5 Steps to Weather a Financial Crisis

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It's why father and son John and Ryan still lead the company to this day. Check out United Faith Mortgage and their direct lender advantage at UnitedFaithMortgage.com. Thanks to you and to United Faith Mortgage for supporting Moody Radio. As the COVID Delta variant spreads, businesses are facing new mandates and struggling to stay open.

Hi, I'm Rob West. Making matters more difficult, those extended unemployment benefits for millions of workers are ending. If you're among them, I've got five steps you can take to weather a financial crisis. Then I'll take your calls at 800-525-7000. You can call that 24-7-800-525-7000. This is MoneyWise Live, biblical wisdom for your financial journey.

Retail and service industry employees have been most affected by the Delta surge as businesses reduced their hours of operation with restaurant workers taking the brunt of these closures. But regardless of where you work, a smaller paycheck or maybe no paycheck at all means you have to take steps to protect your finances and stretch your dollars. So let me give you some steps. First, establish a base point for your credit score and report. This will allow you to accurately judge the effect of any late payments you're forced to make. Start by getting a free credit report from each of the three credit bureaus, Experian, TransUnion and Equifax. You can do that at AnnualCreditReport.com. Now with those reports in hand, you can show creditors that you've made timely payments on your various accounts in the past. That may in fact help you negotiate better terms.

While you're getting those reports, you can add a statement to each about the financial hardship you're now facing. Step two, start using our May Day Budget. It only has four categories. The first is food. You have to eat, but keep it simple and no eating out. The next May Day Budget category is housing. Make your mortgage or rent payment, of course. Then come the utilities.

You have to keep the lights on and finally transportation because you'll need to get to work if you're called back. That's the May Day Budget and with anything left over, you can pay your other bills. Now step three for keeping your financial ship afloat is to look for other sources of help. Your unemployment benefits may have run out, but other resources are probably available. Check out nonprofit organizations and local government agencies that may have assistance programs.

You can call 2-1-1 to learn about services in your area or go online to 2-1-1.org. Now step four is to contact your creditors and explain in detail what you're facing. Do this before you are making late payments to a credit card, car loan or mortgage. Many creditors still have programs in place to help you get through this. Look for a number to call on your account statement. Do not respond to emails or give out information to anyone who calls you claiming to represent one of your creditors.

Unfortunately, scam artists are using these tough times to victimize folks who are already in dire financial circumstances. When you call and speak to a representative, have your latest pay stubs handy so you can show how your income has been reduced. Tell that person how much you have available to pay on the debt for the time being. Ask if you can temporarily stop payments or perhaps make partial ones. Let them know how long you expect to be in your current situation. I realize you may not know for sure, but try to give a reasonable estimate of how long it will take for you to begin making full payments on time again. Make sure you get the person's name and keep a record of what you talked about and any agreements you may have reached. Also, ask to have a copy of the agreement sent to you in writing.

Creditors will usually do this anyway, but ask for it just to be sure and hang on to that email or letter when it arrives. Step five, get professional nonprofit help for managing your finances. I can recommend three excellent resources. At the top of that list are our trained MoneyWise volunteer coaches. They'll not only help you set up a budget, they're adept at identifying ways to cut spending and save money, making your dollars go further. Just click Connect with a Coach at MoneyWiseLive.org. Then, contact our friends at Christian Credit Counselors if you're starting to fall behind on payments or expect you're about to. They have arrangements with many creditors to lower your interest rates. You'll make one payment that covers several creditors, making things much easier. It's not debt consolidation, it's debt management and can help you pay off your creditors up to 80% faster. You can make arrangements to speak with a counselor at ChristianCreditCounselors.org. And one more great resource for you, especially if you've lost health care benefits during the Delta shutdowns, Christian Healthcare Ministries. They offer a medical cost sharing alternative to health insurance, almost always at a much lower cost.

