Do You Need a Financial Advisor?

The way of a fool of the year calls at 800-525-7000, that's 800-525-7000. This is Faith and Finance Live, biblical wisdom for your financial decisions. Okay, to be clear, while we all may need financial advice from time to time, not everyone needs to hire a financial professional, but more folks do than you'd think.

So how do you know if you're one of them? Well, the first thing you have to do is look at your overall financial situation and take several things into account. First is your net worth. This isn't how much you make, but how much you have in all your financial accounts and real property, minus what you owe like credit card debt, auto loans, and your mortgage. What's left over is your net worth, and ideally, you want that to be in positive territory. Next, look at monthly cash flow.

How much do you have coming in and going out? If you're living on a budget, this is easy to do. You already have those numbers. If you're not living on a budget, download the FaithFi app and use it to set up your budget today.

You can access it at faithfi.com. Next, decide on your financial goals. Some will be short term, others long. Are you saving for a new car, to buy a house, or retire at age, well, you fill in the blank. Put your goals down on paper and consider whether you're on track to achieve them. Finally, decide how much of a risk you're willing to take with your investments. Much of that is based on how long you have until you think you'll need this money. If it's more than 10 years, you can afford to put most of it in stocks, mutual funds, and index funds, if you're willing to take the risk. But the longer your investment horizon, the safer it is to invest in the market.

Okay, so now you have an idea of your net worth, your cash flow, your goals, and your risk tolerance. But you still don't know if you need to hire a financial advisor, so here are some reasons you might want to do that. You're experiencing some big changes in your life. Maybe you're just tying the knot and now you have to marry your finances together as well.

Or you're a little further along and expecting a baby soon. Or you realize that retirement is closer than you think. Any of those major changes might call for bringing in an expert to go over your finances to make sure you're on track. Or maybe you know you're not on track.

You've established your goals and you realize you're not getting any closer to achieving them. Taking on a financial advisor could make all the difference, holding you accountable and getting you back on track. Of course, one of the most common reasons to retain a financial advisor is if you have doubts about how to invest your money. How much risk can you afford to take on?

Which risks are worth taking and which are not? Now, I happen to think that hiring a financial advisor will pay for itself in most cases, whether it's for taxes, estate planning, or whatever. But nowhere is that more likely than with your investments.

It's a simple idea really. By having a professional manage your portfolio, you'll earn more, usually a lot more than what you're paying that advisor in fees. If that weren't the case, no one would hire a financial advisor. Okay, let's say you receive a major windfall.

This could be a lump sum from a pension buyout, an insurance benefit, or an inheritance. It's a lot more money than you're used to dealing with and you don't want to make any mistakes. You might want to connect with a financial advisor on the best way to deploy that money. For example, pay off the mortgage or invest it.

That's just one question you might want help answering. Now, there's one more situation where you might want to hire a financial advisor and it's when you need someone to hold you accountable, or as our friend Howard Dayton likes to say, someone to hold your fuzzy feet to the fire. When you know you have to report to someone, even someone who works for you, you're much more likely to stick with your financial plan.

So those are some ways you can tell if you need a financial advisor and we hope you find them helpful. This is also a great time for me to remind you that we recommend the Certified Kingdom Advisor designation. These are men and women who have met high standards and character and competence and experience, and they've been trained to bring advice from a biblical worldview. They've also received a pastor and client reference and signed a statement of faith.

It's a high bar. You can find a Certified Kingdom Advisor in your area when you head to our website, faithfi.com. Just click Find a CKA. Again, that's faithfi.com.

Click Find a CKA. Your calls are next, 800-525-7000. We'll be right back. Thanks for joining us today on Faith and Finance Live.

I'm Rob West. All right, it's time to take your calls and questions today. The number to call is 800-525-7000. Our team is ready to go. They're waiting for your call.

