Get Ready for Quiet Hiring

The job market remains strong. So strong, in fact, that employers are getting sneaky about hiring.

Hi, I'm Rob Last. With inflation and the slowdown in the economy, it's a wonder that millions of open jobs are going unfilled. But that's the case. What does that mean for workers? Maybe a lot. I'll talk about it today and then it's on to your calls at 800-525-7000.

That's 800-525-7000. This is Faith and Finance Live, biblical wisdom for your financial decisions. Well, right now, there are 1.7 jobs available for every person looking for work. Well, that's great if you need a job, but it's putting an awful strain on employers who need skilled workers. I said that employers are getting sneaky about this. That means companies are resorting to something called quiet hiring.

Now, what does that mean? Well, it could be hiring contractors for the short term until a certain project or workload is completed. But it can also mean encouraging or prodding employees to take on a host of new duties within the company.

There are several reasons for this. One, I've already mentioned that workers are hard to find. Another is the expense of advertising, recruiting and training new workers. And with the prospect of a recession, employers don't want to hire people just to lay them off if business takes a downturn.

Added to those reasons is that companies still have goals they want to reach in 2023 and they're having a lot of trouble doing it. The answer, it seems, is quiet hiring. Usually when a company hires someone, it's to fill an existing job opening or because there's a new job that needs to be filled in order for the company to grow.

Or a third category, filling a vital but temporary need, it's the last category that quiet hiring addresses. And it's a growing trend because often it doesn't require any new hiring, which again is expensive for companies. Instead, employers are identifying critical functions that need addressing immediately and then shifting employees from other roles to meet those needs. Now, what does that look like in practice? One amazing example involves an airline that recently converted some of its executives into baggage handlers because of a critical need.

There was an added bonus beyond just getting bags on and off planes. It also gave front office folks a chance to see how decisions and policies made higher up affect employees in the front lines. But quiet hiring can also have a detrimental effect on employee morale. They may see it as a sign that their old job isn't really important since no one is being hired to replace them. They might then question whether they'll still have a job when the critical need passes. And to be sure, not everyone is a fan of quiet hiring and it can result in what's becoming known as quiet quitting, which is refusing to take on any new work outside the duties one was hired to do. While supporters of quiet hiring say it offers workers a chance for promotions and raises, opponents say it's another way for companies to take advantage of their employees, claiming that the rewards for taking on new work are few and far between. Whether quiet hiring is good or bad for workers remains to be seen, but predictions are that it will continue for the foreseeable future.

The question is, how can workers take advantage of it? Well, here the Bible has some advice. Colossians 3 23 and 24 reads, Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ. I think that means cheerfully taking on a new role that may help your employer if you're able to do the work. Take the boss at his or her word that it could lead to a better situation down the road and a chance to improve your skill set.

It's also an opportunity to ask about your future with the company and a chance to lay out your goals for how you'd like to advance. You can also inquire whether the new role allows for other perks such as more flexible hours or a chance to work from home. In other words, try to have an optimistic approach if you're asked to temporarily take on new duties to help your employer, but also be honest if you don't feel you're equipped. And even there, maybe you can ask for some additional training to help you. If you cooperate with your company's quiet hiring practice and find yourself stuck after a year or more with no promotion or raise in sight, you can always fall back on the new skills you've acquired to look for another job somewhere else.

As the saying goes, there's no such thing as job security, but there is employment security, and the way to get it is by not turning down the opportunity to learn new things. All right, your calls are next, 800-525-7000. This is Faith and Finance Live, biblical wisdom for your financial decisions. We'll be right back. I'm so glad you're joining us today on Faith and Finance Live.

I'm Rob West. We're taking your calls and questions. Lines are open, 800-525-7000 is the number to call. Well, the Federal Reserve yesterday slowed its pace of interest rate raises to a quarter of a point. That was the lowest since March. The move brings the benchmark federal funds rate to a range of four and a half to four and three quarters. That's the highest since 2007.

