Have a Grateful Thanksgiving

The following program was prerecorded, so our phone lines are not open. Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. First Thessalonians 5 18. Hi, I'm Rob West, here wishing you a happy and grateful Thanksgiving. God's Word tells us to thank the Lord no matter what we're experiencing, and these days that can be a bit of a challenge. We'll talk about that first today, and then we have some great calls lined up, but please don't call in today, because this program is prerecorded.

This is Faith and Finance Live, biblical wisdom for your financial journey. Okay, so today we have high inflation, high interest rates, and student loan payments starting again. We might be tempted to think, what do we have to be thankful for? Well, you might be surprised to learn when Thanksgiving became a national holiday. Of course the Puritans first set aside a day of Thanksgiving in 1621, but it didn't become official until 1863. In October of that year, just three months after the horrendous Battle of Gettysburg that cost 50,000 American casualties, President Abraham Lincoln signed a proclamation to establish the fourth Thursday in November as a national day of Thanksgiving. Those were hard times, much worse than anything we're experiencing today. Yet President Lincoln still thought it appropriate to offer thanks to God, as the Bible calls on us to do.

He also called on citizens in all parts of the country to pray that God would heal the nation's wounds. Now about those Puritans in the Plymouth Colony of Massachusetts. They didn't exactly have smooth sailing leading up to the first Thanksgiving in 1621.

Plymouth Governor William Bradford would later write of the first year in America, All great and honorable actions are accompanied with great difficulties, and both must be enterprised and overcome with answerable courage. The Puritans had intended to get to the New World early in summer, in time to put in a crop and build houses before the onset of winter. But their voyage was delayed when one of their ships, the Speedwell, proved unseaworthy. They had to turn back and load her passengers and supplies aboard what then became a very cramped Mayflower.

Also, the crossing itself was much rougher and took longer than expected. They didn't arrive in the New World until November. Planting was impossible and a harsh winter delayed the building of the first houses until late January. All of that resulted in what became known as the starving time for the Plymouth Colony. One hundred and two Puritans had crossed over on the Mayflower. Nearly half of them died that first winter due to disease and starvation.

Bradford would later write of it, It scarce able to bury the dead. But spring finally came, and those who'd survived had established good relations with the Native Americans, who helped them plant crops that eventually became a fair harvest in the fall. That brings us to the first Thanksgiving in November of 1621, when the Puritans celebrated and praised God for their survival. So many of them had died that they were outnumbered at the feast two to one by their Native American guests.

Joyful as that day was, William Bradford didn't forget those who'd perished the previous winter, and to mark the event, he used a passage from Hebrews 11. All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised. They only saw them from a distance, admitting they were foreigners and strangers on earth. They were longing for a better country, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them. Many have forgotten why the Puritans dared to venture into the harsh New World in the first place. Persecuted for their faith in England, they had fled to Holland first, but English authorities pursued them even there, leading many to risk the perilous voyage to America.

They came for religious freedom, something that we still enjoy today and should always be thankful for. Bradford would later write of those times, Thus out of small beginnings greater things have been produced by His hand that made all things of nothing, and gives being to all things that are, and as one small candle may light a thousand, so the light here kindled hath shown until many. More than 400 years later, we live in a time of great wealth, and it can mislead us into thinking that we're responsible for it.

God's word says it isn't so. Deuteronomy 8 18 reminds us, You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you the power to get wealth, that He may confirm His covenant that He swore to your fathers as it is this day. So that's why we wish you a happy and grateful Thanksgiving, hoping you'll take time to thank God for all of the blessings you enjoy. 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. So glad to have you with us today on Faith and Finance Live.

Our team is away today, so don't call in, but we lined up some great questions in advance, and we'll be going to those here in just a moment. Let me also remind you that the advice that I give each day on this program is general in nature. We offer principles and ideas that apply at a high level. They are not personalized, so that's why you should always seek professional financial advice. And if you'd like to find a professional who shares your values, we of course here at Faith and Finance Live recommend the Certified Kingdom Advisor designation. These are men and women who've met high standards, and they've been trained to bring a biblical worldview of financial decision making.

