5 Types of Loans to Avoid

Today's version of Faith in Finance Live is actually not live, so don't call in. George Washington once said, ìThere is no practice more dangerous than that of borrowing money.î I am Rob West. Our nation's first president, a man who faced danger many times on the battlefield, thought borrowing was more dangerous. Today we'll talk with Howard Dayton about five very dangerous ways of borrowing that you should avoid.

Then we have some great questions lined up for you. But don't call in today because we're pre-recorded. This is Faith in Finance Live, biblical wisdom for your financial journey. Well, we're delighted to have Howard Dayton with us again today. He's the founder of Compass Finances God's Way. He's the former host of this program and a great friend. Howard, welcome back. Great to be with you, Rob. Howard, all right. Today you've brought five types of loans we absolutely must avoid, so let's dive right in.

What's first on the list? Finance company loans, Rob. The interest rates are sky high, and they charge huge fees and closing costs. Always pay attention to the difference between the interest rate and the annual percentage rate, the APR, which they charge, because that includes the fees and closing costs. In other words, what you're really paying.

Yeah, right. When banks say no, finance companies, unfortunately, will often say yes, but it'll cost you a lot more. All right, what is the second loan we need to avoid? Yeah, the second type of loan is the payday loan, which is really a form of legalized robbery. Payday loans are usually for a few hundred dollars secured by your paycheck and get this, Rob, the typical APR on payday loans is 390%. I mean, imagine borrowing $300 for two months and then owing almost $500. Once you take out a payday loan, it's really, really hard to get out of this debt because the interest rate is so high, and they're called payday loans because every week you hand over your paycheck to the lender to pay off last week's loan, and then you have to borrow again. It's no wonder that Proverbs 22.7 tells us the borrower is slave to the lender. Oh, that's exactly right. And this third loan goes right along with it, doesn't it?

It sure does. Pawnshop loans. These are short-term loans based on the value of an item, which you forfeit if the loan isn't paid on time.

And interest rates generally range from five to 25% per month. Many who take out a pawn shop loan never get back the property that they pawned. And fourth on the list would be auto title loans. These are usually 30-day loans secured by your car title, but high interest rates really aren't the biggest downside of a title loan.

Listen to this. If you fail to make the payment on time, the lender can repossess the car. And one consumer protection group called title loans legalized auto theft because you lose the car and the equity in the car no matter what the size of the loan.

Oh, boy. Yeah, we need to avoid that at all costs. All right, what is the fifth and final type of loan to avoid? Yeah, Rob, this would be the tax refund loan. Millions of people, of course, look forward to April every year because they're getting a tax refund. But some are so cash strapped that they get a tax refund loan instead. And a lot of tax preparers offer this service for a small fee. What they neglect to tell their clients is that the interest rate can run into the triple digits on an annualized basis. So please stay away from tax refund loans.

Boy, that's really good information. Now, of course, the solution to all this is to go back to God's Word and to cultivate the right disciplines regarding managing God's money. And I know you have a brand new tool there at Compass Finances, God's Way to help with that, right?

We do. It's a six-week video called Navigating Your Finances, God's Way, Rob. And the topics include, of course, debt, saving, generosity, investment, work, honesty, and much more.

And we've designed it so that the video will work well in a variety of settings, including Sunday School, small groups, workshops, or even as a self-study. The good news, no training is required. And we're also offering a 10% discount all month long. Oh, wow. This brand new study, it's called Navigating Your Finances, God's Way. Howard, where can they go to get more information? The best place is to our website, Rob. It's compassone.org.

That's compass, the number one dot o-r-g. All right, Howard. Always great to have you, my friend. We appreciate you stopping by. Thank you so much, Rob.

God bless you. Folks, we want you to be debt-free. We also want you to understand how to manage money God's Way. And this study that Howard just mentioned, it's brand new, it's six weeks, and you can use it in a variety of formats. Check it out today, compassone.org. Howard Dayton's been with us today.

