The mid-term elections are nearing, and the next presidential election is only two years away. There’s already a significant uptick in the super-charged rhetoric from both sides of the increasingly polarized political spectrum. I’ve never directly written about politics or the culture wars; I’ve preferred to instead think about how they impact economics and personal … Read more
This article is part of the RFLE series. It was initially published on September 7, 2022, and updated in March of 2026. When I initially wrote this article in September 2022, we were in the midst of what appeared to be an economic crisis. Inflation was running at 8-9%, the Fed was aggressively raising interest … Read more
I have friends who are thinking about retirement. Each has their reasons, but I imagine they may be wondering, “is this a good time to retire?”. Some might think, ”anytime is a good time to retire (if I can)!” Others may be unsure. In reality, it’s not a question that can be easily answered—certainly not … Read more
Most of my posts focus almost exclusively on retirement stewardship and planning issues but with a holistic approach (time, talents, treasure, and testimony). I have also written a two-part series about the stewardship of paper and digital assets. Part one addressed device, password, and file management, and how to keep all these things safe and … Read more
Off the bat, I want to make clear I’m talking about the word ‘guru’ here, not the cartoon character ”Gru,” villain and master of the Minions. However, one might say that Gru is a guru to the Minions. (What can I say, I have grandchildren.) On more than one occasion, a friend or acquaintance has … Read more
Quite a while back, I published a series of four articles about care in later life. In articles three and four, I touched on various insurance products you can purchase to cover long-term care (LTC) expenses: traditional LTC insurance (LTCI), cash value life insurance (whole or universal life), and annuities. I didn’t explore another category … Read more
I recently read this quote by Tim Challies: “We please God—we thrill God—when we live as ordinary people in ordinary lives who use our ordinary circumstances to proclaim and live out an extraordinary gospel.” It’s from an article Tim wrote in 2015 titled “Ordinary Christian Work.” The article was a Christian view of vocation, but … Read more
Some months ago, I received an email from a reader who was considering a particular mutual fund investment and had this question: I was looking at the holdings of a particular mutual fund and noticed a few gaming (i.e., casino games/gambling) companies in the holdings. What are your thoughts on that as believers? It is … Read more
If you believe, as I do, that we’re likely in a period of “epochal change” (which I defined as the next few decades not being like they were for the last few), we’re left with the question I posed at the conclusion of my previous article: What to do? The most important thing Before I … Read more
