Christian Financial Counselors

Whether you're good or not, here are your calls and questions at 800-525-7000.

That's 800-525-7000. This is MoneyWise Live, biblical wisdom for your financial journey. Well we're particularly excited to have MoneyWise contributor Art Rayner with us today. Art not only provides excellent articles on biblical finance to our online community, he's also heading up a brand new way for folks to give and get help with managing money. Art, great to have you back with us. Rob, it is always a pleasure to join you.

Thank you for having me. Well, I am so excited about this, Art. What we're talking about is your brand new program, the Certified Christian Financial Counselor.

So let's start with the definition, Art. What exactly is that? Yeah, that's a great question. So a Certified Christian Financial Counselor helps individuals and couples pursue God's design for money. So practically speaking, they guide individuals and couples in making sound financial habits, helping them make wise financial decisions, and help them to increase their biblical and financial literacy.

So there's an educational component there. And they have received their certification by passing the Certified Christian Financial Counselor exam. And all of this is housed under the Institute for Christian Financial Health. Well, I know this has been something you've been talking about, praying about for a long time. You and I have been discussing the significant need that exists for something like this, a certification.

And I'm so excited to announce that it's now out and available. Give us a sense of what sort of help these counselors can give folks who are struggling with their finances. Yeah, that's another really good question. So Christian Financial Counselors can help people set and obtain financial goals, increase their generosity, create and maintain a budget, get out of debt, build an emergency fund. They discuss what the Bible says about stewardship and other topics related to money. They can help individuals and couples understand net worth, improve their credit score, and hopefully maintain an eternal perspective on money.

Hmm, I love it. And it really does a bit of a deep dive in the whole counseling space as well, Art. So they're really equipped to navigate these issues in that way, right? That's absolutely right. They have gone through a program that is incredibly rigorous and have passed, once again, that final examination that demonstrates that they know what they're talking about.

It relates to personal finances. And so those who have been certified through this program are people that you can trust. There's some type of seal of approval on their knowledge base. Yeah, that's really important. Now, obviously, many in our listening audience are interested in this space.

Art, what are some of the signs a person should seek out a Christian Financial Counselor? Yeah, and there certainly is a need out there. You know that well.

I know that well. First of all, if you feel like your finances are out of control, you feel like there's no direction in your finances, there's disorganization that stresses you out, and you know that something must change. You can't continue doing what you're doing. A Christian Financial Counselor can help you make sense of that mess, and they can help you develop financial goals and organize your finances. Another sign that you may need a Christian Financial Counselor is that you don't have any idea what step to take next.

It feels like you are financially just existing. And so if that's you, then once again, a Christian Financial Counselor can look at your current financial situation and suggest some wise, biblically-based next steps for you to take. Third, you are regularly arguing about money with your spouse, which we know that is unfortunately fairly common. Money is often a stressful topic for married couples. You know, God designed married couples to operate as one, even in their finances. And so if money is not a point of unity, but a point of division, a Christian Financial Counselor can provide guidance in that area as well.

Excellent. Well, I know there's a few more triggers, perhaps, that our audience should be thinking about as they consider whether they need a Christian Financial Counselor. We'll do a deeper dive into what this is all about, and perhaps if it's a good fit for you, Art Rayner, MoneyWise contributor and founder of Christian Money Solutions. Much more to come on the broadcast just around the corner, and then on to your questions at 800-525-7000.

Stick around. Delighted to have you with us today on MoneyWise Live. I'm Rob West, your host. This is where we apply the wisdom from God's Word to your financial decisions and choices. Today we're talking with our good friend Art Rayner. Art is a MoneyWise contributor. He's also the founder of Christian Money Solutions. And we're talking today about a brand new program, the Certified Christian Financial Counselor. This is an individual who helps individuals and couples discover and pursue God's design for their money. And Art, just before the break, you were saying that someone who potentially should seek out a Christian Financial Counselor would be someone who feels like their finances are out of control, or perhaps they just don't know what next step to take financially, or they find themselves regularly arguing about money with their spouse.

Any others? Absolutely. And this one's fairly common. You don't know what you don't know. So you acknowledge that you know very little about money. And maybe this has caused you to make some regretful decisions in the past. And you need someone to take a look at your financial situation and educate you on what decisions you should make and what decisions align with Scripture.