800-525-7000. Let's dive in and apply God's word to your financial decisions and choices today. Starting with your heart, yours and mine, we need to have our feet firmly planted in the eternal perspective, not the temporal, which can rob us of freedom and joy and rob us of God's word bearing a 30, 60, 100-fold return. Remember what Jesus said to the disciples in the parable of the sower or following it? He said it was the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things that can choke out the word. We don't want that.

We want to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, see money as a tool to accomplish his purposes and look to Scripture as really our guide for how we make day-to-day financial decisions as we live, give, owe, and grow God's money. So let's do that together. Again, 800-525-7000 is the number to call.

We're going to begin in Idaho. Victor, I know you were trying to get on yesterday. We couldn't get to your call, so I'm delighted we can speak to you today.

How can I serve you? Yeah, I bought an Equinox, 16 Equinox and Chevy Equinox, and I paid 17,000 for it. It turned out that it had been wrecked in Colorado. I didn't get the car faxed until after the fact.

And it's got a twisted frame and transmission problems. So I called Lemon Law, gave it back to them, said I wasn't going to pay for it, said they're going to take legal action. They got it on the auction block, but how long is it going to be on the auction block? And they want me to keep making payments on it so they don't take legal action. And I was wondering what your thoughts are on that.

Yeah, unfortunately, I don't have a lot of good news there, Victor. You know, you buy a used car, and obviously that information was publicly available unless they misrepresented the car in some way. You know, there's only a Lemon Law for used cars in six states.

Idaho is not one of them. I assume there was not a warranty of any kind that was provided by the dealership. Is that right? No, there was a good warranty, and they kept wanting the car back because it was costing them thousands of dollars in tires and struts because they'd realign the front, grind the rear tires off, realign the rear, grind the front tires off, you know, in less than a thousand miles.

Okay. So the loan is separate from the car itself, so you're obligated for the loan, and you have to keep that up. How are they going to remedy the situation with regard to the car and the ability to keep it on the road? Well, I gave it back because I know I've been a mechanic most of my life. I know the car's just scrap iron, and they said they're going to auction it off, and I'd owe what was left over after the auction. Well, but what about the warranty? I mean, they're not taking any responsibility for the difference between what you paid for it and what they're going to get at an auction? That I don't know. I don't know how that works.

Okay. Well, there was a warranty on the car, and so that'd be my first look is obviously they've obligated themselves to this warranty, and if it's still under the warranty, then you have a right for them to make you whole with regard to anything that's covered by the warranty. Now, obviously, if these things that you're describing that are leading to the ongoing excessive wear and tear that's preventing you from driving it are outside the scope of the warranty, that's another thing. But if it's included because it's power train or something else, and they're going to either need to fix it or make you whole in some way. An appropriate remedy, if it's covered, is not to auction it off. Anybody can do that and then require you to make up the difference between that and the car note that you owe.

That's not going to be a satisfactory remedy, clearly. So I think I would go back, understand exactly what was covered under that warranty and ask the dealership to perform based on that agreement that you have, the contract that you have. And if you learn that in the fine print that the issues that you are that you've got are outside of the scope of that warranty, well, then that's just another issue. Apart from a lemon law, you would have to sue them. But if they didn't misrepresent anything, you just bought a bad car and didn't do as much homework as you would have done now, given what you know today. Unfortunately, the loan is, of course, separate. So you have an obligation between you and the finance institution that you will pay back this loan as scheduled and if not, they can try to repossess the car. Clearly that's going to be difficult. Or they can sue you for the difference, try to get a judgment against you in addition to trashing your credit.

So I think at this point I would be working with the dealership on this car that was sold to you with some sort of warranty as a used car and see if you can get them to perform based on that. Okay. I guess that's probably where I'm at right now, then. Unfortunately, I'm really sorry to hear it, Victor. I know this is agonizing. If you could go back and do it over again, you'd get a lot more information from Carfax and otherwise.

Glad to know that's out there. But oftentimes, if we don't do quite a bit enough homework or get it checked out, I know it's perhaps a little different with you because you are a mechanic. My mom had something similar.

