What is Biblical Financial Stewardship?

The following program was pre-recorded, so our phone lines are not open. What words do Christians most want to hear? They could only be, Well done, good and faithful servant. Come and share your master's happiness.

I am Rob West. Those words, of course, are from Matthew 25, 23. They relate the master's pleasure with a faithful steward. Chad Clark joins us today to talk about biblical financial stewardship. And we have some great calls lined up, but we won't be taking your live calls today because we're pre-recorded. This is Faith and Finance Live, biblical wisdom for your financial decisions. Well, it's always great to have Chad Clark with us on the program to share his perspective on things. Chad is, of course, the executive director here at FaithFi, and he's been studying what the Bible says about financial stewardship. Chad, great to have you back.

Hey, thanks for having me. We should probably start, Chad, by defining our topic so we're all on the same page. So how would you define biblical financial stewardship? Well, I think biblical financial stewardship is where Scripture both influences and informs our financial decisions. And so we look to the Bible's financial principles for guidance. And there are a lot of them, and you talk about these every single day on this program, but let's just talk about a few of them, such as God is the owner and we are managers, the importance of work that we should give cheerfully and sacrificially. We should avoid the usage of debt and be intentional when preparing for the future. It also encourages us to seek wise counsel, which we're so thankful that our callers call into this program every day to seek that type of counsel from you. And we're grateful for the work that you do to provide that to them. But I think biblical financial stewardship is more than simply following a set of principles.

Now, how so? Well, I think it's important for us that to take a step back and look at these biblical financial principles in context of what all of Scripture points to. That's a good point, because when we step back, all of Scripture ultimately points to Jesus.

Exactly. All of Scripture points to Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith. So when we think about biblical stewardship, I think it should always point us back to him and lead us into a deeper relationship with him. And that's ultimately why Faith By exists, to help Christians see God as their ultimate treasure, not their money and possessions. It's not just about following a set of principles, but a heart posture.

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Yeah, that's well said. Now that's, of course, Chad, contrary to the world's message for managing money, right?

Yeah, it really is. The world wants us to treasure our money and possessions. It wants us to idolize them. But when God becomes the treasure of our heart, we realize money is simply a tool to be used for his purposes. And the Bible's financial principles help guide us to make good decisions that ultimately glorify him. And that's exactly what our mission is here at Faith By, to help Christians integrate faith and financial decisions for the glory of God. Yeah, anyone can follow biblical financial principles and be financially successful.

They are the embodiment of wisdom for managing money. But Christians can't be motivated by that alone. The ultimate goal, of course, is always to glorify God. And that's really the big idea for us here at Faith By.

It is. And we'd love to get this message out to more people in 2024, because we believe it's a critical message that more people need to hear. We want to equip millions of people with the truth of God's word and help them steward their finances in such a way as to build his kingdom. If you've benefited from the work of this ministry, I would like to invite you. We're entering the end of the year, and we really are looking for your financial help to help us bring this message to more people. We have a goal to raise $250,000 by the end of the year. And so if you've benefited from this program, if you enjoy listening to Rob, Rob, I'm just so grateful for your heart, for this ministry, for the things that you've done.

You show up five days a week and answer people's questions. And so if you've benefited from listening to Rob, you've called into the program, you've accessed our app or our resources, we'd just be so grateful if you prayerfully consider supporting this ministry, helping us reach our end of year fundraising goal. And we're just grateful that you engage with us and that you participate in the Faith By community. Well, I couldn't agree more, Chad, and I'm grateful for you and your leadership. And the reason we do what we do is because of those testimonies of life change.

Just what you spoke about. It's people overcoming the challenges they have in their money lives, but it's so much bigger than that. It's really about developing a more intimate relationship with the Lord. Chad, I really appreciate you stopping by today and challenging our listeners here at the end of the year.

Yeah, thanks for having me. Folks, if you'd like to be a part of our end of year campaign, the way to do that is at faithfi.com. That's faithfi.com.

When you make your best gift between now and December 31st, just click the give button at faithfi.com. And we are so grateful for so many of you that have already supported us, but looking for many more. 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 dive in. We're going to begin in Indiana today. Jane, you'll be our first caller. Go right ahead. Thank you for taking my call and thank you for your service.

