Should All Your Giving Be in Secret?

Today's version of Faith in Finance Live is prerecorded so our phone lines are not open. Jesus told His disciples not to boast about their giving, but does that mean all our giving should be done in secret? Hi, I'm Rob West.

Put another way, are there times when talking about our giving is actually a good thing? John Reinhardt joins us today to talk about this intriguing topic. Then we have some great calls lined up, but please don't call in today because we're prerecorded. This is Faith in Finance Live, biblical wisdom for your financial journey. Okay, our guest today is my good friend John Reinhardt. He's founder of Gospel Patrons, an organization with a unique mission for spreading the Gospel around the world. John, it is a delight to have you on the program.

Thanks, Rob. This is a thrill for me too. John, before we dive into our topic today, I'd love for you just to educate our listeners on Gospel Patrons. What is it and how is God moving? Well, Gospel Patrons was first the title of a book that I wrote, and then it mushroomed into a ministry after that because there was so much traction around this idea that behind every great movement of God, God is going to raise up someone to proclaim the Gospel. He's going to raise up that preacher, that missionary, that person that we think of on the front lines of spreading the Word of God to the ends of the earth, but he's also going to raise up those who stand alongside them.

Their gift is not maybe preaching or crossing a culture and learning a language, but their gift is to stand alongside them through generosity and partnership and prayer and support. That's what a Gospel Patron is. We've seen thousands of leaders around the world, specifically business leaders and professional people resonate with this idea that they're not second-class Christians, but they too have a part to play in what God's doing in this generation. It's a powerful message, John.

I love how you say there's Gospel Proclaimers, and there's Gospel Patrons helping to underwrite, support, and fund that work. This applies to Billy Graham. It also applies to Jesus, doesn't it? Don't we see this in the Bible? Yeah, that's the amazing thing.

That blew my mind. In Luke chapter 8, we read the story of three women who funded Jesus's ministry. God could have funded Jesus's ministry through fishes and loaves or the best winery in the Roman Empire made out of tap water. He could have done it any way he wanted. The way he chose was three women who stepped forward and gave of their own resources to fund Jesus's three years of preaching, teaching, healing, and the disciples traveling with him. It's just extraordinary.

Yeah, it's powerful. You can learn a lot more at GospelPatrons.org or pick up the book. All right, John, let's dive into our topic. If you ask 100 Christians, should all your giving be in secret? Maybe 99 of them would say, well, yes, because of what Jesus says in Matthew 6, 2 through 4. But you think we've been reading too much into that passage, so I'd love for you to explain that. Yeah, the context is Jesus's Sermon on the Mount.

It's three chapters, Matthew 5, 6, and 7. What's amazing to me about that is in that whole section where Jesus says, don't let your left hand know what your right hand is giving, he also talks about we should pray in secret and we should fast in secret. I know churches that do corporate fasts.

I know churches that do corporate digital media fasts. I know churches that pray in public and people have prayer meetings where they actually pray out loud. I think what we understand from the context is Jesus wasn't saying we should never share about our giving. We should never share about our praying and praying in public. We should never not talk about our fasting. Like, I think there's a lot of situational realities here that Jesus was really focused on our motivation.

Are we talking about it in order to be seen and glorified by others, or is there a chance that we could talk about it in a way that's really helpful in building up? That's the first thing we see from the context. The second is in the very same sermon Jesus says to his disciples, let your light shine before men.

Wait, wait, wait a minute. I thought you said we should be in secret for all these things, but he said, wait, let your light shine before others so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven. There is a time to not have your light under a basket, but to let it shine before others. Not so that we get glorified, but so that they see our good works and glorify him.

To me, this was revolutionary to see. That's in the same sermon. I'm not pulling some random verse from somewhere else.

This is in the very same message. Certainly giving is a good work. When we think about Jesus saying, so they see your good works, man, generosity and giving and contributing to the needs of people, suffering people, hurting people, ministries, pastors, leaders, missionaries.

