124 – 10 Keys to Retiring Well

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10 Keys to Retiring Well

A follow up episode on retirement and retiring well.

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Last episode, we covered “10 Pitfalls To Retiring Well”. In this episode, Bob and Shawn go a little more positive in discussing “10 Keys To Retiring Well”. Whether you are 20 years away from retiring or thinking about making this life transition within the next couple of years, this is advice for everyone of every age and life stage within this episode’s unique discussion.

Retiring can be daunting, and while it may seem like there are one or two keys missing, it’s okay to feel that way! However, Christian Financial Advisors wants to take as much fear out as possible by helping you prepare for this life’s transition. So sit back and listen to discover some key takeaways you can obtain from this episode on “10 Keys To Retiring Well”.

Mentioned In This Episode

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[INTRODUCTION]

Welcome to “Christian Financial Perspectives”, where you’re invited to gain insight, wisdom and knowledge about how Christians integrate their faith, life and finances with a Biblical Worldview. Here’s your host Christian Investment Advisor, Financial Planner, and Coach, Bob Barber.

[EPISODE]

Bob:
Morning, Shawn.

Shawn:
Morning, Bob.

Bob:
Well, here we are, another week later, and last week was kind of tough as we talked about the 10 Pitfalls of Retiring Well.

Shawn:
And hopefully our listeners viewers came back for the positive side of that. 10 Keys To Retiring Well, but we did promise we would come out with this next week.

Bob:
If you’ve not listened to last week’s episode, we would invite you to go back and listen.

Shawn:
We’ll link somewhere up here.

Bob:
I don’t know where he does it.

Shawn:
You’ll click on that and you can go check out 10 Pitfalls to Retiring Well.

Bob:
That was kind of hard to make. So this is gonna be a lot more fun as we talk about the 10 Keys to Retiring Well, and so I wanna go back in for those that didn’t hear last week’s. And it’s just a good reminder of the scripture, the one scripture in the entire Bible, one,

Shawn:
That mentions retire.

Bob:
That mentions retire, and work is over 550 times in the Bible. So, there’s so much more emphasis put on work than retire. I look at retirement as something that was made up. It’s an American thing. It was made up by FDR during the Great Depression to get people out of the workplace so we would have more places for the younger crowd.

Shawn:
Okay. Well, let’s let’s start with Numbers 8:24-26, “This applies to the Levites. Men 25 years old or more shall come to take part in the work at the tent of meeting. But at the age of 50, they must retire from their regular service and work no longer. They may assist their brothers in performing their duties at the tent of meeting, but they themselves must not do the work. This then is how you are to assign the responsibilities of the Levites.”

Bob:
And that’s the key part I think, in there is says they may assist and like I said last week, and I say it again this week that this is looking at like a man that’s over 50. Now, he can become a mentor to the younger generation.

Shawn:
Whereas I remember you said not do the heavy lifting.

Bob:
Yeah. Which is true when you come over. By the way, Shawn’s my son-in-law, just so y’all know. So when he comes over to the house…

Shawn:
Bob has a list of here’s all the things I need you to carry and move. And of course, Rachael might have some stuff too.

Bob:
And I tried to do some of that heavy stuff the other day and nearly hurt myself.

Shawn:
That’s okay. He feeds me.

Bob:
We do feed you well. Okay. So I think it’s important, too, to go over just a little bit of the stats that we went over last week again, and that is that the average retirement age in the US is now 63. Most people don’t realize that that. For the longest time it was 65. It’s gotten younger. 50% of adults that are aged 55 or older are retired. And I didn’t know that. I mean, that’s a big number.

Shawn:
For 55 and older, I would’ve thought it’d be lower.

Bob:
Again, like I said last week, people in my graduating class, 1980, I know that’s way back there, but…

Shawn:
How many years?

Bob:
We don’t want to go there, do we? But I know a lot of them are retired. And the average life expectancy for men is 76.1 years. I thought it was higher. Being 60 now, I’m like, well.

Shawn:
That’s just average.

Bob:
This is why I like to go to our family cemeteries and see all the men. They all lived into their nineties, nearly. So, I feel good. I got it in my genes.

Shawn:
This probably didn’t take into account all that good Texas barbecue that keeps you young.

Bob:
And Mexican food. And sweet tea.