I'm so, so excited. Thank you. I appreciate it. I have a question about an estate. My mother passed in May and there is an estate left and my brothers, I have two brothers and I were trying to decide what is the best way to handle that as far as taxes go, whether to wait till the next year or do you handle that this year or would it be better to put it into our accounts with the tax, the estate tax? Maybe you can clarify that a little bit, hopefully.

I'd be happy to, Jane. And you know, it's always good to get professional tax advice. I'm not a CPA, but I'll just tell you generally kind of how this works. There really is no estate tax until you get an estate up above $12 million. There's no inheritance tax either. So you would be receiving, unless this is a really large estate, you would be receiving anything that's coming out of it through the probate process as the executor working through the probate court settles the estate and then distributes the assets. You would be receiving those without paying any taxes on your end. And again, the estate would not pay any taxes unless the value of the total estate was north of $12 million.

So you really don't need to worry about that. I would initiate that process sooner rather than later. The state of Indiana does not set a deadline for settling in a state, but it can take time, months. And where the complicated estate, it can take years.

Probably not in this case, probably just a matter of months. But I think it would be good to go ahead and get that process started, file with the probate court if you haven't already. And then whoever is the executor would begin to work through the process of settling any outstanding debts and then distributing those assets according to the will. Anything that's titled outside of the estate through a revocable trust or any accounts that have beneficiary designations, those would pass outside of probate directly to the named beneficiaries. But anything that's not in a trust or doesn't have a beneficiary named, you know, would be passed as a part of the probate process by the executor directly to whoever would be receiving, you know, that according to the will.

But again, there shouldn't really be any taxes due on any of this. Okay. Thank you. One more question. There is a lawyer that is handling all of this and it is under the threshold that you were talking about. Is there a normal fee that he charges for that or not? So who is the executor? That's my brother. Okay.

Yeah. You know, I would just get him to disclose that, you know, upfront in terms of, you know, what that will cost. I mean, this is a very standard process. You know, the fees can range pretty widely. You know, I would say less than five thousand dollars for sure for a state administration, especially if it's a fairly small estate.

I mean, if it's a large estate, in some cases it can be a percentage of the gross value of the estate. But if it's a fairly simple situation, you know, a few thousand dollars would be normal. All right, then. Well, I thank you very much. I'll let other callers take some air time. I do appreciate you. God bless you and your service. We appreciate you very much. Thank you, Jane. That's very kind of you. And Merry Christmas to you. Thank you for calling today. You know, when you were a child, I'm sure your parents had to help you with an attitude adjustment from time to time.

I know they did for me. Now, as an adult, you're not under the discipline of your mom and dad, but you may still need the occasional attitude check, especially in the area of finances. Now, here's what I mean by that. The Bible makes it clear that there are wrong attitudes and right attitudes when it comes to money and possessions. Your attitudes are an outward indication of what's going on in your heart, your spiritual health.

Well, Jesus explains the problem to his disciples in Luke 7. He says, For it is within out of a person's heart that evil thoughts come, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance, and folly. All these evils come from inside and defile a person. So you see, wrong attitudes about money are things like, well, one of those was named, greed, a selfish desire for more than you need, envy, resentment that someone else has what you want, pride, considering yourself better than others because of what you have, or dishonesty, fear, even bitterness can creep in. And those are some of the money attitudes that the Bible warns against. And what I would say to you is that Satan will often use these tempting attitudes to draw us away from God. Well, if you're a Christian, giving into those ungodly heart attitudes makes you ineffective for God's kingdom.

Now, those are the wrong attitudes. There are some right attitudes about money that have the opposite effect. What are those right attitudes about money?

Well first, commitment to serving Christ, good stewardship, gratitude, a desire for wisdom, even generosity and humility, among others. Financial teacher Larry Burkett, former host of this program, used to say these are spiritual values reflected through your finances because having the right heart attitudes about money honors God. Living with these virtues makes your financial life work better because you're putting God first and trusting Him to provide instead of leaning on your own understanding. Righteousness isn't a guarantee that things will be easy or even that you'll experience material prosperity. But what you will have is peace and the opportunity to follow and serve Jesus. So is it time for a financial attitude check?

