Prayer and Money

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. Philippians 4, 6.

Hi, I'm Rob West. The phrase in everything means you can pray about anything, and that includes money. At the same time, God is not an ATM machine. So how should we pray about financial things? Well, that's first today, and then it's on to your calls at 800-525-7000.

800-525-7000. This is Faith & Finance Live, biblical wisdom for your financial decisions. Some folks question whether it's okay to ask God for financial help. So first off, let's dispel the notion that God doesn't care about your money, or that it's wrong to pray about your finances.

Nothing in the Bible says that. If it's important to you, it's important to God. He wants to be a part of your life, your whole life. And besides that, you might as well talk to him about your finances.

He already knows them down to the last penny. 1 John 5 14 says, This is the confidence we have in approaching God, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. Now, there are two key points in that verse. First, you can ask God for anything. Second, he will hear your prayer, if it's according to his will.

That's where things get a bit trickier. How do we know what God's will is for us, so that we can ask for things within it? Well, it's critical to understand that throughout the Bible, God promises to meet your needs, not necessarily your wants and desires. If you feel a prayer has gone unanswered, you might be mistaking a need for a want.

So let's make sure we understand the difference. A home and roof over your head is a need. A want could be a four bedroom house with three and a half baths, a downstairs rec room, the three car garage and a jacuzzi. Now, there's nothing intrinsically wrong with any of those things, if it's God's plan for you and your family. Every circumstance is different and God's plan for every family is different. The key is to find his will for your life and to learn to be content with what he provides, even when you see others in the neighborhood with more. First, Timothy 6 tells us, Now there is great gain in godliness with contentment, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. Notice the apostle Paul isn't even asking for a house, just food and clothing so he can continue to bring the gospel to the Gentiles. I'm not saying you should take a vow of poverty and head into the mission fields.

I'm just trying to give you perspective. Contentment and gratitude are important because God owns everything and he is our ultimate provider. John 3 27 says a person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven. We are simply his stewards and as such we're expected to manage his resources according to his principles.

If you're not doing that, it's a good place to start improving your financial picture. Otherwise, how can you expect God to provide more? First Corinthians 4 2 reads, Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found trustworthy. Something else to keep in mind, God's plan for you may only be for a season. He may someday give you a big raise or make you the head of the company you work for or send you to the mission field. You must practice patience and wait on the Lord. God is always faithful to meet our needs. He doesn't delight in your struggles. Paul says in Romans 8 32, he who did not spare his own son but delivered him up for us all, how will he not also with him freely give us all things? Okay, now you know the importance of praying within God's will.

Is there anything else to consider? Well, yes, there is. If you're really struggling to keep a roof over your head and food on the table, it could be that God plans to meet your needs through the abundance of a fellow Christian. He gives abundance to some so they can share with people in need. And by doing that, his love and glory are demonstrated to an unbelieving world. Paul writes about this in 2 Corinthians 8 14.

At the present time, your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need. That means if you struggle with an unmet need, let your church family know about it. You'll have to set aside your pride, but God will be glorified as your needs are met through the church family. Present yourself and your need with humility to your church leaders and be grateful for whatever course they decide. God has not abandoned you or overlooked your needs.

His plan is to provide for you in a way that meets your needs, all according to his will. All right, we're going to take your calls next at 800-525-7000. Those lines are open 24-7-800-525-7000. I'm Rob West and this is Faith and Finance Live, biblical wisdom for your financial journey. We'll be right back. Well, it's great to have you with us today on Faith and Finance Live here on Moody Radio. I'm Rob West. All right, it's time to take your calls and questions today on anything financial.

Our team is standing by. In fact, Lynn, ready to receive your phone call today at 800-525-7000. That's right, you can call right now at 800-525-7000. Let's begin today in Michigan. Linda, you'll be our first caller. Go right ahead. Yes, hi Rob. I love your show and I've learned so much. Thank you very much.

