Last Minute Christmas Shopping

Have you ever wanted to read through some and you know who you are? Hi, I'm Rob West. With just four shopping days left, time is running short. But if you're just getting started with gift buying, you still have time to do it right. Today, Howard Dayton gives us advice for last minute Christmas shopping.

And we have some great calls lined up, but we won't be taking your live calls today because we're pre-recorded. This is MoneyWise Live, biblical wisdom for your financial decisions. Well, our good friend Howard Dayton is the former host of this program and the author of several books on biblical finances. Howard, great to have you back with us.

Wonderful to be with you, Rob. Howard, as you know, Ecclesiastes 3, 3 tells us, to everything there is a season and a time to every purpose under heaven. We usually don't think that's a warning about procrastinating, but perhaps it could be, couldn't it?

It sure could. And if folks have been procrastinating with their Christmas shopping, now's the time to get serious. So develop a shopping list that will help you avoid making last minute mistakes.

Yeah, that's a great idea and it's exactly what we want to do. So where do we start, Howard? Well, start with a goal and a plan. The goal is staying out of debt this Christmas season. Your plan will help you do that by helping you think more carefully about spending and avoiding impulse purchases. Now, drawing up your plan is pretty simple.

You could spend without going into debt. That's your shopping budget. Then make a list of everyone you need to buy a gift for. And finally, divide the money in your budget among those names.

Now, they won't all be equal. You could set your own priorities. But in the end, don't spend more than you budgeted for Christmas shopping.

Yeah, that is simple, but it may not be easy, as you know, Howard. So what advice do you have if folks have trouble with their plan, like perhaps not having enough money? Well, remember, the idea isn't keeping up with the Joneses during Christmas. It's having a debt free Christmas. That's also a wonderful time and memory for your close friends and families.

So be a student of each person on your list. Buy or make inexpensive gifts that are meaningful to the recipient. And don't forget, there's still time to bake and decorate Christmas cookies. Make gifts to them to all or some of the people on your list.

It's another inexpensive way to show people that you care. So make a stack of them, wrap them up and put a bow on them, and you're done. And keep the focus on Christ, who gave us the greatest gift ever, the gift of salvation.

You can never top that. Where possible, your gift should also include a handmade card with some verses from the Christmas story in Luke 2. The world has taken Christ out of Christmas.

Let's take this opportunity and put him back in it. That's a great idea, Howard. Now, these handmade gifts may not cover everyone. So if you have to head to the stores, what advice do you have for us? Well, for a lot of last minute shoppers, the temptation is just to whip out the credit card and use it. But actually there's nothing wrong with using a credit card if you follow three simple rules and the last two apply every month. First, use a credit card only for budgeted Christmas purchases. Second, pay the credit cards off on time and in full every month. That way there's no interest charges, no late fees and no debt. And finally, the very first month you can't pay a credit card bill in full, take out the scissors and perform some plastic surgery. Remember what Proverbs 22, 7 tells us. The borrower is slave to the lender. The Lord wants us to be free, free to serve him and not our creditors. Oh, that's so good and so practical. As we tie a bow on this, Howard, pun intended, what final advice do you have for us? Well, in Matthew 25, Jesus said, Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did it for me.

So try to save something for a very special gift to the poor this Christmas season, because when you do, you're giving to Christ himself. Oh, I love that. Well, Howard, Merry Christmas to you, my friend. Thank you for stopping by today. And we always appreciate our time with you. I love the time with you, Rob. That was Howard Dayton, former host of this program.

He's the author of Your Money Counts, and he stops by regularly on this program. Take his advice to heart. Don't try to keep up with the Joneses. Put that plastic away.

Make gifts where you can and keep Christ at the center of your Christmas. Folks, we're going to pause for a quick break again. We're not here today taking some time off, so don't call in.

But more questions just around the corner. This is Money Wise Live, biblical wisdom for your financial decisions. I'm Rob West, and we'll be right back.

