Valentine’s Day with Gary Chapman

The following program was prerecorded, so our phone lines are not open. Happy Valentine's Day. Have you gotten that special someone a bunch of flowers, box of candy or a balloon or two? Hi, I'm Rob West.

Valentine's Day can be a great time to express love to your spouse or sweetheart, but do you always need to spend money to do it? Dr. Gary Chapman joins us today to talk about love and money, and we have some great calls lined up, but we won't be taking your live calls today because we're prerecorded. This is Faith and Finance Live, biblical wisdom for your financial decisions. Well, our guest, Dr. Gary Chapman is certainly well known. He's the bestselling author of the five love languages, and now you're speaking my language. Dr. Chapman, great to have you back with us. Well, thank you, Rob.

It's good to be with you. And a very appropriate day, given the subject matter you write on very frequently. Let me ask you, how should the five love languages play into gift giving at Valentine's Day? Well, I think for one thing, you need to know whether or not your spouse's love language is gifts. If it is, you best do it well.

But if it's not their primary, it's not as important. But I think because it's a national holiday celebrating love, I wouldn't let it pass by if I were you in a marriage without doing something to express love on Valentine's Day. The other thing I would say, Rob, don't be disappointed if you do something really, you think it's just really exciting and your spouse doesn't have the response you want them to have. Because if gifts is not their love language, they may not respond as happily as you think they should respond. Don't be disappointed and don't criticize them for that. Yeah, especially if you're a gift giver, that's your love language personally, you might expect them to reciprocate.

But if it's not, you're not going to get the same result, right? That's exactly right. That's great. Now, in your work as a pastor and a counselor, Dr. Chapman, how often do you see money become a challenge in marriage, even an obstacle to healthy communication? Well, you know, a lot of research indicates that differences over money is one of the biggest conflicts we have in a relationship. And I found that too, in my own marriage and in the early days of our marriage, it was one of those things. Of course, we didn't have any money when we first got married. But we still had problems on what to do with what little we had.

But yeah, I think through the years, I've counseled a lot of people for whom that was a problem. You know, one that I remember was pretty huge. When they got married, you know, her preference was to live in an apartment for several years and save up money to buy, you know, a larger house that they would really like to have. Now, his idea was get the big house now, because things are going to be much more expensive two or three years from now.

Well, she finally acquiesced, you know, and went with that. And they bought the big house. And they're back in my office now, two years after they bought the house. And she's saying, Dr. Chapman, we got rooms, we don't even have furniture in. And she said, the other thing is, I haven't bought a new dress in two years.

Yeah, I can't buy anything. I just feel like we're strapped because we bought this house, you know. I had to help them think through, you know, what's more important, your relationship or the house you live in? And I reminded them what Jesus said, life's meaning is not found in the things that we possess. Life's meaning is found in relationships, first of all with God, and then with each other.

That's so good. And so often, Dr. Chapman, you know, we come from obviously different backgrounds, money was handled differently, one might come where money was plentiful, the other a family that struggled financially, that plays into it as well, doesn't it? Absolutely. You know, our background and what we experienced growing up, as well as our personality, you know, because some people are savers, and some people are spenders. And, you know, we all have different personalities, different concepts. Listen, you will never marry someone that you don't have conflicts with. For one reason, God made us, and God doesn't make any two things alike.

We're told every snowflake is different. The person you marry is going to be different. So, yeah, we're going to have conflicts over money as well as a lot of other things in life. We have to learn how to solve those conflicts without arguing and trying to put the other person down and demean the other person.

Yeah, that's so important. Well, when we come back from our first break here today, we'll give you some thoughts. Dr. Chapman will give you some thoughts on how do you find that common ground? What are some of the keys to working together to have that growing marriage? And then specifically, what facilitates healthy communication around money in marriage? Well, here on Valentine's Day, we're talking money and marriage with Dr. Gary Chapman. We'll continue to talk about the love languages as well. There's five of them.