She was about to buy a car. We took it to an independent mechanic, spent a couple of hundred dollars and realized that there was a similar thing. It had been in a major accident that was not reported.

The frame was twisted. You could see when you looked closely that the doors didn't line up quite right. And that was uncovered during a pretty intensive inspection. That's why it's so critical that we're buying used.

And I'm a big fan because we're missing the depreciation of those few years when it rolls off the lot. But we've got to get it checked out and do our homework. Fortunately, there's more tools than ever. But I'm so sorry, Victor.

I know a lot of that's hindsight at this point. So let's see if we can't get you made whole by the dealership based on the warranty they provided. I would absolutely start there. Keep us posted, my friend, and we'll pray that the Lord allows you to work this out to your satisfaction. Eight hundred, five, two, five, seven thousand is the number to call. We'd love to hear from you today. We've got a few lines open here on a Wednesday afternoon in summer. I'm sure there's a few questions you're thinking about financially, whether it's something related to where we started today, talking about financial advice from a professional perspective or anything else in your financial life, your spending plan, your debt repayment.

Maybe it's your giving your long term savings or investments, whatever it might be. We'd love to chat about it. Eight hundred, five, two, five, seven thousand. To Alabama we go. Hi, Calvin. Go ahead, sir.

Yeah. My mother, who died in 2014, in 1992, bought 15 one thousand dollar double E bonds and they matured last year. And I am trying to figure out how to get the, get them redeemed, get the money from them. I've been told that I should fill out form 5336 and 1522.

I'm just not getting a lot of, a whole lot of help locally on what in the world to do. Can you help me? Are these paper bonds, Calvin? Yeah, paper. Okay. Yeah.

So you can, did you go to a local bank to see if you could cash them in there at a brick and mortar branch? No, they won't do that anymore. Okay. In some cases they still will. I realize fewer and fewer will. So the next step is, yeah, what you just described, it's form 1522.

You fill that out, you send them into the address on the form, and if a bond is more than a thousand dollars, you'll have to get your signature certified on the bond and then it will be, you will be able to redeem it at that point. So that's not a problem. No. Yeah. Okay. Okay. 1522.

1522 is the one you want. And uh, yep. And that will allow you to redeem these bonds and get the value out of it. What's owed to you. Thanks for calling Calvin. We appreciate it.

We're going to take a quick break folks when we come back much more to come. We're just getting started here on faith and finance live, but we need you to be a part of the program. The calls are coming in.

We do have a few more lines open though. If you have a question today, get in on the conversation, 800-525-7000. As we head to our break, let me remind you June 30th, the end of our fiscal year is just around the corner. If you'd like to support the work, faithfi.com, click give. We'll be right back. Thanks for joining us today on faith and finance live.

I'm Rob West. After ticking back up in the recent past mortgage rates finally starting to turn down, but still up at 6.7, 3% on average for a 30 year fixed rate. Now I know if you have one of those two or 3% mortgages, you're thinking that is a lot and it is, it's making a home ownership, the cost of home ownership, a really cost prohibitive, but if you're needing to buy a home and get a mortgage, a lot of times we don't have a choice. So if you're looking for a partner in that one that shares your values, a mortgage company to learn more about that's in all 50 States as movement mortgage, you can find them online at movement.com forward slash faith. We're grateful for their underwriter status on this program. All right, we've got a few lines open today. We'd love to hear from you and whatever you're thinking about 800-525-7000 is a number to call. We've got just four lines open. Let's head to Miami. Selena thank you for calling.

Go right ahead. Hi Rob, I have term life insurance and I want to close the insurance, but I also want to pull out a loan on that. My question to you is will that loan, pulling that loan out, will that count against my credit? Well, term insurance policies don't offer loans. Do you have a whole life policy? Yeah, I think maybe it could be whole life. Okay.

Yeah, it probably is. I mean the loan is not available on a term policy. So if you have a whole life policy and it's got cash value, you can take a loan against it. I don't recommend it. What is it that you're looking to try to accomplish?