Don't go anywhere. Thanks for joining us today on Money Wise Live, biblical wisdom for your financial decisions. Hey, our team is away from the studios today, so don't call in.

But we lined up some great questions. We'll get right back to the phones here in just a moment. Hey, would you like to find a financial advisor, an investment advisor, tax and accounting professional that shares your values and has met high standards when it comes to character and integrity, but also experience? You can do so when you search for a certified kingdom advisor. You can find one in your area on our website, moneywise.org.

Just click Find a CKA. Coming up on the broadcast today, in addition to your questions, we'll tackle a couple of emails. One about leaving an inheritance to children living outside of the Lord's will.

Well, there is nothing more difficult than that. I'll weigh in on that today. Also, what about title lock insurance?

Is that something you should have? We'll talk about that as well. And I'll give you some thoughts on having peace in the midst of financial turmoil. I know many of us as we walk through the Christian life will experience peaks and valleys, and some of those valleys will often be financially related, especially in the times in which we find ourselves.

Well, if you're in one of those difficult seasons financially, perhaps this will be an encouragement for you today that will come up a little later in the broadcast. All right, let's head to the phones. We're going to begin today in Kentucky.

Elijah, you'll be our first caller. Go right ahead. Yes, sir.

What are the difference of interest rate compounding monthly and interest rate compounding yearly? Yes. Well, it's a great question. Do you have something specific in mind?

Give me the context for the investment. Yes, sir. CD. Okay.

And D? Go ahead. One of the bank want to compound the CD monthly, other bank want to compound the interest rate yearly. Yes. Okay.

Very good. You know, when we look at that, basically, you're going to want to have the most frequent amount of credit for the interest you can. So if something compounds weekly or monthly, you're going to see the interest being credited at that pace. And then the compounding effect will occur sooner, which means it's going to grow faster as opposed to something that gets credited annually. And then you're getting that compounding each year, but you're not getting that money working for you as quickly. And so the quicker you can have that money compound, the better off you are with money monthly compounding. Basically, the annual interest rate is divided by 12. So the number of months in a year and then the monthly interest is a pride to the principal amount at the end of the month.

Therefore, increasing your account balance and then growing from that point as opposed to an annual compounding where that annual yield is only credited one time a year. Does that make sense? Yes, sir. It does. Yeah. So you'll want to look for weekly or monthly compounding.

You can't even see in some cases daily compounding, but typically the monthly would be what you see most often. Thank you so much and may God bless you, sir. All right, Eliza, thank you for calling today. To North Carolina we go. Hi, Susan, how can I help you? Hello, thank you for taking my call.

The question is actually very simple. My husband and I are both, I'm 66, he's 70. Every bit of money that we have is tied up in equity in our home. We don't have that about in like $10,000 in savings. My question is with the way the market and we have a monthly income that covers our expenses, should we sell our house to get equity and have the equity?

You see what I'm saying? Because if the market should crash, we lose everything. Yes. So what do you have in savings right now?

About $10,000. Okay. And that's really all the assets that you have apart from your home? Yeah. Well, we have two old cars. We don't drive a new car or anything.

Yes. And then what are your income sources? We have both. It's funny how that ended up. But all of it is from the government.

My husband was civil service. Okay. And mine is Social Security. Okay. And do you have any margin left over, Susan, at the end of the month after the bills are paid typically?

A couple of hundred. That's it max. Okay. Yeah.

And that's been real tight lately. Sure. And are you accounting for non-recurring expenses and discretionary spending? So are you putting money into savings for semi-annual payment or a vacation or anything like that?

Well, we haven't yet. And that's what I'm trying to figure out. Yeah.

So it seems like you're kind of living right up to the edge and we're probably not even accounting for things that happen throughout the course of the year that you may not get a bill for. Right. Yes. Okay. Now tell me about the house. What do you think the market value is today and what do you owe on it, if anything? Well, we owe exactly $113,000.