You can find one at faithfi.com. Let's dive in today. We're going to begin in Arkansas. Hi, May. Thanks for your call. Go ahead.

Well, thank you for taking my call. Okay, here's my dilemma. I'm hoping to retire in about a year, and I've got $15,000 cash that I'm going to need when I retire to help supplement my income. So I don't know what to do with it now. I don't know if I should put it in the stock market, but is it crazy if it is, or what? I don't know what to do with it.

Well, that's a great question. I appreciate that, May. Let's talk through this together. So you said you're not far away from retirement, about a year. Tell me about the income sources that you'll have in retirement. I have Social Security. Okay.

And have you put together that retirement budget, May, that has a breakdown of your expenses so you know what you can expect to have to cover on a monthly basis? Right. I'm going to need about $150 extra each month, and that's where the $15,000 is coming from, what I'll be doing to help pay for medicine or a utility bill or something. Okay.

Very good. So if we were to just stick that into a savings account, you'd obviously earn some interest on that. At $15,000 today, you could earn 5.5%. Well, let's say we keep it in a true savings account, so it's purely liquid, 4.5%. So that'd give you an extra $675 a year, which that would throw off about $50 a month, and then you'd have to pull an additional $100. So the challenge is we typically want to only pull about 4% a year from our investments. You're having to pull more like about 12% or $1,800 a month. So it's a little more than we would like to pull.

This is probably going to last you maybe 10 years or so just because of the rate of withdrawal. So I think that's one consideration. Is there any opportunity to either delay your retirement so you could continue to save, or is there a way to try to trim the budget at all so we could get down closer to maybe $15 or $50 or $75 a month?

Yes, I could. If my health and everything stays okay, I could probably work a little bit longer because that is an option. One thing is my food costs and stuff. I've caught myself eating out more than I should, so that's one thing I'm going to have to cut back on.

Yes, ma'am. Yeah, I think that would be a worthwhile exercise for you just to say, how can I trim that budget to get as close to my Social Security as possible? So you've got a couple of options. Now, do you have any what I call emergency savings maybe on the $15,000 that's just available for the unexpected, or is that really the extent of it? No, I do have about $50,000 in emergency.

Okay, very good. In the $15,000, is it in a retirement account of some kind? No, it's just cash right now. Oh, just cash. Okay. So I think your two options are, number one, you could put it just in a, maybe you lock it up in a CD for the next couple of years and you could get about 5% on that. You wouldn't be taking any risk.

Or you could invest it, and I know you mentioned that. Typically, what is your age today? 76.

Say that again, I'm sorry. 76. 76, okay. Yeah, so at 76, we'd probably generally recommend a 30, 70 portfolio where you might have about 30% in stocks and about 70% in bonds. And the nice thing about that is, you would, as the interest rates come down, which is probably not going to begin to happen until later next year, 2024, those bond prices will increase and you'll also have a pretty nice yield just because of where interest rates are today. And so, I would do that through a mutual fund just given the amount of funds we're talking about. And our friends at soundmindinvesting.org could help you with that. That's soundmindinvesting.org. And basically, what they would help you do is find a high quality mutual fund, meaning one with low expenses, a good track record, but where it's called a balanced fund where you've got a mix of both stocks and bonds. And we'd probably want to have one where we target that mix of stocks to bonds with that 30, 70 split I'm talking about.

Now, here's what you have to recognize though. There's of course risk associated with that, especially as we're headed toward what most economists believe to be a recession. And we don't know whether it's going to be a mild recession or a little deeper than we expect.

