Recently I had a 70-year-old man call asking questions about the Required Minimum Distributions (RMD) on his IRA. I kindly explained to him the rules and was happy for him since he was able to save $200K in his account. He felt healthy and wanted to keep working. Good for him.
In contrast, I had another 70-year-old man call me about a week after. He is a trucker who works 80 hours per week and has not saved anything for retirement. He called because his body is starting to feel like he can’t take 80-hour workweeks anymore and was wondering if there was anything he could do. At this point I’m not sure how much I could help him.
Proverbs 12:24 says,
“The hand of the diligent will rule, while the slothful will be put to forced labor.” Of course this person was not “slothful” (lazy) in the sense that he was unwilling to work. He’s working 80 hours per week! But he has been slothful in the sense that he didn’t take the time to plan and diligently save for what everyone will eventually face, retirement. Retirement could be a milestone achievement “I get to do whatever I want.” That could be traveling the world, go to the mission field without having to raise support, go into full-time ministry and giving away most of your underpaid salary. The possibilities are endless. Or retirement could just be a ticking time bomb where life blows up in your face. If you don’t plan now you’ll be put into “forced labor.” Why? Because you want to put off planning for something EVERYONE faces?
The lowest requirement I’ve seen for opening a personal IRA (Individual Retirement Account) traditional or Roth is $50 per month. I believe most people could spare that money. My wife and I have been more diligent with our written budget. As a result, I’ve noticed more and more how much the Lord really blesses us. Before, all our bills were paid every month so why really think about it. I mean that’s all that really matters right?
Wrong.
After tracking our spending we notice there were a lot of waste that we could begin to reign in. Once we started doing that we found more to give to others, pay off debt and invest towards our future. None of those things are mutually exclusive. But it does take work. Either you begin planning now and live like generous kings later or live like slaves and be put into “forced labor.”
“You work too long and too hard and put up with too many strange people in your life to come to the end of it and have nothing to show for it.”
Investing Minute: January 2015
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