The house itself is valued currently at 172. Okay. All right.

And if you were to sell it, Susan, where would you go? Have you looked at options? Yeah.

Well, that's what my husband, he said, no, absolutely not. I would just like to rent a smaller place, you know, nothing big. Just, you know, just get how we do now with our money. We could actually save money if we rented a smaller place and all. But that's all I was thinking. We would use our monthly income from that, but we would have the cushion of the equity in our hand.

Yeah. The challenge is you're going to have to really do your homework before you were to consider this because, you know, you may find that even something smaller to rent is actually going to be more expensive than that monthly mortgage payment that you're paying today. Now, I'd realize that you'd have the equity that you pulled out.

The challenge is we've got to get on a path, Susan, that's sustainable. And so that equity would be temporary if it gets eaten up with spending beyond your means. So if you're right up to the edge right now and it sounds like we're not even accounting for those non-recurring discretionary expenses that happen throughout the year, let alone putting, you know, money aside for replacement of those old cars and that type of thing, then that means we're going to feel like the pressure's off because you have $172,000 that this is worth today. Let's say, you know, you end up spending 6%, you know, on a realtor. Now that's down to $161,000. Then you've got your moving expenses. Let's say you net, when it's all said and done, $150,000 and then you've still got to pay off that mortgage of $113,000. So now we've only got $37,000 in the bank and you're going to be surprised at how quickly that goes. And then all of a sudden you're sitting there with no equity to buy anything else. You're stuck with a high rent payment and your expenses are more than they were in the house because your rent went up instead of down. Now, you may be able to find something less expensive, but I wouldn't make that just an assumption without you going out and finding that place that you all would be comfortable living in because with what's happened in the housing market, rent prices are sky high right now.

So I think the first thing that I would do is connect with one of our MoneyWise coaches and try to get on a budget, a spending plan that balances. And let's truly account for everything that you have or need in your monthly budget. And let's see where we can cut back, how we can free up more margin.

And then secondly, do the legwork, you and your husband to say, if we were to, let's say this house sold today, where would we go? And are we happy with that? And what is it actually going to cost us in rent? And what does that mean for our budget?

Because not only is it going to be time consuming for you to sell this house, it's expensive in terms of the realtor and the moving and all the other things that I mentioned. And I just want to make sure that we don't have a temporary fix that ends up being more challenging in the long run. Does that make sense? Yeah. So basically you're telling me to do a lot of paperwork, budgeting, you know, lay it all out. Think about it.

Yeah. And go look for that rental and figure out what that's actually going to cost you before we make this decision. Hang on the wine, we'll finish up off the air and we'll be right back on MoneyWise Live. Stay with us. We're so thankful you've chosen to join us today on MoneyWise Live, biblical wisdom for your financial decisions. This is the program where we recognize that our financial journey is in many ways tied to our spiritual journey. Often money and the things that money can buy as a competitor to lordship. So we want to hold what we have loosely, recognizing God's authority and ownership.

Our role as steward to be found faithful, applying his principles that we find in his word to the decisions and choices we make every day. Let's do that together. By the way, we're away from the studio today, so don't call in. But we've got some great questions that we lined up in advance. Hey, before we dive in today, I want to weigh in on a couple of things.

Number one is related to peace in the midst of a financial turmoil. You know, some of you may find yourselves in a bit of a difficult spot right now. That may mean because you've had your income cut back. Maybe it's just your concern over your 401k balance or your investments. Well, maybe you just pulled away from the gas pump after spending a day's wages filling your tank. You know, I won't even get started on how much things are costing at the grocery store right now.

You know what I want to do? Let's back up for a moment and focus on finding some peace in the midst of all of the financial uncertainty that we have around us. You know, when financial circumstances are knocking you down, what you need is something to hang on to, something that's permanent, reliable and true. And of course, we go to God's word for that. Let me take you to James chapter 1 verse 17 today where it reads, Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. You know, understanding this truth can help us to navigate the stormy times of life. And as we unpack that a bit, we see that first, God is the source of every blessing.

