Seeking God's Wisdom

This is faith and finance. Live biblical wisdom for your financial journey. Well, it's a pleasure to welcome Jim Newheiser back on the program. Jim is a trusted biblical counselor, pastor, and seminary professor, and he's the author of a powerful little book I believe every Christian household should read money Seeking God's Wisdom. Jim, thanks for being with us today.

is good, and delight yourself in abundance. And so the Lord is saying that the things that we pursue in the world that we think are going to make us really happy. Don't ever really satisfy our souls, and that the ultimate satisfaction comes in our relationship with him and all that he gives us.

I don't have time to pray with my family, and to recognize that the time invested in our relationship with God is more lucrative in a spiritual sense, than spending every waking moment trying to earn more money. That's just going to be burned up in the end anyway.

Is that the joy and the satisfaction of pursuing the knowledge of God through His Word is going to be precious and delightful in every sense, and the world is tantalizing us with its false wisdom, including money is all that matters. Pleasure that money provides will make you happy, and that is spiritual adultery which will lead to misery.

day and really asking God to speak to you. And he promises that he will give us something better than financial wealth as we taste and see the goodness of God.

in a day and an age. The most prosperous nation in the history of the world, where money can have an allure. You know, the things of this world seem, well, very enticing. And they have promises that they make to us that they cannot live up to. They will not bring lasting fulfillment. They will not fulfill our need for recognition and identity and significance and abundance. We were hardwired for that. But we only find that in God as

our ultimate treasure. Money, though, is a good gift, a powerful tool to bring God glory, to accomplish his purposes for us to enjoy and provide, and to give and to invest so long as it stays in its proper place, that is a tool accomplishing God's purposes. Now we realize you have very specific questions, things going on in your financial life as you navigate your own stewardship journey. And

that's why we're here. Each afternoon, we come together to just lean into God's word, to share one another's burdens, but to also share our stories. And so we'd love for you to be a part of the broadcast today. Whether you're wrestling with some debt you can't seem to shake hold of, or maybe it's saving for the future. Perhaps you have uncertainty around how to navigate your investments. Or maybe it's your spending plan wanting to give wisely. What does that look like? Well, with any of those

questions today, we've got lines open. We're ready for you. So you can call right now 800 525 7000. The lines will fill up, but now's the time to get in. You won't have to wait. Our team is standing by, so call right now with your financial questions of any nature. 800 525 7000. We'll look forward to getting you on the air quickly. And we'll be headed to those phones here in just a moment. In the news today, a buying a home is harder than ever, and nearly half

of homeowners regret their purchase. According to a bank rate survey, 45% of homeowners cite frustrations with ongoing costs. We're talking about maintenance and hidden fees. The average homeowner spends over $18,000 a year on non-mortgage expenses. In places like California and Hawaii, that number jumps to nearly $29,000. Now these costs we're talking property taxes, internet repairs, and more. They often get overlooked during the buying process, especially by those who are

stretching their budget. They're trying to get into a house, and they really can't afford that house. and they certainly aren't factoring in those nonpayment expenses things beyond the mortgage payment. So to guard against surprise expenses, experts recommend a thorough home inspection. This goes without saying. Zillow notes that while some issues may be minor, others like, well, a foundation

crack I've been there could require specialists. Follow ups. Inspections can also help buyers negotiate repairs as a part of the sale. Still, regular upkeep is essential. Instead of waiting for things to break, schedule seasonal maintenance like gutter cleanings, I actually need to do that on my house, which can prevent significant issues down the line. Another one would

be tuning up that AC unit. Yeah, it's an expense we'd all love to keep in our pockets, and yet it can save much more costly repairs down the road. They don't rush into buying. There's no shame in renting. Take time to evaluate your long term financial goals and readiness for the responsibilities of home ownership. Consult a financial advisor that can help you determine a realistic, sustainable home buying budget. Don't be concerned about delaying that purchase and

