The 5 Ds of a Financial Reset

Published Dec 27, 2024, 6:00 AM

The world is becoming more complex every day. Technology solves problems and creates new ones. So, how do you keep up? On today's Faith & Finance Live, Sharon Epps will join host Rob West with some much-needed advice—the 5 Ds of a Financial Reset. Then Rob will tackle some financial questions. 

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Today's version of Faith and Finance Live is pre-recorded, so our phone lines are not open. The world is becoming more complex every day. Technology solves problems and creates new ones. How do you keep up? Hi, I'm Rob West. Among so many other things today, maybe you've noticed that managing your finances is increasingly complicated and involves more than balancing a checkbook. Sharon Epps joins us today with some much needed advice the five DS of a financial reset. Then 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 journey. Well, I always love when Sharon Epps stops by. She's president of Kingdom Advisors. And let me explain what that means. Part of her job is to advise the Christian financial advisors who give you advice. Sharon, great to have you back.

Glad to be back.

I think we can all agree that managing our finances can be a challenge. Sometimes financial problems seem overwhelming and so I'm looking forward to you sharing some thoughts on what we can do about it.

Well, whether we're struggling with our finances, they're stable or we even have a surplus, sometimes we just need a financial reset. Yes, just like our computers need resetting occasionally to clear the cash and run more optimally, our finances can drift or creep out of order. The reset recenters our minds and helps us focus on the spiritual priorities, and they're really the key to getting back on track. In fact, Romans eight five tells us exactly what our spiritual priorities should be. It reads, for those who live according to the flesh, set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the spirit set their minds on the things of the spirit. So we want to live according to the spirit rather than the flesh, and to do so, we need a mindset of surrender to God's ways, including how we handle our money.

That is so well, said Sharon. So let's unpack these five D's of financial reset. Where do we start?

The first D is define. What does that mean? You should write out a standard of living statement. Define how you should live. What's your why? Your motivation must be deeper than just financial health. That's too vague. What about the motivation of life and peace? In fact, John 1010 says, the thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. And then first Timothy 617 through 19 reads, as for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. They're to do good, to be rich in good deeds, to be generous and ready to share. Thus, storing up treasure for themselves is a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life.

It's a powerful verse, and that is a great foundation. All right. The second d of our financial reset.

Let's try. Declutter not just your desk area, but the whole house. Spend a week in going room to room asking have I used this in the last year? Is it still helpful to me? If not, sell it or better give it away. Decluttering your house goes a long way to decluttering your life. Now, third is delay. Make what you might call an impulse. List things that you want to buy. Put the day's date on them and commit to waiting 30 days before buying an item. You'll probably discover you didn't really need or want the item after all.

I love it. Declutter is my love language. Not necessarily delay, as you might imagine. So all right, I see the next D of our financial reset also involves 30 days. Tell us about it.

Yes it's detect. Create a 30 day record of your spending and review your expenses. Now that's one thing that's gotten easier with technology since we rarely spend cash. Just take a look at your bank and your credit card statements, all probably online. What would you change? And I have to give a shout out here for the Faith fi app. It combines all of our accounts in one place, so Joel and I can use a single source to stay on the same page about our money.

I couldn't agree more. Julie and I use it the same way. All right, what is the last D in our financial reset? Sharon?

Well, that would be decide. This is where you draw up or overhaul your spending and giving plans. Revamping your budget is a powerful reset experience. Check your priorities and decide where your money will go. And be sure you make giving an important part of your plan as well. Where can you make adjustments so that you can be generous with your church or other ministries that you're passionate about?

Oh, this is so good, Sharon. You know, we all need a financial reset from time to time, and you've given us some practical steps to do that. By the way, folks, she mentioned the Faith fi app. It has a powerful feature where with one click of a button, you can reset the system and start over if you haven't been in in a few months. Sharon, thanks for stopping by.

Always glad to be here.

