Money and Wealth (Part 30) - Retirement; Leaving an Inheritance

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Money and Wealth (Part 30) - Retirement; Leaving an Inheritance I. Retirement 1. The Bible knows nothing of modern “retirement.” A. Today, “retirement” means hitting a magic age in one’s 50s or 60s, stopping working, collecting a check from the government, and spending the next decade or so in leisure. B. Such a concept is not found in the Bible. C. “Natural retirement” and “earned retirement” are different and will be discussed later. 2. Modern retirement is sleeping during harvest (Pro 10:5). A. In a figurative sense, harvest is the season of life in which the effort of a lifetime of labor and diligence produces maximum income. i. It is the period right before the "winter" of life when a man can no longer work. ii. It is the time in a man's career where he is at his peak and is earning the most money of his life. iii. This is the time of life when the most money can be earned and saved for the coming "winter" of life, especially if a man has not saved enough up to this point. iv. Just as a son who sleeps during the literal harvest causes shame, so does the son of God who figuratively sleeps during the harvest time of life. v. Make hay while the sun shines. vi. As Jesus taught, it's important to work while it's day because the night cometh when no man can work (Joh 9:4). B. Millions of Americans have been "sleeping during harvest" for the last generation or two. i. The American Dream for many has been to retire as soon as possible and spend the rest of their life playing and enjoying leisure. ii. Florida is full of such people. iii. Many of these people were able to get away with living beyond their means and saving very little for their entire lives because they trusted that pensions and social security were going to provide for them in their old age. iv. Most pension plans, and the socialist insecurity system itself, are insolvent. v. By the government’s own calculations, social security will run out of money by 2033 and cuts will have to be made. vi. If you are under 60 years old, I suggest that you do not even figure social security into your retirement plan. You are on your own! Plan accordingly! vii. If social security checks continue to be sent in the future, they will be able to buy less and less because they will not keep up with inflation. (i) I have been warning about this repeatedly for many years. (ii) In 2021, the effects of all the government spending, and money printing which facilitates it, finally began to show up in significantly higher consumer prices. (iii)The CPI (Consumer Price Index) was 7% in 2021, which means that, according to the government, prices went up by 7%.  (iv) The government changed the CPI calculation in the 1980s so that it would understate inflation which would allow them to give smaller cost of living increases to SS recipients. (v) This means that social security payments increase at a slower rate than prices are rising. (vi) This means that the income in real terms of social security recipients is decreasing every year. (vii) The real inflation rate in 2021 was about 15% or more. (viii) That means that social security recipients actually got a cut in their benefits by 8% in real terms that year. (ix) It is very unlikely that inflation is going to come back down to pre- 2020 levels, but will most likely continue to rise every year due to more and more money printing. viii. It won't be long until those who have been "sleeping in harvest" are going to wake up in the dead of winter and realize that the shelves are bare. (i) At that point, they are going to have to go back to work, not because they want to, but because they have to. (ii) The American Dream will be over, and it will be time to get back to reality. (iii)This has been happening for years, but I think it will begin to happen a lot more in the coming years. 1. I saw old men coming back to work 12+ years ago when I worked at an engineering firm. 2. I saw the same thing when I was driving a school bus 7 years ago. 3. They didn't do so because they wanted to, but because they had to. (iv) There are going to be a lot of people in their 60s, 70s, and even 80s coming back into the labor force competing with younger people for jobs. (v) They will likely not get the high paying jobs they had when they retired, but will have to settle for much less desirable jobs due to their advanced age and diminished abilities. (vi) If they would have been like the ant and laid up during the summer, and worked diligently during the harvest of life, they would be able to rest during the end of their lives when they truly are a point where they can't work, or can barely work. (vii) It's sad, but decisions have consequences. 