Latest / Pastor John Piper's answers / How Much Money Do I Need to Retire?

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How Much Money Do I Need to Retire? · Pastor John Piper's answers

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  Speaker 1: Welcome back to the podcast. We reach a huge milestone today,
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  Speaker 1: huge for us anyways, our three hundred millionth episode play
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  Speaker 1: of all time. Three hundred million times an APJA episode
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  Speaker 1: has been listened to. I am simply in awe of
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  Speaker 1: what God has done in and through this podcast for
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  Speaker 1: the last twelve years. Thank you all for listening, for engaging,
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  Speaker 1: for sending in your questions over the years, for sharing
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  Speaker 1: our episodes with your family and your friends, and of
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  Speaker 1: course for praying and supporting our work. We couldn't do
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  Speaker 1: this work without a lot of friends helping us. And
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  Speaker 1: if you want the backstory on how this podcast started
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  Speaker 1: and grew over time, I tell that in the aspector
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  Speaker 1: John book and the introduction, and there I list our
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  Speaker 1: key benchmarks in one little footnote our key stats, and well,
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  Speaker 1: you can grab a pin now and add this new
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  Speaker 1: benchmark to that footnote in the margin of footnote fifty
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  Speaker 1: one right. Three hundred million plays. October seventeenth, twenty twenty four. Amazing.
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  Speaker 1: Speaking of huge numbers, how much money does an American
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  Speaker 1: need to retire? That question was in the air of
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  Speaker 1: the spring after The Wall Street Journal featured a piece
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  Speaker 1: by Andrew Biggs titled you Don't need to be a
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  Speaker 1: millionaire to retire, In part he wrote that quote. According
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  Speaker 1: to a new survey from Northwestern Mutual, the average American
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  Speaker 1: thinks he'll need one point five million dollars in savings
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  Speaker 1: to be financially secure in old age. If that were true,
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  Speaker 1: it would be bad news. As USA Today recently reported,
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  Speaker 1: the average US adult has saved only eighty eight thousand,
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  Speaker 1: four hundred dollars for retirement among those with between fifty
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  Speaker 1: thousand to one hundred thousand dollars in savings, a small
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  Speaker 1: fraction of what retirees are told they need. Three percent
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  Speaker 1: found it hard to get by, eleven percent were just
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  Speaker 1: getting by, and eighty six percent were either doing okay
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  Speaker 1: or living comfortably end quote. A huge disparity here in
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  Speaker 1: the numbers. Obviously, on this podcast, we don't get into
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  Speaker 1: specific numbers, pastor John, but you have feeled that a
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  Speaker 1: lot of questions about retirement, as can be seen in
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  Speaker 1: the EPJ book on pages four twenty nine to four
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  Speaker 1: to thirty nine. In building out this theme, comes this
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  Speaker 1: question from Linda, a podcast listener who is in her
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  Speaker 1: late fifties. She wants to know if you have any
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  Speaker 1: guiding thoughts on this question. Pastor John, Hello, can you
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  Speaker 1: share any wisdom for thinking about how much money I
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  Speaker 1: should be putting away for retirement. I'm trying to balance
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  Speaker 1: being responsible in providing for my future while walking in
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  Speaker 1: faith and giving generously towards mission beyond my tie. I'm
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  Speaker 1: a natural saver, but I also have a tendency toward
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  Speaker 1: hoarding money that can be easily provoked when I read
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  Speaker 1: that I need to have one point five million dollars
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  Speaker 1: saved or invested before I can retire. I'll never reach
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  Speaker 1: that level. What would you say to an American in
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  Speaker 1: my situation about seven years from retirement age.
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  Speaker 2: I think the first thing I would say is that
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  Speaker 2: I'm not a trained financial planner, and I am sure
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  Speaker 2: there are asked a finance that I don't know about
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  Speaker 2: and don't understand, and that therefore to give any specific council,
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  Speaker 2: especially at a distance, would be foolhardy. And I would
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  Speaker 2: add how deeply thankful I am that I have trusted
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  Speaker 2: advisors around me in my life to help me with
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  Speaker 2: these things. And I'm not talking just now that I'm
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  Speaker 2: an old man and I need some guidance for the
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  Speaker 2: last chapter of my life and how to do finances. Here,
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  Speaker 2: I'm talking about all my life. I mean, I remember
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  Speaker 2: sitting at the dining room table with a financial planner,
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  Speaker 2: a good friend from our church, but a trained financial planner.
