A New Perspective for the New Year

Well, it's day two for your New Year's resolution.

So how are you doing so far? Hi, I'm Rob West. You know, most of these resolutions are history by Groundhog Day, but what folks need to help them keep their resolutions is accountability. If only there was a tool to help with that.

Wait, there is. And Chad Clark joins us today to talk about it. Then it's on New Year calls at 800-525-7000.

That's 800-525-7000. This is Faith and Finance Live, biblical wisdom for your financial decisions. Well, I can't think of a better way to start the new year here on the show than by having Chad Clark with us. Chad is, of course, the Executive Director here at FaithFi. And Chad, it's great to have you with us and happy new year to you. Yeah, happy new year to you as well. 2024, here we come.

It's amazing to think that it's already here. And Chad, as is so often the case during a new year, many people are busy setting new year's resolutions, whether it's for losing weight or eating healthier. But one thing many people want to reset in the new year is, of course, their budget.

That's right. This is the time of year people tend to either refresh or restart their budgets. Now here at FaithFi, we have a team of developers that you lead that have developed budgeting software that helps people manage their money.

We've been doing that for years. So what have you learned from all these years of experience in this area? Well, I think one of the things I've learned is that I'm still learning. But an observation I've noticed over the years is how critically important our perspective is when it comes to creating and sticking to a budget. As you know, many people view a budget similar to a diet. It's something we know we need to do, but sometimes it's just easier not to do it.

Well, let's unpack that a bit. So how does our perspective then play into our ability to budget? Well, from my experience, the single most important factor I've found to help people follow through with their budget is they've defined why they're doing it. That's very different than knowing what you're trying to do. You may want to get out of debt or save more or even be more generous, but if you don't have a clear understanding of why, you'll likely not stick with it.

That's really helpful. We need to, of course, start with the why. And as believers, what should our why be? Well, I think it's important for us to work out our own why statements, but hopefully we can look to Scripture and determine what that looks like. When we look at Scripture, we see that God is the owner of everything, and our role is to steward or manage what he's entrusted to us.

And I think understanding this first level concept plays an important part in answering the why question. Yeah, this is the central idea of our money management, that God is the owner of everything. We see that clearly in Psalm 24 one, the earth is the Lord's and everything in it. So then, Chad, why is it important for us to start with God as owner as we think about our budgeting and money management? Well, I think that's a critical place for us to start because when we recognize God's ownership, it helps clarify our role as stewards or managers. You see, if we see ourselves as the owner, we get to do whatever we want. If we view God as the owner, then our role as a steward changes. But I think that the type of owner we believe God to be is really important. For instance, in a business, you can have a passive or an active ownership structure. Passive owners turn the management responsibilities over to the managers and aren't involved in the day-to-day decisions. I think this is how we tend to view God when we refer to him as an owner. At least that's the way I used to view him. Yeah, this would be like you managing a coffee shop that someone else owns, but the owner isn't involved at all. He simply gave you the keys and said, good luck.

Yeah, I think so. And again, in this kind of structure, it seems as if we are the owners in many ways, because we get to make all the decisions. We're not really consulting with the owner.

We're the manager slash owner of the coffee shop. And I think that greatly influences the way that we make money decisions. So then compare and contrast that with an active owner.

Yeah, so active owners, on the other hand, work closely with the managers to help them with decisions. And I believe the Holy Spirit wants to be an active owner of our finances. God's entrusted us with his money, and he's willing to help guide us and direct us when we seek his help.

This takes a big burden off of us from having to figure out things all on our own. This is really helpful, Chad, and perhaps a different idea than we've considered in the past as we think about our role as a steward and God as the owner. When we come back after the break, we're going to talk about the implications of God being an active owner as we manage money. We'll talk about how all of this relates to budgeting and how the Faithfi app can help you in your stewardship journey.

