Marriage Communication

The late French novelist Andre Morois once said, a happy marriage is a long conversation, which always seems too short.

Hi, I'm Rob West. Open and honest communication between husband and wife is a key factor in the success of a marriage. All the more so when the topic is money. I'll talk about that with Howard Dayton today, and then it's on to your calls at 800-525-7000.

That's 800-525-7000. This is MoneyWise Live, biblical wisdom for your financial decisions. Well, it's always a joy to introduce the guy who used to sit in this chair. Howard Dayton, former host of this program, is also the founder of Compass Finances God's Way and a great, great friend. Howard, welcome back. Wonderful to be with you again, Rob.

Always enjoy it, Howard. In your book, Money and Marriage God's Way, you stress the importance of talking with your spouse. I know this has been an important part of your teaching, Howard, for a long, long time, and you tell an interesting story in that book about your neighbors. Why don't you lead off with that today?

Yeah, sure thing, Rob. I got a text from my neighbor, Carlos, asking me to schedule an urgent meeting with he and his wife, Elsa. So the next morning we met, and they described their challenges. Carlos said we went into problems whenever we try to discuss money.

We both know we've got to get beyond this because our financial situation isn't healthy, and also really for the sake and probably survival of our marriage. And it turns out, Carlos had been raised by parents who never discussed money in front of their children, so he tended to withdraw and refuse to talk if he sensed a conflict coming up. On the other hand, Elsa's parents constantly fought over finances, and so she would react angrily when Carlos wouldn't discuss their money situation. And I told them, you just can't have a great marriage and unity in your finances without great communication. So I asked them, have you heard what Jesus said in the book of Matthew?

Every household divided against itself will not stand. And Rob, I went on to explain that the key to not being divided is to communicate well with each other and to know what God says about money and marriage. That's so true, Howard, and we'll unpack that as we go along today. But first, Howard, how can married couples jumpstart this effective communication you're describing?

That's a great question, Rob. Asking questions is a tangible way of demonstrating that you care, that you want to understand what your spouse feels. But that's not enough. The biggest step we can take to improve our communication is to improve our listening skills. So if we want our spouse to freely share with us, we must give undivided attention, maintain eye contact, and be careful that you don't fall prey to the temptation to jump in while our partner's talking. And it's so often we just don't really listen. But we're thinking about what quick solution we can present as soon as the other person starts talking. But respectful listening, Rob, really is key to understanding your spouse's feelings and needs. So many conflicts result from mistaken assumptions about what others really mean. So ask as many questions as necessary until you really fully understand the other's viewpoint. And you want to be patient. And don't interrupt. And as you're working on your listening skills, you're actually building the foundation for cooperation and problem solving in a much healthier marriage. Well, I couldn't agree more.

You hit on something, Howard, that I want you to talk a bit more about. You said that you need to say what you really mean when your spouse asks a question. Why is that so important?

Well, it's just huge. It's absolutely important. So many people are afraid to expose their real feelings, Rob, even their spouse. Someone might say, I don't want to use a budget because it's a hassle when what they're really meaning is I'm afraid a budget is going to stop me from spending what I want. But that honest sharing of feelings enables us to identify the differences between husband and wife so that they can talk through them.

And this really creates the kind of atmosphere that it takes to grow a healthier marriage. And that's exactly the problems that Elsa expressed. But Carlos was facing a very different problem. He said it always seemed like Elsa wanted him to talk about money when he was exhausted.

He just didn't feel like dealing with it. Yes. Well, this is such a critical topic, Howard. When we come back from our break, we'll talk about money dates, how you overcome different backgrounds and much more. Stay with us. We'll be right back.

Welcome back to the program. I'm Rob West, your host. Joining me today, my good friend Howard Dayton, former host of this program and founder of Compass, finance is God's way. We're talking about one of Howard's favorite topics, and that's money and marriage. By the way, if you haven't checked out his book by that title, Money and Marriage, God's Way, you need to pick it up. And Howard, you're giving us some practical ideas and thoughts on how we can improve our communication around money in marriage. You talked about having a money conversation, and you say in your teaching that picking the right time and place to talk about money is really important.

