Created for Good Works

Well, you're probably familiar with the honeydew list, but did you ever get one from God? Hi, I'm Rob West.

There's always someone who has a list of chores for you, whether it's your spouse or your mom or your boss. But what about your heavenly father? Now today we'll find out what God wants from us in the way of good works. Then we'll take your calls at 800-525-7000.

That's 800-525-7000. This is Faith and Finance Live, biblical wisdom for your financial journey. Well, the usual honeydew jobs are anything but sweet. Get the oil changed, empty the dishwasher and take the dog to the vet are a few that come to mind. But if you think about it, these are ideally jobs we do just because we love our family and we want things to go smoothly around the house. Of course, there is a financial angle to this and a spiritual angle to because as Christians were a part of the family of God. We each have responsibilities in the kingdom to help things run smoothly in God's house and to demonstrate God's love to a lost and broken world.

Now, let me be clear on this. You don't have to do good works to be saved, but it's evident from Scripture that good works are a necessary and I might add joyful part of living for Christ. So let's look a little closer at the connection between good works and the Christian life in the book of James.

We read that as the body apart from the spirit is dead. So also faith apart from works is dead life in Christ means commitment to God's Kingdom program. This is what God intends because he's a generous father who made us and loves us and knows what we need.

Our faith is meant to be acted out. God made us for a dynamic relationship with himself, fellowship with other believers, and good works that shine the light of Christ in the world. Ephesians 2 10 says for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Apparently God already lined up good works for you to do.

If you're in Christ, you already have your marching orders as far as generosity goes. The passage even says that you were created in Christ on purpose for these specific good works. Now knowing that God has prepared good works for you to do might seem a bit intimidating. How do you know what those good works are? Will you have the resources and energy you need to follow through and what if you don't obey?

Well, let me tackle those questions one at a time. First, how do you know what good works God has prepared for you? Well, scripture tells us that God wants two things from his people, righteousness and relationship. We can't do the works of righteousness unless we have a relationship with Jesus. When we're in Christ, we can approach God in prayer and read his word and the Holy Spirit will help us to understand what we need to do. In John 11 25, Jesus says, the work of God is this, to believe in the one he has sent. So if you want to know how to do God's work, start with believing in Christ and he'll take care of the rest. The second concern you might have about following God's plan for good works is, will I have the time, money and energy to follow through?

Now this is where faith comes in. Rest assured, when God calls, he also provides. Second Corinthians 9 8 says, and God is able to make all grace abound to you so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in good work.

God is enough. You see, in him, we have all we need to do what he calls us to do. Now, finally, what happens if you don't obey God's call to do good works?

Well, if you are in Christ, your eternal future is secure. But if you choose not to do the good works God created for you, who knows what blessings you're missing. The great thing about generosity is that it's a three way street. When we obey God's call to serve others, someone gets their needs met, God gets the glory and we experience the joy. After all, Jesus said it is more blessed to give than to receive. So what good works has God prepared for you to do?

Maybe there's a financial need you can meet or a cause that needs your time and skills or an opportunity to tell someone about the hope you have in Jesus. God will let you know. Just spend time in his word.

Talk to him in prayer. Look around you for opportunities to be generous. And I pray that we all will be eager to do the good works God has prepared for us. All right, we're going to head to our first break, but when we come back, we're going to begin taking your calls and questions. Let's see how we can take these ideas and put them into practice together as we apply a biblical worldview to your financial decisions and choices.

What are you thinking about today? Give us a call. 800-525-7000. I'm Rob West and this is Faith and Finance Live, biblical wisdom for your financial journey. We'll be right back. 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. Great to have you with us today on Faith and Finance Live here on Moody Radio. I'm Rob West. All right, it's time for your calls and questions today. We'd love to tackle whatever you're thinking about financially speaking. The number is 800-525-7000. That's right.

It's 800-525-7000. Let us know how we can help you apply a biblical worldview to whatever financial decisions and choices you're making today as you live, give, owe and grow God's money. Think about this. There really are an unending number of ways we can allocate God's money, and yet the basic principles of how we apply biblical wisdom to our financial decisions can be quite simple. You see, it starts with God owns it all. That idea should shape everything about how we manage money because it helps us to recognize that it's not ours, it's His, and therefore we have a high calling. We've been tasked with the calling of managing God's money faithfully.

