Common Sense Spending Strategies

From Hats in the Hall Closet to Bats in the Belfry, we can help you save money on the basics.

Hi, I'm Rob West. Today we'll offer you a few common sense strategies for saving money on three of the basics, clothing, utilities, and home maintenance. Then we'll take your calls at 800-525-7000.

That's 800-525-7000. This is Faith and Finance Live, biblical wisdom for your financial journey. While managing your money wisely doesn't have to be complicated, a simple spending plan can help you keep track of what comes in and what goes out. But what about the necessary things like clothes, energy, and shelter?

If you feel like these expenses are out of control, we'd like to help you today. Let's start with clothing. In this category the temptation is to buy whenever there's a sale or to chase after the latest styles or both. When you have kids, and especially teenagers, you have the added problem of sizes changing all the time, not to mention another set of opinions on what's cool. Well, here's how to keep your family's wardrobe looking sharp for less.

First, you don't have to buy new. Instead, visit local thrift stores where you'll find deals on current styles as well as wardrobe basics. If you have kids, this is where you'll save. Teenagers might push back on this, but give them a budget and challenge them to find something they like.

They'll enjoy having a bit of freedom in the matter and seeing how far their money can go. If you do shop retail, use coupons and loyalty programs to get discounts. Consider consignment stores, too. You'll find stylish clothing there, and when you're done with your gently used items, you can trade them in for cash or a discount. That's money back in your clothing budget. Next, try rethinking your closet. What I mean is, instead of filling it with clothes and shoes that you'll wear only once or twice, think multi-purpose. A good pair of slacks can take you to work or church. A neutral skirt can work for an interview or an evening out.

You get the idea. The goal is to have a few high quality basics that can do double duty in your wardrobe. Focus your spending on that core wardrobe, and then let your accessories and thrift store add-ons provide color and variety. Okay, our next category for saving is utilities. The first strategy is to buy energy efficient appliances. I'm not saying you should replace all your existing appliances at once, but when it's time to put in a new washing machine, choose one that costs less to run.

While you're at it, you may be able to find a deal on a scratch and dent appliance. Another way to save money on energy costs is by using LED lighting. When you need to replace a bulb, it's worth the extra cost up front to buy LEDs. They'll pay for themselves over time with longer life and more energy efficiency. Next, check with your utility company about rebates for installing energy efficient systems in your home. You might get money back for installing an electric hybrid water heater, for instance, or putting in a smart thermostat. Your power company will have details about rebates on their website.

A simple way to reduce your energy bill is by unplugging appliances, turning off electronics, and adjusting your thermostat, especially when you're not at home. Alright, our last money saving category is home maintenance. If you own a home, you can't just assume all is well. Like a car, your home needs regular attention just to keep it functioning smoothly.

Ignoring this might not cause a breakdown on the highway, but it can result in very expensive repair or replacement costs. For instance, dirty filters can make your heating and air conditioning system work much harder, which makes it wear out sooner. For plumbing, be aware of possible pipe leaks or dripping faucets. Avoid overflow problems by having your septic tank pumped out regularly.

If you have one, you get the idea. Heating and air conditioning is one of your home's most important systems, so don't ignore that either. Have your HVAC system checked at least once a year to make sure it's operating at maximum efficiency when you need it most in summer and winter. Second, do an annual check of the caulking around your windows, doors, and light fixtures. Install new weather stripping around doors and windows if necessary. If your home feels too warm in the summer and too cold in the winter, even after you've sealed the air leaks, you may need more insulation.

Again, check with your power company about rebates for that. While I'm talking about home maintenance and insulation, let me ask you, when was the last time you checked under your roof? If you have an unused attic space, make sure it's not becoming a home for critters. If you've got wildlife guests in the attic, it'll take a professional to get them out and seal the space, but don't put that off.

Aside from the sanitation issues, rodents can chew on electrical wiring, which makes them a fire hazard. All right, I hope we've given you some practical ideas today. Your calls are next.

