Financial Discipleship for Families, Part 1

Train up a child in the way he should go. Even when he is old, he will not depart from it. Proverbs 22 six.

I am Rob West. Christian parents are well acquainted with that verse. It's a source of inspiration and not a little pressure to do right by our children. Brian Holtz joins us today to talk about how we can do that. 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 journey. Our guest Brian Holtz joins us for the first time today. Brian is the incoming CEO at one of our favorite ministries, Compass Finances God's Way. He's also the author of the brand new book, Financial Discipleship for Families, Intentionally Raising Faithful Children. Brian, it's great to have you on the program.

Thank you, Rob. It's a pleasure to join you in the faith and finance community today. Well, we're thrilled. Let me take just a moment and say congratulations on your new position that begins at the first of the year. You're stepping into some enormous shoes, aren't you? That I am.

Thank you very much. Absolutely. Well, you want to help parents raise faithful children, Brian. So why is your book about money? Isn't there a more spiritual approach for doing this?

Well, yes and no. You know, Jesus taught many spiritual lessons using money as the illustration, whether directly or indirectly through things like parables. It's clear that he saw money as a topic that was relatable to everyone. He saw it as a direct path to someone's heart and taught that our relationship with God is aided or hindered by our relationship with money. I believe we can do the same as we teach our children and grandchildren God's financial principles, how to apply them in their lives and how to share them with others.

Yeah, I couldn't agree more. Now, you advise parents that training children needs to be done actively, not reactively. Share what you mean by that. Yeah, unfortunately, many parents and grandparents, including me not so long ago, have few, if any, explicit goals for what we want for our kids and grandkids. And the few goals that we have to find, we generally have no real plan for how we're going to help them achieve those things. I believe most of us naturally parent or grandparent reactively addressing issues only as they happen to come up, which is usually in a negative way. Being active parents or grandparents, on the other hand, means we not only help navigate past mistakes, but we're looking toward the future and helping prepare our kids and grandkids for the situations they will encounter in their lives.

We think ahead about what goals we have for them, what obstacles they may encounter, what they need to learn, and how we as parents and grandparents can help them gain those essential skills now so that they're prepared to make good and God-glorifying decisions when those times come. Yeah. Well, obviously, our listeners want to know how you do it. And you have a whole section in the book called A Simple Approach to Parenting, based on three important elements.

So let's just quickly review those. Yeah, this simple approach was first articulated by our friend and Compass founder, Howard Dayton. It's what he calls MVP parenting.

M is modeling. Anyone who spent much time around kids has probably realized they are learning from us all the time, whether we want them to or not. And while that certainly presents some risks, we can use it to our advantage as well. Financially, if I want my kids to learn to budget, I should budget where they can see it. And if I want them to be generous, I should demonstrate generosity where they can see it. That's the core of effective modeling.

The V stands for verbal instruction. Once our modeling has their attention, we want to be ready to explain the what and the why of our actions. Offering an explanation, even before they ask, takes the guesswork out of their natural curiosity. Take, for example, the Sunday morning offering. On their own, they may think we put money in the plate because we're required to pay rent to the church or something, or as we text in our gift, that we're just texting a friend because there's a break in the service. By offering the what and the why behind our actions, we help them understand that these actions are actually God-glorifying, which is different from paying the church rent or texting during the service.

Finally, the P stands for practical opportunities. In this step, we orchestrate and offer opportunities for them to join in. We give them meaningful but appropriate tasks for their ages and abilities. And since we're there, we can offer them encouragement and tips to help them be successful. Best of all, we get to celebrate them, not only for their successes, but just their willingness to try. Erica and I let our kids budget and experience the joy of generosity firsthand. We let them save and spend on things they want, and we even let them make small mistakes while we're around to help them navigate the consequences and trade-offs. That's MVP parenting. Yeah, it's so good and so important because we're training future adults.

We want them to be financially literate, but we also want them to understand God's heart as it relates to their role as stewards. Brian, where can folks pick up a copy of this? Yeah, you can pick it up at Compass1.org, and you can learn more at the upcoming Kingdom Advisors Conference and Compass Global Conference in February in Orlando.