It's kind of like the parable of the talents, right? So the servants were entrusted, each according to their ability, and then they were to manage it for the master. But ultimately they knew the master would return, and they were charged to be found faithful.

And some were, and one was not, but I think the key is for us, we need to do the same thing. We need to manage the master's money according to the master's heart, and we go to God's word to find that. So as we apply these principles to our financial lives, it doesn't mean we're going to be without financial difficulty or hardship. It really means that we've at least put ourselves in a position to experience God's best. It means that when we stand before the Lord and give an account to what He has entrusted to us, that we will be able to say that we've handled it faithfully and according to His will.

That's our goal here, to make God our ultimate treasure, and then money becomes a tool to accomplish God's purposes. So as you're thinking about your financial life today, whether it's a spending plan you're trying to balance, maybe it's a debt that you're trying to pay off and you just are struggling to get that done, maybe it's your short-term and long-term savings and investments, or giving more wisely and intentionally in a new year, whatever it might be, give us a call. We'd love to tackle it with you. 800-525-7000. We've got some lines open today. Again, 800-525-7000.

You can call right now. Before we dive into your questions today, a couple of emails that have come into us recently. And by the way, if you'd like to send an electronic question along, you can do that at moodyradio.org slash finance.

You'll see a question submission box right there on the screen. This one comes from Angelica. She says, we're thinking about purchasing a home at the end of 2024. Do you think rates will be lower? And do you think home prices will stay high? Angelica, it's a great question. We do know that the Federal Reserve has at least indicated that they expect to lower interest rates six times in small increments in 2024.

Will it play out exactly that way? We don't know. In fact, some recent wage data just this week would help us to understand that this economy is still very strong and very resilient.

That's good news. And yet it's not going to give the Fed much encouragement to lower rates anytime soon. So could it be four?

Sure. It could be as many as six times, though, in 2024. Where do we think interest rates are going on home mortgages? Probably, I think the best guess would be that we'd end the year this year, somewhere in the fives. Right now, the 30-year mortgage is just under 7 percent.

So if we could get down in the fives, even in the high fives, that would still be quite a bit lower than what we are today. So that's at least an idea on where mortgage rates are going. What about home prices? Well, certainly we know that the demand for housing is still outpacing supply. And because of that, we are not expecting home prices to come down at all. If anything, we'll see a slowing of the rate of increase for home prices. But I don't and most economists don't expect housing prices to fall.

So what do you do with that? Well, I would say just refocus on your own rules of thumb with regard to home purchase. Make sure that mortgage payment, including taxes and insurances, is no more than 25 percent of your take-home pay. Make sure you have at least 20 percent for a down payment. That's going to ensure that no matter what happens with mortgage prices or mortgage rates or home prices, that you're ready to buy and not do it in a way that's going to stretch you too much financially. The last thing I want for you is for you to get overextended in this housing area.

It's just going to throw everything else out of whack. So hopefully that's helpful for you, Angelica. We appreciate you writing to us again. If you'd like to send a question along, you can do that at moodyradio.org slash finance. All right, let's head to the phones here today. We've got a few lines open. We'd love to hear from you.

Whatever your financial question is, we'll help you tackle it in light of biblical wisdom. The number is 800-525-7000. You can call right now. Let's go to Cleveland, Ohio. Jackie will be our first caller. Go ahead. Hi, Rob. I'm Jackie here, and I'm going through an unfortunately long and ugly divorce.

The good news is that I found God, and I'm going to be going on for some further treatment for my Lyme disease and to also cure my son's battle. With all that said, I wanted some estate planning advice, or at least thoughts, because I know that you may not be able to comment very much on that. Although I think as a CPA, you have some knowledge regarding estate planning. Since I'm going out of the country, I wanted to revise my estate plan. In case, heaven forbid, something happens to me and or my son.

Do you have any attorneys that you can refer to, or is there someone in touch with your office that can give me further information and knowledge as to what to do? Yeah, well, I appreciate that, Jackie. I'm so sorry to hear about your divorce. I'll tell you, though, I'm delighted to hear that you said that you've met the Lord recently, and that's the most important decision you will ever make is placing your trust in Jesus as your Lord and Savior. So we certainly celebrate that with you and look forward to what God has for you in this next season.

I know it's going to be challenging, and yet, you know, I'm confident that the Lord has great things in store, and I'm also delighted to hear that you're thinking about just being well planned. Do you have a minor child, or is this an adult child? It's an adult child. He's 19 years old. Okay, yeah. So, you know, if you have a minor, it's really important that you have a will, because that would name the guardian.

