Host a Shoe Drive with Shawn Spurrier

This faith and finance podcast is underwritten in part by Buckner Shoes for Orphan Souls. Did you know that just one pair of shoes given to a child opens the door to share health, education, opportunity, and the love of Christ to a child in need in the world? Buckner Shoes for Orphan Souls has been meeting this need for 25 years, providing more than 5 million pairs of shoes to children in some of the most vulnerable communities in the world. That's over 5 million opportunities to put a smile on a child's face and show the love of Christ to boys and girls living in desperate situations. Many times, these shoes introduce families to Christ-centered programs, helping them rise above poverty and achieve their God-given potential.

You can make that difference now. Join Buckner Shoes for Orphan Souls in changing the lives of children across the world through the gift of shoes. Go to GiveShoesToday.org and give to the special organization.

That's GiveShoesToday.org. We are so materially blessed that we take many things for granted. Can you imagine not having a simple pair of shoes to go about your day? Hi, I'm Rob West.

It's tragic. Millions of children around the world, many of them orphans, suffer the huge disadvantage of not having shoes. Shawn Spurrier joins us today to talk about a way you can help. And then it's on to your calls at 800-525-7000. That's 800-525-7000.

This is faith and finance, biblical wisdom for your financial decisions. Well, it's great to have Shawn Spurrier back with us. Shawn is the director of Buckner Shoes for Orphan Souls, an underwriter of this program. And Shawn, great to have you with us.

So wonderful to be with you guys. Shawn, this ministry, Buckner Shoes for Orphan Souls, puts shoes on the feet of thousands of disadvantaged children every year. Help us understand why this is so fundamentally important for these kids.

Absolutely. You know, this is really about ministering to the whole person. New shoes and socks put children on the path to hope and a future. With Buckner Shoes for Orphan Souls, the gift of shoes promotes health for children and prevents disease. It promotes education and lowers barriers to school attendance and in communities where shoes are required for school. It plugs children and families into programs that provide opportunity for them. And ultimately, it demonstrates the love of Christ. We get to tangibly express the love of Christ to each child who receives a pair of shoes. So with generous support from folks like your listeners, children are protected from disease. They receive an education. They turn a corner and really they experience the opportunity that is in front of them and hear about the love of Christ. And that's my favorite part about this. And we may not realize all of the things that just having a pair of shoes opens up.

And yet I'm sure our listeners are resonating with what you're saying. Now, of course, they can always give directly to this project. But one of the important ways you're able to do this is through shoe drives, which are a great way for folks to partner with you. So share with us how those work. Absolutely. This is kind of the tried and true way.

It's very easy. Anyone can sign up to host an in-person or virtual shoe drive in their community. This can take place any time of the year and in any location and really can make a difference in the lives of children in a very easy and tangible way. All you have to do is go to GiveShoesToday.org to register your shoe drive for your church group, your birthday club, your civic organization or your family. And from there, we will send you all of the materials you'll need to promote your drive.

And so that'll be posters, brochures, digital assets, everything to help make that a turnkey experience for you. Then at that point, you simply collect new shoes. Sometimes you might want to have your your friends help donate just a little bit for shipping those shoes back to Dallas. But once your drive ends, you're ready to ship those shoes to the Buckner Center for Humanitarian Aid in Dallas. We take it from there and we make sure that those shoes get to the children who need them throughout the world. Sean, I can't help but think there's a lot of parents out there listening today who have teens that love their shoes.

Maybe they're athletes or they're just into the latest fashions. What a great way to get them involved in a project that allows them to give to others in another part of the world to do all the things that you said, but really to be a part of something meaningful. Do you have parents and kids doing this together?

Absolutely. You know, one of the ways that we do this is through an event called Birthday Club. So we have children and families all the way up to teenagers who actually donate their birthday parties and have their friends bring a pair of shoes. And we see a lot of impact with that. And it just really is a great way to engage the entire family in giving. Oh, that's so good. All right.

Just a minute left. I'm sure there's some folks listening today that are saying, I can't host a shoe drive, but I still want to be involved. How can they do that?

