Are Debtors Still Imprisoned?

This Faith in Finance Live is actually prerecorded, so please don't call in.

British author LP Hartley wrote, Hi, I'm Rob West. That was certainly true when it came to debt. For much of history, if you failed to repay your creditors, you went to prison or experienced something even worse. But in some ways, are debtors still imprisoned? We'll talk about that today, and then we have some great questions lined up for you.

But don't call in today, because we're prerecorded. This is Faith in Finance Live, biblical wisdom for your financial journey. Well, there's no question that societies in the past viewed debt far more seriously than we do today. For one thing, there were no credit cards, or credit scores for that matter. Lenders required collateral, and if you didn't have property to put up, a son or daughter would do.

See 2 Kings 4, the widow's oil for an example. And it wasn't until the 19th century that Britain and the US abolished debtors' prisons. Now, the idea of throwing someone into prison for unpaid debt seems counterproductive. How are you supposed to pay off your creditors if you're in jail? Well, just the idea of going to prison was a strong deterrent.

These were not pleasant places to be. The threat of prison incentivized you to pay your debts before being hauled off in shackles. Another way that debtors' prisons were successful, if you can call it that, was that they put pressure on your family and friends to step in and pay your debts.

Creditors didn't care who paid, as long as the debt was settled. Also, in many cases, you had to pay your jailers for food and lodging, so you could actually increase your debt by going to jail. It wasn't unusual for people to die there. In many cases, debtors' prison left families destitute. Wives and children sometimes had to follow the husband or father to prison because they lost their homes. But debtors' prison wasn't just for the poorer classes.

You might say it was an equal opportunity punishment. Sometimes wealthy people ended up in prison over a disputed debt. And famous people weren't spared either.

Some very well-known individuals ended up on the wrong side of the iron bars. Robert Morris was a signer of the Declaration of Independence and helped secure desperately needed funding for the Revolutionary War. Unfortunately, he wasn't that successful with his own finances and ended up in debtors' prison.

So did Charles Goodyear, the inventor of vulcanized rubber. Daniel Defoe, author of Robinson Crusoe, was also imprisoned for unpaid debt, as was the father of author Charles Dickens. Debtors' prisons weren't abolished in America until 1833, and in Britain not until 1869. But that doesn't mean habitual debtors got off scot-free, nor do they today.

It just means that unpaid debt moved from being a criminal to a civil offense. Obviously, people are still hauled into court every day for unpaid debt. So not paying what you owe still has dire consequences, and there's no better place to look for that lesson than God's word. Proverbs 22-7 warns the borrower is slave to the lender.

That will never change. Life is still unpleasant for those who run up debt, and worse if you don't pay it. Instead of debtors' prisons, we have credit reports that track your payments, or non-payment of every account you open, and in minute detail. And from those credit reports, your credit score is determined, a single number that creditors use to determine whether you're a good credit risk. In a very real sense, a low credit score is like being put in financial shackles. In many cases, you can't get a mortgage or other types of loans, or if you do, you have to pay a higher interest rate than someone with a good credit rating. In recent years, having a low credit score began to affect more than your ability to get a loan.

For instance, you may find yourself paying more for car insurance, and it can even affect whether or not you get a job because employers increasingly look at credit scores as a part of the hiring process. You're no longer thrown in jail for not paying your debts, but your freedom to make important decisions that affect your life is certainly limited, so it's definitely a form of financial bondage. The Bible never calls debt a sin, but it's full of warnings and reminders that God wants His people free to serve Him more fully. Galatians 5-1 reads, For freedom Christ has set us free.

Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. Is debt a problem in your life? If so, we urge you to check out the new FaithFi debt assessment. Just go to faithfi.com forward slash debt. That's faithfi.com slash debt. This free resource will not only assess the condition of your debt, it will help you put together a game plan for getting out of debt, perhaps once and for all.

Again, faithfi.com slash debt. All right, we're going to head to a break, so don't go anywhere. Still a lot more to come, even though we're away from the studio today and you shouldn't call in. We have some great questions that you're really going to enjoy as we continue to apply God's wisdom to your financial decisions. We'll be right back. 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. All right, let's get to our calls today that we've lined up for you. We'll begin in Georgia. Ruth, you'll be our first caller. Go ahead. I was just wondering, I listen to your show all the time and it's great, by the way.