not getting ahead of yourself. A couple of rules of thumb. And by the way, still some lines open. So if you've got a question today, we'll begin taking those here in just a moment. 800 525 7000 with your financial questions. That's 800 525 7000. Uh, two rules of thumb here when you're thinking about buying a home. Number one, is that down payment? We've talked about this a good bit. No more than or you want to save up 20%

that you can put down. That's going to give you a bit extra in the way of not only savings for private mortgage insurance, which is an unnecessary expense, not going to do anything for you. And by the way, it's about 1% of the mortgage value. It's also going to ensure that you go in with some equity so that you don't ever find yourself upside down. If we were to get into a recession and although home prices

don't dip often, they do go down. And so we certainly wouldn't want to get you upside down on that. I think the other big idea here is that, you know, there are three primary budget busters. If we were to just kind of take a look at what are those things that typically derail us with regard to our spending plan. Number one would be and this is easier to fix food. Food tends to be that area that can get out of control quickly. And and that's certainly true now with

food prices where they are. I don't know if you've, uh, been able to eat, uh, out recently, but food costs are on the rise, no doubt. Um, that one. You can make some changes and rectify that situation. Second one, a little harder to get out of. And that would be transportation costs, you know, unwinding a purchase of a car that was beyond what you can afford, uh, obviously is a problematic, uh, but you can do it. The

third one, though, is that house. Uh, you know, that is the budget buster that is the most difficult to unwind. Not only because it just takes time and and significant effort to sell a home, but it's costly. You know, buying and selling real estate are most expensive purchase for most of us. Um, is not without significant costs in terms of realtor fees and taxes and not to mention moving and all the other things that come with buying

and selling homes. So I will say, let's just try not to put ourselves in that position to begin with. And the key there is just to avoid buying that house we really can't afford. And so we can't shop with our eyes and even the neighborhood or the features. We've got to start with the family budget. What is that amount of house we can really afford? And, uh, as a result of that, you know, back into, okay, what do I need to save and then what do

I then need to take on as a mortgage? And at today's prevailing rates, which, you know, is higher than we have become accustomed to over the last couple of decades, even though it's closer to the long term averages. What is that mortgage payment, including taxes and insurance. Now, the other thing that really has gotten people as of late is that property insurance or excuse me, property taxes. Yeah,

homeowners insurance is going up too. But property taxes have become very problematic just because with home values on the rise, even though you're not realizing that and you won't until you sell that property value is climbing, which means those property taxes are climbing. And, you know, we've got a lot of folks in our listening audience who have seen over the last, let's say, three years, as much as 30%

or more in an increase in their property taxes. Well, that's, you know, that can be really problematic if we didn't have the ability to absorb that in our budget. So all that to say, homeownership is challenging right now. Higher interest rates. High housing prices don't stretch to buy a house you can't afford. And don't neglect those other expenses beyond the mortgage payment, which can add up quickly. All right, I hope that helps. Listen, we're going to be taking

your phone calls here in just a moment. I think we've had some challenges with our phones. We're working to rectify that. If you've been getting a busy signal, hopefully that will be resolved here momentarily. Looking forward to hearing from you today on Faith and finance. Live on Moody Radio. I'm Rob West. Here's our goal that you'd see God as your ultimate treasure, and we'd help you live as a wise and faithful steward. Much more to come just

around the corner. Don't go anywhere. We'll be right back. Thanks for joining us today on Faith and finance live. We are having some challenges with our phone lines today. You're probably getting a busy signal. Our team is working on that. We will try to get that resolved just as quickly as we can. In the meantime, we're going to tackle a couple of emails. We receive emails all the time, and maybe this is the Lord's way of encouraging me to get to some of those emails we've

been collecting, which I'm delighted to do. It often slips my mind. Here's what David wrote I contributed to an IRA thinking it was a smart move. But now, in retirement, I'm facing a higher tax rate than when I earned the income. Are there any strategies to help mitigate the

tax impact for those of us in this situation? You know, unfortunately, David, you're right, many retirees contributed to IRAs traditional that is expecting lower tax rates later, only to find that they end up in higher brackets due to required minimum distributions, maybe income they weren't counting on, among other things that could drive that. So here are a few ways to your question that can mitigate. Mitigate that increased tax liability.

