CHM—A Health Insurance Alternative for Open Enrollment

Well, it's open enrollment in America again for health insurance. Millions of folks have to decide on keeping their current plan or going with something else. Hi, I'm Rob West. Choosing a health insurance plan is probably right up there with paying taxes as an unwelcome annual task.

Wouldn't it be great if you never had to do it again? Lauren Gydeck is with us to tell us how today and then it's on to your calls at 800-525-7000. That's 800-525-7000. This is Faith and Finance Live, biblical wisdom for your financial decisions. Our guest today is Lauren Gydeck, Vice President of Communications and Media at Christian Healthcare Ministries and underwriter of this program. And Lauren, always great to have you with us.

Yes, thank you so much for having me. Lauren, open enrollment, which runs until January 15th, can be a really stressful time for folks, can it? Yes, it certainly can. And you know, it doesn't really have to be, but in the United States, we're conditioned to think that insurance is our only option. That's not really true. Christian Healthcare Ministries is an option for your health care that you can enroll in any time of the year, even though this does happen to be the season when most people are looking. And this is a biblical option that you can join, like I said, any time throughout the year and receive the financial support and prayer from Christians all over the country. Yeah, and I know this happens to be a busy time for you all, even though you can join CHM anytime, right?

Yes, that's correct. So, you know, like I said, it's the time when most people think about joining either, you know, they're changing their insurance or they're looking for something more affordable. What's nice about CHM is that you can join, like I said, anytime.

There's no waiting period. And you don't have to worry about pre-authorization with your health care providers. So there's a lot of freedom with the option. And even though there are some limitations for pre-existing conditions, you can join and be a member right away. Yeah, and that's really helpful. Now, you mentioned this is health cost sharing. And although more and more people are becoming familiar with this option, for those who aren't sure, will you tell us how that works?

Yeah, I'd be glad to. So the first thing to understand is that CHM is not an insurance company. We are an alternative to insurance, but the end result is the same. And that is that your medical bills end up being taken care of. You as the patient are in control, you receive the medical bills and you send them on to us. We work with your providers to get them discounted to make sure you're getting the best cost of your health care. And then we issue a check to you and you, the patient, is the one to pay your health care providers.

Yeah, very good. Now, how does the price of membership compare with that of traditional health insurance? Yeah, it's really interesting you asked that question. We just did an analysis of over 20 different gold insurance plans on healthcare.gov, which is the insurance exchange online. And in monthly costs, CHM is about 50% less for individuals and 25% less for families. And then if you look at total cost out of pocket for the year, the savings are even more profound. CHM is 57% less expensive for individuals and 40% less for families.

Wow, yeah, that's significant. And of course, one of the benefits that your members love is that they can choose their health care providers, right? Yes, that's correct. So as long as the treatment falls under CHM guidelines, you as a member can go to your favorite doctor, you can go to the hospital you prefer.

You're not limited by it being close, it being far away, you know, you can get the best care for whatever your condition is. Yeah, that's really helpful. And how can folks get more information, Lauren? Well, you can go to our website, which is chministries.org, that's chministries.org, or you can call us at 1-833-JOIN-CHM, and we'll be happy to answer your question. Very good.

And just about 30 seconds left. You mentioned this is a biblical option. Talk about that aspect of the ministry.

Yes. So the Bible is the foundation of everything that we do here at CHM. And our foundational verse is Galatians 6, 2, which is carry each other's burdens and fulfill the law of Christ. And that's what we're doing. We are gathering together as a large number of Christians across the country, and helping each other with health care costs that a family or an individual just can't sustain by themselves. I love it.

And so many of our listeners have in fact, taken advantage of it. Lauren, we're out of time, but thanks for stopping by today. Thank you so much. Have a great day. All right. That's Lauren Gydeck with Christian Health Care Ministries, the biblical alternative to health insurance.

The website again, chministries.org, that's chministries.org. All right, your calls are next, 800-525-7000. This is Faith and Finance Live, biblical wisdom for your financial decisions. We'll be right back. Great to have you with us today on Faith and Finance Live. I'm Rob West.

All right. It's time to take your calls and questions today on anything financial. The number to call is 800-525-7000.

That's right. We've got lines open. We're ready for you. Our team is standing by. There's no waiting when you call right now, 800-525-7000. Let's dive in. Orlando is joining us today.