And then fifth, you need accountability. And this is one that I see on a regular basis. You know what you should do, but this knowledge does not always lead to the right action. So you're still tempted to spend money that you should save. You have difficulty following your budget. You still give out of your leftovers.

You still add to that credit card balance every single month. And so regular meetings with a Certified Christian Financial Counselor can create accountability around your finances. And I've seen that one occur quite a bit.

Yeah, very good. Art, let's talk about where the Certified Christian Financial Counselor ends and a Certified Kingdom Advisor begins. Because in many cases, folks may need a counselor because they're not ready for professional financial advice. And then perhaps there's a handoff down the road.

What would you say to that? Without question, there's a great relationship between a Certified Christian Financial Counselor and a Kingdom Advisor. So a Certified Christian Financial Counselor can help with the budget, can provide a plan to help the individual pay off debt. But at some point, you're going to need to start talking retirement, investments, some of those specific financial decisions that are really geared toward a Kingdom Advisor. So at some point, there needs to be a handoff from a Christian Financial Counselor to a Kingdom Advisor.

All right. Yeah, it makes a lot of sense. So these really are two pieces of the puzzle to help you be a good steward of what God has entrusted to you, each with their own role in assisting you. Now, Art, what if someone is a little reluctant to share personal information with a Christian Financial Counselor? This is obviously a big concern these days as folks think about privacy.

How would you react to that? Well, every Certified Christian Financial Counselor should have some type of privacy policy to provide a client or an individual or a couple before the meeting starts. So the privacy policy should be laid out, and it should be explained how they are going to protect the individual's or couple's financial information. Because you're absolutely right, that is very important information, and they must handle it with care.

Yeah, very good. Now, obviously, some of the issues that you mentioned that would be a trigger for a need for this type of counselor include arguments with their spouse, include quite a bit of debt. I mean, these can be embarrassing to talk about.

Perhaps you have some regrets about decisions you've made that got you to this point. How would you say they should expect to be treated in light of some of these financial problems? Well, the Certified Christian Financial Counselor is passionate about helping people discover and pursue God's design for money. And so they operate through a Christian worldview. And so Galatians 6, 2 certainly applies, you know, bear one another's burden, and so fulfill the law. And so they are going to approach the conversation with a significant amount of empathy, care, and hope as well to point them toward something greater. And so they are on that individuals or couple side.

They were trying to help them experience God's design for money. Yeah, and that's really encouraging. And I know it will be for a lot of folks who are sensing a need for this and maybe a little hesitant to reach out.

Perhaps they'll take the next step. Now, as we talk about this, I can't help but think that there are some in our audience who are passionate about this topic. They feel called to this space, and they might be interested in becoming one of these Certified Christian Financial Counselors. So why don't you share who would be a good candidate for earning this certification?

Yeah, that's a great question. Let me first tell you who is not a good candidate. So this program is not best for those with little to no understanding of money management or personal finances. This is not the program that's going to help you get out of debt. It's the program to help you to help others get out of debt. And so this particular program prepares individuals for the Certified Christian Financial Counselor exam and is for those with a passion who desire to help others manage money in a way that leads to financial health and ultimately glorifies God. And so the ideal candidate for this program already has a broad based knowledge of personal finances.

Yeah, very good. And that's so important to understand. Now, pastors often meet with people who have financial struggles, or maybe their church has a benevolence ministry that helps people in this situation. How could a Christian financial counselor actually benefit and work alongside the pastor in the local church? Well, I would love to see every church have a Certified Christian Financial Counselor among their congregation, even on a volunteer basis. I've already heard from pastors who have said this would fit perfectly in our benevolence ministry so that they have someone designated in their church to care for those who are struggling financially and to do it through a biblical worldview. So if a pastor has someone who has significant debt or struggles budgeting, he has a person that can meet with the individual that struggles with debt and can help them discover and pursue God's design for money. So if somebody is asking for financial help for the church, they are able to provide something far greater than just financial assistance.

Yeah, that's really important. Art, I know you have a significant vision in this area. You know, a lot of churches have stewardship ministries, they might even have financial coaches. But this perhaps could take that to a whole nother level as we imagine a day where churches across the nation have certified counselors ready to go.