Now, we're not here to take your calls live today, but we have plenty of calls that we lined up in advance, and we'll get to those just around the corner. Don't go anywhere. Great to have you with us today on Faith in finance live. I'm Rob West. Now just a quick reminder. We're away from the studio today. Our team is enjoying time with family, so don't call in. But we did line up some great questions in advance. We will get to those in just a moment. But first, this is a great opportunity for me to remind you how God is at work here at Faith VI. In fact, we're so encouraged as we hear your stories of life change. What a privilege it is to come alongside you and equip you as a steward of God's resources. In fact, I'd love for you to hear one of those testimonies of life change right now. Listen to Tommy's story.

They hope that is rendered by listening to you and to your people. It's so much of a big gift that my wife and I, who listen to you all the time. We are a small business since the latter 70s. I'm in my early 70s, but we finished a lawsuit about two years ago. Unusual, frivolous lawsuit where we had to defend ourselves in our state. It took three years. It took a little over 200,000. We're still paying one of the lawyers. And all through that, at times it was sort of like walking through a dark cloud, but listening to people talk. Listen to your practical advice, some sort of a geek. So I understand math really well. So today we really look forward to the future. We we live in a little small, modest house, but we have a vibrant small business, family business where the customers love. So it's a slow, full circle. We stay involved in their community and our church and we try to render hope. And I just want to tell you, it's just so huge because I hear a lot of people stuff I used to have shame. That hit me really hard because I hear what some people there that have some successes and I say, well, we had that and this is just what we were chosen. We were chosen to go through this. So thank you so much, Rob. Thank you. People that call and share and you never give up and you never know which way the future holds. It's not all in our power and I've had to learn to relinquish.

I'm so thankful for Tommy's story, and I'm so thankful for so many of you who are an encouragement to us. We couldn't do this without an amazing team here at Faith Fi, and thanks at the end of the year here. For so many of you who are supporting this work, If you'd like to support our work here at Faith as we press toward our year end goal, just go to Faith 5.com and click give. Every gift is doubled until the end of the year before we head to the phones in the news recently, credit card debt is becoming an alarming trend among one specific group retirees. In 2024, 68% of retirees reported having outstanding balances. That's a pretty steep increase from 40% in 2022. With inflation driving up costs and Social Security adjustments failing to keep pace, many retirees are turning to credit cards. Unfortunately, to cover essential expenses, making debt an ever growing issue on fixed incomes. High interest rates, of course, worsen the burden. The average credit card rate reached 23% this year. Debt is also following more Americans into retirement than in past generations, making financial stability really elusive. So what does it look like to manage credit card debt specifically in retirement? And of course, these apply any time and in any season of life. But this is particularly challenging in the retirement season. Number one, this goes without saying cut costs. You know, small lifestyle changes can help reduce debt. So cancel unnecessary subscriptions. You'll be surprised at how many monthly charges you forgot about that are continuing to churn in the background. Look for those. Conduct a home energy audit, prepare meals at home, and save on utility and food costs. For larger savings, you might want to consider relocating to a more affordable area. I know that's more challenging than ever with the housing market the way it is. And yet, you know the big three, the budget busters, if you will, are housing, transportation and food. Food is a little easier to adjust on the fly transportation, perhaps the next one housing a bit more challenging just because it's of course, where we live. It's more illiquid, more difficult to sell a house than a car. Certainly more difficult to sell a house than to to change your eating out habits. But it is that big ticket item that could be the difference in you being able to balance that budget and maintain your lifestyle, living below your means. Second, increase income. You know more and more seniors. More and more retirees are going back to work, even part time. So explore a part time work opportunity. There's not only work from home options, but perhaps getting out and doing something even, you know, a few hours a week could, uh, allow you to stay active and bring in some much needed additional income. Think about selling valuable items. Consulting a nonprofit credit counselor company for guidance would be really helpful. We, of course, recommend Christian credit counselors here. They've worked with thousands of our listeners. They're believers. They'll get you into a debt management program, which is my preferred way to pay off credit card debt, especially if you're over around 4000 is kind of the the point at which I recommend you don't just try to snowball it yourself and actually hand it off to a debt management company. Reason being, they're going to get those interest rates down from that 24%, 23% average rate that we're seeing down to between zero and typically 8% could be a little bit higher. But that's a game changer in terms of your ability to actually pay it off once and for all. You don't replace the debt. It stays right where it is. It's just that the interest rate has dropped. When you work through Christian credit counselors, and you can learn more at Christian Credit counselors.org. And that leads to the third point, which is reduce interest rates. You know, getting those interest rates down is key. And then making one level monthly payment is essential as well, just because we don't want to see those payments come down as the balances come down. If you'll notice with a minimum payment on a credit card when you're just paying it directly, that's a percentage of the balance. So as that balance comes down, the minimum payment they're asking for comes down. That just ensures that you're going to pay as much interest as possible. With credit counseling, you're going to have one level monthly payment that fits into your budget, and it stays the same the entire time. So as that balance comes down, especially in light of those lower interest rates, you're sending a larger percentage of the balance every month. And that's in a sense a compounding effect that is going to allow you to pay that off on average 80% faster. And so be sure to check that out. But here's the bottom line is credit card debt is just a real challenge, especially in this season of life where everything is really tight. So if we can help, or if Christian credit counselors can help, uh, check them out today. Christian Credit counselors.org. And if you'd like us to weigh in on your specific situation, be sure to give us a call. All right. Let's get to our calls today that we've lined up. Let's go to Illinois today first and welcome Brian. Go ahead sir.