Number one. And this is one of my favorites. You probably heard me talk about it, but if not this could be a game changer. It's the qualified charitable distribution, the QCD. If you're 70.5 or older, it will go directly from your IRA to a charity. It doesn't count as income and can satisfy your required minimum. So that would allow you to get the money out, satisfy the minimum, um, and and not have anything added to your taxable income.

You could do some incremental Roth conversions. So you'll pay the tax now. But growth and withdrawals from the Roth are of course tax free. You could delay Social Security if you wait till age 70. It could boost your benefit and give you more time to do Roth conversions. Um, and then I would just say plan ahead to make strategic withdrawals. So pulling from your IRA before RMDs start, can help to spread out taxes over time and keep you in a lower bracket. I would also say just

this underscores the opportunity to work with an advisor. We recommend connecting with a certified Kingdom advisor to help you do tax planning. That minimizes what you have to give to Uncle Sam. Uh, you always obviously can look at other ways to reduce taxable income. That would be more typical, where you might increase your charitable contributions. Those kinds of things can be very helpful as well. So hopefully that gives you a few things to think about. Uh, this

comes from Cecilia. She writes, uh, when helping a first time home buyer child, is it more cost effective to co-sign on the mortgage or take out a home equity loan and pay off the mortgage directly, allowing the child to repay the parents? The goal is to save closing costs and fees. Uh, let me just say, Cecilia, it's generous, uh, to want to help your child buy a home. But when it comes to cosigning, the Bible is crystal clear.

Don't do it. Uh, Proverbs 2226 and 27 says, do not be one who strikes or shakes hands in pledge or puts up security for debts. If you lack the means to pay, your very bed will be snatched from under you. It doesn't mince any words there. Co-signing ties, your credit and financial future to someone else's behavior. Even if your child is responsible. Life happens. There's job losses and illness and divorce, and if they can't pay, the

lender will come after you. And this could not only jeopardize your financial stability, it could also jeopardize your relationship, depending upon kind of how this ends up playing out. So here's what I would do. I would just say, uh, if you have a desire to help the kids, uh, you know, the best way I've found to do this is to let them qualify for the mortgage they can qualify for, and one that fits their budget. And to do that in a way that allows them to be

responsible to exercise some discipline. But then perhaps you come in after the fact and prepay the mortgage and help them pay it down quicker, maybe even say, listen, we'll match every dollar you send beyond the scheduled mortgage payment. Now you may say, well, that's just going to end up with a higher mortgage and a higher payment. And that's unnecessary. But if they can get into the house they really can afford on the front end, then they

shouldn't have any problem paying that mortgage payment. And by you paying it down, reducing that principal, you're going to save them a bundle in interest and ensure that they continue to pay at that level just to pay that off even quicker. Now the other way would be you make the gift that becomes the down payment. Um, you know, that's the other way to do it. But I would avoid that. Cosigning. Hope that helps. Cecilia. This one's from Cindy. She writes I've been hearing more about a deed fraud.

What steps can homeowners take to protect themselves against it? You can check Cindy with your county deeds or record office to see if they offer an alert option. If anyone tries to do anything with your deed, many counties do now offer that service in response to all the talk about deed fraud. Most allow you to check online yourself to see the status of the deed. So since you can do these things on your own, we don't recommend that you pay a monthly fee for someone to

do it for you. A lot of times this is referred to as, um, you know, title lock insurance. The problem is the word insurance is a misnomer. See, if somebody fraudulently transfers your deed into their name, and typically they would do that for the purpose of taking a loan against it that you're responsible for inadvertently. Um, and then not repaying it. And then ultimately, you figure it out when the home is tried. You know, they attempt to foreclose it. Nobody can protect you against that. It