I mean, that would be a game changer, wouldn't it? Without question. It provides a level of trustworthiness for these individuals and that help others with their finances, so that they know that they are meeting with somebody whose knowledge has been validated. They've been through a rigorous program. And so the words that are coming out of my mouth, the suggestions that they provide, they can trust.

Yeah, no doubt about that. All right, Art, how can someone find out more about becoming a certified Christian financial counselor or getting help from one? Yeah, it's really easy. You just go to ChristianFinancialHealth.com. Once again, that's ChristianFinancialHealth.com. That will take you to the Institute for Christian Financial Health.

And you will see the certification program as soon as you jump onto that website. Art, this is on the heart of God. We see it clearly in Scripture. And I know there's huge implications for God's people being aligned with His purposes in this area of money, isn't there?

Absolutely. Well, Art, I'm so glad you've taken the initiative on this. Unfortunately, we're out of time today, but we'll continue talking about the certified Christian financial counselor and how you can be either involved with one, you can engage one in your situation or become one, if this is an area of ministry you're interested in. MoneyWise contributor, Art Rayner, and founder of Christian Money Solutions has been with us today.

Again, to learn more, visit ChristianFinancialHealth.com. Your calls are next, 800-525-7000. We'll be right back. Great to have you with us today on MoneyWise Live. I'm Rob West. In just a moment, we'll begin taking your calls and questions. We've got some lines open.

We'd love to hear from you. 800-525-7000. That's 800-525-7000. As we talk often about the topic of debt, if you know someone who's worried about or struggling with credit card debt, or perhaps you're there right now and you don't know where to start, well, our trusted underwriter, Christian Credit Counselors, offers a debt management program that can get you out of credit card debt 80% faster while honoring your debt in full. And their faith-based mission and team will also consider your values and goals as a believer, too. So if you'd like more information, this is my preferred approach to getting you out of debt once and for all.

Just visit them at ChristianCreditCounselors.org to get started. All right, let's head to the phones. 800-525-7000 to Indianapolis we go. Scott, you'll be our first caller today. Go ahead, sir. Hello. Thank you for taking the call.

Sure. So I'm 53. I inherited a bit of money about a year ago. I just stuck it in the bank. I owe about $75,000 on the house on a HELOC at about 6 or 7%, whatever the rate is nowadays.

I know they just raised it. I've got about $16,000 in the Roth IRA and I contribute about $150,000 a month to that. And I've got $22,000 in the traditional Roth. I have no other debt besides my house. I was thinking about paying the house off and maybe doing the I-Bond.

I think that's what it is. I forget. And I have about $50,000 in an emergency fund also. Okay. Yeah, great. And how much did you inherit, Scott?

A little over $100,000. Okay. And this is the extent of your retirement assets, the roughly $38,000 between the two IRAs, is that right? Correct. Okay. And you're working and plan to work for some time, is that right? Correct. Self-employed, yes. Okay, great.

And do you have the ability to put away more than $150,000 a month? Yes. I wanted to see what you said first before I did much of anything.

Yeah, okay. And are you building up an asset in this business that could be sold at some point down the road? It's kind of a unique business. I'm the business. I've got a large inventory that could be liquidated for a certain amount.

Okay, very good. And then roughly what are your expenses per month? I added everything up a couple months ago and it's like $140 a day, which is roughly $42,000 or $43,000 a year. And I've got more than that in an emergency fund. So a full year's worth of household payments and so forth. Okay.

Yeah. So if you're living on $43,000 a year right now, let's just round it up to $50,000 if it's $4,400 a month. And you were to live in retirement, let's say on 80% of that, that'd be $40,000 a year, we'd have to add inflation to that.

And that's going to be something. But typically, you'd want about $600,000 in retirement savings that would allow you to pull 4% a year off of that. And that plus social security should cover your pre-retirement expenses at some reduced level because now you're not saving for retirement any longer and maybe some other expenses come off the table.

But we're quite a bit of ways from there. Now, the good news is, for all intents and purposes, you still got plenty of time on your side. And if you're healthy and love what you do, maybe you're continuing to work well beyond even $65,000. But I think the key for you right now is just to try to get as much going into a tax deferred retirement account as possible. Now, I love you being out of debt, including your house.

And I think this gives you a great opportunity to do that. You're fully funded your emergency fund so you could pay off the house and as you said, continue to have some money to keep going. I'd probably look at something like a SEP IRA, which is going to allow you to put away quite a bit more than you would in the Roth. For this year, you'd be able to put away, for your portion, 25% of your compensation or $61,000.