That's understandable. We would love to encourage each of those people to make a donation that puts a pair of shoes on the feet of a child throughout the world. You can impact one, two, three children with a gift of fifteen dollars per pair of shoes, and that can be done at GiveShoesToday.org. That's so good. GiveShoesToday.org. Buckner will walk alongside you to do one of these shoe drives.

It's literally turnkey, folks. They'll help you put it all together. But if you can't do that, forty two thousand children are waiting right now for something you and I take for granted. That's socks and shoes. And so if you want to put some shoes on a disadvantaged child's feet in some part of the world, your gift of thirty dollars puts two new pairs of shoes and socks on the feet of a precious child.

And that's going to lead to health, education, hope and opportunity. Again, the website, it's quick and easy. GiveShoesToday.org. That's GiveShoesToday.org. Sean, thanks for stopping by. Thank you so much for having me.

Well, we're going to take a quick break when we come back. Your questions on anything financial at eight hundred five, two, five, seven thousand. That's eight hundred five, two, five, seven thousand. This is faith and finance biblical wisdom for your financial decisions. We're grateful for support from Movement Mortgage, who provides residential home loans in all 50 states guided by a mission to love and value people and a goal to redefine the mortgage process. Movement seeks to help others achieve their financial goals. You can find out more at Movement dot com slash faith. Movement Mortgage LLC supports equal housing opportunity and MLS number three nine one seven nine.

For licensing information, please visit NMLS consumer access dot org. Nineteen. That's how many pairs of shoes the average American has in their closet.

One. That's how many pairs of shoes it takes to share health, education, opportunity and the love of Christ to a child in need in the world. You can play a part in changing the life of a child today through Buckner Shoes for Orphan Souls. Visit GiveShoesToday.org and find out how you can provide shoes for a child in need.

That's GiveShoesToday.org. Great to have you with us today on faith and finance. It's time to take your calls and questions today. Eight hundred five two five seven thousand.

That's eight hundred five two five seven thousand. You can call right now. We've got our team ready for you. We'd love to dive into whatever you're thinking about in your financial life today. Let's begin in Florida. Howard, you'll be our first caller, sir. Go ahead.

So, Rob, thank you for everything that you do. My question is concerning if I should diversify where I have my investments. I am 65 years old. I have about one point two million altogether. Half of that is with a brokerage LPL and the other half is with the previous employers for a one K. Their return is about the same, but my broker would like to transfer all the money to him. However, I'm thinking about the possibility since it is 650 of moving to a fee based management for that one and keeping it separate.

My concern is about putting all the eggs in one basket. Yeah, I can certainly understand that. Let's talk through it. You said you're considering a fee based option.

How are you compensating your current advisor? It's not fee based. It is, you know, taken off the top. So I'm kind of not seeing it. I'm just really seeing the returns. OK, now we would call that fee fee only in the sense that is he charging you based on the assets under management a percentage? Yes. OK, and are you considering a different approach with this other 650, meaning you might buy load mutual funds or an advisor who charges a different way? What is it you're looking for there?

No, I think I'm looking for a advisor that would give me a different perspective. OK, so I've heard I've heard associates of mine who have half a million or more invested. They usually just say a straight fee of about one point five percent to the brokerage. And there were no other fees, no other transactions, no changes. Yeah. Yeah. OK. Well, a lot of times you are going to pay based on the assets under management.

I agree. A point and a half would be very typical for a half million dollar portfolio. You tend to have additional fees on top of that. So, for instance, a lot of it depends on what type of investments they're using. So if they're buying individual stocks, that's the most cost effective way, because you might have a minor transaction cost just for the trade. But if they're with a Schwab or a Fidelity, it's going to it might be 10 or 20 dollars at the most, which is negligible for a portfolio that size. If, however, they're using mutual funds, then you've got the management fee of the fund inside. And that's on top of what the money manager is charging to maintain discretion over those investments.