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  Speaker 2: I had four small children, and I was asking him
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  Speaker 2: to help me think through my financial responsibilities to my
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  Speaker 2: wife and children if I die. And we did that
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  Speaker 2: kind of thinking at every stage of our lives, because
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  Speaker 2: that need, right, that financial need changes with every stage
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  Speaker 2: of your life, and you try to think through at
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  Speaker 2: every stage, how can I be a good father, a
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  Speaker 2: good steward, a good caregiver when I'm gone for my
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  Speaker 2: wife and my children if they are bereft of the
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  Speaker 2: earning person in this family. So I certainly would encourage
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  Speaker 2: that for others, we all seek help from Bibles saturated
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  Speaker 2: wise people who know the ropes in these things. And then,
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  Speaker 2: besides my own limitations, we need to be reminded that
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  Speaker 2: there are so many variables in people's lives that no
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  Speaker 2: one's solution, no one pattern of handling finances applies the
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  Speaker 2: same to everybody. There are family variables and geographic variables,
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  Speaker 2: and ca still living variables and housing option variables in
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  Speaker 2: different cities, and health variables. Oh my goodness, there are
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  Speaker 2: just so many factors that feed into our planning for
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  Speaker 2: how to handle what little or more finances we may have.
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  Speaker 2: Everyone's situation is unique. So what should I say to
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  Speaker 2: Linda who is in her late fifties and wants to
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  Speaker 2: maximize her giving to missions now, and yet knows that
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  Speaker 2: it is probably wise to set aside money for the
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  Speaker 2: season when she will not be earning like she is now.
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  Speaker 2: And even before I answer that question, I can't help
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  Speaker 2: but say in passing, I am aware that thousands of
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  Speaker 2: our listeners from less developed countries around the world can't
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  Speaker 2: even dream of some of the questions we're posing here,
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  Speaker 2: because the economic and social structures don't even exist that
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  Speaker 2: allow for this kind of financial planning. But I hope
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  Speaker 2: that these precious listeners of ours from around the world
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  Speaker 2: will hear underneath what I'm about to say some biblical
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  Speaker 2: principles that might apply I hope to apply in their situation.
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  Speaker 2: Perhaps the most basic principle about supporting ourselves during the
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  Speaker 2: last quarter of our lives is that, inasmuch as possible,
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  Speaker 2: we should seek, by God's grace to be self sustaining.
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  Speaker 2: Consider these verses from first and second Thessalonians, you yourselves
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  Speaker 2: know how you ought to imitate us, because we were
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  Speaker 2: not idle when we were with you, nor did we
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  Speaker 2: eat anyone's bread without paying for it. But with toil
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  Speaker 2: and labor, we work night and day that we might
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  Speaker 2: not be a burden to any of you. Second Desalonians
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  Speaker 2: three seven and eight. So that's what Paul says they
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  Speaker 2: should imitate. And then in verse twelve he says, now
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  Speaker 2: such persons we command and encourage in the Lord Jesus
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  Speaker 2: to do their work quietly and earn their own living,
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  Speaker 2: or literally eat their own bread. And then finally, in
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  Speaker 2: verse Thessalonians four ten, he says, we urge you to
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  Speaker 2: aspire to live quietly and to mind your own affairs,
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  Speaker 2: and to work with your hands as we instructed you,
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  Speaker 2: so that you may walk properly before outsiders and be
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  Speaker 2: dependent on no one. So I draw out from those
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  Speaker 2: passages the principle that in so far as we are able,
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  Speaker 2: we'll return to that eventuality in a minute. Insofar as
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  Speaker 2: we're able, we should earn our own living, pay our
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  Speaker 2: own way. And I think that applies from the day
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  Speaker 2: we start earning to the day we die. And since
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  Speaker 2: we know that we will not be able to continue
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  Speaker 2: in some jobs because of mandatory retirement ages that are
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  Speaker 2: imposed upon us, and we will be prevented from earning
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  Speaker 2: our own living, sometimes because of weakening bodies. Therefore, we
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  Speaker 2: should plan for how we will obey this principle in
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  Speaker 2: the last quarter of our lives, namely to be financially
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  Speaker 2: self supporting. That's an essential part of the Biblical rationale
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  Speaker 2: for all the financial instruments that exist for paying ahead
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  Speaker 2: for that season of life. But it is manifestly obvious
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  Speaker 2: that millions of people here and around the world will
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  Speaker 2: outlive their ability to be independent. And so the New
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  Speaker 2: Testament has another principle, namely the caregiving obligations of family
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  Speaker 2: and church, and then by implication, I think the social
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  Speaker 2: safety net that the wider community may create. So here's