They're going to be great. Awesome. You can get more information at Compass1.org. Brian, thanks for stopping by. Thank you, Rob. That's Brian Holtz, incoming CEO at Compass Finances God's Way.

Much more to come just around the corner. Call right now, 800-525-7000. We'll be right back on Faith & Finance Live. 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. We're so thankful to have you with us today on Faith & Finance Live. I'm Rob West. All right, it's time to turn our attention to your questions.

What are you thinking about financially? Give us a call. We've got lines open.

You can get right through here on a holiday week. The number is 800-525-7000. That's 800-525-7000. No waiting as you call today with your financial questions. Our team will get you in the queue and we'll get to your question quickly. Again, you could call right now 800-525-7000. Before we begin to take those calls today, a couple of reminders. First about year-end giving deadlines.

That's right. It's the giving season. A lot of you thinking about your generosity as you plan toward your year-end giving goals between now and December 31st. A lot of folks doing a lot of giving.

Well, here's a few things to think about. First of all, if you're going to be making a gift through your donor advised fund, you probably want to be thinking about December 15th as your deadline there just to be sure that there is time for that grant to be received and sent out in the mail. If you're going to be making a gift of a stock, a mutual fund, publicly traded security, December 15th is your date as well to initiate that transfer so that again it has time to get in and cleared by December 31st. The same date as well for complex gifts.

What is that you might ask? Well, if you're planning a gift of real estate or a portion of a business, you probably want to be talking to the team at the National Christian Foundation or wherever whoever is going to be facilitating that gift for you by December 15th so that the process is underway to make sure that it is effective as of December 31st. Then cash gifts this year, physical checks must be postmarked by the U.S. Postal Service no later than December 29th.

That's going to ensure that it is credited to this calendar year again December 29th, the date you want that postmarked by. So be sure to plan well. Don't wait till the last minute. Start thinking now about your opportunities to do some giving here at year end.

Also one more idea, a strategy called bunching. By the way, we'll begin taking your phone calls here in just a moment. We've got lines open. You can call right now with your financial questions today.

We'll see if we can help you wrestle through what you're thinking about in your financial life through the lens of biblical wisdom. The number to call with lines open 800-525-7000. Again, that's 800-525-7000.

You can call right now. Now, one of the most significant changes under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 was the dramatic increase in the standard deduction. As a result, fewer taxpayers now itemize and instead opt for the standard deduction. So for instance, in 2023 the standard deduction is up to $27,700 for a married couple filing jointly. This just simply means if you take if you take the standard deduction, you're not getting any added benefit for those charitable gifts.

Now that doesn't mean we stop giving charitably. We don't do it for the tax benefit only, but if we can give in such a way that we're able to itemize our deduction, well then we can capture charitable deductions benefits. Well, one of the strategies to do that is something called bunching, which just helps you capture those charitable deductions every few years. And the way you would do it is if you have the ability to bunch two or three years of charitable contributions into a single year, then you could actually exceed the standard deduction threshold for that year, and then you would take the standard deduction in subsequent years. But for that year where you could itemize by pushing it all into one year, you could save several thousand. In fact, you could save $5,000 or more just depending on your situation. Now again, you have to have the free cash in order to be able to do that.

What would it look like? Well, essentially it would be where you would make, let's say, three years of charitable gifts. Again, if you have the ability to do so, into a donor advised fund in a single year. The idea is that if you did three years worth of your giving in one year, it would push you above that standard deduction. You're now itemizing and getting the full benefit of that. And then you could distribute it out of your donor advised fund by making grant recommendations to the same ministries or your church you were planning to give to, but in the same schedule you would have otherwise done. So if it was going to be over 36 months, you could distribute it over 36 months. But the idea is that when it all goes into the donor advised fund in one year, you get that bunching effect, you get the the itemized deduction thereby claiming more benefits than you would have if you'd given over your regular regular three-year schedule and perhaps save you some money. If you'd like to learn more about this, just head to the website of the National Christian Foundation where we recommend you open that donor advised fund ncfgiving.com. They've actually got an article you can search for.

The article is titled Maximize Your Giving with a Bunching Strategy. Check it out today. All right, we're going to begin to take your phone calls today. We've got some lines open. 800-525-7000. You can call right now.

