by Denny Hook

I’m a “baby boomer”. As a kid growing up in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, I remember the street games we used to play. In the daytime us guys would play army with toy guns and dirt clods for hand grenades, and the whole neighborhood was our battle field. At night we included the neighborhood girls when we played; Kick the Can, Spotlight, and Hide and Seek. Each of those games started with someone being IT. They would close their eyes and count to 100 while everyone else hid somewhere, then shout out loudly as they set out to find them; “Ready or not, here I come”!

As I write this blog those words echo in my mind, but it’s not the voice of a childhood friend I hear. For most of my life the voice was merely a whisper drowned out by living life itself. Now that I’m older, it seems the whisper has become louder and more persistent.  Clearly it is not one voice, but two. As I’m around others my age, they too are talking about the two voices of retirement and death; each calling out “Ready or not, here I come”! Though they each speak the same message, they are quite different in other ways. There is so much to say about these two subjects that I want to split them into two parts. With this writing I want to express my thoughts on retirement.

When you’re young, dreaming about retirement is almost romantic in nature. It’s fun to imagine traveling the world, sleeping in without an alarm clock, having grandkids to spoil, or just being able to devote more time to a hobby. Maybe it’s finishing those half-done projects around the house you kept telling yourself you’d get to someday, or visiting relatives you haven’t seen in ages. For years I traveled the country as a long-haul trucker. I’ve seen a lot of places that I would’ve liked to stop at and spend some time, but couldn’t because of load schedules. Two years ago, we bought an older motor home, and plan to visit some of those places when we retire. I once heard my grandpa say, “Talk is cheap, but it takes money to buy good whiskey”. How true that is of retirement; you can talk about it, but it takes money to do it. I regret that I didn’t pay closer attention to funding my retirement at an earlier age. Part of it was because it seemed so far off, and I’ve had so many close calls over the years that I didn’t think I’d live to see it. I blinked, and now I’m 65. Another reason is I never understood IRA’s, 401K’s, money market investments and all that stuff. There was one time we attended one of “those meetings”. You know, they invite you to a free dinner and then later explain and want you to invest your money in their program. We knew we were out of our league when they required a $10,000 minimum investment. We ate and left. More recently I went to an informational meeting on Social Security. It was confusing, but you could set up another free one-on-one advisory meeting. I just needed to bring my Portfolio. What’s that? It sounded more like a disease related to Polio, that you’re supposed to get, or an exotic pet. These days everyone wants to: “Help you protect your hard-earned wealth, maximize the value of your holdings, and diversify your options”. Oh yeah, “Have you considered adding precious metals to your IRA?” Seriously, I think the only holdings a lot of people have these days is to just to keep their heads above water. I think of all the trust people had in their IRA’s a few years ago, and some lost it all or a good portion of it. Politicians have robbed and spent money from the Social Security fund. I have fourteen years vested with the Teamsters Union, and that pension fund is in critical status due to mismanagement. I’m wondering if there will be anything left for me before too long.

The Bible has much to say about money; how you handle it and what your attitude toward it should be. The book of Ecclesiastes is one of my favorites. King Solomon had it all; wealth, wisdom, women, houses, servants, land, livestock, vineyards, influence, ships and more. There was absolutely nothing he lacked. Even in today’s dollars, he could pay off our national debt and still have plenty left over. Yet, he continually expresses the vanity of it all without seeing life through God’s perspective. In short, I think he is saying that it’s not wrong to work hard, save, and plan for the future, but don’t make that your life’s ambition. Wealth comes from God as a gift, and He is the one who gives you the power to enjoy it. He concludes that to think otherwise is foolishness, vanity and grasping for the wind. Jesus really cut to the issue when He said, “Lay up treasures in Heaven and not on earth, because where your treasure is, there’s where your heart will be. Don’t worry or be anxious about tomorrow. Be content, trust God, seek His Kingdom, and He will take care of you.”  (Matthew 6:19-20)  A lot of people are in the business of helping you plan for retirement, and that’s a good thing. However, if they use the “fear tactic” to get you to buy their product; then they’ve crossed the line.

Jesus told a parable in Luke 12: 16-21 about the rich man whose land yielded plentifully. He decided to tear down his barns and build bigger ones to not only hold his crops, but all his stuff. He thought he was set for years and could kick back and party. His error was that God was not included in his present life or future plans. God called him a fool, and required his life that night. Verse 21 says: “So is he who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.” Being rich toward God involves so much more than putting money in the collection plate at church. Many people are stingy and give to God the leftovers, rather than tithe first. (that’s a whole different subject) My experience is that I cannot afford to not tithe. God doesn’t need your money per say, He wants your heart and that’s where “being rich” toward Him begins. As I look back on my life since I gave it to the Lord, He’s always provided what I needed when I needed it.  He’s been faithful to get me this far, will He not also take care of me in retirement if I continue to trust Him? Yes and Amen!