Healthcare for Seniors

The following program was prerecorded, so our phone lines are not open. It's nothing new for seniors to get discounts, but did you know that one of them can save you money on healthcare costs? Hi, I'm Rob West.

It's true, and the senior discount I'm talking about is a whole lot better than reduced-price movie tickets or haircuts. Lauren Gaidek joins us today with all the details, and we have some great calls lined up, but we won't be taking your live calls today because we're prerecorded. This is Faith and Finance Live, biblical wisdom for your financial decisions. Well, it's always a pleasure to have Lauren Gaidek with us. She's vice president of communications and media at Christian Healthcare Ministries, where they have a great opportunity for seniors to make their dollars go further. Lauren, great to have you with us on the program.

Oh, thank you so much for having me back on the show. Absolutely. And Lauren, before we get into the program you call Senior Share, tell us about the need for something like this.

Sure. I recently heard a disturbing statistic that nearly one in 10 adults, which would be about 23 million people all over the country, owe some kind of medical debt. And if you think about it, you know, for your listening audience, that means probably quite a few people that you know are struggling with medical debt.

So that's something that at Christian Healthcare Ministries, we want to come alongside people and help them kind of live a different reality and not have medical debt. Absolutely. And it's bad enough for younger folks not to have adequate coverage, but worse for seniors, isn't it?

Yes, absolutely. You know, as we age, the tendency for our medical bills to go up for us to receive more medical care also goes up. And unfortunately, you know, even if you have Medicare, you're sometimes left with additional costs because Medicare doesn't always cover 100% of your health care.

So if you think about a relatively normal medical incident, you could end up with hundreds or maybe even thousands of dollars that you still owe out of your pocket. Yeah, and that's significant. Now, Lauren, if you're already a member, continuing in a Christian Healthcare Ministries plan when you turn 65 is seamless, isn't it? Yes, that's right. So as our members approach retirement age, you know, they can rest assured if they're already a member of CHM, they can stay on, we send them a letter, we let them know, hey, you know, you're turning 65 soon, we see that's happening.

But did you know that you can still be part of Christian Healthcare Ministries with no interruption? So that's really a nice thing. And then, you know, people who haven't joined, obviously can jump on board when they get to be that age or even before because we serve all ages.

Very good. But there's an added advantage for seniors. And let's talk about it. You call it Senior Share.

What do we need to know? Yeah, so Senior Share is our program for members 65 and older. And it's our gold program.

So it's the best one that we have. But the best thing about it is that there's what we call a gift reduction. So Christian Healthcare Ministries is not insurance. But basically, it's a discount that you would get off your monthly amount that you would pay. And that can begin the month of your 65th birthday. And there's really nothing special you have to do to receive that lower price, which is $115 per month. Oh, that's incredible.

What a blessing for those in that season of life. And no doubt that'll be a big help, especially for those on a fixed income trying to meet their healthcare costs. Lauren, how can folks get more information about this? Well, they can go to our website, which is chministries.org.

Or they can give us a phone call and we'd be happy to answer any questions they might have. Awesome. And for anyone looking to cover the rising costs of healthcare, this is a great option, isn't it? And it's a biblical option. Yes, absolutely.

We're biblically based 100%. And Lauren, as we wrap up here, for those who want to go on Senior Share, do they have to have Medicare A and B in order to do so? Yes, that's correct. Medicare would be considered the first resource or the first payer. And then Christian Healthcare Ministries is available to assist with those costs we talked about earlier.

You know, that would be what Medicare would not pay. Excellent. Well, this has been really helpful.

And I know it'll be a valuable offering for so many in our listening audience. Lauren, thanks for stopping by. Thank you. Have a great day.

You too. Lauren Gajdek has been with us. She's with Christian Healthcare Ministries. The website again, chministries.org.

That's chministries.org. Hey, folks, let me remind you before we take our break, even though we're away from the studio today and you shouldn't call in, we have some great questions that you're really going to enjoy as we continue to apply God's wisdom to your financial decisions. We'll be right back. Thanks so much for joining us today on Faith and Finance Live. I'm Rob West, your host. Hey, our team is away from the studio today. We're not here, but we've got some great questions that we lined up in advance.

I know you'll enjoy those a little later in our broadcast. Folks, have you checked out recently our website at faithfi.com? If not, I'd encourage you to do that. You'll find our community there where you can post questions and comments, hear from others that are on the stewardship journey as well. You can also access our content and check out the FaithFi app.