And from Boynton Beach, how can I help? Hello, Bob. God bless you. Thank you, sir.

I have a few questions. We just sold the house. It was for $100,000. We owe $200,000. So we have $600,000 left. For six months, we're thinking about renting to see what happens with the market before we buy something. I don't know if it's advisable or not.

And I don't know what's going to happen if there is a capital gain. Yeah, it's a great question. So this was your primary residence for two out of the last five years. Is that right? Correct.

All right. And you are married filing jointly for your taxes? Correct.

Yeah. So you can exclude $500,000 from your capital gains. It's exempt because this was your primary residence and you lived there two out of the last five years, which would mean that only approximately $100,000 would then be subject to the long-term capital gains. And if you're married filing jointly and your income is between, this is not the gain, now we're talking about your adjusted gross income. If it's over $89,000 but less than about $550,000, then you'll pay a 15% long-term capital gain on that remaining amount beyond the $500,000 that you're exempt. Does that make sense?

Yeah. So if I make $80,000, I won't pay any taxes then. You'd always want to check with your CPA, but yes, generally speaking, if you're between zero and 89,250, then you don't have any, the capital gains rate is in fact zero.

So it could be that between the exclusion and or your income, you just don't owe any tax at all. But always a good idea to check with your CPA. Now, in terms of what to do with the money, if you're going to redeploy this into another home, I would just put it in a high-yield, interest-bearing savings account with FDIC Insurance. Because it's more than $250,000, you might want to spread it across a couple of banks or at least have it titled differently.

So for instance, if you have one account jointly titled and then you have another account that's just in your name with your wife maybe as the beneficiary, those are two different titled accounts. They could each get 250,000 in FDIC Insurance, but you're just going to want to make sure the whole thing is protected. Now, waiting to see what happens with the housing market, I don't know that that's necessarily going to play in your favor. Yes, interest rates are high. They're probably not going much higher. We're probably going to see a move downward next year. We may have one more rate hike, but I think we've seen probably the top of the mortgage rates. And you have to factor in the fact that we have not enough homes in this country by about two to three million. We just don't have enough housing for as many people as want single-family homes, which is why we haven't seen really a decline in the housing market.

Even though the growth rates have cooled, we're not seeing any kind of declines. So about the only benefit to waiting is that you could perhaps wait out the drop in the interest rates, and therefore you could get a better interest rate maybe perhaps at the end of next year or into 2025. But if you found the right home and you've got the money to make the purchase, I'm not sure waiting is going to improve your situation that dramatically. But at the end of the day, it sounds like you may not own any capital gains, and I think the key is just keep your money safe and liquid so you're ready to make that purchase when the time comes. Is it better checking account or a CD?

Well, a CD is fine. You're going to get a better interest rate, but you're going to have to tie up the money. And so if you put it in a one-year CD and six months from now you found the perfect house, you'd probably have to pay a penalty to get it out. So that's why I think not a checking account, but a high-yield savings account. I would use one of the online banks because you can get four and a half is almost five percent right now in a high-yield savings account with FDIC insurance. So you're going to want to go to bankrate.com, and they will list all of the banks offering the very best FDIC insured interest rates right now, and you could choose from one of those on the list.

Well, one last question and let you go. If I put the money on the Christian bank that you mentioned, are they FDA covered or? Yeah, credit unions are NCUA covered. That's the National Credit Union Association, and it's the same.

It's still backed by the full faith and credit of the United States government. So yeah, if you were interested in doing that, just go to joinchristiancommunity.com, but whether it's NCUA guaranteed or FDIC for banks, those are the same thing. Okay, so yeah, I mean, I'd rather put the money, you know, for Christian.

I like it, yeah. So you can learn more and even open an account online. It's joinchristiancommunity.com. Oh, okay. So I have no problems with NCU then?

No, NCUA is backed by the full faith and credit of the United States government. Oh, okay. Okay. Thank you for your call today, Orlando. Yeah, God bless you, my friend. We appreciate you being on the program. 800-525-7000 is the number to call. Feel free to give us a call right now. We'd love to get you on the program.

Let's go to Connecticut. Hi, Ingrid. Go right ahead. Hi, Rob. How are you? Good afternoon.

I'm doing well. Thank you. Great, Scott, and thank you for taking my call.

