Helping Your Divorced Daughter

Divorce is always a tragic thing, but even more so when it happens to your child.

I am Rob West. Parents who see a daughter go through a divorce have some tough questions to answer. How much and how do we help? Financial teacher Ron Blue joins us today with his views on the topic? Then it's on to your calls and questions at 800-525-7000.

That's 800-525-7000. This is Faith and Finance Live! Biblical wisdom for your financial decisions. Well, Ron Blue doesn't really need an introduction, but I'll give him one anyway.

He's co-founder of Kingdom Advisors, author of a shelf full of books on biblical finance, a mentor of mind, and a dear friend in Christ. Ron, great to have you back with us. As always, Rob, it's terrific to join you.

Appreciate the invitation. We love it, Ron. And, you know, this is an important topic, helping a daughter who's going through a divorce. It's probably something we should talk about more often, do you think?

Yeah, I do. Unfortunately, you know, 50% of marriages end up in divorce, and it's something that is becoming more and more common in our society. So divorce is very real, and it'll be good to talk about it a bit.

Yeah, it will. And I know you would agree that being a single parent is one of the hardest jobs there is, and financially it's really challenging. This is something, though, this topic, Ron, that's very personal for you and Judy, isn't it?

Yeah, it is. Our third child, a daughter, went through a divorce after just a few years of marriage. She had one son that was born kind of during the divorce process, and so we had some tough questions to answer, and you don't plan for these things, really, in the sense of, now what are we going to do? Because you don't know all of the circumstances. So we did go through that, and we could spend a lot of time talking about what we learned, but what we learned is it's hard, because you're dealing emotionally, physically, spiritually, financially, all of those issues enter into it.

Yeah. Well, let's dig into that, Ron. How did you and Judy make that decision on how much and how to help? I'd say, Rob, that we made it on an ongoing basis, and I think that's an important thing to remember is because you can't kind of say, this is it, and live with that because you don't know how things are going to work out. You know, the relationship between the divorced couple, how is that going to work out? And what about your daughter in this particular case?

How is she going to finance herself when she's a single mom? That's a hard, hard thing. And I think one of the biggest things is that people feel like they failed. And there's the emotion of failure, and how do you support a child who feels like they failed? And then again, when now they've got siblings. So we had to decide, you know, how do we help her financially, vis-a-vis her siblings? And we came to the conclusion on something that I had written that if you love your children equally, you'll treat them uniquely, and she was in a unique situation. So it kind of, it didn't matter with the other children. We didn't have to treat them the same way we were going to treat our daughter. And we didn't. Yeah, and Ron, I know one of your goals throughout this process was to be able to help, but then release her once again, to self-sufficiency.

What did that look like? Well, it took time. I think we were involved in helping her for probably six years before she got remarried. And she then had to kind of figure out a career that she could be self-supporting. And so we did a lot of babysitting. We spent a lot of time with her. We spent a lot of time, in fact, probably, you know, we've got 13 grandchildren, and we may be the closest to her one son, who's now 23 years old.

But we're really close to him because we were a large, large part of his life. Yeah. And Ron, I suspect prayer was a big part of this as well, right? Oh, prayer and friends. Yeah, that's great.

That's one of the big parts. Well, Ron, we just scratched the surface on this, but there's a huge need here and a wonderful opportunity. And I know you've been an encouragement to our listeners today. Thanks for stopping by. Well, thanks for asking me, Rob.

I enjoyed it. That's Ron Blue, author of Master Your Money and frequent contributor here at Faith in Finance Live. All right, your calls are next. The number, 800-525-7000.

That's 800-525-7000. I'm Rob West, and this is Faith in Finance Live. 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. Well, it's nice to have you with us today on Faith in Finance Live. I'm Rob West, and this is the program where we answer your financial questions, help you apply biblical wisdom to what you're considering in your financial life. So the only thing left is for your phone call, 800-525-7000.

We've got, let me count them up, five lines remaining, 800-525-7000. We'd love to hear from you today. All right, I'm ready to dive in. And we're going to begin in North Port, Florida.

Walter, go ahead, sir. Yes, thank you for having me. So I am 31 years old. I started my career assisted living community. Then I had another job at heating and cooling. And then I married my wife and moved to Florida, worked at a hospital.