The number to call is 800-525-7000. Stay with us. We'll be right back. Well, so glad to have you with us today on Faith and Finance Live.

I'm Rob West. Hopefully that opening segment was helpful to you, giving you some practical insights on how you can manage God's money, and it is all God's. That makes us stewards of His resources, and in order to be an effective steward, we need to know the heart of the master. So we go back to Scripture and pull out those big themes that were to hold money loosely, give it generously, live with contentment, find our identity, not in our things, but in Christ, and pursue an eternal perspective.

You put all of that together, and it fundamentally changes how you approach managing God's money, recognizing it's a high calling. Well, we want to help you do that on this program each day. We're delighted you're here, and we know you probably have some financial questions you've been thinking about lately. Well, we'd love for you to bring those to the table.

Let's talk about them together. So whatever you're thinking about financially, give us a call right now with lines open, 800-525-7000. Again, 800-525-7000. Let's begin today in Harrisburg, PA. Robert, go ahead, sir. Thank you for taking my call.

We have received some ERC monies, and we're just kind of curious on what we should do, and also tithing, how we should handle that as well. Yeah, so you have a small business, and you received an employee retention credit. Is that what you're talking about? Yes, sir.

Okay, great. Yeah, so for the benefit of our audience, this is a payroll tax refund. You have the ability to get up to $26,000 per employee.

It was designed by the Treasury Department to help businesses that kept employees on the payroll during the pandemic, and we're seeing as these payments come out, folks are looking forward to putting this money to work. Essentially, Robert, this would be a business tax refund, so it's essentially revenue to the business that was no longer expensed because you didn't actually have to pay it into the IRS. So being able to take this money and now applying this to your business, essentially, if you're tithing from your business, it's a bit different than the way you would approach a tithe on your personal finances. So with your personal finances, you would just take any increase that you have, salary, wages, a gift, an inheritance, anything like that, and you would tithe on that as an increase, give a tenth. With a business, it's different. You've got to take the gross revenues, but then you have to subtract expenses from those revenues to determine what your true profit is, and that would include after you pay out the salaries, after all of your overhead and equipment and facilities and marketing, I mean, all of that taxes would leave you with some retained profit in the business, and I would look at that on a certain interval. Oftentimes, you'll do that on an annual basis when you file your taxes. So this would basically just increase the revenues of the company, and at the end of the year or quarter, whatever period you determine, after you subtract all the expenses and determine how much profit you have over and above the salary you're going to pay yourself and others, then if you wanted to tithe on that as a business that you own solely, then you would give a gift on that increase. So I would just factor this into the overall business operations to determine what your true increase is. Does that make sense, though? Yes, yes, thank you. Okay, very good. I love the fact, Robert, you're looking at your business not only as a way to provide for yourself and meet the needs of others through your product or service, but as an engine for giving.

That's phenomenal. So it's just another tool that as the Lord provides, and you have profits over and above your operating expenses, giving as unto the Lord is just a wonderful thing. And if this ERC can help you give even more, well, that's great. Hey, thanks for calling today, sir. If we can help you further along the way, please don't hesitate to reach out. 800-525-7000 is the number to call with some lines open today. We'd love to hear from you. Let's head to my hometown, Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Is it Tara? Thank you for calling. Go ahead.

Thank you for taking my call. My question is that I've been married for quite some time now, but my name was never on the mortgage. My name is on the title, but not on the mortgage. Now that I'm making some money, I'm making money, I would like to contribute so we can pay off the mortgage quicker. So I want to find out whether or not that will be a good thing for me just to go and contribute to the mortgage when my name is not on it.

And given that we do not want to refinance because of what's going on now with the interest rate, or if you have a better idea how we can do that, pay off the mortgage quickly, even if my name is not on the mortgage. No, that's fine. So typically what happens there is you're married and you and your husband own this home. Is that right? Yes, we do.