Unpack that for us. Well, it really is, Rob. Ecclesiastes 3 tells us there's a time to be silent and a time to speak. So I told this dear couple, Carlos and Elsa, turn off your phones, turn off the TV, get away from any other distractions and pick a time when you're not tired or stressed out and certainly not just after paying the bills. You know, make sure that you talk in person. Try to solve conflicts by email or texting. Neither of these allow you to observe the other's body language and heart, which is a huge part of communication. And thankfully, both Carlos and Elsa agreed with this approach.

I'm sure they did, and I'm sure it was very helpful. Howard, honesty is obviously a cornerstone to all of this. It's critical for a marriage to succeed, and that certainly extends to the topic of money. But this idea of honesty is a real breakdown for many couples in this area, isn't it?

It sure is, Rob. Unfortunately, you get this nearly 55 percent of couples hide financial assets from each other. Some people think that the seething they're made about spending their financial decisions is really nothing more than a harmless secret, an innocent little white lie.

But it's deadly to their relationship. Proverbs 12, 22 doesn't mince words. It says lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, but those who act faithfully are his delight. So if you've not disclosed debt, for instance, that you have to your spouse, first pray that the Lord would prepare him or her to receive this news well. Then secondly, develop a plan to pay off the debt, then meet with your spouse, express your desire to be completely transparent, completely honest, disclose the debt and the plan to pay it off, seek forgiveness and ask your spouse to meet with you. And I think this is really important every single week for a money date to review your finances so that this will never happen again.

Yeah, boy, that's such great counsel. Howard, you've been telling us this story that comes from your book Money and Marriage God's Way about your neighbors, Carlos and Elsa. You mentioned that they came from different backgrounds. This is so common with a married couple, especially as it relates to money in terms of how money was handled growing up, how much money each person had. And this is something that couples really have to overcome, isn't it?

It sure is, Rob. Sometimes our reluctance to talk about finances or our hesitation to be honest about what we're doing with money comes from patterns in our family as we were growing up. And if one or both of the spouses was previously married, there's actually a tendency to impose on your new spouse some of the emotional baggage of your former mate. If your previous spouse spent too much or wasn't a good provider, do not presume that your new spouse will act in that same way. We need to be very careful not to distrust a new spouse because of what happened in an earlier marriage.

Yeah, well, that's great counsel. Now, Howard, you've mentioned this idea of money dates a couple of times already today. I'd love for you to describe what that looks like, because if somebody is going to begin a new rhythm as it relates to communication and marriage around money, I think this is a big idea. What is a money date? Well, it's a time once a week that's convenient time for both of you to get together and focus on your finances by doing this, by praying together. Secondly, review your income and spending for the week.

And third, by celebrating the progress that the Lord enables you to make. Money dates are not the place to argue, try to change your spouse's mind. It's really a fact-finding time where both of you can get on the same page of here we are financially, and here's our plan to improve our finances. And I love a money date because they establish the habit of that regular financial conversations when there's no crisis. Many couples don't really begin that conversation about money unless it's a problem and the panic button's already been punched. And that's really when tension can reach the boiling point in a hurry, when blame and defensiveness can take over, gets really personal, can be hurtful, with couples even screaming at each other instead of working to solve the problem. Yeah. What would you typically bring to a money date? I mean, is this a time to actually review the budget, the spending to that point in the month, and then look forward to anticipate things that are coming?

Talk about some of the key ingredients there. Yeah. It's the practical blocking and tackling, Rob.

You're exactly right. See where you are on the budget, what's been spent, any surprises, any pleasant surprises on how you've been able to handle your money, what's our income, does that look stable? I mean, all the basic things that a couple needs to wrestle to the ground, but your cornerstone of that meeting is your budget and progress on the budget and having a financial statement which can be updated to really encourage the couple, Lord willing, to see that they're getting out of debt or their savings increasing or their givings increasing, those things which are really key to having a successful marriage. Yeah.

No doubt. I suspect, Howard, there's a prayer element to a money date as well. This has been something you've taught on for a long time as it relates to money and marriage. Talk to us about the importance of prayer here.

It's huge. I love, Rob, what Matthew 18, 19 through 20 tells us. If two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven, Jesus speaking, for where two or three come together in my name, there I am also.

