great questions lined up, lined up ahead. We're going to be talking about cryptocurrency, credit scores, refinancing a student loan, that and your questions.

We've got some lines open 800-525-7000. Just before the break, we were talking about getting started with investing and we had a question asking about Robinhood versus TD Ameritrade. You know, a great website that rates all of these sites, whether you're looking to start investing or you're looking for a great savings account. You can look at bankrate.com, but nerdwallet.com has kind of a silly name, but they do a great job at providing the pros and cons for each of these.

Again, nerdwallet.com, you should check it out. We also talked about using a professional advisor and if you'd like to connect with an advisor in your area, this is a man or woman who has significant experience as a financial professional, has met significant character and training requirements, has gone through an extensive course on biblical financial advice, applying God's wisdom to professional financial counsel, and they've attained the Certified Kingdom Advisor designation. You can find one in your area by going to our website, moneywiselive.org. Just click find a CKA and you could connect with an advisor who can bring biblical values to their professional financial advice and we certainly we certainly encourage you to do that. Let's go to Morton Grove, Illinois. Pam, you're next on the program.

How can we assist you? Well, thank you for taking my call. My question is pretty simple. I'm trying to think about finding ways to save money and one way is to refinance my house. My bank is offering me a really good deal and right now my mortgage is through another company, but I just wonder, is it a good idea to actually mortgage through your bank when all of your accounts are there? And especially for me, I have an account I share with a family member and we don't share the residence, we just share a couple of accounts in the bank. So I just wonder if it's a wise thing to do to actually put your mortgage through your actual personal bank. Yeah, well using your normal banking institution is good in the sense that they know you and so they've got your information. Hopefully you'd have a personal relationship with someone there, although that's not as common today. I can't remember the last time I walked into my bank, even though they do have brick and mortar banks in my community. I just don't go in there.

I do everything online. I would say though, Pam, you know, this is the largest transaction most folks will have in their lifetime, their home. And what we find is, and the data says that most often when they're looking to refinance this transaction, they only get one bid, they get one quote. And I think you need at least three. So I would certainly start with your local bank, especially if you have a relationship there.

They certainly know you, but I'd get at least two others. And for those additional ones, I would look for online banks. You know, your local bank isn't always the best source for your mortgage. And so I'd go to bankrate.com. They compare mortgages on a daily basis.

There's no reason to stay local. A lot of times these lenders are going to sell your loan anyway. So your servicer may change after you refinance, and that's just who you write your check to.

So at the end of the day, that doesn't really matter. And today, lenders are dealing with clients all over the country. So by going to bankrate.com and similar websites, you can find out who kind of has the most available today, because that changes over time and their lending standards and terms and rates change based on, you know, the programs they're offering at any given time.

So I'd head there, look for a couple of options that look good. The key will be, you want to make sure you're going to save at least a point, I'm going to say a point and a half, maybe a point and a quarter would be okay as well on your refinanced rate. I want to make sure you decrease the term or at the very least match the remaining term on your mortgage. So if it's a 30-year mortgage, you're in 10 years, let's get a new 20-year mortgage. Make sure you're going to stay put in that home for five to seven years, and let's not spend more than one to two percent of the mortgage value in closing costs. So $100,000 loan, $1,000 to $2,000. Let's try to keep it under that.

So get some quotes. As long as you can check those boxes I just mentioned, you should be headed in the right direction. We're going to pause when we come back a lot more on MoneyWise Live, where God's word guides our financial decisions. Stay with us. Welcome back to MoneyWise Live, where we apply God's wisdom to today's financial decisions. We've covered a lot of ground today.

We started by talking about wealth killers, not so we could build bigger barns, but so we can be freed up to serve the Lord more fully with his resources. We've talked about refinancing mortgages. We've talked about how we can start investing. Next, we're going to talk about credit scores. Let's head to St. Louis, Missouri. Joni, how can we assist you? Hey, how are you doing? Thank you for taking my call today.

Sure. I wanted to know, okay, so my FICO score now, is that the main credit report that they look at? My FICO score was like 812, and it dropped 20 points. And I didn't do anything out of the ordinary.

I did use my credit card, but it wasn't for a large purchase. I paid it off. And also, I have one derogatory mark on my credit report.

That's from 2007, from Macy's department store. Now, I did send them the information showing why it was late, because I was in the hospital. And I sent them that information, and they will not take it off. So I know that affects my credit score as well.

But what can I do to get my credit score back up to where I was? Yeah, well, it sounds like Joni, first of all, you're on top of this. I mean, you're watching it, you're responding, you're challenging things you don't disagree with.