Sure. So I was calling to find out I'm in a situation. This is happening over 15 years ago, I co signed for someone who asked me to co sign and they would be getting a scholarship and everything for school, which I did. It so happens they never did get the scholarship. And they have never paid a cent on this student loan. And I've been paying it for the last 16 or more years because my granddaughter is 16 now and this was before her.

And I am now retired and I'm just calling to find out what's my option. You know, what can I do? Because I don't know where to reach this young lady or her dad or anybody for her.

I've tried several times and nothing doing. Yeah. Well, is it that they won't respond or you literally don't know how to contact them? Noted when I could contact I was able to contact the parents and they told me, Oh, we are not responsible for that. You have to speak to the young lady which she never picked up the call. And then after I tried calling, nobody answers. So I don't have any connection.

Yeah. I'm so sorry to hear about that. Ingrid, you know, unfortunately, there's just not much you can do other than make the payments. Because if either party defaults on the student loan debt, then a garnishment is possible. And so they could garnish your social security benefits up to 15%. And this is the case for co signers just as it would be for primary signers. So you know, you could contact the Department of Education to clarify the order that the signers would be garnished for non payment. But you're equally responsible as a co signer for this as she is.

If it's a federal loan, the only other option is you could look at an income based repayment option, which at least perhaps could give you some relief on the payments themselves if in fact it's you don't have the income in order to be able to make it. But I think the best case is perhaps you know, if this is a Christ follower, maybe reach out and and get the local church involved. And she's, you know, ignoring you follow Matthew 18 on this and see if you can get somebody to serve as an intermediary and, you know, help you bring this to resolution but at the end of the day, you are ultimately responsible. Unfortunately, thanks for your call. God bless you. We'll be right back. Great to have you with us today on faith and finance live.

I'm Rob West. Hey, here at the end of the year, it's only six weeks away from the end of 2023. This is a really important time for us to hear from you with your financial support of faith and finance live. As a listener supported ministry, we count on you. And as we close out the year, we're trying to reach our year in fundraising goal of $250,000.

So we can continue another great year of ministry to God's people in being wise stewards in 2024. So your gift of any amount between now and December 31st would go a long way to helping us reach our goal. Just simply head to faithfi.com. That's faithfi.com. Click the give button. Again, a gift of any amount, your best gift between now and December 31st would be a real blessing. Thanks in advance. Again, faithfi.com.

Just click give. All right, we've got some lines open today. We're ready for your financial questions. So what are you thinking about today? Is it your lifestyle, your spending plan?

Maybe it's your debt repayment, how to give wisely, or maybe your long-term savings and investments. We'd love to tackle whatever you're considering today at 800-525-7000. That's right. Our team is standing by and you could call right now.

800-525-7000. Hey, before we go back to the phones, a lot of strength in the market today. That's right. Green across the board. The major index is up between 1.5 and 5%. That 5% was the Russell 2000. The S&P 500 had the best day since April. The Dow Jones was up nearly 500 points.

Why? Well, it was a soft inflation report which was good news for the markets. Building on the November gains, Wall Street cheered the new U.S. inflation data that raised hopes of the Federal Reserve wrapping up its rate hiking campaign. We had a stellar performance already for stocks, and today just built on top of that. Basically, the data said that the consumer price index was flat last month, while economists polled by Dow Jones expected a gain of 0.1% month over not month.

The so-called core CPI, the consumer price index, which strips out food and energy prices was also lower than expected and the slowest in two years. So again, this is instilling optimism into the market that maybe the Federal Reserve is nearing the end of these rate hikes. The Fed funds futures showed traders had removed any chance of a hike in December, which was down from about 15% that thought we would see another hike before year end. So are we going to see that soft landing that everybody was hoping for next year? Perhaps. It remains to be seen, but certainly news in a positive direction today as the U.S. economy is proving to be resilient while inflation is continuing to come down.

We'll keep an eye on it for you for sure. All right, let's head back to the phones to Chicago. Hi, Herman. Go ahead, sir. Yes.

Good afternoon, Mr. West. Can you hear me? I sure can.

How can I help? Yes, I'm interested. I believe in putting my some of my money in this bank rate dot com. I know that's not where I put it in, but that website I go to to find these banks without bricks. Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah. How does that work? Banks without bricks.

