Rejecting False Gods

Do you have any false gods in your life? Would you know one if you did?

I'm Rob West. It doesn't have to be a golden calf to qualify as a false god. It could be almost anything, anything that stands between you and Christ. I'll give you some examples today so you can be on the lookout. 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 journey. Well Psalm 20 is one of my favorites. It begins with a blessing and ends with a statement of faith.

Here's part of Psalm 20 starting at verse 6. Now this I know, the Lord gives victory to his anointed. He answers him from his heavenly sanctuary with the victorious power of his right hand. Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God. They are brought to their knees and fall, but we rise up and stand firm. Some trust in chariots and some in horses. Back in David's day, chariots and horses were the most powerful military technologies available.

If you had those, you could usually expect victory. But the Psalm says there's something even more powerful out there, the name of God. In spite of that, some people were still putting their faith in worldly things like chariots and horses. Anything you put your faith in other than the Lord our God is a false god. As Larry Burkett used to say, a false god is anything that detours our commitment to God.

You probably won't be trusting in chariots and horses today, but here are a few false gods that you will recognize along with some modern twists on Psalm 20. Financial security is a false god. Some trust in retirement plans, savings accounts, and investment income. But we trust in the name of the Lord our God. Government provision can be another false god.

Some trust in welfare programs, federal relief checks, or government handouts. But we trust in the name of the Lord our God. Power is often worshipped as a false god.

Some trust in status, reputation, and financial influence. But we trust in the name of the Lord our God. Personal autonomy is a very deceptive false god.

Some trust in themselves alone depending on their own financial goals and expertise. But we trust in the name of the Lord our God. The consequences of trusting in false gods are severe. God is not mocked, the Bible says, and he tells his people over and over not to worship any other gods. We see the most glaring example of this in Exodus 32 as God meets with Moses on Mount Sinai. Verse 1 reads, When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron and said to him, Up, make us gods who shall go before us.

As for this Moses, the man who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him. Aaron goes along with their demand and crafts a golden calf, most likely representing a false Egyptian god. It didn't take long for the people of Israel to lose their faith, turn away from the Lord, and begin worshipping idols.

The insult to the Lord continues in verses 4 through 6 which read, They said, These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made a proclamation and said, Tomorrow shall be a feast to the Lord. And they rose up early the next day and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings.

And the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. Now Aaron may have intended that the sacrifices be made to the one true God, but the Israelites obviously didn't think so, and God certainly wasn't fooled. He tells Moses in verse 9, I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people. Now, therefore, let me alone that my wrath may burn hot against them, and I may consume them. Of course, Moses pleaded for the people of Israel, and the Lord relented, although some 3,000 of the worst offenders were put to death by the Levites. Now, it's easy to dismiss this biblical lesson thinking we'd never worship something as ridiculous as a golden calf, but an idol can be anything.

It could be your dream house, the shiny new car in your driveway, or your 401k. All of these are potential idols that threaten to replace God in your life. They themselves are not evil, and possessing them is no sin. It's only when we let them come between us and the Lord that they become a real problem. Whatever you face today, whatever decisions you have to make, don't make the mistake of turning to false gods for help. When you're a believer in Christ, you have a much greater resource, the name of the Lord your God. Alright, your calls are next.

800-525-7000. We'll be right back on Faith and Finance Live. Stick around. As we think about managing money, we talked about initially today this idea of false gods. Think about it. If we allow it to, money can occupy that place in our lives that it was never intended. We can make it an end as opposed to a means to an end. We can make it our objective and really God should be at the center of our lives. We should have that eternal perspective and allow money to be a tool to accomplish God's purposes. You know, when money is in its rightful place as a tool, then a couple of things can happen.

Of course, we can buy things for ourselves and for others. We can also use it to accomplish God's purposes, but it can also be used in my life to teach me to rely on Him and to put my security in Him. Think about money in that way. It really is a daily demonstration of our faith. It reveals where we placed our trust. It reveals what we value and ultimately it influences our spiritual journey. Perhaps we should reconsider the role of money and see if it can't be that catalyst to draw us into a more intimate relationship with the Lord.

That's a different perspective than the world, that's for sure. This is Faith and Finance Live. I'm Rob West. Hey, we've got some phone lines open today. We'd love to hear from you.