And just think about this. The husband and wife, when there's unanimity in agreement, they're praying for a particular issue, the Lord tells us, you know, where two or three are gathered in my name, it'll be done for you. I mean, it's one of the greatest promises from my point of view in all of Scripture, particularly as it relates to the husband and wife relationship centered around money. Yeah, there's no question about it. And Howard, when we get this area of our lives right, it's so much bigger for the marriage than money, isn't it?

It really is. And, you know, Rob, people ask me, you know, what motivates you, you know, teaching people what God says about money, is getting people out of debt or getting them on a budget and all that's great. But really, my life versus Luke 1611, if therefore you have not been faithful in the use of worldly wealth or money, who will entrust the true riches to you? And the true riches, of course, is that personal, intimate relationship with Christ.

And so as the husband and wife individually and together, handle their money in a way that pleases the Lord, according to God's Word, the byproduct of that is that they're going to fall more deeply in love with Christ and each other. I love it. Howard, thank you for stopping by, my friend. This has been a blessing. Loved it, Rob. Lord bless you.

You too. Howard Dayton has been our guest today. You can read a lot more on this topic in his book, Money and Marriage, God's Way. Your calls are next, 800-525-7000. That's 800-525-7000. This is MoneyWise Live, biblical wisdom for your financial journey.

Stay with us. Welcome back to MoneyWise Live, biblical wisdom for your financial decisions. I'm Rob West, your host, delighted to have you along with us today, taking your calls and questions on anything financial. We'd love to hear from you. The number is 800-525-7000.

That's 800-525-7000. Whatever's on your mind today, financially speaking, we'd love to hear from you. And give us a call. We have a few lines open. Let's head right to the phones.

First up today in Baltimore, Maryland. Hi, Lynn. Thank you for calling. How can I help you? Hi, how are you? Very well, thanks. Great. And thank you so much for your program. My family's really benefited from it. It's a blessing. I appreciate that.

I'm looking to change careers and I'm looking for a part-time work-from-home job so I can be home with my children more. And I was offered an opportunity to work for a company where I would sell term life insurance and also create snowball method type debt repayment plans and retirement plan. Does that make sense?

It does. Sure. I just have two concerns about it. One is the company has an MLM, multi-level marketing structure, and I wanted to see if you would be concerned about working for that type of company. And secondly, they only do term life, which is all I would buy based on your recommendations. But am I myself off by only selling term life? Should I look into a company that sells whole and universal as well?

Yeah, that's a great question. Well, first of all, I'm not against multi-level structures in and of themselves. I think you have to be careful because there are good and bad multi-level marketing companies. You know, one of the hallmarks of a bad multi-level marketing company is that they require you to buy some type of expensive starter kit or perhaps sales videos.

They hound you to buy more and make you spend a lot of money to kind of get going. And it's really more about what they're selling to you than they are anything else. When it comes to financial services where these models are in place, a lot of times you just have to be careful that you're not selling a subpar product. You need to make sure that you really do believe in the product that's being offered both in terms of what the product is as well as the pricing that goes along with it. So are you selling something that either in the case of an investment typically has subpar returns or in the case of an insurance product is more expensive than you might find out there on the open market?

So I would be looking at that. But in terms of whether or not I would be comfortable with you being in the insurance business and only having term life to sell, I think that's completely fine. I mean that would be the product that I would recommend for the vast majority of people just because it really is that pure insurance as we talk about on this program so often where you're able to get the coverage you need with the least cost possible because you're not trying to mix your savings and your insurance. So you get the adequate coverage you need to protect your family usually 10 to 12 times your income if that's what you're looking to replace at a minimum. And then you go up from there if you want to try to cover a mortgage or college education something like that. There are cases for permanent insurance. Often that would be where you have a lifelong dependent or something like that. But for the vast majority of people, you're going to have plenty of folks to sell term life insurance to and I think it will be the most appropriate and very best solution for them.

So that part doesn't concern me. So I think then we're back to do you really believe in the company that you're working for? Have you done your due diligence to make sure that they get good reviews and are highly rated? What about customer service? How are they going to support you? And are those products you're selling genuinely the very best thing for your client in terms of the rating of the insurance company and the price structure that's behind it?

