Faith Based Investing in Retirement Plans

Proverbs 27, 23 tells us, Know well the condition of your flocks and give attention to your herds. I am Rob West. Our herds and flocks these days are our finances, including our investments.

Do you know the condition of yours? I'll talk today with Cassie Layman about a way to ensure your investments honor the Lord. Then it's on to your calls at 800-525-7000.

That's 800-525-7000. This is MoneyWise Live, biblical wisdom for your financial decisions. Well, we're delighted that Cassie Layman joins us today for the first time. She's president of Lightpoint Portfolios and underwriter of this program.

She's also a certified financial planner and a certified kingdom advisor. And Cassie, it's great to have you with us. Thanks so much, Rob.

It's great to be here. Cassie, we talk a lot about faith-based investing here on this program and you have a unique way for folks to honor God with their investments. We'll get to that, but first I'd like to start with you. Will you tell us a little bit about who you are and what you do?

Sure. Well, as you mentioned, I'm the president of Lightpoint Portfolios and our firm was founded in 1997 by our CEO and also happens to be my husband, Rick Layman. And he was really an early adopter of faith-based investing. So we had this firm to serve our clients, but then in 2010, he created our Lightpoint Portfolios to fill this need for fully diversified, actively managed faith-based portfolios. And as you know, Rob, as an independent advisor and individual advisor, sometimes it's hard to have the time and the resources to build faith-based portfolios. So our portfolios are now available to independent financial advisors to make it easier for them to serve their clients. And just as a fun piece of information, Rick was in the first graduating class of Certified Kingdom Advisors right alongside you, Rob.

That's exactly right. And I've known Rick and you, Cassie, now for a long time. Well, I love that. I want to take it a step further because I know you have an interesting story about how you personally got into faith-based investing and you even wrote a book about your journey. Share that with us.

Sure. Well, in 2010, I was an independent advisor and I met Rick Lehman at an industry conference and he shared with me about his passion for faith-based investing. And to be quite honest with you, I was pretty skeptical about it. I grew up in the church, but I had been away from the church for about 20 years. And so when he's talking to me about biblically responsible investing, I was like, I just don't know.

I don't understand it. I want to know more. So he really encouraged me to learn more and he gave me little assignments.

He would have me talk to others in our industry. And part of my assignments was getting the Certified Kingdom Advisor designation. And you might think that's a pretty big leap, right?

I'm going from a skeptic to pursuing the CKA, but I really wanted to know the truth. And part of this learning led me back to reading the Bible, returning to church and ultimately recommitting my life to Christ. And in the end, I married Rick.

We called it our marriage and acquisition. And because of what I learned, I really shifted my investing philosophy to invest this way because I believe that's what really glorifies God. And then in 2015, I was at a conference and the speaker was speaking to everyone and said, you know, your life has changed because of Jesus and you should tell people about that.

And he was speaking to everyone, but I really felt like he was speaking to me. And it was at that time that I decided I would write out my testimony and how we think about faith-based investing. And that became my book, which is called I Found Jesus in the Stock Market. I love it.

And that's obviously the most significant thing that came out of this, but obviously you ended up marrying Rick in the process, which just adds to the fun color to the story here. All right, we've got just a few seconds left, but Cassie, when we come back, we're going to talk about how at Lightpoint Portfolios, you all really started working with company and church retirement plans, as well as some specific advice for those listening today who are employees about how they can make sure they're doing what they need to do to prepare for retirement and for business owners, how they can help their employees as well. Cassie Layman joins us today. Cassie is president of Lightpoint Portfolios, and we're talking about faith-based investing. Following this interview, your questions today at 800-525-7000. Stay with us.

We'll be right back. Great to have you with us today on Money Wise Live. We're talking today with Cassie Layman. Cassie is president of Lightpoint Portfolios and underwriter of this program, and we're specifically talking about faith-based investing. Cassie, just before the break, you were telling us your story that resulted in you writing a book really about how you came to Christ through this journey in exploring faith-based investing. Now you lead Lightpoint Portfolios, and you all specifically work with companies and church retirement plans. What led you in that direction? Well, Rob, because most Americans have a bulk of their retirement savings and an employer-sponsored plan, Rick had recognized for many years that there was a need for a 401k and a 403b platform that would provide Christian companies and churches and their employees the opportunity to align those retirement assets with their deeply held faith values.

