Guarding Your Financial Future With Mike Carpenter

Welcome to Truth Talk Live. All right, let's talk truth. A daily program powered by the Truth Network. This is kind of a great thing, and I'll tell you why. Where pop culture, current events, and theology all come together. Speak your mind.

And now, here's today's Truth Talk Live host. Are you in trouble? Are you going to be out of money? Is our country going to be out of money?

What about the national debt? I was in the office of a godly man earlier this week, and he had this big old screen, bigger than the window, with all these numbers going up, and up, and up. And it really... I'm listening to him talk, I'm looking at him, then I kind of drift over and look at this ticker. And Mike Carpenter, you kind of put a little fear of God in me there, thinking, man, if this thing keeps coming, you know, this thing keeps ticking, we're in deep trouble. I'm Stu Epperson. With me is a man who loves Jesus, and he loves helping people navigate the financial landmines of the day. Anchor Financial is, you get your anchor in Christ. AssetGuard helps folks get anchored, and they help folks guard their financial future. And Mike Carpenter is the founder of AssetGuard, and he's with us right now with some wisdom. Mike, that really set me off, man. You probably get comments from people like that when they come in your office, huh?

Yes, I do. I get many questions from everybody, from the social security problem that we'll talk a little bit about here in a few moments, and I always go to the usdebtclock.org, because it's got more numbers on there, and it makes most people's eyes glaze over. Yeah, and I tell you, it goes up, and people are thinking, okay, what in the world is happening, and how are we going to pay for this? And, you know, everyone's mad at Trump, or everyone's mad at Biden, or everyone's mad at, you know, blaming the past and blaming the Fed, right? You gave me some nuts and bolts about the Fed. I mean, you told me it all started, was it 1914 or something like that? 1913. Ironically, we're talking a lot about tariffs now. Prior to 1913, tariffs is what the revenue that came into the country took care of everybody. And then in 1913, the Federal Reserve and the IRS were started, and it's really been downhill since then, because the Federal Reserve is tasked with maintaining an inflation rate of about 2%, keeping unemployment down as low as possible.

The inflation rate for 110 years plus has been 3.5%. So there's going to be a lot of hope given out today, but there's also going to be a lot of pain, there's going to be a lot of interesting conversation about inflation, about Social Security. How is the Social Security crisis connected to abortion?

Stuff I've never heard before from my friend Mike Carpenter, who really has come on the show today to talk a little bit about his testimony, how he got into this, and to encourage Christians, people listening, to be generous and to be people of faith and to have their financial anchor in the right waters and in the right founding. Or you talk about even like, you know, that's the water analogy and anchor. You talk about the foundation of your house.

Use that illustration. I've heard this over and again, and it never gets old. So everyone knows that the most important part of your house is your foundation. If your foundation is weak or built on sandy soil, then you're going to have problems. Your financial house has to have a strong financial foundation, which is made up of 401Ks, IRAs, CDs, possibly rental income.

There's all sorts of things that can create that financial foundation, but the thicker and wider it is, the more stable your house will be until the day you take your last breath. My favorite part about all that you do, Mike, is... I've known you for years, but a few times we've met, I've walked out and said, by the way, you're the Christian Radio guy. You've got tons of books, but this is a book I want to give you because I give this to all my people. Talk about how important that is to you. Not just to put financial wisdom and knowledge and acumen in them, but to pour God into them. Well, books are an important way of communicating. I mean, they've been around for thousands of years, and I know you've given books to me. I've had different of my peers in this business.

One of my best friends, Michael Cohen, down in Spartanburg, South Carolina. We were in Mexico, and he pulled out of his suit pocket a bunch of little tiny books that he'd give out. One of the books that we give out is called Keep Calm and Trust God.

I love it. It has a bunch of encouraging passages on seeking the approval of others. It's just countless things. I put a track in the back, the ABCs of the gospel, because if I'm not sharing the gospel and helping people plan for their eternity, there's been very little preaching over the years I've ever heard about laying up your treasure in heaven. Everyone's worried about laying up your treasure here on earth and how long that's going to take. We know that rust is going to destroy it, but I've got to focus on the eternal future. Wow.

