Rob West The collaborative power of giving circles reminds us that generosity grows deeper when it's shared. I am Rob West. When believers come together to give with a shared purpose, something powerful happens—not only in the lives being served, but also in the hearts of the givers, too. Lacie Stevens joins us today to discuss how giving circles can cultivate generosity, connection, and joy. And then it's on to your calls at 800-525-7000. That's 800-525-7000. This is Faith and Finance on American Family Radio, biblical wisdom for your financial journey.
Rob West Well, we've been looking forward to welcoming Lacie Stevens to the program. Lacy is a senior partner at Generous Giving, where she interacts with givers and helps facilitate events that inspire generosity and create connection. Before joining Generous Giving, she spent 23 years as a financial advisor. She's a good friend, and Lacy, what a treat to have you here today.
Lacie Stevens Oh, thank you so much for having me on. I'm happy to be here.
Rob West Lacy, you wrote an article on giving circles in the latest issue of our Faithful Steward Magazine. And for listeners who may be new to that idea, I'd love for you just to share what is a giving circle and what drew you to this model of people coming together to practice generosity?
Lacie Stevens A giving circle's really just a group of people who intentionally come together to pool resources, they pray, and then they discern how they can support needs and ministries together.
Lacie Stevens Um, what drew me personally was seeing how generosity becomes much more personal and life-giving when it's experienced in community.
Rob West Yeah.
Lacie Stevens Um, as you said, I spent uh, two decades, over two decades as a financial advisor, uh, but attending my first generous giving conference in 2007 just completely changed my perspective on stewardship and generosity.
Rob West Mm.
Rob West Yeah, it's a powerful ministry. We partner with Generous Giving and just love what God does through not only the journey of generosity, but also the celebration of generosity, their annual event. And, you know, I'm excited because giving circles seem to be really a trend in giving, a really positive one. Why do you think this kind of shared generosity and connection is resonating with so many people right now, Lacy?
Lacie Stevens That's a great question. I think it's really that people are longing for authentic community. You know, we live in a culture where people often feel isolated, um, maybe especially financially. And giving circles allow people to move from simply managing their own lives to participating in something bigger than themselves. Uh, there's something, I don't know, meaningful about sitting together with friends and discussing needs and praying together, and then deciding how to respond.
Rob West Mm.
Rob West Yeah. You mentioned that generosity becomes more relational in this type of setting. So, how does giving deepen when it happens in community, rather than, as you said, in isolation?
Lacie Stevens Well, it's kind of fascinating, I think, for me, being with other like-minded believers and talking through needs, it encourages me, it inspires me. Um, it helps me to see that there are needs maybe that I hadn't even thought about that are out there, that, um, if I come together with a few friends, that we could actually solve that need pretty easily. And, I don't know, it's fun.
Rob West Yeah, exactly right. And if generosity isn't simply about transactions, but ultimately about transformation, why not go on that journey together in community, right?
Lacie Stevens Absolutely. And to be honest, I think if left to my own devices, I could probably talk myself out of something. Like if God puts something on my heart to give to somebody and, um, I'm thinking, oh, okay, you want me to pay for somebody's groceries in line, and they're going to think I'm a nut, so I'm just going to perhaps back away from that opportunity. But if I'm in community with others, then I can be free to say, oh, I'm just going to pray about this, and then be quickly obedient to what God's calling me to do.
Rob West Mm.
Rob West Yeah, that's well said. I love that. What changes spiritually, Lacy, when giving moves beyond a simple transaction and becomes relational?
Lacie Stevens I think hearts begin to change. I think there is, exactly that word, transformation that happens, um, when we step out in faith and give together.
Rob West I think that's exactly right, and that's why I'm so excited about this new trend in giving. And we're even seeing this, Lacy, at the younger generations as well; they really value giving in community, don't they?
Lacie Stevens They certainly do. And I think not only giving in community, but also giving, um, I don't know, with a purpose, and doing something really with their hands, getting involved.
Rob West Absolutely, and solving problems as well. When we come back, we'll continue our conversation with Lacy. We'll talk about specifically what does this look like in practice, and how can we see the picture of shared generosity in the early church? Lacie Stevens is here today from Generous Giving, and we're talking about collaborative giving. Much more right after this; stay with us.
SEGMENT 2
Rob West Generosity was never meant to be merely transactional. When believers give together, God often multiplies not only the impact of the gift, but the joy and unity of the givers. That's what we're talking about today: giving circles, the collaborative power of shared generosity. Joining me today is my friend Lacie Stevens. Lacy is senior partner at Generous Giving, where she interacts with givers and helps facilitate events that inspire generosity and create connection. And Lacy, you were describing before the break what a giving circle is. And as many believers hear this, many may think of the early church in Acts. Do you see a connection between giving circles today and that picture of shared generosity?
Lacie Stevens Absolutely. In Acts 2 and 4, uh, we see believers sharing resources and caring for one another in very tangible ways. Uh, their generosity reflected unity and trust in God. And giving circles obviously look different today, but the heart behind them is very similar.
Rob West Sure.
Lacie Stevens Yeah, absolutely. I love that picture.
Rob West Now, some listeners may hear this and assume that giving circles are only for people with, I'll say, significant wealth.
That's not the case, is it?
Lacie Stevens Oh, not at all. Um, one of the beautiful things about giving circles, really, anyone can participate. You don't need extraordinary wealth to make a meaningful impact, uh, collectively. And, uh, sometimes it's a handful of families, a Bible study group, or friends pulling kind of modest resources consistently.
Rob West Yeah. What would you say to someone who would like to begin to lean into this? Where would they start? Uh, would they start with the the friends that they want to pull in with them? Would they start with the the cause that they're passionate about that aligns with God's heart? Where would they begin?
Lacie Stevens I think starting with friends would be a great way to start. It's an easy, uh, lift that way, just to, you know, sit down together, have a conversation about maybe needs in your community, pray for sure, um, about what God might be leading you to. And it doesn't have to be a big gift to be transformational and life-changing for somebody who receives it.
Rob West Yeah.
Rob West Now, I know some of these groups have come together and given away substantial resources, and we celebrate that as well. Can you think of a giving circle you could point to that might illustrate this idea?
Lacie Stevens It's really fun. Thanks for that question. Um, I was a part of a journey of generosity retreat, which I can talk about in a little bit, but this is going back 15 years ago. And one of the women in the group was talking about a giving circle, and the other women in the group just lit up. They're like, a giving circle? What's a giving circle? And so four of them, uh, came together and decided to start one, uh, down in Fort Lauderdale, and they had a vision, a big vision that they wanted to give away a lot of money, uh, to ministries in the community. And these four women, uh, to date, 15 years later, it has grown and grown and grown, and they've given away over $2 million.
Rob West Wow.
Lacie Stevens I know, isn't that cool?
Rob West That's incredible. And I'm sure they've had a blast in doing it, haven't they?
Lacie Stevens 100%.
Rob West Uh, that is great. Now, you mentioned it came out of a journey of generosity, and I'm very familiar with what is called a "jog" for short. I've been through one myself and have just seen the transformational power of this 24-hour event. But I would love for you to share that with our listeners, because perhaps they might want to go through a jog. What is it?
Lacie Stevens Well, it is a small group retreat, think 12 to 14 people, usually in a living room, and there is a time of Bible study, there is a time of watching stories of people living radically generous lives, having great rich conversations around those stories. And then my very favorite part is at the end, when you're in a listening posture before the Lord for about a half an hour. Just and some people are thinking, oh my, just being by myself for half an hour! Sounds hard. It's the sweetest part of the experience. And I went through my first jog, uh, 18 years ago, and it changed my life. It was a profound, yes, profound experience.
Rob West Incredible. And where can someone go to learn more about a jog?
Lacie Stevens It is, uh, easy. If you go to generousgiving.org and click on the Journey of Generosity, it will tell you everything you'd like to know. And we have gotten to the point where there's so much demand, Rob, that we are now offering one a month for free online.