Well what I want to do, I want to just close it out altogether. I want to calculate the policy altogether. Okay. So why would you take a loan on it then? Because I like the idea if you don't need the policy or you're replacing it with a term policy, I like the idea that you would get out from under this whole life policy, which is going to get more and more expensive.

Take the cash value, use that according to your values and your goals, but make sure you've got, if you're still during your working years, enough pure insurance, term insurance to cover or offset that risk that if you or another dependent were to go home to be with the Lord who's providing income to your family, we could replace that. But if you're looking to cancel this policy, how does the loan factor into that? I just was talking to someone and they said it's best to just take a loan out and then after I take the loan to go ahead and call and cancel the automatic withdrawal.

Yeah. Now that wouldn't work because that wouldn't be the way to go. The way you'd want to do it is you'd want to just go ahead and find out how much cash value is there and then if you don't need the policy, then you'd cancel it, get that cash value back. You wouldn't take a loan against it. If though you're still needing life insurance, make sure that you get a replacement policy in place prior to canceling it so you still have that death benefit, but you wouldn't take a loan out if you're canceling the policy.

You would just collapse the policy, tell them you want to close it and have them send you a check for whatever that cash value is. Okay. All righty. Thank you very much. You're welcome, Selena. Thank you for calling today. One line open, 800-525-7000, Oak Lawn, Illinois. Hi, John. Go ahead, sir.

Hey, Rob. Appreciate you. I've got a house with my brother here. Basically, we have about 125,000 equity, but it's tricky because value is about 200,000. My mom got involved with a program that was deferring, which is fine because the house has been paid for. This Monday, I went to be at the Lord 44 years ago, but now since my mom went home as well about five weeks ago, we've got to make a decision here. Am I better off just selling it or getting the 200 and the county takes the 75 grand, or do I try to get 75 grand some way, which my brother and I between us don't have, and then stay in the house because there's no expense. It's in a great area, great neighbors, and a good place to be right near the rest of my family. Sure.

Sure. Have you requested an installment plan to pay that back with the county? No, I haven't. We just did an inheritance to air when my mom was in a nursing home so that we didn't have to pay the taxes when she went into the nursing home, and a godly lawyer from our church instructed me to do that, but I just ran into him. I think it was a coincidence last night at a barbecue, and I asked him, he goes, yeah, you better find out real quick, and you better take care of deeds, get the death certificate, and get it to the county and find out how much time you've got. I mean, they've got to give us time to sell the house and get it ready to sell, but I just thought that's what we're up against. Yeah. Yeah. No, that makes sense. Well, basically, an installment payment agreement would be a contract between you and the county where you'd be responsible for a monthly payment amount and a certain number of installment payments under the agreement.

So if you want to hang onto the property and you all have the ability to do this, not in a lump sum, but over time, the key is just communicating with the county as to the status, let them know that you've inherited this property, you want to get this back tax bill taken care of, but you're not able to do it all at one time, and they'll likely work with you to set something up if you all would be willing to do that. Okay. Hey, I really appreciate that. Thank you very much. God bless. Yeah, you too, John. Thanks for calling. I hope this works out for you.

I realize there's a lot to that that you've got to work through. Mike, Barron, John, we're coming your way in just a moment. We've got to take a quick break here just around the corner.

But first, a quick email. These come to us from AskRob at FaithFi.com. And this one just simply says, I Googled the best way to start saving money for our grandkids. The oldest is seven. So they can have money for college or whatever is best for them when they're adults. This comes from Marie.

What are your thoughts? She says, Well, the best thing you can do, actually, in my view, without knowing any more is set up a 529 education savings plan for them. That way you can invest the money in a wide variety of investments inside the plan. The money will grow tax free. You don't get a deduction when it goes in. So it's after tax dollars, but it grows tax free as long as you withdraw it for qualified education expenses. Also, you could get the money back or transfer it to another child if they get a scholarship or grant, or in the next couple of years, you'll have the option to transfer it to a Roth IRA with certain limitations if they don't need the money.