You can find out more at CHMinistries.org. There you have them, five steps so you can weather a financial crisis and check out our show notes for more details. Your calls are next, 800-525-7000. I'm Rob West and this is MoneyWise Live, biblical wisdom for your financial journey. Stay with us. Thanks for joining us today on MoneyWise Live. I'm Rob West, your host.

I'm so glad you're along with us today. This is biblical wisdom for your financial decisions. In just a moment, we'll begin taking your questions today, tackling whatever is on your mind and applying biblical wisdom to help you move forward with confidence. If you have a question today on saving or spending, perhaps it's investing or giving, we'd love to hear from you. Here's the number with lines open, 800-525-7000.

That's 800-525-7000. By the way, have you visited our website recently, MoneyWiseLive.org? I'd love for you to do that. While you're there, do a couple of things. Number one, make sure you create a free account. Your free MoneyWise account is your gateway to posting in our MoneyWise community so you can get answers from our MoneyWise coaches. It's also how you can access our MoneyWise Weekly Wisdom email that goes out every Thursday with our trending podcasts, our newest content that's been added to our library, and a message from me, and a whole host of other things. So when you visit our website, create that free account. Also, check out the community. We've had over a thousand posts in our MoneyWise community. They've all been answered by a MoneyWise coach, and we'd love for you to get your question in the mix as well. So you can call here today or post online.

Again, MoneyWiseLive.org. The number to be a part of the broadcast today, 800-525-7000. In just a moment, we're going to be talking with Stephanie and Florence.

But first, John is in Hartford, Connecticut. And John, you're our first caller today. How can I help you, sir? Hi.

Good afternoon. Enjoy your program. I appreciate all your advice. Thank you.

Thank you very much. So we have an opportunity to buy a home. We already have a home, but there's one available in an area of the country. We are thinking of retiring and some family live there. And I'm not quite ready to do that yet. I'm not ready to retire, but the opportunity to come up to buy a home that we would like to get now because it may not be available then.

We're praying about that. But anyway, the question is about refinancing. My bank, they inquired at my bank about doing that, and they were more than happy to do it. But the long story short is they said the closing costs are about $5,000. So I started thinking of other ways to do that, and there's a number of ads on the radio and things that offer refinancing. And I don't know if I can trust them or if you think that's a good idea or if I'd save money doing that. I just wonder what your advice would be.

Well, I'd be happy to weigh in on that. First, let's talk about why you're refinancing. Are you trying to cash out for this retirement home purchase or for some other reason? Yeah, well, our home is not paid off yet.

It's getting close. But the refi would be because we're not ready to sell the home we're in and move. That's a few years more down the road. So it would be using the equity in this home to secure the next home. Yeah. And you would get this from your current property just because you'd get a more favorable interest rate than a mortgage on that second home? Is that what you're looking to do? Well, that's what I thought would be the easiest. I haven't inquired about a second mortgage on another home. And maybe that's if you think that's maybe the better way to go.

I don't know. Well, you could certainly look at both options. I mean, it would keep the mortgage tied to that second home and not encumber your primary residence.

But the bottom line is wherever you can get the most favorable interest rate, which is always going to be your domicile. So I'm not opposed to that, especially given it sounds like you've got quite a bit of equity. Let me just ask, though, what is your current home worth and what do you owe on it today? Well, it's a good question. The bank hasn't done an evaluation, but I'm thinking it's probably in the $400,000 range. And we owe only about $15,000 left. Okay, wow.

Yeah. So you're going to want to look at that. I would look at both options, though, because a lot of times with a cash out, especially when you're cashing out that much, it may drive the rate up a bit. Whereas if you were to look at a new mortgage on this second home that you'd be buying, you're just going to need to compare and see which is the best way to go. In terms of the closing costs, you can expect to pay somewhere between two and five percent of the mortgage. So how much would you be looking to borrow on this mortgage?

Well, we have, you know, at least three months emergency fund, but we don't really have anything else saved up. So potentially we would be borrowing the full amount of this new home. And what do you expect to pay for this new home?

