Should Christians Save for Retirement?
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[pvawter]Unless his circumstances have dramatically changed, Alcorn does not get a penny of royalties, nor does he make more than minimum wage, due to a court judgment requiring him to pay a settlement to abortion providers. He refused to do so and gave up his salary, royalties, and most assets to avoid paying to fund abortion.
According to this source, the Alcorns used a bit a creative accounting to avoid paying the legal fees. He transferred all his assets into his wife’s name, thus they kept all of their assets. Both are being paid by their foundation (yes, he makes minimum wage plus honorariums). Having no mortgage or no loans and driving “company” cars helps a lot too. Plus, I imagine they can write off a nice portion of expenses as “business expenses” given they added a foundation office to their garage. Consequently, they don’t have to pay what normally would consume 60-65% of a family’s paycheck.
[T Howard]So, just to be clear, he doesn’t get any royalties from his books.According to this source, the Alcorns used a bit a creative accounting to avoid paying the legal fees. He transferred all his assets into his wife’s name, thus they kept all of their assets. Both are being paid by their foundation (yes, he makes minimum wage plus honorariums). Having no mortgage or no loans and driving “company” cars helps a lot too. Plus, I imagine they can write off a nice portion of expenses as “business expenses” given they added a foundation office to their garage. Consequently, they don’t have to pay what normally would consume 60-65% of a family’s paycheck.
[pvawter]So, just to be clear, he doesn’t get any royalties from his books.
Not directly, but his foundation pays him minimum wage and pays his wife a salary, and his foundation is largely funded by his book royalties. It’s another example of his creative accounting to avoid paying the court-ordered garnishment.
But, back on topic, as I’ve pointed out, Alcorn can afford to live on very little cash because he has no mortgage, doesn’t pay car expenses (gas, maintenance, etc are paid by his foundation), and probably can write off a lot of expenses because his foundation office is part of his home. All of that equals probably 60-65% of what a normal family has to pay. So, Alcorn can live off the 35-40% of the remainder. So could I if I didn’t have to pay a monthly mortgage payment, car payment, gas, car insurance, maintenance, and certain expenses I could classify as business expenses.
Alcorn’s situation is not realistic for most Christian families. He cannot expect people to live like him given his financial / legal situation.
Category % of Budget Alcorn || Foundation
Housing 25-25% X
Utilities 5-10% X
Transportation 10-15% X
Healthcare 5-10% X
Food 5-15% X
Invest/Save 5-10% N/A N/A
Debt 5-10% N/A N/A
Charity 5-15% X
Enter/Rec 5-9% X X
Misc Person 2-7% X
The Piper article does sound better, Jim.
The way I see it, someone pays for my lunch. Either I pay for my lunch, or someone else pays for it. And if I live to be 80, someone will still be paying for my lunch. If that somebody is me, either I’ll be earning the money to buy lunch then, or I’ll have saved the money now to buy lunch then. If I can’t work and I didn’t save, then I’ve just foisted the job of buying my lunch onto someone else. (I’m sure Aaron’s going to flag me for a false disjunction here, that I left out the starving option. :) )
I once had to convince a pastor (at the time, my pastor) to get a high-deductible health insurance policy with an HSA. He and his family had lived for years without any health insurance. I tried to point out that the congregation wouldn’t let him suffer a major medical expense, so if he didn’t have insurance, the bill was going to fall on the congregation, and that it would be much better for us to self-insure a high deductible than to pay for who-knows-how-much.
I would like to serve the Lord for as long as I have breath. But if my earning capacity drops, I don’t want to become a burden to my family.
Michael Osborne
Philadelphia, PA
[T Howard]You are right when you say that Alcorn’s situation is unique, but i don’t see what that has to do with his advice. He’s not saying that you shouldn’t save for retirement, but that you shouldn’t worship money and financial security. I’m not really sure what your objection is, then.Not directly, but his foundation pays him minimum wage and pays his wife a salary, and his foundation is largely funded by his book royalties. It’s another example of his creative accounting to avoid paying the court-ordered garnishment.
But, back on topic, as I’ve pointed out, Alcorn can afford to live on very little cash because he has no mortgage, doesn’t pay car expenses (gas, maintenance, etc are paid by his foundation), and probably can write off a lot of expenses because his foundation office is part of his home. All of that equals probably 60-65% of what a normal family has to pay. So, Alcorn can live off the 35-40% of the remainder. So could I if I didn’t have to pay a monthly mortgage payment, car payment, gas, car insurance, maintenance, and certain expenses I could classify as business expenses.
Alcorn’s situation is not realistic for most Christian families. He cannot expect people to live like him given his financial / legal situation.