I like it. Yeah. So an online bank is simply what you're describing here. It would be a bank that doesn't have a brick and mortar operation. Therefore, they can take some of that savings in staff and leases and buildings and pass that on to you. So typical high yield savings account right now is, you know, paying about four point six percent with FDIC insurance.

I'm looking at some going as high as five point zero five. So you can even surpass five percent. This would be an FDIC insured bank, many of them five star rated. And so it gives you a great opportunity to perhaps open one of these online savings accounts, get five percent on your money, know that you've got the backing of the U.S. government. And one of the easiest ways to do it is once you open it, then you just link it to your checking account, which perhaps is at a brick and mortar local branch. You'll link it electronically. And that way you can get that money out of your checking account so you don't spend it and move it over to the savings.

But if you need it, you can transfer it back and forth with what's called an ACH transfer within one to two days, usually fee free. So, yeah, you would just head to bankrate.com, click on high yield savings, and you'll just immediately see a list of these banks that are offering the most competitive interest rates right now. And you can deposit some money. So do you recommend anyone in particular or you said, I guess the ones that have a five star rating, those would be the best ones? That's certainly a good place to start. That's going to take into account a number of different factors as they consider their bank rate score.

You could look at a couple of other Web sites as well. Nerd Wallet does the same thing. But yeah, if you find something that's close to a five star rating with a good interest rate, especially if it's a name that you recognize, a large, solid financial institution, then I think you're all set. So when you say just a number, five percent yield or whatever. So if you could say fifty thousand dollars in there after a year, you would make twenty five hundred dollars.

That's exactly right. Five percent on fifty thousand twenty five hundred dollars. You'd pay taxes on that. But yeah, five percent on that amount left in there for a full year would be about twenty five hundred. Is there a limit on what you can put in?

No, sir. Not on not on these savings accounts. Now, you wouldn't want to go over a quarter of a million before you had would want to open another account.

But unless you're going to get to two hundred fifty thousand, you don't even have to worry about that. Well, I'm not worried about that either. Okay. Okay. So so is it is it do I talk to someone? Oh, yeah.

Whichever bank, whichever bank you pick, you can either open an account online or you can call the toll free number and talk to somebody at customer service. I hope that helps you, my friend. Thanks for your call today. Let's go to Cleveland. Hi, John.

How can I help? Yeah, I'll try and state this as quickly as possible. So elderly parents put their house and all of their investment into an irrevocable living trust. They don't have a lot of money. It's definitely under under a million with the house and everything. I'm. She will now be with the house being in there for taxes later.

Is it a good idea to consider putting the irrevocable trust or not? I'll be quiet now and I'll mute and let you respond. Yeah, no problem. So let me just make sure I'm clear, though, and I'm going to answer this after the break because I'm coming up on a break. It's an irrevocable trust, not a revocable trust, correct? Correct.

OK. Yeah, that's helpful. Let's do this, John. I'm going to take a quick break when we come back. I'll give you my thoughts on that.

Rebecca, Charles coming your way as well. Much more on faith and finance live just around the corner. The opinions offered during this program represent the personal or professional opinions of the participants given for informational purposes only.

Any information provided is not intended to replace advice from a financial, medical, legal or other professional who understands your specific situation. Great to have you with us today on faith and finance live. I'm Rob West. We've got lines open. We're ready for you. Eight hundred five to five seven thousand with your financial questions today. We want to help you encourage you talk about how you can make practical financial decisions in light of God's word. Eight hundred five to five seven thousand call right now.

Let's head back to the phones before the break. We were talking to John in Cleveland a while ago. His parents put their home into an irrevocable living trust. He's wondering if that was a good idea and what will the tax liability be when they pass away? You know, the reality is very few folks do this, John, except in a few narrow situations, simply because, you know, the state taxes don't apply to the vast majority of people. The IRS exempts estates of less than twelve point nine million dollars from tax in twenty twenty three.

It's going up to thirteen point six million in twenty twenty four. So very few people end up actually paying estate taxes. And one of the downsides to the irrevocable trust is that you can't change it for the most part.

And so you genuinely lose control over your property. Now, why are they used? Well, folks will often use them to minimize the state taxes.