And if you felt good about that, then I would say go right ahead. A lot of times what they're looking for is they know that there's going to be a lot of people flowing in and out and so they are counting on you getting your friends and family and they don't expect you to stick this with it that long because that's just their model. So again, I think if you've done your homework and you really feel like this is a great company for you to be with, then I would say there's no problem with either at the core it being multi-level or secondly that you only have term life insurance. But give me your thoughts on that.

I think that makes sense. I've done some research on the company and someone I can tell is reliable and has good rates. I didn't look into their retirement plans too much, so I'll do that. And I do feel like term is the best for most people. I didn't think about permanent life, so I appreciate that.

So I think a little more research wouldn't hurt, but I do feel more comfortable going ahead with it and giving it a try. What are the startup costs? Are they requiring you to pay for training or anything like that or is all of that covered by the company itself? They say they pay for the training and the testing.

I'm currently studying for my insurance exam. They do require, I think it's $25 a month for their online database. And then there was a startup cost around $50 or $75 to sign up to get into the company. Yeah, well that seems fairly minimal. So I think, again, none of that concerns me. I think at the end of the day, it's just going to come down to do you really feel like you have a great product that you can be proud to represent and tell everybody about as you're out there in the marketplace. And if you do, then I'd say proceed. That should be a great place for you to be. We appreciate your call. Thanks for your kind remarks and for listening to the program. Sonia is in Georgetown, Texas, it looks like.

Sonia, go right ahead. Thank you. My house has gone up in the last two years, $220,000. So I thought of refinancing the refinance they're giving me is a 4.3 because of the changes in the last week.

There's one for 2.5, I mean 4.25 and 4.35. Now I want to take money out, so that will be the reason for the refinance because I would like to be able to pay the credit cards, just be without debt, get out of debt, and get some cash left for whatever ventralities come up, put it in some kind of interest rate. So I was wondering if that's the wise idea, if it's good to do, you will mean going from 20 to 20, 220,000 going to 270,000. Okay.

Well, there's a lot to unpack there. So I'm going to ask you to hold, we're going to pause and take a brief break. When we come back, we'll talk about all aspects of this. Does it make sense to refinance?

And should you take cash out, especially when you're trying to pay down debt? MoneyWise Live will return just around the corner. Stay with us. Grateful to have you along with us today on MoneyWise Live. I'm Rob West, your host. This is where we apply God's word to your financial decisions. Taking your calls and questions on anything financial, we have three lines open, 800-525-7000.

Heading back to the phones before the break, we were talking with Sonia from Georgetown, Texas. Sonia, you were sharing that you have a home with a mortgage at about four and a half percent, the current interest rate. You owe just under 220,000. You were looking at refinancing and pulling out somewhere between $40,000 to $50,000 in cash to pay down debt, namely a car loan and some credit card debt that you've accumulated. Your four and a half percent, you were looking to replace that with a rate right around, well, about the same level, somewhere between four and a quarter and four and three quarters percent on the rate.

A couple of thoughts there. Number one is, you know, I'm not a big fan of what you're trying to do here, mainly because if we just look at whether or not it makes sense to refinance the loan itself, forget the other debt for a moment, it really doesn't in the sense that I would want you to save at least a percent on the rate. And in most cases you're looking at, you know, staying even. And in one case, you're even looking at going up a bit.

I am wondering though, why? Because rates shouldn't be as high as you're being quoted. I mean, 30 year fixed rates right now, you should be able to get something under four for a 20 or 20 year.

You should be able to find something around three and a half percent. So I'd want you to save at least a point. I think you'd have to go to a 20 year loan in order to do that, which is what I would prefer because my second issue with this is you have 25 years remaining on this mortgage and you're looking at a new 30 years. So in addition to not saving that full point on the interest rate, you're actually increasing the term. So a lot of the savings you're trying to gain by paying down debt apart from the mortgage, which we'll talk about in a second, is going to be eaten up by the fact that you're now spreading this out over another five years. And the first portion of the mortgage with an amortized loan, the vast majority of it goes to interest.

Then you're kind of resetting that clock. So I would want you to find a 20 year mortgage where you could save at least a point, meaning a three and a half percent interest rate for 20 years before I would really consider you doing this from my perspective. Now, what about rolling debt into it?

