Is Your Bank Unbiblical?

If someone told you 10 years ago that your bank was pushing abortion and other ungodly practices, would you have believed him? I'm Rob West. Probably not, but today that's what many of the nation's leading banks are up to.

I'll talk with Aaron Cade about that in an amazing survey on this topic. Then it's on to your calls at 800-525-7000. That's 800-525-7000. This is Faith and Finance Live, biblical wisdom for your financial decisions. Okay, so Aaron Cade is our go-to guy for what's happening in the banking industry.

He's chief marketing officer at Christian Community Credit Union and underwriter of this program. Aaron, great to have you back with us. Hi, Rob. It's a pleasure to be with you and your listeners today.

Well, we're delighted to have you. I know you watched this slide into Gomorrah that banks have undergone the past few years. Did it shock you to see how fast it happened? Yeah. In today's connected world, a headline can change an entire realm of behavior.

You never really know how fast something could happen. But I do believe that right now we are starting to see what could be the next big exodus for Christians in the marketplace today, and that is Christians choosing to bank with their values. Yeah, we're seeing it happen across the board and why not banking as well. I know this survey that we're going to talk about today made you folks at CCCU curious about something, and that is, how do people feel about putting their money in banks that don't align with their Christian worldview? So you decided to find out, right? Yeah, we've been hearing from new members who've joined the credit union just how fed up they are with their secular bank and how delighted they were to find Christian Community Credit Union.

So we decided to go out and find out, is this more than just anecdotal? So we surveyed over 1300 professed Christians across the country, and the results we saw were enlightening and actionable. Over 30% had considered switching their bank in the last 12 months, and Christian values were one of the top three reasons why they wanted to do that. Over 60% care deeply about managing their finances biblically. They want to honor God with their finances, not just the rest of their life. And over 50% said it's now important, more than ever, that their bank reflects, aligns, and supports their Christian values. Why do you think it's so important for believers to consider their banking partner and how that partner aligns with their faith? Well, your question causes me to recall a verse from 1 Corinthians 4-2. Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful. As our research shows, there's a strong desire among Christians to honor God with their finances.

But I think there's a gap in understanding what that really means at a practical level, such as where you bank. Unfortunately, many times stewardship can be limited to an understanding of tithing and charity, but it goes beyond that. You know, really the key to this verse is the ending, that they be found faithful. Stewardship is taking responsibility for furthering the ways, purposes, and plans of God. You know, all the money and resources we have are God's anyway. He's entrusted it with us to steward wisely and advance his kingdom. And I think this is why Christians are feeling it's important to bank with their faith and values.

Yeah, I couldn't agree more. I think we're hearing from more and more listeners who want to do just that. Anything else jump out from the survey about why folks were switching their banking partner? You know, unsurprisingly, we also found some of the same reasons that the overall population will cite, including dissatisfaction with rates and fees and poor customer service. But these were a statistical tie with the conflict with their personal beliefs. That means that alignment with Christian faith and values carries the same weight among Christians as bread and butter rates and fees. They see the politically motivated decisions that their banks are making that are at odds with their Christian beliefs. They see mismanagement, even times unethical management at the big banks and the impact it has on average Americans. So this is just showing that a faith alignment is just as important to getting a good return on money.

You know, what if you could get both? You know, with Christian Community Credit Union, you can. Well, let's go there as we wrap up today. What would you say to someone who doesn't understand this is even possible to align their banking solution with their values?

Well, first of all, you're not alone. We learned in our survey that there's a great deal of excitement about the idea of a Christian financial institution, but very few people even knew that was an option. And I can say that Christian Community Credit Union is there for you. We've been serving Christ followers for over 65 years. We're unapologetically Christian. And when you entrust your money with us, you help us provide affordable financing to build churches and help ministries grow.

Wow, that's powerful. Well, that's why we're delighted you're partners with us here. And Aaron, we appreciate you stopping by to share more with us today.

