Category: Debt

  • Dealing With Financial Risk in Retirement

    In the last article, we looked at what I believe to be the greatest risk in retirement: retiring without a clear sense of calling and purpose. But I also mentioned some other risks—the financial ones. The Bible encourages us to take wise precautions as part of good stewardship to protect ourselves from the adverse effects…

  • Housing Decisions and Financing Options in Retirement

    We discussed paying off the mortgage and home equity in the last article and how our house decisions are both financial and emotional, and very personal. There’s also a spiritual component. We want to seek God’s guidance for any major home or home-financing decisions to ensure that we wisely steward the gifts he has given…

  • Is Paying Off Your Mortgage Wise Stewardship?

    Real estate and mortgages are very much in the news right now. The market is “hot,” and long-term interest rates remain at historic lows. Therefore, lots of people are thinking about selling—perhaps to upgrade or downsize. Others want to refinance to reduce their payments or to get access to some of their equity for improvements,…

  • The Expenses Side of the Retirement Equation

    As I mentioned in my last article about spending in retirement, this one is a chapter from my new book, which I plan to self-publish very soon. The book, which will be titled “Redeeming Retirement: A Practical Guide to Catch Up,” is targeted at the large number of middle-aged and older households who realize (or…

  • Is Purchasing a Vacation Home Wise Stewardship?

    I was recently asked by a friend what I thought about buying a vacation home, specifically a beach house. They said they have a relative who owns one and rents it out with annual positive cash flow. We didn’t have a very in-depth discussion, but I have been thinking about it since. Something that occurred…

  • Making New Years Resolutions? How About “Spend Less, Save and Give More”

    Lots of people make resolutions this time of year. Not surprisingly, things like paying down debt and saving more tend to show up the most. According to Fidelity’s Fidelity’s 11th annual New Year Financial Resolutions Study, “more than half of Americans, 53%, say they aim to save more in 2020, 51% plan to pay down…

  • All You Need to Know About Personal Finance on a 3 x 5 Inch Index Card – Really?

    A few years ago, a University of Chicago college professor named Harold Pollack remarked that everything you really needed to know about personal finance could be fit on a single 3×5 inch index card. Someone asked him to prove it, the result went viral, and Pollack actually ended up co-writing a book about it called…

  • My Stewardship Practices – Part One:  Spending, Debt, and Giving

    One of my pastors and I recently taught a class on stewardship at our church. In one session, a young couple in the class asked about vacations. The question wasn’t very specific, and I took it as “is it good stewardship to spend money on vacations?” It was a reasonable and sincere question as money…

  • Reflections and Lessons from 40 Years of Stewardship

    As I shared in a previous article, I decided to retire from my full-time paid position a few weeks ago. I will do an article about how my “transition” to retirement is going and what I am up to in a future article. In this post, I want to share the main lessons I have…

  • 5 Ways to Prepare for the Next Big Correction (or Recession)

    In our last article, we looked at some of the causes of the “Great Recession” of 2008 and suggested that there are signs that we could be headed toward a market correction or even a recession based on an over-valued stock market, increasing household and government debt, and rising interest rates. There are differences between 2018…