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
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: There are a few other more granular ones that apply here and there, which I will highlight in the appropriate sections. My practices … Read more
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
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
As I shared in a previous article, I decided to retire from my full-time paid position a few weeks ago. I will do an article about how my “transition” to retirement is going and what I am up to in a future article. In this post, I want to share the main lessons I have … Read more
The 2018 Graduation season is behind us. There are some announcements on our fridge. We have sent some congratulations cards. I even had the opportunity and privilege to emcee my church’s homeschool graduation ceremony! It was a blast except for the part where I was 15 mins. late since I had put the wrong start … Read more
This article is part of the Retirement Financial Life Equation (RFLE) series. It was initially published on May 9, 2018 and updated in January, 2026. Your “future wealth” (FW) becomes “current wealth” (CW) when you reach retirement. In the Retirement Financial Life Equation (RFLE), current wealth represents your starting point—the accumulated assets you bring into … Read more
In a recent chat with a younger friend at church, he expressed a desire to find the right balance in his retirement stewardship. He didn’t use that phrase specifically, but that’s how I understood him. He was talking about his financial resources in general, but planning and saving for retirement is part of that equation. … Read more
I can almost hear the gasps. “What is going on here!? He’s always harping on the need to save something for retirement; now he’s going to tell us we shouldn’t?” The fact is that most people probably aren’t saving as much as they should for retirement. Lots of recent studies bear that out. And if … Read more