Rob West Oh, wow. Nice. And there's actually even an option in some cases to have a facilitator who's trained come to lead that, is that right?
Lacie Stevens That is absolutely correct. And the amazing thing about the ministry of Generous Giving is that there is never an ask. We can't even accept donations. We are fully funded by a handful of, uh, foundations and families. So we, uh, send the materials and the facilitator at our expense. We just ask you to put a group together and, um, we'll do the rest.
Rob West There you go, folks. Generousgiving.org is the place to go. You're going to want to learn more about a journey of generosity, and you can actually schedule a jog or jump into an existing jog right there at generousgiving.org. All right, Lacy, we talked about, uh, friends coming together to do this. Any other kinds of groups that are especially well-suited for practicing collaborative generosity?
Lacie Stevens Well, I think, uh, the church is a natural fit, and, uh, even in your family. I've seen just multi-generational, a wonderful way for parents to, uh, hand down that legacy if they're excited about something and to have their kids come alongside, so that it's not just the parents mandating, uh, what they would like their kids to give to, but also the children being, and adult children being a part of that as a family.
Rob West Yeah, what a fabulous idea, especially as families think about their wealth transfer plans, getting their kids involved in that giving now is a way to not only transfer wealth, but transfer spiritual and social capital and their heart for giving. And I love what Ron Blue says in Splitting Airs: Do your giving while you're living so you're knowing where it's going. And I think that allows us to lean into that principle as well. Um, let's again make this really practical. We've touched on some of this, but for someone listening today who wants to start a giving circle, what would you say is a simple first step?
Lacie Stevens I think just getting together, uh, with friends and starting to have the conversation. If you wanted to do it more formally, um, you can go online and just type in giving circles, and there are giving circles that already exist already all over the country.
Rob West Hmm. Okay. Yeah, that's a great idea. And I'm sure you've seen the impact, you've mentioned this group in Fort Lauderdale, and I know you've watched many of these giving circles over the years. What has stood out to you about the impact that happens when people come together in this way?
Lacie Stevens I love what it does to my heart and to the other people that I've seen being a part of a giving circle. It just seems to unlock something in us. That we get to partner with the God of the universe. And what he's up to is just mind-boggling to me.
Rob West Yeah, well, that's well said. And for somebody who's listening today—and unfortunately we're about out of time—but if they feel intimidated because they don't think they have enough to give, Lacy, what encouragement would you leave them with today?
Lacie Stevens I would encourage them not to underestimate what God can do through willing hearts. Um, biblical generosity has never been reserved for the wealthy, and God cares deeply about faithfulness, not comparison. So I would say just be bold and jump in and grab a couple of friends and, um, enjoy the joy.
Rob West Yes, and start somewhere, because what God does in your life will, uh, probably surprise you as it becomes more about, uh, a work he's doing in your heart, even more so maybe than the, uh, the the receiver on the other end. Lacy, what a treat to have you here today. Thanks for stopping by.
Lacie Stevens Oh, thanks for having me on, Rob.
Rob West That's Lacie Stevens, senior partner at Generous Giving. You can read more about this in the latest issue of our Faithful Steward Magazine, where Lacy wrote an article on the power of giving circles. Make sure you receive every issue of Faithful Steward when you head to faithfi.com/give. When you become a partner, we'll be sure you get it: faithfi.com/give. And of course, if you want to learn more about Generous Giving, this incredible ministry, as well as the 24-hour journey of generosity, go to generousgiving.org. Back with your questions after this, stick around.
SEGMENT 3
Rob West Thanks for joining us today on Faith & Finance. Here at American Family Radio, I'm Rob West. Well, looking forward to diving into your questions today. The number to call: 800-525-7000. The calls are coming in, but we'd love to hear from you, and at the moment, we do have some lines open. Again, that phone number: 800-525-7000.
Coming up in our final segment today, Jerry Bowyer stops by. It'll be great to get Jerry's take in light of the midterms this week, and the huge tech sell-off yesterday, the attempt—at least so far today—at a recovery.
Where does Jerry think we're headed from here with the markets, with the impact of AI, and what the Democrats are saying with regard to slowing development of artificial intelligence? How heavily is our economy, just given the demographic shifts that are coming that we know are coming, how heavily are we relying on artificial intelligence to enhance productivity to offset that to keep this economy growing? And if we are going to take a step back in light of the change in leadership in Congress, what does that mean for the economy and the markets reacting to all of that in real time? We'll get Jerry's take in our final segment.
In the meantime, let's dive into your questions today: 800-525-7000. We're going to begin in North Carolina. Billy, great to have you. Go ahead.
Rob West Billy, are you there?
Billy Yes, sir.
Rob West Great. How can I serve you today?
Billy Yes, sir. I'm... just thank you for your ministry and for everyone that helps with that, because it's—it's a blessing, I think, to all people.
Rob West Thank you, that's very kind.
Billy I wanted to check with you. I have... I'm a retired state employee, and I have a 401(k) plan as well as a 457 plan. I'm not as well versed in it as I should be, but I was wanting to check to see what you would advise. I mean, I'm not sure when distribution could begin. Right now, I'm 59 and a half, so I just needed some insight on the difference between the 401(k) and the 457 plan, and what I should do, you know, as I'm getting older, closer to 60.
Rob West Yes. Yes, ma'am. Well, I appreciate that question. It's a great one, and I'd love to walk you through that.
So, you've got a 401(k) and a 457. We don't want to rush to take the money out when you retire. We want to have a plan, though, for how to turn those savings into retirement income. Because as you transition into the fourth quarter of life and ask the Lord, "What is my next assignment?", you know, that may or may not involve work for pay along the way. Sounds like you're continuing to work, that's great. We want to stay productive in service to the Lord, and I know He has good plans for you in the future.
The question is, you know, if that is something that doesn't involve pay, can you support yourself with Social Security and then retirement income generated from those retirement savings accounts that you've been working so diligently to build up?
So, the first question is: when should we take the money out? And at 59 and a half, withdrawals become penalty-free, although they're still subject to income tax, so they're added to your taxable income. With the 457, you avoid the 10% early withdrawal penalty even before 59 and a half when you separate from your employer—but again, that doesn't affect you because, in either case, you would not have that penalty. You would just have it added to your income.
But I think the key is, just because you can withdraw the money doesn't mean you should. Leaving it invested allows it to continue to grow on a tax-deferred basis. And so the goal would be, let's try to delay pulling from your retirement accounts if you can, especially if you don't feel like you're at the target yet that would generate the income you need.
Similarly, you maybe want to delay Social Security as long as you can, at least until full retirement age, to maximize that monthly benefit. And continuing to work would allow that to happen.
There's really three main options, Billy, in terms of what to do with the money:
1. Leave it in the employer's retirement plan: It does simplify things a bit because there's a limited menu of investment choices.
2. Roll it into an IRA (Individual Retirement Account): Both the 401(k) and the 457 should be able to be rolled into one IRA that you could have an advisor manage for you. That is what I would recommend, just given the complexity involved in wanting to minimize taxes, being able to sync up retirement withdrawals with other pieces of your financial life (including Social Security and Medicare premiums when that time comes). You would also want to have somebody who can pick the investments for you to mitigate risk, but also allow you to get the income you need. You don't want to be in a situation where, if you're too heavily invested in stocks and the market went down significantly—let's say we were in a recession here in a couple of years, and we certainly could be—you wouldn't want to have too much at the risk of the market such that you wouldn't be able to wait out the recovery. Rolling it into an IRA gives you that flexibility and allows you to bring in an advisor to oversee that on your behalf.
3. Start to withdraw the money gradually in retirement: Rather than taking a large lump sum and creating a big tax bill, normally what you want to do is position the portfolio in terms of the investments to continue to grow it, take as little risk as possible, but also generate income. Then you take distributions as needed to supplement your Social Security or pension income, kind of like a monthly paycheck out of your IRA.
