Credit card debt fell sharply during the COVID shutdowns.
Unfortunately, it's becoming a big problem again. Hi, I'm Rob West. Folks cut spending and used stimulus money to pay down credit card debt during the pandemic, but what a difference a year makes. I'll talk about it with Neely Simon today and how you can get help with your credit card debt. 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, Neely Simon is our guest today. She's a certified credit counselor with Christian Credit Counselors, an underwriter of this program and it's always great to have her with us. Neely, welcome back. Thank you very much for having me on the show, Rob. It's great to be here.
Well, we love it when you stop by. This is such an important topic and with interest rates rising now more than ever. And Neely, as you know, one of the few positive outcomes of the COVID crisis was that people paid down credit card debt, but I guess you're here to report that that was short-lived, huh?
That's right. And in fact, the Bank Rate Survey stated that 46% of cardholders now carry a balance, up from 39% in 2021. The reality is that many of us are using credit cards to make ends meet. And unfortunately, with inflation continuing to grow for the foreseeable future and interest rates being an average of 20% or more, which is the highest they have been in the last 25 years, we are starting to feel the squeeze on our finances. But the good news is most people with debt are now actively strategizing ways to pay off their debt.
Yeah, I'm glad to hear that. Of course, we're seeing sharp increases in home foreclosures up 115% in 2022. Also delinquent auto loans now up more than 25%. But credit card debt, Neely, is one area where folks can make real progress and relatively quickly. So tell us about that.
Yes. So if you're struggling to make progress or have fallen behind or just want to seek some options to help with your credit card situation, I would encourage you to explore credit counseling. At Christian Credit Counselors, we offer a debt management plan. Now, it's not a consolidation loan or a settlement. It's a plan that offers you lower interest rates and lower payments, allowing you to pay off your debt about 80% faster while honoring your debt in full. All the terms have been pre-negotiated with the creditors and our consultation is free.
Yeah, that's really important. And the reason it's my preferred approach to get out of credit card debt is because it's not just a quick fix. My experience is that when you use a program like Christian Credit Counselors, it's going to have a lasting effect. Is that what you've seen too, Neely? Yes. Our program provides encouragement, relief, and enables clients to see the light at the end of the tunnel, knowing that they too can experience financial freedom while being a good steward of the resources God has given them.
No doubt about it. You mentioned the Lord in that. Talk about why this is a biblical approach. So many of us Christians feel convicted when having debt. We understand that during these times, God is helping us to learn really important lessons and that he forgives us.
He wants us to be right so that we can glorify him. Credit counseling is about paying your debt in full and in the process, you get to experience the peace and freedom that God wants for all of us so that we can live generous lives. Neely, they're going to have one fixed monthly payment. They're going to have lower interest rates and the combination of those two is going to allow them to pay this on average 80% faster. Isn't that right?
That's correct. So not only is more of your money going to pay down the principal, but we also apply the snowball method to our program. So the payment will remain the same throughout the program. When one account gets paid off, it'll get rolled into that other account, really expediting the payoff and getting people out of debt much sooner. Quickly, for someone who's listening and saying, I don't know if I can fit this payment into my budget, your team will actually work with them on their spending plan, right?
That's correct. Our free consultation consists of working up a comparison estimate outlining all the benefits and the fees. And then we also walk you through a budget really helping you to understand your disposable income, offering opportunities to coach and potentially the debt management plan being a good solution if they struggle with credit card debt. Incredible. Neely, thanks for stopping by and encouraging our folks that there is a way out of credit card debt and a way that you can pay it in full and honor the Lord at the same time. Thanks for being here. Thank you so much.
Neely Simon's been our guest today. She's a certified credit counselor with Christian Credit Counselors. You can get more information at christiancreditcounselors.org.
Your calls are next, 800-525-7000. This is Faith & Finance Live, and we'll be right back. So glad to have you with us today on Faith & Finance Live. I'm Rob West.