My wife and I just bought a purchased a car. It's a 24. Uh, and, uh, we were she was wanting to know if we kind of should carry the loan or pay it off. It's at 1.9 money that we have in the bank that we could pay it off with is making some of. It's making 3.9 and some of the it is making five point 5.25%. Okay. And so that was one question. The second area if we have time uh, they, we we also bought a ten year bumper to bumper warranty on these new cars. Uh, the so she was they were offering us a about $1,015 for a five year thing to keep up the maintenance. So this general maintenance to just keep the warranty valid. So we're kind of wondering which way to go on all that stuff.

Okay. That's really helpful. Well, let's do this. I'm up against my first break, but I've got all of that. You've got that new car loan for 1.9%. Love that. We're seeing those come back around now as folks you know, who can afford to buy new or have the ability to get in on those low interest rates, which is a dealer incentive. And then, yeah, the question about extended warranties is always a good one. So we'll tackle that just around the corner. Brian, you stay right there. Uh, Tanisha coming your way as well. We'll be right back on faith and finance. Stay with us. Great to have you with us today on faith and finance live. By the way, we're not live today. We're away from the studio, so don't call in. But we have some great questions that we lined up in advance. By the way, this ministry is entirely listener supported. That means we rely on your financial gifts and support to do what we do on the air every day. If you consider a gift, we'd certainly be grateful. Just head to our website, faith 5.com. That's Faith fi.com and click the give button. Thanks in advance. All right, let's head back to the phones now. Before the break we were talking to Brian in Illinois. He and his wife just purchased a 2024 hybrid car. They bought it new, of course, and as a result, they were able to finance it with a dealer incentive, a low interest rate on that auto loan at 1.9%. They had the ability to go in and pay it off. Right now, they've got the funds available in high yield savings earning nearly 5%. Um, they're just wondering if that makes sense or whether they should just ride it out. And, you know, I think, you know, given Brian that the the rate is higher on what you're earning in interest, unless you just have a real conviction to be debt free. I kind of like you all just continuing to make that monthly payment. You're offsetting that with the interest you're earning. Even if you're paying, you know, you're paying a little bit of tax on that interest. But even after tax, you're, you know, your net positive on the amount you're getting from that interest. So and we're probably not going to see even though the general direction of rates is going to be coming down, we're probably not going to see you know, them dip below even that 1.9% for quite a while, and they may not even ever be back there in the amount of, you know, the time it's going to take you to pay it off. So I like you kind of hanging on to that extra reserve if you need it. That way it keeps you more liquid. And again, you're still coming out ahead at the end of the day with regard, uh, you know, to the, to the interest you're earning, does that make sense?