An advisor could help you work through all of that. But let me stop there. I know I threw a lot at you. Give me any questions you have or thoughts.
Billy The advisor—who would you recommend?
Rob West Yeah, I would recommend a Certified Kingdom Advisor (CKA). These are men and women who have met our high standards in character and competence. They're going to share your values as a Christ-follower, and they've been trained to bring biblical wisdom. You could go to findacka.com to search for one right there in North Carolina.
But stay on the line, I'll give you another option as well, and see if you have other questions. We'll be right back.
SEGMENT 4
Rob West Great to have you with us today on Faith & Finance. Here on American Family Radio, I'm Rob West.
Coming up in our final segment today, Jerry Bowyer stops by. We'll get Jerry's take on what's moving the markets after that big sell-off yesterday led by the tech sector. The tech attempting to recover—we're up one, a little more than 1% on the Nasdaq right now. That was the worst decline in almost two years as AI stocks led the way down. They are leading the way back with some buying right now. We'll see if that holds—the market processing the change in leadership in Washington and what that means for technology in particular, as it has kind of led the way of this market and our economy as we think about the enhancements to productivity led by artificial intelligence, but a lot of that in question now. We'll get Jerry to weigh in on that in the next segment.
In the meantime, taking your questions today at 800-525-7000. Let's go to Texas. Hi Mary, how can I help you?
Mary Hello, thank you so much for taking my call and for your ministry.
Rob West Absolutely.
Mary I am feeling kind of vulnerable. I am 77, and my husband died three months ago as of Sunday.
Rob West I'm so sorry.
Mary And it was quite unexpected. And it is... and I'm not sure how to take care of myself. I want to make sure that I don't make any stupid decisions, you know?
Rob West Yeah.
Mary I want to make sure that I have enough money—of course, we don't know how long we're going to live, so in a way, that's a silly question. However, how do I figure this out? I do have a good financial advisor—he's our CPA as well.
Rob West Okay.
Mary He is not, as far as I know, he's not one of the, um, the Certified Kingdom Advisors.
Rob West That's okay.
Mary But I think he is a believer, and so that certainly helps. And so what... what do I need to be sure of? How much money do I need to make sure to have? Where should money go? I do have some—an account with Timothy Plan and with the AdelFi that they call it themselves now, the credit union in California, and one of the major banks, the national banks here. But what do I...
Rob West Well, first of all, Mary, my heart breaks. I'm so sorry to hear about your husband's passing. I know this is a difficult season, and then on top of that, you're trying to get your arms around the financial picture, and I can understand how that can be a lot. So I'm so glad you called, and I'd be delighted to be of help any way I can. I have a few thoughts on that.
But I think, really, the first goal is to not make any major decisions or changes, especially while you're grieving in these first few months. I'd love for you to be able to get six months down the road before you start to think about what am I doing for my living situation and just any kind of major decisions. In the meantime, as you're able, I think the goal is to get organized, to protect yourself financially, and then really just to look at what resources you have to develop a plan to make sure that you have what you need for living expenses for the rest of your life.
So the first five steps would be looking at your income. So, you know, what income do you have—Social Security, pensions? Do you have retirement accounts? Are you going to be switching to a survivor benefit if that's higher than your own benefit? What life insurance benefits might you be entitled to? So we want to find out exactly how much monthly income you will have coming in. You may already know that, but that's really the first piece.
And then the second would be to gather all the financial accounts and important documents. So we're going to want to make a list of checking and savings and investments and IRAs and retirement accounts and debts and insurance policies. You're going to want to try to locate the wills and, if there's a trust, beneficiary designations, things like that. I don't want to overwhelm you—your advisor should help you with this, and I'd be able to—here in just a moment, I'll tell you about some additional assistance we can provide—but these are the kinds of things you're going to want to be able to pull together. Then you're also, of course, going to need several certified copies of the death certificate. You'll need to also identify which accounts were jointly owned, so you would, with right of survivorship, automatically be now the account holder entitled in your name, versus the ones that were in your husband's name that will need to come over to you based on the will and the death certificate, but there's some work involved in that.
So step one: What is my income? Step two: Gathering my financial accounts and important documents. Step three: Creating a simple monthly budget.
So we want to add up that new monthly income, we want to calculate essential expenses—and this is where I'm going to provide some help—and determine whether there's a monthly surplus or shortfall. If there's a shortfall, we need to determine how much will you need from savings or retirement accounts each year.
And then, you know, at that point, we just need to be careful to protect what you've got and avoid mistakes. So, be careful about scams, look at required minimum distributions and make sure we're taking those—that's where your CPA can be helpful—and then keeping enough accessible cash for immediate expenses.
So I think those are really the keys, and hopefully your advisor can help you understand a lot of those things and work alongside you. And then beyond that, I'd be happy to provide a Certified Christian Financial Counselor who would mainly help you work on the spending plan, identifying what income sources you have, creating your new budget, and then getting a system that works for you, Mary, that allows you to control the flow of money coming and going.
There's a variety of ways to do that, and we want to find the one that best suits your temperament and style and so forth, just so you feel like you have a good handle on the bills that are coming in and the mail's getting opened, and we've got a system to make sure everything's getting paid, and then we've got a plan that is going to make sure that your money's going to last.
Those are the kinds of things that I think are the most important right now, and then we hold off on those larger decisions around what God might have for you in this next season until we get a little further down the road. But give me your thoughts on all that.
Mary Well, thank you. That really helps. We've never done very well with the budget part, so that would be very helpful. I have gone through a lot of the wills, and it's now... I'm waiting for a probate date for a will, and I've taken care of a lot of the accounts that were in both of our names. And so that's been very helpful. But now the idea of a counselor and all of the budget things, that would be...
Rob West Yeah, well, we'd be happy to do that. So let's do this: You hang on the line, we're going to get your information, I'll get a Certified Financial Counselor in touch with you. We're going to pay for it—won't cost you anything—and I'm going to send you a book called Wise Women Managing Money, written by a widow, that I think will be a big help. God bless you, Mary. We'll be right back.
SEGMENT 5
Rob West Thanks for joining us today on Faith & Finance. Here at American Family Radio, I'm Rob West. Well, Jerry Bowyer's here, and good thing, uh, big changes going on in Washington, big sell-off yesterday. Jerry, you know, how much of the forward-looking excitement about the US economy was driven by the prospect of productivity increases led by AI, in light of what we know are major changes demographically, and if all of that is in question under this, uh, new leadership, what does that mean for the economy, and is that, in part, what the—the market was processing yesterday?
Jerry Bowyer Yeah, I—I think that a lot of the market activity, like as you know, short-term back and forth on any given day tends to be driven by what we think the Central Bank is going to do, which is a distortion of how it should work. But over the long run, productivity is what drives market performance; um, and AI was the—the zone that was, you know, growth-oriented. That's where something was happening. Um, in fact, I just heard a speech last night from David Bonson where he said that if you take out AI, our capital expenditure in America is negative. You know, basically, um, like we're not—we're not keeping up repairs of older equipment, and we're putting all of our capital into artificial intelligence. Uh, which is a little bit concerning, but that's where the growth is right now. Um, and the problem with over-interpreting, um, you know, the election results in terms of AI is that, in many cases, both parties are against it. You know, in our state of Pennsylvania, our treasurer, Stacy Garrity, was running for governor. Uh, I like her, but she—she came out more anti-data center than the Democrat governor, uh, in our state. So, in many cases, people on the right, or is it on the right? I don't know, populists, let's say MAGA people, uh, are strongly anti-AI and strongly anti-data center. So it's not clear to me that Democrats versus Republicans is directly relevant to AI. So, what isn't it relevant to? Well, it's tax policy. But again, Bonson made a great point last night, which is our tax policy is set for now. Trump did the big beautiful bill, that's through. We're not going to see much happen on the tax side. So it's almost like what the Republicans could plausibly do for growth, they already did with the deregulation, um, and with, um, the—the tax cuts. What they could have done, they already weren't doing, you know, which is a clear signal on artificial intelligence and clear signals on trade policy and a relative amount of peace rather than getting kind of bogged down in another Middle East war, which drives up energy prices, which drives up the prices of everything else. So, I think market participants are looking at that and saying, Republicans already did all the good they could, um, and they weren't interested in doing much more, um, and they were actually doing some things that maybe weren't all that helpful. So, I when I look at the elections, the way I would kind of sum it up is you cannot beat socialism with half socialism. If the Republicans are going to basically say, "Hey, government ought to have big stakes in these companies and, you know, the government ought to basically control international trade patterns and, you know, we're going to have more toriums on this, we're going to go on and off again, we're going to spend everybody as much as the other side," um, if it's a socialism contest, the socialists are going to win and the half socialists will lose, and I think that's part of the lesson of Tuesday.