Remember, how much money you have doesn't really matter. It's your attitude about money and possessions that's important. Another perspective on this would be to understand that the attitudes of pride, selfishness, greed, envy and dishonesty, well they're sin, leading to bad consequences including fear, despair, even frustration and defeat.

Perhaps those have been something that's been a part of your life recently. Now on the other hand though, when you follow Christ and pursue a heart of gratitude and generosity and humility and good stewardship, well you'll experience a closer walk with the Lord and the blessings of peace. Now if you're not sure how to change your attitudes, well ask God for help. Let me close with a reassuring passage from Philippians 4 and then we're going to take a quick break and then begin to tackle your questions today.

Here's that passage. Do not be anxious about anything but in everything by prayer and petition with thanksgiving present your request to God and the peace of God which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers and sisters, think about whatever is true, noble, whatever is right, pure, lovely, admirable. If anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things.

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

It's all there at faithfi.com. Now again a reminder, we're not here today but more of your questions that we lined up after the break. Delighted to have you with us today on Faith and Finance Live. We're not here today.

Our team is away from the studio. This is pre-recorded so don't call in but we've got some great questions we lined up in advance. Before we go to the phones, let me remind you Faithfi and Faith and Finance Live is listener supported. If you'd like to be a financial partner, you can do that at faithfi.com. Just click give.

Thanks in advance. All right, let's go to Arkansas. Malaya, thanks for calling. Go ahead. Hi, Rob.

Thanks so much for taking my call. I am a sales rep and I get quarterly bonuses and we have a little bit of debt. It's not extravagant at all but what we typically do is try and hit pieces of that but what I'm wondering is would it be more advantageous because we have no problem making the monthly payment on that and some additional to get those paid off. Would it be more financially advantageous to take those bonuses and invest in something like real estate?

Yeah, it's a good question. So what type of debt is it that you're attacking when you get these bonuses? So a credit card and a HELOC loan. Okay. Yeah, so the HELOC is probably 9% plus and the credit cards are 20% plus?

No, the credit cards are actually 7% and then the HELOC is 8.5. Okay. All right.

Yeah, very good. And how much do you owe on the credit cards and then how much on the HELOC? Probably about I'd say 6 on the credit card and then on the HELOC I think it's at 25. Okay. Yeah, and what do you typically get in the way of those quarterly bonuses? Does it vary pretty widely or is it fairly consistent?

It can be anywhere from 10 to 15,000. Okay. Yeah, great. And so your next one is coming at the first of the year maybe? No, it'll be in December.

They come like around December 15th and then quarterly thereafter. Yeah. Okay. And what are you all thinking about in terms of real estate? You're looking to buy a rental property? Yes.

Okay. And do you have any savings built up for that or would you kind of be starting from scratch and putting these bonuses aside? We have some savings but it would be primarily with the bonuses because we kind of like to leave savings in savings.

Yeah, for sure. I'd love for you to keep three to six months expenses in your emergency fund before you start putting money aside for the rental property. Have you gone far enough to where you've already started to look at what you might like to spend, what the purchase price would be on a rental property that you'd acquire? Yes, so we live in a very high college community.

We actually have three colleges in our town and so we were looking at something maybe around 125 somewhere in that area. Okay. Yeah, got it. So, I love this idea. I mean, especially given where you guys live, I think you'd be delighted to have a rental property that you could rent out every year. It's probably a little bit more in the way of maintenance reserves that you need in a college town but you shouldn't need any marketing and if you get someplace that's desirable in terms of walking distance to one of the campuses, I would imagine you won't have any trouble in keeping it rented. But I do think that with the credit card debt, I mean, that would be my first priority. So, I would absolutely with the money you get in December, let's go ahead and wipe that out. If you've already got the HELOC built into your budget, then perhaps we start saving for that down payment which I'd love for you to get at least $25,000 before you all would consider somewhere between $25,000 and $50,000 would be ideal. Now, there's a couple of things that may want, you know, cause you to want to wait and, you know, build that up. Number one is we expect and obviously a lot of this can change because there's a lot of uncertainties geopolitically and with inflation but I expect that the Fed will start lowering interest rates somewhere around the middle of next year, June, you know, into second quarter, into the third quarter. So, you know, if you waited a year and paid off the credit card debts for sure, just continue to pay on the home equity line of credit out of your current cash flow but start really diligently saving, you know, for the rental property purchase, then the timing may work out pretty well that, you know, somehow, you know, sometime in the back half of next year, maybe next fall, you guys have your down payment, interest rates are a little bit lower than they are today, maybe we're, you know, in a minor recession and maybe housing prices are, you know, you're in a more of a buyer's market than even than you are today even though I would consider today, you know, a buyer's market too. You know, I think that timing would work out pretty well but I would certainly prioritize the credit cards first just because that's a guaranteed return equal to that interest rate and you're not going to get that anywhere.

