Social Security Mythology–Part One

This article is part of the Biblically-Informed Retirement Framework (BIFRS) series. It was originally published June 21, 2023 and updated December 2025. The 2025 Social Security Fund Trustees’ Report was released in June 2025, and here’s the latest on Trust Fund solvency: The Old-Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) Trust Fund, which pays retirement and survivors … Read more

The Secure Act 2.0 May Have Passed While You Weren’t Looking

The Secure Act 2.0 was finally passed as just one part of a massive funding package by the outgoing congress just before Christmas on December 23, 2022, and signed into law by the president as the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023, an omnibus spending bill authorizing roughly $1.7 trillion in new Federal spending (yikes!). You’re … Read more

The Four Paths of Retirement

This article is part of the Biblically-Informed Framework for Retirement Stewardship (BIFRS). It was initially published in June 2022 and updated in March 2026. I recently read an interesting study on retirement from A.G. Edwards and AgeWave. It was published in 2022 but remains highly relevant. The study covered a lot of ground and was … Read more

Thinking (But Not Too Concerned) About RMDs

This article is part of the Retirement Financial Life Equation (RFLE) series. It was initially published in October 2022 and updated in December 2025. If you read much about retirement finance, you’ll see a lot of hyperbolic rhetoric about “Required Minimum Distributions,” or “RMDs.” You’d think RMDs are going to sneak up on you and … Read more

Should You Purchase an Indexed or Variable Annuity?

This article is part of the Biblically-Informed Retirement Framework (BIFRS) series. It was initially published on June 23, 2021, and updated in January 2026. This is a follow-up to my previous article on the role that immediate income annuities can play in providing additional income for individuals nearing retirement income limits. The focus was on … Read more

Housing Decisions and Financing Options in Retirement

This article is part of the Retirement Financial Life Equation (FRLE) series. It was initially published in March 2021 and updated in March 2026. We discussed paying off the mortgage and home equity in previous articles and how our house decisions are both financial and emotional, and very personal. As I wrote in my 2018 … Read more

The “Cash Bucket Strategy”: Issues and Alternatives

This article is part of the Retirement Financial Life Equation (RFLE) series. It was initially published on November 11, 2020, and updated in March 2026. This article is the second in a three-part series on the “Bucket Strategy.” The bucket strategy is a good one, but it’s not perfect. I have been using a version … Read more