I have a quick question regarding, I bought some term life insurance through my employer and I believe it's, it's my bad as the expression is, but it's either John Hancock or Prudential. Okay. But regardless, yeah, I'm paying 160 a month, so roughly 2,000 a year and I'm 63 and have no dependents, not married, just me. And I was just wondering or thinking, how stupid is that? I mean, should I, is there a penalty to cash something like that in? Is there a, or is it... There's not.

Yeah, no, there's not. And I think, you know, the key is, first of all, whether or not you need the death benefit, whether this is something that you need as a part of your overall financial plan. If we take a step back for a second, the purpose of life insurance is really to offset a risk. And in the case of life insurance, as opposed to other forms of insurance, that risk is that you pass away and your income goes away and therefore somebody who's depending upon that income is left without it. Or, you know, in the case of, let's say, a stay at home spouse, where, you know, they're taking care of small children and, you know, that spouse were to pass away and all of a sudden the working spouse is having to pay for, you know, five day a week daycare.

I mean, things like that, where there would be a hardship created for a loved one or dependent upon your death. And if that's not the case, which it sounds like it isn't, then there's really not a need for this life insurance, especially one that only has a term to it, and it doesn't have a savings vehicle with it. Although I'm not a fan of that either, because I'd rather you be saving outside of an insurance product. So if it's term life, there's no cash value. You've been paying for the death benefit.

And because you haven't collected, you're still alive. All you would do if you determine you didn't need that death benefit is drop that policy. You'd call the HR department or whoever handles, you know, your benefits and just tell them that you're no longer going to take advantage of that employer benefit of term life insurance that you've been paying for at $160 a year, which by the way, you know, a couple of thousand dollars a year is an expensive policy at 63. You could actually, you know, get well as a healthy 63 year old, you could get a half a million dollar death benefit for $129 a month on a 15 year term policy. So, you know, it doesn't sound like it sounds like, first of all, it's very expensive. And secondly, it sounds like you don't need it. And as a result, you know, this is $160 that you could add back into your budget on a monthly basis to do some additional giving, maybe pay down debt, maybe save it for the future, something like that.

Does that make sense? Oh, totally. Well, I feel like a total idiot.

I don't know what compelled me to buy it. And yes, my parents, I know that'll be moot. They're in their late 80s. And yeah, not married, no children. So yeah, it's totally stupid. Well, no, don't feel like that at all. Listen, we, we, there's complicated decisions here related to money. And, you know, if we've all done things, we look back and say, Now, why did I do that again?

But hey, we've all been there. But nevertheless, this is a great opportunity for you to recapture this money on a monthly basis. And I'm confident you have a good place for it to go. So Linda, thanks for your kind remarks about the program. And we appreciate you calling today.

Thanks very much. 800-525-7000. We've got some lines open today. Again, 800-525-7000. You can call right now with your financial questions.

Let's head to Rome, Georgia. Hi, Dee. Thank you for calling. Go right ahead. Yes, I had a question. How are you first? I'm doing great. Thank you.

Good. I had this question I always wondered about. Can you pay on your credit cards before they are due? And paid the majority of say all of it except the dollar and like, like two or three days before is the due date. Can you just pay that knowledge of that and help your credit at all?

Yes, it actually could. And just there is actually not even a benefit to leaving a dollar, you could pay the whole thing off. And here's where the benefit comes in. Now, keep in mind with a credit card, as long as you're paying it by the due date, which is beyond the closing of the cycle. So credit cards are on a one month cycle, and you have a date every month that that cycle closes.

And then you have a due date beyond that, where you can pay the minimum payment, or you can pay the balance in full, we of course, say that if you're going to use a credit card, you should be able to use it only for budgeted items, which means you should be able to pay it in full. The moment you can't, I would tear it up because you know, at 20% interest plus, that's going to be a very expensive way to support your lifestyle. Now, let's say you're paying it off in full, as long as you pay it by the due date, you're not going to pay any interest. So why would you back up and pay it, not just by the due date, but before the end of the closing of the cycle? Well, the way the only reason you'd want to do that is for your credit score.