This rate, of course, typically affects borrowing costs for both businesses and consumers. The hike is the Federal Open Market Committee's eighth consecutive raise and comes as inflation continues to decline from a June high of a staggering 9.1 percent to December's reading at six and a half percent. Further, quarter point hikes are expected in March and May, but that's the real question. Where will the Fed go from here in light of the fact that we're seeing a response at least to the action they've taken to this point, which has been dramatic in that inflation is coming down, although it's not anywhere near their target of two percent. Interestingly, we started today by talking about hiring and unemployment, which tends to rise as the Fed raises rates.

It remains at a historic low of three and a half percent. Job openings actually increased by six hundred thousand to eleven million in December. And that move came after a day of the or a couple of days ago where the International Monetary Fund upgraded its outlook on global economic growth to an annual rate of two point nine percent.

That was up from two point seven. So a lot of moving parts in the economy right now. The market up slightly today, basically in the tech sector on the heels of the meta earnings out last night.

That's the parent of Facebook. So the Nasdaq up over three and a quarter percent here at the close. So Jerry Boyer will stop by tomorrow to weigh in on all of this. But clearly, the eyes remain on the Fed at the moment as they are really the driver of economic data right now and activity going forward. So we'll continue to keep an eye on it. All right.

Let's talk about not the global economy or the domestic economy, but your economy. What are you thinking about today? Eight hundred five to five. Seven thousand is the number to call. We've got some lines open. We'd love to hear from you.

Let's start in Florida. Tabitha, thank you for calling. Go ahead. Hi. Good afternoon. How are you doing? I'm great. How are things in Florida today? It's beautiful, sunny, a little bit of clouds.

I think there's a lot of people listening right now that would be very jealous to have with them with that. That's OK. We'll let you enjoy that. How can I help? Yes. What can I do for you?

I may. Yes, I'm a 45 year old woman. I'm a chef right now. I'm on disability because I got injured a couple of years ago.

And long story short. So that's how I live off of that. And I'm married and my husband works. And after the pandemic, I purchased a life policy along with retirement. So basically it's a three hundred thousand dollar policy and I'm paying about 150 a month into it. So they said by the time I'm 62, if I want to cash out. Seventy thousand dollars, it does in effect, the 300 on my life insurance policy because of what I've been paying in being the age of 40. Well, when I purchased it, I was 43. So now I'm 45. So by the time I'm 62, I can cash out seventy thousand. Is that a good investment I get for myself being that now I'm a homemaker and, you know, I have a two year old now I'm starting all over again. And I don't know if it's a good move. I am doing as in because I'm getting older because you like the what if. And right now I'm just basically living off my SSDI. Yeah. OK, very good.

Yeah. You know, I'm not a big fan of doing your investing, your long term savings inside of an insurance product, Tabitha. So I'd rather you say, OK, how much life insurance do you need? And that is the amount to cover your life payable to your husband in the event that the Lord were to call you home, because now your income goes away, which is in part supporting the family. And if you have young children at home and he's obviously going to have to continue to work to pay the bills and provide for the family, now he's going to have to have some assistance there.

And that could be costly. So the first question is how much life insurance is really needed. And that would be a multiple of your income that would need to be replaced, usually 10 to 12 times that amount. Plus whatever added burden may be placed on the family through child care. The same would be true for him.

If the Lord were to call him home, 10 to 12 times his income at a minimum would be needed payable to you as the beneficiary so that you could live off of that amount of money and provide for your family with him gone and you still caring for the kids. So that would be the starting point. And the most cost effective way to get that type of coverage at the least expense is through term insurance. So you'd probably want to get a 20-year policy at a minimum.

That would take you through age 65. You could even look at a 30-year policy. But that's going to keep that cost as low as possible and ensure that you have enough death benefit to cover your family. Well, what about long-term savings? Well, we do that through company-sponsored retirement plans, IRAs, things like that, not insurance products in my view.

You all still have plenty of time on your side. So I'd rather see him putting 10 to 15% in his company-sponsored plan and maybe you and he funding some Roth IRAs. And between the two of those and the investments that would compound for the next couple of decades, I'd much rather see you do that than try to invest through an insurance policy. Does that make sense though?