So that's quite a bit more. But obviously, that's going to mean that you have more margin left over. Paying off the house will help as long as you don't increase your lifestyle because that's probably your largest expense coming off the table that allows you to direct that into long term savings. So given that it seems like you're a bit behind on retirement, I think you've got two options. One is if you're comfortable hanging on to the debt, you could do that and just push as much of this toward investments as possible. The reason why I might not encourage that is it sounds like you'd like to have the house paid off.

I would as well. But secondly, the loan is a HELOC, which means that rate's going to continue to rise. And typically, it's going to be even a bit above a conventional mortgage rate. So it's probably going to be 8%, you know, here in a hurry. And we're certainly not getting that in the market right now.

And you really can't count on that, even in a good market. So I think it makes sense to go ahead and pay off the house. But I would just really look to keep your lifestyle as low as possible, so that you can get as much as you possibly can, including the recapture of this mortgage payment, going into long term savings on a systematic basis through a retirement plan. And the SEP is going to give you the ability to do quite a bit more than you would be in anything else, which may allow you to catch up a little bit. Does all that make sense? Yes, I thought I was on track just need to tweak it a little bit. So okay, perfect. Thank you so much. All right, Scott, thanks for calling today. We appreciate it. All the best to you in the days ahead, sir.

800-525-7000 is the number to call. We're going to take a break here in just a moment. But we do have some lines open.

We'd love to hear from you. Hey, before we head to this next break, let me remind you about the MoneyWise app. And in particular, because we received news not too long ago that envelopes, the popular smartphone digital envelope system is shutting down. And this was the system that a lot of our folks used in the MoneyWise community. They hadn't yet discovered the MoneyWise app. And what we're finding is that in the absence of envelopes, tons and tons of you are converting over to the MoneyWise app and loving it. So if you want a way to manage your spending plan to stay on top of your spending as husband and wife or as an individual each month, using Larry Burkett's envelope system but in a modern, simple, digital expression is about the best way I know to do that. So if you want to visit our website MoneyWise.org and click the app button, you can learn more about it. Or just head straight to your app store, Google or Apple and search for MoneyWise Biblical Finance.

We'd love for you to download the app today and give it a try and our team will help you get it set up and working for you. All right, we're going to take a quick break. Your question's just around the corner.

Stick around. Glad to have you with us today on MoneyWise Live. What if we were to think of God's money, and that's what it is, it's all His, as a tool to accomplish His purposes, to live out what's most important to us as believers, those whose values align with our faith. If we were to orient our money in that way, perhaps it would change everything about the way we spend it, allocate it, prioritize its use and try to gain more of it.

Well, each day on this program we explore that idea to apply God's wisdom from the Bible to the financial decisions and choices you're making every day. 800-525-7000 is another call. Back to the phones we go to Canton, Georgia. Not too far from me. Liz, thank you for calling.

Go right ahead. Hi, yes, thank you for your program, and I'm a long-time Lister going all the way back to Larry Burkett. Oh, I'm delighted to hear that. You're not too far from where Larry was. That's right, yeah, Gainesville, I believe. That's right, yes ma'am.

I miss him dearly, but he has left a legacy and has helped me quite a bit. I'm out of debt, house paid, cars paid, and I am going to be going on Medicare very soon, and I'm just inundated with a whole bunch of stuff in the mail in regard to Medicare Advantage. And I know there's some options there, Medicare Advantage or a Medicare supplement. I'm very healthy, but I know that if I don't go on Medicare, there's penalties there with Medicare Part B and all so I need to be on the drug plant or else there's penalties. So what advice could you give me in figuring out which way to go on this?

Yeah, Liz. Well, there's really two options and they really are both considered Medicare supplements. There's the Medicare Advantage, which you referenced, and then there's what's called a Medigap policy. And the main difference is the Medicare Advantage plans tend to have lower premiums, but generally provide less coverage than Medigap plans, and you have to stay in their network. And now alternatively, the Medigap policy would have higher premiums, but also more extensive coverage and more choices for your providers.