And here's why. If you pay it after the cycle closes, but before the due date, even though you're not going to pay any interest, they're going to report the credit card company, they're going to report to your credit bureaus, the balance as of the end of the cycle date. Okay, so even though you're paying it to zero, it's going to hit your credit. If you have a $3,000 balance before you pay it off with a $3,000 balance. Now, that wouldn't be a big deal if your credit limit was let's say $20,000, right?

Because that's a very small percentage. But if that balance every month that's being reported prior to you paying it off is above 30% of the limit on the card, then it's actually pulling your score down slightly, not in a significant way, but it is affecting your score. And the way to avoid that is to pay it the day before, let's say the end of the cycle close. And that way, when they report it to the Bureau, they're not going to report the balance, they're going to report it as zero, because you just paid it off.

And then you wouldn't have to pay anything on the due date because you would have just done it early. Does that all make sense to you? Yeah, I mean, this stuff is kind of confusing to me. I mean, I got a credit score and actually it went down because of a new loan I got. It was like 792 and then it went down to 787.

And so I was trying to see about how to get it back up and how long it would take. Well, let me tell you this. Let me just encourage you. Anything anywhere close to the credit score you have, you're already qualifying, D, for the very best top tier credit. So anytime you go out to get a loan, let's say you were going to buy a house or you needed a new car or a new used car and you wanted to get a loan or you wanted to apply for another credit card because it has better rewards or something, you're automatically over 720 going to qualify for the very best rates and terms out there. So whether that thing bounces around between 770 and 790, I wouldn't worry about it. You can't get above 8%, but you're so close to it. Anywhere over 720, you're fine.

So I would say probably just keep doing what you're doing and not worry about the 20, 30, 40 points that it's going to vary among in the upper 700s, okay? Okay. All right, D, God bless you. Hey, we've got a lot of calls coming in. Some great questions. Bev, Chris, coming your way.

Perhaps your question as well. Two lines open, 800-525-7000. Stay with us. We'll be right back. Grateful to have you with us today on Faith and Finance Live. Coming up in our final segment today, Bob Dole will stop by, give us his take on the markets and the economy. He joins us each Monday with his market analysis. Also, let me just mention here as we hit the midpoint of August, which, yeah, hard to believe.

My kids have been back in school for more than a week now. We could use your assistance in financial support here at FaithFi. As you probably know, if you're a regular listener to this program, we're listener supported, which means we only do what we do because of your generous support.

And we're actually just slightly behind this month. So if you'd consider a gift of any amount to the ministry at FaithFi.com, just head to FaithFi.com and you can click the give button there at the top of the page. We'd certainly be grateful and would allow us to continue to do the ministry that God has called us to. So much incredible life change occurring as folks really understand a biblical worldview of money. It's our privilege to serve you in this way, but your support would go a long way to continuing that.

FaithFi.com, just click give. All right, every line is full, so we're going to take as many questions as we can. Let's head to Pennsylvania. Hi, Bev, thanks for calling.

Go ahead. Hi, just a quick question. My husband is retired late 70s. I'm retired as well, and I erroneously, I guess, have allowed a premium to be continued to be paid quarterly on a life insurance policy. It is $150 a quarter. Death benefit is $25,000 on him, and the cash value currently is $8,400 or something. My question is, are we better off just cashing that out and prepaying part of funeral expenses, or should I just keep paying the premiums and use it when it's needed? Yeah, I mean, so you're paying $50 a month, $600 a year for a $25,000 policy. You know, the fact that you can get $8,000 out, if it were me, I'd reclaim that $600 a year, take that $8,000, and I'd put that in the bank personally. I mean, you can pre-plan your funeral expenses, which would allow you to make all the key decisions so loved ones don't have to make those decisions in an already difficult period, but then perhaps not prepay. Some folks like to prepay and have that done as well. The only thing to consider there is a funeral home could go out of business. You may decide at some point to be buried somewhere else. Of course, if you wanted to go ahead and do it, there's plenty of folks that have and have a lot of peace of mind that that's done, but I think the key is the pre-planning. So whether you put it in the bank at four and a half percent and you boost your emergency fund and add $600 a year to it, or you go ahead and take that money and add some to it and and prepay for the funeral expenses, I think in either case, if it were me, I'd probably drop that policy. Get rid of it. Okay, that's what I was thinking.