Thank you. But I was wondering, my husband and I are both on Social Security. He's 77, I'm 67. And I've been paying for supplements for us, Social Security supplements, since we both went on Social Security. I pay around $2.75 a month combined. And all my friends tell me I'm crazy to pay that, that I need to get one of these Medicare Advantage plans.

But I was raised that you don't get something for nothing. So I'm kind of leery of those. So can you tell me if they're legitimate? Are they worth it?

Or do I need to stay with my supplements? Yeah, well, they are legitimate. And I can understand why you are suspect on them. Because it does seem like you're getting something for nothing. You still have to, of course, pay the $165 a month premium for Medicare Part B. But some Advantage plans, to your friends' points, don't charge you anything extra beyond your Part B. The reason is Medicare actually pays the Advantage plan companies enough to take on the risk of its policyholders. So Medicare is shifting the responsibility for the healthcare costs to the Advantage companies. Now, theoretically, that cost is more than your monthly premium. But it's actually less than if Medicare would have to pay if it was picking up the tab.

And so that's why it makes sense for them to do that. Now, keep in mind, you've probably already paid tens of thousands of dollars into the Medicare system with your FICA taxes. So again, it's not really getting something for nothing because you've been paying all along the way. But the Medicare Advantage plan, you know, is a great option. It's not something that is too good to be true, because in fact, Medicare is picking up the tab. Okay, I have a friend who had one of those, and she said it was great up until she spent a week in the hospital, and then it came back to bite her.

So is there anything that might come back to make me regret it? I mean, and do you have a recommendation of which one to go to? Yeah, I don't. You're going to need to just compare them. They all generally offer the same options, you know, in terms of coverage. You know, the big question that folks typically face when they're looking at this is, you know, whether they use the Advantage plan or a Medigap policy, so the supplement versus the Advantage. Are you generally, you know, pretty healthy at this point?

Yes, sir. We're both very, very healthy. He, I think, is getting the beginnings of dementia. His mother had it, but he's beginning that. But otherwise, we're seldom ever, we go to our doctor for regular checkups and have not been in the hospital. We've been married 28 years, and neither one of them have ever been in the hospital, so we're blessed to be healthy. Yes, sir.

Okay, very good. Yeah, so I mean, I think just depending upon your health situation, you could look at whether the, you know, the Medigap or the Medicare Advantage is going to be the better option, and it ultimately comes down to whether you want to get your main coverage from the federal government through the original Medicare, you know, perhaps supplemented with a private Medigap policy or from a private insurer through Medicare Advantage. You know, when you, you know, if you enroll in the Medicare Advantage, you can't use the Medigap policy to get the Medicare policy to cover your out-of-pocket expenses, so you have to pay the deductibles, the co-pays, and the co-insurance yourself. Also, you need to understand, you know, with the Medicare Advantage, you typically need to use a provider network, so if you go to an out-of-network doctor, your Medicare Advantage plan may not cover the visit, or you'll pay a higher co-payment, and then they will typically include prescription drug coverage and may cover some extra expenses.

You know, so I would say if you're happy with what you have now, I realize it's a little bit more expensive, I'd probably stay with what you've got just to make sure that if you have, you know, additional expenses, you want more flexibility in terms of your doctors, you would have that flexibility with the supplement. Okay, well I appreciate your help, sir. You have a blessed day. Absolutely, and you as well, Ruth.

Thank you for your call today. You know, as we get into managing God's money, a lot of times folks will say, it's just so complicated. I mean, there's so many decisions to make, and we love to try to boil things down to make them more simple. That's why we talk about living, giving, owing, and growing. There's really only four things you can do with money. The money you live on, that's your lifestyle, your monthly expenses, the money you give away, the money you owe for debt and for taxes, and the money you grow. And I would say that starts with your short-term savings and ultimately moves into your long-term investments. And here's the thing, God's word speaks to each of them and there are principles that we can apply. You know, I would say the key idea just to boil it down is to live within your means.

You've got to start there. And listen, I realize that's more difficult than ever now as we're getting squeezed from all sides with expenses of all kinds. Everything is more expensive these days. That 9% inflation we had last year, that didn't go away, even though we had 4% this year, it's cumulative.