Okay. And you're both on the title. Yeah. So you both legally own the home. But what happened was likely when you all went to get the mortgage, you only needed your husband's income in order to qualify for the mortgage. So he was the only one that was put on the mortgage. Is that right? Yes.

Okay. But there's a lien on the property with this mortgage. So if this mortgage isn't paid, they're going to have the recourse to foreclose on the home that you own with your husband. So you absolutely want to pay this off, just as he does. And by the way, the way we approach finances in marriage, when two become one, that includes our finances, right? So we want to look at this as an opportunity for you all to have shared goals, you know, bring all the finances together, manage it together, and pursue whatever the Lord has for you as one flesh through your finances, whether or not your name happens to be on the mortgage or not as secondary. So I would say, yeah, as long as you all have proper emergency funds, meaning three to six months expenses, if you're on track in saving for retirement, you don't have any other short term goals that are you're trying to meet, like, you know, saving for a new car purchase or something like that, that accelerating the mortgage is a great idea would allow you to pay it off, you know, that much quicker.

And I'd love for that to be the case as soon as you can. But certainly by the time you retire, because that's going to take your largest expense off the table. So as you all look at your household finances together as a married couple, if you're working, you're bringing income in, he is as well, you're creating a spending plan, you have margin or surplus at the end of the month, and you want to take a portion of that and accelerate the mortgage payoff by sending an amount beyond the scheduled payment for principal reduction.

I think that's great. And you would want to do that whether you're on the mortgage or not. The key would just be to talk to your mortgage servicer, whoever you write that payment to, to find out how they want you to submit that. If you do it online, you could, you know, add a little note, you know, in the box that says principal reduction and, and you could put it in there. If you're just sending it through bill pay service, you just want to make sure that that extra amount is in fact going to the principal.

But at the end of the day, I think this is a great idea. And the fact that you're on the mortgage is really more of a, you know, just an administrative type thing that had to do with where the income documentation was coming from. Can I clarify something quick?

Sure, sure. Someone mentioned that, let's say that something happened, but for me, something happened to my spouse, in order for me to pay the mortgage off, I would have to go to court. That's when I got a little bit worried, concerned.

I'm like, let me see if that would not be better for me to be now on the mortgage. Let's say that something happened, you know, we never know. It's not that we are talking about it, but it might happen. So I don't know if you see my concern.

I do. Yeah, let's do this. I've got to take a quick break. If you don't mind holding, I'd love to tackle this, the second portion of this with regard to you not being on the mortgage and the implications of that, because that's a good question.

And there's a lot of folks that don't have a spouse on the mortgage, even though they own the home and both names are on the title. So we're going to take a quick break. Tara, we come back, we'll tackle that second part of the question. And then Susan and Indiana, we're coming your way.

Additional lines open. We'd love to hear from you. 800-525-7000. We'll be right back on Faith and Finance Live. Stay with us. This is Faith and Finance Live.

I'm Rob West. We're applying biblical wisdom to your financial decisions and choices. We'd love for you to join the conversation today with your financial questions at 800-525-7000. We've got a few lines open.

Back to the phones. We're talking to Tara in Fort Lauderdale and we're talking about the mortgage. She and her husband are on the deed to the home. However, only his name appears on the mortgage. We were talking about the wisdom of the two of them together trying to accelerate the mortgage pay off.

And I said, absolutely. As long as other pieces are in place, they've got some emergency funds. They're not paying high interest consumer debt.

They're saving for retirement. Then I absolutely love the idea of accelerating the mortgage pay off. But she's asking a follow up question here about the importance of or the significance of her not being on the mortgage if something were to happen to her husband. And Tara, basically federal law requires lenders to allow family members to assume a mortgage if they inherit the property. So in this case, you're not inheriting it.

You're already a legal owner to it. So you would be able to assume that mortgage at your husband's death and then just continue paying on it. Of course, if you didn't pay on it, they would have recourse to foreclose.