$300,000 probably. Okay, so you'd have a $315,000 mortgage, plus if you rolled the closing costs in, let's call it $320,000, maybe $325,000. So you'd still have about $75,000 in equity on your current residence, so you'd be under 20 percent. So I'd make sure you don't borrow any more than $320,000 all in, because you'd want to make sure that you have at least 20 percent equity in part, because that's going to prevent you from paying private mortgage insurance, which is an expense that does nothing for you.

So I would make sure that you keep it under that threshold, number one. Number two, as you think about, you know, what this refinance is going to cost you, basically you'd be talking about a new $320,000 mortgage and at two percent, which is on the low end, you know, that's $6,400. And I would be looking to target that two percent, three at the most, I wouldn't pay four or five percent. You are going to want to shop around, number one, you know, other than having a good credit score, comparing mortgage offers and rates is really key. So I would be looking at bankrate.com as one option. I would look at LendingTree and Quicken Loans, but bankrate.com in particular is going to give you the ability to compare all of the different loan programs out there, and it's going to vary. A lot of times the online banks will offer the most favorable rates, and depending on how much they have to lend at any given time will determine who has the most aggressive loan programs and expenses. Beyond that, you are going to want to look for negotiating closing costs.

That's very appropriate. You'll want to ask for fee waivers, like an application fee or a credit check fee. You'll want to look at, you know, whether you can negotiate the underwriting fee or, you know, things like that that would get the cost down. But $5,000, if in fact they were quoting that on a new $320,000 mortgage, is, you know, not bad at all. In fact, that's a pretty good total expense based on the size of the mortgage. But I would go ahead and look at how that would compare in terms of the total costs that you will spend versus, you know, what you will be able to do with a new mortgage on that new home. And then I would then obviously we're talking about a fairly short period of time because if just a few years down the road you're going to sell your current property, obviously you would pay off that mortgage and, you know, at that point you're out of it. So the interest rate is not as important as the upfront costs are just because, you know, arguably in less than five years this mortgage is going to be gone regardless of how you approach it on your current home or on the new home. Would you agree with that?

Yeah, that's what we're thinking. I did try to negotiate with the bank and my wife said, well, you're crazy, banks don't negotiate. So I'm kind of glad to hear you say that.

Oh, absolutely, they do. And, you know, with the largest transaction you will ever have, and that's what a mortgage typically is, there's no reason not to have at least three people competing for your business. And I'd make sure at least two of those are online banks because oftentimes they'll have the most favorable term. So all the best to you, John. Sounds like a great plan and I'm sure you guys will enjoy that new home down the road once you're able to relocate. May the Lord bless you, sir. You know what? We're going to take a quick break, but when we come back, we want to get to your calls. Belinda's in Chicago, Illinois, wants to know about rebuilding her credit after a bankruptcy. Stephanie we'll get to just around the corner.

She's wanting to know about being able to work while collecting Social Security benefits. But what about your question? We'd love to hear from you. What's on your mind today?

800-525-7000 is the number to call. This is MoneyWise Live, biblical wisdom for your financial decisions. We'll be right back. Thanks for tuning in to MoneyWise Live. I'm Rob West, your host, and we're delighted you're along with us today. We've got some phone lines open.

We'd love to hear from you. 800-525-7000. That's 800-525-7000. When you're at MoneyWiseLive.org, our website, if you are looking for a financial professional, that's either an investment professional, a financial planner, perhaps a tax specialist or an estate planning attorney, maybe you're looking for insurance, whatever it might be, any of those five. You can find a certified kingdom advisor there when you click Find a CKA.

What is a CKA? Well, this is a professional who's met high standards in character and integrity, pastor and client references, statement of faith, code of ethics. They've been especially trained to apply biblical wisdom to professional financial decisions, and they've met an extensive experience requirement as well, not to mention a regulatory review. You put all of that together, and if you can attain the certified kingdom advisor designation, it means you're a specialist in biblically wise financial advice. And that's why we recommend CKA if you're looking for a financial professional.

