More People Are Budgeting

This is Jamin Baxter and I serve as Business Development Director for Moody Radio. The only reason we're able to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ on the radio is because of financial support from listeners like you. We also have businesses support us too, like United Faith Mortgage.

Faith and family is at their core. It's why they choose to be such a close partner with our station. It's why they specifically advertise on Christian radio stations across the country.

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. United Faith Mortgage is a DBA of United Mortgage Corp. 25 Melville Park Road, Melville, New York. Licensed mortgage banker. 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. What's the difference between a golf ball and your tired old car that needs a few thousand dollars in repairs?

Well, you can drive a golf ball 200 yards. Hi, I'm Rob West. Seriously though, how do you know when it's time to pay for repairs or get another car and what's happening with used car prices these days? I'll talk about that first today. Then it's onto your calls at 800-525-7000.

That's 800-525-7000. This is MoneyWise Live, biblical wisdom for your financial decisions. So let's start with used car prices. We don't usually use the term sticker shock when talking about used cars, but if you've tried to buy one recently, you've probably had the same experience, prices that take your breath away. Why are used cars selling for so much these days? Well, it's economics 101. When demand increases and supply doesn't, prices go up.

In this case, way up. And why has demand for used cars, especially late model used cars, risen so sharply? Well, because the supply of new cars has actually fallen. Folks who would normally buy a new car are finding they can't, so they're turning to dependable used cars instead, increasing demand there and forcing used car prices to rise. But now you're probably thinking, well, what happened to all the new cars?

You might call it a perfect storm. First, there was a fire at a computer chip factory in Japan causing a worldwide shortage of chips used to regulate modern vehicle engines and transmissions. No chips, no new cars. Second, auto manufacturing plants have had a difficult time keeping enough people on the job to run their assembly lines due to COVID. Further decreasing production. And finally, secondary manufacturers have run into the same COVID snags, creating a shortage of the thousands of parts needed to assemble cars. It's gotten so bad that some automakers have actually ceased production temporarily. And for those reasons, over the summer, vehicle wholesaler Mannheim, which monitors and scores used car values, said they're the highest they've ever been.

But there is some good news. The upward trend in used car values has started to level just a bit since then, even though prices are still way above last year's numbers. Cars.com said used car prices are still going up, but the rate of climbing prices has started to taper off in recent months. Their used car median listing price in August was $24,000, up almost 35 percent from last year. The rate of increase was 2.2 percent from June to July, but from July to August, used car prices rose only 1.3 percent, indicating that prices were beginning to moderate. Well, I didn't say it was great news, but at least that's something. And the news could be even better, depending on the make and model used car you're looking for.

Here are a few examples. The median price for a used Toyota RAV4 jumped over 7 percent from May to June, but only rose about 4 percent from June to August. Price leveling for several popular trucks has been even more dramatic. The median price of used Ford F-150s, the best-selling vehicle of any type in history, rose a staggering 14 percent between May and June, but dropped sharply to just under 3 percent from June to August. So does all of this mean you can afford to wait until used vehicle prices get back to what we remember as quote-unquote normal? That depends on how much life is left in the vehicle you're trying to replace.

Experts who've been monitoring the chip shortage and other supply chain problems say it will take time for new car inventories to increase. That means used car prices won't drop anytime soon. Now, what does that mean if you're stuck with a beater that needs expensive repairs?

Well, naturally, you'd like to trade it in on a quality used car or at least have it towed away, but you don't want to have to take out a mortgage to do it. So how do you know if it's worth it to repair your current vehicle? Well, consumer expert Clark Howard recently tackled that question about a 2008 Toyota Camry with 185,000 miles that needed $3,000 worth of repairs, just about the blue book value of the car. Normally, he would say, no, dump the Camry.

And the formula he uses is this. If repairs cost less than half of the car's value, have the work done. If the repairs cost between half and the full value of the car, have the work done, but only if it means you'll get another year of life out of the vehicle.