He's the founder of Compass. This is Faith at Finance Live. And even though we're not here today and can't take your live calls, there's much more ahead on the program, so please stay tuned. Well, it's great to have you with us today on Faith at Finance Live. A quick reminder, our team is away from the studio, so don't call in. But we've got some great questions we lined up in advance. Before we go to the phones, a quick email.

This one comes to us from Tim. Tim writes, is this an appropriate time to look for a first-time homebuyer loan? The housing prices are so high, the interest rates are high as well.

We have about $35,000 saved for a down payment, but we're not sure what to do. And Tim, it really is a challenging time to buy a home. We've got interest rates that have more than doubled in the last three years to about 7.5% from three. We've got housing prices that are up. Average home now over $400,000 instead of $300,000 where they were three years ago. So I would say, let's not rush into it. Make sure you save for that down payment.

That $35,000 at 20% down would only buy you a $175,000 home. If that fits your needs, great. If it doesn't, I'd say wait.

The interest rates will come down and you can continue to save. I hope that helps. All right, let's begin in North Dakota today. Kay, you will be our first caller and you can go right ahead. Hey, Rob, how are you doing? I'm doing great.

Thank you. So I have $13,000 in savings and I'm just a little unsure of like how to go forward with where to apply it. We have a $9,000 loan with a car.

We have student debt and I'm just not sure where to begin with it. Okay, great. So you have a $13,000 in savings. Would this be the extent of your savings, Kay? Does this include what I would call your emergency fund?

Yes. Okay. And then let's run through the debts that you have.

You mentioned a car loan. How much is that? $9,600.

Okay. And what's the interest rate? Do you happen to know? I don't happen to know that.

I think it's, oh heavens, I think it's 5%. Yeah. Okay.

No problem. And then you have some student loan debt? Yes.

Myself, I have $31,000 and my husband has $53,000. Okay. All right.

So you've got about 90 plus. And is that deferred currently or are you actively paying on it? Currently that's deferred. We were talking about like, do we pay off the car loan completely, work on just my student debt and defer his student debt until like mine is gone.

But we're just a little lost of how to like begin any of that or even if that's a good step to take. Yeah, no problem. All right. And then what would you say roughly is the total of your monthly expenses? So monthly expenses, we're sitting at about $2,300. Okay.

All right. So let's say it's $2,500. Your goal would be six months expenses which is $15,000.

You're close to that. You know, I would say on the lower end, we talk about having at least three months expenses. That puts you at $7,500. How much do you have, if any, left over at the end of the month? Do you have a margin or surplus?

We usually have like a surplus of maybe like $300. Okay. All right. And that's after the minimums are paid on at least the car but and only one of the student loan debts or they remind me again, are you paying anything on either of those currently? Not yet.

We're not paying anything on those yet. Okay. Yeah. And you were thinking about potentially resuming one and not the other if you have that option.

Correct. And so what would happen if you started paying those because you only have 300 surplus? Is that really the desire to pay off the car so you'd have enough or do you have the ability to dial back expenses? If you still had the car payment and you wanted to resume both student loans, how would you approach that?

So the hard part was if we were to resume both student student loans, we would not have enough to make either of those because just how big that monthly bill would be. Yeah. And so that's where we're like, do we just pay off the car loan to like maybe whatever we have for that car loan, just put it towards mine or, or even like feel like that might be a good option, but I'm just not too sure. Sure. No, I totally understand. And then talk to me about just your employment. Are you both working or just your husband? We're both working.

I'm pretty, I'm strictly part time just as an estate home mom, but I do have a job and I get about 1000 a month from that job. Okay. All right. Yeah.

And then my husband works full time and he gets, I would say roughly 3000 a month from his job. Okay. And just based on what you know today, you feel like those jobs are pretty stable and secure?

