Financial Plans and God’s Will

We all want our plans to succeed, but what does the Lord want?

Hi, I'm Rob West. Are you and God on the same page when it comes to your financial plans? Today we'll talk about achieving your financial goals and doing God's will. Then we'll take your calls at 800-525-7000.

That's 800-525-7000. This is Faith and Finance Live, biblical wisdom for your financial journey. Well, as you know, we're big fans of planning. That's because having a plan is the best way to meet your financial goals, or any goals for that matter. The question is how to make sure your plans line up with God's will for your life. That's important because if you're a Christian and Jesus is your Lord, well, you know His plans are the best. In fact, it says in Proverbs 19-21 that many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will succeed. The purpose of the Lord will succeed, so it's worth finding out what He wants.

How do you do that? Well, His word tells us, Micah 6-8 says, and what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.

Proverbs 3-5-7 is another passage that gives us a clue about God's will for His people. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways, submit to Him and He will make your path straight. Do not be wise in your own eyes.

Fear the Lord and shun evil. So, can submitting your ways to God help you plan for retirement or save up for a car or plan a vacation? Well, you might not receive a note from the Almighty telling you which car to buy, but if you're committed to living by biblical standards, you will certainly experience greater peace and confidence about your choices.

Here's the bottom line. We focus on whatever has eternal value. In other words, seek first the kingdom of God. When you're trusting in the Lord with all your heart as you pray, read His word, and submit your financial plans to Him, God will direct you into His will.

That doesn't mean things will always be easy, but they will be godly. Sometimes when you're praying for God's will to be done and trusting for the Lord's guidance, you might still need a bit of practical advice from someone you trust. After all, seeking wise counsel is a biblical idea.

Proverbs 15 22 says without counsel, plans fail, but with many advisors they succeed. That said, we have some biblical counsel for your plans in the area of saving, debt, and employment. First, saving. Paying for college or retirement or a home purchase can mean many years of diligent saving.

This takes patience and commitment. My advice is to set a target amount and figure out how much you'll need to put away each month. Put that money where it will earn the most interest, and ask God to give you the discipline to stay on track. For retirement, be sure to max out any savings options offered by your employer or get going on your own with a traditional or Roth IRA. For college saving, I like 529 savings plans.

We'll talk more about those another time, but you can research them online as well. What if you're getting a late start with your saving? Well, you might be afraid you won't meet your goals because your timeline is shorter. My first suggestion is don't worry. The Bible assures us that we do not need to worry about having our needs met.

Our God is Jehovah Jireh, our provider, who cares for the sparrows of the field and even more for you and for me. Besides saving, another big goal you might have is eliminating debt. This is another area where you need a plan. Figure out exactly what you owe and make a plan to pay it off. Pay off one debt at a time, then apply the payment amount to the next debt. If you need more help, we recommend you visit ChristianCreditCounselors.org.

We do not recommend debt consolidation or debt settlement. Share your goals with trusted friends or family so they can encourage you and celebrate your successes along the way. Remember God's Word says the borrower is servant to the lender and keep your debt-free goal in sight. Above all, don't get discouraged.

Ask the Lord to help you break any bad habits and get the advice and support you need. The third area you might need financial advice is employment. Are you unemployed or underemployed? To improve your earning power, you need a new job or possibly a promotion in your current job. One way to reach these goals is to get training and improve your skills. Be sure to network and talk to your job contacts often.

Your persistence and enthusiasm will earn you employment brownie points. Ultimately, as we said at the start, when you focus first on the things that have eternal value, the purpose of the Lord will prevail in your financial life. All right, your calls are next, 800-525-7000. This is Faith and Finance Live.

We'll be right back. Well, I'm grateful to have you along with us today on Faith and Finance Live here on a Friday afternoon before a long weekend. I'm sure there's a financial question you'd like to check the box on before you head into the weekend. If that's the case, give us a call at 800-525-7000.

