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Student Loan Relief?

MoneyWise / Rob West and Steve Moore
The Truth Network Radio
October 25, 2021 5:13 pm

Student Loan Relief?

MoneyWise / Rob West and Steve Moore

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October 25, 2021 5:13 pm

If you’ve been struggling to qualify for federal student loan forgiveness, you’re certainly not alone. But relief could be just around the corner. On today's MoneyWise Live, Rob West will talk about the major overhaul coming to the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program. Then he’ll answer your calls and questions on various financial topics.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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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. If you've been struggling to qualify for federal student loan forgiveness, you're certainly not alone.

But relief could be just around the corner. I'm Rob West. The Department of Education says it's launching a major overhaul of the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program, which critics think is too complicated. I'll have the details for you first today, and then we'll take your questions at 800-525-7000.

Call at 24-7, 800-525-7000. This is MoneyWise Live, biblical wisdom for your financial journey. So the proposed changes to the Education Department's largest relief program would mostly affect about a half million borrowers who are working in jobs with government or nonprofit organizations. Also, more than 20,000 borrowers will automatically be eligible for loan forgiveness with no additional paperwork. If you're not familiar with the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program, it forgives student loan debt for individuals who've worked in the public sector and faithfully made their loan payments for 10 years. Thousands of borrowers have complained that the application process is difficult to understand and has led to costly and time-consuming errors for applicants. Some applicants say they worked in lower-paying public sector jobs for 10 years, only to be told they were ineligible for forgiveness. And in a startling confession, the Education Department admitted that only about 5,000 people have had their student loan debt forgiven in the 15 years of the program's existence.

In addition to confusion over eligibility requirements, applicants say there are major communication problems between the Education Department, the private companies contracted to service student loans, and borrowers. The Education Department says it will review all existing procedures to find ways to streamline the application process and improve communication for all parties. Other changes on the horizon are aimed at giving more access to the Public Service Forgiveness Program to military service members and federal employees. The Education Department will automatically give federal employees and service members credit for the program. That can be done rather easily by matching data from other federal agencies.

You wonder why that wasn't done before. Another benefit for members of the military, their time on active duty will count towards the program, even if loans were in deferment or forbearance. Beyond all of those promised changes, the Education Department says it will launch an outreach campaign to alert borrowers about changes in the application process and more planned improvements. If you're wondering why all of this is happening, well, the White House has been under growing pressure from many who feel the program is rife with red tape. Some 200 organizations and teachers unions have demanded the administration take steps to cancel debt for borrowers who've played by the rules and worked in the public sector for a decade or more. In response, the administration so far has extended deferment on federal student loan payments until January 31st due to COVID. That has actually been a huge help for borrowers who've applied for loan forgiveness.

If they're still working full-time for qualified employers, they continue to receive credit toward the 10 years of required payments, even though they're not making them. Now, some of you are probably thinking, great, but what if you don't want to work in the public sector? What should I do? Well, two things are obvious. First, save as much as you can for college. We recommend using a tax advantaged 529 plan. Second, borrow as little as you can.

The third thing, though, is less obvious. Before you borrow a penny for college, make a firm commitment that you will graduate, no matter what. The last thing you want is to be stuck in a lower paying job with student loan debt to repay. Now, you've already decided that you don't want to work in the public sector to qualify for loan forgiveness. You want to follow your heart into some other career field.

Well, that's great, but at the same time, you have to temper that desire with reality. Some jobs pay much better than others. You need to think of college as an investment and try to find the sweet spot between following your dreams and selecting a major that gives you skills employers want. A recent study showed that candidates completing a liberal arts doctorate have around $200,000 in student loan debt, with an average starting salary of only $40,000. An MD usually involves a similar amount of borrowing, but with an average starting salary of $200,000.

Now, those are extreme examples, but the general rule holds true. The less your desired job pays, the less you can afford to borrow. Proverbs 22-7 warns, the borrower is slave to the lender.

By saving, keeping debt to a minimum and choosing a field of interest that still pays well, you won't have to rely on forgiveness programs. All right, your calls are next. Here's the number 800-525-7000. This is MoneyWise Live, biblical wisdom for your financial journey. We'll be right back.

Welcome back to MoneyWise Live, biblical wisdom for your financial decisions. We're glad to have you along with us today. I'm Rob West, your host. We'll be taking your calls and questions in just a moment. Here's the number 800-525-7000. We've got some lines open. We'd love to hear from you today with whatever's on your mind financially speaking.