You don't have to assume it. It could be paid off by the property being sold or refinanced, but they do have to let you assume it. So there would be no reason for you all to refinance at this point, especially if you have a low interest rate mortgage. It doesn't concern me that you're not on it. You all are treating it as though you're paying it together as you join all of your finances in marriage.

But the fact that you're not actually on the mortgage itself is not a problem. All right. Okay.

That kind of that helps a lot. Okay. Very good to hear from you.

Yes. Thank you so much. I appreciate you. All right. You're very welcome. Thanks for your call today. We appreciate it.

Eight hundred five two five seven thousand. We've got a few lines open to Indiana. Hi, Susan. Go ahead.

Hi. Thank you so much. And thank you for your wisdom from the Lord. I am of retirement age, but still working full time. I am drawing Social Security and I do have military retirement coming in and I'm also teaching adjunct.

So I feel very blessed. My retirement is with the teachers, the TIAA. And my question about that is whether I should just leave it there or should I shift to a local money management firm where I know that the individual who would be handling it? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, TIAA is a reputable institution without question.

Have you said that the TIAA is your teacher's retirement account? Is that right? Correct. All right. And are you still teaching? I am.

Okay. Do you have the option to roll it out? Well, yes, it would. In other words, yes, I could roll it into another like a local a local firm.

Usually you have to separate from employment before you can do that, but you may be able to. I don't have any problem with you leaving it right there. There's some great investment options inside that platform. Again, it's very reputable.

The costs are, I think, very well, you know, in line with what would be normal and customary. So unless you know, you had a relationship with an advisor where you just wanted somebody to take active oversight of it, then it's probably easier to roll it out. As long as you have the ability to do that and you can keep it in a tax deferred environment, because then that advisor would have essentially unlimited investment options available to him or her to be able to choose from. But if you're going to continue to manage it yourself, then I would just leave it right where it is. Do you have a relationship with an advisor or are you pursuing one? I do.

And, you know, he pursued me, but I think that he's a Christian, so I honestly would trust him. But I guess I was just questioning the wisdom. I don't I don't need to move it. I don't feel the need to move it.

I just was wondering, yeah, well, if you're not sensing the need to move it and you're not feeling necessarily compelled to hire an advisor to manage this, it seems to be performing well. I don't have any problem with you leaving it right where it is. All right. And may I ask another question? Sure.

Go ahead. OK, so I am estranged. My husband left back in 2015 and I he unlike the previous caller, we are on the mortgage together. So there's about 70 thousand lost on the mortgage. And I have been paying and taking care of everything.

And so I guess my question is, is do I try to pay it off or do I simply make the health payment and not. I mean, I. Yeah. Who owns the house, Susan?

I'm not sure what you're asking. I mean, who's on the both of our names. OK, so you both have.

So you both own 50 percent of the property still even. Did you actually file divorce or you just separated? No, no, we're not even legally separated.

He left. That's OK. All right. And so are you in communication and what would the plan be? Let's say you were to sell the property.

What would you do with it? He won't. He won't sign the cell.

He refuses to sell. Yeah. OK.

But but you're if he's not making the payments, if you were to stop making the payments, the property would be foreclosed on and he would lose a lot of value of this property. True. Yeah. So would I. Yeah. No, that's right.

I'm not suggesting you do that. Well, I mean, I think the bottom line is if you're treating this as I mean, it's your home in addition to being an asset. Right. And this is an unusual situation given that you're not legally separated or divorced and you own this home jointly, even though he's not paying any part of it and he's left.

So I think at this point, I would probably just continue to make the scheduled monthly payments if you have a low interest rate and just do everything you can do to shore up the rest of your financial life in your own name, rather than trying to focus on accelerating this mortgage payoff with an asset that he's entitled to 50 percent of. OK. Thank you so much.

I sure do. You're welcome, Susan. Thank you for your service to our country.