was fraudulent to begin with. Really, what they're trying to do is just alert you, uh, you know, to, uh, any kind of fraudulent transfer. Um, so in that case, I would just say, you know, let's not add unnecessary expense. Now, if you can afford it, and it gives you added peace of mind, go for it. But for the typical person, I would say, let's not add this kind of lock

insurance or a title lock subscription. Uh, let's first check with our county deeds and records office and see if they will put an electronic alert on there for you, um, so that you can essentially do this yourself. I hope that helps. Hey, I'm glad we were able to tackle some questions for you today. Those come in by email and if you want to send one along, you can send it to ask Rob at com. You can also go to Moody's website, Moody Radio.com. That's Moody radio. All right.

We're going to take a quick break. My understanding is we, uh, did get the phones. So if you have a question, now's the time to call 800 525 7000. Again, that number 800 525 7000. We'd love to hear from you today. A quick break and back with more after this. Stay with us.

401 K and now an IRA. How would you recommend we determine how much to tithe from that amount of money?

now is, uh, resulting from the gain. And so we could apply that percentage to every withdrawal and say, okay, you know, half of everything I take out was what I put in, and half is considered the increase. And therefore I'm going to tithe on half of every check

I take. Um, if you can't do that, uh, you could just use, you know, that as a ballpark number to say, okay, I'm going to assign some percentage that represents the increased portion of every check, and then we're going to give a tithe on that, recognizing you're giving above and beyond that with other giving. Um, but at least for every check you pull out. That would give you some, you know, percentage that you could apply to say,

this is, you know, representative of the increase. And we're going to take a 10th of that and we're going to give it back, you know, to our local church as unto the Lord. Does that make sense?

you know, you do what's right. I can't think about that. Um, but now they're, you know, she's in an assisted living and she's needed increasing care. So it's fairly expensive and it's going up $300 a month, you know, starting this year. So she has 6 to 7 years left of investment if she stays at this level. But that's barring any medical things or other things that could come up too. So I'm trying to figure out what's the responsible thing.

Do I still give in faith or is that would that come back and I'd have to justify that or would go, you know, yes, she goes on Medicaid. They go after the people she gave to or what?

And you know, the extent to which there's something left over. Obviously, not all that money can be given away to charity. Um, you know, if she had, you know, far more than you believe she would need, then I think, you know, honoring, continuing to give to missions and honoring that desire that, you know, was so clear just in the way she lived her life would be great, but it just doesn't

sound like that's the situation that we're in. And, you know, she is ultimately the steward, but she's unable to make those decisions. The Lord doesn't need her money, and she clearly was very generous as an act of worship to

the Lord. When she was able to do so. But I think at this point, if it were me, my primary objective, at least with these resources, not talking about your own with these resources, would be to ensure that everything that the Lord has entrusted to her is available for her care, and that would be my primary focus.

a nursing home. We've kind of taken over when he couldn't, but, um, his we've kind of come to, ah, and don't even know how to go about, you know, who, what kind of person would be the best to even sort this out, or whether we're better, better just letting it take its flow. And when it comes to a crisis. Somebody else should do something.

on the mechanics of personal finance. So head to our website. Com click find a professional. If you choose budgeting or debt you'll get a list of certified Christian financial counselors. Anyone can help. Thanks for your call. Thanks for joining us today on Faith and Finance Live. I'm Rob West here in our final segment today. We want to get to as many calls as we can. So if you have a question call right now. Anything going on in

your financial life. 800 525 7000. We did have a small glitch with our phone system, but that has been reset and we're ready to go. So if you got a busy signal earlier, now's the time to try again with those financial questions. 800 525 7000. A Coral Springs, Florida, is where we're headed next. Laverne, thanks for calling. Go ahead.

