Speaker 1: Welcome to Financial Issues, where we help you steward faithfully
Speaker 1: by honoring God with your investments. Now listen in as
Speaker 1: we give you the practical tools and advice you need
Speaker 1: to become a biblically responsible investor.
Speaker 2: This is Financial Issues, where we help you defund darkness
Speaker 2: and fund the light by investing with God. Biblical integrity.
Speaker 2: Great to have you today on the show, folks. Today's show,
Speaker 2: we're going to talk about this. If the founder of
Speaker 2: a company holds beliefs that we'll just say are rather
Speaker 2: suspect or weird or interesting or maybe evil, does that
Speaker 2: make the company dirty? Not biblically responsible. We'll discuss in
Speaker 2: just a moment. Seth Udinski here with you. Sam Case,
Speaker 2: your host, Mark Manilla. The gang's all here.
Speaker 3: Mark, ready for another show, brother. Excited to have you.
Speaker 4: Absolutely. Good morning, everyone.
Speaker 3: And excited to have you all as well today, folks.
Speaker 5: Hey, give us a call.
Speaker 3: The number is 610-363-1110.
Speaker 2: That's how you join the live broadcast. If you've got questions,
Speaker 2: we got answers. Again, the number 610-363-1110. So our topic
Speaker 2: of the day, guys, centers around a question from Katie.
Speaker 3: She's a partner. She's asking a great question. Here's how
Speaker 3: it goes.
Speaker 2: Peter Thiel, now for those who don't know, Peter Thiel
Speaker 2: is the founder of Palantir, views transhumanism as a movement
Speaker 2: that seeks to radically transform humanity, which he believes aligns
Speaker 2: with certain aspects of Christian theology. He argues that while
Speaker 2: transhumanism focuses on changing the body, it also requires a
Speaker 2: transformation of the soul and the whole self, suggesting a
Speaker 2: deeper connection to Christian ideals of human potential and resurrection.
Speaker 2: My question is, why is Palantir on the biblically responsible
Speaker 2: list because of this. Sam, you want to give us
Speaker 2: some context here of what Peter Thiel has said about
Speaker 2: this idea of transhumanism?
Speaker 5: Sure, sure.
Speaker 6: It's a really interesting and kind of nuanced conversation. How
Speaker 6: much do you want me to go into it? Just
Speaker 6: do a deep dive? Yeah, go for it.
Speaker 5: Go for it. What do you think, Mark? Okay, so
Speaker 5: we got Peter Thiel here. He's kind of this.
Speaker 6: really interesting libertarian-esque venture capitalist. He's been involved in so
Speaker 6: many different companies like Meta, PayPal, but today we're talking
Speaker 6: about Palantir. He's one of the five co-founders, and he
Speaker 6: serves as the chairman of the board of directors. So
Speaker 6: that's Peter Thiel. Now we're talking about his idea connected
Speaker 6: to transhumanism. And what this is, is basically a philosophy
Speaker 6: that we can use technology and science to expand the
Speaker 6: limitations and weaknesses of humanity, kind of go beyond those limitations.
Speaker 6: And in the more extreme versions of it, maybe even
Speaker 6: transcend humanity itself becomes something that's post-human. So that could
Speaker 6: be good or bad, right? So you could see a
Speaker 6: world where it helps cure diseases. Maybe you lose an eyeball,
Speaker 6: you get a robot eye in its place. That's kind
Speaker 6: of cool. But then there's the really, really, really evil
Speaker 6: sci-fi version of that where we're using eugenics to create
Speaker 6: something other than humans.
Speaker 5: So what does Peter Thiel think about this? He's kind
Speaker 5: of mixed.
Speaker 6: He thinks this can be a good thing, but he
Speaker 6: does recognize that it can be a really, really dark
Speaker 6: thing as well, and has suggested that some might be
Speaker 6: tempted to view it as a replacement of Christianity because
Speaker 6: it does, in a way, promise new, perfect bodies, but
Speaker 6: he ultimately says it's insufficient. He said, quote, the critique
Speaker 6: Orthodox Christianity has of transhumanism... is these things don't go
Speaker 6: far enough. Transhumanism is just changing your body, but you
Speaker 6: also need to transform your soul. You need to transform
Speaker 6: your whole self. He went on to say the transhumanists
Speaker 6: are not ambitious enough. From a Christian point of view,
Speaker 6: these people are not ambitious enough. So I guess the
Speaker 6: question would be, is he saying the transhumanists need to
Speaker 6: be more ambitious, or is he just saying, hey, there
Speaker 6: are limits to what this technology can do? And that's
Speaker 6: the whole controversy in a nutshell.
Speaker 3: So, Mark, what do you think with beliefs like that?
Speaker 2: Does that make a company like Palantir one that is
Speaker 2: not biblically responsible if those beliefs are even nefarious? And
Speaker 2: we can see some of them are and some of them,
Speaker 2: you know, you can kind of see where he's coming from. But, Mark,
Speaker 2: what do you think about all this?
Speaker 4: Well, let's let's pull this in a bit here.
Speaker 7: We just spent a couple of minutes talking about what
Speaker 7: some guy ponders about and and how that applies to
Speaker 7: his companies. I haven't seen how it applies to anything
Speaker 7: to his companies, and I don't think we need to
Speaker 7: really worry about that. But Katie, the key distinction is
Speaker 7: between the personal beliefs of an individual associated with a
Speaker 7: company and the corporate actions of the company itself.
Speaker 4: I actually had somebody say.
Speaker 7: Well, Mark, you won't invest in Chinese companies because They're
Speaker 7: domiciled in China, and the CCPs put somebody on the
Speaker 7: board of all of them, and you say they control it.
Speaker 4: So isn't this the same thing?
Speaker 7: Why would we put somebody who believes that Christianity or
Speaker 7: Christianity what Jesus did by taking on our sin can
Speaker 7: be taken away and you can just be perfected through
Speaker 7: gears and IT. Well, no, I don't even know what
Speaker 7: he believes. Nobody really does, and he probably doesn't either,
Speaker 7: for one. And two, he's just another investor in the corporation.
Speaker 4: He only owns about 7% of Palantir.
Speaker 7: There's literally thousands, if not millions of people who own
Speaker 7: stock in this company. So he really doesn't have control
Speaker 7: over the company for one. And two, he's not pushing
Speaker 7: his ideals. I'm not even sure these are his ideals
Speaker 7: or just.
