Report from Zambia

The following episode of Faith in Finance Live is prerecorded, so please don't call in. Zambia has one of the highest orphan rates in Africa, with 1.2 million children growing up without a parent. Hi, I'm Rob West. The numbers seem daunting. One out of every five children in Zambia is an orphan.

But one group is laboring mightily to bring that number down, one success story at a time. Today, I'll talk with Mario Zandstra about that, then we'll have some great calls lined up. But since we're not live today, please hold your calls until we're back in the studio.

This is Faith in Finance Live, biblical wisdom for your financial journey. Well, we're particularly delighted to have Mario Zandstra with us again today. He's president and CEO of Family Legacy Missions International, a ministry focused entirely on helping Zambia's orphans. And today, Mario is reporting in all the way from Zambia. Mario, great to have you with us. It is great to be with you in this beautiful country.

I know it is. I've been right where you are. And man, I wish I was there right now. I know exciting things are happening there in Lusaka, Zambia with Family Legacy Missions. Mario, you all, of course, help to feed and educate hundreds and hundreds of orphans each year. But right now you have a special summer program going on.

So why don't we start there? Tell us about it. So we have a program called Camp Life. And over the course of five weeks, we're going to have a little over 250 Americans come here, and they're actually going to become camp counselors to 2,400 kids that are going to come to the hilltop from the slum compounds throughout Lusaka.

That's incredible. And I know it's an amazing experience, what goes on there. Tell us a little more about what you all do for these children. Of course, they're going to have a blast there at the hilltop, but the ministry is much more comprehensive in terms of how you're engaging and serving them.

Absolutely. We want to holistically care for these children. So for every child that comes, we want to impact them spiritually, physically, emotionally and intellectually. Spiritually, of course, is sharing the gospel with them.

It's inviting them to have a relationship with Jesus. Physically, we're feeding them. We're providing medical care for them. And for a lot of our kids, the meal we give them doubles the number of meals that they might get in a day. On top of that, we help them unpack their trauma. And then all of that is on the platform of an education. We have 22 schools and 14,000 students throughout Lusaka, Zambia. Hmm.

Wow. You mentioned they're coming out of the slums. Paint a picture of what life is like for them. Yeah, for a lot of these kids, they're living with a caregiver that may not be their parent. In most cases, there's not a dad around.

The men have actually become absent. And the average income for the caregivers of our kids is about $1.25 a day. Zambia is one of the poorest countries in the world, and 100% of our kids live below the global poverty line.

Not Africa, not Zambia, the global poverty line. Hmm. Wow. And obviously, you're meeting their physical and their spiritual needs. Give us a sense.

You mentioned the Americans that are there, more than 250 of them. Give us a sense of how they're engaging in ministry with Zambia's orphans. So as we bring them here, we invite them to engage incarnationally with these beautiful kids. They get to look at them eyeball to eyeball. And as they're all vulnerable kids, they get a chance to see what's going on in the world. We give them questions to ask these kids that are appropriate questions to help unpack what's going on in their world. And then we have breakout sessions with these kids within a big group session.

There's music, there's singing, there's skits. It's like a camp experience, but it's all done with the biblical backdrop. And the idea here is that they would understand some of the great stories of Scripture and how it would impact the way they think and live.

Yeah, that's incredible. Mario, obviously, a lot of folks listening, they may have a chance to go in a future summer to Zambia, and we'll tell them more about that in the days ahead. But what can they do right now to get involved in this great work?

That's a great question, Rob. One of the great ways you can make a difference is helping our kids that lost their sponsorship during the COVID crisis. And so we're raising scholarship funds to keep them in school.

And if you want to be able to help them by helping them be impacted by the gospel, to be fed, to get medical care, unpack trauma, and be educated, you can actually give monthly to HopeForZambia.com. That's great, Mario. Well, I know there's a lot more to come in the days ahead as we continue to talk about all that God is doing through Family Legacy. But we appreciate you taking a few minutes today all the way from Lusaka, Zambia, to check in with us. God bless you, Mario.

Thank you, Rob. I appreciate it. If you'd like to provide hope to children in Zambia by investing in their education, spiritual growth, and physical well-being, check out HopeForZambia.com slash faith. That's HopeForZambia.com forward slash faith. This is Faith and Finance Live. And even though we're not here today and can't take your live calls, there's much more ahead on the program, so please stay tuned. Great to have you with us today on Faith and Finance Live. By the way, we're not live today. We're away from the studio, so don't call in.