And it really didn't exist in the marketplace at that time. So we felt led to create it, and that's really helped us to merge two of our passions, helping people invest for retirement and beyond, and doing it with faith-based investments. So the Kingdom K and the Kingdom B are our way of making that possible for as many Christians as possible. One of the benefits of our approach is that we put our faith-based portfolios into the plan to help participants who don't know how to construct their own portfolios. So we don't just add a couple of funds into the plan and leave it to the employees to figure it out. We really help them out by putting the whole portfolios in there. And, you know, one other thing I will share that we find many Christian business owners, nonprofits, and churches are unknowingly investing in business practices that oppose their faith values. And now we have a solution that balances fiduciary responsibility with biblical values. Yeah, that's really helpful because we hear from so many listeners, Cassie, who find themselves in a position where they're in a retirement plan. They obviously have limited choices available to them provided by their plan, but they're frustrated because they want to use faith-based investments and they don't have those available.

Obviously, this solves for that. Well, I want to talk about both the participant side and the business owner side. Let's start with participants. What advice do you give them about saving in their retirement plan? Well, first and foremost, if you have a plan, you should participate in it. You know, people often think I'll start contributing when I have more money, but our human nature is to feel like we never have enough. And by waiting, we lose the benefit of saving early and taking advantage of compound interest. And if you're not familiar with compound interest, it basically means that over time you're gaining interest on both your savings and on any interest you made previously.

So you want to take advantage of that. Also, many companies provide a matching contribution, meaning that if you contribute to the plan, they will also contribute money up to a certain amount. So for example, if your employer offers a 5% match, it means they'll contribute the same amount to your account that you contribute up to 5% of your salary.

Now, you can probably contribute more, but only the first 5% will be matched. So in this case, your employer is offering you additional compensation and incentivizing you to save for retirement. So if you're not contributing to your 401k, you are really leaving that money on the table.

Yeah, and now more than ever, especially with the market down, for you to stay consistent in your contributions so you can dollar cost average in. All right, what about a business owner, Cassie, in terms of helping their employees save for the future? Well, I like to say that employers are the key to helping employees. Surveys show that a retirement plan is the second most desired benefit after health insurance. And there's also a significant tax benefit for business owners to save for their own retirement. So we can look at plan design to help both the employees and the employer.

Now, here are two areas where I think there are some opportunities for business owners or churches that have a retirement plan. First of all, many of the people who oversee retirement plans, they're called plan sponsors, they don't realize it's a best practice to benchmark their plan every three years. And that includes doing a fee analysis, which is really their fiduciary responsibility to their employees. So one of the things we offer is a complimentary objective analysis of your current plan to see where there might be some opportunities for improvement and also to let you know about the fees that you're paying.

It's really unclear for many participants and owners about the fees they're paying because it's hidden and we help to educate them and see what the real costs of their plan are. The second thing is that we believe that every follower of Christ should at the very least be presented with the opportunity to invest their resources in a manner that's in alignment with and honors their faith values. So we found that many business owners believe that they're not able to use faith-based strategies in their retirement plan. When in fact there's no restriction against that, plan fiduciaries can offer faith-based investments when other investment alternatives are also made available to participants so long as the faith-based options are prudent selections. So one of the other things we really do is we take on the fiduciary responsibility of selecting and reviewing the investments that would otherwise fall to the business owner or to the pastor and that really helps them out because that might not be their area of expertise.

Sure. Now I mentioned that listener who wants to invest in faith-based funds but they just simply aren't available in their retirement plan. Do you have any advice for them?

I do. There are a few options here and the first thing is I would suggest that they talk to human resources about the possibility of adding some faith-based funds into the investment lineup. It may not be as good as having access to full faith-based portfolios but it is a good start.

So that's one option. Now some plans also have something called a self-directed brokerage window and what that means is they will let you take some of your funds out of the plan and either invest them on your own or with the help of your financial advisor. So in that case you would have an option to invest in some faith-based funds. Another option would be to contribute enough to the plan to maximize the company match and then you could contribute other funds to an IRA and incorporate some faith-based funds there. And lastly if you are a member of a faith-based organization you could request that they look at the Kingdom K platform and as I mentioned we help organizations improve their plans in a number of different areas including the fund lineup and the fees. Yeah that's really helpful.