Speaker 4: Thoughts to ponder as he tries to figure out life.
Speaker 5: Musings in his diary.
Speaker 4: There you go, yeah.
Speaker 7: So I think that we're trying to impose something on
Speaker 7: him to begin with that we're not sure of, because
Speaker 7: he doesn't have, he hasn't filled out a form saying,
Speaker 7: this is my belief, I believe Christianity is wrong, and
Speaker 7: therefore we need to eliminate Christians and only put in
Speaker 7: robots and body parts of robots. But, you know, that's
Speaker 7: going way too far to begin with anyway. I really
Speaker 7: think that we need to judge a company by its products,
Speaker 7: its policy, its benefits, its charitable giving, things like advocacy
Speaker 7: and other corporate activities. Where is it giving its money
Speaker 7: and what is it pushing on society? I don't see
Speaker 7: that in Palantir here. I think the board of directors
Speaker 7: so far have done a good job of staying out
Speaker 7: of the woke-ism and imposing their own ideology on everybody
Speaker 7: who is a partner in that company. So I don't
Speaker 7: see it there. I guess maybe to clarify this a
Speaker 7: little bit, when we look at a company, we're looking
Speaker 7: at what that company does, not with what somebody on
Speaker 7: the board believes, unless somebody Those beliefs are being imposed
Speaker 7: through the company, and they have that much power. They
Speaker 7: have 51% ownership or 51% voting rights to do it,
Speaker 7: and they're using it for that position. When they do that,
Speaker 7: we would move on, just like we will away from
Speaker 7: the CCP, who hates America, who's trying to destroy us,
Speaker 7: and who's every company that they own, they control. They control,
Speaker 7: first of all, because they're the government, they put people
Speaker 7: on the board and they impose all the CCP agenda
Speaker 7: on every corporation that is domiciled in China and any
Speaker 7: that they can take over in the United States and
Speaker 7: have over 50% of the ownership in a company or
Speaker 7: influence in a company through voters' rights. And I say
Speaker 7: influence because sometimes, like Peter, for example, here with Palantir,
Speaker 7: Peter only has about 7%. But the way the stock
Speaker 7: is structured, he actually has a much larger, like 20
Speaker 7: or 30 percent voting power. It's still not dominant. So
Speaker 7: he still has checks. There's still checks and balances there.
Speaker 6: And what if, Mark, so I could imagine a situation
Speaker 6: where someone is dominant and let's say they are pro-abortion,
Speaker 6: but they're not using their influence to promote abortion in
Speaker 6: the company.
Speaker 5: That would still be clean, right? Just to make a
Speaker 5: more direct example.
Speaker 4: What would still be clean?
Speaker 5: The company? The company.
Speaker 4: Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 7: If the company is not implementing anything of the beliefs
Speaker 7: of some of the stockholders, even the larger stockholders, it
Speaker 7: wouldn't matter at that point. The company is staying within
Speaker 7: the boundaries of those things that we consider biblically responsible. Seth, Sam,
Speaker 7: the three of us, out of the three of us,
Speaker 7: one of us probably will sin today, right?
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 5: Well, it's not me.
Speaker 4: Well, it's not me. I mean, come on. I guess
Speaker 4: I'm the last man standing.
Speaker 5: That was probably the sin right there, right?
Speaker 7: Does that mean financial issues now is a sinning corporation
Speaker 7: because somebody who works for them, somebody who is part
Speaker 7: of the company sinned today?
Speaker 1: No.
Speaker 7: The company itself is judged on the merits of what
Speaker 7: it does and what it imposes and what and how
Speaker 7: it handles the responsibility to, well, if we were a
Speaker 7: publicly traded company, to its stockholders.
Speaker 4: Mark, that's a really— Not by the individual sin.
Speaker 3: Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 2: I hope for our listeners, and Katie included, that that
Speaker 2: can free you, folks, from the worry that we might
Speaker 2: have of wondering, oh, I heard this about so-and-so company.
Speaker 3: Does that mean they're no longer biblically responsible?
Speaker 2: If your standard, like you said, Mark, if your standard
Speaker 2: is perfection, you can't invest in any company.
Speaker 3: There's not a perfect one out there. They're run by sinners.
Speaker 3: That's the bottom line.
Speaker 2: But like you said, Mark, we're looking at what the
Speaker 2: company does with shareholder dollars. Uh, I think some of
Speaker 2: Peter Thiel's beliefs are frankly are cuckoo, absolute cuckoo, uh, but, uh,
Speaker 2: his company is clean.
Speaker 3: And so we.
Speaker 7: Can say, uh, from what I've read and what I've heard, uh,
Speaker 7: cuckoo or not there, most people don't realize we're already there.
Speaker 4: How many people have artificial legs?
Speaker 7: How many people have, uh, have implants, have mechanical implants
Speaker 7: to help them walk, to help their shoulders move, to
Speaker 7: help them relieve pain in their back.
Speaker 4: You know, right now, I read.
Speaker 7: An article yesterday, within the next 30 days, they're going
Speaker 7: to have implants that give blind people the ability to see,
Speaker 7: actually see, They've been in testing, and now they're actually
Speaker 7: going to do the implants.
Speaker 4: In the humans.
Speaker 7: So is that a bad thing? I don't think so.
Speaker 7: But I'd like to hear your opinion.
Speaker 8: 610-363-1110.
Speaker 4: We'll be right back.
Speaker 6: 610-363-1110.
Speaker 2: Yeah, if you've got comments about transhumanism or biblically responsible
Speaker 2: investing or anything financial, we're here.
Speaker 3: For you, folks. We'd love to be able to help
Speaker 3: you out.
Speaker 5: It's a variety show today.
Speaker 6: It is.
Speaker 3: It is a variety show. That's right, Sam. We're gazing
Speaker 3: into our Palantirs, as it were, so we can see across.
Speaker 3: The areas of Middle Earth. That's a Lord of the
Speaker 3: Rings reference. That's silly.
Speaker 2: Anyway, 610-363-1110. Folks, today's show brought to you in part
Speaker 2: by Samaritan Ministries. If you want to get off the
Speaker 2: rat race of big health care and join truly a
Speaker 2: wonderful Christian health sharing group, Samaritan Ministries is the place
Speaker 2: for you.
Speaker 3: That's what we have here at the ministry. It's excellent.
