The Bible on Borrowing

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That's 800-525-7000. This is MoneyWise Live, biblical wisdom for your financial decisions. Well, you've probably heard ads for mortgage refinancing that offer the option of taking money out at the closing table. They say things like, the money's yours.

Use it any way you want. The problem is it's not true. Taking cash out is really just another form of borrowing. And whenever you borrow, the money isn't yours. You're just renting it for a while, at a price.

But let's be clear about something. While the Bible never calls borrowing a sin, it also never speaks of it in a positive sense. God's Word is full of teaching on how to minimize debt or avoid it altogether because He wants what's best for us.

Is borrowing okay? Well, simply put, when it makes financial sense. For example, a business owner might borrow to expand the operation and increase revenue, but only after due diligence shows it'll increase sales or lower overhead. In other words, the economic return on the amount borrowed should be greater than the cost. Another example might be a car loan. If you need a vehicle for transportation to work, it eventually pays for itself. Just be sure to borrow as little as possible.

And of course, save so you can eventually pay cash for your next car. Borrowing should follow the biblical principle of not presuming on the future. You should only borrow when you have a guaranteed way to pay it back. Something is put up as collateral in case you default. So buying a home would be okay if you have a steady job, 20% for a down payment, and the monthly payment fits within your budget.

The house itself becomes collateral. Now, how would this work with student loans? Well, obviously, you can't put up your head as collateral, but you have a reasonable expectation of paying back those loans because the ultimate goal is to get a better paying job. That means if you're borrowing for education, you have to choose a major that gives you marketable skills, and you have to finish your studies and graduate.

Otherwise, you'll have a lot of trouble paying back those student loans. In many ways, our economy is dependent on debt. In a recession, the government encourages spending to lift us out of it, which also encourages debt.

And this is done as if spending and debt were normal and good. But the Bible makes it clear that debt isn't normal, and God's people should avoid this trap. Proverbs 22, 7 says, The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower becomes slave to the lender.

Unfortunately, some of us have to find that out the hard way, and we often hear from them on the program. If that's you, I want to give you something positive to encourage you. Good things happen when you pay off what you owe and learn to avoid debt. One very positive thing is that the less you owe, the more you're able to answer the Lord's calling for your life. There are many wonderful ways you can be more generous and take on a greater role in advancing God's kingdom when you're free from debt.

No one ever says they wish they could give less. Another biblical principle about borrowing might be described as the shorter the better. Deuteronomy 15 teaches that debts in ancient times weren't to exceed seven years.

Today, most mortgages are for thirty years. But that doesn't mean you can't pay them off early, and we always advise that. Another biblical teaching about borrowing often surprises people because they might not even realize they're doing it. It's co-signing for someone else's loan, which the Bible calls surety. Several verses warn us to avoid surety or co-signing. Proverbs 22 says, Be not one of those who give pledges, who put up security for debts.

If you have nothing with which to pay, why should your bed be taken from under you? You know, a lot of folks think they're just helping out a friend or family member get a loan by co-signing. They often don't realize that by signing that paper, they become just as obligated to pay back the money as if they'd taken out the loan themselves.

The lender absolutely will come after the co-signer if the primary borrower fails to pay, and there's no getting out of it. And that leads us to our last biblical teaching on borrowing. And this is probably the greatest because it involves honesty and integrity, which God demands of his people. It's pay what you owe. Ecclesiastes 5 says, It is better that you should not vow than that you should vow and not fulfill it. And Proverbs 3 says, Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to do it.

So that's some, but certainly not all, of what the Bible says about borrowing. Follow these principles and you'll spare yourself a lot of grief. 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. In just a moment, we'll head to the phone lines, taking your calls and questions on anything financial. What are you thinking about today financially speaking? We'd love to hear from you. The number is 800-525-7000. We've got some lines open.