That's so cool. You have a real heart for people to get them there. Not everyone that comes into your office, they may never darken the door of a church, but they're coming to get some financial advice. Tell us effectively, what does AssetGuard do? I want to get into your testimony a little bit.

We may have to wait until the next segment, because I want you to start and be able to continue. What do you do with AssetGuard? What effectively is your ministry-slash-business when it comes? It's all things financial, I guess, right? It is, but primarily we're focusing on those that are getting ready for retiring and those that are already retired. When you're working from 20 to 60 years old, you just have a check coming in, a check coming in, you're spending it, and you're not really paying attention. But when you reach 62 or 65 or whenever you turn your Social Security on, now you're depending on that Social Security check, a pension if you're fortunate enough to have it, and how much you have saved. Whatever you have has got to last you for the next 35 years.

I do all my planning to age 100, because my oldest client was 100 years old when she passed away, and she still had plenty of money. Okay, so that's very helpful. And so, we're coming up on the break. Nick, I think we have a couple minutes, don't we?

Okay, good. So Mike, tell us a little bit about how you came to know the Lord. We're going to touch that hot potato of Social Security and how it's connected to abortion, which is going to blow everyone's mind. Is it really in trouble? If you want to call with a question, toll-free number is 866-34-TRUTH when we are live.

Call us, 866-348-7884. All things financial in connecting the kingdom to wealth, money, planning, retirement, all that stuff. But Mike, tell us how did you come to know Christ, and then how did that kind of leverage you into what you're doing now? Well, I tell the story in every public event that I do that I'm one of six children. I was raised in Washington, D.C. area, and my mom made sure all her kids were in church every Sunday.

My dad would come home from driving a taxi on Saturday night, take us up to the Methodist church, drop us off, and go back and watch the gladiators. At any rate, I realized when I was 17 years old that going to church, reading your Bible, and praying are all important things, but they don't make you a Christian any more than me laying down in my garage makes me a car. I remember when I was 17 years old, falling under the conviction of the Holy Spirit and realizing that my sin was blocking me from going to heaven. I needed to know the Lord. I forget a lot about my past, but I remember clearly at 17 years old the tears coming down my eyes, realizing I needed Jesus to be my Savior.

I don't know whether we have time, but another event that just happened in November in North Texas, actually North Dallas, Rise Up Kings, is something I went to and I've shared a little bit about in the office. If we have more time, I can talk about it because that was the most important thing that I've had happen to me in the last 20 years. I want to talk about that because you told me off-air how you laid your life out there. You said, look, I'm going to redeem the last how many years of your life. It was brutal.

It was brutal. So we're talking about that, calling men to be men, calling believers to really put their trust in God, not in money. Man, there's so many things you talk about money.

So many people's eyes roll when the preacher says, I mean, I've got to preach on tithing today, but when they should be excited for the privilege to give. So what is it about money that's so controversial? What about our national debt? Is America really in trouble?

Is Social Security in trouble? We've got a guy who's an expert. He does this for a living, but he's a follower of Jesus Christ. He's Mike Carpenter, but he follows Jesus, the Jewish carpenter.

That's right. The one who puts us all together. Amen.

So he's with us the whole hour. Stay tuned. We're going to take a quick break and come back and may take a call or two. Those of you who want to ask a question of Mike or share a testimony about how God's used money in your life to be a blessing to others, toll free 866-348-7884. The financial condition of America and the future of America. More on that with Mike Carpenter, our special guest on Truth Talk Live right after this.

Hang on. Truth Talk Live! You're listening to the Truth Network and truthnetwork.com Money, money, money, money.

I'm Stu Epperson. This is Truth Talk Live. Everyone's talking about tariffs, the economy. Can Trump turn this thing around? We've got some serious debt that is spiraling out of control.

And a bunch of us have—and notice I said us—have personal debt and other corporate debt we all struggle with, trying to make sure we have enough money at the end of each month. And a man of God who's been in the saddle doing this, helping a whole lot of people with his team at Asset Guard Financial Group is Mike Carpenter. He's been a longtime friend, brother in Christ. He stands about 6'7", 6'8", so he's a big, tall fella. Got to get him on the basketball court at some point, right, Mike?

