Working as Unto the Lord

More stress doesn't always come with faith. That's 800-525-7000. This is Faith & Finance Live, biblical wisdom for your financial journey.

journey. Some statistics claim that 54% of American employees are happy with their jobs. Then again, apparently 83% of us are suffering from work-related stress. Whether those are accurate numbers or not, we all know just from looking around that people are stressed out and work is often the cause. So what does all this mean for you? If work-related pressure is getting you down, what do you do?

Get it? Retrain and change jobs? Grit your teeth and keep going?

Let me suggest you step back and ask a different question. As a believer in Christ, why are you working in the first place? The desire to do productive, meaningful work is in our DNA.

In fact, when God created Adam and Eve, He immediately set them to work naming the animals and tending their beautiful garden. Unfortunately, along with everything else, work was twisted by sin after the fall. Now instead of always being productive and satisfying the way God intended, work can literally make us sick. In Colossians 3 23 and 24, we see the key to rediscovering meaningful work. Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward.

It is the Lord Christ you are serving. Knowing God in your work, whether your job is secular or not, is the key to contentment on the job. The verse says whatever you do, so it's not the work itself that matters, it's the boss.

And if you're a Christian, your boss is Jesus, not you and not even your employer. Okay, for those of you who like examples, let me show you someone who did her job as unto the Lord. We don't know her name, but her virtues are outlined in chapter 31 of Proverbs. She is referred to as a wife of noble character, but her actions and attitudes are worth studying and imitating no matter who you are. One characteristic of this Bible hero that stands out to me is what we might call her work ethic. Here are some of the phrases that describe this woman of noble character.

You can ask yourself, does this describe me too? She works with eager hands. A person of noble character has a positive attitude towards work, knowing that diligence can produce many benefits. She gets up while it's still dark. She provides food for her family. The Bible makes it clear that providing for your family is a primary responsibility. She takes it very seriously. She considers a field and buys it. Out of her earnings, she plants a vineyard.

Part of the biblical work ethic involves expertise, gaining useful skills and using them for the benefit of your family and community. She sets about her work vigorously, her arms are strong for her tasks. This hero is aware that living well requires strength and determination.

You don't get there sitting on the couch watching YouTube. She opens her arms to the poor. This woman of character is so successful in her work that she is able to be generous with her surplus.

Are you working just for yourself or so you can help others also? She speaks with wisdom, a person of noble character develops enough experience to teach others. Her work ethic is the water that raises all boats because everyone benefits from her industry. She does not eat the bread of idleness.

It's pretty clear that a biblical work ethic means not being lazy. And the most important quality of the woman of noble character is that she follows and honors the Lord. A woman who fears the Lord is to be praised. Everything she does comes from a desire to serve God and all of her success springs from this priority. We can learn a lot from the Proverbs 31 woman about working as unto the Lord. I encourage you to read through Proverbs 31 and make it a point to follow her example. Finally, as you consider your own job stresses, remember Proverbs 3, 5 and 6. Rest in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight. You see folks, we serve an audience of one. We're not playing to a chorus of men.

We're playing to God himself and when that's the focus of our heart, it puts everything in perspective. All right, your calls are next 800-525-7000. That's 800-525-7000. Stick around.

Great to have you with us today on Faith and Finance Live. I'm Rob West. All right, it's time to take your calls and questions. The number to call is 800-525-7000.

Again that's 800-525-7000. We've got some lines open. Let's dive in today.

We'll begin today in Cleveland, Ohio. Hi Sarah. Go right ahead. Hi, yeah, I'm 65 and I'm going to retire in a couple years and I owe about $50,000 on a private student loan that I signed for. Everything else I have is paid for in life and I'm thinking about taking this money out of my 401k over the next two years and paying this off so I don't have that debt when I go into retirement.

So I was looking for some feedback on that. Sure. So let's talk about the assets that you'll have in retirement. More specifically, the income that you'll be expecting. So as you enter retirement, will you start taking Social Security at that point? Yes, I will.

Okay. And how much would you expect that you would need to pull from this, what is $300,000 today, might be less if you pull the money to pay off your student loans. How much would you expect to need to pull from this account to cover your obligations? It would be about $50,000. You'll need $50,000 a year over and above your Social Security? No, just one payment.

So I owe $50,000 on the loan but everything else, I own the house, everything is all paid for. Sure. No, I totally understand that.