But I remember I said very few actually pay estate taxes unless it's a massive estate. Some people will do it to become eligible for government programs, because as long as you get best of the, you know, the look back period, you know, then you can exclude those assets from eligibility for government programs. And then in some cases, folks will use them to protect assets from creditors. And so, you know, it could be that you're in a particular job that, you know, creates, you know, perhaps some additional liability. And so they're looking for some protection to protect against creditors or business partners or, you know, an unscrupulous legal intent, something like that. And that's where an irrevocable trust can provide some protection. But unless you fall into one of those situations, then, you know, most folks don't like it just because, again, you in a sense lose control over it. And it's now in the control of the trustee.

So given that, what do you think was the intent behind it? John, are you there? All right. It looks like we lost John, but hopefully that was helpful, John.

You know, I would always direct you back to an estate attorney, perhaps the person that set it up or your own estate attorney just to get some additional information and perhaps bounce some ideas off of them if you're lacking some clarity on why this was put in place in the first place. Thanks for your call, though, sir. Let's see, 800-525-7000. We've got a few lines open. Let's go to Minnesota. Hi, Rebecca. How can I help?

Hi. I've taken a debt consolidation loan I took several years ago to consolidate my credit card debt and I've already paid $4,000 on it. I have $16,000 remaining on it. I have about $4,000 in credit card debt.

The problem is I had some health problems recently within the last year or so such that I can't work anymore and I'm just receiving only about $900 a month in disability. And my husband is self-employed and doesn't earn a whole lot and we're looking at possibly declaring bankruptcy only because our income is so low that we're barely scraping by to make ends meet and our minimum payments are just not happening even. All of the debt is in my name only and I'm wondering would I be able to declare bankruptcy without it affecting my husband's credit? It is possible. You know, a married individual can file bankruptcy without their spouse but there's just several factors that you have to consider including the status of your finances but also the bankruptcy laws in your state.

So long as the spouse isn't a co-debtor or legally liable for the same debt, filing for bankruptcy to eliminate the debt won't generally affect the spouse's credit score but you know in situations like this especially since we're always subject to the laws of your particular state, it's always a good idea to consult an experienced bankruptcy attorney before you make any decisions. So the short answer is yes, this is possible but I think really the next step is for you to get some legal counsel. Okay, appreciate it. Okay, hey I know you're in a tough spot here and I'm sorry to hear about that but certainly getting some counsel and figuring out this path forward I'm sure will make you feel a lot better that's for sure and thanks for being on the program today. God bless you. Let's head to Port St. Lucie, Florida. Hi Charles, how can I help you?

Yes, hi Wes, thank you for taking my call. Wes, my question is I'm looking to purchase a second home vacation home. It's going to be in another state and I'm getting it home at a pretty good rate. It's a two bedroom, three bathroom, two bath and I was wondering the agreeable price that I'm agreeing with the customer on is $60,000. Will it be with the rates being the way they are, will it be cheaper to buy the home with cash or finance it? And which finances do you think I should use?

Yeah, I'm trying to think. Well, just a straight mortgage is what you would typically do. So what is the purchase price of the home that you're looking at? The purchase price is $60,000. Okay, and you have the cash available if you wanted to buy it outright? I do have the cash available, correct. Okay, and where is that money today? Right now I have it sitting in a high yield savings account. Okay, so you're earning about 5% on that money?

Correct. Okay, and if you were to use that to purchase it, would you still have enough emergency savings left over, at least three to six months expenses? Yeah, definitely, I definitely will.

Okay, yeah. I mean it's definitely going to save you money to just pull it out of there because the interest rate on this second home mortgage is going to be 8% plus and so there will be a net cost to you because if you're making five and you're paying eight, there's at least 3% that you're paying out of pocket and you're not even going to bring home five because you got to pay taxes on that interest that you're earning in that savings account versus that mortgage of 8% plus. So I'd probably just pay for it with cash. If you decided down the road when rates were lower, you needed that money for something else, you could always take a mortgage against it. But I love the idea if this is going to cost you more than you're earning for you just to go ahead and buy it outright if you have the ability to do so. Okay, yeah, that was, I was definitely thinking that maybe down the line when the interest rates drop, I can just take the money back out and put it back into the savings account. Okay.

Very good. Yeah, I think that's a great idea. You've also got to factor in the expenses on that mortgage. It's not just the interest rate.