All right, it's time to turn the corner. Let's talk about whatever you're thinking about today, perhaps your financial question you'd like to raise, or maybe you have a testimony. Maybe you have a story of how God's been working in your life, how these principles from God's Word that we talk about related to your finances have really helped you to make some progress. You'd like to give a testimony to the Lord or anything else. We'd love to hear from you. 800-525-7000 is the number to call. Again, 800-525-7000.
All right, let's head to the phones. Paul from Lancaster, I understand you have a comment related to yesterday's opening topic on tracking our generosity. Paul, what's on your mind? Yes, Rob, it was very intriguing because I've often thought about wanting to do that, but I have a pride issue when it comes to that kind of stuff because I do a lot of things and a lot of people, you know, comment and are glad for the things that I do for them and the money that I give away, and I'm just concerned if I would do that, it might affect me somehow negatively. I have a lifelong goal to give away as much as I can, and I'd like to track that, but I'm worried that if I did that, I would feel really good about myself and I don't know, it's just a real struggle. Yeah, well, I appreciate that sensitivity to the pride that certainly could creep up in all of us when we do this, and we actually talked about this a little bit yesterday for those that are just getting caught up.
Maybe you weren't able to tune into the broadcast yesterday. Art Rainer stopped by, one of our FaithFi contributors, and he talked about this idea of tracking our generosity. He said, you know, on our net worth statement, we don't see our generosity, and we often give over many years, both sacrificially and systematically, but we don't keep track of it, so that prevents us from celebrating what we're doing as we're returning a portion of God's resources back to him, and what we track, we have a tendency to put more emphasis toward, and so his thought was if we track it, we can actually do more because now we're watching it. Plus, it's an asset in the sense that it's not an asset in the here and now, but it's a kingdom asset for all of eternity, even though perhaps some, you know, who are not believers, don't understand a biblical worldview of money, may not see it that way, but Paul raises this great point of like, wait a minute, if I'm tracking my giving, all of a sudden, what if this pride wells up in me and it's actually something that causes me to think more highly of myself?
I guess a couple of thoughts. It is a hard issue, Paul. I would say, you know, clearly when we look at Scripture, Jesus called the Pharisees hypocrites. I mean, we knew, you know, they wanted recognition and approval of men, and they were giving in order to be seen that way. The good news about what we're talking about here is this is not a visible expression of your generosity. It's not like you're giving to get recognition from someone other than the Lord, because nobody can see it. I mean, this could just be a simple spreadsheet on your computer, you know, that's between you and if you're married, you and your spouse and the Lord.
And so we certainly know you're not trying to get the approval of men in it. But could you still also get prideful just between you and the Lord of saying, look, what I've done, not what you've allowed me to do? And I think the key there is just to remind yourself of what we know to be true. And that is, well, the very power to produce wealth comes from God. So Deuteronomy 8, 18 is very clear that we only have the ability to produce wealth, our physical strength, our mental prowess, our natural bent. All of that comes from God, and therefore we really have to be humble in our success because everything flows from Him. Our responsibility is then faithfulness to opportunity. What are we doing with what we've been given? And if we see it all as a gracious gift from God, it all belongs to Him, then we're to manage it wisely and faithfully. And part of that is returning it to Him. And there's joy and peace and contentment that follows with that. It's an act of worship or it should be. It's also a demonstration of our trust in Him when we give because we're saying, God, I can give to you because as my provider, I know you're going to continue to provide to me and your provision is complete and it's sufficient.
So I think clearly you need to check your heart and perhaps you'll find that this is going to become a stumbling block, and if that's the case, I would just say don't do it. But if in fact you renew your mind around this idea that, wait a minute, I didn't even create this. I mean, everything I'm giving, first of all, it was God's. It was entrusted to me through my work and maybe an employer or my clients and customers, but that's God's provision. That's from Him.
It's from no one else. And I'm returning a portion to Him because I want to be connected into His activity and I want to be able to maximize my giving. And one of the ways that I'm going to do that is to be able to track it. And that ultimately becomes a celebration and really a worshipful experience of saying, God, look at what you allowed me to do because you gave me this gracious gift. And so I think I would make it a matter of prayer and maybe just start down that road and see and be honest with yourself about whether it does become a pride issue. But what you may find is it's not at all. It's really something that becomes an act of worship.