Yes. My job is considering taking me on full time and then offering me a salary. So okay, yeah, that'd be great. I realized that you've got to balance, you know, being at home with your little one and I understand that's a challenge and you guys obviously can pray through that. I'm sure you'll figure out how to proceed there. So if we paid off the car, you'd have about $3,000 left, which would give you a little more than one month's expenses, a little lower than I'd like it to be. But obviously then that car payment is gone and you could start to build back up your emergency savings. How much is that car payment per month?

I pay about $225 per month. Okay. All right. Yeah. And, and these are federal loans on these student loans, right? Yes.

Okay. So you can take advantage of income based repayment options even once you restart, which may allow you to push one of these out or at least pay a lot less something that fits into your budget. Well, I like the idea of you paying off the car and right sizing the budget so you have the option to resume the loan payments. Obviously $90,000 is a lot of debt. I assume that is kind of weighing on you and yet, you know, we'll just have to get to it as we can. I mean, the debt is there and we were going to make good on it.

It's going to take a long time. The key will be for you guys as your income increases over time, whether that's your husband gets a raise or a bonus or you go from part-time to full-time, you all keep your lifestyle kind of locked down during this season of life. So you can prioritize taking any increases. And once that emergency fund is fully funded, let's, you know, really start to go after those student loans and try to get those paid down. The good news is those federal loans give you that flexibility so that you don't ever find yourself in a position where you're upside down, you know, meaning you can't afford to pay them and you get behind, you know, they'll be able to fit into your budget as long as you can kind of prove your situation.

But I think the key for you all is just to stay lean. So yeah, I'm comfortable with you paying off that car loan. Let's free up a little bit more money, add $225 a month. Let's try to get that up to at least two to three months expenses. And then I would say, you know, whether you go after both of those and put both of them on an income reduced repayment option, it doesn't really matter to me whether you focus on one or both.

I think the key is, you know, just as you're able through increases in pay, that becomes our next priority. Are there any other savings goals you have on the horizon? Do you all own a home at this point, for instance?

No, we are currently renting. Okay. And have you thought about that? I mean, where does that fit in the priority order for you guys? For the savings?

Yes. Well, we like you said, like I do want to build that emergency fund, but I would also just like an extra little bit of savings just for the sake of like, in case like something wonky comes up, like I understand that's what the emergency fund is for. But I would just like to completely sit on those like medical or like, like my husband loses his job or something.

And so it's like, I want to build a little bit more for just the comfort aspect. And then if we need to maybe help like somebody, then we kind of have that flexibility as well. I love that and the Lord will honor that. You have a generous heart, Kay, and clearly that's the way we should handle money.

We want to handle money in such a way that we show that God is our true treasure and not our stuff, the things of this world. So I think, yeah, if you can get that up to six months expenses, then you could cover literally six months of a, you know, job disruption or a loss of a job, you know, a major expense that comes out of left field. So I would say, you know, if we want to pay off the car, great. And then let's really focus on continuing to build that up to a full six months.

At that point, maybe you redirect that into your home savings and just keep your lifestyle under check and then take advantage of those income based repayment options. So I think you're on the right track. I fully support everything you're saying here. Okay. We appreciate your call today. God bless you. We'll be right back. Stay with us. Hey, great to have you with us today on Faith and Finance Live. I'm Rob West, your host.

Our team is away from the studio today, so don't call in. But coming up a little later, we'll have more of your questions right here on the program. Hey, let me take a moment to mention the Faith Fi app. We'd love for you to download it. Just head to your app store wherever you download apps and search for Faith Fi. That's Faith Fi.

You can manage your money. You can access the best content in biblical finance, podcasts, articles and videos. You can also participate in our Faith Fi community where you can post questions and get answers from others on their stewardship journey. You'll find it in your app store. Just search for Faith Fi or if it's easier, head to our website at faithfi.com.