Yes. I'm reading on it right now and it's saying when I reach 62, I don't have to pay the payments anymore and I'll have that $300,000 policy for life insurance till the day I pass away when the Lord calls me. Yeah, but that's probably going to eat away at your cash value so that you're going to stop paying and the way they're going to fund that death benefit is by that cash value declining over time. And I think you could do much better if you were to take that same amount, pay for the term life insurance to get the coverage you need on your life and his and then redirect the rest into a mutual fund that would just grow for the rest of your working lives. And then you could have that to fund your income plus social security.

And if you needed to get access to the principal, you'd have that as well. That just tends to be a better performer over the long haul as opposed to taking what the insurance company might give you after all their fees and expenses. Well, it's called a term life insurance. That's what they sold me. So what is that then?

Yeah, I would need to have somebody look at that. I mean, term life, see this, what you're describing is whole life, meaning that you said you have this death benefit for the rest of your life until you go home to be with the Lord. That's not term insurance. Term insurance is just pure insurance. There's no savings component in it.

There's no cash value that builds up. You're just paying the cost of the death benefit. It's called the mortality expense and that alone. And it's for a period of time.

And at that point it gets very expensive. So you drop it and you either replace it with another term policy or you get to the point where you no longer need it because you've been saving during your working life and now you don't need the death benefit. So I would have somebody take a look at that, but that doesn't sound like term insurance. That sounds like whole life insurance. And that's not my favorite approach for you all to save for the long haul. Does that make sense? Okay. So you're saying I should invest basically in an IRA wrap?

Yes. And if you can't, you know, that's going to allow you to put 6,500 a year. Your husband could put 6,500 a year. That's 13,000 between the two of you. And in order to get up to 10 to 15% of your total household income, he's probably going to have to contribute to a retirement plan at work on top of that.

That plus the term life insurance for your death benefit only is, I think, the better approach. Stay on the line. We'll talk more off the air. We'll be right back. Great to have you with us today on Faith and Finance Live. I'm Rob West. We've got a few phone lines open at 800-525-7000.

Give us a call. Hey, beginning this month, now that we've turned the calendar to February, we're introducing a new resource to help you on the earning portion of the financial equation. The Business God's Way book will improve your business and your finances. Written by our good friend Howard Dayton, you'll learn what God says about operating a business and handling money. It's a helpful guide for everyone in business, whether you're a CEO or a manager, a small business or large, whether your business is a startup or well established, I know it'll be a source of encouragement for you. You can request your copy of Business God's Way for your gift of any amount to FaithFi. Go to faithfi.com, that's faithfi.com, and just click the Give button.

Thanks in advance. All right, back to the phones we go. Again, a few lines open, 800-525-7000.

Give us a call to Florida. Hi, Susan. Go right ahead.

Hi there. So I have been saving, I'm 60, I've been saving my whole entire life and been way too scared to ever invest. And so now I'm at a point where I have a lot, a lot, a lot saved up and everybody is pushing me to invest and I'm scared to death. But it does make sense that I'm afraid of losing it. And yet if I don't probably invest, I may not have enough to get me all the way through the rest of my life.

Yeah, yeah. Well, I understand that. And here's the reality, Susan, you know, we bring all kinds of money temperaments to the table. We also have different backgrounds related to money. And in fact, our childhood is one of the most foundational elements of how we handle money today. Was money scarce or plentiful? Was it managed wisely or was there a lot of debt involved?

Did you just scrape by or was there an abundance? And a lot of that forms who we are and how we see and handle money today. Do we hold it with a clenched fist because we're worried we're going to lose it?

Are we able to hold it loosely and give it generously? And ultimately, I think it comes down to money being a heart issue. And we've got to ultimately make sure that our trust is in the Lord. And I'm not saying you're any different than anybody else.