Do you know your spouse's love language? You need to. Dr. Chapman will unpack those for you a bit as well. We're celebrating Valentine's Day here on Faith and Finance Live with Dr. Gary Chapman, and we have much more to come just around the corner. So don't go anywhere. We will be right back. Let me tell you with us today on Faith and Finance Live. It's Valentine's Day, and we're celebrating that with our good friend, Dr. Gary Chapman. He's the author of The Five Love Languages, and now you're speaking my love language among many other books.

In fact, Dr. Chapman, we were talking before the program today. Your latest book just came out. I'm incredibly excited about it.

Share that with our listeners. Yeah, it's applying the five love languages to adopted children. The title is Loving Adopted Children Well. We think it's going to anerote it with a co-author who has two adopted children and who teaches at Liberty University in the counseling department. So we're excited about this book. Very good.

Well, it's going to be a great resource, I know, for a lot of folks. Well, we talked before the break, Dr. Chapman, about the differences that we each bring as a married couple to the marriage relationship. In one of your books, You're Speaking My Love Language, you write about the importance of couples identifying their differences, and you make the comparison of coach versus first class thinkers.

Tell us what those are and how they cause challenges. I don't know. How about you, Fly Rob? But you know, there's a difference in coach and first class.

Yes, there is. So people have those ideas. You know, first class thinkers, they always want the best of everything.

You know, the best shirt, the best dress, the most expensive, whatever, you know. Whereas the coach who thinks like, you know, sitting in a coach, they're thinking looking for a bargain. You know, the difference often arises when they're buying a car. You know, one of them wants all the things that I can get on this car.

The other is looking for simplicity and a little less price. Yes. So, you know, understanding the fact that we do have these different concepts in terms of marriage is very, very important as we focus on making money an asset to our marriage rather than a liability.

Yes. Now the goal, I would imagine, is not to make a coach thinker a first class thinker and vice versa. And if it's not about changing our spouse, what is the key to finding common ground? Well, I think they have to come to, first of all, understand the fact that it's okay for us to have different perspectives on this. But remember, we're a team. So we want to hear each other out and we want to focus on, okay, we're going to have different opinions now.

Let's hear it out, you see. I remember one couple, you know, he, before they got married, he'd take her out to these nice meals and all this kind of stuff. And she thought, man, this is wonderful. This guy really loves me.

You know, it was okay. You know, after they got married, he would take her out to a restaurant and she would always order the cheapest thing on the menu. And one time he said to her, I don't understand it. And why do you always order the cheapest thing on the menu? And she said, well, I just want to save us some money.

You know, she's thinking coach, save us some money. He said, yeah, but you make me feel like, you know, that I can't afford to buy you a good meal. He said, I want to buy you a good meal. So she called the waiter and said, waiter, change mine.

I want the filet mignon. He got his wish. But you see, she didn't understand that her ordering the cheapest thing on the menu was not an asset for him. It was a negative for him. It was like, you know, she feels like I can't support her. I can't give her something nice, you know. And once she found out that she changed her mind and got the filet.

That's right. And had a great meal. Well, communication is obviously critical when it comes to any facet of our marriage, but that certainly includes this area of money. So what have you found in your years of counseling couples as some of the keys to healthy communication, specifically in this area of money management? You know, I think the first thing is to learn to listen to each other.

As we've said already, we're going to have conflicts over money and other things, but learn to listen. And what I mean by listening is not just, you know, sitting there while they talk thinking about what you're going to say. Put yourself in their shoes. Realize they have a different background from you. They have different perspectives.

Let them share their thoughts and you try to look at the world through their eyes so that you can honestly say and ask questions if you need to. You can honestly say, you know, honey, I can see how you would think that way. I can see how that makes sense.

Now let me tell you where I'm coming from. And then you share your side and if they will listen to you and ask you questions to clarify, they can honestly say to you, well, you know, honey, yeah, I see where you're coming from and I can see how that makes sense. Now, how can we solve the problem? Because we're on the same team. We don't want to win an argument. You win an argument, your spouse lost.