Now I'm at a different hospital. Every job I've had a 401k or some kind of benefit, which I haven't done so good in keeping up with. And my question is, because I'm thinking to get a financial advisor or someone to help me out, but how do I really wrap my head about keeping track of all my money? Yeah, and specifically, just a financial plan, Walter, or an investment strategy or all the above? Yeah, all the above.

Okay, yeah. Well, I think you're in a great spot to go ahead and engage with a financial advisor. You know, a lot of times we think that, well, we need, you know, 500, a million dollars, you know, in order to be able to engage an advisor, and that's just not true. You know, there's planning functions that a financial advisor can offer early, even while you're still building wealth.

And then at some point, they can step in and help you manage it, either just giving you some counsel if it's in a 401k or actually through direct management if, you know, you have enough assets outside of a 401k that, you know, you meet their minimums and so forth. But I think you're in a great spot to do some planning just to look at, okay, where are we at in our financial life in terms of, you know, are we offsetting the risks that exist with the proper amounts of in types of insurance? You know, what are we doing toward retirement? What's our ultimate finish line? And are we on track for that? What vehicles are we saving in? What about lifestyle and cash flow?

And do we have a plan to handle that? If you have kids, what about college savings? And, you know, then you've got your estate plan and making sure that you've got a valid will. And you've thought through some of those decisions, even in your 30s, you need that.

So there's a host of things that can be covered, as well as minimizing taxes. And that's where a financial planner would often do what they call a comprehensive financial plan that would really look at all of these things that they would, you know, deliver to you. And then over time, they can serve a valuable role for accountability, because, you know, they can ask you hard questions and they can, you know, keep you all accountable to your goals.

You know, it's a great person to be able to ask your spouse questions to and, you know, allow you all to kind of work through, you know, your goals and plans and make sure that there's somebody there walking alongside you. So, where I would go next, Walter, if you don't have somebody in mind, is to our website at faithfi.com. That's faithfi.com. And right there at the top of the page, you can click the button that says, Find a CKA. And do a zip code search for a Certified Kingdom Advisor.

I'd interview two or three, make sure you're a good fit for their practice. And then I think that'll give you what you're looking for. Okay, great.

Thank you so much. I've seen there's tools I need working full-time. I just can't manage myself.

I guess all the resources and everything out there. So, thank you for that. Well, there's wisdom and a multitude of counselors, Walter. So, I think this is a great time for you to take advantage of that. Thanks for calling today. We appreciate you being on the program. Let's go to Memphis. Hi, Helen.

Go right ahead. Thank you for taking my call. I have a question about a friend that is very deep in debt, a Christian friend. And I try to get this person, I'm like, you know, it's great being debt-free.

I want that for you. And he spends, kid you not, $200 a month on bank fees, you know, withdrawals from ATMs or things that have bounced or whatever. And I just, he makes a good income. I just can't seem to impress on him how great life will be if he didn't have any debt and he didn't have to throw his money away. I was wondering if you can help me in some way to encourage him.

Yeah. Well, a couple of thoughts here, Helen. Number one, at the end of the day, he's going to have to make that decision for himself. You can't do it for him.

But I think there's a couple of things you can do. Number one is just by way of you living out the joy and the peace of mind that you have from being unencumbered, I would imagine would be somewhat contagious for him. So as you all interact and you have an opportunity to celebrate, not in a boastful way, but celebrate God's faithfulness and just the peace of mind that you have by living simply and owing nothing. You know, I think over time, especially if he has some mounting bills and it has some concern over his ability to pay, you know, that life that God God designed when we follow his principles and we follow his ways is contagious.

And so I think you just kind of living that out over time will take care of some of that. But secondly, perhaps you give him a gift of a book that would, you know, really help him to uncover God's design for money. And so I'd love to send you perhaps Howard Dayton's book, Your Money Counts, I think could be a great one. It certainly addresses this topic of debt from a biblical perspective, but it covers a host of other issues from lifestyle and spending plans to, you know, even talking about generosity and just really kind of is a great primer for biblical money management, Helen. And perhaps you give him that as a gift, you know, next time you see him and just say, hey, I found this to be useful. I want to pass it along. And if he's a reader, maybe it'll be something that blesses him.

But I think beyond that, you know, there's probably very little you can do other than, you know, praying for him that God would grip his heart around the opportunity to be faithful in money management. I agree with you. It just just stresses me. I'm debt free and it is a blessing. The Lord has really blessed me.