Again, 800-525-7000. Before we do, I'd love for you to visit our website when you have the opportunity. It's MoneyWiseLive.org. And there's a couple of ways you can engage with us. Once you create your free MoneyWise account on our website, you can jump into the MoneyWise community, which is where you can post questions. And we've had over a thousand posts in the MoneyWise community, each of them answered or responded to by one of our trained MoneyWise coaches.

It's a great way for you to ask a question that you've been thinking about. Perhaps you've not been able to get on the air or you don't want to be, but you'd be happy to post in our community. Our coaches would be delighted to weigh in and others in the MoneyWise community as well can add to the conversation. And we're fostering an environment that's encouraging and hopeful and obviously focused on biblical financial wisdom. So create your free account, MoneyWiseLive.org, and then jump into the community, click discussions, and you can join the conversation. All right, let's head to the phones today. Again, we've got some lines open as we get started here. 800-525-7000 is the number to call.

We'll begin in Seattle, Washington. Hi Marsha, how can I assist you? Hi, I have three silver bars that are about three inches long and one inch deep. And I'm wondering if I should just keep those and hold on to them for my children or if I should sell them?

Yes. Talk to me about these silver bars versus other investments that you have. Do you have retirement plans that you're funding? Do you have stock and bond investments? What else do you have?

Yes, I've got a 401k of about 150,000 and I've got stock of about 300,000 and I've got 160,000 in my checking and savings account. Okay, very good. Okay, go ahead. Oh, that leads me to the next question.

I want to take out 60,000 to pay off my daughter's house. So where should I take that from? So I hope that's okay. Two questions. Oh yeah, absolutely.

Happy to do it. You know, as we think about the precious metals, you know, I would typically say you should think about having no more than 5% of your portfolio in precious metals. It's a store of value. It's a hedge against a falling dollar and a lot of fear and uncertainty in the marketplace if we were to get into, you know, challenging times ahead.

With that said, it brings its other complexities. You know, when you own or take physical possession of the precious metals, you have to secure it, which means probably a safe in your home. You have to, you know, think about the illiquidity of it, meaning if you want to sell it, you've got to find a dealer and look for the very best place to sell it to a reputable person who's going to give you a fair price without a premium that's out of the ordinary for the sale itself. And I think for that reason, and just, you know, the long-term performance coupled with the volatility of the precious metals, I'd rather you see, unless there's some other reason you're keeping it than just purely the investment merits, I'd probably rather see you go ahead and take your time but find a reputable dealer to sell this and convert that to cash so that it can be applied to your other priorities, goals and objectives. You know, there's going to be just tons of online merchants buying and selling gold and silver.

And I would, you know, look for and spend a good bit of time in the reviews to find, you know, a reputable dealer. Right now, silver is selling for about $24 an ounce, fairly steady over the last year, somewhere between 28 and on the high side and 22 on the low side. But I think just, you know, again, unless there's some other reason you're holding on to it, I don't see any reason to hang on to this in the form of physical silver. As to where to pull the cash, are you still working Marcia or are you fully retired? Fully retired. Okay. And talk to me about your income sources. Are you living off of just social security or are you pulling something supplemental from these retirement accounts?

No, I've got about 72,000 coming in. Okay. And from what sources?

From my spouse's retirement and my retirement and social security. Okay, very good. And so the investment assets, the retirement accounts that are in stocks and bonds, that's just continuing to grow or is part of your retirement income coming from that accounts each from those accounts each month?

No, continuing to grow. Okay, very good. And if you think about what you spend on a monthly basis, what would you estimate that to be?

Probably 3,000. Okay. So, you know, you said you have well over 100,000 in cash, was that right? Yes.

Okay. And, you know, I would think in this season of life, you know, having a year's worth of expenses in a liquid savings account makes some sense, but that's only 36,000. So I think as you think about the best way to perhaps satisfy this debt, I think you could just take that right from your cash. And that way you're not generating any taxable income as a result of a withdrawal from a retirement account. You're not having to sell any of those investments unless your investment professional thinks you should do so.