Go to SavingForCollege.com to find out which state's 529, Marie, is the best one for you. We'll be right back. Stay with us. Hey, I'm so thankful you're joining us today on Faith and Finance Live. I'm Rob West. We're taking your calls and questions today on anything financial.

We've got some great ones coming up. Before we do though, let me read this from Psalm 20. Now this I know the Lord gives victory to his anointed. He answers him from his heavenly sanctuary with the victorious power of his right hand.

Now listen to this. Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God. They are brought to their knees and fall, but we rise up and stand firm.

You know, think about this. Some trust in chariots and some in horses. Back in David's day, chariots and horses were the most powerful military technologies available. If you had those, you could usually expect victory, but the Psalm says there's something even more powerful out there, the name of God. In spite of that, some people are still putting their faith in worldly things like today's equivalent of chariots and horses. You know, false gods can be a financial security. Government provision can be another false god. Power is often worshiped as a false god. Personal autonomy is a very deceptive false gods, and the consequences of trusting in false gods are severe. Whatever you face today, whatever decisions you have to make, whatever changes or challenges come your way, don't make the mistake of turning to false gods to help you. When you're a believer in Christ, you have a much greater resource, the name of the Lord your God.

I hope that's an encouragement to you. All right, let's head back to the phones and tackle more of your questions today. We're going to go to Twin Links, Wisconsin. Hey, Mike, thanks for calling, sir. Go ahead.

Hi, thanks for taking my call. I have four kids. My oldest is seven years old, and I was listening to the program yesterday, and I heard you recommend putting people on as authorized users to help them build credit without necessarily giving them the credit card. And so I was wondering if there is an age requirement or minimum for that, and if it would be a good idea to put my kids on my credit card. We have good credit paid off every month. And then a quick follow up to that, any suggestions you have for building credit for kids outside of that, if that's an option?

Yeah, well, it is an option, but probably not quite yet. Did you say your oldest is seven? Yeah, he's seven.

Yeah, so you're going to be a little bit premature here. While the minimum age to get an actual credit card of your own is going to be 18, an authorized user can be as young as 13, but certainly not seven. So you're still a little ways off six years before you can do this. Now, each issuer is going to have their own age requirements. So you'll need to check with the card issuer at that time just to ensure they do go as low as 13.

But it is an option as low as 13, just not as young as you're talking about today. And there really aren't any other options to build credit at this point. I mean, but as long as you're doing it, you know, while they're in high school, they're still going to be a well ahead of everybody else through either an authorized user status, inheriting your credit, a can a secured credit card at some point, one that's, you know, specifically for kids, you know, those would be great options, especially if alongside that you're teaching some really good money management skills and kind of, you know, biblical principles along the way, starting with God owns it all, but you're still probably six years shy of being able to do that. Okay, and then do I have time for a quick, quick follow up with that too? Sure, of course. Along the same lines, what are your thoughts on debit cards for kids to use on not to use them?

I've seen them advertise. Is that a good idea? How when would I start doing that if it were? Yeah, I certainly can be I think the key is, you really need to, you know, be training them alongside that. So I like that option a lot, whether you use something like, you know, green light that's really built for kids, or, you know, we use the capital one money card with our kids for our teens, just to get them started. And you know, whether you use the faith fi app to help them, you know, set up a very simple envelope based budget so that whenever they get money, whether it's through a part time job, when they're able to do that, or allowances or gift money, they can put it in there and start to give save and spend and they could keep it really simple, but still sync it up with their, you know, account with their debit card. And then whether it's through Apple Pay on their device linked to a debit card or using the physical card, again, you're starting to teach while they're at home, the idea of, you know, using and saving money, calculating how much is available, making plans for it, and then also how to responsibly use, you know, a an electronic means of payment, which is obviously more and more prevalent these days, very few kids carry cash around or even physical cards anymore.