But we have some great questions that we lined up in advance. By the way, this ministry is entirely listener supported. That means we rely on your financial gifts and support to do what we do on the air every day. If you'd consider a gift, we'd certainly be grateful. Just head to our website, faithfi.com.

That's faithfi.com, and click the give button. Thanks in advance. Let's dive in.

And Mississippi, Randy will be our first caller. Go ahead. Thank you for taking my call.

Sure. My mother had a living estate, and that was about 15 years ago. And she recently passed away in December. And I was just checking to see what kind of taxes that I would owe, if any, on inheritance, or what the deal was on that, please.

Yes. Well, there are no inheritance taxes that you would pay. There are estate taxes, although those don't kick in currently until you get north of $12 million on the estate. So essentially, what should happen is when the parent dies in the case of a life estate, the property would receive a step up in basis to the date of death. So then if it's then inherited by you and you turn around and sell it, you receive that step up in cost basis.

So you're not reporting the cost basis of the original purchase price, but the market value as of the date of death. And then at that point, you could choose to keep the property. And if it appreciates from this point, you'd of course be responsible for either a long-term or short-term capital gain upon the sale down the road.

But if you turn around and sold it right now, you really wouldn't have anything in the way of taxes. Okay. It has some marketable timber on it. Would that be the same as the property I'm planning on keeping the house and the property for a while, but I wanted to cut the timber? Yeah.

It's under $100,000. All right. Yeah.

The entire property would receive the step up in basis. I think though, given just anytime you have a significant event like this or a change in your status, I would always, if you haven't used a CPA in the past, this is a good year for you to do that, just to make sure everything's being reported properly and you understand the implications of not only the sale, but now the ongoing revenues that you'd receive by selling off the timber, just so you can properly not only report that, but you could make quarterly tax payments along the way, things like that if you're going to have a change in your status with regard to income that would be taxable. So do you have a CPA, Randy, that you work with? Oh, yes, sir.

I do. Okay. So this would be a great conversation to have, just so you make sure that everything is properly accounted for as you go forward. But essentially the big idea here is that the entire property enjoys that step up in basis when you inherit it.

And then ongoing activities, whether it's the sale of a portion of the property or the whole thing, or revenue generated from the sale of the timber, all of that would be taxable events. Okay. Thank you very much. This is first time dollar, but I'm a faithful listener, and I appreciate your show. Well, thank you, Randy. I appreciate your kind remarks, my friend. Thanks for being on the program today.

God bless you. Let's head to Oklahoma. Hi, Kathy.

Go right ahead. Hi, Rob. I just wanted to check in. My husband is 64. He recently retired. He was with a pipe fitter in the union, and we live in rural Oklahoma. So he was driving like an hour and a half each way, costing us more than 1,000 bucks plus.

We're in terror in our car. And we have a few family members, including me, that have a lot of medical issues. So we chose for him to go ahead and retire. He's drawing a pension, and we went ahead, even though I know we probably should have waited for his social security, but we had to go ahead and do it. But he has an annuity through the union, and they did tell us we could roll that over.

I'm not sure. I have a retirement with fidelity. Now, can we roll that annuity over to fidelity, or what is your advice on that?

I think it's through empowerment. It used to be mass mutual, and I know that annuities are not that great. But I think it's just something that the union provided over the years that he's worked for them, and he has probably close to $100,000 in it. We don't plan to touch it. We have no debt other than our house, and we only owe about $40,000 on it, and it's at 3.75% interest. So I think we should just keep making payments and not try to draw anything out to pay that off.

Yeah, very good. Yes, you absolutely can roll that retirement annuity over to an IRA. That would not be a taxable event, Kathy, because you're keeping it in that tax-deferred environment. The custodian that you would select, I think, has a lot to do with, number one, existing relationships that you have. You mentioned fidelity. But let me ask, do you have an advisor that you work with through fidelity, or do you just have a straight brokerage account, and you're managing those assets yourself? On mine, I do not have a I do not have an advisor, and I just have mine in Timothy Funds.