That's faithfi.com and you'll see the app right there on the home page. I so appreciate that call we had just before the break. You know, if we want to think about handling money God's way, it means we have to prioritize being debt free. I heard that in her desires, prioritizing giving, being able to meet the needs of others around us, looking at a systematic proportionate gift on the first day of the week as a beginning point, not an ending point, and then moving beyond that, having margin so that we can respond to the leading of the Lord when the Holy Spirit pricks our heart and says, this person is someone I want you to come alongside and help. We have the ability to do that. We also want to be savers and thoughtful about the future. And how do we balance all of those priorities? That's really the struggle. And I think so often, you know, we can prioritize by getting caught up in the comparison trap, continuing to build our lifestyle and miss out on the things that really bring us joy, like our generosity, like being able to save for the future, like being able to have margin or cushion in our financial lives that gives us peace of mind. Well, we want to help you do all of that here on this program.

I realize it's challenging. You know, when money is tight, especially again, like our previous caller, and we've got small kids at home and we've got student loan debt and, you know, we've got all these competing priorities. And yet we go back to Scripture and we can see those big ideas in there around contentment and freedom and trusting in God as our provider and living in such a way that God is our true treasure and not the things of this world, maintaining an eternal perspective.

That all helps as we pursue what God has for us. One of the passages that I love on money is this parable of the rich fool in Luke 12, where we see this big idea of living rich toward God. My friend John Cortenez, who's a Harvard grad and author and somebody who's just a generosity champion and somebody who's been a real encouragement to me over the years, in his book God and Money with his friend Greg Balmer, took a modern-day twist to the rich fool parable that I think might be fun for you to hear. They said, what would this parable or story sound like today in light of modern personal finance?

Well, here's what they came up with. Listen to this. Someone in the crowd said to him, teacher, tell my boss to pay the full year-end performance bonus he promised me. But he said to him, man, who made me a judge or arbiter over you? And he said to them, take care and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.

And he told them a parable, saying, the stock options belonging to a manager vested after a major run-up in share price. And he thought to himself, what shall I do? For I already have enough saved to send my kids to college. My house is paid off and I already max out my 401k every year.

And he said, I'll do this. I'll open an income account and create a passive income portfolio and I'll exercise my options and put the money there. And I will say to my soul, soul, you have a big enough portfolio to be financially independent, retire early, plan some vacations, play golf. But God said to him, fool, this night your soul is required of you and the portfolio you've built, what use will it be then? So is the one who endlessly builds his net worth and is not rich toward God. Now you might hear that and maybe push back a little bit and say, wait a minute, you mentioned playing golf. What's wrong with that?

Nothing. But here's the reality, the extent to which we focus on the mindless accumulation of things and we get anchored to this world in the pursuit of stuff, we miss out on the bigger opportunity to be rich toward God, to handle our money in such a way that makes God our true treasure and not our things. It allows us to define enough both for lifestyle and accumulation such that we can know when we're on track and therefore continue to prioritize or expand our giving, our generosity. We see in New Testament giving that we're to give proportionately and sacrificially.

The most famous giver in the New Testament is, we don't know her name, we just know she was a poor widow who gave her last two copper coins out of her poverty she gave and Jesus celebrated that. So we're to give sacrificially, proportionately, we're to give with a cheerful heart and freely, we're to give on the first day of the week. We can do all of those things when we define enough. Now, it would be great if in God's Word it said, well, here's what enough looks like. This is the lifestyle cap you're supposed to live at.

It doesn't. Which means that we have to go back to the Lord on our knees and say, Lord, what would you have me to do? How should I live?

What's the appropriate lifestyle for me? And once we have that conversation and land on what that looks like and I think it will change over time, well, then we can prioritize our generosity, our giving, because we know what we have. And ultimately we don't want to put ourselves in a position where we're dependent on our things.

We're depending on our stock portfolios or our bank accounts because we know all of those can be reduced to nothing in an instant. We want to be fully dependent on God, our provider, who will never abdicate that responsibility to anyone or anything else. So I hope today's conversation about Luke 12 has been an encouragement to you. Hopefully it's made you to pause and to step back and to maybe ask some questions so that we can live in such a way that we're rich toward God. You know, the rich fool learned the hard way, but we don't have to. We can learn from his mistake and live rich toward God, and I think then, and only then, do we experience the blessing that follows. That may not be financial, but ultimately it's allowing us to be conformed to the image of Christ, and that is our goal.