Shoot some hoops. I've played a little bit over the years. Yes, sir, and you've got some family members working in the business with you. But you were gracious to come on the show today to help us navigate this. Some say that—I mean, there's a lot of doomsayers out there. And of course, we know the Lord's coming back. And you talk a lot about the return of the king, don't you? The next great event in history.

That's right. So I always share the facts so people aren't trying to wonder, what am I doing? So here's the facts of our country right now. $36.7 trillion of national debt. We have $5.1 trillion of tax revenue coming in. We are spending $7.1 trillion every year as a country. That means we're overspending by $2 trillion. What most people don't realize is that $1.6 trillion is going to Medicare and Medicaid, $1.5 trillion is going to Social Security, $895 billion is going to defense spending, and over $1 trillion on the interest for the national debt. That's over $5 trillion. Those four line items of our budget is more than we collect in revenue.

And even though Doge has identified about $358 billion of waste, fraud, and abuse, they're never going to get to a point where they can actually start paying down the debt. And so there's so many different things that are in those numbers. Anyone can go on your computer or your phone and pull up us.debtclock.org, and you'll see the numbers. That's what ticker I saw at your office, right?

I mean, you had a bunch of them. And so here's some of the, you know, we talk in my office to clients about inflation, and I'll share some inflation numbers with you, but here's what's happened since 2000. The average income tax for the average person, the median income for an individual in 2000 was $31,000. Right now it's over $43,000. That's not keeping up with inflation. When you look at college tuition in 2000, it was $10,000 a year. Now it's $27,000 a year.

The average car in 2000 was $22,000. Now it's $48,000, double. And the average house in 2000 was $163,000.

Now it's $415,000. Now, driving over here today, I drove through one of the most beautiful parts of North Carolina and Winston-Salem, and big house after big house after big house, and the only reason we've been able to have these McMansions is because of what the government has done for the last 10, 15 years, keeping interest rates really low. And so these people have purchased these big homes, and now everyone, because of COVID, they've had delayed property tax increases. Everyone in this area has got slammed, and it hits the people that are on fixed incomes the hardest. So you've got all this happening, and it really hits the pocketbook, which is why people get upset, because everything costs more. But this national debt at some point, if it doesn't get paid off, what happens to our country? Do we just print more money? Well, knowing that our country is the leader of the free world in more ways than one, it's the leader of the free world when it comes to financial situations. Our central bank and its presidents and Chairman Powell really lead all the other countries, and even though you have something that's getting ready to happen, it's happening right now. You've heard the BRICS, and that doesn't stand for what holds up a building.

That's the BRICS currency that is currently trying to displace the American dollar as a world reserve currency, which we were put into that place in 1944 during the Bretton Woods Conference. Wow. So that's the voice of Mike Carpenter.

I'm Stu Everson. This is Truth Talk Live. We are talking about all things financial. We're going to get into stewardship principles of giving, being generous, sharing. He gives a Christian book to everyone that comes in. You put John 3.16 on the screen at your seminars.

What are you thinking? That might make somebody mad, Mike. Well, I tell people, you know, I'm trying to be honest with you. I ask people, what are the two things you don't talk about when you're doing public speaking? Politics and religion. So I tell them right up front, I said, this has nothing to do with religion.

This is all about my relationship. Billy Graham went around the world preaching a very simple message based on John 3.16. If you simply believe that God sent his only son to die for us, we will live forever. And then the verse just below that, I talk about, you know, Jesus came that we might have life and have it more abundantly. That has nothing to do with money. It's about when your heart is at peace.

When you know everything is right with the Lord, then you'll have peace. And if you recall in my office, I have a big etched glass, find your purpose, find your peace. And people really can't find their purpose because they're out there slaving away because things cost so much.

They're trying to make ends meet. So important. So you're trying to help your clients, you know, not gain the whole world and lose their own soul. You're trying to make sure they're tracking with the Lord and that everything they have is from him and everywhere it goes.

And I'm just so encouraged by that. Let me ask you a question, Mike. We left a little cliffhanger in the last break about Social Security. And I know our listeners want to hear if, you know, there's all these scare tactics, political parties like to get everyone, oh, they're going to lose your Social Security, you know. And then so the question is, what's the state of Social Security and what does that have to do with abortion? You share some things before we got on the air that you had the whole studio audience in here mesmerized.