Let's begin today in Florida. Hi, Ed. Go ahead, sir. Yeah, hi. Thanks for taking my call.

I have a question. Yeah, I have a question regarding financial planning. Half of my retirement, I do self-directed investing and the other half I do with a financial advisor. And the five-year internal rate of return that I'm bringing home is about 12.54% and he's bringing back 1.81%.

So I'm wondering if I should fire him and just go off self-directed or what? Yeah, well, obviously the return difference is pretty compelling. The delta between your returns at north of 12% is at 1.8. So at face value, you would look at that and say, of course, you might as well do it yourself.

I guess the only question I would ask is, number one, just what is that taking you in terms of the time and is that feasible moving forward? Number one. Number two, why is there such a stark difference between the two? Were you, for instance, focused on one strategy that was heavily rewarded during that time period where, when a cycle changes and rolls over, may not be rewarded as well when you look at a long-term approach? So for instance, here's an example. I'm not saying this is the case with you, but those seven big company, big growth stocks that have been driving the market. For instance, were you largely concentrated in those big seven and those aren't necessarily going to outperform forever. And so perhaps he was taken more of a value approach with dividends and high quality investments that were just underperforming. But as we transition from one cycle to the next, perhaps his strategy would be rewarded more handsomely than yours. So I guess you can't just look at one period of time and say, well, because I outperformed, that means I'm always going to outperform. You've got to look at the bigger picture. Does that make sense? Yeah, it does. I have an aggressive strategy that's more volatile than his, but he was supposed to take a moderate, so I was expecting 6% return, but he's not even there. Yeah.

No, and clearly, I mean, you can't settle for 1.8. That's not going to work. So I think a heart-to-heart meeting with him and perhaps a strategy change and maybe directing a bit more two-thirds to you, one-third to him, but I'd keep it there.

I'd just revisit it with him and see if he can make some changes. Thanks for your call, Ed. We'll be right back. Well, I'm grateful you've joined us today on Faith and Finance Live.

I'm Rob Lest. We're taking your calls and questions today in this portion of the broadcast. If you have a question on anything financial, living, giving, owing, or growing God's money, give us a call. Let's talk about it. We've got some lines open. You can get right through it, 800-525-7000.

Again, that number is 800-525-7000. Let's go back to the phones, to Cleveland, Ohio, WCRF. Hi, Andrew. Go ahead, sir.

Hey, Rob. God bless you. Love your ministry. Thank you.

Question. In regards to student loan debt, my new wife, married this year, has some student loan debt. And so this year, we're filing taxes together or separately.

We don't know how we're going to do this. How does that affect us filing, you know, together or separately as far as her student loan debt? Is that something that would fall on me and my income? We're both still working. We're both, you know, full retirement age, and I'm collecting social security, and she'll be getting her first check, I think, next month.

And so just had a question regarding that student loan that she has. Yes. Okay. And has that been deferred to this point?

But you know, Okay. And has that been deferred to this point? But you're just going to start paying on it now? I think it might have been deferred doing the COVID thing, but I believe she's paying on it. And it goes with, in regards to her income, you know, it's based on that, I believe right now. I'm not sure what they call that. Okay, got it.

Yeah. So you'll want to talk to your tax preparer about that. I mean, you absolutely can take a deduction for the interest paid on student loans that you took out for yourself, your spouse or a dependent. It applies to all loans, not just federal loans that's used to pay for higher education expenses, the maximum deduction is $2,500 a year. And it's classified as an adjustment to income. So that means it's taken out of your taxable income before you claim most other types of deduction. So that means you can deduct student loan interest, even if you claim the standard deduction on your tax return, as to whether or not it's going to make sense in this year, first year of marriage for you to file jointly or separately. You know, I would just look at that it's a great time, perhaps if you've used, you know, profiled your own taxes in the past, maybe this is the year that you get a CPA or professional to help you think through that and just make sure it's likely going to be that it makes sense for you to file married filing jointly. And again, any student loan interest deduction you'd be eligible for, you could certainly take. But as to whether one makes more sense than the other, that's really something a CPA or a tax preparer needs to advise you on. Okay, sounds good. Yeah, because, you know, I've been single for widows for the last four years.