In this case, he's obviously an adult. But, you know, in terms of where to go to find an estate planning attorney, and that's really what you need, because you'd want to update your will, especially in light of the change in your marital status, you're going to want to make sure that you have a durable power of attorney, somebody to act on your behalf if you're incapacitated financially and legally, a healthcare surrogate, somebody to make decisions related to healthcare if you're unable to do so, even a living will. Not something we want to think about, and yet we want to be able to make those end-of-life decisions and have our wishes known, and that's where you would do that. So what I would do is head to our website, faithfi.com. That's faithfi.com. Right there at the top of the page, Jackie, it'll say, Find a CKA, and that stands for Certified Kingdom Advisor, and any of those folks could help you as you look for a godly estate planning attorney.

They'll all have one that they can refer you to, and I think that would go a long way to helping you get connected with somebody who could sit down and help you think through all of this. Again, that website, faithfi.com. Jackie, thanks for calling today. May the Lord bless you. We're going to take a quick break, folks, when we come back. We've got a lot of questions coming up. We'll tackle those around the corner. Thanks for joining us today on Faith and Finance Live.

I'm Rob West. Hey, if you haven't checked out the FaithFi app, you can do that on our website, faithfi.com. Just click app or head to your app store and search for FaithFI. The FaithFi app will help you set up that spending plan that you need for 2024 to track God's money, make sure that it's going where you intended it to, so you can ultimately have that margin, that cushion at the end of the month that's going to be key to funding those longer-term goals and objectives, whether that's saving your emergency fund, paying down debt, giving more generously. I would submit you really can't do that effectively without a spending plan, and we've made it quick and easy for you to do that. So head to the website, faithfi.com.

Just click app and you'll be off to the races. All right, we've got three lines open, 800-525-7000. You can call right now.

To Indiana we go. Hi, Keith. How can I help you? Hello.

Can you hear me okay? Yes, sir. Okay. So my question is that I know you not only say only 5% in precious metals, but in comparing the last couple of years, if I had done like 50% in stock and 50% in precious metals, I would have came out ahead, and I wanted to see what your opinion was on that. We give a lot to, we give over 20% to faith-based charities where you have a full, in case we need an emergency fund, we have that all funded and everything, and we're completely debt free.

So I just wanted to hear your opinion on that. Yeah, very good. I love the fact that you're giving generously. I'm thrilled to hear that you're debt free. Tell me a little bit about your current stock portfolio. What do you have right now in the way of retirement assets and how is that money allocated in terms of stocks and bonds? So we were, I was in pretty much with my 401k, I was in pretty much 100% in stocks. And over the last year, my 401k has really crashed over the last couple of years. And so I'm about at 120,000 left in the 401k. And I was looking to put that into an IRA that I could do precious metals with.

Okay, yeah, very good. Yeah, I mean, the challenge is that, you know, if you look historically, it just doesn't do as well. And you know, any, you know, shorter period of time, you could prove that theory wrong. But I'm just talking over the long haul. There's a couple of things that work against the precious metals. First of all, I like owning the precious metals in particular gold. The reason though I wouldn't overweight in them, and you're right, I would say, you know, a forever allocation at 5% in physical gold makes sense to me. And then dialing that all the way up to 10%, perhaps that second 5% using maybe one of the tracking ETFs where you don't have to take possession of it makes sense. Because it's uncorrelated. So you've got, you know, it helps you to be properly diversified.

It is that fear trade that will do well if things, you know, get very difficult. But when you just look historically at the performance of gold, it doesn't match that of a properly diversified stock and bond portfolio, and it has more volatility. The other issue with gold is you've got the, you know, premium on the buy and the sell, you've got to store it, and it doesn't generate any income which stocks and bonds can, you know, if we just take the return, though, over the shorter period, you know, I mean, think about this. So gold was at $2,070 an ounce in August of 2020. And we're not even back to that level today. I mean, it's at $2,034, the spot price today.

So we're still below where we were three years ago. So, you know, I think and again, that's a very short period of time. So I wouldn't base my whole case on that. I'm just saying, you know, when you look over, you know, a longer period of time, yes, there's a case to have it.

