Begging To Give

0:00Have you ever stopped to ask yourself this question, how much money is enough? Most of us never really define it. And when enough is unclear, it becomes a moving target, shaping our decisions, fueling anxiety, and keeping us chasing more without ever finding rest. At FaithFive, we believe God offers a better way. That's why we created the FaithFive Field Guide. How much money is enough? An interactive scripture-centered resource designed to help believers explore this question through biblical wisdom, guided reflection, and real-life application. Purchase your copy at faithfive.com slash shop. That's faithfive.com slash shop. What is the greatest evidence of generosity isn't how much you give, but how badly you want to?

1:00Hi, I'm Rob West. When Paul describes the churches of Macedonia, he tells us something remarkable. These believers were poor and suffering, yet begged for the privilege of giving. Today we'll look at what their example teaches us about a heart transformed by grace. And then it's on to your calls at 800-525-7000. That's 800-525-7000. This is Faith in Finance, biblical wisdom for your financial decisions. In 2 Corinthians 8, the Apostle Paul is encouraging the church in Corinth to participate in a collection for believers in Jerusalem who were experiencing severe hardship. To inspire them, Paul points to another group of believers, the churches of Macedonia. But he doesn't point to them because they were wealthy, quite the opposite. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 8, 1-4, we want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia

2:01for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part for they gave according to their means. As I can testify and beyond their means of their own accord, begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints. These believers were experiencing a severe test of affliction. Paul describes their poverty as extreme, yet somehow abundance of joy and extreme poverty combined to produce a wealth of generosity. And perhaps the most remarkable detail is this, they begged to give. Think about that. Paul wasn't begging them for money, they were begging Paul for the opportunity to give it. They saw generosity as a privilege. That can feel almost foreign to us today. Even in the church, giving can easily become something closer to an obligation, a bill we pay, a percentage we calculate or even a kind of spiritual tax.

3:03The question we might ask ourselves is, how much do I have to give? But the Macedonians seem to be asking an entirely different question, how can we be part of this? They knew their brothers and sisters were suffering and they didn't want their own hardship to keep them from participating in what God was doing. That's a hard transform by grace. In fact, notice how Paul begins this passage. He doesn't say, let me tell you about the impressive generosity of the Macedonians. He says, we want you to know about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia. Their generosity was evidence of grace and work in them. And verse 5 tells us why. They gave themselves first to the Lord and then by the will of God to us. That's the key. Before they gave their resources, they had given themselves to God. When we understand that we belong to Christ and that everything we have comes from his hand, generosity begins to look less like losing something

4:04and more like participating in something. It becomes a privilege. Now, we should be careful here. Scripture is not telling us that faithful Christians should recklessly give away money they need to meet legitimate responsibilities. Later in the same chapter, Paul provides important balance. In verses 12 through 14, he says that a gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what one does not have. And then he explains that the goal is not that others might be relieved while you're hard pressed, but that there might be equality. At the present time, your plenty will supply what they need. And that in return, their plenty will supply what you need. So Paul's point isn't that we should give irresponsibly. He's showing us something deeper about the posture of a generous heart. Do I primarily see generosity as something being taken from me or as an opportunity God is placing before me? When I hear about someone in need is my first instinct to protect what's mine

5:05or to ask whether God has given me something I can share? The Macedonians weren't generous because they had plenty left over. They were generous because grace had changed what they treasured. And ultimately, Paul points beyond Macedonia to Jesus himself. Second Corinthians 8 and 9 says, for you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though he was rich, yet for your sake, he became poor so that you by his poverty might become rich. That is the heart of Christian generosity. We don't give to earn God's favor. We give because in Christ, we have already received grace beyond measure. And when grace captures the heart, generosity stops being merely something we have to do. It becomes something we get to do. All right, your calls are next at 800-525-7000. That's 800-525-7000. I'm Rob West and this is Faith and Finance, biblical wisdom for your financial journey. We'll be right back after this break. How much money is enough?