And then my, I guess, part B would be, is that then taxable once I cash that out? No, no, it shouldn't be. No. Okay, very good. Okay, thank you so much. Appreciate it. All right, Bev, absolutely. Thanks for your call today.

Narrows Park, Illinois. Hi Storm, thanks for calling. Go ahead. Hey Rob, I love your program. I listen to it all the time. I've learned so much.

Thank you very much. My question is, every year around Christmas time, I have about a thousand to twelve hundred dollars of spend on now five grandkids. Last year I had four, but I had a new one as of June 30th this year. And so I started, I decided, well, I don't want to buy Xboxes and all this kind of stuff anymore. So last year I decided to start buying bonds for them, like just $200 or something like that. And I was going to ask you if you thought that was a good idea, because I will have that money available every year for them. But I was going to ask you if you thought that would be a good idea to keep doing the bonds every year or should I do something else with the money? Yeah, I like you investing it for them.

I mean, perhaps you may want to find a happy middle because, you know, they, I would suspect, enjoy toys at Christmas, but maybe you dial it back a little bit so you can give them something they will enjoy right now and invest, you know, for the future. In terms of the investment vehicle, are you using iBonds? Yes, iBonds.

Yeah, I'm not a big fan of the iBonds right now. I mean, they were very attractive, you know, whether it's maybe a little over a year ago when they were paying 9.6% and then he's still attractive at 6.8%. But now that they're now in the fours, and I suspect when they reset again in October, they're coming down even lower. And as a result of that, they're just not, you can do better than that in a high yield savings account. I think it really is going to come down to the time horizon for each child. As long as there's at least five years, preferably 10, which I know you have one that's one month old, well, I would invest that in probably some either exchange traded funds that capture the broad moves of the stock market, or just some high quality mutual funds that would allow it to grow over time. And you know, you can not only get the money that you're putting in, but the growth that would be associated with it as well.

Now for the 15 year old, the oldest, you're only three years out from potentially wanting to bless this child with that gift. And you probably don't want to put that at the risk of the market. So I'd probably just put that in a CD.

Right now you can get five and a half percent better than you get in the I-BOND, but it's completely safe and liquid. Now, you're not wanting to earmark this specifically for college. Is that right, Storm? No, because I want them to have the money just in case they decide to just open up their own business or go to trade school or something else. Sure, sure.

No, that's great. So what I'd probably do if it were me is cash out those I-BONDS as long as they've been in there for a year. You've been getting a great interest rate the last year. I'd probably open a brokerage account, one for each of the grandchildren at Fidelity or Schwab. And then if you use Schwab, you could use the Schwab Intelligent Portfolios, which would be a way to create a passive index strategy. And it would be very low cost and it just capture the broad moves of the market. And then for those that have a time horizon of less than five years, I'd just buy some CDs. And then you could just automatically fund those.

It'll be very low cost. And when it's time to turn it over, you can bless them with a wonderful gift. How does that sound? That sounds great. Okay, very good. You're welcome, Storm.

God bless you. Thanks for your kind remarks about the program today. Well, folks, we're going to take a quick break. When we come back, we've got some great questions coming up.

It looks like all the lines still full. So if you're trying to get through, maybe hold tight a little till a little later in the broadcast or another day and just enjoy these questions we have coming around the corner. This is Faith and Finance Live. I'm Rob West and we'll be right back. Stay with us. Well, it's so great to have you with us today on Faith and Finance Live where we apply the wisdom from God's word, the principles and passages, the big ideas, and those 2300 verses on money and possessions to your practical financial decisions that you're making every day. Let's head right back to the phones.