3. Retirement is not only bad for your finances; it is also bad for your health and wellbeing. A. “In 2003, Dr Harry Prosen stepped down as head of psychiatry at the Medical College of Wisconsin, but the then 71-year-old had no plans to retire. Rather, the doctor intended to focus on other “jobs” that would keep him busy.  “Now 83, Prosen still sees several patients, consults for a number of organisations, recently reviewed a 600-page manuscript for a friend and regularly pores over a handful of medical journals because he “just wants to keep up,” he said. “It’s not just a love of working that has kept Prosen toiling away 30 hours a week as an octogenarian. He also sees keeping busy as a matter of life or death. “Prosen said he is certain that if he stopped working entirely, he would literally die not long after. “He could be on to something. A number of studies show that retirement is, in fact, bad for your health. “A May 2013 report published by the London-based Institute of Economic Affairs found that retirement increased the chances of suffering from depression by 40%, while it increased the probability of having at least one diagnosed physical ailment by about 60%. That impact was assessed after controlling for the usual age-related conditions. “Gabriel Sahlgren, director of research at the Centre for Market Reform of Education and author of the IEA report, was surprised by just how much retirement undermined health. He looked at 9,000 people across 11 European Union countries and found that across borders, people suffered in the same ways and to similar degrees. “In the first year of retirement, health actually improved — “It’s nice to get some rest from work,” he said — but two to three years later retirees’ mental and physical conditions began deteriorating. “Other studies have shown similar results. Between 1992 and 2005, Dhaval Dave, an associate professor of economics at Bentley University in Waltham, Massachusetts, looked at 12,000 Americans and found that, on average, people experience some sort of ailment within six years of retiring. Hypertension, heart disease, stroke and arthritis are common physical ailments, Dave said. He, too, found that depression increased after retirement. “Though retirement ages may differ from country to country — in China men retire at 60, in India people retire between 60 and 65 and in Norway it’s closer to 67 — studies done in other nations have produced comparable findings. Health problems, both physical and mental, are exacerbated by retirement, whether a retiree is 65 or 75.” (Bryan Borzykowski, Can retirement kill you?, bbc.com, 8-13-2013) 4. The only retirement in the Bible is death (Rev 14:13; Rev 6:11; Isa 57:1-2). A. But even this “retirement” is not sitting around all day doing nothing or living a life of leisure.  i. "Since work began before sin and the Curse, and since God, who is without sin, is a worker, we should assume human beings will work on the New Earth. We should assume we'll be able to resume the work started by Adam and Eve, exercising godly dominion over the earth, ruling it for God's glory. "But we don't need to just assume this. Scripture directly tells us. When the faithful servant enters Heaven, he is offered not retirement but this: "Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord" (Matthew 25:23, KJV)." (Randy Alcorn, Heaven, p. 332) [The scripture quotation was changed to the KJV text.] ii. We will work in heaven (both the present heaven and the new earth) including serving God (Rev 7:13-15; Rev 22:3), building houses and planting vineyards (Isa 65:21), working with our hands (Isa 65:22), and laboring (Isa 65:23). iii. If you don’t like to work, you better learn to, quickly. B. What I call “natural retirement” is fine. i. As a man gets older and weaker, he should naturally do less work, especially physically and mentally intensive work. ii. If he lives long enough, he may get to the point where he is incapable of doing anything that would qualify as work; and that is fine. iii. But this is completely different from the American idea of reaching a magic age and quitting one’s job and not working at all when one is still in good health and capable to being productive. C. What I call “earned retirement” is also fine. i. If a man in his 50s, 60s, or 70s has saved $1 million+ and can live on his investments for the rest of his life and wants to quit his stressful job and work full or part time at a less demanding job, that is fine. ii. Such a man could also choose to keep busy by volunteering, helping friends and family, spending time with his grandchildren, etc. iii. He has earned the right to do that, literally. iv. However, he will miss the blessing and personal fulfillment of doing productive labor if he chooses to take “earned retirement.” 5. “Money is something you got to make in case you don’t die.” (Max Asnas) 6. “Behind every retired man is a wife wishing he would go back to work.” (Unknown) 7. “Two weeks is about the ideal length of time to retire.” (Alex Comfort) II. Leaving an inheritance 1. Leaving an inheritance is Biblical (Deut 21:16-17). 