Monthly Archives: July 2017

The NEED for Personal Stewardship

In 2015, a survey was commissioned to study the personal and congregational financial situations of more than 4,000 pastors across the USA. The results were, in a word, alarming. Ninety-two percent identified a lack of retirement savings as a major personal concern. Thirty percent reported having absolutely no personal savings, either emergency or retirement. Seventy-six percent knew others who had left the ministry […]

From The Gold Standard To a Vague Memory

The defined benefit pension plan was once the gold standard of retirement benefits. It was offered by the best employers, sought by virtually every employee, and the center of many difficult contract negotiations. “There once was a time when…you could expect to be rewarded for your loyalty and hard work with a gold watch and a steady stream of checks […]

Harkening back to the days of childhood (some 5 decades plus ago), there was a common theme among the families of our neighborhood. Our neighborhood was eclectic, including textile mill laborers, small business owners, school teachers and principals, salesmen in local stores, as well as managers and owners of textile mills. Parents ranged from high school dropouts to graduates of Duke University.

However, there was a common vision […]