Does all that make sense though? Absolutely. I think that's a great plan and that lines up with a lot of kind of what we were thinking so I really appreciate your wisdom on that. Absolutely, Malaya. Well listen, all the best to you guys as you embark on this new project.

I love the way you're thinking about it and I think you'll be delighted that you did it once you get in a little further down the road. Thanks for your call today. Let's stay in Arkansas and talk to Virginia. Hi. Hello, thanks for taking my call. Sure. My question is about accept that basis upon inheritance of property. My parents set up a trust for all of our property and my brother, my dad has passed on but my brother and my mother and I are all, you know, equal partners in the trust and I'm just curious that if the house is in the trust, will we have to use the stepped up basis upon the sale of the house when it passes on to us or will we get to use the stepped up basis I guess or will we have to use the original cost?

Yes. Typically, assets in a trust for the beneficiaries are eligible for the step up in basis if the trust is revocable and therefore it's a part of your taxable estate. So your mother would only get half of the step up in basis because she was part owner before her husband's death but, you know, beneficiaries with a piece of property held in a trust are generally eligible for that step up in basis which is for a revocable trust which is a real benefit.

So I would check with your estate attorney on the specifics but generally speaking, yes, you would absolutely be entitled to that. Thanks for your call. We'll be right back after this break. 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. Our vision here at Faithfi is that all believers, that's you, all believers would see God as their ultimate treasure. You might ask, well, in a financial show, how does that relate? Well, if we see God as our ultimate treasure, then money becomes a tool to accomplish God's purposes and it puts God in His rightful place as Lord over our lives and it takes the pressure off of money to fill a place that it was never intended to fill. It can't bring us peace.

It can't bring us security. It can't fulfill the promises of God. Only He can but money is a blessing from the Lord.

It's part of His creation that we're to use to bless others through our generosity and meet the needs of our families and yes, to enjoy as well. We want to help you do that. Live according to a biblical worldview here on this program every day as you answer the practical questions and handle God's money as that wise and faithful steward. So let's head back to Arkansas. Several calls from Arkansas today. Hi, Reed. How can I help you, sir?

Hi, Rob. My question concerns Social Security payments, a pension and early retirement, you know, taking Social Security prior to, you know, age 67. How would that, what's the effect of that pension on the Social Security? Because I know there's a limited amount of money you can make when you're on Social Security up until you turn 67 or whenever you reach that threshold. Yeah. Well, the Social Security limit has to do with earned income.

So what is it you're trying to do? You want to continue to work after you take your benefits and are you taking those Social Security benefits prior to full retirement age? Yes, right. Okay. So does a pension affect how much you can earn during those years before you reach your threshold age? Yeah. And so what would be the age that you'd begin taking Social Security? Well, say 62 or 65, perhaps.

Okay. Yeah, so they pension benefits are not earned income. And so that would be that would not affect, you know, the the reduction in your Social Security benefits. Now, any earned income that you have above the limit, you know, would then take $1 away for every $2 you earn above that, leading up to the year in which you turn full retirement age. At that point, it increases. But Social Security or excuse me, pension benefits are not earned income, and therefore would not play into that.

Oh, that's good news. Now, how would that affect your so, you know, when you do your taxes, and you got gross income versus net after your deductions and such to that, is that threshold that you can make when you are taken early Social Security funds? Do you pay out of that tax?