That makes sense. But what I'm looking for is, is there going to be a gap between what it takes for you to cover your monthly obligations and what you're going to be receiving from Social Security such that apart from paying off this student loan, you would need to pull a monthly income stream from your retirement account? Are you planning on that? No, I'm expecting to generate some income from that in the form of an annuity.

And also I'm planning on to still work part time. Okay. All right. And how much is your monthly payment on that student loan?

It's almost $500 a month. Okay. All right. Yeah.

I mean, I think this can make some sense. I like the idea that you're spreading it out over two tax years. Ideally, we'd leave that money in there and let it continue to grow and you'd fund this out of current cash flow.

I mean, that would be my preference because then we don't pay the tax on it. It's money that would be there continuing to grow on a tax deferred basis. I suspect some portion of your portfolio is probably, if not all of it, is still down with the market. So you'd give it time to recover once we get beyond whatever the fallout is of these interest rate hikes and the inflation.

We may hit a recession here, but eventually we'll pull through it. And I'd love for this money to stay in there and continue to grow so that you've got it there. So let's say down the road beyond your retirement, beyond you working full part time, you get to a place where you are no longer working. So you're relying solely on your social security, your annuity. But if that doesn't cover all the expenses, I'd love for you to be able to pull a monthly income from that $300,000. If we wanted to pull 4% a year from that $300,000, we'd expect you to be able to pull about $1,000 a month. But if that drops down to $250,000 because you've paid off your student loans, that would throw off $10,000 a year or about $830 a month. So it might drop by about $170 a month, ideally.

And we're just talking about what I would want you to take from that. But you also have to factor in that you're now saving a $500 a month payment. So your expenses have dropped and pretty considerably.

So I could go either way. I mean, I think my preference would be if you could continue to work long enough to pay out the student loan out of current cash flow that preserves the full retirement account to continue to grow into the future so that you can rely on that when you need it. But if you have either a conviction to be debt-free or you'd just like to get your expenses as low as possible, and you're comfortable with that $300,000 being $250,000 that's now available to supplement your income, then I could get on board with that. And I can imagine why, especially as you're entering retirement, you might want to have your expenses as low as possible. And obviously, this is the last remaining large expense that you could do away with.

Does that all make sense? Yeah, and really what I'm looking to do is this year take $25,000 and pay it, and then over the next year I'll save another $25,000 and pay it because I'm aggressively putting that much in, actually. So it's kind of a wash next year. And then I'm thinking that that would actually boost my Social Security when I claim it as income, because it will show as my income, though I know I'll be paying taxes on what I take out. That's right. Yeah.

So did you say you're putting in enough out of your salary deferral currently that you would offset that $25,000, roughly? Yeah. Yeah, I would. Yeah. Yeah.

Okay. So what about just doing, instead of making those contributions for next year's payoff, what if you just redirected that directly to the student loans and then it just never goes into the retirement plan? So I could probably do that, and I thought about that, too, except where I get an employer match on what I put at, you know, a certain percentage, I'm not even sure what it is right now. Yeah.

Well, you'd want to find that out. I'd want you to maximize that for sure. But perhaps out of every dollar beyond that, after you fully maximize the company match, maybe you just go directly to the student loan payoff over and above that scheduled monthly payment, and then you're not putting it in where it actually may get invested, and then maybe the market falls temporarily and you've got a loss, then you're just turning around and pulling it out and adding as taxable income, you might as well, let's just try to preserve as much of that $300,000 as possible.

Maybe you end up taking the $25,000 this year because we don't have that many months left, but maybe moving forward, you try to do it all out of your own, you know, cash flow and just drop your contributions down to the minimum to be able to fully, you know, take advantage of the match. Yeah. All right.

That makes sense. Yeah, I was just kind of playing around with it in my head, figuring out what I wanted to do. And since we're getting to the end of this year, I thought, oh, I better, like, really out about that.

Yeah. Well, I think at the end of the day, though, I like where you're going. Let's try to be debt-free, especially as you're ending retirement.

Let's get your expenses as low as possible, but let's also try to maximize what you have available in retirement to pull from to supplement your income. So I think you're on the right track here, Sarah. We appreciate your call today very much. Tim in Sarasota, we're going to get to you just after the break, and Dean in St. Louis, the same for you. Folks, we do have some lines open today. We'd love to hear from you. The line to call, the number to call is 800-525-7000.