If one of your New Year's resolutions is to get your money back on track in your budget, well, we want to help. Chad Clark here today. He's executive director at Faithfi, and we'll be right back after this. Stay with us. Delighted to have you with us today on Faith and Finance Live. Here on the second day of the new year, I know you're still thinking about your resolutions, trying to make good on those plans that you made to get 2024 headed in the right direction. And I'm sure at least some of you, perhaps a majority of you, are thinking about that as it relates to your finances.

How do you get back on track with your money? Well, with God's money. And we know that budgeting is a part of that.

And Chad Clark joins us today to talk about how you can do that. But he said before the break that perspective is everything. And we started with this central idea as stewards, recognizing that God is the owner of everything. And Chad, you introduced a concept to us around God's ownership in terms of determining whether God is more like an active or a passive owner.

Frame that back up with us. Yeah, I think that understanding kind of God's role as an owner helps influence the way that we steward his resources. A passive owner is somebody who isn't actively involved in the day-to-day decisions, whereas an active owner actually wants to participate, that wants to help and be involved in those daily financial decisions. And I think that's really important when we think about God as an owner to understand, is he a passive or an active owner in our financial decisions? Yeah, exactly right.

And we shared this analogy. It's kind of like managing a coffee shop that someone else owns, and a passive owner would simply say, here are the keys, good luck, and then walk away. An active owner would handle that differently. So continuing our coffee shop analogy, when we look at an active owner, it would be like the owner handing you the keys and saying, call me anytime you need help.

I'm here for you. You don't need to go this alone. Yeah, I think so. And I think like we said before, I believe the Holy Spirit wants to be that active owner who is helping us. He is the helper if we're willing to reach out and contact him, just like the coffee shop owner.

He's not overbearing, but he's there and available for when you need him. And so we just recognize God's role as an active owner that we can go to, that we can bring our struggles, that we can bring our opportunities to, and trust that he will give us some clarity and direction on how we're to proceed with managing his resources. All right, now at the core of our topic today is about budgeting, getting on track and managing God's money wisely.

So how does all of this that we've been discussing relate to budgeting? Well, I think that, again, we go back to this idea of God is a passive owner, I don't think he really wants to be involved in my decisions. I might be tempted to think I can do whatever I want, although one day we will ultimately give an account. Or I might feel this heavy burden of having to make decisions on my own. And I'm left having to guess what the owner expects me to do. However, if I view God as an active owner, I may view my role as a manager differently, I know that I can go to him in confidence, knowing he wants to help.

And our relationship to the owner directly impacts our role as a steward. But I think the key idea when it comes to budgeting is to understand our role as a steward of God's resources. Yeah, so the budget is a tool that helps us wisely manage the king's resources on a practical level on a day to day basis.

It is. And I think this goes back to what we were talking about originally, which is defining why you have a budget. If you see God as an active owner of your finances, the answer to why you have a budget is because you take the role of stewarding the king's resources seriously. You desire to glorify God in your financial decisions, and a budget simply becomes a tool to do this. It's a means to an end, not an end in and of itself, which I think a lot of people tend to view a budget of, I just need to set up a budget. But if you don't understand that that's just a tool as part of your stewardship role, you're going to miss the boat. You're going to probably not be successful in budgeting because you haven't clearly identified your why.

All right, so it starts with the why. Now, we understand why we're doing it. We realize this is a high calling that we've been given as stewards. So how can the Faithfi app practically help me manage my money? We built the Faithfi app recognizing the need for a tool to help people be good stewards, but we also recognize that not everybody is the same. So when we refer to this idea of a budget, what we really mean is a system for making financial decisions.

The Faithfi app was designed with multiple systems to help fit your unique money management style. At the end of the day, it's not really about how you're managing the money entrusted to you. It's knowing that you have a system in place to help you manage it well. Yeah, and if you're going to do this effectively, it has to become a part of your daily routine, right?

It does. I like to tell people it's like, if you're a coffee drinker, I'm a coffee drinker. Rob, I know you're a coffee drinker. If you don't have your coffee in the morning, you notice it. You're just like, something's off a little bit.