I hope that's an encouragement to you today. Well, folks, before we head to this break, let me remind you, if you haven't checked out faithfi.com, that's faithfi.com, I'd love for you to do that. You'll find the best content in biblical finance there for you to grow in your understanding of managing money God's way.

You'll find our community and the money management system. It's all there at faithfi.com. Now again, a reminder, we're not here today, but more of your questions that we lined up after the break. We're Faith and Finance Live, and we talk about our telephone number often because we usually are live, but today the program is prerecorded. So if you hear a mention of the phone number, please don't call us, but you can find us online at faithfi.com.

Let's head to Indiana. Hi, Kevin. Thanks for your call, sir.

Go ahead. Hi, Rob. So I worked with a team. We were looking for an investment, and this is a crypto trading platform, and the CEO agreed for me to offer up my crypto. The so-called investors wanted to see me send my crypto portfolio to the CEO's brand new account that they said he should open to show trust and show that we are real. And I asked the CEO, I said, you know, I don't really want to do this. Did you open the account on your own? And he said, yes. Well, it turns out he got help from them to open the account, and they had the secret 12-word passphrase. And when I sent my portfolio over, which is about 700,000, it was all stolen in a matter of three minutes.

Oh, wow. And you know, I was devastated. The CEO knew this was all I had.

He's a multimillionaire, and the chairman at the time is a multimultimillionaire, but he died a few months later. And so I was thinking of suing. No one on the team has helped me out, and not even with a dime, you know, to hire a cybersecurity investigator or just help, you know, in general. And the CEO is taking no responsibility.

And so, you know, I was thinking of suing if I could find a lawyer who will do it on contingency, because I was wiped out. And you know, it's not about revenge, but about justice. And I was just wondering if you agree with that, or where should I stand in God's eyes here? Yeah. Let me ask you, Kevin, is this other gentleman, the CEO, a believer? I would say that he is a believer, but he's not real strong in his faith. Yeah, yeah.

Okay. Because, you know, obviously we'd want to follow the biblical model for Christian reconciliation. There is a model for that, that we approach the person privately, and then if, you know, if you have already done that, then there's a next step you can take by involving the local church. Another great option would be to see if he would be willing to approach this from a reconciliation standpoint. There's a wonderful organization called Peacemaker Ministries, founded by my friend Ken Sandy. And that's what they do.

I mean, they help believers navigate conflict and find healing and resolution in their disputes. And you know, he may not be willing to go through that, but he may. But I think prior to a lawsuit, which you may have to do, you know, this would be the next step, is to follow the biblical model where you would go to him privately, then you would try to involve the local church, and then perhaps, you know, you offer to, rather than going the legal route, you ask him if he'd be willing to have an intermediary come in here and help you all navigate this dispute with a goal of ultimately reconciliation. What are your thoughts on that, just in terms of his openness and willingness to consider something like that?

I'm really not sure if he would. I have gone the personal route numerous times. I did hire a lawyer to send a demand letter, and I kept things very respectful.

You know, he is a well-educated gentleman, and he had to have known that of the risk, and instead of mitigating that risk, he essentially put my assets, you know, at risk, especially if he let them set up the account, and he lied to me about it. So I've gone the personal route, and, you know, I'm open to any paths. Did we lose you there, Kevin? You're back. Can you still hear me? I'm sorry. We can now, just for the moment. Yeah, I apologize. So I have three graduate degrees and I'm driving a semi, so... Oh boy. Yeah, well, you have to pay the bills.

Yeah, that's right. I understand that. Let's do this. I'd like to pray for you, just ask the Lord to give you wisdom in this. The ministry I refer to is called Peacemaker Ministries. You'll find it on the web at peacemakerministries.org, and that would be a great solution.