800-525-7000. Whether you're thinking about paying down debt, maybe money has crowded out God in your life. You'd like to talk about it. Or maybe it's your giving plan, your investments, whatever it might be.

Maybe it's that credit score that you've been wrestling with. Whatever it is, give us a call. We'd love to talk about it.

800-525-7000. I'd also love to hear your testimonies today. Perhaps you have a story of God's faithfulness in your life. Maybe you've been applying these principles we talk about here on this program, which are timeless and they're transcendent and they transcend the tax code and the GDP and the CPI.

They work because they come right out of God's Word and you'd like to give testimony to what God has done as you've applied his principles in your life. Well, we'd love to hear that as well. The number to call is 800-525-7000. Again, that's 800-525-7000. Before we head to the phones, a quick email. This one comes to us from an anonymous concerned mom and she writes, my son needs help with paying back credit cards and loans. Is there a service out there that can help? Thanks in advance.

And let me just tell you, there absolutely is. If he has less than $4,000 in credit card debt, what I would say is let's try to free up as much margin as he can on a monthly basis and just snowball it. That is lining them up smallest to largest balance, paying all the minimums, but focus every available extra dollar on the smallest balance.

Let's try to get that knocked off and then move right down the line. If it's more than $4,000, I would look at using a debt management program. Our friends at ChristianCreditCounselors.org have worked with hundreds and hundreds of our families and listeners here at Faith and Finance and they will help you get out of debt 80% faster through two primary vehicles. Number one is a reduced interest rate.

So when the interest rate is reduced, now with a level monthly payment, more money is going to principal reduction and you'll snowball that debt. So I'd contact them. They're all believers. And again, you'll find them at ChristianCreditCounselors.org. I know they'd love to chat with you and they can work with your son. As we think about helping our kids manage money, this is one that's often difficult because what ends up happening a lot of times is we enable them to continue poor financial decision making because we'll step in and maybe pay off the debt, but without instilling the right behaviors. Maybe we'll let them live at home longer than we should and they're not developing the right habits. So think about ways to help where you can bless but also teach at the same time. Maybe if you have the ability to do so, you match debt payments. Again, you're reinforcing the right behavior. Maybe you ask them to pay some rent.

You put it in a savings account if they're living in the house and say, listen, as soon as you move out, I'll give it back to you for you to use for first, last and security. Again, what are the things we can do to promote the right disciplines and not enable them to continue on the right path? Think about that today. All right, let's take some phone calls. Again, 800-525-7000. We've got a few lines open.

Let's head to Indiana. Hi, Lori. Thank you for calling. Go ahead. Hello.

Thank you for taking my call. My parents are 80 and 90 roughly and they own 600 acres. They're trying to decide if they should put their farm into an LLC and what the pros and cons of that would be. I didn't know if that's something you could help us with.

I've looked online for information and haven't really found a good solid answer. Yes. Well, you know, one of the real benefits here of an LLC is that it provides some protection. But the big thing is that it provides some tax benefits in that's not found in some other types of legal entities because an LLC is considered a pass-through vehicle for taxation. So it passes through to the individual and you know that in some cases is going to, you know, help with from a taxing standpoint as you're able to deduct certain expenses. It can be suitable for really any size of a farm enterprise and it does have some benefits that, you know, in particular sole proprietorships do not have. And so what I would look at doing is perhaps visiting with an attorney who can just kind of look at their specific situation and decide whether this makes sense, you know, just to make sure that, you know, you've thought through everything. For instance, you know, you may have a farming operation where an LLC holds the land, the ground, and then you don't have to, you know, pay self-employment tax on the rental income, things like that where a limited liability company could be very helpful. But at the end of the day, it's a pretty flexible management structure and with the pass-through on taxation, there are some benefits.

So I think it's absolutely worth looking at, Laurie, and I would talk to an attorney and a CPA just about, you know, their particular situation, get some counsel, and then they could help you both draft the corporate, you know, documents, get it filed, make sure you deal with the annual filings each year, and make sure you take full advantage of it with the CPA from a taxation standpoint, you know, each year. Does that make sense? It does. Thank you so much. Okay. Very good. You're welcome. Thanks for calling today. Let's see. You know what? We're going to head to a break here in just a moment, but quickly to Alabama. Hey, Dale, how can I help you? Yes, sir. Thank you for taking my call.