All right. So everyone knows that Social Security was started in 1935 as a part of the major safety net that was supposed to protect everybody. Now, one of the things I tell people is that in 1935, you could start your Social Security at age 65. But statistically, the average person was dead before they could ever collect the first benefit. So they didn't even know what medical technology is going to keep us alive as long as we are. Now we come here in 2025.

What's going on? Well, back 20 years ago, I was looking at my own Social Security statement on the front page. On the right hand column, it said, if Congress does not act by at that time 2037, Social Security will be reduced by about 37 percent. I forget the exact number. And that really triggered me to start understanding Social Security, because that's the number one form of income for the average retiree. Now, here we are.

I have people coming in. What's Trump going to do with my Social Security? He's going to do this. He's going to do that.

I said, he's not going to do anything. It's been done to itself. And neither Republicans or Democrats have done anything to fix it. Matter of fact, payroll taxes haven't gone up since 1990. But here's the problem, and I don't think I've ever heard anyone tell these numbers I'm about ready to share. I just looked up the numbers. The official abortion number since 1973 is roughly 63 million plus.

Oh, my. Now, the average income right now in the United States, the average median income is about $43,000. Fifteen point three percent of our income is collected both from the employer portion and the employee portion that's paid to Social Security. So that's sixty six hundred dollars per year. So if we had 63 million people alive that were not aborted during the last since 1973, that would be four hundred and twenty three billion dollars a year that would have been paid into Social Security. And the total for the last 30 years is twelve trillion dollars was not paid in the Social Security trust fund. And so what's happening right now is whether you know it or not, the trustee report says that in 2033, the trust fund will be completely depleted.

So in 2034, there's going to be about a 20 percent reduction. Wow. And give us some hope on the other side of the break.

We got to take a break. This is Truth Talk Live. Thank you to our friends at vinetastic.com promo code truth for supporting this program and for providing this to this healthy drink with no sugar, no carbs, no calories and no artificial sweeteners.

vinetastic.com for our friends that will blue ultra pure bottled water. Be sure you download this podcast on the Truth Podcast Network. And in some areas, we'll be right back with Truth Talk Live and the financial future of America and what it means spiritually. Coming up, you're listening to the Truth Network and truth network dot com. How do you plan for your financial future?

What do you do about all this governmental debt? I mean, Mike Carpenter, thank you so much for being here with us today. You're with asset asset guard and you've been a great friend for years doling out some serious wisdom today. Some bad news. Hopefully you're going to get some good news for us and how all this gets fixed.

We talked about from the last break. And if you didn't get the first section of the show, the podcast, be sure you go back and listen to his testimony, how he got kind of into this thing and how God's using him to bring people to the Lord through helping them with their financial issues and challenges. And some folks might say, hey, what's all this planning stuff?

I'm just going to trust God and not not not worry about things. But aren't there steps that believers should take in terms of investments, planning, stewardship, Mike? It should be taught. In my opinion, it should be taught in high school. It's more important, in my opinion, than English or math.

Giving people a basic understanding of what you need to do to survive. So many kids now that are 17, 18, you go by some of the high schools around here and you see BMWs and Mercedes and Range Rovers in the parking lots. My first car in 1974 was a brown Pinto station wagon. Oh, wow.

I'd love to see a six foot eight guy drive around in that. But at any rate, no one understands the importance of planning. And so when I meet with people, I said, look, let's let's break it down. What's your budget? And most people have no idea what their budget. And when I ask them, OK, how much are you spending per month? They say, I don't know. I said, OK, well, how much are you taking home each month?

Well, they tell me that. I said, how much left over? OK, that's your budget. But when I give them the document for them to fill out and give me what their real budget is, it always comes in higher because there are three parts of the planning process we do. It's it's how much income you have coming in, how much is your expenses going out, and how much is your asset base or your financial foundation to make ends meet and ultimately to give you the retirement that you want to enjoy your life with. The three aspects of a financial house are your living expenses.

That's what keeps you alive. Your lifestyle expenses, how you enjoy it. And whatever's left over is going to go to your legacy, your kids, if you have more grandkids and whenever that time comes. But it really is sitting down and doing that planning that 95 percent of people have never done.