I mean, their whole goal is to help Christians respond to conflict biblically, and partnering with you and the local church and the other party to help you drive toward biblical reconciliation. You know, maybe that would be a nice approach for you as a next step here, but we're going to ask the Lord to give you wisdom. I know this is difficult. I know it's difficult not only just spiritually and relationally, but certainly financially as well.

It's had a major impact on your life, and we'll just ask the Lord to provide for you, give you wisdom and help you move forward here in the next best step. Father, we just leave this on the foot of the cross and just ask that you would intervene. May you soften hearts. May you open His eyes to an understanding and acceptance of what has happened here. May this other party be willing to take ownership of whatever portion is on Him. And would you just help Kevin with wisdom and discernment in the next steps? And just walk alongside Him, Lord.

We'd ask that you'd provide for Him as well financially. In the end, may you be glorified. May we all be conformed more to the likeness of Christ. And Lord, we ask for a path forward here that leads to ultimate resolution, both relationally and financially. And so we're going to trust you for the outcome, Lord, and tell you in advance thank you for what you're going to do. In Jesus' name. Amen. Kevin, keep us posted on that, and we'd love to hear how that progresses along the way. God bless you, sir.

To Louisiana. Hi, Karen. Go right ahead. Thank you. I'm standing on the scripture to owe no man but to love him. I'm 82. I've paid off a lot of things. Not my house, but my car's paid off. I don't have any credit cards right now. And I had some money, it wasn't very much, about a thousand set aside for emergencies, but now I don't have it. It's kind of depleted, but some I've used for grandchildren's gifts and things. So now I'm trying to, I thought I might get one credit card and be very careful with it, but the interest rates are so high. Do you recommend any kind of credit cards? Yeah, let me ask you, Karen, would you be using this just for convenience and only for budgeted items, and therefore you'd be paying it off in full at the end of every month?

Or would you use it beyond what you have available? I would have to use it that way, because otherwise, until I get my savings bill back up. Now I have investments with Morgan Stanley, not a lot. I probably have right at $200,000 is all. All right. I'm certainly comfortable with you using it, as long as you're doing it only for budgeted items and it gets paid off. If you're going to end up carrying a balance month to month and paying the interest, then I would stay away from it, and let's look at perhaps starting to draw down from that investment account.

If you're looking for a credit card, the Cash Rewards Visa with our friends at Christian Community Credit Union would be a great option at JoinChristianCommunity.com. I've got to take a quick break. Let's finish up on the other side. You stay right there. Just a quick reminder, we're not here today, so don't call in, but we're going to head to a break and much more coming just after this. Stay with us. This is our final segment of a Faith and Finance Live program that we previously recorded.

Thanks so much for being with us today, and we hope you'll stick around and enjoy the rest of the program. Just before the break, we were talking to Karen. She's 82. She's wanting to honor the Lord with what He's entrusted to her. She would like to be completely debt-free. She has a car that's paid off and a small amount of savings, but she still is carrying a mortgage. She's got a couple of hundred thousand dollars in an investment account. She doesn't have any credit cards and is wondering if she should get one.

Let's just go back to that for a moment, Karen. Do you have enough on a monthly basis to cover your bills with maybe just a little bit left over, or are you needing this credit card because you're running short every month? I'm not going to use it for bills. However, I haven't talked to my insurance agent lately.

He, my friend who has the same company I do for insurance, Farm Bureau, said hers went up to a whole like 500 a month on one thing. So I don't know what I'm redoing all my finances. I'm cutting back on things.

I'm trying, and I just want, I didn't know I had this. I have a dog. He's 110 pounds.

He's up in age and he's on medication, which has hit me kind of hard. Okay. I think I understand. So you would be using this credit card as basically your emergency fund, right? Just in case something unexpected came.

