All You Need to Know About Personal Finance on a 3 x 5 Inch Index Card – Really?

A few years ago, a University of Chicago college professor named Harold Pollack remarked that everything you really needed to know about personal finance could be fit on a single 3×5 inch index card. Someone asked him to prove it, the result went viral, and Pollack actually ended up co-writing a book about it called … Read more

The Retirement “Identity Crisis” – a Biblical Perspective

I was recently surprised to see a couple of words being used together in an article that I might not have expected to see: retirement and grief. You may be thinking, “What!? Grieving over retirement? No more daily commute, an unreasonable boss, or long hours and low pay? The freedom to do whatever I want? … Read more

My Stewardship Practices – Part Two:  Saving, Investing, and Protecting

In this second of two articles on my stewardship practices, I discuss my saving, investing, and protecting (insurance) approaches. The stewardship principles that are most applicable to these areas are as follows: Don’t spend all you have – save and invest for needs you know you will have in the future (Prov.6:6-6; Prov.21:20; James 4:13-15). … Read more

So You Want to be an “Everyday Millionaire”?

Author and speaker Chris Hogan, who is part of Dave Ramsey’s team, just came out with a new book titled, Everyday Millionaires. In some ways, it is a follow-up to his earlier book on retirement, Retire Inspired. The book summary says it will show you: …how ordinary people built extraordinary wealth—and how you can too. … Read more

5 Reasons to be Humble in Retirement Stewardship

In our culture, success with money is usually associated with self-confidence, self-sufficiency, and self-determination. We take pride in how much money we make, how much we save, how much debt we paid off, and how well our investments do. The Internet is lit-up these days with stories of people who, through discipline, diligence and determination … Read more

Are You “Full of Sap?”

I was recently in a fellowship meeting with a bunch of guys (all younger than me) from our “community group” (small group) at church. We were discussing what we’d like to accomplish in 2019, and the word that came to my mind was “fruitfulness.” So I shared that I wanted to be more “fruitful”—a sincere … Read more

Some Thoughts on “Key Retirement Planning Birthday Milestones”

A friend recently sent me this link to a chart on PNC Bank’s website titled “A Timeline for Achievement” that provided a helpful list of age-based retirement planning milestones. (Disclaimer: This is not an endorsement for PNC, although I am sure they are a good bank, I just found the chart interesting. This kind of … Read more

New Year Retirement Stewardship 10-Point Check-Up

Happy New Year! Planning is a wise part of retirement stewardship. But no matter how well we plan, we must always remember that “The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps” (Prov. 16:9). And now that we are closing out 2018 and looking out ahead to 2019, I thought I would share some thoughts … Read more