A lot of that just is going to play out over time. Now, the good news is, you know, if the Lord tarries and you're in good health, you know, this money needs to last for potentially a couple of decades. So you can still take a long view with it, but you may see that 15,000, you know, you'd wake up one day and it's 13,000. And if that's going to cause you some, some anxiety or some stress, then you may want to look to more safe, you know, safer investments. Uh, but if you're comfortable with that, recognizing that the goal is to grow it, uh, in a, in a reasonable way to offset inflation, even though you are taking some risk, then you could look for one of those mutual funds I was talking about with that 30, 70 split. Otherwise I would probably, you know, take advantage of a CD right now and just try to maximize the return on this money. Uh, you know, at about five and a half percent for the next couple of years and you've got it completely safe and at least, you know, you're going to be making, you know, a little bit of income on it. Uh, as I mentioned, you know, with 15,000, um, you know, at five and a half percent, you know, you're looking at about $800 over the next 12 months. And again, if you could work a little bit longer and save to try to build that 15,000 up, the good news is, you know, potentially we don't need even 150. We could mean maybe 50 or $75 and then we've got a plan that actually works where you've got your bills covered every month and you've got a nice healthy emergency savings account with 50,000 in it. And I think that, you know, as a plan that works longterm. Does that make sense? Yes, it does.

I like your idea about this CD. I think I'm going to do that. Yeah.

So then the question is where to go to get the CD and what I might direct you to is if you're comfortable on the internet, I'd head to a website called bank rate.com bank rate.com and on that site, what you will find is that you can click on the button that says CDs and it's going to rank them from those that are paying the most interest to those paying the least and you can actually create the filter so that it looks for one-year CDs or, you know, up to two-year CDs or even five years and look at the rates and it would tell you the bank's offering the most competitive interest rates right now. Okay? Yes, sir.

Well, yes, sir. Thank you so much. I appreciate it.

I'm definitely going to go there right now and look. Okay. Very good. Listen, all the best to you may. Hey, what are you most excited about as you transition into this next season of life? What do you think God has for you? Well, I'm hoping to do something, um, to be able to serve the Lord.

You know, I don't know if it'll be with, um, you know, working in a homeless shelter or something, but I would like to be there helping. Oh, that's wonderful. I love that. Well, God bless you may. Hey, if we can help you further along the way with anything, uh, give us a call back. We'd be delighted to may the Lord bless you.

What a great call. Well folks, we're going to head to a break, but let me remind you we're out of the studio today. Our team is not here, so don't call in, but much more to come just around the corner on faith and finance. Great to have you with us today on faith and finance live. By the way, we're not live today.

We're away from the studio, so don't call in, but we have some great questions that we lined up in advance. By the way, this ministry is entirely listener supported. That means we rely on your financial gifts and support to do what we do on the air every day. If you consider a gift, we'd certainly be grateful. Just head to our website, faith fi.com that's faith fi.com and click the give button.

Thanks in advance. All right, let's head back to the phones to Ohio. Tony is a first time caller. Go right ahead. Thanks for taking my call. Sure. So I just got a more of a concern question here. So I'm 48. Um, I've got about 500, uh, plus in an IRA, a mix of IRA. So it's a mix of set, a personal investment account, and uh, uh, I think another IRA portfolio, whatever. But the concern is since July, it's kind of dropped from like five 11 to about four 62. Now, right. It's, I, I, I've got an investor who manages stuff to stuff for me, but the other concern was in looking through it, I noticed it was a infidelity.

It says something about the highly aggressive, aggressive position or whatever. And my, my question was, is that what I should be doing right now? I mean, given the world events and this talk of a depression next year and, and all that stuff, that was my main thing.