So what do you do with that? Well, the rule of thumb is this is if you're in good health and don't go to the doctor very often, then a Medicare Advantage plan would likely be the best option for you. But if you have some issues that require a lot of care, you want more choices for your providers, then that's where the more expensive Medigap plan can probably be best. In terms of the programs themselves, within the Advantage and within the Medigap, they all cover the same things. And so it's really just a matter of price at that point. But that's really how you determine which is best for you. Does that make sense? Yes, it does. So basically, I need to look at what they cover, but you said they cover the same thing, right?

Well, within the category. So one Medicare Advantage plan over another Medicare Advantage plan, they're generally all going to cover the same things. It really just comes down to the price. But the first question for you to determine is, am I going to go Medicare Advantage or am I going to go Medigap? And the difference between those two comes down to if you're more healthy, you generally have less office visits, you're going to save money and it's going to make more sense for you to go Medicare Advantage. If you have some issues that require a lot of care, or you want more control over your providers, then the Medigap, the more expensive Medigap plan would likely be best in that case.

Okay, so I need to call my provider, I mean, my physician and see if they're in, which system they're in. And also, now can you switch back and forth between like the Advantage or the Medigap? Is there a possibility right now I don't need a whole bunch of benefits? And later when I may need some benefits, could I switch over to Medigap? You can, it would have to be done during the open enrollment season, which begins November 1, each year for most states, and then they all have different deadlines.

But yeah, as long as you did it during that window, you'd be able to switch from one to the other. Okay. All right. Well, thank you very much.

All right. You are very welcome. We appreciate it.

There's a lot of options online for you to shop and compare the Medicare Advantage plan, so I would take advantage of that, Liz. But all the best to you in this next season. We appreciate your call and your kind remarks about the late Larry Burkett. All right, back to the phones. Valley City, Ohio. Teresa, how can I help you?

Yes, sir. I have some questions about some life insurance monies that I have. My husband passed earlier this year, and I have been able to pay off our house with our 401Ks. We have the investments of about 160,000. I've got about 200 that I can invest. I did see a financial advisor. He is recommending that I put it into, there's Four Thought Life Insurance Company, or there is a Jackson Variable or Fixed Annuity. Both of them are annuities. I'm kind of hesitant to put it back into that type of an investment when I already have a majority of our assets tied up with our 401Ks with the same type of investment.

So I'm not really sure what direction I should go. Yeah. And are you concerned about the potential risk that you're taking with that extra money if you were to put it into these suggested insurance products? Yes, especially if we go into a deep recession like we might be heading into.

Yeah. Well, if you want to transfer the risk away from yourself in the markets, going into an insurance product actually could be a way to avoid a lot of that. You wouldn't have to go into a variable product where it's driven by the underlying investments inside the annuity. You could do a guaranteed fixed annuity, which is where you get a fixed rate of return no matter what the market does.

And so that would be a way to provide you some stability on a conservative basis. Now, there are downsides to annuities. Largely, you're going to lose access to the money without penalties, at least in the early phase of it.

They tend to be expensive. And you typically are going to give up a little bit in terms of if you were to assume the risk, keep access to your capital and have it invested, you have the potential for a greater return. But to your point, you also have the potential for a capital loss as well. Whereas with an annuity, if you're really trying to say, I just want to overcome the effects of inflation.

I don't want to take really any risk with this. I've already got 160,000 in 401ks. That's where an insurance product with a guaranteed return could make some sense. Because you don't have to think about it for at least that portion and it will grow. And then at some point down the road, you could turn that into an income stream if you needed it or tap into it.

So that may be the way to go. All annuities are not created equal. And a lot of them are very expensive. And you've got to read the fine print. So that's why having a trusted advisor who can help you navigate all that can make a lot of sense. So I'm not opposed to this.

I think it's just the type of annuity you're looking at and really making sure that aligns with the risk level you're willing to take with that money. Does that make sense? Yes, it does. Thank you very much.

Okay. If you'd like another opinion, somebody who shares your values, we recommend the Certified Kingdom Advisor designation. These are men and women who have met high standards and character and competence and really have a faith orientation that will align with your values as a Christian and they've been trained to bring biblically wise financial advice. You can find a CKA there in Ohio at our website.

Just go to moneywise.org and click the button that says find a CKA and do a zip code search. But we appreciate your call today, Teresa. We're going to take a quick break here on Money Wise Live when we come back. Our final segment with your questions, 800-525-7000. Stay tuned.

