This article is part of the Retirement Financial Life Equation (RFLE) series. The headlines can be concerning: “Social Security Trust Fund to Be Depleted by 2033!” “Automatic Benefit Cuts Coming!” “Bankruptcy Looms for Nation’s Largest Program!” If you’re counting on Social Security—most are, whether you’re already collecting, planning to retire soon, or decades away—these warnings … Read more
This article is part of the Retirement Financial Life Equation (RFLE) series. Most people think of Social Security as a “monthly check.” Some see it as something they paid for and therefore “earned.” Others view it as a government program that may not be available for the duration of their retirement. Many younger readers fear … Read more
Before delving into this topic, I would like to begin by drawing on theologian Herman Bavinck’s discussion of the wonderful creation of man, which I have paraphrased from parts of Chapter 12 (The Origin, Essence, and Purpose of Man) in The Wonderful Works of God: Humans are both physical and spiritual. Unlike the animals, our … Read more
Over the past few months (and years, actually), I’ve written several articles about taxes in retirement. You can read all of the Retirement Stewardship articles → HERE. If you’re younger, you might want to start with the Tax series on NextGenSteward → HERE. Honestly, when I retired, I was just as concerned about this as … Read more
In the previous article, we discussed all the ways the US Government, via the IRS, incentivises charitable contributions. In this article, we’ll discuss how to develop a giving strategy that won’t “break the retirement bank.” You probably won’t be surprised to learn that this is a little more challenging than it sounds, due to the … Read more
Many of you, if you’re retired or nearing retirement, are probably already using strategies like Qualified Charitable Distributions (QCDs), donating appreciated assets, or perhaps Donor Advised Funds (DAFs) as part of your giving strategy. If so, you may be wondering how the new ”One Big Beautiful Bill Act” (OBBBA) affects your giving—in these ways, or … Read more
I alluded to this in my last post, and I’m excited to announce that my latest book, NextGen Steward, is now available in both Kindle and paperback formats on Amazon. This project has been in the works for quite some time, pulling together over 60 articles I originally wrote for the NextGenSteward Substack platform, which … Read more
I have some exciting announcements for you! You may recall that in early summer, I mentioned stepping back from publishing articles on Retirement Stewardship for a while to focus on a project called “NextGenSteward.” It’s a stewardship course I developed for young adults, based on material from a seminar I led for a group of … Read more
As you’ve most likely heard, there is big news coming out of D.C.: The so-called “Big Beautiful Bill” passed just before the July 4th holiday. This is big news for many reasons (some good and some not-so-good, depending on your fiscal conservatism; i.e., the increasing federal deficit), but I’m going to focus on the positive … Read more