But I don't think you can make the case that you should overweight there for the reasons that I mentioned. But give me your thoughts on that. So my thoughts were, you know, by 2020, my stock stocks were up at, you know, 135,000. So if I would have bought partially precious metals, I would have stayed pretty close. But because of the stock market, you know, the crashing and everything with the changes that have happened, I've lost quite a bit. So that's what I was thinking it would at least been stable versus I wouldn't have made a lot of money, but I would at least been stable in the sense that I didn't lose a lot.

Yeah, that was my thought. Sure, no, and I can certainly appreciate that, Keith, I guess the only thing I would say is, you know, just at the end of 2023, we hit an all time high on the S&P 500. There's never been higher in the ever. So, you know, it's always going to come down to, sure, you know, stocks can ebb and flow. Now, the question is always what stocks right or what bonds are in short duration bonds or long duration bonds? Are we in tech or are we in, you know, health care, you know, when it comes to stocks, and that's why we need to be properly diversified.

But if you just take the 500 largest companies in the US, the S&P 500, you know, we've never been higher than we were, you know, just a month ago. So I think, you know, all that to say that's why we we diversify and we say, OK, you know, perhaps we hire an adviser to manage the stock portion of the portfolio. And, you know, that doesn't mean they're always going to get it right either. They may be in a sector of the market that's not performing as well as another. Clearly, although the breadth of the rally was stronger and wider at the end of last year until the last couple of months of 2023, it was still fairly narrow. You know, the the magnificent seven tech giants, you know, were the ones that were driving a lot of that performance. And I realize that's a fairly narrow swath of the overall stock market, if you will.

But it did expand, you know, in the strength and the rally at the end of the year. So what do you do with all of that? Well, I guess, you know, what I would say is let's make sure you're getting wise counsel. Let's have a really thoughtful and disciplined approach to the investments, not looking at short term moves, but taking a long time horizon, because if we're in a properly diversified portfolio with somebody who can manage it and we're looking over decades, because remember, even once you reach retirement, if the Lord tarries and you're in good health, you need that money to last, let's say, 30 plus years. So you still are able to take that long term perspective, even though you know, you're you're transitioning into a retirement season of life.

So what do you do with that? Well, at the end of the day, you're the steward and need to make that call. What I would say is let's get wise counsel, have a rules based approach to investing, don't jump in and out based on the movements on a short term basis. And let's be properly allocated stocks, bonds and precious metals. So that would be my best advice to you, my friend.

But take that, pray about it and you make that call. We appreciate you being on the program. We'll be right back. Thanks for joining us today on Faith and Finance Live. I'm Rob West. We've got a few lines open today for your questions. Three, in fact, 800-525-7000 is the number to call.

Let's go to Chicago. Hi, Helen, how can I help you? Hi, actually, this question is about my daughter. My husband and I, we're actually pretty financially set. We've always 30 years, we're in our 60s. But we've never done a Roth, anything with Roth because it just our income was too high.

So my daughter asked a question. She's 30 and her income is getting about a 150, 160. And she already gives to 401k at her work. I believe it's a Roth. But the question she asked me was, should I open up a Roth IRA, but my income's getting too high.

So why open that? I mean, she's a little bit financially savvy, but I really didn't know how to answer that. And also, it kind of, I told her about financial planning, because my husband and I do Kingdom Advisor in Ron Blue Company. But she just said, that's too much money. And then I don't want online.

So I just, I guess this is a two prong question, because they don't want to spend that, but they don't want to do the online, but it does cost. So anyway, just your advice. Yeah, well, I certainly appreciate that, Helen. And, you know, I think, starting with the retirement contributions, first of all, you know, where an advisor could come in as helping her just understand what is her ultimate savings target or goal, really helping her kind of plan for the future and plot out the current trajectory she's on if she were to just max out her Roth 401k, and where she would end up in retirement, just running some assumptions, but also putting that alongside the other goals and objectives she has, maybe buying a home or giving more generously or whatever that is, so that she can establish a financial finish line. And it's hard, you know, to do that on your own.

You certainly can. But it's also, I think, helpful to have some wise counsel and then some accountability along the way. Somebody who's meeting with you a couple of times a year like you all do with your Ron Blue advisor just to say, hey, how are we doing? And remember, we said this was important. So, you know, we're off track there.