Wow. And giving to the Lord's a big part of it. Talk about generosity and how you try to weave that in, even with maybe non-Christian clients that you give advice to. The last part of my budgeting is on gifts. Now, a lot of people don't realize that there's certain things, especially when you become retired, there's ways that you can use your IRA or 401K to give to the Lord's work by doing something called a QCD. It stands for a qualified charitable distribution.

And you can only do that when you're of RMD age. But that's a way that I help a lot of people live tax free. So even though we have a Social Security problem that's later going to result in possible reduction in benefits, we need to plan for that because it's about seven to eight years away. And part of the way you plan on that is by teaching people how to plan their budget better so they have more money left over and also reduce taxes.

Most people that are receiving Social Security and about, if you're a married couple, about $22,000, $23,000 of IRA income or 401K income, you're living tax free. And then I do a lot of Roth conversions with people because a lot of my clients, they want to live tax free, but they also want to make sure their kids live tax free because the average 65-year-old doesn't realize that their children and grandchildren are depending on what they leave behind so that they'll be able to retire one day because the average 50-year-old is driving his retirement. So if our listeners, people listening out there, they Dave Ramsey themselves out of debt, they go through the right steps using biblical principles, you've been part of all that good stuff, and they try to really buckle down, yet the government's eroding and the government's getting in a deeper debt and having more problems and more inflation.

You're saying they can still survive even if the government above them is crumbling. You have to plan, and it might mean that you have to tighten your belt a little bit. I mean, I shared with you before we started, you know, when my wife and I go out to eat and we eat out quite often, one time she gets to pick the entree, the next night I pick the entree, we split a meal, we come out satisfied, and we get to enjoy dessert together, and you're saving 20 to 30 percent.

There's all sorts of ways that you can still enjoy the quality of life that we enjoy in America, which is much more than the rest of the world, and in and of that self, that's a problem that we have created for ourselves because we want to continue to maintain this real high-brow lifestyle. Mike, why aren't people more Christians, more generous, more giving? The Barna numbers scare me, like less than 10 percent of believers give 10 percent.

Like, they're not tightening. I've talked to pastors, they're baffled by it. They're like, why aren't my people giving?

Why are we struggling? Why do I have to preach all these sermons on giving? This is biblical. This isn't their money, it's the Lord's. What do you think the root causes of that? It's not taught to them from the beginning. I mean, it's like when you're training up a child, train up your child the way you should go, and when he's old, he's not going to depart.

And many parents don't train their children up in financial matters, and they don't know how to say no, or they need to develop good practices with their kids from the earliest. And then as they get older, what's happening now? Oh, I want this new phone every year.

I need this new phone. And then when they get to the driver's age, I want to drive the car that Betty's driving. And it becomes a real problem. We have to say no.

And sometimes we have to say no to ourselves. And I love Goodwill. And you know, in the last 15 years, there's Goodwills on every corner. Their stores are doing great.

The Rescue Mission stores, they're killing it. And they are, but what that allows people to do, even Christians, is we empty our closets and take them to Goodwill. We feel good about ourselves, and then we see our closet's half empty. Now we can go out and shop more.

No, we need to get rid of half the stuff that's in our closets and don't buy anything else. Yeah, and you've helped a lot of missionaries. You've helped a lot of missions. That's important to do, isn't it?

Well, we all need to do. No one goes around tooting their horn at what they do. We do things so the left hand doesn't know what the right hand's doing so that God gets the glory for everything. And I've seen, how many times have we been to funerals and you hear these glowing reports about what this person, and you never knew he was doing all that behind the scenes. Giving money away is great, but laying up treasures in heaven is really utilizing all of God's gifts and talents he's given us and utilizing them throughout our life. And that treasure, however big it is, is going to be there for us to present to the Lord. Wow. Well, he's got tons of financial wisdom.

We still have a few more minutes with him. We're going to be on a break here in just a second. But first, if you want to call in with a question, if you've got a comment, if maybe you're struggling, maybe you lost a lot of money in the stock market a couple weeks ago, like a lot of people did. Maybe you're confused about the tariffs that have been now implemented by the Trump administration. Maybe you think that's a bad idea. Well, you're going to love talking to Mike Carpenter with AssetGuard.