And because you have essentially over accumulated in that cash reserve, I think that's perhaps the very best place for you to go ahead and pull the 60,000, settle or pay off that mortgage in full, and you still have plenty of reserves to fall back on. And then I think at that point, you take your time and looking for a reputable dealer that gets really good high marks with regard to the sale of the silver. And perhaps that gets you moving in the right direction. Okay. Oh, thank you so much. You've been so much help. Well, I'm happy to do it. Thank you for listening and calling today. May the Lord bless you.

Let's head next to Davenport, Florida. Hi, Aaron. Thanks for your patience. How can I help you? Hi, Dave. Thanks for taking my call.

Sure. So I wish I had the problem of asking how to invest my million dollars in retirement, but that is not the case. I just recently purchased a home about five months ago and purchased for the price of $304,990. So $305,000.

And the price has gone up now. The company that I bought from is selling the same home for $361,000. And because the price has gone up so much, I was wondering if that would qualify me to cancel out my private mortgage insurance since I did only put 5% of the purchase price down.

Yeah. Do you happen to know if it's an FHA or a conventional loan? It's a conventional loan. I got it actually at a very good interest rate of 2.75 for a 30-year conventional loan. Okay, very good.

Excellent. And what did you say you believe the market value to be of the home right now? Well, the company, it's a D.R. Horton home, and I purchased from them back in May for $305,000. And on their website, they're now asking $361,000 for the same property. Okay. Have you looked at any closed sales, though?

Because there's one thing for them to ask that. Really, what you're going to need to base this on is the appraised value of the home based on closed sales of similar properties. Have you seen any of those?

I have not seen any of the closed homes. I can certainly move forward with getting an appraisal. And if it does turn out that the price has gone up enough to put me to owning less than 80% because of it going up so much, would that qualify me to cancel out? Yeah, absolutely.

Yeah. So you can request once the mortgage has been, you know, the mortgage value is 80% of the appraised value, you can ask them to cancel it. Now, typically, they're looking at the original appraised value, not necessarily the increase. But you still can make that request. And, you know, depending on who your lender is, and what their policies are, they may, you know, cancel that. It's not going to be an automatic. Now, when you pay it down to 80% based on the original appraised value, you know, that's when it's a no brainer.

And in fact, when it gets to 78%, you will, you know, they have to eliminate it all together. But, you know, it's worth a call. I certainly wouldn't spend the money on an appraisal until you talk to them and clarify kind of their procedures.

Because, again, typically they're looking at original appraised value. But it's worth a phone call. You know, a lot of folks have experienced a lot of rise in equity. And certainly as soon as you can get rid of that, you'll want to stay with us.

We'll be right back after this. Thanks for joining us on Money Wise Live, biblical wisdom for your financial decisions. This is the program where we recognize that God owns it all and we're stewards. That means we're caretakers of the master's resources and we want to be found faithful in that.

The good news is the Bible is chock full of wisdom that we can apply to today's financial decisions so we can move forward with confidence, live with contentment and peace of mind and hold God's resources loosely so we can give generously. We'll help you apply those principles to whatever's going on in your life today financially. We'd love to hear from you. Phone lines are open at 800-525-7000. Give us a call right now with your question. Let's head next to Cleveland, Ohio. Hi, Bob. How can I help you, sir? Hello. Thank you very much for taking my call.

Okay. I just retired here in March 1st and my 401k was rolled over into an IRA and I have about $465,000 in it and that helps supplement our income. And I have a son that I'm going to, I have set up a trust for and we'd like to have that money continue supplementing our fund but our main concern is for our son and I was wondering if this would be a good idea, worried about the stock market, whether it's going to fall, putting it into a fixed index annuity. Yeah, so you said the balance on that is a little over $400,000, is that right? $465,000 in our IRA. Okay, and how much are you pulling out of that each month? Well, we haven't, last year or this year, I received $18,000. Okay, very good. And is that what's needed to supplement your income to cover your expenses?

Well, no, not really. I don't really have any expenses. Everything's paid off but it brings our annual income up to about $95,000. When you add the $18,000 to it, the total is about $95,000?

Correct. But how much do you need to fund your lifestyle every year? Well, probably $75,000 to $80,000. Okay, so theoretically you could leave this here. Do you have a required minimum distribution on this or are you not yet $72,000? Yes, I'm $72,000 and that the $18,000 was the minimum required amount.