Speaker 2: Samaritanministries.org. learn more about them there. Markets yesterday, guys, were
Speaker 2: down slightly. So we saw a sticky inflation reading, but
Speaker 2: really the markets were looking for still what seems to
Speaker 2: be their Lord and Savior, NVIDIA, which of course we
Speaker 2: all know is anything but that because they are dirty,
Speaker 2: not biblically responsible. But Wednesday's bell saw the Dow down slightly,
Speaker 2: the S & P down slightly, the NASDAQ down slightly.
Speaker 2: NVIDIA was reporting earnings after the bell. So it was
Speaker 2: kind of just a wait and see moment. And Sam,
Speaker 2: it looks like they did really well from what we're seeing.
Speaker 5: Yeah, that's exactly right.
Speaker 9: Yep. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 6: So better than expected fiscal second quarter stock jumping four
Speaker 6: percent on the company's forecast for the fiscal year.
Speaker 4: Why are we talking about NVIDIA?
Speaker 3: You know, Mark– Are they clean? Well, that's what I
Speaker 3: was going to say is they're absolutely filthy.
Speaker 5: But, Mark, it does– They're off the table.
Speaker 3: It does bring to mind a question, though. I think
Speaker 3: there is something here.
Speaker 2: When we talk about the markets and investors, everybody seems
Speaker 2: to want to look for a savior. It was Nvidia
Speaker 2: for so long. Now it seems like it's Micron, which
Speaker 2: also is not clean, by the way. They're also filthy.
Speaker 2: Why is that, Mark? Why do investors just love to
Speaker 2: kind of put all their hopes on one specific stock
Speaker 2: or maybe one sector and just ride or die that sector?
Speaker 2: And if it goes up, everybody celebrates. Some people don't
Speaker 2: celebrate because they're like, it didn't go up enough. I
Speaker 2: wanted it to go up more.
Speaker 3: Why does that happen?
Speaker 4: Well, here's my concern.
Speaker 7: Anytime we talk about a stock that is dirty and
Speaker 7: we use it as a weather vane for the market
Speaker 7: or anything else, we are endorsing that company completely.
Speaker 4: We are promoting that company, and I believe.
Speaker 7: That if it's off the table, we really shouldn't be
Speaker 7: discussing it that much. We should find whatever clean version
Speaker 7: of that or clean, biblically responsible leader in that industry
Speaker 7: is and utilize that. That's the way my mind thinks. Now,
Speaker 7: I know we don't just totally ignore the rest of
Speaker 7: the world.
Speaker 4: We're in the world. We're not of the world. I
Speaker 4: get that.
Speaker 7: But we got to be very careful because we're programming
Speaker 7: our brains to fall into all the things the secularists
Speaker 7: want us to. We have 692,000 different news things talking
Speaker 7: about the stock, and none of us who are involved
Speaker 7: in honoring God want to have anything to do with it,
Speaker 7: so why would I spend my brain space on it?
Speaker 7: God calls us to be focused on those things that
Speaker 7: are right, that are pure, that are clean, that are
Speaker 7: of good report, not on those things that are ugly.
Speaker 4: And therefore, I think.
Speaker 7: Instead of following the news that the rest of the
Speaker 7: world is doing, we should stay close to what we
Speaker 7: should be doing, and programming our minds with the purity
Speaker 7: and cleanliness and righteousness of God instead of buying into
Speaker 7: the secularism. And most of the time, the secularism is wrong.
Speaker 7: One stock doesn't make a market anyway, so that's generally.
Speaker 4: Why I wouldn't do that.
Speaker 7: Is it okay to mention that there's some tech leaders
Speaker 7: that are still going strong?
Speaker 4: Sure. There's nothing wrong with that, but that's a report
Speaker 4: on the tech sector. not on an individual stock.
Speaker 7: I guess I'm just kind of, I don't know, sensitive
Speaker 7: to these things. After 35, 40 years of preaching what
Speaker 7: it means to be a steward, studying and realizing that
Speaker 7: most people, even those good stewards, you know, the financial
Speaker 7: issue partners and people like that still are inundated daily
Speaker 7: with things that keep distracting them from being a steward.
Speaker 7: by looking at other things and tempting them there. I mean,
Speaker 7: if you had a child and that child was diabetic,
Speaker 7: would you daily hang sugar treats in front of them
Speaker 7: and tell them you can't have them and talk about
Speaker 7: how they taste and what they're doing?
Speaker 4: Absolutely not. That would be wrong.
Speaker 7: That's why I think that maybe talking about things like
Speaker 7: NVIDIA is not a good idea.
Speaker 2: You know what's funny, Mark, is what you're saying there
Speaker 2: is exactly proving my point. I think there's a temptation for,
Speaker 2: and it's even there for us as well, is to
Speaker 2: look at that one shining stock to be our savior.
Speaker 2: And like what you said, the point is we have
Speaker 2: to have the equipment, the tools to be on guard
Speaker 2: against that so that we don't fall into the traps
Speaker 2: that the world does.
Speaker 3: And that was kind of more what.
Speaker 2: I was asking is how do we avoid the trap
Speaker 2: of seeing stocks like that and thinking, okay, I'm going
Speaker 2: to let my emotions follow that. I'm going to see, okay,
Speaker 2: I'm just waiting with bated breath for the next earnings
Speaker 2: report from Micron or for an Nvidia or something like that.
Speaker 3: How do we stay focused?
Speaker 5: Because the whole world's screaming it at you.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's exactly.
Speaker 2: I mean, you turn on every, every single big, you know,
Speaker 2: your CNBCs, your market watches, all that.
Speaker 3: They're all talking about it, you know?
Speaker 7: Well, and again, this is one of those things that,
Speaker 7: what do we focus on? What does the Bible tell
Speaker 7: us to focus on? That's what we need to be
Speaker 7: focusing on. If we renew our mind by going to
Speaker 7: his word and then realizing he says, if it's of
Speaker 7: good report, if it's pure, if it's righteous, if it's, I.
Speaker 4: Forget the exact verse. Do you have it off the
Speaker 4: top of your head there, Seth, the verse on on
Speaker 4: what we should be focused on. Anyway.
Speaker 2: Well, I mean, yeah, certainly, you know, the scripture talks about,
Speaker 2: I think it's first, I think mentioned earlier this week,
Speaker 2: 2 Timothy 1.7, God does not give a spirit of fear,
Speaker 2: but power, love, and sound mind.