I'm talking to myself as well here, Susan. We've got to remember that God is our provider and his provision is complete and it's sufficient. And yes, we need to be wise stewards. And so I think wrestling through that with the Lord and saying, Lord, I trust you and I want to be wise with this. I want to follow wisdom from your word. And ultimately, at the end of the day, between you and the Lord with you as the steward, you've got to make the best decision you can for you.

We don't want to react out of fear, though, because we want to remember that God is on the throne and he is our provider, not the U.S. economy or the government or your employer or your stock portfolio. Ultimately, God is where you need to place your trust. Now, what does it look like to move wisely then toward a plan for investing this hard-earned money, which you said is a large sum because you've been faithful in saving for a long, long time.

And I think that's where you've got to look at options and you've got to seek wise counsel. One of the things to remember, Susan, is that, yes, you can lose money by investing it and having a loss on the investment. The other way to lose money is by not doing anything. And that's because your purchasing power is eroding every day that this money is not working for you. And that's through something we're all quite familiar with these days called inflation.

So as goods and services and the prices of them rise, the value of your dollar is shrinking. And so that's one of the reasons why we need to put it to work. And so I think the key for you here is to seek wise counsel, not so you can just blindly turn this over to someone and not have any idea what they're doing, but that so you with someone who has the heart of a teacher who can educate you, but also actually take responsibility with your goals and objectives and your risk tolerance in mind, build a portfolio that allows this money to grow. And yes, that means there's going to be the risk of loss. But as long as we take a long time horizon, which you have, even once you reach retirement, if you're in good health and the Lord tarries with that long time horizon, you should do well. So I think the next step for you is to interview some advisors that could serve you in this area and help you build a plan that you're comfortable with that allows you to sleep well at night, but also to have this money working for you.

But that's a lot of information. So give me your thoughts. Well, the first, I have a question and a thought. My first question is, do you think at the time that it is with the way the market is, is it wiser to invest in tangible things like real estate and gold versus the stock market right now?

I don't. I mean, I like real estate and I like gold, but only with a portion of your investment. So with gold, I would say, you know, typically we'd say five to 10% of your portfolio. I like gold right now. So maybe that pushes it to the upper end of the range at 10% of the portfolio.

But I wouldn't overweight in gold. It just doesn't have the longterm performance that a stock and bond portfolio does. I like real estate, but that's going to involve a lot more work on your part, a lot more capital. It may involve debt, a lot more hands on because you're going to have to manage the property and deal with the maintenance and the upkeep and the taxes and the repairs and all of that.

So I think the simplest way to go would be to have a properly diversified stock and bond portfolio with an allocation to gold in it, but where the bulk of it is through investments with stocks and bonds. Here's the reality in terms of the timing. Number one, we don't want to try to time it. So the key is to just take a long term perspective.

But number two, we often like to buy things at a discount when we go shopping. Unfortunately, we don't apply that same thinking to the stock market. We want to buy in when the market's doing really well, which means it's at the top. I kind of like buying in while these stocks are on sale at a discount, which is what we're experiencing right now with the market still a couple of thousand points on the Dow off of its high from all time. So I think this is actually a great time to invest personally. And do you have anybody that you would recommend?

I absolutely do. But I'm going to recommend not a person, but a designation. You know, here at Faith and Finance, we trust the Certified Kingdom Advisor designation. These are men and women who've met high standards and character and competence and experience, pastor references, client references. I've signed a statement of faith. We've done a regulatory review, but they've also been trained professionally to bring biblically wise financial advice. So what I'd like you to do is head to our website, faithfi.com.

That's faithfi.com and click find a CKA. Does that sound good? Well, the best direction you gave me was to take my heart before the Lord because you nailed it. I was raised in a very poor household, so that was the best. Good.

Well, that's a big part of this. You need to make this a matter of prayer and I'd interview at least two or three advisors to find the one that's the best fit for you. Thanks for calling. We'll be right back. Stay with us. Hey, so glad to have you with us today on Faith and Finance Live.