Although I will have to say that even though there was a reason for it, and I probably would have been sympathetic to you. Keep in mind, the credit score is an accurate or the credit report, which is what the provides the information for your credit score is an accurate reflection of your credit history. So unless there's something that's just plainly wrong or inaccurate, it's not going to be removed. And anybody who tells you they can remove it is not telling you the truth, because really, the only way to get something off legitimately is to challenge it because it's inaccurate.

If it can be verified, it's going to stay there. Now, here's the good thing about that medical situation, or excuse me, the Macy's situation while you were in the hospital is as that gets older, it's less significant. That's why you still have a score in the 800s. Even though you had a, you know, a negative entry on your credit report, it's because it was so long ago.

I mean, that was, you know, well over a decade ago. So that's good, because that's going to become less and less significant as you move forward. You know, there's any number of reasons that your credit score will change 20 points here or there, any inquiries that you approve, that you approve as a hard pull, when you're seeking credit, or you're looking at somebody's looking to give you an increase in your credit limit, where you request it, you open a new account, you know, that's going to bring your score down as your balances move around. And they're, they change the percentage of the credit utilization ratio, which is the the amount you owe across all of your accounts, versus the total available credit that's going to change your score. And the the various algorithms that are being pulled, you mentioned FICO, and all of the the bureaus do use FICO, TransUnion, Equifax, and Experian, each of those uses the FICO score algorithm. But depending on where you're going, and who's pulling your report, or your score, you know, whether you're getting that free online, you know, from one of your credit cards, or something like that, they may not be using the FICO score to generate your score.

And that's going to make it change periodically. The bottom line is, I wouldn't worry about it, as long as you're doing the right things, you know, moving toward becoming debt free, keeping your balances, preferably at zero, but certainly less than 30% of their limits, paying on time is obviously critical. You've got a range of, of credit types, and you've got longevity, which you clearly do, then you're going to have a great score. And bottom line here, Johnny, is anything over 740 is really going to qualify you for the top tier credit option. So you're not going to be penalized in terms of accessing, you know, anything you want and getting the best terms and rates. So if you're going to move around between 780 and 820, that wouldn't cause me any concern whatsoever, because even at, you know, 760, 750, you're still qualifying for the very best terms and rates.

So at the end of the day, it doesn't really matter, other than maybe it just feels good to have that score that begins with an eight. Does that make sense? Yes, it makes a lot of sense. And I really appreciate you taking the time out to explain that to me. You all have a great day. All right, God bless you. I appreciate your call today. Hey, let's head to Davenport, Florida. Matthew, you're next on the program.

Go ahead. Hi, Rob, I so appreciate your counsel. I've got this scenario I'm trying to walk through with student loan refinancing. The loan is actually my wife's name.

Her parents co-signed on the student loan. And I'm thinking we can shop around and get a better rate on it and refinance it to put it into our name. So it would be a new credit utilization for me, as I understand.

And I've also got a growing family. We're looking at buying a new car within the next six months. And so I'm just wondering, you know, if I should be concerned about missing out on the best terms and rates. If I all of a sudden take on this large student loan, my credit utilization goes up. And then how will that interact with financing a new car? Yeah, is this Matthew a parent plus loan? Is it a federal loan? It's a private loan.

It's a private loan. Okay. And it's in her parents names, plus her. Is that right? Yes, that's correct. Okay.

Yeah. So I mean, typically, a lender is not going to remove a co-signer unless the primary borrower can prove the capability to take over the payments and, you know, have the ability to do that based on income and credit rating and all of the factors they will use in determining that. So I think, you know, in order to get it out of her parents names, which I can understand why you would want to do that, it's likely going to be that you're going to have to add yourself to it, especially if you're the primary wage earner, you may be you may not be but regardless, it's going to help because there's, you know, more for them to consider in terms of income earners. It's typically concerning to me if it was a federal loan where we're going private, because, you know, that's going to cause you to give up the flexible repayment options, income based repayment options, and loan forgiveness options.

That's not a factor here because you're already private. So I think the key is, yeah, you just need to recognize that, depending upon the overall credit that's been extended to you, what your score is, you know, the various, you know, what you're looking at in terms of the ratios for the debt that's outstanding, whether that's going to be an issue, you know, there's no way to know other than perhaps to go ahead and start looking at what you might want to borrow for the car and check, you know, what the ratios that the banks are looking at to compare your current situation versus what it will be when you add this additional debt in the form of a student loan to your credit file and see if that's going to make a difference. At the very least, you probably, if possible, want to, you know, spread out the transactions, meaning if you refinance a student loan now, if you possibly could wait, I'd love for you to have six months between now and when you actually are out shopping for that car. So bottom line is it could affect it just based on, you know, what your income is, what debt you have now, and whether adding this debt is going to put you in a more challenging spot in terms of the ratios working, and then there's the impact on the credit score.