Hey, before we hit this break, a quick email. This one comes to us from Stan, and Stan writes, my parents have a whole life insurance policy for many years. Premiums are deducted from the policy's value. We would cash it out, but they still need insurance for my mom's benefit. Does it make sense to cash it out and reinvest in retirement, or does it make more sense to keep the policy because they have a high amount of debt? You know, in most cases, it would make sense to cash it out and replace it with an inexpensive or less expensive term policy and then reinvest the savings. However, a lot depends on your parents' age and health status, Stan. So I would probably, before you do anything, don't cancel that policy.

Keep that death benefit in place, but let's connect with an independent agent just to see if there's a chance that for a set period of time and until this need goes away, because maybe they've saved in other ways, you could get a term policy to provide the death benefit she needs, and then you could take full advantage of that cash value. Thanks for writing to us. 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 on anything financial. All the lines are full, so let's dive right back in and see how many questions we can tackle today. To Sarasota, Florida, Tim, you're next on the program. Go ahead. Hey, Rob. Thanks for taking my call today.

Sure. Yeah, so my wife and I were looking to potentially buy a home in the future, and the big thing that we're kind of wrestling with right now is trying to see if we should get a loan, like a first-time home buyer loan, or if we should wait on that because the Sarasota housing market's kind of crazy, and just trying to think through that process. Yeah, I'm glad you are, because the last thing I'd want you to do is get out ahead of yourself in trying to buy a house. As much as I love home ownership, I just want to make sure you guys aren't placing unnecessary pressure on your marriage and your finances by buying too much house, and I realize real estate is challenging right now.

It's really challenging there in Florida, just given what's going on with so many people moving in, and there's just a lot of reasons why Florida real estate's doing so well. The other thing we've got to factor in is that home affordability is at its lowest point ever, and here's why. Think about three years ago, the average interest rate was 3%. We're now more than double that at 7.5%. Three years ago, the average median house price was $300,000.

Today it's north of $400,000. It's just really creating a challenging situation, and it's one thing if you're selling a property and being able to maximize the increase in the property value and then roll that equity into another property. It's another thing if you're entering the housing market for the first time. Do we expect that home affordability is going to get a lot better? Well, there's not really a lot of basis for a significant drop in the housing market just because we still have a shortage of homes in this country of two to three million. The millennials are reaching age 30. They're starting families, buying single-family homes.

A lot of folks that were working in densely populated urban areas are moving to the suburbs because they're working remotely, and they're buying houses. Given that and just not enough housing starts, new home construction, we just have a lot of pressure. We also are in a situation where interest rates are high.

Now, that's going to get better. We think the best case for interest rates by the end of next year is somewhere in probably the high fives, whereas that's certainly better than seven and a half. It's not great, but it's better, and you'd probably still want to refinance a few years later if you could drop it by at least a percentage point, but that doesn't come without a cost. You're going to spend probably two to three percent of the mortgage value just in expenses to refinance it, which is money that's just going right out the door. How do you balance all of that? I think the answer is just to make sure that you have financial readiness before you make this decision, that you've saved that 20 percent down, that you've got a mortgage payment that's no more than 25 at the most, 30 percent of your take-home pay for principal interest taxes and insurance.

I realize homeowners' insurance is through the roof there in Florida. If you can even get it, which is a challenging situation on top of all of this. I guess all that to say, let's go slow.

If for some reason you find that you're not quite there yet, you don't have the down payment or the home that your starter house is still going to push you outside of what makes sense for your budget, then I would probably wait, and at the very least, even if you don't get homes a lot cheaper than you can today with the prospect of a recession, I don't think you're going to see a lot of increases in home values in the next year, and you may be able to lock in an interest rate a good bit lower while you take that time to continue to save. Does all that make sense? Yes.

Yes, it does. That's extremely helpful. Thank you. Good.

You're very welcome. Listen, Tim, I think you're doing the right thing. Just really pray through this. I know you guys want to get in a house, you want a place of your own, so I understand that desire, and I want to affirm that. I would just say be thoughtful about when you're actually ready to make that decision and go ahead with it.

In the meantime, let's keep your lifestyle in check at a minimum, cut back, but at least you have a goal in mind which will help you kind of make some of those short-term sacrifices as you try to save as much as you can between now and then. God bless you, my friend. Thanks for calling today. We appreciate it.