I'm standing by, would love to hear from you today. We do have some lines open and we'd love to tackle your financial issue or conundrum. Again, 800-525-7000 and we can deal with live, give, owe or grow.

Now, what is that? Well, those are the four categories for all of the things we do with God's money. It's the lifestyle that we lead, hopefully that we prayed about and decided on in advance. That has to do with our spending plan. The key idea there is to spend less than you earn. Then there's your give.

Well, that should really come first. It's, I would say, the primary opportunity we have with God's resources. We want to give wisely because giving breaks the grip of money over our lives. We live, give, then we owe for debt and taxes. We want to minimize our borrowing. Try to only borrow where the economic gain is going to be more than the economic cost. Think business or a home. We want to minimize any borrowing for consumer lifestyle spending for sure.

And then grow. That's the amount we're putting away for initially short-term savings or emergency fund of three to six months expenses. And then for the longer term, I think the key question there is how much is enough so you know what your saving goal is. You're not just involved in the mindless accumulation of wealth. And then all of that is wrapped in an internal perspective, recognizing that God owns it all and that money is a tool to accomplish his purposes, and that really we should align our goals with our values as believers, our priorities as Christ followers, looking forward to the world that is to come, not getting too anchored to this world. Because remember, we're just sojourners passing through.

But there are practical ideas we find in Scripture that can relate to every financial decision or question you have. So we want to help you make those decisions well, and we'll do that today with your phone calls. Let's dive in. We're going to go to Bradenton, Florida. Joanne, you'll be our first caller.

How can I help? Hi. I have a question about 401k. I had it with a previous employer.

Okay. It was placed in Voya and one day I checked the balance and it went to zero. So I called them and they said that it probably was going to be transferred in a regular IRA, so it's not under the employer. And then the next time I talked to somebody, they said they were mailing me a check and I asked how long it would take. I had to transfer it to a regular IRA and they said 60 days.

And then I got a check for minus the federal withholding and no one asked. So now it's no longer 401k. My accountant said it doesn't matter because I'm over 59 and a half that I can recuperate it at the end of the year.

But okay, that's the best thing to do to put in a CD or something like that. Well the first question is what type of account it's in. So are they treating this as a distribution so you've taken the money out? Or is it being rolled over to an IRA from that 401k? Yeah, I would have liked to roll it over but they didn't ask me and they sent me a check. Well, you should be able to still initiate that. So this has all happened in a relatively short period of time, is that right?

Yes sir, we've sent out three, four weeks. Yeah, I would contact the plan administrator and just say, listen, I'm within the 60 day window. My intention was not to take this as a distribution. I'd like to put it back in the account and have it rolled to an IRA.

Can you help me do that? You're right, after 59 and a half, you're not going to have a penalty, but it is going to be a taxable distribution. So you're going to add it to your taxable income. And then perhaps even more significant than that is the fact that now it's growing outside of that tax deferral, which if you don't need that money, I'd rather that money continue to grow inside a tax deferred vehicle. So I'd call the plan administrator and see if there's an option to get that into an IRA, you know, even if it's a, you know, you deposit it straight in the IRA and you'd have to work with your CPA on that. So I think that's really a conversation between you, the CPA and your plan administrator. In terms of what to invest it in, what's the amount that you have available?

Now it's down to 643 with 1600 at first. Okay. Yeah. And is this money you would like to invest and do you think you might need it in a shorter period of time or do you want to just let it grow?

I'd like to grow, but I'm not a risk taker, especially at my age. Yeah. Do you have some liquid savings apart from this? Yes, I do. Okay. Do you have at least three months worth of expenses?

Yes, I do. Okay. Well, if you don't want to take any risk with it, I mean, you mentioned a CD and that would be a great option. You can get a decent interest rate right now at about five and a half percent. If you wanted to take a little bit of risk, you could put it in maybe a bond mutual fund, which is just a basket of bonds. I'd stay on the short end duration of those bonds where you're buying a basket of bonds. It's going to be corporate and government bonds, 10 years or less.