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  Speaker 2: one Timothy five point sixteen and verse eight. If any
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  Speaker 2: believing woman has relatives who are widows, let her care
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  Speaker 2: for them. Let the church not be burdened so that
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  Speaker 2: it may care for those who are truly widows. In
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  Speaker 2: other words, they don't have anybody, You don't have any
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  Speaker 2: family to care for them, and the church is going
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  Speaker 2: to step in if anyone does not provide for his
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  Speaker 2: relatives and especially for members of his household, he has
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  Speaker 2: denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. So
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  Speaker 2: where we are no longer able to be self providing,
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  Speaker 2: God has ordained that families and churches step in. And
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  Speaker 2: I suspect that the existence of legally mandatory social security
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  Speaker 2: in the wider society is owing to deeply rooted Christian
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  Speaker 2: influence that says we won't throw away our old people,
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  Speaker 2: but find a way to care for them. I think
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  Speaker 2: it's possible to participate in that system. I'm in it
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  Speaker 2: and still believe that the family and the church has
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  Speaker 2: special responsibilities. If you feel like that needs more defense,
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  Speaker 2: we can do that at another time. Another biblical principle
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  Speaker 2: I would stress is that the Bible has no conception
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  Speaker 2: of what Americans typically think of as retirement. That is,
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  Speaker 2: working for forty or fifty years and then playing for
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  Speaker 2: fifteen or twenty years, fishing, golfing, shuffle board, pickleball, yard work,
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  Speaker 2: travel hobbies, bucket lists, as if heaven was supposed to
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  Speaker 2: begin at sixty five rather than death. Now. This principle
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  Speaker 2: relates directly to Linda's concern about money for missions now
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  Speaker 2: and how it relates to her post earning years. And
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  Speaker 2: the way it relates is this. If God is gracious
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  Speaker 2: in granting basic health, then wise planning for the last
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  Speaker 2: quarter of your life would mean that you keep on
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  Speaker 2: giving to missions. It's not like I do it now
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  Speaker 2: or I don't do it, but rather you keep on
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  Speaker 2: from your fixed income, you just keep right on giving
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  Speaker 2: to missions. May not be as much, but you do.
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  Speaker 2: Then it's a glorious thing to be able to give
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  Speaker 2: at least a little bit. If your income is small,
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  Speaker 2: you don't stop giving. And even more importantly is this
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  Speaker 2: in that season, that last season of your life, you
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  Speaker 2: are on a mission. You're not stopping life and starting heaven.
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  Speaker 2: You are on a mission. You don't just give to missions.
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  Speaker 2: You become missions. You don't think mainly play. You think
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  Speaker 2: mainly ministry. As long as you are able, you lean
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  Speaker 2: toward meeting needs. That's what you do. That's what Christians do.
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  Speaker 2: They lean towards needs, not comfort. Heaven is comfort. This
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  Speaker 2: world is racked with pain, suffering, and calamity and needs,
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  Speaker 2: and that's what we do. We relieve suffering, especially eternal suffering.
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  Speaker 2: You stay zealous for good deeds, right to the end.
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  Speaker 2: You magnify Jesus by serving Heaven is coming. It's not
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  Speaker 2: meant to drag forward. That is, we're not meant to
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  Speaker 2: drag it forward out of the future into the present.
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  Speaker 2: It's meant to sustain hope and ministry. Now, I know
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  Speaker 2: these principles are very general, but I think if Linda
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  Speaker 2: and all of us were to think in these ways
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  Speaker 2: about the last quarter of our lives, God in his mercy,
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  Speaker 2: would give us all the guidance we need about the
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  Speaker 2: details of financial planning.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, the Bible offers a lot of guidance here for
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  Speaker 1: retirement age planning, as has been evident in the podcast,
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  Speaker 1: and you can see that for yourself in the APGA
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  Speaker 1: book on pages four twenty nine to four thirty nine.
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  Speaker 1: I hope that serves you as you make great use
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  Speaker 1: of the Bible teaching that you'll find here. In twelve
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  Speaker 1: years of this podcast and it's archive three hundred million
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  Speaker 1: episode plays all time. Thank you again for listening and
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  Speaker 1: for sharing our episodes with others. And again for the
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  Speaker 1: other benchmarks in our history, see the Aspestro John book
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  Speaker 1: introduction footnote fifty one, and there grab a pin and
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  Speaker 1: add this new benchmark three hundred million plays. October seventeenth,
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  Speaker 1: twenty twenty four. Wonderful We're back on Monday. Christians will
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  Speaker 1: face judgment. We will, Paul says, we will. So what
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  Speaker 1: kind of coming judgment will Christians experience? Huge topic? Up next.
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  Speaker 1: I'm Tony Ranky, will see you on Monday.