But these are not normal times. Even though the repairs to the Camry equaled the car's value, Clark advised going ahead and having the work done. That's how bad the used car market is for buyers these days.

Bottom line, if you can afford to wait until used car prices decline, you'll probably come out ahead. This is MoneyWise Live, biblical wisdom for your financial decisions. Stay with us. We'll be right back. Thanks for joining us today on MoneyWise Live.

I'm Rob West, your host. Take your calls and questions in just a moment. We've got some lines open. We'd love to hear from you. Here's the number 800-525-7000.

That's 800-525-7000. Let's begin today in Parma, Ohio, WCRF. Hi, Ed. How can I help you, sir? Well, hi, Rob.

Good to talk to you. A quick question. I've got conflicting opinions over years, and I just want if you can clarify. Is it better if one has credit cards that you really don't use? Let's say, for example, you've got like 10 cards and $150,000 of available credit, but you're really only using two or three of them for like 5K. Is it better to leave them open to establish a better credit rating because you're not using that much of your available credit or to close them? If you do close them, does that close your credit rating to go down? You know what I'm saying?

I do, absolutely, and it's a great question. It will result in your credit score declining, but likely it would just be temporary. Let me ask you, Ed, are you carrying balances on the two or three cards you are using, or are you just charging and then paying it off? I'm charging them and paying them all off, to be honest with you. When I get a bill, basically, I just, whatever the balance is, whether it's $800, $1,200, I've got a few. What I do is I primarily use one American Express when I travel, one MasterCard because it was issued by my Century Federal Credit Union because I'm a federal employee, and then a Visa. Those are the three that I really use. The other ones I just got over the years because you got a good deal. You know what I'm saying?

Oh, absolutely, sure. I like closing them just because it's not only going to remove the temptation to use it, although it doesn't sound like that's a real problem for you, but more importantly, it removes the potential for it to be compromised. So if one of those accounts is hacked and there's charges on there and because you're not actively using these accounts, perhaps you're not monitoring them as closely because in most months the balance is zero with no activity, then you might miss it. Whereas if you close these, it's going to remove them and take away the possibility that somebody could compromise these accounts and use them fraudulently.

Now, why would the score drop? Well, depending upon how old these accounts are, part of the FICO scoring formula is the length of credit, the history that you have, and if these are some older accounts, obviously it's going to take that away. But if you've got a pretty long history of credit in general, that's probably not going to be an issue. The other issue would be that it would push your credit utilization percentage up because with less available credit, any balances that you're carrying would be a higher percentage of the total and that if it pushed over 30% could hurt you. The fact that you're charging and paying these off, even though the statement balance is being reported to the Bureau prior to you paying it off, it's probably much less than 30% of the total available credit I would imagine.

So that's likely not going to be an issue. The only thing you may want to think about is if you were about to go out and look for a new loan of some kind, you were in the market shopping for a car and you plan to borrow a portion of it or you're looking to refinance your house or something like that, you'd probably not want to close it right then because a temporary decline even of 60 or 90 days could potentially drop you into a lower tier that would result in higher interest expense and not as favorable terms. But if you're not out seeking new credit, I would say let's start closing perhaps two accounts every six months until you get down to the number that is more manageable. Any temporary decline would be just that.

I think you'd see it come right back up and we'll remove the possibility that these accounts could be compromised. Does that make sense? Yes, that makes perfect sense. And the ones that I would keep are my oldest accounts and they're going back by 20 years, I think.

Those are the ones I would keep. So you're going to be in great shape, Ed. Thank you so much. You have a great day. You're welcome.

God bless you, sir. We appreciate your calling. 800-525-7000.

We've got some lines open. Is it credit or savings? Perhaps it's investing or giving. We'd love to hear from you. 800-525-7000 to Tampa, Florida. Barbara, I understand you have a question about an annuity.

How can I help? Yes, this is an annuity that I bought 10 years ago. And so now it's mature, I guess is the right term. It's time for me to decide whether I want to take an income stream from it or surrender it and reinvest it. My financial advisor says that if I do that, she would suggest putting that into a moderate, aggressive portfolio.