Thank you. It's been a pleasure to be with you and your audience today. Folks, if you want to learn more about the Christian Community Credit Union, go to joinchristiancommunity.com. Again, joinchristiancommunity.com. All right, your calls are next, 800-525-7000. I'm Rob West, and you're listening to Faith and Finance Live, biblical wisdom for your financial decisions. We'll be right back. Great to have you with us today on Faith and Finance Live.

I'm Rob West. We're so glad you're along with us today. All right, it's time to take your calls and questions today, 800-525-7000.

That's 800-525-7000. We'd love to hear from you today. Well, on a Friday, that means Jerry Boyer will be stopping by as well today. He joins us in the last segment of the broadcast each Friday with his market analysis and commentary. You know, despite a surprisingly good year in the markets, the last several weeks have been under some pressure. So we've had losing weeks here for a number of weeks in a row. The Nasdaq is falling a fourth day in a row and is notching the longest weekly losing streak since December. So we'll get Jerry's take on all of that.

China in the news with their property giant filing for bankruptcy protection in the U.S. courts, of course inflation still front and center, and corporate earnings. All of that ahead with Jerry Boyer just around the corner toward the end of the broadcast today. All right, let's take your calls and questions today, 800-525-7000. That's 800-525-7000. Let's head to Montana. Hi, Molly, go right ahead.

Hi, thank you for taking my call. My husband and I live in Montana and our daughter is in Queen Creek, Arizona. And we, I think it was five years ago, they were putting up a housing project and she was going through a divorce. So we, my husband decided to go ahead and invest and purchase a house down there for her and our grandson.

And he's the only one on the house. And so we thought it would be a good idea to, we've been told to do something like a quick claim deed. And so that the house didn't have to go through probate if something happens to him.

And just wondering what that process would entail. Yeah, well, this ultimately becomes a legal question. And so I'm not an attorney. You're always advised to get legal counsel in these matters. We can just talk generally about these issues though.

So give me a better understanding of this. So who actually owns the home? My husband and I and our daughter is like, she pays rent every month. Okay, so you and your husband are on the deed filed with the county? No, he's on the loan paperwork. And nobody else has been my, my husband.

Yes. Okay, your husband is on the loan, but who's on the deed? Well, he, he is on everything.

Nobody else is on anything. And we thought in order to, like with him being the only one on the property as owner, what would be the process so that it what would be the process so that it didn't have to go through probate? If something were to happen to him?

What would be the best thing to do at this point? I see. Yeah, there's 30 some thousand owing on it. It's a home that's worth over 400,000.

Okay, got it. Yeah, so the the most efficient way to transfer that property is through what's called a transfer on death deed. And the transfer on death deed is not available in every state. So you would have to see whether it is available in the state of Montana.

I'm just looking here quickly and it looks like it is available. So that's a pretty simple way where essentially, a real estate attorney would help you with that. You would transfer, you would move this over to a TOD deed, which means transfer on death, it would be refiled with the county. And what that just simply means is, you would select the beneficiary and upon your husband's death, because he owns the property, it would transfer to whoever was named on that TOD deed. And that would happen outside of probate. The other approach is to put it inside of a revocable trust, or what's called a living trust. And that just simply allows the home to be retitled in the name of the trust. And then again, at his death, or if it's in both of your names, at both of your death, then the trust would distribute that asset, either sell it and distribute the proceeds or whatever the trust documents say in an efficient manner. And that would also happen outside of probate. You wouldn't want to use a quit claim deed unless there was a specific reason to, because if you just go ahead and gift this property to your daughter and son-in-law, then they're going to inherit your cost basis, which just means when they sell it, they're going to have to realize the profit based on what you originally paid for it, as opposed to them inheriting it through a TOD deed or a trust.

And that would allow for what's called a stepped up basis, which just means that the new cost basis to determine capital gains tax would be the market value of the property as of the date of death, which just allows them to miss out on the capital gains tax on the profit. Does that make sense? Yes. Okay. Yeah.