That's a good work. There are times to let that light shine. Third, Jesus publicly highlighted generous people. That's the crazy thing. Jesus celebrated generous people, so he didn't always keep it a secret himself.

That's incredible. Well, when we come back from this break, we'll talk about a few of those generous givers named in the Bible. We'll also talk about perhaps when your giving should be anonymous and what's the right motivation for our giving. That and much more with our friend John Reinhardt, founder of Gospel Patrons, when we return from this break. You're listening to Faith in Finance live. Today's broadcast is prerecorded, so please keep that in mind.

We're going to pause now for a brief break. Then we'll be back after that with more on Faith in Finance live. Challenging that idea with Jesus' own words from the Sermon on the Mount to perhaps broaden our vision for our giving and the opportunity to spur others on in our giving. And John, just before the break, you were sharing that many of the generous people in the Bible are named. So God wanted us to know about them. You mentioned a few before the break, specifically Mary, Joanna, and Susanna, who were providing for Jesus' ministry.

But who are a few of the other generous givers in Scripture? Yeah. Do you remember the story of Zacchaeus?

We learned it as little children, as Zacchaeus, the wee little man. Right, of course. He climbed that tree.

That's right. Well, he comes to Jesus. Jesus has lunch at his house, and this man changes, and it says that he repaid those who he had overcharged four times and gave his money to the poor.

He's named for his generosity. And in addition to that, we see in the New Testament that Paul had a gospel patron. Paul had this wealthy woman who funded him and perhaps even carried the letter that Paul had written to the church in Rome, to the people of Rome, to the believers in Rome for the first time.

And Paul acknowledges her, saying she's been a patron of many and of myself as well. Perhaps the most famous in the New Testament is Barnabas, because this guy was just setting the bar for generosity in the early church by selling his field and donating it to the needs of the apostles and the growing church movement in Jerusalem. And that wasn't hidden. He was named. Actually, if we look at it closely in the book of Acts, his name wasn't Barnabas.

It was Joseph. But the apostles nicknamed him Barnabas, which means son of encouragement, because pastors, missionaries, if someone sells their property and gives you the proceeds so that you can advance the gospel through your ministry, give that guy a nickname, and encouragement and Barnabas would be at the top of the list. So there's lots of giving that's mentioned, specifically amounts by name in the Bible. I don't think what Jesus was saying was a prohibition for us to always keep our giving anonymous or in secret, but instead to try to guard our hearts. Chris Yeah, and clearly the Bible wouldn't have named these folks if that nullified in some way their heavenly reward for the generosity itself. All right, John, you mentioned a few of the reasons why it's important to actually be intentional to talk about our giving before the break.

What are a couple of others? John Well, I'll say one thing, and that is we never grow about anything that we don't talk about. Let me say that positively. If we want to grow in any way, we have to start talking about it. If you want to get in shape, you're going to hire a trainer. You're going to get a workout partner. You're going to have a team of people around you. You're going to talk to people about your diet, your exercise, and you're going to grow.

If you want to get healthier, you're going to talk to your doctor and see what needs to be done. If you want to learn to play the violin, you're going to join a group of people. You're going to have a coach and a teacher and people you're going to be talking about the violin with so that you can grow. I think one of the reasons that Christians have been stunted in our understanding of generosity from a biblical perspective is that we haven't been willing to talk about it, and we can't grow unless we talk about it. This is an area that's so close to the heart of God. Generosity, I believe, is the heart of God, for God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son that whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. At the very center of what the Bible is all about is a God who gives. The very center of who Jesus was and what he's about is he gave his life for us. Generosity is right at the heart of God.

If we want to grow to become like the God of the Bible, to be changed into his image, this is something we must be talking about. Secondly, I will say generosity is a spiritual gift that God gives. In the list of spiritual gifts in Romans 12, we see that generosity or contributing is something that God uniquely gives to some people to really lead the way within the body of Christ. Now, we should all be generous, and we can all be generous.