6:08It's a question almost all of us wrestle with, but few of us know how to answer. What if God has already given us a better way to think about enough? One that leads to contentment, freedom, and greater generosity. Our Faith-5 field guide, how much money is enough, will help you explore this important question through scripture and practice. And we'll be right back after this break. We'll be right back after this break. We'll be right back after this break. We'll be right back after this break.

7:31Thank you for having me on the line. I must say that it has been a long journey of repayment of a student loan that I have. And I could say that this student loan stems all the way back to 1992 when I actually have the loan consolidated into, I'm not quite sure whether it's a federal, I can F-F-E-L-P, and then there were some mothers. They kind of consolidated three of them at the time. And I had Sally Megz as my slender and I had naven, and now I have Mojila. At this time, the balance is 36,000. And it took a few daily at 9%. So you can see my dilemma. It just really feels like I'm walking in place and making payments on this.

8:32My question at this time, I'm trying to look at different avenues. At one point, I tried making like a half a payment, one, two weeks, like by monthly payments. And that's the fact. It worked a little bit, but I wasn't quite sure. Yeah. Well, I like that strategy, Charlotte, because anything you can do to get more money going to principal is going to be key. I mean, the challenge is, yeah, rates are high right now. 9% on a student loan is on the higher end. And over decades, most of the payment goes to interest, which is why the balance hasn't dropped much. You could look at a private refinance. If you have good credit, you could get down in the five to 7% range. That could save you money and interest and get you a faster payoff. The challenge is, if it is a federal loan, you would lose those federal protections like the income driven repayment.

9:33That would be the most notable one and then flexible deferment. You can't refinance within the federal system. All you can do is consolidate, but that doesn't affect your rate. It just averages the rate. So if it's already private, you could shop for a lower rate or a refund, and that could definitely help. And then if you are in the federal loan program, I would just look for, as you have been, an opportunity for you to just apply as much as you can to extra principal along the way, similar to what you were doing with that biweekly plan where you're paying half a payment every two weeks, which gives you one extra full payment a year. And that's the kind of thing that's going to help you get this paid off once and for all. Does that make sense? It does. Not quite sure in terms of it appears that because it is a student loan, I'm not able to go ahead and possibly gain money from actually

10:37mortgage, maybe to re-buy, just to pay it off and just add that on to my mortgage. Yeah, I wouldn't do that. Because what that's going to do is secure that to your home. And although there are mechanisms by the way they could collect this, they can't force you to sell your house. If for some reason you were unable to pay. And again, if it's federal, you're going to have those income driven repayment options. So if you got into a hard spot, you'd be able to drop your payment lower, even though that's going to extend it further into the future, at least you could keep it current and avoid losing your home, which is what you'd be putting at risk the moment you added to the house. Not to mention the fact that if you have, if you've had this mortgage for a while and you've gotten an attractive rate, you would have to do a cash out refi, which would likely mean that interest rate's going up on that mortgage, although it might bring it down on the student loans. If you're paying more on the mortgage balance, you might end up paying more interest over time.

11:37So I'd probably, well, I would, avoid that option and I'd either stick with what you got and just try to prepay it. Or if it's private and not federal, and I'd check on that, then look to refinance and see if you can get that rate down. Charlotte, I hope that helps. You'll get there. We appreciate your call today. Downers grow Illinois, Francine. How can I help you? Hi, bro. I want to say thank you for taking my call. Absolutely. I have a question regarding an insurance policy. So I currently have a whole life policy. However, there is an attachment of a term wider on it. Which I did not realize in too much later because at the time when I signed up for it, I was dealing with a death and I just wasn't attending to it and it's got kind of sluck this in on me because I wanted just the whole. However, I want to know if I should drop the term and up until what I have is an OPP wider,

12:41where I can put money into the policy, which will increase the face value. Or if I should just let the term part, the writer remain on there until it goes out. But then like I say, at the same time, it's decreasing the face value in this policy. Reminds on the OPP. Yeah. Yes. Very good. Yeah, this is worth investigating, Francine, especially if you were told that keeping the term writer is reducing the long term value of your whole life policy. The term writer is essentially temporary additional life insurance attached to a permanent whole life policy, which can be useful because it provides a larger death benefit without purchasing that entire amount as whole life. But then the term portion generally doesn't build its own cash value and of course it carries additional costs. The key is you have to look at, well, first of all, I would ask the insurance company for what's called an enforce illustration,