And with interest rates coming down, probably next year, they'll do well and they won't be as volatile as stocks, especially now that we've seen most of the interest rate hikes are behind us and our friends at soundmindinvesting.org could help you with that. But I think one of those options will be good. I think the first question is just trying to figure out, can I get that into an IRA or do I have to take that as a as a distribution?

If you are taking it as a distribution, the taxes have already been withheld. And if you want something ultra safe, I think a CD could in fact work for you. Did I see you had another question or does that cover it?

Yeah, a couple more. The Roth IRA, I have a Roth IRA. I'd like to take this out and put it in a CD since I'm, again, over 59 and a half. Take money out of a Roth? Yes, just transfer it to a... Well, you can invest in a, you can invest in a CD inside the Roth. So if you don't need the money, don't take it out of the retirement account. Let's leave it right there.

And then you could buy a CD inside the Roth IRA. Okay, I'll do that. And can I ask one more question?

Sure. Yeah. It's about title insurance. I know you mentioned before that if we purchased title insurance when we bought the house, that we're safe. But I had it about close to 30 years and I don't have a mortgage. So do I need title insurance?

Yeah. Well, the title insurance is purchased, you know, before you purchase your home, you know, it could have gone through several ownership changes. And this is just protecting you and the lender. And in this case, there's no lender to make sure that you have, in fact, the right claim to your property. So that would have been done at the purchase. Title lock insurance is what's often being sold these days.

And that's not something we recommend. It actually doesn't lock your deed from fraud, as the name implies. It's really just an expensive way to be notified if somebody tries something fraudulent with your deed, like tries to transfer it into their name so they can take out a loan against it. You can check your deed status for free at any time with the county. A lot of the counties are now offering even a free alert option.

So I would say it's not worth the money. I hope that helps you, Joanne. Thanks for being on the program today. We appreciate your calling. We do have a few lines open, 800-525-7000.

Donna, quickly, to Riverview, Florida. Go ahead. Hi, how are you, Rob?

I'm great, thank you. My question is, most of my debt, actually all of my debt, is in collection. And I want to know how to rebuild it. Rebuild your credit score? Yes. Okay. Yeah. Well, the first thing is going to be to get that debt paid off. Do you have the ability to start a payment plan or to go in and settle it?

Yes. They're reaching, I've been reaching out to them, but I don't reach out to them too early because I want to at least have the money when I do do it. Yeah, that's a great idea. All right, let's do this, Donna. We've got to take a quick break when we come back. I'll give you some thoughts on best practices to negotiate those payoffs.

And then secondly, how you can start rebuilding your credit after you get those paid off. Donna, you stay right there. Back with more on Faith and Finance Live, just around the corner. Stay with us. So perhaps you found this broadcast helpful to you.

Maybe you listen regularly. You like the encouragement. You've picked up a tip or an idea on how to apply biblical wisdom to your financial decisions. And you'd like to support the ministry. Well, we'd certainly be grateful as a listener-supported ministry. Faith and Finance relies on your listener support to bring you this broadcast each day. And you can give at any level, beyond the giving to your local church and even, I would say, beyond your giving to Moody Radio. You can support this broadcast ministry at faithfi.com. That's faithfi.com.

Just click the give button and we would be grateful for a gift of any amount. All right, back to the phones we go. By the way, we have three lines open. 800-525-7000. Before the break, we were talking to Donna in Riverview. All of her credit's in collection. She's had some financial difficulty in the past and she's wanting to get that cleared up, paid off, but also improve her credit score along the way.

Now, you made a statement before the break, Donna, that I think is really important. You said, you know, I want to contact them, but I'm waiting until I have the money. Now assuming that you are going to be able to collect enough, I would say equal to 50 percent, probably, at a minimum of each of the current balances, then at that point you'd want to start trying to get a settlement agreement in place. And so you would make a list of all your outstanding debts, you'd contact each of them, and then either ask them to put you on a payment plan or better yet, accept a settlement, a reduced amount, to close the account as paid in full. You would want to get that agreement in writing.