Again, 800-525-7000. We began today by talking about borrowing, the Bible on borrowing specifically. And we said borrowing is not a sin, but the Bible makes it clear that debt isn't normal and God's people should avoid debt if at all possible and move in the direction of being debt-free over time. Four questions I've shared in the past that you can ask when you're considering a borrowing decision include these. Number one, is the economic return greater than the economic cost? Meaning, I should only borrow for assets that are appreciating. A home would be a great example. A car?

Not so much. Number two, am I presuming upon the future when I take this debt out? Do I have a way to repay? That's the idea of surety. And we know the Bible warns against surety, that is, borrowing without a sure way to repay. Three, am I denying God an opportunity to provide? Am I in a situation where I need to trust the Lord and perhaps be more patient than I might otherwise be by pulling out the credit card or some other form of debt to alleviate a problem area in my finances?

Do I need to just depend on the Lord and perhaps wait it out? Maybe that is the right direction. And then fourth, do I have unity with my spouse? You know, we always want to make sure you have complete unity before making any borrowing decision.

And I think those four questions in particular might help you make a better decision before you take out any loans. All right, we've got some lines open. We're going to head to the phones here today. 800-525-7000. Kenyatta is in Cleveland, Ohio. And Kenyatta, thank you for calling. How can I help you?

Yes, I love your show and I love getting all the information I can get. I currently have a large student loan and I am working at a school and I'm in the loan forgiveness program. I'm five years in and I wanted to know would it be necessary to pay off the loan now or wait until the loan forgiveness has been approved completely after working there for 10 years? Yeah. Well, I think you ought to.

Well, let me ask this. Are your payments in deferment currently or are you actually making on-time payments right now? Yes, I'm making on-time payments and they're really low payments.

It's like under 50. And so when I when I make these payments that counts towards the 120 payments for the 10 years and my credit score is like under 650. And I know you need like a good credit score to buy a home and I've run into my loan being a negative factor into purchasing a home. And I'm thinking, but it's good debt, but it's actually not.

Sure, sure. Well, I think a couple of things. Number one is if you are on track for loan forgiveness and you've read all the fine print and believe you're teaching at a school that qualifies, you're making those on-time 120 payments, which is essentially 10 years, then that program is for you. And I would say take full advantage of it. You obviously want to make sure that you're doing everything you need to do to qualify. And what a lot of folks have run into is they haven't read the fine print or they don't understand fully the program. They think they're on track to receive it.

And then in the end, they don't. I'm not saying that's necessarily the case for you. Just be sure that you understand whether or not you do qualify.

But if you do, I just stay on your current path. In terms of what you might do while you're continuing to just pay on the scheduled monthly payment, which as you said is fairly low and you're still only halfway toward loan forgiveness, is look at other kinds of debt that you can take on. Well, not debt, but other borrowing that you could establish but not incur any interest because you wouldn't carry a balance. So a good example would be either a secured or unsecured credit card, Kenyatta, where you would have a budgeted monthly charge that would hit that account against something you're already planning on spending. I'm not encouraging you to spend money you wouldn't otherwise spend, but where you'd automatically then just come in and pay that off every month.

You'd carry no balance. That would give you a couple of things. Number one, establish another account with an on-time payment record, which is the paramount thing. That's 35% of your score. It would allow you to have a bigger credit mix. So that's 10% of your score is the fact that with this installment loan on the student loans, now you'd be adding, if you don't already have a credit card, you'd be adding revolving debt. And then you would also be able to establish a lower credit utilization because any accounts that are added that have a limit where you're not carrying a balance or any charges that are paid off are very small, it's going to show a very low credit utilization, which is another major factor in your credit report. And I think a combination of one just time you establishing this on-time payment record year after year is going to just in and of itself build your credit file as you get more history. And then by establishing different types of credit and a low credit utilization, all that is going to work in your favor over time to get you to a place where that credit score will be above 640 and begin to move into the ranges where you would qualify for the top tier loans when you are ready to buy a house. And I would say, make sure when you do that, you don't buy too much house and make sure you have at least 20% down, but I wouldn't necessarily try to accelerate the payoff of that loan that's going to be forgiven. I would just look at other things that you can do to bolster your credit score along the way.