We've got just about a minute left Cassie. Will you explain for somebody who's just hearing about faith-based investing for the first time how do you describe what that is and how it differs from traditional investments? Well we look at two sides of that. We look at certain business practices that we don't want to invest in and benefit from. I always say it's like praying with your dollars. You're saying God take my money and let this company grow and flourish so we can share in the profits together. So we say let's not invest in things that are harmful like abortion and pornography and addictions. Instead let's invest in things that help people to grow and flourish. And so there are really two sides of that but we can really be excited about the kinds of things that we're investing in.

Great services and products, good employers, active in their communities. I think it's a really exciting way to invest. That's great and Cassie how can folks learn more?

Well if you'd like to find the book I Found Jesus in the Stock Market that's on Amazon and then you can also visit our website at lightpointportfolios.com. This has been helpful and informative. Cassie thanks for stopping by. Thanks so much Rob.

It's been great to be with you. Cassie Layman has been our guest today. She's president of Light Point Portfolios.

That website again is lightpointportfolios.com. Your calls are next at 800-525-7000. That's 800-525-7000. Stay with us. We'll be right back. Great to have you with us today on MoneyWise Live.

I'm Rob Last year host. We're taking your calls and questions today on anything financial. 800-525-7000 is the number to call. That's 800-525-7000. Let's head to Cleveland Heights, Ohio for our first caller.

Anthony, go right ahead sir. Okay so I purchased my first home in 2020, late 2020 and I was given a mortgage payment was $1,130. In September of 2021 they did their analysis. All of a sudden the mortgage drops to, the payment drops to 770. I found that odd. I called them and they said well just pay what it says. So I paid for a year until this September at the 770.

I hop onto my website at that point. Now I see the mortgage payment is $1,800 and some odd dollars. Turns out what happened was they made a mistake and they essentially did not take money for my taxes, for the property taxes for a year. So essentially it put the escrow in a $5,000 hole. And so the resolution as it stands is that they agreed to split the escrow balance over 48 months. Obviously reducing the payment from the $1,800 range down to around $1,300. Interest free of course. And obviously I have the option at this point to make the escrow account hole right now in a lump sum and I'm wondering whether I should do that or not. Yeah. Where would the funds come from Anthony if you were to make it hole right now?

From my, I guess from my emergency fund, you know from my six month, if you want to call that emergency fund. Very good. I guess what precipitated this phone call specifically is she said, you know, I want to make you aware that in a year they could reanalyze the house.

The analysis appraisal could go up and I could find myself further in the hole. That's what said, uh oh. Yeah. No, that makes sense. So what is the total amount that you're short in escrow?

Uh, actually the figure was somewhere around $7,700 because it has to account for the, the, the deficiency plus the plus the cushion. Yeah. Got it.

Yep. And then, uh, what do you have in your emergency fund today? Uh, somewhere in the neighborhood of 15,000. Okay. And what do you all spend on a monthly basis roughly? Oh, um, but that one I don't have an answer for off the top of my head.

I didn't expect that one. That's okay. Would you expect your budget is 5,000 a month?

Six, seven, maybe more. Well, uh, let's see. Uh, if this, uh, if this makes it easy, I have zero in the way of credit card debt. Um, I, I have, um, uh, you know, my car is paid for, so we're down to utilities and food. Uh, so yeah.

Plus your mortgage payment. Yeah. Yeah. Correct. Yeah. Yeah.

Okay. Well let's say it's 3000 a month. I mean, so you've got, uh, you know, about five months worth of savings put aside. You were, if you were to cut that in half, you'd have a little more than two months worth of savings. Um, and if you, uh, continue on this 48 month track, what is your mortgage payment? Uh, it was, uh, roughly speaking and it brought it down to around 1347, 1350 somewhere around there.

Okay. And if you were to do it in one lump sum, how much would that drop? Good question.

I asked them that and it drops down to like 1250 or 1270 somewhere around there, which obviously the original payment, you know, that never should have dropped. Plus the appraised increase. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. I mean, I think the, the idea here is that, yeah, we want to pay it back as quickly as we can and get you back fully funded.

It was their error. So they're letting, letting you spread it out over time. Uh, the nice thing is that if you stay on their track, uh, you don't cut your emergency savings down to nearly two months. You know, the problem is if you go ahead and pay it all right now, your emergency savings is down to two months. If you were to need some extra funds, it might be a little harder to get to it or it might be a tax consequence or you might have to put it on a credit card. And so there's really not a need to part with that cash. You could always prepay it down the road if you want to.