So I don't need that income stream. And to me, it seems like such a small amount each year. The minimum would be 8,000 something. This year, it would be 9,600. It kind of depends on how the market's doing, I think.

So I've been all confused about it ever since I purchased it. And I'm leaning toward surrendering it. But I just wanted to get some of your thoughts about that.

Sure, I'd be happy to weigh in, Barbara. What is the amount that is the surrender value on that? It's around 157,000. Okay, very good. And your income sources other than Social Security or what? My husband has a military retirement pension and a VA pension.

All right. And that's enough between the pension and the Social Security? It's enough to cover your expenses? Yes, it is. And I have quite a bit.

I have around 500,000 in my IRA. I see. Okay. And I see.

Okay. And have you been happy with how that's been invested in performing? Yes, I have been it's been, you know, staying pretty stable. Part of it is in moderate, moderate, conservative part of it's in a moderate fund.

And as I said, my my advisor is saying, if we take this and surrender the annuity, she would suggest putting it in a moderate aggressive because that would be the farthest out would have more time to grow, probably for my heirs, you know? Sure, sure. And do you have how many months worth of expenses do you have in liquid savings? Well, let's see quite a few.

I don't know. We have probably around 75,000 just in, you know, an emergency fund. Perfect. Okay, that sounds great.

Well, I like this idea. You know, I don't think given the assets that you've been able to accumulate your modest lifestyle, the cash that you have in reserves, I don't see a need to continue with another insurance product unless you were just looking for those guarantees. But it sounds like you have a great relationship with an investment professional who understands what you're trying to accomplish. I think the key would just be making sure that you're not taking more risk than you're comfortable with because you don't have to, you know, your expenses are covered.

You've got quite a nest egg there. Yeah, you want to be a good steward of it and see it grow for your heirs. But we don't want to take unnecessary risk.

And, you know, given what the market's done the last couple of years and the 10 years before that, we've had quite a run. And if we were to hit some speed bumps along the way, let's say we were to get into a recession a year or two from now, we'd come through it and move out of it and move higher. And the good news is, you could let that money stay right there and recover. But I'd want to make sure that you're comfortable, you know, if in a quarter your portfolio was down 15 or 20%, you know, would that give you any real concern? Would that cause you to lose some sleep? Or would you be comfortable saying, nope, I'm going to stay with the long term plan. It'll come back and I'll be just fine. You know, I want you to have those conversations with your advisor to make sure you're ready for that, so that you don't have risk that you're taking unnecessarily.

But apart from that, I like the idea of you perhaps rolling this out if it's qualified money into an IRA, or into a taxable account so that it could be managed in the way you described. And I think that's probably the best way to go. Okay? Okay, I appreciate it. Thank you. All right, Barbara, thank you for calling.

We appreciate you listening today. Folks, we all want to be good stewards of God's money. The good news is the Bible is chock full of wisdom that's timeless and always right and always relevant.

It's never going to change, and that's going to make sure that when we apply those principles, we'll put ourselves in a position to experience God's best. More of your calls just around the corner, 800-525-7000. Stay with us. Thanks for tuning into MoneyWise Live, biblical wisdom for your financial decisions. I'm Rob West, your host, and we're taking your calls and questions today on anything financial. We've got a few lines open. Perhaps one of those is for you, 800-525-7000.

That's 800-525-7000. Hey, I'd love for you to check out our website at MoneyWiseLive.org. Not only can you take this program on the go with you, all of our broadcast archives are there. You can also create a free MoneyWise account, which will allow you to post to the MoneyWise community, where you can get answers to your financial questions from a biblical perspective from our trained MoneyWise coaches. You can also take advantage of all of our great content, 14 content providers, the leading voices in Christian finance, all aggregating their content on our site just for you. Articles, podcasts, videos that will help you really understand God's heart as it relates to managing your money. Check it out. All that and more at MoneyWiseLive.org. We're going to head back to the phones today.

We're going to stay in Illinois. Hi, Amy. How can I help you? Hi, Rob.