Yeah, no, I appreciate that. You know, I think the first question when we talk about an investing strategy is just a high level allocation among the various asset classes. So, you know, you've got bonds and you've got stocks and then you've got, you know, typically you would have maybe a small allocation to the precious metals in a stock and bond portfolio of there's other asset classes, of course, like oil and gas and real estate and that type of thing. But you know, if a traditional portfolio would, would typically have stocks, bonds, and precious metals, and we would start by saying, okay, what is the right mix of those asset classes based on your age, risk tolerance, goals, and objectives? So at age 50, we might say, you know, typically you'd have a 60, 40 portfolio in age 50, you know, towards stocks and bonds. So 60% in stocks, 40% in bonds. And then within that stock allocation, you would say, okay, we might have some that are more of the high growth type in, you know, maybe a high growth sector like technology, where they're not paying any dividends, it's all being reinvested, you might have a portion in, you know, more, you know, mid cap and small cap, as opposed to large cap, you can have international and domestic, you can have some that are dividend focused, so income generating stocks, you know, it might be a utility or something like that. And, you know, all of that together, whether that's through individual equities, or mutual funds, or ETFs, makes up the stock portion. And that's probably the first decision that will drive the volatility on the portfolio.

So let's start there. Do you have a sense across all of these accounts, if we were to just say, among your half a million dollars in investable assets? Do you know the breakdown roughly, of stocks versus bonds?

I think I'm more I'm, again, I'm not I don't know specifics, but I think I'm weighted more on the stock side versus the bond side. Yeah. Okay.

Yeah. I mean, so that would be the question to my advisor is to say, hey, let's talk about kind of my allocation here. You know, obviously, you know, you're down about 50,000, which is, you know, about 10%. That's not, you know, out of the ordinary in a market like we're in right now. But it does warrant the question, you know, what is that high level allocation?

What's the appropriate amount or mix, I should say, of stocks versus bonds and, and even gold or other precious metals? And how, you know, are we positioned today? And then within those portfolios, you know, what are my holdings? Now, when you said you saw something referencing the fact that you were in aggressive positions?

Tell me more about that. Was that a particular fund that you were in that, you know, mentioned that it was more aggressive and it's, you know, you know, policy or something else? No, this is a, this is the fidelity app, right? I was looking at the, the individual, again, the, the individual positions and so I said, I run a personal business, I've got a set IRA. And then I've got a separate individual account.

And then I've got a traditional IRA that was ported over. And when I look at the fidelity, I was just kind of looking at the overall ratings. And I noticed in the app, it says something about this was more highly aggressive.

And then another one was very aggressive. So that's kind of where I got concerned. Got it. Yeah, very good.

Yeah. So that would just, I think, warrant a conversation with your advisor as to, you know, what are the holdings in that equity portion? And talk to me about why the fidelity app is categorizing them as either aggressive or highly aggressive. And then just talk about your risk tolerance, your goals and objectives. And I think that should serve the basis as, you know, a really open and honest conversation about how much risk you're willing to take. What are you trying to accomplish? What's your ultimate goal in terms of, you know, where are you headed toward between now and retirement to be able to fund, you know, your lifestyle in retirement alongside social security and anything else you might have if you sell a business or something like that. So there may be some planning involved. So it, it doesn't scare me that the word aggressive is there.

I think the bigger idea is just do you have the right investment mix that's appropriate for you at age 50 as a business owner, you know, with another 15 years or so of, you know, really working hard so that you can ultimately achieve your objectives. Does that make sense? Yes, yes, it does.

Yes, it does. I have one more question, if you don't mind. Yeah, go for it. So right now I have another day, probably 200 in cash, and I'm kind of hesitant in putting that in the market right now. And I thought my initial thought was to just throw that into some sort of a high yield online savings account.

I don't know what your thoughts are about that. Yeah. So is this after tax money just sitting in a checking or savings account currently? Yes.

All right. And are you actively funding that SEP every year? Yes, I max it out every year. This would be my second year that I need to max.

I haven't done that yet for this year. Yeah. But you'd still have this 200,000 after you max out that SEP, or would this be a part of that? No, it would drop.

It would drop by five to 16 something, whatever. Yeah. Okay. And what do you spend per month roughly? Oh, I'm not sure, but I'm using my net on a monthly basis.