Just a quick question. My wife and I both have a will. I'm 61 years old and I'm debt-free completely and have some estate. And essentially, if one of us passed away and the other remarried, what could we do to protect the money that we have in the estate relative to what either I or she would want or, you know, protect our children? You know, I had a friend whose wife passed away, the man remarried, he passed away within six months, and the new spouse got everything and nothing was shared with the children at all.

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, you'd want to connect with an attorney on that. Typically, you would put the assets into a trust, and they would not be treated as marital assets in, you know, in the event of one of your passing or in the case of a divorce.

And so, you know, that would be one way to handle it. But really, this is going to involve some estate planning just for you to make sure that, you know, first of all, you and your wife are on the same page because you'd want to really talk this through and not make the scenario division. But as long as you are in agreement of what you're trying to accomplish, then you'd be looking at, you know, putting some sort of trust in place that, you know, could control those assets beyond your life or beyond her life. And I think a godly estate planning attorney could help you navigate not only the financial side of this and the legal side, but also the relational and spiritual side as well. So you can honor one another, but do it in a way that really honors your intentions with regard to the assets beyond your life.

So I'd get with a godly estate planning attorney to talk this through, Dale, if you don't have one, contact a certified kingdom advisor in your area and ask for a referral. You can find one on our website, faithfi.com. Thanks for calling. We'll be right back.

Stay with us. You know, money management can seem overwhelming at times, confusing, a seemingly unending number of decisions, and yet we can simplify our financial lives to the money we live on, the money we give, the money we owe for debt and taxes and the money we grow. There's just five things you can do with money and God's word speaks to all of them. And that's what we discuss here on this program every day, but not so we can enrich ourselves. The big idea is we want our money management to actually draw us into a more intimate relationship with Jesus.

I believe it can do that because it's one of the key ways, most tangible that we work out our faith every day. If you'd like to call with a question today on what you're wrestling with financially, we'd love to hear from you. Again, 800-525-7000 is the number, or you can always write to us, send an email to be read on the air to askrob at faithfi.com. All right, back to the phones we go, the Cleveland area, WCRF.

Hi, Kathy. I understand you have a testimony. I do. I am just testifying to the faithfulness of God, how little money I have made all my life, and He has always been faithful. I give generously to charity, I give without thinking usually. If I hear of a need, I give what I can at that moment. Not a percentage, I'm sure I give more than 10% of my income, and I make a moderate income, but God is so faithful. I needed a car, He provided the money. I live debt-free, and I have been taught that way from a little, little girl. My mother barely had two nickels to rub together, but she always paid her bills, and she lived debt-free, and I do too, and I just wanted people to know how faithful God is to provide what you need when you need it, because He always has for me. And truly, I make very little money.

I'm single, I'm all alone, and I really have no family. Well, I appreciate that testimony. It sounds like there's really been two keys. Number one, you recognized your role as a steward, that God owned it all. You were generous throughout the entire process of managing God's money, even though, as you said, you didn't have a whole lot, and you lived frugally.

I mean, would those have been some of the keys, do you think, Kathy? Always. Always. I've always just worked. I've always worked. He's provided me jobs with moderate income, and I've always given.

I just always have. I've never counted, really, what I give. I always just give. I've always belonged to a church, and I give to other ministries as I hear of them. If I hear of a need, I say, well, I should give to this. But the one thing I always do, I heard it said once, lots of people give to lots of charities, but only Christians give to Christian charities.

So those are the only charities that I give to. That's well said, and a great reminder for all of us today. Kathy, thank you for calling and sharing your story today. We appreciate that. May God bless you.

800-525-7000 is the number to call with your questions or perhaps another testimony to Alabama. Hi, Stella. How can I help you? Hello. Thank you for taking my call. Yes, ma'am. Okay. It's about my son.

I would like to hear from you. What would be your advice for a young man that he graduated last year, and he got a good job? He spent his rent, and the rent time is over on July of this year. And he is planning to buy a house instead of renting again. So the thing is that he doesn't have any debts, but he wants to buy a house of around $300,000. He says he's able to pay the coach, and he will have enough money to pay the bills, and he'll be fine. And he's planning on giving one or two of the rooms to some friends to live there so they can pay something to him, and he helps also with the payment, and he will have more free money.

