Rob West Generosity is only part of the stewardship story. The money we save and invest can also reflect what we believe. I am Rob West. For many Christians, conversations about money often center on one question: How much should I give? But faithful stewardship goes further. It includes every resource God has entrusted to us and how we put those resources to work. Today, Amy Minnich joins us to explore some important questions we may be overlooking, and then it's on to your calls at 800-525-7000. This is Faith and Finance on American Family Radio, Biblical wisdom for your financial decisions.
Our guest today is my friend Amy Minnich, co-founder, chief impact officer, and general counsel of Impact Foundation, where she helps Christians align their investments with their faith to promote human flourishing. She also serves on the board of the Association for Christian Investing. Amy, great to have you with us.
Amy Minnich Thanks, Rob. I'm happy to be here.
Rob West Amy, Christians have traditionally approached generosity by asking three questions: What should I give, how should I give, and where should I give? But I know you believe there's a fourth question we should be asking, so share that with us.
Amy Minnich Well, if we believe God owns everything and we're his stewards, then we have to be asking, what would God have me do with everything I own before I give it away?
Rob West Mm.
Amy Minnich The other questions that we've been asking—where, why, and how—are really important, but God's going to call us to account for everything we own, everything we do, everything that we have. And it is our absolute joy and privilege to share with him everything, not just the dollars that we can grant to charity.
Rob West Mm.
Rob West Yeah, so this isn't about replacing generosity, is it?
Amy Minnich Absolutely not. God, for some reason, has designed his economy to run on the fuel of our generosity. He delights in us giving our things away, making grants to charity. But faithful giving is also about how we use what we keep behind, recognizing that generosity is much part of a larger stewardship responsibility. It includes our savings, our investments, our businesses, and really everything we think we own that God has entrusted to us.
Rob West Yeah, it's holistic, and that raises another question: we typically think of businesses as creating products and providing services and of course generating jobs and earning profits. But can the work of a business itself also advance God's purposes?
Amy Minnich Absolutely. God has given his people certain abilities; he made Jesus to be a carpenter. He's made me to be a lawyer. It's not who I am, but it's what I do out of who he created me to be. And if the work that I do as a lawyer, or the work that you do, Rob, running Kingdom Advisors and doing this radio program, if the work we do every day has the ability to bring him glory and make him smile, then a collection of a whole bunch of people working together to do something can also be about bringing glory to the Lord and building his kingdom.
Rob West Mm.
Amy Minnich Business is so much more than just generating profits that can be given away. You know, we spend eight hours a day or more at work, and our employees spend that much time at work. So if we're creating jobs that allow people to express themselves as God created them to be, to encounter the truth of Scripture potentially, to serve customers well and to love one another well, that's a place where the kingdom of God happens to look a lot like what I think he designed it to be on earth as it is in heaven.
Rob West Yeah, it's a beautiful picture, and the output should be equally as reflective of Creator God creating goods and services that are good and that serve people. And it's really how God has created his virtuous cycle of economic productivity. Well, in the latest issue of Faithful Steward Magazine, you point out that charity alone can't solve every complex problem. So how can Christians think about then charitable giving and investing as complementary approaches without diminishing the importance of either?
Amy Minnich That is a great question. Charity is essential, especially in moments of crisis. If somebody's starving, we should probably give them a meal.
Rob West Yeah.
Amy Minnich When there's a disaster, war, famine, immediate relief has to come, and it has to be probably free if somebody has nothing to offer. But if we're looking at how to make a long-term change in the world, that's where we need to introduce the idea of business.
Rob West Mm. Well, we're going to continue to unpack that after the break. It's a big idea and it gives us a more holistic view of how we think about everything God has placed in our hands, and whether in some cases it makes sense to give charitably and other cases invest strategically, but all under the lordship of Christ. Amy Minnich here today. We're talking about asking the right questions about investing. We'll be right back.
SEGMENT 2
Rob West Generosity is certainly part of our stewardship story. But the money we save and invest can also reflect what we believe. Amy Minnich is here today. Amy is co-founder, chief impact officer, and general counsel of Impact Foundation, where they help Christians align their investments with their faith to promote human flourishing. And, Amy, before the break, you were talking about the fact that, absolutely, we should be givers as an overflow of God's grace. We should be living a generous life, and there are appropriate times to give charitably, to help somebody in need, and to love our neighbor. But there are also times where we should think about investing in a similar way, promoting human flourishing, right?
Amy Minnich Absolutely. I saw it firsthand in a tiny village in rural Southern Ethiopia near the border of Kenya. And there was a group of people who, because of famine, drought, and some political instability, they were starving. And the aid came and was dropped off on the back of the truck, and it literally saved their lives. But three years of aid being given meant that people had lost the ability to work, and kids were not learning the same skills that for generations, for thousands of years, people had been learning in this village. The opportunity to create jobs and provide some training, that's really what they needed after their basic needs were met, and the only thing that creates long-term scalable jobs is business.
Rob West Yeah, that's exactly right. And so if a business can advance God's purposes through its work, then for us as Christ followers, how should that shape the way we think about investing in business?
Amy Minnich Well, first it means that investing isn't spiritually neutral. Every choice we make about where we put our dollars says something about what we value. And that's true for investments as well. And Christians have been engaged in impact investing for over a decade, intentionally placing capital in businesses to create a measurable social and spiritual impact. In fact, all of our investments have an impact, and some of that impact is aligned with our values and some isn't. So when we think about whether we're supporting businesses that honor people, serve customers well, and contribute to human flourishing, that's when we know that we're asking the right questions about how we can invest. It's a much broader conversation about faithful stewardship than when we're just writing a check to a charity.
Rob West Amy, what about accessibility for the average investor to the types of investments that you're describing? Because when we think about investing, we might think, well, that's the exchange-traded fund I bought in my brokerage account or the the menu of mutual funds I have in my 401(k). Are we seeing more awareness and product that leans into the direction you're describing here?
Amy Minnich Thankfully we are. There are tremendous asset managers who are faithfully deploying their client dollars in ways that advance the gospel. And that occurs in three primary functions. One is screening out certain stocks that are just never going to align. The next is engaging in dialogue with companies where we need to. And then third, embracing the kinds of investments that really move the needle in significant ways.
Rob West Yeah. Well, and you touch on these through several questions that you encourage Christ followers to ask as they think about aligning their investments with their faith. What are some of those questions?
Amy Minnich I think first it starts with just asking the Lord, how have you wired me? How have you made me? And then going from there to, okay, what do I have? Taking stock of, you know, the Lord asked Moses what's in your hand, and Moses set a staff, and that's what God chose to use to lead his people out of Israel. For us, I probably am not going to hold a staff, but I should take stock of what it is that I do own.
Rob West Yes.
Amy Minnich And then the next question from there is, okay, Lord, given how you've wired me and what you've given me to steward, how would you have me deploy these dollars? How would you have me steward what you've entrusted to me?
Rob West Yeah, I think that's exactly right and well said. You also make an important distinction, Amy, between—and we've talked about this a bit—but you make the distinction between investing personal capital and using charitable dollars for impact investing. Why does that distinction matter?