I have about half of it in Timothy Funds and about half of it in a money market, and it's not that much. I probably had that. We've only been married eight years.

I had that before we got married. I see. And so, yeah, and he doesn't have, all he has is his annuity, and so we don't, we do not have a financial advisor. Okay, well this might be the time to get one because if you have a retirement plan to fidelity, you have a limited number of investment options.

I love that you're using the Timothy plan. I think that's great as a faith-based investing option. So at this point, what you would want to do is if you wanted to go with fidelity and perhaps mirror that investment strategy, you would just open that IRA at fidelity, and then you would contact your plan administrator or the issuer of the annuity in this case and request a rollover. They'll provide the paperwork for you to do that, and you would put the name of the institution and the account number of the IRA, and then they would just, you know, send the roll over the assets into that fidelity IRA. It would come in in the form of cash, and then at that point you could begin investing it by selecting the mutual funds you want or something like that. I do think this is enough in the way of investable assets that you might want to consider having an investment advisor manage it, and if you wanted to go that route, I would probably wait on opening the account because he or she will likely have a preferred custodian that they want to use. Could be fidelity, could be Schwab, could be something else, and then you would open that IRA through them. They would initiate that rollover on your behalf, doing all the paperwork, and then he or she could begin managing the money at that point. So I think the key is just to decide do you want to just move it into fidelity and take it yourself, or do you want to hire an advisor?

Which do you think would be the best fit for you and your husband? Hiring an advisor. So I am visually impaired, and he's, you know, we're not real sharp on all these investments, so I think that's probably the best route to go. Yeah, so if you've listened to this program, you know we recommend the Certified Kingdom Advisor designation, CKA. It's the only accepted industry designation by all the major firms that is for financial professionals who've met high standards, and not only character and competence and experience and regulatory reviews and pastoring client references, but also they've been trained to bring a biblical worldview of financial decision making. And many of them, not all, but many of them will offer faith-based investing options, so you'll want to ask that question as a part of the interview process. We're actually enhancing our CKA search here in the next coming months, so you can specifically only select those CKAs if you want that offer faith-based investments. But basically just head to our website, Kathy, faithfi.com, faithfi.com, and click find a CKA.

That'll give you the information that you need. I'd interview two or three and find the one that's the best fit. I'd do that first, and then they can handle the rollover for you. Thanks so much for your call today. Well folks, we're gonna head to a break, but let me remind you, we're out of the studio today. Our team is not here, so don't call in, but much more to come just around the corner on Faith and Finance Live.

Stick around. I'm so thankful you've joined us today on Faith and Finance Live, where we apply the wisdom from God's Word to your financial decisions and choices as you live, give, owe, and grow. That's right, God's Word speaks to all four things you can do with money, and by the way, there are only four. You can boil every financial decision down into that which you live on, that which you give, that which you owe for debt and taxes, and that which you grow, your short-term and long-term savings and investments. And we find principles and passages in God's Word, big themes and ideas in Scripture, that really tell us how we should approach each of these, starting with our heart, really our identity rooted in Christ, recognizing that money can compete with God for his rightful place in first position.

It can choke out the Word, according to the parable of the sower, it can choke out the Word from bearing a 30, 60, 100-fold return if we allow it to. But here's the reality, when we understand that God owns it all and that we're stewards and money is a tool, not an end, but a means to an end, and that we can break the grip of money over our lives by giving and being generous, living with contentment and finding freedom and joy and blessing others and using it to build relationships and memories with our families, but holding it loosely and really keeping our eyes fixed on the eternal, that which is to come. Because remember, we're just brief sojourners in this world. We don't want to get too entrenched in the here and now, the temporal.

We want to focus on the eternal. Well, money can be a tool that allows us to do that, and my experience is that your financial journey is one of the key ways God shapes your spiritual journey. It has a ripple effect when you surrender your entire life to Christ, including his money that you're managing.

It has a ripple effect through every other area and will ultimately draw you into a more intimate relationship with him. That's our goal here on this program, to encourage and support you as we direct you back to Scripture, to live with the biblical worldview in every area of your life, and that certainly includes this area of money management. Hey, let me share something that I think will be an encouragement to you today. You know, Psalm 20 is one of my favorites. It begins with a blessing and ends with a statement of faith.