So I think what I think your next step here, if really your main issue that you're trying to solve for is just the efficient transfer of this asset at death to your heirs, you're going to want to visit with an estate planning attorney who can help you sort that out, whether that's a TOD deed, which is an option in Montana, it would be fairly simple to do, or a living or revocable trust, which would probably cost you a couple of thousand dollars, but would allow you essentially to pass not only this property, but other assets outside of probate in an efficient and orderly manner. Okay? Okay. All right.

Thank you so much for your help. You are very welcome. We appreciate your call today, Molly.

God bless you. 800-525-7000 is the number to call. We'd love to hear from you today with your financial questions. Again, 800-525-7000.

Let's head to Wheaton, Illinois. Hi, Victoria. Go ahead. Hi, Rob.

Thanks for answering my call. I have a very simple set of questions. The first one, there have been a number of reasons why it was very challenging and almost impossible to save over the last decade. And before that, I worked for a ministry where I wasn't paid much, but our children are getting older. They're 11, 9, and 7. And I want to start saving for their college education. So I really have two questions.

This is the first one. Saving for their college education in a way where wherever I'm putting it is like an official place so that it can't be withdrawn, but that if they decide that they're going to go into business, just say, and start their own businesses without even going to school, which some people are doing nowadays, that they could still access the money. So that's the first question. And the second question is, retirement savings for our family are basically zilch. And any money to invest is basically zilch. At this point, that will change when I get my new job. But as of right now, I just am kind of looking towards the future in terms of being starting to be prepared. I'm 44, and I just wanted to see if you might be able to say, hey, the projected, you know, like for 20 years from now, you know, what's projected for, you know, living life retired, you know, say, out in Illinois, and how much should I aim to have saved by then?

And which way can I go to, you know, gain as much as possible between now and then with, like, risky investments and safer things like stocks and bonds? So those are two, like the second question is bigger. So thank you. Yeah, happy to do it.

So let's do this. I really appreciate that background on both of these. And I love the way you're thinking about college and wanting to be efficient and how you save, but also wanting to be flexible, if for some reason, they didn't go to school, and then also your own retirement, which is really, I think, from a purely financial standpoint, more important, because there are other ways to pay for college. And without debt, like scholarships and grants and work study and your kids working, you know, during high school and during college to pay, there aren't other ways to pay for retirement.

So I would actually prioritize that. If you feel like you're behind and it sounds like you are, I've got to take a quick break, but I'll give you my thoughts on both just around the corner. Stay with us. I'm so glad to have you with us today on Faith and Finance Live here on Moody Radio.

I'm Rob West. We're taking our calls and questions, and we do have some lines open today. 800-525-7000. We'd love to hear from you. Again, 800-525-7000.

Just before the break, we were talking to Victoria in Wheaton. She's wondering how to go about saving for their children's college because of a variety of things, including having limited income. In the past, they've not been able to save for either college or retirement. They've got kids that are in middle school, one in high school, it sounds like, and just wanting to think about prudently saving for college, but also having that money available if the kids don't go to college. Perhaps they want to go straight into the workforce or start a business. And then, they're also feeling behind on their retirement savings, so just wondering how to approach that as well.

What I would say, Victoria, is in terms of the priority order, just from a purely financial standpoint, as I was sharing before the break, I would actually put your retirement savings above the college savings primarily because there's no way to pay for retirement apart from saving or continuing to work, and there are ways to pay for college. You know, my wife grew up in a single family home, a single-parent home. Her mom made it very clear, you know, there's not money for you to, for us to pay for your college, and so if you are going to pay for it, you're going to have to do it yourself. So she worked really hard, got great grades, they turned the living room into a college scholarship factory, and she ended up with over a hundred thousand dollars in scholarships. You know, my son just went off to college last Saturday and entered school with 15 AP classes, and therefore, he's starting halfway through his sophomore year, even though he's just stepping onto campus. So, you know, that scholarships, grants, AP classes, working both before college during the summers, and maybe even on campus.