Amy Minnich Well, first let's frame the question in dollar terms. There's over a trillion dollars that have been set aside in private foundations and donor-advised funds. People have gotten a tax deduction on it, and it's invested in something waiting to be granted out. As we think about those dollars that we've already given away, that we're never going to be able to use to send our kids to college or buy a home, we have a real immediate stewardship responsibility because we intended to do something with them, and if we're not investing them in a way that advances God's kingdom, we should ask ourselves why. I'm not granting it, it's invested in something. Do I even know where it's invested? And then our personal capital has a different sort of set of requirements for it because we are intending to use those dollars to care for our family, to send our kids to college, potentially to provide for a child or family member who's never going to be able to live independently. And those dollars have a stewardship responsibility with a slightly different need requirement on them. And so oftentimes we'll see people willing to sacrifice financial return on their charitable dollars whereas that might not necessarily be feasible for their personal investment dollars. We need them to return a certain at a certain rate so that we can do the things that God has called us to do in stewarding our families well.
Rob West Well, this is perhaps a brand-new idea for a lot of people listening today. So, folks, I would encourage you to learn more, and the best place to start is to check out the incredible work of the Impact Foundation. You can learn more when you go to impactfoundation.org and look how you can easily invest charitable capital to create the economic, social, and spiritual transformation that Amy has been describing today. Again, that's impactfoundation.org. Amy, thanks for your time.
Amy Minnich Thank you, Rob.
Rob West 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 on American Family Radio, Biblical wisdom for your financial journey. Stick around.
SEGMENT 3
Rob West So delighted to have you with us today on Faith and Finance here on American Family Radio. Well, we're going to be taking your calls and questions here in just a moment. So now is a great time to call 800-525-7000. That's 800-525-7000. The team is standing by. We're ready for those calls. We will get you on the air quickly. What questions? Well, anything about giving, saving, spending. We want to encourage you. We want to hear your story, what story God is writing in your life, and then think about how money can be a tool to accomplish God's purposes for you to bring him glory, for you to use God's resources because it all belongs to him for your enjoyment, to provide for your family, also to love your neighbor through your giving and your investing, what we talked about with Amy Minnich just a minute ago. And we want to get really practical. Maybe it's your credit score today, maybe it's some debt you're trying to pay off and you've been struggling to do that. Perhaps it's investments, wanting to know where is this market going to head from here? You know, as President Trump was quick to say, he's ready to work with anybody, the market took off yesterday. Well, now we're selling off today as, I think, the market is in part processing what a Democratic election rout, you could say, could mean for the U.S. economy, and technology is leading the way down. Several of the new, newly elected Democratic senators saying hold up on AI, artificial intelligence, which obviously is a key part of what's going to drive this economy forward, especially given some of our changing demographics. But if that's going to slow, that's got implications economically and otherwise. So the market's processing a lot of information, but whatever your question is today, we'd love to hear from you. 800-525-7000. We'll dive into those questions here in just a moment.
In the news today, about 2 million children will receive shares of SpaceX stock in their Trump Accounts this December, thanks to a donation from SpaceX President and COO Gwynne Shotwell and her husband. The couple is donating more than 2 million shares, with eligible recipients between the ages of 11 and 17 living in zip codes where the median family income is less than $57,000. Children in areas without sufficient census income data may also qualify. Shotwell says additional donations are being finalized for eligible children in military families serving overseas, as well as children in foster care and certain families in Texas. Parents can check their children's eligibility through the nonprofit Invest America. Trump Accounts are savings and investment accounts available to American children under the age of 18 with Social Security numbers. Children born between 2025 and 2028 may also qualify for a one-time $1,000 federal contribution. It's not a match; you just get it automatically if you open a Trump Account with Form 4547—you know where that came from: 45th and 47th President—$1,000, but they have to be born between 2025 and 2028. The SpaceX donation follows new Treasury regulations that allow single individual stocks to be donated to these accounts, which were previously limited to only diversified low-cost index funds. So what a great opportunity. I love that so many philanthropists and business leaders are jumping in—Michael Dell and his wife, another one, and there's been many others that have said, "We want to be a part of helping to bless families, especially those from low-income parts of the country." I think it's incredible.
All right, let's dive into your phone calls today. Again, that number: 800-525-7000. Any financial question today, something happening in your life, you need a second opinion, call right now. Let's begin in Oregon. Lynn, thanks for calling. I believe you've called before. We're delighted to have you on the broadcast. How can I serve you?
Lynn Yes, I have. Thank you. I always appreciate your help. So, I have requested and received two of the credit reports that are available annually.
Rob West Yes.
Lynn This one is from TransUnion, and it has a section called "Promotional Inquiries" and a similar called "Account Review Inquiries." I'm wondering—it looks like those are from like banks, maybe, that are soliciting their services or a credit card, perhaps. Is that something I should be worried about, something I can stop, or is it just expected?
Rob West Yeah, great question. And I know this will benefit a lot of listeners who are probably wondering the same thing. Bottom line, promotional inquiries, Lynn, are normal. They do not hurt your credit score, and you generally don't need to respond to them. But let me unpack that a bit further. What are they? Well, these occur when credit card companies, banks, or lenders check limited credit information to see if you qualify for a promotional offer. So, an example would be a credit card company may review your credit information before sending you a pre-approved credit card offer. These are what are considered soft inquiries, not hard, and therefore they do not affect your credit score. You know, these—it doesn't mean someone has opened an account in your name by any means, and they're different from hard inquiries, which happen when you actually apply for credit, and those do temporarily lower your score. No action is necessary. You really can safely ignore these promotional inquiries. If you receive an offer, of course, you can just shred it.
If you don't want companies using your credit information for pre-screened offers, the quickest way to deal with that is optoutprescreen.com. So that's optout—O-P-T-O-U-T—prescreen.com. Or I'll give you a website—or excuse me, a phone number, Lynn, if that's easier: 888-5-OPTOUT—if you can use the numerical portion of your keypad there: 888-5-OPTOUT. That would be the way to, you know, in fact, opt out of companies being able to do this.
In terms of the account review inquiries, those are also soft inquiries. That's when a lender you already have an account with reviews your credit report. They're probably checking your creditworthiness, they're deciding whether to increase your limit. That's routine. They don't affect your score, and, you know, the optoutprescreen.com is the way to get out of it. So, I want to see if you have any follow-up questions on that. Unfortunately, I'm up against a break, so stay right there, Lynn. You and I can chat during the break and see if you need anything else.
Folks, we've got lines open today. We're taking your phone calls. The number: 800-525-7000. This is Faith and Finance. We'll be right back.
SEGMENT 4
Rob West So delighted to have you with us today on Faith and Finance here on American Family Radio. We're taking your questions today at 800-525-7000. That's 800-525-7000. We would love to hear from you today and help you process the questions you're wrestling with in light of biblical wisdom.
By the way, that question from Lynn reminds me that, you know, so often we're wondering, how do I improve my credit score? It's, you know, it feels like it's kind of stuck where it is right now. Let me just give you the quick five top five ways to improve your credit score, and then we'll jump back into some phone calls.
Number one, of course, this goes without saying: pay every bill on time. Payment history is the biggest factor in your credit score—35%. Even one missed payment can hurt.
Number two: keep those credit card balances low. Now, let me just as an aside say, I'd rather you not have any credit card debt. Let's not pay a dime of interest. If you use a credit card responsibly, you're disciplined, you're on a budget, you're only using it for budgeted items, and then you're paying it in full every month, then I have no problem with it. Um, but credit utilization accounts for roughly 30% of your credit score. So we want to keep, uh, those balances less than 30% of available credit, both per card as well as in the aggregate. Ideally, for the best scores, it would be under 10%. And keep in mind, the credit score doesn't distinguish between balances you're carrying and balances you're paying off if you pay it after the close of the cycle. So if you're charging it up to 60 or 70% of the limit, only to pay it off, but you do that after the cycle closes, that balance is going to be reported at 60 or 70% of the limit, even though you're going to turn around and pay it down. So the only way to get around that, if that's an issue, uh, would be to pay it prior to the cycle close. You'd have to, you know, find out when that date is and get that payment in before that. But that would then allow it to be reported at a zero balance, which actually could help.