13:45showing the policy under different scenarios. You see, life insurance illustrations are designed to show things like benefits and premiums and expenses and cash values and guaranteed values versus non-guaranteed. And I'd ask them to illustrate first, keeping the policy exactly as it is, including the writer, second, reducing and removing the term writer and then leaving the base whole life policy alone. And then third, if available, remove or reduce the writer and increase the permanent face value. And then compare the premium, the guaranteed cash value, the projected cash value and the death benefit at various ages, like 70, 80, 90, 100, things like that. And then I think that's going to give you all the information you need to make the decision. Can you just take the writer off possibly? Many policies allow an existing writer to be removed, but the actual contract is going to drive that at the end of the day.

14:48Some ensure specifically list term writer cancellation as an available policy change. But you need to ask, if I remove this writer, what happens to my premium, what happens to my guaranteed cash value, the projected value and total death benefit? Because that's important. Removing the writer will generally mean giving up additional death benefit provided by the writer, if that makes sense. Okay, so you said to ask about the premium and the guarantee of... Yeah, so the premium, the guaranteed cash value... Oh, okay, very serious. The projected cash value and then the death benefit at various age intervals, like 70, 80, 90. And then, you know, and they could just give you that as an illustration, but basically that's going to give you the information you need so you can compare these side by side and decide, you know, what makes the most sense as you factor all these issues together.

15:52Okay, that makes sense. Thank you so much. Okay, thanks for your call today. Lord bless you. Folks, this is Faith and Finance, back with your questions, 800-525-7000. We are grateful for support from Praxis Investment Management. Since 1994, Praxis has offered investment products designed to meet practical needs for everyday investors seeking to steward their assets consistent with their desire to promote positive social and environmental impacts. Praxis aims to bring a faith-based approach to ETFs, mutual funds, multi-fund portfolio solutions and money market accounts reflecting their 500-year-old, Anababdist Christian Faith tradition. More information is available at PraxisInvest.com. Feeling burdened by credit card debt? As faithful stewards, we are called to manage our finances wisely. Christian Credit Councilor can help with a debt management program that allows you

16:55to pay off debt up to 80% faster while honoring your commitments with integrity. Don't let debt hold you back from the life God has planned for you. Take the first step toward peace and financial freedom today. Visit faithfi.com slash CCC or call 800-557-1985. Hey, thanks for joining us today on Faith and Finance. Let's get right back to the phones. Let's go to Cleveland, high-lisbit. Hi, thanks for taking my call. I am in the process of selling my house and I'm not quite sure. My asking selling price is 126,000, which is less than I paid for the house. The person who is buying it, their mortgage agent wants me to lift the price as 140,000 so that the buyer can pay all of her costs. But that will get reported to the IRS as the selling price and not what I end up getting from it

17:57because she will be using that money to pay the closing costs. I was selling it cheap because she was going to play all the costs. So I don't know how that would affect taxes. I haven't had to file any taxes in the last few years because my only income was so security. Now I'm assuming I'm going to have to file taxes on this. Let's separate out these issues, Elizabeth. First of all, let's talk about selling the house for less than you paid in the capital gains. There really won't be any capital gain. If in fact, you're selling it for less than you bought it for. The capital gain is the actual realized amount from the sale minus the cost basis, what you paid for it, plus any improvements you made, what's called the adjusted basis. And so you won't have any capital gain just based on what you described, which means you would have no taxable capital gain to report. I'll come back to that in a moment.

18:58What about the buyer's request to put 140,000 on the contract? You certainly wouldn't want to agree to report a 140,000 dollar sale price when the true transaction is 126, so the buyer can obtain an additional 14. There is a legitimate structure where the negotiated price includes a seller concession or a credit toward the buyer's closing costs. That's very common, but they have to be disclosed in the purchase contract to the lender and in the closing documents, because mortgage programs place limits on seller concession. So for instance, let's say the contract price was 140, and then in the contract disclosed properly, there was a seller credit toward the buyer's allowable closing costs of 14, and then your true economic proceeds before other expenses would be 126. That's not the same thing as secretly inflating the price to 140.

