Archive of Articles
There have been many articles and special programs during the past few months about what to do with money in the "short-term." It seems, however, that the various opinions do not concur on the "term" of the short-term. We can chuckle at the lack of agreement and pass it off as typical pundits vying for recognition in the rather esoteric "science" of financial forecasting, but what does one do in the "short-term"?
The Doubtful Doldrums
One common thread roaming through most of the prognostications is a concern for the strength of the global economic picture. One hears multiple warnings about the lack of support for economic growth in the "near, long-term" (whatever that means). No one really knows, but there does seem to be a consensus that those who are looking for a stable income for their retirement years may be under a serious challenge for the next few years. The Vanguard Funds, a large and widely respected mutual fund company, has recently recommended that older investors consider purchasing annuities to secure a reasonable rate of return on their retirement monies.
The "Confident" CGA
Since the Christian's "short-term" is considerably modified by our "long-term" view of eternal matters, it is encouraging to be able to accomplish both objectives. It is good to be able to secure a short-term solution that will enhance our effectiveness while we are still on Earth, and at the same time insure that our resources will continue to have a long-term impact participating with Kingdom ministries after we have joined our brothers and sisters in eternity.
If you are 70 or above, you might want to investigate the Charitable Gift Annuity (CGA) from ICR. Depending on your age and whether or not you want to include another person as a continuing beneficiary, the interest rate could range from 6.1% to 12%. The CGA also allows an immediate tax deduction as well as actual tax-free sheltering of a portion of the income, making the effective rates much more favorable.
ICR can prepare a specific proposal for you to consider that can help you focus your planning. Check the "CGA" box on the donor envelope or call us directly.
[body_edit] =>There have been many articles and special programs during the past few months about what to do with money in the "short-term." It seems, however, that the various opinions do not concur on the "term" of the short-term. We can chuckle at the lack of agreement and pass it off as typical pundits vying for recognition in the rather esoteric "science" of financial forecasting, but what does one do in the "short-term"?
The Doubtful Doldrums
One common thread roaming through most of the prognostications is a concern for the strength of the global economic picture. One hears multiple warnings about the lack of support for economic growth in the "near, long-term" (whatever that means). No one really knows, but there does seem to be a consensus that those who are looking for a stable income for their retirement years may be under a serious challenge for the next few years. The Vanguard Funds, a large and widely respected mutual fund company, has recently recommended that older investors consider purchasing annuities to secure a reasonable rate of return on their retirement monies.
The "Confident" CGA
Since the Christian's "short-term" is considerably modified by our "long-term" view of eternal matters, it is encouraging to be able to accomplish both objectives. It is good to be able to secure a short-term solution that will enhance our effectiveness while we are still on Earth, and at the same time insure that our resources will continue to have a long-term impact participating with Kingdom ministries after we have joined our brothers and sisters in eternity.
If you are 70 or above, you might want to investigate the Charitable Gift Annuity (CGA) from ICR. Depending on your age and whether or not you want to include another person as a continuing beneficiary, the interest rate could range from 6.1% to 12%. The CGA also allows an immediate tax deduction as well as actual tax-free sheltering of a portion of the income, making the effective rates much more favorable.
ICR can prepare a specific proposal for you to consider that can help you focus your planning. Check the "CGA" box on the donor envelope or call us directly.
[typeID] => 4 [visible] => t [pdf] => [publishURL] => short-term [publishDate] => 0000-00-00 [authorAsterisk] => f [domainID] => 1 [publication] => [volume] => [issue] => [page] => [author] => Henry M. Morris III, D.Min. ) -->
During recent ICR seminars and a trip to Grand Canyon with Christian leaders, many wonderful people offered their encouragement and promised support. There were lots of questions, too, mainly about what they could do to help ICR. Here are a few ideas.
Regular Gifts. We don't have a "product" to sell, but yield our research and training to the Kingdom as a resource. Since you share our awareness of the critical issues, please contribute as the Lord brings ICR to your mind. If you prefer, ICR can make arrangements to debit your bank account each month through ACH. Regular gifts help us immensely.
Church Mission Budgets. The Biblical record of creation is fundamental to the message of the Gospel, and evidential defense of Biblical accuracy is vital in our skeptical era. ICR needs regular support from like-minded churches. Let us know how we can provide information for your Mission program.