Number three: don't close old credit cards unnecessarily. Older accounts can help your credit history, which is another factor.
Four: limit your applications for new credit—what we were talking about with Lynn a moment ago. Now, hers were promotional; that's different. We're talking about applications where you're out seeking credit. Those hard inquiries in a short period of time, several of them, can temporarily lower your score. And then check your credit reports for errors. That's what Lynn was doing. Annualcreditreport.com—you can get those reports for free, dispute any inaccurate information. They have to either prove that it's real or delete it within 30 days once you dispute it. All right, those are the best five. Don't, uh, don't worry about that credit score, but, uh, those may be able to help you get that thing up. All right, let's head back to the phones. Uh, we're going to go out to Texas. Carolyn, thanks for your call. Go ahead.
Carolyn Oh, well, thank you for, um, your help here. This is actually hitting just exactly where I need to be. Um, even though it's late in the game for me—I'm 66—and just starting a Roth IRA where I'm able to do that. And I'm looking into, uh, I've been studying the Timothy Plan and different accounts for biblical investing in the last couple of years. So now I'm there. But my, this has hit at the perfect timing, because I realize that's to grow my, uh, retirement fund. But how do we now navigate into where do you invest into a different way, into where you can actually have more access to liquid assets, to where if you wanted to come alongside someone and help them, or you find a charity or somewhere where you feel that your money's going to benefit more? Um, I try to do some things right now with, um, help the homeless every winter, get tarps and things to help them winter. But there's things, you know, that I also want to look into other than just my own little, um, ministry. But how do you, how do you do that? Do you go like invest in a different plan or, or a different account, and that's only for that type of stuff, to where your money is more liquid then?
Rob West Yes. Yeah, it's a great question, Carolyn, and I think it does require some intentionality. So, you know, for those funds that you want to give away, one of my favorite tools is what's called a donor-advised fund. Um, think of it like a charitable checking account. So you would make a contribution to your donor-advised fund—and if you don't have one, you can open one in just a couple of minutes, uh, with our friends at the National Christian Foundation, which was founded by Larry Burkett and Ron Blue, one of the largest Christian charities in the world—um, but they don't make any of their own charitable grants; they just serve Christians to help them give more strategically. And so you would go to ncfgiving.com, ncfgiving.com, open a giving fund—it'd take you just a couple of minutes—and then you could make a contribution, Carolyn, of cash or stock, appreciated stock, even real estate, other assets into your, uh, your giving fund. As soon as you do, you'd get a contribution receipt as if you've given the money away for tax purposes. And then the money would sit there; it can even be invested inside the donor-advised fund. They have faith-based investment options you can use. And then when you're ready to, to grant it out, you'd log into your giving fund, you'd pick the ministry you want to give to, you'd click a button, and they would mail a check. And you could do that whenever you want and however often you want. The only caveat to that is it does have to go from the donor-advised fund to a 501(c)(3) ministry or charity, like your church or a homeless ministry serving the homeless in your city. You would not be able to grant it out to individuals. So if you wanted to be able to give, you know, as the Lord leads, to somebody that you meet on your path, you'd have to keep some cash ready for that. But all of your other giving, as long as it's ultimately going to end up with a charity, you could do from your donor-advised fund; it could be invested while it's waiting, and it's just really quick and easy. It's one of my favorite tools to do that. So I think I would use a giving fund for that purpose rather than opening a brokerage account, picking investments, and then having to sell those investments and creating a taxable event only to turn around and give it away. And you certainly wouldn't want to do that with a retirement account, uh, just because of the, you know, the nature of, of that retirement account really being there for you to grow your own assets on a tax-deferred or tax-free basis for your benefit in the future. But let me stop there and see if that makes sense or if you have any questions.
Carolyn Uh, no, that, that does. I mean, so if you're, and then I guess if you're just trying to keep some money aside, say, you know, you meet a single mom or a widow or, you know, family that just needs a little help, you just try to save up some money on your own instead of trying to, like you say, invest it in just a separate brokerage, and then you just say, "Okay, well, I have this, maybe, you know, it'll help you out"?
Rob West Yeah, exactly right. I think that's the way to go. And, you know, I generally recommend people keep up to two weeks' worth of expenses in cash at home in a fireproof safe, because that way if there was some kind of banking disruption or there was some sort of weather event or, you know, something happened with the electrical grid for a couple of weeks, you know, you'd have some cash that you could use. But I think to your point, you know, maybe that, that cash for you is what you use to just bless people that you encounter where the Lord leads you to make a, a gift, and then you're just replenishing it, you know, as needed. But the money that I would be pulling from that's not already in cash ready to give away, I wouldn't invest it because the nature of that money is it's short-term, and we really only want to invest money in stocks and bonds that we have a five-year time horizon at a minimum. And just the nature of your giving is going to be such that you're going to want that more liquid. So I would say probably a high-yield savings account with enough at home to cover somewhere between two and four weeks of your giving. Does that make sense?
Carolyn Uh, okay, that's pretty helpful. Okay, well, very good, 'cause like I said, I'm very ignorant, but just getting started and it's right where I was questioning.
Rob West You're doing great, Carolyn. Keep it up. Hey, hang on the line. I'm going to send you a copy of our Faithful Steward special edition on women and wealth. I think it'll be a blessing to you. We'll be right back.
SEGMENT 5
Rob West So thankful to have you with us today on Faith and Finance here on American Family Radio. Did you know Faith and Finance is listener supported? That's right. We only do this because of your generous gifts. And one of the key ways, folks, come alongside this ministry is through our partner program. That's right, Faithfi Partners, almost a thousand of them. We're at about 950 at last check. Uh, support the ministry at $35 a month or more, or $400 or more per year. And it's a huge part of, uh, what we count on every month to sustain our operations, to bring you this broadcast, our publications, our magazine, our devotionals, including our new devotional that's coming out first of the year, uh, called Wealth That Lasts, a 31-day devotional from Randy Alcorn, his first on money in devotional form. And we're so excited about it. I just reviewed the latest draft of it, uh, this week. It's going to be incredible. But these are the kinds of resources we're creating because of your generous support. We're also next year going to be creating, uh, three more field guides: How do you give intentionally? How do you retire with purpose? Um, we're also going to be looking at how do my values align with my investments, all in field guide form, very actionable, very biblical. That all happens because of your support. So if you love the ministry, you've been helped by the broadcast, we would invite you to give. You can certainly give one-time, but, uh, consider becoming a Faithfi Partner and receive all of our magazines and resources at your door. It's our gift to you when you give and you become a partner. Just go to faithfi.com/give to learn more. That's faithfi.com/give and this is a really important time for us as we head toward year-end.
All right, we want to get into some phone calls here. Uh, we do have room for a couple of additional questions. So if you've got something on your mind, call right now: 800-525-7000. Let's go to Virginia. Robin, how can I help?
Robin Um, well, thank you so much for what you do. I hope, uh, you can hear me okay.
Rob West: I sure can. Yeah.
Robin Well, I, um, I just want to say, uh, quickly that you're such a great transition from—I'm a regular AFR listener. So years ago, I found out about AFR because of someone suggesting Dan Celia's show. And so I really, uh, appreciate the fact that, um, you're trying to help people with the sense of security versus risk in the world of money and savings and giving.