20:01In my scenario, the lender, the appraiser, the closing attorney, the title company, the real estate agents should all know about the concession. Fannie Mae actually requires the sales and financing concessions to be disclosed. So don't sign an amended 140,000 contract until your closing attorney and title company and real estate agent explain exactly how the 14,000 is being shown and confirm that the buyer's lender has approved it. Lastly, I would just say as to whether or not you'll have to file a return, it's really going to come down to whether or not you receive that 1099 S. If you do, the IRS is going to require that you file, even if you don't have any tax due, because you're going to have to report on that. So you may have to file a tax return, but you still shouldn't owe any tax given that you have no taxable capital gain. Does that make sense?

21:02It does make sense. We financed 128,000. So if they want 140 and I make seller concessions, but I get everything that's not used for closing. I mean, if I get 135 for it, instead of the 126, will that difference make a capital gain? No, but it all just depends on how it is written up and you may be agreeing to a seller concession for the full 14, and it would all be used up. But I wouldn't get, I mean, unless there's some other reason you're selling it at a discount, I wouldn't avoid selling it at market value simply because you're going to have a capital gain. I mean, you're going to be in a 15% capital gain bracket. So of every dollar of capital gain you have where you've realized a gain beyond what you purchased it for, you're only going to have 15 cents out of every dollar that you have to send to the IRS. So I don't know why

22:06you wouldn't go ahead and get the true market value unless this was a friend you're trying to give a gift to or something. Well, it is a friend, but one of my other concerns was if I made too much of a profit, if it would affect my social security. No, no, no, it won't. I mean, it is going to be added to your taxable income and it could make some of your social security taxable as income, but it may not. And so what? Because it sounds like you're going to have a very modest gain, if any. And this was also your primary residence, right? Well, it was except for the last three years, I've been living with my son since my husband died. Okay, but you get 250,000 of gain to set aside as long as you live there as your primary residence for two out of the five years prior to the sale. Yes, I did. Well, then you get 250,000 in gain that you don't have to pay any capital gains on. Okay. Yeah. So I would you're well, thanks for calling get with your CPA to kind of go over all

23:12the details, but yeah, you should be in great shape here, Elizabeth. And I wouldn't want you to sell this at a discount unless you intentionally were desiring to do that. Let's go to Florida summer. How can I help my husband and I we own our home. And I have decided recently to leave the house to my daughter. And I wanted to know how would I go about making sure she does not have any trouble when I'm deceased or when he's deceased, getting the health. Well, you just want to make sure that you have some estate plans in place to transfer this property to her. And that can come by way of a will where you would create a will stating that the house goes to your daughter. And that's much better than no estate plan at all. It doesn't avoid probate though. So what what happened is the probate court would review the will and your executor working with the probate court would ensure that this property gets transferred according to your will to your daughter.

24:17And then she would enjoy what's called a step up in basis. So whatever you paid for it would no longer matter. Her cost basis for tax purposes would become the value of the property as of the date of death. It would take a little bit of time. There would be some expense. The estate would have to incur through the probate process, but it would eventually get to your daughter. If you had a living trust, which would cost you probably three or four thousand dollars, you could move the house into the trust. You could remain in control during your lifetime. And then your daughter could also receive it. It's just that that would avoid probate. It would go to her immediately. And then there's another option in Georgia that's probably a middle of the road here in terms of complexity. And it's what's called a transfer on death deed. And this is where it would essentially act like a beneficiary designation. So that even without a living trust, we could get the property to your daughter and bypass the estate process, no probate. And it's called a transfer on death deed. It would have to be

25:21recorded with the county, but it would ensure that she gets that asset directly. Thanks for calling. Thanks to Devon, Sandy Taylor, and everybody here at FaithFive. We'll see you next time. Bye-bye. Faith in finance is provided by FaithFive and listeners like you.