Rob West Yeah, interesting. Yeah, I mean, obviously, fiscal policy and a potential slowdown in the AI build-out, and you make a great point about which one is more AI-friendly than the other. There's still questions about that. But if, in fact, you know, we see tighter spending and slower investment, could that result in a mid-cycle economic slowdown next year, and that makes, uh, you know, Fed Chairman Powell's job even more challenging, doesn't it?
Jerry Bowyer Well, yeah, his—his job is challenging, and we just got a really good jobs report, um, this morning, um, and of course, that means markets went down right after that, right? Because why? Uh, because the basic view of the Fed historically has been that, um, if you have a lot of jobs, um, that is actually inflationary, they think. It's not, but that's what, you know, that's kind of how it's interpreted. So the odds of an interest rate hike, meaning the odds of contracting the money supply went up. Now I know markets are up for the day, but if you look at like when the report came out, they went down immediately after that report. And gold's down and the dollar's up. So it's a—um, it's a money contraction, hawkish, is what people call it. I don't know why, one is dovish, one is hawkish. I don't know which why, why one bird is associated with monetary expansion and the other is associated with monetary contraction. Bulls and bears too, right? I guess the same thing. Bulls and bears, yeah. Well, I mean, at least bulls, like the—the horns push up, and when bears claw you, they pull down. Okay, there you go. I mean, I'm totally making this up, but I have no idea why it's bulls and bears, and I just have a guess, I don't have any guess on hawks and doves. But for some reason, in finance industry speak, hawkish is decrease the money supply and dovish is increase the money supply. Um, so if this is hawkish, uh, and that's why gold is down and the dollar is up, and why, um, not the market was going up, you know, pretty strongly before the report today. Um, so in terms of long-term out, you know, the long-term output, etc., I think we have a policy mix, uh, which is good if we can stop having trade wars and reversal trade wars, and then trade war on and off again. The economy will not be able to settle in and grow, and we will not be able to invest in factories, as opposed to data centers, um, until in if we have a policy in which the president is saying, "We're going to have a tariff of copper this week, and then every factory that imports copper and turns it into wire, um, now has to pay more for copper and lays people off. But because the AI people and the data center people are politically connected, they get to sell their chips to China and they get to go full speed ahead because the president likes them." Uh, so Washington has decided where our capital expenditures are by making one set of sectors, like traditional manufacturing, uncertain in terms of the environment because of tariffs, but the other sector is certain, and partly it's because, hey, we, the government, we want 10%—we'll do what you want, but we'll we want a 10% um stake in Intel. So now the government is the investor and it's giving special privileges. Not good; um, and we're not going to be able to have a normally growing economy until we settle that. And it just might be the—market responded after the election, uh, to divided government, kind of positively, um, because it might be that government in general does less because of that division.
Rob West Yeah. Yeah, and possibly the on-again, off-again tariffs are going to start to trail off because of the change in leadership, not to mention maybe a—a more concerted effort to get this war over at the end of the day.
Jerry Bowyer Yeah, and I would say just kind of from a spiritual standpoint, uh, pride goeth before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall. Um, and people might think I'm being too critical of the president, I'm not just talking about the president, I'm talking about our country. Um, the idea that we can basically say, "We're going to produce all our goods internally, we don't need anybody else, and we're going to tariff them at 100% or 90% or something like that, and push them around," and we found out they can push back. Or because something went well in Venezuela with a very targeted military operation, we were very confident, we thought we could go in and do regime change in Iran. Not just blow up the nuclear mountain, but go in and blow up the regime, leading, it's really hard to do that. We saw that in Iraq, we've seen that in Iran, we've seen that over and over again. Most Republican presidents, when they've taken a hawkish position, has not been "We're going to change regime." It's going to be "Push Saddam out of Kuwait," right? "Not change the regime." It's been a little bit more on the humble foreign policy side. God has the power to pull up nations and bring them down. Nobody else does, including the American president. And we went into the trade wars and the war war with a sense of "We can do anything and impose our will on the—on the world." Turns out the world is resistant to having our will imposed on it, and those are the two things driving price changes, driving inflation, and I think the main reason for the loss of the election was inflation.
Rob West Wow. Jerry, how are you and your team thinking about the change in leadership visa-vis the work you're doing in corporate engagement? I know, obviously, we're still—they haven't even assumed their position. That won't happen until January. But what is your thinking on that?
Jerry Bowyer Uh, the thinking is, uh, that was one election, now we've got 500 other elections to go over the next several months. Fortune 500 companies probably, I would say almost certainly, have more influence than any member of Congress, um, and maybe even than most governors. So, um, people who are upset by the election, that's fine, be upset, lament, do whatever you need to do, pray, um, and if you're really into politics and you're thinking, "Hey, the next thing is the primary," I would say the next thing is not the primary, the next thing is, uh, 500 companies that are large-cap companies in America that need our influence, where you're a shareholder and you have a right to vote, but nobody told you you have a right to vote and nobody's helping you vote. And that's what you have been doing here is helping, say, for instance, Christian financial advisors and Christian asset managers and whatever, and Christian ministries like American Family Association, which is on top of this—very few others are—to say, "All right, that's one election, um, now what's the next one?" Right? So from Apple on to, you know, I don't know, is there a Z a Walmart, and everything in between, there are other elections coming up, and they are, in my opinion, more influential than any particular congressional, senate, or gubernatorial election.
Rob West That's well said. Jerry, thanks for your time, sir.
Jerry Bowyer My pleasure. God bless you.
Rob West All right, God bless you. Linda in Texas, I know you've been waiting patiently. I'd love to chat with you. Can we see if we can get you on on Monday? I would love to be able to help you think through this situation with the form you received from the IRS. So stay on the line. The team will see if we can get you scheduled to be first up on Monday's broadcast. Well folks, that's going to do it for us. So thankful that you're along today, not only that you're listening and calling and asking your questions, but for your incredible encouragement along the way. We get your notes, we get your emails, we hear you, uh, talk about the program and how it's been a blessing to you when you call, and it means a lot. The fact that you're inviting us into your story each day and allowing us to speak into it and to encourage you and to bring biblical wisdom, it's not something we take lightly. And by the way, I couldn't do this without the incredible team here that makes all of this possible, including Taylor and Patty and Pat and DevIn and Afton and Michael and everybody here at FaithFi doing a lot of incredible work on a daily basis, not to mention American Family Radio, what an incredible partner in ministry. Hey, if you love the program, we'd invite you, especially here as we head toward the end of the year, a really important time for us to hear from you with your giving as a listener-supported ministry. If you'd like to support our work, go to faithfi.com/give and while you're there, make a one-time gift or consider becoming a FaithFi
Rob West The collaborative power of giving circles reminds us that generosity grows deeper when it's shared. I am Rob West. When believers come together to give with a shared purpose, something powerful happens—not only in the lives being served, but also in the hearts of the givers, too. Lacie Stevens joins us today to discuss how giving circles can cultivate generosity, connection, and joy. And then it's on to your calls at 800-525-7000. That's 800-525-7000. This is Faith and Finance on American Family Radio, biblical wisdom for your financial journey.