It makes total sense to me. Yeah.

Very good. And then I know you got that ten year bumper to bumper warranty, which is great. And you know, that's going to ensure that if you ride this all the way to 100,000 miles, which is the way we recommend you do it, I love if you know people, if nobody bought new cars, we wouldn't have any cars eventually. So as long as you can afford it, that's great, especially when you're doing it the way you are. But I like the idea of buying them and keeping them for a long time. That's the way Julie and I did the current minivan that we have. We are at 130,000 miles. On our way to 250 is how long we held the last one. So I think that idea that you can be, you know, covered bumper to bumper and have that peace of mind. Now, I know they were offering you for about $1,000, five years of just kind of, you know, oil changes and tire rotations. My experience is, you know, that's unnecessary. You know, you can if you prefer to do everything at the dealership, you certainly can. You're going to pay a little bit more that way. I'd, you know, rather you stay current on your maintenance, but you know you're going to find that there's plenty of places that will do those tire rotations free to earn your business. You probably could find a, you know, an oil change place that you like closer to the house that you know will probably run you 70 bucks or something every time you do it. So I just don't know that it's necessary to lay out that cash and be locked in to only going one place. I think you could have more flexibility by keeping that money in your pocket, choosing where you go. I think the key is that you stay on top of it. Um, you know, but as long as you will, uh, I'd rather you have more control over where you do that.

Yeah. The only thing I was considering was, uh, on this, uh, ten, ten year, 100, 000 mile warranty that, uh, you got to get this done. Otherwise you could void your warranty. Yeah. And I'm just not sure if I have to read the fine print and find out if there's only certain places you can have that done, or can you do it yourself or whatever?

Yeah, I recommend you do read that fine print just to make sure. But generally speaking, as long as you can document that you've kept up with it, you know you should be fine. And so you just want to keep a log or hang on to the receipts or something like that. But you should have flexibility over how you do it. Now double check that. But that's generally the way it works.

Well, thank you very much. All right, Brian, my wife's mind.

Excellent. Well, all the best to you and your bride. Thanks for calling today. And we appreciate you being on the program. Uh, Tanisha is in Iowa. Go right ahead.

I'm trying to get out of debt. I'm 45 years old. I don't have any money, and my expense is higher than my income. Mhm. Yeah.

Alright, let's dial into that. Have you put to budget together. That is a realistic budget. Not just the things you get a bill for, but kind of all in where you'd, you know, put the things that only come a few times a year, like an, you know, an insurance premium or, you know, putting something aside for auto maintenance. I mean, do you have a sense of what it actually costs you to, you know, cover all of your expenses over a month's time?

No.

Okay. I think that's the first starting point. And the reason is we want to understand what that true gap is. Not just the best case scenario, but really what are you spending on a monthly basis. And again, it really needs to include those non-recurring expenses that you're going to spend money on. You know, like for instance, gifts for family and friends. You know, if you're if you're going to buy any gifts along the way, then we got to get it in the budget. And you know, your your car, depending upon, you know, whether you have a warranty or not, you still need to change the oil. We got to get that in there. I mean, so we've got to get everything in there and then figure out what that true gap is between your income and your expenses. And then we can go to work and decide, okay, what needs to happen. How much do we need to cut out of the budget, and where is it going to come from? Maybe you need to increase your income if that's possible. Can you do it at your current place of employment, or do you need to add a second job for a period of time? You know, do you need to move? Do we need to sell, you know, assets like an automobile and and try to get something more cost effective? I mean, once we know what that true gap is to get your head above water, then we can, you know, start making some hard decisions. It's not easy, but it's necessary. And generally the, the best starting place for that is to, you know, start keeping a log, if you will, of all of your expenses. So you might want to just keep a physical little notebook. And every time you spend some money, you literally write it down. You could use the Faith fi app. I'd be happy to give you a a Pro subscription for six months, where you could connect your checking and savings and credit card and debit cards, and that way all your transactions would download automatically and you could build a budget that way. But we've got to begin there because until that happens, you really can't go to work and and start making the changes. Let's do this. I've got to take a quick break here, but I want to get your thoughts on that and see if we can help you, you know, create a plan to go forward from here. So stay right there, Tanisha, and we'll pick this up on the other side of the break.