It's at faithfi.com. Before we go to our calls, I want to share something I've observed over the years as a financial advisor. You know, folks, after answering thousands of questions on the radio each year and counseling hundreds and hundreds of families on this topic, what I've come to understand is that many people have a good bit of fear, frustration and guilt in their financial lives. But it's also been my experience that those that are most free from the emotional byproducts of financial decision making are those that have answered really two questions.

The first is, who owns it? And the second is, how much is enough? You see, the answer to the first question, who owns it, requires that we acknowledge that as Psalm 24 one says, God owns it all and therefore we're stewards and money is now a tool to accomplish God's purposes. But the second question, how much is enough, requires that we understand that God's provision should be handled with contentment and joy and satisfaction that we already have an abundance. And this life is not about the mindless accumulation of wealth, doesn't mean we shouldn't save, but we should have a plan. We should be on our knees asking the Lord, what lifestyle have you called me to?

How much should I be saving? And how can I use what you've entrusted to me to join you in the grander story that you have for me? And that is to participate in your activities through my giving. Well, when we approach our money that way, understanding God owns it all and that money is finite and in our role as money managers for the King of Kings, we need to understand the master's heart so that we can reflect his wishes in our management of his resources. Well, it requires that we define how much is enough.

Think about that today and see if it doesn't change your perspective on handling God's money. Let's begin today in Tennessee. Tom, you're our first caller, sir. Go ahead.

My name is Tom. I listen to your show regularly every day. I really enjoyed it.

Well, thank you. And I invested a fairly good size amount of money and lost $3,500 the first year and I couldn't do anything but get that out of anything until after a year. I just like to watch your opinion and if I should just go ahead and cash it cash it in and put it in the credit union where I can make the money back that I lost.

Yes, sir. Well, I understand that, you know, never like to lose money. So I totally get that. And yet investing involves a risk, which is why we always ensure that the time horizon on the money we're investing is right, meaning at least five years, preferably 10 years or more, and that the investments are appropriate for our goals and objectives. Clearly, we want to take a portion of what God has entrusted to us and save it for the future. And one of the ways to offset the effects of inflation, which we're feeling now more than we have in 40 years in terms of decreasing our purchasing power because inflation is eroding the purchasing power of our dollars.

One of the ways we offset that is by putting it to work so long as the investments in the time horizon match, you know, the investment strategy. So you mentioned that you lost thirty five hundred. Tom, what was the total investment? Eighty thousand. OK, so on eighty thousand, you're down, let's see, about a little less than five percent, maybe four and a half percent. And you said that was over the prior 12 months. Is that right? It's it's been over a little a little over a year.

OK, a little over a year. So if you're down four and a half percent on this eighty thousand dollar investment during the last year, which was the most challenging market we've had in more than a decade, it's actually not too bad. What type of investment was it, Tom? What did you invest in? It was mutual funds. And the company is called the O.N. Equity.

They'll cut me out of Ohio. OK. And do you know the mix of investments, stocks to bonds? No, I don't. There was mutual funds and a lot of smaller, you know, conglomerate of different things. OK, very good.

That's OK. Yeah, no problem. And what is the purpose of this money? Is this money that you have earmarked for a certain purpose at this point? No, this. OK, so this is not money.

You have too much money in it. Yeah. And so you just wanted to put it to work, but you don't need to supplement your income with this or it's not earmarked for something specific down the road. It's really just your long term savings, correct? Yes, just savings, yes.

Yeah, OK. So as long as this doesn't include the money from what I would call your emergency fund, which if you listen to this program, you hear me talk about having at least three to six months expenses in a liquid savings account that's secure, not at the risk of the market. And in the retirement season of life, some folks want somewhere between six and 12 months of reserves. As long as it's separate from that and you've got a long term perspective, then for the reasons I mentioned, because of what's happening with inflation, I like the idea of you keeping it invested. And actually, despite the fact that, again, nobody likes to lose money, being down four and a half percent over the last 12 months is quite remarkable when you're invested, because most folks were down 20 plus percent last year in the market, just given how significantly we saw the declines in the equity markets.

And then the bond markets were falling as well because interest rates were rising. So in my view, this is not the time to sell. Could the market go down further from here?