Speaker 5: Philippians 4.8, finally.
Speaker 10: Brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever
Speaker 10: is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable,
Speaker 10: if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things.
Speaker 7: And then in James 3.14-17, it tells us, What is
Speaker 7: wisdom from above and what is wisdom of the world?
Speaker 7: I think the biggest mistake as a steward I have
Speaker 7: made is by entertaining myself, by following the worldly things,
Speaker 7: focusing on those things instead of focusing on what God
Speaker 7: calls me to focus on. And because of that, it's
Speaker 7: caused me to stumble over time.
Speaker 4: It's caused me to be confused at times.
Speaker 7: And I don't want to do that for those that
Speaker 7: were here to serve, our fellow stewards.
Speaker 3: Well said, Mark.
Speaker 5: 610-363-1110.
Speaker 3: Mark, a question from Anne.
Speaker 2: She's saying, I'm expecting to get a distribution of funds
Speaker 2: from selling some property owned by myself and four other siblings.
Speaker 3: We're going through a realtor.
Speaker 2: What is the best and safest way to receive the distribution?
Speaker 2: And is it safe to put the distribution in my
Speaker 2: savings account until I can figure out what I owe
Speaker 2: in taxes? Mark, I was a little confused about this
Speaker 2: question because I'm not so sure how much control Anne
Speaker 2: has over the method of receiving the distribution. That seems
Speaker 2: more to be up to You know, whoever's controlling that,
Speaker 2: I'm not sure that it's her, but how would you
Speaker 2: help her with this, Mark?
Speaker 4: Yeah, who's ever controlling? We don't have that information.
Speaker 7: She did mention there's a realtor involved, so a realtor
Speaker 7: probably sold the property for the kids, I guess, is a.
Speaker 4: Good way to.
Speaker 7: put it and uh but it generally wherever you close
Speaker 7: at the the mortgage company uh the title company there's
Speaker 7: different ways they can do it i once owned a
Speaker 7: title company so i know you could wire the funds
Speaker 7: you could electronically transfer them or you could write checks
Speaker 7: there's all sorts of ways you could do it you
Speaker 7: should step up and just say hey this is what
Speaker 7: i want to do so um Yeah, let's break this down, though.
Speaker 7: And I think putting the proceeds temporarily in a FDIC
Speaker 7: insured savings account or money market at your bank is
Speaker 7: a good idea. How it gets there is between you
Speaker 7: and the title company and those involved. Unless, you know,
Speaker 7: I would really, if possible, ask the realtor to make
Speaker 7: sure or the title company to make sure individual checks
Speaker 7: are cut for each of you. I don't know your
Speaker 7: relationship with your siblings or whatever, but um that's best
Speaker 7: instead of giving it to one who one person and
Speaker 7: then having them divided because you don't want to start
Speaker 7: family feuds or something like that um if it's more
Speaker 7: than 250 000 then you might put it in in
Speaker 7: several banks um and there's something else uh When I'm
Speaker 7: reading this, it sounds like an inheritance to me. There's
Speaker 7: kind of an imposition in there that makes me think
Speaker 7: that you may have received an inheritance here. So I
Speaker 7: want to bring up the fact that if you did,
Speaker 7: you're going to want to know what that property was
Speaker 7: worth on the day that the person who left it
Speaker 7: to you, if this was an inheritance, was worth. Because Oftentimes,
Speaker 7: there's a step-up basis there, and it can limit the
Speaker 7: amount of tax to very little compared to having to
Speaker 7: go back to what the property was worth when it
Speaker 7: was originally bought. So I don't know if you all
Speaker 7: went together and bought a property or if it was inherited.
Speaker 4: There's a big difference in the tax implications there.
Speaker 7: So, yes, putting it in a money market or a
Speaker 7: savings until you figure out what the taxes are going
Speaker 7: to be is important. But knowing what the taxes are
Speaker 7: going to be is even as important. So make sure
Speaker 7: you find out how this will be taxed. It might
Speaker 7: be worth talking to an accountant or someone about that.
Speaker 4: Absolutely.
Speaker 3: Mark, should Ann consider the amount of money?
Speaker 2: I mean, if it's more than $ 250, 000, maybe splitting it
Speaker 2: over several different accounts so they get.
Speaker 4: The FDIC insurance. I thought I said that.
Speaker 3: You might have. I might have missed that.
Speaker 4: Okay.
Speaker 1: No, no problem.
Speaker 3: I might have been browsing through our chat, which, by the.
Speaker 2: Way, is just hip-hop-hoppity-hopping right now. A lot of people
Speaker 2: have a lot to say just about what we were
Speaker 2: talking about earlier there, Mark. So maybe we'll get to
Speaker 2: some of those comments later on. in the show. So,
Speaker 2: and it was a great question and thank you so
Speaker 2: much for that.
Speaker 3: That's, that's a wonderful thing.
Speaker 2: Uh, and that you're looking to be a good steward
Speaker 2: over something, um, you know, that, uh, maybe, maybe was unexpected.
Speaker 2: I mean, I certainly, you were expecting to get this,
Speaker 2: but I know, you know, the, uh, sale of a property,
Speaker 2: it sounds Mark like this maybe was some kind of
Speaker 2: inheritance if she's getting it with herself and with herself
Speaker 2: and her siblings.
Speaker 3: But, uh, yeah, great stuff there and really good.
Speaker 6: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Mark, we have another Mark. He's 59 years old. He's
Speaker 2: got a TSP account, says the last time I changed
Speaker 2: the allocation was some time ago.
Speaker 3: And I'm just wondering to see if there's any changes
Speaker 3: to this.
Speaker 2: So he's asking about, you know, back in the old days,
Speaker 2: we used to have a TSP model, actually. And I
Speaker 2: think he's maybe wondering what he should do in terms
Speaker 2: of transferring this so that he can get it biblically responsible.
Speaker 7: So did you throw this in the last minute and
Speaker 7: 30 seconds of this so that I wouldn't go on
Speaker 7: a rant about TSPs and their lack of DRI?
Speaker 4: It's damage control. That's right. Smooth, Seth. Well, yeah, I
Speaker 4: appreciate that.
Speaker 7: Well, yeah, you're 59, it sounds like, Mark. So hoping
Speaker 7: to retire sometime next year.