He's with us right now as our special guest here on Truth Talk Live. The toll-free number is 866-348-7884, is our toll-free number nationwide. Maybe you're struggling with your kids and your planning, and maybe you need some little parenting advice on fiscal responsibility and stewardship. I guess your kids, if you never gave to the church, to the Lord, your kids aren't going to know how to do it.

Like, it's something that's kind of contagious, right, Mike? Yeah, and people need to understand that God's window of heaven is much bigger than our imagination. And when we're giving our tenth or twenty percent of whatever, you start somewhere to get to the ultimate destination. Whether it's you start with a dollar or you start with a thousand dollars, everyone needs to start somewhere and give from your heart.

And it's going to come back to you in one way or another. The Lord loves a cheerful giver. I remember, you may not even want me to bring this up, but I remember when your kids were high school age, you booked out a whole stadium and did a Christian concert as an outreach, as a gospel thing.

I love that, but I'm like, who does that? Well, you were out there saying, you did it in the heavenly motive, right? Yeah, I mean, I do things, I wasn't as active when I was younger in sharing the gospel. And when we moved down here in 1990, and I believe that I came across Truth Radio maybe in the mid-90s, I forget, and that really is when I started listening to Swindoll and Dr. Jeremiah and all of the great pastors. And that really starts speaking into my heart, and that is what really changed me to start sharing the gospel more.

I'm not ashamed of it in any way. Well, we've got to jump to a break here, but when we come back, we'll get more. I want to recap the inflation thing, because people are really concerned about Social Security. Some of the scary stuff that they're hearing, is it all true? What about the financial future of America? How can people plan? I want you to give us some tips, and I also want you to talk about two or three of the biggest mistakes that believers make when it comes to money.

Okay, so in terms of saving, in terms of spending, in terms of giving. So Mike, I want you to break that down for us when we come back. And also, we're going to go to a place of transformation for your soul.

It was one of the most difficult things you ever faced, all the way in Texas. You showed me a video. I was worn out just watching that little video, Mike Carpenter.

I mean, unbelievable. So what's the name of that ministry? We'll talk about it when we come back. Rise Up Kings. So we'll talk about that more with Mike Carpenter, Rise Up Kings. We'll talk about how that changed his life. He's going to challenge all of us on biblical principles of stewardship when we come back on Truth Talk Live. What's the website for AssetGuard for folks that want to learn more about you that may not be able to stay with us this final break?

AssetGuardNC.com. Okay, and they can find out all about your ministry, your business, and that sort of thing. And then also, I want you, when we come back, to give some folks a few, maybe a template, a guide, Mike, as they're looking for financial help.

How can they know? I heard of someone that just made millions of dollars, a ton of money. And a family member, like a cousin, said, oh hey, I work in banking. And so she gave basically $10 million to this cousin in banking, and he blew it all. And now she's broke! So I want you to get in...

I know there's some horror stories you can share. So anyway, we'll be right back. Again, big shout out and thank you to vinetastic.com.

137 million people in our country are either prediabetic or diabetic, and so they have come up with a beverage that has no sugar, no carbs, no calories, and no artificial sweeteners. vinetastic.com, promo code TRUTH. That's where all the information is. We're grateful for partners to help us do this. Radio ministry, touching lives, one soul at a time on Truth Talk Live. More with Mike Carpenter and the financial future of America.

And some practical advice when we come back. Hang on. Truth Talk Live!

You're listening to the Truth Network and truthnetwork.com. Welcome back. How about all those financial decisions you look back in your life on you regret. Shouldn't have bought that house. Shouldn't have bought those stocks. Maybe rolled the dice too much. All the money you wish you could have had back.

You put good money after bad. A man who deals with this every day on multiple fronts, multiple levels with all kinds of people. He's helped a lot of people, is with me right now.

He's got a company called Asset Guard. And his name is Mike Carpenter. He's been a Christian Radio friend partner for years.