Absolutely. Most economists are expecting some sort of recession this year. Most think it might be mild, depending on how aggressive the Federal Reserve is and in getting inflation down to its target of 2 percent and how significantly they continue to raise rates, we could see a more severe recession. And if we do, the market will likely sell off, but it will recover, in my view, and it'll happen ahead of the economy, which is why it's best not to try to pick our entry points and exit points. We want to pick a long term investment strategy that makes sense for our goals and objectives in terms of the balance of cash, stocks and bonds, and then stay with that long term plan unless something changes.

And it doesn't sound like anything's changed. It's just that, you know, that you started investing during a very difficult season in the market coming off of a raging bull market that was 12 years plus in the making. So from my standpoint, I don't see a reason or I'm not hearing a reason why you'd want to take this and go to cash.

I would let this recover. And to the point why you did it in the first place, I'd probably stay invested so you can grow this over time, even though the last year was challenging. The question is, is this the right investment? Obviously, I know nothing about the fund or the makeup of the investments in the fund that you selected. And so could it be that there's a better option for you?

It could be. You could visit with our friends at soundmindinvesting.org. They could give you some suggestions or you could connect with a certified kingdom advisor there in Tennessee to get some more customized or active management of these funds by a professional advisor.

You just go to our website, faithfi.com and click find to CKA. But just kind of staying at a high level and not talking about the merits of this particular investment. I like the idea of you staying invested, Tom, just giving everything you've told me. Does that make sense though? It does.

But the thing is, what I'm thinking about is that the credit union is a guaranteed 4% over a year's time. Yeah. Yep.

That's true. So let's do this. If you don't mind holding the line a bit longer, I'm going to take a quick break. When we come back, we'll talk about that and specifically whether that's a better option. We'll be right back on Faith and Finance. Stay with us. Delighted to have you with us today on Faith and Finance Live. We're not here today.

Our team is away from the studio. This is prerecorded, so don't call in, but we've got some great questions we lined up in advance. Before we go to the phones, let me remind you, FaithFi and Faith and Finance Live is listener supported. If you'd like to be a financial partner, you can do that at FaithFi.com. Just click Give.

Thanks in advance. All right, let's head to the phones. Just before the break, we were talking to Tom. He invested $80,000 in a mutual fund a little over a year ago. He's down about 4.5%, about $3,500. Just wondering, is this time just to put that money in a savings account, perhaps a CD at maybe 4.5%?

Tom, you absolutely could do that. I think the key here is anytime we invest, we do want to take a long-term view on it. Yes, you're down a lot less than the market, given that you're invested in stocks and last year happened to be just a really challenging year. What I was saying was it'd probably be best if this is money you can take a long-term view on and it's not part of your emergency fund. I think you'll do better over time keeping it invested. I think the rates we're seeing on the CDs are temporary, just while the Fed is fighting inflation. If you'd sleep better at night knowing that this money is guaranteed, then you probably don't need to be in the market because anytime we're investing in the market, although our return potential is greater, we certainly are taking risk, which means we absolutely can lose principle, which is obviously what happened to you in this case.

Are you feeling like perhaps the market is just not the place for you and you'd like something more guaranteed? Yeah, with the credit year that I'm with, it's a little over 4% and I've got a substantial amount already in the credit union and just muddied with this 80,000. If I just get back that amount in a year that I lost already, then I think I'm just sort of defeating the purpose of that. It's not some money that I can't do without, but I don't want to just give it away.

No, I totally get that. I guess here's the only reason why you'd want to consider leaving it there is that the market is selling at a discount right now and obviously you have lost some value. I see it recovering. And again, if you've got a substantial amount that's already in a guaranteed account, earning a more attractive interest rate than certainly it's been earning previously, then you could look at this money and say, okay, with at least this portion, I want the potential to get a little better return and I'm willing to take the risk that comes with that because I'm not investing for a quarter or a year or two years. I'm investing for five to 10 years and that's the best place to grow my wealth and offset the effects of inflation.

But if you're just not comfortable with that, you're the steward, Tom, and it may be that you just need to kind of cut your losses and shore up this and keep only guaranteed accounts in the future because obviously this could continue to happen even though I think the long-term perspective would be giving you the ability to grow it a bit more than you could get in bank products. Does all that make sense? It does. I really appreciate it. I enjoy your program every day. All right. Thank you, sir. God bless you, Tom, and all the best to you. Let's head to Arkansas.

Hi, Georgia. Thanks for calling. Go ahead.