I know it is. And I'm delighted you shared that with our listeners today. And I appreciate your burden for your friend. And I'm confident that your presence in his life will be an encouragement to him.

And as you live out the ways of Jesus, hopefully he will be impacted by that and want to pursue that in his own life. So, Helen, stay on the line. We'll get your information.

I'll get a copy of Your Money Counts from Howard Dayton in the mail to you. It'll be our gift to you. We appreciate your call today. Well, folks, we're going to head into our first break here in just a moment.

But we do have some lines open today. So if you have a financial question, you'd love to wrestle with it. We'd love to talk to you about it.

You can call 800-525-7000. You know, here's the goal on this program. We want to help you see God as your ultimate treasure and money, a tool to accomplish God's purposes. Think about this. You know, money is a good gift, a creation from the Lord. The problem is when we worship the creator, excuse me, when we worship the creation over the creator, it's a distorted picture.

And that's what happens when sin enters the equation. So our goal is to renew our minds with scripture, to maintain an eternal perspective, to make God our ultimate treasure. And then everything else falls into place, including money.

But we've got to, you know, push away the world's message that says, your self-worth is equal to your net worth, that says you deserve to have these things, that says money will occupy and satisfy places that God was only intended to occupy. Let's do that together as we talk about a biblical worldview of money right after this break. We'll be right back. So glad to have you with us today on Faith and Finance Live.

I'm Rob West. We're taking our calls and questions today. All the lines are full. So if you get a busy signal, just be patient. We'd love for you to get through, but sit back and enjoy these great questions that we have coming in. Let's go right back to the phones to Chicago. Hi, Larry, go ahead. Hi, thank you for taking my call. I listen every day and pick up great tidbits for you. I'm about 65 years old and I'm financially secure and I want to do something for my grandson.

He's going to be two in August. And what I want to do is I want to make something as hands-free as possible because my daughter is not the most astute with taxes and I know I'm not going to be around forever. So mutual funds with regard to, you know, municipal bonds are okay.

And I've done a uniform gift to minors with my daughter previously, but I was around to manage it. So is there any suggestions you have that I could like throw 20 grand at here or there or anywhere and kind of not worry about it again? Yeah, it's a great question, Larry.

And perhaps one of the indexes would be a solution for you that would work well. So it would not be a systematic contribution. You're looking at a one-time contribution, probably. Yeah, a one-time contribution that I really, nobody really has to keep track of the tax consequences. And I don't know how that's going to happen because I know those are the two things that are always going to happen, right?

Taxes and getting called home. Yeah, exactly right. Yeah, I mean, somebody's going to have to handle the taxes and depending upon how this account is titled is going to ultimately determine who's responsible for paying the taxes. The only challenge with the UTMA or the UGMA, which is a custodial account, is that it becomes the child's asset at the age of majority. So when she turns 18, if she's either not spiritually or financially mature enough to handle it, it's her money and she can do with it what she wants. So are you comfortable with that or would you rather you or your daughter be the one to decide when she gets it? No, they let them fly on their own. They'll make their own mistakes and learn from it. Okay.

All right. So then you could do a custodial account because I suspect, I mean, along the way, she probably won't have, you know, much in the way of income. And, you know, then you wouldn't have to worry about it. With that custodial account, you know, the custodial accounts are subject to what's called the kiddie tax. So this rule applies to unearned income up to a certain threshold.

And then over that threshold, the child pays taxes at the parent's rate. So somebody is going to have to look after that just to make sure that the filings happen appropriately. But it should be fairly simple.

I mean, I think the key is to put this in something where you don't need active oversight of it. And that's probably going to be one of the index solutions where you just pick a broad market index, you drop the money in and then you're just knowing, okay, I'm capturing the broad moves of the market. Maybe it's the S&P 500, you know, or the Russell 1000.

So you're not picking winners and losers. You're just saying as the broad market does well, this account is going to do well over time. And then obviously there will be, you know, taxes that will have to be paid along the way, you know, for any distributions, meaning dividends. But, you know, until it's sold, there's not going to be, you know, much in the way of taxes that will have to be paid, if anything, given that it's in that custodial account. So you could, you know, go to a Schwab, for instance, and open like the Schwab intelligent portfolios where they kind of use one of these robo advisors to manage it for you. It's very low cost, probably one fifth of one percent a year.