We'll be right back.

You're listening to Faith and finance live, and you can find us online at Faith Philly.com. However, today we are not live. So if you hear that phone number, please don't call. But do stay with us. There's lots of good information ahead.

Our goal in this program to help you see God as your ultimate treasure, to not find your value or your identity in the things of this world which are fleeting, but to find your hope and your abundance in Christ, in the person and work of Jesus. Helping you manage God's money as a tool to accomplish God's purposes. That's what we try to do here on this program. Each day. And before the break, we were talking to Tanisha. She's wanting to get her budget back on track. She feels like she's going underwater every month and just wanting to know, how do I rightsize that budget? And, Tanisha, give me your thoughts on what I shared, just about the importance of really determining first, what is that gap truly on a monthly basis that you're solving for to get your budget back in line so you're spending less than you earn and then going to work making the hard decisions on how we can cut expenses, maybe in a minor basis, maybe more significantly, but then also looking to add additional income where possible, even picking up more hours or a second job, but give me your thoughts on all that.

I agree with you. Um, getting myself back on a budget, figuring out where is the extra money going? Well, I know where it's going. It's going on subscriptions. I like to get my hair and nails done. Um, I like to eat out. You know, stuff that I just can't afford. I mean, I'm like a $6 a month here. $10 a month here, $20 a month. I mean, that stuff adds up at the end of the day. And at the end of the year, you got eight, $700 on just hair and nails subscriptions and all that stuff. And my job that I work, see, I have a daughter that has autism. Okay. I'm actually taking on the responsibility of taking care of my 88 year old grandmother. She's been with me for almost two years because she had nowhere to go and no one to take her, and I just didn't want to throw her in the nursing home. I didn't feel that that was right at the time. I know her very well, and I know she would have just sat there and just possibly passed away, and I didn't want that for her. I wanted to give her an opportunity until the Lord calls her home. Yeah. You know, to take care of her, because I lost my mom in 2016. So all of her kids are gone. They're deceased, except for one. And she's the only one left on her side of the family, so I'm taking care of her. But my job, they've offered me extra hours. They've offered me other shifts. But I'm in a position to where I. You know, I want to, but I can't. So I'm in a position to where I have to choose my daughter first and foremost, and my grandmother over picking up more work because I have no one to care for them, and I can't leave them alone. And I have my 23 year old son that lives with me. He works every day. I mean, he's graduated high school. He's doing great in life. I mean, he made last year $43,000 at 23 years old. I think that's pretty good for a 23 year old. And he's but he can't live and he's helping me a lot. He's giving me a lot of money. And I feel so bad because I'm like, he's 23 years old. I want him to be able to build a savings because he's not going to be with me forever. One day he's going to be ready to go and go get his own family and do his own thing. So I've got to get myself in a position to where I'm not dependent on my 23 year old kid to help me.