It's all linked to their smartphones. But as long as you're going to step into that role of walking alongside them and teaching using this as a teaching tool, then I can I think it can go a long way. We've loved it, Julie and I just because we're able to manage everything, see it have visibility into all the transactions, move money back and forth as we, you know, give them spending allowances and, you know, things like that. So it really has become a great resource. Again, we use the the Capital One money, it's 14s.

But there's a lot of great options out there that you could research. All right, thank you so much. And thank you for your ministry. All right, Mike, appreciate your call, my friend.

God bless you. 800-525-7000. We got one line open.

We're going to head to Illinois. Hi, John. Go ahead, sir. Hey, Rob, thank you for taking my call. Sure do appreciate you and your ministry.

Thank you. Yes, I have a question for you. So a couple they have a they're married and they're going to enter into the debt management program. And these credit cards are in the wife's name, but one of them somehow got the husband's name on there. So the question is, does that one get put into the debt management program without affecting the husband's credit score and everything else? Yeah.

Well, a couple of things here. First of all, let's unpack this where you said the husband's name on it. He would have had to if if it's truly a joint account where he's responsible, he would have had to sign on this account as well. If that didn't happen, perhaps he's been added as an authorized user. But, you know, in that case, it would flow to his credit report.

Do you know kind of what the status of that is? He is on that card as a joint on that card. So how it would happen? I don't understand. So I tried to call the card company and they said, no, no luck. So I don't know how that happened.

All right. Well, it doesn't really matter, because even if he was an authorized user, it would still flow there anyway. Here's the reality, though. Debt management is not a part of the credit scoring algorithm. So the fact that you're in a credit counseling program is not factored into the credit score. What is factored in is when you go into the program, the card has to be closed. And that can slightly affect your credit, because now that credit is no longer available. And it's noted on your account or it could be that you're in a debt management program, but only as a notation. Again, it's not a part of the scoring algorithm itself. So the only change that would occur to the credit score itself would be just based on the closing of the account. And for those accounts where she's the only one on it, it would only flow to her account, as long as he's not an authorized user or a joint account holder. On the one where he is, that closing of the account would flow through to his report as well, but not his score.

So I think it's not a big deal. What's most important to me is that they get out of debt once and for all. And the best way to do that, I believe, is debt management. Does that make sense? It does, Rob.

So one other point to that is that if this card is placed in the program, then the husband's name will be on the contract as well. Let's do this. I've got to take a break. You stay right there. We'll finish this on the other side. We'll be right back. Well, thanks for joining us today on Faith and Finance Live. I'm Rob West. We're taking your calls and questions.

Let's head right back to the phones. Before the break, we were talking to John in Illinois. He was calling on behalf of a married couple that he knows where she has the majority of the cards in her name.

Her husband is on one of them. They're looking at putting these in debt management, which I like a lot. And he was wondering about the implications for their credit score. The fact that they're in a debt management program is not a part of the credit scoring algorithm, but the cards will be closed. And that, of course, has credit score implications.

It would only flow through, though, based on who the account holder is and or an authorized user. John, you had a follow-up question. Go ahead with that.

I do, Rob. Thank you. So the question is if this card that has the husband's name on it is put into the program according to the debt management program, then the husband is then also liable for this monthly payment then. Well, yeah.

So that's the hinge point of this. Well, but he's responsible for it now if his name's on the account, whether he's in the debt management program or not. Correct.

Correct. But I'm just saying there's the other most of the cards are in the wife's name. But if he puts if he agrees to the program, then now he's liable for paying all the rest of that monthly fee as well.

Yeah, I mean, I guess I'm not totally following you on that, though. I mean, so regardless of whether he's in the program right now, he's responsible for the whole balance and they're asking for a minimum payment. And he's just as responsible today for that minimum payment if it's a joint credit card than his wife is.