Category % of Budget Alcorn || Foundation
Housing 25-25% X
Utilities 5-10% X
Transportation 10-15% X
Healthcare 5-10% X
Food 5-15% X
Invest/Save 5-10% N/A N/A
Debt 5-10% N/A N/A
Charity 5-15% X
Enter/Rec 5-9% X X
Misc Person 2-7% X
He said (from article):
Question: Is this parable about retirement plans? I think not!How is maintaining a generous retirement plan fundamentally different from the rich fool storing up for his later years to live out his life in comfort and security? We know what Jesus thought of that man’s retirement plans (Luke 12:16-21).
[pvawter]You are right when you say that Alcorn’s situation is unique, but i don’t see what that has to do with his advice. He’s not saying that you shouldn’t save for retirement, but that you shouldn’t worship money and financial security. I’m not really sure what your objection is, then.
My objection is that the vast majority of Americans aren’t saving ENOUGH or ANYTHING for retirement. Many (most?) Americans are living above their means. So, for Alcorn to write an article suggesting that Christians are hoarding money in their retirement accounts and not being generous is just plain wrong for several reasons.
1) Jim’s post above is correct. Alcorn is mishandling Scripture.
2) The vast majority of Americans don’t have a significant retirement savings. Those few American Christians who are saving wisely for their future shouldn’t be told not to by a Christian leader.
3) If Alcorn wants to address the lack of generosity among Christians, he needs to address materialism, consumerism, and living above one’s means. This is where the majority of the problem lies. Attacking Christians with a healthy / generous retirement account is misguided and singles out only a small minority of Christians. However, many Christians with an underfunded retirement account will read his article and think they shouldn’t save more for their retirement.
4) Alcorn’s lifestyle suggests he has limited understanding of what it takes to run the average household, plan for the future, and still be generous.
[T Howard]Have you read his book, “Money, Possessions, and Eternity”? You may object to this blog post, but your complaints go beyond anything he said there, and I think the volume of his teaching on the subject is quite different from the way you portray it in your post.He does not condemn wisely saving for retirement or procuring life insurance, but he does speak against trusting in such things instead of trusting God. He does address materialism, consumerism, and loving above one’s means, much more extensively then he does the issue of retirement savings.And I’m not sure what you mean by “his lifestyle,” but maybe you know something about him that I don’t.As far as his use of the parable of the rich fool, is it completely out of bounds to suggest that that man’s attitude toward wealth and possessions, and his lack of thought about eternity, exemplify the contemporary attitude of at least some in the church today? Is he off base to suggest that we should evaluate our own attitude about such things in light of Jesus’ warning to the man in the parable? I think the next couple of sentences, which Jim did not include in his quote, shed some light on Alcorn’s meaning.My objection is that the vast majority of Americans aren’t saving ENOUGH or ANYTHING for retirement. Many (most?) Americans are living above their means. So, for Alcorn to write an article suggesting that Christians are hoarding money in their retirement accounts and not being generous is just plain wrong for several reasons.
1) Jim’s post above is correct. Alcorn is mishandling Scripture.
2) The vast majority of Americans don’t have a significant retirement savings. Those few American Christians who are saving wisely for their future shouldn’t be told not to by a Christian leader.
3) If Alcorn wants to address the lack of generosity among Christians, he needs to address materialism, consumerism, and living above one’s means. This is where the majority of the problem lies. Attacking Christians with a healthy / generous retirement account is misguided and singles out only a small minority of Christians. However, many Christians with an underfunded retirement account will read his article and think they shouldn’t save more for their retirement.
4) Alcorn’s lifestyle suggests he has limited understanding of what it takes to run the average household, plan for the future, and still be generous.
…I’ve been contributing from 6% to 14% of my salary to a 401K for over 25 years. Further, my company matches my contribution dollar-for-dollar up to 6%.
I won’t reach retirement age (65 at least) for another 11.5 years, at which time I would have made 37 years worth of 401K contributions. The projections say I should have a substantial amount to draw from. (Compounded returns are a wonderful thing!)
With Social Security (whatever it looks like in the future) and a pension annuity from a completely company-funded account (alas frozen to new contributions since 2009), I quite conceivably might have a higher income retired than employed. (Plus then I will neither be contributing to a 401K nor paying Social Security taxes, both of which reduce my net income currently.)
Then I can golf everyday, right?
Wrong! (I’ve never once golfed in my life, and I don’t foresee starting.)
No, I’m looking forward to the day when I will be able to do much more in terms of serving God than time permits now–once freed from the necessity of working for pay. I’d much rather volunteer full-time in ministries than be having to say, “Welcome to Walmart” (as someone else mentioned above). Saving for retirement is a means to that end for a Christian. (At least that’s how I see it.)
Is that anti-biblical?
Discussion