Give me your thoughts. Well, that makes me feel a little better. About 20 years ago, I started my own business and I've just been blessed beyond measure and have been serving Jehovah-jireh for many years. That's one of my favorite names for God, Jehovah-jireh, in reference to Abraham on the mountain. And he has been so faithful and supplies me with over an abundance of more than I can hope or imagine, Ephesians 3.20. And it has just been a wild ride. And fortunately, I have a wonderful wife who is in with me on the whole giving and blessing other people. And yeah, it's been a fun journey these last 20 years especially or so since I've been in business. That's why I figured out that that's why I'm here to create wealth and to be able to give it away. Well, you know, I love that you've identified that because the ability to create wealth is one of God's gifts, right?
And so some people just have a natural bent that way. It just seems like everything they do in business grows and multiplies and that ability to create wealth, again, all of it coming from the Lord, is then an opportunity to exercise the gift of giving, which is, you know, your ability to take and funnel that into God's kingdom. We want you to be not a reservoir where God's provision stops with you, but a pipeline so that God's provision flows through you, through the gifts and talents He's given you in business back into God's economy, which creates a virtuous cycle of God's provision and then returning it to Him for His activity. And you get to participate in that, which is one of the privileges He gives you. You know, I'd come back to to that name of of God that you referenced Jehovah Jireh, you know, that means God provides. And that's a great reminder that I'm not doing any of this in my own power. The very breath that I take, the next breath that I take is a gift from God. And so as I remind myself of that and ultimately it all comes from Him and it all belongs to Him, then I can return it to Him. And hopefully that keeps the pride in check, because at the end of the day, I realize it's all about Him anyway.
It's not about me. And I just, you know, I'm but a vapor and we don't have enough time on this earth when you look at the grand scheme of things from the beginning of time to the end and everything in between for eternity. You know, when we look at our piece of that, it's so small. The only way for us to have an impact is to connect into what God's doing, because He's from everlasting to everlasting and we're but a vapor. And so I think perhaps maybe as you meditate on scripture and pray through this, God will give you a new vision for that. And out of that, maybe you can begin tracking as a celebration of what God's done. Hey, Paul, thanks for calling today. God bless you, my friend.
Hey, we're going to take a quick break. Ethan, 20 years old, wants to know how he can build his finances and keep a loving relationship with the Lord. We're going to talk about that just around the corner, plus your question.
800-525-7000. We'll be right back. You know, this idea that everything we have comes from God is really foundational to managing money, according to a biblical worldview. We have to start with the idea that God owns it all.
If we're ever going to put ourselves and money in their proper roles, that really changes everything, because now every spending decision becomes a spiritual decision. We're glad to have you today on Faith and Finance Live. I'm Rob West. We've got a few lines open taking your calls and questions.
800-525-7000. Let's head to Corda Lane. Hey, Ethan, how can I help you, sir? Well, hi, how's it going?
I found your guys' station today. It's been real awesome to be able to listen here about, you know, some other people's beliefs and their financial situations. I've got myself in a particular situation that I kind of think about often, as my belief in love has always grown and gets stronger each day. But as I've gotten older, I've also noticed that I am trying to worry about my finances, and my head kind of thinks towards the future. And I want to make sure that even though I know that I can grow and I can grow my income, I also want to make sure that I'm continuing my growth in space and making sure that I am on the right path.
Well, I love that idea. How old are you, Ethan, if you don't mind me asking? So I'm 20 years old.
Okay. When you think about your finances, is it fear related to worry, like you're beginning to ask yourself what if, and you're worrying about the risk of loss? Or what is it that you're struggling with? So I say I was struggling with just kind of looking into the future and being, will I have enough?
