Rethinking Retirement Planning

Over the weekend I read a newspaper article about retirement. It said lots of couples don't talk about it either because they make assumptions about how it will all work out or they don't think about it or they try to avoid it. I saved the story because I know, being just 37, that retirement feels like it's too far into the future to even think about, let alone plan for.

The article made me rethink this. I was waiting for a quiet time that Steve and I could at least consider what we might want our post-work years to look like.

Then I read Corrie ten Boom. At 73 years of age, she finally took a break from "20 years of wandering the world as a tramp for the Lord," as she described it. She was ill and needed time to recover. She took a year off, which for her meant living in the same place, sleeping in the same bed and speaking only two or three times a week. It was a wonderful year that included one bed. For her, sleeping in the same bed, night after night, was a pronounced luxury. She wrote,

The greatest pleasure was to sleep every night in the same bed. During the last twenty years I had slept in more than a thousand different beds, always living out of my suitcases. This year I rested. I put my clothes in a drawer, hung my dresses in a closet, and best of all, each night I laid my head on the same pillow.

It was so good in fact, that when her Sabbath Year was over, she wanted to extend it, indefinitely. But God had other plans. At first she resisted, making plans of her own. But as was characteristic of her life, she submitted her will to His, repenting for her sin. She wrote,

I had lost my first love. Twenty years before I had come out of a concentration camp -- starved, weak, -- but in my heart there was a burning love: a love for the Lord who had carried me through so faithfully -- a love for the people around me -- a burning desire to tell them that Jesus is a reality, that He lives, that He is victor. ... And now? Now I was interested in my bed.

And so she repented and accepted God's forgiveness. And she went back to work. She said,

What a great joy it was to experience the love of God, who gave me rivers of living waters for the thirsty world of Africa, America, and Eastern Europe. Of course, it might be the will of God that some old people retire from their work. In great thankfulness to the Lord they can then enjoy their pensions. But for me, the way of obedience was to travel on, even more so than before.

Her example, of approaching retirement not by asking how much money she'll need to maintain her lifestyle (one of the key discussions that article recommended having), but by asking God what His will is stands is such sharp contrast.

Scripture says,

Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us (1 Peter 2:11-12).

I needed that reminder today. That we're supposed to be misfits in this world. That our relationship with Christ is the organizing principle that should affect everything we do, including how we spend our old age and even where we lay our heads to sleep.

Comments

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1. BDB said the following at 11:46 AM on Sep 26:

Candice Watters wrote in the OP:

>>Over the weekend I read a newspaper article about retirement. It said lots of couples don't talk about it<<

I think you set a great example - all moms should read the Wall Street Journal!

2. P&P said the following at 11:59 AM on Sep 26:

It's a nice sentiment, but a difficult one to follow when you're in poor health and need to move into an assisted living facility. Unfortunately while we're still in this world, we do need to think about necessities and comforts in our old age.

If you're out of college, it's time to start saving for retirement. In the words of an old boss of mine, it's easy to have religion when you're on your way to the bank.

3. BeccaM said the following at 1:48 PM on Sep 26:

I agree about saving up. It's amazing to me to see how many people my age (25) and older don't ever think about retirement money. Even when they have companies that will give them a 401k or pension, they try to spend it instead of save it. Just a small amount of savings over time can really help if you start young.
Besides, with the way Social Security and other government provisions are going, I wouldn't bet at all on having any assistance outside of yourself (and hopefully any offspring/family).
But I also think that just cause we retire, doesn't mean our ministry for Christ is over. Retirement is one of the best times to be involved in ministry because of your flexible/free time. Instead of planning all the trips or cruises you're going to take, plan all the ways you can help so many different organizations!

4. Kathleen said the following at 5:24 PM on Sep 26:

While I agree that we should always be working for God, that doesn't mean there won't be a time at which you retire from your vocation and seek to become involved in ministry, even if that is spending a lot of time with- or even raising- grandkids. At that time, having a retirement fund is definitely a good idea, especially if there are a lot of medical bills. But even not. If one becomes involved in a volunteer ministry- as my retired parents have become involved in many- they still have to eat. They still have to pay bills. They even still have to put me through college and pay my multiplicitous medical bills until I get out and have my own insurence and can afford my own co-pays.

5. James said the following at 6:30 PM on Sep 26:

I don't plan to actually "retire."

I do plan to eventually retire from my career, but I'm not going to stop working.

This does mean saving up so that I can afford to live on a much lower income, but the freedom is that I can do basically whatever without worrying about the paycheck.

This means there's the great potential for long term mission trips.....and not worrying about how much vacation time is being used up.

6. farmer Tom said the following at 7:39 PM on Sep 26:

Would someone please give me a Scriptural passage or at least some evidence of a Biblical principle which condones or even suggests the idea of retirement??

I think this concept is another one of those ideas from the great socialist workers utopia, which modern Americans assume is normal (even Biblical) when in reality it's just another part of the grand socialist plan, like public education and Social Security.

Whatever happened to "if you don't work, you don't eat"?

7. Simon Que said the following at 12:06 AM on Sep 27:

I think there's two ways people understand "retirement"
1 - The traditional view - you stop working, and take a rest, take some vacations, see the world, enjoy the days of your life.
2 - The alternative view - better described as "financial independence." You're able to live and do things you want to do without having to work for a living, paying the bills, etc, thanks to having enough passive income. This is not actually retirement at all.

Farmer Tom, the idea of retirement isn't inherently socialist. It only becomes socialist if one believes that one is entitled to receive it at a certain point (e.g. pensions, Social Security, etc).

As for what the Bible says, is there a passage that is contrary to the idea of retirement? And those who are financially independent are living off the fruits of their past work.

8. Dolapo said the following at 6:34 AM on Sep 28:

I think that in retirement like every other period in the life of a christain, one should be asking, 'What is Your Will Lord?'. Wahtever ideas we might have, God's plans are best.

9. John said the following at 6:04 PM on Sep 28:

Ya gotta love people who just live to contradict.

Even more when they're wrong and have a completely incorrect worldview.

Good night P&P