I'm Rob West. It's such a privilege to come alongside you each day to be able to hear your stories and answer your questions, to be able to walk with you in this stewardship journey we all find ourselves on because here's the reality, at least my experience is that when we live in the tension of wrestling with God around how we should handle his money, what's the appropriate amount to spend and keep and what more importantly should we be giving away and what is God doing in our lives and how can money as a tool be a reflection of that? You know, that's something that actually grows our faith when we lean into it. We make it a matter of prayer. I love what the last caller said. She said, you know what?

You're right. My upbringing and the fact that I grew up very poor probably has a lot to do with how I handle money today and holding very tightly and being unwilling to lose any of it and maybe I need to think about that. Maybe that's a matter of the heart that I need to turn over to the Lord.

Well, we all have to ask those hard questions and I think when we do it will not only grow our faith but make us better money managers. Hey, let's talk about that together today. What are you thinking about financially? Give us a call. I'd love to talk about it. The number 800-525-7000. That's 800-525-7000. Our entire team is standing by ready to serve you and we'd love to get you on the air.

All right, let's go to New Mexico. Hey, Don, thanks for calling, sir. Go ahead. Yes, sir. Thank you very much for taking my call and I just want to say I really appreciate your program.

Well, thank you. I do have a question today concerning charitable organizations that you're giving money to from an IRA. I'm 67 right now and we're doing a capital fundraising campaign at our church for a building and I heard that at 70 and a half it's still okay to give tax-free money from your 401k or your IRA to the church without taxes.

Is that correct at 70 and a half? It is not from a 401k but an IRA. What you're talking about is a QCD or a qualified charitable distribution and you can begin giving qualified charitable distributions from your IRA at age 70 and a half up to $100,000. What that does is it allows the money to go, Don, directly from the IRA to the charity or nonprofit or your church, allows them to get a full benefit of the money and allows you to avoid paying any taxes on that distribution that would have otherwise been taxable. At the point where you have a required minimum and that's now been pushed as of this year to age 73, you would also be able to satisfy that required minimum through that same qualified charitable distribution. It will not be able to come directly from your 401k though. You would have to roll it into an IRA first. Okay, that's marvelous. That makes a huge difference on how much you can give if you're not paying taxes on an IRA. Well, that's exactly right and it's a blessing to everyone because you get more money into the kingdom, the ministry or your church gets more money to be able to take and use for their programming or in this case a building project and you get to satisfy the RMD when that time comes.

So I think everybody wins. It's an underutilized tool, let me just say that. So I'm glad you're discovering it. Hey, tell me what your church is doing. What's the building project? We're building a worship center to see about 500, which is marvelous. But it's a lot of money. It's going to be a God thing if it happens and it will happen.

It just matters God's got to be involved in it. But given huge amounts of money, taxes are a big issue, especially when you pull it out. Now you show an income of huge amounts and you're paying high taxes, a high tax bracket. That's exactly right, Don. I'm glad you brought this up. Here's the reality is that 90% of our wealth is held in the form of our balance sheet and only 10% of giving is done in balance sheet giving, which means 90% of giving happens in the form of cash.

When we give from our balance sheet from your stock portfolio or piece of real estate and we do it in a tax advantaged way like you're talking about, not only can we do it in a way that minimizes the tax impact, but it's just going to allow us to give a lot more over time, which is ultimately the name of the game. So Don, thanks for calling. All the best to you in your church on that building project. God bless you, sir.

Let's see, to Cleveland. Hi, Linda. Go right ahead.

Hello. Thank you. I have filed for a compensation that has been— Oh, it looks like, I'm sorry, the line is a little too choppy for us to hear you. So I'm going to put you back on hold and we'll see if we can clear that up. We may have to call you back on another line. Unfortunately, we're only getting every second or third word and I want to make sure I can hear you well to get you a good answer to that question. So hang on there, Linda. We'll see what we can do there.

Stephanie's in Florida. Stephanie, go right ahead. Yes, I just have a question on the best way to invest and I've never done that before, so I'm kind of leery of it, but I am not working at the moment, but I'm currently looking for a job, but I have about $55,000. That's what I'm trying to find out about investing and I have about $13,000 in credit card debt. Okay. And are you adding to that credit card debt, Stephanie, or is that old debt and you're just trying to get it paid off?