And is what I'm doing enough? Yeah, yeah. Well, it's a great thought. And I love that you're already thinking about handling money and how that's going to affect your walk with the Lord, because we know that money issues are hard issues. Remember, Jesus said, your heart follows your money where your treasure is there, your heart will be also. We also know that, you know, the way we handle money is one of the ways that we work out our faith. You know, my experience, Ethan, is that your financial journey is one of the key ways God shapes your spiritual journey, because it's that tangible daily demonstration of not only what I value, because I place my money toward the things that I value, but also where I place my trust. Am I, you know, too focused on the things of this world and building temporal wealth?
Or am I just saving as a wise steward with prudence, but I'm still ultimately placing my trust in God? And we always have to be on our guard about that, because clearly part of the cultural worldview of money is going to promote this idea of materialism, that you should spend everything you receive and that you're to be discontent. That's the purpose of marketing, is to create discontentment in your heart so you respond with a purchase. The cultural worldview will attach your self-worth to your net worth, and it will choke out God's word from bearing fruit in your life, if we look at the story in Mark 4, the parable of the sower. And so how do we overcome that? Well, we overcome that with a biblical worldview, which allows us to understand the true role of money and where our identity lies, and the reality our identity is not in money, it's in Christ. If we think our identity is in money, then we'll either be prideful or ashamed based on how much money we have, and we become discontented with who we are and what we have, because ultimately we believe our personal value comes from what we do and what we've attained. But the biblical worldview says our true identity is in Christ, and according to Galatians 3.28, Ethan, you have no need, and I have no need for pride and shame and comparison, because my identity is not about what I do or what I have.
My identity is Jesus in me, my hope of glory, according to Galatians 1.27. So I think renewing your mind around these ideas really is critical, and being on your guard about what money can do. You remember when Jesus said, you cannot serve both God and money, and I think he puts these two ideas next to each other, because at least in my experience, if something is going to dethrone God from first position in your life, it's most often going to be money and the things that money can buy.
It's one of the chief competitors to lordship. But when we flip the script and we understand a biblical worldview that God owns everything and I'm his money manager and money's now not an end, but it's a means to an end, it's a tool to accomplish his purposes, and he's my provider, then I recognize I can hold it loosely and give it generously, I can live within my means, I can save prudently for the future, but I also place my trust in him. And then when I apply basic principles after I've got my thinking right, like spending less than I earn and avoiding debt and setting long-term goals and giving generously and having margin in my financial life, now I've put myself in a position to experience God's best. Now, I realize there's a lot to that, but does that resonate with you? It really does. I really appreciate that.
Good. Well, I appreciate you calling today and thinking through these things. You know, if you can begin to really pray through this and understand a biblical worldview of money at this age, at age 20, that's really going to pay incredible dividends just for your ability to have an eternal perspective moving forward as opposed to a temporal and really just trust God for the future, but also apply his wisdom to make some wise decisions moving forward. Hey, I want to send you a book as our gift to you. It's called Your Money Counts. It's by my good friend, Howard Dayton.
And I think as you begin to read through that and understand God's heart as it relates to our money, perhaps it will help set you on the right track even more so than you are today. And if we can help along the way, Ethan, give us a call. God bless you, my friend.
Stay on the line. We'll get your information and get that book right out to you. All right, to Weeki Wachee, Florida. What a great city.
James, how can I help you? Yes, sir. I was really interested in an endeavor that I like to pursue is purchase a new construction home. And I've been noticing actually they've kind of leveled off in price, but I like to purchase it, finance it. I can get a finance at around 5% through the VA loan.
And I like to Airbnb it. What is your thoughts on why or why not? Yeah, so you'd be just putting 5% down? Well, as you know, that would be a 5%, about a five and a half percent break.
Oh, interesting. All right, I'm losing you a little bit, James. So let's do this. I'm going to hit a break and then we'll see if we can get your line cleared up and let's talk further. Just because the VA will do 100% financing doesn't mean you should.
I understand they make that available to veterans. But especially with your going into this as a business with us heading into a recession, I'd want you to be able to put a significant amount down so you could have a good indication that you can service that debt. Let's talk about that on the other side of this break. We can clear your lineup. We'll be right back on Faith and Finance Live.