I'd always interview two or three, and again, you can find one in your area when you visit MoneyWiseLive.org. Looks like we've got one line open yet. 800-525-7000. Next up is Stephanie in Florence, Oregon. You've been incredibly patient, Stephanie. Thank you.

How can I help? Yes, I heard you talking to a lady earlier today about the Social Security. Okay, I wanted to know what, by me working, would that affect my Social Security? Because when my husband passed away, they gave me, I think it's called a widow's pension. I think that's what it's called. Yes. I was just wondering.

Yes. So the bottom line is, in terms of your Social Security benefits, if you're claiming Social Security benefits prior to full retirement age, you can earn up to $18,960 per year in 2021. Beyond that amount you would have $1 withheld from every $2 you earn above that limit. So $1 withheld from your Social Security benefit for every $2 earned. Now, that's not a permanent reduction, Stephanie.

That's temporary. And what happens is once you reach full retirement age, that reduction will be paid back to you in the form of a higher benefit until you are made whole. So that's just a temporary reduction. So if you are collecting and you want to be able to continue to work and you want to earn above that limit, I would say go right ahead and know that even if you have a reduction, that will eventually be made up to you down the road. And I realize you're working on limited resources, so being able to work and bring in some additional income makes a lot of sense to me. Also keep in mind, you're always able to earn whatever is the highest payout that you're entitled to. So you can take the survivor's benefit or you can take your own benefits based on your own work record. And if you're taking the survivor's benefits now, you can let your benefit continue to grow until full retirement age and beyond. And then at some point, if that benefit is actually higher than what you're collecting as survivor's benefits, the Social Security Administration will let you switch and take the higher of the two. So that makes that a pretty effective strategy to let that amount continue to grow. Because remember, if you take it anytime before full retirement age, you're going to have a reduction of about 8% for every year you take it.

And if you can wait beyond full retirement age, you'll actually see an increase of 8% a year. So if you have any further questions, don't hesitate to reach out to SSA.gov. You can schedule a virtual visit, they'll actually look at your record, answer all of your questions, and you'll find they're very easy to work with. And we appreciate your call today. Next up is Belinda in Chicago, Illinois.

Hi, Belinda, how can I help you? Hi, I have a question regarding, I filed bankruptcy over a year ago, and I did the work to repair my credit. My scores are in the mid 700s now. I did obtain two credit cards. And my goal is to ultimately make purchase my home next year. But my question is, I don't want to apply for any more credit. Because I'm not sure, not that I need it, but I just don't want to risk it.

I do need to do something. And I'm looking along towards doing like a line of credit rather than putting it on the credit card. So which will be my best option, because either way I want it to continue to report to the credit bureau, which would be the smarter way for me to go to obtain it, make that purchase. Yeah, so tell me a little bit more about that purchase. What is it the purchase you're trying to make? It's an automobile. Yeah, I have to get a new car. Well, I don't have to get a new car, but I have to get a car. I need transportation.

Yeah. And you would get an auto loan for that? Or were you looking to do that on a credit card? No, definitely not a credit card. It would be the auto loan.

Okay, good. I thought you said something about a credit card. Was there a question though, and we'll get to that about the auto loan, but was there a question about you opening up new revolving credit card accounts as well? More so the line of credit, because I know there's a difference. So the credit card is revolving credit and then the secure line is a little bit different. And I think that I'm leaning towards going towards the secure line of credit to use for the auto loan. That's the way I'm thinking I want to go. A line of credit against your home?

Well, actually no, not so much as against my home. Well, basically just be taking out the money to purchase the car to actually pay for the car. So that's what I'm thinking about doing. But I know of course that's not going to help my credit because it won't be a monthly report. It's just going to be a one-time transaction and I don't want to go that route.

Okay. Well, I wouldn't worry about that. The key is you want to have a good payment history, so you want to be on time and then you want your credit utilization to be under 30% of any revolving balances.