Does that make sense to you? That sounds really great. I really thank you for that. A secured credit card. I would definitely look into where I can make sure I get that. Thank you so much.

If you want to go to two websites, nerdwallet.com, funny name but a great resource, nerdwallet.com or creditcards.com, you can look at the various banks offering secured cards where you'd put a couple hundred dollars on deposit, they'd issue you a credit card with that amount on deposit as the limit and then you could charge again budgeted items, pay it off every month, but you want to make sure you have one with no fees and that's what you'll find when you look on NerdWallet to see who has the very best programs right now. So check that out if we can help you again along the way. Don't hesitate to reach out. We appreciate your call today.

800-525-7000 is the number to call. We're going to pause for a brief break, but when we come back, more of your questions, thoughts and comments today as we apply God's word to your financial decisions. What are you dealing with in your financial life? Is it student loans like Kenyatta, looking for ways to pay those off? Are you trying to also like Kenyatta think about your credit score? How can I keep that up and yet follow biblical principles, not get in debt, but yet be a part of the world system and make sure that I have something that's going to allow me to make good decisions.

We'll tackle all that and more. 800-525-7000. Thanks for tuning into MoneyWise Live, biblical wisdom for your financial decisions. I'm Rob West, your host.

So glad to have you along with us today. You know, we get a lot of calls from folks asking about their credit score. How do you improve your credit score? And obviously the key is making on-time payments, number one, keeping those balances low. In fact, we encourage you for certainly revolving balances like credit cards to keep those balances at zero. Only use your card for budgeted items and pay it off. Have a good credit mix, establish a long history.

All that's going to work to your advantage. But something a lot of folks don't realize is a relatively new service that was offered by Experian called Experian Boost. Where essentially for free, you get credit for the on-time payments that you've made to your phone company, for other utilities, even for popular streaming services. So they essentially go in on a read-only basis, pull this information in. You don't give them any bank credentials or anything like that. And they store a record of any qualifying on-time payments which will result in a boost to your credit score. So that may be something to check out if that's something you're looking for. Again, it's called Experian Boost and you can learn more at Experian.com.

It's absolutely free. Alright, we're going to head back to the phones today. We've got several lines open. 800-525-7000. That's 800-525-7000.

K is in the New York region. K, thank you for calling. How can I help you? Yes, hi, Rob.

Thank you for taking my call and I listen to you all the time. I have a question about the company that I work for. With the 401k, they're switching it to another company. And I want to know if they're able to do that and wonder if I want to stay with the same company that my previous 401k is in. Could I stay at the same company for my 401k or do I have to switch to what my company has just picked up? Well, your company has the right to determine who the planned administrator is and they do change, although it doesn't typically happen very often.

It certainly is something that happens periodically and it sounds like that's the situation that you're in. So you are going to need to move over if you want to continue to participate in the plan. But there are a couple of things you should do to make sure you are ready for this changeover.

Number one is I would do somewhat of a thorough assessment. Learn what has changed, what your new options will be, including the investment options. And pay attention, Kay, to the matching contributions so you understand if there's been any change in terms of what your company is going to match moving forward. You'll want to look at the required plan change notices. Find out if any of your funds will be moved to the new plan and that is the investment fund options.

And if not, make the changes you need to make. This is a great opportunity, Kay, as well, to look at your portfolio's fund allocation and risk. And what I mean is, what are the various investment options in the new plan?

If some of them are moving over, even if you're able to stay in what you already have, make sure it's still the right fit based on your age and risk tolerance and what your objectives are. Because if you're, for instance, invested too aggressively for where you're at, kind of in the life cycle of your investments, then this is a good time to get more conservative or vice versa. So just take a look at your total fund allocation. And if the match is going away, this may be a time for you to look at new contributions going into a traditional or a Roth IRA where you can take advantage of a lower fee structure and more investment options. Also, there's often a blackout period where there's a change in the plan's record keeper. So you'll want to print out your account balances prior to the change and then compare it to the new balance when the blackout is lifted. And just make sure that you still have all the same information there, same number of shares or at least the balance that you had prior to that changeover. So bottom line is, yeah, if your company's moving, you're going to need to go with it, but it's a time to make sure you're up to speed on the new plan, make sure you have some documentation on what you had in the old plan, and then check those investments to see where you should be allocated moving forward in a way that's a good fit for you.