So I think it's a big deal. Yes, it's a massive purchase, but I can understand why he might want to do it. I think the question is to make sure whether he's doing this too quickly and whether he's really ready financially for it. He may be, and that'd be great.

He may not be, though. I'd hate for him to make this major purchase and try to rush it if he's not quite there yet, just in terms of his saving, being able to have an emergency fund plus a down payment. The other concern I have is just making sure that if he's counting on these other tenants, if you will, that are going to rent rooms to cover the mortgage, what if one of them walks out in the night and decides he wants to do something else? What if we get into difficult times here with a recession and he can't keep all the rooms rented or he can't charge as much because they can find something less expensive?

So let me ask you this. First of all, how much does he have for the down payment? He got $30,000. $30,000.

All right. So he's only going to be able to put 10% down. So that would be the first red flag is I'd really love for him to put at least 20% down, which is going to ensure that he doesn't have any private mortgage insurance, which is an unnecessary expense about 1% of the mortgage per year that he would have to pay just as an insurance to the lender.

It doesn't do anything for him. So that's an extra cost if he doesn't have 20% down. Plus, with only 10%, he's got not a whole lot of equity there. So for instance, if we hit a deeper recession this year and interest rates stay high and let's say this red hot housing market, which has already cooled some continues to cool and is actually down, could he be upside down in the house?

It's possible. And so that's why I like for folks to have at least 10% down. The other question I would have is what is that total monthly payment without other renters? Would he be able to cover the mortgage by himself with his own income or does he need to have the other renters in order to do that?

No, I'm asking in a divorce scenario that you don't get them, are you able to pay that? Yeah. What did he say? He says like 50% of what we see. Okay.

Yeah. So I think that's the key is he really wants to make sure this mortgage payment is no more than 25% of his take home pay. So I would just have him go slow.

I'd have him save more and perhaps buy a smaller house. We'll be right back on Faith and Finance Live. Stay with us. It's great to have you with us today on Faith and Finance Live. I'm Rob West, your host. We're taking your calls and questions today at 800-525-7000.

Also your testimonies today. We were just talking to Stella before the break and her son wants to get out on his own, wants to be able to buy a house, doesn't want to rent any longer. Challenge is in order to do that, he's only got 10% to put down and 50% of his income would go to buying that house. Well, to the mortgage every month. And that is, you know, just tells me that he's not quite ready for that because what if he can't find the other students or friends to rent the other rooms? You know, that's going to take up way too much of his income in order to be able to cover the rest of his bills. And you know, that's the challenge. I love homeownership.

We just don't want to get out ahead of ourselves in terms of the timing or taking on too much house because that'll really hinder the rest of your financial life in a big way. All right, let's take more of your questions today to Ohio. Hi, Marsha. Thanks for calling. Go ahead.

Hey, Rob. I had a question on stepping out of a, my job here. I'm a 61 year old widow who collects my husband's social security and I always will cause his will always be larger. However, I'm a school bus driver and I put in to step away from my job at the end of this month before I turned 62 in March with the thought pattern of I would be falling under a GPO if I were to collect my pension at 62 and therefore it's my understanding two thirds of what I'd be collecting would be dropping or coming out of my social security. Anyhow, my thought here is, and I don't know if it's, if it's the right one, but my thought is to step out at the end of this month.

I've already given them the word and do a cash out on the funding. Would there be a big issue with that? Well, yeah, not necessarily. So you know, if you, as you know, if you receive a pension from a job where you didn't pay social security taxes, then they reduce your benefit. Is that what's going on here in your situation? Did you pay social security taxes?

I didn't do that yet. I'm in the process of stepping away from the job before I turned 62 because in order to be eligible for the pension, I would have to be 62 with 10 years on the job. Now I would have that in March toward the end of March at my next birthday, but my thought pattern is to step out ahead of time and put in for a cash out on that, on the funding. Is that, is that what would they, what would they give you for the lump sum?

I can't tell you the exact amount, but what I figured it out, I would be 78 before I would have spent it. Okay. And what is the alternative as it's been laid out to you? It hasn't all been laid out to me. I've been investigating and looking into things and with comparing the lump sum to, I guess, let's say I'm eligible for 300 a month pension if I continue on. Two thirds of that technically, two thirds of that is going to go away because it's going to drop out of my social security. Am I understanding that right? That's right. Yeah. Through the government pension offset.