How does that all work? Yeah, so it's your adjusted gross income that that they would look at. So, you know, that would be the number that you're considering as you're looking at, you know, that, that threshold that you can have. So that's your income minus, you know, any adjusted adjustments to that income. You know, so it's money from gross income from, you know, your job, investments, things like that.

But, you know, in terms of your AGI, you subtract above the line deductions, you know, which results in that, that final number. Does that make sense? Okay.

Yep, that makes sense. I appreciate that. Okay. God bless you. And we appreciate your call today. Thanks for being on the program. Read. Let's go to Victoria in Texas.

How can I help? Yes. Thank you for taking my call. My question is my husband and I invested like $400,000 and have more or less in what we were told is called a silver spade guinea and a silver rose spade guinea and gold, no gold spade guinea and silver rose crown guinea. We put in 400,000 February of 2021. As of yesterday, we have a total of like 200,000. There is way less than what we paid for it. I'm concerned about it. And I don't know, should we just take the loss and get out of it with this company? I'm concerned that they never send us a statement. They tell us that you can't have a statement because you don't know what the spot price is.

And they don't return calls timely. So I'm just looking for some guidance because I'm wondering, should we get out of this before we lose everything? Yeah, it's a good question. And I'd want somebody who's really a specialist in this area of the precious metals to really advise you on this before you make this decision. These guineas are a coin that were minted in Great Britain, if that's what you're talking about. It contains about a quarter of an ounce of gold. And you're right that the spot price does change, but they should be able to, you should be able to get these valued by an appraiser. But it sounds like getting just an objective, an opinion on what you have here and whether it's something you ought to stick with and why you've seen such a decline. I mean, gold is certainly up. Now, we're not back to the highs that we saw in 2020 at this point, but we're pretty close.

And so there's the fact that they're saying you've lost 50% of the value is a head scratcher to me. So let's do this. Victoria, you hold the line.

I'll have someone from our team reach out to you and give you a few recommendations on some trusted precious metal experts that you could reach out to and consult with. All right. Is that helpful, Victoria?

All right. It looks like we've lost her. Victoria, if you can hear me, just hold the line and we'll have our team grab, grab your information and we'll get right back in touch with you. Let's go to Texas. Hi, Terry. Go ahead. Hello. Thanks for taking my call. Yes, sir.

I'm just wanted to just want to run something by you. I'm 65. I, well, I'm planning on working until my company says, hey, that's enough.

Let's me go. At that point, I have got a 401k, not a lot. It's 400,000, but I'll have Social Security whenever that whenever that time ends. Plus, I've got a pension. And to me, that's sufficient.

I really don't have any debt and I'm married and all of our children are older. So just calling to see, hey, am I good? Is there something else I should be doing?

I'm putting 17 percent into my 401k. So it's growing. But good. So that's my question. Well, I appreciate that background, Terry. That's helpful.

And here's what I would say. You know, the starting point is really to put together that retirement spending plan. And maybe you have maybe you haven't, but it's tweaking your current budget for that season of life. Typically, retirees will pay in or will spend somewhere between 70 and 80 percent on average of their pre-retirement income because they're not, you know, that 17 percent that you're putting away for retirement, you're not doing that anymore. And, you know, you maybe you drop your life insurance at that point because you're not you know, you don't have a spouse that's counting on you for your income because you're you're not working anymore and you're not eating out during the day, you know, for lunch while on the job, that kind of thing. So calculate that retirement budget and then compare that to your income sources. So for that four hundred thousand, I'd probably look at as a starting point, trying to pull sixteen thousand a year, which is thirteen hundred a month.

So add that thirteen hundred a month plus your Social Security, plus your pension checks and just see how that compares to what you're going to be spending with that retirement budget and then continue saving at 17 percent and work as long as you can. And let's see if if all those numbers shake out. Hopefully that gives you a starting point, Terry. All the best to you, my friend. We'll be right back on Faith and Finance. This is our final segment of a Faith and Finance live program that we previously recorded. Thanks so much for being with us today, and we hope you'll stick around and enjoy the rest of the program. Let's go to Michigan and welcome Jill to the broadcast. Hi there.

I have a question. My mom is 83. She's a widow, worked her whole life, just some middle class person. She's considering moving into a retirement home, independent living. She's good health.