You really want to see that in writing. And then once you make the payment, after you get it in writing, you're going to want to check your credit report to make sure that those particular creditors have updated the balance to zero. It might say settled in full, and you probably will get a 1099 at the end of the year because the portion between what you owe and what they accept as a settlement is actually taxable to you. But at that point, then once everything is zeroed out, keep in mind the older that is, the less it will affect you. And the key is to now replace that with positive credit. So you want to be an on-time payer moving forward. And maybe if you have really bad credit, maybe you need to go open a secured credit card at the bank where maybe you put two or three or four hundred dollars on deposit. They give you a credit card against that, with a limit of whatever you have on deposit. Maybe you set up an automatic, very small monthly budgeted item that hits that card every month.

It could be less than $10. You pay it off, and that's going to be reported to the Bureau every month with you as an on-time payer. And the combination of those old charge-offs that are now zeroed out, becoming further and further in the past, and that good new credit being reported to your report every month, will over time, you know, cause your credit score to rise. It's not a quick fix, but it will rise over time. But I've thrown a lot at you there.

Give me your questions. If the debts are closed or charged off, do I still, should I still pay them? Are they showing a balance on your credit report?

It shows charged off. Some of them show charged off. Some of them have a balance. So the ones that have a balance, that's the key. I would call them and say, listen, I want this updated to show that it's been paid off in full or settled in full, and I'd like to make good on this obligation. I think you can do the same thing with the ones that are showing charged off, too. That's really just your, you know, between you and the creditor, you know, based on your own convictions. But I think certainly any ones that are showing a balance, you want to get those to zero.

And the best way to do that is to settle with them with a lump sum payment. Okay. All right. I greatly appreciate it. I listen to you guys every day on my way home from work. Well, I'm delighted, Donna. Thank you for being a part of the program. We appreciate it.

To Spokane, we're going really far west. Hi, Joanne. Go ahead.

Yes, thank you. I have $65,000 that I'm just not knowing what to do with. Okay.

And I was hoping you would give me some ideas. I have $50,000 in an Ally Bank savings at 5%, $10,000 in an I bond, and $5,000 at a credit union for 5%, but I have to make 12 debit charges to get that kind of rate. So I don't know if CDs are a good thing to do or just have backup funds. Yeah. Well, first thing we want to do is make sure that you keep at least, I would say, six months probably in this season of life in liquid savings.

And so I think, you know, Ally's as good as any. You're in an online bank paying a really good interest rate at nearly 5% or I think you did say 5%. And so having at least six months there, it probably makes some sense. What do you guess your monthly expenses are total? I don't know. I'm pretty conservative. I get $12.90 a month for Social Security and then have an IRA of about $2,000 that I have to take out on it and it pays. I don't know what I have to take out this year, but I'm thinking about $7,000 to $8,000. Does that sound reasonable?

Sure. It just depends on the balance. Do you know what you have in that IRA? How much total?

About $200,000, maybe a little more than that. But is the $12.90 enough to cover your bills? No. Okay.

So you need part of that IRA money to cover your bills, right? Yes. Okay. So how much would you think you need per month above the $12.90? I don't know.

I've never done this. Okay. Yeah, I would put a budget together.

In fact, let's do this. I would like to connect one of our certified Christian financial counselors with you. There won't be any cost to you for this. We're going to cover the cost just as our gift to you, but this will be somebody who can help you put that budget together to understand exactly what it takes for you to spend what you need every month to cover your bills and help you put a budget together. And then that will help us to know how much you really need out of your IRA, because hopefully you don't need more than $600,000 a month. That's 4% of $200,000. And if the $600,000 plus the $1,300,000, so basically $1,900 a month is enough to cover your bills, well then you're in really good shape and we could leave the rest of it in CDs or we could invest a little bit more of it. But I think CDs would be a great option.

Would you be open to talking to a Christian financial counselor? That would be great. Good.