What are those? Well, think about it. We all worship and follow him, the privilege of living in a free country, the shelter, transportation and food on the table we enjoy, the clothes we have to wear, the financial provision that comes from God himself. Of course, family and friends and even every breath we take is a blessing from God.

So that's the first part of that passage. God is the source of every blessing. But then we read on and it says, God does not change. You see, economic forecasts and our bank balances and even our emotions can change like shifting shadows, but God isn't like that. God is good all the time.

His character is fixed. In Christ, we see God's love for us in action. We know the passage well. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life. We see by the power of the Holy Spirit, we can face every day with peace and confidence and God's unchanging love and his provision and his peace.

And this, of course, is confirmed about the character of God in Hebrews 13, 8, where it reads, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forevermore. You know, the scripture we read earlier from James 1 17 follows with the description of all the trials we might face as we run the race of life. And whether you're just starting out or you're finishing the race, you can trust God's goodness now and in the future. Your circumstances don't change God's character. So if the current economic climate scares you, try thinking about it with an eternal perspective.

All the financial resources, well, they're God's anyway. So do your best with what you have, preparing the best you can, and trust the Lord to handle the rest. Even when you feel powerless to change your circumstances, rest assured that God provides his Holy Spirit to protect and support you each day as you walk with Christ. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. That, of course, from Philippians 4 7. I hope that's an encouragement to you today as you think about the uncertainty around you and being able to have confidence in God's ultimate control over everything.

Before we go back to the phones, a couple of emails that came in recently, and these are from some folks really just wanting to be good stewards and be found faithful of God's resources. We'll get to one on inheritance in a moment. But first from Sue, she writes, What is title lock insurance? Do you recommend it? Sue, it's a great question.

Let me weigh in on this today. You know, this isn't what's typically known as title insurance, which you should always get when you purchase a property. This is what's called title fraud insurance, and it really isn't insurance at all.

It doesn't lock your title as the name sometimes implies. These products will usually just monitor whether your deed has been transferred out of your name at the county records office. Now, that might be helpful if you're able to react in time and challenge the deed transfer before the records office. But the scammer takes out a new loan in this, and there's really no way to actually lock your title in any state, at least not yet. There's nothing to stop a scammer from forging your signature and transferring a deed out of your name. You can monitor whether a fraudulent transfer has occurred, typically all by yourself.

Most counties now allow you to view the status of your deed online, and some counties even allow you to sign up for automated alerts involving deed changes. Here's the bottom line, though. If someone were to transfer your title fraudulently and take out a loan against your property, at the end of the day, it's still fraud, and you can't be foreclosed on. It wouldn't hold up in court. So, bottom line is, this is just one of those products that is sold and not purchased, and the reason is there's really no value to you. This is something you can do yourself. You certainly don't need to pay for it. And if it were to happen, again, it would be a fraudulent transfer, and they would have no legal basis to your property.

So, I would pass. Sue, thank you for writing to us today. Questions at MoneyWise.org is the email. Questions at MoneyWise.org is the place to go to email if you want a question read on the air, and we'd love to hear from you as you write to us. On the other side of the break, we'll talk about inheritance.

What do you do when you have a child living outside of God's will, and how should you think about approaching that in terms of your estate planning? Before we take our next break, let me take this opportunity to remind you that in the final moments of this year, there's an incredible opportunity to support this radio ministry. That's right, we're still working toward our goal to meet our obligations for this year as well as make our ministry plans for next year, and we can't do it without your faithful support. So, would you consider a gift before December 31st? If you would, we'd be grateful.

Just head to MoneyWise.org and click Give, and again, if you do that by the end of the year, that would be incredibly helpful. Thanks for your generosity, and we'll be right back. Stay with us. Thanks for joining us today on MoneyWise Live, biblical wisdom for your financial decisions. Hey, our team is away from the studios today, so don't call in, but we lined up some great questions.