And even before then, I always kind of did my taxes on my own. And so now it's a new season. So I'll maybe I yeah, I just take your advice and, you know, get a CPA and maybe have my taxes done professionally this year.

Yeah, I think that'd be a great decision. You're welcome, sir. We appreciate you calling. Hey, congratulations on your on your new marriage.

That's very exciting. We appreciate you being on the program. 800-525-7000 is the number to call. We've got some lines open, you can call right now. Again, 800-525-7000.

Let's go to Tampa. Hi, Robert. How can we help, sir? Yes, sir. I've heard I'm driving in a car right now.

But I've heard you listening to your program, which is very educational and nice. I've heard you mentioned about bonds. And the bonds, some of the rates are up, the newer bonds are maybe close to 5%. And then the older ones are around three, three and a half percent. And I wondered which direction to buy a bond, maybe buy some at the higher rate and some at the lower rate? Or or what?

What's your recommendation? Yeah, I mean, I think bonds are a key part of a well diversified portfolio. Essentially, when you buy a bond, it's a glorified IOU. So you're acting as a lender, you're lending your money to add a stated interest rate to a company or organization or a government. In contrast, when you buy a stock, you're acting as an owner.

So you're buying a partial equity stake in a company. There's two main risks when it comes to buying bonds. The first is credit risk, which is speaking to the fact that you might not get all your money back. And that's why the credit worthiness of the, you know, the person you're buying the bond from matters. And so when you're buying from the US government, that's at least the safest investment that there is, because you want to know that they're going to make good on making the interest payments and paying off the bonds when they mature. And the best way to diversify is to, in fact, spread your risk across a number of bonds, which is typically done through a bond mutual fund. The second major risk is around interest rate risk.

And this is what's been causing all the trouble lately. And it's the possibility you could get locked into a below market rate of return. It's the same risk you face when trying to decide how long to tie up your money in a bank CD. But it has even greater significance because as interest rates climb, you know, investors don't want to be in that bond because you're locked in at a lower interest rate. And so the bond price falls in concert with the rising rates to make it more attractive to other investors. And so you can lose money on the underlying price of the bond while the interest rates rise. And so you just need to be aware of that in terms of, you know, where bonds are headed here. I think, you know, I'm more optimistic than pessimistic about bonds over the next year or two during recessions.

Feds, the Fed almost always cuts rates, often fairly substantially. And so as these interest rates fall, the bond prices will go up. So it's hard to imagine if we are going into a recession next year, that bonds won't do pretty well. But the bottom line is I would probably stay on the short and intermediate term bonds. I wouldn't go out on the long term bonds. You know, those are down 50 percent in the last year because of what's been going on in interest rates.

So I think using bond funds to spread your diversification and then stay on the short and intermediate term duration is probably the best option for you right now to add to a well-diversified portfolio of stocks. I hope that helps, Robert. We appreciate your call today. We'll look forward to having you back again real soon. Folks, we've got some lines open today for your questions.

800-525-7000. A quick break and back with much more just around the corner. Stay with us. I'm so glad you joined us today for Faith and Finance live here on Moody Radio.

I'm Rob West. Hey, coming up in our next segment, Bob Doll stops by. A lot of strength in the market as of late. That continues today. The Dow Jones up a bit more than half a percent. The S&P 500 up nearly three quarters of one percent and the Nasdaq over one percent today.

Why all of this strength? What does Bob have to say about it and where do we go from here? We'll get his take in the next segment of the broadcast. But in the meantime, taking your calls and questions today. 800-525-7000. You can call right now with lines open. Let's go back to the phones to Hammond, Indiana. Hi Rose, go ahead. Hi, thank you for taking my call.

I absolutely love your show. I'm 80 years old. I have about a hundred and fifty thousand. A combination of one IRA and two TDAs with the same Mutual of America company. I have a son who's 40 years old. He's a mechanical engineer so his income is rather high. What I want to do is see how I could leave my money to him and minimize taxes for him. I was told that a Roth where I pay the taxes could be the answer but I really would like to get your input on this. Yeah, well there essentially is no estate taxes and there's no inheritance taxes either until you get above 12 million dollars.