My routine's off a little bit. Well, when you have a budget and it becomes a part of your toolkit, you just know that if you're not looking at it, if you're not operating off of it, something's off. And so it just becomes a part of just how you operate. And I think that's a really important perspective to have when you go into budgeting. It's not just, again, I'm going to have a budget, but it really becomes a part of my toolkit to live day to day. Yeah, no question about it.

Now, Chad, for those out there listening to you right now that are saying, I've been down this road before, I've tried to budget, it's too much work, what would you say to them? Well, I would say, obviously, I'd encourage you to check out the Faithvai app. And here's why. Because like I said before, we've got three unique systems built into this application. And when you come into the app, we're going to help you find a system that fits your personality uniquely. And that's different than we see in a lot of different apps out there.

A lot of other apps are very rigid, they want you to follow a certain set of steps and rules. And those are fine. And those are great. And we celebrate people that are successful with those. But for us, we recognize that you're unique and that you have unique characteristics. And so we try to meet you where you are in your journey. And the tool will help you set up a system that's going to set you up for success. And we also love to support you along the way. We've got certified Christian financial counselors standing by ready to help you overcome some of the barriers that may have tripped you up in the past.

We've got webinars and other resources that we're making available this year to just help you be successful and start the year off strong. And what about those that are married that want to stay on the same page in their budget together? Is there a way that they can do that through the app?

Yeah, absolutely. And we encourage you if you are married, that you use this together. I know that in a lot of households, one person manages the money and the other one sometimes isn't overly involved.

For my wife and I, when we first got married, that was our story. I was the finance guy. She didn't really have a whole lot of insight or say into what was going on financially. But when we got on a system and we started using a budgeting tool, it changed everything.

And for us, specifically, we use the Faith Buy app, obviously. It's changed the way that we talk about money. I can't tell you, Rob, how many times we got in fights as an early married couple about money. It was the number one source of conflict.

I know you say that on this show. But for my wife and I, it really was. And the ironic piece was, I was the finance guy.

And we could not get on the same page. But the budgeting tool allowed us to see where we're at, to have really constructive conversations about how we're stewarding God's resources. And it's helped our relationship just tremendously. And so, yeah, we're grateful for this tool.

And I know that a lot of people, a lot of couples have similar testimonies. Now, a lot of folks have been listening to this program, go all the way back to Larry Burkett. Larry obviously made the envelope system popular. And there's actually one of the three approaches that uses that system in a digital format, right? It does.

Yeah. If you are looking for an envelope style of money management, the Faith Buy app does this, from what we've heard, better than many of the tools out there. So we'd love for you to check that out. And this system is really great because it allows you to carry balances in your categories forward.

So you can accumulate funds in that auto repair or that vacation envelope. And so we'd love for you to check that system out. All right, Chad, great to have you here today. Thanks for stopping by. Thanks so much. All right, folks, go get it. You can download the Faith Buy app when you check it out at faithfi.com.

That's faithfi.com or go to your app store and download Faith Buy, Faith and Finance. Back with your questions just after this. Stick around. The opinions offered during this program represent the personal or professional opinions of the participants given for informational purposes only.

Any information provided is not intended to replace advice from a financial, medical, legal or other professional who understands your specific situation. Well, I'm so thankful you're with us today on a new year and we're ready to dive into your questions and tackle whatever you're thinking about financially speaking today. We do have a few lines open. And so if you'd like to get in on the conversation today, as we turn our attention to your phone calls, you can call right now. 800-525-7000. That's right.

The number is 800-525-7000. Coming up a little later in the broadcast in our final segment, Bob Dahl will stop by. Bob is a frequent contributor on Fox Business and CNBC. He's well known for his 10 predictions.

That's right. At the beginning of each year, he comes out with his annual list of predictions, 10 of them about the economy and the markets. We'll find out what Bob's thinking for the year ahead.