Old debt and I'm just trying to get it paid off. Okay. Was it because of a single event or was it just kind of overspending for a period of time? How did you end up with that?

Well, without getting into a whole lot of it, I had gone through a divorce and so a lot of it had gone on there to help out. Yeah. Okay. I certainly understand. And do you have, apart from this $50,000, do you have what I would call an emergency fund, which is your emergency reserves?

No, it'd be coming out of that. That's kind of what I'm living off of at the moment. Okay. So you're living off of the $50,000? Correct.

Okay. And what's the long-term plan there? Are you looking for a job or what would allow you to move away from living off of that $50,000?

Yes. I'm currently looking for a job. I was in the middle of selling a house that was a marital asset.

It was difficult emotionally to try to navigate. So now the house is sold and now I'm freed up to work. Okay.

Very good. Well, you've got a lot going on and I certainly understand that this has been challenging and it's resulted in not only this debt but you just trying to navigate all of these things including this home sale. And so I'm delighted that you're trying to take steps to move in this direction. I wouldn't be thinking about investing this $50,000 right now, Stephanie. I would just kind of sit tight, keep that in a savings account that's liquid, just you focus on what God has for you in this next season, focus on getting this home sale closed, focused on moving if that's still to come. Let's focus on getting this debt paid off. If you do anything, I'd probably go ahead and pay off the credit card debt out of the $50,000 and then just sit tight. And then once you get into your new job and we're just going to pray that the Lord provides just that right thing for you and you've got a good stream of income coming in, then we can start thinking about investing and it's probably going to be best to come through salary deferral. So taking a portion of your paycheck and putting it into a retirement plan I think is going to be the best option. But given some of the changes that are going on, the uncertainty and this credit card debt which is probably high interest, I would be looking at paying that off out of the $50,000. Does that make sense? It does.

Yeah. So I wouldn't be thinking about investing right now. If you wanted to hang on to all of the $50,000, then the other approach would be to get on a credit counseling program so we can get the interest rates down and get this debt paid off a lot quicker with one fixed monthly payment. Contact my friends at christiancreditcounselors.org. But if you feel like you've got enough runway with the $50,000 to go ahead and pay off the cards now, I'd do it. Let's get out from under that. That's going to free up a little bit of margin on a monthly basis. And then let's just focus on getting that new job and I'll certainly be praying for you in that as well. Thanks for your call. We'll be right back on Faith and Finance Live. Welcome back. You know, we have an amazing team here at Faith and Finance Live. And one of those team members is the amazing Amy Rios. And Amy said, Rob, it's time for a lightning round, which just means we answer as many questions as we can in one segment of the broadcast. So let's dive right in Cleveland, Ohio. Linda, you're back with us.

How can I help? I have Ohio deferred compensation account that is losing money. And I was thinking to put it somewhere where it can be safe and accrue interest. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. The challenge is how old are you, if you don't mind me asking, Linda? Sixty four. Okay. And when is retirement?

I will be sixty five in February. Okay. And are you retiring then or will you continue to work?

I will continue to teach piano part time. Okay. So you've separated from your service that's resulted in this deferred comp.

You're no longer working there? Correct. Okay. So I would probably roll this out to an IRA and then you could do anything you want with it. The challenge is that the market will come back and if you take this money out, it's all going to be taxable. If you leave it there, we can actually do something with it. Now, if you're just done and you're like, listen, I just can't stand to lose another penny.

Absolutely. You can, as the steward, move it to something more stable, money market or CDs or whatever you wanted to do. And you could leave it inside that tax deferred environment by rolling it to an IRA. But I think if you want to give it a chance to come back, the market will recover ahead of this economy. And in fact, you know, it's looking more and more like this recession.