Usually maybe around 22 to 23 grand over. All right. So here's what I would do. I'd keep at least six months worth of expenses in that high yield savings account.

And then I'd fully fund the SEP. And then if you have anything leftover, I'd consider going ahead and moving that into the market as well, as long as you have the right investment mix. Stay on the line. 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. 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. All right, back to the phones we go. Let's see, we're going to head to Texas next. Jake, you've been waiting patiently.

Go ahead, sir. Hey, Rob. So glad to be on the show. Just a quick question for you. My wife and I have been involved in church camp for about 20 years now, and she's on the board, and somebody has offered us a gift that they want us to use towards scholarships of $30,000, and we're just wondering, is there a way that we could have like a reoccurring scholarship each year based off of maybe an investment out of this?

Yeah, you know, it's a great question. I love what you're doing there with the church camp, and I can understand why you'd want to maximize that just to get as many, you know, kids there as you can in the years to follow. You know, I might start with the donor's intent and perhaps go back to the donor and just say, listen, what was your intent here in the sense that, you know, I would typically, whether it's a gift to a church or in this case a parachurch ministry, I'd be very hesitant to put the money at risk because, you know, the donor gave it to you to get, you know, kids to camp, and if all of a sudden we lose money, let's say, you know, you turn around and invest it in stocks, and all of a sudden, you know, that 30 is now 20.

Now you could say, well, it'll recover, we'll just, you know, wait it out, and at least we could grow it and hopefully eventually get more kids there. I would just hate for you to, you know, have any of that money at risk unless the donor said, you know what, absolutely, if we can get a six or eight percent return even though we're taking a little bit of risk on this and over time that means, you know, three or four or five or six more kids could go to camp or a dozen, that's great. But apart from that, I would probably be looking for really safe, you know, almost, you know, no risk type investments.

Everything's got risk, but I'd probably be looking at CDs or, you know, high yield savings or something like that. But give me your thoughts on that, Jake. No, I mean, that makes sense. Like, I understand where you're coming from on that.

Like, you kind of want to make the most impact, right? Especially with the economy being where it's at. You don't know, you could lose it all.

I just, I know that we have campers, so our costs are about 450 bucks per camper, which is not bad per week at camp. However, if you give something away for free, yeah, people just don't show up. Yeah, yeah. So with $30,000, that would probably cover, like, everybody. And I'm just sure, I'm sure without any initial investment from the individual, people would just not show up.

Yeah, yeah. Well, I totally agree. I mean, obviously, this could cover 66 kids in one year. Or as you said, you know, if you didn't want to give full scholarships, the other approach is to say, listen, we're going to subsidize the tuition, or we're going to make it need-based. And so, you know, the kids who can pay to come to camp, great, right? You know, parents write the check. Those who would love to come but can't because of finances, maybe they apply to get a scholarship.

And those are approved on a, you know, a case-by-case basis based on the need that's there. And it could be a subsidized camp, you know, registration, or it could be a full scholarship, you know, depending upon what's there. And the idea would be, you know, that you don't spend all this money in one year.

I mean, this lasts for a long time. You know, at five and a half percent, you could throw off an extra $1,650 a year. So there's, you know, three more full scholarships just in the interest that you could get over the next 12 months.

So I think you need to kind of back up and decide what is our strategy here. This is an incredible blessing, this gift that's been given. What was the donor's intent? And how do we maximize this with the goal of being, you know, to get as many campers there as possible? And if those who can afford to come, great, let them pay. You've already said there's a great value behind this, given that it's only 450 bucks. I mean, as a dad sending kids to summer camp, I know how expensive that is for. And $450 is, you know, probably, in many cases, a third of what a lot of the camps are.