And I'm so sorry to hear about the situation with your husband. We'll certainly pray that the Lord will intervene there. We'll be right back with more on faith and finance live. Stay with us. Delighted to have you with us today on faith and finance live.

I'm Rob West. All right. We've got time for more questions today. We're just getting rolling here.

Well, we've been rolling for a little while, but we still have a ways to go. So we'd love to hear from you with whatever you're thinking about financially today. The number to call with lines open right now is eight hundred five, two, five, seven thousand.

Again, eight hundred five, two, five, seven thousand. We'd love to hear from you. Back to the phones. We go to Chicago.

Hey, Pedro, go ahead, sir. Hey, thank you for taking my call. Quick question. I actually recently in 2005 purchased a two unit home in my name for my mother in law and my father in law. They needed to buy something else. Their credit wasn't where it needed to be. So I offered myself to a system with the chances of selling the house and having them earn some cash. But after the 2006 economy crash, we decided to stay with it because it was lower than what it was actually worth.

So we still have it. My only concern is that it's still in my name and they're not benefiting any credit on that. They're making the payments they're getting.

It has two units. They're getting income because they rent both units. They're getting enough income to actually pay for the entire mortgage and use a little surplus for their water. So what I want to do, how can I transfer the property over to them, remove my name so that way they can begin to benefit the credit and everything that comes with owning a home? Yeah. And so your objective is for them to own that outset outright in their name only? Yes, that is correct, because it just breaks my heart that I still have it in my name. And even though I did them the favor with the first initial plans to sell it, you know, didn't work out. So we had to hold on to the property. And so we've been holding it on to it to this day. Everything is paid off.

They haven't missed a mortgage payment, but they're not benefiting from any credit whatsoever. And I want to start just sure. That makes sense. Yeah. So you would do what's called a quitclaim deed to transfer ownership of the home to your in-laws since it would be considered a gift. And since the amount would be above the 17,000 annual gift exclusion, you would have to file a gift tax form with the IRS. That's form 709.

That's OK, though. It would just be taken off of your lifetime gift exclusion, which right now is at twelve point nine six million dollars. So this is not taxable.

You just have to let the IRS know you're doing it so they can note that. And then at that point, it would be their property. And you'd probably want to just connect with a real estate attorney who could draft that quitclaim deed for you and make sure it's done properly.

And then that would be filed with the county records office. OK. And then basically the mortgage will will be completely in their name with the bank and everything. No. So the mortgage is in whose name? Your name.

The mortgage is in my name. Correct. Yeah. Yeah.

That's going to be a little more challenging. So if the goal here is not just to get the asset in their name, but to build their credit, the lender is not going to take you off of the mortgage because you're the one that qualified for the mortgage. And they're counting on your even though your in-laws are making the payments in terms of because they don't have good credit or a lack of credit. That was why you had to get the mortgage in the first place. So the lender has no incentive to release you from responsibility for that mortgage, regardless of who's been paying it. So the only way at that point to get it out of your name and into their name would be to refinance it. But they would have to qualify and your interest rate would be or their interest rate really would would go up at that point. So unfortunately, it's not really going to benefit them from a credit standpoint. OK. Yeah.

OK. Got it. So there are other things you could do. You could add them as an authorized user on a credit card that you have and your good credit history would transfer to them. They could open a secured credit card where they deposit a couple of hundred dollars and then they get a credit limit up to the amount of the deposit and they could charge budgeted purchases even just a few dollars a month. But that would report them as on-time payers. I mean, if the goal is to build credit, there are things you can do.

You can even ask Experian to start to count. Well, they're not making a rent payment, but utility payments, things like that, if that's in their name. So things like that can be done, but the mortgage is not going to be able to be transferred. OK.

So they would have to refinance their name. OK. Yeah. Yeah. All right, Pedro, thank you for your calling, sir.

God bless you. Let's see. We've got only two lines open, 800-525-7000. Feel free to give us a call to Florida. Jose, go ahead. Hi, Rob.