I just had a question. My husband, we have an opportunity through his work to purchase stock. They are opening up to the employees. We're purchasing it at a lower cost than the actual rate it's going for at the time. And they're there over three years that if they lose, like if it went down at all, that they won't lose any money on it, that they can only make gains in it. And we were just wondering if that, I know that that's doing really good right now and that stock has been doing really good, if that would be a good option that we should get into.

Yeah, it sounds good to me. You know, stock options from your employer are quite popular. They give you the right to buy a specific number of shares of your company's stock during a period of time. And as you said, at a price that your employee sets, the reason they do this is they want to attract and keep good workers. They want you to feel like an owner of the company.

And this is obviously a benefit. They set the price for the stock. It's usually discounted, you know, in some cases below the market price at that time. And, you know, once you exercise it, in this case, it sounds like they're providing a guarantee, which is not typical and, you know, would provide that floor underneath what you're doing.

So I like that a lot. The only potential concern is just getting too highly concentrated in your company's stock. You know, I would prefer that you keep your total investable assets to 20% or less. But given the benefits that you're describing, the immediate profit that you're going to realize by, you know, buying it at a discount, plus this guarantee that it won't lose value for a period of time makes this pretty attractive. So I would say, you know, take full advantage of it, especially since you've said, this is doing well.

And then as you're able to over time, perhaps you diversify away and, you know, buy other holdings that would, you know, give you the diversification you need to be prudent in your investing strategy. But bottom line is, I think this is a great option, Amy, that you all should take full advantage of. Okay. Okay, sounds great. Thank you so much. All right. We appreciate your call today.

A lot of calls from Illinois. We're going to stay there. Matt is up next. Matt, how can I assist you? Hi, how are you doing today?

Good. So my wife has been granted, you know, a social security disability and she is actually going to be getting a check from when she was diagnosed. So I'm going to just do round numbers, approximately 40, maybe $50,000. Our home, we owe approximately 62,000. And we have about $37,000 in auto loans between two vehicles. Would it be smarter to put a lump sum down on the house and try to get that paid off as soon as possible? Or the auto loans? My wife's other idea is that she wants to do a room addition on the house, which would not help us with paying off the three main things that we have.

We do not have any credit cards. Okay, great. Do you have an emergency fund, Matt?

No. Okay. You know, I'd probably start there and, you know, figure out what your monthly spend is, you know, what are your the total expenses that you have over a month's time. And I'd look to set aside three to six months, three at a minimum in a liquid savings account.

The key there is if the unexpected comes, you have a major expense on the house, somebody loses a job, you know, something truly unforeseen, not the tires in the car are going to wear out, we should be planning for that. But, you know, something that comes out of left field, we wouldn't want you to have to rely on credit cards because you don't have liquid assets. And that's where the emergency fund, although it's not very attractive from a return standpoint, because, you know, you'd be thinking about earning probably a half a percent on that in a high yield savings account, it's going to be really critical there to shore up your financial foundation for the unexpected. So I'd start there. The other thing is, you know, I like the idea of you all paying cash for the addition rather than having to borrow more money down the road.

So you could hang on to this money for that purpose. But I'd probably consider waiting. You know, this is not the ideal time to put an addition on your home just because of material costs right now. I mean, are through the roof, you know, we've seen the price of lumber come down, but it still has a way to go.

And I think perhaps six months or a year from now, we are going to see even lower prices as we work through some of these supply chain issues. And, you know, so much of the home renovation and construction market will perhaps cool off a bit. So, you know, unless this is something you guys are really looking to do in the very short term, you've got a family member moving in or something that is requiring you to get a jump on this, you just may want to consider waiting, you know, perhaps up to a year and see if you can do a little better just in terms of the overall expense. But I think priority number one, assuming you can cover the debt service on the mortgage and the cars, is shoring up that emergency fund. If you do have money left over to put toward debt, I'd prioritize the car loan first over the house.

