Love Guided Investing

Love is patient. Love is kind. That's 800-525-7000.

That's 800-525-7000. This is Faith and Finance Live, biblical wisdom for your financial decisions. Well, it's always a treat to have Rachel McDonough with us. Rachel is a Certified Financial Planner and a Certified Kingdom Advisor, and she's a leader in the field of helping investors integrate their Christian values with their investment decisions. Rachel, great to have you back with us. Hey, thanks so much.

Glad to be here. Rachel, you've shared your perspective on faith-based or what you might call faith-driven investing, but today I know you'd like to help us look at how love can influence our investing. How are those two things different?

Yeah, that's right, Rob. They're definitely related, but there have been many things done in the name of faith. Some have been very powerful and positive, but some have even been more political in nature, especially lately. So my husband, who rarely thinks about investing, he and I have been following the boycott on Bud Light and some other brands recently, as well as just the general conservative pushback against more liberal shareholder activism that's been happening.

It's really a fascinating season where we've seen 682 shareholder proposals filed for annual meetings to be held before May 31st. So there's really just a rise in activism in general and just a lot of political things that are happening with corporations. Now, I am very thankful for the men and women of God who are called into politics, and that can have a righteous influence in that arena. But we have to remember back to when the Israelites were waiting for the Messiah to come, they, of course, were expecting him to come as a strong military and political leader that would bring about deliverance from Rome. But in Luke 17, 1, Jesus reveals his radical concept that the Kingdom of God is within us, and that a lot of what God is really after is our hearts. So a few weeks ago, I read some familiar passages that really sparked a new line of thinking for me, or maybe just some additional clarity.

So let me just read a couple of verses quick. 1 Corinthians 13, 13 says, And now these three remain, faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love. Love is, in fact, what Paul describes as the most excellent way. And then in 1 Corinthians 16, 14, Paul reminds us that everything we do should be done in love. And it seems that love should provide us with guidance on how to steward our resources, including how to invest. So that was really kind of a new thought and very clarifying for me. And as God's agents in the world, his stewards, we must be careful to invest his resources that he entrusts to us in a manner worthy of our calling, and his standard of excellence in all things is love.

Well, it sounds like a logical conclusion to me, Rachel, but I'd love for you to take it one step further and help us connect the dots. You know, typically we think of investing as more transactional in nature. How can we display love in our investing? Yes, we of course have heard on this show before the simple framework of avoid, embrace, and engage. Avoiding companies that are not in alignment with our values, that are not blessing humanity, embracing those that do, and then utilizing asset managers who can actively engage with companies that they select for investment on our behalf behind the scenes. Yes. So there's of course a lot of nuance in terms of how this gets done, but in general, we want to avoid companies that kill, steal, and destroy. Those are listed in John 10 as the works of the enemy. So we don't want to entrust the master's resources to the campaigns of his enemy while he's away at a minimum.

That would not be loving. And after the break, I want to give us a specific example about how this can work with S&P 500 type of investing. Oh, that's really great. Yeah, I want to dive into those specifics and really talk about the options that are available for an investor who wants to take a more intentional and what you call loved-based approach, how you can be involved in this movement, and what types of investment products are available in this whole area of faith-based investing, which is growing rapidly. And that's a really exciting thing, so you can align your convictions as a believer with your deployment of capital through your investments. I'm joined today by my good friend Rachel McDonough, certified financial planner and certified Kingdom advisor.

Much more to come just around the corner. And then your questions at 800-525-7000. Stick around. We'll be right back. It's so great to have you with us today on Faith & Finance Live.

I'm Rob West. Joining me today, Rachel McDonough, certified financial planner and certified Kingdom advisor with WealthSquared. You can learn more at WealthSQ.com. We're talking about faith-based investing, that is how you can integrate your Christian values with your investment decisions.