Shawn:
That’s right. Those are the secrets to a long life. At the very least, it’s a very enjoyable life, even if it doesn’t last long.

Bob:
The average life expectancy for women is 81 years now. I can see that because there are so many that live longer than that today. 50% of adults. So, this kind of looks at it. And I looked at this and said, well, that means that 50% of the adults that retire today at around 55, Shawn, based on even just these life expectancies, have more than 20 years of retirement.

Shawn:
Some of them, 30 to 35 years.

Bob:
Which are many. I meet some. So, what we’re gonna do with all that time, I believe, really matters. So, let’s look at the 10 Keys To Retiring Well.

Shawn:
And 80% are not financial.

Bob:
That’s true. That’s true. True.

Shawn:
Number one, keep God at the center of your retirement. We’ve got a scripture here. Matthew 6:33.

Bob:
Oh, that’s a well known one.

Shawn:
Yep. Well for those who might not know it or have it memorized. “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and all of these things will be given to you as well.”

Bob:
This is Christian financial advisors. Christian Financial Perspectives. I believe it’s very important that when you retire, God has got to be at the center of that. And you’ve got more time now maybe to read his Word and to be a mentor to others. That is so important to keep God at the center, and not let ourself be on the throne, but put God on the throne. Okay. Number two I think is very important for a key to retiring well is having a written plan. We’ve gone over goal setting here. Having a written plan of your day, weeks, and months in advance of retirement, like a blueprint.

Shawn:
Yeah. Well, people talk a lot about their 3 year, 5 year, 10 year goals. Almost always it’s about planning for your family. It’s your career. Like, well, where do you see yourself in five years? What do you see? But the same is true for when you retire that you should have a plan. Like, where do you want to be in the next five years? In the next 10 years? What is the goal? Because if you don’t have a plan… I don’t know.

Bob:
Shawn, as I was writing this, it was when I was on vacation in Colorado back in August, and so many of these came to me as I had some extra time to be thinking about, okay, what am I doing with this? And that third one to retiring well, a good key is finding something of significance to do that helps others where it’s just not all about you.

Shawn:
Church. Your church, ministry, nonprofit. I think you got an example for us.

Bob:
Well, just Habitat for Humanity, because I’m such a handyman. I love doing handyman things, or mentoring a grandchild. We’ve got some grandchildren.

Shawn:
Good luck with my son.

Bob:
I love your son. He’s all over the place, though. He’s got a lot of energy. Or, mentoring a young person without a parent. That is a lot today. Romans 12:5-8, if you’ll read that for us.

Shawn:
Sure. “So in Christ we,, though many form one body and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith. If it is serving, then serve. If it is teaching, then teach. If it is to encourage, then give encouragement. If it is giving, then give generously. If it is to lead, do it diligently. If it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.”

Bob:
That’s a great scripture that goes with that. Something of significance.

Shawn:
We all have gifts.

Bob:
We do. And they’re different. Not all of us are gonna be teachers. Not all of us are going to be back in the kitchen cooking.

Shawn:
Well, it kind of reminds me that other part…

Bob:
Rachael will be, my wife and that’s what she does. She loves cooking for people.

Shawn:
And she blesses people through that too.

Bob:
Yeah, she does. So we just gotta find what that significant thing is that we feel that God wants us to do and to pray about that and to go to his Word and look at his Word and let his Word show us. Oh, next one. I know that’s important with you, Mr. Crossfit. Okay.

Shawn:
Exercise daily. But again, I think we talked about this last week. That if all of a sudden I had no job because I’m retired and I didn’t have a plan, like we were just talking about it, it’d be a lot more difficult I feel like for me to keep exercising. Like now, I have to get up at a certain time because I know if I don’t exercise, I’m not gonna be able to keep up as much at my job. I’m not gonna be able to keep up with my kids. So whether it’s walking, jogging, any kind of aerobic activity that just keeps your heart going. You could do strength training, yoga, golf, tennis, pickleball seems to be pretty popular now.

Bob:
Pickleball is very popular. Golf of course with a lot of guys my age is popular. Okay. So yeah, just get out and go. Cause we saw that was one of the pitfalls to retirement is a sedentary lifestyle.

Shawn:
That’s right.