I was a resident assistant my junior and senior year, had my room and board paid for, so you can get creative when it comes to college. You don't have those options when it comes to retirement savings. Now, you asked how much you should be thinking about in terms of a savings goal for retirement. Typically, the rule of thumb, and that's all it is, is folks will say, well, you probably need 10 to 12 times your income in retirement savings by the time you retire.

Now, you might say, well, that's great, but there's no way I can do that. Well, that's only a rule of thumb. I mean, ultimately, it's going to come down to what will our expenses and lifestyle look like in retirement. Most folks pay, not pay, but end up spending around 70 to 80% of their pre-retirement income. Hopefully, the house is paid off, the kids are off the payroll, we're not spending as much for work, lunches and clothes. So expenses come down, our life insurance goes away because we don't need it.

There's not that risk there. And so we're living on less. And then the idea is Social Security was intended to cover about 40% of your pre-retirement income. And then if you have 10 to 12 times your salary in retirement savings, then at a 4% withdrawal rate, you should be able to make up that 70 or 80%. And that principal balance in the retirement account, if it's invested properly, should be able to stay flat and maybe grow slightly even though you're pulling out 4% a year.

Now, if you can't get there, that's okay. And there's you can work longer, you could save less and live on less. I mean, at the end of the day, it's just going to be a matter of balancing that budget. But that would be my priority, you all trying to just, you know, as you get a higher paying job, just sock away as much as you can, which means you're gonna have to live well below your means and try to put as much as you can every month and every year into a tax deferred environment, a retirement account, so that you can leverage the compounding effect for the rest of your working life to save as much as you can. And I would prioritize that over college. Now, we can talk about some college savings options.

But let me let you react to all of that first. That sounds excellent. And I hear your point makes a lot of sense. And I love the fact that your son went in with to say 15 AP classes 12 to 15. That's 15. Yeah. Yeah, that's a great idea.

He got his mom's brain. So he's, he's a smart guy. But, you know, it can be done, though. I mean, is the bottom line if they're willing to work hard, and they understand early that, you know, that's what it's going to take. And so there are and even if, you know, maybe they're not, you know, gifted in that way, but there's other ways. I mean, there's lots of scholarships and grants out there for various career tracks, and, you know, various folks, just depending on, you know, what you're looking to do. And so I think spending the time to research those is really critical.

I mean, he would, you know, apply for scholarships, you know, in the evenings, you know, his whole junior year, he'd be up there, hey, I just applied for another one, you know, and he probably applied for 100 of them, we may have gotten six, but, you know, that's money that's going toward his education. So, you know, I think that's the idea is you really got to take a proactive approach to all of this. Love that. That's great. It gives a lot of vision. Thank you.

That's awesome. Yeah, you're welcome. Now, in terms of if you are going to set something aside for college, and you want it available more widely than just college, meaning, you know, with a 529 education savings plan, and that would be my preferred approach, it does have to be used for qualified educational expenses or K to 12 tuition up to 10,000. Or you can get it out in a pro rata basis based on scholarship grants and awards. So if he does get a scholarship or a grant, you'd be able to take it out equivalent to that. Apart from that, the only other option would be to move it to a Roth IRA. That's a new provision that's coming out of some recent legislation.

It's not here yet, but it's coming. And so as long as it's been open 15 years, you know, you'd be able to push that to a Roth IRA. That doesn't help him, though, if he's starting a business or something like that. So if you just want it more generally available, then I just set up an account in you and your husband's name earmarked for the child and just sock it away there, either in a high yield savings or a CD, if you've got less than a five year time horizon, and then you can decide how and when he's using it at the point that you want to give it to him. Is that helpful?

Yeah, it is. And then we would also be able to withdraw it, presumably. How would they know that we're going to use it for him if it's in our name? Who is they? How would the people that are overseeing the 529s?