So that's on top of last year's 9%, which just means we're spending more than ever. So your ability to dive into and dial into your spending plan, trimming where necessary so you have some margin, that's the goal, some surplus at the end of the month is essential. That's the key to every financial success. And by the way, our Faithfi app can help with that.

You can check it out at faithfi.com, that's faithfi.com, just click app. We can help you set up that spending plan and manage it on a monthly basis using the tried and true envelope system in a digital format. So live within your means. Second, avoid the use of debt. You know, we realize that debt is going to be a part of your life for most folks, at least, you know, during your working years because trying to buy a house is difficult to part from it. Using it for a business is sometimes necessary, but we want to use it for productive purposes where the economic gain is more than the economic cost to borrow the funds.

We certainly don't want to use it for lifestyle spending because it changes the relationship. There's nothing good in God's Word about debt, and so we want to be free from that encumbrance so we can follow the leading of the Lord. So live within your means, avoid debt, set long-term goals because the longer term your perspective, the better the financial decision you're going to be able to make today. Next is you want some margin or some liquidity. Your ability to have margin or surplus in your financial life is key to you being able to fund those longer term goals.

That's how we accomplish those. It's through the amount that's left over at the end of the month, which is why living within your means is so important. And then finally and fifthly, let's give generously. That breaks the grip of money over our lives and allows you to experience the joy of participating with God's activity. Live within your means, avoid debt, set long-term goals, have some margin and give generously.

And those steps will help you be a wise steward of what God has given you. And by the way, you can help others learn those key financial biblical principles when you support our work at faithfi.com. Just click give. What an important time between now and the end of the year for us to hear from you with your financial support. Faithfi.com. Just click give.

A gift of any amount would go a long way to helping us meet our year end goal. A quick break and back with much more after this. This is Faith in Finance Live with Rob West. Hey, if you hear a phone number mentioned today, please ignore that number and don't call us because today's broadcast was previously recorded. But we think the upcoming information will help you and make you a wise steward of what God's given you.

So please stay tuned. Before the break, we were talking to Ruth about Medicare Advantage versus Medigap. Let me just expand on that a little bit. You know, Medicare Advantage is an all-in-one bundle. It's usually lower cost. And the nice thing is it includes the prescription drug and dental coverage. The Medigap is the add-on coverage.

It works on top of your original Medicare benefits. The Medigap plans are usually more expensive than Medicare Advantage, but the lower cap on medical expenses can make them a good deal for those who need expensive medical care, especially if you have a complicated situation. Maybe you want to be free to choose your doctor, require a specialist. That's going to give you the most flexibility with the Medigap. Otherwise, Medicare Supplement, or excuse me, the Medicare Advantage may be a better option if you just need routine care. You know, we generally recommend a Medicare Advantage plan for those who want low monthly bills, they want a unified coverage, and it includes the extras and are willing to pay, you know, several thousand dollars for medical care if expensive treatment is needed.

On the other hand, choosing the Medigap plan means higher monthly costs, but lower costs for the medical care and basically coverage for 99% of the country's doctors. So you really just have to decide what is the best option for you. Let's head to Louisiana and talk to Kelly. And oh, Kelly, I understand you want to weigh in on this Medicare conversation. Go ahead.

Yes, sir. I just wanted to clarify, I'm in health care and in particular with geriatrics. And in our area of expertise, we really lean towards traditional Medicare. The reason for that is if a person is on Medicare Advantage and they need to go in for skilled nursing care or they need home health or swing bed in the hospital or to go inpatient rehab, especially after a stroke or if they have Parkinson's or dementia, the Advantage plans do everything they can to kick you off quickly.

They behave in a shady manner, not in that that is good for the patient. So if you find yourself with dementia or Parkinson's or Lewy body dementia, anything like that, a stroke, you may want to consider getting back on traditional Medicare for your primary because therapy and rehabilitation is lengthy and it's necessary and they just do not want to cover it. Yeah. And so you'd advocate for the traditional Medicare plus the Medigap supplement. Yes. Yeah.

Yes. In that situation, absolutely, especially the traditional Medicare because in home health and inpatient rehab and like swing bed in the hospital, which is basically inpatient rehab, acute and they just want you out and they're going to take any thing they can from the documentation. If the prior level of care is the prior level of function is not documented correctly by a nurse or a doctor or a therapist, they're like, nope.