Yeah, no, that's well said. And I think I love that you're serving your family and and certainly there for your mom. And I get that's going to limit your ability to take on a lot of extra work. At the same time, you've already quickly identified that there are opportunities to cut back and eliminate spending. And I think one of the keys for you, Tanisha, is to have that visibility into where the money's actually going. And I think perhaps I mean, you're saying I know I'm going to see quickly where it's going and it's going to add up fast, but I think you might even be surprised at how much you're spending in various areas. And if you can actually see that, you know, that's the power that you need often to say, okay, I'm done with that, and I'm not doing that anymore, and I'm eliminating that over there. And, you know, it allows you to get creative and try to figure out how we can balance this budget during this season, where you need to spend a little bit more time at home. Here's what I'd like to do. I'm going to give you a six month Pro subscription to the Faith five app that's going to allow you to connect all of your accounts checking savings, credit cards, debit cards, anything you spend money on, it'll automatically pull those transactions in, and then you'll tell it which envelopes each of the transactions go into. It'll learn that from you, and then it'll happen automatically. And that's going to be key for you to even if you start in the track only mode, for you to start to figure out where is your money going so that you can then start to make some decisions? The other thing I'm going to do is connect you with one of our certified Christian financial counselors. We're going to pay for it. If you're willing to meet with them. They'll do it remotely, probably two or 3 or 4 sessions, and they'll help you work with the Faith VI app. Identify your problem areas, help you come up with a budget that balances, and get you on a system where you can actually control the flow of money on a monthly basis. How does that sound?

That sounds good. Also, I have like $30,000 in auto debt. Okay, that I need to, you know, and it's, uh, it's really impacting my, my credit score. So it's stopping me from being able to get ahead also. Okay.

Well, they can certainly take a look at that as a part of the process. And just be sure to mention that as you all get set up. Well, Tanisha, we appreciate your call today. You stay on the line. We'll get your information, get a certified Christian Financial counselor in touch with you. Again, no cost to you. We'll also give you a six month subscription to the Faith five app, and I think that'll get you on your way. May the Lord bless you. Let's go to Texas. Hi, Kathy. How can I help you?

Thank you. Sure. Um, I have recently retired, and my husband will be retiring probably sometime next year. But something that we had started doing is, um, using a credit card to, um, charge our groceries every month, and then we pay it off, um, before the finance charges kick in. Yeah. And the reason we're doing that is to get travel rewards points. Yes. And I was just wondering your thought on using a credit card for things like that, or should we just figure that into our budget monthly and just take the money out of our budget instead of charging?

Yeah, no, I like that Kathy a lot. I'm not someone who says you can't use credit cards. It's only an issue when it becomes, you know, a problem because you're not using the credit card for budgeted items. And so if you do, if you use them for non budgeted items that are outside what you can afford, then that's when you start carrying a balance. But if you're using them only for budgeted items and you're paying it off in full at the end of the month, then you're in great shape because to your point, you're going to get the rewards. You're going to add the convenience of being able to pay electronically. And then thirdly, you've got the protections as well. So with a debit card, for instance, if the account was compromised, you could maybe get the money back. The problem is until they resolve the issue, the money's gone out of your account until the bank makes you whole with a credit card, you just dispute the transaction and you never are out the money, they take it from there. And so, you know, there's there's some protections, there's flexibility, there's convenience. And when you use it, for instance, with the Faith VI app, you can connect those accounts and see those transactions come in and actually have them go into your digital envelopes and and monitor where you're at with each of your envelopes at any point in the month. So for instance, with your eating out envelope, if you have one, you could say, where are we at? Well, we've got a week left and the money's gone. So we're we're done for the month. And you can make those decisions in real time. But bottom line is, Kathy, no, I don't have any problem with the way you all are doing it. The key is only budgeted items. Pay it off in full, zero interest. Hey, we appreciate your call today. We'll be right back with much more after this. OJ coming your way. We're so glad you've joined us for Faith and Finance Live today here in our final segment, let me remind you not to call in because we're not live today, but we'd love for you to stick around and enjoy the rest of the program. Let's go to Mississippi. O.J., thanks for your patience. How can I help you?

Yes, I'm just calling. I am, I have a mortgage, 23 year mortgage and I have about 80 K on it. I have a 2.75 interest and I'm making bi monthly payments, and I've been paying extra. And if I keep paying like I'm paying, I probably can pay it off within the next five years. I've only had it about since 2020. And so I'm a pastor, and I'm also taking housing allowance for about 25,000 a year. And if I pay this early, will I still be able to take my pastor's allowance? Mhm.