Oh, yeah, no. Yeah, so ultimately there's an owner to the account and then there's a beneficiary. And so you would and so you would name the child as the beneficiary of that account. And so it'd be used for their qualified expenses. And if that child doesn't need it, you can move it to the IRA or you can transfer it to another child. So you would open it as the owner and name the child as the beneficiary.

But again, if you didn't want it in a 529 where it's really earmarked specifically for college, then I just put it in a taxable brokerage account, but set aside for your child. Thanks for your call today. We'll be right back on Faith and Finance Live. It's great to have you with us today on Faith and Finance Live. I'm Rob Lass.

This is where we apply the wisdom from God's word, the principles and passages, the big themes in scripture to your financial decisions and choices. So what are you thinking about today? We've got some lines open today. Lynn taking our phone call.

She'd be delighted to talk to you. We'll try to get you on the air quickly at 800-525-7000. That's 800-525-7000. Also coming up in the next segment, Jerry Boyer stops by, which is always fun to hear what Jerry's thinking about. We'll get his take on the recent downward pressure on the markets as of late and get his read on why that is. But in the meantime, let's head back to the phones to Indiana. We go Denise, thank you for calling. Go ahead.

Hi. I just had kind of a general question. My husband and I, we own a nice house with farm ground, quite a bit of farm ground. I mean, not quite a bit, but we're looking eventually to go to a condo.

And if we sold our house, we do owe a little bit, but we would have enough left over to purchase a condo and hopefully have a little bit left over from that. How did the capital gains work with that? Yes. So this is your primary residence for the two out of the last five years. Is that right? Yes. Okay.

Yeah. So you would be able to exclude as a married couple up to a half a million dollars in gains on this property. And you don't have any requirement as to what you do with it. You know, this is not like a 1031 exchange where you have to reinvest it in another property. You just automatically get to exclude that gain of up to a half a million from capital gains taxes. And then, you know, you can do with it as you see fit, buy another, buy a condo, put it in savings, invest it, whatever you'd like. Okay, great. So we can exclude up to a half a million dollars. That's right.

If this is your primary residence, you'd have up to a half a million dollars that you could exclude from capital gains tax if you've lived there two out of the last five years. Okay, great. Thank you so much. Okay. Thank you for your call, Denise. We appreciate it.

Let's head to Chicago. Hi, Louis. How can I help you? Hi.

Good afternoon and thanks for taking my call. I was explaining that I, it's about a four to one K that I am participating in my employment with my job. And so my employment is going to end, my assignment is going to end on March of 2024. So I do have my 401k with a balance of about $102,000 in it.

And this small amount alone that is still outstanding. So when that date comes, you know, what would be your recommendation for me? What action should I be taking you to let us sit until I find employment, hoping that my next employer, you know, offers 401k?

I've been hearing a lot of raw higher rate. What are your thoughts about it? Yes. And so when are you planning to separate from employment?

It's March 2024. Okay. Yeah. And so currently you own about 100,000 on that loan? Yeah.

No, no, no. It's what I have in my, in my 401k. That's it. The loan I think is about about $1,500 loan outstanding on that 401k, that loan I took against it. Okay. Got it.

Yeah. So you'll have to pay that back. You know, if you leave your job for any reason and you still have a balance, you have to repay the loan in full, or it will be reported as a distribution. There is a limited number of cases where they'll let you pay that off in installments, but typically it's immediately needs to be repaid when you leave.

And if you don't repay it, then it would be considered a distribution, which would be added to your taxable income. Then for what remains in your 401k, you can either roll it to your new 401k, assuming you have a new employer that also has a 401k that would allow you to roll that in. And the only reason you'd want to do that is just it's simpler because now you don't have a second account, or you could roll it to an IRA.

And obviously you've got a substantial balance in there, and there's probably a good case for rolling it to an IRA, but you'd want to select an advisor, in my opinion, ahead of time, somebody who can manage that money for you, because as soon as you get it out of the 401k with a limited menu of investment options, now all of a sudden you have basically unlimited investment choices. And I would love for you to have, since you've spent so much time building this nest egg up, I'd love for you to have somebody that could manage it for you, oversee it, protect it, grow it at a reasonable rate, and allow it to continue to work for you while you're still in your working years. Okay, is there any financial institution that you would recommend that you would see a thing that would help me with it?