That's right. So it can reduce it by up to two thirds of your, your pension. Okay.

So then I'm understanding that out of that 300 I technically only be gaining 100 and of course that's before taxes. So my thought pattern was if I got out before I was eligible for the pension and took a cash, the lump cash and call the cash out. Sure. Yeah.

And then you'd still be able to collect the full social security benefit. Is that what you're thinking? That is my thought pattern. Am I doing this all right? No, you could be.

Absolutely. I think the next step is for you to sit with the social security administration and just kind of look at your own work record and look at what your options are. Cause the last thing you'd want to do is, is to make an election here without understanding the full implications. And it's not always cut and dry, especially when we get into these GPOs, the government pension offset and the, you know, windfall elimination provision. These are ways where your social security is reduced as a result of you participating in a pension plan where social security taxes were not collected.

The question would be, is the lump sum payout kind of an, an end around on this where you can essentially get the benefit of the cash out and still collect the social security. You would, I would hate to weigh in on that. I don't know enough about the details of what you have here to be able to say one way or the other.

So if it were me, I'd probably, you know, get with the social security administration, show them what you have, and then let them tell you whether or not you could accomplish what you're, you're trying to accomplish here through this, this approach. It sounds good to me at face value. I just want to make sure we're not missing anything. Okay. I appreciate that.

All right. What do you, what are you most looking forward to Marsha in this next season once you're retired? Spending time with my parents because it's, I'm at a time in life where I just feel like I'm not, I don't want to look back and say I could have and I should have.

It's a hard thing to walk away from children with school bus driving, but I'm ready for more time with my parents. Yeah, I can imagine you are. So, well, that's exciting. Here's what I want you, want you to check. We're going back to the question for a second. You know, many times when the pension is paid in a lump sum, the reduction is calculated as if it's paid monthly.

And so my concern would be that this may not work the way you're intending and you could have the same impact, you know, if, as if you, you had got the, the pension the way it's normally paid out. So I just want you to investigate this a little bit further before you make that final determination. But listen, all the best to you, Marsha in this next season of life. And thanks for calling in today.

God bless you to Florida. Hey, John, how can I help you? Hey, Rob, thank you for taking my call. God bless you, man. I'm calling about I have a credit problem and I'm an older gentleman right now.

And I'm trying to get that clear about Rob. I've had some things that I went through in life and with depression and everything, but now I'm getting back on track. Thank you.

Thanks to God for, you know, all before I gave him all the glory about that. But I'm just calling to find out about what steps I need to take to start working on my credit and get that cleared up. Yeah. So have you paid back, John, all the debt that you owed at this point?

Yes, I started on the Rob. And I know I need there's some more on there that I need to go back into and start to clear it up, get it clear up. So I'm going slowly step by step doing that. And I'm just trying to see, you know, I don't know.

I know that won't be a fast route, but what's the best route? And so you're talking specifically about just getting your credit score up. Is that right? Yes.

Yeah. Very good, John. Well, I think the key is for you to get these paid off as quickly as you can, whether that's through a settlement, not using a debt settlement company, but contacting them on your own. If these are past due and delinquent, maybe they've been charged off. If you can put together some funds without, you know, depleting all of your emergency reserves and contact them and perhaps get them to settle at a at a lesser percentage of the full balance and get that credit report reflected as zero balance, that's going to be key. Or in some cases, if you get on a repayment schedule and get current with that and then eventually paid it off, the best thing you can do for yourself is to get those balances paid down to zero in whatever way you can, either settled in full or paid in full.

Again, doing it on your own directly with the creditor, not with a credit settlement company. Beyond that, just be an on time payer every month. Keep your debt, you know, at a minimum. And, you know, that's the very best way you can improve your credit credit.

As this gets further and further in the past, the most recent information impacts you the most. So what you may want to do when you're ready is get a secured credit card where you put an amount on deposit with a bank and then charge a regularly scheduled monthly expense against it, maybe just a few dollars, and then pay it off. That's going to help you build your credit back. You got this, John. You can do it. We'll be right back. Stay with us.

We're delighted to have you with us today on faith and finance live. I'm Rob West. Let's hit right back to the phones. Try to get to as many questions as we can here in this final segment to Ohio.