And more specifically today, how love that we see clearly throughout Scripture can influence our investing. And Rachel, just before the break, you were talking about what that can look like. And I know you have a practical example of a company in the S&P 500 that we can use perhaps as a case study today. So I'll turn it back over to you. Thanks, Rob.

Yeah, that's right. I think the first step to loving investing is to avoid investments that kill, steal, and destroy. And this may sound very dramatic because, again, we think of investing as very transactional and passive in nature. But let me call out a specific company from the S&P 500. It's MGM Resorts International, and it's a company that owns and operates gambling facilities.

And those who have a problem with compulsive gambling may be tempted to continually chase bets that lead to losses, use up savings, and create debt. A very disturbing example of a company that destroys value for humanity and profits from that destruction. And again, I'm sorry to be sort of the bearer of bad news today, but if you are invested in an S&P 500 index fund, which most of us who have a 401k have at least at one point in time to have that type of investing. So I'm not here to throw stones or cast judgment. But if you are, you're actually invested in MGM and probably over 100 other companies that really don't align with your Christian values.

Now, let me just say I get it. I know that investing feels impersonal and transactional in nature. It doesn't really feel relational to us, especially if we're investing in an index or really any type of fund investment where there's kind of a wrapper or a basket of securities.

And we're not sure what companies are even included in that basket. Now, perhaps some of our listeners know someone who has had an addiction to gambling and can see the face of a specific person, an image bearer whose life was damaged by MGM Resorts International. But the truth is there are always other humans, other image bearers on the other side of every investment transaction.

And we can't always see their faces, but they are there. The customers, the employees, those working in the supply chain filling orders from the company. Those are people worthy of Jesus dying for and worth our loving consideration as we discern how best to invest with excellence.

Wow. Yeah, that's a powerful example. And I'm sure many of our listeners know someone who has struggled with gambling and may have never thought about how their index funds might have exposure to those sorts of companies. Rachel, what options are available then for an investor who wants to take a more intentional and convictions-aligned approach to investing that's love-based? Yeah, the exciting news is that there are now currently over 150 faith-oriented investment products or strategies being managed by 19 different asset management firms. So this industry has really grown.

Sure has. And our firm tracks data on all of them so that we can help our clients select managers and products that best fit with their risk and return targets, their tax planning needs, and also their liquidity income needs and their values. And so there's been a tremendous amount of growth and innovation in this field. There are far more strategies to choose from and more creative ways in which asset managers are integrating biblical love-based principles. So, for example, one of our asset management partners who has a fund focused on public companies with faith-driven CEOs, many of whom are actively looking for ways to lead their companies with the love of Jesus. And they're adding things like chaplaincy programs, employee resource groups, offering volunteer time off, and even just improving the lives of hundreds of thousands of employees and millions of customers to the way that they lead their company.

Wow, it's so exciting to think that we can actually select companies or use faith-based fund families that could select companies that are pursuing CEOs that are operating their businesses in the way you just described. And I'm also thrilled to hear that this space is growing as well. Can you be a little more specific, though, about how our listeners might fit into and become a part of this movement in a really practical way? Yeah, first of all, I want to give the encouragement that there's a place for every one of you in this movement.

You're all invited to the party. Now, the best way to invest with that lens of Christian love will depend on several factors. And of course, only your investment advisor can provide specific advice for your unique circumstances. However, I do want to just give some broad educational information today and walk through a couple of hypothetical scenarios.

Right. So first of all, let's say you're a smaller investor with $10,000 or less to invest. A single mutual fund or exchange traded fund may give you enough diversification. You probably could obtain exposure to 40 or more individual stocks. And many of the sponsors of faith buy, such as Inspire, Praxis or Eventide, can offer a smaller investor or do it yourself investor access to diversified investments that would align with their values. Next, if you're an investor with, let's say, maybe a $250,000 or more account, there are a few reasonable options available. You could do a portfolio of these space-based mutual funds or ETFs.