But I think the opportunity to, you know, maybe accelerate that over time, uh, as you build up that emergency fund. So do you all have a surplus each month left over? Uh, you mean just generally speaking? Yes. Yes. Yes. Okay.

Do you think a few hundred dollars? Right. Right. I can, I write that. Yes.

So what if you were to freeze this emergency fund where it is and you were to pay the third $1447, but then you were to work it out with them where you could take, you know, two, three, $400 a month, whatever you have left over and then use that to build up quicker. So maybe you're not spreading this out over 48 months. Maybe it's 24 months. Does that make sense? Okay. That makes sense. Yeah.

And then you keep your cash. Sure. Yes, exactly. The one other question I have with regard to this is, you know, I don't know the legality surrounding this, but why couldn't I ask them to just spread it over the entire length of the loan? I mean, I, you know, they're not going to do that.

Okay. Well it is their error, but the end of the day, they're having to pay these bills every year and they're only going to do that for so long despite the fact, I mean, I'm, I'm surprised they're willing to come out of pocket and it essentially, they're floating you this annual property tax bill because you don't have the money to pay it. So they're going to front it for you with the understanding that they're going to get it back over time.

So they're not going to do that forever. And in this case they've made a concession for four years because it was their fault and they realized there's only so much room there that they can raise your mortgage payment, but they're not going to do that over 20 years or more. So I think you've got to stick with what you've got, but I'd like the idea that you'd get that paid off a little quicker than four years.

I just wouldn't deplete your emergency savings to do it, especially if they're willing to work with you and they're not charging any interest. So I would just send that extra. Now here's the thing, make sure that when they, you send that extra, that you do it in such a way that you make sure that's going into escrow and not against principal. As much as I'd like to go against principal, we got to get this escrow fully funded in the meantime. Okay.

So talk to them first and figure out how you do it in a way that makes it get right into that escrow account. Sound good? Thank you. Appreciate it. That sounds good.

Absolutely. Anthony, thanks for your call. We've got a few lines open, 800-525-7000. This is MoneyWise Live.

We'll be right back with much more. Great to have you with us today on MoneyWise Live. I'm Rob West. We're taking your calls and questions. We have a few lines open, 800-525-7000 is the number to call.

To Shreveport, Louisiana. Adrian, thank you for calling. Go right ahead. Hi, Adrian.

All right. Let's see if we can get Adrian on the line. We'll come back to that line.

Let's move along to Siloam Springs, Arkansas. Kathy, go right ahead. Hi.

Hi. So yeah, my question is simply, is there any disadvantage to pay, tax disadvantages or disadvantages to paying the house off early? Because I feel like the tax people say to hold on to it for tax reasons. But I kind of want to pay it off. Well, I love the idea of paying it off.

And if you have a conviction around that, I'd do that, Kathy, and not look back. Some advisors and others will say that it's better to invest discretionary income rather than paying off your mortgage with it because you can outperform the interest rate on the mortgage, especially if you have an older mortgage that's very, very low by putting that money to work. And also that you could take a deduction for your mortgage interest.

The reality is though 80% of people now with the higher standard deduction don't itemize and therefore you get no benefit for that interest that you're paying on your home mortgage. So it would really be only if you could take that money and put it to work and outperform. That is, through the investment returns, compensate or overcome the interest that's paid. And then you obviously benefit from the amount beyond that that you earn on the account. What that doesn't recognize is just the non-financial side of the equation, which is there's just a whole lot of peace of mind that comes with knowing that you own your home, that you're free and clear, unencumbered, and that there's not a mortgage on it. And once it's paid off, that reduces your lifestyle spending, which just gives you more freedom and flexibility in following, I think, the leading of the Lord.

So although I don't want folks to deplete all of their cash and put themselves in a real tight spot from a cash standpoint, when we have the ability, and it sounds like you do, to pay off the mortgage and still have plenty of reserves and still be saving for the future, I would say go for it. In fact, and I've said this before, but I get calls from folks all the time. I've never had a call in all the years I've been doing this with somebody that paid off their house and called me later and said, I just regret that.