Okay, got it. All right, and so you're concerned about the market. You know, I guess the only thing I would say is, you know, given that you don't need this money apart from preserving it and then growing it modestly and having it available for, you know, an inheritance or to give or both, you know, the benefit of keeping it invested is you have access to the balance. You know, you can get to the full amount if you needed to use some of it for long-term care costs or medical expenses, things like that. You know, the benefit of the annuity, of course, is you could lock in a guaranteed rate of return but you give up access to the principal without surrender charges and they tend to be expensive and complicated. Now, if you enjoy the peace of mind that comes from knowing that you're no longer taking any risk and you're transferring that risk to an insurance company, well, that's where these products can be effective.

But the reason they're not my first choice is because of the reasons I mentioned. You know, you're going to lose access to the money in full and they tend to be somewhat expensive and complicated and even though you are going to get that guaranteed rate of return, you know, I think you perhaps could do better on a conservative basis in the market. I think the key would be do you have an investment professional that you can delegate this to where you can build an investment strategy that you're comfortable with? So, whatever portion was at the risk, let's say, of, you know, equities, stocks, you know, if the market were down for an extended period of time, let's say we got into a recession a year or two down the road, you wouldn't touch that portion. You'd let it ride, you know, out until the market recovered which at least historically speaking over the last hundred years, it always has and I certainly would expect that to be the case in the future.

But, you know, you'd have to have that more stable portion to offset that so you didn't have to touch it. So, as you take your required minimum, for instance, each year, you wouldn't pull it from stocks that had, you know, lost value temporarily, you'd wait for those to recover. So, that would be my first choice but I do recognize that there is some risk with that and, you know, every month or every quarter when you open the statement, if we got into a difficult market, you'd have to be comfortable that, you know, your portfolio could be down for a period of time. But remember, those are unrealized losses until something's actually sold.

So, I guess at the end of the day, it would come down to how much do you really place on in terms of the importance of having this guaranteed rate of return and transferring the risk away from yourself to an insurance company and how does that fit into this? Okay, well, I appreciate that. I kind of understand what you're saying. Yeah, and, you know, the good news here, Bob, is it'd be one thing if you said we have a shortfall every month and, you know, we can't pay our bills unless we have, you know, $18,000 a year, you know, $1,500 a month but you're not saying that. You know, you're saying, listen, our bills are covered.

I mean, we're only taking this out because we have to because the government says we have to meet this required minimum. Well, that's good news because that means you can be as conservative as you want to be not taking any unnecessary risk and yet perhaps having a strategy that would outpace the growth of a fixed income product and yet still keep access to your money. So, if you don't have an advisor, I'd go to our website, MoneyWiseLive.org, click find a CKA and interview two or three advisors. See if you can get comfortable with one of them and if not, you could always use the fixed annuity product. We appreciate your call.

Stay with us. More to come on MoneyWise Live. Welcome back to MoneyWise Live. I'm Rob West, your host. Coming up on tomorrow's broadcast, we'll begin the three important social security tips.

That's right. A lot of folks wanting to know, how do I maximize my social security that I'm going to earn down the road? Well, I'll share three ideas that hopefully will help you do just that. That's tomorrow on MoneyWise Live. We're going to head back to the phones here in just a moment to take your calls and questions. 800-525-7000.

That's 800-525-7000. Whatever's on your mind today, we'd love to hear from you. Get in on the conversation and we'll see if we can give you some assistance. Let's head back to the phone.

St. Joseph, Missouri. Hi, Mike. How can I help you?

Hi. Yeah, this used car market is totally crazy. You know, we got an 09 Kia. It's got 240,000 miles on it and I've been trying to keep it running and it runs dependable, but you know, I'd get to the point wondering if I should keep more money, put more money into it and just keep driving it down the road until these used car prices stabilize or what?

Yeah, yeah. Well, what have you spent, if you look back over the last 12 months, how much have you spent on repairs? Probably about $400. That's just out of my pocket because I do all the work myself.

Okay, very good. Well, that sounds reasonable. I mean, the typical rule of thumb is if the repairs are approaching 50% of the car's value, then we absolutely need to start thinking about selling, but you're probably not even anywhere close to that and I think given your skill set, you know, waiting this out might be in your best interest. Cars.com says, our team just looked at this recently, used car prices are still going up, but here's the good news. The rate of climbing has started to taper off. You know, we're talking right now mean listing prices back in August at $24,000.

That was up 35% from last year. So I think if you can wait a few months longer, you may be able to get a better deal because here's what's going to happen. The supply chain will start producing more new cars.