So my question is a little off-tangent to that, but it relates to, um, similar to mentioning the, uh, the previous callers. I hope I'm not going to show my naivety too much, but it's just quickly happened a few days ago. And it's related to, um, when you get your social security deposit coming in to your card, right? I get a card as opposed to going into my bank, and if I need to investigate something, I've gotten—I know this month and because of the opening of the enrollment time time period, I've gotten a text message from a certain company, I won't mention, but, um, I never signed up with them, and it's sort of a, you know, um, to prevent identity theft, that kind of a company.
And I so I don't think I ever gave them. I really don't think I ever gave them my social security number. But, ironically enough, to enter in on the keypad on a phone, I used my number, which I usually never do at all. I use the account number for my car loan company. And it was that afternoon I started getting messages from that very company, which officially I never signed up with because it was too expensive, you know, for me at the time to sign up with them. So I don't want to mention their name. Okay. Unless you need that.
What can I do? What's the safest way for me to investigate? Because they're saying there's like 23, 24, 25 different sites where my social security has been number has been compromised or used, and I don't want to further compromise it, but I sort of want to investigate it before the next deposit comes through for November, or should I, you know, I don't know if you have any of those questions from your, um, you know, your clients, and if you could help me with that.
Rob West: Sure. Yeah, I'd be happy to. And that's not a naive question, Robin, so I'm so glad you asked. And secondly, thank you for your kind remarks about the program and Dan Celia and I know there's so many faithful AFR listeners who just loved and relied on Dan for so many years, uh, have the utmost respect for the ministry he had, and I'm delighted, uh, in our own way to con- to continue to carry that that legacy, just to encourage God's people with biblical financial wisdom. So I appreciate you calling that out.
A couple of thoughts here, Robin. Number one would be, and I'm not saying that's this is what I'm about to describe, but I just want to put this out there is there is actually a scam that's designed to scare you into giving away personal information by claiming your social security number has been compromised. And so here's how it works: A scary text arrives that says your social security number has been found on the dark web or your identity is at risk and you need to act immediately. Well, what they're doing is they're creating urgency because it may warn that someone is opening an accounts in your name and that your bank accounts could be frozen unless you act quickly, and their goal is to get you to click a link or call a number that would take you to a fake identity protection website that looks legitimate, and then they would steal your information. So the fake website or the person on the phone may ask you to enter your social security number, your date of birth, your bank information to quote "verify your identity," and then they steal that and commit fraud.
Now, again, that may not be what's going on here. This may just be somebody who has legitimately been scanning the dark web and your number popped up and they're trying to sell you services. But you just need to be on your guard that these scams do exist that prey on people around creating urgency. And so we don't ever want to click a link in an in an email that we receive or through a text message, regardless of how legitimate it looks. Uh, we want to take alternate steps. What are those? Well, let me describe kind of where you might go from here.
Um, I wouldn't call that number or click the link in that text you got. What I would do instead is I would check your credit report, so I'd go to annualcreditreport.com and look for any unfamiliar accounts or inquiries. They probably won't be there, but that would be good to do. You can get them from all three bureaus.
Second is you're going to want to freeze your credit. I recommend everybody does this. Go to Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax, freeze your credit, and that way if somebody does access your social security number and attempts to open an account fraudulently in your name, the frozen credit will stop them in their tracks because that frozen credit requires they have a pin number to give to the lender to actually check your credit, and when they can't produce that, they're done. And so I I think that's a good idea for everyone to do, and it's free.
So those are the only two things I would do. Uh, now, many of the com- credit card companies do offer—I just got one the other day, so one of the credit card companies I legitimately do business with, um, they just sent me an unsolicited email, and they said, "Hey, we've been scanning the dark web, your number popped up." Well, that's just going to happen. I mean, there's data compromises all the time from the federal government to big tech to social media, it just, you know, people are stealing information regularly. And so the key is you can't prevent that entirely, but you can take these steps that I'm describing to stay on top of your accounts to make sure there's no unauthorized transactions, to freeze your credit, and to stay on top of your credit report. Those are the things I would do. I wouldn't pay for a service to do that for you. Um, you know, I would probably just take these free steps unless your your identity was actually compromised at some point, but until then, I think this is sufficient, if that makes sense.
Robin So, can I ask one more clarifying question? That's so helpful. Um, because I think I got it a little wrong. My terminology, I was saying even sharing with one other person that we could, as a citizen in the United States, go, you know, to the Social Security agencies' website or something, and, um, freeze our Social Security number. But I didn't want to do it on the same cell phone, because this is actually a replacement cell phone that's come to me, and I just, uh, had turned it on, and I'm going to return it. They're going to send me a new one, because I'm hearing different noises and interference, so I didn't want to do that much on this new phone. The second thing is, thank you, thank you, thank you so much, because if it's freezing my credit, not freezing my Social Security number, that's sort of indirectly, or in association with, will not allow anybody to use my Social Security number for anything important, like buying a house, getting a mortgage on a whatever, or taking out a loan. But I'm just starting a new job, so if I take my own Social Security cards with me, that shouldn't bother any process moving forward, starting two jobs within the like the last week or two and this coming week, right?
Rob West: No, not the freezing of the credit. That's going to—that's not going to prevent anything, just somebody from opening a, a credit account or or, um, initiating a credit check as a result of you requesting a new loan, um, and not being able to provide the information. So you wouldn't want that anyway.
Um, the only other thing you can do related to the Social Security administration specifically is I would encourage you to go create your my Social Security account at ssa.gov. That's going to prevent someone else from creating an online account using your identity. Um, so just go ahead and set one of those up. There's nothing really to do with it. You can take one other step, and that is to, uh, block electronic access. Um, so it's a restriction that basically prevents, uh, someone from accessing your Social Security information, um, until the block is removed. But that is going to, especially if you're starting a new job, you would want to do that now, because they're probably going to need to do some checks on you legitimately. But at some point when you're ready, you could call the SSA just on their main number and just say, "I want to ask about an electronic access restriction," and you can do that. But I think by the credit freeze and the, uh, setting up of your Social Security account, um, you're doing everything you need to do at this point.
Robin Oh, thank you so much. And I've already done the my account thing with the Social Security Agency, and you said the first thing is all annualmycreditreports.com? What was that website again?
Rob West: Yes, just simply annual creditreport.com, annualcreditreport.com. That's the government website that allows you to get a free report from each of the three bureaus several times a year.
Robin Annual credit—thank you so much.
Rob West: All right, Robin. God bless you, guys.
Robin Thank you so much.
Rob West: Hey, Billy and Mary, let's see if we can get you scheduled, uh, for tomorrow's broadcast. I apologize we didn't get to you today. Unfortunately, I'm out of time, but I would love to, uh, chat with you and answer your questions. Perhaps we can get you first up on tomorrow's broadcast, so just hang right there.
Uh, again, folks, so thankful that you called. We're so grateful for your stories, your kind remarks about the program. I couldn't do this without Patty, Pat, Devin, Taylor, and everybody here at Faithfi that makes this possible. Again, if you'd like to support the ministry, we'd be grateful, especially here at year-end. Just go to faithfi.com/give. You can make a one-time gift of any amount or consider becoming a partner while you're there. Faithfi.com/give. We'll see you tomorrow.