Sure, yeah, I'd reach out to a certified kingdom advisor there in Chicago, Louis. So CKA is the only industry designation in financial services that's widely accepted for biblically wise professional financial advice. So these are men and women, about 1400 of them across the country that have met high standards and character and competence, and they've had, they've met experience requirements, and they've signed a statement of faith and a pastor and client reference, and they've been trained to bring a biblical worldview of money management. So I'd interview two or three CKAs in Chicago and then find one that you feel like is the best fit. And then that person could open the IRA. And then when you separate from service, you'll roll that 401k into your new IRA.

And that money manager, that advisor would take over the management based on your goals and objectives, then you do extensive discovery before that happens. The way to find a CKA there in Chicago is just to head to our website, faithfi.com. That's faithfi.com, and just click find the CKA. Okay. Awesome. Thanks, Rob.

Thanks for your help. Yes, sir, Louis. And God bless you as well. Let's head to Peoria. Tracy, go right ahead. Yes, sir. Thank you for taking my call.

I have a question for you. I'll try to be as concise as possible. I was unemployed for a while this year and earlier this year, and a few weeks ago, I did start a new job. The thing is, as a result, it has been a tremendous struggle to pay rent and also keep up on my basic bills like utilities and so forth. The only thing I have that I'm considering selling is my car. Okay. I'm sorry. That's okay. Tracy, if you sold the car, how would you get to work?

I do have access to public transportation. Okay. Okay. Do you know how much the car is worth? Have you looked into it? No.

When I bought it, I paid a little over $5,100 for it. Okay. I haven't had it for, I would even say a year.

It's been maybe eight months or so. Okay. All right.

Very good. And what kind of, is it debt that you would be paying off with it? Or it's past due rent and utilities, right?

Past due rent and utilities and some debt. Okay. Let's do this because I'm open. That's okay. And I know you've got a lot weighing on you right now. And so we're going to pray for you, but I want to make sure that selling the car is actually going to rectify the situation and that you can get on a balanced budget that makes sense.

And we're not just putting a temporary bandaid on it. And then we're going to be right back in the same spot, except now you don't have a car anymore. So I'm going to connect you with one of our certified Christian financial counselors that's going to go over your budget with you and help you make this decision. So stay on the line. We'll get your information. We'll be right back. Well, great to have you with us today on Faith and Finance Live.

I'm Rob West. As we head into the weekend, we're not done yet. In fact, here in the last segment of the broadcast each Friday, we're joined by our good friend, Jerry Boyer, our resident economist. He weighs in on the markets and the economy and whatever else we decide to talk about that day. Today, we're talking the markets, Jerry. Obviously, the narrative that we had back in January where there was optimism, we were talking about soft landings, perhaps the markets are rethinking that in light of higher interest rates and, you know, bond yields. What do you make of all of this?

Yeah, I think that's right. I think the markets are rethinking it. So markets are always rethinking.

That's what they do. They're always looking for and always trying to take the most new information available and incorporate into their view of what happens in the future. You know, Paul says we see through a glass darkly. We can't see the future.

God can see the future. But we have to try at least to some degree if we're investors to kind of have a forward look, some basic set of expectations, understanding that we might be wrong in our basic set of expectations. And so people are actively managing in the markets are always shifting around. And so last year, the signals were looks like a recession. Earlier this year, the signals were maybe a soft landing. Over the past couple of months, it's been recession risks rising again. And this week was basically indicated rising risk of recession. And remember, I told you there's that new thing they call a growth recession, where the growth doesn't go negative, but it goes close to zero. For instance, that in the midpoint of the blue chip forecasters, like the most famous forecasters, you know, they're forecasting about a 1% growth rate, you know, for the next quarter.