Speaker 4: That means.
Speaker 7: The allocation that Dan may have given you probably should
Speaker 7: be reviewed. You should be leaning more towards a growth
Speaker 7: and income portfolio or an income and growth portfolio, more
Speaker 7: growth in it, slowly move in that direction. It doesn't
Speaker 7: mean abandoning growth. It just means you need to stabilize
Speaker 7: that portfolio a little bit because you're going to be
Speaker 7: dependent upon it. And I'm so glad you'll be retiring
Speaker 7: because that means you can roll over that TSP to
Speaker 7: an IRA and start managing it yourself and honor God
Speaker 7: with it as well.
Speaker 4: So appreciate that. Hey, if you all got to go,
Speaker 4: I get it wherever you're listening.
Speaker 7: To us too, but you could follow us completely for
Speaker 7: the rest of the show at financialissues.org. We'd love to
Speaker 7: see you come and join us there and you can
Speaker 7: join the chat and you can join us by calling 610-363-1110.
Speaker 6: 610-363-1110.
Speaker 2: Folks, the stock market's just opened up and looking pretty
Speaker 2: positive as it was in the pre-markets, with the exception
Speaker 2: of the Dow slightly down, but the S & P
Speaker 2: and the NASDAQ both up nicely. 610-363-1110. Mark, let's go
Speaker 2: to the phones and talk to our friend Nelson Cullen
Speaker 2: from Louisiana.
Speaker 9: Well, why not?
Speaker 4: Welcome to the show, Nelson. Glad you're with us this morning.
Speaker 4: What's on your mind?
Speaker 9: Hey, we in the chat have a slightly different view
Speaker 9: of talking about NVIDIA or other non-BRI stocks.
Speaker 7: So did you guys unionize now? Is that what it is?
Speaker 3: Or a good old-fashioned mutiny, Nelson?
Speaker 9: It just goes to show that as Christians, we can
Speaker 9: have different opinions. So let me kind of lay out
Speaker 9: what I'm thinking about this. The fact that you mentioned NVIDIA, Apple, Meta, Microsoft,
Speaker 9: the list goes on and on. How many You know,
Speaker 9: how many non-BRI companies are there that affect the market?
Speaker 9: But let's talk about NVIDIA. They're $ 5 trillion. All my
Speaker 9: tech stocks are going to react to what happens to
Speaker 9: NVIDIA in earnings. I actually watched after the closed coverage
Speaker 9: of it last night just because I have a lot
Speaker 9: of tech stocks. So you're not endorsing it if you
Speaker 9: bring it up as a topic of discussion, especially, Mark,
Speaker 9: you immediately... said, hey, it's not BRI, we're not invested
Speaker 9: in it. But I don't think we can eliminate from
Speaker 9: discussion every non-BRI stock out there. What do you think?
Speaker 7: Well, I think the endorsement is one of the words
Speaker 7: that probably either I or you misused, or both of us.
Speaker 7: I don't think that we necessarily endorse it by talking
Speaker 7: about it.
Speaker 4: But what I'm trying.
Speaker 7: To say, Nelson, is that we don't ignore that we're
Speaker 7: in the world. That's why we're here. God put us
Speaker 7: here on purpose for this time and this reason. What
Speaker 7: I am saying is there's an inordinate amount of coverage
Speaker 7: and input and programming of your brain from the media
Speaker 7: with all the ugliness of the world anyway. and that
Speaker 7: we should be trying to focus, focusing our mind on
Speaker 7: other things. I'm not saying totally ignore everything at all.
Speaker 7: That would be foolishness in the eyes of the Lord.
Speaker 7: We know that evil exists. We know that companies are
Speaker 7: made up of people, and those people do influence those
Speaker 7: companies' behaviors. as we were talking about earlier, and some
Speaker 7: of them have the power to use multi-billion dollars, hundreds
Speaker 7: of billions of dollar.
Speaker 4: Companies to influence society.
Speaker 7: In fact, I did a video called Rescue 1T that
Speaker 7: talked all about following the money about where our society is. Nelson,
Speaker 7: I think we're probably closer together on this than it
Speaker 7: sounded like. I was just given the opposite opinion because
Speaker 7: way too often we let people the secular world media
Speaker 7: drive what we talk about. And that does program our brains.
Speaker 7: And it does give us a lot of thought on
Speaker 7: things that maybe we should be thinking elsewhere about.
Speaker 4: But you're right.
Speaker 7: The tide effect on stocks is a reality. If the
Speaker 7: behemoth in that sector ends up taking a hit, there's
Speaker 7: a good chance, not a full chance and not every boat,
Speaker 7: but when the tide goes out, all ships go.
Speaker 4: Down with the tide. They have to because the tide's
Speaker 4: going out.
Speaker 7: But what those other companies are made of would determine
Speaker 7: whether they stay afloat or not, and.
Speaker 4: That's what we want to be looking at. So actually,
Speaker 4: when something like.
Speaker 7: a large behemoth like this company reports, maybe we should
Speaker 7: pay a little bit of attention to it. But I
Speaker 7: personally think we should be watching the title effect of
Speaker 7: any stock in a sector and how that will affect it.
Speaker 7: And yes, some of the larger ones do. However, we've
Speaker 7: seen in technology now quite a few of the behemoths
Speaker 7: being pulled back for the last few months while a
Speaker 7: bunch of the smaller and stronger ones actually are rising.
Speaker 7: So we have two tides happening at the same time.
Speaker 7: So it's not always true there either. But yeah, awareness, consciousness,
Speaker 7: know what reality is. But shouldn't we, just like our kids,
Speaker 7: just like we train up our kids, or we want
Speaker 7: to train up our kids, you know, they're in watching
Speaker 7: movies with foul language and blood and guts and we
Speaker 7: try and move them away from that or not taking
Speaker 7: in 24 7 of that or not being on the
Speaker 7: screen eight hours a day playing a shooter game we
Speaker 7: want to move them to focusing on those things that
Speaker 7: are that are positive that are good reports that that
Speaker 7: lead them closer to christ that's the main point i
Speaker 7: was trying to make did that make sense.
Speaker 9: Nelson Yeah, I'm going to partially surrender. So am I.
Speaker 4: So am I, Nelson.
Speaker 11: And that's what.
Speaker 4: Christians do, right?
Speaker 11: Absolutely.