We'll go to Cleveland next. Hi, Carolyn. Thank you for calling. How can I help?

Hi, thank you. I really need some financial advice. My sister's a 76-year-old widow and she has memory issues and she hasn't been managing her money.

And now I have to help her. She's got a reverse mortgage and some credit card debt and her only income is social security, which I don't know how much she gets a month. I didn't know if bankruptcy was an option or really what to do.

Yeah, well, that's really a last resort, Carolyn. I mean, at least she does have some steady income because if she has that reverse mortgage, then as long as she stays in that property and keeps the taxes paid and the insurance paid, then she's got a stream of income coming out of that on top of her social security. So the question really is going to come down to what does that budget look like and what is it going to take for us to balance that budget on a monthly basis given her two income sources, including, you know, paying the minimums on the credit cards. So what I would typically do is say, let's connect with our friends at Christian Credit Counselors dot org, have them look at how we can get the interest rates reduced on the credit cards so that now, as she's sending that scheduled monthly payment every month, more is going to principle.

So we actually get those balances coming down instead of just staying afloat. But we've got to also be dealing with the budget, the spending plan at the same time to make sure that that monthly payment fits in to the rest of her expenses. And all of that is less than her total available income on a monthly basis. The folks at Christian Credit Counselors dot org, perhaps with you and her, if she'd be willing to allow you to be a part of that, could work not only on the budget, but on the the plan to get those credit card interest rates down. And if we can make all that work, then we can avoid bankruptcy, which is really should be a very last resort. And so I'd love to have somebody go to work on the spending plan and the credit card interest rate reduction and see if we can make all that work together. Does that make sense? Yes, thank you so much.

I had no idea where to start. Okay, yeah, very good. So what I would do is I'd reach out to Christian Credit Counselors dot org. Do you happen to know what the total balance is on the credit cards? The credit card's probably less than $10,000.

Okay, yeah. So this will be a great solution for you. Just tell the folks at Christian Credit Counselors, you heard about them on Faith and Finance Live, and they'll take good care of you.

These are all believers, Carolyn. They'll sit down over the phone with you and and your sister and work through that spending plan, help you get those credit cards enrolled in the program. This is my preferred and what I believe is the most effective way to get those credit cards paid, to pay credit card debt down once and for all. But the good news is they'll help you deal with the budget at the same time, which is really key to making sure we've got a plan that's going to work long term. If you need further help along the way, let us know. But again, that website, Christian Credit Counselors dot org. Thanks for your call today. To Lakeland.

Hey, Chris, how can I help you, sir? Hey, so I'm 38 and I haven't really been putting money away. I make about $2400 a month.

And I was just wondering what would be a good starting number and starting area to start putting away for the future. I'm married and she has and she has some income from her job and has retirement and everything. But I was trying to see what I could do on my end.

Yeah, very good. Well, I mean, we need to always have a holistic plan that allows you guys as a married couple to say, hey, here's where we're going. This is the lifestyle we think God has called us to. And here's what's most important to us in terms of our giving priorities and our saving priorities, really beginning to talk about just your values and how that can inform your financial decisions. And then once you've uncovered that, talked about it, really understand each other's heart and how you want to use God's money as a tool to accomplish what you believe he's called you to, then that spending plan is really the cornerstone of every financial success that allows you to make sure every dollar has a job. And that job is working toward your values and your goals, because the purpose of money is not to get more of it. The purpose of money is to accomplish a set of goals informed by our values. So we've got to look at that spending plan.

It's okay. First, we should give that should be a priority cheerfully and proportionately and in freely. And so we give right off the top and then we need to be savers. And so you need to have that three to six months worth of expenses.