Rob West Well, we've been looking forward to welcoming Lacie Stevens to the program. Lacy is a senior partner at Generous Giving, where she interacts with givers and helps facilitate events that inspire generosity and create connection. Before joining Generous Giving, she spent 23 years as a financial advisor. She's a good friend, and Lacy, what a treat to have you here today.
Lacie Stevens Oh, thank you so much for having me on. I'm happy to be here.
Rob West Lacy, you wrote an article on giving circles in the latest issue of our Faithful Steward Magazine. And for listeners who may be new to that idea, I'd love for you just to share what is a giving circle and what drew you to this model of people coming together to practice generosity?
Lacie Stevens A giving circle's really just a group of people who intentionally come together to pool resources, they pray, and then they discern how they can support needs and ministries together.
Lacie Stevens Um, what drew me personally was seeing how generosity becomes much more personal and life-giving when it's experienced in community.
Rob West Yeah.
Lacie Stevens Um, as you said, I spent uh, two decades, over two decades as a financial advisor, uh, but attending my first generous giving conference in 2007 just completely changed my perspective on stewardship and generosity.
Rob West Mm.
Rob West Yeah, it's a powerful ministry. We partner with Generous Giving and just love what God does through not only the journey of generosity, but also the celebration of generosity, their annual event. And, you know, I'm excited because giving circles seem to be really a trend in giving, a really positive one. Why do you think this kind of shared generosity and connection is resonating with so many people right now, Lacy?
Lacie Stevens That's a great question. I think it's really that people are longing for authentic community. You know, we live in a culture where people often feel isolated, um, maybe especially financially. And giving circles allow people to move from simply managing their own lives to participating in something bigger than themselves. Uh, there's something, I don't know, meaningful about sitting together with friends and discussing needs and praying together, and then deciding how to respond.
Rob West Mm.
Rob West Yeah. You mentioned that generosity becomes more relational in this type of setting. So, how does giving deepen when it happens in community, rather than, as you said, in isolation?
Lacie Stevens Well, it's kind of fascinating, I think, for me, being with other like-minded believers and talking through needs, it encourages me, it inspires me. Um, it helps me to see that there are needs maybe that I hadn't even thought about that are out there, that, um, if I come together with a few friends, that we could actually solve that need pretty easily. And, I don't know, it's fun.
Rob West Yeah, exactly right. And if generosity isn't simply about transactions, but ultimately about transformation, why not go on that journey together in community, right?
Lacie Stevens Absolutely. And to be honest, I think if left to my own devices, I could probably talk myself out of something. Like if God puts something on my heart to give to somebody and, um, I'm thinking, oh, okay, you want me to pay for somebody's groceries in line, and they're going to think I'm a nut, so I'm just going to perhaps back away from that opportunity. But if I'm in community with others, then I can be free to say, oh, I'm just going to pray about this, and then be quickly obedient to what God's calling me to do.
Rob West Mm.
Rob West Yeah, that's well said. I love that. What changes spiritually, Lacy, when giving moves beyond a simple transaction and becomes relational?
Lacie Stevens I think hearts begin to change. I think there is, exactly that word, transformation that happens, um, when we step out in faith and give together.
Rob West I think that's exactly right, and that's why I'm so excited about this new trend in giving. And we're even seeing this, Lacy, at the younger generations as well; they really value giving in community, don't they?
Lacie Stevens They certainly do. And I think not only giving in community, but also giving, um, I don't know, with a purpose, and doing something really with their hands, getting involved.
Rob West Absolutely, and solving problems as well. When we come back, we'll continue our conversation with Lacy. We'll talk about specifically what does this look like in practice, and how can we see the picture of shared generosity in the early church? Lacie Stevens is here today from Generous Giving, and we're talking about collaborative giving. Much more right after this; stay with us.
SEGMENT 2
Rob West Generosity was never meant to be merely transactional. When believers give together, God often multiplies not only the impact of the gift, but the joy and unity of the givers. That's what we're talking about today: giving circles, the collaborative power of shared generosity. Joining me today is my friend Lacie Stevens. Lacy is senior partner at Generous Giving, where she interacts with givers and helps facilitate events that inspire generosity and create connection. And Lacy, you were describing before the break what a giving circle is. And as many believers hear this, many may think of the early church in Acts. Do you see a connection between giving circles today and that picture of shared generosity?
Lacie Stevens Absolutely. In Acts 2 and 4, uh, we see believers sharing resources and caring for one another in very tangible ways. Uh, their generosity reflected unity and trust in God. And giving circles obviously look different today, but the heart behind them is very similar.
Rob West Sure.
Lacie Stevens Yeah, absolutely. I love that picture.
Rob West Now, some listeners may hear this and assume that giving circles are only for people with, I'll say, significant wealth.
That's not the case, is it?
Lacie Stevens Oh, not at all. Um, one of the beautiful things about giving circles, really, anyone can participate. You don't need extraordinary wealth to make a meaningful impact, uh, collectively. And, uh, sometimes it's a handful of families, a Bible study group, or friends pulling kind of modest resources consistently.
Rob West Yeah. What would you say to someone who would like to begin to lean into this? Where would they start? Uh, would they start with the the friends that they want to pull in with them? Would they start with the the cause that they're passionate about that aligns with God's heart? Where would they begin?
Lacie Stevens I think starting with friends would be a great way to start. It's an easy, uh, lift that way, just to, you know, sit down together, have a conversation about maybe needs in your community, pray for sure, um, about what God might be leading you to. And it doesn't have to be a big gift to be transformational and life-changing for somebody who receives it.
Rob West Yeah.
Rob West Now, I know some of these groups have come together and given away substantial resources, and we celebrate that as well. Can you think of a giving circle you could point to that might illustrate this idea?
Lacie Stevens It's really fun. Thanks for that question. Um, I was a part of a journey of generosity retreat, which I can talk about in a little bit, but this is going back 15 years ago. And one of the women in the group was talking about a giving circle, and the other women in the group just lit up. They're like, a giving circle? What's a giving circle? And so four of them, uh, came together and decided to start one, uh, down in Fort Lauderdale, and they had a vision, a big vision that they wanted to give away a lot of money, uh, to ministries in the community. And these four women, uh, to date, 15 years later, it has grown and grown and grown, and they've given away over $2 million.
Rob West Wow.
Lacie Stevens I know, isn't that cool?
Rob West That's incredible. And I'm sure they've had a blast in doing it, haven't they?
Lacie Stevens 100%.
Rob West Uh, that is great. Now, you mentioned it came out of a journey of generosity, and I'm very familiar with what is called a "jog" for short. I've been through one myself and have just seen the transformational power of this 24-hour event. But I would love for you to share that with our listeners, because perhaps they might want to go through a jog. What is it?
Lacie Stevens Well, it is a small group retreat, think 12 to 14 people, usually in a living room, and there is a time of Bible study, there is a time of watching stories of people living radically generous lives, having great rich conversations around those stories. And then my very favorite part is at the end, when you're in a listening posture before the Lord for about a half an hour. Just and some people are thinking, oh my, just being by myself for half an hour! Sounds hard. It's the sweetest part of the experience. And I went through my first jog, uh, 18 years ago, and it changed my life. It was a profound, yes, profound experience.
Rob West Incredible. And where can someone go to learn more about a jog?
Lacie Stevens It is, uh, easy. If you go to generousgiving.org and click on the Journey of Generosity, it will tell you everything you'd like to know. And we have gotten to the point where there's so much demand, Rob, that we are now offering one a month for free online.