That also has the nursing care and assisted living that's necessary. So they want her to do a buy-in. She would pay $150,000 and then she still would have a monthly payment of $3,000, which is her Social Security and pension, which she has.

And it's a beautiful place and we're kind of like, okay, sounds good. But then I just had some red flags because the gal, which I think the salesperson said, you know, she's guaranteed there for life. If she runs out of her money, then she could apply for Medicaid. But I'm starting to get some feelings that they will take all her money that she has first. So she'll have about 150 left from the proceeds from selling it at home. And she wanted to give that to her four children.

And the lady was like, well, you really can't do that because if she needs her Medicaid, they're going to go back and look at that. Yeah. I'm wondering if I'm making any sense.

No, no, you are. And I think this is really good to consider. So you need to read the fine print. I mean, a lot of times and I really like these options as long as they're financially stable and they're usually the ones that are good. There's a waiting list even just to get in. And they have adequate financial reserves. But the idea that they could buy in to a home, they don't get that money back, but maybe have a cottage of sorts. But with the ability to move to assisted living and full nursing care and there's a set amount per month and maybe there's an annual inflation escalation on that each year. But they know that they can stay there for the rest of their lives.

And that gives them our loved ones peace of mind to know that there's a plan there, regardless of what they need, memory care or anything down the road. And a lot of these will say that once you've bought in and you know, if even and they'll chip typically do a financial check, they'll want to know that you have a certain amount, you know, in financial well being first, but they'll commit to even if you run out of money will continue to provide care for the, you know, for the rest of your life. And, you know, so you just want to understand the fine print in terms of what guarantees they're making and what you know, place Medicaid or fits into this and whether or not, you know, if she depletes all of her funds, they would at some point, you know, make her relocate out or whether she's guaranteed she can stay there until the Lord calls her home. Does that make sense?

It does. And they are saying that that she has she is guaranteed to stay there for life with this buying amount. But the part that I questioned is, is she allowed to give this balance of one hundred and fifty divide this into her four children and give that to us now?

Oh, to give it to you now. Yeah, there would be a five year look back on that if she needed Medicare or Medicaid. Yeah. So, you know, that would be the kind of the rule on that. I mean, the key is that, you know, the government doesn't allow you to and I certainly wouldn't advocate trying to do something to kind of, quote unquote, hide the money. But if the goal is she genuinely, you know, believes she has the assets and, you know, she wants to just make a gift to family members, she's entitled to do that.

It would create problems, though, if it was within that five year look back. The other thing I would say is, you know, this where she's going, they may want to verify her assets and, you know, she would need to disclose to them that she's giving this money away. What about just letting her keep that? And then, you know, having her give that at death and just that would ensure that, you know, that the money is still available for whatever she needs it for. And then, you know, you and your siblings, her heirs could get the money when, you know, when she dies. OK. She did think about my mom has her wits with her pretty good. And she's like, well, I'm not going to be you know, I doubt I need assisted living at this point. But if I give this to you now and then 10 years down the road, though, I do need nursing care. They're going to take this money. Yeah. You know, she's like, I'd love to give you guys some now.

Well, but a lot of times, I mean, the way these most most of the time, the way these work. And again, you need to read the fine print and maybe get a financial adviser to look over this or an attorney. But, you know, typically the only thing she would ever come out of pocket once she buys in, even if she needs full nursing care, is just that monthly amount, the same, you know, monthly amount that covers her food and her expenses and so forth. That shouldn't change if she even if she goes to nursing care. So as long as she's got a plan to cover, you know, that monthly amount that she's committing herself to plus, you know, inflation adjustments, I would expect that that would cover whatever care she needs for the rest of her life. OK, thank you.

That was helpful. I think maybe it would be smart for her to maybe talk to an estate lawyer. They would probably know.

Yeah, they would. And I think, you know, when you're making a big decision like this, never a bad idea to get some professional counsel to not only look over the contract, but just help advise her on, you know, end of life decisions. Also, it's a good time to make sure her living will is up to date, her health care surrogate, durable power of attorney, all of those documents as well. Hey, Jill, you sound like a wonderful daughter. I'm delighted to have you on the program today.