But as long as you give that to at least six months, I don't think that'll be an issue. So I think you're free to proceed, but I'd probably do a little homework before you make the final decision. We appreciate your call. Folks, a lot more to come on MoneyWise Live, where God's word guides our financial decisions. You're listening to a best of broadcast of MoneyWise Live. This program is prerecorded, so we're not available to take your calls today, but you can email us at questions at moneywise.org. Welcome back to MoneyWise Live. I'm Rob West. Thrilled to have you along with us today. Hey, would you like somebody to walk alongside you as you set up your spending plan and get your finances in order and, oh, by the way, learn some of these biblical principles that we talk about here on MoneyWise Live every day?

Well, I've got the thing for you. We have MoneyWise coaches that would be delighted to come alongside you. They'll help you in two ways.

One, they answer your questions. If you go to moneywiselive.org and click Ask a Question, you can submit a question. You'll get a personal emailed response from our trained MoneyWise coaches who would be happy to assist you with your specific situation. If you want them to walk with you for six to eight weeks as you, through virtual technology, connect to set up your budget in the MoneyWise app and deal with setting up your spending plan, your debt repayment plan, your giving plan, they'll do that as well.

We'll just ask for a small charge, if you can afford it, of $25 for the electronic workbook. If you can't afford it, we'll cover it at no cost. But there is no cost for the coaching where they'll meet with you each week and help you get all of that set up. And often there's a wait, several weeks to get connected with a coach, but because we have a brand new group of newly trained coaches that are ready to go, there's no wait. So just head to moneywiselive.org, click Connect with a Coach, and it's just one of the ministry offerings we make available here at MoneyWise Media. We'd be delighted to help. Let's go back to the phones.

Table Rock Lake, Missouri, and Joshua, how can we assist you? How you doing, Rob? You're my hero, man.

I wish I had your brains. I listen all the time, but I just wanted to ask you, I'm a single dad of a five-year-old little girl. And so I rent, I don't have a lot to spare, but I do my tithing and I love the Lord. And I do have a few hundred dollars left usually at the end of the month, and I want to do a long term investment. But my mom's been trying to get me to do this Robinhood cryptocurrency thing with the Dogecoin. It's so popular, I guess.

And so I did that. I put $300 in and it's turned into a little over $500. And I'm just curious, is that is that a wise long term investment?

Or is that just kind of a fashion thing right now? Yeah, Joshua, I would not say it's a great place to be invested. In fact, I'd stay away. Now, I think cryptocurrency is here to stay in the sense that the technology behind it and our global digital age transactions, we want them instantaneous, we want them worldwide. And cryptocurrencies are going to be a big part of that moving forward. But as an investment, I think there's just too many barriers there. And to stay safe, I would not use my investment dollars. In fact, this is God's money that we're stewarding, I would put this in a highly speculative category. And there's a number of reasons for that, you know, there's just incredible volatility with these.

Yes, they've gotten a lot of press. But that doesn't mean that over the long haul, that's what you're going to see. I think, you know, to the extent you're highly concentrated, I don't like that idea either. They're not regulated. So they're not under the supervision of any US Federal Reserve or any central bank, for that matter. You know, I mentioned the volatility that comes to the lack of inherent value, because, you know, these are not directly tied to anything tangible or even an intangible asset. So that just leads to their volatility, their cybersecurity issues, and also scalability. You know, with the number of digital coins and adoption increasing rapidly, it's still dwarfed by the number of transactions that, you know, payment giant visa processes each day, for instance.

And so, you know, we've got to have scalability. And that's an issue for these cryptocurrencies. And so I think because of that, it's just not the place for your investment dollars as you're stewarding God's money. So I'd rather see you take a more tried and true kind of long term approach that's properly diversified, as opposed to trying to speculate in something highly concentrated, getting a quick win. I just don't think that's really the prudent approach to investing.

Does that make sense, though? Okay, absolutely. I just I need to look into some more prudent, long term investing on the scale that I can do right now. And I think I just need to, I'll probably call you guys and talk to one of your advisors.

So yeah, I think that would be good. I mean, you could connect with a certified kingdom advisor, if you're just getting started. You know, I talk a lot about the growth in the fintech space that we're seeing. And there's just a lot of really great solutions where, you know, through some of these robo advisors like the Schwab Intelligent Portfolios through Betterment or Wealthfront, Vanguard recently introduced one by answering a series of questions. They've got some phenomenal algorithms that are developed to basically build a portfolio that meets your goals and objectives where you're really highly diversified across index ETFs. So these are exchange traded funds that are based on indexes, where you'd have the right mix of stocks and bonds, it's appropriate for your goals. And you know, you just systematically invest dollar cost average, you're not going to be investing in the high flyers, but you're going to capture the broad moves of the market over a long period of time.