Speaker 9: Because I'm looking at my Broadcom stock today, which has
Speaker 9: been suffering tremendously, like you said, with this latest kind
Speaker 9: of downturn in this technology area. And it's up a
Speaker 9: couple points today, a couple percentage points. And I think
Speaker 9: that was my real stress of this, is since we're
Speaker 9: a financially market topic show, we can't avoid the behemoth.
Speaker 9: So I think we're on the same page now.
Speaker 7: Especially since a lot of the other technology companies like
Speaker 7: the memory companies and the chip companies and the other
Speaker 7: companies are actually providing this company with services and products.
Speaker 7: So if this company stumbles, it will cause others to stumble.
Speaker 7: If this company does well, well, it's going to be
Speaker 7: spending its money for these services and products that needs
Speaker 7: including other sectors like industrials uh when we talk about
Speaker 7: ai if we have a major ai uh company stumble
Speaker 7: that could cause a lot of the construction of the
Speaker 7: data centers to stop that could ripple through so many
Speaker 7: things from cat from caterpillar to uh water companies, you know. So, yeah,
Speaker 7: it does have an effect, and we have to be
Speaker 7: aware and conscious. I just think that we spend way
Speaker 7: too much time following the secular lead on these kind
Speaker 7: of things and giving it too much mind space.
Speaker 4: That's all.
Speaker 7: We need to be aware, awake, conscious, and then move
Speaker 7: on to those things that honor God. I remember one
Speaker 7: time someone once told me that They were having problems.
Speaker 7: Him and his wife were having problems. And they went
Speaker 7: to counseling and the counselor said, do you criticize each other?
Speaker 4: Oh, yeah, we do. We're always criticizing each other. Well,
Speaker 4: don't stop.
Speaker 7: Continue to do that. But for every criticism, at least
Speaker 7: add a compliment as well. So you balance it out.
Speaker 7: In fact, you should have more compliments than criticisms. That's
Speaker 7: what I'm saying. is we should focus on the positive
Speaker 7: more than the negatives of this world. There are some
Speaker 7: very strong, big influences that we can focus on, as
Speaker 7: well as being aware and conscious of those that are
Speaker 7: just ugly.
Speaker 4: So thank you, Nelson. Appreciate that.
Speaker 9: That's a great segue about giving compliments, because you know
Speaker 9: I always do to you guys. Thank you all every day.
Speaker 9: And I was thinking yesterday, waiting for NVIDIA, I'm sorry, that.
Speaker 11: We walked out when, when we were given to see
Speaker 11: our non BRI snow, it kind of went sideways and
Speaker 11: down and backwards for a while.
Speaker 9: So God's timing is perfect. You guys are in tune
Speaker 9: and I appreciate y'all being able to listen to, you know,
Speaker 9: a slightly different opinion. And I think that's good for
Speaker 9: all of us. And my last comment is my portfolio
Speaker 9: is doing great. Praise the Lord. Thank you, Jesus. And
Speaker 9: thank you, FISM.
Speaker 5: Well said, Nelson.
Speaker 4: Thank you, Nelson.
Speaker 7: That means a lot to us. But also, you're in
Speaker 7: the chat there. And every now and then, I don't
Speaker 7: get to go out to chat like Sam and Seth do.
Speaker 7: I'm trying to think through things and having conversations with people.
Speaker 7: But when I go out there, I see somebody will
Speaker 7: ask a question in the chat. And oftentimes, you have
Speaker 7: a very strong, good opinion that.
Speaker 4: You give them. And I really love that.
Speaker 7: How powerful our chat is because we have people like
Speaker 7: you and others in there, you know, Justin and George
Speaker 7: and so many people, and these conversations are incredible. I
Speaker 7: wish everybody who watched the show could be in the
Speaker 7: chat with you guys because it's a wonderful thing when
Speaker 7: you have a community of people who love the Lord
Speaker 7: and want to honor him and are helping one another.
Speaker 4: That's what Christianity is about.
Speaker 7: That's what stewardship is about, looking outward, caring for others,
Speaker 7: and Our chat is just incredible there.
Speaker 4: Thankfully for people like you, Nelson. So God bless you, sir.
Speaker 4: Thank you.
Speaker 7: And thank you for calling in. You know, that's one
Speaker 7: of the things that comes. You don't even have to
Speaker 7: be a you just go out to financial issues dot
Speaker 7: org and you watch the show there. You get the
Speaker 7: whole show instead of half an hour. If maybe you're
Speaker 7: out on a out on a somewhere where it only presents.
Speaker 7: comes out for a half an hour where they only
Speaker 7: show the first half of the show, but you get
Speaker 7: the whole show. You get the chat, which has a
Speaker 7: lot of great people in it. A lot of funny
Speaker 7: people too, by the way, there are a lot of
Speaker 7: great humor in there. You get so much by going
Speaker 7: to financialissues.org. And then when, when you're out there, if
Speaker 7: somebody brings something up, you can start looking at the
Speaker 7: resources right away and say, Oh, Somebody brought this up.
Speaker 1: Oh, yeah.
Speaker 7: Mark had there's a there's a one pager out there
Speaker 7: on on a quick a quick assessment of a stock.
Speaker 7: Or what does it what what does this mean to
Speaker 7: have a mode around your castle? There's there's all sorts
Speaker 7: of information out there. So you're sitting there watching the show,
Speaker 7: enjoying the chat, enjoying the conversation and having all these
Speaker 7: resources at your at your fingertips.
Speaker 4: I just love that.
Speaker 7: Hey, we got about 15 minutes left here. We'd love
Speaker 7: to hear from more of you. 610-363-1110. Remember, we're brothers
Speaker 7: and sisters in Christ. This is a good thing. We
Speaker 7: can have difference of opinion and I'd love to hear
Speaker 7: yours as well as those things you agree with.
Speaker 8: The opinions and recommendations expressed on this program do not
Speaker 8: necessarily represent the opinions of the station or any of
Speaker 8: the program sponsors. Additionally, all products or services offered by
Speaker 8: the program sponsors may not be known by the program.
Speaker 3: Wonderful to have you today, folks.
Speaker 5: 610-363-1110.
Speaker 3: Do what Nelson did. Give us a call.
Speaker 2: Speaking of which, Mark, it's not a mutiny in the chat,
Speaker 2: but it looks like they are unionizing, which is fun.