Rob West Oh, wow. Nice. And there's actually even an option in some cases to have a facilitator who's trained come to lead that, is that right?
Lacie Stevens That is absolutely correct. And the amazing thing about the ministry of Generous Giving is that there is never an ask. We can't even accept donations. We are fully funded by a handful of, uh, foundations and families. So we, uh, send the materials and the facilitator at our expense. We just ask you to put a group together and, um, we'll do the rest.
Rob West There you go, folks. Generousgiving.org is the place to go. You're going to want to learn more about a journey of generosity, and you can actually schedule a jog or jump into an existing jog right there at generousgiving.org. All right, Lacy, we talked about, uh, friends coming together to do this. Any other kinds of groups that are especially well-suited for practicing collaborative generosity?
Lacie Stevens Well, I think, uh, the church is a natural fit, and, uh, even in your family. I've seen just multi-generational, a wonderful way for parents to, uh, hand down that legacy if they're excited about something and to have their kids come alongside, so that it's not just the parents mandating, uh, what they would like their kids to give to, but also the children being, and adult children being a part of that as a family.
Rob West Yeah, what a fabulous idea, especially as families think about their wealth transfer plans, getting their kids involved in that giving now is a way to not only transfer wealth, but transfer spiritual and social capital and their heart for giving. And I love what Ron Blue says in Splitting Airs: Do your giving while you're living so you're knowing where it's going. And I think that allows us to lean into that principle as well. Um, let's again make this really practical. We've touched on some of this, but for someone listening today who wants to start a giving circle, what would you say is a simple first step?
Lacie Stevens I think just getting together, uh, with friends and starting to have the conversation. If you wanted to do it more formally, um, you can go online and just type in giving circles, and there are giving circles that already exist already all over the country.
Rob West Hmm. Okay. Yeah, that's a great idea. And I'm sure you've seen the impact, you've mentioned this group in Fort Lauderdale, and I know you've watched many of these giving circles over the years. What has stood out to you about the impact that happens when people come together in this way?
Lacie Stevens I love what it does to my heart and to the other people that I've seen being a part of a giving circle. It just seems to unlock something in us. That we get to partner with the God of the universe. And what he's up to is just mind-boggling to me.
Rob West Yeah, well, that's well said. And for somebody who's listening today—and unfortunately we're about out of time—but if they feel intimidated because they don't think they have enough to give, Lacy, what encouragement would you leave them with today?
Lacie Stevens I would encourage them not to underestimate what God can do through willing hearts. Um, biblical generosity has never been reserved for the wealthy, and God cares deeply about faithfulness, not comparison. So I would say just be bold and jump in and grab a couple of friends and, um, enjoy the joy.
Rob West Yes, and start somewhere, because what God does in your life will, uh, probably surprise you as it becomes more about, uh, a work he's doing in your heart, even more so maybe than the, uh, the the receiver on the other end. Lacy, what a treat to have you here today. Thanks for stopping by.
Lacie Stevens Oh, thanks for having me on, Rob.
Rob West That's Lacie Stevens, senior partner at Generous Giving. You can read more about this in the latest issue of our Faithful Steward Magazine, where Lacy wrote an article on the power of giving circles. Make sure you receive every issue of Faithful Steward when you head to faithfi.com/give. When you become a partner, we'll be sure you get it: faithfi.com/give. And of course, if you want to learn more about Generous Giving, this incredible ministry, as well as the 24-hour journey of generosity, go to generousgiving.org. Back with your questions after this, stick around.
SEGMENT 3
Rob West Thanks for joining us today on Faith & Finance. Here at American Family Radio, I'm Rob West. Well, looking forward to diving into your questions today. The number to call: 800-525-7000. The calls are coming in, but we'd love to hear from you, and at the moment, we do have some lines open. Again, that phone number: 800-525-7000.
Coming up in our final segment today, Jerry Bowyer stops by. It'll be great to get Jerry's take in light of the midterms this week, and the huge tech sell-off yesterday, the attempt—at least so far today—at a recovery.
Where does Jerry think we're headed from here with the markets, with the impact of AI, and what the Democrats are saying with regard to slowing development of artificial intelligence? How heavily is our economy, just given the demographic shifts that are coming that we know are coming, how heavily are we relying on artificial intelligence to enhance productivity to offset that to keep this economy growing? And if we are going to take a step back in light of the change in leadership in Congress, what does that mean for the economy and the markets reacting to all of that in real time? We'll get Jerry's take in our final segment.
In the meantime, let's dive into your questions today: 800-525-7000. We're going to begin in North Carolina. Billy, great to have you. Go ahead.
Rob West Billy, are you there?
Billy Yes, sir.
Rob West Great. How can I serve you today?
Billy Yes, sir. I'm... just thank you for your ministry and for everyone that helps with that, because it's—it's a blessing, I think, to all people.
Rob West Thank you, that's very kind.
Billy I wanted to check with you. I have... I'm a retired state employee, and I have a 401(k) plan as well as a 457 plan. I'm not as well versed in it as I should be, but I was wanting to check to see what you would advise. I mean, I'm not sure when distribution could begin. Right now, I'm 59 and a half, so I just needed some insight on the difference between the 401(k) and the 457 plan, and what I should do, you know, as I'm getting older, closer to 60.
Rob West Yes. Yes, ma'am. Well, I appreciate that question. It's a great one, and I'd love to walk you through that.
So, you've got a 401(k) and a 457. We don't want to rush to take the money out when you retire. We want to have a plan, though, for how to turn those savings into retirement income. Because as you transition into the fourth quarter of life and ask the Lord, "What is my next assignment?", you know, that may or may not involve work for pay along the way. Sounds like you're continuing to work, that's great. We want to stay productive in service to the Lord, and I know He has good plans for you in the future.
The question is, you know, if that is something that doesn't involve pay, can you support yourself with Social Security and then retirement income generated from those retirement savings accounts that you've been working so diligently to build up?
So, the first question is: when should we take the money out? And at 59 and a half, withdrawals become penalty-free, although they're still subject to income tax, so they're added to your taxable income. With the 457, you avoid the 10% early withdrawal penalty even before 59 and a half when you separate from your employer—but again, that doesn't affect you because, in either case, you would not have that penalty. You would just have it added to your income.
But I think the key is, just because you can withdraw the money doesn't mean you should. Leaving it invested allows it to continue to grow on a tax-deferred basis. And so the goal would be, let's try to delay pulling from your retirement accounts if you can, especially if you don't feel like you're at the target yet that would generate the income you need.
Similarly, you maybe want to delay Social Security as long as you can, at least until full retirement age, to maximize that monthly benefit. And continuing to work would allow that to happen.
There's really three main options, Billy, in terms of what to do with the money:
1. Leave it in the employer's retirement plan: It does simplify things a bit because there's a limited menu of investment choices.
2. Roll it into an IRA (Individual Retirement Account): Both the 401(k) and the 457 should be able to be rolled into one IRA that you could have an advisor manage for you. That is what I would recommend, just given the complexity involved in wanting to minimize taxes, being able to sync up retirement withdrawals with other pieces of your financial life (including Social Security and Medicare premiums when that time comes). You would also want to have somebody who can pick the investments for you to mitigate risk, but also allow you to get the income you need. You don't want to be in a situation where, if you're too heavily invested in stocks and the market went down significantly—let's say we were in a recession here in a couple of years, and we certainly could be—you wouldn't want to have too much at the risk of the market such that you wouldn't be able to wait out the recovery. Rolling it into an IRA gives you that flexibility and allows you to bring in an advisor to oversee that on your behalf.
3. Start to withdraw the money gradually in retirement: Rather than taking a large lump sum and creating a big tax bill, normally what you want to do is position the portfolio in terms of the investments to continue to grow it, take as little risk as possible, but also generate income. Then you take distributions as needed to supplement your Social Security or pension income, kind of like a monthly paycheck out of your IRA.