Here's part of Psalm 20, starting at verse 6. 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. 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. Some trust in chariots and some in horses. You know, 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, people were still putting their faith in worldly things like chariots and horses. You know, anything you put your faith in other than the Lord our God is a false God. The late Larry Burkett, who was the former host of this program, Larry went home to be with the Lord in 2003, he used to say, a false God is anything that detours our commitment to God. You probably won't be trusting chariots and horses today, but here are a few of the false gods that you will recognize, along with some modern twists on Psalm 20.

Listen to this. Financial security is a false God. Some trust in retirement plans, savings accounts, and investment income. We trust in the name of the Lord our God. Government provision can be another false God. Some trust in welfare programs, relief, federal relief checks, or government handouts. Power is worshipped as a false God. Some trust in status, reputation, and financial influence. Personal autonomy is a very deceptive false God.

Some trust in themselves alone, depending on their own financial goals and expertise. But we trust in the name of the Lord our God. You see, the consequences of trusting in false gods are severe. God is not mocked, the Bible says, and he tells his people over and over not to worship any other gods. The bad result of putting your faith in false gods is found in Psalm 20 verse 8, which I quoted earlier.

They are brought to their knees and fall. On the other hand, those who trust in the Lord our God will rise up and stand firm. So let me encourage you, 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. You see, when you're a believer in Jesus Christ, you have a much greater resource, as Psalm 20 says, the name of the Lord your God. So I hope that's an encouragement to you today as we take you back to Scripture and remind you of the power of the name of Jesus.

We don't want to pursue the world's alternatives, they will leave us empty every time. All right, back to the phones we go to Texas. Hey Kayla, thanks for calling. Go ahead. I am ready to get out of debt, and I've been working on it for many years. Seems like I take 10 steps forward, 10 steps back constantly.

I understand. And I only owe about $40,000 on my house. I have $8,000 cash, and I have two car notes, and that's pretty much—I've got a couple of other little small debts that are almost paid off.

The two car notes I want to get rid of because they're driving me absolutely bonkers. I just had to put a new starter in one of them, and I owe $10,000 on that car. I only owe about $1,000 on the other one.

I think I kind of know what I need to do, but probably just need an expert's advice. Should I take that $8,000 and knock out these car notes? And then all I will have is just my house note, and then the other little tiny debt that I'm working at chipping away at very quickly.

Yeah. The thing is, I don't want you to deplete all of your emergency savings because I want you to break this cycle, and I realize you don't have any other debt right now other than the car and the house—the cars and the house. But I want you to have something available if the unexpected comes, and it always does.

So the most I'd want you to do is knock out the one at $1,000 and hang on to the $7,000, and then you could take that monthly payment that you'd free up and start directing it into additional savings or accelerating the payoff on the $10,000. I know you want to get rid of it sooner rather than later, but I don't want your emergency fund depleted. Hang on the line, Kayla. I've got to take a quick break, but we'll talk a little bit more off the air.

We'll be right back. Hey, you're listening to Faith and Finance Live with Rob West. Today's broadcast is prerecorded, and that means we won't be taking any calls. But we do have some calls lined up and lots of great information coming your way that we think you'll find helpful. So stick around for more Faith and Finance Live after this brief break. We're Faith and Finance Live, and we talk about our telephone number often because we usually are live.

But today the program is prerecorded. So if you hear a mention of the phone number, please don't call us. But you can find us online at faithfi.com. Thanks for joining us today on Faith and Finance Live.

I'm Rob West. Mortgage interest rates continuing to tick down, not significantly, but at least they're headed in the right direction. The average 30-year interest rate on a loan below jumbo, which by the way today is $726,000 is down to 6.73%. So under six and three quarters, I realized for those of you sitting on a two or 3% mortgage, you're still thinking, wow, that's a lot. And it is making the cost of homeownership significantly higher. However, they are continuing to tick down. By the way, if you're looking for a mortgage and you're out shopping for a new home, you really don't have an option to wait out these high interest rates and you want a partner, a mortgage partner who shares your values and available in all 50 states, we'd love for you to check out our friends at Movement Mortgage. You can find more at movement.com forward slash faith.

That's movement.com forward slash faith. All right, let's head back to the phones to Mississippi. Hi, Elizabeth. Go right ahead.