Thank you so much for taking my call. I just have a real quick question for you. I'm hoping to retire within the next couple of years and I've got Microsoft as one of my stocks and it keeps going down and down and down. You'll go up a little bit, but then it keeps going down. Should I sell it and buy something else?

Yeah. Talk to me about your portfolio. How much do you have invested and how is that money invested? For instance, how much is in this one particular company, Microsoft, versus which other holdings you have?

Okay. Altogether, I've got like $65,000. And then in Microsoft, I've got around $3,000 in there. Okay. Around $3,000 of your $60,000. And is the rest in mutual funds or do you only own individual stocks? I own individual stocks. Okay. And are they all mainly in the technology area or would this be one of the only ones? That's one of the only ones because I have Caterpillar.

I've got Home Depot loans, things like that. Sure. Sure.

Yeah. I think, I mean, most economists and market analysts are saying that this is the year that we're probably going to see a continued growth in three sectors in particular, energy, consumer staples, and financials, just given what's going on with interest rates and the economy. Most folks are expecting technology to be among those that are still lagging moving forward. Now, the good news is you've only got 5% in this particular company and we don't weigh in here on specific companies in terms of how they're doing and what we expect them to do moving forward. We stay at a higher level just in terms of our approach to money management here on this program. But what I would say to you is if we just look at that sector of technology, you know, although most folks don't think that that will be one that will outperform this year, you know, I like the fact that you're saying I only have 5% in technology.

So you're not highly concentrated there by any means. But if you were asking, is that a sector that's expected to do better this year, given how poor it performed last year, despite, you know, prior to that, it was, you know, obviously a leader of this bull market. Most, I would say, market analysts think that technology will continue to struggle in this high inflation, higher interest rate environment. So we're probably looking toward the value stocks outperforming the growth stocks.

Here's the key, though. You know, whenever we're investing, Georgia, you know, we want to take a long term view. And so even though one part of being diversified means that portions of our portfolio aren't going to perform as well in certain economies and markets, but we're diversified because we don't all want all of our eggs in one basket. And the one that's out of favor now may be in favor, you know, down the road, and we don't want to try to time that. So I guess what I would say is that on a short term basis, you should probably expect technology to continue to underperform. But I think an allocation to technology is still appropriate for a long term view. And that's the way you should look at this, not for a quarter or even a year, but for two and five and 10 years down the road.

So I think from that standpoint, what you're describing makes a lot of sense to me. Thanks for checking in with us today. We appreciate you being a part of the program. All right, we're going to head to a break.

So don't go anywhere. Still a lot more to come, even though we're away from the studio today and you shouldn't call in. We have some great questions that you're really going to enjoy as we continue to apply God's wisdom to your financial decisions. We'll be right back. Hey, great to have you with us today on Faith and Finance Live. I'm Rob West, your host.

Our team is away from the studio today, so don't call in. But coming up a little later, we'll have more of your questions right here on the program. You know, here in this higher interest rate environment, one of the challenges is that variable rates are rising, which means your home equity line of credit. It also means your credit cards. Well, how do we approach debt as believers? Well, I don't believe that borrowing is a sin, but there are clear warnings in scripture about the use of debt. So how do we know when we should borrow? Well, before we head back to the phones, here's four quick questions you can ask before you borrow that perhaps can lead you to the right decision on whether you should do it at all.

Number one is the economic return greater than the economic cost? Basically, that just means only borrow for assets that are appreciating. Number two, am I presuming upon the future when I take out this debt? You know, anytime we borrow, we should have a guaranteed way of repayment. The Bible talks about that.

It's this idea of surety. Are we presuming upon the future when we borrow, or do we know how we're going to pay it back? Number three, am I denying God an opportunity to provide? If things are tight, am I trusting the Lord for his provision, or am I allowing credit to rob God of that opportunity to provide? And then four, and this is critical, do I have unity with my spouse? I should have an absolute commitment to borrow only when my spouse and I are on the same page.

Hopefully those four questions can help you make a good decision as you think about borrowing moving forward. All right, 800-525-7000. I've got a few lines open today for your calls and questions. Let's head to Texas.

Cindy, you'll be next on the program. Go ahead. Hello. Thank you for taking my call. Yes, ma'am.