We'll have much more to come just around the corner. Great to have you with us today on Money Wise Live. I'm Rob West, your host, taking your calls and questions today back to the phone. A follow up to a previous caller about Medicare, Louise. Thanks for calling from Florida.

How can I help? Yes, I'm a fellow Kingdom Advisor and one thing I mentioned to my clients who are believers is if they get Medicare, Christian Healthcare Ministries offers a, it's similar to a Medigap, only they do not call it that because it is a ministry. They offer the remainder of the money that Medicare would not pay.

But for Medicare covered charges, you pay monthly to Christian Healthcare Ministries for the share and they do have that 65 plus option. I love that. Well, first of all, Louise, I'm delighted you called. Second, I'm thrilled to hear you're a Kingdom Advisor. That's incredible. And thirdly, I was not aware of that.

I should be. So we'll definitely look into it on our end. I'm just looking it up here as you're talking and perhaps this is a new program, but it sounds like it's specifically for folks 65 plus who would be in this category and can use CHM specifically to kind of cover the needs that you have in this season, right? Yes, it would be, you first have to have Medicare and then this would be the other. And I've heard also that Samaritan Ministries, which is another health sharing ministry, also offers something, but theirs might be a little different. I heard they, I think, carry the same share amount for 10 years guaranteed where CHM, you know, they don't offer guarantee, but they're very good with their funds.

Yes, very good. Yeah, so it looks like while you're on Medicare, you can use CHM on top of it and there's actually a discount applied for that. So if you're interested in checking this out, again, it's Christian Healthcare Ministries. This would be health cost sharing.

It's not insurance, but it could be used perhaps alongside Medicare to do just what most folks are looking for in this season of life. Again, their website CHMinistries.org to learn more and perhaps give them a call. They have a great team that will answer all your questions. Louise, thanks for calling today. We appreciate it. You're welcome. Bye bye. All right. Bye bye. To Cleveland, Carrie, you're next on the program.

How can I help? Hi, thank you for taking my call. I am recently switching over to my work company insurance and it has a $5,000 per person deductible. And I was wondering if it would be better to do the Christian Health Share versus having my insurance through my work?

Yeah, it's a great question to ask. You know, there was a time where you would just automatically go with your employer-sponsored health care plan because the cost of the employee was so low and the deductibles were low as well. That's just no longer the case. It's now possible that medical cost sharing a program like CHM can save you money. And so you really just have to crunch the numbers. So have you been to, for instance, CHMinistries.org just to compare the costs of your employer-sponsored insurance, Carrie?

I haven't only because, like I said, this was very recent that I will be taking it over. It'll probably be in December or January that we'll be switching it. So I was like, well, I'm not going to jump to any conclusions until I get all the information. Yeah, that's exactly right.

Well, I think you just need to understand the difference. I mean, obviously one is insurance and so it's going to come down to what plan is offered through your employer. What's your portion if you're going to have to contribute to it? What are those deductibles and premiums? But then also with Christian Health Care Ministries, for example, like for instance, their gold program shares 100% of bills for any medical incident.

So this would be the incident, including all the bills related to it, that exceeds $500. So it's a different approach. But if you're not at the doctor's office constantly, a medical cost sharing plan can be very cost effective.

And these days, as those deductibles rise and the premiums or the portion that's passed on to the employee rises, in many cases, along with the rising cost of health care, this can be an attractive option for some folks. So I would encourage you to get on chministries.org website, check it out, get all the numbers and then compare that to what's being offered to you so you can make the best decision before you have to. Okay. All right. We appreciate you checking with us all the best in that new job. Carrie, you're welcome.

To Spokane, Washington, Leo, you're next on the program. Go ahead, sir. Yes.

Hello, Rob. I'm talking about updating a 25 year old will. Yes, more assets and grandkids in is it the best vehicle for delineating who you want to give some assets to? And also, should it be done through a lawyer? Yes.

The answer to both of those is yes. I think, you know, given that this is 25 years old, as your life seasons and circumstances and assets change, we do need to update these wills. We do recommend an attorney draw it up, you can do it yourself and accomplish your wishes. But often you might miss something or based on the laws of your state, you just want to make sure you have a valid will and a really competent and godly estate planning attorney can ask questions that might prompt additional thinking that you hadn't considered and ensure that your estate plan aligns with your values. So I would absolutely engage in a state planning attorney Leo to take the current will to update it. And yes, absolutely.