An advisor could help you work through all of that. But let me stop there. I know I threw a lot at you. Give me any questions you have or thoughts.
Billy The advisor—who would you recommend?
Rob West Yeah, I would recommend a Certified Kingdom Advisor (CKA). These are men and women who have met our high standards in character and competence. They're going to share your values as a Christ-follower, and they've been trained to bring biblical wisdom. You could go to findacka.com to search for one right there in North Carolina.
But stay on the line, I'll give you another option as well, and see if you have other questions. We'll be right back.
SEGMENT 4
Rob West Great to have you with us today on Faith & Finance. Here on American Family Radio, I'm Rob West.
Coming up in our final segment today, Jerry Bowyer stops by. We'll get Jerry's take on what's moving the markets after that big sell-off yesterday led by the tech sector. The tech attempting to recover—we're up one, a little more than 1% on the Nasdaq right now. That was the worst decline in almost two years as AI stocks led the way down. They are leading the way back with some buying right now. We'll see if that holds—the market processing the change in leadership in Washington and what that means for technology in particular, as it has kind of led the way of this market and our economy as we think about the enhancements to productivity led by artificial intelligence, but a lot of that in question now. We'll get Jerry to weigh in on that in the next segment.
In the meantime, taking your questions today at 800-525-7000. Let's go to Texas. Hi Mary, how can I help you?
Mary Hello, thank you so much for taking my call and for your ministry.
Rob West Absolutely.
Mary I am feeling kind of vulnerable. I am 77, and my husband died three months ago as of Sunday.
Rob West I'm so sorry.
Mary And it was quite unexpected. And it is... and I'm not sure how to take care of myself. I want to make sure that I don't make any stupid decisions, you know?
Rob West Yeah.
Mary I want to make sure that I have enough money—of course, we don't know how long we're going to live, so in a way, that's a silly question. However, how do I figure this out? I do have a good financial advisor—he's our CPA as well.
Rob West Okay.
Mary He is not, as far as I know, he's not one of the, um, the Certified Kingdom Advisors.
Rob West That's okay.
Mary But I think he is a believer, and so that certainly helps. And so what... what do I need to be sure of? How much money do I need to make sure to have? Where should money go? I do have some—an account with Timothy Plan and with the AdelFi that they call it themselves now, the credit union in California, and one of the major banks, the national banks here. But what do I...
Rob West Well, first of all, Mary, my heart breaks. I'm so sorry to hear about your husband's passing. I know this is a difficult season, and then on top of that, you're trying to get your arms around the financial picture, and I can understand how that can be a lot. So I'm so glad you called, and I'd be delighted to be of help any way I can. I have a few thoughts on that.
But I think, really, the first goal is to not make any major decisions or changes, especially while you're grieving in these first few months. I'd love for you to be able to get six months down the road before you start to think about what am I doing for my living situation and just any kind of major decisions. In the meantime, as you're able, I think the goal is to get organized, to protect yourself financially, and then really just to look at what resources you have to develop a plan to make sure that you have what you need for living expenses for the rest of your life.
So the first five steps would be looking at your income. So, you know, what income do you have—Social Security, pensions? Do you have retirement accounts? Are you going to be switching to a survivor benefit if that's higher than your own benefit? What life insurance benefits might you be entitled to? So we want to find out exactly how much monthly income you will have coming in. You may already know that, but that's really the first piece.
And then the second would be to gather all the financial accounts and important documents. So we're going to want to make a list of checking and savings and investments and IRAs and retirement accounts and debts and insurance policies. You're going to want to try to locate the wills and, if there's a trust, beneficiary designations, things like that. I don't want to overwhelm you—your advisor should help you with this, and I'd be able to—here in just a moment, I'll tell you about some additional assistance we can provide—but these are the kinds of things you're going to want to be able to pull together. Then you're also, of course, going to need several certified copies of the death certificate. You'll need to also identify which accounts were jointly owned, so you would, with right of survivorship, automatically be now the account holder entitled in your name, versus the ones that were in your husband's name that will need to come over to you based on the will and the death certificate, but there's some work involved in that.
So step one: What is my income? Step two: Gathering my financial accounts and important documents. Step three: Creating a simple monthly budget.
So we want to add up that new monthly income, we want to calculate essential expenses—and this is where I'm going to provide some help—and determine whether there's a monthly surplus or shortfall. If there's a shortfall, we need to determine how much will you need from savings or retirement accounts each year.
And then, you know, at that point, we just need to be careful to protect what you've got and avoid mistakes. So, be careful about scams, look at required minimum distributions and make sure we're taking those—that's where your CPA can be helpful—and then keeping enough accessible cash for immediate expenses.
So I think those are really the keys, and hopefully your advisor can help you understand a lot of those things and work alongside you. And then beyond that, I'd be happy to provide a Certified Christian Financial Counselor who would mainly help you work on the spending plan, identifying what income sources you have, creating your new budget, and then getting a system that works for you, Mary, that allows you to control the flow of money coming and going.
There's a variety of ways to do that, and we want to find the one that best suits your temperament and style and so forth, just so you feel like you have a good handle on the bills that are coming in and the mail's getting opened, and we've got a system to make sure everything's getting paid, and then we've got a plan that is going to make sure that your money's going to last.
Those are the kinds of things that I think are the most important right now, and then we hold off on those larger decisions around what God might have for you in this next season until we get a little further down the road. But give me your thoughts on all that.
Mary Well, thank you. That really helps. We've never done very well with the budget part, so that would be very helpful. I have gone through a lot of the wills, and it's now... I'm waiting for a probate date for a will, and I've taken care of a lot of the accounts that were in both of our names. And so that's been very helpful. But now the idea of a counselor and all of the budget things, that would be...
Rob West Yeah, well, we'd be happy to do that. So let's do this: You hang on the line, we're going to get your information, I'll get a Certified Financial Counselor in touch with you. We're going to pay for it—won't cost you anything—and I'm going to send you a book called Wise Women Managing Money, written by a widow, that I think will be a big help. God bless you, Mary. We'll be right back.
SEGMENT 5
Rob West Thanks for joining us today on Faith & Finance. Here at American Family Radio, I'm Rob West. Well, Jerry Bowyer's here, and good thing, uh, big changes going on in Washington, big sell-off yesterday. Jerry, you know, how much of the forward-looking excitement about the US economy was driven by the prospect of productivity increases led by AI, in light of what we know are major changes demographically, and if all of that is in question under this, uh, new leadership, what does that mean for the economy, and is that, in part, what the—the market was processing yesterday?
Jerry Bowyer Yeah, I—I think that a lot of the market activity, like as you know, short-term back and forth on any given day tends to be driven by what we think the Central Bank is going to do, which is a distortion of how it should work. But over the long run, productivity is what drives market performance; um, and AI was the—the zone that was, you know, growth-oriented. That's where something was happening. Um, in fact, I just heard a speech last night from David Bonson where he said that if you take out AI, our capital expenditure in America is negative. You know, basically, um, like we're not—we're not keeping up repairs of older equipment, and we're putting all of our capital into artificial intelligence. Uh, which is a little bit concerning, but that's where the growth is right now. Um, and the problem with over-interpreting, um, you know, the election results in terms of AI is that, in many cases, both parties are against it. You know, in our state of Pennsylvania, our treasurer, Stacy Garrity, was running for governor. Uh, I like her, but she—she came out more anti-data center than the Democrat governor, uh, in our state. So, in many cases, people on the right, or is it on the right? I don't know, populists, let's say MAGA people, uh, are strongly anti-AI and strongly anti-data center. So it's not clear to me that Democrats versus Republicans is directly relevant to AI. So, what isn't it relevant to? Well, it's tax policy. But again, Bonson made a great point last night, which is our tax policy is set for now. Trump did the big beautiful bill, that's through. We're not going to see much happen on the tax side. So it's almost like what the Republicans could plausibly do for growth, they already did with the deregulation, um, and with, um, the—the tax cuts. What they could have done, they already weren't doing, you know, which is a clear signal on artificial intelligence and clear signals on trade policy and a relative amount of peace rather than getting kind of bogged down in another Middle East war, which drives up energy prices, which drives up the prices of everything else. So, I think market participants are looking at that and saying, Republicans already did all the good they could, um, and they weren't interested in doing much more, um, and they were actually doing some things that maybe weren't all that helpful. So, I when I look at the elections, the way I would kind of sum it up is you cannot beat socialism with half socialism. If the Republicans are going to basically say, "Hey, government ought to have big stakes in these companies and, you know, the government ought to basically control international trade patterns and, you know, we're going to have more toriums on this, we're going to go on and off again, we're going to spend everybody as much as the other side," um, if it's a socialism contest, the socialists are going to win and the half socialists will lose, and I think that's part of the lesson of Tuesday.
