It’s time to examine ourselves and prepare for the future

December of 2020 is not only a time to eagerly await turning the calendar, this is the opportunity to take our final exam. How have we conducted our lives, and how will we prepare for the coming days ahead?

It is worth noting Rodgers and Hammerstein didn’t include final exams in the lyrics of “My Favorite Things.” I endured examinations as a student, often murmuring along with fellow […]

2020-12-07T18:19:23+00:00December 7th, 2020|

Charting the course of retirement: What will it cost?

One of the famous segments of the 1987 play and 1989 movie Driving Miss Daisy is the trip to Mobile to celebrate Miss Daisy’s brother’s birthday. Holding firmly to the map in the back seat, Miss Daisy became confused, told Hoke to make a wrong turn, and they found themselves far off the planned route. Even now, with GPS units built into a phone or automobile, we […]

2020-10-26T15:16:31+00:00October 26th, 2020|

Calming the seas in periods of uncertainty

2020 has been one of the most unpredictable years in many generations, and there is more uncertainty ahead. Will public schools open in the fall? How will parents deal with children staying at home and learning online when their work situations are hanging in the balance? Will the COVID-19 virus continue unabated or will it begin to diminish? Will the people of the USA reach herd immunity? […]

2020-07-09T14:07:30+00:00July 9th, 2020|

If retirement isn’t on the burner, it needs to be!

Retirement is a difficult subject for younger generations. The entire concept seems a bit foggy and out of focus. For someone who has recently begun a career, planning a vacation or the next date is more exciting. Saving is challenging when there are student loans to pay and graduate school begins soon. Planning for a stage of life 40 years away may seem tiresome for couples who […]

2020-05-27T01:17:55+00:00May 27th, 2020|

“Freedom, this is what I call freedom”

“Freedom, this is what I call freedom

I wanna say – when you can do what you wanna do

And go where you wanna go…

And live where you wanna live…

And be what you wanna be…

Join what you wanna join…

And work when you wanna work…

Laugh when you wanna laugh…

When you can buy what you wanna buy…

Dress the way you wanna dress…

Just because you feel the space…

Oh, that’s freedom”

With credit to […]

2020-04-30T23:39:35+00:00April 29th, 2020|

“I can afford the payment” – A double edged sword

One of the great threats to financial freedom is debt. It handcuffs the young, increasing stresses that come naturally from beginning careers and building families. It burdens those in their greatest earning years, eliminating desirable options from life’s choices. It prevents seniors from pursuing the dreams and passions they envisioned over the years.

One of the better questions we […]

2020-04-24T16:11:56+00:00April 20th, 2020|

Money & Ministry – A Challenging Combination

Concerning numbers for a majority of ministers

I remember a conversation between a local church elder and a Bible College President some decades ago. The elder suggested to the President that the curriculum should include money management, because a sufficient number of those serving in ministry were showing either bad financial judgement or a lack of understanding the implications of growing debt. The President responded that he understood […]

2020-04-24T16:29:54+00:00June 6th, 2017|

Why are we being told retirement is more expensive?

Why indeed?

Just over one month ago, the Retirement Ahead blog addressed retirement as the most expensive purchase of a lifetime. Merrill Lynch has documented that retirement will require 9 times the cost of a four year college education and nearly 3 times more than the value of the average home.1 This funding gap is not new, and it has widened over many years. However a new, more […]

2020-04-24T16:36:01+00:00April 4th, 2017|

Rock, Shock, Shylock!

Unintended Consequences.

In May of 1974, the comedy series “Happy Days,” closed its first season with an episode in which Howard Cunningham decided to build a bomb shelter. Harkening back to the post World War II and early Cold War days, the episode was based upon the decision a number of families made to build a shelter in the case of nuclear attack. As the events of the […]

2020-04-24T16:37:44+00:00March 28th, 2017|