If we have one this year is going to be fairly mild. There's literally trillions of dollars on the side, Linda, that will come rushing back in to this market once we know the Fed's done raising rates and the economy's ready to recover. So if it were me, I'd probably wait it out until it recovers and then move it to something more conservative. But at the end of the day, if you want to get it more conservative now, you could certainly do that either in the deferred comp or by rolling it out to an IRA. And you can be as conservative as you want at that point. So I think that's probably your next move.

I would just give some thought to can I be patient on this and still take a long term view? Or if not, I'm ready to go. Then, you know, you can go ahead and make that change. No problem. We appreciate you calling to Florida. Hi, Kim. How can I help you? Just happy to be on the show. Thank you.

I'm from Miami. So God has been putting on my heart for a few years now to establish a budget for our family. We're like a newlywed five years in, three kids now. And the finances are not great. And I'm not sure where to start the budget.

Yeah, yeah. Well, the key, Kim, to all budgeting, first of all, it's critical whether you're a multimillion dollar company or a brand new family just starting out, you need a budget, a plan, give every dollar a name. And the bottom line is it can't total up to more than 100 percent. It can't total 110 percent because if it does, then we're going to incur something called debt.

So we've got to live below our means and we've got to be realistic about what it takes to do that because we ultimately want to live on less than we're bringing in. So we have something called margin, which is that excess at the end of the month. Studies say that's what's going to keep you and your husband communicating really well about money. Having that margin is key to avoiding marital conflict around money. But most importantly, it's going to help you fund your goals so that you've got something extra to save for the future or pay down debt or give more to the Lord. So it's really critical that you have this spending plan of the budget.

The starting place could be very basic. Just get a proper accounting of everything you are spending every month, the things you get a bill for and the things you don't, which means you may have to carry a little journal around with you and jot down everything you're spending that doesn't offer a bill. But, you know, you stop it at a coffee shop or you're picking up some new clothes or you're taking the family out to dinner or soccer dues if you've got a little soccer player or something like that. You've got to get it all in there, even those non-recurring things like a semi-annual HOA payment or quarterly car insurance payment. And once you have it all, now we can go to work and say, do we need to cut back? Which expenses do we need to eliminate?

Now, you could use the old tried and true envelope system where you literally, for your discretionary items, fund envelopes with cash, or you could use a modern expression of that, like our FaithFi app. And I'd be delighted to give you a six month pro subscription just to try it out and our team would actually help you set it up. But the bottom line is, you're right on. You got to do it. And it starts with you figuring out where are we at today? Are we happy with that? Does it give us the margin to fund our goals? Are we living a lifestyle that we feel like God has called us to?

Do we need to dial it back or are we okay? And then once the budget is established and it balances and it reflects what's truly most important to you, then you need a system to control the flow of money in and out on a monthly basis. And that's either going to be a mechanical system like the envelope system or kind of a smartphone, more digital approach, which is the FaithFi app. But give me what questions you have. Okay. So I've attempted to put together that list of all the things that comes in and comes out and we're like over 120% of what we make. However, not however, so my husband and I have completely different like spending habits. So for him, it's just easy to start a line of credit. Okay. We're going to balance this off with more credit, more credit.

And it's a sensitive topic for him. So it becomes challenging for me to like, hey, let's sit down, let's do a budget, let's kind of dial down here, let's stop taking on more debt. So I'm not sure.

So for me, I feel like I'm now passive with it. I'm just like, you know what? As long as we make it through the week. However, I feel like it's just building up tension that if we don't address it, we're setting ourselves up for like major issues.

Well, I totally get it. And what you're expressing here, Kim, is not uncommon, but it's significant and it's serious. And you guys have to get this on the right track for the sake of your marriage and your financial health moving forward. Here's what I'd like for you to do. Number one, make this a matter of prayer. Start praying that the Lord would just open his eyes to not the fact that you're right and he's wrong, but just the fact that God wants unity for your marriage, including in your finances.