This is not an obligation. It's a great opportunity to engage with God, but there are some people who really do have the gift. Just as we would have someone who's got the gift of teaching and want to help them and highlight them so that we can all learn from them with the gift of mercy, and we want to elevate that gift so we can understand how we can all show mercy so it is with generosity. We should honor that gift that God gives and celebrate it and talk about it more freely so that we can all grow in that way.

Oh, that's powerful. Jon, for our listeners, perhaps an example might help. Share an example of when it might be not only proper but even helpful to talk about our giving. Yeah, I think when you're sitting down one-on-one with someone, most of us didn't have parents that talk to us about generosity. Most of us didn't grow up in families where this was just a normal part of the conversation. A lot of families just don't even talk about money at all. That's why you and I both have jobs, Rob. When you're walking with someone and trying to help them think through, how does our faith apply to every area of our life?

Money has to be part of the equation. Jesus talked about money, possessions, and stewardship about 25 percent of the time. It's not a topic we should ignore. It's not a topic that's separate from our faith.

It's definitely integrated. As we walk with people, I think it's just a natural part of the discipleship conversation to say, where are you at with your giving? Here's some of my stories. Here's what I've seen God provide for me when I've stepped out in faith to give.

I think it's very natural, even in some of those situations, to use real numbers to help people get a real picture for what that can look like. Just as we would hope that someone who's gifted in evangelism would share their stories of how they share their faith with someone, and we can learn from that and model after that, so it is with giving. I think another example of how it's good to share about giving is whenever there's a significant need. Let's say your church is building a new building, and there's a building program or a campaign going on to raise money, or there's a ministry in need. I think it's appropriate for the leaders to say, guys, we want you to join us in this, and we're a part of this too.

We're in on what this is doing. We see that, interestingly, in Nehemiah and in David's life. Both of them raised money for different things.

Nehemiah for rebuilding the walls, David for the temple, and they both shared specifics on their own giving as a way to inspire others to join them and do the same. I think there's a burden on leaders at times, or an opportunity for them not to hide behind the anonymity of their giving, but to say, I'm all in. Join me as well.

That's so helpful. John, about just a minute and a half left. For somebody who's listening today and say, Okay, John, I'm convinced this needs to be a part of my giving. I want to be more vocal about it, but I also want to check my heart along the way.

What's a barometer to do that? Yeah, really good question. I think that we need to ask, what is my heart's motivation? And our hearts are tricky things, and they have all kinds of different motivations. But I think the first question to ask is, could I give joyfully in this situation, even if nobody but God ever knew about it? If my name doesn't get recognized, or it's not put on a building, or I'm not clapped for it, or celebrated, or told I'm generous, could I joyfully do this, knowing that it's for God's honor and his glory?

That's the first place you would start. First Corinthians 13 talks about, even if I gave my body away, but did not have love, it's nothing. It doesn't matter to God. And so we really want to check our hearts for love. Do I have joy in this, and do I have love for the people I'm giving it to, or the cause that God has put on my heart? And begin to evaluate your motives. And I think sometimes we do need to give anonymously and just say, God, that one's just for you.

If nobody ever knows about it, that one's just for you. And there are times then to let your light shine and talk about it freely and joyfully, not to seek praise from men, but to inspire others, to disciple others, and to continue to grow. Oh, wow. You've expanded our vision today, perhaps on a verse we've read hundreds of times, but you've given us some additional things to think about. And I know that'll draw us into a more intimate relationship with the Father.

That's our goal, at least today. John, thanks for stopping by, my friend. Absolutely. That's John Reinhard with Gospel Patrons. You can learn more at GospelPatrons.org.

Check it out today or pick up the book, GospelPatrons.org. Just a quick reminder, we're not here today, so don't call in, but we're going to head to a break and much more coming just after this. Stay with us. So thankful to have you with us today on Faith and Finance Live.