We'll get right back to the phones here in just a moment. Hey, would you like to find a financial advisor, an investment advisor, tax and accounting professional that shares your values and has met high standards when it comes to character and integrity but also experience? You can do so when you search for a certified kingdom advisor. You can find one in your area on our website, MoneyWise.org.

Just click Find a CKA. You know, we hear from a lot of folks that ask the question, if we go to God's word, what are the big ideas that we see there? How do we actually apply ancient wisdom to today's financial decisions and choices? And it's a good question because we have to start with the big narrative, if you will, in Scripture, the big idea, starting with the fact that God owns it all, that Creator God is the owner of everything, the cattle on a thousand hills, the earth is the Lord's and everything in it, we're told in Psalm 24. And that includes the ability for us even to create wealth. Well, what do we do then if we recognize that to be true? Well, we have to accept then our proper role as a steward or a manager of God's resources, which then changes the role of money as well. It makes it a tool to accomplish God's purposes.

Yes, we're to enjoy it. And yes, we should provide for our families, but we should also enter God's generosity story, his activity here on earth, we should hold it loosely and not seek to gain more of it just for the sake of enriching ourselves, because that's going to put too much of a focus on this world, the temporal as opposed to the eternal. But when money becomes a tool and we hold it loosely and we don't get caught up in the comparison trap, well, it changes our perspective. And by the way, giving is what does that most effectively in my experience. You know, our generosity is meant to serve those who are in need. We clearly see that in Scripture.

But for those of us who are warm and well fed and have a roof over our head, giving changes our perspective. It refocuses us away from our own many kingdoms here on earth and focuses our attention on the eternal kingdom, God's kingdom, as we participate in God's activity. Those are the big ideas in Scripture. And then when we begin to drill down below that, we see the principles that should govern our day to day interactions with money. Recognizing we need to spend less than we earn living within God's provision, even though the world allows us to live outside of it. That we should set financial goals because the longer term the perspective, the better the decision today.

We should avoid debt because there's clear warnings in Scripture about the use of debt and it changes the relationship lender to borrower. We should have margin in our financial lives. That is, we should have something left over at the end of the month so that we can use that in a way that aligns with our values to accomplish our ultimate longer term goals and objectives.

Margin is critical to that. And then finally, as I said, we should give generously. And when we do those five things, live within our means, avoid debt, have some margin, set long term goals and give generously. Well, we put ourselves in a position at that point to experience God's best. And those ideas? Yeah, they come right out of Scripture. When we go to God's word, we'll see them very, very clearly.

Well, as we apply those principles, we can see that they really can intersect with every financial decision we will ultimately take. So let's head back to the phones. North Carolina, Randy, thank you for your call, sir. How can I help you? Hey, how's it going? Doing great.

Thanks for calling. Hey, I had a quick question. Well, a couple of questions. So someone had mentioned I bonds to me as far as investing. I'm 30 years old. I got a small paint company, got three kids, wife. I haven't bought a house yet.

I'm currently renting. Well, I'm just trying to think about the future. So I was thinking about getting an I bond. And also, I have some cryptocurrency that I've had for a couple of years. And I obviously see that's kind of volatile. So I'm curious if I should just go ahead and get rid of that or get any more. Just keep what I have. Yeah, great questions there, Randy. Appreciate that very much.

So that was great background. Give me a sense of your budget, your income and your expenses. Are you all living paycheck to paycheck? Do you have a little margin at the end of the month? Yeah, I usually got a little margin at the end of the month. I've got some money saved up.

Okay. So on a typical month, what would you say you have left over? Probably somewhere between, it just depends month to month, but usually somewhere between 35, $4,000 and then in a good month, a lot of work coming in, maybe 8,000. And that's what's excess at the end of the month? If you have a good month, you have somewhere between 4,000 and 8,000 extra per month? Yeah, like I said, depends on the month. Lower end, $3,500.