But those who truly are in a need-based situation, you know, that's where this really comes in handy so they can get to camp and, you know, hear about Jesus and have an incredible time as well. So I think, you know, you know, you need to establish a strategy around how it's going to be deployed. But I would probably try to stay more on the risk-free side of the ledger with the investments if you try to earn some interest on this. Okay, and so you'd recommend? Yeah, probably a high-yield savings. I mean, you could, yeah, and so you would need to look at those who can open a business account. If you want, you know, a Christian alternative, you could look at our friends at Christian Community Credit Union at joinchristiancommunity.com.

Otherwise, you could just go to Bankrate and, you know, find which banks offer the highest yield for business savings. Okay, well, I really appreciate it, Rob, and I appreciate what you're doing on your show. I fully believe in time, talent, and testimony. You know, how we invest, it really makes a difference. It's all God's.

Yes, it is. Well, I appreciate that affirmation, Jake. It's a privilege to do what I do every day, and I appreciate your encouragement. God bless you, my friend. Let's go to George next.

Hi, Clarence. Go ahead, sir. A few weeks ago, you had given me some good advice about Social Security took the best five out of 35 to determine how much you would draw at retirement. Well, let me just clarify that one bit, and then I'll let you ask your question. It is the best 35 out of the total number of years you've been working, so it's called the high 35, so it's not five of 35, it's the best 35, which does mean if you continue working, even after you start collecting, you have the ability to replace any of those 35 years of your highest wages. Okay, okay.

Well, that leads up to this question. I got to think, the company I work for, I contributed to the 401k. They matched the first 3% and 100%. The next 3%, they match at 50%. Is that money that I'm contributing into the 401k, is that part of my total for the year that the IRS will use?

It is, yeah, because although you don't pay income tax on your 401k contribution, you still pay what's called FICA, which that's based on the full paycheck amount, and that's the portion that goes to Social Security. Okay, that clears a lot up for me. I sure do appreciate you, my friend. All right, God bless you, Clarence. Hey, what part of Georgia are you in? I live in a little town called Chickamauga, Georgia.

Oh yeah, okay. Right up in extreme northwest Georgia, a little old India. Yes, sir. Excellent, it's beautiful up there. Yeah, God country is what I call it.

I like it, and I would agree with you, sir. All right, hey, God bless you, Clarence. Make it a great day, and thanks for being on the program. We have some amazing listeners that you all are just wonderful to talk to, and I so appreciate your encouragement along the way.

Well, here's what we're going to do. We're going to take one more quick break and then back with our final segment today, but if you need assistance from a financial or legal professional, we'd love for you to visit faithfi.com and click Find a CKA. Again, that's faithfi.com, and click Find a CKA.

That stands for Certified Kingdom Advisor, our preferred designation for financial advice from a biblical worldview. We're back with much more just around the corner. Stick around. So glad to have you with us today on Faith and Finance Live.

Our team is away today, so don't call in, but we lined up some great questions in advance, and we'll be going to those here in just a moment. Let me also remind you that the advice that I give each day on this program is general in nature. We offer principles and ideas that apply at a high level. They are not personalized, so that's why you should always seek professional financial advice. And if you'd like to find a professional who shares your values, we of course here at Faith and Finance Live recommend the Certified Kingdom Advisor designation. These are men and women who've met high standards, and they've been trained to bring a biblical worldview of financial decision making.

You can find one at faithfi.com. Let's go back to the phones to Pennsylvania. Hi, Tim.

Go ahead, sir. Thank you for taking my call. My situation is my wife and I have wills, and, you know, after the Lord calls us both home, whatever is remaining in the estate is scheduled to be divided evenly between our son and our daughter. We find ourselves in a situation where our son's marriage is rocky. His wife quite often threatens to divorce and, you know, and leave. So I am looking into the possibility that maybe what we need to do is establish a trust, because I don't want to be the one that finances the family split, if that makes sense to you.