To St. Louis, Missouri. Hi, Dean. Go ahead.

Hi. I was wanting to know, like on an insurance claim check, do you tithe on that check? I'm expecting a check to have my loan free done, and I'm just wanting to know, do I tithe on that check? Yeah, I appreciate that question, Dean. I mean, clearly you want to honor the Lord in your giving, in your proportionate giving. You know, if you're going to apply the principle of the tithe, it's based on your increase.

So the question is, is an insurance settlement an increase? And I would say it's not, because you had probably damage to your roof. Was it caused by a storm or something?

What happened? Yes, a storm. Okay, yeah.

Yeah. So you had a storm come through. You actually had a loss of value because you had a damaged roof. You have insurance, which is what a wise steward does to protect you against that risk. The insurance is making you whole. So you're, at best, staying even. At worst, you've lost a little bit of value in your house because you now have a repaired roof, unless they're replacing the whole thing, and then you may have a slight increase. But the bottom line is, that insurance settlement is to make you whole.

It's not an increase in any way, and therefore, if you apply the principle of the tithe, it doesn't apply. Okay. All right. Thank you so much. You're welcome. Thanks for calling today.

We appreciate you being on the program. Hopefully to Kansas. I'm not even going to try to say your city. How do you pronounce the city where you live, Jacqueline? It is Tonganoxie. Tonganoxie.

I've never heard of Tonganoxie, Kansas. All right. Hey, I probably have time for your question.

We're going to get to the answer on the other side of the break, so tell me what you're calling about today. I had got savings bonds for my son whenever I had an inheritance for him, and it was $5,700, and the maturity after 18 years, it's supposed to double. My question is, I've seen a lot of things about the gold, and I put on the radio, on the bot radio, about the gold pit, and so my question is, at 24, in four more years, it'll be doubled. My question to you, with everything as the finances are going with the government and the way the money's going, I didn't know if it would be better to pull it out now, and go ahead, and if there's a penalty, is the penalty worth it, and get the gold now, or wait the four more years, or if the money's mature, and then pull out? Sure. That's a great question.

What series bonds are they, do you know? I'm sorry? That's okay. We'll get it back to you after the break.

I've got to take a quick one, but we'll be right back. Great to have you with us today on Faith and Finance Live. We're taking your calls and questions today on anything financial. We've still got a lot of ground to cover here this hour, so if you have a financial question, give us a call, 800-525-7000, that's 800-525-7000. Just before the break, we were talking to Jacqueline in Tonganoxie, Kansas, and she bought some savings bonds years ago, and when her son got an inheritance, they mature in four years, but she's wondering if perhaps now might be a time to pull those out, to do something better with them. She's thrown out the idea that she might consider investing in some gold. Let's first talk, Jacqueline, about pulling this money out. I think I would agree with you, there are far better places for this money to be invested.

You shouldn't have a penalty. We don't know what series of bonds these are, but what we do know is they're probably not paying a very attractive rate of interest. The EE bonds right now are paying about 2.5%, so you could do a lot better than that in just a CD or a high-yield savings account. I think you redeeming these bonds, getting whatever interest credited, which would be taxable, that would be coming your way, and then redirecting that into other investments does make some sense. Now, where do you put that money?

Where do you go from here? What I would say to you is it's probably worth, in my mind, considering that you may want to look at a properly diversified stock and bond portfolio as opposed to necessarily going straight into gold. Now, I would agree with you that gold should do well in the coming years. Here's what's going on that will affect the price of gold. The idea that the government spending, which took off in the COVID crisis, will continue is probably a pretty solid base case.

There's no indication of that changing, regardless of who is in power, unfortunately. On top of that, I think a recession is likely sometime in the next year, and government spending always soars during recessions. So if we're counting on more government spending, that means they're probably going to be fighting inflation off for a number of years. There's a good backdrop there for a higher gold price. As more people realize, this government spending wasn't just a one-time COVID thing and that the government's going to continue debasing their purchasing power. The interest in gold and precious metals is going to climb. Now, keep in mind, though, there is one warning, and that is if we do slip into a recession, history would indicate there's a decent chance there will be some sort of market panic associated with that.

It will be short-lived. I'm not saying anything that's catastrophic, it's just usually that type of downside pressure comes at some point during a recession before we recover. And when that happens, liquid investments like gold get sold off along with everything else.