So it's not negative, but it's a lot closer to zero than we're used to. So you have that with people call that a growth recession. And in order to get a sense of whether markets are signaling that, remember, I like to say don't just say what is the S&P doing or what's the stock market doing?

You're always comparing them. So if stock markets are going down more than bond markets, that's a sign that people think there's going to be more likely a slowdown or a recession, because bonds have a fixed, a fixed income that they're called fixed income vehicles. When you buy the bond, they've contractually said this is how much we're going to give you every year.

So that's like the sure thing. Now, if it's a treasury bond, that's kind of a sure thing. But if it's a corporate bond, it's less of a sure thing. So if you're worried about recession, you might say, I don't want stocks, I want bonds. Bonds are more of a sure thing. If you're more worried about a recession, you might say, well, I don't want high yield bonds.

They're risky. I want investment grade corporate bonds. Or if you're even more worried about recession, you say, you know what, I'm even worried about the corporate sector. I want treasury bonds, which is presumably the closest thing to a sure thing that we have. Now, of course, a couple of weeks ago, Fitch, the rating service said, actually, the United States is less credit worthy than some of the big corporations.

And I think they're right. But still, it's a lot less risky than the other stuff. And so you always want to look at what happened, like, for instance, this week, stocks went down more than bonds, high yield went down more than investment grade, investment grade went down more than Treasury. So basically, there was a flow in the markets away from the growth risky things, to the growth safe things, basically to recession hedges, people moved money to recession hedges, I guess I would just want to say it more simply. And if people are moving money to recession hedges, it's because they think the risk of a recession is rising.

Yeah, no question about it. Jerry, a lot of talk, obviously about China, you know, we're seeing that, well, a massive real estate operation from China is now filing for bankruptcy protection. They've just got real problems economically, huh?

They do. And I think that there was a lot of discussion about how Brazil, Russia, India and China, the BRIC countries are going to overtake the United States and destroy the dollar. And China has really serious problems. You and I have talked about America's demographic problems. And we have serious demographic problems. And a lot of that has to do with the abortion tragedy. We have a lot of, you know, we have demographic problems, because the baby boom generation didn't replace itself. And a lot of that was abortion.

But China has had a one child policy for decades, and they have much more serious demographic problems than we do. We had some bubbles, you know, in healthcare, whatever. China had gigantic bubbles, because the sons and daughters of the revolution, they call them the princelings, the ruling class, you know, people who were, you know, young people who were the sons and daughters, mostly sons of high party officials said, well, I want to be a real estate titan. And so they put state capital into the real estate venture. And they created these politically allocated bubbles.

We have politically allocated bubbles too. But they're not as bad as when you have a complete central control economy like China. And so China may well be in a recession right now, or they're very close to it. They're in a deflationary territory. And the other is Russia, the Russian ruble is collapsing down to pennies on the dollar. And you and I have been talking a lot, there's been a lot of talk in our circles about, well, the dollar's about to collapse. And Brazil, Russia, India, and China are going to go on a gold standard, and they're going to create their own currency together. And what I said is, it's not the making the commitment to be disciplined, it's the being disciplined that counts. So you can make as many New Year's resolutions as you want.

It's what you do on January 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th, and going forward, that really matters. And markets have basically said, we don't care what these countries are saying, we don't trust them. And we especially don't trust Russia, because it's losing a war in Ukraine.

I don't know, I'm not saying they're going to lose entirely, they'll probably end up with gains, but they're mired down in Ukraine. They've got serious economic problems. They themselves have a demographic problem.

They have a falling life expectancy, serious social problems, alcoholism, and all the rest, and a command and control economy. America's got lots of problems, but there's enough biblical heritage left that America, with its many problems, is still, markets are saying, a better bet than Brazil, Russia, India, and China, with almost no genuine biblical heritage in their economic system. Yeah, I mean, we talked about it a good bit here. I mean, it was big news in the middle of July, all of a sudden, well, the BRICS has settled, we've been waiting, they've been talking about it, months of debate, they're going to use the gold standard, and that's going to be a new international currency system separate from the US dollar and the euro, but that's all well and good, unless they don't actually do what they say they're going to do.