Hi, Anne Marie. Thanks for calling. Go ahead.

I have a question. My daughter has three student loans. They add up to 19,000 and I have extra cash that I could put a lump sum to take one of them out.

Would it be better to do that or just to make like double payments to get it? Yeah, it depends. So I guess the first question is, you know, what, what is your intention here? Are you trying to cover all three of them yourself? No, I mean, she's, she's paying me monthly, but to help her get them down quicker. I see.

Yeah, I mean, the very best way, assuming you're not taking funds that you need for reserves and, you know, to have available for emergencies, things like that, as long as you truly have excess, you're certainly going to come out better if you go ahead and just pay them off now, rather than paying the interest, you know, over time, especially with rates being up and the interest rates, you know, being a little higher, probably on these unless they're fixed rates that were locked in, but you'll certainly come out, you know, better by going ahead and knocking them out for sure. Okay. And I had one more question.

No problem. All right, let's do this. Let's put you on hold. You think about it for a second and we'll see if we can come back to you. Let's head to Tennessee. Hi, Rick. Go right ahead, sir. Hi, thanks for taking my call and longtime listener and ever since the Larry Burkett days and appreciate your ministry.

Awesome. I've run across a ministry that I've donated to for years. And for some reason, starting back in July, June, July last year, they stopped being regular in their receipt giving. I tried to keep up and made contact with them a couple of times and talked to nice people and they said, you know, they'll fix it. And it just doesn't seem to get fixed. And so I'm just in a quandary of, you know, should I, I don't want to stop giving it to them because they are a good ministry.

But I just don't know how to get past this problem I'm having. Yeah, I mean, you know, the main thing is that you get a contribution statement at the end of the year. So shortly after the end of each calendar year, you should get a contribution statement on their letterhead that you can use to document your charitable contributions to the IRS, regardless of whether or not you itemize or not, they have to provide that statement. So even if you're not getting something monthly, are you at least getting that annual contribution statement for, you know, for the prior year, my annual, I have my annual contribution statement, I did get that.

Okay, so that's the most important thing. I mean, anything else, you know, these days, often ministries will have an online portal you can log into and kind of see your contributions. If not, I suspect you could call them at any point during the year and just ask them to send you a record of your contributions. Hopefully, this isn't a sign that, you know, administratively things are lacking in terms of organization and details with bookkeeping.

But assuming maybe they're just busy doing the work of the ministry and just not, you know, providing those regular statements, you know, that, you know, you had been used to seeing, I think the main thing is as long as you feel good about the work that they're doing, and that they're doing it, you know, well, that this is a well run ministry using your your resources, you know, effectively, and that the vast majority of it's going to the programming, the actual work of the ministry, I'd be less concerned about getting a monthly statement, especially if you're getting that annual contribution statement. Okay, okay. One more quick question, if that's okay. Yeah, real quick.

Go ahead. How is Steve Moore doing? Steve is great.

Yeah, I talked to him not too long ago. He's having fun with his, his granddaughter and he's traveling a little bit and still getting out riding that bike all the time and enjoying retirement. But we love Steve and miss him here on this program, that's for sure.

But I can report that he's doing well. Very good. Thank you so much. And again, appreciate your ministry and all you guys do. Thank you, Rick. Yes, sir. Well, we're grateful. And thanks for mentioning the amazing Larry Burkett as well. All right.

Back to Ohio Ann Marie. I understand. And this happens to me all the time. But you, you, you got that question. It's back, right? So what is it? Yeah. Yes. For the rest of the balance that she will have is, should I refinance it?

It's going to go down like 2.5% interest rate. Are these federal loans? No.

They're private. Unfortunately, no. Okay.

Yeah. I mean, you, that would probably make some sense if you can save over 2%. I'd be surprised if you could do that, just given where rates are. So I'd want to check that. The only thing you're going to want to look at is what is the cost of the refinance, the actual cost itself of putting that new loan in place, get them to disclose that to you in advance, and just look at how much you're going to save in interest over the life of the loan. And they should be able to tell you that and just compare that to the actual cost of refinancing, and just make sure that it's worth the hassle.

But if you can save more than two percentage points, and you know, two thirds of this debt is going to be around for a while or even half, then, then I'd say it probably does make some sense. Okay. Okay. Thank you very much. You're welcome. Absolutely. Thanks for calling.