Stay with us. Great to have you with us today on Faith and Finance Live. I'm Rob West, your host. Hey, we've got a few lines open today. We'd love to hear from you. 800-525-7000. That's 800-525-7000. Just before the break, we were talking to James.
I believe his line has dropped and so we can't go back to James. But he's in Weeki Wachee. If you're ever on the turnpike in Florida, you pass some billboards that have riverboat cruises and springs and something about mermaids. You're in Weeki Wachee.
That's where he is. And he's thinking about buying a new construction house and putting it on Airbnb and trying to rent it out through a VA loan, getting 100% financing at 5%. And James, what I would say to you is, first of all, you're going into a business. So you've got to have a business plan. You've got to know the answers to how much is it going to cost to finance this property?
What can I put down? And I would say, if you have to finance it at 100%, you're not ready to start this business, in my view. Keep in mind, we're still at the higher end of the housing market. And we've got rates that are higher, which has brought affordability down. Rental prices have been sky high. Those are going to soften with the housing market. And so you could find yourself with quite a bit of debt service on this big mortgage and a higher interest rate, and perhaps rental prices falling, which also is going to trickle down into the Airbnb rates. And you may be in trouble there.
And I certainly don't want you to get over levered. Beyond that, will the revenue cover the costs even beyond the debt service? Have you checked with other Airbnbs in the area to see what their bookings are like? How are you going to handle cleaning and maintenance?
I mean, these are all the questions you have to answer. But for me, I'd really love for you to go into a rental property. And that's what this is, you know, with 50% loan to value just to make sure you've got plenty of equity, and you're not having to carry a massive debt service.
And if you can't do that, I'd say, perhaps you're not ready for this. So we appreciate your call today, my friend. God bless you. Again, 800-525-7000. If you have a story, maybe a testimony or a question today on your finances, we'd love to hear from you. All right, let's head to Chicago. Hi, June, go right ahead.
Yes. We're up in the years and I like to get this settled about giving my grandson the house and putting his name in on the deed. He will buy the house from his uncles. He will give them so much money each for the house.
What is your opinion about that? Does that involve inheritance tax that we do it that way? There is no inheritance tax until you get at least currently up above a $12 million estate. So unless your estate's worth more than $12 million, at least based on the current tax law, you don't have to worry about inheritance tax. But you do have to think about capital gains.
And that's really going to be the issue here. For that reason, it's generally not a good idea, June, to put a family member on the deed to your property to get around probate. Because if you put your grandson on the deed, he'll have your basis on the property, which just simply means when you calculate the capital gains upon the sale, he'll have to pay capital gains taxes based on what you paid for the property, which could be a lot. But if you simply leave the property or bequeath the property to your grandson in your will, he gets what's called a stepped-up basis. So the new cost basis for the house is not what you paid for it, but it's actually as of the date of death where the inheritance occurred, which is going to be the current fair market value. And then if he were to turn around and sell it, there would likely be no or very little capital gains. Or if he sells it much later, at least that stepped-up basis is going to help him down the road to pay less in the way of capital gains. And if capital gains rates are heading anywhere in the future, I think they're headed higher.
All that obviously is a political hot potato, but I think they're probably at the lower end of the range we're going to see in the future. Does that make sense to you, June? Yes, I think so. I have a question about Proverbs. This is a wise person will give an inheritance to his grandchildren instead of his own children. What is your thought about that? Well, I think you've got to look at that in context, and I think what that verse was really talking about, although I think the idea of a financial inheritance is biblical, it was really talking about a spiritual inheritance and passing on a legacy of faith, which we should do to all generations. But I think this idea of a financial inheritance, we clearly see that in Scripture.
I think we've got to be mindful, though, about the role of money in someone's life, and I think we've got to ask some hard questions before we leave the inheritance. Not that we should try to avoid it, but we have to say, what do we expect to happen? What do we think will happen?