Okay. Joanne, you stay on the line. We're going to get your information and I'm going to have one of our counselors give you a call again.

There won't be any charge to you for this, but it's just something we want to do to help you. Stay on the line. We'll be right back. Stay with us.

Well, it's great to have you with us today on Faith and Finance Live. I'm Rob West. We're taking your calls and questions today at 800-525-7000. Back to the phones we go to Noblesville, Indiana. Hi, Randall. Go ahead, sir. Hi. I am above 59 and a half and my wife and I are considering using an investor we've met with already.

We haven't signed any documents or anything for him to take over as a Kingdom Advisor. However, there was talk about using our IRAs and 401Ks and putting them into an annuity and I was wondering if that's smart and what advantage is it to the investor? Yeah.

Well, what is it you're looking to accomplish? Why is he suggesting this annuity or why was that explained to you? I'm not sure.

I don't need the money. Yeah. But are you very risk averse? Not really, no.

Okay. You know, I wouldn't do that if it were me. I mean, you've already got the tax benefits of the IRA and the 401K in that you think about the IRA is like the umbrella and the investments are underneath the umbrella and the rain is the taxes and that umbrella is preventing the rain, the taxes from having any effect on the investments underneath. And then when you pull it out, you pay the tax on it. But you've got this tax deferred growth which is a real benefit, especially if you don't need the money. And so putting that inside an annuity doesn't really benefit you from a tax standpoint. And then you've got a lot of fees, a lot of complexity. You're not going to get the full upside on the investments, but you're going to miss some of the downside. But if you're not terribly risk averse, I'd rather take that risk with a long time horizon, get the full upside based on whatever investment strategy you and your advisor decide on and not tie that up inside a complex and often expensive insurance product.

So I'm just not sure. I mean, if you were to say to me, Rob, I told the guy that I just want a monthly income stream. I want it guaranteed. I don't want to take any risk. And he said, well, let's transfer that risk to an insurance company. That might begin to make some sense, but not the way you're describing it where you're willing to invest this in a way that's prudent for your age and risk tolerance. And you don't even really need the money.

So if it were me, I'd probably get a second or second and third opinion. And I would probably encourage you, ultimately, you need to make this call, but I'd encourage you to do something that does not involve an annuity. Okay. And my wife has a question for you on the early retirement. Okay, great. Yes.

Hi. So I think the idea was, is that we're hoping that I can take an early retirement at 62. And I think that's why the financial advisor may have said that too, because we are looking at, you know, like a consistent income stream.

And that may have been why he was talking about that for my IRA. How much do you have in there? Right now, I'm mine about 100.

Okay. And how much are you looking to pull from that to supplement your income once you retire? Actually, probably not anything for probably like three or four years because my husband will continue to work. And yeah, yeah, he has, he has, we're saving in a TSP program very aggressively. Yeah, great. And how much do you guys feel like you're on track for retirement, just when you put all the retirement assets together that, you know, the reasonable income stream plus social security when that time comes will be enough to cover your bills? Yes. And we, when we met with the advisor, initially, we talked about estimated expenses monthly, yearly, and went through all of the, all of the possible pensions and, and good investment programs that were in and they felt very comfortable that with the lifestyle we have right now, that we would be able to maintain that in retirement.

Yeah, that's great. Well, I mean, I think this is really personal preference. I mean, again, I just don't see the need for the annuity just based on what you're telling me. I mean, again, unless you're very risk averse, and you're just wanting a guaranteed product, I'd rather you stay outside the annuity, have complete access to the money, if you ever need it, be able to invest it in a way that makes sense. Because keep in mind, when you hit retirement, you still have decades for this money to work and grow for you if the Lord doesn't return quite yet. So you know, if you're in good health, we need this money to last into your 90s or, or beyond. And that means you can still have a long time horizon. And so I like the idea of you investing it in a mix of stocks and bonds, where yes, you're taking some risk, but you're getting the full upside potential of the investment strategy you deploy, you don't have kind of limited access to your money and some additional complexities, a lot of fees that would be wrapped up in those annuities. So that's why you know, that's just not my first choice.