Thank you for taking my call. I'm an employee and I have a 401K to my employee. Currently, I have twenty two thousand dollars and my wife is in the same boat, but she's got eight thousand dollars. I was conservative and since I decided I allocated everything in bonds. So during the pandemic, I didn't take a loss.

I was wondering when or what would be the signal for me to switch to stocks? What is your age, Jose? Forty two on my wife.

She's thirty six. Oh, wow. OK. Yeah. Unfortunately, whereas bonds might normally be a safe haven in an environment like you, you know, we were in with the pandemic and the economy, they weren't in the sense that because on the heels of the pandemic, we had this runaway inflation, which was caused by the easy money and low interest rates because the Federal Reserve raised interest rates so dramatically. It was really a very difficult time, unusually difficult for bonds. So you went through a pretty rough season there where broad bond prices, again, which typically are more stable, were losing value. And so this is actually we're coming into a period where bonds are actually fairly attractive because the yields are up. And as the interest rates start falling, the bond prices are going to go up, not down. But given your ages, thirty six and thirty two, you really don't need to be in a bond portfolio. So it's probably well, it's probably a good time to go and get repositioned to take advantage of the recovery in both the bond and the stock market. I might keep a little bit higher allocation to bonds until interest rates get back down than you normally would at thirty six. But I would start moving into stocks because you want to participate in that recovery as well. So normally, you know, with somebody your age, you know, you might have 70 percent in stocks and only 30 percent in bonds. And so if you're 100 percent in bonds, you may want to start moving into a stock allocation. But again, keep in mind, you don't really need to be terribly concerned once you get allocated into the right mix about the performance over a quarter or a year or even a couple of years, because you all have 30 or 40 years before you're going to need this money, at least 30 years, probably. And so you've got time on your side.

I think the key is to get positioned and then not try to make changes and time the market based on any of these factors, because when you do that, you can get into a situation like you've been in the last couple of years where, despite your best effort to insulate yourself from the economic fallout of the pandemic, you actually kind of hurt your ability to make money. And given the time horizon that you have, I wouldn't be concerned about that. Does that make sense? Yeah, yeah. So do you think that would be a good idea to start moving 50 50 at this point? Yeah, I think that's not a bad idea. And and then maybe once the interest rates come back down, you move the remaining 20 or 30 percent in the stock.

So you're at 80, 20 or 70, 30, but maybe a year from now, if that makes sense. Yes, sir. All right. Thank you very much, Rob. God bless you.

All right. And you as well. This is Faith and Finance Live. I'm Rob West and more of your calls just around the corner. We'll be right back.

Don't go anywhere. Glad to have you with us today on Faith and Finance Live. You know, more and more God's people are wanting to do business with companies that align with their values and priorities as Christians. Well, if you're looking for a mortgage partner who shares your values or a banking partner who shares your values, we'd love to for you to learn more about a couple of our underwriting partners. Movement Mortgage is a mortgage company that shares your values. And you can learn more at movementmortgage.com forward slash faith or Christian Community Credit Union.

If you're wanting a banking relationship with a credit union designed and built for believers, just go to join Christian community dot com. All right. Let's head back to the phones today. They're all full and we're in our last segment. So we'll try to get to as many as we can.

Quickly to Indiana. Charles, go ahead, sir. Yes, I have a lot of grandkids and when they get to 10 or 12 age, I tried. Well, I set up like a five thousand dollar college fund for them. And I'm wondering, is there a better way? Because I'm so far I've been setting up that a 529 college fund. Yes, I like that a lot, Charles. Have you used the 529 there in Indiana or did you use another state's 529?

Indiana. In fact, I have set up several of my grandkids. I see. Yeah, I think that makes a lot of sense. It does a couple of things. Number one is it grows like a Roth IRA, so you don't get the tax deduction when it goes in, but it grows tax free if you use it for qualified educational expenses.