I'm Rob West. By the way, our team is not here today. We're away from the studio, so don't call in. But we've got some great questions that we lined up in advance. We'll get to those in just a bit. You know, I'm reminded as we think about the role of money in our lives, that we need to counteract the messages of this world. We need to operate from a biblical worldview. And when we look to Scripture, I think we really see three big ideas around the role of money.

The first is, money is a tool. Yeah, we use it to buy things for ourselves and others, and we use it to accomplish God's purposes. But it's also a tool in the sense that God uses money in my life to teach me to rely on Him. It's a daily demonstration of my faith. It reveals where I place my trust and what I value.

So it's a tool. It's also a test. You know, having too much or not enough can be a test. Are we going to live with contentment? Will we choose contentment? Are we going to rely on money in place of God? It's a test in our lives, but it's also a testimony, especially our willingness to trust God when we have little, or perhaps to share generously when we have much. That provides witness to an unbelieving world, even our faith to handle money God's way in the midst of uncertain times. That itself can be a great testimony to the world. So money is a tool. It's also a test.

And it's a testimony that God uses to both provide for my needs as well as to grow me up in my faith and rely more heavily on Him. I hope that's an encouragement to you today. All right, let's head to the phones and begin in Georgia today. Ruth, go right ahead.

Well, thank you for taking my call. My question is, I do have capital 400,000 in the bank and I own two homes. There are no mortgages, no credit card debt. I just needed to do something with the capital that I have, the cash. It's in an account and I get a good interest rate.

Okay, yeah, very good. So the first thing I would ask, Ruth, I'm glad to hear, I mean, first of all, it sounds like you've managed God's money really wisely. I love that you've got two homes that are completely unencumbered, so you own those outright. You've got good liquidity in the bank. You build up some assets. You have no debt. That's wonderful. And now it's just about, as you're asking here, how can I be a more faithful and effective steward of God's resources?

And it sounds like you're doing a great job. With regard to the 400,000 in the bank, it sounds like you're earning interest on that and it's not invested in stocks and bonds. It's in bank products. Is it all in one account or is it spread over either multiple banks or accounts? It's in one account. Okay, yeah, so that would be my first recommendation is, you know, there's only protection up to 250,000 from the FDIC. And so what we could look at is either putting a portion of it, so perhaps above 250,000, so maybe 150 of it, you could move to a second account type if that's an option. So, for instance, you can have 250,000 per account category, so that might be an individual account in your name. If you're married, you could have a second account that's jointly held. If not, you would want to move perhaps 150 of that if we decide to leave it all in the bank to a second banking relationship at a different banking institution, and that way you'd be fully protected up to 250,000 on all of that money, the 400s.

So if there was a problem with the bank, a bank failure of some kind, you wouldn't have to wonder about, you know, getting access to those funds. Let's talk about, though, what your needs are moving forward. So are you living on Social Security alone or do you have other income sources?

I'm living on Social Security and it's pension from the New York Federation of Teachers. Okay, yeah, very good. And is that enough to cover your expenses, the combination of those two? Yes, sir. Okay, very good. And so obviously you don't need to touch this 400,000 because you've got all you need as a guaranteed income source, so this would be money that would be available if you had, you know, expenses perhaps for long-term care, if you needed to go into a nursing home and that was going to cost you a hundred thousand dollars a year or, you know, something like that where it went above and beyond the income you have coming in, this would probably be the money that you would tap for that, is that right? Yes.

Okay, very good. And are you wanting to put some of this to work beyond banking products? So for instance, if you had an investment advisor that said, you know, whatever portion you were comfortable with, let's say you said, I want to keep a year's worth of expenses in liquid savings that's protected and guaranteed, but I want to take anything beyond that and I want to invest it to try to overcome inflation. I'm willing to take a modest amount of risk in a very conservative portfolio with the hope of growing this a little faster than I can in a bank savings account. Is that of interest to you or do you really want to make sure that this is guaranteed? No, no, I'd like to invest it, but I just don't know which way to go.