Bob:
Don’t you love this one, number five.

Shawn:
Don’t go it alone. Have a meaningful daily interaction with other people. Don’t become a hermit.

Bob:
Get out of that house.

Shawn:
We are social creatures, even the introverts. Like I know my wife is more of an introvert, but there is still a minimal need. Maybe her tank doesn’t need as much to fill when it comes to other people, but there is still that part of her.

Bob:
Well, and she’s a chip off the old block of her mom. So mom’s the same way. But she has that wonderful group of ladies that they just do life together. Number six, take a part-time position somewhere, maybe using those skills that you’ve learned over your lifetime. I see this with a lot of people I know when they’ve retired. They’ll go back. Like I say, I’m not gonna retire from this. I love doing this, but you know where I’d be working part-time if it wasn’t for this.

Shawn:
McCoys or Lowe’s.

Bob:
Lowe’s or Home Depot, one of those places. So, I think that keeps you engaged, too. And that’s a really good key to retiring well. Number seven.

Shawn:
Number seven is learn new skills. You’re never too old to quit learning.

Bob:
That’s right. Number eight. Don’t check out of living just because you’ve checked out of making a living.

Shawn:
That’s a good one. Yeah. And the next one have a good financial plan that covers everything possible that could and will happen.

Bob:
It will. So it’s maybe not happening right now, but it will. And you need to have a good plan, a blueprint, in place. And number 10 is you also need a good investment plan in place to get you through inflation like we’re experiencing right now like nothing I’ve seen in 30 years. Those volatile up and down markets and unexpected withdrawals you need to take. So, you need to really have a good – that’s the financial part of it. 80% is non-financial, but 20% is financial when it comes to the keys to retiring well. Yeah. And that’s why it’s so important that you have somebody to help you along that journey as we always say. In Ecclesiastes, “Two are better than one.” And, “Plans fail for lack of counsel,”

Shawn:
“But with many advisors, they succeed.”

Bob:
That’s right. that’s one of my favorites. So just because you retire doesn’t mean that you need to check out from life, and God offers you a life of abundance and he wants that for your life, even when you’re retired. The main thing I want you to take away from this too, is that don’t think of retirement as a self consumptive lifestyle, but instead think of it as, how can I serve others like Christ has called us to do.

Shawn:
And I love that, Bob, because if you think of retirement as well, what am I gonna do for myself, it’s just all focused on yourself. That’s not what God created us to be. But if anything, look at it as you have now earned the reward of having the time to do the things that maybe you couldn’t make a career out of it, but now this is something where you can give back to people. And if you’ve planned well for that retirement, from the financial side, now you can do something that maybe doesn’t pay you anything.

Bob:
That’s right.

Shawn:
It is something needed. It’s something of value and giving back to the next generation. Help others.

Bob:
That’s a key.

Shawn:
That’s what Christ would do.

Bob:
That’s a key to retiring well. We want to help you retire well. We wanna help you end that financial part of it, and take a holistic part and add all the rest of this into that. If you want, give us a call at (830) 609-6986, or you can text during business hours. And you can also find us on the web at Christian Financial Advisors, just like what you see written here, www.christianfinancialadvisors.com, and we would love to help you during your retirement years.

Shawn:
Thanks for joining us today. God bless.

[CONCLUSION]

That’s all for now.

We invite you to listen to all of our past episodes covering many financial topics from a Christian Perspective. To make sure you don’t miss any of Bob’s upcoming episodes you can subscribe to Christian Financial Perspectives on iTunes, Google Play Music, Spotify, or Stitcher. To learn more about integrating your faith with your finances, visit ciswealth.com or call 830-609-6986.

[DISCLOSURES]

Investment advisory services offered through Christian Investment Advisors Inc dba Christian Financial Advisors, a registered investment advisor registered with the SEC. Registration as an investment advisor does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Comments from today’s show are for informational purposes only and not to be considered investment advice or recommendations to buy or sell any company that may have been mentioned or discussed. The opinions expressed are solely those of the hosts, Bob Barber and Shawn Peters, and their guests. Bob and Shawn do not provide tax advice and encourage you to seek guidance from a tax professional. While Christian Financial Advisors believes the information to be accurate and reliable, we do not claim or have responsibility for its completeness, accuracy, or reliability.