That's just a rule of thumb. You won't find that in the Bible, but that would be just kind of a guideline for how much you need set aside for emergency reserves. I'd put that in a separate online savings account. And then as long as you don't have any high interest credit card debt or consumer debt that you're carrying month to month beyond, let's say, a car loan or a mortgage, then I would say, let's build that split spending plan so that you're living within your income, yours and your wife's combined. And you've got a little bit of cushion or margin. And then the goal for your long term savings is going to be 10 to 15% of your income.

Now, you may not be able to do that right off the top. But if you look at your total take home pay, your goal between your wife's retirement plan and your retirement plan or your retirement plan plus a Roth IRA doesn't really matter how you organize it. But the goal is to get 10 to 15% of your pay going into retirement plans as you're able to. Now you may say, well, once we give and once we cover all of our expenses, and we just don't have enough leftover to do that, well, that would give you a goal to work up to that. But give me your thoughts on all that.

No, that sounds good. We do have a pretty good little nugget or whatever in savings. And like I said, she's been working with the company she's with for a little getting close to 10 years.

So she's been working steadily on her side. I was just trying to think of what would be a good start for me because like off and on throughout life, put things away and whatnot, but then life gets in the way. And so it's just like, okay, so 38, getting close to 40, what would be a good place to start to start putting away what like I was thinking maybe start with like 200 a month or something like that and just started maybe investing or something, but I didn't know what would be the right avenue.

I like that a lot. I mean, a systematic investment allows you to dollar cost average, which means you're buying at all points of the market up down sideways, it doesn't matter. But that systematic investment is a great way to do it. Do you have a company sponsored plan available at work, Chris?

No, I don't know. Okay, so then what I would do is I'd open a Roth IRA. So she's got her 401k or retirement plan at work. For you, I'd open a Roth IRA, you can actually open one for each of you because she can fund a Roth in addition to her 401k. Under the age of 50, you guys would each be able to put in 6500 this year.

But if you put in 200 a month, you'd get 4000 in a year, not this year, because we're starting in August, but you understand the idea. I'd open that probably a Charles Schwab or Fidelity. Our friends at soundmindinvesting.org could give you some great mutual fund suggestions. Or if you wanted to use a faith-based investing strategy, you could use some of the fun families at faithfi.com.

Just click on the show and you'll see families like Eventide and Guidestone and Praxis and One Ascent and a number of others. But regardless, once you have that account open at, let's say, Schwab or Fidelity, then you can set up an automatic transfer right into that account. You could use the Schwab Intelligent portfolios. That'd be another way to build a low-cost exchange-traded fund portfolio that captures the broad moves of the market. Or again, soundmindinvesting.org. But in either case, having that Roth there and setting up that automatic transfer so it just comes right out of your account every month, you don't have to think about it, is a great way to go.

And you'll reap the dividends of that 20-plus years down the road when you're ready to think about retirement. Thanks for your call, Chris. God bless you. We'll be right back on Faith & Finance Live. Well, it's great to have you with us today on Faith & Finance Live. We've covered a lot of ground, a lot of questions, still more to get to before we wrap up the program today. But first, here on a Monday, we're joined by Bob Doll, Chief Investment Officer at Crossmark Global Investments, where investments and values intersect.

You can sign up for his weekly Dolls Deliberations at crossmarkglobal.com. All right, Bob, as we look at inflation, obviously we've been pleased to see that number has certainly been coming down. But if it proves to be more stubborn than we thought, especially in light of energy prices being up in recent weeks, and perhaps that not being reflected yet in the numbers, the Fed is going to have some difficult decisions to make later in the year, huh?

I agree with you, Rob. And it's not just oil and some other commodities, but it's also wage rate gains. Some of the union negotiations, United Auto Workers in front of us, they're setting the tone for higher wage growth and is comfortable for the Fed, given their desire to bring inflation down. And so I'm with your question, that is to say, the Fed's not out of the woods. We're not out of the woods with inflation.

We've probably got a couple more months where it's going to look okay. But after that, I just wonder if some of these areas are going to be stubborn to the upside and the Fed won't be done. Yeah, just drawing from history here, Bob, I mean, we've had obviously 11 consecutive rate hikes.