But, you know, I think this is pretty much customary and normal in terms of what you might pay. So I think the real question is, do you want to have everything with one advisor because you've got a long standing relationship and you're happy with the returns? You feel like you really understand kind of the risk level you're looking to take and you're happy with the ideas he's bringing to the table.

I don't think it would be, you know, out of school. I wouldn't if you call me and said, Rob, I have one point two million with one advisor and he's managing the whole thing or his team is. I wouldn't say that's a bad idea, but I also can appreciate your desire to have maybe two money managers, you know, each managing a half of the total investable assets.

So I could go either way on that. Howard, if you're sensing that you want a second money manager, I mean, there is the potential for duplication. You know, I think, you know, you're losing some of the tax benefits potentially of having one advisor who's really kind of streamlining everything and making sure that, you know, across all of your investable assets, you have the right mix of investments so you're not taking unnecessary risk. But if you'd feel better having a second advisor in the mix, that's not a bad idea. I probably wouldn't go beyond that.

So if you did, then I would, you know, probably go to our website, faithfi.com, click find a professional and you could interview a couple of certified kingdom advisors there in Florida. And that certainly wouldn't be a bad idea. I would advise that you do that over leaving it in the 401k, just given your stage of life and the fact that it's a previous employer. So I think as a next step, I'd either find a second advisor to bring into the mix or consolidate everything under your existing advisor, one of those two approaches. So from what I understand at this point, I should check out a few of these other agencies and if I'm satisfied, move it and if I'm not, bring it over to my current advisor.

Exactly right. I mean, I, you know, typically I would say for somebody who's got a million dollars, find one trusted advisor and put everything there. But if you just feel like, you know what, I'd like to have, you know, two advisors kind of bring in two different schools of thought to the table and that just makes me feel better.

It's another level of diversification. Then I can get on board with that and I would find somebody that shares your values and that's where CKA can be really helpful. But if you decided at the end of the day, you know what, I want to just put it all with this one advisor.

I would say that's the more common approach and I would certainly be on board with that. OK, thank you so much and thank you for what you do. I appreciate it so much. You're very welcome, Howard.

May the Lord bless you, sir. Thanks for being on the program. Eight hundred five two five seven thousand is the number to call. We've got lines open today again.

Eight hundred five two five seven thousand. Let's go to Illinois. Hi, Terry. How can I help you? Hi, Rob. I really appreciate your program. Thank you so much for doing what you do.

I have a question. We did pay off our house. The title company still has our title for our home. I was wondering, do we leave it with them as a safe spot or do we take it out and put it, I don't know, in a safety deposit box or what do you do with your title once you pay off your home? Yeah, well, once the mortgage is paid off, the lender is required to provide what's called a deed of reconveyance, regardless of when you pay it off.

And basically that just puts the deed back with you now that the lien has been satisfied. Generally, that happens through the mail. So what I'm afraid happened is perhaps they sent it and maybe you didn't realize what it was and it got tossed or maybe they just made a mistake.

But the fact that this has gone on so long, I mean, usually this takes 60 days. So something is definitely wrong that you haven't received that paperwork in two years. All states have deadlines for sending these papers back to homeowners and there's penalties if they don't do it in a timely manner. So what I'd probably do is just call the mortgage company and say, listen, I paid this off two years ago. I didn't get the deed of reconveyance.

Can you check your files and tell me, you know, what the status is, whether it was sent and if so, or if not, can you resend it? Or even if it was, I need a copy of that. And then, you know, you would store that in a fireproof safe or a safe deposit box at your local bank, typically, because that's a really important document.

Does that make sense? Yes, it's a deed of reconveyance. Deed of reconveyance is what you're looking for.

And the lender is required to provide that once the mortgage is paid off in a timely fashion. Okay, thank you so much. I really appreciate this. Absolutely.

Thank you for your call today. Before we head into our break, let me remind you, you know, as we look at God's Word and think about our role as managers of God's money, we can pull principles out of Scripture that are practical, but they're also timeless. For instance, the big ideas that we want to communicate is first that God would be your ultimate treasure. But then as we get into money management, we want to spend less than we earn because that's the key to every financial success.