And, you know, it would make sure that it's properly diversified among largely stocks, but probably a smaller allocation of bonds, but only using the exchange traded funds. And, you know, as long as your daughter could hand that over to a CPA or somebody who's filing her taxes, then they can include it. Any chance for a Roth IRA or a regular IRA for the young guy? She has or he, the child, has to have earned income. And so if they have any earned income, they could contribute or you could on their behalf up to the amount of earned income until you reach the annual limit for the year, which happens to be, you know, seven thousand for this year.

But if they don't have earned income, they're not working, then the the IRA is not an option. Well, thank you so much. I really appreciate you doing what you do. Happy to do it, Larry. And thanks for your call and your kind remarks, sir. I appreciate you.

Let's stay in Chicago. Hi, Sally. Go ahead. Hi. Thanks for taking my call.

I have a couple of questions. I just turned 69 a couple of weeks ago and I have about three hundred thousand dollars in 401k. And what I'm interested in, I've talked to a couple of people that have annuities and I was wondering if you can explain the lifetime benefit of annuity and how does that really work? The other thing is I also am by myself, I'm divorced and I don't have any children and I'm kind of worried about what's going to be happening with my long term care. If if you have any input on that and how do I go about obtaining that?

OK. Yeah. So you're probably we're talking about what's called for the first part of the question, a single premium immediate annuity. It can be also called an income annuity. And basically it's designed to give you peace of mind and make sure you never outlive your retirement savings. So usually you your lump sum is then, you know, paid in from a 401k or other investments. And then, you know, you can either let that grow or you can annuitize it, which then converts it into an ongoing guaranteed stream of income for a specified period of time or for a lifetime.

And then, you know, eventually you can make withdrawals on that. So is that the kind of thing you're looking for? I believe so, yes. Yeah. So what I would do, I'm sorry, go ahead. I just said I got some information from a friend that did that, and she's getting, I believe, about seven thousand dollars a month. And she also had a long term care combined with that.

And I really couldn't understand everything that she was trying to tell me in a short period of time. Yeah. Got it. All right.

Let's do this. I'm going to take a quick break. If you'll hold the line, let's pick this up on the other side of the break and we can talk more about this guaranteed annuity and long term care along with it.

These are some great questions, Sally. I look forward to unpacking that a bit more with you. Stay with us on Faith and Finance Live. We'll be right back. Great to have you with us today on Faith and Finance Live.

I'm Rob West. We're taking our calls and questions today. All the lines full.

So we're going right back to the phones. Before the break, we were talking to Sally in Chicago. She's got almost three hundred thousand in a 401K. She just turned sixty nine. She's looking to get an annuity that would pay her an income stream. Her friend has an annuity that also has long term care included.

And she's wondering about whether or not that makes some sense. And Sally, as I was sharing before the break, you know, some of the benefits of annuities are being able to take a lump sum like you have, convert it to a guaranteed return, which gives you peace of mind and you get tax deferral as it's growing. So it's continuing to grow in a tax deferred environment, just like you are in the 401K.

And then at some point down the road, you could convert that to an income stream or you could do it right away if you needed the money right now. The other option is what you referred to as adding long term care. You know, a lot of times these will be called long term care annuities. And basically, it's just a combination of one of these fixed annuities with long term care insurance. And so, you know, the benefit there is that, number one, the underwriting is more liberal.

So traditional long term care insurance insurers are pretty strict about who they'll ensure. The long term care annuities aren't as stringent. So that's a benefit. You continue to get the tax deferral. And then normally you would take out the interest from an annuity and it would count as taxable income. But if you take it as long term care insurance benefits, that's not taxable.

And then you still get the guarantees inside it. Now, what you need to know in terms of maybe some of the downsides is you often with a long term care insurance policy, you'll get coverage from day one. Whereas with the annuity, with the long term care insurance rider, it may take time for that to vest. And so you can't get that benefit right away. It also requires often if it's a single premium policy that you come up with the money right up front. So, you know, these things are complex, but this could solve for a couple of things you're looking for, namely, you know, a peace of mind type investment where you're not taking any risk, a reasonable rate of return and knowing that you have the benefits of the long term care, which in this season of life, perhaps is the single biggest risk you have, just given the fact that, you know, nursing home care can run nine, ten thousand dollars a month. And so, you know, if something's going to erode your assets, it's most likely going to be related to health care. So I think your next step, if this sounds attractive, would be to get with an advisor who could help you think through all of these options, even help you determine what would be the best company and secure the policy if, in fact, you know, that's the direction you decide to go. Does all that make sense, though?