So you really don't have to worry about that. Obviously with the majority of your money in a tax-deferred environment, meaning it went in pre-tax, then somebody's got to pay the tax on it as it comes out. That's either you or if he inherits an IRA or an annuity that was a qualified annuity, funded with pre-tax dollars, then he's going to pay the tax on the money as it comes out.

You are correct that with the Roth IRA the tax has been paid and so at inheritance he would not have any taxes due. And then obviously with any other money that was after tax, like for instance if he inherits stocks in a taxable account or your home, those would all enjoy the stepped up cost basis to the market value as of the date of death. So he wouldn't have any taxes when those assets are sold. So the primary place where he's going to create taxable events is with the pre-tax or qualified annuities and then with the inherited IRA. Because the home in the after-tax stocks and the Roth IRA are essentially going to allow him to liquidate those assets tax-free. So I guess the only consideration would be Rose whether you want to go ahead and and pay the tax on some of that. So for instance with the traditional IRA you could convert it to a Roth IRA, pay the tax now, and then he would inherit it and take the distributions tax-free.

I guess the question is why? I mean yes he's going to pay the tax but he'd still have the benefit of the money and he's going to get a lot more out of it than the tax bill that will be due. So is there really that much of an urgency to go ahead and prepay the tax if you will on these tax deferred investments?

Well only because I'm 80 years old and you know I'm in pretty good shape. I live on my social security and that is enough for me to handle everything including my tithing, my sacrificial tithing. I even have a few dollars left over and I thought I could go ahead and he has a rather big income and his income will probably grow and grow and his tax base might grow and grow also. So I thought that maybe I could go ahead and pay it now with my extra money and I was wondering maybe someone had mentioned I could convert a portion of it this year next year and so forth and it wouldn't tax me too terrible if I could do maybe twenty thousand each year or something. Yeah I guess I would again come back to just what is the primary objective there because you know as you said he's got a really good income. He probably doesn't need this inheritance so when he receives it anything he receives from it even with the taxes that he has to pay is just still going to be additive to everything he already has and so let's say he were to receive that hundred and fifty five thousand let's say he's in you know not the highest tax bracket but the second highest tax bracket at thirty five percent which is for those folks you know if he's married you know and he's earning between four hundred and sixty thousand and seven hundred thousand a year he's in the thirty five percent bracket. So after he pays the taxes on the hundred and fifty five thousand you know he's still going to have a hundred thousand dollars left even after he pays a forty thousand dollar tax bill if he were to pull it all out in one year. Well that's still a hundred thousand more than he has today so you're living lean and mean that's great living on your social security he's got this really healthy income he's working hard for it but he's making a lot of money I guess I'm just wondering why would you put that burden on yourself to prepay the taxes when he's still going to get sixty five percent of everything you leave to him even if he pays the taxes on that pre-tax money. I do understand what you're saying but I'm not sacrificing myself in any way to tell you the truth and I have a little extra that that is why I thought that I could save him a lot of money because right now he's not making you know a hundred thousand but he could very well be making that you know five ten years from now when I'm gone you know. Yeah yeah okay well I guess I would just pray about that because you know the reality is you're gonna if you were to convert this hundred and fifty five thousand in the traditional IRA to a Roth you're gonna have a massive tax bill and either you're gonna have to come out of pocket on that twenty thousand plus a year for the next two years even if you were to spread it over two tax years or you're gonna have to pull even more out to be able to try to pay the taxes as well and you're just not gonna have a whole lot left to fall back on and what if you needed that money between now and when the Lord calls you home.

Again there's not a hundred percent tax bracket so whatever you leave him even if it's all tax deferred money meaning it's pre-tax money he's still going to be positive in that you've already you know you're giving him you know whatever you leave to him and then as he liquidates it the majority of it will still be left with him so you know at the end of the day if you really want to make sure all of this is tax free yes you could convert it to a Roth IRA. I would just really think through that because that's going to create a massive tax liability for you now and I'm just not sure that he would ask you to do that or it's even necessary but you know at the end of the day you're the steward Rose so you have to feel good about it and and if you would rather take care of it now then I would probably spread it out over maybe you know at least three years if I were you. Okay okay sounds good. Okay hey thank you for your call and for your kind remarks about the program I appreciate it very much.