Rob West Yeah, interesting. Yeah, I mean, obviously, fiscal policy and a potential slowdown in the AI build-out, and you make a great point about which one is more AI-friendly than the other. There's still questions about that. But if, in fact, you know, we see tighter spending and slower investment, could that result in a mid-cycle economic slowdown next year, and that makes, uh, you know, Fed Chairman Powell's job even more challenging, doesn't it?
Jerry Bowyer Well, yeah, his—his job is challenging, and we just got a really good jobs report, um, this morning, um, and of course, that means markets went down right after that, right? Because why? Uh, because the basic view of the Fed historically has been that, um, if you have a lot of jobs, um, that is actually inflationary, they think. It's not, but that's what, you know, that's kind of how it's interpreted. So the odds of an interest rate hike, meaning the odds of contracting the money supply went up. Now I know markets are up for the day, but if you look at like when the report came out, they went down immediately after that report. And gold's down and the dollar's up. So it's a—um, it's a money contraction, hawkish, is what people call it. I don't know why, one is dovish, one is hawkish. I don't know which why, why one bird is associated with monetary expansion and the other is associated with monetary contraction. Bulls and bears too, right? I guess the same thing. Bulls and bears, yeah. Well, I mean, at least bulls, like the—the horns push up, and when bears claw you, they pull down. Okay, there you go. I mean, I'm totally making this up, but I have no idea why it's bulls and bears, and I just have a guess, I don't have any guess on hawks and doves. But for some reason, in finance industry speak, hawkish is decrease the money supply and dovish is increase the money supply. Um, so if this is hawkish, uh, and that's why gold is down and the dollar is up, and why, um, not the market was going up, you know, pretty strongly before the report today. Um, so in terms of long-term out, you know, the long-term output, etc., I think we have a policy mix, uh, which is good if we can stop having trade wars and reversal trade wars, and then trade war on and off again. The economy will not be able to settle in and grow, and we will not be able to invest in factories, as opposed to data centers, um, until in if we have a policy in which the president is saying, "We're going to have a tariff of copper this week, and then every factory that imports copper and turns it into wire, um, now has to pay more for copper and lays people off. But because the AI people and the data center people are politically connected, they get to sell their chips to China and they get to go full speed ahead because the president likes them." Uh, so Washington has decided where our capital expenditures are by making one set of sectors, like traditional manufacturing, uncertain in terms of the environment because of tariffs, but the other sector is certain, and partly it's because, hey, we, the government, we want 10%—we'll do what you want, but we'll we want a 10% um stake in Intel. So now the government is the investor and it's giving special privileges. Not good; um, and we're not going to be able to have a normally growing economy until we settle that. And it just might be the—market responded after the election, uh, to divided government, kind of positively, um, because it might be that government in general does less because of that division.
Rob West Yeah. Yeah, and possibly the on-again, off-again tariffs are going to start to trail off because of the change in leadership, not to mention maybe a—a more concerted effort to get this war over at the end of the day.
Jerry Bowyer Yeah, and I would say just kind of from a spiritual standpoint, uh, pride goeth before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall. Um, and people might think I'm being too critical of the president, I'm not just talking about the president, I'm talking about our country. Um, the idea that we can basically say, "We're going to produce all our goods internally, we don't need anybody else, and we're going to tariff them at 100% or 90% or something like that, and push them around," and we found out they can push back. Or because something went well in Venezuela with a very targeted military operation, we were very confident, we thought we could go in and do regime change in Iran. Not just blow up the nuclear mountain, but go in and blow up the regime, leading, it's really hard to do that. We saw that in Iraq, we've seen that in Iran, we've seen that over and over again. Most Republican presidents, when they've taken a hawkish position, has not been "We're going to change regime." It's going to be "Push Saddam out of Kuwait," right? "Not change the regime." It's been a little bit more on the humble foreign policy side. God has the power to pull up nations and bring them down. Nobody else does, including the American president. And we went into the trade wars and the war war with a sense of "We can do anything and impose our will on the—on the world." Turns out the world is resistant to having our will imposed on it, and those are the two things driving price changes, driving inflation, and I think the main reason for the loss of the election was inflation.
Rob West Wow. Jerry, how are you and your team thinking about the change in leadership visa-vis the work you're doing in corporate engagement? I know, obviously, we're still—they haven't even assumed their position. That won't happen until January. But what is your thinking on that?
Jerry Bowyer Uh, the thinking is, uh, that was one election, now we've got 500 other elections to go over the next several months. Fortune 500 companies probably, I would say almost certainly, have more influence than any member of Congress, um, and maybe even than most governors. So, um, people who are upset by the election, that's fine, be upset, lament, do whatever you need to do, pray, um, and if you're really into politics and you're thinking, "Hey, the next thing is the primary," I would say the next thing is not the primary, the next thing is, uh, 500 companies that are large-cap companies in America that need our influence, where you're a shareholder and you have a right to vote, but nobody told you you have a right to vote and nobody's helping you vote. And that's what you have been doing here is helping, say, for instance, Christian financial advisors and Christian asset managers and whatever, and Christian ministries like American Family Association, which is on top of this—very few others are—to say, "All right, that's one election, um, now what's the next one?" Right? So from Apple on to, you know, I don't know, is there a Z a Walmart, and everything in between, there are other elections coming up, and they are, in my opinion, more influential than any particular congressional, senate, or gubernatorial election.
Rob West That's well said. Jerry, thanks for your time, sir.
Jerry Bowyer My pleasure. God bless you.
Rob West All right, God bless you. Linda in Texas, I know you've been waiting patiently. I'd love to chat with you. Can we see if we can get you on on Monday? I would love to be able to help you think through this situation with the form you received from the IRS. So stay on the line. The team will see if we can get you scheduled to be first up on Monday's broadcast. Well folks, that's going to do it for us. So thankful that you're along today, not only that you're listening and calling and asking your questions, but for your incredible encouragement along the way. We get your notes, we get your emails, we hear you, uh, talk about the program and how it's been a blessing to you when you call, and it means a lot. The fact that you're inviting us into your story each day and allowing us to speak into it and to encourage you and to bring biblical wisdom, it's not something we take lightly. And by the way, I couldn't do this without the incredible team here that makes all of this possible, including Taylor and Patty and Pat and DevIn and Afton and Michael and everybody here at FaithFi doing a lot of incredible work on a daily basis, not to mention American Family Radio, what an incredible partner in ministry. Hey, if you love the program, we'd invite you, especially here as we head toward the end of the year, a really important time for us to hear from you with your giving as a listener-supported ministry. If you'd like to support our work, go to faithfi.com/give and while you're there, make a one-time gift or consider becoming a FaithFi
When believers come together to give with a shared purpose, something powerful happens—not only in the lives being served but also in the hearts of the givers, too. On this Faith & Finance on AFR, Rob West and Lacie Stevens discuss how giving circles can cultivate generosity, connection, and joy. Then, it’s on to calls.
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