My question is, I would like to know what you're thinking is on a setting up a living trust for my husband. I think you know our ages. I think I gave that information to the lady. I see that in my notes here.

Yeah, 79 and 75. What is it you're trying to accomplish? I mean, I'm happy to weigh in on this, but just give me a little thought from you on why you're considering a living or a revocable trust. Well, we just thought about it over the years and never could come to any, I guess, conclusion on it.

I have no heirs. And I think what we've been through this process one time many years ago, we never set it up just because it was too convoluted, I thought. My understanding is, of course, we handle our own business within the trust as long as we're able. And then we were going to have to name someone to handle it if we were not able. And that was always the stopping point and still is a stopping point 25 years later.

Yes, very good. Well, I mean, you can obviously pass your assets and property and personal items according to your wishes through a basic simple will. It will go through probate.

It'll be a part of the public record. You would name a personal representative or an executor that would handle the distribution of your estate working through the probate court. So there is some expense and some time involved in that. So often folks will use a living trust because they want to avoid probate. They want to avoid the cost associated with it, even though it's more expensive to set up a living trust.

It might run $1,500 or $2,000, whereas a simple will might be $300 or $500. But basically it will hold the living trust, Elizabeth, and I may be telling you some things you already know, but essentially it'll hold legal title to your assets. And then the living trust provides the mechanism to manage them. So you and your spouse are the trustee and the beneficiaries of your trust during your lifetime, but then you designate a successor trustee beyond your life or in the event of your incapacitation to carry out your instructions as you've provided in the trust document. And one of the benefits of the living trust is that it can go into effect in the event you or you and your spouse are incapacitated prior to death, and then the successor trustee could step in and manage anything that's held inside the trust according to the instructions in the trust and at death and even beyond death based on, again, the instructions that are there. And so it gives you more control over your estate, but you would have to designate this successor trustee to carry out the trust's instructions. But I think if you're looking for either doing this out of the public record, if you're looking for a more efficient way, if you want this anonymous, if you want the ability to control these assets prior to or after death, that's where a trust can really shine.

But if that's not necessary or you don't have a lot of real estate or things like that, then a simple will can typically be sufficient just to make sure that all that God has entrusted to you is efficiently passed to either a charity or heirs after your death. Okay, that helps. That's kind of my thinking also, because like I said, I didn't care too much about the trust after years ago checking into it. So I just wanted somebody else's thoughts. Okay. And I appreciate your answers.

Well, I'm delighted to do it. And if you have further questions, I think, you know, reaching out to a godly estate attorney, Elizabeth, could be a great next step for you just to talk through with specificity, just all that God has entrusted to you, what's in your estate and the best way to handle it. But at a very minimum, you need a will, you probably need a health care surrogate so that you've got somebody designated to make health care decisions if you're unable to. You need a durable power of attorney, which is allows somebody to make financial decisions in the event you're incapacitated. And then, you know, perhaps a living will as well, which is around end of life decisions.

Those are probably the key estate planning documents that you need in place. Thanks for your call today. If we can help you further along the way, don't hesitate to reach out to Texas. Hi, Rebecca, go right ahead.

Hi, thank you for taking my call. I lost quite a bit of money in the, you know, the decline over the last couple years. Yeah, I had 1.5 and my advisor, I know it was a lot out of his control, but I ended up losing about 700,000. So my question is, is what how do you feel about self managing self directing? Or should I maybe try a different advisor that's going to make the changes and moves that I've requested that they do?

Yeah, well, I can understand why you're thinking about both options, just given what you just described. And I'm always hesitant to, you know, weigh in on these without knowing all of the details. But I will say, I mean, a portfolio that's down 50% or more is that shouldn't be the case, even given what's happened over the last couple of years. What were you invested in? Was it high growth stocks? A variety as well diversified and stock and I'm not exactly sure but quite a bit of different things.

Different caps and, and about 50% stock and 50% bonds. Well, there was some cash in there too. And even the cash, I said, Hey, I want you to build me some more cash. I'm retired.

I want to make sure I've got a good cash in there, like two or $300,000. He didn't do it until, you know, I call him and say, Hey, I don't see that you did. Oh, yeah, I'm buying and selling and, and I've been with him for a long time.