Will the incredible strength we saw at the end of 2023 continue? Well, Bob will weigh in on that and more. That's coming up a little later in the broadcast. All right. To your phone calls, we go 800-525-7000. Let's begin in Charleston, West Virginia. Judy, happy new year.

Go right ahead. Hi. I have a family member who didn't file any taxes in 2017. They recently did a letter for the IRS. They paid $12,000. Yeah. They're all about getting this behind them.

After you answer that, could you also answer, can I negotiate the payment, like saying I'll pay it off if they lower it, and they make sure to verify that it was paid. Not that I don't trust the government or anything. Yeah. Yeah. Very good.

All right, Judy, you were cutting out a little bit, but I think I got the gist of the question. And this is around some back taxes from 2017. Was the return filed and there was just not a payment made? Or has your family member not filed either? They didn't file that year. Okay.

Yeah. So that needs to be done. And the good news is you can get that current, and the IRS will work with you. Typically, what you would want to do is, first of all, get that tax return filed. And you'd probably want to work with a tax preparer on this, not only to get the return prepared and then filed, but also work with you. Because the IRS will allow you to get on a payment plan if needed. And you will have to show a financial statement showing your income and monthly expenditures if you're looking to get on a payment plan. If you can't pay what you owe, you also may be able to arrange what's called an offer in compromise. And that's the process by which you could get the amount lowered. But you'll have to get a detailed accounting of your finances. Typically, what happens is folks will just make that payment and bring it current. There's obviously fees and interest that's being applied to this on an ongoing basis. But this is not a problem in the sense that you just need to get that return filed. You need to get what is owed paid, whether that's paying in full through an offer in compromise or through a payment plan.

All of those are available to you. And I'd recommend you use a tax professional to get that squared away. Even if it's just a very simple tax return?

Yeah, I mean, you could do it yourself. Let me ask you, did you say it's a family member or is this your your own taxes? Family member. Family member. Okay.

Does the individual have the ability to pay in full the amount that's owed? Yes. Okay.

Yeah. I mean, you could do it on your own. I mean, the challenge is you're going to need to calculate the penalties and the interest associated with it. Now, the IRS is saying what they believe you owe based on that letter. But if there's not been a return filed, then the official amount won't be available until that return is filed.

And then they tell you whether or not they agree with your accounting of that. So, yeah, it's not required that you use a professional. I think the key is get that return prepared.

If if it is simple, great. Go ahead and do it. Send in the check with it on based on what you think is owed. And you can be sure once they get it, they will verify the amount you sent.

And if they disagree, you know, they'll they'll come back to you saying there's a deficient balance. Okay, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt. So just send me a check. Well, I see.

Yeah. So the the other part of that was you want verification. You can actually make that payment online so you can do, you know, an online payment. And that would allow you to go ahead and print out the, you know, confirmation showing that the payment was made. And you can do that through a credit card or a bank account. You'll want to just go to IRS dot gov slash payments. And as once that return has been filed, then the person, your family member would be able to go in, make the payment for the amount they believe they owe. And when you make the payment, you can specify what year tax return or tax liability it's to be applied to.

And then that would give you the ability to print off the confirmation showing that you did, in fact, make the payment. Okay, so if it's twelve thousand dollars, that must be a lot of interest because I think you would only owe two or three thousand dollars per year. So I think that's a whole lot of interest. Yeah. And there's penalties as well.

I mean, that's been a long time. The current rate of is about is eight percent per year. And it compounds daily that obviously that is higher now.

It was lower years ago. But yeah, it very well I mean, it adds up quick when you got, you know, six plus years of nonpayment plus the penalties on top of it. I could see where that, in fact, could be the amount. Okay, that's why I'm trying to get this done. Yeah. Yeah. You don't want to wait any longer.

Let's let's get this one put to rest here. Again, making that payment online is through IRS dot gov slash payments. That's the website. Hey, Judy, thanks for your call today. I appreciate you being on the program.

If we can help further, let us know. Well, folks, we're going to take our next break here in the program. We come back. We've got some great questions. Kevin's in Nashville, Glenda in Indianapolis, Michelle in Ohio coming your way.