And I just think that tried and true, steady plotting approach is going to win in the long run. So check those out. You can also visit with our friends at soundmindinvesting.org to learn more. Let's head to Flintstone, Georgia. Paul, you're next on the program. How can we help you, sir? Hey, Rob, thanks for taking the call on the question.

Yes, sir. My wife and I are in the process of building a house for our daughter and her family. It's an independent dwelling from our own we have a house just up the street. And my question concerns whether or not we should add our daughter's name to the deed or the title. And the goal is to eventually have her take over payments and, you know, have the house be in their name.

Yes. You know, I appreciate what you're trying to do there. But co owning real estate investments, Paul with your children can create more problems than it solves. First of all, you know, it's going to be considered a gift.

So that's going to have to be recognized. And although, you know, the lifetime gift exclusion is sky high at 11 and a half million dollars, you're probably not going to have an issue, although that could be decreased with future policy changes could be decreased dramatically, it still has to be recognized as a gift. I think it's also, you know, an issue that they become a legal co owner of the house, which means they have to consent to the sale of the home or if you take out a mortgage or an equity line. The other issue that folks don't think about, and although there's a remote chance of this, we have to think through it, is that let's say, you know, she were to predecease you, not something we want to think about.

And yet it could be a reality. If that happens, then her portion that she was legally entitled to, entitled to, is going to be passed to whoever would be the recipient of, you know, her assets. And that may or may not be you, depending upon, you know, the situation, what's going on in her life. So I think that the better option would just be to handle this from an estate planning standpoint, you can actually place the home in a trust, you can handle it through your will. You know, there's other legal ways to handle this so that you remain the owner of this property or you and your wife. But you specifically address your desire to make sure that she eventually is the owner of the home once you and your wife pass away. And there could even be triggering events related to a trust specifically where that happens even prior to your death, you know, if you're incapacitated or something like that.

So I would prefer that you handle it that way. As always, when it comes to these types of things, you want to get plenty of legal advice to make sure you're doing everything exactly the way you should. So I'd connect with a godly real estate or estate planning attorney.

In your area, you could connect with a certified kingdom advisor, ask for a referral, or check with your local church. So appreciate your generous heart, Paul, and just want to make sure you go about this the right way. And thanks for calling today.

Quickly to Canton, Ohio. Rosalind, how can we assist you? Thank you for taking my call. I listen to your broadcast almost every every day. And I had I had noticed one thing that you often make suggestions or, or refer to, like Charles Schwab or some other companies, but I don't really hear you say anything about Edward Jones. And I just wondered if there was something we should know about that company or if there's another. And we do have, we do have investments with that company. So that's why I was a little curious and kind of listening for it.

I didn't hear it. Very good. And Rosalind, do you have an advisor that you work with at Ed Jones? Yes, we do.

Very good. Well, there there's nothing inherently that you should read into in that I put folks that I talked to that are looking for investments in really one of two categories, those that are just starting out, and really haven't built up enough in the way of investable assets where they could use a professional advisor, they need a solution that's really right for them as they're just getting going. And that's where some of these robo advisors that I mentioned like Schwab, Intelligent Portfolios, Betterment, Wealthfront, Soundmind Investing can be a great solution as they just get started. But once you're ready for an advisor, you have enough in the way of investable assets, or you need a comprehensive financial plan or both, then I recommend using an advisor. And those advisors could use any number of custodians. And I don't typically mention those custodians, because there's so many of them. It could be Fidelity, it could be Edward Jones could be Ameriprise, it could be, you know, TD Ameritrade, it could be any number of them. So that's why you don't hear me mention Edward Jones, because that would specifically be related to working with an advisor that uses Edward Jones as their custodian, and not really anything more than that. Does that make sense?

Yes, it does. Okay. Thank you for your call today. We appreciate it. Quickly to Kellogg, Idaho, and I've just got about 45 seconds.

Give me your question quickly. My question is, how can I help my 17-year-old daughter establish credit? She's a senior in high school this year, going to be graduating next month. And she's wanting to establish some type of credit before she moved out on her own. Is there any way to do that before she turns 18?

Yeah, a couple of things. Start teaching her God's principles of managing money. In fact, hold the line, I'll get you a book to help you do that.

And then with regard to her credit, you could add her as an authorized user on your account, or have her set up a secured credit card where she puts a certain amount on deposit and begins building credit for budgeted transactions. We'll talk more offline. Hey, thanks to my team today. I want to say thank you to Dan, Amy, Rich, and Eric. MoneyWise Live is a partnership between Moody Radio and MoneyWise Media. Come back and join us tomorrow, will you? God bless you.