But I've had some good months. Okay. And what do you have in savings right now?

Low 30s, 32. Okay, about 32,000 in savings. And what other assets do you have? Do you have investment accounts besides the crypto that you had put aside? What else do you have? So just really just the crypto and yeah, I think that's about it. Okay. And are you contributing to a retirement plan of any kind? No, sir, not at the moment.

Lately, these things have been kind of weighing on my mind, like what I need to start getting the ball rolling. Yeah. And how much do you value the crypto at? And I realize it's probably declined quite a bit. But what do you think it's worth today? Less than 10,000. Okay. All right. And so you would expect to see that 30,000 in savings can start to increase pretty rapidly? I mean, you think you're going to be adding, you know, at least $3,000 a month to that? Yeah. So hopefully, hopefully, yeah, it stays pretty steady. Like I said, I do my own work.

I work for myself in companies. So yeah, that'd be great. Okay.

All right. So a couple of thoughts here. Number one is, let's not do, in my opinion, any more crypto investing.

If you would have called me before you put the first dollar in, I would have said no, don't touch it. And here's why crypto is not going away. The technology, the blockchain technology behind the cryptocurrencies is here to stay. It'll be used for a wide range of applications, including a decentralized form of currency.

But it's very early, you can kind of think about it in the early dot com era. That's kind of where we are in the maturation phase of cryptocurrency. And because of that, with the regulatory environment being uncertain, you know, recently, the sell off has been because, you know, there is no central bank to come in and backstop it. We saw that with the recent collapse of one of the crypto exchanges. When the Democrats did better than were expected in this midterm, that could put some weight on the cryptos as well, because their tendency is to add more regulation to this environment. There's just way too much speculation and uncertainty, which is going to make it a very speculative, very volatile investment. I wouldn't touch it.

Again, it's not going away. But that doesn't mean it's ripe for your investment dollars, especially when you don't have other investments that would be more akin to what God's word would affirm, and that is the idea of steady plotting. So if it were me, I would just unwind those positions, get out of them and use that to start your more prudent, steady plotting investment strategy. So where would I go from here? Well, number one is I would really dial into your monthly spending plan, kind of rain back your expenses as best you can. Number two, I'd open a SEP IRA for a self-employed person. That's going to be the best way for you to put away a lot of money, which you have, and that's great on a typical basis. But I'd invest in a stock and bond portfolio that's properly diversified and move away from the speculative investments.

And let's start really putting as much as you can in there each month. Stay on the line. We'll talk on the other side of this break, and I'll get your thoughts. You're listening to MoneyWise Live with Rob West. Today's broadcast is prerecorded, and that means we're not taking any calls. But we've got some calls lined up and great information coming your way that we think you'll find helpful. So stick around for more MoneyWise Live after this brief break. This is our final segment of a broadcast we previously recorded.

Thanks so much for being with us today, and we hope you'll stick around and enjoy the rest of today's program. Just before the break, we were talking to Randy, who has a painting business. He's self-employed, makes good money on most months with plenty of margin, but not built much built up in the way of assets.

Good news, Randy, is you've got time on your side. You've got a young family. You're in your 30s. You don't, to sound like, have a lot of debt. So the key is right now just building that solid financial foundation, not in speculative investments, but really in, I believe, a properly diversified stock and bond portfolio with a large concentration towards stocks. This is a great time to begin to dollar-cost average in. And I would use, as I said before the break, a SEP IRA as kind of the basis for that very low maintenance, very easy to set up. And with the cash flow you're throwing off, you should be able to build that up quickly. And that's going to give you a more stable, predictable, long-term investment strategy that, you know, if you just continue to invest systematically, should give you quite a bit of money in retirement that you can lean on without the money. Lean on without the speculative volatile nature of the cryptos you have invested in. But give me your thoughts on all of that. I mean, it makes sense. Kind of what I was thinking, but I guess I was just hoping in the crypto ordeal that kind of see that it's too unstable.