You could also try a direct indexing approach. Now, this is different in that it provides investors exposure to a broad market index like the S&P 500, but with values filtering applied. For example, investors could remove exposure to gambling, as well as pornography, abortion and other topics that may not align with their principles, and then still have a broadly diversified investment opportunity with low fees and some tax benefits. Rachel, what about larger accredited investors, those with more than a million dollars to invest?

What options do they have? Well, investors who are accredited or qualified purchasers would have access to even more impactful private market investments, in addition to the direct indexing or separately managed accounts. So, for example, there's a private debt fund investing in 12 growth-stage companies in East Africa, all of which are combating poverty through job creation, using their businesses to share the gospel and disciple employees.

And one of them is so special to me, it's a creamery in Rwanda where they intentionally hire those who are deaf or hard of hearing. So, think about how powerful love could be displayed in that type of investment. Oh, that's so exciting. Well, we have, unfortunately, just about a minute left. Any closing thoughts you'd like to share on this with our listeners, Rachel? Yeah, I'd love to just read a couple of verses again from 1 Corinthians 13 and think of them as vision casting verses for how we could invest. Love is patient.

Love is kind. What if we took a patient's approach to our investing? What if we invested in a way that was kind, like the creamery in Rwanda, or even just simply screening out some companies out of the S&P 500?

Of course, there are always risks with investing, but employing the law of love can help us to do so in a way that reflects the value that we have for other people who are made in God's image. Wow, Rachel, that is incredible. Well, you've challenged us today, perhaps lifted our sights and given us a new vision for how we can be investors aligned with the heart of God and our convictions and invest with love as our big idea. We really appreciate you stopping by today.

Hey, thanks for having me. Our guest has been Rachel McDonough, Certified Financial Planner and Certified Kingdom Advisor. You can find out a whole lot more at WealthSQ.com. That's WealthSQ.com. All right, your calls are next, 800-525-7000.

That's 800-525-7000. Stick around. Great to have you with us today on Faith and Finance Live.

I'm Rob West. All right, it's time to take your calls and questions. We're ready for you, whatever you're thinking about financially. We'd love to get you into the conversation today. The number to call is 800-525-7000. That's 800-525-7000. We welcome your phone calls today. You know, as we dive in here in just a moment, let me remind you, the big idea of what we try to do each day on this program is to bring you a biblical worldview of financial decision-making to really help you uncover what God's Word says in the Bible around financial decision-making, recognizing that there's more than 2,300 verses that relate to this topic.

Why is that? Well, it's not because God wants our money. He's got all of it. It's really about our hearts. If there's one thing that's going to compete with God for first position in our lives, it's most often going to be money and the things that money can buy. His place, His rightful place, is obviously His Lord over our lives. But we don't want to allow the pursuit of temporal wealth to compete with that. And in order to do that, we go back to the Scripture and understand the big ideas and passages related to money so that we can put it in its proper context.

That is a tool to accomplish God's purposes. Well, we help you do that each afternoon on this program, and that will certainly be our goal today. So let's dive in.

We're going to begin today in Palm Beach, Florida. And is it, well, help me pronounce your name. Arcadio? Arcadio.

Arcadio. Very good. Go right ahead, sir.

Hey, God bless you. I tried to go into your program, but it's difficult, so finally I did it. I did it. Okay.

I'm glad you made it through. This is my question. I have a mortgage, right, with the USDA, $44,000. Now, if I go into my 401k and I pull the $44,000, I can pay off my mortgage. But I see that every time I pull $1,000, it doesn't knock down $1,000. It knock down like $200, $300 only. Yes, yes, that's right. How long have you had this mortgage? I think for 15 years or so far.

Okay. Yeah, I'm a little surprised it's that little because the way an amortized mortgage works is, and you can ask for this schedule from your mortgage servicer, it's called an amortization schedule. And basically at the outset of the loan, they will tell you what portion of every payment, the payments will be equal, they'll be the same every month over the life of the loan, and they will tell you based on that schedule, what portion of each payment will go toward interest.