That's up there, you know, near some of the fastest in history. But just in terms of the level that we're at now, if we continue to go higher, are there real problems that result from that? Or have we just been too accustomed to these super low interest rates and we're really not in a problem area even higher than where we're at right now?

Well, you're right to raise the question that we started at zero. And therefore, the first few rate increases probably just got us back to some notion of still low. The question is where is high and where is punitive? And where does that have an impact on other parts of the economy? Well, you know, the employment numbers and monthly employment numbers surprised to the upside.

I think it was 13 months in a row, but the last two have been a little disappointing. We look at banks' willingness to lend. That's getting a little troublesome.

We look at credit card balances, particularly for lower income consumers. That's moving up. So what's already in the pipeline from what the Fed has done is slowing the economy, which is exactly their objective, but they don't want to overdo it. I'll use it again. It's like threading a needle. It's difficult to get it right.

Yeah. And that soft landing that everybody's hoping for that we thought might be more plausible in the last couple of months to four or five months, perhaps that's going to be a little tougher to engineer than we thought. Bob, as we look again across the economic landscape, you know, we're talking a lot about just the international front. You had some comments out around the Chinese economy and how that may have an effect on the U.S. inflation.

What are your thoughts? You know, so China's economy, everybody knows, is on the slow side, lower growth than we've seen in quite some time. And so they're having pressure on some of their prices. So, for example, when China sells us goods, their exports, our inputs, the prices are down on some of those things, which can help our inflation rate. So a weak Chinese economy is not all bad for the U.S. Yeah, no doubt about it. Bob, what about the banks? You know, we obviously had a scare earlier this year. We wondered if it might have a ripple effect as some of these isolated banks had some problems because of largely due to mismanagement of their holdings. But now we've got Moody's cutting the credit ratings of several mid to small to mid-sized U.S. banks. Is that something we should be concerned about?

I think we have to pay attention. We did have that, you know, I call it day and a half of terror back in March and a few banks went under and then it was business as usual. Well, now we're moving along in time back to the earlier question where slowing the economy, including banks being stingier with their lending, all that says that the banks are trying to avoid credit problems. The economy slows, it will expose some credit problems. I don't know, commercial real estate could be some other places as well. Now, as investors, some of that's in the price of stock. Banks are pretty cheap, even though they've had a rally of late. So it's not so much go sell or re-bank stock, you know, just be aware that they're likely to be some credit problems.

All right, very good. Bob, let's finish with faith-based investing. Obviously, as a part of your mandate with the funds that you manage at Crossmark Global, you're able to bring in a real intentional process to make sure that these products, these offerings are aligned with the values and priorities of Christians. For those where that's a brand new idea, just give them a quick overview of what that looks like.

Sure. So we start by eliminating some stocks. We call that stocks that can damage people or society or kill people. And that's not that many stocks.

There's a few dozen, if you will. But more interestingly, what are we Christians for? And so we research to find not only who the good companies have good cash flow and good prices and a good strategic plan, but who's adding goodness to the globe, promoting family values, promoting justice.

How do these people, how do these firms treat their employees, their suppliers, their customers, et cetera, et cetera. And that gives them extra marks. And we know, Rob, with a lot of empirical evidence that you don't have to give up anything to put that in place. So, you know, you've heard my line before.

Why not have portfolios that work for both this life and the next line up your investments with your values? That's the message. It's awesome.

Well, how exciting that we have the opportunity to do that today, whereas here years ago, that really wasn't even part of the investing landscape. So grateful for your work, Bob. We appreciate your time today. Thanks for it. Bye bye. All right. That's Bob Dahl, chief investment officer at Crossmart Global Investments.

If you want to learn more, check out crossmartglobal.com. All right. Let's round out our program today. We've got a few more questions here.

We're going to try to tackle before we say goodbye to Indianapolis. We go. Hi, Julie. Thank you for calling. Go ahead. Hey, Rob. Thanks for taking my call and thanks for what you do. Thank you. I have three.