Okay. Well, what we would typically say is somebody in your situation, you know, if you wanted to be ultra conservative, you might take about 25% of that portion beyond that year's worth of expenses that I mentioned. So let's say a year's worth of expenses. What do you spend per month on average? Do you know? Maybe 500.

Okay. Let's say it's, yeah, let's say it's a thousand just for the sake of argument. So that's 12,000 a year.

So, I mean, that's a very small amount of this 400. So potentially you could take, you know, 375, 380,000, maybe more and put it to work. So on a very conservative basis, you might take 25% of that and put it in stocks, very conservative, but, you know, a good broad cross section of stocks. And then the balance, maybe 75% in fixed income type investments like bonds. I think that could make some sense.

It wouldn't be terribly volatile, but you could grow it a little quicker than you'd be able to in the current approach. I would recommend you use an advisor to do that. And I would encourage you to interview two to three certified kingdom advisors to find the one that's the best fit and let that individual then take responsibility for this. Let's you and I talk a bit more off the air during this break. So you hold on the line folks. Let me remind you as we head into this next break. We are not here today.

Our team is away from the studio. So don't call in. We've got some great questions coming up just around the corner. Hey, before we head into this break, let me remind you if you've not downloaded the faith by app yet, I'd love for you to do that. It's a great way for you to manage God's money.

According to a spending plan using the tried and true envelope system and a digital modern and beautiful expression. You'll find it all in the faith by app at our website, faithfi.com. We'll be right back. Grateful you tuned into faith and finance live. I'm Rob West, your host. This is where we recognize that God owns it all.

You're a steward or a manager of God's resources and money is a tool to accomplish God's purposes. Hey, we're away from the studio today, so don't call in. But we lined up some great questions in advance that I know you will enjoy. In fact, let's go ahead and take one of those right now. Let's head to Iowa. Hi, Neil.

Go ahead, sir. Yes, Rob, you referred in the last two weeks, there was a caller with some questions on FDIC insurance through the banking industry. Yeah. And at that time, I thought you mentioned that because of it, there's not a big need to be concerned on a failure of bank. But my understanding is that it would only cover the failure of two or three banks, let's say in the state of Iowa or Mississippi.

But if we had a national crisis, that there'd be no way for the small amount that banks pay for FDIC insurance, that there'd be no way that it could all be covered. You see my question? I do. Yeah.

Yeah. So you're wondering, yeah, if we had a national failure, how could the FDIC come in? Well, I mean, keep in mind, the FDIC is a government entity. And so theoretically, they have access to unlimited capital, because they can print money.

Now, I'm not saying we shouldn't do that. But the backing of the full faith and credit is, you know, what this whole system is built on in a fiat currency, because we don't have it backed by gold or silver, it's backed by the full faith and credit of the United States government. So the question would be, what would it take to have a complete collapse of the banking system?

And what would be the implications of that? Well, if we had that, we'd have much bigger problems than the fact that we couldn't get to our money right away. So, you know, the whole point of the Federal Reserve is to shore up confidence in the banking system and our economy. And so the question is, in the, you know, remote scenario that we could have an absolute collapse of the entire banking system, you know, in light of that, what should our response be? Should we pull all of our money out and put it under the mattress?

I just don't think given the risk you're describing, that that's a prudent approach. I think, you know, the FDIC has come in here and said, which is basically the US government and said, we're going to backstop the banks, and we are going to shore up confidence in the banking system, because, you know, the US economy is the biggest and strongest in the world, there is no other alternative. Even if we had a sovereign debt crisis, which I think is plausible much further down the road, not today, you know, what would the response be?

Well, you know, again, it would be a matter of we'd have high inflation, employment would rise, but we would have to deal with it, we'd have to work our way through it. So I think we just have to look at these situations in light of what is the alternative, and what's the likelihood of this risk playing out, and then make prudent and wise decisions. And, you know, I think, you know, having all of your money out of the stock market or out of the banking system in light of high inflation, in light of our responsibility as stewards to take and care for God's money and try to grow it for the future in a responsible way, and even deploying that capital for human flourishing and kingdom impact through faith-based investing, in my mind, that's a better approach, given the risks that are in the system, and even the possibility down the road of some more severe risk, just given how we've mishandled, you know, our economy, and our money supply here in this country. Given all of those risks, I still don't think pulling out of the banking system or the stock market is the right approach.