We want to avoid the use of debt because debt mortgage is the future. We want to set long term goals because the longer term your perspective, the better your financial decision today. We want to have margin to fund those goals that God has given us.

And we want to give generously because giving breaks the grip of money over our lives. Well, I hope what we're sharing today is an encouragement to you. And above all else, I hope it draws you into a more intimate relationship with the Lord. We're going to take more phone calls just around the corner.

But first, this break, we'll be right back. As a faithful listener of the faith and finance program, you know that there is life changing financial wisdom in God's word to meet all your needs. More than anything, faith is here to help you and millions of others see God as your ultimate treasure. As a nonprofit, we're grateful for our partners that help expand our outreach every month with their generosity. Has God provided financial answers for you through this ministry?

Please consider becoming a monthly partner by visiting faith find dot com and clicking Give. We're grateful for support from Guidestone, whose diversified suite of investment solutions align with Christian values to create positive change in the world. More information is available at Guidestone funds dot com slash faith. Investing involves risk, including potential loss of principal. Carefully consider the investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses of Guidestone funds before investing.

They're distributed by Four Side Funds Distributors, LLC, which is not an advisory affiliate, a registered investment advisor, nor do they provide investment advice. Great to have you with us today on faith and finance. I'm Rob West.

All the lines are full. So let's head right back to the phones. We'll go to Plainfield, Illinois, and welcome Susan to the broadcast. Hi there. Go ahead. Hi there. Thank you for taking my call.

Sure. My husband and I are trying to decide the best timing for replacing my car. We're both retired, but he is now working part time, at least for a couple more years. And he is thinking that it's better to replace it now while he is still working. But I have a 13 year old car that's running great and I am hesitating a little bit on trading that in.

And I wonder what your opinion was. Yeah. What is his concern is that is it that he would need to borrow to buy it and because he's no longer working, he'd have a problem doing so or something else? Yeah, we'd have to finance some of it.

OK. Yeah. You know, when you get to that season of life, I mean, as long as you've got a good credit score, I would imagine you'll still have, you know, enough income to justify it at that point, especially if you're putting something down. I wouldn't be terribly concerned about that. You know, I think the cheapest car you can own is typically the one in your driveway. And so I like the idea, especially if this thing is paid for about and it's in good condition, it's not costing you a lot of money. I mean, from a purely financial standpoint, it's going to certainly be more cost effective, you know, to continue driving this car.

So I would kind of come down on your side. I mean, obviously, there's nothing wrong with buying a new car if you can afford it. I mean, we wouldn't have any, you know, cars to buy if people weren't buying new cars because eventually they would all be out of service.

So I don't think that's a problem. But I think in terms of cost effectiveness, you sticking with your car right now and just continuing to drive it because it's not, you know, creating unnecessary, you know, expenses. And we start to look at that in terms of, you know, if you're spending more than half the value in any year, that's certainly the time in maintenance. That's certainly the time to look at getting rid of it. But if it's reliable, I would say hang on to it. OK, yeah, it's reliable.

It's 13 years old, but it only has 107,000 miles on it. And the mechanic says it's in good shape. So, yes, yeah, you know, absolutely.

I think the mechanic's in agreement there. And, you know, I would just let him know that while it might be a little harder to qualify to borrow in retirement, it's far from impossible. You know, you will be able to get that car loan, you know, with regular sources of income like Social Security and other benefits. Yeah, my other thought was that if we just took the money that he would like to make a payment with now and save that, then maybe we could just use it to buy the car later? Oh, yeah, absolutely. I mean, if you can work that into your budget, it's always a good idea to be setting money aside. Because even if you can't get to the full cost of the purchase, the idea that you would have a lot more equity going in, putting down a far larger down payment on the front end is certainly going to make it easier to qualify for that loan if you need a small loan and ensure that you pay as little interest as possible. The other benefit to waiting here, Susan, in addition to the fact that this is a reliable car, it's paid for, you're just going to save money is hopefully when you get to that point, you know, we see an interest rate environment that's much more favorable, so you're not paying 8-9% interest on this car.