And what portion will go toward principal. At the beginning of an amortized loan, the vast majority, nearly all of the payment goes to interest and a very little bit goes to principal. And then in the latter years, as you're nearing the end of the mortgage, the vast majority of each payment is going to principal and just a little bit to interest. And that's the process of the amortization that determines that. So it's not surprising to me that it's not all going, but it should be halfway through the mortgage more than 70-30.

Could it be that you, during the pandemic, had a portion put on the back end? Has there been any changes to the mortgage along the way? Well, the other thing I suspect is because at the beginning, maybe the five, six, seven, eight years, I was having a subsidy. But now I make more money, so I don't qualify for subsidy. I don't know if they're trying to catch up the money, you know, that they kind of give away because of the subsidy.

Yes, that could be. So what I would do, Arcadio, is call the mortgage servicer, whoever you send your payment to, and tell them you'd like an amortization schedule. And that will show you for the remaining payments that you have between now and the end of the loan, how much is going to go to principal, how much is going to go to interest, and whether or not there's going to be a balloon on the end.

And what that simply means is it could be that because of the subsidy, they were pushing some of it to the back end, and that actually when you get to the end of the 15 years, you're going to have a large payment that's due in order to pay off the mortgage. And if you can't pay that, then you'd have to refinance it and get a new mortgage. So you're going to want to know that, and that would be through the amortization schedule that they would provide you. That would be the keyword, amortization. Yes, you want an amortization schedule, and you want to be able to see how the payments are going to be applied to principal. And at the end of the mortgage, you want to see whether or not the balance on the mortgage is going to be zero, or whether there is an additional amount that you owe at that point. Okay, and real quick, please, if I have enough money in my 401k, will it be wise for me to take the money in my 401k and pay off that debt?

No, I wouldn't do that. The reason why is I would like for you to let that 401k continue to grow, and I'd like for you to pay off the mortgage out of your cash flow. That 401k is going to be very helpful to you down the road when you are no longer working, maybe because you can't, or you need to slow down, or God directs you to something else. That can be converted to an income stream to supplement Social Security, because Social Security was only intended to cover about 40% of your pre-retirement income at best. And that's probably not going to be enough, and so you leaving that 401k there, continuing to fund it, especially while the market's down and we're waiting for it to recover, is really important. I don't want you to pull that out.

So the key for you is to try to limit your lifestyle spending, limit your expenses, so that you have margin to not only make that mortgage payment, but over time, if you can, you can accelerate it by adding more to the payment. But I wouldn't do that from your funds from the 401k. Okay.

I just want to have some expert answer on that. Thank you. Sure. All right. Well, I appreciate your call today, my friend.

Absolutely. Thanks for listening to the program, and I'm glad you got through. Thanks for being diligent and patient in that. Well, folks, we're just getting started today. Judy in Sheridan, Indiana, we're coming your way, plus a number of other great questions coming up just around the corner. We do have three lines open, so if you have a financial question today, we'd love to hear it.

The number to call 800-525-7000. Hey, God is using this broadcast and the Ministry of Faith Phi to encourage and equip tens of thousands of Christians all over the country and even beyond that through our podcast. If you'd like to support the work, this is a critical time for us as we head toward the end of June, which is the end of our fiscal year. This is really an important time for us. If you consider a gift, we'd be grateful. You can give it faith by dot com.

Just click give. We'll be right back. So thankful to have you with us today on faith and finance live here on Moody radio. Coming up a little later in our broadcast, Jerry Boyer stops by with his Friday update. That's right.

He'll give us his analysis on the markets and anything else he's thinking about here as he joins us as our resident economist each Friday afternoon. All right. Back to the phones.

We go to Sheridan, Indiana. Hi, Judy. Go right ahead. Hello. I'm a mayor.