Research and Project Grants. The technical requirements of research and the scientific apologetics of ICR have grown more complicated and expensive. The R.A.T.E. project continues and we are beginning the work for other major endeavors—please let us know what you would need to evaluate your participation in new projects.
Asset Gifts. Gifts of property, stock, insurance policies, and other forms of static family wealth can be gifted to ICR—usually to a mutual advantage. Occasionally, through a Charitable Gift Annuity or other trust instruments, an income stream can be created for a donor. Let us know how we can help you evaluate the potential.
Giving through your Will. This often overlooked gift is a wonderful way of transferring some of God's blessings when your work is completed here on Earth. ICR has been structured so that our work will continue as long as the Lord delays His return. Perhaps you are unable to provide much now, but could make us part of your "family" when our Lord takes you home.
ICR has prepared several booklets and worksheets that can help you focus your planning. Check an appropriate box on the donor envelope or call us directly.
[body_edit] =>During recent ICR seminars and a trip to Grand Canyon with Christian leaders, many wonderful people offered their encouragement and promised support. There were lots of questions, too, mainly about what they could do to help ICR. Here are a few ideas.
Regular Gifts. We don't have a "product" to sell, but yield our research and training to the Kingdom as a resource. Since you share our awareness of the critical issues, please contribute as the Lord brings ICR to your mind. If you prefer, ICR can make arrangements to debit your bank account each month through ACH. Regular gifts help us immensely.
Church Mission Budgets. The Biblical record of creation is fundamental to the message of the Gospel, and evidential defense of Biblical accuracy is vital in our skeptical era. ICR needs regular support from like-minded churches. Let us know how we can provide information for your Mission program.
Research and Project Grants. The technical requirements of research and the scientific apologetics of ICR have grown more complicated and expensive. The R.A.T.E. project continues and we are beginning the work for other major endeavors—please let us know what you would need to evaluate your participation in new projects.
Asset Gifts. Gifts of property, stock, insurance policies, and other forms of static family wealth can be gifted to ICR—usually to a mutual advantage. Occasionally, through a Charitable Gift Annuity or other trust instruments, an income stream can be created for a donor. Let us know how we can help you evaluate the potential.
Giving through your Will. This often overlooked gift is a wonderful way of transferring some of God's blessings when your work is completed here on Earth. ICR has been structured so that our work will continue as long as the Lord delays His return. Perhaps you are unable to provide much now, but could make us part of your "family" when our Lord takes you home.
ICR has prepared several booklets and worksheets that can help you focus your planning. Check an appropriate box on the donor envelope or call us directly.
[typeID] => 4 [visible] => t [pdf] => [publishURL] => how-can-we-help [publishDate] => 0000-00-00 [authorAsterisk] => f [domainID] => 1 [publication] => [volume] => [issue] => [page] => [author] => Henry M. Morris III, D.Min. ) -->
Usually, that little cliché is heard from a background of exasperation. Or, as we have often learned too late, we should have taken action before an event precipitated the consequences that we regret.
Biblically, the emphasis is on the careful use of our time (Ephesians 5:16; Colossians 4:5; Psalms 90:12), so that we will not regret the consequences whenever an unexpected event takes place. The most unexpected and uncontrollable event, of course, is the moment when God calls us into His eternity and presence.
Since we know that the event will take place, but not when, our preparation for that event should be carefully planned. Have you done so?
Did you know . . . ?
1. If you don't have a will, your State will invoke its "descent and distribution" laws. Your heirs will have no say at that point, and many will have to pay fees and expenses that could otherwise be avoided with a will.
2. The smaller the estate the more important it is that it be settled quickly. Delays are often very costly. A properly prepared will or trust is the best way to avoid delays and additional expenses.
3. Careful planning before you visit an attorney can often reduce the cost of having a professional will or trust executed. Do you know what is needed?
4. Even a small portion of a typical estate can be a very meaningful gift to a charitable interest that has been an important part of your life. Charitable bequests aren't always left by the wealthy.
5. Sometimes it is better to distribute assets while you are still able to make changes. Charities can shift in focus or potential heirs can reveal directions that do not coincide with your wishes. There are estate and financial instruments that provide for "revocable" gifts as well as sequential gifts.
Let ICR help you get started.
ICR has prepared several booklets and worksheets that can help you focus your planning. Check an appropriate box on the donor envelope or call us directly.
[body_edit] =>Usually, that little cliché is heard from a background of exasperation. Or, as we have often learned too late, we should have taken action before an event precipitated the consequences that we regret.