Let's go to Orlando. Louis thank you for calling go ahead. Thank you for taking my call. I have two or three questions but I'm going to try to combine them very effectively so it won't take too long. Okay I've only got about 45 seconds but then we can finish up on the other side of the break go ahead.

Okay all right well number one I'm I'm 61 and a half and I just wanted to ask this question I own my two houses I have one house is paid off and it works roughly about six hundred and fifty thousand and I have my primary house that I live. All right let's do this I'm going to take this break you think about your question we'll come back and tackle it right on the other side this is Faith and Finance Live. We'll be right back. Great to have you with us today on Faith and Finance Live. Up next Bob Dahl but first back to the phones.

Louis is in Orlando. Okay Louis we'd love to hear your question today you're 61 years old getting closer to retirement pick it up from there how can I help? You know I've been living here for a long time. Yes basically what I have two homes one is paid off it's an investment home it brings me about thirty two hundred dollars a month and then I have my primary home that I own about roughly about three hundred and thirty thousand. So my question is and should I sell both homes and then put my money under something go give me a safe return and not worry about taxes or what have you or or should I just sell my primary home which is worth roughly about a one point I would say about one point five just to be conservatively majority of my invest actually retirement is and my my home so that's because the advice I would like to to have to know how to navigate from from there. That's a great question how far off is retirement just based on your current plans? My current plan is God allow me to be healthy so I'm thinking in 65 no more than 67. Okay so somewhere between four and six years down the road obviously real estate is very high right now we don't have any reason to believe we're in a bubble situation and obviously the housing prices have held up quite well despite this massive rise in interest rates we would largely expect that the the longer term trend on interest rates would be down not up from here that's of course going to help there's still a shortage of homes in this country and so housing prices will probably you know continue to do quite well you know if you're counting on the equity in your home to live on or to supplement your social security income in retirement then obviously you're going to have to pull that out you can either do that by selling it and downsizing and then investing it or you could look at a reverse mortgage to systematically pull out the equity in the home in the form of an income stream but I think in either case you know hanging on to that investment property if that is working for you I mean you owe it free and clear you're clearing thirty two hundred dollars a month it sounds like that could be a great part of your long-term you know income strategy in retirement to continue to generate that income so long as you could sell this property buy something a bit smaller you know for cash you know and maybe you know at that point I mean if you were to sell it and pull maybe one point one out after expenses and buy something for a half a million dollars you know you could still have six hundred thousand working for you you know that would throw off let's say twenty four thousand a year on top of the you know thirty two hundred a month or you know thirty eight thousand the combination of the two would be you know sixty two thousand a year plus social security would that be enough if you were debt-free if I'm debt-free I would say just because my wife already don't don't work and she's disabled so I would say maybe about a hundred grand will probably do it for us yeah so I'll probably need a little bit more income but I do have a foreign care as well okay it's not much it's about 300 grand us right now what I have so I think I think that probably will work for me yeah I mean the three hundred thousand will throw off another twelve thousand a year at four percent so that's sixty two thousand plus twelve so that's seventy five grand plus social security which between you and your wife's spousal benefit I would imagine should put you around a hundred you're debt-free you own a half a million dollar home plus an investment property both of which are free and clear and you know you've got a good you've got a good diversification among the asset classes of you know you'd have at that point roughly a million dollars in stocks and bonds and you'd have whatever that those two properties are worth one of which would be income generating so I think that's you know one one option to consider the other option is you stay there and get the reverse mortgage but in in either case I'm not sure I would rush into selling that investment property that's generating good cash flow that you own free and clear unless it just becomes a burden to you you know more than you want to give attention to you know in that season of life does that make sense that made very good sense and in terms of the 401k would you suggest me to put it like an IRA or when I retire or or pull it out or what would you suggest me to do yeah I definitely wouldn't pull it out I'd leave it right where it is and roll it to an IRA which is not a taxable event and then I'd head to our website and find a certified kingdom advisor to help you manage all of this the proceeds from the home sale plus the