Rob West Generosity is only part of the stewardship story. The money we save and invest can also reflect what we believe. I am Rob West. For many Christians, conversations about money often center on one question: How much should I give? But faithful stewardship goes further. It includes every resource God has entrusted to us and how we put those resources to work. Today, Amy Minnich joins us to explore some important questions we may be overlooking, and then it's on to your calls at 800-525-7000. This is Faith and Finance on American Family Radio, Biblical wisdom for your financial decisions.
Our guest today is my friend Amy Minnich, co-founder, chief impact officer, and general counsel of Impact Foundation, where she helps Christians align their investments with their faith to promote human flourishing. She also serves on the board of the Association for Christian Investing. Amy, great to have you with us.
Amy Minnich Thanks, Rob. I'm happy to be here.
Rob West Amy, Christians have traditionally approached generosity by asking three questions: What should I give, how should I give, and where should I give? But I know you believe there's a fourth question we should be asking, so share that with us.
Amy Minnich Well, if we believe God owns everything and we're his stewards, then we have to be asking, what would God have me do with everything I own before I give it away?
Rob West Mm.
Amy Minnich The other questions that we've been asking—where, why, and how—are really important, but God's going to call us to account for everything we own, everything we do, everything that we have. And it is our absolute joy and privilege to share with him everything, not just the dollars that we can grant to charity.
Rob West Mm.
Rob West Yeah, so this isn't about replacing generosity, is it?
Amy Minnich Absolutely not. God, for some reason, has designed his economy to run on the fuel of our generosity. He delights in us giving our things away, making grants to charity. But faithful giving is also about how we use what we keep behind, recognizing that generosity is much part of a larger stewardship responsibility. It includes our savings, our investments, our businesses, and really everything we think we own that God has entrusted to us.
Rob West Yeah, it's holistic, and that raises another question: we typically think of businesses as creating products and providing services and of course generating jobs and earning profits. But can the work of a business itself also advance God's purposes?
Amy Minnich Absolutely. God has given his people certain abilities; he made Jesus to be a carpenter. He's made me to be a lawyer. It's not who I am, but it's what I do out of who he created me to be. And if the work that I do as a lawyer, or the work that you do, Rob, running Kingdom Advisors and doing this radio program, if the work we do every day has the ability to bring him glory and make him smile, then a collection of a whole bunch of people working together to do something can also be about bringing glory to the Lord and building his kingdom.
Rob West Mm.
Amy Minnich Business is so much more than just generating profits that can be given away. You know, we spend eight hours a day or more at work, and our employees spend that much time at work. So if we're creating jobs that allow people to express themselves as God created them to be, to encounter the truth of Scripture potentially, to serve customers well and to love one another well, that's a place where the kingdom of God happens to look a lot like what I think he designed it to be on earth as it is in heaven.
Rob West Yeah, it's a beautiful picture, and the output should be equally as reflective of Creator God creating goods and services that are good and that serve people. And it's really how God has created his virtuous cycle of economic productivity. Well, in the latest issue of Faithful Steward Magazine, you point out that charity alone can't solve every complex problem. So how can Christians think about then charitable giving and investing as complementary approaches without diminishing the importance of either?
Amy Minnich That is a great question. Charity is essential, especially in moments of crisis. If somebody's starving, we should probably give them a meal.
Rob West Yeah.
Amy Minnich When there's a disaster, war, famine, immediate relief has to come, and it has to be probably free if somebody has nothing to offer. But if we're looking at how to make a long-term change in the world, that's where we need to introduce the idea of business.
Rob West Mm. Well, we're going to continue to unpack that after the break. It's a big idea and it gives us a more holistic view of how we think about everything God has placed in our hands, and whether in some cases it makes sense to give charitably and other cases invest strategically, but all under the lordship of Christ. Amy Minnich here today. We're talking about asking the right questions about investing. We'll be right back.
SEGMENT 2
Rob West Generosity is certainly part of our stewardship story. But the money we save and invest can also reflect what we believe. Amy Minnich is here today. Amy is co-founder, chief impact officer, and general counsel of Impact Foundation, where they help Christians align their investments with their faith to promote human flourishing. And, Amy, before the break, you were talking about the fact that, absolutely, we should be givers as an overflow of God's grace. We should be living a generous life, and there are appropriate times to give charitably, to help somebody in need, and to love our neighbor. But there are also times where we should think about investing in a similar way, promoting human flourishing, right?
Amy Minnich Absolutely. I saw it firsthand in a tiny village in rural Southern Ethiopia near the border of Kenya. And there was a group of people who, because of famine, drought, and some political instability, they were starving. And the aid came and was dropped off on the back of the truck, and it literally saved their lives. But three years of aid being given meant that people had lost the ability to work, and kids were not learning the same skills that for generations, for thousands of years, people had been learning in this village. The opportunity to create jobs and provide some training, that's really what they needed after their basic needs were met, and the only thing that creates long-term scalable jobs is business.
Rob West Yeah, that's exactly right. And so if a business can advance God's purposes through its work, then for us as Christ followers, how should that shape the way we think about investing in business?
Amy Minnich Well, first it means that investing isn't spiritually neutral. Every choice we make about where we put our dollars says something about what we value. And that's true for investments as well. And Christians have been engaged in impact investing for over a decade, intentionally placing capital in businesses to create a measurable social and spiritual impact. In fact, all of our investments have an impact, and some of that impact is aligned with our values and some isn't. So when we think about whether we're supporting businesses that honor people, serve customers well, and contribute to human flourishing, that's when we know that we're asking the right questions about how we can invest. It's a much broader conversation about faithful stewardship than when we're just writing a check to a charity.
Rob West Amy, what about accessibility for the average investor to the types of investments that you're describing? Because when we think about investing, we might think, well, that's the exchange-traded fund I bought in my brokerage account or the the menu of mutual funds I have in my 401(k). Are we seeing more awareness and product that leans into the direction you're describing here?
Amy Minnich Thankfully we are. There are tremendous asset managers who are faithfully deploying their client dollars in ways that advance the gospel. And that occurs in three primary functions. One is screening out certain stocks that are just never going to align. The next is engaging in dialogue with companies where we need to. And then third, embracing the kinds of investments that really move the needle in significant ways.
Rob West Yeah. Well, and you touch on these through several questions that you encourage Christ followers to ask as they think about aligning their investments with their faith. What are some of those questions?
Amy Minnich I think first it starts with just asking the Lord, how have you wired me? How have you made me? And then going from there to, okay, what do I have? Taking stock of, you know, the Lord asked Moses what's in your hand, and Moses set a staff, and that's what God chose to use to lead his people out of Israel. For us, I probably am not going to hold a staff, but I should take stock of what it is that I do own.
Rob West Yes.
Amy Minnich And then the next question from there is, okay, Lord, given how you've wired me and what you've given me to steward, how would you have me deploy these dollars? How would you have me steward what you've entrusted to me?
Rob West Yeah, I think that's exactly right and well said. You also make an important distinction, Amy, between—and we've talked about this a bit—but you make the distinction between investing personal capital and using charitable dollars for impact investing. Why does that distinction matter?
Amy Minnich Well, first let's frame the question in dollar terms. There's over a trillion dollars that have been set aside in private foundations and donor-advised funds. People have gotten a tax deduction on it, and it's invested in something waiting to be granted out. As we think about those dollars that we've already given away, that we're never going to be able to use to send our kids to college or buy a home, we have a real immediate stewardship responsibility because we intended to do something with them, and if we're not investing them in a way that advances God's kingdom, we should ask ourselves why. I'm not granting it, it's invested in something. Do I even know where it's invested? And then our personal capital has a different sort of set of requirements for it because we are intending to use those dollars to care for our family, to send our kids to college, potentially to provide for a child or family member who's never going to be able to live independently. And those dollars have a stewardship responsibility with a slightly different need requirement on them. And so oftentimes we'll see people willing to sacrifice financial return on their charitable dollars whereas that might not necessarily be feasible for their personal investment dollars. We need them to return a certain at a certain rate so that we can do the things that God has called us to do in stewarding our families well.