Well, I appreciate that. And I think especially for our previous scholar, given that she believes her husband has an onset of dementia, you know, that's the kind of skilled care that you're you're looking for that can be lengthy. And I think that's where the Medigap policy again, as the it has that lower cap on medical expenses. So if you need that expensive care, you've got it. You've got the flexibility on choosing your own doctors.

And ultimately, even though you have the higher monthly costs, you'll have the lower overall costs for medical care. Thank you for that, Kelly. Mary, it sounds like you have a similar comment in Kansas.

Go ahead. Yes, I call to support the lady or to caution the lady that called about the Advantage plans. And I just concur with the previous caller from Louisiana. Exactly.

I'm from a small area. I have worked with in case management as a nurse with people in our area, people that have been on somehow got on Advantage plans and it was terrible to get off. They couldn't get they couldn't make do the payments that are required by them. And consequently, we're unable to get medical care for a period of time in their community because doctors didn't want to give free care. So I just would caution her to really call and talk to someone to know exactly what she would be getting into and anybody that's considering an Advantage plan. The main thing for me is not being able to pick the doctor often that you really want.

You could have been seeing a doctor for a say a heart problem and have a cardiologist that you really appreciate. And if they're not in the in the loop, then you would if you get on an Advantage plan, you would have to change doctors and I just caution people to be very careful about that. Yeah, that's that's great counsel there.

I mean, the good news is you are always able to switch to the meta gap. Whether or not it's a good idea, again, depends on the regulations of your state your situation. But you know, I think that's great counsel.

Marion obviously comes from personal experience. Thanks for being on the program today. To Louisiana, Randy, go ahead. I have a question about Medicare and worthless comp. I'm on worthless comp. And I'm getting conflicting stories about whether I need to do Medicare or not because I've got employer sponsored insurance. Yeah, when you have insurance through an employer, you can choose to delay signing up for both parts of Medicare until after you leave the job that provides that health insurance. When that happens, you have up to eight months to enroll in Medicare Part B or else you'll end up with permanent late enrollment penalties. Whether or not workers comp affects that directly, I wouldn't be able to give you a definitive on that.

But you do have the coverage which generally allows you to delay signing up. I hope that helps. Thanks for your call today. Now just a quick reminder as we head into this next break, don't call in. Our team is not here today. But we have some great questions we've lined up in advance. Those will be coming just on the other side of this break. A quick reminder, if you'd like to support our work here at Faith and Finance Live, you can do that on our website, faithfi.com.

Just click Give. Much more to come around the corner on Faith and Finance Live. Stay with us. Thanks so much for joining us today on Faith and Finance Live. I'm Rob West, your host. Hey, our team is away from the studio today. We're not here, but we've got some great questions that we lined up in advance.

I know you'll enjoy those a little later in our broadcast. Folks, have you checked out recently our website at faithfi.com? If not, I'd encourage you to do that. You'll find our community there where you can post questions and comments, hear from others that are on the stewardship journey as well. You can also access our content and check out the Faithfi app.

It's at faithfi.com. Hey, before we head back to the phones, let's talk about how we address anxiety and fear, especially related to finances and economic uncertainty. You know, the late Larry Burkett would often say, our anxieties usually are not related to the lack of things, but the loss of things. And he would go on to explain that one of Satan's favorite tools to discourage Christians is the question, what if? You know, what if questions lead right down that road to fear?

And maybe you've found yourself asking that question lately. What if the economy gets worse and I can't pay my bills? What if I don't have enough money for retirement? What if I lose my job or I have a medical emergency and our insurance just isn't enough? Well, you know, the antidote to fear when anxiety takes over, we can turn to God's word for encouragement.

And let me do that for just a moment, and then we'll head back to the phones. Jesus said in John 16 33, in the world, you will have tribulation, but take heart. I have overcome the world. You see, folks, when financial worries seem overwhelming, it helps to remember that we don't ever have to be afraid. We can endure troubles with confidence that God is good. Isaiah 41 13. Listen to these words from Isaiah. I am the Lord, your God who upholds your right hand, who says, Do not fear.

I will help you. You see, God is in control of all the details, and he will provide what we need at just the right time. Two more verses to encourage you today. Here's Psalm 27, verse one. The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the defense of my life.