It's no fun to live with a loser. Why would you create one, you know? So be different. Allow it to be different. But then now how can we solve the problem? And you look for something in the middle, you know, that maybe you can both agree on or maybe one of you will go to the other side and say, you know, I think in this situation, I think let's go with your idea.

Yeah, that's very good. You know, when we talk about money management on this program, we say it's important to start with your values and priorities. You know, where is God taking us as a couple and how can money be a tool to accomplish that? How important is it for couples to have common priorities and goals when it comes to managing their finances?

It's very, very helpful. In fact, I encourage couples to do that before they get married. So sit down and talk about, you know, what do you feel about, for example, what do you feel about giving? You know, if one of you grew up and you've always tied, give 10% of your money to God and the other one didn't do that, you better discuss that before you get married, you know, and let's decide what we're going to do. The more we get on the same page before we get married, the more likely we can follow that plan and pattern. But if you didn't do it before you get married, then you've got to do it somewhere along the line or are you going to be battling over these things, you know, week after week?

Yeah, very helpful. Let's talk for just a moment about the five love languages. Of course, words of affirmation, quality time, gifts, acts of service and physical touch. We've talked about gift giving in light of Valentine's Day, regardless of whether your spouse is a gift giver and that's their love language, you better have a gift ready by the end of the day today. But apart from Valentine's Day, Dr. Chapman, how should couples think about the five love languages, specifically in light of reconciling their differences about managing money? Well, I think if people learn each other's primary love language, and they speak it on a regular basis, and then drop the others in, you know, just for cherries on top of the ice cream, I think they create an emotional climate in which it's going to be easier to handle their conflicts.

Because when you feel loved by the other person, you know they're there for you, and you have that emotional sense of feeling loved, it creates a positive climate so that we can do what I suggested earlier, listen to each other empathetically and put ourselves in their shoes, and then focus on solving the difference rather than trying to win an argument with our spouse. So I think understanding the love languages and speaking their primary love language makes a huge difference in terms of solving conflicts about money. That's well said. Well, we're about out of time, just about 30 seconds left. What message do you want to leave with couples on this Valentine's Day? Well, I'd say make the most of today. You know, do something. Do something, but don't let it be the only time that you express love to them. And gifts is not the only way to express love.

Get your spouse's love language down, heavy doses of that, sprinkle in the others for extra credit, you're going to have a growing marriage. I love it. Dr. Chapman, always appreciate our time with you, sir. Thanks for stopping by. Thank you, Rob. Good to be with you. All right.

That's Dr. Gary Chapman. He's the author of The Five Love Languages and the author of Now You're Speaking My Language. Hey, it's probably too late for you still to get that reservation at your favorite restaurant, but it's probably not too late to go down to your bookstore and pick up Now You're Speaking My Language. So if you don't have a gift, maybe I just fixed that for you today and you can make it a great Valentine's Day. Just a quick reminder, we're not here today, so don't call in, but we're going to head to a break. I'm Rob West and this is Faith and Finance Live, biblical wisdom for your financial journey, helping you apply God's wisdom to the practical decisions you're making today. We'll be right back.

So thankful to have you with us today on Faith and Finance Live. I'm Rob West, your host. Now, our team is away from the studio today, so don't call in, but we lined up some questions in advance that I know will be helpful to you. All right, let's dive in today. We're going to begin in North Carolina. Thomas, go ahead. Thank you. I really appreciate your program. I really like your compliments about Labor Kent. He was a genuine, true Christian fellow, I tell you.

That's so true. My question is regarding this tax year, 2023, I have IRAs and the RMD requirements. Do I have until April 15th a withdrawal for 2023? I've been doing the withdrawals, the RMDs, for a few years now.

I'm 75, 76. I see. Yes, sir. No, you only have until April 1st for the year following the year you turn age to begin taking it. So that's only a first-year provision. From that point forward, you need to be taking your RMD by December 31st each year.

I'm in trouble. Is there any grace period to that at all? Do the IRAs have any understanding with that? Well, the key is to get it in as soon as you can because they'll have an excise tax on the shortfall. If you can show that it was due to a reasonable error and then you taking steps to remedy it, that penalty may be waived by the IRS.