But with the car loan, I would just take a straight car loan, go to bankrate.com, find out who has the lowest rates, but you want to make sure that's collateralized only to the car. And as long as you pay everything on time, that credit score will stay right where you want it to be. I wouldn't worry about that. Stay on the line. We'll talk a little bit more off the air and we'll be right back. Welcome back to MoneyWise Live. I'm Rob West, your host. So thankful for my team today, Chris Seagard answering phones for us today, Amy Rios producing Dan Anderson Engineering today, and Mr. Robert Sutherland providing research.

Couldn't do it without them. We're thankful for you as well. We've got a couple of lines open. We'd love to hear from you, whatever's on your mind. Here's the number 800-525-7000. Next up is Catherine in Miramar, Florida.

Hi Catherine, how can I help you? Yeah, I just have a question. I'm retired and I have about half my money in stocks and it seems like the economy is not doing well and my stocks are decreasing every day. Should I take that out and maybe put it someplace else and where?

And if not, should I just hold on and hope that it goes back up? Yeah, I'd love to weigh in on that. Let me ask you a couple of questions though. So you said you're about 50-50, 50 percent of your portfolios in stocks. What is the other 50 percent? It's an annuity that I get when I'm 75.

Okay, all right. And what's approximately the value of the stocks today? It's about a little less than 300,000. Okay, very good. And are you pulling any income off of that or is that just growing?

No, it's just growing. Okay, so what are your income sources at this point? I get Social Security. Okay, and that's enough to fund your expenses every month? Well, actually I'm living with my daughter, so yeah, at this time it is. Okay, and do you expect a change on that where you're going to have to start pulling from the 300,000 anytime soon prior to that annuity kicking in?

Probably. Okay, how far off do you think that is? Maybe a few, maybe three years, four years. Okay, and last question I have, what is your age if you don't mind me asking?

I'm 68. Okay, you know, so typically what we would say is, you know, for somebody who's 68 years old, you know, where you don't, you're not relying on this money, although you said you may need to pull a portion of it down the road, I would think a 60-40 portfolio where perhaps 40% in stocks would be about right given what I'm hearing, it could be as low as 30%. You want a portion of the portfolio that has the ability to grow over time, recognizing the market doesn't always go straight up like it has the last, you know, 12 years since 2008-2009. I mean, we've been in a raging bull market. We had this temporary quickest decline into a recession brought on by the pandemic we've ever seen. We also had the quickest recovery we've ever seen, and the market doubled shortly after that, and so it's been incredible with lots of strength and economic power on the upside. It doesn't always do that, and so we do see the market, the economy move in cycles, and it does roll over from time to time.

The challenge is you're not ever going to be able to pick the top or the bottom, and you don't want to try. That's a losing game, and so the key there is to be properly invested with the right allocation, the right mix of stocks and bonds, with the right time horizon of at least 10 years, you know, and at 68 years old, Catherine, if the Lord tarries and you're in good health, this money needs to last several decades, and so we'd want to be able to convert this to an income stream when you need it. So let's say it grows to, you know, $350,000. You know, I could see you pulling $1,000 a month out of this portfolio or $12,000 to $14,000 a year and never seeing it decline over the long haul. Now, in any given quarter, you're going to see choppiness, and I think, you know, that's what we've seen the last couple of weeks.

I think we're going to see that in the next year or more. Does that mean the market's going to, you know, fall off a cliff? No. Does that mean our economy is going to come crumbling down?

Absolutely not. We're still the strongest in the world, and, you know, corporations are very strong. Yeah, we've got some headwinds.