Thank you for taking my call. I'm a married woman. My husband and I reside separately. We own or mortgage. Each of us have a mortgage. We have IRAs, 401s. Each of us are beneficiaries on those.

Indiana doesn't not require that, but we haven't signed off. And my question is, and we both have a credit card. My side is very little debt. If my husband passes without a will stating my 401k money needs to be distributed in such and such a way. And I want this to happen to the house and whatever credit card debt he has. Am I responsible for that?

And even vice versa. I've made a self-made will and had it notarized and witnessed. Yeah. And so you're wondering what would happen to the IRA or you're wondering who would pay the debts or what? I'm wondering who's responsible for taking care of his mortgage and home that is in his name, but we're legally married. And and let's say any debt he has.

Does it just. Yeah. In the back of my mind, I think I as a legal wife would have to step in, but I don't know that.

Right. Well, if there is no will, the probate court would step in. He would be dying intestate. And then it would be according to the laws of the state. And they have jurisdiction and competence to deal with the administration of estates. And all of the debts of the estate that are in your husband's name would be settled out of his assets. And then anything remaining would be split according to the laws, the intestate succession for the state of Indiana, which you'd want to check with an estate attorney to confirm. My team tells me, just generally speaking, that in Indiana, the rules for an intestate succession dictate that the spouse inherits half of the estate and the decedents from that marriage would then inherit the other half.

But again, this is where a lawyer could tell you exactly, based on the laws of the state and your specific situation, exactly how this would go down. All right. We don't have children together.

We have children, but not with each other. So I see. Okay.

Well, I kind of thought so. And I've made a self had a self-made will made and notarized and witnessed and just saying my IRAs are to just be distributed in such a way. If my house, there's a mortgage, my children can deal. They can deal with it. They can decide. So, okay. Well, let me just help you while you're welcome. But let me encourage you, Judy.

A couple of things. Number one is the easiest way to handle the IRAs is through what's called a beneficiary designation, which would allow it to pass directly any of your retirement accounts. IRAs, things like that directly to your heir of choice based on that beneficiary designation. And that would happen outside of the probate process and therefore not even subject to your will.

It would pass directly. So I would contact the plan administrator or the custodian of any of those accounts and tell them you want to update your beneficiary designation. And that's by account. That's not for your all of your assets.

It's individual to each account. And then that would create a lot of efficiencies there. So it wouldn't be delayed in going through the estate process. The second thing is I would I'm glad you have something in place because no one none of us know the day or the hour that the Lord might call us home. But beyond that, I would go see an attorney and have a will drawn up where he or she can do it the right way, according to the laws of the state. Ask you a series of questions, making sure that you've thought through all of this. And at the same time, deal with some other documents that are equally as important, like a health care surrogate, somebody to make decisions from a health care standpoint. If you're incapacitated, a living will end of life decisions, a durable power of attorney. So someone can act on your behalf with regard to financial matters. If you're incapacitated, all of those things I think would be important for you to have.

It'll cost you several hundred dollars, but I think it'll be worth it to make sure that it's done right and legal and enforceable and that you haven't left anything out. That's just my suggestion for you to consider. Okay, one one thing in Indiana and then I'll let you go. Sure.

Regarding IRAs, it has to be the spouse or as beneficiary or they have to sign off saying I agree with whomever else and he doesn't want to do that. I see. Yes, ma'am. Okay. Yeah. And and that's an important distinction.

And of course, each state is a little bit different. So, again, that's why I think some some legal counsel would be helpful, but I certainly understand that could be problematic. So that's where your will would be very important. We appreciate it, Judy. Thanks for being on the program today. God bless you. Renata, thank you for being on with us today in Wheaton, Illinois. Go ahead. Thank you so much.

It's been amazing listening to you. I have a question on the trust in my husband going through all the putting together legal documents, living trust and power of attorney. It all makes sense. I have a question on the trust if we and we have some retirement money, some rental properties.