We've just known each other forever. He loves Jesus, shares the Gospel with people that he consults. Believers, non-believers, he tries to be an encouragement. Mike, let's just go to the name Asset Guard. You're going to give us some good tips, worst mistakes and all this stuff. We're going to hit the national economy here in our final, as we bring the show to an end today. What's the name, your foundation?

I love your little logo and all that stuff. But Asset Guard, take us to the history of that. So a lot of guys in this business, they name their company after themselves.

And I decided to name it after Asset Guard or name the company Asset Guard because that's what we do. We guard your financial future. It all starts with a plan.

And then we insert the different pieces of the puzzle into that plan. Do you need life insurance when you're 65 or older? You may or may not. I have a story I can tell about my grandfather and what happened to his life insurance, but I won't get into that. How about long-term care? We know statistically the average 65-year-old is going to experience some kind of long-term care stay. But you've got to have a plan to plan for these things, just like you're going to go on a trip.

You plan how you're going to get there, what's going to cost to get there, what kind of clothes you have to take, how long you're going to stay, how you're going to get back, all these different things. More people spend time planning weddings, birthday parties and vacations than they do in planning their retirement. Wow. That is something. What a staggering number. Now, what are the biggest mistakes people make, would you say?

And then I also want to get more into some of this generosity and giving and how we can be more generous with what God's given us and some of those principles. What are some of the biggest mistakes you see people make in this whole area? Well, I just saluted the number one.

It's not planning at all. That's the number one. The second thing is really living beyond your means, buying cars to keep up with the Joneses, whatever that might think. And I commonly have people now who will call me and say, hey, Mike, over the weekend, I was at such and such car lot and I wanted to get a new car. So I bought a new car and I said, how much was it? And they said forty thousand dollars. And they're coming in to get forty thousand dollars because they just wrote a check out of the checking account. I said, well, we have to get fifty thousand out.

Why? Because they're taking it out of their IRA. See, the majority of people have most of their money in qualified plans like IRAs and 401ks and every dollar you take out is taxed as income.

So when you go and buy that forty thousand dollar car and you're using your IRA, you're having to take out an additional maybe ten thousand dollars or more in taxes, depending on what your tax bracket is. And then the other thing is people don't plan for long term care. And I have a gentleman right now that's in a facility that is, I'm just telling you, it's ten thousand dollars a month. But he has insurance that covers all that, right? Well, he didn't take the plan that I offered.

Oh, my. Now, again, I would love to have everyone purchase stuff, but sometimes they just can't afford it. So, again, you have to have an understanding if this is going to happen to me, OK, you still need to be taken care of.

But most people are trying to hold on to their money to pass on to their kids. Well, your kids are secondary. You are primary. While you're alive, you are number one priority. So if you're a friend, brother in Christ, to all these listeners listening to this show right now, we love our our partners. We love our listeners. They support what we're doing. We love Trans World Radio, you know, because Cuba needs Jesus.

It's right there at TruthNetwork.com. We're trying to ask people to generously give to, you know, to this month. We're doing a big push for Trans World Radio to reach Cuba, Communist Cuba with the gospel.

And they're doing it like crazy. Our listeners have stepped up and generously donated to that. They support our other partners and pastors that are on the air. What advice would you give to listeners right now? It's a basic 101 on navigating. First of all, they should all probably have like a financial trustworthy advisor that gives that gives them good advice.

That's protective of them, right? Whether you become a client or mine or not, I do a financial plan, a full plan for you. So you know exactly where today, tomorrow, 10 years down the road. And whether you move forward with me or not, I'm going to give you all the tools that you need to make the decisions. And I might give you that second opinion, just like you go to a doctor when you're feeling bad. He says, well, we got to do this. Well, let me get a second opinion. I'm going to give you a second opinion.

You may be in perfect shape. Most people are risking their money and they don't have to. So someone in Dayton, Ohio, listening to 106.5 FM, loves Christian Radio, loves the Lord. They give to their church. They kind of need to tighten up their financial plan a little bit. Someone like you could help them, right? I mean, they need to connect with someone that can really be a blessing in their life because it's going to be a blessing to a lot of people. I have worked with people of all ages.