Thanks for your call to West Virginia. Hi, Linda. Go right ahead. Linda, are you there? Yes, I am. Great.

How can I help you today? My husband and I received about eighty four thousand in oil and gas lease recently with all the stuff you hear about the instability of of our economic situation in this country. And you see a lot of gold advertisements, etc. And we've never invested in gold. I don't know if that is a good way to put some of this, not a whole lot, but some of it.

Would it be in would it be in certificates or would it be better to have it in hand? You know, the actual gold. What's your feeling on that? Yeah, it's a great question, Linda. I mean, I like gold as a part of a well diversified portfolio. Keep in mind, though, I mean, we see a lot of advertisements for the precious metals, particularly gold during these times of uncertainty and fear. And I think just with what's going on from inflation to the geopolitical issues, to our national debt, you know, obviously there's just a lot of marketing around gold. Now, what you also have to recognize is, although we've seen a nice bounce in gold, gold is still cheaper today than it was in the summer of twenty twenty. So even though it's you know, it should be an inflation hedge, it really hasn't acted like that, you know, quite as well. And it's because there's other factors that drive the price of gold.

But there's no doubt it's a it's a safety asset. It's uncorrelated, meaning it doesn't move with the stock market, which is a good thing when you're trying to diversify your portfolio. So bottom line is, how do I recommend thinking about gold? I like as a starting point, having, you know, a forever allocation in gold of, say, five percent of your total investable assets. So what do you all have, if you don't mind me asking, in the way of investable assets in total today?

Oh, gee, I just pulled that form out to look at. Just a rough idea. I mean, a couple hundred thousand more. Oh, no, no, we're we're not that well off.

These these oil and gas leases are really land falls for us. OK. And I'm trying to think. Let me see. I've got it right here.

A total of about sixty thousand. OK, investments. OK, got it.

But you said you're getting proceeds of eighty four. Is that would that be in addition to this? Yes. Yeah. OK. So that would put you at maybe a hundred.

Yeah. One time thing that puts it maybe one hundred and fifty thousand. And you don't have any 401ks or IRAs or anything like that. Yes, we have some IRAs or Roth IRAs. They're about twenty thousand each. OK, got it.

Yeah. So I mean, let's say you had a couple hundred thousand at the most. Once you get this one time distribution plus your IRAs, you know, I'd be thinking about maybe ten thousand in gold and I'd probably buy with my forever allocation. You know, you can buy gold coins, you can buy gold bars, probably gold coins would be a good option, you know, where you're just buying based on the spot price of gold. I mean, even Costco was selling gold, you know, as it was a great option. And then you're just looking for, you know, that to buy and hold kind of forever.

If you want to go up to 10 percent, I would be OK with that. Oftentimes for that second five percent, folks will use what's called a gold exchange traded fund like GLD. It's basically where you buy an exchange traded fund and it moves with the price of gold. But you're not actually taking possession of the physical gold. But beyond that, I would rather you have a stock and bond portfolio, largely bonds rather than the precious metals. They just don't perform as well, the precious metals, and they're a little more volatile. So I would say just think in terms of, Linda, no more than 10 percent in gold. That's my perspective.

And then for the rest, I would look at, you know, a bond mix of probably seven, 60 or 70 percent bonds and 30 to 40 percent in stocks. You may also be well advised to seek out a certified kingdom advisor, which you can do on our website at FaithFi.com. That's FaithFi.com. I hope that helps you. God bless you. And we appreciate you listening. Thanks for being on the program.

Well, we're about out of time today. Before we go, let me remind us why we do what we do here on this program every day. We gather for Faith and Finance Live because we recognize we all have a high calling. We're money managers for the King of Kings, which means we're to be found faithful as we manage God's resources, faithfulness, obedience over a long period of time, applying the wisdom of God's word to every area of our lives.

And that includes our finances. So thanks for being here today. Thanks for calling and for writing and for your emails. We love to do what we do and serving you to be wise stewards of God's money. I want to say thanks to my team today. Clara, Jeb, Amy, and Jim. Couldn't do it without them. Faith and Finance Live is a partnership between FaithFi and Moody Radio. We'll see you next time. God bless you. Bye-bye.