I wish I wouldn't have done that. I just don't get that phone call, which I think speaks to, Kathy, why it is your sensing that you'd like to have this be the case in your situation. But give me your thoughts on that. Yeah, no, I think the peace of mind is worth a lot. I do itemize. I do get to itemize, but I feel like the peace of mind and being done with it is so valuable. Yeah, yeah. And then you can repurpose that money toward your goals and priorities, whether that's additional investing or giving or whatever that might be. So I'm on board with it, Kathy. If you have the ability to do it, I would say go for it.

I just couldn't figure out why everybody says it's going to get out. I guess it's, yeah. It's really just about the investments and the deduction. I mean, that would be the only reason why you wouldn't want to do it.

But again, I think the uncertainty of the investments versus the guaranteed benefit of no interest on top of the fact that you're reducing your lifestyle on top of the fact that it brings great peace of mind is all the reason in the world to get it done. Yes. And I love simplifying. Okay. Thank you so much.

Yeah, absolutely. Okay. Thanks for your call today. We appreciate it. Let's head to John in Ohio. John, you're next on the program. Go ahead. Oh, hi.

Thanks for taking my call. I believe that the stock market is immoral, and so I don't really want to put any investment into that. So I really would like to do it more community based, like in my own neighborhood. I found very mixed resources on doing that. Is there anything that you guys know of or that you would suggest to be able to invest locally so I could actually help people that I could see and be like, hey, I helped to do that kind of thing?

Yeah. You know, it's going to be so specific to each locale, John. I think it really is going to require you to get a little more invested and do some more exploration there in your community because there really aren't any national resources that might spotlight local investment opportunities. What I would say with the investing in terms of the stock market being immoral or amoral, what I would say to you is the market is just the means of exchange where we buy and sell securities. Investing, though, involves actual companies. And the question is, what companies are we invested in? As we deploy capital, we're a percentage owner of that company, whether it's a multinational company or domestic or international. And the question is, what companies are we owning? And so I would actually submit that there is an opportunity to invest in companies that are aligned with your values and are promoting human flourishing and really for the common good and even in some cases making a kingdom impact.

So I would challenge you to do a little bit more exploration on that. And a great resource would be the Center for Faith and Investing. And you can learn more at faithandinvesting.com. And I think that might give you some more insights just in how you can combine these two. Now, that doesn't in any way discount this idea that you have with regard to local investments.

That can be great. And there's a lot of great opportunities there. But you're going to have to find them locally and just make sure that you're not taking unnecessary risk by being too highly concentrated in one particular investment that just increases the risk of volatility.

Because if you have very few investments because you're concentrated in one particular local business and that business fails, then you've not been properly diversified. So I would say go ahead and proceed down that track. Make sure you're diversified.

Do your homework. But at the same time, maybe do some exploration at a website, again, called faithandinvesting.com and just see if that uncovers some new ideas for you. Okay. Yeah, that'd be great. That's actually kind of more, yeah, would be really good in line with what I'd like to do. At least if I'm going to invest, it would be nice to do it faithfully.

Yeah. And the good news is there's a lot of options for that today, John, that didn't exist previously in a whole emerging sector called faith-based investing where we're either avoiding companies that are misaligned with our values or we're embracing companies that are promoting human flourishing and really in existence for the common good in addition to creating compelling value for their shareholders. So do some exploration on that.

See what you find. We appreciate you checking in with us today. Let's stay in Ohio and head to Cleveland.

Lil, you're next on the program. Go ahead. Hi, I want to ask about converting some old Series E savings bonds to I bonds if that's possible without cashing them out and also at the same time cashing a small Roth IRA to buy I bonds. Okay.

Let's talk about both. So with the EE bonds, you can pull them out, redeem them after a year. So you would basically redeem those bonds. You'd be credited any interest that you're owed. At that point, you would receive the cash for that and then you could turn around and redeploy that and purchase the I bonds, the inflation bonds at treasurydirect.gov.

That'd be also the website for you to redeem the double E's. So that's no problem. In terms of the Roth, I would just want to make sure that makes sense because that's a great environment for you to keep that money to grow for the longer term. The I bonds right now are paying phenomenal rates of return at 9.6 now and then we're expecting in November to go down to about 6, which is great, but that's short term whereas the Roth has the ability to grow in a tax-free environment for a long, long time.