It happened in 2008 and again in 2020. During the COVID pandemic, the gold price fell hard as those panics unfolded, and then they went on to do well. But here's the thing, I just wouldn't put all of your eggs in one basket here. I think for the reasons I mentioned that gold is probably going to do well, I think you could make the case that stocks will do well also. And so I kind of like the idea of you having a mix of high-quality stock mutual funds alongside some precious metals. In fact, we generally recommend you don't put more than 10% in gold.

Now ultimately, that's going to have to be your decision on your son's behalf how you invest this, but I think the idea that you would move it out of the savings bonds makes a lot of sense. And then at that point, you just have to decide how to build the portfolio. Does that all make sense?

It does. One piggyback on that, I know in the past he did like the Bitcoins, there was like different things like that that he was interested in and had put some money into those things. Bitcoin kind of made me nervous. What is your thought on the Bitcoins? Yeah, I just don't like Bitcoin as an investment here, any of the cryptos.

It's kind of like the wild, wild west of the dot coms. When those first came on the scene, there was a lot of winners, there was more losers, just a lot of volatility. Bitcoin has been in that same camp where it's been incredibly volatile.

We still have a lot of unanswered questions with regard to the regulation that's going to come around cryptocurrencies as these central governments across the world, including the United States, think about the fact that these could rival their own central bank currencies. And that is going to have a lot to do with how well these perform. And I think given that volatility, I would put this in a highly speculative category. So I would rather him learn a more sure and steady approach to investing, which would be not trying to pick something that's going to go, you know, straight up in a very short period of time, but really picking some companies that he can get excited about, being a partial owner in those companies, maybe tracking the performance of those and begin understanding what it looks like to invest in real companies with sales and earnings, be able to follow those, be able to understand the principle of diversification. You might even want to introduce him to the idea that he can align his values with the companies he invests in. So they're, you know, creating human flourishing in the world and avoiding companies that, you know, either devalue human life like using slave labor in their supply chain or even produce products that are harmful to people.

So you know, I think there's a lot to learn here, but I would stay away at least if I were advising him with investing in something as speculative as Bitcoin and the other cryptos. Perfect. Perfect. I appreciate that.

That was kind of my feeling as well, but I am not as educated on it on it. And so that's why I appreciate you letting me know that. Yeah. Happy to do it. Let's do this. I'm going to send you, it sounds like he's well on his way to wanting to understand the markets and investing, but I'd love for him to do that from a biblical perspective. So if you stay on the line, Jacqueline, I'm, we're going to, our team's going to get your information. I'm going to send you a copy of the book, the sound mind investing handbook.

And I think it will help him to just further his education, but to do it with a biblical underpinning. So stay on the line. That'll be our gift to you. And we'll drop that in the mail. Thanks for calling today. Let's head to New Jersey, Renee. Thank you for calling. Go ahead. Hi, Rob. Thank you for your program.

So I just wanted to ask your opinion. This is regarding a quotation that I received for long-term care from an insurance company. So I have three different policy premium amount. The first one, I mean, the thing is, I find that the monthly premium, for example, the first one, 623 is kind of too high for my budget. So then they have now this, this one of course has 5% compound, 20 year inflation protection.

And then there's a middle one, middle range, and then the other range with no inflation at all. This one has a policy premium of $250, which is within my budget. But just wanted to let you know that there's a maximum monthly benefit amount of not more than 6,000 and the policy limit is for three years with a max amount of 216,000. So I just wanted to have your opinion on this, no inflation, but within my budget premium.

Yes. Well, all things being equal, Renee, and I understand your dilemma, I'd love for you to have inflation protection because especially in healthcare, that's going to be a reality. And yet it doesn't matter how good the policy is, if you can't sustain it into the future because it doesn't fit into your budget, then it doesn't matter what kind of benefits you have because when you need it, it's not going to be there because you're going to have to drop it. So I would say having an independent agent look at this and give you their opinion is key.

But I think just based on what you've shared, having something for three years up to 200,000 to 6,000 a month is a great start to making sure you're protected in this area of your life. Stay on the phone, we'll talk a bit more off the air. We'll be right back. Hey, great to have you with us today on Faith and Finance Live.

I'm Rob West. Hey, before we head back to the phones, let me remind you, Faith and Finance Live is listener supported. So if you've found some benefit in this program, maybe you listen regularly, you have taken some of the advice and applied it in your own life and you'd like to support our work, we'd certainly be grateful.