I think my youngest client is probably 27. Her mom passed away last year and she came to me as a referral and she was unlike any other 27-year-old. And I showed her what to do with the property her mom left her, with the life insurance her mom left her. And I set her up on a plan so that when she was 55 years old, less than 30 years from now, she'll have a retirement plan in place that's going to be tax-free. And so again, when we can control the taxes, we can give even more money to the Lord. So there's a tax side of it. There's a planning side of it.

There's a giving side of it. And you try to encourage your clients and what would you say, what questions should, what are a couple questions every listener should ask their current financial planner right now? What questions should they ask their advisor right now? What plan do you have for me that's guaranteeing I will have enough money until 100 years old? Right, okay. Because I have found that the majority of people that have come into my office, I won't name all the firms around town, and I asked them, do you have a written retirement plan?

Everything, all your numbers, because I think I showed it to you, we call ours the GPS guide. Yeah, I saw you have a whole one for yourself. And so it's called for guaranteed planning strategies because you don't get a second chance in retirement. You got to get it right the first time.

Wow. So you got to, so ask that question, what are some other key questions? What's another key question? Okay, do you have a plan in place or help me get a plan in place or what's your plan for me, right?

What else is something? Well, one of the key things is what, how much risk am I exposed to? You know, right now we're having the biggest market swings in history because of all the tariffs and things like that. And, you know, these things need to be done. I mean, the trade imbalances for years have been going on. You're not going to fix it in three or four months or even a year.

Right. But, you know, what is your risk exposure? Because in our opinion, in retirement, you really should greatly reduce your risk, if not eliminate it completely.

Okay, so people that lost a lot of money in the recent stock market, weird stuff going on when, you know, the markets dropped a lot, record lows and all that. What do you say to them about getting back in shape? Well, I literally ask them one question.

How much more money are you willing to lose? And usually they say nothing. And sometimes they look at me with a blank stare and then I refer to physically. I said, if you cut your arm, do you sit there and admire how clean a cut it is?

You know, no, you put your hand over it because you want to stop the bleeding. You know, this thing, we don't know how deep the losses may go because it gets back to the debt. Since 2000, the government has printed $31 trillion, which has propped up the market. So it really comes to, you know, why are you exposing yourself to risk? Now, a lot of people wish they could go back to the early 80s when CD rates were double digit.

Right. And when everyone was jumping, seniors, savers were jumping up and down. The problem was back then you had double digit unemployment. You had double digit mortgage rates. You had double digit inflation.

So you have to be with somebody who will understand. And most advisors are only using about a three percent inflation on their planning tool. And when I show the Chapwood index and say, here's what the real interest rate is. And that interest rate, that inflation rate is more devastation to you than trying to earn a huge amount in the markets.

Close us out of here. You've given a lot of hope. You've challenged a lot of people to think about their planning. You've challenged a lot of people not to put their faith in money. We don't want to put our faith in wealth, but in the Lord, of course. But that doesn't mean we don't plan.

Take us out here on the challenge of something you talk about a lot. This kind of culmination at the end of times, the Lord is coming back. Someone listening may not know the Lord. They may think, hey, if their money's not doing well and they're losing money, they're having a bad day. But they're not properly anchored in Christ. What would you say to someone like that?

And give us some hope getting out of here. There is so much that I get up very early in the morning. And there's two things that I listen to. A lot of preaching on prophecy, on teaching, studying.

And I listen to financial guys all over the world. Everything that's going on is literally unrecoverable. Just like when you're a sinner, unless you know the Lord, then when the trumpet blows, you're going to be left behind. Now, if you don't realize what Bitcoin is, Bitcoin and digital currency is part of the Antichrist monetary system. Oh, wow. That opens a whole other can of worms.

Because we've had some Bitcoin stuff on here before. And that is in place. So you think that's part of the end times? Everything right now is racing towards the end.

There is nothing that can be done to correct the course that we're on. God's plan is going to ultimately be accomplished. And it starts with the trumpet and the twinkling eye. You and I and all of God's children are going to meet him in the air as we saw him go up.

Make sure you know the Lord. That's the key bottom line, right, Mike? That's right. Wherever you come out on all these financial things, make sure that you remember that it... What does it profit a man if he gains his whole world but loses his own soul? That's right.

Treasure Jesus above all else. Thanks for coming on today, man. Okay. That was a lot of fun. See you next time.