Biblically, the emphasis is on the careful use of our time (Ephesians 5:16; Colossians 4:5; Psalms 90:12), so that we will not regret the consequences whenever an unexpected event takes place. The most unexpected and uncontrollable event, of course, is the moment when God calls us into His eternity and presence.
Since we know that the event will take place, but not when, our preparation for that event should be carefully planned. Have you done so?
Did you know . . . ?
1. If you don't have a will, your State will invoke its "descent and distribution" laws. Your heirs will have no say at that point, and many will have to pay fees and expenses that could otherwise be avoided with a will.
2. The smaller the estate the more important it is that it be settled quickly. Delays are often very costly. A properly prepared will or trust is the best way to avoid delays and additional expenses.
3. Careful planning before you visit an attorney can often reduce the cost of having a professional will or trust executed. Do you know what is needed?
4. Even a small portion of a typical estate can be a very meaningful gift to a charitable interest that has been an important part of your life. Charitable bequests aren't always left by the wealthy.
5. Sometimes it is better to distribute assets while you are still able to make changes. Charities can shift in focus or potential heirs can reveal directions that do not coincide with your wishes. There are estate and financial instruments that provide for "revocable" gifts as well as sequential gifts.
Let ICR help you get started.
ICR has prepared several booklets and worksheets that can help you focus your planning. Check an appropriate box on the donor envelope or call us directly.
[typeID] => 4 [visible] => t [pdf] => [publishURL] => its-about-time- [publishDate] => 0000-00-00 [authorAsterisk] => f [domainID] => 1 [publication] => [volume] => [issue] => [page] => [author] => Henry M. Morris III, D.Min. ) -->
Hailed in 1953 as "the most important zoological discovery of this century," a rather strange looking fish had been caught off the coast of Madagascar. This five-foot, 100-pound creature had been missing for 75 million years! Evolutionary scientists had used the fossil remains of Coelacanth as evidence for the evolution of fish to amphibians, and were, needless to say, somewhat surprised to find this "extinct" animal alive and well in the Indian Ocean.
This illustrates a foundational reason for ICR's continued ministry. The evolutionary system of thinking is often surprised when truth is exposed and blinds even the keenest minds to truth.
Scientific American had a feature article (February 2003) on the evolution of computer software. The opening statement was: "Evolution is an immensely powerful creative process. . . . [it] achieves these feats with a few simple processes—mutation, sexual recombination and natural selection. . . ." Several pages were then devoted to show how computer engineers (who were equated with evolution's "design" capability) are setting up software "primordial ooze" to "create" new programs and integrated circuitry. Although the article was replete with the design features and praise for the intellect of the engineers, the overall thrust was to show how "evolution" (the blind, mutating, recombining, naturally selecting process) was "creating" new and better designs!
The creation issue is not just a Genesis thing. Although it is certainly critical that Christians be brought back to a confidence in the Genesis record, it is equally critical that we be "ready always to give an answer to every man . . . a reason of the hope that is in you" (I Peter 3:15).
Please help us combat the evolutionary "thinking" that shuts out the liberating truth (John 8:32) of the Creator. Perhaps you could help us become a part of your church's mission budget. Let us know how we can make application to your board, commission, or committee. We would be delighted to respond to inquiries or to make a personal presentation to those responsible. The work is great and complex. We need your co-labor to continue.
[body_edit] =>Hailed in 1953 as "the most important zoological discovery of this century," a rather strange looking fish had been caught off the coast of Madagascar. This five-foot, 100-pound creature had been missing for 75 million years! Evolutionary scientists had used the fossil remains of Coelacanth as evidence for the evolution of fish to amphibians, and were, needless to say, somewhat surprised to find this "extinct" animal alive and well in the Indian Ocean.
This illustrates a foundational reason for ICR's continued ministry. The evolutionary system of thinking is often surprised when truth is exposed and blinds even the keenest minds to truth.
Scientific American had a feature article (February 2003) on the evolution of computer software. The opening statement was: "Evolution is an immensely powerful creative process. . . . [it] achieves these feats with a few simple processes—mutation, sexual recombination and natural selection. . . ." Several pages were then devoted to show how computer engineers (who were equated with evolution's "design" capability) are setting up software "primordial ooze" to "create" new programs and integrated circuitry. Although the article was replete with the design features and praise for the intellect of the engineers, the overall thrust was to show how "evolution" (the blind, mutating, recombining, naturally selecting process) was "creating" new and better designs!