Yes, it does. The question that I have, like on that amount of money and about three hundred thousand, how much do you an average you think you would get a month as a secure income? Yeah, you know, there's really no way to tell without running one of these illustrations just because it involves not only your age and the balance, but the medical underwriting. And then also, you've got to look at, you know, the impact of the long term care insurance because then it's not going to grow quite as quickly.

So I would recommend that, you know, rather than me giving you a number here, just kind of off the cuff, I'd rather you have some actual illustrations run that factor in all of your details and then, you know, see if that's going to meet your needs, because I understand you're also solving for a monthly income need to cover your bills. And so that's going to be a key part of this. Right, right. Thank you so much. That was very helpful. I really appreciate it. Do you, by any chance, have anybody here in Chicago that you would recommend to speak with?

Yeah, I would reach out to a certified kingdom advisor and I'd probably call two or three and talk to them over the phone and just get a feel for who might be the best fit given your age and stage of life and the things that you're looking for, your needs. And so the way to do that is on our website. Are you comfortable using the internet?

Yes, yes. Okay, so just head to faithfi.com. That's faithfi.com. And then right there at the top of the page, it'll say find a CKA and that stands for certified kingdom advisor.

And then you can search by your zip code and you'll see all the CKAs there and in your area and you could reach out to two or three and do a phone interview. Great. Thank you so much. God bless you for everything you do every day. And you too, Sally. Thanks for being on the program. We appreciate it.

Let's stay in Chicago. Greg, go ahead. Oh, thank you for taking my call. The question that I have is, pertains to required minimum distribution. I work for the federal government and so I have a thrift savings program and I understand that the current age where you have to take a required minimum distribution is 72? Yes. Is that correct?

That is correct. Well, yeah, and it's going up to 75. But yeah, for most folks currently it's 72. Okay, so if I'm 72 and I'm still working, am I still required to take that distribution?

No. Yeah, so if you are still working, you do not have to take the required minimum distribution until you retire. And this applies really to any retirement account that would normally be subject to an RMD. If you're still employed, then you don't have to take that required minimum from the plan that your current employer sponsors. Now, that does not apply if you have other accounts. So IRAs, Simple, SEP, retirement plans from previous employers, those would all have a required minimum even if you're still working.

But for that plan with your current employer, as long as you're still working and you don't own more than five percent of the business, which you don't with the U.S. government, and you have that employer-sponsored plan, then you do not have to take that RMD until you retire. And you said that that age is going to go up to 75. Is that predicted to happen this year? No, it comes a little later. So it was through the SECURE Act 2.0, and it's for retirees who reach age 74 after 2032. So it's down the road a ways.

Right now it's 72, and then it will eventually go to 73 in 2033, I believe it is. So it's going to be a while before it heads up, but it is continuing to move higher. But as long as I'm still working, I'm not required to take that distribution. From the plan with your current employer, that is true. Okay, well thank you.

That was the question that I had. Okay, very good. Thanks for your call today. We appreciate you being on the program.

Well folks, we're covering a lot of ground today, but we've still got room for a few more questions. We're also going to take some of your emails. You know, we love when you email us and ask your questions. You can do that, by the way.

Maybe you're in a situation where you can't get through today on the air, but you still have that question. You want to send it along. We'd love to tackle that as well. Just go to moodyradio.org slash finance. We're going to take a few of those right after this break. When we come back, we'll address I think three of your emailed questions.

Amy Rios is going to help me with that, and then we'll go back to the phones and tackle a few more questions today. This is Faith and Finance Live here on Moody Radio. I'm Rob West, and so thankful to have you along with us today as we make God our ultimate treasure and money a tool to accomplish His purposes. Hey, check out our website and make a gift while you're there. We're listener supported. You can do that at faithfi.com.

Just click give at the top of the page. We'll be right back. Great to have you with us today on Faith and Finance here on American, on Moody Radio.

I'm Rob West. Let's head to take some of your emails today before we go back to the phones. As I mentioned, feel free to send these along whenever you have them. If you have a question you're not able to get through on the radio, you can just click send that to us. Go to moodyradio.org slash finance.

You can type it in. And Amy, I understand you have a few of them today, right? I have three more for you today. And you ready to get started? Let's do it. Okay.