What's the worst thing that can happen? And depending upon where a child is at, whether they're young or an adult, the decisions they're making, their financial readiness, dropping a large sum of money in someone's lap that is not on a course pursuing the Lord, that's making poor financial decisions, could actually accelerate that negative behavior. And so I think we've just got to stop and say, let's look at this. And my friend Ron Blue, one of my mentors, says if we love our children equally, we will treat them uniquely. And I know that some people struggle with that idea.
It's like, wait a minute, I've got to treat everybody the same. Well, maybe not. And based on where they're at, what their financial need is and their financial and spiritual readiness for that inheritance, I think those are all considerations and that can change over time. And that's where a godly estate planning attorney can help you navigate all of this. So bottom line is, I think inheritance is biblical. I think that passage was talking even more, though, about a spiritual inheritance than a financial.
And I think we need to ask some questions before we make decisions on leaving money to children. We appreciate your call today. God bless you, June. 800-525-7000 is the number to call. We'd love to hear what you're thinking about today in your financial life.
Quickly to Miami Beach, Florida. Hi, Luis. Go right ahead.
Yes, thank you. Hi, thank you for taking my call. My name is Luis.
I just wanted to give a brief testimony of what the Lord has done in my life through your ministry, actually. You know, I had brain surgery a few years ago, and I was practically bankrupt. And, you know, all my finances, I was a jewelry designer, I was doing very well.
But because of the brain surgery, I lost part of my side. I couldn't work anymore. So the thing is that I got into trouble in because they cut my line of credit that I had it because of the what happened a few years ago. So in the economy, so I was left with a big, big problem with the debt that I have into the hundreds of thousands of dollars. Wow. And by following the principles that I learned through your program, the Lord miraculously really totally changed my situation. I was able to pay, to make a long story short, to pay all of my debts. Wow. I had, you know, my credit report was terrible before. Yeah. And slowly, you know, it took me like three, four years to be out of, you know, about the water.
But now I have a perfect credit, perfect score, and I have a surplus of money coming to me. And, you know, it's a wonderful testimony just to encourage the people that are on the line that if it was in a situation like mine that was practically dead, they gave me any hope to survive that situation myself. Wow.
Lewis, that's incredible. You know, we were talking about the names of God earlier, Jehovah Jireh, God will provide, God provided in your situation. There's also the name Jehovah Rapha, the God that heals.
It sounds like you had healing in your life as well. What an incredible testimony of the faithfulness of our Creator God who provided, and thank you for sharing that as an encouragement today. God bless you. We'll be right back on Faith and Finance Live.
Stay with us. God owns it all. We're stewards. Money's a tool to accomplish God's purposes. That's the big idea behind a biblical worldview of money management. This is Faith and Finance Live. I'm Rob West.
So glad you're along with us today. Hey, before we head back to the phones, it's Friday, which means our good friend Jerry Boyer stops by. Jerry is columnist at World Opinions. He's the author of The Maker vs.
The Takers, and he's our resident economist here at Faith and Finance Live. You know, Jerry, before we get into the economy and the markets, we've had several testimonies just about God's faithfulness today and just as he provides even through difficult times. You know, you talk about really how God created and ordered the world and really this virtuous cycle that exists when we see God as provider and then as his creation, we take what he's created and improve it and order it and return it back to him. And then it continues. And that's really the way God designed not only our lives to work, but also nations, right?
He did. And he's generous. But he's not just generous in the sense that a parent is generous with a baby, right?
Parents, you know, mothers give everything to the baby. But, you know, what parents really want is for the child to grow up. And although we never grow up to the point where we don't need God, that would be impossible.
We do grow up to the point where we can become productive like him. And so, yeah, that's kind of the way the universe is designed. I mean, we see God doing that in the creation account. I mean, people have asked this, maybe not enough people have asked.
Some people have asked, well, if God creates light, you know, by he or let there be light and Kithov, it's good. If it's good, if day one is good, why have a day two? Why, you know, if it's already good, you know, it's already good. Well, he does things on day two and they're good. But does he stop? No, day three. Each day he said it was good.