You've got probably three to 4% just in securing the mortgage itself with the appraisal and the fees and everything else that comes with it. So I think this is a good idea, Charles. We appreciate you checking in with us though, and Lord bless you. Well, folks, we're going to take a quick break when we come back. We'll round out the program today with a few more questions. Mark in Chicago, you're up next.

And then Marie and Janice, stay with us. Thanks for joining us today on Faith and Finance Live. I'm Rob West.

Let's head right back to the phones to Chicago. Hey, Mark, how can I help you, sir? Mark, are you with us? Yes, sir.

Go right ahead. Mr. West, thank you so much for taking my call. I really appreciate the show.

It's one of the highlights of my day on my commute home. Oh, that's great. Well, that's very kind of you. I've learned a lot. I've learned a lot. So I'm about maybe five, six years away from retirement and trying to strive for that goal.

And, you know, I have a lot of people who struggled with the preparations for that, for raising a family and all the other things that go with it. Short of it is I heard you promoting the Eventide Mutual Fund Company. So I'm trying to find a good way to invest money to not catch up to this point forward, get a good interest on my money before I retire. And so this past weekend I was on their Web site and if I read it right, it said the minimum was one hundred thousand dollars. You know, that's true or not. It totally depends, Mark, on the class. So every mutual fund has different classes.

So for instance, the flagship fund at Eventide is the Gilead Fund. There's a class I, a class A, a class C, and a class N. One of those, I believe it's the class I, which is the institutional version, it does have a hundred thousand dollar minimum. But you can drop down to one of the other classes, I think class C and class N. Both of those will have a thousand dollar minimum.

So it just really depends. And depending on the class that you select, it will change the ticker symbol. So it's same fund. It's just the expense structure changes depending upon the class that you select, which is why I mean, you certainly can invest directly as long as you understand what you're doing and that investing involves risk and that you need to determine if it's the appropriate investment for your overall investment strategy. But if you decide to go direct, you would want to toggle between those classes and find the one that is the best fit for you. Correct.

Sounds good. Yeah. So I would probably look at the class N fund at whichever of those Eventide funds you were looking at. I would just select the class N fund as your in as a Nancy. So does the rate of return change for the different classes or no?

I mean slightly because the expense structure changes, but generally it would be largely the same. Very good. Very good. Well thank you so much. Okay. You're welcome Mark.

All the best to you my friend. Thanks for being on the program today. Let's go to Miami, Florida. Hi Marie.

How can I help? Hi. Good afternoon.

How are you? Thank you for taking my call. Yes ma'am. I had a question for you. I purchased, me and my husband purchased a lot, a vacant lot back in 2005, I think 18 years ago. Initially purchased it at 22,000 cash. Three months later it had gone up to like 75,000. We didn't have the need to cash out. So we kind of just said, Oh, Mark is going to keep going up.

Let's just let it stay. Eventually market crashed back in 2007 and that lot went down to like a thousand, two thousand dollars. You know, mind you, we purchased it for 22,000. So going into this year, you know, we've been, you know, paying taxes on it every year, three to four hundred dollars every year.

So I, you know, we recently went and looked at the law just to see if it was worth anything, building anything on it. There is a dirt lens, I mean dirt road around it, but there's not much anything else going on. You know, there's no homes are being built. It's just in a bush. So I don't know what I should do.

Like what should we do? I really want to sell it, but I can't. I've kept getting scammers asking me to sell it for like 9,000, but I look on Zillow recently and it was saying it was worth about 22,000. So I'm not sure where to go to appropriately sell it.

Yeah. Well, I would get a real estate professional involved. You know, the challenges 18 years ago was 2005, which to your point was before the housing bubble peaked. And then, you know, most markets saw a peak in early 2006 and then, you know, it finally came down in 2008. So it could be that you purchase this at the top of the market. You know, the problem with raw land is there's nothing on it that can produce income. And so we just don't have any way to convert it to income. So we're just relying on the appreciation of the underlying parcel of land. And with raw land, there's all kinds of issues there with regard to, you know, whether or not it has infrastructure and access roads and flooding and, you know, mudslides and any environmental risks, things like that.

And any of those hazards can deter potential buyers from taking an interest in it. But the bottom line is you want to get to the true market value of this and then you want to have somebody who's a real estate professional who, hopefully, who specializes in this particular area to tell you whether there's any, you know, known improvement projects coming that would materially change or enhance the value of the property. And if not, then it could be that it does make sense for you to go ahead and sell it if you can buy, find a willing buyer. And that, you know, could take some time because raw land is obviously a lot harder to sell than a single family home.