So it makes sense. Appreciate the advice. So when you say investing, you say the Roth? Well, I would use a SEP IRA. You could use a Roth too in addition to it, but a SEP is going to give you the ability to put away more money.

As a self-employed individual, one of the challenges is when you don't have a company-sponsored retirement plan, you're going to cap out that Roth at 6,000. And even if you open one as a spousal IRA, you'd only be able to put away 12 per year. And in order to save 10 to 15 percent of your income for retirement, you're going to not have enough contribution potential there. So that's where a SEP is going to give you a lot more. For 2022, you can put away 25 percent of your compensation or $61,000, which gives you the ability to put a lot more away.

You'll get a tax deduction on it as well. So you can reduce your adjusted gross income and then get that money invested. You could probably open an account at either Fidelity or Schwab and look to buy just some high-quality growth mutual funds. If you wanted more of a robo-advisor approach, you could use the Schwab Intelligent portfolios, where they use exchange-traded funds to build a portfolio for you of indexes, mirroring the broad market indexes, largely stocks but with smaller allocation of bonds. And then you just capture the long-term trends of the market growth. The other approach is to be a little more proactive in terms of selecting mutual funds, perhaps more actively managed funds, which you could do either in a faith-based investing approach like with Eventide or Praxis or Timothy Funds.

Or you could use our friends at soundmindinvesting.org and they could offer some mutual fund suggestions as well. But I think the key is getting it as much as you can with all this surplus cash flow you have into a tax-deferred environment to reduce your taxable income but get this money growing for the future. Does that make sense? Yes, sir. Absolutely. Appreciate it. Yeah.

Just tired of getting pennies in the bank on interest. Yeah, very good. Well, if we can help further along the way, let us know, Randy. But listen, all the best to you in the days ahead and thanks for calling today.

We always appreciate the emails that come in from you, our listeners. Let's weigh in on one more today. Ruth writes to us, and this is a tough one. She says, What should we do about children that are living outside of the Lord's will as far as leaving them an inheritance? And I would say first, Ruth, make this a matter of prayer. I realize these are tough decisions.

They should not be done without a lot of thought and prayer and consideration and conversation with you and your husband. It's a big decision. It's the last stewardship decision you'll make and you want to think about the impact of this. Before I weigh in with my thoughts, let me just say the best book on this topic dealing with the kind of the questions you need to ask and the principles you can apply from God's word as you think about wealth transfer is a book by my friend Ron Blue called Splitting Errors.

And you can pick up a copy wherever good books are sold. Here's some questions to ask, Ruth. The first question is, what do you hope for in this process? What is it you're really hoping you'll be able to accomplish? Second, what do you expect to happen? If you were to make this gift as you were planning, perhaps before you realized that there were some lifestyle decisions being made that were poor, what was it that you expected to happen?

And then thirdly, what are the potential risks? There's the non-financial side of this that I think, and that includes the spiritual, that's far more significant than the financial. You know, if you were to drop X dollars, whatever that is, in the lap of this particular child who you said is living outside of the Lord's will, what are the potential implications of that? Could it further those decisions, those poor choices that are being made, could it actually draw them away from the Lord, which is the ultimate objective, that they be surrendered to Christ?

And if so, is that worth it? And the answer is absolutely no. And so I think we have to recognize that we need to make some hard decisions when it comes to inheritance in many situations. We need to be thoughtful about it, we need to think about the risks that it can occur, and we need to be careful not to further that negative behavior through our inheritance.

That can be difficult, but here's one of the principles you'll find in Splitting Airs from Ron Blue. He says, if you love your kids equally, you will treat them uniquely. And I realize that flies in the face of what we believe so often as Americans. Well, we've got to treat our kids all the same. But in this case, you may need to make a different and difficult decision because of the implications, and again, most importantly, the non-financial implications of this. So you think about it, pray about it, ask those questions, and then make the decision. And keep in mind, Ruth, just because you make a decision today doesn't mean it can't change down the road as this child's decisions change. And let's continue to pray and ask the Lord to grab hold of their hearts because that's what ultimately matters.