But for some people, they like the peace of mind, they'd rather just know that they've got a guaranteed amount that they're coming, they know that they're going to get a check every month, when the time comes from the insurance company, and they sleep better at night. And I get that you just have some trade offs in order to get that which is upside growth potential, complexity and fees and losing some access to your money without surrender charges and penalties if you needed more than just the monthly amount. So I think those are the considerations. And that's why ultimately, I'd probably get another opinion. And just make sure that this is being sold to you.

And I'm not questioning anybody's motives, but there's a lot of fees and commissions around these, these annuities when they're sold. And so let's just make sure it's the very best thing for you. Not the best thing for the person who's recommending it. Okay, that makes sense. Great. Thank you very much.

Okay, you're welcome. Some of the 401ks and IRAs are being sold from one company to another. Should we just keep it where it is? Or would you lump them all together? I like putting them together just because you know, the IRAs, the 401k can be rolled into the IRAs. If you have separate IRAs, as long as they're the same type, they can be merged as long as they're in the same person's name.

You can't combine yours and your wife's. But I like simplifying because it just keeps everything in one place. It's one less account to keep up with. And we can coordinate the investment strategy a little better.

It's just a little harder to make sure that the investment strategies are consistent when we're applying it across multiple accounts. So I think where possible, I would I would try to combine them. Hey, thanks for your call today.

We appreciate you all listening to the program to Ohio. Hi, John, go ahead. Yes. So I'm 55. And looking down the road, I've been self employed for the last many years, but I just got a full time job. So back investing with a 401k. And I'm questioning whether or not I should max out and put it all in a Roth for the remainder of my time rather than tax deferred 401k. So what do you have currently that you've been able to put away prior to this new job? I've actually put away at least for the last three to five years, I've maxed out at least my wife's and mine, Roth contribution. But I've got a substantial amount that's in in standard 401k that I rolled over from previous employers. How much is in there roughly?

Over 600. Okay, great. Yeah, so I would go with the Roth and max that out because then you've got both buckets to pick from. Because we don't know where the tax code's going, who's going to be in the White House, you know, whether we're going to see the Tax Cuts and Jobs Acts expire, whether it's going to be renewed, you may not need the money right away. And the Roth would allow it to continue to grow without any required minimum.

So having both buckets available, and then you can choose which one to pull from based on which makes the most sense from a tax standpoint I like so I'd keep the managing that old traditional and add new money to the Roth. Thanks for your call, john. We'll be right back. Hey, it's great to have you with us today on faith and finance live. It's Friday, which means our good friend Jerry Boyer stops by he's our resident economist.

He joins us in this segment each Friday with his market and economic commentary. And you know, Jerry, I was thinking, you know, we're headed into the Labor Day weekend. I mean, this is a biblical holiday, right? Because God created us to be workers. So we have something to celebrate here, right?

We certainly do. And I think the work ethic that characterizes America and Western civilization is something that we owe to the Bible. Under paganism, to be a successful man was to not work. It was to have many slaves to so they do the work. Aristotle said, Well, in order to have a class of poets, you must have a class of slaves.

Because somebody has to do the work so that the poets can write poetry. And that idea took root kind of in Western civilization in some in some ways. And, you know, that's one of the reasons why there was resistance to abolition of slavery, which was associated with resistance to the rise of free markets. So kind of the old line, I mean, that's actually the reason that economics is called the dismal science. Because it's the it's some of the British poets who called it that because they said, Well, wait a minute, these economists tell us that slavery is actually a very foolish system. And they tell us that slavery is not a good way to manage an economy. It's not moral, but it isn't even efficient. I mean, it's one thing if you like do evil, but get something good out of it.

But to do evil and get, you know, economic stagnation out of it doesn't make any sense. So they said, Well, once we have all these free markets, and all the slaves are gone, then none of us can be poets anymore. But of course, what that really meant is only really good poets would be poets.