If we put everything in trust and I want to buy a car next year, how do I get the money out of there? Yes. So this is a revocable trust, is that right? Correct. Correct. Yeah.

OK. Yeah. So you you can withdraw money from your own trust if you're the trustee, since you have an interest in the trust. So that shouldn't be an issue. It's really a matter of after your death, that would be according to the trust documents that the trustee whose name the successor trustee would then be in charge of distributing that assets prior or excuse me, according to your wishes laid out in the trust document. But prior to your death, it's a revocable trust. So you can disband it at any time if you want.

And that also includes you taking money out as you need to. OK, sounds good. I was not sure. I thought I told my husband just let 50,000 keep in a different account.

Don't put it there if we need to. But I guess it works that I understand it now. OK, very good. It's as easy as just transfer it somewhere, right? That's right. You can move assets in and out of the trust as you wish if you're the trustee of your own trust during your life. And so now that would be different with an irrevocable trust.

But with a revocable trust, which is what most folks have in this situation, you can pull the money out as needed. So there's no problem there. Thanks for calling today. We appreciate you being on the program. We're bunny. We're coming your way. And Mike, just around the corner.

But we don't have enough time before this next break to sufficiently hear your question. So I'm gonna ask you to stay right there and we will get to you just around the corner. We do have some lines open today. So if you have a financial question, feel free to give us a call. The number 800-525-7000.

Again, that's 800-525-7000. We'd love for you to get in on the conversation today and we can weigh in on whatever you're thinking about. A quick email.

This one comes to us from Renee. She writes, I just started a job last month. They gave me the option for a 401k, both traditional and Roth.

What should I do? I'm 23. Renee, at 23, I would encourage you to take full advantage of the Roth 401k option. This year, you can put in up to 22,500. It's going to grow tax free. So that's after tax money. And you've got potentially 40 or more years for this to grow.

And as it grows, there's no taxes on the growth and no taxes as it comes out. So this is a wonderful tool for you to save a great bit of money that you can access down the road. Thanks for writing to us. We'll be right back on Faith and Finance Live.

Stay with us. Thanks for joining us today on Faith and Finance Live. Before we head back to the phones, it's Friday, which means our good friend Jerry Boyer stops by. He's president of Boyer Research. His columns appear in World News Group's publications and he joins us with his analysis of the markets each Friday afternoon. Jerry, good afternoon to you, sir. Good afternoon to you, my friend. Happy Father's Day in advance. Are you going to do something fun with the family this weekend? Yeah.

I don't know exactly what it is. I'm sure it'll be enjoyable. I know everybody works in the family business. I'll think about that tomorrow. Well, I know you have a lot of them in the family business, so as long as it's not research involved, then that's OK, Jerry. No macroeconomics or proxy voting on Sunday.

Not this weekend. Hey, I know there's a lot going on, Jerry, both in the markets and economically, as well as corporate engagement. You've been involved in dozens and dozens of meetings here of late. So where do you want to start today? Why don't we go with the dozens, maybe one of the dozens and dozens, since these seem to be the things that people are most interested in.

OK. So the target meeting was this week, and I think that's important. A lot of Christians have been concerned about the direction of that company, which at one point had some roots in a more biblical worldview than it seems to have expressed recently. And there's been a lot of Christian reaction to literally satanic merchandise. I mean, you know, sometimes Christians can be a little hyperbolic and say, oh, this is satanic. Well, yeah, but sometimes it isn't.

Sometimes it's just bad or dumb. No, it was literally satanic. They had a partnership with someone who was a designer who was selling pro-Satan merchandise with the horns and, you know, Satan respects your pronouns and, you know, Bible Girls 666.

So, you know, understandably, it's kind of a, you know, a middle America brand. And there was a response to that. And, you know, something like 11 to 12 billion dollars in market cap has been erased by that. I've been in contact with this company, been talking to them for about two and a half years, warning them that a backlash was coming if they didn't amend their ways.