And I'd prefer you not to do that just because I realize it would be there to give you a backstop, if you will, if something came unexpected. And yet I don't want you to get into a hole with a high interest credit card. You said you had a couple of hundred thousand in investments. You're not pulling anything out of that on a monthly basis. Is that right? I am. It pays my house note.

Oh, okay. So you have two hundred thousand in there. How much do you take out a month? Eight hundred. Well, I did eight hundred. Not quite that.

It went down, then it went back up. My house note is eight hundred a month. Okay.

So you're pulling... I have done improvements on the house. So I've paid that off. And I've paid off any health things I've had. I had surgery on my hip. I had new teeth because I lost my bridge.

Okay. And things like that. All that's paid off. And by month by month, if things don't keep going up, like I haven't checked with my insurance agents. Last I talked to him, it was less than I was paying before because he got me some kind of a deal that I won't take time to tell you about. But I just, I don't know.

I haven't looked at it yet. I'm fixing to sit down with all my bills. I know how to eat beans and rice.

Yes, ma'am. I understand. Well, here's what I'd like to do. Rather than you getting a credit card, if you had something unexpected come up, I'd rather you pull a little bit more from that investment account than I would you put it on a credit card.

I think that's a better option. Right now you're pulling about 5% a year from your investments. That's a little more than I'd like for you to pull, but that's okay. You're in a pretty good range there. But what I'd like to do for you, Karen, if you'd be open to it, is I want to have one of our certified Christian financial counselors give you a call.

And what they're going to do over the phone, and if you're comfortable, maybe through a video conference, but if not just over the phone, they're going to help you work through your budget and help you evaluate what you have in your spending plan and maybe give you some fresh ideas on how you can move things around and get yourself positioned so that you have a little bit more confidence that you are able to cover all of your bills, especially once you know what any changes are going to happen with your insurance. Would that be of help to you? Would you like to have some help from one of our counselors? Oh, yes, sir. Yes, sir. Thank you. You're welcome. There's going to be no cost to you on this, Karen. We're going to cover the cost, but it's just our gift to you, and this is a certified Christian financial counselor, and they'd be delighted to come alongside you and help you look at your budget and help you get everything positioned the way that it should be.

And I think that's going to be a better option than you going out and opening a credit card. So listen, you stay on the line, we'll get your information, and we'll get somebody in touch with you, okay? I'm so grateful. Thank you. I'm delighted to do it. God bless you, Karen. We appreciate it. You're a joy to talk to.

Let's head to Louisiana. Hi, Joanne. Go ahead. Can you hear me okay? Oh, yes, ma'am.

I'm on a hands-free mode in a car. No problem. You be careful though. Yeah.

Thank you for taking my call. Yes, sir. So I am managing my father's portfolio, or trying to manage his portfolio that's in Vanguard, and he has quite a bit in funds, and he's taken quite a hit international and American bonds, mutual funds. And so I was wondering if I should possibly sell those, or a portion of them, take the loss, and put it in either a money market that's paying between four and a half to five percent, or in possibly a fund that invests in government bonds that is tax-free at the state and local level.

Yeah. What is the breakdown, Joanne, on that portfolio between stocks and bonds currently? Do you know the percentages roughly?

I would say it's probably about 60 percent in stock and 40 percent in bonds. Okay. All right. And what is the total value of the portfolio today?

It's probably about a half an alien. Okay. And how much is it down over the last year, let's say?

Well, his bond funds right now, since he invested in them, which I don't know, you know, this year, but he's probably down 25,000. Okay. All right. Yeah. You know, that's not surprising. I mean, we went through a pretty tough time for bonds, and that has caused bonds to really struggle.

But we're going to be entering into a period here, Joanne, where bonds will do quite well, because as the interest rates fall, and eventually they'll roll over and have to start cutting rates to stimulate the economy, probably sometime next year, with the higher yields, with the falling Fed Funds rate, the bond prices will increase and you'll be able to take advantage of those higher yields. So I would probably sit tight. I mean, on a half a million dollar portfolio, losing 25,000 for this portion of the portfolio is not a lot. Are you managing this yourself? Or do you have somebody overseeing it for you? Well, I'm doing it right now.