People would get jobs other than poetry, we can't all be that button. So they call it the dismal science, because it's so dismal, because we won't have slaves to do the work anymore. So the idea of labor as a good thing is a very distinctively biblical idea. Jesus was a carpenter actually broader than that he was attacked on pagan anti Christian philosophers when Christianity was rising in the Roman Empire, they said, Well, this can't be true.

Because most of the people who adhere to it are slaves. And the founder of this religion is a worker, not a philosopher. Therefore, this must be a false religion. So that work idea is something that comes via Judaism into Christianity. The fourth commandment isn't a rest one day and seven. It's work six days and rest one day. Both are part of the commandment. The work is part of the commandment as well as the rest. So yes, Labor Day, whether they want to acknowledge it or not, is a very distinctively Christian holiday. Wow, that was brilliant.

I had no idea what I was in for when I asked for Labor Day. That was really good. We just covered Aristotle, philosophy, Judaism and poetry all in the last 120 seconds. Thanks for that. Let me add something about that. Okay.

Okay. So when Aristotle when he was listing the sciences, the highest science was philosophy. And the second highest science was what he called praxis, which is basically like leadership, like lawyers and politicians. And the lowest field of human knowledge was techne.

That's mechanics and labor and physical production, right? So that's Aristotle's worldview. But when God came into the world, he came into the world with the profession, his son incarnated with the profession that Aristotle saw as the lowest form of knowledge, not the highest form of knowledge. But it is in fact what God is, you know, Saint Chrysostom said, God is the master builder. So would it be no surprise that the master builders that when he was when he was sending someone to be the be the foster father of his son, that he gave his son into the tutelage of a master builder named Joseph? Hmm, wow, that is powerful. And what a picture of the grand story that God was telling, ultimately to redeem and save the world through his, through his son.

But thanks for that, Jerry, that was amazing. Well, I hate to take that into the labor markets and what's going on in the economy, because I'd like to talk about what you were just talking about just there all day. However, it does segue nicely into what's going on in our economy, because well, the labor markets and the unemployment rate were one of the drivers for the markets this week, right? Yeah, absolutely.

And let's, let's connect it. We have that big picture theological and then we have like today's data, which is that the economy only added 187,000 jobs last month. And that's not a lot for an economy as large as now as ours. Earlier this week, we found out that the old job openings actually decreased. So there were fewer jobs waiting for people than there had been before. And when that happens, you have fewer people getting jobs. And we found out that the unemployment rate went up unexpectedly, which means that, you know, more people looked for jobs and didn't find them.

So you can see all those things are logically connected. If there's fewer job openings, and there are more people looking for jobs and not finding them, which means less job creation than you would expect. So that's a that's a bad job market. It's not a terrible job market. It's not the Great Depression. But that's not those aren't good results.

Now, here's where things get really weird. Because instead of being influenced by a biblical worldview, which is that more people working and being productive is a good thing. Six days you shall labor. Modern economics under Keynes and and all of the Ivy League universities teach it and all the Fed chairman believe it. I just spent some time this week with with Art Laffer, who was the founder of the Laffer curve and he got it right. But he was passed over for Fed chairman.

He was on the on, you know, on the board, but he passed over for Fed chairman. And what they do is they look at this and they say, Oh, well, this is actually, you know, if the job market is not so strong, that's okay, then, because you see, more people working too many people working causes inflation. They think too many people working causes inflation. So that means that they're not going to fight inflation, because this bad jobs market is not inflationary. And so they won't be, you know, destroying money supply. And then markets went up today.