Also, a few lines remain open. If you have a question today, financially speaking, give us a call. 800-525-7000. I'm Rob West. This is Faith and Finance Live here on Moody Radio. We'll be right back.

Thanks for joining us today on Faith and Finance Live. I'm Rob West. All right, let's head right back to the phones to Nashville, Tennessee. Hi, Kevin.

How can I help, sir? Hi, Rob. Thanks for talking to me. I'm looking at making a career change, and I've always enjoyed, you know, I've been pretty good with my money and I've always enjoyed, you know, financial stuff. And so I just want to give you some advice as to which path, which career path I might pursue for someone looking for a career change.

Yeah, it's great. I love the fact that you're dialing into your interests and passions, how God has wired you. Certainly, there's a lot of need for folks to help those who've been entrusted with, you know, wealth, whether that's a significant amount or a more modest amount. We all want to be good and faithful stewards and wise counsel is a key part of that. You know, I think the first question is, you know, figuring out exactly what your interests are. Are you wanting to, you know, help folks and coach them in things like, you know, putting a spending plan together, getting out of debt, perhaps relational issues, more of the personal finance for the everyday steward? Or are you looking to perhaps get into more of the professional financial advice that would be in the area of comprehensive financial planning, perhaps investments or wealth management, that type of thing? Do you have a sense of which direction you'd like to go? If I can give this answer kind of a bit of both, I enjoy, you know, direct instruction with people. I don't have much of an interest in like selling a product. But if I could advise people as to, you know, better ways to manage their money, that kind of interests me. But I wouldn't rule out, like, some of the, I think it's the corporate aspects of money management.

Yeah, yeah, very good. And is this a situation where you're kind of semi-retired doing this? Or is this, you know, are you needing to, you know, cover your lifestyle expenses and establish a certain level of income out of this? Yeah, I'd be mostly retired. I can pretty much retire now. And I would like to make some bread doing it, but it wouldn't have to be, you know, a six-figure thing.

Yeah, sure. Well, a couple of things I might suggest for you just to maybe do what we call low-cost probes, where you might kind of take a peek into the various kind of worlds in biblical finance and figure out what is most aligned with what you'd like to do. One is what we do here at Kingdom Advisors, which is, you know, you could find a local study group there in Nashville, which is a group of financial professionals that meet in cities across the U.S. and Canada every month, using our content here at Kingdom Advisors as the backdrop to a meeting to talk about how you begin to implement your faith into your financial practice. It would allow you to rub shoulders with the other Christian financial advisors there in your city.

There's no cost to attend, and you could find a local study group at kingdomadvisors.com. The designation that we offer a certified Kingdom Advisor, you could, you know, begin to explore that, although it does have an experience requirement that you would not be able to meet early on. So I think one of the other opportunities would be to see if you could connect with some of those Christian advisors there in Nashville, and there's some great ones, and see if they might have an entry level position that would allow you to come in and, you know, begin to learn the business while you're studying to earn. And what I would recommend is the Certified Financial Planner and the Certified Kingdom Advisor.

Now, these are pretty big commitments, just in terms of the time that you would have to put in to earn those designations. But those would really give you, you know, the training and the skill set you need to begin over time to do comprehensive financial advice at a professional level, and then the CKA would allow you to bring in the the biblical worldview. But you'd probably want to find a local advisor who's a believer that you could, you know, come in and get started with there in your city. The other approach is something called a Certified Christian Financial Counselor. It's a certified Christian financial counselor. It's issued by the Institute for Christian Financial Health, and, you know, this would be a great place for you to start there as well.