The creation issue is not just a Genesis thing. Although it is certainly critical that Christians be brought back to a confidence in the Genesis record, it is equally critical that we be "ready always to give an answer to every man . . . a reason of the hope that is in you" (I Peter 3:15).
Please help us combat the evolutionary "thinking" that shuts out the liberating truth (John 8:32) of the Creator. Perhaps you could help us become a part of your church's mission budget. Let us know how we can make application to your board, commission, or committee. We would be delighted to respond to inquiries or to make a personal presentation to those responsible. The work is great and complex. We need your co-labor to continue.
[typeID] => 4 [visible] => t [pdf] => [publishURL] => a-50-years-ago [publishDate] => 0000-00-00 [authorAsterisk] => f [domainID] => 1 [publication] => [volume] => [issue] => [page] => [author] => Henry M. Morris III, D.Min. ) -->
That was the title of an article in Time magazine written by Amanda Bower a few months ago. In it she was lamenting the environmental damage done by the standard burial processes and advocating such things as "Green Burial" and "Creative Cremation" to alleviate the inevitable legacy of death. Sadly, of course, there was no thought of the wonderful resurrection and the magnificence of eternal life.
The Eternal Perspective Is Wildly Different!
Not only do we have the "Hope Anchor" (Hebrews 6:19) of God's promise of an eternity with Him, but we are assured that we are able to transfer "wealth" from this life to the eternal one. Our God given and grace imbued "talents" (Matthew 25) and "pounds" (Luke 19) are translated into "gold, silver, precious stones" (I Corinthians 3:12)—the eternal currency of the "new heavens and new earth" (II Peter 3:13). The key to this transfer of wealth, however, is our use of our present earthly resources for the Kingdom's honor.
What Will Transfer When You Go Home?
Most of the readers of this little column are faithful with their tithe to their church as well as other Kingdom ministries like ICR. All of us here at ICR are very grateful for the faithful and generous support that is supplied to our work. But have you considered how your "leftovers" will be used? After providing for your family (I Timothy 5:8), have you given thought to how your wealth (yes, wealth) might continue to transform into "eternal currency" after you have "left" for Home?
ICR has a number of informative booklets and guidelines on how to think strategically about the transfer of your assets and set up the different types of trusts that can accomplish much towards both goals—caring for our family and providing on-going resources for the Lord's work. Let us help with your planning. Check the box for information on the return envelope in this Acts & Facts. We'll get right back to you.
[body_edit] =>That was the title of an article in Time magazine written by Amanda Bower a few months ago. In it she was lamenting the environmental damage done by the standard burial processes and advocating such things as "Green Burial" and "Creative Cremation" to alleviate the inevitable legacy of death. Sadly, of course, there was no thought of the wonderful resurrection and the magnificence of eternal life.
The Eternal Perspective Is Wildly Different!
Not only do we have the "Hope Anchor" (Hebrews 6:19) of God's promise of an eternity with Him, but we are assured that we are able to transfer "wealth" from this life to the eternal one. Our God given and grace imbued "talents" (Matthew 25) and "pounds" (Luke 19) are translated into "gold, silver, precious stones" (I Corinthians 3:12)—the eternal currency of the "new heavens and new earth" (II Peter 3:13). The key to this transfer of wealth, however, is our use of our present earthly resources for the Kingdom's honor.
What Will Transfer When You Go Home?
Most of the readers of this little column are faithful with their tithe to their church as well as other Kingdom ministries like ICR. All of us here at ICR are very grateful for the faithful and generous support that is supplied to our work. But have you considered how your "leftovers" will be used? After providing for your family (I Timothy 5:8), have you given thought to how your wealth (yes, wealth) might continue to transform into "eternal currency" after you have "left" for Home?
ICR has a number of informative booklets and guidelines on how to think strategically about the transfer of your assets and set up the different types of trusts that can accomplish much towards both goals—caring for our family and providing on-going resources for the Lord's work. Let us help with your planning. Check the box for information on the return envelope in this Acts & Facts. We'll get right back to you.
[typeID] => 4 [visible] => t [pdf] => [publishURL] => death-can-be-dirty-whats-greenie-do [publishDate] => 0000-00-00 [authorAsterisk] => f [domainID] => 1 [publication] => [volume] => [issue] => [page] => [author] => Henry M. Morris III, D.Min. ) -->