You know, what is it going to take for us to get back on track? And, you know, those kinds of things just to challenge your thinking a little bit, I think, is always helpful. In terms of other savings vehicles besides a 401k, assuming she is, in fact, maxing that out, because she can put in, you know, quite a bit of money. I mean, this year, you can put in up to $23,000 in your 401k. So that would allow you to do, you know, quite a bit of savings. Beyond that, I do like the IRA. And as you said, there are income limits.

For this year, it's going to be $161,000 for a single tax filer. And so if she's under that, she'd be able to put in up to $7,000 there as well and have that tax-free growth. There is also something called a back door IRA.

And this is where an advisor could be really helpful. And essentially what it is, is it's for these people who make too much money to make a Roth IRA contribution. The back door Roth IRA essentially lets you, and this is absolutely legal, it's part of the IRS tax code, it allows you to make a non-deductible traditional IRA contribution, which because you have high income, you don't get to take the deduction.

But that's okay. So you're putting in after-tax money, you're above the income limit, but then you can turn around and convert it to a Roth IRA. And that doesn't have any tax consequences. And then from that point forward, it grows tax-free, just like in a Roth IRA contribution, what if you made it directly in?

You'd want to probably use an advisor because you want to make sure you do it properly, but there are ways to put money into a Roth, even if you're beyond those income limits. And that would be another perfect example of why an advisor is helpful because he or she would be able to introduce these ideas along the way. Now, I realize she's saying it's a lot of money and it is, but we think about getting wise counsel and paying for things that involve a significant part of our lives. I mean, it's why we pay an attorney to do a will because we want it done properly.

It's why we pay somebody to perform surgery if we need a surgery in the hospital. And I think for the same reason, being a wise steward of God's money, somebody who's skilled in money management and planning, financial planning, who also understands the heart of God and biblical wisdom can provide an invaluable service to her that she'll enjoy the dividends of throughout the rest of her life, even though there is a cost to it. So anyway, I've thrown a lot at you there, Helen.

Give me your thoughts. Yeah, I told her that. I think what it is, it's, it's, you know, she doesn't have, she, her retirement, uh, balance probably is under a hundred K. You know, she just kind of came out of grad school. She's been working. So, you know, I mean, I just to help her to know, I mean, for her at this stage of her life, a kingdom advisor, like finding the right fit, like my husband and I, we're in a different our assets are much higher. We own a house. So cause somebody told me that if people for those who have under a hundred thousand, they'll take anybody. They're probably not that good.

I know that sounds like a strange thing to say, but no, no, I totally understand that. One of the things we're doing, it's not out yet. It'll be out later this year is we're actually going to completely overhaul our find a CKA webpage and you'll actually be able to put in what are the assets under management that you have and what are your finance, you know, what are your needs and you'll be matched with an advisor. Well, you'll get a list of CKS that are most suited to your stage of life and income and assets. And there are some wonderful advisors. In fact, one of the new trends in financial services, which would be very well suited for her is, um, a subscription based model, uh, where you pay a monthly subscription.

You know, a lot of these Jen, why, uh, you know, folks are used to paying for media subscriptions and other things. Well, you can get a subscription to a certified financial planner who, you know, will charge you on that basis. Um, also the other thing I would mention is Ron blue trust, which actually just changed their name to blue trust. Um, they have a division called everyday steward and it's a division of the firm for people in the stage of life that would be more consistent with your daughter. And, uh, you know, they work on more of an hourly basis to help you create a financial plan. And it's not driven on the normal assets under management model that you might be, you know, in on the, on the normal trust side. So you may want to encourage her to look at the everyday steward division of, uh, of Ron blue trust. Okay. Just one last thing, because it, it's sort of, she even mentioned it, I have heard this, you know, when you're dealing with somebody who doesn't have, I mean, I trust the kingdom advisor certified community, but when they're underneath, uh, under a hundred thousand, when they don't have much, they're going to try to push more, uh, to make commissions and fees, you know, I mean, sorry, push products because they just, you know, you don't have the assets.

Yeah. But again, that's where you've got to have the right advisor with the right business model. And so if you're going with somebody who's only way of being compensated by taking on a smaller account is through commissions, then perhaps you're not with the right advisor. And there are plenty of them out there now that will just do the straight planning, uh, based on a fee or an hourly way and hourly, uh, charge. And there's no commissions, there's no assets under management charge, nothing. And you literally just pay them for their time on an hourly rate to put together a financial plan.