Rob West Well, this is perhaps a brand-new idea for a lot of people listening today. So, folks, I would encourage you to learn more, and the best place to start is to check out the incredible work of the Impact Foundation. You can learn more when you go to impactfoundation.org and look how you can easily invest charitable capital to create the economic, social, and spiritual transformation that Amy has been describing today. Again, that's impactfoundation.org. Amy, thanks for your time.
Amy Minnich Thank you, Rob.
Rob West 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 on American Family Radio, Biblical wisdom for your financial journey. Stick around.
SEGMENT 3
Rob West So delighted to have you with us today on Faith and Finance here on American Family Radio. Well, we're going to be taking your calls and questions here in just a moment. So now is a great time to call 800-525-7000. That's 800-525-7000. The team is standing by. We're ready for those calls. We will get you on the air quickly. What questions? Well, anything about giving, saving, spending. We want to encourage you. We want to hear your story, what story God is writing in your life, and then think about how money can be a tool to accomplish God's purposes for you to bring him glory, for you to use God's resources because it all belongs to him for your enjoyment, to provide for your family, also to love your neighbor through your giving and your investing, what we talked about with Amy Minnich just a minute ago. And we want to get really practical. Maybe it's your credit score today, maybe it's some debt you're trying to pay off and you've been struggling to do that. Perhaps it's investments, wanting to know where is this market going to head from here? You know, as President Trump was quick to say, he's ready to work with anybody, the market took off yesterday. Well, now we're selling off today as, I think, the market is in part processing what a Democratic election rout, you could say, could mean for the U.S. economy, and technology is leading the way down. Several of the new, newly elected Democratic senators saying hold up on AI, artificial intelligence, which obviously is a key part of what's going to drive this economy forward, especially given some of our changing demographics. But if that's going to slow, that's got implications economically and otherwise. So the market's processing a lot of information, but whatever your question is today, we'd love to hear from you. 800-525-7000. We'll dive into those questions here in just a moment.
In the news today, about 2 million children will receive shares of SpaceX stock in their Trump Accounts this December, thanks to a donation from SpaceX President and COO Gwynne Shotwell and her husband. The couple is donating more than 2 million shares, with eligible recipients between the ages of 11 and 17 living in zip codes where the median family income is less than $57,000. Children in areas without sufficient census income data may also qualify. Shotwell says additional donations are being finalized for eligible children in military families serving overseas, as well as children in foster care and certain families in Texas. Parents can check their children's eligibility through the nonprofit Invest America. Trump Accounts are savings and investment accounts available to American children under the age of 18 with Social Security numbers. Children born between 2025 and 2028 may also qualify for a one-time $1,000 federal contribution. It's not a match; you just get it automatically if you open a Trump Account with Form 4547—you know where that came from: 45th and 47th President—$1,000, but they have to be born between 2025 and 2028. The SpaceX donation follows new Treasury regulations that allow single individual stocks to be donated to these accounts, which were previously limited to only diversified low-cost index funds. So what a great opportunity. I love that so many philanthropists and business leaders are jumping in—Michael Dell and his wife, another one, and there's been many others that have said, "We want to be a part of helping to bless families, especially those from low-income parts of the country." I think it's incredible.
All right, let's dive into your phone calls today. Again, that number: 800-525-7000. Any financial question today, something happening in your life, you need a second opinion, call right now. Let's begin in Oregon. Lynn, thanks for calling. I believe you've called before. We're delighted to have you on the broadcast. How can I serve you?
Lynn Yes, I have. Thank you. I always appreciate your help. So, I have requested and received two of the credit reports that are available annually.
Rob West Yes.
Lynn This one is from TransUnion, and it has a section called "Promotional Inquiries" and a similar called "Account Review Inquiries." I'm wondering—it looks like those are from like banks, maybe, that are soliciting their services or a credit card, perhaps. Is that something I should be worried about, something I can stop, or is it just expected?
Rob West Yeah, great question. And I know this will benefit a lot of listeners who are probably wondering the same thing. Bottom line, promotional inquiries, Lynn, are normal. They do not hurt your credit score, and you generally don't need to respond to them. But let me unpack that a bit further. What are they? Well, these occur when credit card companies, banks, or lenders check limited credit information to see if you qualify for a promotional offer. So, an example would be a credit card company may review your credit information before sending you a pre-approved credit card offer. These are what are considered soft inquiries, not hard, and therefore they do not affect your credit score. You know, these—it doesn't mean someone has opened an account in your name by any means, and they're different from hard inquiries, which happen when you actually apply for credit, and those do temporarily lower your score. No action is necessary. You really can safely ignore these promotional inquiries. If you receive an offer, of course, you can just shred it.
If you don't want companies using your credit information for pre-screened offers, the quickest way to deal with that is optoutprescreen.com. So that's optout—O-P-T-O-U-T—prescreen.com. Or I'll give you a website—or excuse me, a phone number, Lynn, if that's easier: 888-5-OPTOUT—if you can use the numerical portion of your keypad there: 888-5-OPTOUT. That would be the way to, you know, in fact, opt out of companies being able to do this.
In terms of the account review inquiries, those are also soft inquiries. That's when a lender you already have an account with reviews your credit report. They're probably checking your creditworthiness, they're deciding whether to increase your limit. That's routine. They don't affect your score, and, you know, the optoutprescreen.com is the way to get out of it. So, I want to see if you have any follow-up questions on that. Unfortunately, I'm up against a break, so stay right there, Lynn. You and I can chat during the break and see if you need anything else.
Folks, we've got lines open today. We're taking your phone calls. The number: 800-525-7000. This is Faith and Finance. We'll be right back.
SEGMENT 4
Rob West So delighted to have you with us today on Faith and Finance here on American Family Radio. We're taking your questions today at 800-525-7000. That's 800-525-7000. We would love to hear from you today and help you process the questions you're wrestling with in light of biblical wisdom.
By the way, that question from Lynn reminds me that, you know, so often we're wondering, how do I improve my credit score? It's, you know, it feels like it's kind of stuck where it is right now. Let me just give you the quick five top five ways to improve your credit score, and then we'll jump back into some phone calls.
Number one, of course, this goes without saying: pay every bill on time. Payment history is the biggest factor in your credit score—35%. Even one missed payment can hurt.
Number two: keep those credit card balances low. Now, let me just as an aside say, I'd rather you not have any credit card debt. Let's not pay a dime of interest. If you use a credit card responsibly, you're disciplined, you're on a budget, you're only using it for budgeted items, and then you're paying it in full every month, then I have no problem with it. Um, but credit utilization accounts for roughly 30% of your credit score. So we want to keep, uh, those balances less than 30% of available credit, both per card as well as in the aggregate. Ideally, for the best scores, it would be under 10%. And keep in mind, the credit score doesn't distinguish between balances you're carrying and balances you're paying off if you pay it after the close of the cycle. So if you're charging it up to 60 or 70% of the limit, only to pay it off, but you do that after the cycle closes, that balance is going to be reported at 60 or 70% of the limit, even though you're going to turn around and pay it down. So the only way to get around that, if that's an issue, uh, would be to pay it prior to the cycle close. You'd have to, you know, find out when that date is and get that payment in before that. But that would then allow it to be reported at a zero balance, which actually could help.