Whom shall I dread? You see, the enemy wants us to worry about what we might lose, but in Christ, we gain so much more, including peace, no matter what. And then finally, let me leave you with this passage. First Timothy 1 7.

Here's what it reads. God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. You see, in Christ, we can steer clear of the what if mentality and trust God for the future. Folks, economic uncertainty is certain, and yet we can demonstrate to the world that we trust the Lord and we can continue to give even in uncertain times because we know he is our provider. I hope that's an encouragement to you today as you think about managing God's money faithfully, even in the midst of challenging times. All right, back to the phones we go.

To TL in New Mexico. Go ahead, sir. I was calling about a difference between a C Corp and an LLC. Yeah, so let's just define them. You know, an LLC is what's called, that stands for Limited Liability Company, and so that's going to protect an owner from personal responsibility for its debts and liabilities. It combines the characteristics of a corporation with those of a partnership or a sole proprietorship. So while the limited liability feature is similar to that of a corporation, the availability of the flow through taxation to the members of the LLC, meaning it comes right into your personal return, is the feature of a partnership rather than, you know, an LLC.

So the pros? Well, as the name implies, it does limit your personal liability. It allows for that pass through taxation at the individuals, meaning you, at the lower tax rate, and it can be treated as a partnership. The downside is that depending on state law, the LLC may have to be dissolved upon the death or bankruptcy of a member, whereas a corporation can exist into perpetuity. It also may not be suitable if the owner intends to launch a publicly traded company, although that's going to be only for a major company.

You're not even going to consider that as a small business. So that's why an LLC can be really a great option for a lot of folks, especially just getting started. The C Corp is where the owners or the shareholders are taxed separately from the company. It's the most common type of corporation in the US, but it's subject to the corporate income taxation, which is the downside, especially if you're, you know, you're just getting started, you're not going to have this passing through to your personal finances. So C Corps can pay corporate taxes on the earnings before distributing their profits to the shareholders in the form of dividends if they choose to do so. And then the individual shareholders are then subject to personal income taxes on the dividends they receive.

This brings us, though, to this double taxation, which is the unfavorable outcome. But the ability to reinvest earnings after taxes in the company's projects at that lower corporate tax rate could be an advantage. So the pros, again, limited liability for the shareholders and officers. You can raise capital by issuing shares of stock. The downside is you got a lot more filing requirements.

You've got to reach certain thresholds. You've got to file with the SEC. There's a lot more in the way of regulation. You can't deduct as a shareholder the losses, and the business profits are double taxed as dividends are issued unless they're reinvested in the company. So I know there's a lot there, and that's why it usually does require or warrants the input from either an attorney or a CPA or both to help you decide what's best for you.

For a typical small business, just getting started, I would say there's a lot more pros to the LLC because you get the more favorable tax treatment, you've got the limited liability, and you don't have all the extra filing and expenses of a C Corp. Does that make sense, though, TL? Is that helpful? Oh, yes. Oh, yes, sir. Yes, sir. You hit the nail right on the head.

I believe I'll go with an LLC. All right. Hey, tell me what you're doing. What's the new, what's the business? Well, I've been in construction all my life. The last 20 or so years I've been working for myself. Most of, 90 percent of everything I've received was cash, and so I didn't pay taxes. And so I finally got legit last year.

I got a bookkeeper because I did get some 1099s, and so I went ahead and got legal and filed, and by golly, you know, I thought I was going to go to jail, but I ended up having to pay like $1,100, and I even got my stimulus checks from 21, 42. Well, that's great. Listen, I'm delighted to hear that. It was a sign to get legit and get right.

Pay my taxes, pay my dues. Yeah, absolutely. Well, I'm sure that feels really good to have that above board and on track. You're in compliance with the law, and now you're free to go start this new company. The key is don't let that happen again.

Let's learn from it. Get a bookkeeper in there. I think one of the keys, TL, as you get going here is to have that bookkeeper really help you set up your books in a way that allows you to keep your personal finances separate from the business and then pay yourself a salary when that time comes. You can also, you know, take distributions from the company that aren't subject to the FICA taxes, but you want to really keep all those books separate so that, you know, the IRS, if they were to ever come back and question, you know, any business expenses, you're able to clearly define what's part of the business, what's for you personally, and you keep everything in order.