Speaker 5: I don't know. I'm seeing viva la revolution. So that
Speaker 5: could be scary. They're going to pull out the guillotine.
Speaker 2: Yeah, now they're threatening to strike unless we give in
Speaker 2: to their demands. So we'll keep you posted on that, folks.
Speaker 2: For our radio audience and everyone outside the chat, Mark
Speaker 2: was exactly right. You have got to get to the
Speaker 2: Financial Issues Live chat. I know many people listen to
Speaker 2: the show and they don't have access to it. Financialissues.org
Speaker 2: slash watch.
Speaker 3: It's the easiest thing to do. It's free.
Speaker 2: You can join at any time. We'd love to have you. Financialissues.org
Speaker 2: slash watch. That's how you join the chat.
Speaker 4: Absolutely.
Speaker 2: Guys, our verse of the week this week is really
Speaker 2: a good one. It's really more of a passage of
Speaker 2: the week. Matthew 24, 45 through 47 says, Who then
Speaker 2: is a faithful and wise servant whom his master made
Speaker 2: ruler over his household? to give them food in due season.
Speaker 2: Blessed is that servant whom his master, when he comes,
Speaker 2: will find doing so. Assuredly, I say to you, he
Speaker 2: will make him ruler over all his goods.
Speaker 3: You know, Mark, it was funny.
Speaker 2: You and Nelson were, you know, talking in that last
Speaker 2: segment there and coming together as brothers in Christ, stepping
Speaker 2: towards one another, even coming from places that might be
Speaker 2: a little bit of a disagreement. I find a similar
Speaker 2: thing with this verse when we're talking about, particularly the
Speaker 2: end times, talking about places where Christians disagree and start
Speaker 2: to fight with each other. But I think we can
Speaker 2: all agree that no matter what your opinion of the
Speaker 2: end time is, if you're a pre-mill, post-mill, ah-mill, or
Speaker 2: as I like to call pan-mill, it'll all just pan
Speaker 2: out in the end. I think we all need to
Speaker 2: agree that when the Lord returns, he cannot find us
Speaker 2: cowering in a corner, praying for the rapture to come.
Speaker 2: We need to be found busy working for the Lord,
Speaker 2: for the kingdom of God. with a sword in hand,
Speaker 2: as our founder used to say. And that's what this
Speaker 2: verse talks about. Mark, blessed is the servant whom his master,
Speaker 2: when he comes, will find doing so, being a good
Speaker 2: steward out there, spreading the gospel.
Speaker 3: That's what we got to do until the Lord returns.
Speaker 4: That's what we got to do. And maybe, Seth, maybe
Speaker 4: it's an age thing.
Speaker 7: The older I got, the more important verses like this
Speaker 7: meant to me, the more important they became.
Speaker 4: You know, that last lap, you know, you're on that
Speaker 4: last lap type of thing. You want to finish well.
Speaker 7: You just don't want to kind of walk into the
Speaker 7: finish line 20 minutes after everybody else.
Speaker 4: You want to be there. You want to be number
Speaker 4: one or number two.
Speaker 7: You want to be at the top of your game
Speaker 7: when the master comes home.
Speaker 4: You want to hear well done. good and faithful servant.
Speaker 4: At least I do.
Speaker 7: And I think the older you get, the more that
Speaker 7: makes sense. You know, you think you have plenty of
Speaker 7: time when you're younger, at least I did. And then
Speaker 7: you start realizing there is a limit to the time
Speaker 7: that we have in this thing we call life, time
Speaker 7: and space before either our master comes home for us
Speaker 7: or we're called home to him.
Speaker 4: And I really want I really want, and I think
Speaker 4: probably most, if not all of our listeners want the
Speaker 4: same thing. And that's the finished well by.
Speaker 7: Being at doing what the, the, our master has entrusted
Speaker 7: us to do utilizing his resources, which is everything, including
Speaker 7: our time, our talents, everything for his purposes to his glory.
Speaker 7: When he calls me home or when he comes back, that's.
Speaker 4: What I want to be doing. I hope you do too.
Speaker 9: Hmm.
Speaker 2: Well, Mark, I can say from someone who knows you
Speaker 2: well and I see you and I'm with you every day,
Speaker 2: you are doing that. You're at the age where there
Speaker 2: are a lot of people who are spending their days
Speaker 2: on the beach or playing golf.
Speaker 4: They are retired.
Speaker 3: And those things aren't bad.
Speaker 5: But I want to do that, too.
Speaker 7: Too.
Speaker 2: But Mark, you you came here almost a year ago
Speaker 2: and I can remember you telling us you feel like
Speaker 2: you're just getting started and you're starting this thing up
Speaker 2: again in your retirement years.
Speaker 3: It's so cool to see that. I hope to be
Speaker 3: able to do the same thing.
Speaker 2: When I'm that age, you know, to not to not
Speaker 2: just throw in the towel once you get close.
Speaker 4: You're doing it now. And I know you're not waiting.
Speaker 4: You're doing it now.
Speaker 7: You're pushing yourself to honor God. And I love that
Speaker 7: about you, Seth and Sam and actually everybody at Financial Issues.
Speaker 4: Actually, all our partners, too.
Speaker 1: Thanks, brother.
Speaker 4: It's a wonderful thing.
Speaker 3: Good stuff.
Speaker 2: Folks, if you give a call right now, we can
Speaker 2: squeeze you in, but it's got to be right now.
Speaker 2: Don't wait until Friday. You can call tomorrow as well,
Speaker 2: but call now 610-363-1110.
Speaker 3: Mark, you know what? Evan's got such a good question.
Speaker 2: I think we should save Evan's question for tomorrow just
Speaker 2: because that might take a whole segment, maybe even longer.
Speaker 2: So why don't we save Evan's question for tomorrow? about
Speaker 2: relative strength for tomorrow. And maybe we ask this question
Speaker 2: from Jane in Missouri. She's asking about Western Digital, which
Speaker 2: is currently on our list, saying, should I wait until
Speaker 2: Western Digital lowers in price before buying, or did I.
Speaker 3: Kind of miss the boat with it?
Speaker 2: Western Digital is one of those ones, Mark, those smaller
Speaker 2: ones that you mentioned that has really done well recently.
Speaker 3: What should she do?
Speaker 7: Jane, I don't think you missed the boat. Western digital
Speaker 7: is strong. Uh, they, they, they did pull back. Yeah.