Yes, absolutely, and I can certainly understand that. Obviously this is a matter of prayer, and we want to pray for unity and oneness, and the Lord would work in their marriage. I understand you're also charged with being the steward of these resources, and part of that is deciding how you want, well, who the next steward is, and whether they're not only chosen but prepared. And a trust is a way to give money to your kids, and, you know, that without it going necessarily to the spouse, although there is, you know, it becomes marital property, and so it depends on the state and so forth. So what I would recommend here, Tim, is for you to visit with a godly estate planning attorney who can really talk you through kind of what the, you know, options are for how you would lead this money and accomplish your wishes, you know, according to the laws of the state there and the options that you have.

Okay, excellent, yes. Yeah, because the trust is basically a legal entity that holds and manages the property for the benefit of one or more beneficiaries, and so, you know, if you're looking to shield assets from a child's spouse, you know, the most common and effective way to do that is going to be a trust, but from that point, you know, you're going to have to get into the legalities of what makes the most sense in your situation and according to the laws of your state, and that's where an estate planning attorney comes in. In terms of finding that individual, if you don't have one, you could reach out to a certified kingdom advisor in Pennsylvania and ask for a referral.

They'll all have a godly estate planning attorney that they work with, so you just head to our website, faithfi.com, that's faithfi.com, click find a CKA, and you could do a zip code search and then just contact one of those, say, listen, I listen to faith and finance and I just need a referral to an estate planning attorney and they should be able to direct you, okay? Excellent, thank you very much, I appreciate it, God bless. All right, Tim, you too, sir, thanks for calling today. Let's go to Tennessee. Hi, Rebecca, go right ahead.

Hi, hey, yes, I have a question. So, I have not always been the best at saving money. I thought pretty much my whole entire life, but my father passed away when I was about 16, received a large check from his life insurance, and for example, I just blew it.

I mean, of course I was young, but there's nothing of it anymore. Now that I'm married, it's always a conflict between my husband and I, because I spend so much money, we can't ever save to buy a home. So, I'm trying to figure out what's wrong with me and how to stop it, because now I know at this point, if I was to pass away, my children would have nothing. And if my husband saves money, he saves it and he doesn't tell me about it. So, he will say, we're running out of money, but we'll have some just to try to slow me down on spending. I don't really know, to me, it feels like I've always felt like if I have it, I have to go use it.

And my kids have to have the best. I feel like I'm always trying to compete, and I feel like I'm depriving them. And now I know that in the long run, it has hurt us because we don't have anything substantial.

And I just turned 29, my husband's in 30 and he received a VA disability, but he's also working and I'm working a part-time job. So, I don't know what to do. I don't know if I need to work full time or what I needed to help my family, but I know I'm a big thorn in their side right now.

Yeah. Well, Rebecca, I so appreciate your transparency here today. And that's obviously the beginning point to you getting beyond this. Compulsive spending is real. And it could be that you need to get some counseling around this just to try to get to the root of it, to determine what are the emotions that trigger the spending along with fear and guilt and feelings of inadequacy. I mean, money issues are hard issues and the spending is just symptomatic of something deeper there. But you acknowledging that is obviously key. And so your ability to kind of work through that at that level, at the heart level and spiritually and identifying what's going on here and having somebody help you work through that is key. And then there's the mechanical side that we'll put alongside that because obviously where this is headed is what the symptoms of this are disunity in your marriage because now your husband's feeling like he has to keep things from you.

And obviously that's not driving toward God's design for marriage of oneness. It's leading toward you all not having anything for the future and not being able to save. And obviously that is going to be problematic, not only long term, but even in the short term, just in your ability to operate without debt and have the things that you need and enjoy what God has given you and being able to take a trip and build memories with your families and those kinds of things. And so that's going to involve perhaps a really strict budget where we build into that budget something for you to be able to spend on the things that you love and enjoy, maybe your hobbies or whatever it is. But it's done within the context of a plan.