That's also going to help with your tax preparation each year, so you can give your bookkeeper everything he or she needs to file that appropriately so you can stay in compliance. Well, listen, that's great, TL. All the best to you, my friend. I hope that business goes great. Thanks for being on the program today. Well, folks, 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. You're listening to Faith and Finance Live, and you can find us online at faithfi.com. However, today we are not live, so if you hear that phone number, please don't call, but do stay with us.

There's lots of good information ahead. You know, here at Moody Radio, it's all about applying a biblical worldview to every facet of your lives, and that includes this area of money management, but not to enrich ourselves, although there's nothing wrong with money. It's a gift from the Lord that we're to enjoy and use to provide for our families, but it's when it becomes an idol, and we may not think about it as an idol. That is not something that's a part of our just normal everyday thinking, and yet anything that replaces God as the object of our affection and worship and our practices are often a way to identify that is an idol, and when money takes that place that it was never intended to, well, that's when we get into trouble. That's why we see in God's Word the love of money is the root of all evil, and so we just need to be on our guard, making sure that money is in its proper place, a tool to be used for good, to bless others and provide for ourselves, and to give generously. We want to help you refocus and reframe your thinking around money each day on this program in light of God's Word and answer your practical financial questions. Let's go to Indiana. Hi, Judy. Go ahead.

Alrighty. I just turned 65 last month. I'm still working. I've got insurance I'm taking into my retirement, whenever that will be, and somebody told me, oh, you gotta sign up for Medicare. You're 65 now, and I says, why? I've got a job, I've got insurance, I'm gonna take it into retirement. Why do I have to sign up for something I don't want, nor need?

Yeah. No, you don't. So if you're insured through an employer, you can choose to delay signing up for both parts of Medicare until after you leave the job that provides health insurance. When that happens, when you separate from that company, then you have up to eight months to enroll in Medicare Part B, or else you'll end up with some permanent late enrollment penalties, and you can contact your local Medicare office for more details. Now, some folks will have a retiree health plan, but those are typically designed to supplement Medicare, not replace them. So when you do ultimately transition into retirement, if you were to have a health plan that continues on, you know, you're typically still going to want to sign up for Medicare when you're first eligible, so that you don't ever have those, you know, permanent penalties by not doing so in the right time frame, if you ever decided you needed Medicare. And so you'll want to check with your HR department to determine how your retiree health benefits coordinate with Medicare, but you're exactly right. As long as you're employed, and you're covered, you have the ability to delay signing up. And in fact, you'll have eight months from from the time you separate from employment. Okay, well, good. I can rest a little bit easier. I don't like the government having their thumb on you. No, I can understand that. How long do you plan on continue working?

I don't know, at least three, four years, maybe. Yeah, I love my job. So I'm healthy, and I can give more when I'm working because I'll make more while I'm working than I will when I'm retired. Yeah, exactly right.

And you know, here's the reality. I mean, God created us to be workers to be productive. You know, Adam and Eve, their first assignment was to tend to the garden and name the animals, you know, and so we, we were created in the image of God, he's a worker, you know, we see that on display in creation. And, and so this idea that we would continue to be, you know, workers productive, using that as a platform for ministry to bless others. It's obviously something you've enjoyed, which means that it aligns with your skills and passions.

I mean, I love that. Now, if at some point you move away from paid work, because God redirects you to something else, great. But that doesn't mean that, you know, our calling expires, it just means we're transitioning to the next assignment. So I think you've got the right attitude and approach to this, Judy, and the data will say that you'll stay a lot healthier by continuing to be active. So I hope that helps you today. Thanks for being on the program. We appreciate you checking in with us.

May the Lord bless you. You know, as we think about retirement, often we can get caught up in the world's definition of retirement and have, I think, a fundamentally flawed approach to this season of life, which is really an amazing time to redirect our energy as the Lord leads to really those areas that, you know, we have the ability to bring the most wisdom and experience to, perhaps not being required to even earn an income because we've saved diligently. And so we've got, you know, the ability to volunteer more, maybe, you know, work for a ministry. But we need to really be careful, I think, to make sure that we're following a biblical model in this season of life.

Because, you know, here's the reality. Again, as I said, in Colossians 3, 23, and 24, we see the key to successful work. And again, this should continue throughout the whole of our lives. We see in Colossians 3, whatever you do, work at it with all your heart as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It's the Lord Christ you are serving. So as we're working, we're working for an audience of one. We're not performing for anyone else. And when we go into it with that attitude to be honest, to be helpful, knowing that Christ is our boss, we can afford to help our co-workers, even if they're competing against you.