You know, it's a fairly new certification, but it's one we're really excited about, and it would give you really kind of the basics, the training that you need to begin to help people with their finances and get paid to do so. Again, it's called the Certified Christian Financial Counselor designation. And if you wanted to explore some of the businesses that others have set up after earning the Certified Christian Financial Counselor, just head to our website at faithfi.com. That's faithfi.com forward slash cert CFC. That's cert, short for certification, C-E-R-T C-F-C. And you'll see a listing of the first dozen or so Certified Christian Financial Counselors that we have on our site, and you could click into each of their own websites and begin to learn kind of what services they offer, how they charge for it, that type of thing. And if it began to really resonate with you around, wow, I think this is something I might want to do, then the Certified Christian Financial Counselor certification may be a great starting place for you.

All right? Thanks so much, Rob. So your website slash cert CFC? Yes, and that would give you a listing of the Certified Christian Financial Counselors that are the first 10 or 12 on our site, and you could begin to explore them.

And then kingdomadvisors.com would be where you could explore the professional association we have for Christian Financial Advisors, and you could search for a local study group there in in Nashville to begin rubbing shoulders with the other Christian Financial Advisors in your area. That's great advice. Thanks so much, Rob. All right, Kevin. God bless you, my friend. Thanks for being on the program today. We appreciate it. Quickly to Indianapolis. Hi, Glenda.

How can I help? Hi there. Happy New Year.

Happy New Year. I got myself in a financial mess. I lost a job that I've had for 21 years. And of course, all of my budgeting and everything else was on that money. And now I'm down to my Social Security. I have a house valued at around 300,000. I owe about, I want to say 117, 116, 3.5 interest. Well, the bank won't even look at you because they don't have a job.

I'm trying to figure out how to get equity to live on right now because my husband is not well. I don't want to go back to work just yet. Okay. All right.

Well, first of all, I'm so sorry, Glenda, to hear about your situation. When you look at your total expenses, you've got the mortgage at 117 plus just keeping food on the table, gas in the car. I mean, your utilities paid. How much of a gap is there between what you might get your budget down to by cutting everything extra and the Social Security income you're receiving? Almost 2,000. 2,000 a month.

All right. And are there any other options here? I mean, do you have the ability to do some part-time work or are you needing to be a full-time caregiver for your husband? What is the situation there?

I've been looking for part-time and have not been successful at it right now because I have some limitations also. I see. Okay. Well, the good news is we're in a very strong job market right now. It doesn't mean it's going to be easy. I'm not saying that.

But that's, I think the good news is that, you know, if you really put the work in to try to find some income, find another job, there should be, you know, jobs available. Obviously, you have limitations. So that's going to narrow the pool and I get that. But I wouldn't lose heart in that. Let's obviously pray. Ask the Lord to intervene here. He is your provider, not anyone else. And He said He'll meet our needs. And then thirdly, as our gift to you, Glenda, I'd like to connect you with a certified Christian financial counselor. We'll pay for it. They'll help you get a plan to navigate through this.

So stay on the line. We'll get your information and we're going to take a quick break, but we'll be right back. Great to have you with us today on Faith and Finance Live.

I'm Rob West. We're so delighted that you're along with us this afternoon. Hey, before we head back to the phones here in our final segment today, as we begin a new year, I'm delighted to have Bob Dahl join us today. He's with us at the beginning of each week to give his market commentary and outlook.

But today, a special edition of that. That's because Bob is well known up and down Wall Street for his 10 predictions for the year. At the beginning of each year, he publishes his 10 predictions, looking ahead at the markets and the economy.

And it's out for 2024. Looking forward to diving in, Bob. Happy New Year. And the same to you and all your listeners. Thank you, Bob. Give us maybe just the high level overview of your conclusions and then we'll dive into a few specific predictions.

Sure. I think the essence of what we're trying to say is you can't have your cake and eat it too. In other words, the consensus is we're going to have an economic soft landing. Inflation will continue to come down, but earnings are going to grow double digit, which is above the long-term average. And stocks, well, not particularly cheap, are going to go up.

And that's just a combination that's a little rich for us. Let me say it a different way, Rob. A year ago, you'll recall so many people, myself included, expected a recession in 2023. Well, they're just as sure at this point than in 2024, we're going to have a soft landing. I wonder if that's too optimistic.