Well, I'm not a fan of that either for two reasons. Mainly, number one, your credit card debt is unsecured and your car loan is secured by your car. So something happens, you lose a job, you're unable to make those payments. You know, yeah, you're going to have a judgment probably against you.

You may lose the car, but you don't lose your house. And I think what you're doing is you're taking this debt and securing it to your home. Not only that, even though I know you're looking for the reduced interest rate, you're going to spread it out over a long payback period. So even though the interest rate is coming down because of the 30 year term on it, you're going to end up spending a good bit over the long haul. I think the other issue is, you know, I really want to solve the underlying issue that led to the debt in the first place. I don't know what it is and we don't need to unpack that, but most often that kind of credit card debt is a result of lifestyle spending where we're just spending beyond our means over a long period of time. And I really want to get in there and solve that and have you get into a balanced budget.

And I realize part of you doing this may be to in fact solve for that. But I would love for you to do the hard work of cutting expenses and just really grinding it out, getting that debt into a credit counseling program like with christiancreditcounselors.org so we can get the interest rates down, but you leave it where it is as unsecured debt and we make one monthly payment month after month with a balanced budget to get that paid off once and for all. My experience is, is if you try to roll it into the house, not only are we extending the term, not only are we securing it by your home, but we haven't done the hard work. And so a year later, not only do you have a mortgage balance that's 40 or $50,000 higher, the credit card debt's back because we didn't solve the problem. So I think for all of those reasons, um, I would love for you to pass unless you said I'm going to leave the debt where it is. I'm going to really buckle down on my mortgage and the only thing I'm going to do is refinance my mortgage. And as long as you can, you know, cut the term, so go from 25 to 20 years and save at least a point on the interest rate and you're willing to stay in that home for five to seven years at a minimum, then that might make sense at that point.

I would just want to make sure you don't pay too much in closing costs. I know I've thrown a ton at you there. Give me your thoughts. I think it's fantastic what you just said.

Yes. And it's a, some of it's eventualities that have happened and, um, others are like you say, lifestyle, you know, decided to go on a trip and I did not immediately pay it or something like that. So yeah, I, I, you're totally with you. Um, the, the issue is, um, it seems so much easier to just go this way because then it's like, oh, it's over, but I understand what you're saying. And I, it may mean, oh, the other thing is this, when I went to creative counseling once, uh, they kept to the, if any of the cards decide to charge or reduce the interest, whatever is left that they decide to give you, uh, you know, don't, you don't have to pay that is charges taxes for the IRS. That's if you go the route of debt settlement, which is different than a debt management. So debt settlement is where you, in many cases, stop making the payments, get into collections and try to negotiate a reduced payoff less than the balance. And the difference between the balance and the settlement is actually taxable.

You're right. That's not the case with debt management. You're going to pay the balance in full. You're just going to do it at a much lower interest rate and there's no taxable event there. So that's a completely different approach. I don't, I'm not a fan of debt settlement.

I do like that management. So to learn more, just visit with our friends at christiancreditcounselors.org. If you do want to explore the refi, I'd get at least three quotes on that 20 year mortgage. It may mean the payment goes up slightly though. So you're going to need to look at that because even though the lower interest rate is going to help if you get it around three and a half for a 20 year, because it's a 20 year instead of a 30 year mortgage, that amortized payment may be slightly higher, which may price it out of your budget given all the other things you're trying to do. So you may just want to stick with this mortgage for now.

Focus on buckling down on your budget, your spending plan and trying to get out of credit card debt first through debt management, then the car and then perhaps at that point, you know, take another look at mortgage. Okay. Sounds good. Thank you so much. Thank you for calling Sonia. God bless you.

Debbie's in Lakeland, Florida. Hi Debbie. Thank you for your patience. How can I help you? Hello.

Thank you for taking my call. My husband and I are wanting to invest some of our savings. We have a savings account that has around $200,000 in it and it's just in a bank getting almost nothing. And so, um, we're looking at companies that have Christian values and I've heard some advertised on your program.

So, um, I've two questions. How do I, I really don't feel confident in, um, comparing the investment companies. I don't know what to look for and the, uh, the market has taken a downturn.