And let's focus on getting the house paid off at a minimum by the time you retire. And if you can do it sooner, that would be even better. Hope that helps you, Matt. We appreciate your call. We've got some lines open. We'd love to hear from you today. After this break, we'll get right back to the phones.

Here's the number, 800-525-7000. This is MoneyWise Live. Stay with us. Thanks for joining us on MoneyWise Live. I'm Rob West, your host.

All the lines are full, so sit back and enjoy. We've got some great questions coming up. Kevin wants to know about how he should use his investments, given that he's cutting back on his work. And Vera wants to know how she should take care of a mortgage now that she's working part-time.

We're going to head, though, next to Chicago. Martha is asking a question, I believe, about your 401k. How can I help you, Martha? Yes. Hi.

My question is that I have a 401k, and I do... Martha, did we lose you? Are you back with us? Sorry about that. Can you hear me? That's okay. I'm back. I sure can.

Go right ahead. Yes. So I've had this 401k for several years now, and I do contribute it. However, my husband and I were very concerned about the market, and what we ended up doing was we pulled out of the market probably in early 2020. And so we've just been on hold on the money market. And my question would be, is this a good time to get back in? I know I've lost probably quite a bit, but even then, I'm just wondering if this is a good time to maybe come in with a little bit of amount of money to get back into the market again.

Yeah. Well, unfortunately, I can't tell you whether it's a good time, and unfortunately, no one can, because we'd have to know where the market was headed from here, and it's just not possible to know that. When we invest in the market, we invest for the long haul, and we do it in a properly diversified portfolio that allows us to have a properly diversified portfolio that aligns with our goals and objectives. And we recognize there's going to be ups and downs along the way.

But when we look historically, it's been the very best place to build wealth. If we have the right strategy, and we're willing to be patient, and we're not trying to speculate and jump in and out of the market, we can do quite well. Now, I realize it was a crazy time last year, and perhaps you all were somewhat concerned about what happened, and you decided to get out of the market.

If you had called me at that point, I would have discouraged you from doing that for precisely the reason that we've seen. You know, the market had the quickest decline to a bear market we've ever seen, followed by the quickest rise to a bull market we've ever seen, and then we've had incredible growth since then. But that's behind us. Where do we go from here? And I think the key is, because we don't know, Martha, where the market is headed in the short term, it's just not possible to know.

I think you should move back in, I just wouldn't do it all at once. And so I think perhaps a way to think about this would be to say, okay, if we're going to take the next six months and move back into the market so that you're fully invested, what if you take and divide that into six equal parts, and then move back into the strategy that you were in, if that was appropriate for your age and risk tolerance, you move that back in each month, you know, in six equal parts, so that by the time you get to the sixth month, you're fully invested, why would you do that? Well, again, we don't know where the market's headed, the market could be significantly lower than it is, you know, today, we could see a correction, it could be higher, but we're not counting on one, you know, market value on a given day in time, we're beginning to kind of move it into the market over time, which should smooth out some of the ups and downs and some months you'll buy at higher levels and other months, you might buy at lower levels. And I think it's just perhaps a more prudent way for you to return to being fully invested. I would, though, evaluate your allocation just to make sure that if we were to get into, you know, some difficult times down the road, let's say we were to hit a recession, you know, the key is that you all see this as long term money, and that you're not too highly concentrated toward, you know, assets that are perhaps a bit more risky than you should be based on where you're at. And if you correct that and make sure the allocation is appropriate, then, you know, you can have the peace of mind to say, no matter what comes, we're going to ride it out because we know over the long haul, this is the very best place to see our wealth grow. The challenge right now is in the money market, you're actually losing purchasing power every month, because especially, you know, with the uptick in consumer prices with inflation, you know, we're not even keeping up with inflation. And so that money is losing value, which is why we want it to be invested. It's just that now that you're on the sideline, I think it would be prudent to move back in over six months.

And there's nothing magical about that. I'm just picking that number to say, we want it to be somewhat near term. But I'd like for you to smooth out the ups and downs by not dropping it in to the market on a single day. Does all that make sense, though?