So that's what we see happen over and over again. Bad economic news in the labor market leads to good market returns because of the upside down world of Keynesian economics. See, we should in a normal economy with good rulership, good leadership, we would look at that and say, that's bad news if these people look for work and couldn't get it. And markets would reflect that as bad news, rather than as good news. And they reflected as good news, because the Fed sees things upside down. And so they think, Oh, this is great news that we don't have all these people working driving up inflation. And so then rather than the markets being an accurate reflection or a barometer of what's actually going on, it reflects the action that we think the Fed is going to take as a result of the data. Exactly. The market should reflect the reality of the economy. Historically, it does. But when the Fed gets gigantically big, as it does, I was just with our friend Brian Westbury this week, and he told me that actually our Fed is now as big as the 10 largest sovereign wealth funds combined.

So the 10 largest funds in the world are still smaller than that one investor. So number one, it's so big that it moves markets. And number two, it looks at the world in a kind of perverse way. So it acts the opposite of the way that it should act. It should be it should be pessimistic. It should be worried if the job market is doing poorly, but instead it has the opposite reaction. Oh, victory, higher unemployment.

We don't have to worry about inflation. And that's the nature of idolatry and apostasy and having a humanistic worldview as opposed to a biblical worldview. Everything gets turned upside down and inside out. And so the upside down, inside out market reactions that we see reflect the upside down, inside out worldview of our rulers.

All right. So let's come full circle, Jerry, then as we tie a bow on this, how then should we live as believers in light of what you just said? Well, first of all, we just have to understand that markets have a lot of distortion in them. And that, you know, that means we should have more provision, probably means also less reliance on them. In other words, oh, look, our reliance should always be on God. And I, I believe people should be in the markets.

I'm in the markets and we help people get into the markets. But because of that extra volatility that comes about through unsteady leadership, a double minded man is unstable in all his ways. He's driven by the wind and tossed like waves.

Markets are going to be driven by the wind and tossed like waves more often than they would be if we had good leadership. So first of all, what I'd say is, don't get freaked out by that. Just go back and read the gospel stories about when Jesus calmed the sea. The disciples really got, they got in a tizzy when there were waves and winds, but they shouldn't. Don't get in a tizzy when there are waves or winds. Don't get frightened. When you see your financial advisor and your financial advisor says, we're down this quarter, don't lose your head.

Stick to the plan. That's number one. Number two, rejoice, because I think we should be more worried if we had bad leadership and we were violating God's principles and we were prospering.

I'd be really concerned then. It would be like the universe doesn't make sense. But if we're doing foolish things and our rulers are confused and foolish, then markets should reflect that in terms of volatility. The design of God shows two ways. One, when we violate his principles and things go badly, or two, when we follow his principles and things go well. We like that one better. And that's the one we pray for.

But both of them reflect the glory of God. Wow, that was incredible. Well, Jerry, I can't think of a better place for us to round out our program today as we head into a Labor Day weekend with where you just left us that we're to rejoice, not to be caught up in fear.

Instead, we're to trust in the Lord. And thank you for re-centering us on a biblical worldview of what it means to work and to be creators along with the Creator himself. We appreciate that. My pleasure. Happy Labor Day, my friend.

All right, God bless you. Folks, that was Jerry Boyer. He's our resident economist and boy, he can riff anytime he wants because we always get some incredible insights from Jerry and it's always encouraging.

Despite the news of the day, I just appreciate how Jerry always takes us back to what is truth and that's ultimately the Scriptures. Well, Sharon and Becky and Augustina, I am so sorry that we didn't get you all on the broadcast today. We'd love to schedule you all for Tuesday, the next live broadcast. If you'd like to stay on the line, we'll try to get you scheduled to be first in line next time we do this.

We'd love to tackle your questions. And again, my apologies. But folks, thanks for being along with us today. It was my privilege and pleasure to be able to just encourage you to be able to talk to Jerry, be able to talk to each of our callers today and point you back to the Scriptures because ultimately here on everything we do on Moody Radio, we want to point you back to a biblical worldview as you think about your life and what God is calling you to do. On behalf of my team today, Jim Henry, Tahira Haines, Amy Rios, grateful for Josie as well handling our phones. I'm Rob West.

Faith and Finance Live is a partnership between Moody Radio and FaithFi. Have a great weekend. We'll see you next week. Bye bye.