Let's head right back to the phones and welcome Evelyn to the broadcast in Mississippi. Hi there, how can I help you? I have about $600 cash.

I know that's a small amount compared to what most people are calling you about. I am in a nursing home. I have the needs to handle my affairs now as my POA. And she found out that a small fee was being charged to my account, so she decided, without asking, to just close the account. Right now I have $600, but I need to find a place to put it where it's available whenever we need a few dollars and possibly can get some kind of interest.

Yeah, very good. And I think the key here, Evelyn, and I appreciate your call so much, and we certainly want to help you be a good steward of that $600 so you've got it protected, you can earn a little bit of interest, not see it decline with a lot of fees, but still have a debit card or something that you can use when you need it. If you're comfortable transacting business online, or perhaps she could help you do that, the best place for you to go would be to open a checking account with one of the online banks. And the only reason I say that, as much as I'd like for you to have a brick and mortar bank that you can walk into, is because with that smaller amount of money, generally you will have fees on those accounts that's going to eat away at that over time. You'll avoid that with most of the online banks like Ally or Marcus or Capital One 360.

So that would be my preferred option. Perhaps she could help you set that up, get the money deposited, get the debit card sent to you, and then help you manage it if you're not comfortable with doing that online. But I think that's going to give you the ability to earn a little bit of interest, avoid any fees, and still have the money protected in an FDIC insured bank, but also to know that you've got access to it through the debit card. I would just mention that to her. You can have her go to bankrate.com.

That's bankrate.com to look at the various online banks that might be available for you and have her pick one that would be a good fit, set that up for you, and get your debit card sent to you in the mail. All right, here are no final moments of the broadcast today. Quickly to Louisiana Ken, you've been very patient.

How can I help you, sir? My wife and I are both retired. My wife's been retired for two years. She has a 401k that's still with the banking system where she works. I just retired about five months ago, and I have my 401k at my previous employer too. My question was, at what point should we consider rolling that over to a financial planner?

Yeah. My 401k is down about 20%, but mine is down about 2%. Okay, well that's great given the market. What do you think you have, Ken, combined between the two accounts, roughly?

Two accounts is about a million five. Okay, great. So you all have obviously lived modestly, you've prioritized saving, you've built up quite a nest egg here, and as you enter this next season of life and ask God what your next assignment is, I'm delighted to hear that in addition to Social Security, you've got plenty of assets here that can help support whatever God has called you to. That's great. You mentioned an advisor, and I think this is the time, Ken, to go ahead and connect with and select that advisor who's going to serve you through this next season of life.

Here's the thing, you guys have worked really hard and long time to build up this wealth. The last thing you'd want to do is just put it on autopilot. So I think having a trusted advisor who shares your worldview, understands your values, but also has significant experience and competency in designing and managing portfolios, not based on their objectives, but based on your goals and objectives. How much risk do you want to take? How much income do you need to pull from this? What's the right mix of investments and what's the best strategy over the long haul? All of these questions can be answered by an advisor who would take responsibility for managing this. Once you select the advisor, you'd roll those two 401ks into a new IRA, well, two of them, one for each of you, at the custodian that that advisor uses. So I'd head to moneywise.org, moneywise.org, click Find a CKA, that stands for Certified Kingdom Advisor.

Do a zip code search, interview two or three and find the one that is the best fit for you. And once you make that selection, I think you'll have a lot of peace of mind. All the best to you and your wife, Ken, in this next season of life. God bless you guys and thanks for calling today. Well, folks, that's going to do it for us today. Thanks for listening. MoneyWise Live is a partnership between Moody Radio and MoneyWise Media. This is where God's word intersects with your financial life. Come back and join us next time, will you? God bless you.