Number one. Number two, you have those underlying investments like mutual funds in there so you can grow the money, which is great on a tax advantage basis. Number three, they're getting more favorable because of recent legislation that would not only allow you to get the money back if they get a grant or a scholarship on a pro rata basis, but if they don't use it, they could transfer it to a Roth IRA and have it as kind of some seed money for a retirement account.

There are some requirements there in terms of it's got to be in their 15 years and they can only convert it up to 30,000 total and no more than the annual limit for the year. But it gives you an option if you have a child who decides not to go to college to be able to still get this money into a retirement account, which could be a great beginning for them on their retirement savings. So I think for all of those reasons, I like the 529 a lot, Charles. Also, if their parents are going to qualify for any need based aid, the 529 is great because it's not going to be an asset of the child, which is factored in much more significantly into the expected family contribution. You want it to be an asset of the parent, which is how a 529 is treated. The only thing I might suggest is you don't necessarily have to use Indiana and Indiana's 529 may not be the best one. So I would, before you open the next one, go to savingforcollege.com and if you fill out the questions there, they will actually recommend, based on the tax advantages and the overall historical performance of each of the 529s, they'll recommend the best 529 for you.

And unless you just want to use Indiana's, it may recommend that you use a different state. Okay, because I noticed the last one I opened up, there was a interest rate of 4%, but the one before that was a lot lower. Okay. Yeah, I would check that out. You know, they're not all created equal in terms of how the investments are structured and the performance.

So that's where savingforcollege.com can give you an objective look at which 529 is best. But bottom line, Charles, you keep up the great work. You sound like a wonderful grandfather and this will be an enormous blessing to your grandkids down the road. Thanks for calling today. To Weeki Wachee, Florida. James, go ahead.

Yes, sir. I just purchased a $350,000 mortgage. I got a good rate, about five and a half percent, but the issue is I'm 72 years old and I was wanting to know if you could advise me on some type of life insurance policies for the, just in case, you know, what I am, if I do pass away before my wife, that she would have the burden of the mortgage payment. Is that possible through the mortgage company or I'd have to get that, you know, separately somewhere?

No, you wouldn't want to get it through the mortgage company. That would be terribly expensive and this is not going to be cheap just because of your age. So you're probably going to want to just look at a 10 year term policy that would last you until age 82.

At that point, you would just drop it. But if you passed away in the next 10 years, it would cover if you had a $350,000 death benefit, it would allow her to pay off the mortgage. Beyond that, she would have to use other assets, other income generating assets and Social Security hopefully just to continue on the monthly mortgage payment. But that's going to be the very best way. You're going to want to go out and shop that among all the term insurance carriers to get the best rate. But I'd look at a 10 year term policy to cover the mortgage as much death benefit as you can get to cover that mortgage that still fits into your budget.

But just simply because of your age, it's not going to be cheap. Right. I got, can I ask you one more question please? Sure. Yeah. All right. Great. Okay. So anyway, we have a trust fund and it's already been set up.

But the problem is I wanted to get it established. As time has gone on, we wanted to make some changes and we're kind of like skeptical about who we want to have the, to be the distributor of the funds and how to divide it up. Cause we have like six grandchildren and three adult children.

And I was thinking most, should we divide it in percentages to each one? Should we have them in our trust fund, our will to sell all of our properties that we have and divide it, you know, with the older children, 33%. Is there, are there any resources that can direct me and give me some? I'd be happy to, let me, let me do this. I'm going to send you a gift.

It's just our gift for you to be, for being on the program today. It's a book by one of my mentors, Ron Blue, who's a popular author of personal finance from a biblical perspective. The book is called Splitting Errors, H E I R S. I think it's the very best book ever on these very topics, not the mechanics, the tools and strategies of estate planning, but the why and the how of wealth transfer. How do you determine how much to leave to the kids? Do you have to, uh, you know, give them all an equal amount.