Yeah, that's a great question O.J. first of all I love that you have that nice low interest rate. That's great. I love that you're using the biweekly payment plan. Um I'll talk about that in a moment. Because I think for a lot of our listeners, that may be a great way to go about adding an extra payment a year to your mortgage. That's going to reduce the principal. But to your question, OJ, you can still receive housing allowance as a pastor as long as it's designated by your church, your employer, and it's it's done properly. Um, but the amount may be reduced because you can only use it for, you know, eligible expenses. So once the house is paid off, then we're talking about things like utilities, property taxes, uh, repairs and maintenance. Um, you know, but under utilities, we can include your electricity and gas and water, even some, you know, home improvements and furnishings. Um, but you'll need to document all of those expenses and then ensure each of them qualify under the IRS guidelines. But, um, you know, it would likely, though, be a lot lower on an annual basis. So depending upon what your housing allowance is, if currently, you know, it's beyond what it would take to cover all of those expenses, then it could drop. You know, once you pay off that mortgage. Does that make sense?

Yeah, it makes sense. The question. Another question. Should I pay off early? Um, you know, right now it's paying about $400 a month extra with the with the, you know, because I'm paying a little extra. Yeah. So, um, I'm paying about 400 a month toward the principal. Should I increase that and invest it? I'm 67 years old.

I think that would be a good idea. I would not focus on trying to pay that off early. I'd probably just make that schedule payment. Reason being, your interest rate is very low below current inflation rates. Two you can earn higher returns by investing that extra money instead of paying off the mortgage. And then thirdly, the tax benefits on the mortgage interest and property taxes, plus the housing allowance, which is clearly a benefit that your church wants to provide to you as a part of your overall compensation. So I would say just given all of those issues, I wouldn't be in a hurry to pay that off. You know, just pay it out over time at that low interest rate.

Okay. Second question is investment. I have a financial planner. We started about a year ago and I don't know what the fees are. His fees is about, um, he said he discounted it for me. He's a Christian guy. And he told me that I think I heard something about Blackrock, and I think he said some of their investments are in Blackrock. Now, last year I did about 20% average, sometimes 25. It averaged about 20, a little bit low 20 on my investments. And so I don't know why I need to change over or ask him about. That's something I can ask him or what.

Yeah. Well I love that you care.

Yeah.

Excellent. I love that you have an advisor, and I love that he shares your values as a believer. I'm not crazy about Blackrock, so I think that would be something to ask him about. Reason being, the investments are fine. It sounds like you've done well, but more and more Christians are wanting to know that their investments align with their values as believers. And that looks like two different components. Number one is what are the actual companies you own, and are there companies that are profiting from activities that would be misaligned with your values? You know, it could be a variety of issues, but most notably, it might be profiting off of abortion if they're a pharmaceutical company or, you know, gambling, you know, if they're in the sports betting area or alcohol or tobacco or pornography. So, you know, that would be one thing is, can your advisor screen for those type of investments? Not all advisors do. And can even Christian advisors, just because this is a still a relatively new, uh, you know, space in investing, what we call faith based investing. The other is kind of the other side of this, which I think certainly applies to Blackrock. Is the whole corporate engagement side there. Often what we're seeing with companies like Blackrock is they're using the company or the shareholder, the proxies that they're voting to advocate for causes and issues that would be misaligned with Christian values. And so I think for that reason, a lot of folks are saying, I just don't want to be with that particular fund family. And it's not just them. There'd be many others in that category. So, you know, if you're happy with the relationship with your advisor, I think the first step is just an opportunity to sit down with your existing advisor and say, listen, I love that we've done so well in the market, but I really want to give a look to not just what are our returns, but also how are the investments you've selected for me aligned or misaligned with my values as a believer? And then if you're not satisfied with, you know, your advisor's ability to to provide that level of service or customization, then that's where I think a CA who offers faith based investing could be a great alternative.

Well, it's the 750 annual. Is that kind of comparable or average or.

It totally depends upon what you're getting for that. So that is what is the portfolio he's managing for you. How much.