Yes, it does. Thank you very much. I do appreciate your advice. I'm happy to give it, Martha. We appreciate you listening and calling today. God bless you. Let's head to Tulsa, Oklahoma. Hi, Vera.

How can I help you? I am in the medical field and my hospital actually closed in June. And I got severance up through October 4. And I don't have any debt other than my mortgage. I am thinking that I should take out of my Roth IRA after the first of the year and use that towards paying off my mortgage, which is about $45,000 left on it. And I have gotten advice not to do that, just to take maybe the amount of my mortgage each month out and keep it in there so it can continue to grow.

Yeah, yeah. With the part time work that you're going to be doing, Vera, are you able to cover the mortgage payment plus your other expenses? Or do you have a shortfall? And that's why you'd be looking to do this? I don't know that I'm going to be how long this part time job is going to last and it would not probably cover the mortgage.

Okay. Well, I think that's the next step for you to really get and maybe you've already done some of this, but perhaps you need to do a bit more work is to get a real good handle on what are your monthly expenses, not only the things you get a bill for, but your discretionary spending, let's put that into a budget. Let's think about even those things that don't come every month, maybe a six month insurance premium or something like that, get that all baked in there. So you know what it's going to take for you to fund your lifestyle on a monthly basis, and then match that up with what you have coming in as your income sources, and then determine whether you can get the work needed to match that.

And if not, what is that shortfall? Because what I would love is for you to find enough work for you to at a minimum, just cover the, you know, basic expenses, and then we could just keep paying on that mortgage over time. You've got a manageable balance. I don't think we need to rush to pay it off. As long as you can cover it each month, because you certainly don't want to, you know, lose the home or anything like that. So I'm not suggesting we stop pay. But if you can come up with enough income to pay it, let's not, you know, try to hurry up and pay it off. And to your point, let's keep those retirement assets growing, so that you can rely on them at some point down the road. Now, if you find a you're not able to work, and be that there is a shortfall every month, right now, then obviously, we've got to look at what assets are available for you to cover your expenses. And what changes perhaps do you need to make including, you know, selling a home or, you know, making some changes to bring your spending in line with the resources that you have. But as a last resort, and that's what it would be, I would look to pulling from your retirement accounts.

The one benefit from the Roth is for at least your contributions, not any of the gains, but your contributions, you can get those backs back tax free without any kind of penalties or anything like that. Stay on the line. We'll talk a bit more off the air because I've got to hit a break here. But much more to come on MoneyWise Live. Don't go anywhere.

Here's the number 800-525-7000. We'll be right back. We're grateful you're tuning in to MoneyWise Live today, biblical wisdom for your financial decisions. I'm Rob West, your host. And tomorrow's Thursday, which means our MoneyWise weekly wisdom email goes out.

That's right. It's the best in biblical financial stewardship. We have our recommended reads, the articles tomorrow you won't want to miss, four money don'ts in marriage, why you need to steer clear of long-term car loans from Hart Rainer, and then an article from Faith Driven Investor as well called Deeply Rooted for the Future.

And it's a great story. Our trending podcasts as well are there in our verse of the week. It's all in our MoneyWise weekly wisdom. I also share three principles of stewardship in my opening message to you. If you'd like to receive our MoneyWise weekly wisdom, just create a free MoneyWise account. You can do that at MoneyWiseLive.org or by downloading the MoneyWise app at MoneyWise Biblical Finance, wherever you download apps. Once you create a free account, you'll automatically receive each Thursday our MoneyWise weekly wisdom. And I know it'll be an encouragement to you. Let's head back to the phones.

We're going south to Ocala. Hi, Kevin. How can I help you, sir?

Hi, Rob. Thanks for taking my call. I'm trying to find out maybe here if, you know, if I'm a little behind on what I should be doing. I'm getting ready to cut my schedule down so that we're if I it's only kind of like if I want to, I'll be working maybe a couple days a month.