He's a nice guy, great guy. We have a relationship and that's my problem. I've been thinking for a while, and we've done this before. And I've asked him to sell stock. I'm like, okay, I have a feeling this stock is going down, could you sell it? And then I'll get the message. What?

You know? Yeah, there's some challenges there. And I realize you have a personal relationship and that complicates things, but it seems like a change is in order. Let's do this. If you don't mind, I've got to take a quick break, but I'd love to talk through where you go from here. So if you can hold the line, we'll pick this up right on the other side of the break. We'll be back with much more on faith and finance live just around the corner. Stay with us. Thanks for joining us today on faith and finance live here in our final segment of the broadcast today.

Let me remind you, our team is not here, so don't call in, but we lined up some great questions in advance. We'll get to those in just a moment. Before we do, let me remind you, if you haven't downloaded the FaithFi app, we'd love for you to check it out. It's got three sections in it. The first is the money management system based on Larry Burkett's digital envelope system. It helps you manage God's money in a way where you know exactly what's left in each envelope at any point during the month. There's also our learn tab where you can access the best content and biblical finance to grow in your understanding of God's way of handling money and our community where you can post questions, get comments and ideas from other stewards on the journey. So download it today on our website, faithfi.com.

Just click app. All right, back to the phones we go. Just before the break, we were talking to Rebecca in Texas. Rebecca had a portfolio worth about 1.5 million dollars down to about 700,000.

And she's had some not only challenges with returns in this portfolio, but had mentioned before the break that although there's a personal relationship and that's always difficult to manage between advisor and client, there's been perhaps just a lack of follow up in some cases, maybe some urgency around the concerns and inquiries that she's made around this portfolio. And, you know, if we look at the returns of the market, Rebecca, I mean, even the S&P 500, although, you know, in 2022, it was down, you know, a good bit. I think in 2022, it was off about 20%. In 2021, it was up 27%. And so far, year to date up 14%. So, you know, we shouldn't see numbers anywhere near off 50%. And if you look at a, you know, total bond index, I mean, they've had a challenging year in 2022.

But even that was only off 13%. And basically flat for 21 and the years prior for the 10 years before that all positive returns. So this is a bit concerning. I'd want to at the very least know why this portfolio is down so much. Why so much volatility? And, you know, was there a high concentration in something that, you know, just went south?

Or what is the reason behind it? But what gives me even just maybe equally as concerning is just the lack of follow through. And, you know, communication, as you've been reaching out and wanting information and asking for things to be done and not really sensing much urgency. So I think given that, I would recommend a change.

And I do think, despite your experience here over the last couple of years, having an advisor help you manage through this, and I wouldn't start selling things right away, I'd probably work through that process with an advisor before you decide to reposition the portfolio. But at least you'd have somebody who absolutely understands your values, first and foremost, can bring a biblical worldview. Second, really is going to communicate with you and engage with you at a level that you're comfortable with.

And then thirdly, that you all have alignment around the investment strategy moving forward to help you recoup to the best of your ability without unnecessary risk these losses. So I think that probably is the next step for you. You know, you certainly could go meet face to face and express maybe one final time your concerns and see if there's anything that's shared that might change your mind. But I think just based on what I'm hearing, I think a change is in order. I agree.

And I thank you for reinforcing my feelings. And, you know, I don't like to be hasty. And I've given him opportunity. And I just feel like he's, you know, dropped the ball, he does have 100% control over my portfolio. And I've even thought about maybe going to a flat rate with him because he's getting, you know, 1% or somewhere close to that. Yeah, yeah. Which isn't out of the ordinary. I mean, that would be normal and customary.

But the lack of communication, given, you know, what he's been charged to do on top of just these abysmal returns is just really, I think, a cause for concern that, you know, a change is in order. So if you have another option, that's great. If you don't, we recommend the Certified Kingdom Advisor designation. So perhaps you could reach out to a few CKAs there in Texas. The way to do that is just to go to our website, faithfi.com, faithfi.com, and just click the button at the top of the page that says find a CKA.

And you can do a zip code search. And I'd interview at least two or three of those folks, just to find someone that you have a good rapport with, that you really, you know, have what you believe could be a great, you know, working relationship, has the, of course, the experience and the credibility that you're looking for. But you'll at least know that this person shares your worldview.