The more you give, the more people we can assist in understanding God's principles of managing money. It's quick and easy to give online. Just head to our website, faithfi.com, that's faithfi.com, and just click the give button. It will take you right into a form that you can give online securely.

You'll find a phone number there if you'd like to give over the phone or you'll find the mailing address and you can send a gift in that way. Thanks in advance. All right, let's head back to the phones to Lombard, Illinois. Maria, you'll be next on the program. Go ahead. Hello.

Thank you for taking my call. See if you can give me a little advice. Right now I'm receiving a pension due to a divorce. I'm getting $4,700 and I had to start my Social Security. I get, at 62, I'm 65 right now, and I'm getting $600. I have a little part-time here and there.

I would love to save for a townhome in a few years in a place where the taxes are not that high like in Illinois. Will I be doomed? I mean, would I be okay if I continue with those plans because I hear that pensions don't last forever?

And at this age, you know, it's kind of, I'm a little concerned about my future. Is that a good question? Can you answer that? Sure. Oh, absolutely, Maria. I appreciate that. Tell me more about when you said pensions don't last forever. I mean, it should last forever for the rest of your life. What is it you're concerned about there?

I hear, and I really need to get more into it. I don't know if you know about it, but they say that if my ex-husband passes, Lord, protect them. Well, you know, hope that never happens, but if he does, then the pension is over for me. Ah, I see. Okay.

Well, yeah, that could be the case. I thought that was your pension. I didn't realize.

So did the court award his pension or a portion of it to you? Right. Yes. Okay. All right. Yeah.

So that certainly is a possibility, and you'd want to get more information on whether there was a spousal benefit to that or whether that was on his life only. Beyond that, what other, and you said when are you going to start taking Social Security? I already began. Due to the pandemic, my cousin passed away due to COVID, so I'm 62, and I'm like, I got scared.

Everybody was scared back then. So I said, oh, wait a minute, I'm not going to wait until, you know, later I will start collecting at 62. So yeah, I'm 65 now, so I started collecting at 62. And you're taking your own benefit, not your husband's, ex-husband's benefit, is that right? What do you mean?

So you have the ability, yes, for Social Security, you could either take, under certain requirements, you could have taken a spousal benefit based on his work record or your own benefit based on your work record. Right. Yeah. I have to wait up for his, because he's barely started his P60, so yeah, it's not time yet.

And you can take the higher of the two, so when the time comes, you'll want to see whether that would be higher than your own benefit, you know, taking up to 50% of his. Okay, so you're continuing to work, and how long do you plan to do that? To work? Yes. Is that part-time? I'm a caregiver, so as long as people need me. Okay. Yeah, part-time. All right.

I'm healthy, you know. Yeah. Okay. And you're renting, is that right? I'm renting, yes.

So we had a house for over 35 years, and at the end of the divorce and everything, found out that he owed the whole house, so yeah, we didn't have, we lost the house. Yeah. Got it. Okay. So you're now, yeah. And I see here in my notes that it sounds like you're rebuilding your credit. Tell me about that.

Yes. Well, since I, you know, since I touched the pension, you know, they gave me half of his pension, then he also gave me $50,000 debt that he, you know, he had, he was up to his net with debts, which I didn't even know. So I'm like, wait a minute, I can't pay for that, that's not my debt.

So I filed for bankruptcy. I see. Okay. So now I'm building up my credit. Okay.

Very good. Well, here's the thing. I mean, is there any problem with you buying a townhouse in this season of life? No, I don't think so, but not till you're ready. So you being ready to buy a townhouse is going to take some time in that number one, you're going to want to improve that credit, which is not going to happen quickly. It's going to happen by you being an on-time payer over time. And hopefully you have maybe a secured credit card or some sort of card where you're putting a modest amount every month, maybe even, you know, just 10 or $20 a month, unless you're living on it. But the key is that you're an on-time payer every month. You're only using it for budgeted items and you're paying it off in full. That's going to report you as being an on-time payer with active credit. And that over time will improve your credit.

The problem is right now we've already got high interest rates at seven and a half percent, you know, more than double where they were three years ago. And on top of that, with you having poor credit because of the bankruptcy, you're going to be paying a really high rate. So I don't think this is the time for you to buy a house anyway, which is probably okay because you need to get a little bit further along in saving. Now, if you're putting money away for that down payment when the interest rates are better and when you've got more saved and hopefully when this debt that you acquired through the divorce is gone, well, hopefully at that time, you know, it does make sense for you to buy something. But even if it doesn't, all you've done is put money into a savings account, which can just be available if you ever need it down the road. So I think at this point, your key is just continue being an on-time payer.