We always do. Every decade has its challenges. We're not in a systemic financial crisis or anything like that, but we've got some inflation. We've got to get our debt under control and, you know, monetary policy and all of these things, but with inflation and the potential to lose purchasing power over time by being in cash, I think that's a bigger risk than you, you know, having the prospect of the market falling. The key is that you're not overweighted in stocks given your age, your risk tolerance, and your goals and objectives, and I think potentially you are a little bit right now with 50% in stocks. And so I think the question is not, do I get out of the market or stay in? The question is, what's the right mix of stocks and bonds or other types of fixed income assets for you at this time? And I think that's probably 30 to 40%, but you'd have to go into that knowing that, you know, the market could be down. I mean, we could get into a recession in a year or two from now and those things can last, you know, one, two or more years, but the key would be that for that portion of the portfolio, let's say it's 30% or 40, you don't touch it when it's down. You know, you continue to let, you know, if you're pulling income, you rely on the fixed income type assets and wait for those stocks to recover.

And as we emerge out of that and move to new highs, which historically speaking is the way it has happened, then you're rewarded for that. So I think right now the question is, how should you be allocated? And I think if you have some concern, perhaps it's that 50% in stocks is a bit rich and we ought to back that down. But the last question then is, who's making that decision in terms of what are you invested in and are you the right person to do that or should you hire a professional?

Give me your thoughts on everything I've shared though. Yeah. I thought about maybe going to a professional and I am going to probably have to pull some money out for some medical issues. I did pull already pull some out and then should I maybe go from stocks and go to bonds, which are more secure.

Yeah. I think you still need some allocation to stocks, but you are going to need a larger portion in fixed income type investments, but you have to choose the right ones in terms of the duration and so forth because as interest rates head up, the bond prices are going to fall. And so we just have to make sure we understand all of that. I'd recommend, I mean, with 300,000 plus an annuity, I mean, this is obviously money you've saved over a long time. You want to be careful as a steward of that. I would get some professional help.

Perhaps it wasn't as important as the market was heading straight up over the last, you know, 12 years. But I think, you know, now more than ever, it's really critical that you have somebody who's helping you navigate that, perhaps even making the decisions on your behalf based on who you are, what God's doing in your life and your goals and objectives. So I'm going to recommend that you connect with a certified kingdom advisor there in South Florida.

You can go to our website, click find a CKA. I'd interview two or three and find one that's a good fit. I think that'll give you a lot of peace of mind to know that somebody is waking up thinking about how you should be invested and where, and that you have a plan that it's not just, you know, well, I've got 50% in the market. No, it's well thought out.

There's a strategy behind it. You can have some confidence in that. And that way you'll, it'll allow you to weather the ups and downs in the days ahead. I hope that's helpful to you. We appreciate your call today. We're going to stay in South Florida, Pompano Beach. Hi Lorraine.

How can I help? I love your show. I listened to it. I listened to it for 20 years and I remember Larry Burkett. Yeah.

Excellent. I loved him. He was great. Yeah, he was. And I learned so much from the show.

It's amazing. My question is, I want to find a financial planner advisor. Yes. I want to be ready to retire pretty soon. I'm already retired, but my husband's getting ready to retire. So I want to know if... Let's do this. I've got to hit a quick break, Lorraine, but I'm going to ask you to hold and just on the other side of this, we'll help you find the advisor that's right for you. This is MoneyWise Live.

I'm Rob West. We'll be right back. This is MoneyWise Live. Thanks for tuning in today.

MoneyWise Live is listener supported. That means we do what we do because of your generous support. Would you consider partnering with us? We'd certainly be grateful. It's quick and easy to do at our website. Just go over to MoneyWiseLive.org, click the donate button. And between now and December 31st is our gift to you with a gift of $25 or more. We'll send you the great new book by Paul David Tripp called Redeeming Money. It's made an impact on me. I would encourage you to read it and we'd love to have you as a supporter. Again, MoneyWiseLive.org, just click donate. Let's head back to the phones.

And just before the break, we were talking to Lorraine. And Lorraine, I understand that you're looking for a financial professional for you and your husband. What specifically are you looking for? Did I hear you say planning or is it also investments or something else? Mostly planning because we're planning to, my husband's planning to retire, but I don't want him to retire until I make sure we have enough money to retire.