So really, you know, all you're doing is you're saving the 3.75%. And the reality is, you know, if you were to take that same, uh, you know, I don't know whether what is it, 3000 a month or 36,000 a year and put it away elsewhere. Um, you know, you could probably, you know, it wouldn't be that difficult for you to outpace that 3.75%. And at the same time, you'd be further diversifying Crucifying yourself, um, among asset classes. So in addition to real estate, you'd have some in

stocks and bonds, which is more liquid? Uh, because if you ever need to get to it, you could, you know, sell the stocks or bonds and have the money, whereas, as you know, it's it's more illiquid. Um, you know, with real estate, you've got transaction costs and it takes

time to sell. So unless you all just are obviously you like real estate a lot, but unless you're just opposed to investing in the market, um, and therefore you'd rather just keep everything in your real estate, I would say, uh, especially given that you're planning to buy a multifamily property

here with the proceeds of the primary residence. I would probably just ride that mortgage out, um, at a low rate and and get that money invested so that you've got something that can be growing for your future alongside the appreciation of that real estate. Does that make sense?

job managing all this, and we appreciate your call today. Uh, Tampa Bay is where we're headed next. Uh, Christina, go right ahead.

had retirement from. Because I didn't have a career. Didn't have a job. Um, my question is this. They will start matching 3%. They have two options. One is like a pre-tax and the other one is a Roth. I think that's post tax. Um, they will match up to 3% after one year. Should I start putting money into that right now, or should I wait until they start matching? I'm not sure what to do, and I'm not exactly

sure how much I should start putting in that account. Um, we're still trying to get out of debt and stuff and catch up.

matching for the first year, especially with it. Sounds like your company gives you the option of a a Roth 403 B. That's great. That means you can put in the after tax money. Um, and then it'll grow tax free and then you'll get that bonus, that kicker in 12 months where they're going to start to match it. But I think the key for you right now is to get something going into retirement savings. And the Roth 401 is a great option. And you have a lot more room to put in more money, um, you know,

than you do with the IRA. Um, and you wouldn't get any matching on that either, so you might as well just keep it in the, in the for three b. I think the only question is based on what you said right there at the tail end, if you have high interest consumer debt, I would wait until that's paid off before you start putting money into the 403 B, because that's probably at a much higher interest rate than you would expect to earn reasonably on this 403 B account.

So what what type of debt are you all still working on? Is it credit cards or something else?

then of course, the credit card debt. It's not astronomical, but it's enough where we probably should pay that stuff off first.

I just work that into your spending plan, and I would take advantage of this opportunity to get that compounding working for you in that four A, three B. But I would prioritize the credit card debt first, because if that's at an interest rate north of 20%, we want to get rid of that as quickly as we can. So if you delaying the 403 B contributions means you can get out from under that credit card debt quicker. Great.

Let's do it. The second thing is, I'd love for you to have at least one month's worth of emergency funds in there before you start the 403 B, and then let's start the four of three B contributions. So long as you've got at least something going into that emergency fund every month. So even if it's slow, we're getting on our way to the 3 to 6 months

expenses you really want. Ultimately, I'd love for you to be putting 10 to 15% of your pay in that 403 B, but if you need to delay that because you know you're still working on the credit cards or because you're still working on the emergency fund, then that's fine. But as soon as you can, I'd get that money going in the 403 B even before the matching kicks in.

help you think through your role in managing God's money. Hey, before we wrap up today, let me just invite you to become a faithful partner. Uh, partners are a key part of our ministry as a listener supported ministry. We can only do what we do because of your generous support. And so if you find value in the program, maybe you listen regularly. You love what we're able to do

each day to encourage you in your journey as a steward. Well, being a partner would be a key way for you to help support this work, and we'd certainly be grateful. Between now and June 30th, we're still looking for about 55 more partners. Those are folks that give to faith $535 a month or more, or 400 or more per year.

And as a way of saying thanks, we send you resources to encourage you in your stewardship journey for issues of our magazine, Faithful Steward, and all of our new studies and devotionals, not to mention pro access to the Faith VI app. Just head to Faith. Com and click give. That's faith. Philly.com. Big thanks to Amy, Anthony, Lisa, Tara and Jim. It takes a team to pull this off each day. Faith and Finance lives a partnership between Moody Radio and Faith five. We'll see you tomorrow.