And they didn't. So they had their annual meeting this week. And it was really unusual because almost everybody has annual meetings online these days, ever since COVID. The few companies that have gone back to in-person still have online or streaming available. So maybe Target is maybe one of two companies that I've wanted to attend this year where it's in-person only, which is very unusual. And frankly, I think that's intentional. Also, they didn't have their meeting in their hometown. They had it in Austin, which is kind of known as sort of a liberal city, not taking sides here.

But, you know, there may be a little bit in protection mode. A friend of mine who's been a corporate activist for a long time says this is the foxhole strategy. You go off someplace, you know, kind of far away from where a lot of the people are.

You don't, you know, and then you don't have it open to the general public, obviously, and they can't log on, which means retail investors. Like I think a lot of people who listen to your radio program have probably been attending some of these annual meetings because I've heard voices that I don't recognize. Just ordinary Christian people calling in the annual meetings and say, be Christian, follow Jesus, stop selling abortifacients, don't use embryonic stem cells. So something's going on, and I think it's probably a lot of people in this audience.

Well, you know, they couldn't show up unless you can, you know, buy a plane ticket and fly to Austin. You know, but a lot of us are working or grandparents or whatever. So one of the things, so they're kind of hiding out from their own shareholders, at least that's how it looks to me. One of the other things I noticed is that, you know, the board members are all up for reelection, but the CEO got the lowest amount, lowest percent support for reelection of any board member. Now, board members always get high numbers unless there's a control for the company contest, you know, a hostile takeover. So that low number is 94%, but that's still, you know, almost 6% voting against him, and he's highly visible. And the second worst vote was for the lead independent director, who is sort of idealized, she in this particular case is sort of an ideological person, not a business background, more media.

And also almost a third of the shareholders voted to separate the CEO from chairman role. All of these things indicate kind of some concern about the direction of the company. So this is registering a little bit. I mean, not as much as I would have hoped it would, because I think they've insulated themselves. But, you know, something's going on.

They are in kind of a siege mode, and understandably so. Yeah, no doubt about it. Well, it'd be interesting, Jerry, if you end up getting the minutes on the meeting, just to see whether this was a topic of conversation.

Obviously, it's got a lot of people's attention given the incredible destruction in the market cap, right? Yeah, and I've called the media hotline a couple of times, supposed to be quick turnaround of calls from media. That was three days ago. I haven't heard back because I wanted to know, do we have minutes? Do we have a transcript?

Do we have a recording? And they're non responsive. So, I mean, my guess is they got questions. But, you know, sometimes they say, well, you can only ask questions on things that are pertinent to the meeting, and then they cut off questions on things they don't want.

So, yeah, as soon as that's available, I'm going to comb through it. But clearly, there's an objection. And by the way, this is happening across the board. I've been doing this for some time, but this year, Christians are speaking up far more than I've ever heard before about, say, the abortion issue, for example, and embryonic stem cells and religious liberty, cancellation. For instance, Senator Brownback, we're really showing up this year. And it's really interesting to see the shift in conversation and how the companies now the management is they're trying to say, oh, well, no, we're going to be politically neutral. We want to we've always been politically neutral. And then we come forward and say, well, no, you haven't always been politically neutral. Here's what you said about abortion, when Roe vs. Wade was overturned.

But you can be politically neutral from now on. And some of the companies seem to have like they got the memo, they saw Disney, they saw Target, they saw Bud Light, you know, Anheuser-Busch. They've seen, you know, some backlash calls, etc. And I think they're beginning to realize that they have underestimated the degree to which there comes a point where Christians in this country say, okay, if this isn't just shopping anymore, you've gone too far. And, you know, you are destroying your brand value with us.