But give me your thoughts on that. Well, I didn't mean to advocate that people that we have all are pulling all our money out. I was just stating, and you've pretty much confirmed it, that the fact is it's based on confidence, and as the stock market or anything is, is believing in America. So I wasn't, even for the sake of the show, I wasn't advocating that people pull it all out and invest in any one thing or something. I was just saying that it is a fact that FDIC would not cover if we had something that went further than just a couple banks here and there. And that was my main point, not to bring up fear or anything, but it's reality, and it is a pretty interesting world we're in right now.

Well, it is, yeah. And I didn't mean to imply that you were saying that we should do that, but I'm just saying, you know, anytime we have to consider that equation, we've got to put these alternatives next to each other. And your point is very well taken.

You know, I think the balance of the deposit insurance fund as of the end of the year 2022 is around 128 billion. So obviously, that wouldn't get it done if we had a widespread failure. But again, it's the backing of the US government, and it's the confidence in the US government and in our economy that we're putting our trust in here. And ultimately, our trust needs to be in the Lord, obviously, because all of this can be reduced to rubble in an instant. So your point is well taken, and you are exactly right, Neil, and it's something we need to continue to talk about, think about. It's why we need to be showing up and voting for congressional leaders and a president who understands God's design for all of this, because we see the blueprint for economics and wealth creation in His Word.

And, you know, that really is ultimately what we need to be pursuing, because as we violate those biblical principles, there are consequences for not only families and individuals, but for nations. And we will experience that as well. We appreciate you being on the program, sir. Thanks for calling today and call back anytime. Let's head to Oklahoma. Hi, Mark. Go ahead, sir.

Yeah, well, thanks. To me, it looks to me like Wall Street investment and all that is just sort of corrupt and, you know, kind of lost its original purpose of investing in companies has become more of a casino swamp, actually. I was wondering if there's anything like it that's, you know, a person could invest in something and actually get profits and forget about the gambling. Yeah.

Why would you put it in the gambling category? I mean, the original intent behind the stock market, I think, still exists today in the sense that, you know, it originally started with a buyer and seller kind of coming together under the buttonwood tree. And, you know, today, it's it all happens digitally and instantaneously, but it's still a buyer and seller agreeing on a price, whether that's happening with a limit order, because you set the price or a market order where technology is driving that. But at the end of the day, you're still an owner, you're deploying capital in real companies with sales and earnings.

So where do you feel like the smoke and mirrors is coming in? Well, it's just that too many big players are involved in it now, and they're, you know, doing everything on margin. I'm just wondering if there's anything like on a private scale, like, you know, a public school versus a private school where there's actually small startups that need money to get going and you probably can get a profit on it, you know, sort of a smaller scale deal.

Yeah, I think you certainly can do that. And you know, as the steward of God's money, you always need to be asking the question, Lord, what would you have me to do? I think the question is, in an attempt to be separate from the stock market, which happens, you know, New York Stock Exchange is the world's largest stock exchange. You know, you could go outside of that, I think you may add more risk in the sense that now you're highly concentrated, as opposed to highly diversified, as you think about something like maybe peer to peer lending, which is a relatively new phenomenon.

Of course, you can invest in real estate, you know, precious metals, owning your own business, equity crowdfunding, I mean, all of these are options you could look at, but I think you'd actually be adding some more risk than through stock ownership. We've got to take a quick break. We'll be right back.