They're both responsible for the full balance. And at a minimum, they have to pay the minimum payment when that card gets moved into the debt management program. It's still with the original creditor. The debt management company is not buying it or taking it over. So he and his wife still owe the full amount to the original creditor. They're just going to pay through a debt management agency at a at a monthly amount that's probably very similar to what they're sending in today if they're sending the minimum payment and it's going to be passed on to the original creditor. But it's going to be done at a lower interest rate.

But nothing has changed. He's just as responsible under the debt management program as he is today without it. I understand that. So I guess now I know the way to put it. So he'll be responsible for the whole ball of wax then. So whatever all those other cards and that one with his name on it, he'll be responsible for that complete payment in that management program as well.

Not just that card. Oh, I see. No, I don't think that's right. Again, ultimately, in this case now they're married. So then you've got laws that come into effect. You know, if she were to pass away, there's marital assets and that a lot of that depends on what state they're in and so forth. So you'd have to talk to an estate attorney about who's ultimately responsible.

But I see what you're saying. No, I don't think that, you know, he is ultimately responsible because, again, the responsibility with regard to who owes the debt is between the account holder or holders and the institution that loaned the money. The debt management company is just a third party that's in the middle.

And at any point, it could be pulled out of that if it needed to be. So I don't think he would be taking on any responsibility for those additional cards just because they were in debt management program along with the one that he's jointly holding. OK. Yeah, I just wanted to clarify that because the the the coach in the program says, oh, yeah, that your name is on the on the let's just say contract as well. So, yeah, you will if the card gets put in to the program, then you will also be responsible for the whole monthly payment as well. Right.

I'm including that and all the other cards. So that was OK. Yeah, that's yeah, that's a little confusing to me. It's an unusual situation. So I wouldn't say that I have a definitive answer on that. If they're not talking to Christian credit counselors dot org, I would at least get a second opinion. They're the ones that we work with. They've worked with hundreds and hundreds of our listeners. They're all believers. They're wonderful. And I would trust whatever they would say about it.

Perhaps they could do it under a separate contract for this one account and then do the rest under a separate one. But I would perhaps get a second opinion if they're not already working with Christian credit counselors dot org. John, thanks for your call today to Florida. Hi, David. Go ahead, sir. Hey, Rob, thank you for taking my call.

Sure. I just want to first start off by saying your knowledge for investing is just outstanding. I just want to commend you on that.

You're truly, truly blessed. So I have some money sitting in an online savings account. It's not a lot.

It's just twenty five thousand. It's taking in a little over four percent right now. But I was thinking on moving it over to a treasury bill, locking it in for a year. So it's a low risk, moderate type of risk. I just want to get your thoughts on that. Yeah, I think the treasury bill is like a little over five percent.

Yeah. Maybe I'm getting to that percent. I guess I just you know, again, I'm not I'm not a high gambler when it comes to investing.

I just don't have the knowledge. Yeah, but well, the benefit of the T-bills, whether it's treasury bonds, bills or notes and bonds are the 20 and 30 year maturities, the notes are the two to 10 years and the T-bills are, you know, four, eight, 13, 26 or 52 weeks. So, yeah, that's what you're looking at is the 52 week or the one year T-bill. They have zero default risk because they're backed by the federal government.

So when you say there's low risk, there's really no risk. The question is just, you know, is it the return and could you do better elsewhere? I mean, it's a it's a very competitive return right now. T-bills right now, I think the yield is around five and a quarter percent for a 12 month.

And then if you go out to two years, it starts to drop 4.75 years just under four, 10 years 3.7. So the downside to these treasury bills, bonds and notes is just that often you can do better elsewhere, whether it's a CD or a money market fund or certainly with corporate bonds or stocks. So I guess that would be the only other question is what's the purpose of this money? If it's, you know, money you need in the next three years, then, yeah, you want to be looking at high yield savings, which right now is over four percent or CDs or you could look at T-bills. If you have a little bit longer time horizon, corporate and government bonds will do well, just given where we are in the interest rate cycle. Or if you want to take a little more risk and you have five years plus, preferably 10, then I would I would look to maybe stocks and bonds. Does that make sense?