Or at least most of the days he said it was good. Well, does that stop? See, I think with mankind, he says that, you know, that he creates man and woman and that's very good. So is the improvement over?
No, he's shifting it to us. I made you a garden. I showed you how to live. Now, I want you to turn this whole world into a garden city. I want you to be like father. I'm bringing you into the family business. The family business is managing the earth. I started with the Garden of Eden and you go out there and do what I've done around the rest of the world.
And that's each and every human being's calling. There's nothing about the Great Commission that undoes the dominion mandate, which is for us to fill the earth and subdue it. Hmm. Wow.
That's powerful. And that's a biblical worldview of how we should view our design. The creators designed the role of work, which happened, as you said, before the fall of man. Maybe the toil was a result of sin, but the work was ordained by God and God himself was a worker, creator God. Jerry, how then do we apply that biblical worldview kind of shifting to the markets and the economy to look at and evaluate what's going on right now in the United States?
Yeah, I'm sorry. I interrupted you a little bit, but I just couldn't help saying, and he incarnated as a worker. God did not send his son into the human life of a philosopher. God's a builder and he sent his son to be raised by a builder and to work as a builder.
Okay, so the economy. Well, you know, every day we're out there doing that. Whether we acknowledge God or not, we still have that created that image of God. So we're out there filling the earth and subduing it. Sometimes our work is evil.
Pornography is evil inherently. But most people, whether they acknowledge God or not, they're doing things that are productive. Now, the problem is that's biblical economics. The problem is there was a revolution about a hundred years ago towards atheistic economics and it saw growth as the problem.
We're not supposed to fill the earth and to do it. And if the economy grows, it causes inflation. And so we have to slow the economy down and we'll have overpopulation and we'll have shortages of resources as if God is not generous. And that kind of has worked its way into our system.
And unfortunately, that philosophy governs us. So when the economy is doing well, if we have a great jobs report, like we did last Friday, what happens is markets look at that and they say, well, that's great news, but the central bank thinks it's causing inflation. So they're going to try to slow the economy down.
And then on Monday of this week, the chairman of the Fed, Jerome Powell, came forward and said, yeah, market, you're right. We're going to try to slow the economy down because they don't understand that growth is the answer to inflation. It's not the cause of inflation. And that's why markets have behaved the way they have this week.
They behaved as though the central bank doesn't understand the biblical imperative to grow and be productive, which it doesn't. And therefore is probably going to hike rates even more and contract the economy even more. And that's why stocks sold off and growth stocks sold off more than non-growth stocks and sensitive stocks sold off the most. And that's why the S&P 500 had the worst week in a couple of months because of exactly what you just said.
Well, that's helpful, Jerry. And of course, we'll use that as a backdrop as we continue to evaluate where we go from here in the markets. And as we, of course, continue to get economic data, I want to pivot to one other topic today, Jerry. Obviously, we're about to head into the period where we're going to have a lot of shareholder meetings and we're given the opportunity. Most of us just throw that away in the trash when the proxies come in the mail, but we're going to be given the opportunity to vote proxies as shareholders, as owners of companies. You obviously spend a lot of your time really representing clients and voting those proxies and attending those meetings and speaking up on behalf of Christian values.
Give us a preview of what's to come, perhaps in the next quarter. There's going to be a lot of abortion on the ballot over the next couple of months, and the proposals are almost all going to come from the pro-abortion side. There's some stuff coming from the pro-life side, some stuff that I've been involved with, which is basically, we want you to disclose your charitable contributions, which is, we want to know if you're giving the plan parenthood and hiding it.
Most of the activity has been from sort of the anti-biblical worldview side of things. There are going to be several different kinds of proposals, which are going to push companies. What happened is, we overturned Roe versus Wade in the courts, and in the state legislatures, we're beginning to extend protection to the unborn. The pro-abortion side has been losing in the political process, so now they're trying to win in the financial process. They're bringing their lost political cause into finance and pushing large companies to punish pro-life states by divesting from pro-life states. There's a pretty good chance, if you have a diversified portfolio, there's a pretty good chance that that's going to be on the ballot where you have a vote, and you don't know it's coming, and you won't vote.