And it's interesting. It's not a boycott. Boycotts generally don't work. For a long time, Christians have tried to, Christian leaders have tried to get other Christians to boycott. Then, you know, we don't do it. We look for convenience. This is more brand revulsion. This is more like, no one told me to do this.

I just don't want to have anything to do with a store that's selling satanic merchandise. And that's going to take time to repair. Yeah, interesting. All right, Jerry, well, I know you'll keep us updated there. Let's pivot to the Fed quickly.

And then we'll get to a few more questions before we round out the program today. Obviously, some quote unquote tough speak from the Fed and Chairman Powell. I guess the market isn't buying its tough talk on interest rates, though, because we've been rallying.

Right. They're not. And there was tough talk before. But of course, you know, there wasn't tough action. They didn't hike interest rates. The market said they won't hike interest rates this week.

And they didn't. The market is saying one more hike. The Fed is talking about maybe two more hikes. The market is saying no. But it's almost like the market is saying, I know, Dad. You know, you're telling me that you're going to do if we don't stop it with all this inflation, you're going to turn this car around and go home and we're going to have a recession. We're not putting up with it anymore.

But we don't believe you. We don't believe that you're going to keep hiking during a recession. So the market is basically saying we're in a growth recession, which is slowing near zero, maybe not necessarily negative. And the Fed just will not have the chutzpah to keep hiking rates and slowing down the economy that's already too slow. So markets are saying we've got one more time. We've got one more micro hike in one more twenty five basis point, which means the markets think we're going to continue to have inflation. But the Fed's going to be more dovish. And that's why, you know, markets are going up this week, because what we were saying for the past year, the single biggest actor in markets is no longer any individual private investor. It is our own central bank.

It is history's largest hedge fund. And so whatever we think it's going to do is the thing we as investors respond to. Oh, fascinating. Well, something we'll continue to keep an eye on on both fronts. Jerry, always appreciate your update, my friend. And a pleasure to be with you as well. And a happy Father's Day to you. And Happy Father's Day. We'll talk to you next week.

That's Jerry Boyer, president of Boyer Research and dad as well. All right. Back to the phones to Ocala, Florida. Hi, Bunny. Thank you for your patience. Go ahead. Hi. Thank you so much.

Two quick questions, I hope. First of all, I opened a new charge account thinking I would be using it to get certain perks. I've decided I'm not going to use it. I did not even get the card used.

You know, I didn't get it working. So how do I do I worry about it? Just leave it alone.

Or what do I do with it? Well, I would notify the company handling the account that you would like to close it. Often this won't be the store itself, but a third party company that handles their credit card. There should be, if you still have it, a phone number on the back of the card. Call customer service, tell them to close the account. It's not a bad idea to follow up with a letter in writing, but they should take care of it from your phone call.

And then to verify that, you could pull your credit report at annualcreditreport.com here in 30 or 60 days to make sure it's been closed. But those would be the steps. Since you don't plan to use it, there's no reason to keep it active. It's just one more account that could potentially be compromised. Right.

Okay. My other question, I went to the doctor several months ago for a simple problem. While I was there, evidently they performed a brief emotional behavior assessment for $12. And then I went back for a follow up on that same issue. They did that brief emotional behavioral assessment again for another $12. Medicare does not cover it and my really good insurance does not cover it.

And I don't think I should pay it. So what do I do? Well, have you called them to tell them that? Yes, I did. I called. Yes, I did.

Okay. You know, generally we don't see these, especially at that level, show up on a credit report. But if it does and you pay it, they have to take it off. So probably nothing's going to come of it.

But I would continue to check your credit report along the way or just pay the bill and kind of chalk it up to a learning experience. Sorry to hear that, buddy. Thanks for calling today. Mike, sorry we didn't get to you. Maybe on Monday we'd love to have you back.

Faith in Finance Live is a partnership between Moody Radio and FaithFi. I'm grateful for my team. Have a wonderful weekend. Happy Father's Day. We'll see you on Monday.