I just wanted to ask some questions. I've been divorced for one week. I did not want to get a divorce, but it was something that my husband wanted, so here I am. I'm 64 years old, and so what I got out of this divorce is a home, and it is paid for. And then I got $200,000 cash, but here's the weird thing about it. The judge had allowed him 24 months to pay me the $200,000 because he said he needed some time or whatever. Anyway, so I didn't really have a say in that, so my question is, you know, the judge has given him 24 months to pay me the money. And I'm like, well, what if he goes tomorrow and solves bankruptcy?

I would probably never get any of the money. I should just be fine. Hopefully it will all turn out. Yeah.

Cindy, I lost you there again for a second. Quick question. So is he paying you $8,000 a month or how is that going to be paid? He doesn't have to pay me any of the $200,000 for two years.

He's got two years to pay it for me, but he will be paying me $1,500 a month spousal support. I see. Okay. Okay.

Yeah. And so what is your most pressing question at this point? And I realize there's a lot on you right now that you're still trying to work your way through, but how can I help?

So, so number one, my question is when I get the $200,000, I believe I should pay Ty because the whole time I was married to him, he would never let me pay Ty. So that's of concern to me. And then also given, you know, my age, I don't know how risky or, you know, when you're 64 and 65, what do you do with, want some money like that? What's a good way to invest in real estate or how to under my mattress?

I mean, I just don't know what to do with it. Yes. Well, Cindy, first of all, let me just say, uh, the Lord is near to you right now. I know you have a lot on your shoulders. I'm so sorry to hear about your divorce and I'm grateful that you want to trust the Lord moving forward and that one of your first things you're wanting to do is give to the Lord, which says a lot about just kind of where you're at as you're journeying through this and your ultimate dependence upon him. You know, giving, when we loosen our grip on money, it's a demonstration that God's economy is the real economy and that we free ourselves from the constraints of our own mini kingdom. And we recognize through our generosity that God's provision is more complete and that we can trust him. And I love that the Lord is leading you to do that. And I would just encourage you to follow the leading of the Lord in whatever you decide to do with your giving. Beyond that, I would seek some wise counsel here. Cindy, this is a great opportunity for a godly man or woman, a financial advisor to come alongside you, to encourage you to be there as a support, to help you make decisions around your money management, including what insurance do you need and answer any questions you have about the future and how you should plan, but also how this money should be managed because whatever's left over after whatever the Lord leads you to give, I believe it should be put to work and that investment strategy has got to be based on your needs.

So do you need to generate an income from this or, you know, between your spousal support and perhaps the work that you do, are your bills covered? And therefore this can just grow for the future and be available in retirement. How can we systematically move this into a retirement account so it's growing tax deferred? And then to your question, what are the investments that should be selected? Not because somebody thinks they're the best ones, but because they align with what your ultimate goal is.

You know, again, whether that's income or just capital appreciation. So I'm going to recommend that you connect with a certified kingdom advisor there in Texas. To find two or three to interview and find the one that's the best fit, I'd go to faithfi.com.

That's our website, faithfi.com and just click find a CKA. And I think somebody who really understands God's heart and understands the scriptures, but also has met the high standards required to earn that designation would be someone that could journey with you. And I think that's especially in this season right now, what you need, obviously getting that person selected prior to you receiving this money, which could come to your point next week or two years from now is going to get you to a place where you can do some planning. You're ready with a plan for how this money should be managed. And then you can execute that plan along with this advisor once that time comes. Does all that make sense, though?

Yes, it definitely does. And I will take your advice and I will find that advisor CKA. It stands for Certified Kingdom Advisor, CKA.

When you go to the website, faithfi.com, just click find a CKA. And let me pray for you before we let you go. Father, we just lift Cindy up to you, Lord. We know that you are near to her right now. We know that she has a lot weighing on her right now. And yet she has expressed to us that one of the first things she wants to do is give unto you.

And I just pray that you would, Lord, just bring the Holy Spirit, just give her peace right now that you give her clarity, that you'd give her a vision for what you have for her in the next season of life that you would provide for her, give her wisdom and surround her with people that know you and love you that can be an encouragement and a support to her right now. And we just tell you today, we trust you. And we ask all this in Jesus name. Amen. Cindy, God bless you.

And thanks for calling today. Before we head to our break, you know, as I read scripture, I see this big idea jumping off the page around contentment. You know, I think as we consider our role as stewards of God's money, we need to foster this attitude that the apostle Paul talked about. And that is contentment. Remember, he said that it's learned. I've learned to be content. He was in a time of plenty and in a time of need.