First off, we've got Mark. He writes, My house is worth about $750,000. And we owe $140,000 left on that 30-year mortgage.

The interest rate is 5.625 percent. If mortgage rates drop, at what point should I consider refinancing at a lower rate? Oh, yeah, that's a great question. And you know, Amy, a lot of people are going to be thinking about this because in the last year, they've locked in these rates that are much higher. And now we're expecting them to start falling. So everybody's going to be thinking about this.

We're expecting them to start falling. So everybody's going to wonder what's that right time to refinance. So number one is, I would say, just as a rule of thumb, try to get at least a percent and a half reduction before you do it. So, you know, I would be looking to get maybe four and an eighth before you refinance. And the reason is that the cost of refinancing can run you 3 percent or more. You know, so you have a $200,000 home, you know, that's $6,000 just in fees to refinance.

And so you obviously have to be able to recoup that. So the first rule of thumb is let's get, excuse me, at least a point and a half in terms of reduction of the interest rate. The second piece is you probably want to make sure that you're going to stay in the home just based on everything you know today for at least another five years. So I think, Mark, your goal is to get to four and a quarter and be able to stay five years beyond that. That's probably not going to happen this year. We're probably looking at next year at the earliest. Okay, good rules of thumb to keep in mind.

So next, Jane says, my husband and I recently moved cross country for a new job. We have $350,000 from the sale of our home in the bank. We are renting for $2,200 a month and we're praying about how long we'll stay in this state, but we're not sure. So average home costs here are about 40,000, excuse me, 400,000 for 40,000 would not be great. No, nothing to complain about there. So about 400,000, but our rent is just outrageous too.

So what do you recommend? Yeah, I did hear just as a sidebar, Amy, that, and I actually looked it up because I was fascinated by it. Amazon is actually selling houses now. Yeah. So for, I think it's 19,000 they'll deliver it and you kind of, it's, it's a tiny house, but literally the walls like pop out and you've got a house and you know, apparently a lot of younger folks are buying these.

You got to have a piece of property to put it on. You do. That's right. Yeah, absolutely. But yeah, fascinating.

Check it out. So this is a great question, Jane, and it's a tough decision. And I think the key there was when you said, we're praying about how long we'll stay in this state, but we're not sure. So as much as I'd love for you to own a home and be able to take advantage of the rising home values, and I don't want you to throw that $2,200 a month in rent away. I also don't want you to spend, you know, five or 6% in fees to buy a $400,000 home, even though you have a lot of money to put down only to turn around and decide this isn't the place for us. So I would say you probably want to think in terms of staying there for at least five years, preferably seven before it's worth it to buy that home. Otherwise I'd likely just keep renting. And you know, we did a program recently, Amy, where we talked about this idea of renting versus buying, you know, for a long time, we've always said, buy, buy, buy, as long as you can afford it, don't get overextended.

And now just because, you know, home prices are so high on top of high interest rates, this is one of those temporary unique seasons where it actually might make sense to rent. Yes. And just as you emphasized earlier, you know, and the person who wrote the email here, I lost her name, that is Jane, had mentioned about praying.

I mean, that's just such an important thing right now to keep in mind, just praying about what the Lord wants you to do and those kinds of decisions. So, okay. Finally, we have Sue. She says, my attorney said I can give each of my daughters and there has been 17,000 every year without any taxes. Would it be considered another gift if my sons-in-law give my daughters their gifts to put in my daughter's accounts? Would I have to pay taxes on there, on that then? And I think it's, she's saying that she wants to kind of just funnel it all to her daughters actually, you know. Yeah.

So this is an interesting question. Actually that annual gift exclusion that your attorney mentioned increased this year. So for 2024, that's now 18,000 per person instead of 17,000. You can actually give the gift to both of them if you want it. So you could do 18,000 to your daughter and 18 to your son-in-law, that would make it 36.

If you just want to give it to your daughter only, that's fine. And with her being married, that's marital property. So if she takes that gift and deposits it into a joint account, let's say with her husband, that's not another gift.

That's just one gift from you to her. And then that's marital property at that point. Beyond that, I would also say, even if you go above the 18,000, it's still not taxable, Sue. You're just going to have to tell the IRS about it. It's IRS gift tax form 709. You have to declare the gift. That's just going to eat away at your lifetime exclusion of 13.61 million. And that's a big number, Amy.