And then there's even those that offer a subscription model. So I think you need to do just a bit more digging because I hear what you're saying. And I, I think there is some truth to what you're saying, but there's a whole segment of the financial services landscape that it sounds like you're not familiar with that really could be a great fit for her, including everyday steward at blue trust. Thanks for your call, Helen. Back with much more right around the corner. Hey, great to have you with us today on faith and finance live. Let's head right back to the phones to Tennessee. Hi summer.

How can I help? Hello? Can you hear me? I sure can.

Yeah. How are you? Hey, sorry about that. I'm good. How are you doing? Great.

How can I help you? Hey, so it's crazy that I have this question but I have a daughter and she is two and I don't know. I just started thinking the other day about one day her getting married if that's what the Lord allows. And you know, it's crazy that I'm here in this stage of my life, but here we are. And I feel like I should start my husband and I, we should start planning to save for that or for college.

And I don't know which one to start with or the best way to go about that. Yeah, that's great. Well, I'm so delighted to hear that you're thinking about that. Now you guys haven't already picked out the little guy, have you? Well, you know what?

There is someone in mind, but we're not going to push it on her. It's just fun to talk about now, but we'll let her decide. That's great. I love it.

Well, I was just kidding, but that's so fun. You know, I think this is great. The first thing you can do is, I mean, apart from, you know, just you all throughout the years and, you know, I would probably start when she's three or four beginning to talk about the fact that God created and owns everything and that we get to be his money managers and eventually talking about give, save, spend and, you know, just, you know, the value of hard work and all of these things. Obviously, what you all model and teach her and talk about are going to be critical. But in terms of just the financial preparation for that summer, a couple of thoughts. Number one is, you know, the best thing you can do for her financially is to make sure that your financial house is in order, you and your husband. So, yeah, I would make sure that you all are giving at the level you feel like God has called you to and make sure that you all are saving diligently for the long term for retirement, you know, at an appropriate level. And I would, you know, then, you know, assuming all of those things are in place, now we can start thinking about saving for other things like, you know, college and weddings. But I would agree that you all starting sooner rather than later is a great idea. I mean, it's kind of like the idea of retirement savings if we, you know, start putting away money in our 20s.

You know, we don't need anywhere near as much through the power of compounding to get to our ultimate goal in retirement than in our 30s or our 40s or certainly not our 50s. And so the sooner you guys start, the better, because as we know, weddings are expensive, college is really expensive. And so, you know, you all being thoughtful about that now, assuming the rest of your financial house is in order, makes a lot of sense.

Now, how would you do that? Well, I would recommend you do that in an account that's in the name of you and your husband, not in a custodial account. The only reason is if it's in a custodial account, then it becomes her asset at the age of majority, which is typically 18. So if she's not spiritually or financially mature enough at that point to take all this money, then you want to be able to control the time in which she gets it.

And so that's why we keep it out of the custodial account. So what I'd probably do if you want it, you know, not earmarked for college is just open a custodial account at, let's say, Charles Schwab or, you know, Fidelity, a joint account in the name of you and your husband, and then just start, you know, systematically contributing to that. Maybe you could set up an automatic transfer out of every paycheck right into that account. And then you could either use one of the robo advisors like the Schwab Intelligent Portfolios where it just automatically puts it in index funds and just captures the broad moves of the market over the next 16 plus years. Or you could use one of the faith based investing mutual funds and make sure that it's aligned with your values.

But in either case, a systematic contribution would be great. And then you're doing what's called dollar cost averaging so that no matter where the market is, up, down, sideways, you're constantly just reinvesting the same amount. And then you'd be sitting on obviously a substantial nest egg down the road. Now, if you wanted to earmark a portion of it specifically for college, I would use the 529 education savings plan because that's going to allow you to put in after tax dollars, but it's going to grow tax free, which could give you a lot of upside that's not taxable over the next 16 years. The difference, though, is that it has to be used for qualified educational expenses or when you take it out, you're going to pay taxes and penalties on it.

The only thing, though, that you can do with that is you could convert it to a Roth IRA for her and then she'd have access to it much further down the road. So that's a new thing that has come out as of late. So let me just stop there and get your questions. No, that's all really good.

I'm just trying to process everything. Thankfully, my husband is really good with finances and we are saving and giving to church and all the things that you said we are doing. But I feel like I would be the one to think about, oh, we need to save for her wedding because, you know, being the girl, it's on my mind because I was my parents and know the stress of it when you don't have money for a wedding.