Or maybe you're using a fund that'll vote, and it'll vote for the pro-abortion resolution. So this is an area where, you know, a long time ago Christians figured out we needed to be citizens. We needed to register to vote. We needed to be informed and vote in the direction of our nation's political institutions.
Well, corporations are in many ways more powerful than state institutions, and so we need to now add another citizenship responsibility, shareholder citizenship. We need to vote. We can't just complain. We can't just gripe.
We need to actually represent to be salt and light in the boardrooms. Yeah, well said, Jerry, and it matters because we can actually affect change when we do that. All right, I'm having so much fun, Jerry.
Can you stay around for a couple more minutes? My pleasure. All right, so stay right there. Bobby's in Illinois, Jerry, and I want you to weigh in on this.
Bobby has a question related to perhaps how we should look at these PPP loans that happened years ago and wants to know just kind of your perspective on it. Bobby, go ahead. Hi, Rob. Love your show, Jerry.
How are you? My question, you know, we talked about the student loans a couple of days ago and about the potential forgiveness. My question is for the PPP loans that were given and, you know, millions and, you know, billions of dollars that didn't need to be repaid. And what is a business owner, you know, the responsibility of repaying that and the extended unemployment benefits and additional $600 a week, you know, for people staying at home?
You know, how does that differ for the college students? Yeah, so you and I, Jerry, had the opportunity just a few days ago to talk about student loan forgiveness. And you gave us really a way to look at that through a biblical lens. And Bobby's saying, how do we apply that to some of these other programs that were out there during COVID?
We've got just a minute left. Give us your perspective on all of these topics and how we should think about them as believers. Well, I think there's a couple of things. One, is it properly the role of government to do these forgivable loans and some of these unemployment benefits that extended beyond the need? And the Christian statesman Jack Kemp said, what we need is a social safety net, but not a hammock. And so there's a point at which you help people in need, temporarily in need. And there's a point at which you harm them by giving them incentives not to work. And then that might seem like compassion. But Proverb says the compassion of the wicked is cruel. And it's cruel to take away productive years of young, for instance, a young man's life in his 20s. Now, if you're a business owner, you took PPP loans as a forgivable loan.
I don't have any problem with that. The government shut down your business. This is the way of them compensating you for shutting down your business. But from a policy standpoint, I don't think this thing this kind of thing is good for the work ethic. And I don't think it's good for the stability of prices, because that money has to come from somewhere. And it comes from deficit spending. And deficit spending is financed by the Fed creating new money. So it's directly inflationary. So you take you give people newly created money saying, look, you've got newly created money. Yeah, but you destroyed the value of the money that you gave us that's newly created.
We're not ahead of the game. Well said, Jerry. Bobby, thank you for your call today. I saw Bobby's question and remembered our conversation this week and wanted you to weigh in, Jerry. And I'm glad I did because that was very well said. Well, my friend, always appreciate your insights. We covered a lot of ground today.
Thanks for stopping by. God bless you. Yeah.
All right. I'm still thinking about what Jerry said. The incarnated God, Jesus, comes not as a philosopher, but as a carpenter, as a worker, which underscores this idea that we're to be workers as part of the creation.
Incredible. Well, folks, so glad you were along with us today. We did, in fact, cover a lot of topics. But at the end of the day, what we recognize is that ultimately, we want to keep God on the throne of our lives, accept his free gift of eternal life, and we place our trust in his son, Jesus, for the forgiveness of sins. And then it's about stewardship. What are we doing with what we've been given? Are we handling that faithfully?
And are we doing it in such a way that it's an act of worship to God as the owner of everything and us as the steward? Awesome. Well, folks, delighted to have you here. Faith and Finance Live is a partnership between FaithFi and Moody Radio. So thankful for Amy, Dan, Jim, and Clara.
Couldn't do it without them. Have a great weekend. Come back and join us Monday. We'll see you then. Bye-bye.
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