Month: May 2026

The Self-Sustaining Principle—Article #9: Tier 3 Income (Portfolio Withdrawals and Variable Income Sources)

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This article is part of the Biblically-Informed Framework for Retirement Stewardship (BIFRS) series. In this article, we’ll explore Tier 3 income. This variable, self- or advisor-managed layer sits atop your guaranteed income (Tier 1: Social Security, pensions, annuities) and semi-stable income (Tier 2: bonds, dividends, TIPS). It’s the most flexible part of your retirement income, … Read more

Stewardship is Not a Lecture Series

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If you’ve spent any time around Christians who take money seriously — especially pastors, teachers, deacons, and writers like me — you’ve noticed something: we really love the word stewardship. We put it on book titles and seminar banners. We name giving campaigns after it. We work it into sermons, small-group discussions, and financial-planning conversations. … Read more

Introducing “The Lighter Side” of Retirement Stewardship

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I’ll admit that retirement planning is serious business. Scripture, faith, wisdom, stewardship; plus sequence of returns, required minimum distributions, Social Security optimization strategies—there’s no shortage of weighty topics to wrestle with, and we wrestle with them regularly around here. I’m still working on the “Biblically-Informed Framework for Retirement Stewardship” (BIFRS) series, which will probably take … Read more

The Self-Sustaining Principle—Article #8: Tier 2 Income (The Stability Layer)

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This article is part of the Biblically-Informed Framework for Retirement Stewardship (BIFRS) series. In the previous article, we explored Tier 1 Income—your guaranteed, lifetime income floor from Social Security, pensions, and annuities. This foundation is the bedrock of a sustainable retirement, providing income you cannot outlive, regardless of market conditions. We now move to Tier … Read more