Speaker 4: They're at a great place right now.
Speaker 7: If, uh, last time I looked at it, which may
Speaker 7: have been yesterday or day before, I believe it.
Speaker 4: Was, uh, midway on its 10 week trading ban.
Speaker 7: So it's, it actually seems like a very decent entry
Speaker 7: point at this point, uh, considering everything that's gone.
Speaker 4: On with it.
Speaker 7: Um, I don't think you missed the boat. And by
Speaker 7: the way, even if you did, no big deal. There's
Speaker 7: boats lined up out there waiting to come in. There's
Speaker 7: always another opportunity in the market if you're looking for it. So, no,
Speaker 7: I think, was it yesterday? It closed at about 468, 469,
Speaker 7: up about 4%. So it looks like it may have
Speaker 7: bottomed out in this pullback that it was having and
Speaker 7: is starting to rise. So maybe it's a good place.
Speaker 7: The fundamentals are very strong in Western Digital. I think
Speaker 7: revenue growth is up like 44%.
Speaker 4: It's just good company. I don't think you missed it.
Speaker 7: So I wouldn't sit on the sidelines waiting for some
Speaker 7: dramatic collapse that may never come. I'd be comfortable with.
Speaker 4: Beginning a position.
Speaker 7: Maybe not taking all 3% to 5% at once. Maybe,
Speaker 7: depending on the size of your portfolio, you might want
Speaker 7: to– Every time you see a little pullback in it,
Speaker 7: add a little more to get to your entry level of.
Speaker 4: 3% to 5%. But yeah, I like it.
Speaker 7: I still think it's a company worthy of financial issue
Speaker 7: partners to be involved in, and not just those who
Speaker 7: already own it, but it's still on the buy list.
Speaker 1: Awesome.
Speaker 2: Jane, some encouragement for you too. None of us, unless
Speaker 2: you're Nancy Pelosi, can time the market perfectly.
Speaker 3: Did I say that out loud?
Speaker 9: Oh, sorry.
Speaker 3: I didn't mean to say that. Good grief.
Speaker 4: I think you did.
Speaker 2: No normal person can time the market perfectly. Like Mark said,
Speaker 2: it seems like it's bottomed out, starting to go up.
Speaker 2: But Mark, I would agree with you. I think if
Speaker 2: Jane's prudent about it, certainly get into it.
Speaker 3: There are other boats out there, like you said too, Mark.
Speaker 7: Yeah, the thing is, I don't think you miss the boat.
Speaker 7: I wouldn't pursue it aggressively. I'd move into it a
Speaker 7: little bit slowly, gradually. And that's disciplined investing. We don't
Speaker 7: buy because we're afraid of missing something. We buy because
Speaker 7: the investment still makes sense at the price we're paying
Speaker 7: for it. And I think you're okay at this point
Speaker 7: to be moving into it.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's great.
Speaker 2: Mark Ray, 70, he's saying, Mark, I've invested in Connect
Speaker 2: Invest short notes, which are construction loans. Returns are simple
Speaker 2: interest between 7% and 9%, depending on the term. It's
Speaker 2: anywhere from a six-month to a 24-month term. They're not FDIC-insured.
Speaker 2: I've invested about $ 10, 000 post-tax, it's a minute fraction of
Speaker 2: my portfolio, in staggered six-month notes.
Speaker 3: Is this a wise and biblically responsible investment, Mark?
Speaker 4: Well, I just like hearing it's a minute part of
Speaker 4: your portfolio. Congratulations.
Speaker 3: That's good.
Speaker 4: I'm happy for you on that.
Speaker 11: Yeah.
Speaker 7: Ray, um, since this is a minute part of your portfolio, uh,
Speaker 7: that limits the risk considerably for you that, and there
Speaker 7: are a lot of risks in this. And, and that's
Speaker 7: one of the things when you get to these alternative
Speaker 7: type investments, you have to be very careful about, um,
Speaker 7: And look at this investment, and I would not look
Speaker 7: at this as a safe investment or a fixed income
Speaker 7: or a CD-type alternative. It's actually an alternative investment position,
Speaker 7: and it's quite risky.
Speaker 4: Here's why.
Speaker 7: These are not CDs. They're not treasuries. They're not insured deposits.
Speaker 7: They are private real estate credit investments.
Speaker 4: And though the.
Speaker 7: Underlining real estate loans may be secured by first liens,
Speaker 7: which means... that whoever has those liens, they have ownership
Speaker 7: in the property, so if it goes bad, they can sell.
Speaker 7: The note Ray owns is unsecured. That means that Ray
Speaker 7: does not directly own part of the mortgage or the
Speaker 7: property securing the underlying loans. He has actually lent money
Speaker 7: to this company that then does a mortgage on these,
Speaker 7: but they own the liens on the mortgages, not Ray.
Speaker 7: So Ray directly owns nothing. If the company has problems,
Speaker 7: then Ray could lose money. If there's too many... defaults
Speaker 7: on the loans and they can't handle that, then Ray
Speaker 7: can lose money. There's even the possibility of 100% loss
Speaker 7: in this. There's also liquidity risk. I know he says
Speaker 7: six-month note, but there's no guarantee from what I saw
Speaker 7: in these that they will pay you back at the
Speaker 7: end of six months, that you can liquidate it at that.
Speaker 7: They have a lot of contingencies in these types of
Speaker 7: investments that say, if they have this or if this
Speaker 7: is in line with that, then we'll pay you back,
Speaker 7: but we don't have to at this time or whatever.
Speaker 4: There's just a lot going on with it.
Speaker 7: So, Ray, I don't have any problem with investing in
Speaker 7: these types of notes, especially if it's a minute portion
Speaker 7: of your portfolio.
Speaker 4: Because the yield there is good. However, the reason for.
Speaker 7: for the yield is because you're taking on a lot
Speaker 7: of risk with it. Just realize that and know what
Speaker 7: you're getting into. And just realize that we here at
Speaker 7: Financial Issues are so honored to be able to serve
Speaker 7: all of you, helping you be the best steward possible.
Speaker 7: Thank you for loving God. Thank you for investing with
Speaker 7: biblical integrity. And thank you for joining us today. Don't forget,
Speaker 7: tomorrow is Focus Friday in overtime. We look forward to
Speaker 7: seeing you then. God bless everyone. Have a nice night.