We want to be ready. When someone asks you about your attitude that's positive, be prepared to tell them about the hope that you have in Jesus. After all, your most important work is showing lost people the way to God. So I think, you know, you've got an incredible opportunity wherever God has planted you right now, and we'd love for you to take full advantage of that as unto the Lord. All right, let's round out the program today with some phone calls back to Kansas.

Carol, how can we help you? Go ahead. Thank you for taking my call. I am willing to weigh in on the Medicare discussion that was held previously. Yeah, Medigap or Medicare Advantage, what say you? I, through personal experience, I was placed on Medicare due to disability.

Yes, ma'am. And I tried to get a supplement plan to go along with the original Medicare. Yeah. But they turned me down because of my pre-existing condition.

Yes. So my advice would be to, when you do sign up for Medicare, to go ahead and get the Medigap or the supplement plan, because they do have the right to turn you down. Yeah, so you can be denied coverage based on a pre-existing condition, or you can have a pre-existing condition exclusion period, and so you need to be aware of that because you could be medically disqualified, which is why, to your point, you're saying go ahead and get the traditional Medicare and then get the Medigap policy as opposed to the Advantage plan. So yeah, thank you for that.

That's great counsel. And I think, again, for those who are just joining us today, the early part of the program we were talking about Medigap versus Medicare Advantage, and I think the key to understand is that the Medigap is going to have higher monthly costs but ultimately lower costs for medical care if you're going to need more skilled or expensive care. So certain conditions will be warranted, and there's ultimately a lower cap on the medical expenses that can really make the Medigap a good deal for those who need expensive care. The other big one that a lot of folks just really dial into is that you've got basically unlimited coverage where you don't with the Advantage. So under the Medigap, you're going to be able to get coverage from about 99% of the country's doctors, which just gives you a lot of flexibility in terms of choosing those plans and making sure that it's something that fits well for you.

The Advantage plan is that all in one bundle. It is usually lower cost, and so some folks, especially if they're struggling to make ends meet in this season of life, because it's simple, it includes the prescription drug, it includes the dental, and because it's lower cost, it's usually the default for a lot of folks. But I think you just need to give this some careful attention and realize that often that additional cost, the traditional Medicare with the Medigap on top of it, is going to make sense.

Even though it's more out of pocket, you're ultimately going to spend less and then be free to choose a doctor or a specialist if your situation requires it. So that Medicare Advantage is definitely going to have a more restrictive provider network. So I think you just need to go into this well planned and really be thoughtful about what is the best approach for you. Folks, we've covered a lot of ground today. We've talked about Medicare.

We've talked about setting up a new company structure as you're starting the small business. We talked about some principles to apply as we live, according to God's word, in this area of our financial lives. And I think the key here, as we close out the program today and just kind of sum all of this up, is to recognize, listen, we're all making decisions every day, and those can be challenging, which is why we need wise counsel, which is why we love that you're listening to this program. We love that you call in and share your ideas. We had a lot of people calling today saying, yeah, let me tell you my experience.

So that's helpful. A couple of ways to get further counsel if you want some more ideas. Number one would be head to our website, faithfi.com, or download the Faithfi app, and you can jump into the Faithfi community. And that's where stewards like you are posting questions every day, wanting to get counsel from others on the journey.

You can jump in there, create a free account and post away, and you'll get a lot of other people weighing in on your situation. Again, faithfi.com. The other is if you need a certified Kingdom Advisor, if you need a professional for financial planning, wealth management, tax and accounting, insurance or legal services, just head to our website, faithfi.com, and you can click the button that says Find a CKA.

That stands for Certified Kingdom Advisor. Hey, if you'd like to support our work, you can head to faithfi.com and click Give. As a listener supported ministry, we would certainly be grateful.

Faith and Finance Live is a partnership between Moody Radio and FaithFi. Let me say thank you to my team today, Amy, Dan, Jim, and Gabby T. Couldn't do it without them. Thank you for being along with us as well. So thankful for your questions. Have a great rest of your day, and we'll see you next time on Faith and Finance Live. Bye-bye.