I don't want to retire. Anyway, my question is where I bank, they have an investment company, Merrill Lynch. I'm wondering is that a good company and should I have all my eggs in one basket because I also bank there? Yeah, Merrill Lynch is owned by Bank of America and it's a wonderful company.

Been around for a long, long time. Very good at what they do. I'm not concerned about you having all your eggs in one basket in the sense that the most common approach to having an investment advisor or professional is that your portfolios would be with that one institution and perhaps one advisor or a team of advisors overseeing the investment of those funds.

And that would be very common. In fact, there are some benefits to having everything in one place just because, you know, as you can make sure you don't have unnecessary duplication of investments, you can get the very best pricing. You know, it just simplifies things for you not having to keep up with multiple accounts and you can focus all of your energy on just having one person that you communicate with about how your funds are being handled. But, you know, depending upon what you're looking for, I would recommend you connect with a certified financial professional. If you don't need investment advice right now, you could simply pay someone, a CFP probably, who's also a CKA, Certified Kingdom Advisor, just to do some retirement planning.

And I would absolutely affirm what you're saying. You know, you want somebody to look at what is your spending need right now? How much do you need to cover your lifestyle every month? What have you accumulated in retirement assets? What can you be expecting from Social Security? And do you have enough such that you'd be able to pull an income stream that would cover your lifestyle without depleting your assets too quickly? And, you know, what insurances do you need in this season of life and which can you drop? And are you covered from an estate planning standpoint? Is your will up to date? And do you have other, you know, documents in place like a durable power of attorney?

Those types of things. I mean, this would be something that a comprehensive financial planner would look at, would do it from an unbiased perspective, because they're not trying to sell you anything. They simply get paid for their time. And you could have somebody at Merrill Lynch do that for you, or you could go somewhere else. So I'd probably, if I were you, go to MoneyWiseLive.org and click Find a CKA. Many of those are at the institution you mentioned, but they're at, you know, firms all over the country as well. I'd interview two or three, find the one that's the best fit. And at some point, if you need to add investment services to that, your financial planner may be able to do that for you, or you may need to go to an additional professional as well.

But the idea that you would do some planning at this stage in your life as you prepare for retirement, not retiring too soon, makes a lot of sense to me. So I would absolutely affirm that. We appreciate your call today. Let's stay in Florida. Ocala is John. And John, we appreciate your call today.

I understand you have a comment that goes back to an earlier call. Tell us what's on your mind. Yes, sir. Thank you for your ministry. I will listen to your show every day.

It's excellent. The comment was, I heard a gentleman asking whether he should finance his primary residence to pay for the second house, or whether the second house loan was the better thing. And I listened to your answer. I made a mistake years ago in that I financed my primary residence for the cash to buy a different piece of real estate. And what I didn't realize was that that took away a bunch of protections from me that would have happened had I tried to borrow against that real estate. So where he might want to pass on a survey or a home inspection or something like that, because he's available, has that cash to bring in a cash offer, a cash offers on real estate can be more dangerous than they appear.

And I just interested in your comments on that subject. Yeah. I think that's exactly right. I mean, you'd want to make sure that no matter what, regardless of how you're making a purchase, whether it's cash, because you've essentially pulled cash from another asset, in this case, his current domicile, or you had the cash in the bank, or you were getting a new mortgage, you certainly want to make sure you have the right protections, including the ability to make sure it appraises, the ability to do the inspection and a due diligence period, depending on what's normal and customary in your state, because you'd want to make sure you don't give up any of those rights that don't allow you to properly evaluate what you're purchasing.

So I think that's very well said, but at the end of the day, given that he's just looking for a very short term use of these funds, meaning less than five years, and then this mortgage is going to be paid off, I think the source of funds, whether that's through a cash out of his current property that essentially he owns free and clear, because he has such a small mortgage left, or a new mortgage on that second property, I think the key is just where can he get the most favorable pricing and terms for this five year period. So I appreciate those comments, John, I think you're right on. All right, thank you very much. Have a great day.