Precisely. Look, if I thought that they were actually going to have the discipline of a gold standard, or a silver standard, or a bi-metal standard, or I don't know, wampum or salt, anything real, anything other than just, you know, somebody just says, you know, run the printing press, comrade. You know, if anything other than what we have in the United States is the PhD standard, whatever the most PhDs say, and a Fed chairman wants to get reappointed, that's the standard we have. If I thought they're going to have any real monetary discipline, I would be much more worried about the dollar.

And I'm not not worried about the dollar. I just think that a lot of concerns in the world of talk radio and social media and, you know, the kind of world that, you know, we're in. We have evangelical Christians who keep for so long have talked about this coming crash. We really do tend to exaggerate it, because we look and we say, wow, America's really got problems.

And that's right. But currency traders aren't asking, does America have problems? They're asking, who has the least problems? They always have to compare. They're deciding between countries to allocate capital to.

And arguably, America has, if not the least problems, at least fewer problems than average when it comes to the alternatives to where to put their money when it comes to currency. Yeah, very good. Jerry, just a minute and a half left. Where do you want to finish today? I know you've been doing a lot of work in the corporate engagement space as well.

Well, I guess what I want to finish on that is we're getting ready now for the new season. And people don't know this, but if you're a shareholder, let's say you own $2,000 worth of a company for three years. That's not a lot, going $2,000 worth of a company. You have the right to put a proposal on the ballot before all of the shareholders and the board of directors. And I don't think people understand how much authority and how much power they have. So we've talked about voting, you know, how you can vote your shares. And that's a good thing to do, like, just like you want to vote in elections. But if you want to do more, what I found is the most powerful way to do it isn't to vote no on their bad ideas, but to put our ideas forward and set the agenda. And so what we're focused on right now is this, you know, we came out of shareholder season, we voted no on a lot of bad ideas. You know, we helped our clients vote no. And we voted yes on a few good ideas because there were some good proposals on the ballot. What I'm hoping is next year, we set the agenda because what's happened with the politicized capital and companies getting involved with divisive cultural issues is the backlash has them afraid.

And now they're aware that there's risk from both sides. And maybe there's a little opportunity here to say, hey, here's an idea. Just stay out of politics. Just sell shirts, sell shoes, sell your light beer, sell your cars, sell your sneakers.

Just do that. You're good at that. You're not good at deciding how many genders there are. You're not good at deciding whether to, you know, divest from pro-life states. You're not good at solving all the problems of social justice in America. But you're really good at sneakers.

Stick with the sneakers. It's a novel idea for a company, huh, Jerry? Unfortunately, it's become one. But I really think this is the opportunity to get them back to politically neutral, not because politics isn't important, but because politics is important enough to leave it to the political process and not to activists in the boardroom. Yeah, well, we've underestimated the power of being able to vote as a shareholder in a company when you deploy capital and you are invited into that room and you have a place at the table if you'll use it. And Jerry, you've been using that place that you occupy on behalf of your clients clients and shareholders very, very well. So we're grateful for you. And I'm grateful for you, too, for letting me talk about it here.

And I think a lot of people who listen to you are showing up at these meetings, because when I go on this show with you and then there's meetings later, I hear a lot of voices I never heard before. Well, I'm delighted to hear that. Well, we'll keep doing it, Jerry, and have you back next week. In the meantime, have a great weekend and tell the team I said hello. Will do. God bless.

All right. That's Jerry Boyer, our resident economist. He joins us each Friday with his market insights and analysis. Klara, I'm sorry we didn't get to your call today. If you'd like to get scheduled for a future broadcast, just stay on the line and we'll see what we can do.

Faith and Finance Live is a partnership between Moody Radio and Faith Fi. Thank you to Amy, Jim, Lynn, and Dan. Couldn't do it without them. Have a great weekend. See you next week. Bye-bye.