Does all that make sense? Yeah, I just kind of wish that they wouldn't have moved because I've been there like over 40 years and now all of a sudden we have a whole new full 1K administrators per se. And I'm like, well, who are these people? So yes, I just hope it's a really good company. Yeah, nothing to be concerned about. I'm sure it is a great company.

There's probably a good reason they made the change. So it's a little bit of a hassle just to get up to speed with the new company and the new format of the statements and new logins on websites and all that kind of stuff, but that'll be behind you in no time and I'm sure you'll get all situated in the new plan. So we appreciate your call. If you have other questions along the way, give us a buzz. 800-525-7000, Johnny is in Wisconsin. Go right ahead, sir.

Hey, Johnny, you're on MoneyWise Live. Go ahead. Okay. What question do you want answered?

Or what question do you want me to ask? Well, my producer told me you had a question about passing a family farm on. Is that right? That's correct.

Go right ahead. My, you know, my dream is that I'd be able to pass that on to our children. And the concern is that they not get overwhelmed with an estate assessment so they can't afford to accept it.

Yeah, well, that shouldn't be an issue. You know, number one, just the state laws in general in terms of taxation, but also there in the state of Wisconsin, they have some tax laws that are particularly friendly to farmers. Essentially, Johnny, the way this works is your estate would only be taxable for federal estate taxes if the value was more than $11.7 million in 2021. Wisconsin doesn't have a state inheritance tax.

And the farmland is not taxed on its market value, but on the potential income it could produce, and that's to protect the Wisconsin farm. So what I would do is visit with your, if you have an estate planning attorney who you've worked with in the past to perhaps put a will in place or durable power of attorney or something like that, just to review your wishes and talk about your intentions and then make sure that the questions are answered that you have and that the planning supports what you're trying to accomplish. And whether this needs to be in a trust or not, that your will is up to date and everything's titled properly.

And if you have a trust that the farm's in the name of the trust and all of those things so that it passes in a manner that's efficient, but you're likely not going to have any issues in terms of estate tax here. But this is a good reminder just to get in front of that attorney and make sure everything's up to date. I'd also like to send you a book to help you process some of these decisions from a biblical standpoint. It's by our good friend Ron Blue.

It's called Splitting Errors. It's the best book on biblical wealth transfer out there. Stay on the line. We'll get your information and send you that as our gift today. We appreciate your call, sir. 800-525-7000. More of your calls just after this.

Stay with us. Thanks for joining us today on Money Wise Live, biblical wisdom for your financial journey. I'm Rob West, your host. We've got a few lines open today.

800-525-7000. Hey, we're headed toward year-end, which means it's a great opportunity for you to think about your year-end giving, which many folks do this time of year. And we'd love for you to prayerfully consider Money Wise Media as a part of that. We are listener supported as a 501c3 not-for-profit ministry. And what we do on the air and in the app and with our coaches and through all of the ways that we equip God's people to handle money, that's all as a result of your generous support.

And so if you would prayerfully consider supporting us this time of year, we'd certainly be grateful. The quickest and easiest way to do that is to head to our website, moneywiselive.org. That's moneywiselive.org and you can click the donate button and we would certainly be grateful.

If you'd like to call, you can do that. When you click the donate button, you'll find a phone number there. You can also get more information about sending a gift to our P.O. Box in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It's all there, moneywiselive.org. Click the donate button. Thanks in advance. All right, let's head back to the phones.

Wichita, Kansas. Hey, Mike, how can I help you today? How you doing, Rob?