And he learned to be content in either of those contentments of choice. And when we increase our contentment, well, then we can focus on what God has given us and not on what he's given others. I hope that's an encouragement to you today. Again, we're not here today. We're away from the studio. So don't call in, but just around the corner, we have some more questions to tackle. I know you're going to enjoy the calls we have coming up. Stay with us. We'll be right back. Hey, great to have you with us today on Faith and Finance Live. I'm Rob West, your host.

Our team is away from the studio today, so don't call in. But coming up a little later, we'll have more of your questions right here on the program. Hey, let me take a moment to mention the Faith Fi app. We'd love for you to download it. Just head to your app store wherever you download apps and search for Faith Fi. That's Faith Fi.

You can manage your money. You can access the best content in biblical finance, podcasts, articles and videos. You can also participate in our Faith Fi community where you can post questions and get answers from others on their stewardship journey. You'll find it in your app store. Just search for Faith Fi or if it's easier, head to our website at faithfi.com.

That's faithfi.com and you'll see the app right there on the home page. All right, back to the phones we go. Diane, you've been very patient there in Virginia. How can I help you? Hey, well, thank you for your program. We love it.

I appreciate that. We have been renting houses for about 10 years. We sold two of them at different times and did not like the tax implications. So we are looking now to try to coordinate the sale of the last two so that we can do a 1031 exchange and buy one condominium. We are currently living in a single family home, but we want to plan for the future to downsize and not have to do any maintenance ourselves. So do you think this is a good strategy to try to use a 1031? We did it one other time when we bought a condo and then bought the rentals, but the real estate agent didn't seem to know what, how to do it. And we missed out on some of our opportunity and we don't want to have that happen again. Yeah, that's right.

Oh, go ahead. Also, in my little research trying to figure out about this 1031, I saw a reference to a deferred sales trust and I'm not sure what exactly that is and if that is a better option. Yeah, well, I would say, first of all, the 1031 exchange is a great way to defer capital gains.

That's what a deferred sales trust will do as well, but that's for any asset. In the case of the 1031, you're simply accomplishing that specifically for real estate. So as long as you can comply with the requirements of the 1031 exchange, which means you have to identify the replacement property within 45 days and then conclude the exchange within 180 days, then the 1031 exchange is a fairly simple way to do that. To the point about your current realtor not having a lot of experience, you do need to find a qualified intermediary who can help you with this, either a CPA with 1031 exchange experience or a real estate attorney or a reputable title company, somebody who could really help you walk through this because these are not done every day and a lot of folks just don't have the experience. But yeah, as long as you can replace it with a similar property and meet the IRS code and do that within the right timeframe, then kind of kicking the can down the road, so to speak, on the capital gains is a great opportunity for you to allow that investment to be maximized into the next property as opposed to having to realize that capital gains right now. So I like that plan a lot and I would find somebody who's experienced and qualified in this that can navigate this for you. So you don't see any other way that would be better to try to shelter the taxes and not to pay the taxes and we would have to put all the funds that we have in both of the homes into this condo and we're okay with that. Even though both of them have a mortgage on it right now, we would be able to do that. So this is probably the best vehicle?

Yes. The only other option would be whether or not you want to do any charitable giving here and if you wanted to do that, that's another way to avoid the capital gains is to take a portion of these properties and transfer them on a percentage basis into a donor advised fund. And then when the property is sold, then that percent that was given to the donor advised fund would go directly into that fund and then you could give it away and the tax is not realized at that point. So I think you mentioned the deferred sales trust.

You could talk to an attorney about that. That's where a trustee would manage this property when it's put into the deferred sales trust and you can acquire assets and financial instruments and it's typically used for investments that are disallowed by other capital gain deferral methods. But that's where a 1031 exchange, if it is specifically real estate, is going to be a lot simpler for you to do as long as you can comply. So I think your two options to defer the capital gains here specifically for real estate, Diane, would be either the 1031 exchange and you need some competent help with some experience to help you navigate that. Or as I mentioned, if you wanted to do any charitable giving, giving away a portion of the property or properties before the sale is another way to eliminate the capital gains and allow you to do some charitable giving. Right.

We already have a donor advised fund and we are using that to shelter some of the money and also we are doing our minimum required minimum distribution. There you go. Good. Yeah. So we have that in place. Excellent. Okay. No, it sounds like you're in good shape there.