You know, you have to get up to 13 million before you pay taxes on it. Yeah. I don't think either of us are going to experience that. No, I don't think so.

I don't think so. Well, always great information. Thank you so much, Rob. And we love hearing from you guys. Just keep those questions coming.

You can go to moodyradio.org forward slash finance, and there's a form you can fill out there to leave Rob a question. Very good. Thanks, Amy. All right. Let's head back to the phones.

Antoinette in Chicago, how can I help? I say I have a question. I have different properties. I mean, multiple properties in one state and then another one in a different state. But my question is, in order for me to leave it to my children, what do you recommend is the best way to go? Is a will and a living trust or what would be my options? Yeah.

Yeah, it's a great question. And when you have the key, I think to your question here, Antoinette, is multiple properties, especially in separate states. I think a living trust or what's also called a revocable trust could be a great option for you. Revocable meaning you can change it at any time. And it's a great way to pass property outside of probate and to have somebody, a trustee, step in and manage those properties until they're sold through the trust itself if you're incapacitated or unable to do that. So I would talk to your estate planning attorney about this, whoever drafted your will. I still would have a valid will.

You always want a will. That's going to cover anything not in the trust, including your personal effects and furniture and things like that. But with multiple properties, a revocable trust can make a lot of sense, probably run you somewhere to three thousand dollars to put into place. And then you'd have to retitle the homes, the properties in the name of the trust. But it can create for some really efficient and effective wealth transfer at death. OK, so revocable trust and definitely good to have a will. Absolutely.

Yes, ma'am. OK. And then if they were with them when they have to be distributed, how would that work after that? Yeah, it would be according to the trust documents. So you would give instructions in the trust as to what's to happen.

Normally, it would just be liquidated. So the trustee that's named in the trust. Remember, all this with the trust is happening outside of the probate court.

So it's not subject to the probate process. The trustee would then be charged with the responsibility of if this is what the trust said, you know, distributing the assets, including, you know, selling the properties if that was the plan and then distributing the proceeds to whoever is named in the trust as the beneficiaries. So all of that would be spelled out in the trust. Now, if you wanted to keep the properties beyond your life and that was the plan, they could continue to stay on in the trust so long as you had a plan to maintain them and, you know, cover the expenses associated with them. And, you know, there would need to be assets in the trust to maintain the properties.

But typically, they'd be sold and the trustee would take care of that for you. And then, so my children then would have to pay the once this, let's say liquidated fold, then each individual, whatever percentage they get, they have to pay the taxes, correct? Yeah, but there wouldn't be any taxes until you get above $13 million. There's no inheritance tax. Well, there is no inheritance tax. The estate tax doesn't kick in until your estate's above $13 million today.

So as long as your estate, a total estate, all the assets are less than $13 million, there is no estate tax to be paid and they wouldn't pay any tax on it by inheriting it either. Okay, so it's a revocable trust and that can, that is good for any state. Yes, it is.

It is. Although I would check with the attorney in your state to draft it because state laws do apply and because these properties are in multiple states, your attorney will be able to make sure that the language is such that it's appropriate to cover the laws of the state. But yes, that revocable trust can hold properties from multiple states. Would you be able to recommend someone that I can speak to?

Yeah, you know what I can do? I don't have a specific attorney, but I will say that any of our certified kingdom advisors there in Chicago could refer you to a godly estate attorney. So I would just reach out, go to our website, faithfi.com, right there at the top of the page, click find a CKA, put in your zip code, and then I would call, you know, any one of those certified kingdom advisors and say, listen, I need an estate planning attorney and it's my understanding that you can refer me.

They all would have one or two that they work with and could make that referral. And again, the website is in... It's at faithfi.com, so that's faithfi.com, and then click find a CKA. Okay, thank you. All right, thanks for your call today. Dee, I'm so sorry we didn't get to your call. I'd love to get you on the program tomorrow.

Stay on the line. Our team will try to get you scheduled for that broadcast. Thanks for attempting to join us today.

We'll hope to talk to you real soon. That's going to do it for us today, folks. We're so thankful for our team. I certainly couldn't do this without them. Laura, Amy, you heard from her today, Dan, Jim, thankful for the rest of the team as well behind the scenes that makes all this possible. Faith in Finance Live is a partnership between Moody Radio and FaithFi. We'll see you tomorrow. Bye-bye.