So there is the ability potentially to have that waived. I would check. Do you use a CPA, Thomas?

No, I just do that. She's very good at what she does, but I do not have a CPA, no. Okay. Well, you should be able to take care of that. I would just get that in as soon as you can and then you could request a waiver. So if you feel that you missed the deadline due to reasonable error, then you can ask them to waive that excise tax. It's form 5329 and then you would attach a letter of explanation for the waiver. Again, that's 5329.

Then that would allow you potentially to miss out on that 25% excise tax. They don't mess around with these RMDs, so we need to get them in every year on time. 10-4. Thank you very kindly, sir. All right, Thomas. Thank you for your call today, sir. God bless you. Let's go to Louisiana.

Hi, Mary. Go ahead. So I have $10,000 in my savings, which is not getting too much money. It's probably a little over my three months expense, the money you say to decide. So I don't know whether I should get a CD or do something with some of it or what do you think? Yeah.

So let me just make sure I understand. So you said you have $10,000 in savings. What do you spend typically on a monthly basis? Probably about $2,200.

Okay. So $2,200. Let's round it up. Let's say it's $2,500. If you put everything in like you're putting aside for Christmas, one-twelfth of that every month and some things that only come up once or twice a year like an insurance payment, I'd love for you to have a minimum of $7,500 all the way up to $15,000.

So I think you're in a pretty good spot here, Mary, in terms of that $10,000. Now, with the emergency fund, by definition, we want that money readily available for you so you've got it in the event of the unexpected. The problem with a CD is, although we get maybe an extra percentage point on the yield from a high-yield savings account that's completely liquid, it becomes illiquid without a penalty, at least for a period of time. So what I would do is just keep that in a high-yield savings account in an online bank with FDIC insurance linked to your primary checking account. So let's say your checking account is with a local brick-and-mortar bank. You go online, you open an online savings. You could go to bankrate.com to find out who has the most compelling rates right now. Put that $10,000 in that online savings.

And that way, you're only two to three days away from getting that back into your checking if something unexpected comes. But you're still getting a decent rate of return. On $10,000, you're going to make $450 over the course of 12 months. Now, that's not anything to be excited about, but it's $450 is a lot of money. So, you know, you'll give up maybe an extra $100 on that from a CD, but I think it's worth it to have ready access to it.

Does that make sense? Yeah, and I have it in the credit union. It's my business account and it's my personal.

Okay. So where do I go again? Yeah, so the place to find, and you may be getting a competitive interest rate on savings with your credit union.

So you may want to just start right there. If you felt like you could do better, I'd go to bankrate.com, bankrate.com. Right there at the top of the page, you can click on high yield savings and you'll see as of today who has the very best rates. And you're going to want to look at their rating, their five-star rating system, just to make sure that it's a highly rated bank in terms of their customer service and a whole host of issues that factor into that. It will also tell you whether they have any fees. You want a fee-free savings option. It will tell you if they have any minimums. You know, in some cases it might be a $2,500 minimum or it might be $25,000. It really just depends. So you're going to want to look at that. But then you could compare that and if, you know, if the best high yield savings today is 4.6% and you're getting one, well then it might, you know, behoove you to go ahead and make the switch. At least you'd be getting a little better rate of return. But the key is you've got that FDIC insurance and still complete liquidity.

So if you need that money, it's readily available. All right. That sound good? All right. Excellent. Well, thanks for your call. We appreciate it, Mary.

Thanks for being on the program today. You know, as we think about this emergency fund, I had a caller recently who was asking about the emergency fund. She had this amazing story that just, I think really hit home. You know, she started listening to the program. She had some credit card debt, had no emergency savings. And she said, Rob, I was starting to hear you talk about this and was really struck by the fact that I need to get out of debt and I need to start setting something aside. Well, fast forward about eight months, she had paid off her credit card debt. She had saved her emergency fund and she said almost to the day that my emergency fund was fully funded, I lost my job.