So start praying that God would really help you all come together in this area. Second, I think you need to step back and have what might be a hard conversation, but just say, I think we need to forget the budget for a second and talk about our values. What's most important for us? What do we want to be known for as a family? The ability to be generous, the ability to manage God's money wisely, the ability to live on less than we earn, the ability to give and accomplish the goals that we have, save for the future and put our kids through college. What are those values that are most important to us? And then how can the budget be constructed to reflect those values, but also give each of us kind of something that allows us to express who we are. So maybe there's a portion of the budget that he gets to do whatever he wants with and the same for you. And so now you have a plan that reflects your values. You each have an expression in that, but now it becomes an instrument of peace. It's actually freeing when you have the budget, not limiting because you know you're working toward God's best for you and you've thought through it and prayed through it and it truly reflects your values. And certainly he doesn't want to be incurring debt.

That's just leading down a road of destruction, but he probably doesn't know how to get there. It may be hard and you may need a third party to help. Let me send you a book, Money and Marriage God's Way that I think might be something that could help you all move forward. Maybe you could read through it together.

And again, this isn't about you finger pointing, but it's about you all leaning in together and say, we've got to do this for ourselves, for our marriage, for our family, because we're stewards of God's resources. So stay on the line. I'm going to give you a six month subscription of the Money Wise, or excuse me, the FaithFi app. Our team will help you set it up. And I want to give you a book called Money and Marriage God's Way. I think it'll be an encouragement to you. Please check back in with us and we'll be praying for you and your husband. To Illinois.

Hey Eric, thanks for calling. Go ahead, sir. Hi, my wife and I are cleaning out our drawers and we have tax returns and backup documents going back 35 years. Do we need to keep all of that or is there a rule that says we can keep less? Yes, it's a great question.

It hasn't been asked in a while. Most tax professionals, Eric, will tell you that you need to keep your returns and related documents for seven years because that's how long the IRS will look back. So it's something like a statute of limitations.

However, there is no statute of limitations that the IRS suspects you evaded paying taxes. You would never do that. So seven years should be plenty. Our friend Howard Dayton uses what he calls the shoebox method. He keeps seven shoeboxes and stores a year's tax returns and the documents in each one. And then after filing his taxes, he puts everything in a new shoebox and tosses out the oldest one. But I think seven years is probably that number that you're looking for for those tax returns. And I keep them in a fireproof safe or somewhere safe electronically. Thanks for calling to Cleveland.

Hey, Diane, how can I help you? Yes, I have $50,000 that I got from my mother's passing. My son wants me to put it in an online bank to get higher interest or a CD. I don't really want to invest because I don't want to lose any money on 67.

What would you suggest? Yeah, I like that option. High yield savings right now is paying about 3.3%. You can get for a 15 month CD over four and a half percent, maybe four and three quarters. Either of those would be great. They're all FDIC insured. So you've got the backing of the US government. I'd go to bankrate.com to find who has the best options.

If you want some suggestions, I'd throw out three names for you, Diane. Ally Bank, Marcus, M-A-R-C-U-S or Capital One 360. I'm completely fine with online banks. These are FDIC insured. These are large institutions.

You know, you're not going to put your money at risk, but you're not going to have any fees and you're going to get much higher interest rates by using an online bank. I hope that helps you. God bless you. We're going to finish in Ohio.

Craig, what can I do for you, sir? I was wondering about putting some money into coins. It's called gold coins. It's American Gold Reserve, it's called, if you've ever heard of them.

Yeah. I like gold right now. I'd be at the upper end of my range, which is usually five to 10% of our investable assets. I think there's a place for coins, so I don't have any problem with that. I just wouldn't go crazy with it.

It'd be really highly concentrated there. Gold coins are best if you can buy them and hold them for a long, long time. Don't be looking to buy and sell because you're going to have a markup on the buy and the sell. But I think that's a great option, Craig. I'm fully supportive. Thanks for your call, sir. Well, we did it. The lightning round was successful. Hey, on behalf of my team today, Luke Castaldo managing our phones, Tahira Haynes producing today, Amy Rios, the amazing Amy Engineering, and Jim Henry providing me with great research. Faith in Finance Live is a partnership between FaithFi and Moody Radio. God bless you. We'll see you tomorrow. Bye-bye.