You're probably going to want to operate on a cash basis, not with credit or debit cards and use a physical envelope system just to limit your spending. But I think as long as you know that, hey, I'm working on this at the heart level and I'm identifying the root cause of this and that may involve you with a professional counselor, but I'm also working on this on the mechanical side and we've identified a balanced budget that works for us. And in that budget, I have a portion that I can enjoy, you know, to the extent there's money available to do that, but you're willing to curb that and you've got the proper controls in place for that to happen when the money's gone.

I mean, that's all the sudden, you know, a plan that, you know, is sustainable long term and will take you in the direction of where you ultimately want to go. And I think a lot of this is spiritual too, you know, just praying and saying, Lord, I want to be a wise steward of this money because it's not mine. You know, if everything belongs to the Lord, then you're his money manager. And so this is a really high calling, Rebecca, that we all have.

And that's not, you know, to place any guilt on you or anything like that. That's just to say we all need to be those wise and faithful stewards. And at the core of that is obedience. And so you need to be renewing your mind in God's word around, you know, what he would have for you in terms of his ownership and provision and your ability to live with contentment, you know, living within what God has provided and not beyond it. And also to say, you know, what are those goals that we have that money can be a tool to accomplish that line up with our values and priorities as children of God? And what do you want to do long terms, you know, short term and long term in terms of your desire to save and your desire to give and all of those things that I know you want to do.

But it's not a matter of you feeling shame. It's a matter of you getting help and making steps forward in this direction. So here's what I'd like to do. I'd like to have one of our certified Christian financial counselors reach out to you and your husband.

There's not going to be any cost for this, Rebecca. We'll cover the cost on it just as our gift to you. But that individual is somebody who's been trained to help put spending plans together. They know the Council of Scripture. They'll pray for you and encourage you and they can help you set up a system.

But I think alongside that, you and your husband really need to pray about you reaching out either to a pastor or a counselor who can really help you uncover some of the root of some of the things you just described. But give me your thoughts on all that. Yes, thank you so much. It really hit the nail on the head there. I definitely feel, I don't know, everyone compares me to my father because we had to have like instant gratification when it comes to wanting something or needing something. So I've always felt like he passed that on down to me, unfortunately.

But I definitely want to break that in my family lineage so that my children don't have to, you know, go through this and struggle. Yeah, well, this is the key as you identify that. And that was a question I didn't ask you that I often do.

And I often do. And that is, you know, what are some of your earliest memories of money growing up and how was money handled growing up? Because so often the way we handle money today, yeah, it's driven by how God has wired us and, you know, things that are a part of our DNA. But it's largely informed by our, you know, childhood and how money was handled and modeled. And a lot of that just you have to, you know, you bring that with you good or bad.

And that means you've got to break some cycles there, you know, to the extent you didn't have those, you know, positive disciplines reinforced for you. But that's okay. You're identifying that. And here's the good news. You're young. You guys have, you know, that the Lord tarries and, you know, he's still got more for you. You got decades to save and enjoy. I mean, you know, we can write this ship and you're not calling me with $100,000 in credit card debt either.

At least if you have it, you didn't tell me about it. So I think you're in good. Okay. So, you know, you're not in bad shape here. We just need to get this ship turned in the right direction. So again, here's what we're going to do.

You stay on the line. Robert's going to grab your information. We're going to have one of our certified Christian financial counselors call you to work on the money side, the budget and the control system. And then you and your husband pray about you, you know, perhaps schedule an appointment with one of the pastors at your church or a counselor, a Christian counselor in your area to talk about the compulsive nature of your spending.

And let's get to the root of that. And I believe if you deal with both of those, God will get you going in the right direction. I'm going to commit to praying for you as well. Rebecca, you can do this and the Lord can help you break through it. Thanks for your call today.

Stay on the line. We'll get your information. May the Lord bless you. Faith and Finance Live is a partnership between Moody Radio and Faith By. Thank you to Laura, Dan, Amy, and Jim. Couldn't do it without them. See you tomorrow. Bye-bye.