It seems every day, you know, down, down, down. And so I'm wondering if rather than investing a sort of sizable chunk of it, if we should spread it out. I don't, I don't know what makes more sense. Yeah. Yep. No, that's great thoughts. Well, let's do this.

We're going to have to take a quick break when we come back on the other side of it. We'll talk about how you approach this. A couple of things you mentioned.

One is having faith-based investments. I can address that. How you should approach investing in a market like we're in right now where it's described as choppy at best and given the fact you want this money to work for you, but you're also a little leery of what's going on around us in the economy and the markets. We'll address that and more just around the corner. This is Money Wise Live. Stay with us.

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Debbie's in Lakeland. Debbie, just before the break, you were sharing that you and your husband have about $200,000 in savings. It's really not earning a whole lot. You're interested in moving it into the market, but you're concerned about what's going on around us with some of the choppy markets.

It seems like the market is incredibly volatile these days, and you're absolutely right. I'll weigh in on that, but a couple of questions first. Is this separate and aside from what I call an emergency fund of three to six months' expenses? No. Our emergency fund is part of this. Okay. So if you were to pull – what do you spend on a monthly basis, all in roughly?

Oh. Less than what we make, but… Okay. You think it's $4,000, $5,000, less than that?

Oh, yes. Less than that. Let's say it's $3,000. Let's say it's $3,000. So that would mean that for three months' expenses, I'd love for you to have $9,000.

For six months' expenses, I'd love for you to have $18,000 in the bank. So I think that we would want to pull out right up front and say, okay, then we're only going to consider investing the balance. Now are you all investing currently into retirement accounts? Yes. Okay. Are you and your husband working and therefore both contributing?

Yes. Okay. And do you know what percent of your income is going in? I'm really not sure about my husband's, exactly what percent.

Okay. Well, as a goal, I'd love for you all to get up to 10% to 15%. And one thing you could do is if you say, listen, right now we're at 3% or 4%.

And if we bumped it up, that would really eat into our monthly cash flow and that would be challenging. One of the ways you could do that would be to go ahead and bump up what you're contributing to your retirement plans, but offset that with this $200,000. And so the goal would be to get that invested, but to prioritize getting that invested in a tax deferred environment as opposed to a taxable environment. Because if we begin investing and we may decide to take a hundred or 150,000 of this and start investing it, that may be a great thing to do. But if you were to really dial up the amount going into the retirement plan for long-term savings, again, now growing either tax deferred or tax free, depending on what type of account it is, and then offset the impact to your monthly cash flow by kind of pulling from that 200, it's a way to kind of slowly drain that 200 and get much more going in in a tax deferred environment.

So that's option number one. In terms of how to approach whatever portion of that 200 you decide to invest, I think you need to recognize number one, that this has got to be long-term money. So as long as this is 10 years plus, then I'd say there's no reason not to invest in the market. Keep in mind, there has been a lot of volatility as of late because of the Fed, because of Russia, Ukraine, because of the lingering effects of the pandemic, because the market has been so red hot the last couple of years and even the 10 years before that, because of what's happening with interest rates and inflation.

There's a lot of headwinds right now, but despite that, you have to put it in perspective. The S&P 500, the 500 largest companies in the United States are down about 7% so far in 2022, but they're still up almost 14% over the last 12 months. And it's up to a 15% average annual return over the last 10 years. That's 15% per year.

So this is really just kind of a blip on a huge upswing. But you're also getting in at, you know, what you might say is, you know, near the top, but I would say near the top for now, right? Because again, if we're long-term in nature, we recognize that investing in stocks and bonds in a properly diversified portfolio is the very best place to build wealth. And in light of the inflation we have now, it's really essential because you're losing purchasing power every month by not investing it.

So how do you go about it? Well, I would say you would want to hire a professional because as you said, you want to be in faith-based investments, which is great, but how do you know which one to pick and how do you know what's properly diversified? You know, do you want to go into Fund A or Fund B and is there duplication in those? So that means you're not diversified and, you know, all of those considerations.