I didn't see it coming, but I did. And she said I was able to weather that storm. She said, there's more than that. She said, actually, the Lord started working on me when that happened around this idea that He was calling me to full-time missions overseas. And she said, Rob, I don't think I would have been able to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit in my life and respond to it in the way that I did if I didn't have that emergency fund in place. But I had the ability to stop and listen and not be concerned about immediately finding that next job.

She said, would you know next month I'm leaving for full-time missions. And I just wanted to say that God does provide and these principles are true. And I think that's a great illustration of what's possible. Much more to come just around the corner. Stick around. So glad to have you with us today on Faith and Finance Live.

Our team is away today, so don't call in, but we lined up some great questions in advance and we'll be going to those here in just a moment. Let me also remind you that the advice that I give each day on this program is general in nature. We offer principles and ideas that apply at a high level. They are not personalized, so that's why you should always seek professional financial advice. And if you'd like to find a professional who shares your values, we of course here at Faith and Finance Live recommend the Certified Kingdom Advisor designation. These are men and women who've met high standards and they've been trained to bring a biblical worldview of financial decision-making.

You can find one at faithfi.com. All right, back to the phones we go. Let's go to Virginia. Judith, you've been waiting patiently. How can I help? Well, first of all, I'd like to say thank you for your tremendous ministry and how you guide the population in godly ways financially. I appreciate you so much. Well, thank you, Judith. Yeah, I appreciate you saying that.

Let's see. First of all, I'm a widow. I'm 76. I'm debt-free except for a small mortgage on a home that I just built two years ago to be near my son. The mortgage payment is $351, but my main question is I don't feel comfortable with my money in the bank that I'm using.

It's quite a large bank, but I'm reading a lot of negativity about it and I understand they're not doing mortgages anymore, so I just don't feel comfortable. So I withdrew my savings. I have a cashier's check for $30,500 and some odd dollars. I did that this week. I don't know where to put the money, and then I have about 50 in checking accounts.

I want to withdraw that, too, and I don't know what to do. I have a financial planner, but that's pretty much about stock markets and all of that. My husband handled all that. I don't really know.

I don't have that expertise that he did. Yes, ma'am. Well, I'm delighted you called, and I certainly resonate with what you're saying about wanting to make sure the bank that you're doing business with, you feel good about that, both in terms of their strength as well as alignment with your values. How important is it, Judith, for you to have a local branch that you can walk into? Is that something that's important?

Well, I'm in great physical condition. Praise the Lord for that. Yeah, I would definitely like to have it because this bank is close to my church, which is almost 20 miles away since I moved, so it's not convenient. But more than that, I just don't care about what I'm reading.

I feel like it's going to go out of business at some point. Yeah, very good. Well, let me give you a couple of options. One of the things I was going to suggest is the Christian Community Credit Union, and then you'd know that they were aligned with your values, but you're not going to have the option to walk into a branch with Christian Community Credit Union, so that may not be a good option.

So the other option I think beyond that would be a couple of things. Number one is you could go to bankrate.com, and any of the banks that are in your area that you're considering, you could just do a quick search and just see how they're rated. This isn't going to give you any kind of understanding of values alignment, but it will give you an understanding of just the strength of the bank, because I know that's part of your concern. You're seeing some trends along the lines of not offering mortgages and other things that's given you some concerns about their financial stability, and I certainly get that, and that's where bankrate.com could be helpful. Beyond that, let me direct you to a second website. It's called inspireinsight.com. They actually pull in data from repositories and data sources all over the world to really help you understand what a company's doing with regard to values alignment. So what are they doing with their corporate funds, and what are their practices, and are they doing things that might be concerning to a Christian along the lines of your convictions? And so that would be a way for you to understand kind of what's going on at that bank with regard to a values alignment. And I think if you put those two things together, Inspire Insight on the value side and bankrate.com on the stability and customer service and strength, then maybe there'll be one that emerges as the best option, if that makes sense. Okay. And I want to be able to put the money, the savings money, so that it's earning money, it's working for me, and yet be able to draw it out if I need it.