So I think your next step is to start working to identify those properties so that you can comply with the 45 and 180 day rule and then find a qualified intermediary to help you navigate all of this. All the best to you guys. Thanks for your kind remarks about the program. God bless you, Diane.

Let's head to Arkansas. Hey, Eric, how can I help you, sir? Yes. I was wondering about an index universal life policy for like trying to use it for retirement.

Yeah. So I'm not a huge fan of using insurance products for retirement savings except in certain situations. You know, it does provide, you know, tax deferral and there is more flexibility in the IUL policies and it offers permanent coverage, life insurance coverage as long as the premiums are paid. But there's no guarantees as to the premium amounts or the market returns.

And so, you know, I think you just need to understand what it is you're solving for here. And often, you know, I find that using just a straight retirement vehicle where you have a little more control over the returns and directly the investment strategy is better for long-term retirement savings than an insurance product and then just do your, you know, get your life insurance coverage through a term policy. That's my preferred approach unless there's some reason why you want to use the insurance product for retirement. What is it you're trying to accomplish specifically there versus just a straight retirement account?

That's pretty much the only reason why I was going to use it was to try to make money for retirement. Okay. And I'm maxed out in my 401 through work. Yes.

Okay. Would like a Roth or something like that be better? Yeah, I like the Roth a lot and you can do that in addition to your 401k which would allow you if you're over age 50 to put another $7,500 a year away. If you're married, you could obviously double that with a spousal IRA. So I like that a lot. That would give you tax-free growth on that money.

I'd probably do that first. But one of the benefits of, you know, an insurance product like an IUL is once you've maxed everything out, if you're still looking for a taxed advantaged environment to grow for the future, you know, you have the ability to do that because you can design the policy to meet your investment goals. You can decide how much risk you want to take and you get, you know, tax-free capital gains. So there are certainly benefits there but I'd probably start with the Roth first. And then if you get to the place where you still are trying to put more away beyond that, then you could look to the IUL. The downside is, you know, there's a cap on the returns so that, you know, you typically set the maximum participation rate somewhere less than a hundred percent. There's no guarantees and they have high fees.

So you've got surrender charges, fees and commissions, you've got the the riders and the administration expenses and all of that. So for that reason I'd like just a straight retirement account as my go-to before I'd look to an IUL. Okay. All right. But it sounds like a Roth would be a whole lot better then.

That would be where I would start and again if you get to the, you're trying to play catch-up, maybe you're a little behind in your retirement savings and you've got your, you know, your retirement plan at work maxed out and you hit the cap on the Roth and I think that would probably be the time to look to an insurance product but I'd start with the Roth. Eric, thanks for checking in with us today, sir. God bless you. Verdel in New Jersey, you'll be our final caller. Just a minute and a half left.

How can I help? Yes. I was watching one of the programs, Christian television, and a pastor was saying that tithing has nothing to do with money. Now I've been a tither for 40 years and I just can't believe that I have gotten it wrong for 40 years. He took me to Deuteronomy 14 22 and 29 and I still don't understand how he was able to determine with Deuteronomy 14 22 29 that Malachi, when it speaks of tithing, has nothing to do with money. Yeah, I would take issue with that.

Unfortunately, we don't have a whole lot of time to unpack that. It was an Old Testament concept. There was actually three tithes in the Old Testament, one for the Levites, one for the temple, one for the poor, which was every three years.

So they were given 23 and a third percent of their income and then they would make offerings of their first fruits at the beginning of the harvest and then there was additional giving beyond that, you know, so the giving laws went far beyond 10% even though the word tithe means a tenth. But I would say it absolutely is our giving from our increase. And it's a great principle to apply today as a starting point for our giving.

But then I think we should give beyond that. Perhaps we'll unpack this a bit more on another broadcast. Thanks for bringing it up, Riddell.

Well, we're about out of time today. Before we go, let me remind us why we do what we do here on this program every day. We gather for Faith and Finance Live because we recognize we all have a high calling.

We're money managers for the King of Kings, which means we're to be found faithful as we manage God's resources, faithfulness, obedience over a long period of time, applying the wisdom of God's word to every area of our lives and that includes our finances. So thanks for being here today. Thanks for calling and for writing and for your emails. We love to do what we do and serving you to be wise stewards of God's money. I want to say thanks to my team today, Clara, Deb, Amy, and Jim. Couldn't do it without them. Faith and Finance Live is a partnership between FaithFi and Moody Radio. We'll see you next time. God bless you. Bye-bye.