But I think it all starts with you getting a confident professional to both analyze the property, tell you what the market value is, help you determine whether there's anything that's coming that you need to be aware of that could change it, and then ultimately could list it for you and help you try to find that buyer. Does that make sense? Yes, that makes a lot of sense. Thank you so much. Appreciate it. All right, Marie.

God bless you. Thanks for calling today. We appreciate it. To Spokane. Hi, Janice.

Go right ahead. Thank you, Rob. I'm calling in today because my husband recently passed away about two and a half months ago. And we had depleted all of our savings that we had because he was, he was sick, he was on dialysis. And we were trying very hard for kidney transplant. But anyway, he passed away.

He was only 65 and I'm 63. So I was, I had no money because we had no more income left. So I took the, I don't know if it's called the widow's benefit or the spouse's benefit because I'm 63 years old and wasn't full retirement age. It's a reduced amount. So I am making now $17.40 a month. My question is because I'm so young and that's not enough money for at least where I'm living to meet my expenses. I will have to return to work and I'm wondering what I need to save for the future for the day when I can no longer work. Because for example, where I'm living in a duplex, it's $1300 a month and I'm making $1740 and of course there's other expenses. So that's what I need help with this designing.

I'm trying to figure out how much money I need to come in and how much I need to put away for the future. Yes ma'am. Well Janice, I am so sorry to hear about your husband's passing and I can understand how this might feel overwhelming and yet you're making it. You're making good decisions and you're thinking through what the future looks like and we know that God has a plan and a purpose and He's not done and this next season of life, although it's going to be different and very difficult, God is with you and we can trust that His promises are true and He's near to the broken hearted and He will never leave you or forsake you and we can rest in God as our abundance because He is our true treasure. And we know that He'll provide and that's what you're asking about here today. I'm glad you did look into the survivor's benefits.

So as a widow, if you're under full retirement age but 60 years or older, which you are, then you can get between 71 and 99% of the worker's basic benefit. So that obviously will be a great supplement to you and then your ability to continue to work not only to cover your bills but to put away for the future is really key. I think Janice, really the best next step is for you. I mean, we could kind of do a back of the envelope analysis on how much you need to save but I'd really love for you to sit with an advisor, somebody who understands the heart of God and the scriptures and who's a competent financial advisor with a lot of experience just to sit down and help you think through what this next season looks like, really help you do some analysis on what it's going to take to fund your lifestyle, how do you maximize these remaining working years that you have, what is an appropriate goal for you to save so that you can ultimately be able to separate from paid work to whatever God has for you next in the next season of life but make sure that your bills are covered and have a plan to do that. You've probably heard me recommend the Certified Kingdom Advisor designation.

There's some wonderful CKAs there in Spokane and I would really recommend you have that trusted advisor at this point, especially with your husband's passing, somebody who can walk alongside you, give you counsel that you can rely on. It would start with some of that basic discovery for that advisor to get to know you but then beyond that to actually do some planning with you and help you have some confidence in ultimately where you're going, what are your savings goals and then where do you go from here. So that would be my recommendation on a next step and I think that'll give you a lot of peace of mind but how does that sound? That sounds wonderful, Rob.

Let's do this. I'm going to have my team get your phone number, Janice, and I'm going to personally reach out to you and we'll get you connected to somebody who can help you. I want to make sure we do that handoff personally and have somebody that can walk alongside you during this season because I know you've got a lot of questions and you're hurting and yet again the Lord is there and he sees that.

He's near to you and the body of Christ needs to rally around you as well and that's in part his graciousness in our lives even during a difficult season. So Janice, hold on the line. We're going to get your information. I also want to send you a book that I think will be a blessing to you when you're ready for it.

It's called Wise Women Managing Money and it's from our friend Valerie Neff Hogan and Miriam Neff who lost her husband and wrote a book just for women around managing money in this season of life. I'm going to send that to you as my gift. God bless you. You're going to be okay. The Lord is with you and we're going to be in touch with you real soon. Faith in Finance Live is a partnership between Moody Radio and Faith Fi. We'll see you tomorrow. Bye bye.