Yes, ma'am. Obviously, any bank you use or credit union, you'd want to either have FDIC insurance or NCUA insurance. I think that's important just from a stability standpoint. So if something ever did happen, we would see the government, like this happened last year when a few banks failed, they'll step in to protect the money and give you liquidity.

So that's important. But with regard to the yield, I think you ought to look at that as you're evaluating the bank. Now, one option is with your operating account, which would be essentially your checking account where you're paying your bills, you may not get a whole lot in the way of yield. But with anything beyond what you need for a month's time, you could put it into savings and look to use a second bank for your savings.

And here's why. If you'd be comfortable using an online bank for at least the savings portion, then you could get that yield up with a high yield savings account to 4.6% right now. Now, that's going to move around. And as rates change this year, that rate's probably coming down. But at least you'd get some good money on that $50,000 or so that you might consider your emergency fund, because at 4.6%, that's almost $2,300 in interest over the next 12 months.

So that would be important. And if it's linked electronically, Judah, to your checking account, then you'd have the ability within a couple of days' time without any fees through what's called an ACH transfer to move that money into your checking account if you needed it. But while it's just sitting there, at least it's earning a better rate of return. And Bankrate.com could help you find that high yield savings account that you could use as a second option alongside your primary checking. Does that make sense?

It does. Now, are you specifying where we're getting the 4.6% or that's what I should be looking for? That's yeah, probably about the best rate you're going to find today. Yeah, I'm not going to specify a particular institution. But for instance, if you go to Bankrate.com right now, and you click on high yield savings, what you're going to see is that the very best high yield savings rates with FDIC insurance are around that 4.6% number.

So you know, that would be I mean, you're going to see maybe one or two that get up over five, but that's going to be pretty uncommon. So anyway, I would look at these options as you're considering where you're going. And, and then make that call. All right, thank you so much. You have a blessed day. And again, thank you for all that you do for all the population out there listening to you. Well, I appreciate that, Judith. Hey, I'd like to give you a gift.

If you stay on the line, we'll get your information. I want to send you a book. It's called wise women managing money. And it's written by a good friend of mine, Miriam Neff, and her husband passed away, she became a widow. And she wrote this book for other widows, just to understand all of the ins and outs of the things you need to know.

But from a biblical viewpoint and Miriam has also started a ministry called widow connection for this purpose. And I think this book will be a real blessing to you, Judith. It's just our gift to you for calling today. So you stay on the line and we'll get it in the mail. Okay.

Thank you. And maybe that'll open up a ministry for me. Excellent.

Well, that'd be phenomenal. Maybe you all could study that book together. Will you check it out?

And if you do that, let me know. I'd be delighted to hear that. That is the way the Lord led you. God bless you, Judith. Hey, before we take a quick break here, let me remind you faith and finance live is listener supported. And that simply means we can't do what we do without your generous support. So if you'd consider a one-time gift or perhaps becoming a monthly financial partner and then head to faithfi.com that's faithfi.com and just click give at the top of the page that's faithfi.com.

Just click give and thanks in advance. We'll be right back. Thanks for joining us today on faith and finance live here in our final segment of the broadcast today.

Let me remind you, our team is not here, so don't call in, but we lined up some great questions in advance. We'll get to those in just a moment. Before we do, let me remind you, if you haven't downloaded the faithfi app, we'd love for you to check it out. It's got three sections in it. The first is the money management system based on Larry Burkett's digital envelope system. It helps you manage God's money in a way where you know exactly what's left in each envelope at any point during the month. There's also our learn tab where you can access the best content and biblical finance to grow in your understanding of God's way of handling money and our community where you can post questions, get comments and ideas from other stewards on the journey. So download it today on our website faithfi.com.

Just click app. Let's head back to the phones to Tennessee. Hi Mark.

How can we help? Well I'm retired and I'm on my wife's insurance and I'm 67 C-65. What I was wondering is, is there some type of program, a company, assistance that will guide me with respect to choosing a Medicare supplement, including dental and eyewear and prescription? Yes.