So because I just don't see myself retiring, actually, like what I do. But I'm just trying to figure out what I need to do, the direction they need to go, you know, kind of would be the best in making sure that, you know, that that I, you know, am not wasting or misusing what we've saved up. My wife and I have saved up.

She's got about five more years before she can retire. But we have a good amount put away in mutual funds and in stocks. And then I'm just trying to figure out what would be the best direction to go from here.

Sure. So give me a sense of, you know, what are you needing to draw from these investments? Once you begin working less, what will be your shortfall each month? You know, it's like, yeah, trying to think actually what that would be, you know, each month, I'm saying most probably about between the two of us around $3,500 a month. I mean, we don't have any car payments.

We don't have a mortgage. We're doing very well on that. And but it's like I say, I just want to be wise and prudent in what I do. I've been doing my investing. But yeah, that's with money coming in.

So you know, once I don't have any more money coming in, I just want to make sure I'm doing the right thing. Yeah, so $3,500 all in is what you need to cover your expenses. Now, does your wife's income then offset that? Or is that $3,500 a month in addition to what she's bringing in? No, my wife right now, I mean, she makes a very good salary.

And what she does, she's in management within the medical community. And, and, you know, but it's, it's, and so, I mean, we don't have any shortfall, I guess, is better, the better way to put it at this at this time right now. Okay, so her income is enough to cover 100% of your expenses? Oh, absolutely. Okay, great.

And so obviously, anything you do, because you said you'd be working some as you want to would be supplemental income, and then at some point down the road, you'll be collecting social security. So all that you've accumulated could continue to grow for the foreseeable future. And you all don't anticipate tapping into any of that, correct? Well, I mean, as for right now, barring that, you know, something else, you know, may go on in our lives or something like that, you know, I don't see any worries, but I just want to be, you know, prudent in dealing with it, you know, for making sure that we have, you know, I mean, that we're, you know, doing right on our offerings, and, you know, and to be able to do enjoy, we don't usually travel a lot, but I'd like to do that some more.

And so, yeah, no, that's great. Well, I think there's a couple of things here. Number one, you could benefit from a financial planner and an investment advisor.

Do you have a professional that you work with? No, I don't. Like I said, I've been doing most of the investments on on my own for both of us. So okay, like I said, that's what, you know, with money continually coming in.

So if I, you know, did make an error that we could still make up that difference, you know, over time, but yeah, it's like, you know, I'm thinking now I need the most like China change that angle. So yeah, no problem. And what do you have total in investable assets, roughly?

Um, between my wife and I both, we have about 720,000 in IRAs and, and 401ks about 160 of that is in stock. Okay. All right.

Very good. So you've got quite a bit that you've accumulated. The good news is that, you know, you're still drawing an income, she's got plenty of income, your expenses are covered. I think the key would be for you all to begin to establish, you know, a spending plan around, you know, what additional you want to spend on your lifestyle, as you said, you've been fairly modest, you'd like to do a bit more traveling, well, great, let's assign a number to that annually and work that into the plan. If you can cover that out of your two income sources, that's even better.

If not, you know, you've got money that you can pull from, I think beyond that you need to be looking at, you know, do you want to take on some long term care insurance? You know, what about your giving? Are you giving strategically? And have you set a financial finish line in terms of assets, as well as, you know, capping your lifestyle for your monthly spending? And then, you know, what are the best ways to give? You know, should you be giving out of appreciated assets, you know, rather than just cash? And what ministries are you giving to?

And do they align with your passion? So I think a couple of things could serve you well as one, you and your wife sitting down and doing some planning around what do you want your life to look like over this next season as you're working less? She's still got five more years of work, but perhaps you all could do a little bit more traveling.

What would that cost? Let's build that into the plan. What does God have for you with your extra time? And how can you align your resources to support those activities so that you can, you know, invest in God's kingdom?