It's been largely because of a chip shortage that new cars have been constrained. As soon as we start seeing more in the supply chain on new vehicles, that's going to lower the demand for late model used cars, which is going to help the used car market to, I think, soften a bit. So I believe, you know, right now, your best option would be to go ahead and wait this out, continue to repair that car as needed, which is never a bad idea, especially if you can do it as reasonably, you know, as you're able to do it, given that you're doing most of the repairs yourself.

So I'd say sit this one out. Let's see if perhaps maybe early next year, you can take another look at this thing, perhaps sell what you've got, and maybe you'll get a better deal on some used cars. We appreciate your call today. 800-525-7000 is the number to call to get in on the conversation. Let's head next to, well again, Spokane, Washington. Mia, how can I assist you?

Hi Rob, thank you for taking my call. I am looking at, I guess, starting my business back up. It was an online company, and I'm just curious what you would think would be a good financial position to be in, I guess, before starting a business, or if there is like an ideal to be at before you before you take on that venture. Sure, Mia, are you going to be able to continue to work in your paid job and kind of do this on the side, or is this something where you'd have to quit and therefore you're losing some income and you've got to go all in? So I do have an option where that would be available, where I would be able to maintain a certain amount of income. I just, yeah, I just wouldn't have a ton, I guess, to invest in the business necessarily if I were to do that.

It's like I would have to work more, essentially, and then it maybe would take away time from working on the business, so it's like finding that balance. Yeah, and you said you've had some experience in this. You've done this exact same thing previously, is that right? Yes, I did it for about nine months in 2020. Okay, and did you stop because of COVID or something else? Yes, I stopped because it was an online company and my accounts actually ended up getting deleted, and so it was just, it ended up basically taking away my marketing because I wasn't spending any for marketing. I just had a good online presence and so was able to just pull from what I had already built, and so going back into this business, I have to factor in, I guess, building from scratch, so I wouldn't just be able to have a business, put it out there, and then essentially just get customers like I did before.

It would be a little bit different this time around. Yeah, and how successful were you? Were you able to build it up to a point where you were generating some meaningful income? Yeah, I was averaging about $2,500 a month and that was just with clients, and then I had like an online book that I was selling as just like a kind of incentive or, you know, kind of free product to get clients in. So it was about $2,500 which it kind of started occurring within like the first three to four months of being, I guess, open or accepting clients. Yeah.

So, I mean, it was successful in that regard. And what about your financial condition at this point? Do you have any consumer debt? How much savings have you built up?

Give me just a quick lay of the land. So, right now, the only debt that I have is about $4,500 for a car loan. But other than that, my monthly bills are about $700 to $800. And my monthly income, well, I am working two jobs right now, but I'm going to be laid off of one of them in December. So my monthly income is about $1,000.

So a little bit extra, but not a lot. And then as far as savings goes, I haven't been able to build up that much because I've been kind of living within my means, but not as much as I would like to, you know? Sure, sure. Well, I think from that standpoint, I mean, that's the biggest challenge. You know, obviously, there's a significant risk in starting a new business.

Good news is this is not something brand new to you. You've kind of been down this road before and you know what it's going to take to make this happen. I mean, the key is you want to go into this with a real solid business plan, not just an idea. What is it going to take to run this business?

And what is the marketing costs? And obviously, you don't have a lot of overhead being an online business, but what is it going to take to generate the leads and the conversions that you need to build up the ongoing recurring revenue, understanding your competition, but then also, you know, knowing that you've got underneath you the financial security and the reserves, the savings to be able to give yourself the time that's appropriate to build it up. Unfortunately, even though you're living very modestly and don't require a whole lot, you don't have that savings. So I think at this point, you know, your best option would be to continue to work, even though it's going to take in these early days, you know, perhaps you're working a bit more than you would prefer to. So you've got that base of income, you don't put yourself in any risk of not being able to cover your bills, and then just slowly start building your online presence. I realize you'd rather put a little more time into that side of the business, but this might be that interim season. If you said, no, I've got a year's worth of savings, I'd say, great, go all in. You've been down this road before, put all the time and energy into building it up as quickly as you can.

But without that, I think you're going to have to kind of work on a hybrid situation. And if the Lord blesses that and you start to build the business, well, the good news is it's not going to take a whole lot of recurring revenue for you to get to break even. So listen, all the best to you. Make sure you make it a matter of prayer and commit everything you do to the Lord. And we appreciate you checking in with us, Mia. All the best.