Yes, sir. I have three hundred thousand dollars in various CD accounts. My specific question, should I try to manage that or take it out, try to manage it or stick with the TD Ameritrade company?

Because in fees I have paid one thousand nine hundred and forty five dollars and I have only made one thousand six hundred and eighty seven dollars. So I feel like I'm losing money because he charges one point five. Yeah. Yeah.

Well, here's the thing. I mean, if all you're going to do is invest in CDs and I'm not saying that's a bad thing because I don't know anything about the purpose of this money, the time horizon on it, your age and risk tolerance. But if your objective is to own guaranteed products like certificates of deposit, then there's no reason for you to pay one and a quarter percent a year to invest in CDs. Now, typically, an advisor is charging one and a quarter percent a year on a three hundred thousand dollar portfolio is actively managing that account.

There might be a mix of some stocks and some bonds and yeah, maybe some CDs and money market, but it's largely stocks and bonds. And there's a, you know, an intentional strategy there to protect and grow this money. And, you know, the one and a quarter percent is very appropriate because they're going to really try to protect what you have, but outperform the markets in terms of growth. But again, if really your objective is to own guaranteed products like certificates of deposit, you're exactly right.

There shouldn't be, you know, there's no reason to pay a point and a quarter to do that. Because I've listened to you and I think I can try to ladder them myself and my credit union is 5.06 APR. Yeah, yeah.

That's great. The only thing I would say is these rates are probably fairly temporary. Now, when I say temporary, maybe the next couple of years. I mean, you could lock these up for five years right now in the fours if that's all you need. But if we're looking longer term, I mean, even in your 70s, I don't remember if you told me your age, but let's say somebody in their 70s, if you're in good health and the Lord tarries, you know, you may need this money the last couple of decades or more. So I guess I would just wonder, you know, you don't want to take unnecessary risk, but is there a case to be made that some of this should be more actively invested so that long term, not while we're enjoying the five and a half percent in the CDs, but long term, you can outpace inflation and avoid losing the purchasing power due to inflation by getting this money working for you. Yes, you'd add some risk to the portfolio, but you'd also increase the potential return as long as you have a long time horizon. I'm okay with that.

What are your thoughts on that versus just staying with the laddered CDs? I'm 58. I'm a retired teacher. And I have 299,000 in a rollover IRA.

My kids are 1918 and 17. So hopefully, I am going to be around a long time. But I just I've worked so hard to get that money into those CDs. And then I just feel like he's taking a bigger chip of it. And he isn't really doing much because CDs aren't that labor intensive. No, they're not compared to you. Yeah, no. Yeah. So I would agree with you, if you stay in CDs, and you feel like that's the right place for you. And ultimately, that's your call.

You're the steward, then you're exactly right. You don't need a broker, you can do this yourself, you can ladder them up, and your money will be guaranteed by the FDIC as long as you don't go over 250,000 in any one institution with the same titled category of account. But I would just throw out that should you consider trying to get a little better return with a part of this so that over time, you can outpace inflation.

And if you decided to do that, well, then I would say for that portion, he's going to earn or she's going to earn their fee of one and a quarter percent as they build a more actively managed portfolio. But if you want to stick with a CD is great. And I would agree you don't need to be with an advisor to do that. You can absolutely do that yourself.

Make sure you check out bankrate.com as you're researching these CDs, because that could give you some great options, probably with some online banks in addition to the one you mentioned locally, that could be worth considering just as you try to maximize that return, again with an FDIC or NCUA insured credit union. Thanks for your call, Julie. I hope that helps you. We appreciate you being on the program. Dawn and Don, I apologize we didn't get to you.

Lynn can try to get your phone number. We'll see if we can get you scheduled for another broadcast. Faith and Finance Live is a partnership between Moody Radio. Thank you. And Faith by. Thank you to Dan and Tahira and Jen and Lem.

Couldn't do it without them. Thank you for being here as well. Come back and join us tomorrow. We'll see you then.