Thanks for taking my call. Basically, my question is about four years ago, I entered into a timeshare where we received points every year. And since that time, I originally purchased with the intent of letting my kids use it and some other people. And it's just really not panning out that well. They haven't had time and things to take advantage of it. And I'm wanting to know how you feel about some of the exit strategies, some of the companies out there that are offering the opportunity to get out from underneath these things.

Yeah. You know, I'm not a huge fan. I mean, this whole space is just kind of fraught with scams. Doesn't mean they're all scammers out there, but I've just not found one that I was particularly excited about.

You will hear some promoted and, you know, in various places, but I've just not had enough positive experience with any of them to feel like we could recommend them. I think the first step is always to reach out to the developer or whoever you bought the timeshare from just to see if they can help you think about and explore any legal exit opportunities. You know, typically, it's challenging just because it's a supply and demand issue. There's more people in the spot you're at than there are people seeking these out. And anybody who's looking to buy, they're looking to sell them to new folks, not create a market for existing timeshares. So what do you do? Well, trying to resell it out there on the open market, you know, can be somewhat effective.

I won't say it's easy. The best website or forum for that is called TUG, T-U-G, and you can find that online at tug.com. That's the Timeshare Users Group, and you can look at ways to sell your timeshare or rent it out there as well. There's also eBay and other websites will list these, and the sharing platforms can be a reasonably successful place to sell it on the resell market. But you've got to expect to take a hit on it just in terms of you're going to be selling it at a discount. Obviously, apart from that, you don't want to just stop payments if you've committed to making them. Not only do I think that's not honoring your commitments, but it could create some real challenges as well from a credit standpoint and otherwise.

You can look at gifting it or listing it in a local paper, trying to find a local realtor that might to specialize in timeshares who might be able to help you get out of it. But in terms of one of the companies that offered to do this for you, unfortunately, again, I'm not going to say they're all bad, but I've just not had enough experience to be able to endorse any of them. Does that make sense to you? Absolutely, and I appreciate your response. Okay. Listen, all the best to you. If you have some success, give us a call back and let us know how you did it, and we'll hope that that is in fact the direction you had, Mike. Chattanooga, Tennessee. Hey, Ricky.

How can I help you? Yes, sir. I took some advice and went to the annualcreditreport.com, got my three reports. But online, I was having a problem with Equifax getting the ID verification, and I was able to get it through the other two and got those reports. But I didn't meet the verification, and their solution online was for me to mail in a copy of my license and my Social Security card through the mail to be able to get my report. And I didn't want to do that and didn't know if there was another way to deal with this issue of ID and fee verification.

Yeah. Unfortunately, there's not, Ricky. Annualcreditreport.com is the site to go to. They can only give you your credit reports after they've verified your identity because federal law strictly limits access to consumer credit reports, and so it requires ID verification. And we have heard from plenty of folks that have run into problems with this trying to verify their identity online, and their solution, to your point, is to order it the old-fashioned way by mail. But it does require that you provide them the documentation to in fact verify it through the mail if it can't be done electronically. So you'd have to use that form and provide the information you'd need. And I understand you may have some concerns about that, and I wouldn't argue with you that there is the potential that information could be compromised. But unfortunately, if you're going to be able to get it, that's going to be the way to go.

The only other option would be just to give it a little time and try that online identity verification again to see if you can't get that to go through by providing the necessary information. It's going to take a couple of weeks if you do it by the mail at a minimum, and you are going to have to provide that information. I wish I had better information for you. Two out of three isn't bad, but I'd like the idea that you can get your hands on that third one just to make sure there's not information on that report that's not showing on the others. Do you follow all that?

Yes, sir. What it was is my dad and I had the same name. He passed away, and some of the information for the ID verification was his, and because I didn't know his information, it kicked me out.