2. Parents are to lay up for their children (Pro 19:14; 2Ch 21:3; 2Co 12:14). A. Children are not supposed to lay up for their parents (2Co 12:14). B. However, children are supposed to take care of their aging parents if they cannot take care of themselves (Mar 7:10-13; 1Ti 5:4, 8, 16). C. Be wise with your money so that you will not be a burden on your children or society when you get old. 3. A good man will save enough to give an inheritance to his grandchildren (Pro 13:22). 4. Leaving a monetary inheritance to children in conjunction with teaching them to manage money prudently will result in generational wealth. A. Leaving your children an inheritance is only going to benefit them if you teach them to manage money wisely (Ecc 7:11). B. You must start this when they are toddlers and not stop until they are out of the house. C. “That said, there’s nothing “wrong” with being a spender. Sure, spenders can be impulsive, but they can also be incredibly generous. And there’s nothing “right” about being a saver. Savers can tend to be more patient and responsible, but they can also be stingy. We are all wired one way or the other. The goal is to understand the personalities of our kids so we can teach them how to find the balance and be wise spenders and savers.” (Dave Ramsey, Baby Steps Millionaires, p. 85) D. If you don’t teach your children to manage money wisely, don’t bother giving them an inheritance because it will quickly be gone (Pro 20:21; Luk 15:11-14) and all of your labor, thrift, diligent investing, and wise-living will have been for nought. 5. A parent is not obligated to leave all of his wealth to his children (Pro 17:2). A. Rebellious or foolish children should receive no inheritance (Pro 11:29). B. Jesus did not teach that inheritance should be evenly divided among children, nor that a child who receives an inheritance must share it with his siblings (Luk 12:13- 14). C. I would not leave an inheritance to a child or anyone else who has demonstrated that he cannot manage money well. i. Those who are in debt, have little or no money saved, or spend money foolishly would not be candidates for heirs of mine. ii. This would include my own children if I had any. iii. If you choose to not leave an inheritance to one of our children, do the right and difficult thing and tell him that he is not in the will. (i) This will potentially save your other children a lot of headache and heartache because the sibling will end up blaming them. (ii) This could also give the child a chance to change his ways before you die. D. I would much rather leave my hard-earned money, which was acquired by years of labor, discipline, and self-denial (and the blessing of God), to a wealthy person who would manage it and use it wisely, rather than to a lazy, undisciplined poor person who would squander it (Mat 25:26-29; Luk 19:24-26). 6. Passing down the faith to your children and grandchildren is a good inheritance (Deut 4:9). A. However, this is not a replacement for leaving your children and grandchildren a monetary inheritance. B. Do not use this as a copout to shirk your responsibility. 7. Make a will. A. It is irresponsible to die without a will. B. If you have worked hard your whole life acquiring wealth, why would you want to leave it up the State to determine who gets it? C. You can make a will for free online and have it notarized very inexpensively, so there is no excuse not to have one.  D. “Estate planners tell us that 70 percent of Americans die without a will.” (Dave Ramsey, The Total Money Makeover, p. 75) E. “A will is a gift you leave your family or loved ones. It is a gift because it makes the management of your estate very clear and light-years easier. You are going to die, so go out in style, and die with a will in place.” (Ibid, p. 76) 8. Get a Nokbox. A. A Nokbox is a “Next of Kin” box. B. It is a box that has premade folders for all your important papers and everything your next of kin will need to take care of your estate when you’re gone. C. It has folders and instructions for: i. House (mortgage, lease, utilities, etc.) ii. Vehicles (titles, registration, maintenance records, etc.) iii. Bank accounts iv. Insurance policies (life, homeowners, vehicle, etc.) v. Investments vi. Debt (this folder should be empty!!!) vii. Income viii. Assets ix. Family, friends, pets x. Education and career (past employment, transcripts and diplomas, military service records, etc.) xi. Health (current and past medical records, Medicare, etc.) xii. Communities and online accounts (subscriptions and memberships, social media, etc.) xiii. Legal and tax xiv. Estate documents (will or trust, power of attorney, medical directives, guardianship, funeral arrangements) xv. Key bag and key labels D. The Nokbox makes it much easier to store and organize all your important documents in one place. E. You can purchase one at: https://www.thenokbox.com.