Yeah. And you as well. Thanks for your kind remarks. On to Palm Harbor, Florida.

We're talking to folks in Florida there. Love it. How can I help you, Hannah? Hi, thank you for taking my call and appreciate your show a lot. I heard you two minutes ago, you said that you interviewed two or three certified Kingdom Advisors. Specifically, I'm looking for a CPA. What is the screening question to ask for that?

Yeah, very good. You know, I think the reason we recommend certified Kingdom Advisors, Hannah, as I mentioned, is I want somebody who's a competent professional, somebody who's met high standards and character and training in terms of the application of biblical worldview, but also that they're experienced. And, you know, for a certified Kingdom Advisor, that means they have to be at least a CPA or 10 years full time experience. Beyond that, I think, you know, as you interview a CPA, you're going to want to know how many clients do they have? Who's going to be handling the account?

Is it the person you're talking to or somebody else? What is their compensation model for the type of return you have and the the tax needs that you have so you can stay in compliance? And, you know, are you comfortable with the fee structure and what you're going to be paying? You know, what services do they offer? What type of planning would they expect that you would do with them throughout the year?

Would you meet, you know, just at tax time, or would you meet again, you know, during other parts of the year so that you understand what's coming and you're making plans for any changes? You'd want to talk about exactly what you want them to do for you and make sure that that lines up with the services that they offer and kind of how you fit in terms of your needs versus the rest of their client base. Are you, you know, kind of on the low end in terms of you need a very simple, you know, return done and they're typically working with folks that have businesses or have more complex situations?

Or are you right, you know, there in the sweet spot? And then I'd also want to know how they like to communicate and are they okay with how you want to communicate both in terms of the method of communication and the frequency? So I know I've thrown a lot at you there, but I think the first thing is are they experienced? Do they share your worldview?

And then I think everything else is just are they ultimately a good fit for you in terms of the professional that you're interviewing? Is that helpful to you, Hannah? What did you say, a V comment, a V? In the things that you mentioned, you said something about V. I didn't get it. Okay, yeah, I'm not sure.

I don't recall anything about V, but let me just run through them again. So I would look for a CKA, Certified Kingdom Advisor, who's a CPA, because it sounds like you need tax services. And then beyond that, it would come down to how are they paid? And is that, are you okay with that? How would they want to communicate with you? How you fit in terms of their overall client base? Are you right in the core of their client base or on the upper or lower end? Who's going to be handling your account? And what services do you expect that they're going to do for you?

And does that match with what they offer? And I think that would really get to the core of it, you know, in terms of you finding the person that's the best fit. We appreciate your call today. I hope that helps. Quickly to Brenda in Arkansas, you'll be our final call final caller today. Brenda, how can I help you? Okay. First of all, I listen to your show all the time.

And I just love it and great advice. Now, now my problem is I've been retired about six years. My husband was retired and was receiving social security. He recently passed away and I've been trying to get his social security and they refused me every time.

And I'm not quite understanding why I'm not allowed to, you know, as his legal wife, to get his social security. Yes. Have you remarried Brenda? Yeah.

No, no, not at all. We we've been married. You know, he just recently passed away.

So we were married at the at the time of his passing. No, I've never, you know. Okay. And have you talked to the Social Security Administration to ask what it is that's preventing you from collecting survivor's benefits?

Well, they say, because I was a teacher, teachers didn't pay into social security, that I was not eligible. Okay. All right.

And that that could be exactly it. Let's do this. You hold the line. We'll talk a bit more off the air. Unfortunately, we're out of time today.

I know that it can be frustrating. We want to help you get to the bottom of it. So we appreciate your call. Just stay right there. We'll talk a bit more off the air.

MoneyWise Live is a partnership between Moody Radio and MoneyWise Media. Again, my team today, Robert Sutherland and Rio Stan Anderson, Chris Seagard. I want to thank them for their wonderful work as always. And thank you for being here. Look forward to talking to you again tomorrow. Come back and join us then. And the Lord bless you.