Chris Hogan is a popular speaker on the topics of financial education and leadership. He also works with business and high-profile clients across the country, helping them develop strategies to increase revenues, build wealth, and secure their financial futures.
It was a pleasure to meet with him backstage and listen to him share his vision. Chris’ passion is about preparing for retirement. Retirement simply means being financially independent and having the freedom to do whatever you want to do, whether that’s full-time ministry, starting your own business, traveling the world, or having floor seats to the Lakers. Okay Chris didn’t say that last one, I did. But you get the point.
When Chris talked about going into full-time ministry or going on a mission’s trip, I started to wonder, “What would it look like for missionaries to not have to ‘raise support’ in order to do what they want to do?” I’m not saying “raising support” is a bad thing. It’s certainly a responsibility for the body of Christ to play active roles in supporting our missionaries and pastors financially, but wouldn’t it be awesome for some people to enter retirement as missionaries? They would be able to write a newsletter that contained an explanation of ministry endeavors and a request for prayer without having to ask for money? By doing so, they would essentially be saying, “We’ve GOT this because we’ve been faithful stewards our whole lives of the blessings God provided, and we don’t have to worry about money anymore.”
Chris’ mantra is, “You work too long, too hard and put up with too many weird people to come to the end of your life and have nothing to show for it.” Isn’t that the truth! So why is it that most people don’t think to plan for retirement and instead act like it’s never coming? Let me let you in on a secret. Retirement is coming. You either view retirement with complete terror or as a glorious achievement. The latter can’t happen without planning and actually doing something about it. That was Chris’ main point. It’s time to start do something about it… no matter age in life.
I’ll end this with one of Chris’ stories. He spent 20 years as a banker. One day, he was in a meeting with a relatively young couple trying to convince them that they needed a financial plan. In short, the young couple basically blew him off. A week later the husband called and asked for an appointment. Chris said to himself, “Why would you want another appointment when you guys blew me off last time?” but he agreed to meet anyway. This couple returned with pens and notepads completely engaged and writing down everything coming out of Chris’ mouth. Obviously Chris noticed the dramatic change and asked the couple what had happened.
The young husband explained that he had received a call that week from his 87-year-old aunt who needed help cutting the grass. He went over to do just that, but the lawnmower broke down and he had forgotten his lunch. He thought to save time, he would go inside and make himself something to eat at the house. When he opened the refrigerator, he found nothing but sour milk. When he opened the cabinets, he found 7 cans of dog food. His aunt, however, did not have a dog. You can fill in the blanks.
When Chris was telling this story he got a little emotional (and so did I). With a crack in his voice he said, “That’s not okay.” Then repeated his mantra, “You work too long, too hard and put up with too many weird people to come at the end of your life and have nothing to show for it.” It’s a truly heartbreaking story. We live in the richest country in the world but have the most broke people. A big reason is simply not having a plan.
After hearing Chris speak, I’ve decided that I’m going to shorten my retirement plan pitch. When young people ask me, “Why should I plan for retirement? I’m young,” instead of going on about the importance of starting early, having self-discipline, the power of compound interest, the dream about being financially independent and even pointing out the obvious like “You won’t be young forever,” I’ll just say, “Do you like dog food?”
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