For instance, one of the principles in there that he uses is if you love your kids equally, you will treat them uniquely because they're each different in terms of where they're at financially and some are married and some aren't and some are mature spiritually and financially and others aren't. So, um, you know, I think that book will be a great resource, James. So if you stay on the line, we'll get your information and I'll get a copy of Splitting Errors out to you right away.

And it's just our way of saying thanks for being on the show. All right. Thank you, sir. All right. God bless you. To Dayton, Tennessee. John, go ahead. Hi Rob, this is John. I got a question. I'm debt free right now and I'm 46 years old and it's only by the grace of God.

So I thank my Lord and Savior for helping me with that. But I'm currently, I've got a high paying job and I don't know if I'm going to be doing this for the long term, but I'm making a lot of money, so I'm trying to save in retirement. I'm putting a lot away in retirement right now. But with the economy, the way it is, I'm somewhat nervous and a little bit conservative investor. So I don't, I can't stomach the roller coaster that we're on. So I'm curious of what, what, what does a diversified portfolio look like to you?

Yeah. What is your age, John? I'm 46 years old.

Okay. You know, I mean at 46 I would typically say that, uh, you know, you would want to probably have about 65% of your money in stocks, um, which would mean you'd have 35% in bonds. Uh, if you wanted to be more conservative, uh, you know, you would, uh, probably go with maybe 55% or so in, in stocks and 45% in bonds. The good news is this is a great season that we're heading into for bonds and I think stocks will do well. I think the key is you've got to take a longterm perspective. I mean, you still have time on your side. Um, you've got this high income paying job. It's a great opportunity for you to sock some money away. Um, but you want to do it with an eye toward the future, recognizing that, yeah, we've got some challenges, but every decade has its challenges.

Um, and we still live in the strongest and best economy in the world. And as long as you're properly diversified with a good mix of stock and stocks and bonds between, as I said, probably 55 to 65 at the most 70% in stocks, um, then you just kind of set it and forget about it if you will, and recognize that in the ebbs and flows and ups and downs, uh, at least historically speaking, you're not going to lose money over that time period. Um, the key is just to be systematic in your contributions. And one of the benefits of that is something called dollar cost averaging where you're buying in a different price points. And when the market's down, you actually should see that as a great buying opportunity because you're buying more shares of the same stocks with the same amount of, of investment, uh, because the stocks are selling at a discount. And then as they rise, you benefit from that by owning more shares, but you've got to just have that longterm perspective and not get too emotionally attached, which is also why you'd probably want to involve in a, an investment advisor in this, somebody who's arms length who can bring a more rules based, disciplined approach to your investing and not necessarily, you know, you, which you're a little bit more emotionally connected to this, which can lead you to some poor decision making with regard to selling out at the wrong time because you get fearful if that makes sense. So what I would do is interview two or three certified kingdom advisors there in Tennessee. Uh, you can go to our website, faith fi.com that's faith fi.com and just click find a CKA if you want to do that. But, um, that's my best advice on how to think about diversification.

Thank you so much. Is that helpful? Yes, that's very helpful. Do you recommend, um, um, metals at all? Uh, yeah, but not overweighting. So my recommendation would be to have no more than 10% of your portfolio in precious metals. You can do that in physical, uh, possession where you'd actually buy the coins or the bars and store it and secure it.

Uh, better yet though, you may want to consider just a tracking ETF like GLD or one of the others that tracks the price of the move of the precious metal that gives you that diversification in the portfolio, but you're not having to pay the premium on the buy and sell and store it and secure it and all of that. So, uh, but I would say no more than 10% would be my recommendation. Thanks for your call today, Leslie. And I'm so sorry we didn't get to you. Call back. We'd love to have you on the program tomorrow.

Faith and finance live is a partnership between Moody radio and faith by thank you to Lynn, Tahira, Amy, and Jim. Couldn't do it without it. We'll see you tomorrow. Goodbye.