Number three: don't close old credit cards unnecessarily. Older accounts can help your credit history, which is another factor.
Four: limit your applications for new credit—what we were talking about with Lynn a moment ago. Now, hers were promotional; that's different. We're talking about applications where you're out seeking credit. Those hard inquiries in a short period of time, several of them, can temporarily lower your score. And then check your credit reports for errors. That's what Lynn was doing. Annualcreditreport.com—you can get those reports for free, dispute any inaccurate information. They have to either prove that it's real or delete it within 30 days once you dispute it. All right, those are the best five. Don't, uh, don't worry about that credit score, but, uh, those may be able to help you get that thing up. All right, let's head back to the phones. Uh, we're going to go out to Texas. Carolyn, thanks for your call. Go ahead.
Carolyn Oh, well, thank you for, um, your help here. This is actually hitting just exactly where I need to be. Um, even though it's late in the game for me—I'm 66—and just starting a Roth IRA where I'm able to do that. And I'm looking into, uh, I've been studying the Timothy Plan and different accounts for biblical investing in the last couple of years. So now I'm there. But my, this has hit at the perfect timing, because I realize that's to grow my, uh, retirement fund. But how do we now navigate into where do you invest into a different way, into where you can actually have more access to liquid assets, to where if you wanted to come alongside someone and help them, or you find a charity or somewhere where you feel that your money's going to benefit more? Um, I try to do some things right now with, um, help the homeless every winter, get tarps and things to help them winter. But there's things, you know, that I also want to look into other than just my own little, um, ministry. But how do you, how do you do that? Do you go like invest in a different plan or, or a different account, and that's only for that type of stuff, to where your money is more liquid then?
Rob West Yes. Yeah, it's a great question, Carolyn, and I think it does require some intentionality. So, you know, for those funds that you want to give away, one of my favorite tools is what's called a donor-advised fund. Um, think of it like a charitable checking account. So you would make a contribution to your donor-advised fund—and if you don't have one, you can open one in just a couple of minutes, uh, with our friends at the National Christian Foundation, which was founded by Larry Burkett and Ron Blue, one of the largest Christian charities in the world—um, but they don't make any of their own charitable grants; they just serve Christians to help them give more strategically. And so you would go to ncfgiving.com, ncfgiving.com, open a giving fund—it'd take you just a couple of minutes—and then you could make a contribution, Carolyn, of cash or stock, appreciated stock, even real estate, other assets into your, uh, your giving fund. As soon as you do, you'd get a contribution receipt as if you've given the money away for tax purposes. And then the money would sit there; it can even be invested inside the donor-advised fund. They have faith-based investment options you can use. And then when you're ready to, to grant it out, you'd log into your giving fund, you'd pick the ministry you want to give to, you'd click a button, and they would mail a check. And you could do that whenever you want and however often you want. The only caveat to that is it does have to go from the donor-advised fund to a 501(c)(3) ministry or charity, like your church or a homeless ministry serving the homeless in your city. You would not be able to grant it out to individuals. So if you wanted to be able to give, you know, as the Lord leads, to somebody that you meet on your path, you'd have to keep some cash ready for that. But all of your other giving, as long as it's ultimately going to end up with a charity, you could do from your donor-advised fund; it could be invested while it's waiting, and it's just really quick and easy. It's one of my favorite tools to do that. So I think I would use a giving fund for that purpose rather than opening a brokerage account, picking investments, and then having to sell those investments and creating a taxable event only to turn around and give it away. And you certainly wouldn't want to do that with a retirement account, uh, just because of the, you know, the nature of, of that retirement account really being there for you to grow your own assets on a tax-deferred or tax-free basis for your benefit in the future. But let me stop there and see if that makes sense or if you have any questions.
Carolyn Uh, no, that, that does. I mean, so if you're, and then I guess if you're just trying to keep some money aside, say, you know, you meet a single mom or a widow or, you know, family that just needs a little help, you just try to save up some money on your own instead of trying to, like you say, invest it in just a separate brokerage, and then you just say, "Okay, well, I have this, maybe, you know, it'll help you out"?
Rob West Yeah, exactly right. I think that's the way to go. And, you know, I generally recommend people keep up to two weeks' worth of expenses in cash at home in a fireproof safe, because that way if there was some kind of banking disruption or there was some sort of weather event or, you know, something happened with the electrical grid for a couple of weeks, you know, you'd have some cash that you could use. But I think to your point, you know, maybe that, that cash for you is what you use to just bless people that you encounter where the Lord leads you to make a, a gift, and then you're just replenishing it, you know, as needed. But the money that I would be pulling from that's not already in cash ready to give away, I wouldn't invest it because the nature of that money is it's short-term, and we really only want to invest money in stocks and bonds that we have a five-year time horizon at a minimum. And just the nature of your giving is going to be such that you're going to want that more liquid. So I would say probably a high-yield savings account with enough at home to cover somewhere between two and four weeks of your giving. Does that make sense?
Carolyn Uh, okay, that's pretty helpful. Okay, well, very good, 'cause like I said, I'm very ignorant, but just getting started and it's right where I was questioning.
Rob West You're doing great, Carolyn. Keep it up. Hey, hang on the line. I'm going to send you a copy of our Faithful Steward special edition on women and wealth. I think it'll be a blessing to you. We'll be right back.
SEGMENT 5
Rob West So thankful to have you with us today on Faith and Finance here on American Family Radio. Did you know Faith and Finance is listener supported? That's right. We only do this because of your generous gifts. And one of the key ways, folks, come alongside this ministry is through our partner program. That's right, Faithfi Partners, almost a thousand of them. We're at about 950 at last check. Uh, support the ministry at $35 a month or more, or $400 or more per year. And it's a huge part of, uh, what we count on every month to sustain our operations, to bring you this broadcast, our publications, our magazine, our devotionals, including our new devotional that's coming out first of the year, uh, called Wealth That Lasts, a 31-day devotional from Randy Alcorn, his first on money in devotional form. And we're so excited about it. I just reviewed the latest draft of it, uh, this week. It's going to be incredible. But these are the kinds of resources we're creating because of your generous support. We're also next year going to be creating, uh, three more field guides: How do you give intentionally? How do you retire with purpose? Um, we're also going to be looking at how do my values align with my investments, all in field guide form, very actionable, very biblical. That all happens because of your support. So if you love the ministry, you've been helped by the broadcast, we would invite you to give. You can certainly give one-time, but, uh, consider becoming a Faithfi Partner and receive all of our magazines and resources at your door. It's our gift to you when you give and you become a partner. Just go to faithfi.com/give to learn more. That's faithfi.com/give and this is a really important time for us as we head toward year-end.
All right, we want to get into some phone calls here. Uh, we do have room for a couple of additional questions. So if you've got something on your mind, call right now: 800-525-7000. Let's go to Virginia. Robin, how can I help?
Robin Um, well, thank you so much for what you do. I hope, uh, you can hear me okay.
Rob West: I sure can. Yeah.
Robin Well, I, um, I just want to say, uh, quickly that you're such a great transition from—I'm a regular AFR listener. So years ago, I found out about AFR because of someone suggesting Dan Celia's show. And so I really, uh, appreciate the fact that, um, you're trying to help people with the sense of security versus risk in the world of money and savings and giving.