I can understand that, and that's a real problem with family members that share a name, and that can easily be confused in the credit files. Unfortunately, there's not going to be a quick fix for this. You may try to call them and see if they can update the information in the file, but it is going to require that you provide the needed documentation. Listen, I'd say keep at it, and you may find at the end of the day you are going to have to send that information through the mail if you want to get the file. We appreciate you checking in with us. If you have some success, give us a call back and let us know how you did it.

800-525-7000, Chicago, Illinois. Luxon, you have just a minute left. How can I help you? Hi, Rob.

Thanks for taking my call. I've been making additional payments to reduce the term of my mortgage, and so far it's been decreasing tremendously, but I'm also wanting to invest. I don't know if the rate I'm investing right now is appropriate and at what point do I need to reduce to just very minimum on the mortgage and then focus more on investing.

What is your age, Luxon? About 30. Okay, and what percent of your income are you putting toward long-term investments, retirement? Right now I have a margin for 1K, and I put 10%.

10%. Okay, let's do this. We're going to pause for a quick break.

If you'll hold the line, then just around the corner I'll come back, finish this question, and give you my thoughts on it. And then Bob Dahl will join us as well from Crossmark Global Investments with his market commentary. That and more on MoneyWise Live. Stay with us. We're grateful you've joined us today for MoneyWise Live, biblical wisdom for your financial decisions.

I'm Rob West, your host, and just before the break, we were talking to Luxon in Chicago, Illinois. Luxon's been making some additional payments on his mortgage, trying to get that principal down, and well, it's been going in the right direction, but he's wondering, should he at 30 years old be focusing more heavily on long-term investments than getting that mortgage paid off? And Luxon, these are both great priorities. I mean, we should be intentional about saving for the future. I love the idea that you're prioritizing even at 30 years old, getting that mortgage paid off.

Those are both great. I think the key is you don't want to miss really powerful years where compounding can really be your friend over the long haul, even though I love the fact that you would accelerate this mortgage payoff. So I think the best option, assuming you've got an emergency fund, assuming you don't have high-interest consumer debt, I think the best option is to make sure that you're putting away an appropriate percentage of your income every month.

And then with additional surplus, assuming you don't have any other giving priorities, I would say then absolutely continue to accelerate that mortgage payoff. So what is that appropriate percent of your take-home pay you should be putting away for long-term savings? And I would say 10 to 15 percent would be a good target, especially at your age. Now, you said with the match and with what you're currently using through salary deferral going into retirement is around 10 percent.

So I would say you're already kind of right there in that range. I think, if anything, perhaps looking at bumping that up to as much as 15 percent, but that with any extra, go ahead and opt back for accelerating that mortgage, which I think is another worthy goal. Now, if you had a real conviction to be debt-free as soon as possible, I'd say let's just leave it right at the 10 percent and keep doing what you're doing. But if you say, I'm struggling with maybe I should have a little bit more, I would say bumping up to the 15 percent is not a bad idea. Apart from all of that, the other option, which I always encourage, is to do some planning just to determine what is your ultimate goal based on some reasonable assumptions and the lifestyle that you believe God's called you to. So that you can actually take what you've accumulated and run that out for the next 35 years or so until retirement, just to say, are you on track ahead or behind? And not just use some rules of thumb of 10 to 15 percent, but use a real number that syncs up with what your ultimate goal is. Does that all make sense, though? Yeah, it does. And that was the follow-up question I had was, at what point do I need a planner or an investment advisor?

Yeah. Well, you may not need an investment advisor if most of this is in your 401k, but I think you could benefit from a plan. Because at 30 years old, going in once a year just to say, what are we trying to accomplish and what are reasonable assumptions and what have I missed from a risk standpoint and an investment standpoint, insurance, looking across the broad landscape. And then the other real benefit to an advisor is you can't hold yourself accountable. If you say, this is the lifestyle I believe God's called me to and here's my giving goals, this is what I want to do on the investment side. And then you come in for a periodic checkup and they say, well, this is what you told me, but this is what you're doing. Let's talk about why that is.