Yeah, very good. Well, there's a couple of rating systems out there that folks that do provide reviews on these various Medicare supplements. So for instance, one of those would be Forbes. They regularly update their list of Medicare supplement providers. So you could just do a quick search for Forbes Medicare supplement rating. Another one is called NerdWallet. It's kind of a funny name, but nerdwallet.com. They update theirs regularly as well with the best Medicare supplement insurance companies.

You could also go to AARP and they have a tool there, which is a Medicare plan finder and will help you choose between Medigap, Medicare Advantage, understand your situation and actually give you some direction on the best way to go there. So I think between those three, Mark, that may give you what you're looking for. Is that helpful, sir? Yes, sir, it is. Thank you so very much. Yeah, you're very welcome, Mark, and all the best to you in this next season of life. Congratulations on that retirement.

Hey, by the way, Mark, if you're still there, hang on the line. I want to send you a great book that I think will be a blessing to you. It's called An Uncommon Guide to Retirement. It's written by my friend Jeff Hanen, and it's really about finding God's purpose for the next season of life, whether that's a sabbatical rest in the beginning, listening to God's voice for your calling, rethinking work in retirement, even understanding family systems and leaving a legacy.

Again, that book is called An Uncommon Guide to Retirement. We'll put it in the mail as our gift to you. Stay on the line. Our team will get your information. We'll get it right out to you. All right, let's head to Florida. Hi, Dave, go ahead.

Hello. My question is this. I would like to start doing a qualified charitable deduction for my IRA. However, I'm not 70 and a half yet, but I'm already having to take RMDs from an inherited IRA that my mother left me. It doesn't seem quite right that I shouldn't be able to do it from the inherited IRA if I'm already taking RMDs. Am I correct in that I can't do it till I'm 70 and a half? Yeah, that's exactly right. Unfortunately, that is a requirement.

And when you're under 70 and a half, regardless of whether you have that inherited IRA or not, a QCD is not possible unfortunately. Okay. Well, I haven't got long to wait.

I've got another just about a year and a half, so I'll just sit and wait. Great. Well, yeah, it's a great tool when you get to that point, Dave.

I know we talk about it often, but a lot of folks just aren't aware of the power of that qualified charitable distribution that allows you to get that money out, get it to your church or a ministry that you care about and not recognize that as income, but satisfy that required minimum when that time comes. So great idea, but yeah, unfortunately you're going to have to wait till 70 and a half. Thanks for your call, sir. We appreciate it. Let's go to Oklahoma. Hi, Sheila.

How can we help? I take an RMD. I'm 75 and I have to do the RMD. And I am with an advisor that says if I will do the, just taking the money, give it to my church, then I would reduce taxes.

In other words, they would send the money to the church and reduce my taxes. I'm just calling to see if that's correct or not. I don't know. Yeah, it is.

It's similar to what we were talking about with the previous caller, Sheila. It's a great idea. And here's what happens. So you've been taking these RMDs, these required minimums every year. The IRS requires that you do that. And normally you take those out and they're payable to you.

And so they're treated as a distribution, just like if you were to pull the money out because you wanted to, you had some use for it, which means you pay tax on it as it comes out. Now there is this, what's called a qualified charitable distribution. And that's what we were talking about a moment ago that allows you, once you're at least age 70 and a half, up to $100,000, you can take that money and send it directly to a 501c3, so a registered charity.

So like American Family Association, your church, Faithfi, any 501c3. The key is the money doesn't come to you first. It goes straight to the charity through this qualified charitable distribution.

That does two things. Number one is any amount that comes out through a qualified charitable distribution satisfies your required minimum up to the amount that you give. And then secondly, it's not added to your taxable income. So you don't pay taxes on it, which means, you know, you're satisfying that RMD and the charity gets more money because you're able to give more. So yeah, if that's what he's talking about, that's a phenomenal idea and it works exactly the way you're describing. Okay, so it would reduce my taxes that I pay.

Is that what you're saying? Well, it wouldn't reduce your taxes. It just wouldn't add anything. And so here's what, how that would essentially reduce it. Uh, normally when you take that required minimum every year, it's adding to your taxable income. Well, if instead you send it directly to the charity, uh, through the qualified charitable distribution, that amount you were adding to your taxable income every year through the required minimum is no longer added.