To Georgia. Hi, Mary. Go right ahead. Hey, I love your show. I've learned so much over the years. And my husband and I, we're getting to the point where we can actually see on the horizon. It's way out there, but getting towards the years where we'll get to retire.

That's great. I'll be I'll be 57. And he'll be 58 this year. So he worked for UPS for 20 years. Because they don't transfer we he left them at 20 years, we had to move to Georgia to kind of help with his mom. We don't know we over the years, we've heard like, that their pension was in trouble that there was not good management of it. So I just didn't know how you go about finding out what is likely to be available as a pension. Yeah, well, I'm not familiar with there being any problem with the UPS pension. I know you are vested as an employee, I think after just three years of service.

So there shouldn't be any question about that. I would just gather the documentation if you still have it. That should include a benefit statement and notification that you're vested.

And you know, apart from that, or even in addition to that, just contact UPS with your questions just about his years of service and the benefits that he's entitled to. And they should be able to provide you that very easily. Okay, just never even occurred to me to do that. I guess. Yeah, no problem.

As far as ours. And then as far as our social security, I often hear you say that you have to like go to the Social Security Administration. So there's no online way to check and see what you're likely to be getting.

Or do I understand that you have to go there and Oh, no, yeah, you'd only want to go there as if you had a unique situation, you know, that you want to talk to somebody about. But there is absolutely an online Social Security benefit statement that you can access. It's called the my social security at SSA.gov. And basically, once you create an account, then you will provide, you know, access to your estimates for retirement, disability, survivors benefits, anything you would be eligible for will be on your online statement with my SSA. So just go to SSA.gov and set up your free account. And then that will provide you all of your benefits.

And you can log in and check that whenever you want. All right, I guess it's about time we start doing that. I think it probably is you're approaching that season of life, Mary.

That's exciting, though. Are you all going to stay in Georgia? Or do you have plans to move somewhere else? Our kids are here. New grandbaby is here. So we will be here. All right. I love it.

Well, I'm a Georgia boy myself. So I'll I like hearing that for sure. Well, Mary, God bless you, you and your husband. You enjoy this next season of life. Thanks for your kind remarks about the program as well.

To Farmington, New Mexico. Hey, Jimmy, go right ahead. Yes, sir.

Thank you for doing a good job that you always do. I call for advice. I'm 66 years old now and I sold my business to my daughter. And as far as me and my wife are concerned, we have some few hundred thousand dollars in a 401k that we've been saving. And then we have sold the business to her and she's paid us a few hundred thousand dollars.

And we have everything paid for. And I had went and talked to a financial advisor and he was advising me to put some of that money in mutual funds. So I thought I'd better call and talk to you and see what you thought. Well, I like the idea of investing in mutual funds now more than ever with the market down. I think that's a great long term strategy. Mutual funds are a great way to diversify.

So you're not highly concentrated. I think the key is, is this a great a good advisor for you who understands your values and that you connect with it's going to serve you well and communicate with you the way you want and really takes the time to get to know you and what God's doing in your life and then build a portfolio that is based on your goals and objectives, not something they're trying to sell you. But yeah, mutual funds I think are a great way to go and probably a great option for you.

If you want a second opinion, you could find a certified kingdom advisor on our website, but I don't hear anything that I would be concerned about. And I think given this money that you've come into with the 401k and the business sale, you should be thinking about investing it if your time horizon is at least 10 years. So Jimmy, all the best to you. Congratulations on selling that business. We're about out of time quickly to Ohio, though, Rick, I understand you had just a quick comment for the school bus driver that we spoke to a moment ago.

Go right ahead. Right? Yes.

My wife's in the same situation. It's going to be retiring this year from as a school bus driver. And we had a virtual seminar with the school employee retirement system. OK. And the people were just wonderful. Just they answered every question that we had. The gentleman that ran the program, I don't have his name right now.

I'm driving, but he even gave out his personal cell, said, You got any questions, you give me a call. And that's great. Well, we're very knowledgeable. Unfortunately, I'm out of time. I appreciate you mention that.

Perhaps our caller could reach back out to the school board and ask those questions. God bless you. Hey, Faith and Finance Live is a Ministry of Faith, Phi and Moody Radio. Thanks to my team today. And we'll see you tomorrow. Come back and join us then. Bye bye.