They've been, they've met really high standards and character and competence and experience. And I think you could go forward from there. One quick question. Do I meet with the advisors first and see who I'm going to get along with and their philosophy and whatnot? But do I meet with them first before I transfer into their care? Do all the stocks and everything have to be sold and then repurchase?

Yeah, yeah. So let me answer that. Number one, yes, I would meet with them first and make a decision. If you come to the conclusion, you find somebody that yes, you want to do business with, I would establish that relationship first. And then just, this is just my recommendation. Before your current advisor receives the notification that the assets are being transferred out, I think just given your relationship, just as a courtesy, I would just call that advisor and say, listen, you know, this, I've just decided to make a change and that's not going to be an easy conversation. He'll likely try to talk you out of that. I think you just need to be firm and saying, listen, I appreciate what you've done. You know, I don't feel like I was getting the service I wanted.

I'm not happy with the results and I've decided to move on, but I wish you all the best. And that way you've given notice. And then at that point, there would be transfer instructions sent. The assets would transfer over in their current form. And so unless there was some holding that couldn't be held by the new custodian, and that's very unlikely, nothing would be sold. It would come over exactly as it is today.

And then you and that advisor could work through the strategy on selling any of those investments that need to be sold and transitioning into this new portfolio, but it doesn't have to be done prior to the transfer. Perfect. Thank you so much. Have a wonderful day. All right, Rebecca. God bless you and thanks for calling today. Let's talk to another Rebecca actually in Missouri. Go right ahead. Yes, I kind of have a similar problem.

Okay, how can I help? This doesn't make any sense to me. But anyway, I called you about, well, it was last summer and I was willing to transfer my investment assets from one firm to more of a biblically responsible firm. And so you directed me to, you know, getting a CKA, which I did. And he had a firm in Memphis. And so I went ahead and transferred everything there. Well, now they're saying that they are wanting to give their assets, or I don't let them handle their assets with another, a different company.

It was from, I think it's from Securian to Cetera. But anyway, and I don't know, I looked that up and it didn't look like they had really very good reviews. So I don't know what that means. But anyway, I don't know what to do now. I don't know whether to keep it there.

I just want to make sure it's in a biblically responsible place. And yes. So what? I don't know.

I don't know what to do. Yeah, it's a great question, Rebecca. And I appreciate you following back up. You know, it's not uncommon for an advisor to move from one custodian or what you call broker dealer to another. They will make those changes periodically when they find that they can get, you know, a better platform for technology and trading and being able to serve their clients well.

And so that's not uncommon. And your relationship really is with the advisor. He or she is the one that's serving you and providing the customer service, but also and most importantly, in this case, selecting the investments and building the portfolio. And whether that's at Centurion or Cetera or another one, it really doesn't matter as long as they have access to the investments that meet your goals and objectives without taking unnecessary risk. And in your case, and I love this, also being able to bring investments that align with your values as a believer. And so as long as this advisor does offer faith-based investing, not all CKAs do. And as I had mentioned previously, we're updating the CK search so you can, you'll actually in the future be able to say, I only want to see CKAs that offer faith-based investments. But as long as, you know, he or she has made clear that, yes, they can do a faith-based investing strategy by using either separate account managers that do screening or, you know, world-class mutual funds like Timothy Plan or Eventide or One Ascent or the others, then it really doesn't matter which brokerage firm or broker-dealer or custodian they're with.

It's really about your relationship with the advisor and whether that's working for you. Okay. Okay. All right.

Well, that answers a lot of questions then. Good. I'm glad to hear it. Has it been going well in terms of the portfolio and the investments? Do you feel like they're meeting your needs? Yes. Yes. Good.

Glad to hear. And you do believe, you've talked about faith-based investing and that's the types of investments that they've selected for you? Yes. So far, you know, that's what I was worried about, you know, for that show. Yeah. I mean, if this is a core part of the advisor's offering, then, you know, they really, I can't ever imagine a situation where they'd move to a new custodian or broker-dealer where they couldn't continue to offer these investments.

In fact, if they're making a change, it's probably because they have an even greater ability to offer you these types of investments moving forward. So, sounds like you're in great shape here, Rebecca, but I do appreciate you calling back into the program today. It's been a been a delight to talk to you. May the Lord bless you. All right, folks.

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

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