You can find more information about these topics when you visit our website, faithfi.com. Today's program is prerecorded, so please keep that in mind. We're going to pause now for a brief break, but we'll be back in a moment with more Faith and Finance Live. This is our final segment of a Faith and Finance Live program that we previously recorded. Thanks so much for being with us today, and we hope you'll stick around and enjoy the rest of the program. Let's see, we'll head to Texas. Melissa, thanks for calling.

Go ahead. Hi, I'm calling because I have a bit of a dilemma, both financial and moral. Parents deceased, my brother and I inherited some money, and there was also a home that's, you know, own free and clear. So we split the cat liquid money, but the house is inhabited by my brother who, he never left home.

He never married, no children. So the family home is now his. My dilemma is, I mean, my marriage is potentially failing, and I could use a little extra money to possibly buy a home myself. And I was thinking about trying to pursue the option of him basically buying out my half of the house.

Yes. And my moral dilemma is just, he's underemployed, he's part-time, and he doesn't have a lot saved. Basically what we've inherited is now his savings. And I just struggle with possibly, you know, him paying out more to me than for the home, my half of the home, and leaving him with less savings.

I think that's the best I can explain it. Yeah, I appreciate that, and I'm sorry to hear that you're going through all of this. I know this is a difficult season for you, Melissa, and we'll ask their faith and finance community to be praying for you. I certainly will.

So let's talk about the options here. I mean, obviously, you know, you've inherited 50% of this home that he's living in. You're not going to occupy it, so you've got an illiquid asset at this point unless he either sells it and relocates and gives you all split the proceeds. I assume there's no mortgage on it. Is it owned free and clear?

Oh no, yes, it's free and clear. Okay, so sell it and split the proceeds, and obviously that means he relocates. And I realize that would be a difficult conversation, but that is, you know, one of the, probably the one that makes the most sense. The second option is he takes on a mortgage and gets out, you know, enough to give you 50% of the equity, and then he starts paying that back in the form of a mortgage, which may mean that he's got to rework his budget. He may need to pursue other employment opportunities. I mean, I realize that it would be nice to live debt-free in this home and continue to be underemployed, and yet that's just not the reality for most of us in terms of what's possible, and he might just need to accept that.

And so that really, those are the two options that exist here. Have you had this conversation? Has he asked you kind of what you would like out of this, given that he's living in a home that you own half of?

Not at all, no. He claims it as his own, and seeing that I, you know, am in a marriage with a home that, I mean, I guess he sees it as that I'm secure. He doesn't really know about my situation right now.

Okay, and what is your relationship like with him? I mean, can you sit down and have a hard conversation at this point with him and just kind of bring him up to speed on what's going on in your life and what your needs are, and you all work together toward a solution that either involves selling it or him taking out a mortgage? I could talk to him, but those two options that you're suggesting, I really would hate to put him in. I really would hate to ask him to sell or take on a mortgage. He's, like I said, he's very underemployed. He works part-time, and no, I mean, he's just not in a good way financially or emotionally. He struggles with other issues.

I see, yeah. Well, that certainly makes this difficult, and that's why money issues are hard issues, and the money is symptomatic of kind of really ultimately deeper issues that kind of manifest how we approach money, how we handle it, our work ethic, I mean, all of that. And there really are no other alternatives apart from you just allowing this equity that you have just to sit there into the future, which that may or may not be an option for you, just kind of given some of the things that are going on in your life that all have financial implications. And so I think you've got to decide among these, you know, options. Option one is you just continue to let him be underemployed and enjoy living in this home free and clear, and someday if he predeceases you, then you get the equity out of it. Or the second option is you have a difficult conversation and, you know, in love and after a lot of prayer, sit down with him and just say, I need to bring you up to speed on where I'm at.