And so he's good with everything else. So I just wanted to call you to get your advice. So here's what I would do for that is, you know, the starting point might be for you just to have some fun coming up with a budget for that.

So, you know, you've obviously been through it yourself. You could look at what the averages are and you could land on, OK, if the wedding was today here, here's how much we would want to have available to give to her for that purpose and whatever that number is. And then you could get in, get online and just run an inflation calculator on it. There's a million of them that are all free and just say, OK, what is the equivalent of that amount in 16 years just based on three or four percent inflation?

And then you'd come up with a goal for that. And then you could also go to saving for college dot com and run the same kinds of calculations for college. And they will tell you what number you need to be using, depending on whether you want her to be able to go to a private school or an in-state public school. And you could kind of you and your husband wrestle through that and at least come up with a total that's your goal for what you would want to be able to have saved for the wedding plus college. And whatever that number is, it's probably bigger than you imagined it would be. But whatever it is, you can back into using an investment calculator online again free.

How much would we need to put away every month with, let's say, a seven percent growth rate in order to achieve that ultimate desired goal for both the wedding and college? And then you'd have your number. Now, it may be a number that you all can't swing. And that's OK, because, you know, she's going to maybe get scholarships and grants and, you know, all kinds of other options, you know, out there for you all to consider. But at least you'd have a number that you're shooting for.

And then you could kind of back into a monthly amount you would need to put away. Right. OK. Well, thank you. I appreciate it. You are so welcome.

Hey, all the best to you and and your little one and your husband. We appreciate you calling today. God bless you. Let's go to Michigan. Dan, you guys have a big football game tonight, huh? No. Well, Sam, but yeah, OK. I'm a hockey fan, but your ministry, Rob. Thank you very much. Yeah. My wife and I have a very credible investment broker.

We're really pleased with him. However, from time to time, like a lot, probably a lot of other people, I will I will look online and just kind of listen to especially this time of year with a new New York that we're in people in terms of like what what are their thoughts on the new year? I listen to once in a while to Dave Ramsey, Warren Buffett once in a while. However, having said that, it's fairly common. In fact, I have on the screen right now something where somebody will predict fact that I'm reading it right now.

U.S. economist predicts twenty twenty four will bring biggest biggest crash of our lifetime. You see those kind of things from time to time, Rob. And I guess my question is, who are a couple, two or three folks that that you really pay attention to when you see something like that online? Is this just advertising stuff that I should just pay no attention to? Or when is there some things there that a person ought to take a serious listen to? Yeah, it's a great question, Dan.

And I wouldn't minimize that at all. I think you're right. I do think you need to be on your guard about things you read online and things you get in your email and see on social media, because a lot of that and I'm not saying there's not any truth to any of that, but a lot of that is just to get you to click or get you to subscribe or get your attention, get you to take some action. You asked two or some names. Well, two of them appear on this program each week. Every Friday, Jerry Boyer joins us. Jerry is a world class economist, helped to it even though they didn't take all of his advice. He helped to advise the Bush White House and, you know, frequently and is a frequent contributor on not only and the on the thinking of CBC and Fox Business, but also in a lot of publications. He is a voice of reason that I think is could be really helpful.

Another one is the one that we have here on Mondays. Bob Doll is a Wall Street veteran, a committed Christ follower and just somebody who really is wise and astute to these issues. Another one that we don't feature here, but I would just throw out his name is Brian Westbury of First Trust, another believer who's just really thoughtful about his analysis of the markets and the economy. So I would just throw out those three.

There's obviously a lot more, but those are three that trusted voices that that I would throw out in terms of, you know, should you be concerned? Obviously we've got a lot of headwinds coming at us, notably just demographics and the shrinking population, not to mention rising debt levels and gridlock on Washington and just a whole host of issues. We're still the largest economy in the world. I wouldn't bet against the U.S. economy and most notably because, you know, ultimately we need to look to the Lord and place our trust in Him. So I would continue to follow wise biblical principles of living on less than you earn, investing prudently and on a diversified basis.

But I wouldn't get caught up in the fear mongering that we see online so often. So hopefully that helps you, my friend. We appreciate you checking in with us. It was a great question. Faith in Finance Live is a partnership between Moody Radio and Faith by. Thank you to Chris, Stan, Amy and Jim. We'll see you tomorrow. Bye bye.