So my question is a little off-tangent to that, but it relates to, um, similar to mentioning the, uh, the previous callers. I hope I'm not going to show my naivety too much, but it's just quickly happened a few days ago. And it's related to, um, when you get your social security deposit coming in to your card, right? I get a card as opposed to going into my bank, and if I need to investigate something, I've gotten—I know this month and because of the opening of the enrollment time time period, I've gotten a text message from a certain company, I won't mention, but, um, I never signed up with them, and it's sort of a, you know, um, to prevent identity theft, that kind of a company.
And I so I don't think I ever gave them. I really don't think I ever gave them my social security number. But, ironically enough, to enter in on the keypad on a phone, I used my number, which I usually never do at all. I use the account number for my car loan company. And it was that afternoon I started getting messages from that very company, which officially I never signed up with because it was too expensive, you know, for me at the time to sign up with them. So I don't want to mention their name. Okay. Unless you need that.
What can I do? What's the safest way for me to investigate? Because they're saying there's like 23, 24, 25 different sites where my social security has been number has been compromised or used, and I don't want to further compromise it, but I sort of want to investigate it before the next deposit comes through for November, or should I, you know, I don't know if you have any of those questions from your, um, you know, your clients, and if you could help me with that.
Rob West: Sure. Yeah, I'd be happy to. And that's not a naive question, Robin, so I'm so glad you asked. And secondly, thank you for your kind remarks about the program and Dan Celia and I know there's so many faithful AFR listeners who just loved and relied on Dan for so many years, uh, have the utmost respect for the ministry he had, and I'm delighted, uh, in our own way to con- to continue to carry that that legacy, just to encourage God's people with biblical financial wisdom. So I appreciate you calling that out.
A couple of thoughts here, Robin. Number one would be, and I'm not saying that's this is what I'm about to describe, but I just want to put this out there is there is actually a scam that's designed to scare you into giving away personal information by claiming your social security number has been compromised. And so here's how it works: A scary text arrives that says your social security number has been found on the dark web or your identity is at risk and you need to act immediately. Well, what they're doing is they're creating urgency because it may warn that someone is opening an accounts in your name and that your bank accounts could be frozen unless you act quickly, and their goal is to get you to click a link or call a number that would take you to a fake identity protection website that looks legitimate, and then they would steal your information. So the fake website or the person on the phone may ask you to enter your social security number, your date of birth, your bank information to quote "verify your identity," and then they steal that and commit fraud.
Now, again, that may not be what's going on here. This may just be somebody who has legitimately been scanning the dark web and your number popped up and they're trying to sell you services. But you just need to be on your guard that these scams do exist that prey on people around creating urgency. And so we don't ever want to click a link in an in an email that we receive or through a text message, regardless of how legitimate it looks. Uh, we want to take alternate steps. What are those? Well, let me describe kind of where you might go from here.
Um, I wouldn't call that number or click the link in that text you got. What I would do instead is I would check your credit report, so I'd go to annualcreditreport.com and look for any unfamiliar accounts or inquiries. They probably won't be there, but that would be good to do. You can get them from all three bureaus.
Second is you're going to want to freeze your credit. I recommend everybody does this. Go to Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax, freeze your credit, and that way if somebody does access your social security number and attempts to open an account fraudulently in your name, the frozen credit will stop them in their tracks because that frozen credit requires they have a pin number to give to the lender to actually check your credit, and when they can't produce that, they're done. And so I I think that's a good idea for everyone to do, and it's free.
So those are the only two things I would do. Uh, now, many of the com- credit card companies do offer—I just got one the other day, so one of the credit card companies I legitimately do business with, um, they just sent me an unsolicited email, and they said, "Hey, we've been scanning the dark web, your number popped up." Well, that's just going to happen. I mean, there's data compromises all the time from the federal government to big tech to social media, it just, you know, people are stealing information regularly. And so the key is you can't prevent that entirely, but you can take these steps that I'm describing to stay on top of your accounts to make sure there's no unauthorized transactions, to freeze your credit, and to stay on top of your credit report. Those are the things I would do. I wouldn't pay for a service to do that for you. Um, you know, I would probably just take these free steps unless your your identity was actually compromised at some point, but until then, I think this is sufficient, if that makes sense.
Robin So, can I ask one more clarifying question? That's so helpful. Um, because I think I got it a little wrong. My terminology, I was saying even sharing with one other person that we could, as a citizen in the United States, go, you know, to the Social Security agencies' website or something, and, um, freeze our Social Security number. But I didn't want to do it on the same cell phone, because this is actually a replacement cell phone that's come to me, and I just, uh, had turned it on, and I'm going to return it. They're going to send me a new one, because I'm hearing different noises and interference, so I didn't want to do that much on this new phone. The second thing is, thank you, thank you, thank you so much, because if it's freezing my credit, not freezing my Social Security number, that's sort of indirectly, or in association with, will not allow anybody to use my Social Security number for anything important, like buying a house, getting a mortgage on a whatever, or taking out a loan. But I'm just starting a new job, so if I take my own Social Security cards with me, that shouldn't bother any process moving forward, starting two jobs within the like the last week or two and this coming week, right?
Rob West: No, not the freezing of the credit. That's going to—that's not going to prevent anything, just somebody from opening a, a credit account or or, um, initiating a credit check as a result of you requesting a new loan, um, and not being able to provide the information. So you wouldn't want that anyway.
Um, the only other thing you can do related to the Social Security administration specifically is I would encourage you to go create your my Social Security account at ssa.gov. That's going to prevent someone else from creating an online account using your identity. Um, so just go ahead and set one of those up. There's nothing really to do with it. You can take one other step, and that is to, uh, block electronic access. Um, so it's a restriction that basically prevents, uh, someone from accessing your Social Security information, um, until the block is removed. But that is going to, especially if you're starting a new job, you would want to do that now, because they're probably going to need to do some checks on you legitimately. But at some point when you're ready, you could call the SSA just on their main number and just say, "I want to ask about an electronic access restriction," and you can do that. But I think by the credit freeze and the, uh, setting up of your Social Security account, um, you're doing everything you need to do at this point.
Robin Oh, thank you so much. And I've already done the my account thing with the Social Security Agency, and you said the first thing is all annualmycreditreports.com? What was that website again?
Rob West: Yes, just simply annual creditreport.com, annualcreditreport.com. That's the government website that allows you to get a free report from each of the three bureaus several times a year.
Robin Annual credit—thank you so much.
Rob West: All right, Robin. God bless you, guys.
Robin Thank you so much.
Rob West: Hey, Billy and Mary, let's see if we can get you scheduled, uh, for tomorrow's broadcast. I apologize we didn't get to you today. Unfortunately, I'm out of time, but I would love to, uh, chat with you and answer your questions. Perhaps we can get you first up on tomorrow's broadcast, so just hang right there.
Uh, again, folks, so thankful that you called. We're so grateful for your stories, your kind remarks about the program. I couldn't do this without Patty, Pat, Devin, Taylor, and everybody here at Faithfi that makes this possible. Again, if you'd like to support the ministry, we'd be grateful, especially here at year-end. Just go to faithfi.com/give. You can make a one-time gift of any amount or consider becoming a partner while you're there. Faithfi.com/give. We'll see you tomorrow.
For many Christians, conversations about money often center on one question: “How much should I give?” Faithful stewardship, however, goes further. It includes every resource God has entrusted to us—and how we put those resources to work. On this Faith & Finance on AFR, Rob West and Aimee Minnich explore some important questions we may be overlooking. Then, it’s on to calls.
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