I think it'd be good for you to visit with perhaps somebody at the National Christian Foundation who can help you think about your giving. But I would seriously consider, Kevin, connecting with a Certified Kingdom Advisor who could not only do a plan and really be that sounding board for you and your wife as you all envision what God has for you in this next season and how your money can be used as a tool to support that, but also somebody who can really take responsibility for and managing this portfolio. You know, making sure you're not taking unnecessary risk, but also taking the responsibility of making the buy and sell decisions so that that's not all falling on you. And you can, you know, give oversight to that.

Certainly it's got to be with your objectives in mind, but you're not bearing the brunt of making those buy and sell decisions. And I think that'll give you a bit more peace of mind. So for your next step, I'd again take some time for you and your wife to pray and plan for the future and then connect with a Certified Kingdom Advisor.

You can go to our website, MoneyWiseLive.org, and click Find a CKA. But I think you guys are in a great spot. You've obviously handled God's money really wisely, and it's now time to enjoy the fruit of that and be used by the Lord in this next season. We appreciate you checking in with us. Let's stay in Florida. Colleen, you're next on the program.

How can I help? Hello? Hi there, go right ahead.

Hi, thank you for taking my call. Okay, so my question is, good idea, bad idea to take my house and the home equity lending credit or refinance and like for like maybe a little bit larger lump sum of money and get that as cash and then go buy it for like, is it for like an investment like real estate? But then my current paycheck that I have would be enough to cover both mortgages, like whatever the total cost would be for the monthly payment. I see, sure. Give me a sense of what you have in mind, Colleen. Are you thinking of buying a single family home and renting it out or what are you looking at?

Yes, yes, for Airbnb's. Okay, all right. Have you done this before or spent much time, you know, researching this? I've just been, I'm in the research stage right now.

I've never, I've never been a landlord and I've never done it before. No, sir. Okay, all right. You know, yeah, sure. Yeah.

And you know, it can be a very effective way. I think the key is, are you ready for it financially? Because there's a couple of things that you've got to consider. Number one is, you're in Florida, and Florida real estate is sky high right now. So although, you know, the corresponding prices that folks are paying for Airbnb's is up, the purchase price is quite elevated. And so, you know, I don't see us in a bubble where all of a sudden housing market's going to come crashing down. But we certainly could see a leveling off or even a dip in housing prices. And so you're buying at what could be, we don't know for sure, except in hindsight, but what could be a peak, at least in the near term.

That's number one. Number two is the fact that you're putting your primary residence at risk, even though you've got the cash flow to cover it right now. You know, I'm not a huge fan of what I'd rather you do is save, take that margin that you have on a monthly basis and just save, save, save until the point where you could buy something where you collateralize the loan to that other property and where you're putting down because it's an investment property 50% in your own cash.

And I realize that may take some time that would perhaps delay this quite a bit. But it would put you in a position where you're able to not affect your current residence and truly separate this as a business activity and not collateralize your, you know, primary home, your domicile to this investment. And if you do that, it's going to put you in a much stronger position because the cash flow, if you've got 50% down, should absolutely be able to cover the debt service plus the maintenance and the marketing and anything else that you need to do. And again, you're not putting your own home at risk. If something were to change, you lose a job or you're just not able to make that mortgage payment.

Now all of a sudden, you're not losing your home over it. I also don't like the idea of the home equity line of credit because that's a variable rate. And, you know, we're going to see rates head up over time. So I'd go real slow on this, I'd make sure you're funding your 401k first, especially if there's matching.

And then if you really want to do this, once you've researched it, you've spent some time with people who are doing it, you understand what you're getting into, and you've got the time, I would save, buy it with 50% down and then get a mortgage on that property specifically, as opposed to pulling it from your current home. I hope that helps you. It's probably not what you were looking for because I realize it may take a bit longer, but I think it'll put you in a much stronger position financially. And we appreciate your call today. MoneyWise Live is a partnership between Moody Radio and MoneyWise Media. Jim Henry providing research today. Deb Solomon, my producer.

Amy Rios, the engineer today. Thank you for being here. We appreciate all your calls and your questions. I hope you'll come back and join us tomorrow. Lord willing, we'll be here and do it all over again. We'll see you then. God bless you.