It does. I think I'll just kind of maybe step up and just go over to a treasury bill for a year. OK. Pretty much pretty much pretty much minimal risk. Well, and I would say I would counter that and say no risk because you've you've got the backing of the full faith and credit of the United States government.

And if that goes under, we got much bigger problems. Yeah, I know. I hear you. I hear you. So I think I'll do that. I think I don't need the money.

I have some other savings I go to for emergency house funds or whatever. But I think I'll just I guess I just feel a little better hearing it from you. Yeah. Yeah.

No worries. I think that's a great decision. These yields are very attractive where they haven't been in the recent past. So I like it, David. I'm on board with it. Thanks for your call today and thanks for your kind remarks. I appreciate it.

To Chattanooga, just down the road for me. Hi, Tracy. Go ahead. Hey, how are you doing today? I'm great. Thank you. Appreciate you calling.

I just want to say I really I'm new to Moody radio, maybe about five years into it. OK. You guys are wonderful. Oh, you're so wonderful. Thank you. Well, we love serving you.

Thank you for saying that, though. I want to do three things. The first thing is I want to ask three questions and I'm gonna make it brief. OK. And I've got I've got two and a half minutes. So I'm just giving you a fair warning. Go ahead.

I'll make it simple. One of the callers asked was talking about car protection insurance. You know, when you call break down, do you guys have somebody you recommend?

We don't, unfortunately. So I would just read a lot of reviews, starting with the dealership that you are buying or have bought it from. But do a lot of homework before you get into one and read the fine print.

But unfortunately, no, I don't have a specific recommendation. OK, well, thank you for telling me that, because when I bought the car, they did put it up on the warranty, but I haven't read it. So I'm going to do that. That's the second question is I want to buy a house and I went to two banks. They told me that my credit is good, but they told me my debt to income ratio was too high because I have a student loan. There's nothing else, no credit cards, no mortgage and none of that stuff.

So what do I need to do? Well, unfortunately, there's not a quick fix to that because those debt to income ratios do count student loans. They're just looking at your ability to repay based on whatever obligations you have against the income that you have available. And they're looking at that in light of you taking on a major new obligation in the form of a home loan. The problem is, if you don't fall into their guidelines, then you're into what's called subprime or non-qualified mortgages, which are available from some lenders. You'd have to look around for them, but they're going to be the interest rates are much higher. Right now, interest rates are already high. It said earlier 30 year rates for conforming loans with people with good credit are six and three quarters.

You're going to probably up over 10 percent. And I think the fact that they're what's even more important to me is the fact that they're telling you, you don't qualify. Usually I like to be more conservative even than their debt to income requirements.

So if they are saying you don't qualify based on that, I would take that as a just an indication, Tracy, as much as you may not want to hear this, that you need to wait, rent, save and pay down that student loan debt before you make this purchase. I got it. OK, I can understand that. So then just continue to do this. Continue to put my eggs in a basket. Yes, ma'am.

I think that's exactly right. Well, I didn't want to hear it, but I'm glad you told me. I'm going to take your advice and run with it.

All right. Well, since you're a relatively new listener to Moody Radio, I want to send you a gift. I'm going to send you a copy of Howard Dayton's book, Your Money Counts.

And what it's going to give you, Tracy, is a good overview, a primer, if you will, of a biblical approach to managing God's money with regard to debt and investments and your spending plan and all of it. So you stay on the line. We'll get your information and we'll put that in the mail straight to Chattanooga. And just know that when you get it, we're grateful for you being a listener. And it's just our way of saying thanks for being on the program today. God bless you. Well, folks, that's going to do it for us. Let me say thanks to my team today.

Amy, Charles, Tahira and Jim. I couldn't do this without them. They're amazing.

And there's a cast of characters behind them that make all this possible. Moody Radio and FaithFi are what bring you faith and finance live each day. We'll see you tomorrow. Bye bye.