800-525-7000. More of your calls just around the corner. Stay with us. We're grateful you've joined us today on MoneyWise Live. I'm Rob West, and this is biblical wisdom for your financial decisions.

In just a moment, we'll head back to the phones, but first it's Monday. Bob Dahl joins us each Monday with his market commentary. Bob is chief investment officer at Crossmark Global Investments, where investments and values intersect.

You can learn more at crossmarkglobal.com. And Bob, well, for all intents and purposes, 2021 has been a good year, hasn't it? There's no question. And we had that setback a few weeks ago and the markets just come roaring back. And I think the reason is third quarter earnings, Rob, are coming through as good as can be expected in light of some of the issues to quantify. So far, earnings are exceeding expectations in the quarter by 13%.

That's below the 16% of Q2 and 22% of Q1, but still nicely above the long-term average of 6-8%, depending on your time frame. And this is all happening despite companies dealing with supply chain disruptions, input price pressures, and labor shortages. And the reason the earnings are so good in light of that is because they're raising prices. And I'm sure your listeners will say amen to that as they go shopping. Everything's up in price.

Well, that's exactly right. I mean, we're seeing that just all over this economy. You mentioned supply chain. Any good news to report there? Do you think that that's going to be short-lived? I don't think it'll be short-lived, but I think we'll soon start seeing light at end of some tunnels. Remember, Rob, that the Fed has been saying inflation's transitory. In other words, it's going to pass.

The word persistent crept into the Fed language recently. So I think they're saying these supply disruptions, we're hoping to solve them, but no time real soon. Should investors prepare, Bob, over the next 12 months for increased volatility in your view?

I think so. I mean, my view is while stocks will still outperform bonds and likely be higher, the gains are going to be far more puny than they've been in the last 12 months. And it's going to come with increased volatility both up and down.

So buckle your seat belt another notch or two, but don't give up. Okay, because that's the key. As you say, you're still expecting stocks to outpace bonds. And that means for our long-term money, especially where the purchasing power of our dollars on the sideline is eroding ever so quickly with inflation, we still want to be long-term investors, but with a prudent investment strategy consistent with our goals, right?

Well said. And on the inflation word, inflation's not particularly good for the bond market, but it's more mixed and can be positive at times for stocks. It's another reason with inflation improving or going up, I should say, stocks to beat bonds. Bob, finally today, I know you're excited about the integration of faith and finance. It's what you have the opportunity to do each day as you manage mutual funds that really are faith-based at their core. For investors who are just learning about the opportunity to have their values reflected in their investments, what might you say about this growing space of the investment landscape?

It is growing and that's the excitement. I think to those who are relatively new or just starting to think about it, they have to say, what are my values and do I live all of life with my values? Most people attempt to do that, they often reflect it in where they give their money, but often we don't find investors think about, oh, investing my money should pertain to my values as well.

Line up all aspects of your life, including investments with your values. I love it. Bob, we'll talk to you next week. All the best. All right, God bless you. Bob Doll, Chief Investment Officer of Crossmark Global Investments.

You can learn more at crossmarkglobal.com. Let's head back to the phones where Maria is holding in Youngstown, Ohio. Hi there.

Hello and thank you for taking my call. I've been trying to find out for a while now about veteran student loan forgiveness. Can you tell me specifically to where to find that portion of the public servant information? And then additionally, is that separate than the money that is given to veterans such as a GI Bill for serving? And lastly, are there any other organizations or people that you know that help veterans?

Because I've called even the National Veterans Affairs and that hasn't been a help. Okay. Well, here's what I can tell you. First of all, thank you for your service, Maria. We're grateful. My husband, but thank you. Okay. We'll pass that along to him.

And it sounds like you're doing the legwork on this and that's great. You know, studentaid.gov is kind of the source for the PSLF, the Public Service Loan Forgiveness. Unfortunately, there's not going to be a lot of information there because a lot of what we're seeing related to this program in particular is currently in flux, given that the Biden administration is trying to correct many of the problem areas of this program that really has prevented so many people from getting it. I think we said it earlier on the broadcast, only 5,000 people have even taken advantage of this because it's just been so difficult to meet all the requirements and this program has been fraught with problems.