Yeah, no question about that, Bob. And as you pointed out in your commentary, you know, if we would have had a recession at this point or prior to this point, it would have been quick, just based on historical standards, right? Yes, there are normal leads and lags. In particular, when the Fed, the central bank of the United States, begins raising rates, or when the yield curve inverts and short interest rates are higher than longer-term interest rates, from those two events to the onset of recession is about what we have now. So many people are saying, well, the recession didn't happen. Therefore, it's not going to happen. Our absence of patience can get us into trouble. And I think that's what we're looking at this time around.

Yeah. So you're predicting the U.S. economy experiences that mild recession, and it will be fairly short-lived. What does that mean for stocks?

Where do you think this year will take us? Well, it probably means that earnings are going to fall short of expectations. The consensus plus 11 that we mentioned earlier assumes this soft landing. And if we have a bump economically, and it's a little lower on the weaker side than we expected, or they expected, I should say, earnings aren't going to be as robust as we thought. And therefore, stocks may be expecting more than we're going to get and give us some sort of sag as the year develops. So I think it's going to be a year where if you're careful and focus on earnings, predictability and earnings persistence, and you got a shot at making some money.

But if you're in the wrong stocks, it could be a year where you lose money. Yeah. All right.

That's helpful. Bob, what about the Fed? Where do we finish 2024 in your estimation? Well, as you know, Rob, the consensus is that the Fed will lower rates six times this year. Now, don't forget, they raised rates from zero to five and a quarter over an 18-month period.

Now, all of a sudden, they're going to turn around and pretty aggressively cut rates. Again, I just don't see it switching that fast and having six cuts. So will we get cuts this year? Probably. But I'm not sure we're going to get six of them.

And that just could disappoint some people as interest rates stay a little higher than they otherwise expected. Yeah. All right.

Very good. Let's talk about Washington. Obviously, you each year make some predictions. This year is a particular note just because it's an election year. What do you think is going to play out in November? So our view is that the electorate, the voters, you and me, will boot the party that's in power out of power in the White House, in the House and in the Senate. If that's accurate, it'll be the ninth time in the last 10 elections that that happened.

And that, of course, would mean we'd have a Republican president, a Republican Senate, and a Democratic House as all three switch from their current parties. There's a lot of turmoil out there, Rob. There's a lot of dissatisfaction, a lot of polarization. And often voters go to the ballot box and say, let me vote for the guy who's not in office.

Maybe he or she could do better than the guy who is in office. That's the pattern we've been into. And part of the reason we have so much consternation, as you know, along with the polarization, is the rise in debt and interest expense, which is becoming a big problem, as we've discussed over the weeks in this broadcast.

Yeah, no question about that. All right, let's finish today with the geopolitical crosscurrents. You make reference to them in your predictions this year. What is the prediction and how does that relate to the markets? You know, the prediction is that the geopolitical issues are not going away and we might find ourselves with a few more of them and the list is long already.

Our hope and our expectation is that none of them will, if you will, boil over in such a way that significantly affects the economy, the markets, but they're going to be a nuisance. And we got to keep, as they say, when you're sleeping, keep one eye open. Yeah. All right. Very good. Well, Bob, we always appreciate you, my friend. I know we'll continue to unpack these as the weeks here in January unfold, but thanks for stopping by. I look forward to the rest of it. Thanks. All right. You can download your 10 predictions for 2024 from Bob Dahl at crossmarkglobal.com.

That's crossmarkglobal.com. All right, back to the phones as we round out the broadcast today to Ohio. Michelle, you've been very patient.

How can I help? Thank you for taking my call. I am going to, well, me and my husband sold our home and our proceeds are coming in a couple of days of $450,000. And we're, you know, in our late 50s and we have no children at home and we just couldn't find another house to buy. Smaller homes were too expensive and we didn't want an older home to maintain. And so we just couldn't, we just couldn't we decided not to buy, at least not now. And we're not sure what to do with the money until we need it or, um, or if we do buy another home or we may never buy another home, we're just not sure. But for now we don't really know where to put it.