So if it were me, I would sit down with a Certified Kingdom Advisor. I'd interview two or three, talk through your whole financial plan, including are you on track ahead or behind with your retirement savings? What should you be putting away every month? And look at this other $200,000 minus the emergency fund in light of how to invest that. And what would happen is they would probably begin to strategically over time deploy that money into the market and do it in a portfolio that makes sense based on your age and objectives. And if this is your desire, to have the investments reflect your values. And the good news is, as you said, there's some wonderful fund families and investment options now that allow you to reflect your values in the course of your investments. Does that make sense to you?

It does. But would the Certified Kingdom Advisor be connected with a company? Yeah, well, you would want to find one that has, interesting you say that, in the next couple of months, we're actually adding a subspecialty to the CKA designation for those advisors that are able to offer specifically faith-based investments. They've gone through additional screening and been able to demonstrate that they can offer faith-based investing because not all advisors do and not even all Certified Kingdom Advisors do. So as a part of your interview process, you would know that as a CKA, they met the high standards and they've been trained to apply biblical wisdom. But you'd want to ask, are you able to offer me faith-based investments specifically?

Many of them do, some of them don't. That will be very easy to find on our website in the next few months. For the time being, you'll just need to make that a part of your interview process. Okay. All right. Thank you.

So you just head to our website, MoneyWise.org, click Find a CKA, and I think that'll give you what you need. Thanks for calling, Debbie. God bless you.

Ferman is in Aurora, Illinois. Hi there. Go right ahead. Hi, Robert. Thank you. I'm very blessed to have, well, we're all very blessed to have someone so knowledgeable as yourself. I'll be brief.

I am 66 years and three months, and I was going to retire last month, take my social security. And I keep hearing these things. I see emails about them. I see everything popping up on Facebook and how to save money, how to save on your taxes on social security. And it's all new to me, so I have no idea.

What am I looking at? What can I do to save on my taxes? Yeah, I'm not sure specifically what you're mentioning there. You know, I think at this point you would just want to be looking at, you know, if you were to itemize on your taxes, that would be one way to save. If you, you know, are giving over and above your standard deduction, if you had a business, you could look for ways to save there. There's not really any specific strategies necessarily to save on social security. I think the key for you is just to decide when you want to begin claiming benefits.

So, you know, when you're ready, and I would wait till full retirement age if you can, you just complete an application at SSA.gov, or you can call them on their toll-free number, or you could typically go down to their office, but due to COVID, you'd have to make a virtual appointment. But, you know, that's I think the very best thing for you to do at this point is just to look at when's the right time to begin claiming in this season of life, and I'd delay as long as you can if you're in good health. So hopefully that helps you. I think it's never bad, though, for a woman to have a CPA or accountant to walk alongside you to make sure you are not paying anything more than you have to to the government in taxes.

So if you've been doing that yourself, perhaps now's the time to check that out. We appreciate your call today. We're going to finish today in Indianapolis. Hi, Pam. Thanks for calling. Go right ahead.

Hello. Thank you so much for taking my call. I am working on a refinance, and I was concerned about the closing costs that the estimate is with my current mortgager, but I didn't learn soon enough.

But I do now from listening to you that probably shouldn't have a heat loss. But I've been it's our family home that we've always had, and the current rate on it is 3.5%. I just had it recently appraised. It was $228,000 this month, and I owe $65,000. And the monthly payment is $1110 per month.

I've got all my other debts paid off except for a HELOC. It is $35,700. And it is now at a variable rate of 5%.

Running around that is not fixed, this variable. And the monthly payment on that is $420 per month. So the refinance would be an eight year mortgage because I didn't want to go out any farther, and I would be borrowing $111,000. The payment would be $1,521 per month, so just a few dollars less.

And I could afford to pay at least $500 a month comfortably more. And the payment is the closing costs comes to $7,058, and the interest rate $1.99. Okay, so what's happening there is they're having you buy down the rate in order to get that. That's why those closing costs are so high. I'd really love for you not to pay more than 3% or 4%, so I'd get at least two to three more bids on that.

I'd look at a 10 year, but you can pay it off as quick as you want. We'll talk a bit more off the air. We're out of time. Hold the line. That's going to do it for us today.

MoneyWise Live is a partnership between Moody Radio and MoneyWise Media. I want to say thank you to my team today. Thank you for being here as well. Come back and join us tomorrow. We'll see you then.