We've got. We've got insurance. Well we just have we got insurance. Um, uh, several different investment. Uh, my wife, myself, uh, and other things like that. And it's probably total right now. I think I want to say it's right around 150, um, something like that one 150 K.

All right. So $150,000 that he's managing and he's making the buy and sell decisions on the investments.

Yes.

All right. Is he also offering financial planning to you at looking at your overall retirement planning.

Yes.

Okay. Yeah. I mean that's a yeah, he's he's definitely discounting that because typically what you would think about in terms of an advisor who's offering asset managing your assets, they would typically do that on a percentage basis. And a pretty typical, uh, fee for that would be at 1% a year, and that would be $1,500 on 150,000. And so it sounds like he's half that. And so if he's providing the investment management and the financial planning on 150,000 plus, you know, the planning on the the overall comprehensive plan for you at at a half a percent for the assets he's managing, that's way under what a typical advisor would be providing now if he's also making money by, you know, he's an insurance agent and so he's earning commission on insurance products, then that that may be how he's making it up. But just at face value, the 750 a year is is definitely under market. Um, I would need to know more about the insurance products and how he's being compensated there. But I think at the end of the day, you know, if it were me, I would want to know what I'm invested in, what fund families and what actual investments, and probably want to know that you know, that there aren't things in that portfolio that don't align with my values as a believer.

Well, what would I what the what would I ask him for about Blackrock? I mentioned before, this is what he said. He said, well, you know, there's a lot of companies have stuff that we don't agree with.

But yeah.

That's how you make your money.

Yeah. Well I disagree with that. Uh, the hypothesis is that, you know, the idea here is that there is an there's a whole new industry of what are called faith based investments. And all the empirical data says you don't have to sacrifice one bit of performance to invest according to your values. And companies fund families like Crossmark and Inspire and Guidestone and one ascent and eventide, you know, are wonderful, fun families that are, you know, doing great, providing great returns for their clients on a risk adjusted basis and screening out all of the companies that would be misaligned with your values, both in terms of what their primary business activities are, as well as, you know, the the corporate engagement side, how they're voting proxies and and doing shareholder resolutions on your behalf. And that would be where I would have a problem with Blackrock in particular. So what I would do is perhaps give him a list of some of the other fund families and say, listen, I appreciate what you've done. I understand you're trying to get me the best return possible, but in addition to getting good returns, I also have a conviction that I want my investments aligned with my values, and I don't accept the idea that it's just how you invest that you kind of have to take the bad along with the returns, because that's just not true anymore. There are world class investments out there that allow you to be authentic to your faith, and seek an appropriate return on your money. Let me give you a place to go to download a list of all of those fun families. And maybe that is the what you use to begin this conversation with him. And then again, if if he just can't go there because his business isn't set up that way, then I would encourage you to reach out to a CA who can. But the the website is faith and investing.com/faith fi. That's faith and investing.com/faith fi. That'll give you a one page PDF that has about 15 fun families on it that are all faith based investing mutual fund companies. And I think you could use that as a great starting point to a conversation. Does that sound good?

Appreciate it. bro.

God bless you.

All right, OJ. God bless you, sir. Hey, before we wrap up today, let me remind you, you know, financial decision making can often seem overwhelming, seemingly endless decisions about money. But we can boil it down into something perhaps a bit more simple. All we can do with money is live, give, owe and grow. There's the money we spend on our lifestyle, the money we owe for debt and taxes, the money we grow for the future and the money we give to the Lord's work. And all of those are addressed in Scripture. Every one of those have principles that we can pull out of God's Word, our hope and prayers that we can help you do that on this program each day. Faith and finance live as a partnership between Moody Radio and Faith five. Let me say thank you to my team today. Amy, Dan, Jim and Gabby T couldn't do it without them. Thank you for being along with us as well. So thankful for your calls and your questions. Have a great rest of your day and we'll see you next time on Faith and Finance live. Bye bye.

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