Yeah, very good. Well, Michelle, the good news is you're going to get paid a fairly attractive rate of return while you're waiting, uh, just because of where interest rates are right now. Um, I would concur that given that this is going to be a change for you all, you know, as renters versus homeowners, you're going to want to give yourself some time to figure out, first of all, what's happening with the housing market. Second, are we happy with kind of our new situation here or are we going to be itching, you know, to buy something?

And third, you know, just kind of where is the economy headed and what has God had for you as you all head into this next season, which obviously have some significant changes ahead. So I think given all of that, I'd like for you to keep this money fairly liquid safe, but earning a good rate of return. So that means staying out of the stock market and really even the bond market until you get a little bit more direction about what the future may hold. Now, if you all determined that as far as you can tell for the long term, you're not going to buy anything, well, then you could take the opportunity to begin to invest this in a properly diversified portfolio that would be consistent with your age and risk tolerance. Probably, you know, a majority of it in high quality US and corporate bonds with a smaller percentage, uh, in stocks, it gives you some growth component, but I wouldn't do that just given the uncertainty around whether you may turn around, you know, six months or a year, even a couple of years from now and want to have this money to buy something, uh, at least until you get a little further along and determine that you're pretty comfortable with the idea that you won't. Uh, so then we'd be looking at things that really are guaranteed in the, the essentially risk-free category. Nothing is risk-free, but as close to it as you can get. And that's where you'd either want to go into something that's completely liquid, like a high yield, uh, FDIC insured savings account where you can get four and a half percent a year plus, which, you know, is a significant sum on 450,000. We're talking 20,000 a year, um, that you could earn on, on your money while you're waiting. And as long as you put it in two different institutions, both FDIC insured, you can have the government essentially guaranteeing that money that you could get it back and it would be liquid when you need it, even if the bank failed.

And I'm not saying that it will, but it's just nice to know that you have that protection. If you wanted to get a little bit more yield and you're willing to take, you know, a period of time where you know you're not going to have access to the money, you could build what's called a CD ladder. So maybe you put, uh, you know, a fourth of it in a high yield savings.

So it's completely liquid. Maybe you put a fourth in of it, uh, of it in a six month CD, a fourth in a one year CD and a fourth in an 18 month CD. And then every six months you roll it forward. That might allow you to get an extra percentage point, which again is not an insignificant amount of money.

That's another 4,500, $5,000 a year that you could earn if you get an extra percentage point. Um, and it would mean that you don't have ready access to the whole thing. Uh, but every six months, you know, you'd, you'd have access to at least half of it. Um, you know, in, in the scenario I described. So how do those sound just in terms of what you're looking to accomplish? Those are, I believe are really good options. I feel comfortable with those since, yeah, you mentioned we, you know, it is a big adjustment not being homeowners and, um, changing that whole living situation. So we, yeah, I guess we would need some time to see if that feels right or that's doable.

Yeah. So the nice thing is you could open, so I'd go to bankrate.com, that's bankrate.com. And if you click on the button right there, it says high yield savings. What you will see is that there's a lot of options out there right now for banks that are FDIC insured, you know, that you would recognize, um, that are offering, you know, four and a half to five and a quarter percent. And, um, I don't have any problem, you know, with you all being in an online bank. Um, you know, as long as you have that FDIC insurance and, and bankrate actually offers a five star rating system as well that you could factor into your decision-making.

So for both the CDs and the high yield savings bankrate.com would be a great place for you to start. So hopefully that gives you at least something to think about, talk about as you pray through this. And if we can help further, let us know. Thanks for your call, Michelle. That's going to do it for us today, folks. Faith and Finance Live is a partnership between Moody radio and faith five. I'm grateful for Dan and Amy and Jim and our team. Couldn't do it without and we'll see you tomorrow. Bye-bye.