So just make sure you weigh that and look at the longer term perspective before you pull the money out of that Roth IRA, especially if you're getting into earnings that goes beyond the original contributions. Hope that helps you, Lil. Thanks for your call today.

God bless you. We'll take more of your calls and questions just around the corner. All the lines are full, but we'll be right back. Stay with us on MoneyWise Live. Thanks for joining us today on MoneyWise Live.

This is biblical wisdom for your financial decisions. I'm Rob West. Let's head back to the phones to Plainfield, Illinois. Hey, Agnes, thanks for calling.

Go ahead. Yeah, I'm calling to update regarding my call about I bond. I applied to application and I didn't get anything from them. So last Saturday they had an open line, which I called in and they were able to fix it.

They told me that the reason why they didn't send the account number was that something was missing from my email. So they fixed it and then the I bond was funded and ready to go. Well, that's good news. Well, I appreciate that update.

Yeah. My second call is that I got a payment for insurance regarding my husband's debt. They told me that no tax was deducted, but I'm wondering how would this affect my tax return next year?

Yeah, Agnes, I'm sorry to hear of your husband's passing. Generally speaking, life insurance proceeds to a beneficiary are not taxable at the federal level, so it shouldn't affect your taxes whatsoever. OK, so do I see how to report it as income or what do I do? No, it's not income.

Life insurance proceeds would not be reported. OK, thank you, sir. Thank you. OK, you're welcome and thanks for the update. You know, these I bonds have been really popular just because of what's going on right now, especially now, because between now and October 31st, you can get the current rate of 9.62% for six months from the date you open and fund the account. And that is going to change to a new rate in November. And we think that rate, experts are estimating it'll be somewhere in the six and a half range.

So because of that, there's just a flood of people opening these accounts, which has created some customer service challenges. So good to hear Agnes getting that resolved. All right. To Indiana we go. Kathy, you're next on the program. Go ahead.

Hi. You know, I have an annuity I've had for about 15 years. It was from an employee owned option. I didn't pay taxes on it. Now, this annuity, I could take the lump sum and pay taxes on it.

I'm 67. I'm going to wait till I'm 70 if I do that because my payout each month will be more. But I'm in a quandary whether I should just take the whole lump sum or continue to make. I only make about two grand on it a year. But a grand of it goes for this lifetime payment if I choose that option. So I'm just in a quandary if I should cash it out or go ahead and pay for this. Yes, sure. What is it you would get in the form of a lump sum payout?

I think about close to 500 a month. All right. But can you take a lump sum or do you have to get the annuity income stream?

I can't. I can do either. I can do either. What would be the lump sum you would get? About 50 grand.

Somewhere about 50,000. Okay. Or you get 500 a month for the rest of your life? Yeah.

Okay. You know, that is, I mean, if that's the case now, that's obviously if it's a single life annuity that's only on your life. Is that right? It doesn't get paid to a beneficiary or anyone else? Right, right.

If I die, I guess whatever's left of that lump sum my husband will get or my son. Okay. You would need to check on that. Yeah. You know, these policies are just, there's so much to them. I would hesitate to give you a definitive answer one way or the other without reading the fine print and exactly understanding, you know, number one, is this just payable to you? And then it stops and they keep what's left? Could it pass on to your heirs or your husband?

What is the tax implications of any of these scenarios? So I think before you make this decision, Kathy, I would probably check with an advisor who could really look at the details of this and help you make this decision. Do you all have a financial advisor that you work with?

We don't. Okay. So you could reach out to a certified Kingdom advisor there in Indiana, you just head to our website MoneyWise.org, click find a CKA. And then you could, you know, connect with somebody locally, just schedule a one hour meeting, get them to read over this and help you make this decision, you know, as to what would be the best option probably to go ahead and just pull the money out. But I would want to understand all the details before that decision was made.

And unfortunately, there's just too many pieces and parts to that to give you an answer here over the radio. I understand. But I'm glad I called any help. Thank you so much. All right, Kathy, thanks for checking in with us. We appreciate it. To Youngstown, Ohio, Katie, you're next on the program. Go ahead.