So they're trying to make it more flexible and more available to more people. But studentaid.gov is the site. You know, the current GI Bill includes, as you probably know, payment for tuition, fees, housing, textbook and supplies. But it's a payment to qualifying students, whereas this program forgives debts that students have already incurred and the military service counts toward the time needed to qualify. And that's one of the things we're seeing very quickly or very clearly, I should say, in the changes that they're looking to make is that that military service counts towards those one hundred and twenty monthly qualifying payments, which is essentially 10 years of on time payment. So that's the good news. And I think the the greater flexibility of who meets that requirement and then can take on this loan forgiveness is the key.

But it wouldn't have anything to do with your GI Bill, because, again, that's going to be a payment, whereas this is going to be on the balance that remains. I think the key is just that you stay up to date with the changes as they're coming down the pike and be ready to apply when he reaches that point. Does that make sense? Yes. Do you know any organizations, though, that can help that? You kind of mentioned that it was a difficult process for some.

Yeah. Well, I don't know of any, but I will tell you, they're trying to make it such that a lot of the problem areas will be resolved and folks will be able to not only get the information they need as to whether they'll qualify, but apply for the forgiveness directly with the Department of Education through StudentAid.gov. So hopefully these changes will really help you all and many, many others who have struggled to get information and be ready to take advantage of it when the time comes. So just stay tuned, watch the news, because there's a lot of articles coming out right now, even just in the last couple of days, because a lot of these changes are currently taking place. And so check back often at StudentAid.gov and hopefully you guys can get that wiped out. And we appreciate, again, your husband's service very much. Let's head to Chicago, Illinois. Hi, Ruth, how can I help you?

Hey, yes. I have some, it's Ameri- America funds that have accrued capital gains over the years and the, my financial advisor or the guy that, you know, does that stuff got them from, he says, you know, he says, you might want to look at selling these with the, what he sees in the market coming up, you know, like back in 2008, that type of deal lost like 30%. And he kind of thinks that eventually we're going to start going down instead of being up like we have over the last several years. And he says, so, you know, to get rid of some of those, and he's suggesting I move it into a different type of fund. But in order to do that, I'm going to, I have to take it out of the fund that's in now, which is going to trigger capital gains. And I'm in a position that I can just gift that to a charity.

So like, how do I do that? Yeah, well, the easiest way to do it, and by the way, let me just affirm this idea, because if you can give it away and avoid that capital gains, and bless the charity and benefit yourself from a tax standpoint, that's absolutely a very effective way to go, you know, so often we think about giving, and we limit that just to cash, when we should be thinking about our balance sheet assets, which is where the 90% of our wealth is, I would contact my friends at the National Christian Foundation, at ncfgiving.com, ncfgiving.com, through a donor advised fund, which is like a charitable checking account that you can open in minutes, you could make a gift of that by just simply transferring that stock or shares of stock or mutual fund directly into your donor advised fund at the National Christian Foundation, it would then be sold and converted to cash. And then you could gift it out to any qualified charity or ministry, literally with the click of a button, you could do it anonymously or in your name.

And it just makes it really simple to do. So they call them giving funds at NCF. And if you go to ncfgiving.com, Ruth, they'll be able to help you with all the information you need to get that fund opened.

And then you can get the shares journaled over and move forward from there. So we appreciate your call today. Quickly to Florida. Eric has been holding. Eric, I have just a few seconds left. How can I help you, sir? Yes, sir. Good evening. So I just wanted to find out, would you be able to tell me, or us, for somebody like me, you know, a new job, part time, I just wanted to know, with everything that I've been hearing about with banks closing and this and that, what is a good bank for beginners to start in to begin with savings and also have some future business plans as well?

I see. Yeah, I would look for, you know, an online bank to get started, because that's going to keep your fees really low. I'd go to nerdwallet.com and bankrate.com. Nerd wallet and wallet and bank rate.

They're constantly rating the banks and can tell you which ones will be the best for you, given what you're looking for and what your balance would be and the features you're looking for. I think that'll get you pointed in the right direction. Eric, thank you for your call today. I want to say thank you to my team, Melody, Dan, Amy and Jim. Thank you for being here.

Money Wise Live is a partnership between Moody Radio and Money Wise Media. Come back and join us tomorrow. I'll be here. God bless you. Bye bye.
Whisper: medium.en / 2023-07-31 08:56:24 / 2023-07-31 09:13:09 / 17

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