And I get busy, so I don't pay attention as much as I should. So I was thinking about hiring one of their, one of the Vanguard managers, I think they charge a very low fee to manage it. Well, I would consider, you know, talking to a certified kingdom advisor, perhaps as one of those options you consider for management, I think it's probably worth you having some wise counsel, somebody who can step in and oversee this as long as you feel really good and develop a good rapport and have some confidence in not only their experience and, you know, but also, you know, just their, your understanding of how they would approach the investments given the goals and objectives here for your father's portfolio. And so you could certainly talk to somebody there at Vanguard, but I would reach out to a CKA in your area. It stands for certified kingdom advisor, and you could find one on our website at faithfi.com. That's faithfi.com.

Just click, find a CKA at the top of the page and you can search for a list right there in Louisiana. But I would get some professional advice, but I wouldn't just knowing very little. And that's all I know is what you've told me here today. I wouldn't wholesale move out of the stock and bond portfolio into money market at this point. I think you've already suffered the most of the downside that you're going to experience. And this portfolio will probably turn around and do quite well. Certainly the bond portion moving forward. And so I think you, you know, you've already weathered what you're going to experience on the downside.

So I'd opt for staying put, but then also bringing some, some professional counsel and management to the table moving forward. Okay. Thank you very much for your time. All right. Happy to do it. We appreciate it. Let's finish up.

We'll stay in Louisiana. Cedric, go right ahead. Yeah.

Cedric, Rob. My sister had some wedding rings of my mother's and my father's. My mother would be a hundred years old right now if she were living. My mother gave me the ring. I inadvertently gave them back to my sister because my sister came in the room before my mother died and said, mother D said for you to give me the rings. I thought she would be an honest because my mother was dying and me and my sister were getting mad a year later and I gave her the rings. We figured out that she lied to get the rings along with some other artifacts of my mother's, some statues, some stuff my daddy made out of copper from the war in World War II and she had the rings. She's had them for 20 years and I don't know how to go about trying to get them back.

You mentioned the peacemakerministries.org. I wanted to know, should I present that to them to handle because I can't just walk up to my sister and say, give me the rings. You know, it's not the way to do it because she's not that kind of person and I don't think she has a soul. I don't think she has a soul.

Thank you, Rob. We know she has a soul and we need to be praying that the Lord would grab ahold of that and shut your life and open her eyes to her need for a Savior. Unless she's a Christ follower, I'm not sure that would be an acceptable solution. They would be a wonderful organization to help you here but not if she's unwilling to go down this road. So before I would reach out to peacemaker Cedric, I would approach your sister and say, listen, I disagree with how this was handled. I don't think it was right. I don't think it was what Mom wanted and I'd like to bring a third party in who can help us move toward reconciliation to preserve our relationship but also to get to a resolution that everybody agrees is the right one.

Would you be willing to work with me and Peacemaker Ministries? If she says no, then I don't think that's the right approach. If she is, that's great. But let's also pray that the Lord grabs hold of her heart and that she places her trust in Him. That's the most important thing. God bless you Cedric. Thanks for calling today.

Well, we're about out of time today. Before we go, let me remind us why we do what we do here on this program every day. We gather for Faith and Finance Live because we recognize we all have a high calling.

We're money managers for the King of Kings, which means we're to be found faithful as we manage God's resources, faithfulness, obedience over a long period of time, applying the wisdom of God's word to every area of our lives and that includes our finances. So thanks for being here today. Thanks for calling and for writing and for your emails. We love to do what we do and serving you to be wise stewards of God's money. I want to say thanks to my team today, Clara, Deb, Amy and Jim. Couldn't do it without them. Faith and Finance Live is a partnership between FaithFi and Moody Radio. We'll see you next time. God bless you. Bye-bye.