You know, you get down into the 3 or 4 or 5 where we saw car loan rates, you know, a few years ago. Yeah. Also, can I ask one more thing?

Sure, go ahead. He would like to buy a new car, and I kind of like to buy a car that's a year or two old. I wondered what your opinion was on that. Yeah, you know, I think typically I would always say buy that newer used car because you're missing that depreciation that occurs when you drive it off the lot. There's been some flex in that just because used car prices were so much higher than, you know, proportionately the new cars. It actually made some sense to consider the new car, especially if, again, you're fitting it into the budget. You're not buying more than you can afford. But let's say if you are taking on a loan and you could get a dealer incentive at, you know, 1.9 or 2.9% interest versus, you know, 8 or 9% interest on that used car, not to mention that the new car inventories are building. And so we're seeing those prices level off much quicker than the used car prices. I think for those reasons, you know, you could at least look at the new car option and get that, you know, full warranty and perhaps not spend a whole lot more. But historically, I would align with you my preferences toward that newer used car for the reasons I mentioned.

But I think in this environment where things, you know, are kind of thrown out of whack a little bit just because of the chip shortage that led to the inventory shortage on top of these higher interest rates could cause you to at least explore that new car option and consider it. Okay, well, that's great. Thank you so much.

All right. Thanks for your call today. We appreciate it. Let's go to Tom, who's holding patiently in Rhode Island.

How can we help? Hi, thank you very much for taking my call. Appreciate it. Yeah, I'm, as I told the call screener, I'm pushing 80 years old. I'd like to close a bunch of accounts. I almost don't even care about my credit score at this point. But how much of a hit does it put on my credit to close if I wanted to close three or four accounts?

Yeah, it shouldn't be a big deal, Tom. The biggest issue is the potential change in credit utilization, but I suspect that doesn't apply to you. Are you carrying any balances on any of these accounts? Well, I have a couple balances, but I primarily use my ATM card. And we've been doing some remodeling on the house. So as soon as I get caught up, you know, I'll be paying those couple cards off in the next month or two.

Okay. But I have some airline accounts, you know, that I got flyer miles for. These things cost a couple hundred dollars a year to even keep open.

Yeah, I would wipe those out. I mean, the two primary issues that would affect you when you're closing an account, the first is credit utilization. So let's say, you know, you're carrying $5,000 in, you know, credit in debt until you pay it off because of the renovations. And let's say you have, you know, $30,000 available to you across all of the cards. Well, you don't want to go above, you know, 30% of the limit. So if all of a sudden, you know, your limit or 30% of that 30,000 and available credit was $9,000.

So you're well below that in my example. But let's say all of a sudden now that 30,000 that was available to you because you close a bunch of accounts is now 10,000. And now you're 50% of that limit in the aggregate. So now your credit utilization, you know, just went from, you know, a pretty small number to now all of a sudden it's 50% of your total available credit. That would be the primary thing that would pull your score down. But to your point, I mean, in your season of life, you're not out looking to buy a house or a car or take on new debt. Your credit score really doesn't matter. I think the bigger issue for me is that you're paying hundreds of dollars in annual fees for cards you don't use.

So I would probably, you know, go ahead and close those immediately and not look back. Does that make sense? It surely does. And that figure you just threw out about the 30%.

So I'm just going to do a little math and make sure I'm below that, my debt to income or debt to credit ratio, and then I can proceed from there. So I truly appreciate this program. We listen all the time and that's where we get news. So thank you very much. Excellent. Well, so glad you called, Tom. Please call anytime if we can be of assistance to you. May the Lord bless you.

That's going to do it for us today. I hope you found something encouraging and helpful today. A big thanks to my team. I certainly couldn't do it without them. Amy, Dan, Taylor, and Jim. May the Lord bless you and I hope you'll come back and join us next time on Faith and Finance. We'll see you then. Faith and Finance is provided by Faithfi and listeners like you.