With the will you can direct how you want your assets and personal effects distributed at your death. Great. Okay, thank you, Rob. Okay, very good. We appreciate it, Leo. If you don't have someone you could reach out to a certified kingdom advisor there in Spokane, and ask for a referral to a godly estate planning attorney. They all have one that they work with.

So just go to money wise.org, click Find a CKA and you can do a search there. All right, quickly to Omaha. Hey, Mary, thanks for your patience. Go ahead.

Yes. Hello, Rob. I want to ask you this question concerning CDs. I have four CDs that are each about $24,000. And I renewed them at that 1% interest rate about six months ago, because there was nothing else to be done with them. So now at this point, the credit union is offering 3.75% for three years. And I was wondering, should I take the penalty? Should I cash them in and take the penalty and then apply for the 3.75%?

Or should I leave them where they're at? Yeah, have you inquired as to the breakage fee on that the early withdrawal penalty? Oh, it's six months of the of the interest.

Yeah, yeah. It's likely gonna make a lot of sense for you. And if this was a one year CD, that'd be different.

But you said you just six months ago, got locked into this and it's a five year CD. Is that right? Exactly. Exactly. Yeah.

Yeah. So usually it's between 90 and 120 days worth of interest. So you're going to want to just do the math before you do it to make sure this makes sense. But what I think you'll find is, given how long you would have to stick with this very low interest rate, and given that you could lock in something that's, you know, three times or more than that, it probably is going to make sense for you to pay that breakage penalty, and get your money back and then redeploy it in something better. A couple of options. One is, you know, you could ladder this. So maybe you put one at one year, one at three years, one at five years, or one, two and three years. And then that means every 12 months, one portion of this one third of the money, or one quarter, if you have four of them, is coming due, and then you can roll it over and take advantage of higher rates as they're available.

So that would be one option. But I think at the end of the day, it's probably going to make sense for you to pull the money out. Okay, very good. Thank you so much.

All right. Hey, and don't forget to go to bankrate.com to compare the rates being offered because you'll find that many of the online banks have very attractive rates. So don't just assume that the bank you're with currently is the one unless you're there for other reasons. It may not be the one offering the very best rates right now.

And you could compare them for all the different durations at bankrate.com and find out who has the very best terms and loan pro or not loan but CD programs. Thanks for your call, Mary. Quickly, our final caller today in Idaho, Terry, thanks for calling. Go ahead, sir.

Yeah, thank you for taking my call, Rob. I My salary is roughly 77,000 a year. And my question is, should I pay off my home loan at 94,000? I have 230,000 and a 401. I'm holding out 15% at this time and my company matches 5%. I'm currently working.

I plan to keep on working. I'm 71 years old. Plus, I draw Social Security at 2500 a month and my wife draws roughly $1,000 a month. Our only payments are house and a car payment. That's $600. So I need the advice.

Should I should I pull it out and pay that home loan? Yeah. And would you pull that out of your 401k in order to do it? Yes, sir. Okay. Because there's no other liquid funds available, correct? Correct. I have 30,000 in my savings account.

Okay. Yeah, I mean, you certainly could, I'd probably spread that over at least two tax years. So if you wanted to do it, you could pull half of it this year and half next year. And that would just ensure that you're not going to push that up into a higher tax bracket. Because it would be treated as income over two tax years instead of one. So that would be one option to consider. But I like the idea given, I'm assuming your bills are covered entirely by Social Security.

So all of your working income is surplus. Is that right? Correct. Okay.

Yeah. So you got quite a bit of margin and you're putting away 20% a year with the match, which is great. Sounds like you plan to continue to work.

And if you guys pay off the house, you'd have even more that you could start socking away. The only thing to consider here beyond the tax years, Terry, is just the performance of that 401k. Is it down a good bet with the market? Yes. Yes, it is. Well, yeah. All right. So I might go with this plan, but wait six months or a year until the market recovers and then initiate the plan maybe over next tax year and the year beyond that.

Unless you just have a real conviction to get out of debt, I'd let that 401k recover before you lock in those losses. Does that make sense? That makes a lot of sense. And I sure do appreciate your advice. You're welcome, sir. God bless you.

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