Let's rebuild that credit. Let's really watch your expenses, set up a budget, live by it, and then just work as long as you can so that you can save and hopefully put something away so that, you know, as you continue to work, you're building up a little bit of a nest egg that you could use to supplement your income down the road. And maybe there's a higher benefit available as a spousal benefit on Social Security when the time comes. But if not, at least you've got the pension plus your income plus Social Security.

Let's take advantage of this season why you have three income sources to save and invest for the future. Does that make sense? Yes. Yes, it does. Thank you so much.

It does. All right. All right, Maria, thanks for your call today. May the Lord bless you.

To Georgia. Hi, Sherry. Go ahead.

Yes. Thank you so much. I'm going to be looking at what we're doing. Oh, Sherry, it looks like we're having some we're having some trouble hearing you.

I think you're on a cell phone. Let's give it another shot. Go ahead. Yes, sir. Okay, great.

Yes, ma'am. Okay, I'm going to be losing my employment at the end of this month. I've been in the process of filing for disability and I'm hoping that that comes through. Before then, I do actually have a hearing. But the question is, should I have a 401k with my current employer?

It's got about 24,000 in it. I was wondering, should I switch that robot into an individual, you know, an IRA with my bank? Or would it be better to roll that into my spouse's retirement plan through his work?

He has a city job. Yeah, yeah, you're not with a retirement account. It's all individual. So you can roll it to an IRA in your name. You can't roll it into your husband's 401k or 403b or 457, or his IRA.

All of those have to be in one person's name, and you can't mix those assets. So really, the only option you have when you separate from employment, Sherry, would be to leave it right where it is, or to roll it to an IRA. I'd probably roll it to an IRA. Do you all have an advisor that advises you on any of your money management?

No, sir. Okay, no problem. So what I'd probably do is open an account at Fidelity or Schwab, an IRA in your name. You're going to, as soon as you separate from employment, you'll get the paperwork to roll it over to that new IRA. It won't come to you, you won't deposit it in your checking account, and therefore it's not taxable. It'll go straight into that IRA.

And then in terms of selecting those investments that you would use, I would head to soundmindinvesting.org, and our friends there at Sound Mind Investing could help you pick some mutual funds that align with your age and goals and objectives. And then that way that money can just keep growing and you forget about it. And you know, then when you need it down the road, hopefully it's a little higher than it is today. And that alongside whatever other retirement your husband has from his city job and anything else can be available for income.

Yes, sir. So I was, this was very unexpected, because our HR department had led me to, she was telling me that I needed to choose whether to roll that into an IRA or to put it into my husband's retirement. I'm not sure what she was talking about there. That's just not possible.

You know, retirement accounts are individual only, they cannot be commingled into a spouse's account. Oh, okay. All right. Thank you very much. All right. Thanks for your call today, Sherry. We appreciate it very much.

Quickly to Columbus. Jeanine, I've got just a minute left. Go ahead.

I expect to have these other costs for the home. Hey, Jeanine, maybe turn down that radio a little bit. And let's try again. Are you there? All right.

Doesn't look like that's gonna work out. Well, folks, let me just tell you how much I appreciate you being along with us today. You know, we covered a lot of ground today talked about a host of topics. And I think at the end of the day, the goal here is to recognize that our objective is faithfulness. You know, it's faithfulness to opportunity. What have we been entrusted and what are we doing with it? And our goal here on this program each day is to help you be that wise and faithful steward. So when you stand before God and give an account and we all will, you hear those words well done because you've looked to scripture, you've held God's money loosely, and you understand that it's a gift. It's a blessing what we have because we can enjoy it. We can provide for the needs of our families. We can give it away to help others.

When we look at it through that lens and focus on an eternal perspective, well, it allows it to be a blessing in our lives and certainly not a curse or anything like that whatsoever. We appreciate you being along with us today. On behalf of my team today, Lynn, Amy, Tahira, and Jim, I'm Rob West. This is Faith in Finance Live, which is a partnership between Moody Radio and Faith By. Enjoy the rest of your day and come back and see us tomorrow. Bye-bye.