Thank you. I have a question in regards to my husband and I have inherited a sizable amount of money and we're looking to put that towards a piece of property in another state as a retirement home site down the road, maybe five to 10 years out. And so in the interim, I was just wondering in order to purchase that property, if we should create or take out a home equity loan on our home here, or if we should actually just get another mortgage payment or loan down in the south. Yeah, I like getting a new mortgage on that property specifically. So it's collateralized by that home and not your current residence. It's going to be a little higher rate than a first mortgage on a primary residence because it's considered an investment property but you'd also be paying a higher rate on that second mortgage on your primary residence anyway. So I think the key is, I'm glad to hear that you got this big payout that's going to help to keep that mortgage as low as possible.

The big thing is just the affordability of it. You're going to need to make sure, especially in light of what's happened with interest rates up 400 basis points over the last eight, nine months, just make sure you understand what that principal and interest taxes and insurance payment is going to be every month based on that new mortgage and make sure that that fits well within your budget and you're not stretching for this five to 10 years between now and when you're going to occupy this home and sell your current property. But I would not attach it to the primary residence. I would get it a mortgage specifically on that second property. And would that change in the event that right now it's literally just a piece of property, no home site on that property? No, it doesn't.

I mean, the only thing to consider would be whether you want to get a construction to permanent loan but that would be if you were ready to start building and it doesn't sound like you are, right? You're just going to sit on the land? Correct. That is our objective.

So it's a little different mortgage just because it is a piece of raw land but I would still collateralize only the land to the mortgage on that property as opposed to attaching it to your current residence. Okay. Thank you so very much. I really appreciate your wisdom. Absolutely, Katie. Thanks for calling today. We appreciate it. Let's see. Let's move along to Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Hey, Ken. How can I help you, sir?

Hey, quick question. My father passed away about 26 years ago and my mother's living and she's getting up in age but the house that she lives in is paid for and my brother lives with her and I read my mom's will. She wanted me to go through all those papers and get everything ready if something happens and my brother is getting the house in her will. So my question is, should I get my mother to put my brother's name on the deed for the house or do I wait for her to pass away and then the will says he gets that? Yeah, there's a significant benefit to him receiving that home through an inheritance in the will versus just being named on the deed. The reason is because he won't get what's called the stepped up basis if he decides to sell the property someday whereas if he inherits it, the basis for the property that's going to determine the capital gains down the road when he sells it is going to be stepped up to the value of the property as of the date of death whereas if he were to receive it, let's say, as a gift today from her and then he were to receive 50% of the value of the property as a gift and then be added to the deed, he would not receive a step up in basis at that point.

So from a tax standpoint, it would be better for him just to continue to live in her home and then inherit it at her death. Okay. All right. Wonderful.

That's what I wanted to know. Okay. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. You're welcome, Ken. Thanks for listening and calling. We appreciate it. Quickly to Montana.

Bill, how can I help you, sir? I would like to know something about home title protection. It's some sort of a protection against cyber crime. Yeah, it's not something I recommend and it isn't necessary. It's often called title lock insurance.

The problem is that's a misnomer. It doesn't lock anything. If someone fraudulently transfers your deed and then takes out a loan on it, it's still fraud and you can't be foreclosed on. If you want to monitor your title, you can do that at the county deed office. Most counties now have an online feature that allows you to do that, but you don't need to pay anybody to lock anything because they really can't do it.

And if somebody somehow fraudulently takes possession of your home and does something with it, like get a mortgage against it, at the end of the day, that's still fraud and won't hold up in court if somebody were to try to evict you for nonpayment. Okay. Make sense? Thank you for your information and I really like Larry Burkett and I really like this show. Thank you. Thank you, Bill.

I appreciate you saying that. You know, the late Larry Burkett, I'll tell you what, his kind heart, his wisdom, incredible. And there's not a week that goes by that somebody doesn't mention Larry and what he did to really bring and shine a spotlight on God's word. And that's what Larry was all about.

God's word as it relates to how we handle God's money. And so the opportunity to continue on this program, walking in the amazing Larry Burkett shoes and then Howard Dayton after him is just something that I take very, very seriously. It's humbling and it's an incredible honor. Thank you all for celebrating Larry as you do periodically. I know so many of our listeners go all the way back to the Larry days.

In some cases, they were sitting in the backseat of the car with their parents that had the radio on listening to Larry Burkett. That's great. Hey, thanks for being along with us today.

MoneyWise Live is a partnership between Moody Radio and MoneyWise Media. Thank you to my team today. I couldn't do it without them. Thank you for being here as well. We'll look forward to seeing you next time. Bye-bye.