That's accountability. We all can benefit from that. So I'd say stay on the path you're on, perhaps allocate a little more toward long-term savings, but this is a great time to do some planning with a financial planner. And, Luxon, I hope that's helpful to you. We appreciate your call today. Before we take our next phone call, it's Monday, which means Bob Doll, our good friend, is here. Bob is Chief Investment Officer at Crossmark Global Investments, where investments and values intersect.

You can learn more at crossmarkglobal.com, including where Bob's funds are managed that you can read more about. But, Bob, I know you are going to share a quick market update. And in your Doll's deliberations this week, I saw the headline was, The Equity Market High Wire Act Continues.

Explain that for us. Yeah, so basically arguing that stocks are not particularly cheap and a lot of things have to go right for stocks to keep advancing, but they are. And so the high wire act is working. But, you know, we've said for some time now, we expect more bumps, more volatility in both directions. And, you know, last week was a perfect example. You had the growth stocks up, but the value stocks down. You had the Dow Jones Industrial average down, but the NASDAQ was up. Today was the opposite.

Dow was up 17 points and the NASDAQ was down 200 points. So we're going to have a lot of this rotation as investors and markets try to figure out what's going to happen next. Yeah, no doubt about it. And I assume, Bob, it's going to be closely tied to whether or not corporate earnings can continue to outperform, huh?

Hear, hear. I mean, the third quarter earnings, as we reviewed on these calls, came in better than expected yet again, and that's kept the market buoyant. The question is, will the inflation and cost pressures that all of us, including corporate America, are facing be able to be passed through in price increases? And my guess is that will move to some, but not all, and earnings will turn a little bit more mixed and that will turn the market a little bit more mixed.

Yeah, very good. Bob, talk to us about bonds. You know, for somebody who's out there who's relying on a fixed income portfolio and trying to figure out, you know, I keep hearing we should underweight bonds and we're going to see an increase in interest rates, which is not necessarily good for the bond market, although longer term that means yields will be up. How do we wrap our hands around where the bond market's headed and what that means for our portfolios? Assuming the economy stays okay and inflation stays stubborn, meaning on the high side, even if it falls some from where we've been going, none of that is great news for the bond market. So my view continues to be, have as little in bonds as you can, be careful of how long your duration and maturities are, and try to get your income if you need it elsewhere, meaning in the stock market. And that's not the panacea as we've just talked about.

I think returns in general for the broad-based assets of stocks, bonds and cash over the next few years, Rob, are going to be less than the last few years, and so we've got to just reduce our expectations a bit, sadly. Okay. Alrighty.

Well, that's helpful, Bob. I assume, last question, and I saw a note about this in your deliberations, that you're expecting some of the supply chain issues to continue to ease in the days ahead? Yes, slowly but surely. They're going to be around for quarters to come, Rob, but it's still an issue.

Let's hope it becomes less of one because it's put a lot of people in difficult places. Very good. Alright, Bob, happy Thanksgiving to you, my friend. We'll talk to you next week. Sounds great. Talk in December. Okay, take care. Bob Doll, Chief Investment Officer at Crossmark Global Investments. Again, crossmarkglobal.com is the place to learn more. Let's head right back to the phones.

Austin, Texas. Hey, Ben, thanks for holding, sir. How can I help you?

Hey, so I've got kind of an interesting question for you. So, unfortunately, my dad has made some pretty bad choices and found himself in federal prison. And before all of this happened, through the process of getting charged and all that, he appointed me as power of attorney over his retirement accounts. So long story short, he has an annuity, and one of the finance institutions, Fidelity, just realized his situation and they're cutting ties, which makes sense, I guess. So it's about 80 grand worth of money in this annuity. And I just was wondering the best direction to do with this money. It sounds like we need to withdraw it from them. And so I don't know if it makes sense to transfer it to myself and my sisters in our retirement accounts or transfer it to another retirement account that's in his name. That's pretty much what's going on. Yeah, it makes sense. I think the key here, and I'm really sorry to hear about your situation, we'll certainly be praying for your dad that the Lord will meet him there.