I love you. I want what's best for you. I'm willing to work with you on the right timing. But given my financial situation and what's going on in my life, I don't have the luxury of allowing this money to stay tied up in this home. So let's work together and figure out how we appropriately move forward, which is either, you know, you have a period of time to find some additional income and maybe decide to get a full time job so you can afford a mortgage. You know, with 50% loan to value, that's still pretty good. I would hope that, you know, he would be able to cover that, you know, or maybe he gives you a portion of it and buys you out over time. Maybe he gets a smaller mortgage equal to, you know, 25% of the home and you still retain another 25% of the equity of the home. Or at the end of the day, he just needs to sell and move on and get a smaller place or, you know, something he can afford, you know, with his half of the proceeds. But at the end of the day, if you're not, if you're either not able to or unwilling to allow that capital just to continue to be tied up in a home that you're not getting any benefit from and he's living in, then you're going to have to have that conversation and just work with him through that.

Quick question, just as an example, let's say this house was valued at $100,000, just for example's sake. And so that would be $50,000 apiece. Would it be possible to ask him to pay me this $50,000 in cash out of his savings? Oh, absolutely. Yeah. I mean, you'd just, you have 50, I assume it's been, the deed has been updated, so you'd own it jointly.

And in exchange, you'd get a real estate attorney to help you with this, but in exchange for a payment of 50%, which yeah, he should have now that he got that cash portion, you would quit claim deed your portion of it over to him, and he would now be the sole owner of the property. Right. Right. Okay.

Yeah. So I think there's a solution here, you know, I don't know that you're doing him any favors by allowing him and I realize there's, there's extenuating circumstances with his kind of mental capacity and emotional, the challenges that he's got. And so I understand that and you, you know, he's just a family member, and you want to do the right thing and love him well, and I get that. But at the same time, you know, there may be a part of this where he just needs to be willing to step up and do the right thing and get a job or, you know, be willing to part with some of this money that he'd love to have sitting in the bank, but you need it. And so I think, you know, you're going to have to, you know, approach him and talk that through, perhaps you give him several options. But at the end of the day, yes, he could buy you out. And that would be great.

And I would have a real estate attorney help you with that it should just cost a few hundred dollars. Thanks for being on the program. Melissa, we will ask our community to be praying for you. And I certainly will as well. Jim is in Texas.

Go ahead, sir. I was you talked about some treasuries that you could only invest 10,000 and seem like you said interest rate of 10% or 9% or something. How do you get in touch with that?

Yeah, unfortunately, that's no longer available. Unfortunately, Jim, you're probably talking about the I bonds, the inflation bonds. And, you know, last year through October of 2022, they were paying 9.6%. You could put in up to 10,000 a year. But that rate, it's a rate that changes every six months based on inflation. It's pegged to CPI, the composite rate, it went in last November, it dropped from 9.6 to 6.8. It just dropped again, because remember, inflation is coming down, and it's down to 4.3%. So I don't think it makes sense any longer, you could do better than that, by putting it in a one year CD and get over 5%.

Because you got to leave it in for a year. If you go to bankrate.com, you would see any number of online banks right now that you could get 5% plus for a 10 to 12 month CD. Just go to bankrate.com, click on CD and search for one year CDs. And you'll find a host of options all with FDIC insurance. Quickly to Alabama Griff, you'll be our final caller. Go ahead, sir. Yes, sir. I was listening to you earlier talk about biblical investing and being being biblical responsible with the investments. And my question is this, I've got a mutual fund that I use the dollar cost averaging strategy over a period of about 20 years without any thought to what they were investing in in the mutual fund. So now that thing is basically matured, and I've got about $200,000 in it. My question is, how do I transfer that type of investments into something that I would know is biblically responsible? How would I do that?

Yeah, that's a great question. Let me give you two options. One is to have an advisor help you with that. And so I would look for a certified kingdom advisor at our website, faithfi.com. That's faithfi.com.

Click find a CKA. The second option is I'll give you a place where you can go to get a list of those mutual fund families that all do biblically responsible or faithful based investing. Just go to faithandinvesting.com forward slash faithfi.

That's faithandinvesting.com forward slash faith fi and download that free PDF at the back of that you'll find a list of all the funds. Thanks for calling today. 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 in 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 faith fi and Moody radio. We'll see you next time. God bless you. Bye-bye.