IRA which is the the rollover from the the 401k you know and you could find a cka on our website faithfi.com just click find a cka okay okay thank you very much for the advice I will give you your answer thank you you're welcome louis god bless you and all the best to you as you head toward retirement here in the next five years or so well it's monday which means bob doll stops by bob is chief investment officer at crossmark global investments you can learn more at crossmark global.com bob happy thanksgiving week to you my friend thanks same to you and all your listeners hey bob get us started here lots of strength in the market today skewed today at least toward the the nasdaq more significantly but why so much strength as of late I think what investors are watching is the pop of probability in their minds of a soft landing has gone up inflation seems to be continuing to come down and stocks offer as good a return as most other publicly traded assets and so they're buying them big contrast to prior to that I mean bravo just looking as you were talking the last caller the stock market is up 10 in 11 trading days that is amazing after a little more than that decline from july 31st to the end of october so even that three that three month decline of 10 was reasonably quick but we've gotten it almost all back in two weeks yeah no question about that now bob how much of that is is allocated toward the the super seven apple amazon google I mean nvidia you know is up big today obviously that's continuing to move that group of seven right yes that group of seven continues to get more than its fair share of attention these companies are viewed as stable growers good cash flows strong balance sheets and that's the kind of thing people want and appropriately so in an uncertain environment so the prospect for that group continues to be pretty good we just have to watch the valuation when it gets out of line we have to be a little careful but that's where investors are gravitating yeah I mean obviously so much of this depends on whether the consumer can continue to hold up in the wake of these high interest rates and cumulative inflation even though it's coming down everything is additive on top of the nine percent last year so what do you make of there in terms of loan delinquencies and even just some of the the warnings we're getting heading into the holiday spending season well yeah you know the consumer all year long until recently has been stronger than expected and while it's only oh I'll call it a month that we've begun to see somewhat weaker readings you mentioned credit card and auto loan delinquencies watch that very carefully watch a continuing initial unemployment claims the continuing claims are now at the highest level in two years and jobless claims have been moving up as well so the consumers to be watched carefully it's what's kept the economy good in 2023 so far but a slowdown seems inevitable let's see if the slowing leads to a soft landing or something more significant yeah that's helpful bob moving beyond our borders what's the message coming out of argentina I mean obviously this president-elect is a an interesting candidate to say the least but economically pushing back against socialism talking about moving away from their central bank to the u.s dollar I mean it's really a strong message being sent here isn't it yes it is and as somewhat unexpected but I think folks in lots of countries are getting a little worn out from the creeping socialism and not giving them the chance to to grow a business or grow net worth and so trying something different in this case a bit of a hands-off kind of approach which is very different from creeping socialism and maybe eventually leading to capitalism wouldn't that be novel so true bob well listen happy thanksgiving to you and yours we appreciate you stopping by today talk to you next monday god bless all right that's bob doll chief investment officer at crossmark global investments quickly to crown point indiana let's finish up with rick go ahead sir yeah hi i'll be quick uh recently retired from a job where uh i got the look took the lump sum investment that's in an ira also a 401k and a significant amount of raw thyroid when i start withdrawing when i retire is there a strategy that's where i take it from first which yeah you know tax professionals rick usually suggests withdrawing first from taxable accounts then tax deferred accounts and then finally roth accounts where the withdrawals are tax-free and that's i think even you know accentuated by the fact that the tax cuts and jobs act is expiring in 2025 so depending on the outcome of the election if tax rates are going anywhere they're going higher so this idea that you would go first taxable then tax deferred where you're paying the tax as it come out it comes out and then from the roth uh you know probably make some sense especially given that you know that tax deferred bucket will also have required minimums at some point along the way the roth will not hopefully that helps you gives you at least some sort of strategy that doesn't replace you getting some counsel from your cpa but those are just some general rules of thumb thanks for your call today happy thanksgiving we appreciate you being on the program today folks that's going to do it for us faith and finance live is a partnership between moonie radio and faith by thank you to dan and amy to our call screening team as well as jim henry on behalf of them i'm rob west and have a great thanksgiving week we'll see you next time bye