So, you know, if you're used to having that as a part of your, uh, income every year that's taxable, then yeah, you'd pay less because now that same amount you're pulling out is no longer going to be added to your taxable income. If that makes sense. I understand now you have explained it to me and I, I thank you very much. You're welcome, Sheila. Thanks for your call today. We appreciate you being on the program. May the Lord bless you. Uh, let's go to Iowa. Hi John.

How can I help? Hey Rob. Hey, thanks so much for the show. It's just great and does wonders for everybody.

Thank you. My question is, I'm a 60 year old guy and I'm starting to study up a little bit about retirement. Then as I'm looking into social security and um, uh, other stuff I'm finding out about Irma. And can you talk a little bit more about Irma?

What is that exactly? And I think I might fall under the category where I might have to pay some of these Irma surcharges. Are there some things I should maybe be doing now? Not that, I mean, I'll pay my fair share of the taxes, but I don't want to pay more than maybe I should. And are there some steps, strategies maybe I should do now to help lower that in the future?

Yeah, very good. Well, I appreciate that question and I'm delighted to hear that you're thinking ahead, John, and, and trying to plan for that season of life. Uh, Irma is basically a surcharge that, uh, if you have a certain income above a certain amount, uh, that the, um, that has been established by the IRS, uh, then you're going to pay this surcharge in addition to your Medicare, uh, part B and D premiums. Uh, so the part B, um, and then the part D, which is the prescription drug coverage, uh, you're going to have that in social security determines who pays that. And it's based on a two year look back. So they're going to look at your income for the past two years. And if you fall into one of these brackets where your income is up over a certain level, then that's when it going to dictate what your charge is. Um, are you a married filing jointly, John?

No, I'm single single. Okay. So basically if you're at least for this year for 2024, um, if your, uh, income is above 103,000 or below 103,000, you have no Irma, uh, on top of your plan premium, you know, and then it goes up from there. It could either be $13, uh, per premium payment, $3, $53 or 74 all the way up to 81, if you make over a half a million dollars a year. So, you know, we're talking somewhere between $13 and $81 a month that would be added on top of that part B and D. Um, the only way for you to get out of that would just be to start working on lowering your taxable income. Um, and so that would be things like, you know, charitable contributions where you itemize or getting more going into retirement plans, just to stay under that, you know, it's a nominal amount.

I'm not saying it's insignificant because I realized, you know, in that season of life, money's tight and we want to, we certainly don't want to have a $50 a month payment if we don't have to, but it's ultimately going to come down to your reportable income, whether or not you can avoid that. Does that make sense? Right. Yeah, yeah, it does.

So, all right, I'll start looking into that and hopefully have some plans. What's not quite so bad. Yeah, exactly. All right, John. Hey, God bless you, bud. Call anytime. Uh, let's go to Tennessee. Hi, Mark.

How can I help you? Mark, are you with us? All right. We're having trouble getting Mark on the line.

Let's have our team, uh, see if we can get that squared away and we will go to Texas. Hi Bill. Go ahead. Yes.

Well, I have a question. Uh, hope I can word it correctly, has to do with being a member of a credit union. And I would like to be sure that I can be in a credit union that, um, has a local, not a local branch, but where I could find some other credit union that would interface with that one. Yeah. So there's some of those that do that. Yeah. Are you talking about basically an ATM access or branches or both a branch where I can be a member of one that's way off in the other part of the part of the nation, but going to a localized branch to do service with.

Yeah. So a great example of that is a Christian community credit union. So if you go to join Christian community.com, you can check that out. They've got 30,000 surcharge free ATMs, but more than that, they've got over 5,600 shared branches and you can actually do a search for a co-op shared branch or ATM right on their website. So join Christian community.com. Most community, uh, credit unions will offer this.

Christian community certainly does. Thanks for your call. Hey, faith and finance live as a ministry of faith, fi and moody radio. Thanks to my team today. And we'll see you tomorrow. Come back and join us.